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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookHi all…I was so excited for the first 2 weeks of going raw…of course i have been trying to transition…but i have noticed…that I constantly eat fruit, and want more and more nuts. I have gained around 5-8 pounds since I have started, and to be truthful, i want to lose weight, around 15 pounds, since I have gained it in this last year!... I made a lasagna last night, and it came out horrible. SO i resorted to the take out pizza that my sisters ordered..It smelled so much better and tasted so much better than the lasagna i had. i was so frustrated, i thought to myself, I am going to give up.
do i keep going..does your weight go back down? am i eating too much fruit that is causing me to gain weight..along with the nuts? Everyone says they can eat as much dessert, fruit,veggies, etc…but i just can’t do it..i feel like i am back on my same eating patterns as on a regular SAD diet, but with healthier foods packed with nuts! am i losing it? do i stick to it? is RAW meant for me?? lost
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it takes a little time, but the weight will come off. I would minimize the amount of nuts and avocados to about 1-2 oz per day.
I would also look for a raw cookbook that has menu’s in it. This might help too.
i bought 4 books…Ani Phyo’s book, Raw food By Sarma and Matt, and both of the books from Natalie Rose…they have menus…but some of the dishes i don’t really care for. any good thoughts on dishes to eat for lunch and dinner that are simple. I have a blender and a Food processor, but no dehydrator. I need things that are tasty, sometimes, the salads just don’t do it for me. Thanks for the suggestion…i am still lost..
do you like salad? i would try to just eat a huge salad with your meals, before you eat anything else. then, if you want a slice of pizza, have it, and don’t eat yourself up. it’s about persistence, not perfection.
the dried fruit anad nuts tend to be the foods that cause weight gain. if you’re eating more than one large or two small handfuls of nuts a day that’s probably too much. i love nuts, and i eat them often, but not too many at a time.
you will lose weight if you stick with it. i would recomment eating fruits with lots of water and fiber in them, like melons, apples and oranges, and bananas if you’re very hungry. when i first went raw, i would find that no matter what i was craving, i craved it less after i ate a banana… or two… or four…
avocados are also great. yes, they are high fat, but less so than most nuts. also as far as nuts go, almonds are a good choice because they are high in protein and fiber. if you buy “raw” nuts in the store they are pasteurized, but you can order them raw online, or if you live in CA you can buy them at a farmer’s market, which is what i do. you can also just eat the pasteurized ones… they don’t have the enzymes, but they’re still good for you!
i hope all that helps, be kind to yourself, you don’t need luck, you just need the strength that you already have within you!
as far as other raw recipes… i would make or buy crackers (flax or almond) and make pate in your food processor. sarma has an amazing ravioli recipe. you can add lots of greens to the filling.
the most important thing you can do is get your greens in. try making gazpacho, green smoothies with spinach and or spirulina, tacos, or nori rolls. those things are all prety easy to make, satisfying and delicious.
Hey snoopy99, I have two websites for you that I think are very inspiring: www.lovingraw.com/blog and www.rawreform.com. Both of these individuals overcame morbid obesity on a raw diet and both have lots of positive insight. I think you’re absolutely the norm in craving fruits and nuts during your transition, I know I did. You’re trying to satisfy a lifetime of SAD eating patterns with what’s available to you raw, your body is screaming out for what it knows. It is temporary, you will eventually ease off these comfort foods. I would also recommend Victoria Boutenko’s book Green for Life, that was the turnaround point for me. Don’t beat yourself up, every day is a new start and it may take a few tries to find the path that works for you.
I’ve been finding it easier if I prep or make meals a day or two before I work. I know the days I work, I don’t want to do ANYTHING when I get home! So I’ll make a salad, some nut spread or pate, and some soup. I’ve lost a few pounds, which wasn’t really my main goal. I am trying to cut back on the nuts, I start to feel gross if I eat too many. The wraps using collards and giant lettuce leaves are so good too!
Don’t worry if you eat the occasional pizza, just start over the next mealtime.
Drink green smoothies and green juice and cut out the nuts—you don’t need them and most people can’t eat just some. Try an avocado or some seeds for your fat—you won’t want to “binge” on them and they will easily serve your fat needs. Fruit should definitely remain a big part of your diet. Try reading Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko—most influential raw book out there in my opinion.
thanks for all of your help… will keep it up, i do have a portion of the lasagna for lunch…but just looking at it makes me grossed out. I will get some salad and lower my intake in nuts…and get those books :) I have been trying to eat more green smoothies in the morning. Its funny, but mine end up having a brown color becuase i use strawberries and greens…so everyone thinks it looks disgusting.
Yeah i feel stupid because here i am thinking…nuts..i can eat as much as i want, and then a friend of mine from maui sends a box of macadamia nuts, of course not raw…but to me they are nuts, and i scarf down a couple of tins! do you think cooking classes would help? I love the recipes on this site, and i never know which one to start with.
I tried drinking this water mix that I found on the We Like it Raw blog for morning energy and I find it to be an appetite suppressant- enough to get to the gym, work out, then have a green smoothie for breakfast. Water, lemon, cayenne pepper, turmeric. I’m in the beginning stages of becoming raw like you, and I occasionally give in to random stuff- aka nachos Saturday night that made me really sick! (I guess I can’t digest cheese after 3 months without it) I find that the more raw you eat the less you like the taste of other things. Try eating vegan when not eating raw. I tend to stay pesco-veggie with no milk or dairy (I know… weird) and that seems to keep me a little more balanced than just trying to transfer from a regular diet. If you limit your nut intake and max one avocado a day you should be good. Perhaps try a smoothie detox? Those can be great for energy and weight loss because they are so fulfilling. I’m starting one once I finish the essay I’m procrastinating from to undo the damage of essay allnighter munchies.
