It looks like you're new to The Community. If you'd like to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookHi, I am new here and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice about my unique situation?
My problem is that I have a condition called oral allergy syndrome. Basically I suffer a severe allergic reaction whenever I try to eat all raw fruits,veggies,nuts, seeds, and coconut… with the exception of iceburg lettuce (and sometimes a peeled apple is ok). I can eat fruits and veggies, nuts, etc that have been cooked, canned, or jarred (basically processed by heat in some form). Example – i can drink orange juice from the carton but i cannot eat a raw orange.
I grew up on a typical SAD diet and have been overweight my entire life, despite dieting constantly since I was 6 years old. My health got even worse 7 years ago when i was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which has left me so disabled that I cannot work. My quality of life is very poor and since no doctors have been able to help me, I have done research on the computer on my own and that’s how i found out about raw food/juicing.
I truly believe nutrition is the key to getting my health back and I really really want to try this way of eating, but anytime I try and eat any raw fruit or vegetable, i break out in a rash, my eyes water, i start sneezing, my throat gets all itchy and feels numb and also feels like it is closing up…like i cant breathe. So far I have never gone into full anaphalactic shock, but I dont wanna risk it.
Since this is a raw food site, obviously people here advocate NOT cooking fruit and veggies, but I dont know what else to do. I was thinking maybe if I just steamed them lightly it wouldnt be too bad, but I dont know. Right now I am on my 3rd day of my first water fast. Everything I’ve read said I should break the fast by having raw juices or raw fruits and veggies. I bought a juicer thinking maybe i could make the juice and then heat it a little, but from reading I know that heat kills off the enzymes and vitamins.
I just feel really defeated, depressed, and trapped. Can anyone here offer any advice on what i should do? Does heating kill ALL the nutrition in the food or does some remain? Maybe if i just heat the juice gently and dont boil it? Thank you in advance for listening. ~PearL
Comments
THIS IS RIDICULOUS! I am SO sorry but to say that you cannot have ANY raw food or juices is absolutely ridiculous. See, many people are “allergic” to something because it is a food that cleanses their body and helps them rapidly detoxify. Also, sometimes it is just that your stomach is not used to digesting it. This will change as you eat more raw foods.
It sounds like you are allergic to healthy foods and can eat unhealthy foods. Do not eat iceburg lettuce. Romaine should be fine. Try it. Chew it throughly. The key is to start small. If it gives you a little harmful reaction, eat a little more. Eventually you will beat it out. Also, take Bee pollen everyday which is supposed t help with allergic reactions. Take a little bit when starting as you might be at first allergic to this too.
Cooking the juice makes it therefore almost pointless to drink. Try a little bit raw. Seriously, make the juice of 2 carrots and drink it everyday for a week. Then make it four carrots. Then 6 then 8. Eventually, you are drinking a quart of carrot juice everyday. At that stage, I would recommend that you juice fast.
Again, usually people think they have allergic reactions, and they are really detoxifying. So, TAKE MORE JUICE!!! But, also, please tell me, what are you “allergic reactions”??? What kind? It helps.
shgadwa, please don’t condemn someone for how their body responds to food. everyone is different. Just b/c your body doesn’t react as lopear11’s does, doesn’t mean it is ridiculous. please refrain from judgment. we’re here to help, not ridicule.
Condemn??? I am sorry but I do not want to condemn anyone for anything. I do think that it is ridiculous that someone cannot have raw foods. Not to say that I do not believe them. I do not want to ridicule anyone. I want to help. I am so sorry if someone can take me like that. I was trying to mean, that you can overcome it. We do not have to be bound by food reactions and as I said, sometimes they are not food reactions but detoxiying. Also, Lopear11, I read more of you post and I guess you did explain your reaction. I would recommend that you do eat cooked foods then, but only whole foods and yes, steamed foods. BUT, eat a small amount of romaine lettuce and then maybe a small amount of an apple. Also, a small amount (1/4 a coup maybe) of juice. increase this amount slowly and over time. Eventually, you will beat this out. I am for you all teh way!!
Check out this book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail//0…=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
It provides a unique, natural approach to CURING allergies. It doesn’t always work for everyone, but for those who have used this approach to cure their allergies, it is a godsend!
Wow, what a strange predicament! I am not sure what advice to give. Unfortunately it seems as if eating raw would make you ill and I wouldn’t want you to try anything which makes you sick. All I can say is maybe branch out and try lots of different raw fruit and veg and you may find some you can tolerate.
