Gas from going raw

[carro163]

I starting eating almost all raw food last week and just about everyday I had stomach pain. It seems to be gas but is quite painful. I cant pin-point it to any one food. Is this normal, and will it go away over time? Is it ok to take rolaides or that kind of thing for the symptoms?

[walnutty]

I starting eating almost all raw food last week and just about everyday I had stomach pain. It seems to be gas but is quite painful. I cant pin-point it to any one food. Is this normal, and will it go away over time? Is it ok to take rolaides or that kind of thing for the symptoms?

Yes, gas and gas pain is something I experienced. It did go away. I would not take rolaids. I actually did/do organic peppermint tea in boiling water, let it cool it room temperature and add a packet of stevia. It worked everytime and tastes good too!

[carro163]

What is wrong with rolaides?

[Eva]

Peppermint tea eases my stomach big time too. :) If you want to make it officially really raw (which I don't always, just sharing an idea!), you can take some peppermint leaves, cut them a bit to bring out the flavor, put them in water with stevia to taste (like walnutty's drink)... it makes great cold-ish or warm-ish tea that soothes digestion while you're body's getting used to new food.

[momma-rawma]

What is wrong with rolaides?

I would guess it isn't raw. :)

Plus that and tums NEVER worked for me anyway.



Maybe it is your food combining.

I know my baby cannot have me consume raw broccoli (cooked is okay) due to its overwhelming gas problems. I don't get it necessarily, but I pass the gas bubbles onto the baby and he is in such a state of discomfort.

Watching Dr. Gillian on BBCA....she suggests eating food more slowly--chewing it carefully, do not talk while eating (you will swallow air)....eat fruit alone.....i.e. don't have a big ol' salad with some fruit on top..don't recall why, but saw that as a tip she had.

Oddly, my gas has eased as my gassy sources were the unhealthy sweets and cakes and such (learned that from Dr. G.)

I also have a lemon water in the morning...and when I remember the evening. It is supposed to be warm water...which you can do and still be raw (take a temp before adding the fresh lemon juice just to be sure).


Apart from being an amazing body alkalizer/alkaliser, lemon water also gives the following health benefits:

Lemons are antiseptic
Lemon water has excellent digestive properties and can ease heartburn, bloating and other digestion problems
Lemon water cleanses and stimulates the liver and kidneys
Lemon juice contains calcium, magnesium and potassium
Lemon juice has been known to relieve asthma
Lemon water (hot) offers relief from cold and flu symptoms while providing some much needed Vitamin C
Lemon juice is a great skin cleanser

I got that from a website found when I googled. Dr. Gillian also has it in each day of her diet plans for her clients (though she doens't have them go raw--it is found in most of the plans).


And TMI--but the only time I get gassy....is when my body is singaling it is time to go.:D

[rawgreenyogini]

Food combining usually causes gas. Also when you mix fruit with other foods besides greens.

Fruit doesn't take as long as vegetables and nuts to digest so when you mix them it tends to cause the fruit to sort of ferment in your belly.

[Eva]

Great tips momma! Thanks. :)

[ShelShel]

For me it's onions and garlic. :rolleyes: Somethings just don't sit well with us and sometimes I think it's just that our bodies need a while to adjust to all the fiber.

Hope you find relief soon. ;)

[trinity082482]

Ahh the feeling of pleasure in a toot lol. Feels great. They say a healthy person passes wind daily but not excessively. :D

[Marin Mom]

I have this problem too especially with onions and garlic and improper food combining, also having dessert after a meal. Get a good quality vegetarian digestive enzyeme and take it right before a meal, helps a lot.

Good luck.

[Azura Skye]

i think it's due to poor food combining as well as not chewing food.
Fat doeesn't combine well with lots of other foods, and in fact if you had a fatty meal late at night then have a fruit breakfast you may get bloated and blame it on the fruit.
But if you reduce your overall fat intake things should even out so you don't feel bloated and have painful gas in the longterm.

