Raw = turning passive/oversensitive?

[GreenEggsAndYam]

Ever since I went raw (3 whopping days ago, but it happened right at that time), I feel much spacier, lazier, passive and oversensitive.

I've never had a problem with any of these before - I've always been a tough-minded, assertive and motivated sort (if you're familiar with Myers-Briggs, read up on ENTJ. LOL).

But I think not eating meat/hot, cooked food is getting to my head. And it's only been THREE DAYS. O_O

Notes on my diet: I'm not a raw vegan, I eat salmon sashimi for the protein and omega 3's. I also incorporate a wide variety of fruits/veggies/seeds/nuts/oils/avocados. Theoretically, my diet is nutritionally sound. I'm getting plenty of calories, and my caffeine intake hasn't changed. Nor have my sleep or exercise habits (both good).

So what can I do? I really really hate this, I don't like being emotional. See? Even this post is overemotional. This is not okay.

Does this happen to any of you or at all? If so, why? And how can I solve this problem? Thanks! :)

[manker]

I'm an ENTJ/P! haha but I went raw 3 months ago and I actually feel more driven than before. I go to college and I feel like my concentration is somewhat better too but at the same time I'm more relaxed about other things now like family and friend problems and just in general. But it definately didn't happen in 3 days hah

Ps you don't need salmon for protein grrr :P read a few threads on here and go to some of the YouTube links :)

[MysticTree]

Notes on my diet: I'm not a raw vegan, I eat salmon sashimi for the protein and omega 3's.

You can get all the protein and omega 3 you need from vegetable sources. Please look into trying those.

Just go with the flow of emotions. If you aren't an emotional person then you have probably got a whole stack of unexpressed stuff inside you. It will come out. Let it. Accept it and it will pass.

[Steven]

Notes on my diet: I'm not a raw vegan, I eat salmon sashimi for the protein and omega 3's. I also incorporate a wide variety of fruits/veggies/seeds/nuts/oils/avocados. Theoretically, my diet is nutritionally sound.

I highly reccomend you go get a copy of the book The China Study to read on why animal products are not good for humans. Also check out this article on omega 3's:
http://www.raw-food-freedom.net/omega-3-fatty-acid.html

[Raw Angel Mom]

Ommega 3 and essential fatty acid source. Hemp seed (my favorite), walnuts, chia seed, flax seed etc.....

Brendan Brazier is a tri-Athlete and he is 100% vegan

As for the emotion, it is part of detox. You don't want these toxic emtion store in your DNA anyway. We tend to use food to supress emotion. Raw food bring up the dead emtotions.

If you had a very chemical diet (loaded with preservative, msg, food coloring, food taste enhancer etc..., or use substance), that stuff need to come out also and you may experience brain frog.

My journey was progressive so i didn't have those symptoms but for what i heard from my friends experience or this board, these symptoms are norma. You will feel balance and healthy, don't give up on raw food.

All the best

[climbing]

Sounds like detoxification and what I think of as "ascension"... it's a process, spiritually and physically that we go through in this life and food plays a huge role. I have definitely become more sensitive since eating more raw and doing juice fasts and the master cleanse. But it's a good thing, I like myself how I am now, and the longer I go down this journey the more the extreme phases seem to balance themselves out. Keep at it and keep messing with things to see what works for you! I definitely recommend juice fasting if you are able. Nothing has ever done more for my life, my spirituality, my mind and my health. Everyone in the juice fasting forum here is kind and supportive. :)

Good luck!

ps- your avatar terrifies me. lol

[Non]

I thrive on a raw vegan diet based on The Zone diet principles. Aka Gabriel Cousens diet.

You might be feeling this way either due to overconsumption of goitrogenic veggies, overconsumption of fruits (due to candida, and sugar highs and lows, inflammation, as well as a metabolism that relies excessively on glucose leading to sugar cravings and therefore starving your brain/central nervous system). Also, a low HDL cholesterol levels which are essential for hormone balance.

He recommends anywhere from 15-40% calories from fats. Avocado and coconut oils are a must for saturated fats to get cholesterol. Omega 3s and 6s must be in balance proper ratio of 1:1 to 1:4. Sunflower lecithin might also help. Focus on foods with a higher ratio of protein to carbs. Keep in mind that up to 40-50% of proteins are denatured when cooking, so that might indicate you don't need the same amount of protein that one requires on a cooked diet. Algaes including micro-algae and seaweed are a must. Sprouts also (including the baby greens and microgreens). These are the key foods in the Hippocrates diet. DO sprout all your seeds, nuts, grains, and legumes. Have them but only stick to the best of them, and consume them moderately. It's because of the lectins, and excessively high carbohydrate content of some of them.

