Transition experiences

[technosmith]

Hey forum. Please share your transition experiences. Not how you transitioned, but how you felt during the transition. Did anyone feel worse initially, but then picked up after time and progressed? Many say that a predominantly raw diet is too yin. Does anyone feel this is something the body may not like initially and may react in a negative way, however with sufficient time will adapt and eventually work better all raw? Did anyone find for example that the first three months they felt worse, but then adaption occurred and they started to feel great? Sorry if this should be in hot topics by the way, im on my phone so difficult for me to change this now!

[goodsamaritan]

I came from raw vegan and raw fruitarian so I was malnourished.  So when the very first day I ate some raw fish and raw eggs I just felt alive!

After some 2 years (years 2 and 3 of raw paleo) and too much binging on delicious animals... I finally got gout. (maybe its because I got rid of tapeworms?)  I didn't notice it or follow it enough as I'm not purely instincto... so I missed the signals at the start of this year that my animal food intake was slowing down.  So when I was having gout symptoms I minimized my animal food / protein intake.  Gout symptoms are gone now.  Expecting this low amount of quality animal food consumption to be enough for what I need.

I once saw a video of a vegan guy who said at the start of his new diet he ate tons.  But when his body seems to have filled up, he was just eating to top off his needs.  I feel the same with raw paleo in my short experience of 4.6 years.

[joej627]

My body definitely liked to transition.  Raw eggs, butter, coconut oil, sashimi salmon, etc all are staples here.  I steam my vegetables or else juice them.  I'm not into digesting large quantities of raw cellulose.  People in Ayurveda and chinese medicine do this a lot.  It is coming to winter here and I will probably need higher quantities of steamed veggies, fats, and animal products.  I agree with GS on the building up of reserves.  I mean from a logical standpoint; our bodies won't want anything that they don't need.

1. Make sure the fats (butter, coconut oil, olive oil, avocados, olives, egg yolks, etc) are raw.  They are super easy to digest and don't tax the liver like cooked fats

2. Add salt (even to raw food).  Some health challenges require more salt for a while.  Adrenal/hormone issues is a good example.  I have noticed that over time, my bodies requests for salt have gone down dramatically

3. Sometimes just warming the food or leaving it on the counter before eating makes a huge difference.  For instance, some raw eggs warmed on the counter and swished around in your mouth before swallowing are way different "yin/yang" wise then downing some super-chilled raw eggs from the fridge.  Remember raw can be what, under 115 degrees or so?  So you can heat it, just not much.

Those are my ideas.  I wouldn't stress out about not being 100% raw.  That is a dogma in my opinion.  People have been living full, healthy lives on less than all raw diets.  Actually, if you view some of the longest lived people on the planet, I don't think I have seen one 100% raw foodist.  They usually cite spirituality, family relationships, fun, happiness, and good diet as the reasons for their longevity.  I just try to evolve into it.  However, I have no intention of eating massive amounts of raw vegetables, etc in the future.  Oh, and take some fermented foods with the cooked foods/veggies to help digest better.

[eveheart]

When I transitioned cold-turkey to RPD, I started feeling better immediately, as the inflammation left my body. People at work noticed that I looked better after two days. The two "miraculous" changes in my diet were (1) cutting out all cooked/processed foods, including grains, legumes, sugars, and (2) increasing the amount of fat. I never experienced massive detox symptoms, as some people describe them.

Subsequent modifications have come from trial and error. When I try something, my criteria are no fatigue and no joint pains. Very low carb, moderate protein, high fat suits me best. In social eating situations, I choose cooked meats, low-carb veggies (like lettuce), and lots of fat from salad dressings or something like that - or I bring my own container with cubed raw beef fat.

I walk and sleep very well nowadays. Recently, co-workers and I went to a sandwich shop for lunch, and it turned out that there was not other option than to eat a sandwich. OMG, heaven! I was a bread lover, so I decided that this would be a perfect trial to see how I tolerated bread! Well, my joints got so sore that I could barely stand up and walk out of the restaurant. All that afternoon, people looked at me and asked if I felt okay. So, I guess you could say that I do very little in the way of trials.

[Suiren]

Adding more fat into my diet made me feel nauseated at first, but I adapted within 3 months. I have more energy and sleep better with more  fat.
Going off of bad carbs and high glycemic foods caused dizzy spells once a day for a month. Lately I have been fine. I feel normal again, not improved, just normal.

I am not fully on raw paleo yet, more a mix of raw and cooked paleo.

[Polyvore]

My 'first' adaptations were pretty bad, I didn't tolerate raw foods very well at all.

First raw vegetarian caused me to become constipated and weak, and I think I even got a 'starvation high' where my brain felt really clear and good from the fasting, as I was not absorbing anything. After a few months I switched back to normal foods.

Then I came here and started eating raw meat, and I pretty much hated it! I do not think my guts liked the raw meat as I would get stomach pains every time I ate raw, and even worse stomach pains when I combined raw meat with normal cooked foods like hash browns or vegetables. I switched back to normal food.

My third adaptation made me feel great! I started with a salt water and senna flush, and I ate lots of marinaded meats, fish, and kefir. I think the marinades and the kefir were the turning points, as they both helped eachother reconstruct my 'empty' guts with good bacteria and helped pre-digest all that raw food. I have had no problems since and am going through a ravenous period that other beginners have talked about, where I no amount of food is enough food! It feels like I am getting stronger every day I am getting energy swings, with moments of lethargy, but I go for a run or some lifting and I feel better soon after. As I go on, it is getting more stable.