Thank you Prana for providing your article. I got some good things out of it.

One thing, though, that I probably will differ with you about is the order in which diet and spiritual healing take place. If you are a toxic individual and try to address that which we ought to, spiritually, you may be so exhausted on a regular basis that you are simply unable to do so. I tend to think that while, yes, we should be constantly working on our spiritual lives (and in my opinion, relationship with God), some of us are too sick to really do on all out waging of war against the negative junk until we are more capable of doing so. I am speaking for myself, of course, but I don't feel as though I will be capable of this until I am much more well, physically, which I can, hopefully, immediately improve with diet. As I am getting more and more well, I can see myself having the strength to address what needs to be. Seems to me that once feeling better the addressing of these things will take place simultaneously. This is my take.

Thank you so much for offering your help!!

Regarding your comment about fermentation in my body. What do you mean? How so? Just learning.

Because of my particular health issues as well as my very strong sweets addiction, I am beginnng to wonder if I should do a no fruit, mostly veggie diet to start out with, which would include juicing and smoothies. How long for, I'm not sure, but eventually when healing comes, begin adding more and more fruit. What do you think of this??

Mindy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2013 08:42PM by mindy66.

RAWLION Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I DO believe raw is all we need and as such I feel
> the secret to your nutrition is in juice AND green
> smoothies !!! I lost 225 pounds using green
> smoothies as my detox reset meal. We don't get
> enough of the nutrients out of greens by chewing
> them, we get so much more if we use a vita mix!
> All you need is fruit greens and water. You can
> use random supplemnts here too, like raw protein
> powder or hemp seeds, or a tiny bit of flax seeds
> or flax oil. spirulina in small amounts. If you
> want to detox fast and hard, which will get you to
> your results faster......then use very little fat
> if any. On days when i ate no fat I was losing
> 1-2 pounds PER DAY!!! If i ate a handful of
> almonds i lost nothing that day. so be cautious
> of fat in your detoxing phase. after a few weeks
> of eating extremely alkalyzing foods you will be
> able to start reducing your meds to zero slowly.

Wow that is amazing and I keep forgetting about how fats can mess up our system during the detox phase. I keep eating the nuts and I think that is what is holding me from losing the weight.

Thanks for the insight.

The yeast smell is just congestion coming out. Your body is full of that mucus! You will have some yeast flare ups as you transition. Don't worry about it too much. I wouldn't do a no fruit diet as its not very sustainable over the long term, in fact some areas of the body wont heal well unless you include fruits.

Maybe kinda icky, but I am surprised that my elimination is not alot more than it is. Little bit, couple times a day, but never complete. Today even less for some reason. Also not as hungry today.

Mindy

Mindy,

Eating fruit is not the same as eating sweets, say like candy or cake or pie. Most sweets are laden with refined sugars, refined fats, refined grains (flour), etc. Fruit on the other hand is loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytonutrients, antioxidants, etc.

If you do choose to eat fruit, make sure the fruit is ripe and tasty, as unripe fruit is acidifying and can play havoc on your teeth.

If you are smelling yeast coming out of your body, this is because yeast is probably growing in you, and that process is called fermentation. It could be in your digestive system, or in your blood, or even on your skin. This is often cause by too much sugar in the blood, but the reason most people have too much blood sugar is because they are consuming high amounts of fat, which slows down the movement of sugars to the cell, congesting the bloodstream with sugar. Eat less fat (say 20% or less of your caloric intake), and perhaps while you are symptomatic with yeast growth, eat no fat until the symptoms subside.

If you are concerned about your elimination, try eating an entire head of romaine lettuce every night for a week or so, and see how your elimination works during this time.

You have to train your digetive system to a new diet. A veg-fruit diet is high volume - low calorie. But it does not work right away. It may take months of changes and adjustments and recovery. A high volume of fruit and vegs helps to retrain your GI track. With a healthier lifestyle, sometimes your liver will also release pockets of trapped old-ancient bile that smells bad (sulfur). A high volume diet helps push everything out fast instead of reabsorving the stuff. If you come from a SAD diet then it is worthy to pass through the hoops.

mindy,

Mostly greens in an initial phase should be fine, but be sure to eat complex starchy carbs, as Prana advises, in the other part of the day in sufficient amounts to maintain glucose.

