Hi out there.

I went raw two years ago (January 2014). I felt great for the first 6 months or so... then after traveling from Hawaii to the mainland East coast and doing some extensive hiking, I became famished in feeling, stability had left my senses...a very hungry girl I was. I continued with primarily a fully raw food diet but I ate sweet potatoes and pumpkins occasionally, sometimes raw or cooked oats.... and then back to all raw at times.

Something I should mention is I went raw to reverse my PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrom)... I went raw to clean out my body and to balance my hormones, to restore my sacred cycle. I know the female cycle is sacred now, because I have been without it so often. I am 27. I have had 3 periods over the last two years. I weigh 135lbs, Ive gained 20 lbs in the last year. I exercise moderately... yoga and running. I'm outside all the time as I work on farms, always have. Stress is a factor, and I do carry to much of that with me.

My boyfriend is also raw and he eats lots of raw meats, fish, and eggs. At times I eat raw eggs and raw fish but not recently. I have been eating yogurt recently, something that I am trying to work back out of my diet. I eat fruit in the morning, salads twice a day, nuts, tahini, pickles sometimes... I wonder if yeast (candida?) is a real possibility?

I do not want to give up my raw food diet, I want to sink into more and more.. I felt great when I first started it (even though I still did not have a cycle regularly)... but I want to balance my hormones and I want to be able to enjoy my body, rather than feel toxic, hazy, and constipated. My memory is affected, my working ability is affected, my everything is affected. I am loosing hope in food all together... I cant eat Khichdi (an auyrvadic healing food) beacause I cant digest cooked food... I cant digest anything... minerals arnt being absorbed.

I went to a naturapathic doctor about 6 months ago.. she told me I could have exhausted adrenals. She told me to eat protein every 3 hours, to start eating some simply cooked vegetables, and she put me on HCL, probiotics, enzymes, and supplements made from various animal's livers, adrenals, and ovaries. She also put me on chaste tree berry, milk thistle, and fermented cod liver oil. I did this for a few months, did a short liver cleanse and had a cycle... but I dont think that thats the solution fully, cause now its been 4 months since a cycle and my digestion is so desperately sensitive.

I take chaste tree berry, maca, black cohosh, raspberry leaves, and a few other herbs now. I drink kombucha every few days. I am thinking about getting some water kefier granuals again... I know this is going to take patients... I just dont know what to do any more. It just sucks being this sick when all I want is to be healthy.

Aloha <3 thank you, health blessings

Should I continue with the raw food diet and completely cut out the occasional yogurt or cooked vegetable? Should I cut out nuts all together or just soak or ferment them? I know I should be more conscious of eating slowly and chewing fully... lowering stress... geez the sickness associated with liver and digestive issues does not help anything at all... thanks for any advice

This is one of my posts from another thread regarding digestion...

One of the main things is not to worry about it because emotional stress hinders your digestion.

-Probiotics (kim chi, sauerkraut, high-quality supplements)
-Aloe vera (http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/aloe-vera-juice.html#ingredients)
-Digestive enzymes
-Marshmallow root
-Slippery elm bark
-Betaine hydrochloride (HCL) - You could have low levels of stomach acid - "Quantum Nutrition HCL"
-Ginger
-Apple cider vinegar (1-2 TBS) in the morning w/ purified water
-Squatting while using the restroom instead of the traditional way
-Sufficient hydration and magnesium

"FloraTrex" and "LifeGive Instinct" are high-quality probiotic brands.

longleaf Wrote:
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> Should I continue with the raw food diet and
> completely cut out the occasional yogurt or cooked
> vegetable? Should I cut out nuts all together or
> just soak or ferment them? I know I should be more
> conscious of eating slowly and chewing fully...
> lowering stress... geez the sickness associated
> with liver and digestive issues does not help
> anything at all... thanks for any advice

simplify
eating too many things
why so complicated?

Sounds like a complicated case. If it was me, I'd head for a licensed practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. About naturopaths, over the past generation or so they've gotten more and more like orthodox MDs and the ones I know (or know of) take a hodge podge, all-over-the-lot kind of approach. You need someone who can cure YOU, not your illness. It is not the same thing.

Best to you! - Horsea.

Female Hormonal Balance/Boosting Progesterone:

-Dong Quai
-Shatavari
-Chasteberry
-Suma root
-Royal jelly (DHEA)
-Coconut and omega-3's (healthy fats which support healthy cholesterol, necessary for conversion to progesterone)
-Black cohosh (menopause symptoms)
-Maca
-Licorice root
-Pomegranates
-Vitamin D3

You may have a buildup of excess estrogen, in particular toxic estrogens (xenoestrogens). Add methyl groups and nascent iodine to your regimen. A diet rich in methylators will not only make it easier to detoxify but it will render bad estrogens significantly less active. Rich sources include goji berries, beets, and MSM. Vitamins B6, B9, and B12 are methylators as well.

