Need serious advice for lethargy bloating

[lauraq8]

I really need some serious advise because I am so feeling like I am doing something wrong to my body these past few weeks. I have been feeling so lethargic with low energy, not anything like I used to feel. I have been eating raw since January 12th, and I have to say, I am like 100% raw most days, and maybe have had four pieces of cooked fish in three months. No other cooked foods. I drink coffee in the morning, and I drink alcohol socially on the weekends. I used to do these same things eating a regular healthy diet of a mix of raw and cooked foods, and I have to say I had way more energy. So please do not tell me it's the coffee, because then it would have affected me before like this, so I don't think that's the case. Today I actually left my gym and went to the health food store to buy a protein shake because I could barely get through my class. I am an avid exercise, exercising six days a week, doing a mix of cardio and strength training, and my workouts have been pretty blah these past two weeks.


I am trying to figure out why I am not feeling AMAZING!!! like I have read in so many posts, and why I have not lost the last five pounds of weight that I want to lose. I thought I would be bouncing off the walls with energy by this time, nearly three months raw, and feeling like never before.

The only true positive change I have noticed is that my skin looks really good, but other than that I am feeling really bitter about the whole thing. Can someone tell me if they have gone through this? I am ready to return to a diet of protein shake in the morning, lean protein and veggies, and fruit.

Maybe I am eating too much fat because I am hungry? I do eat one avocado every day, and I eat a cashews, almonds and walnuts, so I should be getting enough protein?

Sorry to be long and seem so negative. It's just that the first month when I was eating raw, I felt amazing, I dropped five pounds fast, and was feeling better than ever. No one on the planet could have told me back in January not to eat raw, because the way I felt was proof enough for me.

But now coming into the close of my third month, I feel like I have not benefited. The lethargy, fatigue and bloating I am feeling today are just getting me way down.

Thanks for any words of advise, wisdom or kick in the butt.

Laura.

[*RayRay*]

What does your daily diet consist of?

It could be improper food combining..?

or could just be detox...

Don't give up...! maybe take it easy on the nuts...? I find nuts sort of 'bog me down'.. I try to avoid them as much as possible....hope that helps a little...?

Do you have a juicer? My mom was having trouble with eating raw cause she felt just as crappy as when she was eating all that junk before....but the second she started juicing...everything changed and she is like a whole new person!!

[lauraq8]

Hi Ray Ray, thanks for the input.

I do not have a juicer, but I do have green smoothies in my blender, usually made up of one banana, a few sticks of pineapple, and about two cups of spinach. I was trying to use some hemp protein, but could not stomach the texture, so I just made them without the hemp.

I am interested in your mom's story, about how she was feeling before she started juicing even though she was eating raw, so if you can explain more that would be great.

I eat such a variety of foods, all raw. I have a dehydrator, a spiralizer, and I made all kinds of things. But usually, it goes like this:

Early am: Banana and a grapefruit

Late morning: oats, berries, raw honey, almonds, and some raw almond milk that I make.

Lunch: 1/2 avocado on Ezekial bread or raw crackers, with lettuce and tomato and sprouts.

Snack: dehydrated kale chips and carrots, sometimes celery with raw almond butter, or nuts and fruit, depending on what I have.

Dinner: Raw broccoli soup with avocado and tomatoes, or a huge salad with spinach, nuts, avocado, raw dressing that I make, and other veggies.

Maybe an orange or another piece of fruit for a snack after dinner.

I never thought about the fact that the nuts could be bogging me down. But I do get hungry working out hard, and I need something substantial, I cannot just eat the veggies. About a month into it I was eating quite a bit of raw cheese but then someone said it was probably too much, so I cut that out, and save it for the weekend.

Thanks for your input, it really helps to have someone to discuss this with. My husband just about took my head off when he saw me coming in so tired....he was like, "give this up already and go back to eating normal! You felt much better...." I told him I was going to think about it.

[*RayRay*]

I highly recommend getting a book by Natalia Rose..."The Raw Food Detox Diet" or "Raw Food: Life Force Energy". She has a great program for transitioning properly and getting maximum benefits by things like proper food combining. by the way, you don't need nuts to give you energy!


