I screwed up: sushi

[swingbolder]

Well, after 4 months basically raw with a few vegan meals now and then (tofu, brown rice, bread) I went out with my husband on Sunday night and stuffed myself with sushi. It was delicious going down but man, am I paying for it now. :(

I felt okay that night but have had indigestion and headaches ever since, and here it is Wednesday morning. Monday I had a bday party to go to so I went and had a green salad. Yesterday I ate nothing all day and could barely tolerate water. How long is this awful feeling going to last?

Please relate your worst screw-up and tell me how long the hangover lasted! Please tell me I'm going to be okay!!! :eek:

I'm trying not to panic since it was raw fish that I ate esp. since my husband is feeling fine and we ate the same fish.

[VeganVixen]

I CAN RELATE.....

I have been CONTINUOSLY overeating raw oatmeal and I feel really bloated and "brick in the stomachy" .......but this is the last time I SWEAR -grains are REALLY hard on me -but I have stopped consuming spelt ,kamut and evry thing EXEPT oat meal ---so I will have to just put in a CONSIOUS effort and NOT buy it and bring it into my home!!!

hope this helps you feel better!!!!

[RawTruth]

How do you eat your raw oats, VV? By oatmeal, do you mean groats? Or ... do you mean you've been cooking oats?

[DotfromOz]

A good sushi place will have quality ingredients, so I'm guessing what got to you was probably the cooked rice.

Load up on just juice and water for a while, and I bet you'll feel fine (but perhaps a bit guilty still) in no time.

What's the good of beating yourself up over this? You're human and entitled to an object lesson from having yielded to temptation. Carol Alt, author of Eating In the Raw, admits that she eats sushi now and again as well as some other raw meats even.

What you ate was certainly better than a thick steak and a fat ol' baked potato oozing sour cream and butter, wouldn't you agree?

[Punky]

I agree with DotfromOz. Don't beat yourself up about it, still a healthier choice
than most SAD foods.
I hope you start feeling better though.

Perhaps next time your husband wants sushi you can order a veggie hand roll with no rice and extra avocado...that's what I do...I admit it's not quite the same
(I love sushi too, and it's one of my temptations...I did this same thing
as you after being raw for 30 days...but it didn't make me sick...i think that's because you've been raw a lot longer...) but it's still fun to go. Of course
the Nori and soy sauce are not raw, so that' a personal thing, but for
me I get to enjoy the ritual and social interaction so don't mind the slight
cooked stuff.

I heard ginger is good for nausau and stomachs. Maybe try juicing
1 apple, 1 cucumber, 2-3 ribs celery--good for headaches, and ginger (about 1/2 ")together.
That's my favorite juice combo.

[swingbolder]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

>>What's the good of beating yourself up over this? You're human and entitled to an object lesson from having yielded to temptation. <<

I'm really not beating myself over this and I don't feel guilty at all. We had a blast! I knew I was going to feel hungover the next day but I didn't think I was going to feel this lousy 3 days later. . .. so I started to get worried, esp. bc of the raw fish aspect. I was just wondering how long this awful stomache ache was going to last and that's why I wanted to hear stories from other people about falling "off the wagon." What have been other's experiences with this? How long until you get back to normal?

I panicked a bit last night bc I'm going to be travelling tomorrow and wasn't sure I'd be up for it given my gastro-intestinal distress. I am feeling a bit better this morning though so hopefully the worse is over.

[Pailani]

Three days? Headache . . . I wonder if there was msg hidden somewhere in there? I'm disheartened to hear about your experience because sushi is the one thing that I really hope to be able to cheat with every once in a while. Was it rice, seaweed, fish? Did you use the soy sauce and wasabi?

[Fuzzball]

What you ate was certainly better than a thick steak and a fat ol' baked potato oozing sour cream and butter, wouldn't you agree?

You sure know how to test a newbies willpower and stamina!!! :D

[DotfromOz]

Sorry 'bout that, Fuzzball. That wasn't very thoughtful of me, as I've been quite fortunate with my gradual build-up to going 100% in that I haven't been the least bit tempted by foods I'd once have chowed down on to excess. In fact, last night, I had a big ol' salad with Bragg's vinegar and olive oil dressing and about 4 ounces of steak for dinner.The steak tasted YUKKY even though it was an excellent cut done nicely. I wanted MORE yummy veggies and later some fruit. I didn't feel satisfied until I'd eaten some nut butter, veggies and later, several dates.

