FoxWoman Introduction

[FoxWoman]

Hello everyone,

I finally decided to re-join the forum, have not been here in 3 years! However, 3 years of eating rice and mostly cooked foods again did not do me any good. Before that, I was grain-free for 2 years and ate a lot of my foods raw, which allowed me to put my psoriasis and other health problem (depression & anxiety and IBS) in remission, so I considered myself cured and thought that a little bit of brown rice bread and a lot of beef stews would not harm me... mistake!

Health changes with a new diet are usually very-very slow - so it took me more than a year to realize that my heath was deteriorating again - pitted nails, new psoriatic patches, lack of energy, tummy problems, mood swings... It took me another 2 years to finally admit that, if I want to be healthy, I need to ditch grains again and start eating most of my food raw. So, I am here again. Just about a month ago, I returned to my original, low-carb (about 40 gr) lacto-paleo diet with 50 to 75 percent of my foods being raw. And oh man, I miss my brown rice bread!

I also had several experiments in the past with a zero-carb diet (for about 6 month) and with a dairy-free diet (for about 8 months), but both experiments were a disaster. I found out that I function the best when I eat about 2 to 3 pieces of carb foods a day (e.g. avocados, coconuts, unheated honey, tomatoes, lemons, etc.), some butter and aged raw cheese, 2 to 6 eggs (both cooked and raw) and raw or rare beef, bison and seafood. I cannot really stand organ meats or high meat, but I eat several ``century eggs`` a week and caviar when I can afford it.

So here is pretty much my story, thanks for listening!

Cheers,
FoxWoman

[goodsamaritan]

I loved your story!
Goes to show raw is truly the way to go.

[TylerDurden]

Welcome to the forum!

I should add that Aajonus has claimed that eating 85+ percent raw is generally necessary in order to get rid of any serious health-problems entirely. I tend to agree - I admit that many people can benefit from eating a lower percentage of raw, but, usually, the results are nowhere near as good as with higher percentages.

Also, as regards the  benefits being slow, I have to admit that overall recovery does seem to take an average of 2-3 years for many RVAFers in order to get fully rid of serious health-problems, but, in my own case, at least, about 80 percent of my own health-problems were gotten rid of after 4 months of being rawpalaeo.

[Iguana]

Welcome FoxWomen !

I should add that Aajonus has claimed that eating 85+ percent raw is generally necessary in order to get rid of any serious health-problems entirely. I tend to agree - I admit that many people can benefit from eating a lower percentage of raw, but, usually, the results are nowhere near as good as with higher percentages.

Does he have any facts to substantiate his 85% claim? On the contrary, we have found over decades of experiences that people eating up to 95% or 99% raw are most of the time unable to stand it in the long run and tend to return to a completely standard cooked diet after some years. Moreover a few percent of cooked food seems to be almost as dangerous in the long term as a standard cooked diet.

The only easy and safe way for me is 100% raw without any dairy.

[kurite]

Welcome FoxWomen !

Does he have any facts to substantiate his 85% claim? On the contrary, we have found over decades of experiences that people eating up to 95% or 99% raw are most of the time unable to stand it in the long run and tend to return to a completely standard cooked diet after some years. Moreover a few percent of cooked food seems to be almost as dangerous in the long term as a standard cooked diet.

The only easy and safe way for me is 100% raw without any dairy.

Well I still haven't transitioned to 100% raw but I am 100% paleo and until I went 100% paleo I was never able to not binge on SAD foods. IMO cold turkey (in this case raw) is the only way to go

[TylerDurden]

Welcome FoxWomen !

Does he have any facts to substantiate his 85% claim? On the contrary, we have found over decades of experiences that people eating up to 95% or 99% raw are most of the time unable to stand it in the long run and tend to return to a completely standard cooked diet after some years. Moreover a few percent of cooked food seems to be almost as dangerous in the long term as a standard cooked diet.

The only easy and safe way for me is 100% raw without any dairy.

