Were you sick when you started?

[Raw Kyle]

I find there are generally two types of people found in the raw/natural health movements: people who were sick and couldn't find relief from medicine or people who are into experimental and fringe things or perfection seekers

I'm definitely the latter. I've never really had serious health problem symptoms and the biggest thing I noticed before starting to investigate different diets was that my bowel movements weren't as good as they once were. It was probably the refined starches mixed with an extreme penchant for spicy food.

I was also pretty young, I went raw vegan at age 19 (month or so shy of 20) and so it's not surprising I hadn't run into anything serious yet. I had this idea that if I found the "perfect diet" I would become a better person in every way. It's funny how simple I thought the concept was, to just go out and read a few things and learn what the "perfect diet" was, as if it was this singular and simple concept that would work easily for me and everyone else. Now more than five years later I'm still working on that concept and the journey has opened many doors of question itself.

I seek perfection, but I'm also kind of lazy, and that sums up what brought me here and keeps me going. If I was a little more stubborn I might have stuck with one of the diets I tried over the years and wouldn't want to continue on reading and writing in forums like these. If I had less of a perfection drive I might have quit the diet search and went back to SAD as I wasn't noticeably suffering on that either. I want to do something that requires discipline, but that doesn't make me feel like I'm missing out on the other stuff. And for some reason my motivations and goals can change from day to day!

But I'm thankful for the things I've learned upon the way. I can now laugh at people being scared over food poisoning from raw meat, people who think there is nothing healthier than a chicken sandwich, watching people fret over their medications. Actually that stuff isn't very laughable but you get the point.

I'm really rambling now, but the original question was did you start this kind of lifestyle out of a curiosity or out of a necessity?

[TylerDurden]

I think about 2/3 start this diet out of necessity due to health-problems from having been on cooked-diets, and a 1/3 do it out of a desire for an alternative way of living. It's no surprise that the RAF-movement is biggest in California which seems to have a high proportion of people interested in alternative-health etc.

[wodgina]

Necessity, very ill, last resort.

I would never do it if I was healthy.

this diet made so much sense...how can it not be the best diet it was so rational! Raw=better, Man=carnivore

being brought up to think for myself definatley helped to get here aswell.

But probabaly the BIGGEST thing that got me he was I always wondered why people had crooked teeth and animals didn't(even when I was a little kid I remember thinking this)

[TylerDurden]

Yeah, I also came to a raw-animal-food diet due to ill-health incurred from cooked-food diets. There was no way I could even have contemplated this diet if I'd been in OK health. It was only when I started getting very painful stomach-aches and increasingly found cooked-food to be tasteless that I realised that there was no other option but a raw-omnivore(mostly carnivore) diet  once raw veganism/fruitarianism had been tried and discarded. I might, otherwise, have gone in for a raw-animal-food diet as I entered middle-age, but that's about it.

[xylothrill]

I started off as a raw vegan to lose some weight and ended up being convinced by someone that we needed raw animal foods in our diet.
I'm not one to go to the doctor unless I've broken a bone or something like that so I didn't realize how sick I was until I had a blood test done. You can see the improvements in my signature. After seeing the results of my second test after only 3 1/2 months I more than ever have the incentive to stay on track. They way I feel on this diet is also a great incentive itself.

Craig

[goodsamaritan]

I used to be very fat in 2002, not healthy.
My wife and I suffered infertility problems so we learned new things to overcome them. See http://www.fertilityhelp.net
I got truly sick in 2005.  See http://www.eczemacure.info
When I got well from the eczema, mind opened up to many healing possibilities including diet.
A cancer patient came up to me and a raw fruit and vegetable diet was implemented, so I took the same.  Cured him in no time.  I did raw vegan for 2 months.
Then my brother got awfully sick and a fruitarian diet was required so I did the same.  I did raw fruitarian for 2 months.  Cured him as well.
Raw fruitarian was making me too thin, and feel too cold, but I live in a tropical country, so that's not good.

I stumbled onto the Wai Diet, a raw paleolithic diet majority fruits + raw egg yolks and raw sea food.  I did Wai for the next 2 months. 

I got bored with sea food.  Then I stumbled onto the Homo Optimus Diet as told by another formerly sick person who tried different diets.  Although Homo Optimus is cooked, he said that the raw version was immensely better.

So now I eat a raw paleolithic diet from the Wai Diet with beef and goat.  But for pork I eat it cooked because I can't find a safe source of raw organic pork.  I don't eat chicken because I can't find a safe source of organic chicken.  Maybe I'll take care of some chickens for my own consumption next time.

