Need some advice

[Guest guest]

I am a raw foodist experiencing some health challenges and would like to ask

if you feel inspired to, if you could give me an honest and open opinion about

my situation.

 

I started eating raw foods about 1 & 1/2 years ago because I was diagnosed

with diabetes. About 5 months in, I gave up raw cheese, raw honey and the

last little bit of cooked food I ate, about 5% of my diet, and became a complete

Raw Vegan. Well, I say complete, but I still indulged in an occasional candy

bar, but it was only once every 2 months or so, so it barely counted!

During this time my diabetes went away, my blood sugars were so great I

stopped checking them!

I never went back to the doctor to make it " official " because it seemed

ridiculous to go pay someone $50 to tell me what I already knew, which was

that on a raw diet, there was no diabetes.

 

During this time though, I developed another problem. About every 2 or 3

months I experienced a horrifyingly sharp cramp in my colon that lasted about

45 minutes (no correlation timing-wise that I could see with the eating of the

candy bar though.) When these occur, I can't walk, talk of do anything much

except for breathe deeply and wait in agonizing pain for it to go away. after

these occurred about 3 times, they started happening more often, about once

a month. So I finally decided to go see a doctor about it because I was

beginning to really worry! I went to go see a Naturopath who is trained in Bio

Cranial Systems, Nutrition, Chiropractic and Energy Systems. He has

practiced for 28 years, but he isn't very experienced with or it appears

enthusiastic about the 100% Raw Diet! He says I should be eating cooked

rice and lentils and fermented foods including meat, chicken and fish to

supplement my diet and he sold me several supplements which I reluctantly

agreed to take as an experiment:

By " Premier Research Labs "

1. Quantum Medi Aminos, a rice protein powder (He says I am not getting

enough protein.)

2. Quantum Stomach Complex a Stomach and Digestive support (He muscle

tested me and although lots of organs showed up as problematic, my stomach

muscle tested as the weakest.)

By " Springgreen "

Pro-Gest, a digestive enzyme (He claims I need digestive enzymes, even on a

raw diet.)

By " Designs For Health "

Brain Vitale (He claims this will help my depression which has much

improved since eating all raw, but hasn't completely gone away.)

I've been seeing him for 3 weeks now (He has me come in for weekly

chiropractic adjustment and energy work) and I haven't had a colon cramp,

but then again I would usually get them once a month or so, so it's kind of a

" wait and see if it happens again " kind of thing that am am less than excited

about! He wants me to come in for at least 2 more times at which time he says

he'll re-evaluate things.

What I was hoping to get from a doctor is a name for this colon problem so I

could look up alternative ways to heal myself. I am in a quandary about what

to do now, should I take his advice and give his " method " a chance or keep

searching for ways to be healthy on a 100% raw diet. (I won't eat raw

fermented meat, chicken of fish though, but I'd consider fermented veggies,

although I don't care for them.)

What I want is the to stick with 100% raw, but I don't want to be so focused on

being " perfect " at the raw diet that I overlook the obvious health problems I

have! I really prefer to be 100% raw in some ways because for me, a little

cooked food leads to more and more cravings for cooked foods, especially

unhealthy ones like breads, cheese and sugary foods. I haven't tried eating

rice and lentils as he advises, because I just don't find those foods appealing.

When I crave cooked foods I crave chocolate candy bars and cheese (even

though I eat plenty of raw cacao!) In some ways of course it would be simpler

to have more flexibility in my diet and eat partly cooked so that I can more

easily deal with social situations!

I recently visited my mother and started eating cheese and bread and have

been off the wagon for the first time in 1 & 1/2 years, eating about 1 lb of raw

cheese each week for the past 4 weeks, because once I stated eating it, I can't

seems to get the cravings to go away! Is this possibly because I need the B-12

or some other nutrient that I'm not getting from the raw foods I eat? When I

gave up cheese a year ago, it no longer tasted good. Now it tastes delicious

and I can't seem to get enough of it! Although I restrain myself, because it

constipates me.

 

I suppose that in order to give me advice, you need to know what I eat!

This is what my diet has developed into over the past year:

I start my day most days with almond milk sweetened with agave nectar,

sometimes I add some cinnamon, vanilla flavoring, cacao nibs, coconut oil,

mesquite meal or fruit.

The rest of the day I eat fruit and salads (mostly baby romaine, romaine or

kale) and veggies with a dressing made of Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Nama

Shoyu, Tahini, Agave Nectar and Garlic.

Occasionally, but not regularly I eat Goji Berries, Incan Berries, Sun Dried

Raisins, Dates, a variety of nuts or seeds (unsoaked when I'm out and about),

almond butter, olives, untoasted Nori and dishes prepared with nuts or seeds

(usually soaked). I have lost the taste for complicated prepared dishes and

prefer simple fruits and salads.

I regularly take Maca capsules and MSM capsules, although my Naturopath

suggested I stop taking these for now while I take his recommended

supplements!

I started taking MSM capsules again today because I've had severe lower

back pain for the past 1 1/2 weeks (is it a coincidence that this started 3 days

after the second time I saw the Naturopath and 3 days after I started the

supplements -I didn't start the supplements the first week because I wasn't

sure I wanted to try his recommendations!-)

I don't eat grains, fermented veggies, sprouts or wheatgrass, veggie and fruit

juices (except for occasional OJ or lemonade) because these don't appeal to

me at all and when I drink carrot or apple juice, I get a stomach ache. I know I

should eat more veggie source of B-12 but haven't found the taste of them

appealing. I was taking Nature's First Law's green superfood " Nature's First

Food " but was capsuling it myself because it isn't available in caps and I don't

care much for the taste, but I stopped because the capsuling got to be too

much work. So I wondered if I might be B-12 deficient and started taking a B-

12 sub-lingual about 2 months ago.

 

I should also mention that another of my health concerns is that when I first

started eating raw, after a surprisingly short detox period I experienced great

energy and joy! But this went away and increasingly, I have recurrent bouts of

depression and need 9-10 hours of sleep. This worries me and I long to return

to that feeling I had when I felt so good! This is one of the reasons I was

concerned with B-12, but I haven't seen any improvements in my energy

levels since started the B-12 supplements.

 

I am wanting to do parasite, colon, liver and kidney cleanses and am thinking

about Dr Shulze's products if you have any opinion about them. I was

concerned though about starting a colon cleanse since I have these colon

cramps and was wanting some reassurance from a doctor that it was OK

before starting it.

I did try a parasite cleanse a few months ago with Clarkia in hopes of

resolving the colon cramps, but without luck.

 

I know this is awfully long, so I'll wrap it up, if you've read this far, thank

you for

your patience! If you feel you have any advice that might help me, I could use

some feedback. I am at a loss about this problem and can use some help if

you have it to give.

Thank you!

Denise