Hey guys,
Ive been having really painful swelling in my fingers and a few toes as of late. Im not sure if im deficient in some sort of nutrients or whats going on but its starting to worry me. Ive been 95% raw for 3 months now and I love the way im feeling but this seems serious. I should also note that I exercise regularly training for a triathlon. Meal wise an average day includes:

Breakfast: 1 young thai coconut (meat + water)
2-3 bananas
1 cup blueberries

Lunch: Huge salad with sliced orange and sprouted beans

Pre workout: 2 oranges, dates, sprouted nuts and seeds (small snack)

Post workout: Green juice consisting of spinach,celery, and apple *with sesame seeds (calcium) and pumpking seeds (iron) blended

Dinner: Small green smoothie with banana spinach and lettuce

Ive never actually written out an average daily intake, looking at it now i guess im missing a bit of fat intake. Although sometimes i add avocado and almost always have coconut meat daily.

Im really unsure, what do you guys think?

Hello, raw_tri! I'd plug that data into [www.fitday.com] or [www.nutridiary.com] to figure out whether you are under or over consuming anything. Maybe too much sodium, or too much oxalic acid(from greens). Hard to tell unless you get a readout. Good luck.

Raw tri,
Too much sodium, yes, but possibly too little sodium can also cause swollen hands and feet. Chemical balance can get off on the raw food diet, especially if avoiding salt, which you don't mention one way or the other, or what kind of fluid and electrolyte replacement approach you are taking. Some avoid NaCl intake right down to zero, which is possible if one really knows what they are doing, but is also high risk for the average endurance athlete.

"Dehydration is more common than overhydration, but overhydration to the point of hyponatremia (low blood sodium) is very dangerous and can escalate into seizures, coma, and death. The symptoms (that become increasingly severe) include headache, vomiting, swollen hands and feet, undue fatigue, confusion (due to progressive swelling of water in the brain), and wheezing (due to water in the lungs)."

[beginnertriathlete.com]

..so, I second plugging your daily intakes into a nutrition calculator paying close attention to the electrolytes and hydration levels.

Hope this helps, let us know how you do...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2010 12:32PM by loeve.