  No idea re Aajonus's claims, but it fits in with my own experiences, and some others. I, for example, find that I can tolerate a few cooked foods, here and there, and now that I have been many years on a rawpalaeodiet, my body has improved so that I can handle a few more types of cooked foods, if I eat them only occasionally. I am more like 95-99 percent raw now for some years.

When I first started on rawpalaeo as opposed to RVAF, I ate cooked, non-palaeo foods about once or twice  a year, max, for some years. The incredible pain I suffered on past cooked diets was enough to prevent me from going back to cooked diets.  Trouble is that social occasions require one to do things like drink tea or whatever, so I just choose the least worse cooked foods. Tea, for example, just makes me urinate more frequently, so it's bearable.

I suppose people who have only had minor issues on cooked diets are more likely to regress.

[magnetic]

Well I still haven't transitioned to 100% raw but I am 100% paleo and until I went 100% paleo I was never able to not binge on SAD foods. IMO cold turkey (in this case raw) is the only way to go

The way I used to eat carb heavy food, I am afraid that I may be the same.  I have not eaten any sugar, grains or starchy tuber vegetables in over a month and quite frankly I am a little scared of them!  I used to make an entire pot full of pasta almost every night and I could not stop eating it until it was all gone.  So for me it was much the same, I had to give it up entirely.  As far as raw fruit, I have found it difficult so far to binge eat too much.

Ryan

[magnetic]

Welcome FoxWoman!

[FoxWoman]

Thanks for your support and advice!

Speaking of percentage of raw foods in the diet for a recovery, I only can rely on my own experimenting and experience, since there is so much controversy in the subject. For example, Polish Dr. Ian Kwasnievski very successfully implements a completely cooked low-carb low-protein and extremely high-fat diet to put numerous diseases in remission, especially asthma. The SCD, or a more modern version of it - GAPS diet - also puts a lot of emphasis on well-cooked foods, especially broth - -however, it is very successful in curing different digestive disorders (or so they say). 

In my own experience,  a diet with 50% to 75% raw foods (and no even traces of grains!) within 2 years was enough to almost completely eliminate my health problems, and especially dramatic results were with psoriasis which went into a remission for the FIRST TIME in my entire life (and I had it since I remember myself, and it was only getting progressively worse).

Theoretically, I also have several other considerations for keeping some cooked foods in my diet. The first is that I do not want to lose an ability to digest cooked foods (I remember several years ago Lex was describing his traveling experience with having to eat what "normal people" usually eat and how he was suffering from indigestion, severe bloating, etc.) Since I live in a society where cooked food is a norm, and my profession requires frequent "socializing" and dining out with clients, it would be wise to keep an ability to still consume cooked foods.

Another consideration is a fear of developing an obsessive attitude to food. Even following a semi-raw paleo diet is an extreme dietary pattern for most people (well, even Sally Fallon's diet is considered extreme by some!), so "going against the mainstream" is quite hard psychologically, at least for me. The more "extreme" I become with my diet, the more I start questioning myself so maybe I am developing some kind of a mental disease and an obsessive syndrome,  , so my solution against this is to give myself some "wiggle room" and be more flexible.

Another, hedonistic reason  for keeping it partially cooked is that, although I love raw meat, eggs and fruits and eat them daily, some of my favorite seafood (like crabs, oysters, shrimps, etc.) I only like cooked and cannot enjoy them raw. Well, yes, I still want to enjoy my food, too. 

Therefore, my current goal is to stick to 50 to 75 percent raw diet, so that to keep my diet "balanced" with my social life, still enjoy it, and not to slip into an obsession. I am also contemplating a thought of repeating an experiment with quitting dairy...

Wish me luck! 


Cheers to everyone,
FoxWoman

[goodsamaritan]

Your story should be posted at www.eczemacure.info !
May I ?

