[jhow32000]

I have been gluten-free for quite a long time now, 5 years or so, and am still having health problems. I decided to try the SCDiet and it helped tremendously--this is a gut healing diet. But now that I know what it feels like to be moderately healthy I want to be truly healthy. I have not been eating sugar or grains, and have been buying organic, whole farm foods. I currently eat raw milk, raw nuts and seeds, and some raw fruits and veggies. Now I'm wondering about the added benefits of keeping more raw foods in my diet--excluding meats which I plan to keep cooking. I am starting to slowly integrate more raw recipes into my routine and some of them sound quite good... and surprisingly simple.

I'll start this way:
have a raw food smoothie for or with breakfast
make 1/2 or more of my meals consist of raw foods
buy a cheap juicer on eBay

If anyone cares to start this process as well or would like to know how it affects me, please let me know.
I am sure that a more raw diet will provide me with more available nutrients as well as with more enzymes. And with an already compromised immune system from so much intestinal damage, I'm sure the natural state of the food I'll be eating will be a much easier load for my immune system to sift through. I would caution new GFers to be careful about adding too much raw too fast though, light steaming for veggies may be easier on your GI tract initially.

[kenlove]

It will be 2 years for me being gluten-free in June. I was closer to eating Raw before being diagnosed as, like you mentioned, have not healed enough. My body just can't handle the salads and greens that I used too. I do wish I had the focus to go totally raw. I write for the magazine Living Nutrition about tropical fruit and have a lot of friends who are involved in Raw Food movement. I hope after 5 years I can get there but now I'm always sorry if I eat too much green. I have had some great raw meals on the mainland. Can you tell me more about the SCDiet?
thanks
ken

jhow32000, on May 13 2008, 01:33 AM, said:

I have been gluten-free for quite a long time now, 5 years or so, and am still having health problems. I decided to try the SCDiet and it helped tremendously--this is a gut healing diet. But now that I know what it feels like to be moderately healthy I want to be truly healthy. I have not been eating sugar or grains, and have been buying organic, whole farm foods. I currently eat raw milk, raw nuts and seeds, and some raw fruits and veggies. Now I'm wondering about the added benefits of keeping more raw foods in my diet--excluding meats which I plan to keep cooking. I am starting to slowly integrate more raw recipes into my routine and some of them sound quite good... and surprisingly simple.

I'll start this way:
have a raw food smoothie for or with breakfast
make 1/2 or more of my meals consist of raw foods
buy a cheap juicer on eBay

If anyone cares to start this process as well or would like to know how it affects me, please let me know.
I am sure that a more raw diet will provide me with more available nutrients as well as with more enzymes. And with an already compromised immune system from so much intestinal damage, I'm sure the natural state of the food I'll be eating will be a much easier load for my immune system to sift through. I would caution new GFers to be careful about adding too much raw too fast though, light steaming for veggies may be easier on your GI tract initially.

[ShayFL]

I am gluten-free now 5 weeks and eating about 60% - 75% raw. I am in the healing phases, but the raw feels good to me. I make walnut pate's and eat with celery and carrots. I make fresh almond milk or hazelnut milk which I eat with "raw granola" by Lydia's. Lots of salads with homemade "raw dressings" and fruit smoothies. It is all very delicious and I feel great after eating raw. I am also making 2 green drinks a day (not wheatgrass). I do still eat meat as I feel best doing so. I also enjoy eggs now and again. No dairy though.

I think it is a healthy diet to eat up to 75% raw. Not many actually feel great forever on 100% raw and the ones that do will supplemnt B12 and a few other nutrients that meat provides.

The fact that so many vegans/raw foodists get ill and realize they NEED B12 is MORE than enough evidence for me that I need meat in my diet. Granted our ancestors might have botten B12 from grubs and bugs, but I am not going to eat those. So I will stick with fish and chicken. And I tried 100% RAW VEGAN for 6 months and just got sicker. When I added meat back, I felt better.

[BRUMI1968]

I am about 75% or so raw, maybe a little more. My stomach has never been happier, and my bowels are great too. The challenge for me is keeping on weight. I'm currently dropping again, despite my desperate attempts to eat enough amaranth (cooked) for breakfast to offset my virtually calorieless raw diet. I read a really interesting thing on the raw diet that explained how much food you would have to eat to get the proper amount of calories every day. It was virtually impossible unless it was mostly coconuts and avocados. I eat one or two avocados per day...would do more, but sometimes more is too much, and I never when those sometimes will be until I've already eaten it, you know. Then I have that overly-fatted stomach for an hour.

