IBS, low weight, health issues, Oh my! Need advice, please!

[xEdgexRNx]

Hi!

I'm new here and have been reading the threads, trying to immerse myself with all the information on how to best become raw.  Everyone's posts are very informative and it sounds as though Raw has benefitted you all tremendously.  I was wondering if u could help me out.

I have horrible digestion issues... my MD calls it "the worst case of IBS" he's ever seen---so bad, that I actually have physical damage to my GI tract, among other issues such as hypoglycemia, hormonal imbalances, malabsorption/maldigestion, inability to gain/maintain weight, difficulty with BMs (either constipated, diarrhea, or feeling like I'm not "empty"...it gets so bad that I often have to "help" it come out), bloating/gas/cramps, poor skin, anxiety, etc...

I used to be die-hard vegan for over 10 years, then began incorporating eggs, poultry, and fish due to the fact that I was becoming sicker and sicker.  I was able to gain a good amt of wt, bringing me to my natural set point of 90-95# (I'm barely 5'1).  However, I got the flu 5x in one year, which caused me to lose it all, as well as exacerbate my "IBS" symptoms to the worst it's ever been.  I'm currently 78 pounds.

As of now, I have completely eliminated all grains, limited my intake of fruits and veggies, and consume a lot of coconut oil with eggs, fish, some poultry, liver, and recently added ground raw meat. Here is what a typical day looks like for me (I am currently trying to follow Matt Stone's 180DegreeHealth program and have seen great results in terms of digestion, but I know there is more that needs to be tweaked):

Before my workout: ½ apple
                 Smoothie: 1 Peach
                               3 Jumbo farm-fresh Eggs (raw)
                               1 tsp raw honey

Post workout:  Pureed: 1 yam (6oz)
                                3 oz RAW ground Beef
                                 2 TBs Coconut Oil
                                  (I can't stomach ground meat by itself just yet, thus I have to mix it with the yam or sweet potato, which I know are not Paleo)

Lunch:  Carrot/fish Mush :  1 medium carrot
                                       3 oz fish
                                       1 TB Olive Oil  
                                       1 TB VCO
                                       1 TBs Apple Cider Vinegar
                                    (All of this goes into the food processor, like the other meals, for easier digestion)

Snack:  Apple/Almond Puree: Apple sauce, almond butter, coconut oil (This is really yummy and very calorically-dense.. tastes like a pudding)

OR I'll have Fish + zucchini + 1Tbs VCO blended together like a tuna salad

Dinner:  Stir-Fry:  3 oz meat (seafood, liver, or chicken)
                      2 Tbs Coconut Oil
                       Bell peppers, sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots,   pineapple, spinach (not a lot of veggies, just enough to make a stir-fry)

Optional Snack:  2 Raw eggs (large)
                      1 tsp honey
                    (I eat this if I'm still hungry)

Before bed:  1 Large hard-boiled Egg
                 6 ounces Prune Juice + a splash of lemon juice (warmed up like a cider)        
                  2 Prunes (soaked overnight)
                 1TB CO  
                (I HAVE to do this in order to have a BM... if not, I'm a bloated, sick mess the next day)

I get nearly 60% of my cals from fat.  I try to limit carbs to less than 200g, preferably in the 100-range.  Protein-wise, I try to get over 100g (but I'd like to increase this).  Total cals are over 2500, but am unsure how to increase this.

I weight lift.. was on my way to bodybuilding before I got sick, hence the desire to get back to "fighting form."

Can you please help?  I have no idea where to turn anymore.

[goodsamaritan]

Check out this guy who cured his IBS
http://www.curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1298749#i
The guide book to read about the natural health paradigm is http://www.docsutter.com/

Your diet is so complicated.
I would suggest to keep your diet simple.  Aka mono eating.  Only one food at a time.  No mixing.

Why is coconut oil a staple food?  Yuck.  Just use it for oil pulling.

You could try Aajonus Vonderplanitz' style of eating for lots of nutrition, see his books, if dairy doesn't agree with you, do it without dairy.

My own curemanual.com below has detox stuff in it. Barefoot LBB / Colosan, etc.

You came to the right forum for nutrition.  Stay away from nightshades, they may be causing inflammations.

