Hello:

I am brand new here, but not new to vegan diet. I have been a vegan for four years now and LOVE it. Recently I decided to eat mostly raw foods and gobbled up salads, fruits, and raw veggies. It was GREAT...

Until my body started cleansing itself! I had to wear diapers and stay home because the embarassment was just too much. I went to my doctor yesterday and he recommended Metamusal (don't know how to spell it) or something like that to harden up my stool a bit so it wasn't so mushy. I told him I'd find a forum or chat online to see what people do who were living the raw lifestyle.

I'm sorry about such a gross subject, I just don't know where to turn. If asked, I won't post anymore and will understand.

Thanks,
Becky

It's just bodily functions. Please don't feel bad about asking for advice.

What is your daily diet like?

Opinion:

-You CAN focus on more fibrous vegetables if you are looking to harden your stools. Additional nuts or other binding materials will harden stools - if this is a problem for you.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

what kind of veggies are you eating?

i've been raw for almost a month and go to the bathroom after almost every meal (which i think is a great indication of how my metablism has speeded up.

I am eating a lot of leafy green salad veggies and raw spinach, tomatoes, celery, cucumber, green olives, carrots. For breakfast I eat fruit (lately it has been grapefruit and oranges - but mostly I like apples) and a bowl of my own granola, which is very slow baked at 120 degrees all day or all night. That has: oats, slivered almonds, flax seed (ground up), honey, water, dates rolled in oat flour, raisins, sometimes carob chips and sometimes raw walnuts.

Oh my salad dressing is cashew-based with herbs and a tiny bit of lemon juice and about a 1/3 cup of pineapple concentrate. Num!!

I eat twice a day, and don't eat anything after 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

Thanks for understanding.

Apples and bananas are my very good friends

For the first two months, I had terrible diarrhea. Sometimes seven times a day. I would just have to GO. It was not fun.

The good news is, it has completely, totally, 100% cleared up, and I am very comfortable and regular now. There are a lot of people in other threads who said they have experienced similar things, in different degrees of severity. The first couple of months are definitely a period in which the bowels (along with everything else in the body!) readjust.

Even just recently, when I significantly increased my intake of fruits and lowered the fats, I went through something similar on a smaller scale. I'm fine, now, though.

*Also, this may be why so many people find themselves eating nuts like crazy in the beginning? It helps add bulk/fiber with the initial detox, maybe?

For one thing, DON'T ever take anything to harden up your stool. That is the worst crime you can do to yourself. Elimination via the bowel is number one priority for good health.

If you have a problem, this may well be because of the sudden increased load of fiber in your raw foods, which you were not used to before. Fruits are laxative too, you may need to adjust your fruit intake? If it is really serious, then I would strongly recommend that you do the transition more slowly, so that your bowels can get used to the fiber.

Tips to reduce the fiber, or to reduce the effect of the fiber:

-Have more vegetable juices, and just a very small salad to start with, then very gradually increase the size of your salads.

-For transition, combine salads and raw vegetables with soluble fiber (potatoes and squashes and that kind of thing).

-For transition, lightly steam your vegetables which are giving you problems

-You may need to reduce the amount of nuts and seeds. Nuts are a problem for me when it comes to fiber, it may affect you too....

Don't be afraid of a transition. Some people can go raw cold turkey, others can not.

Greenpower

Visit my website and my blog!

[www.natureshealingsecrets.com] (closed on Sundays)

All of the above advice is great and I heavily agree to not take any supplement.

Recently (like a couple of days ago) I realized that I am consuming too much water in a relatively short period of time in the morning, which is causing similar grief. I started slowing down on this and spreading the water out better throughout the day and it has shown a tremendous difference.

Also, watch your combinations of fruit and vegies. I find that cooked potatoes helps tremendously. My body is not tolerating 100% raw so I do very well 75-80% raw. The cooked food is mostly cooked potatoes, eggplant, plantains, or other root vegetables.

Don't be embarrassed. I have been there too. It is the body's way of telling you something is up. Ease up to a point where your GI tract is functioning well and then start adding more raw.

Good luck.

Patty

Metamucil is just psyllium with sugar and chemical coloring. If you go to a health food store, ask for psyllium seed husks in the supplement section.

