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I have been on a strict diet of fruit, veggies, eggs, brown rice, butter, legumes and meat. I eliminated wheat, dairy, processed foods and sugar. Its been 2 1/2 years now and I have tried bringing in other foods and it doesnt work for me.
I have been having strong cravings for sugar even though I've eliminated sugar, so I thought I would try eliminating fruit from my diet. I am so surprised how that has effected me. I feel like I'm going through detox symptoms. I feel fatigued and had a headache. In the past when I ran out of fruit for a few days I would feel really irritable.
I'm curious to see how I feel in a few weeks. I remember when I cut wheat completely out, 99% of my indigestion problems cleared up.
In Reply to: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 10, 2003 at 13:13:59:
Barb,
I've stopped eating fruit, too. Started about a week ago, and I have also experienced quite a few headaches, presumably from withdrawal. It's funny, I thought it would be really hard to give up, because I absolutely love fruit, and have all my life. However, I want to be well so badly that I'm not having a hard time at all. I don't really crave sugar, fruit, or any natural sweeteners anymore, but I could certainly still eat a whole bunch if I wasn't careful. It's certainly helping to stabilize my blood sugar.
I'll give it a while, but once the addiction and the emotional need is broken, maybe I can add in a little fruit again without destabilizing myself too much.
Keep us posted, Barb.
Wishing you the best,
Nutmeg
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Nutmeg on September 10, 2003 at 17:54:00:
Thanks for posting Nutmeg. Thats interesting that you had headaches too. I expected the emotional withdrawl, but not fatigue and headaches. I find that I used fruit as my comfort food lately. I have probably been eating too much and its effecting my blood sugar. Whats your diet like?
I'm so tired of vegtables.
In Reply to: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 10, 2003 at 13:13:59:
Hi Barb,
I'm off fruit and I do miss it, but the rewards of not eating it are so much greater that I will do without.
Recently I've discovered that green stevia powder is really good and I've been exploring cooking with it. So far, I've made homemade ginger ale. Made with perrier water, it is a real treat!
Besides vegetables, I eat lots of nuts. I have to stop posting now so I can get down to the kitchen and make a batch of beef jerkey in my dehydrator to use for when I want to snack during the next couple of weeks.
Good luck with going off fruit! It sounds like it will be worth it for you.
Best wishes,
Happygal
In Reply to: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 10, 2003 at 13:13:59:
Hi
I actually don't like fruit EXCEPT for banana's...but when I do eat it, I feel disgusting. Banana's seem to have no ill effect on me. But even apples, or apple juice...blah.
I take that back. I eat Lemons as fresh squeezed in water with no ill effect. Oranges though - yuck.
Why is that? Is it the sugar?
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Happygal on September 10, 2003 at 19:12:09:
Happygal, why did you go off of fruit? What benefits have you noticed?
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 10, 2003 at 18:41:32:
Hi Barb,
My diet isn't as rigorous as yours, at the moment. I eat chicken, beef, turkey, eggs, hard cheese, and try to limit my other cheese consumption to organic cultured products--plain yogurt, cream cheese, and cottage cheese. All vegetables--whatever looks good at the farmer's market or what neighbors have to share, nuts (especially soaked/roasted pecans, seeds, nut butters, olive oil, butter, hummus, occasional brown rice, and a few mostly whole-grain breads and crackers for chewing and crunch, and occasional not-quite-whole-grain brown rice pasta. I just started up with juicing again, so I'm adding in a few greens to my regimen.
After I've been off fruit for a while, I'm planning to try giving up all grains next, because I suspect they are contributing to my pain, fatique, and inability to lose weight (along with a fair amount of fat in my diet). After not eating wheat for over 5 years, I added it back in small amounts a few months ago. No noticeable digestive distress like I had when I tested it a few years back, but it definitely seems to slow me down and may cause a little nasal/sinus congestion. I used to eat whole rye bread & crackers, in place of wheat, but now rye seems to cause pain the next day. For a while I only ate whole grains, but that didn't seem to do enough, and when I started eating small amounts of refined grains, I didn't notice any difference.
I suspect my current diet will get old pretty quickly, especially when the summer growing season ends and I'm back to grocery-store veggies. I fill a Rubbermaid sandwich box with cut-up raw veggies every day for lunch, and eat a few more of them for breakfast. Raw green beans are wonderful. Then for dinner, usually 1-3 varieties of steamed veggies, plus sliced cukes and/or tomatoes, or a sauteed dish with lots of vegetables. Leftover steams or sauteed meals are good cold for breakfast or lunch. I snack on celery, sometimes stuffed with flavored hummus, cultured cream cheese, or peanut butter, my home-roasted pecans, cheese & crackers, yogurt, plain or with a fiber supplement or roasted carob powder mixed in, or veggies dipped in hummus.
