your opinion, please?

[RawChicky]

First of all I am young- 17

I ate 100% raw foods only for three months last summer with no slip ups or anything. I mostly ate avocados and mangos and I didn't take any supplements. I ate this way because I thought it was healthier than eating cooked foods.

But honestly I didn't feel very different at all...I felt pretty much the same as when I ate my old diet (which was pretty darn healthy, consisting mainly of fruits, sprouted grain breads, and nutbutters, and beans) I never felt RAWvolutionized or anything, but maybe it was because I didn';t have any health issues that needed to be fixed.

Well... then my mom took me to a holistic nutritionist because everyone was freaking out at my "extreme" diet and I actually got a lot of bad news. I took an in-depth blood test and Apparently, I was extremely aneimic as well as startlingly mineral dificient and I had no traces of calcium in my urine. My heart was having trouble, my kidneys were having trouble ("if you don't use them you lose them" is what the doc. said) and I was hypothyroid at age 17. After eating what I thought was the healthiest foods. (You'll be glad to know my colon was in great shape though! :rolleyes: )

Soooo...I was forced to quit the raw food diet and imediately was put on whole food supplements and forced to eat many things against my will such as yogurt and eggs. I felt strongly about being vegan but nobody gave a crap. And as bad as I felt that I couldn't eat the way I wanted, I didn't feel that much different eating these foods. I even ended up eating turkey on a daily basis for a while. My body didn't react weird to these foods even on the first day I introduced them.

After a while, I was sick and tired of knowing that animals were being harmed for me to eat and I morally couldn't do it anymore, so we quit seeing that doc. and I just went back to cooked healthy vegan. Now I am eating all raw foods again and I am taking supplements to make sure that I don't end up inj bad shape, even though I don't know how much of the stuff that doc. told me I really beleive. I went to a "normal" doctor who told me that my blood test looked fine, so who the hell am I supposed to beleive? :confused:

Anyway, after my whole life story, I am just wondering why what I eat doesn't really make me feel different. Do you think it's because I'm young? I don't know. I really love raw foods more than cooked foods, I always have. So I eat this way because its way more fun!!! :p

Also, I was wondering if anyone else who has been 100% raw for a long time has gotten a blood test and what their results showed.

Thanks for listening!

[Veganforlife]

Oh gosh!
I personally have cured my life-long migraines (I'm old - 53 - old compared to YOU!) and my dead (diagnosed) thyroid (hypothyroidism) is now functioning properly. My doc claims I'm hyperthyroid now. I asked him if I should be bouncing off walls, not sleeping, diarrhea, etc. He said yes, but that doesn't happen. I sleep well, I think well, I feel well.
I can't imagine that eating foods dead, be it animal or plant can be healthy.
I am living proof it is not.

My blood tests are great now. Cholesterol and my thyroid counts.

Getting back to you.
I think you need to up the greens. If you ate mostely avos and mangos, um, hello? You are going to be deficient of nutrients, enzymes, vitamins and such you get from a VARIETY of foods.

Yes, I feel it is because you are young you (claim) you don't feel any different. I strongly suggest bumping up some green smoothies in your raw diet. If you feel strongly about eating animals - don't. I'm sure your guardians are not holding you down and forcing these dead critters into you? I truly feel that if you give this more then a few months, you will see dramatic improvement in your energy levels, your sleeping and your mental clarity. Provided you eat a variety of fruits, nuts, sprouts, GREENS, veggies...

Your mangos and avos was not a healthy raw diet you were eating.

If your guardians are questioning this (eating raw), have them read these posts. There is a lot of documented fact here.

As far as which doc to belive? None of them. Sorry, not even holistic ones. This is just my opinion. I don't trust docs.

I'm hoping to soon ditch my fat, bald thyroid doc (male) very soon as I don't need him or his meds any more.

[RawChicky]

Thank you veganforlife

I actually eat mostly salads with nut-based dressings and a little fruit now.

I agree that my old diet was rediculous- I love greens now

Thanks for your thoughts!

[chriscarlton]

At 17, as a healthy Vegan, I wouldn't expect you to have big changes in your feelings of wellness. Our bodies are a miracle and can take a lot of abuse. You have not really given yourself the SAD treatment.

