Digestion issues

[dianna]

Shelley,

When I was down with a cold last weekend, I did not eat from 7p Friday until 9a Monday. I continued to "poop" all weekend, using Schulze's #1, so I believe I was reasonably clean when I ate on Monday.

My first meal was 10oz of orange juice. Shortly after that I passed gas. I know passing gas indicates bowel issues, but on one glass of oj?????

I didn't eat anything more until Monday evening, when I scrambled two eggs. Again, immediately passed gas.

Does this mean my digestion and bowels are severely messed up? I was using my illness as a chance to clean out and thought I was starting with some gentle foods.

I take Solray's Digestive enzymes daily. What else should I do?

Thank you for your help!

[shelley]

Hi Dianna!

I'm not a big fan of orange juice. It should at the very least be diluted. For many people it actually creates mucous. Did your sinuses fill up after you drank it? Mine start draining immediately.

After an illness that involves the immune system, digestion overall or diarrhea or fasting, our intestines are as raw and unprepared for certain foods like raw fruit as a newborn baby.

This whole "raw juices are good" idea that's going around right now is SO wrong in so many instances and this is one of them. I'm a huge fan of juicing of course and if I had my way everyone would own a juicer, but it's important to know when it is contra-indicated. Very few things are good for you ALL the time. One of my pet peeves with the Master Cleanse is his protocol says to drink orange juice to break the fast. That would totally ruin me!

The BRAT diet is the best way to eat after an illness or when Agni is low. Bananas, rice, applesauce and tea. Those are very gentle foods.

Gas means fermentation. Fermentation happens when there isn't enough stomach acids breaking down the foods completely, amongst other things.

Juices travel very quickly, so they go into the small intestine without being digested much because you don't chew them and they don't sit around in the tummy. If it was unpasteurized OJ, that then delivers all kinds of baddies right into the intestines which are already exhausted from the col/flu.

Fasting, laxatives, colds and flu tend to turn Agni, the fire of digestion, off. You have to turn the fire on again before you ingest anything, or eat things that don't require a lot of digestive power, such as the BRAT foods.

You need to stick with slow-cooked, preferably ground-up foods for a few days. They should include spices that wake up Agni and reduce gas, such as garlic, onion, cumin, cinamon, ginger, cardamom, peppermint. Don't eat unless you're really hungry. Take in some lemon or 500 mg of Vitamin C to increase stomach acids prior to your meals. Kichadi would be fantastic for waking up Agni and giving your body something very easy to digest.

Hope that helps!