For some good recipes try http://therawchefblog.com/category/raw-recipes/ The carrot noodles with red pepper sauce are better than anything cooked. I’m also going to be posting a couple of raw-ified salad recipes from cookbooks onto my account later today (hurray for somehow making nut milk work as a mayo substitute)
Be patient though, even with the occasional essay binge I’ve gone from 133lbs to 127lbs in the past 2 weeks without being hungry and only doing yoga once.
Nuts definitely have vitamins & minerals, not just fat, & some people do really well with them while others don’t. Definitely greens! The more comfortable you get with preparing food, the less overwhelming it will be. When I started, I didn’t have so many recipes/resources, so I just experimented & learned how to make things with what I had. My best method is to go to the store, buy whatever feels like it will be the best for my body, then go home & eat it! Either make up a recipe or just eat the ingredients alone, whatever. That has been the way I feel best. When I get stuck in making things for taste or to mimic some kind of cooked food, I end up eating a bunch of stuff that isn’t the best for my body. Doing it the other way I lost 40 pounds in three months. A few months ago, I ate a lot of cooked food for about a month, and I gained 12 pounds! Going back to raw, I didn’t lose the weight very quickly because I was eating for taste & emotional reasons (trying to create raw versions of the holiday treats everyone else was having). since the beginning of February, I am feeding my body instead of my emotions or tastebuds, and I have lost the weight. I also feel better than I have for several months!
snoopy 99, if the lasanga grosses you out, don’t eat it! the same thing happened to me when i made lasagna. depending on where you live and your budget, you may want to pick up some raw breads and crackers so you can make sanwiches and stuff. if you have access to a dehydrator, or you can just use your oven at a very low setting, you can make kandace’s onion bread, which is a great staple recipe.
if you’re wondering what to try next, i would do a search on this site for the following entries:
wrap nori quick taco sandwich
Also, I was never a big fan of salads, either. Then I realized it was because of my view of what salads were. Try the “Rock & Roll Kale Salad” from this site (I leave out the agave & raisins, use fresh garlic instead of powder, & then throw in whatever veggies I have). I also like to buy the Spring Mix salad greens and once a week I cut up a bunch of fresh veggies – cauliflower, celery, zucchini, you name it, and store them in the fridge. Then I can make a huge salad, throw veggies in, cut up an avocado, & drench it with a yummy dressing – try the “Superhero Dressing!” my son came up with; you can change the amount of fat by how much oil you put in it. I was going to say good luck, but then I remembered what mandelicious said, so I’ll say enjoy tapping into your inner strength!
My son came up with an idea for a nori wrap that we will post when I make it so I know how much of things to put in.
angie is very smart. whe i first went raw, i was constantly making gourmet stuff. i still love to do that, but just as often i’ll eat a cucumber, an aovcado and an orange at the kitchen counter, and that’s my meal.
it’s about finding what’s right for your body, not your head. it’s work, and it’s hard. if you can’t deal with green smoothies, make fruit smoothies! everybody likes fruit smoothies! then eat your veggies later!
here is my green smoothie recipe. it’s never brown, always green! 2 organic bananas, 1 cup of organic strawberries, 6-8 large organic romaine leaves, a large fistful of organic spinach.
thanks for the recipe..sounds good.
one question about food combinations. Should I be more strict on food combinations when going raw?
Snoopy99 – You mentioned that your lasagna didn’t turn out well. I have had this problem a lot when trying to prepare raw gormet. Some things that help were: trying the most simple recipes first, combining very few flavors. It takes time to realize what flavor combinations will work – preparing raw can be very different from cooking. Also, realize what textures you like. For example, i can’t eat lettuce with guacamole – there’s too much goopy texture! but throw some long sliced carrots to scoop up the guac, and there ya have it – i like it! Try making a grocery list while looking at all the available fruits and veggies out there – wikipedia has a nice list. The challenge – try to make a list that contains none of the fruits/ veggies you had last week. Think of a few very simple ways to prepare these fruits/ veggies, and then you’ll be excited about the variety! Good luck, you can make it happen!
Hi! Not to bring ya down…but I am not a big nut eater and rarely have more than 1/2 an avo a day. I have been at least 75-80% for 5 months and have lost no weight. I have about 20lbs. to lose to be in a normal range but not skinny by any means. I have come to terms with this (kinda) but am happy to feel lighter, not feel gross after eating, etc.
true hippie chick…after i ate pizza and after eating a ton of nuts i do feel like my heart is getting clogged…this might sound gross too, but i feel like everyone is on the same level, but my poo has definitely changed when eating more fatty foods or i guess SAD foods. And I am easily constipated..especially when traveling…so i guess so far its been going alright.
Something else I just remembered: In the book “There Is A Cure For Diabetes,” although it is not related only to diabetes, Gabriel Cousens talks about something called Syndrome X which is a group of symptoms – one of those symptoms is not being able to lose weight. He recommends (for everyone & every health problem) a vegan diet, 80 – 100% raw/live. He also talks about juice feasting to help lose weight. It might be worth a read.
mandelicious – thanks for saying I’m smart :)
one other thing… i lost ten pounds in the first month raw, and now i’m stalled again. the big difference seems to be when i EXERCISE. i don’t really like exercise (i’m getting to like it more) but it makes a huge difference when i do it! like, one week, i won’t exercise and my weight stays the same, the next, i do, and i lose 3-4 pounds! big difference.
also, if i’m around the house alot, i graze on nuts & dried fruit, and i don’t lose. if i’m at work/busy out of the house, i eat 3 times a day, and lose much more!