I do want to encourage you to eat a varried raw food diet. Fruitarians don't have that good a track record. Chimps eat 40% greens and are 99.4% DNA similar to us.

I also wanted to mention to you that the mangoes you were eating may not have been raw. Apparently mangoes that are imported to USA are not raw as they must be soaked in 117 degree F water for at least 75 to 90 minutes before they are allowed to enter the country. The water is also chlorinated to avoid the infestation of microbes. So when you eat a mango you are in fact not even getting a raw fruit but a cooked fruit. Unless of course they are grown in the USA. Maybe your % of raw foods wa much lower than you thought.

Here's a link about Mangoes...
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/fs/irradiation/news/dec0503mangoes.html

[RawChicky]

Yeah I emailed NewHarvestOrganics about their mangos because that's who I bought from and they do not heat treat their mangos during certain months, and DO heat treat during certain other months. I didn't JUST eat mangos, so I avoided them during the months that they heat treated them.

[luckitri]

Believe the holistic nutritionist. Most doctors do not routinely test for nutrients at all. The endocrine and digestive systems are very complex and to understand how they affect absorption of nutrients - well I don't understand it all yet. Those problems and deficiencys may well be a result of a medical problem not yet diagnosed. Maybe that is why you didn't feel better. If you have a thyroid problem uncovered by the nutritionist then you need to take that problem to the appropriate specialist - not a general practitioner.

[Pierre]

I checked that link and it says 46.7 °C which is just under the threshold. So I think someone should do an enzyme test on the mango. It could be hot enough to kill fruit flies, but not mangos.

During which months do they heat the mangos?

[RawChicky]

Pierre: I don't remember I deleted the email. They were not heated in the summer but I think they are through the fall and winter. It's not such a huge deal to me if they are heat treated and I don't eat mangos that often anyway.

If you want , you can email them

philip@newharvestorganics.com That's the guy who answered my email last summer

[soulstar]

IMHO, I say take all doctors opinions with a grain of salt, no matter what their training is. Each health care practitioner has their own personal bias or filter. Ultimately, seek several opinions, but trust your body's signals whenever possible.
I have gone to 3, count 'em, three holistice naturopathic doctors who have prescribed expensive unnecessary tinctures and herbs, 2 of which sold the "supplements/herbs right out of their own office at outrageous prices to boot!!!
Another example: Once I Called a Naturopathic doctor about advice whether I should take a very strong course of Antibiotics after a minor 15 minute surgery. She adamantly said "YES, you must to prevent infection". Luckily, I wasn't satisfied with her answer and called a hospital surgeon who had performed 1000's of these minor surgeries and he asked if I had a fever. I said no. He said I should absolutely NOT take the antibiotics unless I had an infection or fever.

I am sure there are ethical doctors of all kinds. I just think when you go to someone for advice you really question their advice, and not take everything they say as gospel.

Soulstar

[Vegan Princess]

Oh no - why'd you have to go and ruin mangos for me???:eek: I had no idea!

Cindy

[eatyourbroccoli]

greens greens veggie veggies variety variety :D

just keep eatin raw if you love it! i think you may not feel an immediate difference bc youre not dealing with any health issues. be grateful for this and continue on with this lifestyle so as to never have to deal with them :)

health is so incredibly important. keep it! :cool:

[lovenmama]

Oh no - why'd you have to go and ruin mangos for me???:eek: I had no idea!

Cindy


Same here...I eat atleast one a day..usually 2

[Conscious Midwife]

You mentioned your heart

what do you do or cardiac and lung health

I wouldn't be to worried about the anemia, up the grens and get plenty of sunshine

so many female teens and women in general are anemic

[RawChicky]

LifeAGift- I do intense rock climbing in a gym during the week and outside on the weekends. Even though it is considered an anaerobic sport, it most definitely can be aerobic at times!

[jerseygirl1969]

It's very possible that you could have had those problems BEFORE you went raw. Because you didn't have lab tests prior to the change, you'll never know. I do agree with the others. You need to have a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds to get the proper nutrition you need. Limiting your diet to primarily avocados and tomatoes was not a good move. But you are alive and healthful, and you learned from it.