Totally new

[Kirsteen]

Hi, I'm Kirsteen, live in Glasgow and am a complete beginner to raw foods. I've had M.E. for 3 years and have been in and out of hospital the past year with horrendous digestive issues and have dropped from 13 1/2 stone to under 8 stone. Apart from finding my liver inflamed, no one can find the cause. I've stuck to various diets that have been recommended without much success but personally feel more drawn to a raw food diet. I don't know if I'll go completely raw food as at the moment I'm trying to take it slowly so as not to start another flare up.

I do have one question. I'd like to treat myself to a decent juicer and am tossing up between the Compact juicer and the Matstone. Can anyone tell me if one is better than the other or any advice at all. I'd be very grateful

[Jax]

Hi Kirsteen and welcome, I know that Karen knows of somebody who has had ME to the point of being bedbound, and if I remember rightly she has had great success on a more raw diet, but Karen can tell you more about this lady.

I'm also completely new to raw, hence the reason I started this site up, to open it up to all levels of raw and hopefully help raise awareness of how eating more raw can help a variety of conditions.

I'm going to my first raw workshop this Saturday and I'm hoping the host who has already joined Raw in UK, will post a bit more regularly (when she has the time), as she's being trained by the Hippocrates Institute (http://www.hippocratesinst.org/) and has far better knowledge than myself ;)

[sharonjones]

welcome kirsteen :)

ive had great success with an alkaline raw diet. look up the pH miracle diet. my own story is amazing and i only started out 10 weeks ago!

hope we can help you on your journey

x

[haverawcake]

Hi Kirsteen
Welcome to the forum. I really hope raw food can help you - it has certainly made a difference to the health of many people on this forum, including me. I have been told that my liver is sluggish and I feel so much better with a high alkaline, mainly raw food diet with lots of greens, including juices and smoothies.
As for a juicer, the compact and Matstone are quite similar in many ways - they are both slow so will keep the juicing temperatures low, they both have long warranties and you can juice wheatgrass with both. I guess you pay a bit more for the Matstone but you do have the option of an additional oil extractor which could be useful if you want to make really fresh oil from seeds such as flax.
Annette

[Kirsteen]

Thanks, I guess I'll order a Matstone then and see how I get on with it.

[Kirsteen]

Just wanted to say thnkyou for the recommendation. My Matstone arrived yesterday and I am totally in love with it. The difference between it and my old centrifugal juicer is amazing. Yes, it's much easier to clean but the real joy is the juice itself. I definitely got more juice from this juicer. I swear it tasted better and the colour was a lot better. I always found anything with apple in it went brown fairly quickly. This stayed a lovely pale green colour though i must have spent nearly an hour sipping it.

I'm like a kid with a new toy - it's fantastic.

[Ruth]

Hi Kirsteen,
My name is Ruth and I am the friend of Karen that Jax spoke about. I had a severe form of ME for over 10 years, but thankfully am now fully emersed in recovery . I feel that a raw food lifestyle is a great tool to use if you have ME or any other condition. Notwithstanding the myriad short and long-term health benefits, it gives so much joy and added motivation to experiment with life; and if you do it long enough can alter brain chemistry to promote a kind of inner bliss...with me this happened very rapidly. Even on days when I 'do' more tiredness, the experience of joy pervades my mind and I would say is worth doing for that alone. (Oh and the food is out of this world!!) I hope that you find new meaning in living this loving lifestyle, and that your health improves daily, hourly, to your hearts content. Sending love...