[Rawmommie]

I had bad gas for the first few weeks when I first went raw. I've heard from others this was normal for them too, the body is just adjusting to your new lifestyle! It will go away pretty soon, hang in there! :)

[carro163]

I just started going raw about a week ago and am having really really bad pain which seems to be gas. It seems other people have had this but I am just wondering what to do to ease the pain and when it will go away...ouch

[BirdOfParadise]

Have you had this for whole time you have been raw or just a day or two? I know when I switched over a pretty high raw diet I got super gassy and bloated and then had bad diarrhea for one night. Maybe too much information, but after that night I have felt great and now the only time I get bloated and gassy is when I eat cooked food, especially cheese or bread. Your body is probably just adjusting to the new diet, especially if you didn't get much fiber before.

I would suggest just sticking to it, if anything maybe eat a little more simply. Some nice mint or ginger tea might help too, both are digestive aids and soothe the stomach.

While some would probably argue, if it gets bad enough just take some over the counter anti-gas medicine.

[carro163]

I started about a week ago and yes, it has been pretty much everyday. I am trying to fight through it hoping it will go away but is very painful

[BirdOfParadise]

I am no expert here, but it might help others help you if we knew what sort of things you were eating. I know some foods can be worse for gas and digestive troubles than others.

[carro163]

I have been eating bananas and almonds and pears..thats what I had tonite before I got a stomach ache...

[Marin Mom]

Nuts like almonds should be soaked overnight first to make them more digestable. It's best that they not be eaten at the same time as fruit. Hard advice to follow as I am suffering the same symptoms now! :eek:

[PATH301]

hey carro163, sorry your feeling bad:o
Just like what Marin Mom said, you should soak them first. Also make sure that your bananas are ripe before you eat them. Some times people will consume them when they are not yet ripe yet. Even though they may be yellow on the outside. Make sure that most of the green color is gone. For me personally I make sure there is no green at all;)
Here's a great stomach ache soother. It's somewhere in either Alissa's book or on this form somewhere, but it's so great to use. mix together some agave or raw honey and ACV,( apple cider vinegar ), together. The vinegar will help with the upset stomach and the sweetener that you use just makes the ACV bearable to swallow. Small - Small amount like 1 tablespoon honey to 1 teaspoon ACV. Any time I get an upset stomach, that's my 1 and only remedy - works every time.
Another thing is to make sure that you are mixing the correct foods together. Some foods will make you sick because they are not good together - go and check out food combining in Alissa's book.
Hope you feel better soon:)

[cinnamongirl]

I, too have been super gassy and bloated and it hurts. It just doesn't feel "right". I've been back on 100% for 6 days and every day I'm gassy and by night time my stomach really hurts and hurts most of the night. I'm eating a big green smoothie in the am, a huge green/veggie salad for lunch, not much in the way of nuts but usually a Larabar daily, and almond milk coaco, and lots of fruit. Could it be too many greens? Will my body get used to this much fiber and adjust? I don't feel like another whole week like this will be good for anyone!!

[boxerfamily]

Green for Life book says that if your body is not used to greens and you jump right into them, you may experience gas. Maybe try to ease into the greens instead. Just a thought. If you don't have that book, I recommend it. It's by Victoria B. I can't spell her last name and I am at work right now without the book. I hope you feel better soon.:(

[Rawkinlocs]

A snippet from Alissa's book (as well as the "Detoxing...What it is and what to expect (http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=3206)" topic in the "Need to Know More about Raw? (http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=17)" forum area):


"Above All, Don’t Stop The Process!

As I said, for most people, detoxing won’t be all that severe. You may experience some minor irritations in the first few days of your new diet. You may have a headache, you may feel a bit tired and/or cranky. Most of my clients have experienced only a few mild days of gas, bloating, and a vaguely uneasy feeling. That’s usually about the worst of it. Hang in there! If you stop the detox process by eating cooked food, or by taking medicine, you’ll just have to go through it again."

