Hi everyone!

Okay, I know it's winter and I know I am real new to raw foods and should just give it some time for my body to adjust, but lately I've had a really bad case of cold hands and feet. I've heard that acid foods are "warming" and I have drastically reduced my consumption of them. Do I need to eat more of something? I can be bundled up in my house (which is at 68 degrees) with socks and sweaters on and still I am so COLD--10 times as much in my feet! This has only gotten bad since I started on raw foods. Any advice?

This is part of the transitional process. What I did was to wear more warm clothing and keep my place warmer. Over time, as your circulation improves and your body rebuilds itself, this problem will disappear.

In the meantime, practicing yoga will help, as it also enhance circulation with the breath.

when I went raw overnight--it was march in new england. I would fill my nalgene with boiling water and wrap it in a towel to sleep with near my feet. BIG HELP. Now my hands and feet are fine...though I do get the chills a little after bigger meals.

measure twice, cut once.

"In Watermelon Sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar." ~r.brautigan

I make paintings

Yes. Bryan is correct...and Shaine's advice is great. More activity will allow better circulation into the extremeties.....but you won't exactly be able to EAT your way into health. You gain health through the act of simpler eating. It's more about what you are NOT eating - along with more efficient elimination. As Bryan often says.....simplifying so that the body can devote it's energy towards healing....which is precisely what your body is doing now.

-Just my speculation.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I know how painful being that cold can be, you just can't move, nor do you want to if it's anything close to how I feel when that cold.

You might try adding seaveggies into your daily diet, even powered kelp into a smoothie may help. Place some seaweed into a hot bath, and soak until warmed, dress comfortably, and eat some fruits afterwards. Eat plenty of fruits, eat enough veggies, eat enough calories so that you can feel yourself getting warmer about 20 minutes after eating.

If you have stopped eating any salt, then you have cut out a source for Iodine, and that can make you metabolism slow down, so you want to replace that source of Iodine for another such as the kelp, seaweeds etc.

Try taking your temperature thru out the day, when you feel really cold, read what your internal temp. is, then if it's really low, eat something and retake it an hour later to see if it's gone up. You will soon find a pattern to your body's internal temp. and what is comfortable for you, how much foods it takes to sustain that and even of course activity helps with circulation, but it also burns calories, so make sure to increase food intake after those sessions.

Love,
Prism

I am very cold also. having a thyroid prolem contributes to the issue. I have my oven fully balsting on myself and its not helping (actually, it dehydrates me and even almost burns my skin, but inside I am still cold!).

My acupuncturist told me that this is actually a symptom of internal overheating (paradocxically!!), and that cooling foods (such as amany raw items) are helpful.

I drink a lot of tea, which helps. And I have found flannel wristwarmers at WHole Foods, that really help. Keep your feet warm, and your kidneys, thats the key. You could also get one of these buckwheat filled sacks that you put into the microwave and then tie it around your middle to heat the lower back. These are quite expensive, so I make my own, check this out: I take an old X-large sock and fill it with rice to the top. Make a knot into the sock on top (so you need to leave enough space rice free for the knot). Put into the microwave for 3 minutes (Careful, they scorch easily). Then I put three or four of those into my bed!! Feet and lower back get their own, and at least one to snuggle up with. Its a wonderful warmth! in one sock I added some lavender, smells great, too!

How long does the heat last from your invention cocoa_nibs? That sounds like a very warming idea.

What else do you do for your thyroid problem if anything? I'm interested because I'm hypothyroid and I got off my meds finally after many years, and I am pretty sure my thyroid is on a healing path, which is very amazing to me, but it may take some years, depending on keeping my diet as high raw as I can, and at times I go up and down with it, but never straying to far lately.

Love,
Prism

When I lived in Vermont sometimes i would throw a bunch of towells in the clothes dryer for 5 minutes and then stuff them (and me) into a sleeping bag. Not very energy efficient, but it helped on really cold nights.

Hey MauiGreg..do you ever get cold now in Maui Gosh..I'm so envious!! How often do you get to go swim or wade/walk in the ocean?

