Hi,
my friend got me started eating raw fruits/vegs; 2 out of 3 of every one of my meals is raw fruits/vegs. Now going into my second week, I am beginning to have constant lightheadedness, but the worst is in the latter half of the day, I find it very hard to concentrate...this is bad news, b/c I am a law student, approaching finals very shortly.

So, my friend has told me this is just part of the detox, although she went on this diet completely "cold turkey" so to speak, unlike me. If I were to go 100% raw all the time, could I get this fatigue out of my system for good, and could this happen in a week or two?

Please let me know your experiences with this, and any suggestions. My symptoms only seem to be getting stronger and occuring earlier in the day every day.

Also, if it helps, I've seen one other post somewhat related to this, and to counter the advice on that post:

---I have tried eating different fruits when I get tired in the afternoon, and it doesn't seem to help...if anything, I become even more tired afterwards.

---I am forced to bicycle approx. 6 miles every day to my school, so lack of exercise is probably not the issue either.

how much greens and fat do u eat? Do u drink green juice at all?

I usually feel fatigue if i either eat too much fat, not enough fat, not enough greens, or too many sugarie fruits.

yoga and rebounding raise my energy levels, too.

every body is different. good luck.

eat more... of everything and if you eat nuts.. soak them... make sure you are hydrated

Hi, thanks for the posts...I was beginning to think no one was going to reply.

One thing that might be an issue---I may have started to get heavy on the fruits...infact, if I remember correctly, yesterday's lunch was all fruits...so, all that sugar may have been killing me...

Today, I woke up already tired, but with this fruit-issue in mind, I ate a brekfast of various leafy-vegetables and carrots, and had only one orange. Lunch was more leafiness, and again, only one orange. I am still tired. It may be wishful thinking, but I feel maybe slightly less tired (?)...if I was 80% tired yesterday, today feels more like 75%. Still, I am having a heck of a time really concentrating at the levels I was prior to starting this diet. I would have given up, except for the fact that the first couple of days on this diet was PHENOMENAL...I've never thought so clearly, tiredlessly, and w/o distraction---thus, I really would like to recapture that.

Anyhow, I haven't tried nuts yet. I read somewhere that for the most part, the only vegetables we should eat raw are the leafy variety and celery stalks. This source even said carrots are bad news...and they also said nuts were a "bad food". This is why I was getting really heavy on the fruits---the lack of variety in the vegetables was killing me.

Thanks for the suggestions otherwise. If you have any further thoughts, I could use the help/support/advice right now. Thanks.

In reply to the how much fats/greens reply,

I imagine I am not eating any fat in the raw food diet itself---ofcourse, at night when I eat "normie" foods, I eat everything from pizza to chinese---a nice variety of meat, dairy, and grains.

As you can see from my post a few seconds ago, I had largely stopped eating actual leafy greens for the past few days, which suspiciously coincides with my sudden drop in energy. I picked that back up today, but it is hard to say that I feel a difference...

I don't have a juicer yet, so no juice whatsoever...I've been chugging OJ like its water, and it just dawned on me that the whole pazteurization process probably kills all the enzymes---thus, probably not a "living food"...but no juice...tons of water...almost 2 gallons a day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2007 01:59AM by ihavezippers.

maybe try an avocado? maybe mix it in w some greens even. that usually helps me out w fatigue.

nuts just about always make me feel fatigue. also, eating too much makes me feel fatigue.

also maybe try some green juices. this always gives me energy and elevates my mood. For my body the less it has to work to digest the better I feel and the more energy I have. the body doesn't have to work too hard to digest juices. I read that veggie juices are especially good because the nutrition in veggies are in the juice while the nutrition in fruit is in the pulp. take that for what u will. I forget where I read it from. I think I read it in N.W. Walker's complete guide to salad or man i forget what the book was called, but don't quote me on that cuz I'm not sure exactly where I read it. I don't remember. I just know that if I juice a bunch of greens and drink it right away I feel like I don't even know what to do w my energy. like i have to go running or something.

if it doesn't work don't feel bad. every body is slightly different. good luck.

I think any fruit or veggie you crave should be fine, regardless of what anyone says. It's more important to listen to your own body.

btw I used to get lightheaded from eating too much fruit, when I first went raw. Doesn't happen anymore. I think the key to a successfuul transition may be to eat a very wide variety of all things raw in the beginning, that way you eliminate a lot of cravings by filling your body with an array of nutrients that it wasn't getting before.

Sleepiness is def a part of detox but I'm not sure it should be on a daily basis? My energy levels were varied from day to day anyway.

Good luck!

xo
Sunshine