I don't look favorably on prunes, they have other bad stuff in them.

Stir frying vegetables may be causing ibs stress. 

You could try just fruit and just meat on separate meals.

[JaX]

As GS said - you are mixing way too much, which is not very paleo

If you want to heal your IBS, you need to eat total mono meals (2 hours space between each food group) and zero fiber for a while. Basically that's meat, animal fat, fruit (like orange) juice with the pulp filtered completely away, and honey.

Your current worst offenders are the high fiber fruits (like prunes) and the nuts / nut butters.

You are probably experiencing constipation because of too much fiber. Eliminate all fiber and try upping your raw animal saturated fats (suet, bone marrow, intramuscular fat). 

I would also recommend you try eating larger meals more infrequently. Like 2 large meals per day, and some  raw honey/fruit juice before and after your workout. Try to schedule your workout before your largest meal, so you eat like 1 hour after exercising

[wodgina]

I had IBS for 10 years, cured it. Ditch the prunes, pure evil.

[goodsamaritan]

I had IBS for 10 years, cured it. Ditch the prunes, pure evil.

Awesome... please tell us your IBS cure story.

[Ioanna]

Shelby,

I can relate to so much of what you have written. I went raw vegan at first, which I thought was helping initially, but then I got so sick... I weighed around 100lbs and I'm 5'7 and I was so badly anemic I looked like a ghost and my protein levels were dangerously low.

The pains of IBS are agonizing! 

For me sugars (raw honey, raw dairy, even fruits) made things worse (I was the complete opposite of constipated!).  Vegetables came out the way they went in, so I figured there was no point to eating them either.  ACV, lemon juice and drinks like Kombucha I thought were to be alkalizing or with probiotics absolutely killed my insides.  I was  basically trying to combine what doctors were telling me and what raw vegan advocates were publishing and it wasn't working.  So I finally started eating what didn't make my stomach hurt... eggs, fish,  and chicken. (Chicken was always cooked, eggs hard boiled unless I just ate the yolks raw, fish pan seared.)  Then I started adding raw red meat, and letting go of the chicken and fish.  It's only been... less than 8 mos and only a few months really committed to staying without carbs and mostly recently to fully raw to see how that facilitates my improvements, but I've come such a long way!!, though I know I have improvements still.  That eating is not the least bit painful is amazing in itself! My lips are very colorful red again and I'm back to working out at the gym and other activities to put the weight back on.  I'm at 115 lbs now.  I don't have the confidence yet, but hope to at least be able to add back seasonal fruits from the farmers market without ill-effect.  We'll see.

Anyway, my major changes toward improvement didn't happen until I eliminated starches especially.  I am far better with cooked lean meat than any starch/carb.   

I hope this helps!!  and wish you all the best, I really think you can significantly improve your health too!!  You're more than welcome to  contact me further if I can be of any help.

Ioanna

[Raw Rob]

Get rid of the fruit, fiber, and honey. Actually, I really want to tell you to get rid of plant foods all together. I know that olive oil and coconut oil are touted as having these miraculous healing powers, but I never got any benefit from them.

Fiber is actually bad for you. It makes food move too quickly through the intestines and keeps you from absorbing nutrients. It's also very irritating to your intestines, making your situation worse. We have been taught by the main stream medical community to eat lots of fiber and have lots bowel movements. This is wrong.

When I started just eating meat/fat, fish, eggs, I stopped having bowel movements every day. Sometimes I go more than two days. It's totally fine. Your body is absorbing all the nutrients, and you simply have less waste because you're not eating all that plant stuff.

Coconut oil has the same effect on me. When I eat it, it's like my body wants to get rid of it as quickly as possible. I just don't think it's good. Some may disagree with me on here about that.

Those yams are definitely not good for you, or anyone with IBS issues. I would cut those out as soon as possible. I know it's hard to get used to eating raw ground meat alone at first. Maybe try egg yokes? I use to make pico de gallo and mix it with my meat, but I don't need it anymore. It was good though because the plant foods in that are still really low-carb, so they didn't give me problems that I could tell.