Best of luck and food to you --


Lee

[www.dhamma.org]

Isn't metamucil a sof laxative?? Please don't take that!

When i caught tourista in cuba, they recommanded green bananas to stop the diarrhea...It worked great!

Hi,

I want to say, please don't feel embarassed about it..

My husband had the same issue. I even posted a few times about this here. He had so much diarrhea it was scary. I told him to stop teh raw foods but he didn't. After about two months, it stopeed completely, and he is ok.

The body gets rid of lots of things and diarrhea is a way to eliminate bad from the body. Here's what we learned..

Whenever you have excess diarrhea it means to cut down considerably on eating, even if you are eating just raw foods. It will help the cleansing process if you can cut down on your food intake and stick with fresh juices and diluted fresh juices.


It is hard and I know it bcause I saw what he went thru' during the two months, but it will be ok. For him, after lots of toxins were removed, teh diarrhea stopped, and he felt better..

Hope this helps.

Take care
A Iyer

Hey

I had the same problem at first as a crohns sufferer, now healed up.

Banana's do a great binding job

Eat simple meals

flax + green smoothies will make you go.. so expect to need the toilet after these.

Hope it calms down for you soon

can be rough detox but it WILL settle down, promise!

I agree with Lee. As a temporary solution, psyllium husks are quite effective for sorting out diarrhea.

I am so glad I found this community! You are all so helpful, and I truly am no longer embarassed! Much Gratitude. Becky

I agree with all the above posts. But I also cannot eat too many nuts and seeds,sprouts and specially linseeds - they bloat my tummy which then hurts like hell and then has grim repercussions. I'm hoping that one day I will be able to digest these foods.

Hope things are going well for you

Those that are qualified to judge you wont, those that aren't qualified will. Hey girl we family! Now get over here and give me a hug! Bless you all! There is no one as strong as all of us!!


"I(we) am devine conciousness, personified in human expression."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2008 02:55PM by elover6.

I'm surprised no-one has suggested probiotics. It's possible that your gut flora needs a bit of help getting adjusted to the different foods it's being required to process.

Good luck!

Do you blog? Add your blog to the thread on blogging: [www.rawfoodsupport.com]!!

That's why we need you Seabucktho!

Yeah, probiotics fixed me up in a snap after the Master Cleanse. I thought I could skip them, had two days of nightmares, and then decided to invest.

Kind of funny we all forgot the obvious, this is why group discussions win. =)

I think you're awesome for having the courage to broach such a "delicate" subject...and speaking of AWESOME, this forum is the best!!! I love how everyone's so non-judgemental and supportive. And like others have said, there are no dumb questions, at least not around here. That said...

I had the same problem when I went raw about a year ago, to the point of developing an annal fissure (which is really just a tear) from the aggravation of constantly moving my bowels, or so I was told. When the proctologist I saw (as long as we're all being so open here) suggested psyllium husk (PURE, not metamucil), I too did a double-take...What? Fiber?!!! I'd be the last person on earth to promote such a thing but, truth be told, it really helped. Apparently when taken in the amount prescribed (2 tsp in a lg. glass of water with dinner), it promotes healthy, proper bulk-sized, stools...so basically everything moves through smoother and, most importantly, you go less (which I think is the main point). Apologies if some of you find this too graphic, but hey, it worked.

Probiotics are also a good suggestion, as you've heard, though in my case proved not to be. Maybe it was the brand I chose, I don't know, but they gave me such horrendous gas and bloating that eventually I had to stop taking them.

Lightly steaming some of the more cruciferous veggies might be useful too, at least while your body's transitioning. Even though I was vegan for many years before going raw I still have difficulty digesting some of the harder ones (i.e. broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage) and have to go that route sometimes. We're all different of course so just keep experimenting. Things will work themselves out.

Hope this helps!

~lanie

"Beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing lies a field. I'll meet you there." ~Rumi

Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for having found this forum and the wonderful folks who post. I wish you all blessings that exceed your hopes according to God's will. Becky

Hi Beckyann, The flax seeds,even ground up are known to cause problems to people with a tendancy toward irritable bowel syndrome. I have had this difficulty with flax, though it is said to be good for you. Psyllim husk, powered is very good, but can cause gas until body gets used to it. It helps both constip and diarrhea. Good luck, Janice