Need lots of help: Cooked to Raw Food change

[ArcturusXIV]

Hello everyone,

I'm sure this could go in the introductions thread, but since I need specific advice on starting a raw food diet, I've decided to post here.

First off, I am 24 years old, and was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (23 years old) and Crohn's Disease (at age 16). I have been through at least 8 different surgeries in my life, and have all sorts of nasty conditions. I was born with cradle cap, for instance, and it never went away...I still have flaky, itchy skin on the top of my head. I am currently on disability, but I am looking for a way out.

I have tried a raw diet before, but have never had the commitment to stay raw. I'm sure part of this is because of the attention deficit portion of my Asperger's Syndrome...it is very hard for me to complete tasks, or keep focused on projects. I tend to abandon them mid-way.

I am hoping for some encouragement on this board, and some help in supporting a raw food diet. I really have to do this, if only for me, because I am sick and may possibly die from my conditions if they are not treated. I am on close to 24 pills a day just to keep my health in "okay" condition....so this is a must for me.

First off, I need specific suggestions on what foods to eat. A direct diet plan would be nice. I have tried going raw before, but I'm not sure how to get my hands on some of the ingredients for raw recipes, or which foods are okay and which aren't (for example, vinegar...some raw foodists say it's okay on salads, others say it isn't). I don't have a HUGE organic market around here in southern Utah, but I can get a few basic foods.

Basically, what I need is a diet plan. What foods should I eat for breakfast? How much? And the same for lunch and dinner... That way I can keep myself on a strict program until I manage to detox.

I am not working right now, though I hope to be in the next few weeks, so this is a perfect time to start this diet.

I also need to know how you raw foodists control your hunger. I used to carry around sunflower seeds (raw) with me and eat them while at work, but my hunger never went away. I eventually gave up on the diet because I kept craving "dense" foods, and never felt full.

Also, what is a good amount of greens to eat per day? One meal a day? More?

Thanks for answering all these questions, and I'm crossing my fingers that some of you will act as a support group for me. I'm a little bit new to this whole thing (even though I heard about the diet at age 17, I didn't study it enough), and I need some resources and encouragement to keep me on the path, otherwise I'm bound to stray off it again. I'm desperate this time!

Thanks in advance...

James K. B.

[ArcturusXIV]

Also, this is a more tender question, but I happen to have a venous leak in my "man area".... Basically, extra blood vessels draining blood from my penis. This gives me erectile dysfunction. I've never heard of raw foods curing a condition like this, but is it possible?

And what about frozen foods? I sometimes use frozen blueberries in my green smoothies (I have a vitamix and a juicer), so I need to know if I can still detox while using frozen blueberries, or if that will prevent me from going all the way to raw.

[SheLovesToEat]

Also, this is a more tender question, but I happen to have a venous leak in my "man area".... Basically, extra blood vessels draining blood from my penis. This gives me erectile dysfunction. I've never heard of raw foods curing a condition like this, but is it possible?

And what about frozen foods? I sometimes use frozen blueberries in my green smoothies (I have a vitamix and a juicer), so I need to know if I can still detox while using frozen blueberries, or if that will prevent me from going all the way to raw.


go get Alissa's book and read it cover to cover.

to stay full eat alot of fats .... raweater here has commented on dense recipies she uses to gain weight.

as far as your man parts.... who knows? sometimes the way we find things out is to just do them and then see what good has happened. maybe raw foods will help. you have nothing to lose.

maybe someone here has had some experience with THAT.

good luck to you.

[ArcturusXIV]

One last question: I have low blood sugar, especially when I don't eat cooked protein. Is there any way to counter this?

[goobygirl]

Green smoothies keep me full. Yes, you can use frozen fruits. And you should be more open to not limiting yourself as you transition to raw. Having a lot of "no nos" just puts up stumbling blocks.

Green smoothies are basically fruit and greens (kale, spinach, lettuce, collards, whatever) throw in the vitamix 3:1 (3 parts greens to 1 part fruit). This will give you lots of greens, fiber, and help keep you full.

I started by straining my green smoothies at first so they were more watery and now I drink them full force. They will help cut your cravings (at least they did for me) and actually made me hungry for green smoothies instead.


Eat a lot of raw, whatever it takes, to start getting used to it. You can add fat to the green smoothie in the form of nuts or oils and that will slow down how fast it is digested and make you feel full longer.

Go to your library website and reserve as many raw books as you can find and keep reading here, the books, the internet. Mostly, just do it.

You might even get headaches or other things as you start (I had headaches for 3 days, mild) but at least adding a green smoothie every day if you do nothing else will help you to transition.

