Hello, I am new to this site and am in need of advice, tips, and maybe even a little support.. I guess I should give a little background about why I am here, i'll try to keep it short. For most of my life I have been the "sick kid", if anyone was gonna get sick it would be me. I have had my gall bladder taken out, appendix surgery TWICE, and have pain and weakness in my joints and muscles. At 29 years old, I am tired of it. As of most recent I have spent the last three weeks without going to the bathroom, my stomach hurts and I am miserable. My physician said that there isn't an obstruction and that there was really nothing other than harsh laxatives that she could give me. Then she asked if I was willing to change my lifestyle, when I said YES, she said I need start making simple changes to my diet, lifestyle, and bad habits. Although she is an MD, she is very open to naturpathic meds and raw food diets..She suggested colonics, detox, and a new way of eating. So that brings me here...I have no idea where to start of what to do..Number one, I need to be able to go to the bathroom and if there is anyone out there that can inform me of raw foods that would help, I would appreciate it..Any information at this point will be helpful and hopefully this can be a new beginning for me.. Thanks!!!

Hi Jaime, Welcome. The first thing I would recommend is eat lots of seeded watermelon. That will at least give you diarrhea. LOL. Other than that, keep asking questions.

You will want to eat lots of raw fruits and veggies. Eat in season and what is affordable. I don't always buy organic. Don't dehydrate too much as that depletes some of the enzymes. Dehydrated food is good for transitioning and that "special" meal. Replace your regular salt with sea salt. Eat melons by themselves. Eat other sweet fruit in general by itself or at least 15-20 mins before eating greens, sprouted grains, sprouted beans, etc. You can eat dehydrated fruit with nuts. There are ways to prepare food, blend, chop, put in food processor, dehydrated, marinate, sprout, etc. In all of these methods, keep the fruit/veggie raw and the temperature below 110 or 100 degrees F. There are lots of free recipes.

The best way of eating is mono-meals of just one fruit but that can be difficult to do. You will go through detox: physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional. Don't worry if you cannot go cold turkey all at once. Sometimes it takes awhile.

Good luck!

Thank you so much!! I'm gonna get some watermelon on the way home from work..

This may be a silly question as well, but is the peanut butter or almond butter that you can grind in the store, considered raw? I would like to start adding these things into my 3 year old's diet as well..

I would suggest taking the braggs raw organic apple cider vinegar. There's a thread on the 'other health related' forum about apple cider vinegar you might like to read.

For more info you can visit bragg.com They also have a little book you can purchase for info. or look in your library or used book stores.

I take 1 T of the acv in 1 C of water and drink that 3 x a day before a meal. I also soak in a tub of warm water with 1-2 C of acv.

Then start working on eating more fresh fruits, have them in smoothies, have them alone or together.

Cut out junk foods first like chips, candy, sodas, then red meat, and for adults cut out dairy. You can transition your child to a healthier diet as you go along on your own raw food journey.

Don't worry about the small things, like the nut butters being raw..until you are eating a good % of raw foods and feeling like going up a step. There will be many step ups as you go along.

If you are gonna cheat, cheat with real foods, like steamed yams, or baked potatoe with it's skin on, steamed veggies, things like that.

Buy a couple books on raw foods for inspiration and info., visit sites like this one for support and info. Look for other raw food websites too, there are many of them.

Good luck!

Love,
Prism