Anyway, I'm sticking with this raw thing. It feels good to me. Now granted, right now I can't really handle fruit too much. I am probably a still bent up by candida - so I get bloaty if I eat too much sugar of any kind. But I hope to add fruit back at one point. I ate a pear the other day and have not done poorly with it. I have trouble with smoothies from all the air in them from the blender. Is there a trick to that. Plus, smoothies w/o fruit not quite as good. I worry about the folks I read about who eat all fruit all the time. They must not have any intestinal issues or something. I get the whole as long as you eat the whole fruit the sugar releases more slowly, but I've read about folks who eat 7 bananas in a day. How can that be good for you? (Unless you're a chimp)

I did try blended salad the other day - it was good, like avocado soup.

We can certainly have a Raw Diet Support Thread like some folks have with their deals. Anyway, I love hearing what folks come up with for breakfast. I was doing raw buckwheat "oatmeal", but find the buckwheat a bit too heavy; it gives me heartburn. So breakfast has always been the challenge for me. Now I"m on the cooked breakfast of amaranth. (It has tons of calories, protein, fiber, and lots of minerals).

[Michi8]

I can't do a raw diet, as my allergies would surely do me in. I cannot eat raw tree fruit or raw nuts because I am allergic to them all (in their raw form) due to cross-reactivity with birch pollen (to which I'm severely allergic.)

I am curious though, when one is on a raw diet, do they miss out on specific nutrients...is supplementation necessary? What comes to mind for me is how light cooking can improve the bioavailability of some nutrients in certain veggies and fruit such as broccoli (vitamin A, C, folic acid, calcium), tomato (lycopene), carrot (carotenoid), garlic, onion, etc, not to mention make some produce easier to digest (as has been my experience.)

Michelle

[Ursa Major]

Michi8, on May 14 2008, 01:07 PM, said:

I can't do a raw diet, as my allergies would surely do me in. I cannot eat raw tree fruit or raw nuts because I am allergic to them all (in their raw form) due to cross-reactivity with birch pollen (to which I'm severely allergic.)

I am curious though, when one is on a raw diet, do they miss out on specific nutrients...is supplementation necessary? What comes to mind for me is how light cooking can improve the bioavailability of some nutrients in certain veggies and fruit such as broccoli (vitamin A, C, folic acid, calcium), tomato (lycopene), carrot (carotenoid), garlic, onion, etc, not to mention make some produce easier to digest (as has been my experience.)

Michelle

I also can't do raw food, as I react to a lot of raw food (possibly because it is much harder to digest, and I think I have permanent damage). And it is true, with the above mentioned vegetables (and it is likely the list is much longer) you get certain nutrients when you eat them raw, that are cooked away when you cook them, but you also 'unlock' some nutrients when you cook those same foods, that aren't available in the raw state.

So in reality, it is detrimental to eat everything raw, because you definitely miss out on very important nutrients you don't get from some foods in their raw state.

I believe there has to be a balance. Rather than aiming for all raw food, you should eat some cooked and some raw foods every day (if you can) in order to have a balanced diet.

[jerseyangel]

Never in a million years did I think I would try a raw diet....but by defult, I find that I feel best with a diet that is probably 50-75% raw, depending on the day. I guess I never thought about that until now because I didn't purposely set out to eat raw.

I eat fresh fruit in the morning, topped with raw sliced almonds. For lunch--a large salad (sometimes with chicken), walnuts. At dinner, I do eat meats because I can't tolerate any plant proteins. Between meals, I do fresh fruit, nuts and seeds.

I've not tried avocado because I've been afraid, but I bought one over the weekend and plan to see if it works for me.

[kenlove]

Too bad it's illegal to send you real avocados from Hawaii. If you can find the Fla. smooth skinned types, they have a lower oil content and easier on the stomach than the Calif. Hass. There is also a big difference between something that is picked too young and ripened
by ethylene gas while being shipped and something off the tree. Guess you'll have to visit...

Ken

jerseyangel, on May 14 2008, 09:17 AM, said:

Never in a million years did I think I would try a raw diet....but by defult, I find that I feel best with a diet that is probably 50-75% raw, depending on the day. I guess I never thought about that until now because I didn't purposely set out to eat raw.