The next step is implementing foods that have the ability to remove bad estrogens from the body. One of the best foods for this is cruciferous vegetables because they are a rich source of indole-3-carbinol which is not only a powerful anti-cancer phytochemical but also a powerful bad estrogen remover. They also contain DIM which essentially teaches your cellular mechanics how to identify a toxic estrogen versus a natural estrogen and detoxify it from the body, and calcium D-glucarate (a fiber) which helps to draw bad estrogen out of your system by binding to it and preventing its reabsorption. Berries are another source of calcium D-glucarate.

Check out this product: [www.longevitywarehouse.com]

you're diagnosing excess estrogen and then prescribing a program over the internet? are you nuts?

thanks to everyone for such great advice

Hey longleaf,

Do you still have PCOS?

In other words, when you say that “I know the female cycle is sacred now, because I have been without it so often," what do you mean?

Are you still NOT ovulating or are you now ovulating, but not menstruating or are you not both?

There is a BIG difference and healthy women do NOT menstruate, so to speak, but they still ovulate! In contrast, unhealthy women who do not ovulate, mainly because their body fat % dropped below 12% or they have PCOS, will also not menstruate, as in hemorrhaging, and NOT ovulating is obviously NOT healthy.

As long as you are still ovulating, there is nothing to be concerned about and remember, the sicker the plant the quicker to seed just like the sicker the little girl the quicker she will bleed!

As far as your constipation issue, 87% of the Protein in Dairy is Casein and Cow's Milk has 3 times as much Casein as does Human's Milk and most importantly, Casein is the main ingredient they use to make glue!

So the first place I would start is cut out the yogurt!

The next thing we have to consider is - when are you eating those Nuts? Whenever I eat Nuts throughout the day, as opposed to the last thing I eat for the day, it slows everything down and nothing comes out like it should.

So the next thing I would try, if it applies, is to only Eat Nuts as the last thing you eat for the day.

And finally, you have to consider that you might have some "Old Stuff" in your pipes that are keeping your system from operating efficiently, so I would STRONGLY encourage you to take a Solid Food Vacation for a short period of time and there's a real good chance that you'll still be eliminating several weeks down the road. If you drink a Gallon of Vegetable Juice every day and are still having BMs 1 week later and 2 weeks later, which I'm willing to bet you will, then you need to seriously evaluate what you're eating to make sure that if it's going in, it better be coming out.

In fact, the reason why you probably had PCOS in the first place was because you probably had too much "Old Stuff" in your pipes. Indeed, there is a very good reason why women are plagued with problems in this region, as well as men having problems with their prostrate, because all of these organs are right next door to our colon and urinary bladder.

This is what Dr. Norman Walker writes in his book “Colon Health”:

"In discussing the physical appearance of the uterus, we find that it is a single, thick-walled, muscular, hollow organ, which is more or less pear-shaped. The urinary bladder is in front of it and the rectum and sigmoid flexure of the descending colon are behind it.

Now examine the two pictures of the colon, the illustration of the normal colon and the one showing the colon filled with corruption and waste impactions. Imagine the rectum and the sigmoid flexure bloated with solid fecal matter behind the uterus, and the urinary bladder filled to capacity because time has not been taken to empty it. The uterus is squeezed between these two bloated organs! Is it surprising that there are so many instances of a prolapsed uterus? It would be indeed very surprising if something more serious does not happen -- cancer, perhaps?" p. 99

So it looks like it’s a good time to take a Solid Food Vacation and I've uploaded a Video on YouTube of a Seminar I gave that will tell you everything you need to know to give your body the Vacation that it has literally been dying for. Interestingly, everyone I coach always tells me after this Solid Food Vacation that they are more in tune with their body than ever before and since you are having problems in this area, you will finally be in a position to make some sense out of all of this.

Here is a link to my Seminar and please keep us posted on your results...

Juice Feasting with John Rose in Houston 12-9-09

By the way, if you have never done this before, you are in for a TREAT!!!

Peace and Love..........John

JR stated,

There is a BIG difference and healthy women do NOT menstruate, so to speak, but they still ovulate!

The very old, far Eastern understanding (that I read about some time ago) of menstruation is that it is a good thing, its purpose being to remove any excess mineral (iron, probably) that would over time cause women to become too masculine in their character and behavior (and thus become unattractive to men).

Indeed, have a look at women who eat lots of red meat.

