Eat RAW FOOD! No processed junk!

[fracty]

I don't have a cure but I know when I get sick diet makes a huge difference. I used to eat only raw vegetables, a bit of raw fruit, raw nuts, and a few other things. It makes you feel dramatically better.

I am slowly but surely returning to that type of eating and just about totally there. But I would ask everyone here, PLEASE STOP eating processed food - at least until there is a treatment for this.

Try mostly raw veggies and just force yourself to eat them. After a while you will crave and like them.

Once when I was just out of college and had a super bad bout w chronic fatigue I went to only raw veggies, one fruit a day, beans, brown rice and a few other things. IN TWO WEEKS I WAS DRAMATICALLY BETTER. Prior to that I would go to bed Friday night and not wake up until Monday morning. Every few hours the bed sheets and my clothes would seem as if a hose of water had been soaked me and everything around me. But the eating change, along w the supplements and holistic treatments I took stopped everything.

After you eat like that for a bit you really like it and you find gross food (fried, etc) unappealing.

I am writing this because I feel so sad when I read the challenges ppl are suffering here. Until we have a cure, please try a diet change!!

(Beware of the GMO stuff though. I used to eat TONS of soy, but wont' touch it now I know it is one of the biggest GMOS. So is corn, so no air popcorn, something I used to eat all the time too.)

[tcmgpt13]

While some raw food can be cleansing to the body, for some people excessive amounts of raw food intake can be damaging to body health. Here is a post about balancing foods in the diet TCM style:

Here's an idea..... (permalink 12)

As an older person, especially in winter, I find cold raw foods hard on my digestion. I need warmer foods which support my body to fight off the interior cold condition my body has (I am hypothyroid too). This is not to say I never eat any raw food, but I try to balance this at the same meal with warming foods. In the summer I can handle more raw foods and this is also when those foods are available in greater abundance, but even then I try not to over do it.

Anyway, the above thread has some lively discussion with differing views on this subject.

[fracty]

With a few exceptions most food loses much or all nutritional value when cooked. Processed food should be avoided completely.

When you are changing to a raw diet it will be, for some people, a challenge on their digestive systems because their body has lost the abilty to process fiber and nutrients. You have to gradually reintroduce raw foods.

I don't have time to post studies right now, but there is a ton of literature showing the difference process food makes on your health. I think ppl who aer eating a processed diet with sugar, white flour, tv dinners, etc would be SHOCKED at how much better they get after only a few weeks on raw.

If ppl here weren't so sick I wouldn't care. In fact, that is why I haven't said anything until now. But when I see so much suffereing and know that it would at least HELP I feel obliged to say something.

Do the research. Give it a try. It's not like I'm asking you to go on a diet of beer and pretzels - somehting some of you might like.

[fracty]

PS - It doesnt mean you can never have warm food!!! Eat a baked sweet potatoe w coconut oil for example.

[tcmgpt13]

Fracty, I think that assuming warming foods means someone is therefore eating processed foods is a mistaken assumption. And certainly there are more warming foods out there which have been properly cooked besides sweet potatoes and coconut oil (do you know that coconut oil is a cooling food or so it is is considered in the ayurvedic tradition). There is a lot of study about how foods work in the body in both the ayurvedic and Chinese tradition. These cultures have over 5000 years of observation about how foods may effect the body. Both traditions identify foods which are good and not so good for the body according to body type. There is a lot to learn about diet beyond just eating mostly raw foods which for some are too harsh and aging to the body organs. I think every person needs to experiment to find what is best for him/her as far as diet. I feel much better now that I know that eating the often cold American diet is not that good for me (cold main course salads with nothing warm to balance it as an example or ice in cold drinks). Personally I do not think there are one size fits all diets which make everyone feel enormously better.

I, too, see a lot of sick people here and so I am presenting a different view from you and Carla. Some people will get sicker if they pursue a raw food diet almost exclusively. I agree with you that excess white flour, cakes, pies, cookies, sugar, beer, pretzels and ice cream and other not very nutritious foods should be minimized and that many people eat too much of them. Still for someone who has problems with being too cold, raw foods are very cooling to the body and are best IMHO approached with caution. They are very hard for those with weak digestion to digest. We do not all have strong constitutions. We also do not all have the same body type.

[fracty]

Food is a very emotional issue and I am not telling you PERSONALLY to change what you are doing. I am not saying never eat warm food. I SPECIFICALLY said PROCESSED food.

Obviously this is not for you, so that is fine. I also practice many of the ayurvedic traditions, (actually I practice snd even teach many of the related ancient traditions) and even have a type of certification related to the area of ayurveda.

Despite all this I can strongly say that anyone here who will try moving toward a raw food diet will feel the difference. That does not mean you never eat WARM food. It means you try to get at least 70% or so of your food fresh, raw, organic.

And of course you will feel extremely ill and not be able to digest it at first based on where you are at and the toxins being released. YOu will have detox symptoms GUARANTEED. There are some health conditions where you need to modify your approach to a raw food diet, but with time your system will start to heal.