I eat fresh fruit in the morning, topped with raw sliced almonds. For lunch--a large salad (sometimes with chicken), walnuts. At dinner, I do eat meats because I can't tolerate any plant proteins. Between meals, I do fresh fruit, nuts and seeds.

I've not tried avocado because I've been afraid, but I bought one over the weekend and plan to see if it works for me.

[jerseyangel]

kenlove, on May 14 2008, 03:34 PM, said:

Too bad it's illegal to send you real avocados from Hawaii. If you can find the Fla. smooth skinned types, they have a lower oil content and easier on the stomach than the Calif. Hass. There is also a big difference between something that is picked too young and ripened
by ethylene gas while being shipped and something off the tree. Guess you'll have to visit...

Ken

Thanks Ken, and what a sweet thought

I didn't know about the different types of avocado, depending on where it came from...the one I bought is rough-skinned, and (now that I read the sticker) is from Mexico (!)

[kenlove]

I'm hip deep in a avocado project for the University here and this year marks the 100th anniv. of Calif. keeping Hawaiian avocados out of the mainland. We have 200 types just in Kona and 1411 registered ones around the globe. 80% better than the hass. Tough to fight the calif. marketing giants who own 68% of the Mexican crop. Anyway I do hope you can try others. I know some are much easier on the guy and more flavorful than those at the average market. I make avocado soup weekly which is filling and easy to digest. Would not call it diet food but it does taste great.

Take care

jerseyangel, on May 14 2008, 11:57 AM, said:

Thanks Ken, and what a sweet thought

I didn't know about the different types of avocado, depending on where it came from...the one I bought is rough-skinned, and (now that I read the sticker) is from Mexico (!)

[BRUMI1968]

What is your avocado soup?

I prefer (of the Haas) avocados from Chile. The ones from Mexico have zero flavor to them. I have not tried the smooth skinned ones at the co-op mostly because I can't tell if the buggers are ripe. They don't seem so.

I am planning on moving to the Soutwest and building an earthship so I can grow my own avocados in my living room and eat them all day long.

[kenlove]

Might be easier to move to Hawaii and reach outside the window to pick and avocado.
The difference between an avocado that is fresh off the tree and ripens in 2 or 3 days and one that was artificially ripened while in a container for a month is amazing.

I make a cold avocado soup with 2 to 5 avocados ( depending on size and what type is in season), almond or soy milk, a top of fresh dill and some spices. I usually a hot pepper mix of spices but since my wife cant eat spicey stuff I use dry citrus peal or zest in it.
Put it all in a food processor and chill.

If you can find a smooth skinned type that gives a little it should be almost ripe. Its better to find them with a dull sheen than than shiny.

Ken

Bully4You, on May 14 2008, 06:41 PM, said:

What is your avocado soup?

I prefer (of the Haas) avocados from Chile. The ones from Mexico have zero flavor to them. I have not tried the smooth skinned ones at the co-op mostly because I can't tell if the buggers are ripe. They don't seem so.

I am planning on moving to the Soutwest and building an earthship so I can grow my own avocados in my living room and eat them all day long.

[BRUMI1968]

Will look for those today. I have made avocado soup myself - mostly just the ingredients for guac, but the thinned out a bit. Yum! I'm on my way over there to Hawaii. Probably someplace in Kauai, but possible the wet side of Maui. I'll build my shack and plant some avocados and be in heaven in no time. I'm a little scared of tropical storms, though. All I have around here are volcanoes and earthquakes, with the hundred year or so tidal wave.

[kenlove]

We had our earthquake so you should be safe for anther 98 years. Kona is the avocado place to be. Mango too for that matter.
We've not had a hurricane in Kona in recorded history so you'll be safe here --just learn to enjoy the vog.

Bully4You, on May 15 2008, 11:22 AM, said:

Will look for those today. I have made avocado soup myself - mostly just the ingredients for guac, but the thinned out a bit. Yum! I'm on my way over there to Hawaii. Probably someplace in Kauai, but possible the wet side of Maui. I'll build my shack and plant some avocados and be in heaven in no time. I'm a little scared of tropical storms, though. All I have around here are volcanoes and earthquakes, with the hundred year or so tidal wave.

[BRUMI1968]

Is vog some sort of volcanic fog?

What about those parasites that enter through your barefeet, get into your lungs to make you cough, then you swallow them and they end up in your digestive tract? Or what about poisonous millipedes or shark attacks?

Okay, there's not much I can say about how awful you've got it.