VERY NEW TO RAW-- please help

[pennygirl]

hiya i live in scotland and am trying to go raw. have so many questions though. could anyone tell me if unpasteurized milk is a problem? its easy for me to get hold of cause hubby is a farmer but i am not sure if it is okay or not.

and
are dates treated in any way? sorry if this seems a dumb question but do they really grow on trees like that because they sure taste cooked.

what can i eat to fill me up when fruit and veg just not filling me up- should also say i have celiac (coeliac in uk) disease so almost all grains out.

i can buy raw chocolate on ebay and it is delicious but is it okay to eat it a lot- i like it a lot!

also having been mostly raw for last fortnight the symptoms i had been trying to get rid of are pretty constant and pretty bad - inflammatory bowel disease and ovarian cysts, has anybody any advice or experience in treating this with raw

some times i have lots of energy and others i have none! but if i break diet i suddenly get energy surge within a few hours and i think since it is an auto immune thing i have wrong with me could it be that when i eat the bad thing immune system has something else to attack instead of me hence energy surge.

what is this food combining i am reading about? is it the hays system of eating? no protien with carbs etc?

sorry to post so much as a new member but really stuck

[Double Helix]

Hi Welcome! I see you have lots of questions.

tell me if unpasteurized milk is a problem?

milk truly isn't a food meant for humans. While unpastuerized milk certainly isn't as damaging as pasteurized and homogenized, it's healthier in the long run not to use it in the diet.

are dates treated in any way?

They could be if you are getting them imported. Best way to find out is to inquire with the manufacturer. There are many sources for truly raw untreated dates, here in the US there's The Date People, but I am not sure they'd ship abroad.

what can i eat to fill me up when fruit and veg just not filling me up-

just keep eating, at first you'll feel "hungry' whenever your stomach empties out but after a couple of weeks you'll get used to feeling lighter. It's okay to eat more as it will go through you faster. Eat fruit and veggies in abundance - you can make fruit salads, smoothies, big green salads. Google some raw recipes, there are tons out there.

should also say i have celiac (coeliac in uk) disease so almost all grains out.

You are better off without grains anyway, most people cannot tolerate them either but they become accustomed to eating them and develop a resistance to their ill side-effects. However, when reintroduced to a raw diet, many will feel ill after consuming grains.

i can buy raw chocolate on ebay and it is delicious but is it okay to eat it a lot- i like it a lot!

Don't buy all the hype about raw chocolate being a health or super food, it can actually be quite detrimental when taking in large frequent amounts. You may want to use it as a "fun" food, meaning something you make on ocassion or if you think you are going to slip up and eat something cooked.

Read here more about cacao:

http://www.living-foods.com/articles/toxiccacao.html

also having been mostly raw for last fortnight the symptoms i had been trying to get rid of are pretty constant and pretty bad - inflammatory bowel disease and ovarian cysts, has anybody any advice or experience in treating this with raw

Sounds like a lot of detox going on. Raw has helped many people with those symptoms, you just have to give your body time to heal. It will heal the priorities first, so try to be patient and allow your body to heal in its own time.

some times i have lots of energy and others i have none! but if i break diet i suddenly get energy surge within a few hours and i think since it is an auto immune thing i have wrong with me could it be that when i eat the bad thing immune system has something else to attack instead of me hence energy surge.

Usually low energy means detox, you need sleep, or need hyrdration. If you are breaking the diet and eating animal products the surge of energy could be adrenaline that animals release before being slaughtered. Some people claim to feel "energy" after eating meat because of that and believe it's all due to the protein which is incorrect.

what is this food combining i am reading about? is it the hays system of eating? no protien with carbs etc?

Most people don't worry about food combining unless they are mixing a lot of different raw foods and making recipes which cause them intestinal distress. If you are eating simply this probably will not happen. There are many food combining charts out there which are excellent.

http://search.live.com/images/result...hart&mkt=en-us

Hope that helps and keep us posted!

