It looks like you're new to The Community. If you'd like to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookI want to start by saying that I’m convinced how good raw foods are for you. I’ve seen the difference in my own body. I started off at 100% the first few days. Then I went to probably around 80%. Now I fluctuate between 75% and 60%(based on calories, not amount). I still feel good doing this, although I want to improve. My question is though, why go to 100%? I have heard some say there is a marked difference between 90% and 100% but is this true? Is cooked food really all that toxic ? Even lightly sauteed vegetables or olives? what about wholegrain bread(not the kind you buy, made from scratch)? It seems to me that a healthy balance would be beneficial. I hope I haven’t offended anyone :)
Comments
I think you have experiment and do what works for you and your lifestyle. I did a month at 100% once before. I was quite overweight at the time, and the weight came off more quickly than it is this time. Right now I don’t have the money or energy to make sure every single thing is raw, so I aim for 90%. This also allows me to hold onto my coffee until I’m ready to give it up, and prevents me from feeling guilty if I want something non-raw. The only thing is (in terms of weight loss) I found that the lower the percentage of raw foods meant I had to count calories to lose weight. 90ish% raw allows me to avoid the agony of plugging food into my food calculator and I still have a great feeling of energy and well-being.
It works for me not to put too much pressure on myself also. I have thought about doing a month at 100%. I’m not sure If I could do it for the rest of my life, though. I don’t want to spend so much time trying to make sure what I’m eating is really raw. I guess you could avoid that if you only ate unprocessed foods. One thing I don’t think I will ever change is eating raw treats. I don’t even crave conventional cakes, pies and cookies. I think raw desserts have so much more flavor and taste way better.
I have been 100% raw for over a year now, raw for over 2. My husband Chris has been 100% for about 2 years. We both found that there is indeed a huge difference between even 99% and 100%. We found that the more we threw out cooked items from our diet the better we felt in many different ways. Even when I was all raw apart from eating nori, there was a huge dfference when I cut the nori out.
One of the main differences for me was cooked food cravings. They went the more raw I became. Some people say that you crave whatever is in your bloodstream, maybe that is true, but all I know is that even if I eat 1% cooked I get cooked food cravings again, and I just do not want to live like that! Being 100% means that I really do only crave raw foods. Magic::)))
Another thing is that yes, cooked food is toxic to our bodies. As soon as we put anything cooked into our mouths we trigger an immune system response called leukocytosis. This happens ever time you ut something cooked into your mouth. It makes your white blood cells increase by about 300%, if I remember rightly. What a strain and stress to put our bodies through. Without this going on we have so much more energy and zest for life. Leukocytosis produces mucus to protect out digestion system with This collects in our guts and prevents us from taking all our nutrients we could be from our food. Victoria Boutenko quoted in her book “12 steps to raw food” that if you’re 100% raw you are able to assimilate 10 times more of the nutrients in your food than when you are eating 99% raw. This feels good! We are more satusfied with our food,we get more energy from it, we feel much better.
For me, the high I get from being 100% is crazy, unbelievable and amazing. Think about when you felt the best you ever did, then double it and imagine that it never goes away, it stays consistent every day no matter what is going on in your life. It is a wonderful gift. If I eat anything that is cooked it knocks me off my raw high, same goes for Chris too.
Being raw for me and Chris is easy when we are 100%. Personally I just don’t know how 70-80% ers do it, it would be a real hardship for me to do that! But when we were transitioning yes, I did feel better and better…and more and more naturally inclined to eating raw food all the time, in greater and greater quantities.
I do believe that everyone should just try being 100% for at least 2-3 months, to see who they are and what it is all like. After all, we can all give our opinions and argue about statictics and theories but nothing is as powerful as personal experience. It may take you a few years to get to the point of being ready and wanting to do that, who cares how long it takes!All I think that matters is that you try it for a few months and see for yourself what it feels like.
It took me over 1 1/2 years to transition, and I think that was pretty quick because I was already a vegan. It has never felt like being under pressure at any point in my raw journey. I have always eaten what I wanted as long as it is raw, and it has felt deeply pleasurable to me. Far more decadent and enjoyable than my cooked vegan diet was.
