Hi,

I am new to the whole concept of Raw Foods, and I wanted to ask if something that I am going through is normal.

Basically, back around the middle of June I was eating lots of fruits and veggies, some lightly sauteed in the evening, with a piece of fish or meat.

Then I heard about raw foods, and cut out the meat and anything else that was not raw. I was having juice, smoothies, and big salads for dinner.

I went about 11 days like this (9-11, as some days in the beginning I had a few things that might not be raw). I did not really get any detox symptoms, save for a day or two when I was really tired. I was actually surprised that I was not getting symptoms.

Then I got scared of the whole lack of protein thing, because raw foodists seemed to be eating so much more than me to get protein. I looked at their daily portions and knew I could not sustain that long-term financially.

So I ate some meat that someone had cooked in a skillet, in butter, on a high setting. Not even organic meat. I also ate two tins of sardines, and even made a smoothie loaded with protein powder. This was about 6 pm.

I felt ok, but then the next day, around noon, I made a juice. The more I drank the juice, the sicker I started to feel (I had drank this juice for two weeks before, no problem). Then I had a smoothie around 2 or 3 pm, and everything went haywire. The smoothie was fruits and veggies, like I normally do, but I felt so sick to the stomach and even had that vomit taste. I was fighting off urges to vomit at times. (Someone else had the same juice and smoothie as me, drinking from the same batch, and did not get sick.)

But none of this started until at least 17 hours after eating meat.

I was able to eat a salad for dinner, but when someone gave me steamed fish, I got through a few bites, but finally had to spit the last bite out. The salad I ate ok though.

By about 9 pm I could barely drag myself to bed, my stomach felt so sick. I felt like I wanted to vomit, and by about midnight or 1 am I was having diarrhea and was in total misery.

The next morning I was not in so much misery, but I was afraid to juice. I felt too sick to juice, or do much of anything. I drank a little water with lemon, and that evening I ate some rotisserie chicken with a salad. I felt ok, but then...

This morning I had two eggs, made juice again, and felt sick after drinking the juice! Not as bad as the other day, but all day I have felt slightly sick to the stomach.

When I was eating all raw foods, none of this was happening. I was not even getting detox symptoms really.

But now I keep getting sick! Is this normal? I was wondering if it could have something to do with eating mostly raw and then eating meat or fish or eggs here and there? But I know someone who eats 85% raw and then eats a LOT of raw meat (like 90 grams a day) and says she feels great.

Is this normal? Anyone have any thoughts? I want to try to be as raw as I can, but this being sick is strange because I am eating meat here and there so I am not on a total detox.

Thanks!

P.S. The juice that I have gotten sick after drinking is:

cucumber, celery, one large lemon, two apples, ginger, a little habanero, tumeric root, carrots, parsley, cilantro, watermelon. I drink 4 cups and share the other 4 with someone else.

The smoothie I usually have is: one cup spring water, one cup coconut water, a banana, an apple, a large handful of mixed greens, broccoli, strawberries, blueberries, cherries and sometimes a little bit of nuts and seeds and sometimes some protein powder. I have done this smoothie a lot and never really had problems.I even used to put more in it, like yogurt and eggs and more powders way back last year, but have taken out those things.

Thank you for any help. :-)

Sounds to me like you got some kind of food poisoning that just coincidentally began around when you ate the meat for the first time again. It's rare, but bacteria that can make you ill CAN grow in fruits and veg too. There is no way a couple weeks of not eating meat is going to alter your body chemistry THAT much. People who are long-time (years and years) vegans and vegetarians are the only ones who experience that kind of reaction to meat (and even then, some may not).

Being that 100% raw is so expensive, have you considered "raw until 4" (2 raw meals a day, one cooked)? I would strongly urge you not to go back to meat though, it just isn't healthy, environmentally friendly or ethical. (Cooked) vegan protein sources (if that concerns you) are very, very cheap compared to meat. Also, not sure your gender/healthy weight, but I found that the "suggested" amounts of raw foods were just WAY too much for me! I cut my portion sizes down to more reasonable sizes and my caloric intake back to what it was before I went raw after I started gaining weight. I still at WAY more volume than when I was a vegetarian, but not nearly as much as some of those people you see on youtube. I still hit over 90% of my RDA of vitamins/minerals everyday too (according to cronometer). Those portions you see are ridiculous, and unless your a body builder or endurance athlete or something, you probably do not NEED that much food.