Anyway, now that I call myself a hobby healer and I'm on a roll,  I want perfection for myself and combining the knowledge I gathered over the years, I intend to build the most superior body shape and health ever for myself.  Since I cure the incurables at http://www.curemanual.com , I want the best for myself.  Gives me credibility as well in front of friends and relatives to see me transformed in the best shape they have ever seen me.

Seems raw paleolithic diet is the ticket.  I just toy around with the proportion of raw fruits, raw vegs, raw animal foods and raw fats. 

[Satya]

I was pretty healthy and somewhat chunky.  I have been an avid fitness freak most of my life.

I used to be very fat in 2002, not healthy.
My wife and I suffered infertility problems so we learned new things to overcome them. See http://www.fertilityhelp.net
I got truly sick in 2005.  See http://www.eczemacure.info
When I got well from the eczema, mind opened up to many healing possibilities including diet.
A cancer patient came up to me and a raw fruit and vegetable diet was implemented, so I took the same.  Cured him in no time.  I did raw vegan for 2 months.
Then my brother got awfully sick and a fruitarian diet was required so I did the same.  I did raw fruitarian for 2 months.  Cured him as well.
Raw fruitarian was making me too thin, and feel too cold, but I live in a tropical country, so that's not good.

Dude, I can't imagine you fat!  Show the before and after pics!  It's good to read about your journey to health and the excema pictures are a miraculous tale of healing.  Wow, let us know how your diet evolves over time.

[Nicola]

Anyway, now that I call myself a hobby healer and I'm on a roll,  I want perfection for myself and combining the knowledge I gathered over the years, I intend to build the most superior body shape and health ever for myself.  Since I cure the incurables at http://www.curemanual.com , I want the best for myself.  Gives me credibility as well in front of friends and relatives to see me transformed in the best shape they have ever seen me.

Seems raw paleolithic diet is the ticket.  I just toy around with the proportion of raw fruits, raw vegs, raw animal foods and raw fats. 

I have a alkaline water ionizer from Ionlife - this "technology" is of Asia origin. Nobody believes me if I tell them that this water gives me energy; I can feel the nourishment in my system "lighting up". The water can taste sweet depending on which fat and protein (animal) I am digesting. Some how I don't need sweet things...

Perhaps you should have a look into this theory/therapy?

Do you exercise which would be part of a paleolithic diet?

Nicola
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=looN-Qb2xUA

http://heartspring.net/water_filters_audio_video.html

[Nicola]

I was pretty healthy and somewhat chunky.  I have been an avid fitness freak most of my life.

I know that you eat fruit and low carb vegetables. If both are not available (natur) then you would have to use protein and fat for energy. Don't or wouldn't you feel better with (more) fat; stable vs. quick energy? Don't the carbs irritate you (system&mind)? Fruit also have antinutrients besides the suger.

I am asking you because you are very active; you must feel your body and mind - they need to work together. Carbs can also make you be over active - suger.

Nicola

[mors01]

I was never seriously sick, but I had annoying digestive problems. After a big "normal" dinner consisting of starch, animal protein, salad, and fruit for dessert, I often had a stomach-ache that lasted all night. For about a year, I ate
lots of yogurt and drank lots of camomile tea to relieve the stomach-ache. But then I became a "perfection-seeker"
and wanted to understand the cause of my stomach-aches. That eventually led me to the raw paleo diet.

-Mike

[Satya]

I know that you eat fruit and low carb vegetables. If both are not available (natur) then you would have to use protein and fat for energy. Don't or wouldn't you feel better with (more) fat; stable vs. quick energy? Don't the carbs irritate you (system&mind)? Fruit also have antinutrients besides the suger.

I am asking you because you are very active; you must feel your body and mind - they need to work together. Carbs can also make you be over active - suger.

I eat very low carb and I do explosive and steady type exercise most days.  I may eat fruit once or twice a week.  I had one apricot, some lemon juice and a kumquat this week.  Kumquats are very sour like lemon, only the size of a grape. 

I will try to begin a food journal soon, but here is what I am eating today, which is pretty typical in terms of macronutrients, but I have wine only once or twice a week. 

morning: plain yunnan tea

midday: about 2 oz. leftover tuna, 1 oz macademia nuts

afternoon: minced lamb with homemade mayonnaise from olive oil, egg yolks and lemon, garlic, onion and green olives - salad with romaine, small tomatoes, cucumber and oil-based dressing - Bordeaux wine

I am probably in ketosis most of the time, since I am so active.  Now especially I am training for the next belt in taekwondo, and in autumn I will test for black belt.  The black belt test will be about 2-3 hours long of hundreds of kicks, fighting techniques, breaking boards, doing several forms and taking a written exam.    I enjoy being active and would rather be strong than thin.  I am not a marathoner or long endurance type.  I do 4-6 miles jogging  few times a week, 1.5 hours taekwondo 3 days a week which is hard kicks, breathing heavy to catch breath, and repeat (if this makes sense - watch a Jackie Chan movie for more details on what it is like ... soon I will post a video of my performance).

