Hey all

I have decided that I am going to begin a a raw food diet, juice fast and combine it with NCD zeolite to heal my illness.

I am in a rather poor state of health and I want to do everything I can to help heal myself. But I need some motivation as I have tried many things in the past and nothing has REALLY worked. I am also severely underweight and I am not assimilating my nutrients properly. My digestion is very slack.

So what are the benefits of a raw food diet?? (this is a noob question I know)

And does anyone have any success stories to share with me with regards to Raw foods and juicing??

Anyone have any positive experiences with NCD zeolite?

I wish you courage and patience on this diet. For success stories, there are three stories in "Success Stories". You can find them by going to the Success Stories message list on the Forum List.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

Here are some of the benefits of eating raw foods verus cooked foods:

The benefits include:

Raw foods have a higher concentration of vitamins, minerals, fibers, and phyto-nutrients that their cooked counterparts. Almost every study that looks into this finds this to be true, except for perhaps the "tomatoes and lycopene" study. However, raw watermelon has more lycopene than cooked tomatoes. In general, the heating of foods diminishes the vitamin, mineral, fiber, and phytonutrient contents of that food.

Raw foods have fewer toxins in them than cooked foods. This is because cooking introduces toxins into the foods. All foods have some fat in them. Subjecting fats to high temperatures creates carcinogens, including acrolein, butyric acid, nitropyrene, nitrobenzene, and nitrosamines. Subjecting proteins to high temperatures and the protein coagulates, that is, the amino acids fuse together in such a way that the body cannot break them apart. This creates long chain amino acids that the body sees as poisons, and an increase of white blood cells occurs after eating cooked proteins to clean them out of the blood. Subjecting carbohydrates to heat can create the carcinogen acrylamide, a powerful carcinogen.

I know how you feel, I too tried so many things that didn't work. And after trying several different approaches to raw for several years, and going through periods of very ill health and severe weight loss, I have finally started thriving on the hygienic high fruit, low fat approach to raw. If you are really committed to your healing you could do a consultation with a hygienic "healthful living educator". there's a list of them at www.healthfullivingintl.org/bios/index.html

Love,
Uma

There's another thread with experiences of zeolite, which are very positive:

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]

The raw food diet is wonderful.

I think I get it , I had no idea that cooked foods contained so many toxins. Just makes me wonder if I am not suffering with the long term effects of a cooked/processed diet.

Some more noob questions to follow. how exactly do you manage being 100 % raw? DO you not eat vegetables or are they only consumed after being juiced? I guess meat is out of the question but I am very sensitive to nuts and most seeds. What other source of protein can I use?

Uma,

Thanks and glad to hear of your success. It is always inspiring to hear about plans that actually DO work. What do you think your problem was? Could it have been impaired digestion that was corrected by eating fods rich in enzymes?


I am slowly making my transition to raw foods so I want to gather some more information first. but one thing that I want to correct right now, at this very moment is my impaired assimilation of nutrients and digestion.
Would juicing work? Or how about colon cleanses? If I do go through with a colon cleanse then what is the best way to go about doing it?

Sage10,

If you are ill, you might want to consider seeing a naturopathic physician who can advise and monitor your progress. It's fine to come here for inspiration but you'll get a very mixed bag of advice.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman is an MD and naturopath (http://www.drfuhrman.com). I haven't met him have but I've read his books and website and think he's spot on. I like that he's both an MD and naturopath. He doesn't advocate 100% raw, but he's done his research and people get great results. He's got a lot of testimonials of people being cured of supposedly incurable ailments pretty quickly and easily.

His book, "Eat to Live", outlines his diet recommendations and will help you get started in knowing what to eat. But again, if you have trouble digesting, you may need a program more tailored to what you are going through. In any case, Fuhrman seems to be a competent physician to help guide you to health naturally.

Also, it's great that you are here and looking into a more natural diet as a way to health.

Hey greenie,

Thanks for that link. It is just that I have heard some amazing things about juices and the healing power of juice fasts. I don't know how much of it is true and how much is not but it is definitely beneficial at the very least(if done properly).

I read through that thread and in there one poster stated that it is possible to remove an exponential amount of toxic substances from the body by following a 2 week juice fast and using NCD.
Once again, i hope it is true.

Sage10,

I think it's true in lots of cases and if you are moved to try this, it's the best thing for you. You're not going to hurt yourself by drinking juices and going raw or taking NCD.

And also, everyone's different. Some people - most people, really - feel better right away but it can also take time. Sometimes there are uncomfortable detox symptoms. And during that time, it's really helpful to be able to consult with someone competent who has experience and credentials, who has monitored fasts and cleanses and transitions, who knows the terrain. Someone you trust, who can tell you if something weird your body is doing is detox, an allergy to the mango you ate, the plague ;-).

According to Dr. Fuhrman, if you are really run down and have been eating poorly, it's not a good idea to start with a fast. His office advises rebuilding your health with a good diet of lots of fruits and veggies first, he also sells some vitamin and mineral supplements. It's a balance.

Dr. Shulze, who no longer practices but has a website selling herbs, has an incurables program that combines cleansing and rebuilding with massive amounts of juice, herbs, broth, hot and cold water treatments, exercise, and other activities to increase circulation, remove toxins, and rebuild. I interviewed a wonderful lady who cured herself of ovarian cancer that had spread to the breast and bone by following the Incurables Program. It's not for the faint of heart and it's a full time program. But it worked for her. She said it also did wonders for other friends who had kidney disease and other problems.

I have another friend who got hold of Dr. Young's program and fasted and recommended fasting and the Dr. Young products to anyone and everyone. Dr. Young is big on keeping your body alkaline and has a multilevel company. Anyhow, this fellow (my friend) very recklessly in my opinion promoted these supplements and fasting to another friend with diabetes with terrible results. She became very very ill. He also did a bunch of fasting himself and ended up in the hospital for weeks with serious heart problems. It's my personal opinion that the fasting very well may have contributed to that by depleting his potassium. Dr. Shulze has people take a vegetable 'potassium' broth during their long fasts.

Well, I've written enough. Honestly, I'm not an authority on this but I have been a vegetarian and into alternative health since 1968, and raw on and off since 1971. I don't want to discourage you because I believe this is the best thing you can possibly do for your health.

Greenie,

I ahve eeb phoning around to find someone who can supervise a fast for me. I also cam eacross something on the net called FCI which is supposed to be very good for helping people conduct extremely long juice fasts. They also have a vegetable broth which is supposed to help you maintain your levels of sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium but the programme is rather expensive.
And I am not sure whether I am up to it as of yet.

I will try to find someone who can help me for a lesser cost and then I will attempt it.

For me, the really big payoff will be if fasting can thin my blood or if it could increase my haemobglobin count.
That way, the supplements that I am taking will finally be more effective...