I believe I'm a hunter-gatherer, metabolism-wise, so I seem to do best on higher protein and fat-type meals and snacks, but I need the fiber and other nutrients from raw or lightly steamed veggies and juice. I recently discovered I'm hypoglycemic, so I need to eat something protein-y every couple of hours to keep my blood sugar stable. Going off grains should help that too, and it was my main motivation for eliminating fruit. I may have to ask Happygal for her beef jerky recipe to expand my repertoire of good foods.
Wishing you the best,
Nutmeg
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Nutmeg on September 10, 2003 at 23:42:38:
Thanks Nutmeg for taking the time to share your diet regieme. I'm bored with my diet. I really need to find some new recipes to get out of my rut. I do really good for a long period of time, then I want to eat everything I miss. It can be a struggle at times.
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Nutmeg on September 10, 2003 at 23:42:38:
instead of the cheese you are currently eating, why dont you try substituting it with goats milk cheese, Nutmeg? Its surprisingly quite tasty, but then thats MY taste. My family and friends dont always agree with my taste. :) But its certainly a healthier choice than the current cheeses you are having.
Its amazing how quickly cravings for fruit passes, IF you make sure that you are also ELIMINATING ALL OTHER SUGARS in your diet.
In Reply to: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 10, 2003 at 13:13:59:
Thanks, Guys,
This is worth trying (for a few weeks) for any one who still has symptoms after doing the WFD for a while.
Namaste`
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 10, 2003 at 22:29:18:
Hi Barb,
Because Walt recommended it. He's had such a great track record for getting things right for me, I value his recommendations.
I was off fruit for 6 months, then I tried eating some. I instantly noticed reactions. Shortly after eating the fruit, my brain felt kind of foggy or congested, it wasn't bad so I didn't think much about it. That was until I ate my favorite fruit, mango. After that I became wildly emotional and couldn't concentrate on doing anything. I had planned to spend that whole day at home writing, but I was *so* agitated the only thing I could do was get out of the house -- so I went shopping instead and lost a whole day's productivity. It took almost the whole day to get back to normal.
Well, part of it was my mistake because I was so glad to be eating fruit again I ate too much. But it showed me very clearly the kind of reactions I have when I eat fruit.
A couple weeks later I discovered that I could eat some cherries and not have a reaction. But then I bought a lot of them, and ate too much again, and started having reactions from them. Does this begin to sound like I have a self-control problem here? I began to wonder. In any event, I hate having food reactions so I decided to go off fruit again for probably at least a year, and then I'll hopefully be smarter and only eat a little at a time.
I figure I probably need to not have reactions for a while in order to give my body enough rest to heal well.
In the meantime I've discovered green powdered stevia can give me a little sweet taste and it helps a lot.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Happygal
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 11, 2003 at 00:51:56:
Hi Barb,
I've found that the only way I can do this diet is to constantly have my nose in a cookbook, trying new recipes. Actually, it turns out to be really fun to have new eating adventures all the time. Any my range of good recipes is increasing, which also helps alleviate the boredom.
I made homemade turkey sausage from the Healing Power of Whole Foods yesterday, and now I'm in search of sarsparilla root so I can make homemade root beer. Yum!
Best wishes,
Happygal
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Happygal on September 11, 2003 at 08:02:36:
Thanks Happygal, I appreciate the encouragement. I need to get out the cookbooks again and get out of my rut. I have Sally Fallons book, maybe I'll go get Beth Louselles book too.
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 11, 2003 at 00:51:56:
Hi Barb,
I know what you mean about boredom! Try getting some new recipes. You mentioned Sally Fallon's which I've used quite a bit, and Beth Loiselle's books, which I use occasionally.
My public library has quite a few vegetarian cookbooks, some on healthy foods, and others for various allergies. Try one of Mollie Katzen's vegetarian ones if you want to do something interesting with brown rice and vegetables. I bring them home, stick post-its on the recipes that look simple and interesting, and go photocopy them. I'm not really that organized, but I did manage to stuff the copied recipes into plastic sleeves and arrange them into a 3-ring binder, in some sort of order. I've actually pulled out the binder and tried quite a few of the recipes.
The free magazines at the health food store, like Delicious Living, often have good recipes. I used to subscribe to Vegetarian Times, so I have tons of back issues with a lot of favorite recipes and others I want to try marked with my post-it system of indexing. Most libraries have it, and there is an annual recipe index in one issue. Cooking Light is another good magazine, featuring lots of fresh veggies in season. I look at it when I'm in the checkout line, then go to the library to photocopy recipes that look promising.
With any of these sources, you have to be cautious about illegal ingredients, but it's usually possible to omit or substitute and make it edible.
Hope this helps!