Even with doing anaerobic exercise, I do not eat sweet fruits much, nor do I ever consume starches or beans anymore.  I never eat bananas, will eat only half an apple, etc, but never more than twice a week.  Bell peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers I eat more of, but not huge amounts.

[xylothrill]

I have a alkaline water ionizer from Ionlife - this "technology" is of Asia origin. Nobody believes me if I tell them that this water gives me energy; I can feel the nourishment in my system "lighting up". The water can taste sweet depending on which fat and protein (animal) I am digesting. Some how I don't need sweet things...

Perhaps you should have a look into this theory/therapy?

Do you exercise which would be part of a paleolithic diet?

Nicola
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=looN-Qb2xUA

http://heartspring.net/water_filters_audio_video.html

I'll have to try that if I ever can get my hands on it at a reasonable cost. I think there is a thick line between skepticism and gullibility. Perseverance, experience, and intelligence , such as yours, is a defining factor. You aren't gullible. You aren't skeptical. You know! I really like that about you and your research and how you present it. I'm really glad you're here for others to learn from as well!

Craig

[Nicola]

Well of course my father said I was of my rocker to "believe" and spend money on this alkaline water ionizer; that took a long time to digest, but this water has and does give me energy! It's like switching on a light and it makes many things possible, that I most likely couldn't do.

[Nicola]

morning: plain yunnan tea

midday: about 2 oz. leftover tuna, 1 oz macademia nuts

afternoon: minced lamb with homemade mayonnaise from olive oil, egg yolks and lemon, garlic, onion and green olives - salad with romaine, small tomatoes, cucumber and oil-based dressing - Bordeaux wine


This is hard to understand; that's not much. If you feel good, what more can I say? I can not believe...well perhaps it is possible.

Nicola

[xylothrill]

morning: plain yunnan tea

midday: about 2 oz. leftover tuna, 1 oz macademia nuts

afternoon: minced lamb with homemade mayonnaise from olive oil, egg yolks and lemon, garlic, onion and green olives - salad with romaine, small tomatoes, cucumber and oil-based dressing - Bordeaux wine


This is hard to understand; that's not much. If you feel good, what more can I say? I can not believe...well perhaps it is possible.

Nicola

It looks fine to me although she doesn't specify how much minced lamb she ate.

[xylothrill]

Well of course my father said I was of my rocker to "believe" and spend money on this alkaline water ionizer; that took a long time to digest, but this water has and does give me energy! It's like switching on a light and it makes many things possible, that I most likely couldn't do.

Your father isn't in your body, you are. Only you know what works for you. I'm sure all of us are considered "off our rockers" by someone in our lives, whether they voice it or not. I don't tell some people about my diet because I just know how they'll react. When they inquire about me losing weight or looking better, I just tell them I'm low carb. Even then, sometimes I'll have to defend myself. I'm trying to recognize and avoid toxic people but for some reason, I always seem to attract them.

Craig

[wodgina]

It's funny I got close to disclosing my diet to the people I work with becasue we work away so much...

I don't really care  what the guys I work with think about my  diet (I already order 'blue' steaks when we work away so they already think I'm nuts!)

but I really didn't want to freak out the girl I work with, so anyway we were talking about rare steaks and she mentions she and her family (east German) ate raw mince and egg at least once a week, usually twice!

Never assume! rawies are everywhere!

Andrew

[Satya]

It looks fine to me although she doesn't specify how much minced lamb she ate.

No, I didn't specify a quantity of lamb, so sorry.  It must have been 2/3 of a pound of the finished carpaccio?  I can and do eat more than this somedays, perhaps less on others.  My metabolism is not very high, and I do have some blubber to burn off since I took a couple months off of all excerise except weight training a couple months this winter.  I tend to lose excess fat best with exercise, especially in terms of sparing precious muscle.  I could care less what the scale says, just so long as my measurements decrease.  (IOW, I weigh a good amount even at a small dress size as my bones are large and carry some heavy muscles).

Perhaps a journal of several days of food and exercise will be more helpful for your consideration - I will try to put something together in the near future.  I have increased the percentage of animal to plant foods in the last few weeks.  I am not all raw yet either, btw.

But I can tell you that lots of carbs are not needed for martial arts activity.  I am in disagreement with those that say more carbs are necessary for this kind of activity (which is high intensity interval training - HIIT).  Or at least I am able to perform well without many personally.  Perhaps I could eat zero carb, but I have no desire to cut out plant foods altogether.

[Nicola]

It looks fine to me although she doesn't specify how much minced lamb she ate.

