A Real Puzzle

[Melissa]

Hi everyone. Here's my puzzle (kind of long, sorry)...I sincerely would appreciate input from folks.

I've been eating raw, off and on, for two years now. When I first started I saw really big improvements. Some weight loss (though not as much as I'd imagined) but mostly great pain reduction with my fibromyalgia, much less sore, sleeping better and more energy.

Then problems began developing. I seemed to crave nuts like crazy but eating too many--more than a few at a time--would bring on bad stomach problems and lower my energy a lot.

So I cut way back on nuts and focused on greens and fruit. That helped except I was eating so much fruit (fresh, not dried) that I stopped losing weight and actually gained some. (I'm about 40 lbs over my ideal weight.) Maybe my body just saw that fruit as sugar and hung onto the fat?

I've tried fasting several times but Master Cleanse started hurting my teeth and the sugar in the maple syrup gave me too much of a rush.

My fm symptoms are not as bad as they were pre-raw, but I'm not feeling as good as when I first went raw. It's never been as good as that first 6 month stretch when all my aches and pains disappeared and I lost some weight. Why?

I keep trying to "get back on the wagon" though lately I fall off daily at dinner (I eat raw breakfast and lunch but then feel so depleted and lousy by dinner that I eat the vegetarian meal I prepare for my family.)

Since my family went cooked vegan when I went raw, I'm concerned that they're eating too many carbs (= sugar). And I'm concerned about my 8 year old son's protein and calcium levels--it's hard to get THAT much sesame seeds and greens into a child. Compared to SAD eaters, he and my partner eat quite nicely, lots of fresh, raw, organic fruits and veggies, salads, sprouts, whole wheat pastas, beans, etc. Sprouted wheat bagels. Organic yogurt.

I know in my body that I'm somehow not getting something I need but I can't figure it out. Meanwhile, I'm thinking of getting pregnant and wanting to drop the 40 lbs and be as FM symptom free as I can before doing that. My parents are using the South Beach diet guidelines--with fish rather than meats--and are dropping weight steadily and feeling good. I'm the one who has been pushing raw all this time but yet I have to admit I'm not feeling as good any more (my neck and hip have gone back to hurting), I'm exhausted and my weight isn't budging.

So now I'm contemplating what to do? Here's what it sounds like in my head: "Should I modify the South Beach diet for vegetarian--not strictly vegan--menus and try that? I don't want to eat non-organic dairy and there's so few low-fat organic dairy products out there, bummer. I want to be vegan...and yet when I think about a piece of grilled salmon on top of my salad, I start salivating. I don't want to give up on raw. Could I integrate raw into SB and see if I feel better? I'm envisioning zucchini "pasta" with raw marinara sauce topped with some tofu? Lots of berries in some organic yogurt?"

To make matters even more complex in my head, I read that it helps to eat high magnesium/calcium diet (low sodium and potassium) to increase chances of conceiving a girl (We have two boys.) So I'm supposed to not eat bananas, raisins, and salty stuff?

Sincere feedback sincerely appreciated :o

[Victoria]

Well, everybody is different. Raw is working for me great (see my pictures). May be you need to give more time...a lot more time. I have read somewhere that it takes 3-5 year for body transformation. For some people it work right away and for some it is a strugle. Be patient. Experiment with foods. Look what is your paerent, who you genetically resemble, is doing and eating.
Consistency and persistancy. It will work eventually.

[city]

melissa, Get Carol Alt's book. She's raw but not vegan. Maybe you're just not ready to "go there" yet. Back track a bit and see how it goes. This is not an all or nothing game.

[tracyinfo]

Questions for you. Did you soak your nuts before eating? If not, unsoaked nuts could be the culprit.

Were you exercising at all while 100% raw? That seems to help most people with cravings and weight loss.

Why did you feel so lousy that you had to eat the veggie meal you cooked for your familly? Not enough of a mid afternoon snack? Did you prepare your meal first, and then theirs? That helped me quite a bit in the beginning. I also always made the green salad completely raw. That way, is was at least one dish that I did not have to prepare 2 separate bowls. I have also, slowly incorporated more raw side dishes to the menus. I think I first started with soups. So they had a soup and salad that was raw, and then some cooked food. I ate the soup and salad, so it was a breeze for me.

Blessings.

[Melissa]

Thanks for all the comments. I'm just taking in feedback and giving myself time to think this through right now. Tracy, I mostly did soak the nuts but not always. Good ideas about preparing raw soups and salads--I've been doing that most days. I'm an explorer and I've been exploring raw pretty intensely for a couple of years...There's SO much good I've gotten from it, such as letting go of bread and (largely) sugar. That's been huge for me. Also eating raw makes you aware of so much unnecessary cooking...For instance, I now love marinated raw veggies more than steamed/sauteed one. I love raw ice creams (frozen fruit blends) more than milk ice creams. And I love making gazpachos and other raw blender soups. BUT...BUT...BUT...I think the MAIN lesson is to eat whole foods and to tune into your body, to tap into your needs on an intuitive level. And I'm just getting this intuitive feeling that I'm missing something that my body is craving...It's like someone flipped a switch and 100% raw stopped feeling good. I feel like my energies are just descending rather than ascending lately. Hard to explain. Anyway, just wondering if others have encountered this wall. Today I had an organic hard boiled egg with my salad at lunch just to experiment. Can't tell anything yet.

[chilove]

I'll just give you my experience to consider. I also stopped feeling better and better after about a year on the "typical" raw diet. Although I still felt better than I did on cooked. I read a lot and realized that I had to make continous improvements to my diet--I moved to a much simpler, whole foods(minimizing seasonings, oils, spices etc) MUCH lower fat version of the raw diet and started experiencing health benefits again. I now feel even better than I did when I first went raw. I really feel that all we are meant to eat (in order to be really healthy anyways) are whole fruits and vegetables and a SMALL amount of nuts and seed. This is how I feel the best anyway. Now whenever I eat more than a little bit of complicated, fatty "gourmet" raw recipes, I start to get the fibro symptoms I had before, headaches, achey-ness, fatigue. As long as I stick with just lots of fruits and greens I feel great. I will eat some of those complicated recipes every once in a while (like on special occasions) but I acknowledge that I'm doing it out of an emotional need and that I am going to suffer for it. :-) I think those of us with health challenges have to accept that the fact that our bodies are demanding the best possible diet from us and respond to that.

Best of luck to you!

[Melissa]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I think living on so much fruit has been too high sugar for me. I'm going to make some changes to my diet and see how it goes. Good luck to everyone!

[Angelic Light]

Do you take B12 supplements?