I need some help

Hello. I am mainly a lurker here, but really need some input. I have been high raw for about 2 months now. My cooked stuff is not sugary stuff, mainly sprouted bread. I am the only one in my house going raw, so I usually have some cooked food with the family dinner, and do occasionally have meat with dinner. Well, since going high raw, my body feels like it is MUCH weaker. I have gotten sick twice now, which would not have been usual before. The first time my kids and I all got sick. Before I would have been sick for only a couple of days and wouldn't have gotten it very badly. This time I was sick for a week! I didn't eat typical SAD before, more like healthy SAD (okay I know some of you are laughing!). I didn't eat white flours, heavily processed stuff, much sugar, etc... I did eat meat though, and a minimal amount of dairy. Now I'm getting sick again!!!! I am so frustrated. I rarely got sick before going high raw, so this is really making me question if this is working for my body. I thought this would strengthen my body, what is going on? I would love any and all input into this. Thanks.
Carla

As you can see from my signature, I was mostly raw for 16 months - I was all raw for a couple of months, but then started eating like you - a lot of raw, especially green smoothies, but then having wheat-free, dairy-free things in addition. My digestion was fine (apparently I can't handle wheat) but it seemed like my immune system started falling apart. I ended up sick, just as sick as the rest of my SAD family, during the January flu season, I got a tick bite and had an allergic reaction to the bite, I started getting monthly migraines, and I started feeling generally run down and sniffly. That's why I went back to all raw. I don't know why high raw (I'm defining high rawhere as 75-ish percent raw, I'm not defining it as "all raw except for things that I'm not sure are raw") doesn't feel any better than my typical SAD diet, but it does seem to be the case for me. I'm slowly feeling better on an all raw diet, I feel stronger and I don't seem to be catching every little thing (although I did catch the sore throat that the rest of my family had, even while I'm all raw!)

It sounds like you are going through a detox. It happens to some more than others depending on the level of toxicity. I would take it as a good sign and go with the flow. If you stop now, you will have to start all over at one point or another. If it were me I would drink only fresh juiced fruits for a couple of days and it will help you feel better faster. I've been there too! :)

Hi Carla,
Well I'm not qualified to give a really educated or experienced answer here, but just off the top of my head;

#1. You can always call it "detox" which is what may cover a multitude of sins (oops - didn't I say symptoms?)

#2. You can't really expect that:

-Your new high-raw diet will have weakened your immune system to such an extent in only 2 months that it is causing you to fall ill.

or that

-Your new high-raw diet will have strengthened your immune system to such an extent in only 2 months that you will now magically be unable to catch any illness.

No sarcasm intended here at all. But I think it takes some time for each scenario. While many enjoy amazing benefits very quickly from going Raw, many others take longer, especially if like you and me, we are only on "high-raw". I still have blemishes. I still have body and breath odour. I am still not melting off amazing amounts of fat. I still get tired. But I still believe that the raw diet is going to benefit me hugely - more than any other plan and that in the long run, even in ways I may never "see", it will be changing me for the better.

Like you, I had not been on a typical SAD diet for a very long time... Vegetarians, then vegans for 25+ years. Then (a few side-trips only) into occasional SAD for social reasons. I got sick sometimes, but less than most people. I even got cancer. :eek:

Now on high-raw, I recently got a cold that I was sure just simply came from being exposed to too much chilled air, then warm, then chilled, especially while I was sleeping. The A/C was on WAY too high and I was getting blown on at night. Anyway I got a cold. Why? I should have been immune to ANYTHING on high-raw, no? Realistically, no.

Oh, I know what it looks like to others, and that is what we are partly worried about, isn't it? Here we are, campaigning for the Raw lifestyle, and suddenly, sniffle sniffle. We hide our faces in chagrin while they smirk snidely at us. What shallow thinking people have - expecting US to justify our choices to them while they just cynically wait to pounce on us if we get sick. Can they prove their way is best by never getting sick? Foolishness. At least we are trying.

If there was a genuine Tree of Life still existing in the world today, we would all be in the Garden of Eden! Not yet, friends.

Meanwhile, we do our best.

-Eating well (and living well) creates a 'safe' environment for the body to release its extra fat, toxins, etc. Symbiotic bacteria and other organisms will then feed on these wastes. Too many wastes might give rise to too many bacteria. This makes for too much......too much old toxins....and too much bacteriological waste........and THUS....so called 'illness'.

-As long as no new wastes are added to the system (in the form of processed and lifeless foods....and poor living habits).......then the excess loads will eventually be purged.......and illnesses become short and far-between.

-Just my opinions! :)

-David Mason

Hi Carla,

It's been my experience, when I went back and forth between relatively a healthy SAD diet and raw, that the more raw I became, the more sensitive my body seemed to be when i "fell off the wagon." I think maybe that my body actually developed an intolerance for most cooked foods. I started to get something very like allergic reactions a couple hours after eating dairy, chips, etc. I'd get the sniffles, and sneeze, and feel generally terrible, though it went away in a few hours. It may be that your body actually IS getting stronger, and is unloading toxins at a much faster rate. Just a possibility. in a world full of possibilities. :)

I was high raw nearly 3 years and was well "sickly" during that time. But in the past 3 1/2 months of 100% I am in the best health ever. It is sooo wonderful.