Raw Food Challenge

(Raw food challenge, day 25 (last day) continues...)

Quinoa turned out not to be a good way to end the raw food challenge. Although it's a seed and not a grain, it is quite starchy. It caused food cravings, overeating, rapid weight gain and a bloated face the next day!

1.30pm: Ate an avocado with salt and took an Endo-Dren adrenal glandular supplement.

The weather is very strange today - 7 degrees Celsius while snowing and raining at the same time!

1.40pm: My throat doesn't feel like something stuck there anymore as much.

Adrenal Fatigue Behind Raw Food Tiredness?

I was reading my previous notes (older raw food diaries) about something Robert Morse said.

I'm not sure what to think of this. It's definitely an interesting point of view. However, as I easily suffer from anxiety (been free from it in the last few days) I can't usually (in the last 1-2 years) take stress very well at all. It seems that adrenaline has a very negative effect on me. And low blood sugar, which causes and adrenaline spike, causes huge problems for me as well.

Adrenaline has also been called 'anxiety juice' because it activates the fight or flight mechanisms and in some people causes anxiety. Also, the cause of panic attacks has been said to be the surges or adrenaline and cortisol.

So as a result of this thought exercise I suspect that IF the organic meat I ate did have adrenaline that was able to affect my body, it would cause the same symptoms of anxiety and extreme fatigue in me, just like stress, tiredness and low blood sugar do. And since this doesn't happen, maybe the adrenaline in the meat cannot affect me for some reason - e.g. maybe it gets broken down in the digestive process.

* * *

But what is unfortunately quite clear to me by now is that I am not enjoying myself on this raw food challenge, yet I would like to live healthily while feeling as good as possible as soon as possible. I feel that there are possibly some healthy cooked foods I could be introducing to feel better - so I will try it.

It may well be that it is not the right time for me to go 100% raw yet. Maybe at another point in my life I would be more successful.

Maybe it's partly just a starch craving I am experiencing, plus the fatigue. But I can't bring myself to eat only raw foods now. Maybe some ready-prepared raw foods that were quite fatty I could eat but, in any case, I have to stop this experiment now since it's starting to feels stressful and it doesn't feel right. I hope I feel better including some cooked foods in my diet. If not, I am not sure what the next idea will be.

4.20pm: Now I feel quite good again. I don't know if I feel better because of the adrenal glandular I took or for other reasons.

So in a way I am doing very well but will nevertheless start cooked food today. Hoping that my menstrual problems will still continue to be eliminated next month. But if the menses or anything else about my health gets worse then I will have to make it a more strict diet again.

Weight today: 55.5kg.

Had a raw buckwheat cracker with chilli peanut butter. Bought the crackers from the health food shop.

Ingredients: quinoa boiled with vegetable stock cube, sauce: mushrooms, onion, red chilli, water, hemp seeds, arrowroot powder, stock cube, mustard seeds, one tomato, tarragon, nutmeg, za'atar, 2 tbsp olive oil, Bragg's liquid amino acids, raw soya sauce (nama shoyu), salt.

8.20pm: Coughed a bit after eating, otherwise I feel fine now. Not super-energetic though.

Funny how quickly you can feel normal and balanced after easting a little bit of warm food... Either the detox stopped/ slowed down or I ate something I am allergic to/ stimulant. Or maybe I need the warmth to balance my energies, or maybe it is easier to get nutrients out of cooked food since the cellulose gets broken down.

There was maybe 1.5 tbsp of arrowroot powder in my portion which is a starch. But it was so little that I decided not to worry. The vegetable stock had palm oil in it but otherwise good ingredients - the salt was sea salt, there were no additives or hydrolyzed proteins, and no MSG, like there often are in stock cubes.

I had two small portions of the quinoa and a third portion late in the evening. Suddenly I had much more appetite and ate a lot. But I don't feel bloated or too full afterwards.

Improvements Needed for My Next Raw Food Challenge

• More organised food prep and food shopping times, so that there is always tasty food available.
• Low-sugar from the start.
• Moderate fat diet, only good quality fats.
• All nuts and seeds soaked and rinsed carefully. Soak huge amounts at once and store in the fridge/ freezer afterwards.
• Invest in a dehydrator.
• Ensure complete proteins or a careful combination of proteins to ensure all the necessary amino acids on all meals. Use Bragg's liquid amino acids.
• Light, nutrient-rich and protein rich meal in the morning, e.g. green juice or a banana-and-lettuce smoothie.
• No starchy foods.

Later Update: Aspergillus Infection

I now suspect that the reason this diet didn't work well was because I have an aspergillus infection. I am not sure that I still have it but the symptoms match and I was diagnosed with it two years ago by a live blood analyst. Everyone - doctors and nutritionists - told me not to worry about it. However, the health implications of it can be severe - it excretes neuto-toxins and free radicals into the body and feeds on sugar. So I suspect my sugar intolerance and fatigue symptoms are because of this. Trying ozonated water treatment and isopathic remedies (homeopathic immunotherapy) to overcome it. I will update on my progress here: Natural Health Remedy Library: Aspergillus (Mold) Infection.

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