[Raw Angel Mom]

Hey, you are already on the right path so good for you.

Now, i would say two DVD you must get. Alissa Cohen, you will be release from any fear to prepare raw food and it will give you confidence. The next one is GREEN CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE by Victoria Butenko rawfamily just google for their site or their DVD.

[ShantiLove]

Yes I agree that Alissa Cohens dvd and book is a great way to start. I also found a lot of help in Concious eating by Gabriel Cousens.
Green smoothies too. Maby only start with those and build up a good habbit, and then ad more along the way ?
A plan might be:

Morning: Fruit or green smoothie or both. Eat as much fruit as you like up untill lunch time, also too keep the blodsugar in balance.
Lunch: could be a good salat. I usaly use zuccini to get that full feeling (a whole one). Ad avocado and nuts too (if you can have nuts).
Dinner: could to begin with be a cooked meal or a big salat (with cooked food ?), or one of the great recipies in Alissas book.

There has been several threads about how to live on a small budget, with lots of great idears of how to get both easy to optain and also cheap rawfoods. Try to look back in the arcive.
Raw food could be as simple as just; fruits, greens, vegies, sprouts, nuts and seeds. All that you can get at the supermarked, it dosent have to be fancy or complicatet.

I use to have colitis so I know how it can be trying out a new diet.
This website has been a great inspiration
http://www.colitis-crohns.com/about.html
So is Victoria Boutenko and her green smoothie revolution.
http://www.greensmoothierevolution.com/

I have found that spirulina is great to stabilise my blodsugar. I usaly take it as the first thing in the morning and that keeps me going for hours.
Barley grass has been an important part in healing up my colon. It is mild and gentle but effective ;-) Ann Wigmore also healed up her colitis with cereal grasses, specialy wheat grass. But it can be a bit to much at first (for me anyway) so barley grass it was. I use it as a powder/tablet (but it has to be the juice not just powderd leaves). But fresh barley grass juiced would be number one ;-)

Fatty acids would be good for you too, specialy somthing like hemp seeds/oil, because it also have GLA. Otherwise flaxseed oil + evening primrose oil (not Borago). The kind of spirulina called AFA would be great too. Both good for your asperger.
The skin will heal up in time.
Ofcourse you can use frozen berries in you smootie :-) it is only frozen vegies that might had been blanced before they were freezd down (?).
Oh and probiotics would be good for your colon healing too (one with bilions of good bacteria :-)
Best of luck :-))

[rawstrength]

I recommend that when you go shopping, fill your cart up with as many green leafy vegetables as you can, preferably organic.
Make a quart of green juice every morning and drink it throughout the day.

[annavon]

Paul Nisons book "Raw Food, Formula for Health" has a 21 day meal plan, this might be helpful. Also, I just re-read Victoria Boutenko's book called Green for Life and it has a lot of information on the benefits of green smoothies.

Green smoothies are very filling and very healing.

[raweater]

Hi. I also had Crohn's disease when I was relying on the "health care" system. Ever since I quit the drugs and went raw and I completely cured and in perfect health, better than before getting the disease.

Taking 24 pills a day in no way will keep your health "okay", all drugs cause severe diseases and eventually death, drugs have never cured a single disease, and drugs are the #1 cause of disease (causing 2,200,000 new cases of diseases yearly) and #3 cause of death (killin 106,000 people a year).

Now DO NOT quit your drugs suddenly, doing so can kill you. You will want to get off the drugs if you're willing to go raw as taking drugs will only cause your health to spiral out of control rapidly, especially when taking 24 pills a day. It may be hard to find how to quit the drugs safely as doctors will probably threaten your life if you dare ask how to quit taking them, so DO NOT let those criminals intimidate you, doctors are the #1 cause of death and kill about 10,000 to 40,000 people PER DAY in the USA alone, why trust ANYTHING such monters say? You may want to read up on the drugs and see if they say how to safely quit them, but they are made to take for life so you may not find that information. What I did, and I'm not recommending this, remember this can be a life and death situation, but I was only on one deadly drug which I knew would eventually kill me, it was purinethol/mercaptopurine, a chemotherapy drug normally used to exploit cancer patients, with all the ones you're one I bet one of them is that, that drug alone is enough to kill if you take it for life, it's just a question of time. What I did is that I gradually lowered my dose over 2 weeks, but again, I'm not recommending this and do anything at your own risk, quitting drugs improperly can kill you (and continuing to take them will kill you).