My mind connects to meat and fat - thats what I trust or what I am learning to understand (swallowing tough meat has changed my picture). This is why I can understand people just eating protein and fat in one meal; I would worry about vegetation in my GI system or protein&fat plus vegetation. The amount of food seems to very from person to person or from mind to mind.

I am just extra sensitive and feel a lot going on in me and going on out side me; mixing this together gives us our picture of life :.

Nicola

[Za]

Add a category: sick to the point of being suicidal.

I was so sick I was expected to die without lots of expensive procedures/meds. Figured I'd use up as few resources as possible during my exit, and not fight fate, so I stopped eating, basically. A fruit or some lettuce every few days, after a week or two of just water. I knew nothing about "health diets". I just wanted to take up less space on earth and die sooner than later, with less fuss.  Imagine my surprise when I found that I was not precipitating my demise, as expected, but rather noticing a very sudden remission of most of my symptoms, and feeling better than ever!

-Za

[xylothrill]

Add a category: sick to the point of being suicidal.

I was so sick I was expected to die without lots of expensive procedures/meds. Figured I'd use up as few resources as possible during my exit, and not fight fate, so I stopped eating, basically. A fruit or some lettuce every few days, after a week or two of just water. I knew nothing about "health diets". I just wanted to take up less space on earth and die sooner than later, with less fuss.  Imagine my surprise when I found that I was not precipitating my demise, as expected, but rather noticing a very sudden remission of most of my symptoms, and feeling better than ever!

-Za

Wow! So, your attempted suicide of fasting cured you and in effect, saved your life! That really needs to make headlines somewhere. What is your diet like. There is a testimonial section on the main site affiliated with this forum. Raw Paleo If your diet includes raw animal foods, I think you'd be a wonderful, inspiration to those in your former situation. Would you be interested in making a testimonial?

Craig

[Satya]

I know that you eat fruit and low carb vegetables. If both are not available (natur) then you would have to use protein and fat for energy. Don't or wouldn't you feel better with (more) fat; stable vs. quick energy? Don't the carbs irritate you (system&mind)? Fruit also have antinutrients besides the suger.

I think some fruit and vegetable in the diet is natural, if eaten moderately in season or naturally preserved.  Even the Inuit dried berries and packed sorrel leaves in seal oil to have plant foods in winter.

BTW, I ate more yesterday than Monday, but more cooked too.  All of my meat comes from very good sources, and I prepare all of my own unless noted.
Morning: Golden Yunnan tea, plain
1/3 lb. cooked sausage patty, 1 egg

Midday: 1 hour of racquetball, then 1/3 lb carpaccio, 1 oz almonds

Evening: Chinese pork and eggplant, cooked; rumaki (bacon wrapped beef liver chanks), cooked, Pellegrino mineral water - I don't know quantities, except 1/4 lb liver and 2 oz. bacon

I am going to start a food and exercise journal on Raw Paleo.  It will help me on my journey, and since I am relatively new, I think it will help others too, as I am in transition.  I will link to it on the "Testimonials" page.  Anyone who want to share their story there should consider it.  So you can write a testimonial or a journal of food and exercise intake.  I may have it go on for sometime, I dunno.

[fuji24]

I seek perfection, but I'm aswell affectionate of lazy, and that sums up what brought me actuality and keeps me going. If I was a little added adamant I ability accept ashore with one of the diets I approved over the years and wouldn't wish to abide on account and autograph in forums like these. If I had beneath of a accomplishment drive I ability accept abdicate the diet seek and went aback to SAD as I wasn't acutely adversity on that either. I wish to do something that requires discipline, but that doesn't accomplish me feel like I'm missing out on the added stuff. And for some acumen my motivations and goals can change from day to day!

But I'm beholden for the things I've abstruse aloft the way. I can now beam at humans getting afraid over aliment contagion from raw meat, humans who anticipate there is annihilation convalescent than a craven sandwich, watching humans affront over their medications. Actually that getting isn't actual amusing but you get the point, Weight loss pills...

[SkinnyDevil]

I find there are generally two types of people found in the raw/natural health movements: people who were sick and couldn't find relief from medicine or people who are into experimental and fringe things or perfection seekers

Interesting observation, Kyle.

I don't know that the latter (especially "perfection seeker") would aptly describe my position, but I've certainly never had any major illness. No hospital stays, no operations, no meds for chronic conditions. I've broken a couple of bones and had pneumonia, but that's about it.

"Experimental" might sum me up. But it's worth noting, as I've said elsewhere, that I've always leaned heavily towards raw, and always eaten meat...even LONG before I knew there was a "raw movement" of any kind. So I guess "intuitive" plus "experimental" probably sums me up best.