Re: Raw foods for candida sufferers?

August 19, 2004

thanks for clearing that up. I stopped eating raw foods and the bloating went

away. Here I just thought I was allergic to the veggies I was eating. Makes

sense to me that our bodies couldn't digest them properly.

Jeanne

-------------- Original message --------------

This is one of the latest trends in nutrition: raw foodism. Because it was

the original way our remote ancestors ate, before they learned to light à fire

and cook their foods.

In theory, that sounds good; the question is: is it good for candida

sufferers and/or people having food sensivities/allergies?

From my own experience, it does not appear to be: I used to eat most of my

veggies raw, in salads; I love salads. I got lots of bloating and gas, thinking

it was mostly due to the candida/allergies. Recently, I eliminated raw foods

from my diet, and the bloating is pretty much gone. This is the most efficient

antibloating step I have taken so far, besides the elimination of grains and

dairy products. I should have known...

Since we suffer from poor digestion/intestinal dysfunction, maybe rawfoodism

is not such a good idea for us. What do you think?

Francine

August 19, 2004

Hi Francine, I used to drink a lot of raw dark green juices but I quit them

when I was trying to baby " my guts back from another bacterial infection I

had a couple months ago.

Since I started to feel good again after a month or so, I decided to try to

add the juices back in a couple of days ago. Within a day I had diarrhea,

gas and cramping feelings. I had no idea they're that hard on me!

I'm going to drink chicken broth today and when I feel better again I'm

going to try making the green juice but, this time, heat it up a bit and

then add it to the chicken/vegetable broth for good vitamins.

~Robin

August 19, 2004

>>>>Since we suffer from poor digestion/intestinal dysfunction, maybe

rawfoodism

is not such a good idea for us. What do you think?

Francine

Hi Francine,

I have also read about rawfoodism. They are really practicing it on the TV

show, Fear Factor. Very disgusting. Anyway, I do eat a few raw foods. Eggs

in smoothies and thru trial and error I came up with a mixture that sets

very well with me; small portion of wild rice (soaked 24 hours before

steaming in homemade chicken broth) with coconut oil on top, a few

tablespoons of sauerkraut, raw wild catch salmon in bite size chunks and

pieces of organic avocado on top. It is a strange combo of flavors and

textures that works very well for me. I take four Twinlab Super Enzymes

after each meal. Most of the time gas and bloating are not a problem, but I

still have trouble sometimes. I began with one enzyme and increased to four.

That really helps. I can feel my stomach calm down after I take them.

Connie

August 21, 2004

Dans un e-mail daté du 21/08/2004 06:01:04 Romance Standard Time,

stordock@... a écrit :

> might find

> the effects as

> the body adapts to eating raw foods distressing.

>

> Fresh organic raw foods are undoubtedly the most healthful things to eat,

> with the possible

> exception of fermented vegetable and milk cultures.

>

> regards, Bruce

Thanks for you input Bruce.

In my case, it's exactly the opposite: I have been eating raw foods for most

of my life, because I love veggies raw and in salads. I had major bloating

and gas, and I thought it was due to allergies, candida, whatever.

Having started to cook those veggies, I discover that the bloating/gas

tremendously improved. I don't doubt there is a loss of vitamins when the

veggies

are cooked, but in my case, serious intestinal discomfort being the price to

pay, I prefer to limit my intake of raw foods.

Francine

August 21, 2004

> This is one of the latest trends in nutrition: raw foodism.

Raw foods have been used for healing by therapists in the natural hygiene

tradition for a

hundred years or more.

Dr. Ann Wigmore and the Hippocrates health institute she founded have promoted

raw foods such as

wheat grass for 30 or 40 years.

It's not really a new thing, just not well know to the general population. Like

a lot of valid

health protocols it is ignored by the general population who have their heads in

the sand and

accept that health and diet are not related.