Yes, it is true that if women menstruate excessively, that causes anemia. However, old Chinese Medicine has a different (and better) understanding of these things, and they don't just stuff iron pills into you. Sometimes it is indicated, but it isn't necessarily the best way to go in all cases. Everyone is unique in their pattern of disharmony.

Hope this can add some light to the discussion and not just heat. Thanks.

Wow, wish I had more time and knowledge to help you. First off you are not a RAW VEGAN and that is what this site is about! You should never use RAM ANIMAL PRODUCTS especially if you are having health issues already. First off you need desperately to get your bowels moving and stop wasting money on that wacko holistic doctor you are seeing. Your bowel issues are a big part of the problem, and at least a good place to start, get them moving somehow. There are many ways to do this easily. Number one would be to do an enima and if possible a wheatgrass implant after. Or you can do wheatgrass implants twice a day to help all your issues. Listen to John Rose he knows a lot about all this. Do you have yeast? I would say 100% and most likely parasites also. This is why we don't eat RAM animal products. Yeast is a really big issue that most on this site dismiss. Many carry this infection systemically and don't even know it. And an M.D. is almost completely ignorant on the subject. Generally if you have a bad enough yeast infection for blood work to detect it will be visible already to the eye! Doctors also do not test for common parasites which will cause constipation and all kinds of hormonal issues as will yeast/fungus. You need to find a wheatgrass source right away, but I would do an enima on your day off just to get things moving. Then refrain from eating ANY fruit or raw animal products, only cooked. You should also be having wheatgrass orally if you can afford it, as should all whom are transitioning to all RAW VEGAN! Don't try to be all raw vegan if you don't know what you are doing, keep eating some cooked meat but in small amounts. Soaked nuts and seeds are awesome for fat, just take it easy on them if it makes you more plugged up.

Take magnesium to the maximum if needed. This one is good, it is not of the highest quality because it is for keeping the bowels moving and not so much for absorption.
[www.amazon.com]

Also, really simple, get a coffee grinder and some fresh Organic Flax seeds and grind them. Take a heaping Tbsp of these every morining, sometimes this will produce a bowel movement shortly after ingesting.

Thanks again, I have been wanting to do a juice fast for the last 5 months, I havn't been able to maintain the discipline for longer than a day though, it seems my life has been hard to balance since July... in the past I have done a few 4 day juice fast or watermelon fast and I know the benefit is what I am looking for. Thankyou for the encouragement.

I think I will do a series of enemas while juice fast next week.

Norman Walker's words and his books played as a guid to my emersion into raw food. I have been wondering why I don't hear many raw foodies taking about him... he writes so well I think.

I had constipation problem for years and was able to solve it but I could not single out a single remedy to the problem.
Life really begin in the digestive system and when it is not working properly the entire body is in disconnected state.
There is not a single remedy they are many.

1.The diet (the diet should be raw with high water content foods)
2.The sleep and proper rest.
3.The gym oh yes the gym so many hours per week into intensive group exercise, jumping, running, weight lifting. (This will force the various parts of the body to start coordinating and working together again especially the digestive system)
4.Probiotics. I prefer to make my own with cultured cabbage, fermented veggies and seeds.
5. Fasting. Intermittent fasting I prefer. Let the digestive system rest periodically

I could not say which one helped the most but they all worked together.

@ RawPracticalist I agree, it is a personal thing...and needs to be worked with. But to get a quick handle on it enema's should be done!

@longleaf
Norman Walker, I don't know anything about this guy though heard of him. I don't waste my time with the Posers, Brian Clement is a realist, backs up every thing he says and lives it!
I have been following all these health guru's for 20plus years and have seen none like B.C. Watch all the youtube vids you can and get on board with the weekly Webinar at there website.

Forget about fruit juices you are making yourself worse. The sad thing is it is hard to juice properly!!! Juices should have fatty acids in them along with protein from sprouts, and the more the better! This is very difficult for most so we really need to use wheatgrass and if possible algae's.

Superjuice Wrote:
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" I don't waste my time
with the Posers" ...


If you can't call a man who has only diploma mill creds and calls himself a PhD to gain credibility with his marks a Poser who can you call one?


"Brian Clement is a realist, backs up every thing he says and lives it!"


Really? You must know a lot more than we do to say that.

What did you see in his shopping cart at the grocery store? You forgot to mention the little details of your spottings.

I have never experienced this in my life. Even when I was a cooked food eater I always drank bottled juices. I never ever had a hard time @#$%&. I am sorry you all go through this.

I have seen hemorrhoids. AWFUL, its like a giant flesh rose @#$%& out of your bum!

DRINK JUICES GUYS

BANANA Date SMOOTHIES ANYONE?