Ok, so here is my most important question yet:

What, EXACTLY, would you eat each day if you were me, considering all of my issues, and how much?

Today is my 5th day raw. Oh and by the way, I never mentioned that I completely eliminated coffee. I do miss it. I used to put organic blue agave in it but along with that would add 3 heaping teaspoons of icky non-dairy creamer powder.

Though I don't quite have a migraine (have had one every other day of Raw, even before starting), I feel worse today than I have any other of these 5 days. I feel this constant nausea (tolerable, but not enjoyable), fatigue, shakiness, poor concentration/cloudy head.

Thank you Prana for the advice about the lettuce. I am going to Farmer's Mkt tomorrow morning so will buy a whole bunch of lettuce from the Organic folks. If they don't have Romaine, are there some others that might work just as well or close to as well?

Last question. Sorry for soooo many questions constantly, but I simply don't know what I'm doing yet.

Do any of you have a food combining chart that would help me know when to eat what and how long to wait after having consumed certain foods before eating others?

Hope you guys are not gettin sick of my questions. Your support is very important to me right now!!

Thanks so much once again,

Mindy

Here's an online copy of Food Combining Made Easy by Herbert Shelton.

Its hard for anyone to know EXACTLY what you should be eating, as your body is not in exactly the same state as anyone else here on the forum. Also, the food choices have to work for you, that is, you have to sufficiently enjoy the foods eaten so that you are satisfied and yet you are getting excellent nutrition. Eat lots of salad, lots of fruit, and if you still need more, take some steamed vegetables.

Learn about mono-eating, learn about food combining, get your digestion to be powerful yet not taking a lot of your energy. Properly food combining alone might give you extra energy that you save because digestion takes less energy, that you might get some accelerated healing.

I like romaine because its somewhat crunchy, not too bitter, and provides good roughage without lots of calories. But a whole head of organic iceberg lettuce is also good. The softer smaller lettuces, say like arugula or spring mix, are excellent for their nutritional value, but they don't provide the same like of colon cleansing action that a head of romaine would, because they are softer and have less fiber.

Thanks Prana!

Gonna go and ck out the food combining info right now.

So, regarding the lettuce, it just pretty much needs to be water dense?

Thanks much.

Mindy

You welcome Mindy. With the lettuce, more volume is better for the cleansing action. So a big leaf Green Leaf lettuce or Red Leaf lettuce, would be better than the micro greens or baby lettuces. Butter leaf seems like it would be too soft. But do the best you can with what is available. Try to eat 1 to 2 pounds, the more the better.

Here's a healthy raw salad dressing I like:

1 orange
2 ribs celery
small red bell pepper
handful of cilantro
2 tbsp of nuts or seeds (I like hemp seeds)

Blend.

Awesome! I totally need some dressing recipes.

Do you strictly follow Herbert Shelton's food combining principles? I'm thinking about printing out a chart that I found that was made according to his principles.

Thanks.

Mindy

I do the best I can, but please don't get overly controlling about the food combining. These are excellent guidelines, and following them will reduce gas and digestive distress, but sometimes you just gotta play

Ok. Glad you said that because I can get perfectionistic for sure.

Here's the chart that I found:

[www.google.com]

Sound about right to you?

Thx

Mindy

Do you guys think that Raw Organic KimChi would be good for me to include???

Was just thinking while cabbage is still in season, would be a good time to buy up a bunch next week at Farmer's Mkt and then come home and make a ton (since it's only in season for a few short months).

Have never ever made it before. Have never canned before either.

If it would be beneficial for me to add to my diet, how much per day would you suggest?

And, also...to anyone who has made Kim Chi; After it's done with fermentation process, how long is too long to keep it in frig and enjoy it? I know that it's still safe forever, however, wondering about flavor. Would love it if we could make enough to last us until next fall. But if eating it 6 or 8 months later is gonna be yucky, don't wanna do it. Any advice from personal experience here??