Raw foods provide active enzymes and vitamin are mineral complexes that are

undamaged by heat

and more bioavailable than what is found in cooked foods as well as healing

phytochemicals that

are destroyed in cooked foods.

As when introducing any powerful medicinal substance into your diet caution

could be warranted

in changing too quickly to too much raw food. Raw food is very strong

biologically and healing

wise compared to cooked food.

People with weakened systems from eating commercially available foods all their

life might find

the effects as

the body adapts to eating raw foods distressing.

Fresh organic raw foods are undoubtedly the most healthful things to eat, with

the possible

exception of fermented vegetable and milk cultures.

regards, Bruce

August 21, 2004

You are absolutely right about fermented vegetables and fruits to be

easier to digest than plain raw vegetables and fruits. They have the

advantage of being partially broken down by the fermentation process

and they also contain more enzymes which helps them to be digested.

How do you feel about someone who is fighting off candida imbalance

eating fermented foods?

I understand a diet mainly composed of raw fruits and vegetables can

be a great benefit to cleansing the body of toxins. I have heard it

is sometimes used for very sick persons for short periods of

time.However I have read this plan would not be effective for

normally healthy people who want to do a cleanse if it's attempted in

a cold climate. It would however work beautifully year round in a

warmer climate. If a person lives in a cold climate it is best to go

on a raw foods diet in the spring or summer months. Personally I can

not imagine eating a lot of raw foods while watching the snow pile up

outside my door. Brrrr!Give me a bowl of hot stew, please. :-)

Some vegetables release their vitamins stores more easily when they

are cooked. I believe carrots are one of them. I'm not saying raw

carrots are a poor choice to eat sometimes, but simply that when raw

they would not provide their full store of nutrients. Are there other

such vegetables?

The native people's Dr. Weston A. Price visited all ate some of their

foods cooked and some raw. The Eskimos, for example, ate raw fish in

the morning and cooked them in the evening. The Masai ate fermented

milk in huge quanties, periodically drank the blood of their valued

cows by letting the blood, and occasionaly ate cooked beef, but very

few friuts and vegetables. People seem to thrive everywhere on whole

foods, some of it raw, including the protein part of their diets and

some of it carefully cooked in ways that release large amounts of

food value. All of them ate fat freely, as in raw butter, cream,

whole milk, rich cheeses, lard or coconut oil. No worries about high

cholesterol content among the native people he visited back on the

1920's. He found them far healthier than his dental patient's in the

USA.

Dr. Price treated ill people with cod liver oil and butter oil with

great success. These are both raw fats.

It is also important to note that cooked foods stimulate the immune

system, by exercising it to increase it's white blood cell count.

This process strengthens the immune system.

I hope my comments have shown the value of both cooked and raw

organic foods.

Sheila

> > This is one of the latest trends in nutrition: raw foodism.

>

> Raw foods have been used for healing by therapists in the natural

hygiene tradition for a

> hundred years or more.

> Dr. Ann Wigmore and the Hippocrates health institute she founded

have promoted raw foods such as

> wheat grass for 30 or 40 years.

>

> It's not really a new thing, just not well know to the general

population. Like a lot of valid

> health protocols it is ignored by the general population who have

their heads in the sand and

> accept that health and diet are not related.

>

> Raw foods provide active enzymes and vitamin are mineral complexes

that are undamaged by heat

> and more bioavailable than what is found in cooked foods as well as

healing phytochemicals that

> are destroyed in cooked foods.

>

> As when introducing any powerful medicinal substance into your diet

caution could be warranted

> in changing too quickly to too much raw food. Raw food is very

strong biologically and healing

> wise compared to cooked food.

>

> People with weakened systems from eating commercially available

foods all their life might find

> the effects as

> the body adapts to eating raw foods distressing.

>

> Fresh organic raw foods are undoubtedly the most healthful things

to eat, with the possible

> exception of fermented vegetable and milk cultures.

