Re-working my diet

Hi. I've been on 811 since May. I am starting to feel that a fruit based diet is not working for me - at least at this time. I am mostly recovered or on my way to full recovery from a serious illness, mostly neurological. My energy level is fairly good, and I am active but not as active as I would like. My current symptoms include seizures, gastroparesis (which is currently fairly active), hypothyroid currently with adrenal conditions in the past, multiple food and chemical allergies, and a prior history of end state MS, along with RSD......who knows what else, chronic depression, insominia.......and a bunch of stuff, which has been going on all my life.

So, on a mental and emotional level, I am very solid - and I have a very supportive spiritual practice. I am just trying to fine tune all the things I need to continue to do, to support full body recovery.

The problems I am having with 811 is the fruit sugars combined with the gastroparesis, (which is delayed motility). When I eat more than one piece of fruit at a time, I get chest pains, dizziness, headaches - especially from bananas. I drink plenty of water. I have been vegan for 15 years, and have been raw in the past for three years. I haven't taken drugs for 15 years and have a clean lifestyle.

I feel better with vegetables, although it is hard to eat enough of those raw. While being on 811, I have not been able to lose the 10 - 15 pounds I need to, and have a lot of fat around my middle. Just since cutting back fruit over the past three days - my stomach feels much better and I already am losing the excess mass - which I think is largely inflammation. In the past I have been really thin, down to 87 pounds for a time......I hope to find a healthy weight.

When my digestion is sluggish, I think the fruit is just sitting and fermenting in my gut.

I can't seem to get my calories over 1200 on fruit. Eating higher amounts hasn't helped, and mono meals of fruit make me feel horrible. The only thing that feels somewhat ok, are fruit and green smoothies.

I'm not sure what to eat. I'll stay vegan, and do a lot of raw, maybe juicing...........maybe a small amount of fruit earlier in the day. I had two small pears for breakfast, and had chest pains very quickly afterwards, so I might not eat anymore fruit today.

I would like to stay connected on this group, but just wanted to be upfront about my issues. I really think raw is great and healthy, and the enzymes and life force are so beneficial to healing. I just can't ignore the signs of where and how it isn't working right now. I also feel cooked food is inferior to raw, but I may need to steam veggies for a while - I am working on a plan here...........

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Comment by jnanda lampman on December 28, 2009 at 6:10am: Alison - Thanks for the website and article link. Really helpful. I'm so glad I blogged about my situation............you all have been so much help and support. Yeah! Bless you all.

Comment by Alison Andrews on December 28, 2009 at 4:50am: Hey Jnanda! I wish you the best of luck in figuring it out! I would imagine that a breakfast of a few pieces of fruit, lunch a big salad and dinner of some steamed vegetables, (if this is something your body copes with well), is still such a healthy diet that you will continue to heal and gradually be able to increase the component of fruit and phase out the cooked vegetables. Steamed vegetables are definitely the most healthful cooked foods available. A very interesting article I've found is called 'Cooked Frugivore Alternative http://www.frugivorelifestyle.com/Cooked.html and deals with which foods are the best options if you're not able to do 100% raw. Hope to hear you're doing well soon!

Comment by jnanda lampman on December 28, 2009 at 4:29am: Thanks Fruity Jules. I just went on your blog, and also read your bio in the June posting. Really helpful. This helps me to feel that I will be able to transition to mostly fruit over time. It's good to hear that some people need to work towards this with their body. I was hoping just to jump in 100% and have the remaining symptoms just fall away..........but that direction isn't working.......so I'll just keep working towards 811, and increase fruit as I can.

Comment by Fruity Jules on December 28, 2009 at 4:02am: Hi, jnanda. . .

Reading your post made me think about Essie Honiball. She wrote I Live On Fruit and she is now close to 80 and living in South Africa. I corresponded with her some. . . she is an amazing and loving person.

She wrote that she was very seriously sick with tuberculosis and other problems when she started on a fruit diet. Her husband was a proponent of fruit and helped her a lot because she had lots of problems at the beginning. She said that she was so sick and weak, she could only eat one piece of fruit at a time, very small amounts each day. She lost a lot of weight, got even thinner, and people were very worried about her, but she felt confident in the fruit and knew she was in healing mode and eventually, there was a day when it started to turn around and her appetite came back like crazy. She then began eating TONS of fruit, until her body reached its' healthy point and then she settled into a regular/normal amount of fruit eating.

I do understand because I was over 50 when I started on the fruit thing and had plenty of health issues myself. Hang in there! I know you're on the right path.

♥

Love,
Julie

Comment by jnanda lampman on December 28, 2009 at 3:46am: Hey spekgirl and ree - thank you so much for replying. It means the world to me, really! I'm not in any pain or suffering truly........this body has been through so much in the past, that it's something that doesn't bring me down anymore, fortunately. I just am bummed that 811 is not ideal yet, and that I'm having to come up with ways around it, but still stay raw or mostly.......after thinking I had finally landed on a plan. I know raw has helped my seizures immensely, and I'm not sure how much cooked food (veggies) I can do without slipping backwards...but fruit cannot be my main food yet. I think I have given it enough time at 100% to evaluate this - so will see where to go from here. I am trying to eat one or two pieces of fruit every day, then switch to raw veggies, and maybe I'll have to cook veggies for dinner. I was hoping blending all my fruit would work, but it didn't. It still sat and fermented in my gut, and caused swelling, headaches, dizziness, chest pains, etc.

Thanks for not criticizing either. I was a little nervous about this. I think there are some very passionate people on this forum that have not had health problems like this, and are half my age too.......which is a huge bonus in recovering. I'll get there though - have come so far already.

Comment by spekgirl on December 27, 2009 at 6:47pm: take good care of yourself you are worth it God bless u xox

Comment by ree on December 27, 2009 at 5:46pm: Dear Jnanda, I am so sorry for the pain and suffering you must be in right now... I hope things turn around for you quickly... take extra special care during this time... my thoughts are with you... BLESS! x