My mom is a house cleaner and so she is very active all day. Before she went raw she would drink a fruit smoothie in the morning, then whatever food was offered at work (she works in a huge mansion and they have catered food for the employees all the time....mostly junk though! sandwiches, meat, cookies, cakes, muffins, etc...) Then dinner she would have a typical SAD meal....maybe pizza, maybe a sandwich....then snacking on chips and dips, oh and chocolate.....


Here's what my mom was doing when she went raw:

coffee
fruit smoothie in the morning

whole fruits and veggies all day until dinner

huge raw salad at dinner

She still felt awful all of the time, tired, head aches, low energy, etc...but she was losing weight which was a major goal for her, so she stuck with it. When she got a juicer, she did everything the same, but in the mornings she made a huge (1 quart) 'Green Lemonade' that consisted of some kale, romaine, celery, apple and lemon. When she started incorporating this, everything shifted for her. The weight started dropping off WAY faster, her energy levels skyrocketed, and her skin is now glowing, and actually tightening up....she's looking younger already!! She's lost about 20lbs in the past month! But the biggest change is she doesn't feel sick all of the time! (oh, did I mention she had chronic fatigue, depression, and anxiety before?) Now she has spontaneous bouts of bliss!

also, she got a juicer for $50 off of craigslist, it is a jack lalane and works great. (and it is MUCH quieter than my juiceman!!)

Green smoothies are great, but they cannot compare with fresh vegetable juice!!!
hope this all helps a little! Don't give up!!

[circle]

i find that the longer i stay raw, the way more sensitive i am to things that i used to not be sensitive to. like my awareness raises. so maybe it could just be the other things that you are putting into your body that you used to not be so sensitive to, but now since you are so raw, your body is getting spoiled or something. does that make sense?

someone once told me if you want to get 100% results, you have to give 100%

[thenoni]

More dark green vegs,lots and lots will give you the protein,nuts only occasionaly,
STOP COFFEE,
Drink loads of water,
dont have spinach every day as it has a poison init,only mild but builds up,most dark green vegs have this so rotate them,
25 years body builder,and nutrionolist,good book, raw power by stephen arlin,also sun food diet by david wolfe,
i know stopping coffee is hard,lol
im still struggling with that one myself,
massive amounts of green veg!!!!!!!!!!!
your lucky here in bulgaria cant get them,trying to find wild alternative
jonathan

[*RayRay*]

someone once told me if you want to get 100% results, you have to give 100%
Reply With

Great advice....I am going to have to apply that in my own eating habits!! thanks

[circle]

i think raw power is a horrible raw foods book. one of the worst imo. i heard that that guy, steve arlin, isn't even raw. plus he looks horrible, and his book talks too much about eating way too many nuts to be healthy. it's not healthy to have so much fat in a person's diet even if it IS raw fat. that guy changed his name to thor bazler. he doesn't look HORRIBLE, but he does not look muscular at all. he looks cubz. not someone i would be taking body building advice from anyway.

him and david wolfe used to be good friends but i think they had some sort of falling out. i don't know the politics of it all. alls i know is that book is kind of lame, and it repeats the same info in like every chapter. it is really redundant, and the info is not so spectacular. also, i found it to be not well written.

there is much better literature imo out there like...

green for life
and
the 80/10/10 diet (my fav)

there are some great books i have read by n.w. walker, too. he's the man. he was not vegan, but i do believe he was raw (he recommends drinking raw goats milk in one of his books). i have found a lot of great advice from his books.

[lauraq8]

Thank you all so much for all your advice and input, it really means a lot to me. I just woke up this morning feeling bloated, weighed myself (which I do every single day) and my weight is right back up to 129 once again (i am 5'3" medium framed). So when I got off the scale, feeling so frustrated, I thought back to when I started this whole thing back in January, by reading Carol Alt's Book, Eating in the Raw. I knew nothing then, so I just ate some fruit, veggies, salads, avocados and a slice or two of Ezekiel bread every day, and tried to make raw hummus out of germinated chickpeas, which was so AWFUL, I threw away three cups of chickpeas. Those first two weeks I felt so incredible, I dropped 6 pounds like magic, down to 123, I had amazing energy, and I remember saying over and over again, "I am just not hungry, I feel so nourished..."