I am leaning towards the idea that my IBD (Ulcerative Colitis) was caused by Candida, so any carbohydrates at all were not good for me in the long run. I don't know if that's the case with you but I would definitely try to give up carbohydrates as much as you can.

So, quite simply stick to meat, fat, fish, and eggs as much as you can. These are the most nutrient-dense foods and are really all you need. 

[yon yonson]

have you tried regular cuts of raw grass fed beef? i started out thinking raw ground beef would be easiest to transition with, but i thought it was pretty disgusting. then i tried a raw steak, what a difference. its a much more appetizing meal in my opinion. anyways, that's my advice. it might help you get more raw meat in your diet

[Guittarman03]

Good info from everyone posted.  All the veggies/fruits - carrots, zucchini, yams, apples, prunes ; nuts ; extracted oils - coconut, olive, nut; especially in combination together, and so many times per day are likely the root of the problem. 

You would do well to move towards 2 large meals of mostly fatty animal products, with a snack somewhere (perhaps reworked).  After workout, it's best to get one of those big meals in about 30-60 Min's after.  You can still eat some limited pale cabs with your meat, but it should be something like a small tomato, or some bell pepper, basically a cornstarch, non fibrous type of crab. 
Be careful about mixing fruit with eggs.  The only fruits I can eat with raw eggs are berries. 

Only thing I have to add is a caution about ground beef.  If eaten day after day, in 2-3 weeks my digestive system clogs up, but also somehow have diarrhea.  I went in cycles of good/bad for months before I figured that ground beef was the culprit.  But I have eaten fatty steak and ribs for months now with no problems at all, so I mostly avoid ground beef.  But I'm like Yon, I can eat and enjoy a steak with nothing else, can't say the same for ground.

[PaleoPhil]

I also agree with much of what has been said, and I also don't eat store-bought ground beef raw (grinding beef exposes it to more bacteria-carrying air, and you don't know how long it's been sitting around or what is was exposed to), which would seem to be more of a concern for someone like you with poor digestion and a compromised immune system, though you could grind your own cuts of beef and fat and eat it fresh.

My situation was similar to yours, though not quite as severe, so maybe my experience will help. Many of your symptoms, such as hypoglycemia and hormonal imbalances, suggest strong sensitivity to carbs, which I am also sensitive to. Going Paleo improved things for me, but I found that I had to replace much (though not all) of my remaining carbs with healthy fats to reverse a return of some symptoms. Based on my own experience and research, for what it's worth, these would be the foods I would suspect most (and these are suspect to most of the other responders as well, so that's pretty good confirmation):

sugar snap peas (and all legumes)
Bell peppers (and all nightshades)
apple cider vinegar (and all yeasts)
yam / sweet potato, water chestnuts (and all starches)

The peas and peppers I would cut out immediately and give them away or throw them out!!!!!! I was already off all legumes like peas when I cut out nightshades and found that helped further, which confirms what was said about them above. Turns out nightshades contain natural insecticides called saponins that trigger autoimmune reactions and exacerbate leaky gut syndrome--which is almost certainly part of your problem. Peas contain lectins that do the same thing. If someone recommends these foods for you, then you know they are not aware of the latest scientific research on this.

I'm not sure about coconut oil myself. If I eat too much I do get a bit of a stomachache, which may indicate something, but I haven't ruled it out completely. Like the others, I would recommend animal fats like marrow fat or suet over coconut oil--marrow from the long leg bone is the tastiest. I would skip the honey and replace the almond butter with raw almonds (or even skip nuts as well to start, since some people are allergic to them--but almonds do contain magnesium, albeit in less-absorbable plant form, which may be medicinal for you), at least until you're feeling much better. The fewer the questionable variables to start out with, the better, as others said.

Adding organs would be good, though I haven't been gotten used to them myself. You could try pasture-fed meats if you haven't already. I've found fish oil, wild salmon and walnuts (also high in omega 3s) to be beneficial for my GI tract and overall health too, so you could experiment with those, though I'll bet some people here don't like the fact that the fish oil is processed (I'm fairly new here too) and you may want to avoid nuts to start with. I see you're already eating some fish. Healthy fats are supposed to have an anti-inflammatory effect on the GI tract.