Even YEAST / CANDIDA is healed w real, homemade kefir. Not the kind you buy at the health food store, but if you get your own kefir grains - the real ones, not the mix. Other issues are gradually healed too with a raw food diet.

JUST TO REITERATE, A RAW FOOD DIET DOES NOT MEAN NEVER EATING WARM FOOD! LISTEN TO YOUR BODY AND EAT WARM AT THE TIMES YOU CRAVE WARM. LEGUMES (presoaked), BROWN RICE, SWEET POTATOES, SQUASH, there are loads of options!!! Also, even the kefir and things are often room temperature.

[fracty]

Oh, and for anyone who wants to try moving to raw foods, YES, it will be hard for you to digest at first. How hard depends on where you are at. But if you want to try this healthy lifestyle what you do is GRADUALLY introduce the raw food so you minimize the symptoms.

You could do it cold turkey. I did that once... going from pop tarts to all healthy, raw (I had warm foods like brown rice, etc). The first 2 weeks were MURDER!!! If you go cold turkey you may feel like crepe (and I don't mean a French pancake ). But then WOW! The difference was amazing and I felt bad NOT eating the healthy foods.

An easier way to go though is to GRADUALLY eliminate all processed and unhealthy food. I still ahve not quite done it this time. I'm still gradually getting off the salad dressings that are on the less healthy side. I thought I was only eating the very healthy brands w no preservatives, no MSG, etc, but I noticed some had soy oil, and most soy is GMO. So I am finishing up my last bottles and looking for a healthier alternative for next time.

So, it can be fun. Make a goal to add ONE fresh vegetable a day. If you are more used to veggies try FIVE to SEVEN servings a day. Think of ADDING at first, rather than depriving.

[Kritters]

I just made a soup (barely cooked) and am sipping as I write....fresh broccoli, carrots, squash, 8 cloves of garlic, parsely, and salt in the food processor......add to organic vegetable broth, bring to simmer and drink. Whatever veggies I feel like throwing together at the time, I use. Years ago I remember reading about the Houser broth which was basically the same idea. The more cooked the veggies, the less nutritional value they have.

I'm getting back to juicing again as well. I found a small cute little juicer at Kmart really cheap and it's great and easy to clean up. I actually mix in a few pieces of fruit like apple or mango with the veggies.... yum

Just remembered I had purchased a book on raw diet so I'll have to see what box I stored it in when I moved from Fungal Street USA...

I can't wait to get thin again.

Today I started back at putting on some jammin music and dancing around like a rock star (microphone and all ;-) ....Best of Blondie so far (remember her? ;-) and I'm on the search for some stuff that rocks now! Elevated my mood and everything! (prolly won't be able to walk tomorrow...;-/)

Kritts

Oh, and I also put some cayenne pepper in to kick it up a few anti-parasitic notches.... and squeeze lemon on top after in the cup.

[tcmgpt13]

I do think I mentioned “that assuming warming foods means someone is therefore eating processed foods is a mistaken assumption.” Processed foods were what you discussed in your first post. I did not think you were discussing warming foods that people cooked for themselves. Of course you meant mostly processed foods were not good for people and were mostly discussing that, but it is implied by you that most cooked food in general has no value (quote from you:With a few exceptions most food loses much or all nutritional value when cooked. ").

I also did not think that you were only talking about me or what I eat. I am not discussing the issue of food emotionally (are you?), but I am presenting a different view of how raw food and cooked foods (those which are not processed foods to be precise) can be understood in the diet. I used what I have learned personally about eating too much raw cold food as an example. Of course what is good for me may not fit everyone as far as diet or body type. I said that too.

Still I have to disagree with you that everyone should have the same amount of raw food and that the body will somehow learn to digest what it is unable to digest, often due to age (very young, very old) but not always. That is where body type as well as inherited constitution enters the picture. This is as true in the Ayurvedic tradition (with which you claim familiarity) as it is in the TCM tradition. This is why I think it is very important to present different viewpoints about issues, so people can think about how they need to approach eating, including how much raw food to eat percentage wise. That probably will vary from greatly from person to person. I feel that cultures which have studied food for longer periods of time including Ayurvedic which is briefly discussed in the next post (cooked food is generally favored in Ayurvedic, as in TCM, for most body types) have a lot more insight into how to eat than do most cultures in the Western world.

[tcmgpt13]

Raw Food Diets - The Ayurvedic Perspective, by Claudia Brachtl, L.Ac.

Article is too long even when starting a new post, but this is a very good discussion and does not favor raw versus cooked food. It does give a good understanding of how body types and time of year and geographical location and age can effect food choices and be very different from person to person. It also discusses how raw food can adversely effect some people who use these types of diets.

Another good discussion of the raw vs cooked foods controversy and ayurvedic:

Raw Versus Cooked Foods: An Ayurvedic Perspective

"There is a huge debate within the health community over whether raw foods or cooked foods are better for our human bodies. Without a doubt, Ayurveda normally encourages us to eat fresh foods which are cooked. The digestive system is viewed as a fire, called agni. Whether you eat raw foods or cooked foods, the body is going to have to cook the food itself. Ayurveda says, “Why not give the body a little extra help and cook your food first?”