i am a breastfeeding mom with chronic fatigue and other conditions concerned about the health of self my 15 month old son and my meat loving husband.I do eat raw often but iwould like to do it always. i do not like eating meat (it kills me morally) however i find myself with more fatigue when i go veg, even with eating balanced and vitamins,beans,etc. any advice is appreciated. thank you

I would start slow, little by little, Maybe a raw meal once a day and each week or every two weeks add more and more and replace meals with healthier raw options and maybe you can transition easy

The first thing you have to do is be honest with yourself. If it really bothered you, you would find it impossible to actually eat.

Pikt,

That fatigue is not a bad thing. Often it happens when people stop eating the bad stuff that was stimulating them and masking the underlying fatigue. It can also be due to the body throwing off the old poisons. The best thing for you would be to rest or sleep when you're tired. Once you get through the fatigue and caught up on the 'sleep debt', you'll feel like a new person.

It will take faith, determination and persistence. What would you need to create that in yourself? Do you lack conviction of the health benefits of changing your diet? If so, you might do better with the guidance of a coach or doctor. One good resource is Dr. Fuhrman (drfuhrman.com), an MD and naturopath who has had great success with CFS and other chronic diseases. He recommends mostly, not completely, raw, but he's had great results.

pikt,

The reason the meat gives you more energy is because the meat is a stimulant. And like all stimulants, it takes more than it gives. So you might get a boost of energy by eating meat, but it will take more time to eventually recover from your chronic fatigue because is body is getting further poisoned each time you eat it, and the energy that you expend from the stimulation of the meat is energy that isn't being spent on your healing.

On the other hand, when you are experiencing weakness when you don't eat meat, your body is actually healing itself, and reducing its toxicity and shrinking the length of recovery for the chronic fatigue. The most healing happens when we are on in a horizontal position, during our sleep.

What I did when I had my bout of chronic fatigue was to sleep like crazy. I took time off from work, and I sleep 16-18 hours a day, every day. Over time, my desire to sleep this shrank to a point where after 4 months of this, I could wake up without an alarm clock with only 9 hours of sleep.

But before I could sleep, I needed to remove all stimulants from my diet and lifestyle. This means eating only fresh raw ripe organic whole fruits and vegetables. It also means not eating condiments and spices, as these are also stimulants.

is this moral enough for you??? i find myself having to choose between being VERY FATIGUED but able to take care of my son if i eat maet sometimes(although i would rather not) or being extremely fatigued irritable and unable to find the energy to take care of my son(only 15 months old by the way) and not eat any meat. if you know of any supplements or foods that would be a good replacement maybe,then by all means share. but please do not attack the morals of a mom who wants to be there for her baby and wants more than anything to harm nothing in the process.

above message is in reply to arugula

Dear Pikt,

As a former rabid carnivore who was eating some version of the bodybuilding diet, I'll share with you my experience how I solved my meat cravings (they actually left surprisingly quickly) --- Lots & lots of greens, including E3Live Blue Green algae really worked - I'd go to the gym, get a cheeseburger craving, then solve it with a shot of E3 Live. So I know that's one thing that works. Greens have minerals & protein.

Also adding onions & spices to things for that "hearty flavor". Nut pates, avocado. You don't want to eat alot of fat for too long a period, just until your cravings go away, but it can certainly be very helpful in the beginning.

Good luck!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/26/2006 05:30PM by sunshine79.

thank you.i'll go to People's Co-op today and check that out.

Hello
Check out Dr Fuhrman..very very useful. I think the addy is www.drfurhman.com

I think you are probably experiencing a calorie deficit rather than a protein deficit. The only way to know for sure that you have a protein deficit is to get your nitrogen balance tested. This involves a lot of icky stuff such as having your excrement weighed.

But there is no need to act indignant about your corpse eating (especially not on a VEGAN forum): you have *a lot* of homework to do regarding what plant foods have to offer, nutrition-wise. Use the search tool at nutritiondata.com to make sure you get enough protein (0.8 g/kg is the RDA), kcals, vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids. You will need to supplement for B12 and possibly D2 but the rest you can get from food, provided you make prudent choices.

I don't have any moral objections to rice or hemp protein powders, they are processed at low temps, but they are not really raw.

My personal recommendation is to share two videos with your family. The first is called The Rave Diet. They advertise alot in VegNews and I've given away many pay-it-forward copies to friends. In fact, I gave a copy to a friend in Canada and put a note in the sleeve with my email address. I asked for anyone that had benefitted from watching the dvd to please send me a note and let me know where they are and how they came by the video. That one dvd has practically travelled the entire length of Canada. You can get more info on it by going to [www.ravediet.com]. This video will wean then off of animal flesh just by it's message. Remember, it's hard for someone that is eating an omnivorous diet to flat out convert to raw. It's easier to convert to vegetarian or vegan and then make the transition to raw. I was a vegan for twenty years before I began the forward journey to raw. If your family is vegan, and not raw, this is better than the SAD journey they are living. It's also easier to introduce raw meals into a vegan household.

Second film I would recommend is called Earthlings. Go to [www.isawearthlings.com]. You can watch a full 7 minute preview. I'm very selfish with my personal copy of this movie because it is nothing short of a masterpiece,although a bit frightening. Still, it is a movie that everyone should watch if we are ever to have peace in the world.

Good luck on your journey of taking your family from SAD to raw.

Peace,

Marcos

Go Vegan for your life, your health, the planet and, most importantly, the animals that we share this wonderful world with!

Mark
thank you for those links!

This is a vegan forum.

jono,

I deleted your message because it contained recommendation of animal products. If yo want to continue posting here, please respect our rules concerning the vegan nature of the board.

I dont know how to answer your question. I have tried my self to introduce some raw to my family and non of them want to give up chicken nuggets, french fries, pizza, meaty lasagna and other delicious meals. Oh well. I guess Ill be raw alone then

yeah, well we can be loners together. maybe both of our fams will not be so into the pizza, chk nuggets,etc. when they can't figure out if their eats are cloned or not.

If you can tolerate the whining and potentally self induced starvation of a protest.... just don't REBUY those things......

It is hard, but i am a stay at home mom with NOTHING but free time to SLave in teh kitchen ( i'm kidding)... to prepare healthy meals....

It is HARD sometimes... but we have never had ALOT of that stuff around....

THAT Being said.. my husband DEMANDS meat (has accepted that only chicken or fish will be served in this house) and cooked pastas as rices.... the kids eat this too.... but to a much lesser degree than him.....

My ONLY suggestion is to keep a HEAVING bowl of fresh and ripe fruits and veggies around and then tell them that if they "choose not to eat what you prepared that they can have something from the fruit bowl" and then enforce it.....

Once the nuggets and pizza are gone ( start telling them in advance you won't be rebuying those items) don't repurchase...... buy a 10 pound bag of rice ( i ONLY use basmati for the fam) and EVERY kind of fruit and veggies.... i bought ONE Of everything today and spent just under 100 bucks...... and that will last 7-10 days for us.....

Please feel free to email me.... as i go through this EVERY DAY for the last 10 yeaers.... tiffany.martinez@us.army.mil

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!

thank you everyone for your support. i am now eating about 50-60%raw and my son also. it really is easier than expected but also takes so much preparation sometimes. for practical reasons i may never be 100% raw but i do feel much better. and so happy for the health of my little family.

pikt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yeah, well we can be loners together. maybe both
> of our fams will not be so into the pizza, chk
> nuggets,etc. when they can't figure out if their
> eats are cloned or not.


LOL