As for diet, the SCDiet (or SCD diet, whatever) is a cooked diet that cured Crohn's disease in most cases, so if raw is too hard for you you can at least follow the SCDiet which basically says no sugar, no grains, no dairy. Do that alone and you should have tremendous improvements if not a total cure of the Crohn's. As for raw foods, I'm writing a recipe book which I'd gladly give to you for free as an exception to help you overcome this terrible disease which doctors let patients intentionally suffer from to enrich themselves (and they are in fact forbidden from curing the disease and aren't even taught how to anyway, of they learn how to cure it and do cure it, they loose their job and face long prison sentences). I suffered as much as getting shot in the stomach by a gun during the time I was reluctantly relying on doctors as I didn't yet know what else to do.

About how much to eat, if you're eating raw, simply eat until you're satisfied (this does not work with cooked food which leads to overeating due to the destroyed nutrition).

If you crave dense food, then eat dense foods, in the raw diet this is nuts, seeds, avocado, etc. The recipe book I'm writing contains almost only recipes with dense foods to ensure the recipes are satisfying and filling, I am also making it for physically active people like myself (I eat 4000 calories a day) so the recipes are all very filling, but even if you're not physically active (which you should be, it would also help a lot with the disease), these recipes would be great and they are all quick and simple to make.

If you have any questions feel free to send me a private message, I can also give you what I've done so far of my recipe book, I have 50 recipes written so far which should be a good start.

If you're willing to eat better and slowly quit the drugs, you can be cured.

[ArcturusXIV]

Woohoo! Two days of at least 80% raw already. The only thing that's holding me back is a serious addiction to coffee (with soymilk). That is how I keep my ADHD under control, since the medications don't work for me, and I'm a fairly severe case (already tried therapy with omega-3's and minerals...didn't work in my case). I'm down to only 1-2 cups a day, though, so that's much better.

Yesterday, the only cooked thing I ate was a seaweed salad, and today the only cooked thing I ate was a seaweed salad and a slice of 7-grain bread with honey (I feel guilty about that one.). I also had two green smoothies today, which is a lot more than I'm used to.

I'm not sure how fast to make the transition to 100% raw, but I think within a week or two I'm ready to go. :) I already feel much-improved, with more energy. I used to sleep a minimum of 16 hours a night, and took a nap time about every four hours. That should tell you where my health is at. Today, I've been up since about 11:00, and haven't had the desire to nap AT ALL!

This diet is really working wonders for me.

I managed to find a local guy who all raw, and I've been talking to him on the phone as often as possible to keep myself encouraged.

My bowels, which were uncontrollable before, and having bowel movements about every 45 minutes, are now down to having bowel movements only 6-7 times a day. And they're more solid, less diarrhea, blood, and mucus, though not yet fully formed (is this too much detail? I'm excited! Sorry...).

Hrm... Not much else to report, other than if anyone wants to send me raw food recipes, feel free. My email is candiriafish@gmail.com. :)

My body really likes this diet. :)

James

[raweater]

Are you getting regular sunlight with most of your skin exposed? Lack of vitamin D (sunlight exposure) is a major cause of Crohn's disease and the other health problems you mentioned, I suspect you may be quite defficient in sun exposure. If you cannot go in the sun try natural vitamin D supplements but be careful as it's possible to overdose and cause more problems, also make sure it's from a natural source and not synthetized as is most often the case with supplements.

The bread and honey you mentioned are also two big "no no's" with Crohn's disease, grains and sugar are another major cause of this disease. Try stevia as a sweetener.

Oh to help kick the caffeine addiction, which also aggravates crohn's, try some www.teeccino.com they have "herbal coffees" which are caffeine free in several flavors, my favorite is vanilla nut. You can start by cutting your coffee 75% coffee 25% teeccino for a week or so, then 50/50, then 25/75, then only teeccino unless you want to quit that too. I don't have it often as it's a bit carcinogenic since the ingredients are roasted.

I'm really glad to hear you're eating better and doing better.

PS: I got your email and will reply soon.

[Raw Angel Mom]

You can consider to have Teccino herbal coffee. It helped me to transition and quit coffee. If you still want coffee, at least buy the organic one but not from any coffee shop. They sadly use MSG, which makes people more hook on coffee. You are already doing great with 80%. Don't worry if you can just quit coffee at this time, but you surely can make some adjustment. For instance, use rice milk instead of soya milk. Soya seem to affect the thyroid gland, i didn't want to believe this, until i made the switch and gosh the difference. There is also raw dark chocolate that can be use instead of coffee just suggestion.

ALWAYS FOCUS ON YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT, and don't worry if your mind feel this isn't perfect, be grateful always for every little thing that you do for your body.

AND CONGRATULATIONS!

