Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis)

[Ca?la]

Hi,

I've been on this board reading discussions once in a while, but this is the first time I actually make a posting.

My friend has been suffering with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (M.E.) for years. As I think a raw low fat diet will be good for her I would like to convince her to change her diet. Has anyone experienced reducing symptoms or even relief with this way of eating? To back up my opinion I would like as much information on raw food and fasting to improve and cure chronic fatigue syndrome as possible. Please let me know if you know of any books, articles, testimonials, people that support it.

I guess changing the diet isn't the only thing needed to heal from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Working with yourself and your life process towards self-realization and stress reduce might be as important. Anyway... eating raw food is also about feeling good. :-)

Thanks

Caïla

[luckitri]

I have fibromyalgia but did not wish to claim it until recently I kind of have been forced to. I reviewed my medical history with some current websites of Fibro and saw that I have had many of the corollary illnesses as well. I have not gotten rid of it yet with raw but am hoping to. Meanwhile I did visit many sites for CFS and Fibro that have forums and the most frustrating thing to me was that some of them were talking about trying raw - a long time ago - and then all their posts stopped!

So did all their symptoms go away with raw and they did not need to go back to the forum? Or did something else happen?

[RowanC]

I've been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, but I'm not sure if the allopaths know what the heck they're talking about. They've diagnosed me with several ailments... including sarcoidosis... sometimes I think they just pull names out of a hat!

I suspect chemicals and pesticides and pollution in our food supply along with the inability to digest and use the nutrients are the bottom line in many of the "new" ailments being diagnosed...

since I"ve been on raw, most of my symptoms have gone away. I have much more energy, am depressed rarely, my joints don't ache, my trigger points don't hurt, my skin is clearer, my bloat is gone, and I'm happy.

For me, raw is the answer...

[Rawmommie]

I was diagnosed about 3 years ago with Fibro & CFS. I went raw over 2 years ago and they are gone! The only times I have had symptoms is if I have slipped and eaten cooked...I get stiff and swollen in the AM. I actually totally forgot I had these "syndromes" after all this time b/c I feel great and no longer have any of the symptoms.

Hope your friend gives it a try!

[chilove]

Hello there,

I healed from chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia (along with depression and anxiety and other health conditions) with raw and have helped several coaching clients do so as well. You are correct that a low fat diet helps with chronic fatigue and accelerates cleansing and healing. The best thing for your friend to do is adopt a high fruit, low fat 100% raw vegan diet. She's lucky to have a friend like you to recommend it to her. It took me a long time to discover raw and I suffered needlessly for a long time. It is amazing how little conventional and alternative medical providers know about these conditions!

All the best,

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com

[FirstGarden]

This can hardly be overstated --

The medical profession treats symptoms rather than dealing with causes.

Imagine what would happen to their profession if they all dealt with causes? Too many people would get well and they'd be out of business. Maybe most doctors are not conscious of this trend. It would be kinder to believe that than demonize the medical profession. But they should be the LAST resort.

RAW RULES!!!

[swingbolder]

Alissa Cohen, who owns this site, healed herself of fibromyalgia with the raw food diet. You can read all about it in her book Living On Live Food, which is available for sale on this website.

[carolg]

If your friend willing to change before going through all this work in finding out information? I don't believe people can be convinced to change, but have to "want" to change knowing there is hope with books and great testimonies. I have gotten burnt out so now I have learned by asking first. Only a suggestion, and glad you have a great heart trying to help her.

I would say endorse raw diet as we see testimonies here, but also I know and read of several doing the hallelujah diet, which is 85% raw. Ginny Rawls is one name that comes to mind along with other ailments.

http://www.hacres.com/publications/health_tip.asp?tipid=203&year=2001

carolg

[veganman]

I have found that fatigue can also come from a lack of fat and/or calories. It depends on the person and their diet.

[Xanadu]

Healthy raw fat is extremely important in the healing process. Alissa does not advocate low fat and healed herself along with many, many others. If the body craves fat it should have it, as long as it is raw. It will stop craving it when it has had enough. Raw foods cause the body's natural instinct for what it needs to reawaken as it was when we were infants and small toddlers before the SAD stifled that ability. Without fats, new nerves can't be protected by myelin, energy cant be generated, hormones can't be made, etc. etc. Tell her not to worry about fat. Just tell her she needs to eat raw living food, organic if possible along with whatever level of exercise she is up to. She could do Alissa's menus until the instinct kicks in. Then some days she might want 10 avocadoes, other days nothing but raw orange juice or even water. The body knows what it needs. There is only one disease anyway, expressed in whatever way a person is genetically disposed, caused by one set of conditions, toxin and malnutrition, and treated by one set of treatments, detox, mentally, emotionally and physically and nourish, mentally, emotionally and physically.

[Frecs]

Hi,

I've been on this board reading discussions once in a while, but this is the first time I actually make a posting.

My friend has been suffering with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (M.E.) for years. As I think a raw low fat diet will be good for her I would like to convince her to change her diet. Has anyone experienced reducing symptoms or even relief with this way of eating? To back up my opinion I would like as much information on raw food and fasting to improve and cure chronic fatigue syndrome as possible. Please let me know if you know of any books, articles, testimonials, people that support it.

