I really, really need help

[Cleigh]

and encouragement. I will start of by saying I love this diet and I had such high hopes for it when I began. I've just completed my 3rd week of going raw, but I am hitting a stumbling block. I think a lot of it has to do with my fibromyalgia and the inability to stand for long periods of time. That puts a huge damper on the food I can eat...

I have been drinking a lot of green juice (I do not like salads) and I enjoy that very much, but it is a ton of work to clean out the juicer and it takes a lot of standing. If I wasn't in so much pain it wouldn't be a problem, but for me it is.

Yesterday I made the eggplant pizza and I am in tears over it. It tasted disgusting - and I love eggplant! I ended up throwing the whole thing away.

Does anyone have any suggestions for things I can eat? I've tried a lot of the recipes in Alissa's book, but they are so much WORK! I need simple, simple. I have been eating a lot of fruits, tomatoes, avocados, nuts, and green juice. Any more suggestions? I would love it if you could point me towards really good recipes that aren't too time consuming, or ones that I can prepare sitting down.

I don't want to quit (I am so looking forward to this diet healing my fibro!), but sadly I am on the verge.

Thank you all so much.

[Veganforlife]

Oh NO! Please don't give up. What don't you like about the recipes? The prep? Then keep it more simple. Green smoothies, fruits, fruit smoothies (frozen fruits, made into slushies) until you have more time/energy for creating raw dishes.
Oh your body won't forgive you if you give up.

[Firicia]

As someone with Fibro don't give up, you even eat one full meal thats not raw and the pain comes back full swing, as I am going through that today but at least now I know. I think it takes time for us to adjust to eating different, and at least for me as I go along I just keep trying recipies I have a craving for or make stuff up based on what my body is saying it wants. I wish I had better advice other then to just hang in there cuz this is a lifestyle change, you didn't find all the SAD foods you love in a couple of months and it's the same here it takes time and experimentation. Go through your list of reasons why you are doing this every day if you have it so you don't give up.

[chilove]

Hello there,

I know where you are coming from! I healed from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. Please stick with it!! You CAN and WILL heal on raw. Focus on eating lots of fruit because it is easier, more convenient and will allow your body to do lots of cleansing. As others have mentioned, fruit smoothies are perfect for your situation. Here is my basic fruit smoothie recipe: some purified water or fresh squeezed orange juice as a base (about a cup or so) 4 or 5 ripe bananas (make sure they have brown spots before using) and a cup or two of frozen fruit (my favorite combo is cherries and blueberries). Fruit smoothies are super easy, fast, filling, satisfying and delicious. You will do great with eating mostly fruit!!

You can do this!!!!

Check out my story and this ladies recovery from fibro and chronic fatigue for inspiration: www.dyingtogetwell.com

Sending you lots of strength and courage!!

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com

[vwinters]

Cleigh,
I’ve got fibromyalgia and some other health issues that make it difficult for me to stand for long. I’ve got an office chair in my kitchen. I chop veggies, blend smoothies, and do dishes sitting in the chair. Give it a try.
VW
http://usera.imagecave.com/valeriekwinters/Forest-woods-trails/boardwalkthroughrainforest.jpg

[Larue]

Cleigh, when my fibro was at its worst, I could not stand, sit or lie down without being in pain. Sometimes I would just stand in the middle of the living room and cry......I can empathize...

I am transitioning to 100% raw with the goal of going 100% the first week of April. I would guess I am about 80% raw at this point and I feel soooo much better in every way. So please, stick with this lifestyle. Like with anything, you need to try new things and experiment. I know with your illness, a failed recipe, can make you blow feelings out of proportion. Be kind to yourself, ok? You'll figure it out!

As for things to eat? One of the most versatile recipes in Alyssa's book for me, is the Marinara Sauce. Oh my gosh, I just love it, as a dip, a sauce as salad dressing!! Sometimes I make it chunky, sometimes smooth. I add other things or keep it the same. Yummmm!! Have you tried that?

[finallyfree]

Cleigh,

While I have never been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, for various other reasons, I also cannot stand for long periods of time and I believe this has been the number ONE obstacle in my path to staying raw.