[chilove]

Hi there,

Dave Klein has written a great book about healing crohn's and other bowel diseases called "Self Healing Colitis and Crohn's"with a raw vegan diet. You can get it on amazon or from his website www.livingnutrition.com. I had bad IBS before I went raw and I followed the recommendations in his book and it went away very quickly.

There is a great testimonial about raw healing Asperger's on Shazzie's website.

Congratulations on discovering raw! You are on an amazing healing journey. I am confident that you can completely recover on raw.

Keep up the great work!

Blessings,

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com

[ArcturusXIV]

Thanks guys,

I am going to the store to buy some organic coffee today. What is the link to Shazzie's website?

And also, what are some good books to pick up on raw foods before I engage 100%. I'm getting David Wolfe's "Eating for Beauty," I need maybe 1 or 2 other suggestions...just the most important books you've found for encouragement and information on your journey.

[ArcturusXIV]

Oh, btw, I also need help deciding what superfoods are necessary for a raw diet, and figuring out how to combine foods. I've been throwing everything in the blender, but that's got to stop. I've got to carefully measure the things I eat so they combine well. I know to eat melons separately, is there anything else?

My usual diet goes like this:

Blueberry/Collard/Banana/Coconut Oil Smoothie
Dates whenever I feel a craving for sugar
Sunflower Seeds and Avacado mid-day
Carrot/Celery Juice at night, and possibly another avacado

I've been off coffee all of today, but I think I might have just one cup since I'm getting a major headache. I used to drink several small pots a day...I think my adrenal glands are shot. I'm probably going to have to ease myself off.

[goobygirl]

Food combining is something you can do later, now is not necessary. For that, I recommend reading Natural Hygiene books, like by the Harvey Diamond, and Raw Food Detox Diet.

While this can be a goal of yours, I wouldn't worry about this at this point. Throwing everything in a blender is fine short term and long term.

[raweater]

You said you'd have a coffee because you're getting a headache, headaches are often caused by dehydration, you need about 2 liters of water per day, that's if you don't drink coffee (which is very dehydrating). Since coffee is dehydrating it would worsten headaches since it magnifies the cause of the headache, what you need is water.

I'd highly recommend you try the teeccino someone else and I recommended, my health food store has some otherwise you can order it from www.teeccino.com

Celtic salt is also very good for the adrenal glands.

One last thing, in another raw forum someone had crohn's and couldn't cure it completely until she reduced/eliminated dates, you may need to cut down on very sweet things like dates if you still have symptoms while your body repairs itself.

[snoops]

I would say looking at your usual day, you are not getting enough food. That would give me headaches.

[ArcturusXIV]

Cool, guys, I'm looking at Celtic Salt now. I've been drinking a lot more water...these are caffeine withdrawal headaches. Gah! I wish I had an easy way around this, but I think the deal is I'm gonna have to suffer with the headaches until they fix themselves.

[EZ rider]

Everyone finds their own way to do raw. Its an individual thing. I like to do raw in as simple and easy a manner as possible. I have a minimum of rules opting rather to listen to the best raw food coach that I know of - my body. I eat fresh raw foods with little preparation. I don't eat "superfoods" as I prefer fresh raw foods that can be found on farms and in produce departments. Good luck on your journey.

[petaltothemetal]

I don't use superfoods, either, partially because they tend to be expensive and partially because I can't imagine any of my prehistoric relatives ate any of them. I prefer local, recognizable food. (Except citrus, which is hardly local, but I crave it badly every winter and feel marvelous when I give in and eat it... an example of heeding your body's requests.)

I don't personally know (being female!), but I've read little snippets here and there while researching raw food, that raw guys don't need their little blue pills anymore. Even though people post what they would be too embarrassed to tell their best friend, I'm afraid this may still be an area of little information... except from the folks who want to sell you something. You may try searches like "diet and erectile dysfunction" or something similar. I would think since ED is a circulatory matter, and raw heals heart trouble, raw could heal ED, too.

I got Alissa's book and dvd early this summer and read the book cover to cover. But I didn't watch the dvd until about a month ago. I wish I'd actually seen the dvd several years ago, when I first contemplated raw but couldn't for the life of me imagine raw entree's. So I basically ate raw snacks and side dishes. What is cool about the dvd is how quickly and casually Alissa makes a dozen dishes, so it's easy to imagine raw as a healthy daily habit rather than a difficult decision.

I hung onto coffee after going raw and didn't really feel better until I gave it up. It was hard to do, because I had horrible headaches for three days - like wearing a motorcycle helmet that was too tight. But I did it and you can, too. Coffee makes the body very acidic and encourages diarrhea.