On Saturday, June 7, 2003, at 08:08  PM, Mel Pegg wrote:
>
> A very dear friend of mine suffers from Colitis, bad digestive problems
> and blood sugar problems.  At the moment and for some time now she is
> on a
> 100% raw vegan diet.

If she is underweight, raw vegan is not the way to go. If she can't
stomach the idea of meat, at least she should be eating plenty of
easily digestible high energy foods. Try to get her to gradually
increase the fat in her diet. Avocados are a good start, though she
probably already is eating those, vegans seem to eat lots from what I
have seen. Other oils, nuts, she can add easily enough, and even stay
vegan. Maybe some tropical oils, coconut.

Definitely she should be cutting out grain, especially wheat, but if
she is eating raw she probably isn't eating much grain anyway. With
colitis, too much fiber may be a problem. I know this is contrary to
what is usually said, but obviously her current regime isn't helping
her.

Probiotics might help too, a long fast can really mess up the gut flora
and fauna by starving them to death.

Whatever, a gradual change to a higher energy diet might help.