I went raw at the end of April, and I try to do 100% raw everyday. I may unintentionally eat some foods that are not raw (they are to the best of my knowledge). I have been eating tomato and avocado a lot, pretty much daily. I eat bananas daily. I drink green smoothies almost daily, usually using spinach. I try to eat a lot of fruit but I tend to get full after 3 bananas or a few apples, so I don't know if I'm getting a full 2,000 calories- it may be closer to 1200 on some days. I drink fruit and vegetable juices fairly regularly and occasionally do a 2-3 day juice feast on weekends.


I had been flaring for 7 months when I began raw. Horrible stomach pain and cramping, bloating, gas, bloody diarrhea, swelling joints (especially ankles accompanied with sore hips), fevers, nausea. I changed my diet multiple times before going raw.


After doing some research, I went raw over night. Things went great and within 3-4 days I was feeling a significant difference. Over the next month slow improvements were made, although so slow it was hard to tell whether or not I was getting better. I had one weekend where I ate too many nuts and seeds and started having problems again.


Since that time I've tried juicing, I've tried eating simple. Today's meals were 28oz orange juice.. a large nori roll with sprouts, cucumber, celery, olive, tamari..three bananas.. half bag of grapes.. 16oz green juice of spinach, red/green leaf lettuce, celery, two apples, spirulina.. large bowl of gazpacho soup with half diced avocado, added garlic, sea salt.


The gas in my intestines has been getting worse and worse, increasingly becoming more uncomfortable and now it's created so much pressure it's become painful. It was there yesterday but I feel as if it's gotten twice as bad since this morning. I must still have quite a bit of inflammation in my intestines that's creating this pain.


Is it normal to still have bad flares of your illness while detoxing? Maybe the inflammation became worse? Or maybe it was there all along and the gas pressure is just getting worse. I don't understand what I'm eating that is causing so much gas, bloating and pressure.


If anyone could offer me any suggestions.. I don't know if I should start a longer juice feast to give my intestines a break? They seem to help until I break them. Maybe I could mono-meal one type of fruit and drink green juices for the next several days?


What could I be eating wrong? Will salts, spices or seasonings have any effect? High-sugar fruits? High fiber vegetables? Help!

petrichor,

Maybe I could mono-meal one type of fruit and drink green juices for the next several days?

Please do. The menu you list sounds like a varied and tasty food-combining nightmare to me. When the digestion gets wiggy, the best thing to do is to immediately simplify. Limit the fats, limit the whole fiber, raise the amount of nourishing liquids[juiced or strained blended greens drinks are OK], and cut out seasonings and spices. Good luck.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2009 01:46PM by Tamukha.

Thank you so much for your suggestion. I started to wonder about the fats/seasonings/combinations. I try so hard to mono-meal but I never can get through a full day of it. It sounds like the simplest thing but being new to raw foods I feel like I need the variety to help me transition.


I will try to do more juices- is it okay if I mix a variety of those? Maybe 3-4 types of fruit and 6-7 veggies for green juice? Or is that still too complicated?


Also, is there any specific fruit/veggie I should add or stay away from that may help with these symptoms?


Thank you for all your help.

petrichor,

I'd consider my juices or strained blended drinks as mono meals, or close to. For example, I may mix parsley and kale with banana, or lettuce with parsley and strawberries, but that's as complicated as I get. I don't do a huge variety because it isn't necessary; for me, volume is more important. As for what whole fruits you should eat(consuming large amounts of juiced or blended fruits can flood your bloodstream with sugar), I say, play it by ear. Juicy tropical fruits can be very healing because they're high in water and have lots of enzymes that can be used to heal rather than just digest, and bananas are very soft so they can digest and pass quickly. On the other hand, citrus can be irritating and bananas can be constipative in some physiologies, so you have to eat simply and sort of register your responses in order to decide what works and what doesn't. Good luck.

also if you eat more simply you can determine what it is that is causing the flare up. And remember to rotate your greens. Have spinach for a few days, then kale, then collards and so on.