Blood tests?

[fiddle80]

Has anyone else had this experience? A friend of mine who has been 100% raw for 6 months now, went and got a blood test because her doctor was concerned about something. She was seriously lacking in....darn, can't remember what mineral....but it was due to the raw diet. Is this familiar? Do we need to be concerned?

[lissomllama]

No, your friend is lacking in whatever that mineral is because there is something within the raw lifestyle that she is not getting enough of. She needs to find balance and make sure she is eating enough of the right stuff in good combination. The raw, vegan lifestyle is natural to the human body when done properly and of course, what is the 'correct' way to eat in the raw lifestyle is often a point of contention and can get very controversial but generally, it is a good idea to be getting a LOT of dark, leafy greens and then having whole fruits and some nuts and seeds; all totally raw, of course. I hope she figures out what the imbalance is, sometimes it can seem like a mystery. If she's having any strong cravings or feeling that she 'should' be eating more of a certain raw food then she should be eating that. Something else to think about as well is that when doctors test for levels of nutrients in blood they are usually basing these requirements on a 'healthy' cooked diet. Not too many doctors advocate the raw lifestyle, which is pretty ironic and humorous, actually. Just something to think about. She could very well be low in an important mineral though, but how does she actually feel? Was she feeling fine but then the doctor told her she's low in something and now she's worried? Or is she truly lacking something? All very prudent points to look at. Generally, when someone has a deficiency, they don't feel right either physically or mentally.

[Revvell]

Fiddle,

Lissomllama made some great points. My question is, who said it was "all due to the raw diet" and how would s/he know that? Maybe your friend was deficient previous to eating raw.

Revvell

[Jackie1995]

Hi fiddle80,

My personal experience with results of a blood test a few months ago showed that my raw lifestyle had brought my cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL ~ and ~ HDL way, WAY down. I thought that was terrific news, but there was a catch.

Prior to going to the doctors (he's pretty cool, btw, he doesn't act like it's the end of the world for me because I'm not eating cooked or processed foods...he works with me on issues) I did my homework, and found an article in one of the online scientific journals which discussed how a raw vegan diet will make all the "cholesterol" items go down, INCLUDING the HDL, which is bad, because HDL needs to be HIGHER for optimum health.

So, of course, that's what my blood test showed. My doctor was concerned, and proposed that if I couldn't get the HDL up from the 28 or wherever (low number) it was at, up to about 50, he would suggest prescription strength fish oil or prescription strength niacin to get the HDL up where it (presumably) should be.

I took it upon myself to add daily fish oil supplements, and started adding back canned sardines 3 times per week to fix the HDL problem. Yeah, it's not raw, but I'm in this for my health, not for the "Most Raw Person of the Year" award! :-)

I'll find out in a week or so whether I've succeeded with the HDL issue. Hopefully I did, since I sure don't want to start taking another prescription anything if I can avoid it!

Another issue for raw foodists is the potential for low B-12 intake, which may take a long time to appear, since so little is needed in our diets. However, prolonged deprivation of B-12 has some very serious consequenses. Hence, I personally use Red Star Nutritional Yeast - Vegan blend for my B-12 supplementation. ( I also get B-12 from the sardines or other fish). Others use an oral B-12 supplement. There are many threads on this site concerning it, just use the "banana" at the top of the page for a search.

Or, if you want, you can go here: http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.htm
for some information on B-12 issues.

I personally enter my foods into fitday.com daily, to track my nutritional strengths and weaknesses, and I was always low to nonexistant with selenium. I started eating one brazil nut daily to resolve that problem. I buy them in bulk, 5 pounds at a purchase, and that's enough nuts to last me and my DH for a year!

Zinc is another of my personal "lows" - because I don't usually eat zinc-rich foods like grains, napa cabbage, or mushrooms, so sometimes I will eat a zinc supplement. Althogh, that napa cabbage is very high in zinc! But the "high" numbers are for cooked cabbage, which I don't particularly care to eat. I'm a coleslaw fan, myself!

I also make it a practice to go outside daily for minimum 20 minutes in the sunshine to get my Vitamin D requirement - plus it feels great to be outside! I never go out after 10:30 am until after 3:30 pm - first of all it's just too darn hot and 2nd the sun is too strong for me, and I fry easily! But every morning I'm out there, even if it's cloudy!

So, those are my personal thoughts re: your post.

I also strongly agree with lissomllama, a variety of fruits, veggies and emphasis on the dark, leafy greens is essential. I always add kale, spinach, beet greens, watercress, cilantro, parsley, young collards, mustard greens and turnip greens to my diet; some combo of these every day goes into my green smoothie in the morning, and again for salad later in the day. This is where the essential nutrients and minerals are found. They complement the vitamins in fruits, and are a winning combination for a healthy body!

Hope this helps!

[Spectatrix]

Has anyone else had this experience? A friend of mine who has been 100% raw for 6 months now, went and got a blood test because her doctor was concerned about something. She was seriously lacking in....darn, can't remember what mineral....but it was due to the raw diet. Is this familiar? Do we need to be concerned?
It was probably vitamin B12. Vegans in general (not just raw foodists) tend to become deficient in this vitamin if they don't take a supplement or eat food fortified with B12.