It's weird, but I have found that I like to keep my bedroom shut off from the heat, because it gets too warm at night and that's the only time I'm in my bedroom is to sleep or dress in the mornings. I dress after a warm bath. It's very warm in my bed at night.

I don't think she is talking about when in bed, or even wanting to stay in bed to stay warm, lots of us have things to do during the daytime and need to function and be able to move about.

It's very difficult for women especially sometimes I feel, due to lack of certain things in our diets, no matter if it's a SAD or even raw foods diet and our thyroids, hormones, etc. One needs to figure out why one is so cold so that you can work from there and not going blindly about looking for a quick fix that doesn't do anything for our underlying health issue, which may be low iron, low and very deficient Iodine intake, etc. Once you know those things, you can use the correct type foods, whole raw foods to help correct the issue(s).

Or you may have to think about more deeper healing issues as to internal body systems, and how to live with them while rebuilding them. The raw foods diet should be able to accommodate the majority of people with all types of health issues, some of which could be life threatening. We've seen many people healed from things like digestive issues, cancers, tumors, obesity, etc. when they changed their diets to a mostly if not all whole foods diet, raw preferably. Some of these people would be coming from a night dresser full of prescribed medicines, otc medicines, vitamins, supplements, etc..and getting off those imo would be numnber 2 on the list of to do things after implementing and starting on their new raw food/whole food diet plans.

For some depending on age, health, issues, and degree of body function, they may need to find a certain food category to help rebuild things like blood iron stores, etc. They can do that if they know what they need to build or support. Otherwise they get frustrated, too cold, too tired, too whatever and quit altogether.

Love,
Prism

Prism, my heating 'bricks' stay warm for a couple of hours.


As for thyroid, I am still searching for solutions. i am on Armour and Cytomel and definitely not a happy camper yet. I would really like to go off those meds at some point, I am also quite sure that I suffer from adrenal issues. Right now I am really focusing on trying to get feedback from my body as to what it needs, but its a MAZE... Is it thyroid? Is it detox? Is it my low Vit D? Is it adrenal? Is it emotional? Heavy metals maybe? etc etc etc. Its quite complex. Mostly I am tired, just so crazy tired! I have reasonable Drs, who have been ruling out parasites, virusses, candida... and they also think raw vegan isn't a great idea for me. But they also trust me and encourage me to find my own way.

The adrenal books say dont eat fruit, but eat lots of protein. The thyroid books say avoid all cruciferous vegetables (includes many of my favorites!) and eat lots of fish. Well, just a maze....

Right now I am mainly just trying to calm down, listen to how I respond to things and accept where I am at right now. I agree with what you are saying, Prism, and the feedback isn't always immediate, but may take a while or the first response might be an intensifying of problems. Important to be patient...

Hope I am not hijacking your thread here, musicbebe!!

I can empathize with your plight. You are right to stay calm, listen to your body and how it responds. If you can try to get to a place of confidence of where you know a healthy plant based raw foods diet is the one overall thing that can help your body create wellness and vibrancy, that is ideal. In my opinion, relying on Dr.'s no matter how agreeable they may be to your 'ideas' and their prescriptions would now be my last choice if I had known what I have learned over the last 5 years.

You are right to keep searching for what is going to benefit you most, and I would say to keep to your instincts, and trust yourself and your body. It took my 5 years of being a rider on the raw food wagon, and 31 years of prescription thyroid meds before I abandoned that ship wreck and am doing better than ever at this time. I'm still a rider on the raw food wagon, not getting jolted out of my seat as often, nor am I hanging on for dear life, but it's a comfortable ride and someday I may be in the drivers seat, and my body completely functioning without any crutch as it was made to do so.

Love,
Prism

Prism, thank you so much for your response. I have tried lowering my Cytomel, but with disastrous results. Hard to knwo where to start. Inspired by your 'ride'. It takes a lot of faith in oneself to do it!

I can relate to that as well, early on I tried to go off my thyroid meds, and lost hair and gained weight all within a couple weeks..I ran back to the Dr. as fast as I could..hahahaha..I'm sure I was not the only one he'd seen do that.