>

> regards, Bruce

August 21, 2004

Dans un e-mail daté du 21/08/2004 19:22:21 Romance Standard Time,

kimmumb@... a écrit :

> So I'm one of the people who will just have to get by on cooked

> vegetables (and I've just started to use a digestive enzyme to help

> me deal with even soft vegetables...) The pain and nausea that

> results when I eat even a small portion of raw vegetables just isn't

> worth the struggle to me.

Very interesting article Robin, thanks.

I probably had problems digesting raw foods too: the higher than normal

number of pieces of undigested food found in stool test might have been due, in

part, to my eating mostly raw foods/salads at the time.

One thing for cooked veggies: once cooked, their volume is much smaller, so

you tend to eat a bigger portion than raw.

Francine

August 21, 2004

FYI. Traditional Chinese medicine says that for best absorption, food should

be made into a 100 degree " soup " in your stomach. Here's something written

by an acupuncturist/herbalist:

" The Chinese explanation of the digestive system may sound a bit naive at

first glance, but has a lot of merit. In Chinese medicine the digestive

system is called the " xiao hua xi tong " which is translated as the system of

dispersion and transformation. The organs (or channels) responsible for this

process are the stomach and spleen. The stomach is often mentioned as the

pot where foods and liquids " rotten and ripen " , while the spleen is the

" fire " under this pot and a distillation mechanism. The stomach then sends

down the impurities of foods and liquids to be further transformed by the

large and small intestine.

The analogy of the " cooking pot " stomach is most important to the proper

digestion and dissemination of nutrients. It is believed that the digestive

process is best performed in a 100 degree Fahrenheit " soup " in the stomach.

While the stomach is dependent on the creation of " soup in its pot " , the

spleen (the fire under the pot) has an aversion to dampness.

In Chinese medicine, a frequent reason for an overweight condition is spleen

dampness where damp and phlegm accrue. When visiting a Chinese medicine

practitioner for a weight problem, you would most likely be instructed to

refrain from cold drinks, chilled or frozen foods and no ice. All of these

create a damp condition in the spleen and impedes " the fire under the pot "

from doing its work. Walk in and sit down at your favorite Chinese

restaurant and what are you first served? Hot tea, of course, to help digest

and process the meal you are about to have. The boiling water in the tea

facilitates the meal in becoming " soup " that will be digested in the

stomach. You might get an argument from a western based nutritionist, but it

is suggested by Chinese medicine to eat mostly cooked foods. Although

enzymes and vitamins are destroyed by cooking, the nutrients post-digestive

absorption rate is higher in the lightly cooked foods as opposed to raw. In

Chinese medicine every food is categorized as either cold, cool, level, warm

or hot (by nature, not in the way it is served). In summertime cool foods

are the order of the day while warm foods should be enjoyed in winter. We

can also separate foods into five flavors: sweet, salty, pungent, bitter and

sour. Indulging on a continual basis of sweet foods can injure the spleen.

Salty foods will affect the kidney, sour foods may harm the liver and spicy

foods are linked to your lungs. Overeating any of the flavors will create an

imbalance in the organs or channels. Chinese medicine takes a good hard look

at a patients cravings for any of these five flavors and focuses on

balancing your body along with your mind and soul. "

~Robin

August 21, 2004

I used to eat mostly raw food but when I was having so much trouble getting

the minerals I needed I switched to steamed vegetable at the request of my

acupuncturist. It's been about 3 months now and my nails are strong, my mind

is clear and I've put my weight back on. On paper, the raw food thing looks

great. In actually however, at least for me, I don't think it was so great,

Candida or not.

I still include one glass of fresh raw dark green leafy vegetable juice each

day. Usually kale, celery and as the main part. The rest of my vegetables I

steam.

Please read the following excerpt from an interesting article from the

May/June 2004 Issue of Harvard Magazine. The whole ting can be found at

http://www.harvard-magazine.com/on-line/050465.html I've noted it before but

it's really quite fascinating -- especially the part at the end about fruit

and sugar.