Well I don't know if too much knowledge is a bad thing or a good thing, but of course like every one else the more I got into this, the more I looked for recipes, desserts, combinations of foods to make life interesting, etc., and that is when I started feeling not so good.

So I made an executive decision this morning. I am going to return my dehydrate, which I think makes everything just gross (I have thrown away 10 pounds of dehydrated junk), and get myself a juicer.

I am also going to eat some fish. I love fish, I am a beach girl and child of the water, and I want to eat some fish once in a while. Raw if possible (I adore sushi) if not, I will go ahead and cook it (gasps all over right?)...I will keep all my veggies raw, my fruits, ditch all the nuts, and the sweets I have been making with agave, nuts, carob, coconut, etc....to dense and caloric, and they are weighing me down.

Sorry friends, but I just cannot give up the coffee, I am as stubborn as a child when it comes to that. It just makes my day, every day. I get up looking forward to my coffee!

I really cannot thank all of you enough for helping me elucidate what it is that I need to do to get back to feeling great again. I am 48 and determined to run the LA Marathon before I am 50, and I want to have the energy to do it. It just aggravates me that I do not feel like I used to when I was 25, so I am busying myself searching for the holy grail!

Thanks again.

Laura. :)

[HolyGuacamole]

Whether you want to hear it or not, it absolutely is the coffee (and the alcohol).
Your body is constantly trying to detox from these two things. You're on a detoxifying diet while pouring a constant stream of toxins into your body, and you consequently and quite rightly feel like crap.
You don't have to believe it, but that's the truth. Period.

Good luck to ya.
:)

[Veronica01]

Also you are having a lot of nuts several times a day and avocado as well. Your body does not need it every day and probably not both every day. It slows digestion. I try to stay very light on fats and for the past few weeks ive had more energy, last night i went to a raw food potluck and half the dishes had nuts in them and all the desserts had nuts and oats, i am SOOO exhausted this morning. My body is definitely still trying to recover from that many food combinations. I find if i only eat fruit/veggies/salad with no fat for breakfast and lunch i am great. When i go to the gym i have a few bananas before hand for energy and thats all i need. I cannot exercise if im this exhausted. I know better for next time!

[iluvmangos]

I really need some serious advise because I am so feeling like I am doing something wrong to my body these past few weeks.

Yes, it's the coffee and alcohol.



I am trying to figure out why I am not feeling AMAZING!!!

It's the coffee and alcohol. You really need Alissa's book. It explains why coffee and alcohol are totally bad for you on pages 171-172. It also talks about protein on page 157-161. You don't need protein powders or fish for protein. Greens are full of amino acids which create protein in your body. Try upping the greens in your smoothies. 2 cups may not be enough for you. I use a whole head or bunch in mine.



But now coming into the close of my third month, I feel like I have not benefited. The lethargy, fatigue and bloating I am feeling today are just getting me way down.

Thanks for any words of advise, wisdom or kick in the butt.

Laura.

You have not tried three months of 100% raw. You have not even tried one month of 100% raw. Take Alissa's 30 day 100% raw challenge and see what happens.

Also, the bloating and fatigue may be because you're not following proper food combining rules. Alissa's book has a food combing chart.

[T-Bird]

california almond produces are required by law to pasteurize their almonds - and they can still label them as raw:eek:

If you've been eating a lot of almonds - and you didn't seek out the imported raw kind - that could change you from about 90-95% raw to 50% if you eat a lot of them.....

Something to think about.

[ruffsongraw]

i am 9 weeks at 99.9% raw. i felt crappy longer than i expected. but i have some health issues going on too, so that might have been it.

get alyssa's book!! it is so helpful.

be brave: trade your morning coffee for fresh orange juice and blend in some raw cacao for added energy. (nibbling goji berries all day really helps me too!)
i use 10 clementine oranges for my juice. no way i could actually EAT 10 oranges, but the juice has all the benefit of them and it makes just one tall glass. that might really help you with feeling bloated.

the first 2 weeks i was raw i felt like i had swallowed a PUMPKIN whole! it was awful. i was over-eating---to avoid cravings & to avoid temptations i tried to stay full. i had to WAY back off how much i ate. the juice really helped b/c when i was hungry (for real) then i would drink juice. it satisfied my hunger but didnt bloat me.

