Dry food

M42

Hello everyone,

With the start of this year, I finally started my raw diet. I was inspired by Steve Pavlina so I started the rather restrictive version he also tried during the 30 day trial he blogged about. This doesn't allow eating much fat (15% max, ideally ~10%), nor does it allow to eat dried or dehydrated foods.

That is what causing problems for me. Eating vegan raw food was quite easy, even the first week was easier than expected (I wasn't vegetarian/vegan or anything before). But I haven't been able to stick to the low fat part and am finding it hard to stick to not eating dried foods.

Not eating meat or sweets or cooked food is doable but I would really like to eat something dry. All the fruit and vegetables are tasty but all do waterish, and the one handful of nuts each day isn't helping enough. However, I can't really think of anything dry that satisfies those rules. Here's the options I've considered:

* The craving for dried food is just something that will go away after a while.

* The craving means I'm missing some nutrient (any idea which?).

* I am missing some dry (maybe bread-like) food that satisfies the diet.

* I am being too restrictive and should eat dried foods and/or more fat.

Any feedback would be most welcome. Excuse me if I should have posted this in a different forum; this one seemed pretty general.

Kind regards,

Mark

kurite

I personally dont believe in the 80/10/10 diet which only allows 10% of your calories to come from fat, so splurge a little on nuts and seeds if you want. As for the dehydrated foods, Ive heard that its harder to digest for some, because you body needs to replace the missing water. But in all honesty you will be fine snacking on them as long as you dont over do it. Also when you do eat dehydrated food make sure to drink plenty of non-flouridated water.

superfood2

Are you eating salt?

Deadly Steve

You're still adjusting to lighter eating and subtler flavours. Stick with it and everything will balance out. When I first started dabbling in raw food I got ferocious bread cravings! Only lasted a few days though.

M42

Thanks for the replies so far!

@kurite: I think restricting dried foods is one of the less important aspects too, but I'd like to explore alternatives before dropping this requirement. If nothing else works I'll certainly try!

@superfood2: No, I am not eating added salt.

@DeadlySteve: Thanks for the feedback. I've only had the cravings for bread for a few days (first month I had no trouble) so I'll hope they disappear in the comming weeks. I'll wait for that before giving up ;-)

superfood2

Thank you, I was just curious.

I think the dried foods thing is a matter of getting too hungry and then wanting a concentrated source of calories (and/or flavor) fast. I don't think it has to do with nutrients necessarily. And I do think it's possible to get rid of your cravings by simply not "giving in" for a couple weeks. :) Your body/taste buds will prefer fresh foods if you allow them to.

Good luck, whatever you do. Just try to eat as many fresh foods as possible.