Low glycemic as possible, at least for phase 1 which is 3-6 months, until you can start to handle higher glycemic fruits but always use fruits with moderation.

Oh and sunflower lecithin might also help with concentration.

Other than that... you might be eating a lot of goitrogenic foods. If you do than limit them, and saturated fats will activate your thyroid and seaweed will provide iodine.

Microalgae can also help rebuild your constitution, specifically spirulina, chlorella and AFA. AFA really excels at that.

Also if your body is too acid it will lead to some undesirable symptoms. Of course being on a raw diet will help with all of that. Fruits, grains, unsprouted seeds with high amount of carbs can contribute to acidity also, another reason to moderate fruit intake.

A raw food diet that is low glycemic, higher in protein bio-availability, and with balanced fatty acids makes a raw vegan Zone diet possible.

[MysticTree]

Avocado and coconut oils are a must for saturated fats to get cholesterol.

Your own body makes cholesterol so there is no need to get it from foods. On the other hand, avocados and coconuts are delicious so do eat them!

[Non]

are you sure it is in enough quantity?

Perhaps it's true. I just read of some people who have low cholesterol on any vegan diet. Maybe if you eat enough fatty foods you can get enough saturated fats from them to produce enough of the HDL cholesterol.

[GreenEggsAndYam]

Wow, great advice! I will have to look into those...and goitrogenic foods, will have to look into those. I know those are bad for the thyroid - is that the effect it has on my oversensitivity? Looking at the list of goitrogenic foods - peaches, strawberries, cabbage, walnuts??? And even more. What on earth *can* I eat? lol

I'd love to go totally vegan, but I've read scientific studies about plant-sourced omega 3's not properly/significantly being absorbed by certain body types. I don't want to risk losing (even more) brain function in case I happen to be one of the poor plant-omega absorbers.

I hope raw vegan isn't something that only works for certain body types. :/

[GreenEggsAndYam]

I highly reccomend you go get a copy of the book The China Study to read on why animal products are not good for humans. Also check out this article on omega 3's:
http://www.raw-food-freedom.net/omega-3-fatty-acid.html

Ok, so DHA is my primary concern. Even the article admits that DHA isn't found in any plant foods (excepting algae) - that it is a product of ALA conversion. The only way to increase the odds of DHA formation within the body, according to the article, is to moderate AA or LA intake, as these fats inhibit conversion.

However, that's still not a guarantee that the DHA will be produced from ALA in sufficient quantity. While it's good to prevent further harm by moderating AA/LA intake, there needs to be a certainty that it's even being produced at all.

I'll definitely further investigate this though, preferably from peer-reviewed, controlled studies, where I could review the variables at play. Ideally, to find out how reliable conversions are within the average person and how much ALA is required, as well as whether other things can inhibit the process.

Not to nitpick at the article, it piqued my curiosity. I just need concrete information from both sides. :)

But how much algae would one have to consume in order to fulfill DHA requirements? That's another thing I'll need to look into. Does nori count?

[GreenEggsAndYam]

ps- your avatar terrifies me. lol

Lol! Don't worry, if you're vegan, you don't have to eat him. ;)

[Draginvry]

spacier

Detox.


lazier

Detox.


passive

I'm not raw, but I did become much more passive on a mostly lacto-vegetarian diet. Actually, that is one of the reasons I almost never eat meat anymore. Before, I was overly confrontational. Now I just sort of let things slide by, and let life get on its way. Trust me, being passive can be a very good thing. The "go get em" types are usually workaholics who will overstress themselves in a couple of months and have to take a vacation. That was me back when I was eating meat everyday.


and oversensitive.

This probably means you are detoxing too quickly. I've noticed that rapid detox causes emotional instability and even physical oversensitivity. When I began to take my diet much more seriously last year, I swear there were a couple of months where I felt I had PMS. I'm biologically male, BTW. It settled out a lot over time, and I'm much more calm than I used to be before the shift away from meat. I also feel much more peaceful. I can relax, and I don't feel like I have to be "doing" something all the time. If you were to ask me whether or not my state of mind and body now was worth feeling madness for a few months, my overwhelming answer is YES!


I really really hate this, I don't like being emotional.

This is EXACTLY how I felt when I first seriously cut back on the meat. I was constantly on a hair trigger for no reason, and it was driving me crazy. Once the toxin load had been reduced, the negative emotions began to fade. I'll still get them if I do some crazy cleanse to try to detox really quickly, but the emotions aren't nearly as bad as they were before.