Some of the things I am trying to do to cope with this:

As mentioned, keep it simple if you can. For me, I try to keep it simple, but I still like to have prepared salad dressings and finely chopped veggies and sauces etc.

I am going to be trying using my juicer at the table and sit while I make juice.

Any veggie/fruit cutting or prep I do sitting at the table, which cuts down the time I have to stand.

I am planning to try and find a tall chair I can use to sit at my kitchen counters to use my blender and other tools.

I have a dishwasher and so I try to take advantage of it by washing most of my dishes in there (even if it means running it a couple time a day), so I don't have to stand too long to do dishes.

There have been times that I have sat on my living room floor or couch and prepped veggies/fruit while watching TV.

Another thing I do is watch a TV program I like (in my living room) and allow myself to sit for the program part and then stand to work on food prep in my kitchen during the commercials - this is a bit slower, but it breaks my standing periods down into small chunks, and makes it more manageable.

I understand COMPLETELY how big of a struggle this is...having the pain makes you want to cry, coping with the pain leaves you exhausted, the struggle makes you want to scream and sometimes the challenge seems to much to handle. Hang in there!! Be creative in finding ways to prepare your food that gets you off your feet as much as possible...don't give up!

finallyfree

[Tomato]

Dear Cleigh,

I'm sorry to hear about your struggles. I have had a dear friend who struggled with fibromyalgia also and know first hand how awful it can be.

I actually think that it is easier on your digestive system to eat simply - like what you've been doing. You may actually heal faster than if you were eating complicated recipes all the time. I think Alissa's recipes are great - I think they are for people who are moving from a totally cooked diet and need to feel like they're preparing something that is similar to their old diet. It helps people to not fail. But it doesn't mean you have to eat that way to be successful on this diet.

There could be nothing simpler than a huge fruit meal! I eat pretty simply myself and feel better on that than on complicated recipes. If you don' t have the time or energy to stand, then don't. Just bite into a bunch of juicy pears or peel a comb of bananas while sitting down. Most long term raw foodists find out after a time that they naturally move toward a more simple diet of just plain fruits and veggies anyway. Save the complicated recipes for occasional use, when you are feeling better. :)

Hope this helps a bit.

[faith4u]

I agree with everyone that fruit is super simple and easy.

If it doesn't seem filling enough to you and/or you don't want to eat more often in the beginning then....

there are TONS of recipes in Alissa's book that are quick, easy and delicious.

Here are some easy, easy things to make:

Onion Dip

Broccoli Soup

Corn Chowder

Mock Salmon Pate

Enchildas-so tasty but you will need a dehydrator

Collard Rolls

Date Nut Torte

Fudge Balls

Walnut Fudge

Banana Ice Cream

and on and on.....there are also tons of easy recipes on these boards. RP Brownies are only three ingredients and take less than two minutes to prepare.

Green smoothies, fruit smoothies etc..

You know, they say that we eat the same 10-12 things over and over again. All you have to do when you go raw is find 10-12 things that you like and rotate them over and over.

[aubrey]

My fibro is gone, thanks to this new raw and living lifestyle. I feel your pain, literally. But this diet will save your life...I promise!

Pineapple helped me a LOT. I found out pineapple has enzymes that help with inflammation and pain. Cayenne pepper also, so add as much as you can take to your dressings and sauces or just sprinkle it on top of your food.

Ginger is good for the joints. A salad made of cucumber, avocado, and some fresh ginger will really hit the spot!

Some of my favorite things to make are simple:

Banana ice cream (just take frozen bananas and cut into small chunks. Put about 1/8-1/4 c. water in a blender and slowly add the banana. I add a little vanilla extract and agave nectar, and it tastes like a shake.) The potassium will really help with the muscle pain.

Young coconut and strawberry shake...just empty the young coconut juice into the blender and add strawberries and vanilla. Yum!

Some days, I take an armful of frozen fruit and just throw it in the blender and make a multi-fruit smoothie for breakfast.

Also, don't feel like you really need to clean the juicer more than once a day. It will be okay. You don't need to clean it out after every juicing, or at least I don't. I clean it in the evening when I am done with it for the day.

Get to feeling better!