So it is quite common to experience this...I apologize for not having much of an explanation as to why without speculating but I can tell you that it will pass (no pun intended)! But as I often suggest, enemas are great to help with some of these detox/cleansing effects that take place when going raw!

[virginia]

Okay, I've been raw since 1974 and here's what I would suggest, notice whether your foods are in their most ripe and digestible form. Are the pears soft and juicy, the bananas spotted and sweet, the almonds soaked and blended with water and maybe strained or food processed? Eat slowly so the digestive enzymes in your body as well as in the food have the best environment. And don't eat too much. And enjoy.

[Marin Mom]

Larabars used to always upset my stomach (pre raw days) and the gas stopped when I stopped those. And as much as I hate to face it, drinks and desserts with cocoa do the same but it hasn't stopped me from making them. :D

(I think I will whip up some chocolate mousse now.)

[Carlsbad]

Pears, which are one of my absolute favorite foods, give me terrible gas. Cherries (another fave) are the same. Even when I eat them absolutely by themselves, I've got painful gas the rest of the day. I still eat them, but I very carefully plan which days are pear days! Your body may just react that way to certain fruits. Play around with eliminating various foods until you can isolate the culprit.

[chilove]

Hello there,

You could just be detoxing and that should pass pretty quickly, but you also might be experiencing problems from eating a bunch of ill combining foods together. I always advise people not to worry too much about food combining until they’ve been raw for several years, because it really isn’t that big of a deal in the scheme of things, but some people’s stomachs and digestive systems are more sensitive and do a lot better with proper combining.

Some simple things for you to try:

Always eat melons alone.

Don’t mix fruit and fats(oils, nuts, seeds, avocados, coconut). Citrus seems t o be the one exception to this. People seem to do ok with blending citrus juice with nuts or avocados for dressings for example.

Avoid all difficult to digest foods for awhile which include cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower), tough greens like kale, chard, etc, seaweeds and large quantities of fats.

Nuts and seeds are difficult for many people to digest. Try them in much smaller amounts and soak them first.

Apple and pear peels can be very to digest for some people. They give me problems, I always either juice apples or peel them.

The most optimum way to go for ease of digestion is of course eating mono meals (one thing at a time per meal). But this hard for many new raw fooders to tackle and is usually too large of a goal at first. But if your digestive system is really acting up, it would definitely help, even if could only manage it for a short time.

Eat much less and sleep much more overall until you feel better!!!

Blessings,

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com

[carro163]

I started eating raw about two weeks ago and have had terrible stomach pain and gas the whole time. Yesterday I cheated a bit and had no pain what so ever. Im confused, I like eating raw but the stomach pain is killing me. I went back to raw this morning and already have a tummy ache. What to do? Im assuming Im goin to get many responses saying how my body just has to get used to it but when??

[Riiiya]

hello! and i sympathize :(

at some point i was SO frustrated with the same problems that i thought raw was not worth it. Then i decided to try following the food combining rules. Oh my, the problems went away the next day!

somebody gave me this chart http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6339/foodcombining6oq.jpg
and i tried to follow it for a week or so. It worked amazingly!!! GOOD LUCK!

[CopiousAmour]

OH BOY. I am having the EXACT same problems. I am going to separate fruits from veggies and get some enzymes to take and see if that helps. I've had gas and diarrhea (sorry for the tmi) for almost two months now. EEEK! I don't have IBS and am not sick (have had stool tested) or anything like that. All of these symptoms just started when I started eating raw. I have painful indigestion, horrible gas all of the time which is painful and the loose stool. NOT fun!

[jesirose]

I had gas and slight diarrhea for the first week. I actually just ate less food when I felt bloated, and the symptoms got better. After two weeks, all gone.

[sport]

I have found that taking digestive enzymes help.

[epic]

my bloating and pain was so severe i went to the hospital emergency room and the doc had my appendix removed. most likely unnecessary and the bloating and pain continues after 1 month raw. i think its definitely the fruit as even bananas causes it.