Nutrition is a powerful thing, and perhaps your way forward is to improve your cooked diet into one which will aid you losing weight. I myself had a SAD diet, although for the last 3/4 years I was vegetarian. I weighed around 234lbs/106kg and since January 2007 I have gone down to being 74.8kg/165lbs (so far). I managed to lose the weight before considering a raw diet – so I promise it is possible! I had to look at the types of food I was eating and importantly the portion sizes. I also joined a gym – I realise exercise may be difficult for you but any movement burns calories!
It may be possible to warm juices or foods, however Raw food is not heated to over 118 deg F (boiling is about 212 deg F) so I am not sure if this is enough for you to be able to eat it without the reactions. Maybe you could look into getting a dehydrator which ‘cooks’ food without using high temperatures. You might be able to eat dehydrated raw foods(?)
If you would like some help with losing weight on a cooked diet, please let me know, I love helping others to be happy and healthy. Just drop me an email (address on my profile). I wish you all the best. :)
Did you try fresh fruit and veg from a garden that were grown naturally? Or organic? Perhaps it is the pesticides that you are reacting to so severely.
Although I don’t really have much advice to offer you Pearl, I just wanted to tell you that my heart goes out to you. I have no doubt you are on the right path by believing food is the key to your health (along with spiritually fortifying yourself with positive faith and love in yourself and your body), though.
If you find you are not able to tolerate the more gently heated fruits and veggies, maybe by taking it one step at a time by starting with the cooked fruits and veggies for a while will allow your body time to accustom and acclimate itslef to the “new” but real food. Maybe your body needs to slowly build itself (your intestinal enzymes and such) back up to handling and being able to break down the “new and different” food of the truly nutritious and pure (raw) foods since your body has undergone years of poor nutrition from the SAD diet, added with that the other health conditions which, possibly, have stripped your body’s resources even more. In other words, maybe it will take a bit of time to get to where your body is able to handle the raw food as it rebuilds itself slowly but surely.
I would definitely encourage you to cut out animal products as they take more resources to break down and have negative and detrimental health affects to our bodies. (A fascinating book to read on that is “The China Study.” The author is now actually gathering data and real-life examples of people who’ve healed their health issues for a study and book on the healing powers of raw vegan foods.) I am not any doctor though, so please take my opinion just as that- a non-professional opinion! And on that end, can you talk with a naturopathic doctor and/or nutritonist who’re educated on the benefits of eating raw foods?
Sending encouraging and loving thoughts out to you on your journey.
just curious – do you have reactions to cucumber, zucchini, romaine, sweet peppers, sprouts? I consider these things to be cooling and non-irritating and was wondering if you experience the same reactions to those foods (if raw). for example, you might be able to break your water fast with cucumber juice? maybe even diluted with a little water
i had a boyfriend who never ate fresh food and he had similar reactions to yours…if he ate fruit he’d get itchy, his throat would get tight and his ‘hay fever’ would flare up. ok, don’t shoot me but this is just the idea i had at the time: maybe the all the goodies in fruits made his body want to instantly start detoxing and these were the allergic reactions??? it never happened with things with little nutritional benefit, cooked vegetables, iceberg lettuce, snickers bars
First off I want to preface all that I say with this: I have fibromyalgia, too.
You need to get the book “The Fibromyalgia Solution” by Dr. Dryland.
It’s an amazing book that confirmed my hope for God to make me well. He believes that people can heal from fibro. He did. Many of his patients have. It has a diet protocol to follow. It’s an elimiation diet. You eliminate his list of “trigger foods” that may contribute to worsening your symptoms. After three weeks of elimating the “trigger foods” you can slowly(every three days or so) add one food back in. If that food worsens your symptoms you’ll know to avoid it. I am currently doing this protocol. My syptoms from fibro have stopped spiking up in pain. (unless I get stressed out ;)) So I know that there were somethings in my diet that I could not tolerate! After I finish adding things back in to see what I definately cannot eat I will keep a mostly RAW diet since I know it’s insanely good for me.