Detox is a paradox. Things often have to get worse before they get better. The problem is that this doesn't really console anybody who is experiencing the worse. You have to WANT to be clean. If you really want to be healthy and happy, you will be willing to put up with whatever detox is necessary given the current condition of your body. This may involve severe emotional symptoms, physical symptoms, or even both.

To be honest, the hardest part of my detox was dealing with others. I would get really snappy at people for even the tiniest thing that I didn't like. I tried to avoid people in general until my emotions stabled out.

[Non]

Ok, so DHA is my primary concern. Even the article admits that DHA isn't found in any plant foods (excepting algae) - that it is a product of ALA conversion. The only way to increase the odds of DHA formation within the body, according to the article, is to moderate AA or LA intake, as these fats inhibit conversion.

However, that's still not a guarantee that the DHA will be produced from ALA in sufficient quantity. While it's good to prevent further harm by moderating AA/LA intake, there needs to be a certainty that it's even being produced at all.

I'll definitely further investigate this though, preferably from peer-reviewed, controlled studies, where I could review the variables at play. Ideally, to find out how reliable conversions are within the average person and how much ALA is required, as well as whether other things can inhibit the process.

Not to nitpick at the article, it piqued my curiosity. I just need concrete information from both sides. :)

But how much algae would one have to consume in order to fulfill DHA requirements? That's another thing I'll need to look into. Does nori count?

Yep.. actually.. if you keep your daily omega fatty acid intake ratio in check (3:6 of 1:1-1:4) your body will produce enough DHA for all it's needs. I saw this somewhere in a video. I'm not sure of it but actually I've been doing that ever since I saw it and perhaps even because of adding some coconut oil, noticed my concentration improve. Even when I experimentally took fish oils and a lot of it with DHA, I noticed no improvement or change. So something is working.

IMO if you want, you can add some wakame to your diet as wakame makes your liver produce DHA. Not that you need a lot but I think it has to do with enzymes.. As long as you consume something with a small amount of a nutrient, at least it has the enzymes so if you take in those enzymes and you give your body what you need your body will produce it all on it's own.

[Non]

Wow, great advice! I will have to look into those...and goitrogenic foods, will have to look into those. I know those are bad for the thyroid - is that the effect it has on my oversensitivity? Looking at the list of goitrogenic foods - peaches, strawberries, cabbage, walnuts??? And even more. What on earth *can* I eat? lol

I'd love to go totally vegan, but I've read scientific studies about plant-sourced omega 3's not properly/significantly being absorbed by certain body types. I don't want to risk losing (even more) brain function in case I happen to be one of the poor plant-omega absorbers.

I hope raw vegan isn't something that only works for certain body types. :/

It probably takes getting used to. Like I said in my previous post, the proper omega fatty acid ratio is essential. Keep that in check and maybe you'll notice some improvements.

[Non]

Ok, so DHA is my primary concern. Even the article admits that DHA isn't found in any plant foods (excepting algae) - that it is a product of ALA conversion. The only way to increase the odds of DHA formation within the body, according to the article, is to moderate AA or LA intake, as these fats inhibit conversion.

However, that's still not a guarantee that the DHA will be produced from ALA in sufficient quantity. While it's good to prevent further harm by moderating AA/LA intake, there needs to be a certainty that it's even being produced at all.

I'll definitely further investigate this though, preferably from peer-reviewed, controlled studies, where I could review the variables at play. Ideally, to find out how reliable conversions are within the average person and how much ALA is required, as well as whether other things can inhibit the process.

Not to nitpick at the article, it piqued my curiosity. I just need concrete information from both sides. :)

But how much algae would one have to consume in order to fulfill DHA requirements? That's another thing I'll need to look into. Does nori count?

AA is hardly found in plant foods (except there is supposdly a little in jungle peanuts). But omega 6s (LA primarily) can become converted into AA, especially in excess when the omega fatty acid ratio is not in check. You want enough Gamma Linoleic Acid to be converted from the omega 3s in the body, to increase absorption and production of DHA and EPA. The same enzymes used to convert omega 6s to it's by products are used to convert omega 3s to its byproducts. That is why you want to balance your ratio of omega 3s and 6s.

Also , omega 9s (oleic acid) also help in this. Since all plant sources of fat contain omega 9s (it's the most prevalent omega fatty acid in plants) you can take that into account when selecting which nuts/seeds or fat source you want to have and it won't disturb your omega 3 and 6 fatty acid balance.

The highest sources of omega 9s are olive oil, pecans, cashews, almonds, jungle peanuts, and some sesame and some pumpkin seeds.

[Non]

You also might want to consider that meats may have hormones in them. Maybe it is true that vegans might be a bit more laid back, but that doesn't mean it's not natural.