I am taking Iodine supplementation now but in my mind it's at least the raw material that has been used before there were prescriptions handed out for synthetic and man made medicines for the problem. I plan on weaning off that also, but I'm giving myself plenty of time to do it. I don't know what timeline, but I'd like it to be within the next 2 years. I would like to rely on my body's own resources and not have to worry about being someplace to get more medicine, or needing to do the roots of my hair, or needing a razor to shave my legs..or well..ok, I would keep shaving my underarms..that's just euuuuh..ok, then if I shave there, I guess I would keep shaving my legs Anyway, you get my meaning I'm sure.

I'm looking forward to the next 2 years!

Love,
Prism

Hi Prism, its reasonable to think in timelines of years, yes.... What iodine supps are you taking? I do kelp and dulse for that. Have never tried iodine supplements.


Do/Did you stay away from cruciferous vegs?
Did you ever work on adrenals?


thanks much!

I'm definitely in full agreement with the yoga suggestion. I can't imagine life, let alone winter, without it. It gives me a very clam yet effective circulatory boost. After a year of being raw, I'm finding that my diet and daily yoga are keeping me warmer than ever.

Thank you all for your replies so far. What is strange to me is that before I was raw I was thoroughly tested for sluggish thyroid and the results came back great. That was when I ate the SAD. So now that I am eating raw it would seem strange that I would develop thyroid problems. Maybe some of you have insight into how that can be possible? Coco_nibs, don't worry about hijacking I think your post and questions were relevant.

Shaine, how long did it go on for? I will wait this out and see if it gets better, but I am really wondering... if this is simply a transitional process, does anyone know why this would be happening exactly? It freaks me out, because it has to do with my circulation. My feet feel so, so so, cold and I have two pairs of socks plus shoes on. As soon as I remove them from a heat source they get cold super fast. It bothers me most during the day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2007 01:59AM by musicbebe.

Cocoa_nibs, I don't eat many cruciferous veggies but like broccoli on occasion but steamed. I don't ever eat it raw. I'm taking Lugol's 5% solution of Iodine, you can read about it on my raw food diary under my name on the other forum here.

Musicbebe, if you didn't have thyroid issues before going raw than it's more likely a detox or health issue that is going to resolve itself once you get cleaned out enough that there is enough free flowing blood. You might try some rebounding, or exercise ball bouncing, or yoga exercises.

There can be lots of reasons why you may have sluggish circulation or why it developed during your transition. It could be that your cleansing organs, Kidney's, and liver are working overtime to cleanse your blood and maybe getting a little stressed over the workload. Or that your veins, and circulatory system needs to get unclogged of deposits, fat, toxic waste and right now it's a heavily loaded transit system that is backed up.

I found Vit-c to be very helpful in regard to that problem, and for me magnesium also. You might do a citrus or orange juice fast for a day or 2 to see how that goes, and looking for foods high in magnesium. I'm thinking of doing a juice fast or a fruit fast for 2-3 days again. Maybe I'll post that and see if anyone else wants to join it. It could be for Sat., Sun, and Mon. Yes..I think I will do that.

Love,
Prism

Well, no one's mentioned this so I will. SMARTWOOL SOCKS! ($20) Very worth the price! And a good REI fleece zip-up top or hoodie ($40) - the basic one - no frills needed. Both items breathe, but keep the warmth in. And maybe a cute fleece hat. In my leaner financial years when we couldn't afford to use the heat, these were great... and I still have them 5 years later, they are still in excellent shape.

Prism, thanks to a suggestion you made to me in an earlier thread, I've started to eat kelp. Just had my first today. Boy did I ever NOT like it. But I kept eating it. I ate it along with some soaked sunflower seeds. Makes it much easier to eat. I didn't weigh it so don't know how much I ate. Maybe 50 grams. I soaked it in water for an hour or so. Any idea how much is a good idea to eat per day / per week? Thanks so much Prism, for your suggestion. I'm thinking that maybe the iodine that I have been getting very little of, may be an important answer to why I'm always so cold. My mom told me recently that when my brother and I were kids, he'd run around in cold weather and be just fine but I'd be cold all the time. So, maybe there's much more to all this than just diet. Nevertheless, I'll continue with the kelp. Yoga and hard work are good too of course.