" Different scholars and popular writers have argued that human beings have

" evolved " to be carnivores, herbivores, frugivores, or omnivores, but

anthropologist Wrangham says we are " cookivores, " grinning at the

neologism. " We evolved to eat cooked foods, " he declares. " Raw food eating

is never practiced systematically anywhere in the world. "

Wrangham spent fours years trying to disprove that last statement in a

global investigation of current and historical cultures. He looked for the

most extreme examples of people eating a pure raw-food diet, but failed to

find any, " except for people in urban settings who were philosophically

committed to raw food, " he says. One researcher studied several hundred

German raw-foodists, who had access to food of " astonishingly high quality "

relative to wild raw foods, says Wrangham. Nonetheless, 25 percent of this

group was chronically underweight, and 50 percent of the females " were so

low in energy that they stopped having menstrual periods, " he says. So even

under exceptionally good conditions of superb year-round food availability,

people had low energy and were " biologically incapable of appropriate

reproduction, " says Wrangham. From an evolutionary point of view, sterility

gets you bounced from the gene pool.

The genus Homo appeared about two million years ago, and even " the most

skeptical archaeologist " will agree that fire was being controlled in

southern Europe between 300,000 and 400,000 years ago, says Wrangham. Sound

evidence of fireplaces dating from 380,000 years ago exists, for example, at

Terra Amata in France, near Nice; other sites have earth ovens dug into cave

floors. " Many regard this as the first evidence of cooking, " he says, " but

to me, this is rather sophisticated stuff, and is probably the earliest

evidence we have of something that very likely was going on before. "

Wrangham takes an extreme position: he postulates that cooking food over

fires began by about 1.6 million years ago, and was an innovation so

important that it allowed the evolution of Homo erectus, the earliest

hominid to resemble modern humans (see " Primal Kitchens, " November-December

2000, page 13). " Cooking enabled these animals-the very earliest erectus-to

acquire their food more efficiently and to get more of it, " he says. " A

principal reason was that it made food softer. "

Softer food has many implications. Imagine what a nonhuman, raw-food-eating

primate like a chimpanzee consumes in one day. " It's a great big pile of

leaves, seeds, and roots, " Wrangham explains, gesturing with his hands to

suggest a mound the size of a small shrub. Humans, with generally larger

bodies, nonetheless fuel themselves with a far smaller volume of food.

" Compared with other primates, we are evolved to eat foods of high caloric

density-meats, roots, seeds, " he says. Cooking makes this possible by

changing the brittleness of collagen fiber, softening it and making meat far

easier to chew. " People who think that meat dominated the diet of early Homo

may well be right, " he says, " but they would have to have spent five hours a

day just chewing. Raw meat is very hard to chew, and presumably raw wild

meat is even harder. "

Consider again the chimpanzees, who spend as much time eating as one would

expect for primates of their size and weight (100 to 120 pounds). " In

primates, there's a nice relation between body weight and the amount of time

spent eating, " Wrangham explains. Chimps spend about six hours a day

chewing. Humans, who typically weigh more than chimpanzees, should

theoretically eat more and spend even more time at it. Instead, data from 15

cross-cultural studies indicate that on average, human beings spend about

one hour a day chewing food.

Chimps' jaws and teeth are bigger than ours, and they like to eat meat-they

will work hard to get it- " but they can't chew meat at all fast, " Wrangham

says. " The rate at which they chew and swallow meat is equivalent to the way

they eat fruits: 300 to 400 calories per hour. " In contrast, humans eating

cooked, softened food of high caloric density can take in 2,000 calories

during their daily hour of chewing and swallowing.