I guess changing the diet isn't the only thing needed to heal from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Working with yourself and your life process towards self-realization and stress reduce might be as important. Anyway... eating raw food is also about feeling good. :-)

Thanks

Caïla
Hi Caila,

I was diagnosed with both Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia in 2002. I spent 2.5 years practically bedridden from these conditions. I found limited relief from eating a gluten-free diet. But, I found a miracle in a 100% raw diet! It wasn't instantaneous...it was a gradual but noticable healing. My last (minor) flare-up was last summer.

Here are two websites I found with a quick google search...you may find more if you take a little time.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/1/7
http://www.shazzie.com/raw/transformation/helen.shtml

If you want my theory (that and a dime won't buy you an apple): Eating unhealthy SAD for years and years...with an undiagnosed intolerance to gluten...turned my body into a toxic waste dump. My body reached a point, aided and abetted by a tick carrying Lyme Disease, where it reached toxic overload and could not handle it anymore. Eating 100% RAW gave my body the chance to clean out the massive amounts of toxins and with it the dis-ease.

Oh, and yes, there are other things she can do along with the 100% raw diet, but the diet will make it possible for her to do it -- namely, exercise. Exercise is critically important...gentle exercise like walking and/or TaiChi and/or swimming. But, if she is anything like I was, the thought of exercise of any kind is crazytalk....there is just too much pain and too much dis-ease in the body to even contemplate exercise. But, she will be able to start slowly...very slowly...and build up. I started with 5 minute sessions of walking and worked up to 10+ miles!

[Ca?la]

Hi all,

Thank you so much for the warm hearted help and sharing your stories. I'm so glad to hear that so many of you feel better and even don't have the symptoms anymore. If you guys and Alissa Cohen can heal yourself with the raw food diet it must be possible for my friend to do it as well.

You're so right though, Carolg. People do have to WANT and COMMIT to change. The renown coach and motivational speaker Anthony Robbins says the two main driving forces in life are the need to avoid pain and the desire to gain pleasure. So by trying to stir up the pain and provide some hope for a better future I'm hoping to convince her to change. Thanks again for backing me up with all the good advices, books recommendations and great testimonies.

My friend has already tried al lot of different things to increase her situation in the past and my biggest worry is that she gives up or selltle with the situation. I really hope she doesn't sacrifice on the future and decides to give this a try though. We all have different things that motivates us and gives us hope, and I'm grateful you told me about the hallelujah diet (even though it's only 85% raw). My friend is Christian, so the Biblical perspective might be a good way to encourage her to give it a try. I'll go ahead and email her the link to Hallelujah Acres' webpage so that she can read the testimonies and watch the streaming video hoping that will give her some momentum.

There are some really good medical doctors out there with health as an important value and a strong passion for helping people (Joel Fuhrman, Neal Nedley, Milton Mills, John McDougall). Even though I can't agree more with that the trend in the medical profession is to treat symptoms rather than dealing with causes... I'm actually considering to become a medical doctor myself to influence this trend in a positive way. I want to and inspire and influence others to take care of their physical and mental health. Illness in rewersable, and it's in our own hands!

I guess to start the process of healing from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / Myalgic Encephalomyelitis demands more than changing the diet, and that she will have to change the style of living as a whole. Our bodies and minds seems so intimately connected. To me they appear as reflections of each other, and in the end it's all about energy. I believe disease is the body telling you that you're off track (either emotional or physical) with what you're doing, and that you need stop up and listen. I guess both real food, exercise, self-realization, sleep and dealing with stress are all important aspects of a healthy lifestyle. When we take care of our bodies our bodies will take care of us.

Con gratulations on your walking progress, Frecs! At this point I believe exercise is crazytalk for her, but over time you might have company on your 10+ miles ;-)

I got so curious about your work (I'm a coach myself) that I had to have a look at your website, Audrey. Keep up the good work coaching people adopting to and/or dealing with difficulties on a raw diet!

Due to heal from the CFS/ME I guess I could recommend to adopt a 100% raw low-fat vegan diet, but it comes to the story that my friend is pregnant at the moment, and I want to be extra careful about what I recommend her right now. I'm worried that a drastic change that can cause a big time detox and maybe complications for the baby. Though to take a step in the right direction and prepare to get on the raw diet when she has been giving birth I may recommend her to try to eat basically fruits, salads and lightly steamed vegetables, reduce the consumption of fat and abandon white sugar, colestrol, diary products and animal protein. Maybe she shoud also take some B12 and omega 3 supplements.

Thanks again. Keep it raw! We all deserve a juicy life. :-)

Caïla

[bodybybliss]

;) You're right. I cured myself of CFIDS and FMS. See bodybybliss.com for more information. However, I would strongly urge that your friend do A VERY SPECIFIC program (not necessarily mine) that focuses on WHOLE BODY DETOXIFICATION.

Being, going raw is not the answer to what is believed by many medical professionals to be a pre-cancerous state! One has to be very careful to address ENTIRE DISEASE mechanism.

Blissed be, Annie :)


Hi,

I've been on this board reading discussions once in a while, but this is the first time I actually make a posting.

My friend has been suffering with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (M.E.) for years. As I think a raw low fat diet will be good for her I would like to convince her to change her diet. Has anyone experienced reducing symptoms or even relief with this way of eating? To back up my opinion I would like as much information on raw food and fasting to improve and cure chronic fatigue syndrome as possible. Please let me know if you know of any books, articles, testimonials, people that support it.

I guess changing the diet isn't the only thing needed to heal from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Working with yourself and your life process towards self-realization and stress reduce might be as important. Anyway... eating raw food is also about feeling good. :-)

Thanks

Caïla