[portiz]

Guacamole:
onions
garlic
1 (or more if you're brave) seeded jalapenos
1 avocado
3 roma tomotoes
lime juice to taste
salt and pepper to taste

process everything but the tomatoes and avocadoes together. The reason being because i like the onions and garlic to be smooth and the tomato and avocado chunky (just my taste).

I always make a big batch at the beginning of the week and seems to disappear by tuesday or wednesday!

~~~hugs~~~

hang in there!!!

[luckitri]

I have a tall stool and a tall chair but since the counter doesn't hang over to where my knees can go under - well then it gets my back after awhile. I just cart everything to a table and chair I can sit normally at and do that. Generally when I have had enough of standing I get kind of crippled up and limpy or just too much exercise in general will do that to me. There have been times with raw that I thought surely it was all going to go away for good and maybe it will after I completely detox.

I just mono eat. I do like a salad. I do not do recipes or dehydrate. It is enough for me to clean and dry the produce and cut things that need it.

[Cleigh]

Wow - you all are simply amazing. Thank you so much for your kindness and your encouragement - how can I not stick with it after reading all of your great advice! If I ever get discouraged again I now know a really great thread to help me get back in the game. ;)

Thanks bunches!

[Pierre]

I don't have fibro, but I did use to get arthritis in my feet and couldn't stand. So I brought a stack of food storage pails into the kitchen and sat on them while preparing my food.

Do you have a Vita-Mix? It's pretty easy to clean, and occasionally I don't bother cleaning it but put it in the fridge. I make smoothies all the time.

I second the pineapples. For the most bromelain, include the core. Cut the pineapple into chunks and freeze them; keep the rind in the fridge so that you can gnaw on it. Peel and freeze bananas too. Then you can make a smoothie with two chunks of pineapple and a banana or two, and get all the bromelain without wearing your teeth out.

[juliebove]

I have fibro. I am doing better now but have other medical problems as well, so if it's not one thing it's another.

At my worst, I could not stand up at all for more than a few seconds without support. What I did was to really pace myself. I went to the grocery store just about every day. I parked as close to the front of the store as I could and as near a shopping cart as I could. I needed the cart to be able to get into the store. I then grabbed what I could quickly and headed to the checkout counter. I could usually make it through the produce section in one trip but if I needed more than that, it would require another trip the next day. Standing in line was the worst! Sometimes if I stood for too long my muscles would totally lock up and making it next to impossible to get back to the car.

Once a week, I prepped fruit and veggies. I bought a barstool to sit on. Even getting onto the bar stool was a chore at times. I placed it near the sink. I bought a large cutting board designed to fit across the sink. It had a built in scooped out area at one end with drainage holes, so I could wash things right on the board. I would then slice, chop peel or whatever I thought I needed to do for the week. Actually once fruit and veggies are processed like this they won't quite last a week, but for the most part it was enough to cover most of the week. If I were going to make recipes I would look at them ahead of time so I knew what I needed to do.

Now I will say I was on on a "raw" diet back then but I was eating a LOT of raw foods. Most of my dinners were nothing but a huge salad, mainly of raw ingredients. My daughter was a toddler back then and was eating plenty of raw fruits and vegetables cut up into little bite sized pieces or slices.

I put the cut up foods into plastic containers or plastic bags to be stored in the fridge. Anything I might need to use was kept near the sink on the counter because reaching up into a cupboard, or sometimes even down into a cupboard was next to impossible. So the containters and bags I might need were kept there along with knives (placed far enough back so my daughter couldn't grab them), salad spinner and other utensils. I did have a blender back then but no food processor or dehydrator to use.

I also learned to keep some things like nuts, down low in the cupboard. In those days I was more likely to crawl or scoot across the floor than to try to walk. So it was easy for me to get into a low cupboard. And if I couldn't get there, it was easy enough to send my daughter in for whatever it was I needed.

I did use a walker in those days when I could get myself upright enough to use it. Although they do make various attachments for the walker, I didn't have any of these so I improvised by using a tote bag with a handle that could be attached over the frame of the walker. In this way I could get a bottle of water, bag of cut up veggies, or similar food from one room to the other. I often ate my food out of bags. Luckily I like simple foods without sauces and dressings and such.