[FoxWoman]

You absolutely can, Goodsamaritan! You can mention there that I had psoriasis for 20 plus years, never went into remission, was getting progressively worse, with pitted nails and patches on my knees, elbows, bum (yucky!)and especially face and scalp. Psoriasis all cleared up after about 2 years of a strict grain-free, low-carb lacto-paleo with a fair amount of raw animal foods (my diet was heavy on raw grass-fed beef). In addition, depression, anxiety and hormonal problems all disappeared. Two years of eating some (very little!) grains (brown rice) and mostly cooked foods after that made psoriasis come back, but this time only on my scalp / face. Since I am resuming my initial grain-free, 50 to 75 percent raw diet, I expect it to go away again, although I don't know how much time it will take. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,
FoxWoman

[FoxWoman]

It seems like I have not been feeling too great lately on my semi-raw lacto-paleo diet. I frequently now get weird aching sensations in my joints, especially in my fingers, and the back and neck pain which I don't remember ever having before. The skin seems to be getting worse, as well, and I am constantly sleepy, head-achy and lethargic... which makes me wonder... I don't really think that it is a detox, because this seems to be lingering now for many weeks. I am probably doing something wrong.

I do eat lots of cheese (labeled "raw", from Quebec) and butter (unfortunately pasteurized, and also grain-fed). Raw butter is prohibited for sales in Alberta (where I live) - I was also researching Canadian "organic" butter and cheese brands and it seems that the dairy cows are fed "organic grains" and never see the pasture. Maybe it's about time to give a dairy-free diet another try...

I eat about 4 raw eggs a day (with wonderful, thick, deep-orange yolks), and about a pound of meat/fish or seafood (at least half of which is raw): fish is always wild, seafood is mostly farmed (like live crabs, for example), and I eat Alberta beef (which is at least partially grass-fed, we don't really have feedlots here, it's a ranch country), local bison (strictly grass-fed) and game whenever available.

The rest of my diet is some carbs - avocados, unheated honey, tomatoes, lacto-fermented cucumbers and kimchi, lemons and limes, and occasionally a young coconut, papaya or banana.

Any ideas what could be causing my symptoms? Well, probably dairy, I know....


FoxWoman

[Iguana]

Any ideas what could be causing my symptoms? Well, probably dairy, I know....

For God's sake, ditch all dairy! Next, anything cooked or heated above 40°C. Then all animal products that you're not sure about their quality. Finally, eat everything unseasoned and unmixed according to what your senses of smell and taste tell you.

Cheers
François

[TylerDurden]

Yeah, Iguana's right.   I used to get awful symptoms such as very painful joints and aching muscular cramps  which only went away when I cut out all raw dairy. It was explained to me that this was due to the too high calcium:magnesium ratio present in dairy resulting in a blocking of the uptake of magnesium into the body thus resulting in magnesium-deficiency:-


http://www.calmnatural.co.uk/magnesium-deficiency

[RomanK]

Any cheese (I like it very much!) makes my joints inflamed. I had to quit cheese...

[FoxWoman]

Yeah guys, you both are right.

I will try to ditch dairy once again. Will give it (no-dairy diet) at least 6 months. Will need to compensate for retinol, though, since grass-fed organ meats are inaccessible for me. Maybe more egg-yolks, total 10 a day? Go wonderfully in smoothies with raw honey and avocado. The rest will be meat and seafood, mostly raw. Will try.

Thanks!

FoxWoman

[TylerDurden]

Yeah guys, you both are right.

I will try to ditch dairy once again. Will give it (no-dairy diet) at least 6 months. Will need to compensate for retinol, though, since grass-fed organ meats are inaccessible for me. Maybe more egg-yolks, total 10 a day? Go wonderfully in smoothies with raw honey and avocado. The rest will be meat and seafood, mostly raw. Will try.

Thanks!

FoxWoman

  Raw pumpkin seeds are very high in magnesium but low in calcium, one of the few foods which are like that. Might be an option.