We wrote a page on our website all about this topic, check it out on here: http://www.purelyraw.com/stayingpure.htm
Rawspring, I can’t argue with anyone’s experience of 100% Raw. I’m impressed by Zoe and others who’re able to do it! My concern is just for those who aren’t ready for 100%, and may never be. I don’t want anyone to think it’s all or nothing, and go back to eating the SAD way. As for the science behind cooked food being all toxic, I’d have to do more research for myself. I love to research!
I’m fortunate enough to live in Southern California where I have lots of access to real food. I also work from home, so I can pop in my kitchen and whip up a raw dish when I want. On the other hand,I don’t have the luxuries of a dehydrator, a high powered blender or a juicer. None of those are in the budget right now. Could I still do 100% Raw, working with what I have? Yeah, I could.
If you’re able to do it, why not give yourself a 30-60 day shot at 100%? Maybe it’ll turn out to be easier and more fun than you think! Until you’re ready for that, I would just encourage you to keep your percentage Raw as high as possible. Don’t let it stress you! :)
Thank you for responding Zoe and Rediscoverrawfood,
Zoe, I think the way you feel when you eat something is definitely a good barometer. I’ve always been kind of sickly and weak, due to meds I had to take for a childhood illness. When I eat raw, I don’t feel like a sick person. As a matter of fact, I had some cooked black beans today and let’s just say they’re not at the top of my list anymore. My body did not like it. One thing I have noticed though, is that the people that I see that are 100% seem to be raw chefs and gurus.Maybe this is just a natural progression. But it begs the question if 100% is sustainable for a mom that has to work fulltime. Do people that have regular everyday lives have time to worry about whether or not the brand of agave syrup they buy is really raw? I don’t mean to sound sarcastic. I knew when I first experienced the benefits of raw food, I would never look back. But still, I don’t want to worry all the time about what’s raw and what’s not. But, Zoe maybe what you’re saying about giving it time will help. Maybe if I just take things slow and take time It won’t be stressful. Though, I can’t imagine giving up olives :)
Hey there Rawspring. I know plenty of “normal” people, myself and my husband included, who are 100%. All the long term successful raw fooders we have met are 100% raw.
I run my own business, which is separate from the raw food business we also run, and my husband works about 50 hours a week in a “normal” job. We set up our raw food business Purely Raw out of love for the raw food world and because it is what my husband wants to go into full time eventually. We are just as over worked and “normal” as everyone else. Being raw gives us the energy and the “buzz” to work this hard and still be happy and have enough extra to give. We give raw food classes on our days off.And answer emails and help people go raw via email, and work on our website and invent recipes in our spare time.
And all those “famous ish” raw gurus and chefs, well they all started out “normal” regular folks too, they just got into it from a business angle probably because they got so many people asking them “How do you manage to look so good, have so much energy etc” and decided to quit their day jobs.
It is not any effort for me personally. As for worrying about agave nectar etc, I don’t even ever think about it, I use dates instead! Same goes for all the other food on our Dead Food List we just use truly raw stuff instead. It really isn’t any “extra” work. It is just a descicion based on what feels the best for me. When you first go raw it seems like hard work because you have to learn a whole new way of preparing food, and it seems that that is enough to be getting on with. Don’t worry, it all gets pretty routine and familiar after a while. And when it does, switching ingredients around and making substitutions is so easy you just don’t even think about it. Just give it a little time.
As you have discovered, your body will tell you what s working and what is not. And when that happened to me, it seemed self destructive to go against what feels good. And because my self esteem had grown so much through being raw, I just couldn’t do anything that I knew made me feel anything less than blooming amazing!
You have only been raw for two weeks. It took me 1 1/2 years to go 100%. Right now you need to go easy on yourself and just enjoy the new health and the tasty food you have miraculously discovered. You don’t need to decide now whether 100% is for you or not. Just keep it in mind that one day you’ll give it a go for a while. and leave it at that. As long as you just keep eating as much raw as you can, and your body will tell you when to raise your percentage of raw food, let your body guide you. Just celebrate what you have discovered. I think it is nothing short of a miracle when a person discovers the raw food way of life and actually goes raw.
I know I have gone on a bit about this, it’s because I was totally amazed when I went 100%, and when I think about it I am still amazed. It just seemed so crazy how much even cutting out one type of nut made for example. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t experienced it. It was like someone turned on the light, and I already felt better than ever before!!
Who cares how long it takes to go 100%?? All I know is that once you get there you will feel the difference and be amazed, I am sure.