With your malabsorption/maldigestion you almost certainly have nutritional deficiencies--especially in minerals. For IBS-C prominence you may want to increase your magnesium (ex: fatty fish, pasture-fed meats, leafy greens, almonds, supplements). Unfortunately, physicians don't tend to test for deficiencies and I don't know how accurate the tests of the alternative labs are. Fiber/bulk supplements and laxatives deplete nutrients like minerals from the system and should be avoided--especially prescription versions--as does diarrhea. Luckily, it doesn't sound like you're using these.

Depending on your skin issue, you may find that zinc supplements help your skin, even though you're eating raw red meat. Zinc should only be taken on a full stomach as it can cause some nasty stomach upset and heartburn. If you have white spots on your nails, that's another symptom of zinc deficiency. Zinc deficiency can also contribute to frequent colds and flus, for it strengthens the immune system.

If none of this works you could go the really restricted route and try Lex Rooker's raw carnivorous diet (see his journal). TylerDurden has a different approach that allows some carbs which you could compare. Of course, with any of these suggestions, your mileage may vary.

It's apparently difficult for some people to bulk up on zero carb or all-raw, but I think your first priority should be to get your GI tract, immune system and other systems healthy. You may get lucky and only have to cut the legumes, peppers, vinegar and starches out, which would make it easier to bulk up. Different people seem to respond differently so there is quite a bit of controversy and different experiences with zero carb and 100% raw diets, as you'll find if you read enough of this forum. I am currently eating a very low carb mostly raw Paleo diet, so most people here are more strictly raw than I am and some eat fewer carbs.

[fishercat]

Coming out of lurkage because my experience was so similar. In my case those same symptoms were indicative of ulcers, leaky gut, and general bacterial problems in my gut. There is already lots of good advice here. I wonder if you have celiac disease because your symptoms fit perfectly.

I personally got rid of 95% of problems by eating 0 carbs for as long as I could, which was a week. That will starve out any bacterial overgrowth. I did consume lemon juice as a digestive aid and I think it is a much better one than ACV.

Then you need to make your good bacteria happy and your gut wall into a fortress. That means not torturing the poor bacteria and muscosal layer with fiber and antinutrients. Yes, that means no prunes, dried fruit, grains, and other outdated gut torture devices. They work on a technical level, but like enemas, they do not address the real problem and the BMs you get come at a real cost for the gut. You may feel bad without them at first, but eventually the gut should sort itself out again.

Grains, legumes, caffeine, and nightshades can also contribute to leaky gut.

I have consumed fermented foods/probiotics too, but I don't think they are very effective. The bacteria in them do not colonize your gut, so they are not a real solution. A real solution works with your own gut species mix to make them a happy balanced ecosystem. Maybe try them simply to phase out the fiber stuff?

If a meat is unappetizing, like the ground beef, you should probably considering ditching it in favor of something easier to eat raw like fish. Fish is also great because it can help you correct the poor omega-3:omega-6 balance so many people suffer from. Omega-3 fatty acids are important to the function of the gut's "brain" and to reducing inflammation. When you eat too much omega-6, your body cannot use the omega-3 as efficiently. It's way I no longer eat almonds or avocados....they are omega-6 bombs! I track my omega-3:omega-6 ratio very carefully because it is so important for brain, skin, and gut. Usually my ratio is 1:1 to 1:4.

Once you want to move back to including some carbs, I think smoothies with greens and berries are the way to go. You should strain them out to get rid of gut-irritating seeds. These should also help you gain some weight.

I've fixed myself this way twice now I got myself into such good shape that I thought I was invincible last year and I admittedly partied, ate cake, and took ibuprofen enough that my symptoms came back. It's annoying to do it again, but it taught me a valuable lesson about not taking a good thing for granted.

I am working with honey bees now and I hate to admit it...but honey, even raw fresh honey, is candy. I was eating it all the time recently while working with hives and it was making me feel crappy.

I use coconut oil, but it's also a treat.

[Guittarman03]

There appears to have been something weird happen with my post earlier.  Not sure how, but quite a bit of what I wrote got garbled:  pre-workout became reworked, non-starchy became 'cornstarch', carb became 'crab'.    etc.  anyways, maybe something for the moderators to take a look at.