If I made a big salad and needed to get it from one room to another, I would either put it on a tray and slide the tray along the floor while scooting, or putting the salad in a lidded bowl that could be put in my tote bag.

For the salads, I'd start with a bed of assorted greens, then I'd top it with things like tomatoes, peppers, carrots, celery, and some nuts for protein. Although I do not like dressing, I would sometimes use some salsa or lemon juice on it.

When possible, I would buy prepared veggies and fruits. These days I tend to avoid those pre-washed salads but back then they were a fairly new thing and I do not recall people getting food poisoning from them. Although I did usually buy unpackaged greens and wash them myself to save money. I would buy peeled and washed "baby" carrots or sticks of carrots and celery when they were on sale. I could also sometimes find containers of chopped onion and peppers. These days I've seen sliced onions and tomatoes for sale.

I still have my barstool but am better enough now that I don't need to sit on it. But if I did, I would still use it. You could put it near your dehydrator if you want to use that. Mine swivels and does not have a back on it.

I am lucky in that my local health food store sells a lot of raw foods. I can buy bars, crackers and nuts that are all raw. It's also the pickup spot for my organic produce box. So I can get most of my food right there! If you can get produce deliveries like this, I highly recommend it. The person packing the box has done all of the work for me already. All I have to do is take it home, wash it and prep it. If you can't get such deliveries, you might consider having the store deliver it for you if you have such a service available. I did that once when I didn't want to venture out in the snow. Saves you a lot of legwork!

[Snownoir]

I have fibro as well... I get bad flare ups every now and then. I honestly wish you happy healing. I'm glad that what others have said previous to my post have given you the nudge that you needed to keep going. A friend told me, “If you really want to get somewhere, just keep putting one foot down in front of the other. Its always easy to do that. And then in no time, you’ll look back and be amazed at how far you’ve come.” Please just keep doing that. One moment at a time. One meal at a time. One day at a time. One less moment of pain at a time. One less day of pain at at time. One day at a time, one foot after the other. You can’t help but move forward if you do that. You will heal! Find out all the shortcuts possible that you can take! If you're feeling really good one day, wash a buncha veggies and make a few things that can last a while to cut down on prep later. And I really agree with the "keep it simple" ideology. Sorry that you haven't really liked most of Alissa's recipes but take that as a sign that you don't really need anything dolled up. Do what you're doing (the simple eating) and HEAL!! Haa haa... :D

Pierre.... you're looking great since the last pic I saw of you!

[carolg]

I'm excited for all of you being proactive. Thankfully not your problems, but my teeth have been my challenge to the max even eating raw, previous vegan, even animal as a child, or just eating period.

Audrey, loved your story, but then again, I'm inspired by everyones small step towards their journey. Thanks for sharing your link too Audrey. Wow.
carolg

[SeaRose]

Another fibro sufferer here, too. Isn't it interesting that we all ended up here? I for one think raw is the answer for all of us.

Just wanted to add a few things, that have worked for me a great deal. Fibro is made worse by lack of sleep, namely good, refreshing sleep. Since you are not sleeping well, your muscles never have a chance to relax and repair, therefore causing the pain. Getting good sleep is the number one priority!

I have tried many sleep aids, some natural, some not. None really worked. Until I tried a good quality calcium/magnesium supplement. I can't even tell you how much this helped me. Also, if you can find in your area, bath salts from the Dead Sea (I got mine at Whole Foods), these are great because they contain natural minerals that are absorbed through the skin while you bathe. I also found Magnesium Malate worked WONDERS! (make sure you take the recommended dosage on the bottle, and not less.)

I actually had total remission from my own Fibro from the above mentioned tips. When I started raw, it came back with a vengeance for the first week or so, now it is slowly easing up. I think the detox caused the flare up.

On a side note, I find it interesting that alot of people with fibro also have thyroid issues and/or food allergies. I know I do. Anyone else?

[finallyfree]

Thank you to all who posted about their experiences...I am dealing with chronic pain and have a hard time standing for long periods myself.

Your ideas, inspirations and kind words really work wonders on the discouraged.

What a great place to receive motivation, support and understanding.

Thanks to all!

Finallyfree