Cooking might be considered the first food-processing technology, and like

its successors, it has had profound effects on the human body, as in the

growth of bones. Various signals influence human growth; some come from

genes, and others come from the environment, particularly for the

musculo-skeletal system, whose job is engaging with the environment. Less

chewing of cooked food, for example, has altered the anatomy of our skulls,

jaws, faces, and teeth. " Chewing is a major activity that involves muscular

forces, " says skeletal biologist Lieberman. " It has incredible

effects on how the skull grows. " Chewing can transform anatomy rather

quickly; in one study, in which Lieberman fed pigs a diet of softened food,

in a matter of months their skulls developed shorter and narrower dimensions

and their snouts developed thinner bones than those of pigs eating a

hard-food diet.

The same thing happens with human beings. " Since the beginning of the fossil

record, humans have become much more gracile, " Lieberman says. " Our bones

have become thinner, our faces smaller, and our teeth smaller-especially

permanent teeth-although we have the same number of teeth. More recently,

with the Industrial Revolution, people have become more sedentary; they

interact with their environment in a less forceful way. We load our bones

less and the bones become thinner. Osteoporosis is a disease of

industrialism. "

In today's world, where we not only cook but eat a great deal of processed

food that has been ground up before it reaches our mouths, we don't generate

as much force when chewing. In fact, for millennia human food has been

growing less tough, fibrous, and hard. " The size of the human face has

gotten about 12 percent smaller since the Paleolithic, " Lieberman says,

" particularly around the oral cavity, due to the effects of mechanical

loading on the size of the face. Fourteen thousand years ago, a much larger

proportion of the face was between the bottom of the jaw and the nostrils. "

The size of teeth has not decreased as fast (genetic factors control more of

their variation); hence, modern teeth are actually too big for our

mouths-wisdom teeth become impacted and require extraction. "

~Robin

http://www.harvard-magazine.com/on-line/050465.html

August 21, 2004

Very interesting article, Robin. It gave me several ideas to ponder

as I commute to and from work!

Although I have always had salads or raw vegetables several times a

day for most of my life, I can no longer digest them. My

gastroenterologist informed me when he diagnosed my gastric problems

that I'll never be able to handle a raw vegetable again. If I'm

lucky I can handle small amounts of raw fruit (when I get the candida

reduced!!). I can't even handle diluted vegetable juice very well.

So I'm one of the people who will just have to get by on cooked

vegetables (and I've just started to use a digestive enzyme to help

me deal with even soft vegetables...) The pain and nausea that

results when I eat even a small portion of raw vegetables just isn't

worth the struggle to me.

Kim M.

August 21, 2004

And I also swear by digestive enzymes!!! I wouldn't think of eating anything

anymore without their help. Big difference.. ~Robin

August 21, 2004

Hi Francine,

I had the stool test too and the lab reported undigested foods in the

stool sample. The doctor told me to use HCl and digestive enzymes.

Both have helped my digestion.

Lots of people can eat raw foods and have no problems at all.

It is a good idea to try just the digestive enzymes first, but if

that doesn't seem to do the job, then HCl for a few months would be a

good course of action.

I used to be on phyllium, but no longer need it. Better digestion

cured my constipation and IBS.It always feels good when a suppelment

can be crossed off the list!

Do you know how to test yourself for HCl use? There is a harmless

approach my alternative MD doctor suggested, to figuring it out. If

you want to know please feel free to ask and I'll post the simple

method.

Sheila

> Dans un e-mail daté du 21/08/2004 19:22:21 Romance Standard Time,

> kimmumb@g... a écrit :

>

> > So I'm one of the people who will just have to get by on cooked

> > vegetables (and I've just started to use a digestive enzyme to

help

> > me deal with even soft vegetables...) The pain and nausea that

> > results when I eat even a small portion of raw vegetables just

isn't

> > worth the struggle to me.

>

> Very interesting article Robin, thanks.

> I probably had problems digesting raw foods too: the higher than

normal

> number of pieces of undigested food found in stool test might have

been due, in

> part, to my eating mostly raw foods/salads at the time.

> One thing for cooked veggies: once cooked, their volume is much

smaller, so

> you tend to eat a bigger portion than raw.

>

> Francine

>

August 21, 2004