Here's a recipe/info that I found to be helpful if you, too, are interested:

[www.traditionaltx.us]

Mindy

mindy,

I don't like the amount of salt used in traditional kimchi. Here is my saltless recipe that relies on store bought probiotics rather than salt to ensure the food doesn't spoil. The cabbage I used in the recipe below are standard green cabbage, rather than the traditional napa cabbage. The microbes are a liquid microbe based on syntropic antioxidant microorganisms.

Quote

I wrote about how I make salt free kimchi/kraut in this post: Re: I need help with cultured/probiotic foods.

More recently I've been using mostly a 2 gallon fermentation bucket. They cost about $5, and an airlock costs about $2. Here is my recipe for making about a gallon of kimchi in a 2 gallon bucket:

Large Batch Kimchi (1 Gallon or more)

2 large cabbage heads
4 carrots
2 red bell peppers
1/4 c paprika
1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
3 tbsp ginger
3/8 c microbes

Save 3-4 large cabbage leaves. Save 1/4 cabbage for juicing. Grate cabbage with thin slicer in food processor, shred carrots and bell peppers. Juice 1/4 cabbage, garlic and ginger, mix in paprika, chili pepper flakes. Mix all together and ferment for 3 days or more, depending on temperature, until done.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2013 01:10AM by Prana.

And where in the world can I buy microbes? That's way out of my league.

Oh and I've been told and have read that because I am hypothyroid, I should not consume cruciferous veggies. Do you concur or do you disagree? It sure wipes out a ton of goodies for me.

Thanks!

Mindy

mindy66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And where in the world can I buy microbes? That's
> way out of my league.
>
> Oh and I've been told and have read that because I
> am hypothyroid, I should not consume cruciferous
> veggies. Do you concur or do you disagree? It sure
> wipes out a ton of goodies for me.
>
> Thanks!

You should watch with the raw cruciferous intake as they are considered goitrogenic. There are many plant foods which are goitrogenic in there raw form, goitrogens interfere with the thyroids ability to uptake iodine, which could be a potential issue for you with having hypothyroidism.

Cooking/Steaming for as little as 10 minutes, inactivates most of the goitrogenic substances.

[www.natuhealth.co.uk]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2013 11:27AM by powerlifer.

Poo!! That eliminates so much!
Makes me sad.

Mindy

mindy66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Poo!! That eliminates so much!
> Makes me sad.

Just lightly steam them Mindy you will still get all the benefits that these amazing cruciferous vegetables have to offer. The nutrient loss is really negligible in my opinion and not worth worrying over.

Raw broccoli is disgusting anyway, there are some foods i believe are natural to be lightly cooked such as the dark green vegetables. Maybe the goitrogenic substances is a natural indicator that these foods aren't meant to be consumed raw in large amounts.

[www.natuhealth.co.uk]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2013 05:41PM by powerlifer.

Try things that make your food realistic. For example, if you need calories, you could try raw corn or sweet peas in salads as a boost. Mixing non-raw things in salads (with lettuce) is the best way to eat them. See how different foods make you feel. They are different for different people. For example, I cannot eat brocoly because it just drugs me up and I feel sedated, even if steamed. This happens only when your body changes. Before I was raw I could eat all the brocoly I wanted. So, your body matters on how food makes you feel.

You can use non raw food like rice, potatoes, etc as a supplement. It is the second best option. Don't use spices and never ever cook using other method than boiling/steaming.

Thyroid problems can be caused by your inmune system attacking the thyroid gland (maybe because of drugs), which in turn can cause many problems (hair falling, etc). Plan how to improve your inmune system. Many mind separated things are in reality interalated.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2013 07:10PM by Panchito.

Thanks Powerlifer and Panchito!

I agree with you, Panchito, about things being interrelated. I've no doubt. You said that I should plan how to improve my immune system. I thought that going raw would do just that. No? Are you suggesting that there is more I should do, perhaps? If so, what do you suggest?

Thanks!

Mindy

Try things that improve the lymphatic system, like for example massages or exercise. Fruits have plenty of vitamins like C. Improve your GI flora because bacteria produces B vitamins. Some minerals like Zinc and Iodine are really good (from supplements). Sleep and let your body recover. It may take over a year time wise.