Once more Prism, any idea how much kelp a person should get per day / per week?



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

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

If you go by what the avg. Japanese person gets in way of food Iodine, that's around 13 mgs. or more a day. If you look at jcrows.com where he has powdered kelp I think he has the amount of Iodine it contains in I think it's 1/4 lb. I can't recall though.

Bathing/swimming at the ocean near the shoreline, esp. ones that in particular have natural occurring large kelp or seaweed beds off the shore in deeper water is excellent, eating seafoods like seaveggies, seaweeds like cold water kelp, even spirulina I'm told all have soaked in Iodine, but try to make sure in some way they haven't soaked in ocean pollutants (not nori I believe), and if you don't do those things, then you can try Lugol's Iodine and 2 drops a day of that will supply you with 13 mgs. of Iodine. I'm hypothyroid and I am taking 8 drops per day, and may up that again also. I am taking my time now, taking my temperature thru some of the day, getting a feel for the right dose for me.

Let us know how the seaweeds help you Tony. I am going to try the kelp but I know from last try I didn't like it.

Love,
Prism

Dulse tastes really great and has lots of ioding, i believe.

Raw dulse, or applewood smoked dulse. is that considered a raw food, smoked dulse?

These totally kill my salt cravings

I was wrong on the dulse iodine issue. here is a nutritional break down. I believe Kombu is the same as kelp

[www.loveseaweed.com]

Angie 1, I'm into those Smartwool socks too. I wear them all the time around the house. It takes a long time to get holes in them. I like fleece too when it's cold.

For night time, does anyone use an old-fashioned hot water bottle? I don't, but my friend does, and she says it stays warm nearly all night long.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2007 06:40AM by suncloud.

Dear musicbebe

If you are not on medication and 'SO COLD' has happened since eating raw then i suggest taking a Kelp tablet before bed.
It will warm you right up!
One was all i needed
let me know how you get on
Blessings
Lorretta

smart wool socks it is then. and i keep a fleece scarf wrapped around my middle, any breeze at all and my lower back feels so freezing! ouch.

it's cold here, really cold now, and this house is drafty, bbbrrrrr!

well, i looked but couldn't find anything about the way they shear the sheep, nothing about their ethics that would make me believe that they are a cruelty free company. looks like a good product aside from that.

eat lots of fresh ginger root, cayenne pepper powder, and exercise to increase warmth and circulation

I went to the smart wool socks website... a bit overwhelemd by all the options... any particular 'model' you recommend, meaning which ones are the warmest?

cocoa_nibs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am very cold also. . . . .
> I make my own, check this out: I take an old
> X-large sock and fill it with rice to the top.
> Make a knot into the sock on top (so you need to
> leave enough space rice free for the knot). Put
> into the microwave for 3 minutes (Careful, they
> scorch easily). Then I put three or four of those
> into my bed!! Feet and lower back get their own,
> and at least one to snuggle up with. Its a
> wonderful warmth! in one sock I added some
> lavender, smells great, too!

This is quite late but I thought I'd contribute to it in case someone may benefit. Another thing you can do is take granite stream stones or solid bricks and warm them in an oven or on a convection stove and wrap them in a towl. You can find them used sometimes, or buy them at a local mason supply or hardware store. The solid ones work better than the ones with the two holes in them. I find the blonde bricks hold the heat longer than the red or brown ones it seems. I heat them for about 15 to 20 minutes or so on the convection stove, then pick them up with the towel and quickly wrap them. I put one at the foot of each of my children's beds and two at the foot of mom's & mine. They start out quite toasty and are still warm 7 to 9 hours later when I get up for the day. On the less colder nights we're able to turn off all heat in the house when doing this (we have extra blankets of course .

These are primarily for keeping the beds warm on cold nights in our "new" house. The flax or rice bags are much better for wrapping around body parts as already mentioned.


Glen F

[rawfoodtrip.blogspot.com]
[jugglingforjoy.com]

Loretta and everyone else,

I bought some kelp flakes to season my food and will see if that helps. Thank you for all of your suggestions. I'll keep trying different ones and let you know how I turn out.