Six months in to my new eating regime, I've finally figured out a problem I've been having: too many raw vegetables cause stomach ache. Someone told me that as you get older you may not produce enough stomach acid to digest loads of raw vegetables; that we should lightly cook them or spread them out throughout the day and east gentler stuff in between. A test is to sip cranberry juice (it's acidic) after eating a load and see if that settles your stomach.

Heard of this?

I have this problem with raw broccoli, but I am ok with pretty much everything else. Maybe it is the fiber?

You could have what is called oral allergy syndrome. It varies greatly in severity. Mine is very severe- I carry an epi pen because even cross-contamination can lead to a severe reaction for me. However for my little brother, bananas just make his throat a little itchy.

Look it up online though- my doctor actually wrote and maintains the about.com page on it!

You know, we are not ruminants. We have but one stomach to digest our food with. It's why humans need to cook their food somewhat. It breaks down the cells for us and makes those vitamins and minerals more accesible.

I recently heard a lecture by a research doctor from UCSF who did a study on the effects of aging on certain organs and which ones lose function faster than others and cause a sort of cascade effect on the aging process. She said the kidneys were the organs we needed to help the most because as we age, we develop more acid in our bodies, and that's what causes our kidneys to fail. And she said the best way to combat this, they found, was to eat a LOT of vegetables and fruits. Because veggies and fruits introduce alkalai into the body and helps to neutralize the acid. But she also said that veggies like broccoli, kale (cruciferous) needed to be cooked some, while other veggies like cucumber, carrots, pepper and summer squash were much easier to digest.

The obvious solution is to eat cooked vegetables instead. When foods are raw they are very tough to break down... and cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli) and legumes (like peas) contain compounds that cause a lot of gas .... think what a pan of boiling cabbage smells like and how much beans make you fart

So maybe keep the carrots, cut thinly and chewed well, but choose a more easily digested selection of raw foods e.g. cucumber, cherry tomatoes, celery. Cook things like broccoli, cauliflower and peas... And only eat your raw foods with a meal rather than introducing them to a completely empty stomach.

agree with this. Even if I want to eat something like cold broccoli, I lightly steam it and then blanch in cold water so it stays bright green and appealing looking and then serve cold with a dip or in salads, etc. I personally prefer the taste and texture that way over raw anyway.

I've been drinking green smoothies in the morning, and I've thrown zucchini, peas, cucumbers, spinach, kale, swiss chard, arugula, romaine lettuce, and bok choi in there.

While I wouldn't feel like eating these green vegetables on their own in the morning (especially not raw), I do like them in smoothies. I think it's cause I add some fruit (tasty, sweet ;-) ) and because the blender really breaks down the tough parts, so my teeth and stomach have less work to do.

For some reason, I don't really have an appetite for green smoothies at night. Maybe having a "warm dinner" is too ingrained in me...

But anyways, upping the "green intake" really worked for me when I started drinking green smoothies. Dust off your blender and try it :-)

I think if you add greens to your diet of raw veggies would help out. adding greens helps release enzymes and up your PH in your stomach to digest other foods correctly. cooking our food destroys a lot of the digestive enzymes we need.

Like loveAcat, I have added green smoothies to my diet. I put all kinds of raw veggies into them, sometimes adding a piece of fruit or a bit of Stevia to take away any bitterness. I noticed a positive change in my energy level almost immediately, and feel a bit virtuous about finally getting enough vegetables.

I have no problem digesting these at any time of the day, and highly recommend them. I use a blender or a food processor, depending upon what vegetables I'm using.

That does't make any sense or sound correct at all to me.
One thing that I have used before is Now Food Super enzyme supplement, this helps a lot with digestion.

The other thing that is good for gut flora is fermented foods like Sauerkraut and Kimchi.

If you have gut flora issues it could be caused by antibiotics, have you take a lot of antibiotics in the past?

hmm interesting. I like my veggies steamed usually anyway...they taste better. Maybe re-wash them, grocery stores can serve them bruised and moldy by accident sometimes.

Some raw vegetables and some cooked vegetables affect me badly. My trouble is figuring out which are which because it is only after I have eaten them when I find out.

I get cramps sometimes with raw veggies also, but usually only if I haven't been eating them for a while. For me it's just a matter of adjusting.

did you wash the veges before eating them?

My mum and I once ate unwashed celery and had really awful crippling stomach cramps immediately afterwards... after that I always made sure to really thoroughly wash all fruit and vegetables before eating! I don't know what was on the celery that caused that (we just ate celery at that time too, nothing else could have caused it) but wow it was bad...

I though it worth mentioning that there's a large number of vegetables that you get more nutrients from if you cook them- carrots being the highest example of this. You get far more nutrients from a carrot if you lightly cook it than if you eat it raw because your body has a really hard time breaking it down and basically just can't break down a lot of it unless it's had some help by it being cooked a bit first. I would now go search and link to some articles to back this up but I can't be bothered might come back and add some later though.