i agree w/all the above tips. if your body is trying to detox and every time it makes a little head way you feed it something bad, then it has to detox more & its been sabotaged.

i was also told on this list that for every year you ate SAD you need to give raw a month to really feel the true benfits. that is a long time for some of us!! but each day, each week, each month of eating raw is improving us, not detracting form the transformation process.
i am 44. i wish i had leared about this sooner.

you dont really need an excuse to go back to eating SAD (which is OH SO tempting sometimes!). this is your choice to continue with or not! : }

jen

[*RayRay*]

I think your decisions are GREAT!!! Please if you are going to read one book make it "Raw Food: Life Force Energy" by Natalia Rose. I think you will love it! She is awesome! You will LOVE having a juicer!!! My mom who I was telling you about still drinks coffee, but she is feeling the best she ever has in her life. I think about it this way: If you were eating an unhealthy diet before and drinking coffee, and now are eating a highly raw diet (but not necessarily strictly raw) and still having a cup of coffee a day...you are doing pretty good...I mean isn't it about improvement and making better choices...? Not perfection? IMO, if you are not ready to give up coffee , then don't.!! enjoy your coffee and don't stress about it, then move on and enjoy your fresh veggie juices and big raw salads!!

[lauraq8]

Once again, I cannot thank you all enough for the all advise and insight you have given me today. I did not know about the almonds not being raw, the ones from Trader Joe's say "Raw almonds" and I thought in order to put that on the label it had to be raw. Another problem I am realizing is that I was just plain eating too much. In Alt's book she emphasizes that she eats all she wants and stays trim. I just don't think that is the case for everyone at all. Especially not for me. I need to watch what I eat to stay at 125, no matter what kind of diet it is. I still need to aroudn 1200 to 1500 calories a day, and not more than that. I am 48 years old, and have always exercised adn watched my intake, so I guess I was looking for a "license to eat!"

RayRay, thanks for the encouragement. I know what i need to do now to make this work for me. It is a combination of mostly raw with a few of my faves here and there, like fish, and pinto beans.

I already feel better today since I have eaten lighter, and am not bloated and weighed down.

Thanks again, all you guys RAWK!

Laura.

[RaeVynn]

Personally, I think that having to watch what you eat (quantity) is buying into cooked food's lie.
You should eat what you love. Eat as much as you are hungry for. Try new things. Nourish your body with fresh, delicious, wonderful raw foods. Unless you are filling up on cooked food, or with dehydrated foods (no water content), your body will tell you when you've had enough. You might eat "too much" the first little while, but the uncomfortable feelings will let you know that. Get comfortable listening to your body.
1500 calories a day mean that you have been starving your body for many years. You need nourishment to be able to HAVE energy, and so that your body has the raw materials to clean out the unhealthy stuff, and to rebuild fresh, new, healthy cells.

Please, do try 100% raw. Give it a month. Aren't you worth it? I think you are! :p

[Everchanging]

be brave: trade your morning coffee for fresh orange juice and blend in some raw cacao for added energy.
jen

I don't know what the difference between raw cacao and coffee is, they both have caffeine, both are stimulants, both affect hormone levels and are similar in many other ways. I would rather have coffee personally :eek:, but one day I hope all the fruits and veggies and yoga get me feeling so good that I don't even think about it anymore.

[didi_dancer]

I know COFFEE right you NEED NEED NEED your daily brew. Well sorry to inform you but that cup a joe is frying your nervous system, yes indeed. Putin your nerves right in an internal deep daddy fryer. Then those few cups of wine RIGHT to your poor poor poor little liver. SO your good efforts by eating raw are going down the poop shoot.
Sorry to say it you are going to have to replace that cup a joe with an even more delightful drink YERBA MATE yummy with some raw agave nector.
For wine try a juice sprizter, a virgin mamosa, mix any berry juice with a lil seltzer water, or try some KAMOOCHA.
Anyway this is coming from a person you thought how in gods name am I going to stop drinking coffee. I drank coffee in the morning at lunch and in the afternoon and not no SISSY cups either 16oz more like it.
Well I did and my energy is so so so so much better. THough the first couple of days felt like ASS! so be prepared and cold turkey it baby!
GOOD LUCK