Samantha wrote:

So I ate some meat that someone had cooked in a skillet, in butter, on a high setting. Not even organic meat. I also ate two tins of sardines, and even made a smoothie loaded with protein powder. This was about 6 pm.

Tai:
You got sick and wonder why. That is too much protein for most people. The tin itself is toxic. Cooking in a skillet is also toxic.

you wrote:
But I know someone who eats 85% raw and then eats a LOT of raw meat (like 90 grams a day) and says she feels great.

Tai:
That is too much protein. When people say they feel great, this is not to be relied on. I once treated a man who was eating that much protein. HE came to me for an achilles tendon tear that actually was caused by the antibiotic cipro, which I figured out by dissecting everything he was eating, drinking and doing. He was given that antibiotic for a recurring bladder infection. I tried to convince him that perhaps he didn't have an infection...that he was just suffering from too much protein intake (it might have been around 90 like your friend). He said that he felt GREAT on his diet. I said, please stop that protein and then see how you feel...see if that "infection" clears up. After that, my focus was just helping his torn tendon, but the point is that when people say that they feel great...they may be ignoring other symptoms.

Also, my one friend was once a body builder and he was just in his early 20s. He was eating protein 3 times a day...protein shakes and chicken daily , etc. High protein diet. THen one day his kidneys stopped working and he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He went on a radical natural healing program that was all vegan with a ton of herbs and detoxing. He was actually on juices for 7 months. His liver cancer finally healed. He has never touched meat again.

Of all the diet teachers, I would recommend one person to you: T. Colin Campbell. He said meat does not cause cancer, but once cancer is initiated, high animal protein intakes cause the tumors to grow. Please read his book and watch his videos.

Lastly, there are plenty of raw vegan protein powders that don't have the tumor growth factor: brazil nut, hemp, rice, pea, sesame, etc.

Regarding raw meat...that is so dangerous. Look up the infections and deaths related to that. Look up the crazy parasites that live in people's bodies from raw meat. I knew a raw vegan lady that thought to feel better, she should eat more protein, so she started eating sushi. One day she ate a lot of raw salmon and got a horrible pinworm infection that would just not go away.

When people say they feel great on raw meat...take that with a grain of salt.

Also realize that when people come off of meat, they are not just transitioning to different kinds of protein, but also they are no longer getting the extra hormones and cholesterol (and added growth hormones and drugs), etc. So, they might feel a drop in energy, as their body has to adjust to no longer having those extra hormones. Some people who quit animal foods, describe leaving that hormone "hell". Like my one male friend that had a breast tumor from eating too much dairy with all the estrogen.

Thank you both for the replies. I really appreciate it. :-) I was concerned that I might get attacked by someone with a Pharisaical mindset - you know, the whole: "I know what I am doing, why don't YOU know what YOU are doing? How annoying!" So thank you both for your kindness. :-)

I will look up the author that Tai mentioned, and continue to learn what I can. Thanks again! I appreciate it.

In my opinion, it was because of the animal products you ate, especially since you were mixing them up, like eating raw fruits/veggies before/after eating the animal products.

I'd suggest going back to a vegan diet, high raw or even totally raw if possible for you, and stay away from animal products (cooked or raw, both forms are terrible for your health).

Give it time and you'll feel better and better. Allow your body to adapt to the raw vegan diet and in time you'll start experiencing detox symptoms, especially after eating all those animal products.

In fact, the sickness you felt after eating them was actually the beginning of detoxing, as the body tried to get rid of those toxins as soon as possible.

Learn to listen to your body, those bad reactions happened for a reason, they must tell you something.

I'm on a fully raw vegan diet and I still have detox symptoms from time to time even now, there is always something to detox from, if not food, then toxins in the air, etc.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.