We shouldn't need to rely on supplements though for essential nutrients such as Zinc and Iodine. Unless to correct severe deficiencies.

There are more than enough reliable food sources for the above nutrients, albeit many not vegan. However sea vegetables are an excellent plant source of iodine and other trace/ultra-trace elements. Although sea vegetables also tend to be typically low in Zinc.

The problem isn't necessarily that a raw vegan diet is low in Zinc(although it commonly is). The problem lies that a raw vegan diet is so abundant in Copper in relation to Zinc intake, this imbalance can cause many health problems long term.

[www.natuhealth.co.uk]

powerlifer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We shouldn't need to rely on supplements though
> for essential nutrients such as Zinc and Iodine.
> [www.natuhealth.co.uk]

Well, follow your own advice and stop taking all those herbs. Also stop recommending them

Panchito Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> powerlifer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > We shouldn't need to rely on supplements though
> > for essential nutrients such as Zinc and
> Iodine.
> > [www.natuhealth.co.uk]
>
> Well, follow your own advice and stop taking all
> those herbs. Also stop recommending them

I don't rely on herbs or supplements in order to get essential nutrients as my diet is nutritionally complete.

Id have thought it was fairly common sense that we should get essential nutrients such as B12, Zinc & Iodine from wholesome natural food sources rather than relying on synthetic supplements ?. As i said above if people need these supplements to correct deficiencies then i more than understand that, but these nutrients should be obtained via dietary sources first and foremost. Supplements are not an excuse to eat a poor diet void or lacking in these nutrients.

Supplements as the name suggests, are supplement to an already healthy diet. The keyword being healthy here, if your diet doesn't provide these nutrients in adequate amounts then your diet is probably not as healthy as you believe it to be.

[www.natuhealth.co.uk]



Edited 17 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2013 01:43PM by powerlifer.

The thing is that nobody knows what you take or eat. You recommend (and take?) Taurine, special herbs from under rocks, etc, and then you go ahead a criticize any 'non pure' diet under your eyes without remembering your own. It is called 'the pot calling the kettle black'

Panchito Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The thing is that nobody knows what you take or
> eat. You recommend (and take?) Taurine, special
> herbs from under rocks, etc, and then you go ahead
> a criticize any 'non pure' diet under your eyes
> without remembering your own. It is called 'the
> pot calling the kettle black'

If i recommend anything it is in relation to the post discussion and it will have been backed by some science or logic unlike much of what comes from yourself recently Panchito. I certainly don't recommend synthetic supplements all because the diet you promote comes up short. As per usual i recommended a natural food source for obtaining iodine which was sea vegetables.

Its funny that you are getting bent out of shape again, yet you never engage in any debate about the points i raise in my posts. You just throw back strawman attacks on my diet or things ive recommended in the past which are irrelevant to this discussion. Poor show really, especially as i respect you as a member of this forum.

The taurine was recommended as something that may be important to research for a vegan member who was having troubles with sodium regulation. Being that vegans have shown in studies to be low in taurine and taurines importance in salt/water regulation i thought it was a fair shout. But hey im no raw guru, maybe i should have just inserted the generic response of "go low fat 80/10/10 it will cure everything and if not just water fast your way out of it"

[www.natuhealth.co.uk]



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2013 01:59PM by powerlifer.

PL, logic and reason is something people make to justify their opinion after they create it. You can get iodine from seaweeds and Zinc from watermelons

Panchito Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PL, logic and reason is something people make to
> justify their opinion after they create it. You
> can get iodine from seaweeds and Zinc from
> watermelons

Yes so whats the problem here then ?. All my initial post suggested was that we should be looking to get these nutrients from natural dietary sources rather than relying synthetic supplements. You suggested we should get them (from supplements).

I also raised the issue that because a raw vegan diet is so rich in Copper, you cannot possibly get enough Zinc to balance it out on a raw vegan diet, if you are even managing to achieve the RDA at all. Which again is a fair point.

[www.natuhealth.co.uk]



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2013 02:04PM by powerlifer.