[FoxWoman]

Well, it is the second day since I ditched all dairy. My first observation is that I am really hungry all the time. I realize now that butter and cheese composed quite a big part of my diet and kept me full.

For a number of reasons (don't drive, don't have a freezer, etc.) my only shopping option for now is a supermarket within a walking distance (it will be a farmer's market opening in the spring though, just a block from my apartment). The supermarket is pretty good (and expensive as hell). It offers a wide selection of naturally raised meats, wild fish, live seafood, pastured eggs, unheated honey, organic fruits and veggies, etc. The only sad thing is that all good meats are painfully lean and there are no things like suet or bone marrow (no organ meats, either). So, I have to work with what's available. Before I put generous amounts of butter on my meat and seafood, but now dairy is out...    I am trying to compensate by eating lots of egg yolks and some avocados and stone-pressed olive oil... Not the same thing!

Well, on a positive note, maybe I will lose some weight! 

FoxWoman

[goodsamaritan]

I like being full myself.
Being hungry all the time is not fun.

[Bronwen]

Hi Foxwoman
This is definitely not paleo and not raw, but have you considered using a bit of ghee? Contains no dairy solids, pretty much just straight oil, but has Vit A, D, E, K, an insignificant amount of Ca (no Mg), and a good omega 3: omega 6 ratio. High in SFA and cholesterol tho. Massive health benefits, especially ito of cell repair as according to Ayurveda, it helps transport nutrients into cells very effectively. Supposedly also replaces oxidised lipids in cell membranes with unoxidised lipids. May help clear up your skin again.
Stacks of info around on ghee, but here are a few basic descriptions to give you a general idea.

I use a dsp over a bowl of greens and herbs - delicious.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/363779-ghee-nutrition-information/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/259745-ghee-benefits-in-diet/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/265447-nutritional-benefits-of-ghee/
http://www.rwood.com/Articles/Ghee.htm

Cheers,
Bronwen

[TylerDurden]

It's a myth that ghee does not have things like casein or lactose in it. Trace amounts thereof still exist in ghee.Plus, since ghee is heated, you are likely to get other problems that are not present in raw dairy. Better to get hold of things like raw marrow/suet or buy relatively fatty raw meats such as raw grassfed lamb(and especially raw grassfed mutton). Obviously, you really need a freezer for storage.

[Iguana]

Obviously, you really need a freezer for storage.

There's one here at home (combined with a fridge) but I've never used it. I don't eat frozen stuff.

[TylerDurden]

There's one here at home (combined with a fridge) but I've never used it. I don't eat frozen stuff.

  Well, you have a garden, don't you, plus chickens and the like plus easy access to raw wild game from local hunters. Most of us only have farmers' markets or have to get raw meats delivered in bulk from local farms.

[FoxWoman]

Thanks for your ideas, guys!

Ghee would be a good option, of course, but it is still dairy. My purpose now is to remove ALL dairy from my diet for about 6 months and see if this will make any difference.

I agree with Iguanna about frozen stuff. I absolutely believe that fresh, when available, is always better than frozen. This is one of the reasons I do not rush to get a freezer and do not want to order big bunches of frozen meats and fats, no matter how good the quality is. I get my meats always fresh every 2-3 days.

So, fats remain the only problem. What do you guys think of good-quality egg yolks as a major source of fat (plus whatever fat is contained in lean meats and seafood and several avocados per day)? Would, say, 10 supplementary egg yolks cover all fat requirements?

Cheers,
FoxWoman

[TylerDurden]

Well, I personally view raw eggs as not ideal. But then I am one of the minority of people who seem to have a slight food-intolerance to raw eggs(in my case, only if eaten regularly in quantity). Might have something to do with the grainfeeding of egg-laying chickens.

AV view raw eggs as fine for instant energy but not ideal for rebuilding the body re health, as such.

But, yes, if you have no issues with raw eggs, something like 10-12 raw eggs a day sounds right.