Guess I misunderstood the initial posting, so I'm glad you're over the panic, Swingbolder. I'd agree that it very well could have been a reaction to the non-raw, non-veggie items in the sushi as long as you've been raw. Quite possible, IMO, that it was your body saying, "I do NOT think so. Kindly do not feed me such stuff."

[rawruh]

after 5 months of pretty strict raw, for some wierd reason, i went and had cooked chilli veges with yoghurt so make it cool enough to eat. Then i spent the worse 3 days of my life with a rash like three degree burns all over, itching like crazy. The whole time i had to sleep and just drunk loads of water, but it didn't help one bit. Then i had accpuncture which fixed the problem in one hour. but someone told me that accupuncture just suppressed the symptoms and that fasting is really the only cure. but by then i didn't really care about the supression, i wanted relief.

Once some years ago, before raw, i wrote a letter to my body, apolgising to it for years of abuse, overeating etc and promising to treat it better. Well the next day, i had a rash a bit like the one above. And i knew it was nothing to do with anything i ate. It was like the energy of love from my soul towards the body, gave the body a boost, and it used that energy to start throwing out some poisons. it was amazing. i think sometimes we forget just how toxic or healing our thoughts can be, and only focus on the food side.

having so much guilty feelings and stress when we eat a little bit of something non raw - well those thoughts and feelings are probably more toxic than the food. So it's important if we do eat cooked, that we should try and be relaxed about it.

Anyway that's a bit off the topic, but an interesting topic for me.

actually i just remembered, that when i had that reaction to chilli, the same day i ate the chilli i had a big emotional upset, got really irritated, and then guess what, my skin got irritated. So was it the chilli or emotions, or both? i don't know, probably both, but thoughts really do affect digestion.

[Pailani]

rawruh, that's amazing! I've read here about emotional baggage being drawn out after people go raw, so I guess your experience could be related, like an emotional detox??

<<So it's important if we do eat cooked, that we should try and be relaxed about it.>>

So, if I go into it with a healthy perspective, then maybe, just maybe, every once in a while, I can have my sushi and eat it too? :D

[RawTruth]

Carol Alt is very clear in saying that she is not a vegan; she eats raw dairy and meat. In my reading, she's the only author I've run across who espouses this in the raw world.

Swingbolder, I've had sashimi and had no reaction whatsoever. I chalked it up to the fact that we humans historically can be temporary meat eaters -- in emergency situations like when droughts have ruined the food supply -- and some populations have been almost 100% fat eaters (Eskimos) and thrived. I've had more rebellion from my body when I've overeaten nuts or combined nuts and fruits.

But -- I did stay raw -- I had no rice or miso soup, just sashimi and seaweed salad (not cooked, just marinated). I don't know if you can compare experiences, but I'd think the white rice ... or something else you'd eaten.

Or ... your body giving you some sass!! Along the lines of what rawruh said, but reverse it in that it was giving you a talking to!

I hope your body is finished with this stage of healing now and your discomfort isn't overwhelming.

[swingbolder]

>>I'd agree that it very well could have been a reaction to the non-raw, non-veggie items in the sushi as long as you've been raw. Quite possible, IMO, that it was your body saying, "I do NOT think so. Kindly do not feed me such stuff."<<

I had a colonic done today and the therapist told me that that's exactly what happened, she said it was a "total shock" to my system and that my digestive system was basically fighting like mad to process the stuff through the body. TMI alert: we could actually see the chunks of orange salmon exiting my body. :eek:

Anyhow, I'm feeling much better now.

>>It was like the energy of love from my soul towards the body, gave the body a boost, and it used that energy to start throwing out some poisons. it was amazing.<<

Thanks for sharing that, what an amazing story.

