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Raw food and stomach pain?

Hi,

I started following the Thrive Diet back in October and can only say amazing things about what it did for my physical and mental well-being. I was following about 70%. Due to a few vacations over the course of 6 weeks, I went back to my pre-Thrive eating and drinking. Cooked food, wine, meat, sugar, etc. I started back on a 90% raw diet 2.5 weeks ago. I even got a dehydrator and I am making my own nut mylk. Everything has been great until the last week. I have been experiencing a lot of pain in my upper right quadrant of my abdomin, near my gallbladder. I have also had some intense stomach burning. I have no idea why this is happening because for the first 2 weeks, I felt great! If it was the typical detox symptoms, I would think that it would have started earlier. Then I started thinking that perhaps I am developing a sensitivity to something. I stopped my green smoothies 3 days ago but the pain persisted. Each day, I am cutting out one meal of raw to see if it is helping. The uper right pain seems to be subsiding but the burning is continuing. Tomorrow, I will have a raw breakfast and then eat cooked food for the rest of my meals. I am bummed by this though because I truly feel 110% better following raw.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Any suggestions on what I can do?

Look forward to some feedback!

Caroline

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Park on March 22, 2011 at 10:38am

Hi Caroline!

Sorry to hear about your issues - it could just be some tweaking that you need as well as your body being a bit confused going back and forth between nutrition regimens in such a short span.

What is your approx fat % intake - are you eating a lot of high fat raw (ie lots of nuts and seeds) - or combining fats and fruit?

What is your typical "raw meal"?

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Permalink Reply by Caroline on March 22, 2011 at 11:10am

Hi Jacqueline,

Thank you so much for your reply. I stopped my green smoothies and the pain in my right upper abdomen went away. I just reintroduced them Sunday and it's coming back so it must be something in my smoothie. I make it with kale, lemon, banana, berries, and a fruit like apple or pear. I also throw hemp seeds in it and some spice like cinnamon or allspice.

I don't think my fat intake would be that high because I don't want to put on weight! My raw meals are usually chia "pudding", various mixed green salads, (right now it's cabbage, cucumber, carrot, basil, mint and cilantro), sprouted quinoa salads, Thrive Apple Cinnamon Granola, dehydrated flax seed crackers, zucchini "pasta", collard wraps, etc. I snack on nuts, but I try and limit the nuts. I do put seeds on my salads. I also snack on a lot of fruit and make fruit smoothies for a "treat", like coconut, pineapple, banana smoothies.

I just bought some chard this morning to try making my green smoothies with, to eliminate the kale.

Any suggestions, based on this? Thanks!
Caroline

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Park on March 23, 2011 at 10:36am

Hi Caroline,

My only suggestion would be to keep your smoothies and meals more simple to start - only a few ingredients - and that way you can start to rule out what it is.

For the smoothies, try swapping baby spinach or a spring/mesclun mix out for the kale - many find it really hard to digest unless it is cooked or steamed (this applies to most cruciferous veggies) and I would keep it simple - baby spinach, berries and a banana. Depending on the amount of fats you add (ie hemp, flax or chia) this could cause digestive upset, including your gallbladder so try taking it out and see what happens? cinnamon is great!

Look up "food combination charts" on google and you will find info on how to combine your different types of fruits as well as different food groups. This should help. And anything you don't make yourself, check the ingredients carefully as they are often a combination of many things that don't work well together :)

I am telling you this based on personal and related experiences but I hope it helps!

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Permalink Reply by Caroline on March 24, 2011 at 1:50pm

Thank you so much Jacqueline. There is so much to learn on this journey of raw vegan eating. I have switched up some ingredients in my smoothie - I am using more chard and spinach and less kale. It's worked because I am feeling loads better!!!

Thank you again. I really appreciate that you have taken the time to offer up these suggestions.