[pennygirl]

thank you sooo much for quick response double helix! certainly cleared up alot of things for me. and i am just about to try the links! yep i was falling for the choc hype, but i was a bit shocked to read about the adrenaline, i love animals and hate the idea of them suffering but have been eating animal protien occasionally. put me right off. i am eating very plainly- just fruit in morning but don't really stop eating all day. have salad greens then nuts then more fruit but when i come home from work i really crave something heavy like milk- husband fetches some from his friends farm, and it does the trick. do you think it would be okay during transitional phase as i could do 100% raw ifthis was an okay. thanks for info on dates- might leave them out until i am sure. anydody know any raw food stores in scotland? lol long shot that one ! thanks again dh

[rawitup]

a good substitute for milk is almond milk or you can use whatever type of nut you like. most people are okay with the taste of almonds. just blend together 1 cup of almonds and 3 cups water and then strain that mixture either through a strainer or pour it in a cheese cloth bag and squeese the mixture through into a bowl or a large container. people usually prefer to use a cheese cloth bag because the milk is much smoother and less grainy than if you use a metal strainer. if you want it sweet just blend the strained almond milk with some raw agave nectar, coconut milk, or dates or whatever tastes good to you in the blender. and then enjoy.
but if the raw milk from the farm works better for you while you're transitioning then absolutely use it. whatever helps lead you to a healthier lifestyle is what you should do. whatever works for you is always the key. just because one thing may work for another person doesn't mean it'll always be the best for you. but it never hurts to experiment a little! good luck!

[pennygirl]

thanks raw. will try almond milk sometime soon. hope it is nice i am enjoying most of the thinks- except raw cauliflower - eugh!

[RawFoodGrl]

I think everyone, especially Double Helix, has done a wonderful job addressing your questions.

Most people have greatest sucess adopting a raw lifestyle for life if they take time to transition, so I think drinking fresh from the farm milk is fine, as long as you're trying to find other solutions that hit the spot.

One thing I think a lot of people struggle with (besides detox) is hunger. Not just being hungry, but often not knowing what to eat that'll fill that nutritional need. That comes in time.

One of the things I found that helped me immensely (truth be told, no way I could have transitioned to raw without it) are superfoods. The key ones I needed to transition are Pure Synergy and Maca. They helped me fill micro- and macro- nutrient deficiencies which was part of what was keeping me so hungry all day long (the other part being figuring out how much I needed to eat of different veggies, the whole proper balance of carbs, protiens, and fats, getting that balance right).

The other superfoods I eat regularly are the raw cacao, goji berries, and hemp. I do a smoothie in the morning of all those superfoods, plus agave syrup, spinach (and kale too sometimes) and coconut butter.

I would suggest thinking about hemp powder in place of the milk, and if you're hungry all day long. David Wolfe suggested that to me, to eat 1 Tbsp every 2 hours or when I was hungry for protien or just plain crazy-hungry. After doing that a few days, a little more than a week, I found I could do it more as-needed, with some days not needing it at all.

I suggest this for you as one of the things I would turn to a lot is an ounce or two of cheese. I couldn't find anything else that quite worked, but when I started adding hemp to my diet, it sure did make a difference.

[little girl]

hi i think it's really great that you are going raw even when hubby is a farmer. What kind of farmer is he? You should stay away from the milk though , i agree that almond milk or sesame milk would be better. Sesame will take away some of the hunger pains also. good luck and let us know what kind of farmer he is. You can grow alot of veggies!

[Double Helix]

I agree that if you *can*... try and do without the dairy. I went through a bad unpastuerized cheese phase. I found that I was really just pacifying my cravings instead of eating fruits and veggies, truly nourishing food.

A really simple way to do nutmilk is a tablespoon of raw nut butter to a cup of water and blend, that way there's no straining involved. You can then flavor it as you wish.

[jroo]