Nutmeg
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Miss Bliss on September 11, 2003 at 04:43:31:
Hi Miss,
I've thought of trying that, but I haven't found any raw or cultured (except for pasteurized yogurt) goat milk products here. At least I can get raw cow's milk cheese and cultured butter at the HFS, and imported unpasteurized butter from the grocery store. Most of the goat cheese I've found is pasteurized soft or spready gourmet stuff, and highly seasoned with herbs, garlic, and/or chives. I did try some mild cheddar goat cheese a while back when one store had it, but I didn't really care for it. Could have been because I knew what it was :-) Maybe I'll get brave and try goat cheese and yo again.
I was letting a few mostly unrefined sugars creep into my diet for a little while, but now I have totally eliminated them, along with the fruit. Much better.
Thanks for the ideas.
Nutmeg
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 11, 2003 at 10:11:57:
Hi Barb,
My roommate just bought me Nourishing Traditions for a birthday present. :o) It's a good one along with Beth's.
I also find a lot of good recipes on the internet. And most other cookbooks have recipes that can be modified.
Happy eating!
Best wishes,
Happygal
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Nutmeg on September 11, 2003 at 10:43:00:
Hi Nutmeg,
Beth has a reasonable nut cheese recipe in THPoWF. It reminds me a little bit of Cheez Whiz. I've also seen a seed cheese recipe but haven't tried it yet.
Best wishes,
Happygal
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Nutmeg on September 10, 2003 at 23:42:38:
Hi Nutmeg,
The beef jerky is in the dehydrator right now.
For this batch I used 2 lbs of lean ground beef. (Lean so the fat doesn't go rancid). For each lb of meat, add 1 tsp. salt. (Salt to help preserve the meat).
I mixed it together, then divided it up into three separate batches.
To the first batch, I added some cajun seasoning.
To the second batch, I added soy sauce and grated ginger.
To the third batch, I added taco seasoning.
I bought the spice mixes at my local health food store, they are all whole foods.
Each batch was mixed and spent the night in the refrigerator. Then I rolled each batch out between two sheets of waxed paper using a rolling pin and "cut" it into strips. Jerky gets dried at 150 or 155 degrees for 4 - 6 hours or longer (depending on how thick it is). It is supposed to be chewey but I like mine on the crunchy side.
Have fun!
Do you have a dehydrator? If so, what do you make?
Best wishes,
Happygal
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Happygal on September 11, 2003 at 07:59:59:
Hi Happygal,
This is my 3rd day off of fruit and I'm seeing a difference. I crave protein more......I have more energy........I do feel less foggy......Never thought I would be having reactions to fruit......
I have been eating lots of fruit. I usually do that in the summer cuz there is a bigger variety to choose from.
Still curious to see how many other changes I experience after a few months.
Thanks for sharing.
Barb
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Nutmeg on September 11, 2003 at 10:31:43:
thanks Nutmeg, Ah yes, the library. I'll have to get down there and see what they have. Good suggestion.
I found today that I'm so hungry without the fruit to fill in between meals....I ate some trail mix, nuts and raisens....helped a little.
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Nutmeg on September 11, 2003 at 10:43:00:
I was letting a few mostly unrefined sugars creep into my diet for a little while, but now I have totally eliminated them, along with the fruit. Much better.
Its most important to do this to stop the cravings. once i did this, all my cravings ceased, as long as I stay off the sugar I am fine, when I cheat, the cravings come back, and then you got to start all over again, and also have to get mentally past the initial cravings till your body takes over
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Nutmeg on September 11, 2003 at 10:43:00:
"I was letting a few mostly unrefined sugars creep into my diet for a little while, but now I have totally eliminated them, along with the fruit. Much better."
Its most important to do this to stop the cravings. once i did this, all my cravings ceased, as long as I stay off the sugar I am fine, when I cheat, the cravings come back, and then you got to start all over again, and also have to get mentally past the initial cravings till your body takes over
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 11, 2003 at 15:03:16:
Hi Barb
I went back to eating fruit after being off it totally for six months. I was very strict about it, and never cheated.
Well last week, I was feeling a bit glum and sorry for myself, and my restrictive diet, and thought "heck, I am going to have a blueberry muffin, and if I get symptoms, I get symptoms!"
Well, lo and behold, no symptoms. No nothing. I was thrilled. So then for the next few days I had 1-2 muffins, still no reaction.
I have gone the last few days without any, and I have no cravings for it. I did notice that after I had a few, I started craving them, but I brought that under control, although the cravings were minus the bad symptoms.
I am not eating fruit per se, as in eating a whole apple etc, I only eat it in small amounts in the way of a blueberry or apple muffin, and of course, baked according to the whole foods/Anti Candida standards.
I think its bcause I was so disciplined in the six months, that now I am getting no over reaction from consuming fruit. I wont go overboard with the fruit though, as I still think the sugars could aggravate my candida. So I will take it in small portions for now. I wasnt able to do this six months ago,and would have horrible reactions from eating ANY fruit.
