Hello all,
I have been so excited at the apparent ease I have had with stage of my experience with living foods. There is one thing which has developed which I never expected. I am starting to have rather strange bowel movements. I sometimes have constipation and loose stools at the same time! I didn't know that was possible. It seems almost as if my bowels are shutting down, like they aren't getting enough power. Also the volume is very low. In my previous experiences with going raw, the volume for bowel movements were usually very, very large.

I am hoping this is temporary. I can handle the low volume part, as it would seem like my body must be making every efficient use of the foods I am eating, leaving very little waste. However, the change in bowel functioning is a little unnerving. I was starting to have a little doubt about what I was doing, but I like most everything else that is happening. So, I thought I would ask and see if anyone knows about this before I change anything. For all I know it could be temporary, or even indicate something positive.

Have you considered a parasite cleanse? Just a thought. I'm sure others will have more ideas.

Karennd,
No, that idea has not come to mind! thats an interesting idea however. How does this differ from simply doing the raw vegan diet? I thought that was cleansing for stuff like that on its own. but, I suppose a more specific program for that might make things resolve faster.
Thank you!

There have been others that have done a parasite cleanse on this board and they have more specifics at curezone.com.

Also, having diarrhea and constipation at the same time can happen with IBS and colitis (not saying you have those) and some think parasites play a factor there. I think parasites can be very hard to get rid of with a raw food diet alone, but that is just my opinion.

My dog had lymphoma and I had her on a raw food diet and she wasn't improving. Then I bought a zapper from www.theultimatezapper.com which is for eliminating parasites and that seemed to turn her around. The vets are amazed but she seems to be healing her cancer. I don't know if it killed parasites or did somethine else for her cancer. Anyway, sorry to ramble. I hope you figure it out!

Whatever you do - DO NOT ignore it if it persists.

Do not take other peoples opinions on your condition either as truth. There are too many other unkown factors that may be involved they are unaware of. Digestive issues are also very individual.

The consequences can be life changing. Don't mean to sound dramatic but stay on top of it. Digestive issues are still a mystery for the most part and the medical community is basically clueless still and the raw food community won't agree on a common ground or approach yet.

Hi Mislu,

Without going into too much detail, are the stools otherwise normal other than being loose? i.e. colour, texture etc?

To ease any discomfort, you could temporarily try psyllium husks for extra fibre to see if it helps- remember to drink lots of water.

It may be worth reading up on liver detoxes/how bile is created, how fibre is necessary for good bowel movements etc. There's a book called the Liver Detox Diet by Xandria(?) Williams. It's definitely not vegan or vegetarian- or raw- but is very pro-raw food like salads and fruits, definitely aimed at SAD eaters- but the science in it is very interesting.


I agree with tanawana's post

Other options are to take some probiotics and/or enzymes supplements.

I definitely wasn't diagnosing you above, mislu, I hope you didn't take it that way. It could be stress, food allergies, etc.

If you don't figure it out soon, maybe you should visit a holistic doctor. Take care.

Thank you everyone. The stools are rather light colored, they smell sort of enzymie, but not bad. Rather soft. My stomach feels a bit quezie this morning, and I don't have much energy.

There is a problem, I don't have medical coverage since I just lost my job, and not a whole lot of money. But its a good suggestion to see someone if it continues.

Hi Mislu,

I am on my 5th month of raw and something very similar was going on with me at the beginning. I would alternate from constipation to very loose stools. My stomach sometimes hurt after eating very light meals because of the constipation. It was very discouraging because I felt excellent in every other way. My experience is that it has slowly become normal on its own. I didn't spend much time transitioning my diet, so I assumed this was the main reason for my discomfort. My digestive system just wanted more time to adjust than what i gave it. I can say that I am getting closer and closer to normal digestion every day (still not 100% yet).

For a while I went onto other websites and got really obsessed with parasites and such. I really ultimately think it was just a sluggish digestion because of the lack of transition.

I hope you feel amazing very soon,
azrael

I agree with Karennd. There could be lots of reasons why you're experiencing this, but my personal experience is that when I have that type of BM it is alleviated by a course of probiotics (I take a bottle of 60 over a week to 10 days, 6-10 per day in two batches). Good luck! I'm personally pretty sanguine about my bathroom habits, but I have a friend who doesn't have a good day unless she has a good BM!

I think azrael and seabucktho are both right. It is highly likely that your digestive system is just adapting to your new diet, but it seems that probiotics would help to speed up the transition by populating your digestive system with more friendly bacteria.

Thats some great suggestions. I might try that. I think maybe its just a transitional thing as well. I had what was a much closer to normal stool today, so maybe its passing. It doesn't feel uncomfortable, its more psychological, like 'what the?"

an easy idea is to make sure you are chewing your food completely!

mislu about 8-9 months ago before iwent totally raw .. i had a month where i swear to godz i felt like id hardly @#$%& at all in relation to the amount of food i was eating and i just couldnt figure it out , i felt the same ..constipated yet runny small amounts.. honestly never did figure out why lol

but i did sit down in a panic and consumed 4 lbs. of carrots (for somereason i figured they would be a good indicator of the exit contents) and sure as sh** sugar those carrots came back right out shortly lickity split and in mass quantitites and ive been fine since from what i can tell ..as far as i could tell everything was working back there lol

i also take a couple probiotics when my digestion seems slow

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2007 08:57PM by Jgunn.

I've started my veganism trip a month ago.
The problem is that at the beginning my stool was solid but for the last 3 weeks it is very soft and non-solid. It seems like it is not integrated to be solid.
Any ideas what are the reasons and how to make it more integrated and solid?

You will get used to it, body is chnaging. Like me, if I were to eat lets say meat, my bowel movemtns would be different, so you see, it's just the change

I agree, it'll just take time to adjust and detox is involved also.

If you want, you can consider taking probiotics and/or enzymes for awhile to help during the transition.

Coconutcream,
Your words are like those of an angel!