I am looking into eliminating meat form my diet. I am on the Atkins diet and it is making me feel awful. I was on a low carb board and they said you folks were real jerks. They were pretty nasty to me when I brought up stuff about additive in meat and eggs and mercury in fish.

Anyway, I really think that eating more raw foods would be a good thing for me. Right now my digestive system is all meesed up from the meat and the fat. I need to get back to normal. I am thinking about swearing off meat. Especially meat that is raised for slaughter.

I have one more week on Atkins then I am going to chill out on eating meat.

I miss vegetables and fruit and I really need to get back to eating them. Not to be indelicate but I need to start having normal bowel movements again and pleasant smelling breath.

Hey Balldeza welcome to the forum. Id suggest hanging out and reading for yourself and decide if were jerks or not lol ...we do have some animated discusssions here .. AND we dont always agree but were all here for the purpose of elevated health and learning

there are so many things wrong with meat and animal products on so many levels there are too many to list

start small just start adding in fruits and vegetables and set easy goals for yourself

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Congrats on your healthy decision! I agree with Jodi, take it slow and just add more and more fruits and veggies to your diet over time.

One step you might want to consider is to not eat breakfast if you aren't hungry. That would give your digestive system a break and a chance to rest. If you are hungry in the morning, make it something easy to digest like fruit.

Maybe eat an apple a day, add a salad to your dinner, consider adding a fresh veggie juice or smoothie a day - but take these one step at a time.

And consider taking some enzymes and probiotics for your worn our digestive system to help with the transition. Just some thoughts. But check out this board for more great ideas!

Thanks. I have about 5 more days on induction phase then I am not going to do it ever again. I was only 30 pounds overweight well technically I was 10 pounds weight for my height. I plan on losing a few more pounds. I think the reason I lost so much weight so fast is because the food was going right through me. I wasn't digesting much of it.

I truly love fruit and vegetables. Where I live good produce is hard to find. There are no produce markets and the super markets have a very poor selection. Often the apples are mealy and berries arrive moldy.

I am also concerned about the safety imported produce so I am thinking about trying to grow stuff hydroponically in my apt. Does anyone have any advice on that?

When you think about it. There really is a lot more variety in eating mostly fruits and vegetables. I love the different varieties of squashes and they are so versatile.

I wish I could find more variety where I am living now. I live in the South and the produce here is awful. Southerners are not all that health conscience or informed about health. We eat a terrible diet and the obesity rate in the Southern state is very high. I think the problem is the soil here is depleted from the growing of tobacco and cotton. Southern cuisine is very unhealthy and it really is boring and unimaginative.

I live in North Carolina, which state are you in if you don't mind me asking?

Btw, since you have digestive problems, try to limit the nuts and seeds. They can be hard to digest.

I live in Eastern NC. I used to live in Asheville and it was easier to find wholesome food there. The food here is really bad.

I have an herbal cleanse that I will be doing in about a week to get rid of the toxins.

Yes, Asheville is very nice, isn't it? I live in the Triangle area. You must be near the coast. That must be nice, except for the hard to find produce thing.

An herbal cleanse sounds like a good idea!

Balldeza,
Good for you for getting off the Atkins diet!! I did it in highschool for awhile. What a horrible decision that was. I started getting bad chest pains and finally stopped. Plus my cholesterol went through the roof! Welcome to the bulletin board.

Balldeza,
Low carb diets work well for many people, they are fast but not for the long term in my humble opinion. There are Low Carb Vegetarians believe it or not too.
I don't believe in bashing other diets, because my personal experience told me that any diet that make you healthier would be better than a SAD diet. There is a LEARNING CURVE for everyone, and there are not shortcuts.
I lost 40 pounds in 3 months on a low carb/low fat diet and I was in deep ketosis the entire period. Then I turned "acidic" and all kind of malladies started to appear: joint pain, PMS (very painful), headaches, breath shortage (mineral depletion), and so on.
That is when I PRAYED for an answer and a raw food book came to me as a gift from a far relative! I took this coincidence seriously and started my reasearch. I am transitioning to raw since August 10th.
I am glad I find you here! Because we found the way to go. We are recovering not only from a low carb diet but from YEARS OF SAD DIET.
Blessings and good luck to you and to everybody here!
Laura

laurjacks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Balldeza,
> Low carb diets work well for many people, they are
> fast but not for the long term in my humble
> opinion. There are Low Carb Vegetarians believe it
> or not too.
> I don't believe in bashing other diets, because my
> personal experience told me that any diet that
> make you healthier would be better than a SAD
> diet. There is a LEARNING CURVE for everyone, and
> there are not shortcuts.
> I lost 40 pounds in 3 months on a low carb/low fat
> diet and I was in deep ketosis the entire period.
> Then I turned "acidic" and all kind of malladies
> started to appear: joint pain, PMS (very painful),
> headaches, breath shortage (mineral depletion),
> and so on.
> That is when I PRAYED for an answer and a raw food
> book came to me as a gift from a far relative! I
> took this coincidence seriously and started my
> reasearch. I am transitioning to raw since August
> 10th.
> I am glad I find you here! Because we found the
> way to go. We are recovering not only from a low
> carb diet but from YEARS OF SAD DIET.
> Blessings and good luck to you and to everybody
> here!
> Laura


That is why I am going off this diet soon. Keto-acidosis is serious and deadly.

I may not go entirely raw but I am going to eat mostly raw food. I hear that spinach needs to be cooked to get the nutrients form it. I probably won't be eating raw potatoes or hard squash either unless I blend it in with other things.