Its SO AMAZing though once you go off ALL FRUIT, AND ALL SUGAR, how ALL MY CRAVINGS stopped, and it ididnt take long. Just some self discipline on my part, and i no longer craved fruit (actually fruit was never a biggie for me), choclate cravings subsided to where eventually I had no more cravings for it (biggest craving of them all), no cravings for sugary pastries or other naughty foods.
So if you can stick with it, and maintain self discipline you will find all these cravings will come under control.
Good luck all of you!
*~ BLISS ~*
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet (Barb, Nutmeg) posted by Miss Bliss on September 11, 2003 at 21:01:05:
Thanks Miss Bliss,
You mentioned that you had some symtoms from the fruit..what problems were you having? Was it the cravings only?
I decided to eliminate fruit because of the sugar cravings I have been having. I think I also have signs of candida again......BUT, since going off the fruit I noticed that I had other symtoms that are going away. Some of the symtoms were fatigue, brain fog, irritability, etc....
I'm going to hang in there....
thanks for sharing! Its encouraging to see how others are doing with it.
Barb
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Miss Bliss on September 11, 2003 at 20:29:17:
You're right, of course :)
Unfortunately yesterday and today I consumed a little bit of honey by mistake. Bought some great spelt dinner rolls and ate one yesterday and another one today. I totally forgot that they contain honey. I wondered why my eyes were strained and tired-looking :( I did enjoy them, and I'm not going to beat myself up for making one mistake, but I am very determined not to cheat, so I hope I didn't set myself too far back by eating them. At least the cravings have not come back. My husband was happy to hear he gets the rest of the package. They are yummy.
Nutmeg
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet - Beef jerky posted by Happygal on September 11, 2003 at 11:41:20:
Thanks, Happygal! Sounds good. I printed your recipe out.
I've got Spice Hunter herbs and spice blends here, so I can probably find something yummy to use. 4-6 hours sounds pretty manageable, but I guess it might take longer in mine. I've had it a while--it's an old Harvest Maid, I think the name is.
Can you use sliced top sirloin too if you cut all the fat off? I guess it would be easier to use the ground round because the spices would stick better. Maybe you could marinate it. Do you store your finished jerky in the refrigerator or the freezer? I don't imagine it lasts long!
Do you use the fruit leather/jerky sheets? I've got some of those to fit my dehydrator from my fruit-leather-making days. I used to dry fruit, make apricot or berry fruit leather when someone gave me some really ripe fruit, and I did tomatoes a few times, like sun-dried tomatoes. I know it's going to be hard to pass up the black monukka grapes at the farmer's market on Saturday. They make wonderful raisins and they are mighty good fresh.
Thanks again. I see what kind of inspiration I get.
Nutmeg
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Barb on September 11, 2003 at 20:24:44:
Thanks, Barb.
Remember, raisins are a concentrated fruit. Feeding your addiction? :o)
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet (Barb, Nutmeg) posted by Miss Bliss on September 11, 2003 at 21:01:05:
Thanks, Miss.
What a useful post!
Namaste`
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet - Beef jerky posted by Nutmeg on September 11, 2003 at 23:50:12:
Hi Nutmeg,
I tried slicing beef for jerky but I sure didn't like the way it turned out. I think ground beef makes really good jerky. It's easy to control the thickness and the spices go clear through.
The advice I've read doesn't recommend sirloin, because it has too much fat. These are the recommended cuts of beef:
round, flank, and chuck steak
rump roast
brisket cross rib
london broil
chuck roast
These are the cuts with the lowest fat content, according to the internet sites I've perused.
I've been putting my jerky in the refrig. Freezing is also okay.
I've got one "tray" for drying fruit leathers, but I'm 99.9% fruit free (okay I confess I've been buying baba ganoush that has a little lemon juice in it but I'll stop soon). However tomato leather sounds good and I will try my hand at some vegetable leathers.
Happy drying!
Best wishes,
Happygal
In Reply to: Re: Eliminating all fruit from my diet posted by Nutmeg on September 11, 2003 at 23:37:44:
You may have small setbacks initially, Nutmeg.
I remember that happening with me too in the beginning. Especially with chocolate and especially around my period.
But as you go on with the diet, you find that your taste for Sugar ceases, and you won't even think about it after a while. You will find thaat your taste buds will be able to detect the tiniest amount of sugar in food, like a sugarmeter. I think that's great, because we eat so much sugar in this society, that our taste buds can become numbed to the natural sugars in foods.
NOw, I dont get ANY cravings for ANY sugar, or CHOCOLATE either. Its wonderful to have that control back, and not let the cravings control me.
I feel much better being off sugar, and plan to stay this way indefinitely.
I have just started introducing fruit back into my diet after 7 months, but I am taking it slowly.
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