Seeing that you cannot tolerate raw foods I think the advice given here is pretty good. Stirfry veggies on low heat settings until your body is used to it and gradually lessen the amount of heat you use. Maybe try learning to tolerate one raw food at a time, etc. Can you tolerate dehydrated food? Dried fruits and veggies can always be soaked to regain some water content/softness. Dried food may be your ticket! The other thing is: relax. If you get all anxious and afraid you’ll react before you eat something raw you’ll get you brain so ready to handle what “might” happen that it does even if it doesn’t have too. I know that if I dread something..like worsening pain if I go to the movies…then my pain will get worse when I go. Not because it has to…I just helped my brain anticipate it because of the thoughts I lingered on.
Definately check out the book though. It will validate your hope of wanting to be well. Also you probably know this but exersice is EXTREMELY important for fibro patients. It increases endorphin levels which will increase one’s pain threshold. I’m currently working on it. Cardio is best. I can only do 20 min of cardio slow walking/biking right now…but that’s a HUGE milestone from the 10 mins walking that used to make me want to faint! I don’t know what your physical abilities are but I know its hard and limiting. Just do as much as you can. Even if it’s only a couple of minutes of walking a day. You can do it. I’ll be praying for ya :) You don’t have to feel guilty that your limited. Most of us with firbro couln’t prevent it when it started. Think of your limitations in terms of abilities. Ex. “Yesterday I slept for 16hrs! Oh my gosh that’s horrible!” Think: “but I spent 8 hours awake! Tomorrow I’ll aim for 10 hours awake!” and so on.
Set little goals like that and eventually you’ll find you limits shinking into new abilities that you haven’t had in a long time or maybe…ever!
Website Linkwww.drdryland.com
Have you been to a doctor to have allergy tests? If not, I would do that to pinpoint just what you are reacting to. As another poster said, it could be the pesticides.
Another possibility is that it could be psychosomatic. Perhaps after so many years of dieting and an unhealthy relationship with food, you are subconsciously rejecting the raw produce and that in turn is causing a physical response.
I think Justine just gave very good advise on the allergy tests. If it has not been done, then you do need to have your exact allergies pin-pointed. I don’t know what your physician has said, but perhaps you need to see a specialist if all you are hearing is “you’re allergic to all raw foods.” Take it from someone who suffered from severe allergies from infanthood and who helped herself.
It might be pesticides; it might not. It might be something you are ingesting or exposed to on a daily basis that is not a food item, but is causing your body to react when it comes into contact with plant enzymes. Is there anything besides raw foods you are allergic to? Find that out, too.
Are there any raw foods at all you can eat? How about lettuce? Apples? Anything at all?
Also, do you eat dairy? Breads and/or cereals? Sugars? Candies? Nut products. Find all this out and we can help you, I think. I used to not be able to eat even tomatoes without the lining of my mouth inflaming and an asthma attack. Not anymore but it takes lots of time and investigation and work on your part. Good luck and hugs!!:-)
This is a unique situation.
My best guess is that you detox when you try raw foods, and I’ll bet you also have some parasites causing the reaction.
If I were you, I’d stick to a good cooked vegan diet: Steamed and baked vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds. No salt or condiments, herbs are ok. Natural oils – avocado, if that is ok, or butter, olive oil, coconut oil.
Fruit is also delicious stewed or baked. Try that for a while and then add very small amounts of raw grated vegetables or fruits, maybe just a teaspoon a day, to see how you tolerate it.
If you feel good on the cooked healthy diet, so be it. Let your body be your guide, rather than an idea of what is healthy.
=== Also – find a good natural practitioner you can trust. An N.D., Chinese medicine, someone properly trained and certified with experience, to guide you through. One such person is Dr. Joel Fuhrman who is an MD and also a licensed naturopath (drfuhrman.com). Some of them work over the phone, have you take tests etc. and send them the results.
If you are serious about feeling better, it is worth doing it right.
Thank you so much to everyone who replied! I really appreciate all the advice. Everyone here is so nice!
To answer some of the questions that were asked of me…
Yes, I have had allergy tests, which showed I have severe allergies to pollen from all grasses, trees, and weeds/flowers
You’re velcome :) I’m so glad you’re trying the elimination diet!!! yay! I’m telling everyone with fibro left and right to give it a chance! I know it helps. Even people without Firbro to make them try it could find out alot!
I was thinking of you the other night and thought…”maybe she could experiment with how hot her food has to be in order for her body not to allergically react. As long as the raw fruits and veggies she’s eating are “cooked” at a temp under 120 degrees they are technically still raw.”
So if your mouth/body can tolerate things that are heated under 120 degrees you’ll still have the enzymes! It’ll mean keeping the thermometer handy…but if it works…who knows…just had me thinkning :).