[VeganVixen]

How do you eat your raw oats, VV? By oatmeal, do you mean groats? Or ... do you mean you've been cooking oats?


uncooked oat groats-grains (raw or not)are hard for me to digest ,same thing with fats and VERY simple sugars (I had my gallbladder removed).......so I really have to watch what I eat

[RawTruth]

Have you consider avoiding all grains, VV? Raw is such an easy way to do that -- it's prolly no coincidince you've chosen to eat this way, huh!! :D

Good wishes going to you.

[DotfromOz]

Carol Alt is very clear in saying that she is not a vegan; she eats raw dairy and meat. In my reading, she's the only author I've run across who espouses this in the raw world.

Yeah, and that's precisely why I didn't buy her book, although she did get me curious about just what exactly eating raw was supposed to be. Guess I should give her credit for that much.

Personally, I think Alt's book should have been called Eating in the Sort Of Raw, even though she was honest about not eating 100% raw as it's usually understood, since someone who starts out with her book could easily get the mistaken impression that that's how raw eating is done.

[RawTruth]

she did get me curious about just what exactly eating raw was supposed to be . . . someone who starts out with her book could easily get the mistaken impression that that's how raw eating is done.

W-e-l-l ... I'm not sure that there's a specific way that raw is "done" actually.

I know there are are people on this forum who eat anywhere from 50% to 99% raw (although, for the life of me, I don't know how anyone can figure a percentage :p ), and I think they self-identify as "raw" whereas some may still eat cooked meat, yogurt, cheese, and soy products while others are vegan but eat some cooked foods.

Then there are 100% raw folk, some of which are vegan and some of which aren't. Some 100% raw vegans eschew alcohol, yet there are some who do drink it as long as it's organic. Then, of course, there's the eating only organic vs. some conventionally-grown fruit/veggie aspect.

Since I'd been vegan for a long time, I figured that's what I'd be at 100% raw. But, as I've said, I had sashimi in my 2nd month of being 100% raw. I am not of Carol Alt's mindset, however, and still think of myself as vegan (funny what the mind does, huh!!).

For me, the most helpful and healthful thing is to be as nonjudgmental as possible and stay away from the shoulds.

p.s. I didn't buy Alt's book; I read it at Border's and decided it wasn't for me.

[vegangelist]

actually, there is a whole following of people that are raw, but not vegetarian raw. but, that is not my thing and i am not sure of how successful they are, health benefits/problems that they might have. i think that some people will do ok with some high quality raw fish (sans rice) but others won't. either way, probably not a good idea to gorge on whatever you eat. too much of anything can be hard on you, or too much too quickly, other than maybe fruit. but, for example, if you sat down and ate a pound of nuts in one sitting, that would likely make you feel awful too. so, forgive yourself and, if you feel that you must have some sushi again, forgo the rice, and eat only one or two pieces....and then have two salads with the ginger dressing :)

kristi

[DotfromOz]

W-e-l-l ... I'm not sure that there's a specific way that raw is "done" actually.

Point well taken, Raw T. I guess what I meant was that upon reading what Alt said she does I went, "Okay, I guess you could say that eating sushi and raw meats IS eating raw, but if you're doing it for the health benefits, how can you be sure that the fish/meat is uncontaminated by heavy metals, etc.?"

I agree with you that it's wise to be non-judgmental. I suppose what I said revealed my control-freak aspects more than I intended...something akin to, "Hey, Dot! Yer Freudian slip's showing." :rolleyes:

As for me, I've learned that I do better at present on a vegan diet with few nuts and seeds.

YMMV (Your mileage may vary)

[Pailani]

I've read in a couple of places that 75 percent raw qualifies a person to call themselves a raw foodist. So Carol Alt, who admits that she eats popcorn when she watches her boyfriend play on his hockey team, would still be able to call herself a raw foodist. Yes, I bought the book and read it. And I liked it. :) Raw meat and raw eggs aren't my thing, but it seems to be working for her, and she'll undoubtedly draw a lot of people's attention to this kind of eating.

[VeganVixen]

Have you consider avoiding all grains, VV? Raw is such an easy way to do that -- it's prolly no coincidince you've chosen to eat this way, huh!! :D

Good wishes going to you.

Thats what Im TRYING to do -lol Im just finished w/ all my oats and dont plan on buying anymore.....