Barbara:
>I am often aware of the most amazing rumbling, gurgling and squelching
>noises going on inside me when I have recently eaten fruit or some other
>raw food. I don't recall experiencing quite such intense sounds when I was
>eating an 'ordinary' diet. Are these just normal digestive noises, or could
>they be associated with the release of stored wastes? I don't really think
>it's the former, because the noises I am referring to are quite sudden,
>loud and short-lived, with long periods of relative silence in between.
>Sometimes the sound is as if something is suddenly forcing its way out of
>somewhere. Does anyone know what chemical reactions (or other processes)
>might be involved here?

It is not uncommon for people who eat more raw fruit and veggies to
experience a "loosening" in digestion. If it doesn't settle down for you,
you may want to start experimenting with food combining--you just have to
find out what works for you in combination. Some people don't tolerate
fruit after other foods, RAF with fruit, or even RAF with veggies. Some
don't tolerate different fruits together. Etc. (Also, steamed veggies, like
the cole crops, are sometimes digested better than raw ones.)

>I also find that I frequently burp when I have just drunk some water or
>eaten some fruit. Again, I was not aware of this prior to eating a high-raw
>diet, and I have the feeling that it is not just swallowed air that is
>being released, but something else. Any ideas?

"Classic" Natural Hygiene food combining says not to drink water after a
meal, especially a fruit meal, that it leads to fermentation and poor
digestion. Some folks find that food combining rhetoric does not apply to
them; others consider it very useful...you'll probably find what works for
you over time.

I would be wary of considering every other symptom some sort of detox.
During times when I ate mostly fruits and veggies for a long time, I would
end up with chronic loose stools and poor/incomplete digestion. Our
alimentary canal may be better adapted to concentrated foods and lots and
lots of raw veggies may be more trouble than they ae worth. It is
interesting to me that many rawists who fast find that when they return to
fruit/veggies after a fast that their digestion is even more incomplete. If
they were "overloaded" on fruits/veggies before the fast and just give
themselves more of the same after the fast, maybe the body is trying to
tell them something. Who knows?

Cheers,
Kirt