Hi All – I am in serious need of advice. I love being raw, but it is ruining my life. Since going raw (4 months raw, 2 of those 99% raw) I have gotten the most horrible gas. It is like something died in my belly. I don’t know what to do.
Years ago when I switched to a mostly vegetable diet I got gas which would go away when I would eat a grain or meat meal. I could have gone all fruits and veggies then, but just could not allow myself to be hindered so. I am a teacher and could not eat vegetables for lunch for fear of not being able to go my afternoon classes! After about 6 months my body adjusted and was fine.
My new raw problem is much worse though. I follow the basics of food combining, I’ve tried all mono meals, I am at a loss. Wouldn’t it be tragic if I had all of the motivation and ability to stay raw, but failed because of flatulence? Sigh. Does anyone know something I don’t? Has this happened to anyone else?
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Sorry, no help here. My family is suffering too! I am really hoping that someone else pops in with some encouraging info!
I think everyone I have talked to concerning going raw has gone through “the Gassy stage” It will die down and the smell will nearly go completely away. I also noticed that when I had to go off of raw for about a week that when I got back into it again the smelly gas came back. It then goes away again.
Hang in there!!
Gone raw and lovin it!!!!
YogaChik
I don’t eat much dried fruit at all. I have green smoothies for breakfast, fruit to snack on through the morning, salads for lunch and generally a seed pate or avocado with more salad for dinner. I have been trying to keep track of the gas to food relationship and I think it is mostly veggies that do it. I can handle the fruit just fine, BUT I WANT TO BE ABLE TO EAT VEGETABLES :( In my research I saw that taking activated charcoal tablets can help with the smell. Does anyone know how healthful/harming that might be?
I’m not sure what is in your green smoothie but if it is a combo of veggie and fruit, you may want to eat your fruits first and then wait 15 mins before you eat anything else. Fruits digest quicker. Try it for a few days and see if it works. No fruit in your salad for those few days either. Also I found when I was not 100% raw, still eating some dairy and poultry I was also very gassy.
Good Luck! & Stick with it. This too shall pass…no pun
Oh gosh… Chris…that last posting was hilarious. To admit you did that takes a lot of guts- thanks, I had a great laugh. Every time I read one of your posts now- I’m never going to be able to get that mental picture out of my head!
No, I used to eat all of that stuff before going raw, I just ate it steamed. Those veggies were actually some of my biggest staples and gave me no gas after the transition period. Maybe my raw transition period is just going to be smellier and longer. It sure makes it hard to be a teacher though. Maybe I should eat only fruit and nuts until after the work day is over. Leave my veggie stink for my loving partner ;)
By all means jaymz72, post it as soon as you can. My dh will be delighted!!!
And Chris, that really was too funny!
I hardly ever get gas. But then again I’m used to eating broccoli, corn, turnip. I’m not really fond of cabbage, and I’ve read it can cause a lot of flatulence – it’s reacting to the intestine toxin buildup.
I’m really careful about food combination, and as I’ve learned, sweet fruits with acidic fruit can cause gas. It’s really interesting to read up on food combination – it can really give you hints as to why you’re so gassy. A lot of stuff don’t mix together. For example, olives, avocadoes, tomatoes and cucumbers which are fruits don’t mix with a lot of stuff.
I also don’t eat grains – maybe that’s a reason I’m not gassed. I do drink a lot of water, and so I’m often “exiting”.
That’s my input… Good luck to the gas!
How about pumpkin? I’ve make skinny noodles with it. Never tried lasagna noodles though.
Juleskess, I reread your average eating for one day, and I’m not a doctor but I really think your food combination has a large part to do with your gas.
For your morning smoothie, I would stick to one type of fruit to go with the spinach/swiss chard, either citrus OR sweet. Or even fruit—it’s better to have just fruit in the morning, it helps to clean out the intestinal tract. And as others have said, make sure your bananas are ripe. Two previous posts (one on food combination and the other on dried fruit I believe could give you some advice). Maybe stick to sweet fruits as mid-morning snack if you’re having bananas in the morning. Or maybe try to limit the figs.
For your lunch, I’ve read avocadoes don’t mix well with pates/other fats. And for your dinner, I personally wouldn’t mix the fruit with the rolls or coleslaw. Whenever I have fruit with other foods I get gas. It causes fermentation in the stomach.
And miso and tamari can also cause gas, since they are fermented foods.
I hope my point of view helps a bit. But then again, this is based on my gas and digestion experience. Humananimal is quite good about clearing up fruit questions, he’s always done so for me.
joseegonthier, thanks for your continued help trying to save my career from gas. I really appreciate it. Let me clarify: I eat the avo OR the pate and I eat the fruit OR the rolls or slaw. I know I can’t mix those things.
Your suggestion about the only fruit in the AM is a good one. I will try it, but I am ever searching for ways to get more greens into my diet and found the smoothie way worked well. I had been laboring under the misconception that leafy greens are the one veg that can be easily mixed with fruit. I’ll try it without and see if it helps.
You may be right about the miso and tamari, I’ve been trying to cut those out anyway as they’re not really raw. But now I am confused. Mham just said that fermented foods would help digestion. Is there a differece between kimchee fermentation and miso fermentation? Hmm.
Hi everyone. I just thought I would come back and share my success story with you. After 6 months of god awful, ruin-my-life gas I did the master cleanser for another round of just 5 days (doing the master cleanser for the full 10 days was what made me go raw in the first place). I had a lot of some very interesting “eliminations” and after 5 days I went back to normal raw eating. It took me a while to notice, but I was totally gas free! It has been three weeks now of eating anything I want and having NO gas. I don’t know what to do with myself. I am beside myself with joy. What a wonderful relief for myself and my loved ones! Thanks for all of your help and support along the way. Down with the gas.
In some raw cookbook I was flipping through, they said that a pinch of asafoetida, or also known as hing (indian spice) on your veggies would cut down on gas. I haven’t tried this so I’m not 100% sure if it works.
rfoodie – it is a ten day cleanse where you drink a large quantity of lemonade made with maple syrup and cayenne pepper and eat nothing else for 10 days. You also do salt water flushing of your system every morning. You can find information on it at http://therawfoodsite.com/mastercleanse.htm It has totally changed my diet and life in the last year.