Check this thread out about the olives, I still eat olives, they are raw ones though and so utterly Divine tasting, yum!: http://www.goneraw.com/forums/2/topics/1341
I disagree about the olives. I tried the raw olives that are sold online (the unsalted ones) and they taste so awful. They are bitter and do not have the salty taste that the unraw olives have. I decided to give up olives altogether because to me they are not intended to be eaten by humans as the taste is terrible when they are in their truely raw state. In fact I read that they are very toxic if you eat them before they are really ripe. I think the olive providers knew they had a problem and therefore they added addictive chemicals to olives to make them palatable such as salt and other preservatives. I would stick to avocados – a much better selection over olives.
I love the raw olives sold unline. In the UK I buy from Detox Your World and I think they import from Nature’s First Law. They are the real thing (or the closest we have!) (and ripe) and full of the most gorgeous intense flavour and do of course taste completely different from unripe ones soaked in salt. It’s interesting that I don’t find them bitter at all. I do think we should be wary of concluding that just because we personally don’t like a food it shouldn’t be eaten by humans. There is one raw food ‘expert’ who appears to have decided that all sorts of vegetables/leaves aren’t fit for human consumption on the basis that she doesn’t like the taste! Me – I DETEST coriander (cilantro), but am not sure that I should be saying that because of that it shouldn’t be eaten by humans. Maybe when I got 100% raw (I am 90%) the taste of that will change for me – now that really will be an experience!
i think i’m finding out by experience, i have been maybe 95% raw (i eat olives, herbal teas, and green tea, and maybe some nuts that are not on the list) and while my recovery from sickness has been astounding, and i’d never go back to my former diet, i am beginning to realize that i am 95% feeling better. i’m going to take the advice of someone who posts here, and start having a 100% raw day once a week.
As David Wolfe put it “If you eat 95% raw, you feel 95% good. If you are a 100% raw, you will feel 1000% great!”
Rawspring – Don’t let worrying about “truly raw” food scare you away from thinking that you can’t easily live 100% raw. And just because you are a mom who has to work full time… that isn’t an excuse either ;-) (he he) If you make the commitment to be 100%, I actually see it as less to worry about. I hardly even think about it these days. Foods that you feel are questionable or that may be hard to find in their “truly raw” state, just cut them out of your diet. Plain and simple. If they can’t EASILY be found raw, then it’s really not worth your power to search for them. The longer you stay raw and the higher % raw diet you keep, you’ll find that eventually you’ll be attracted to the simplicity of just having the food as is… and there will be no need for that (is it raw or not) agave! And in no time you will see how easy it can be to maintain a 100% raw lifestyle. Good luck to you!
Thank you for all your support and advice. I’m glad so many people are being helped by eating raw. I don’t want to make anyone mad, but the past few days I’ve been questioning whether or not 100% is necessary. This is my take on things: It seems to me that many of the people going raw used to eat SAD. Anyone who ate SAD for years and years could benefit from cleansing and eating nothing but wholefoods. Yes you can get lots of nutrition from eating raw, but you can also get nutrition from eating lightly cooked whole foods.(maybe even occasional grain-fed meat if you’re not opposed). As for enzymes, well the debate is still out as to whether we have a predetermined amount of enzymes that once depleted, cannot be replenished. The inner workings of the human body are extremely complex. I think it would be a mistake to reduce the digestive process to just enzymes. Enzymes play an important role, but so do a host of a lot of other things. Yes, I do believe raw food is good for you and yes I do believe that you can even reverse some pretty bad things by eating mostly raw food. But I do wonder if it’s necessary(even healthy) to eat 100% raw food long term. I believe initially it can be beneficial for really toxic people but as a lifestyle, I’m not so sure. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that a lot of raw food is bad for you. It’s just really difficult to acheive a balance eating raw. I think this can be true about the social aspect too(ei, overemphasis on food, alienating friends, even elitism). As for cooked food being toxic and creating mucous, I’m not sure how that connection was made. Researching I found that Kouchakoff actually found that eating some raw food along with cooked food would not activate leukocytosis. A side point too is, does proliferation of white blood cells necessarily equal disease? Is this a temporary state? I’d be interested to see a study done on someone who sticks strictly to whole unprocessed foods, eating mostly green vegetables without the stipulation of it being raw. The dichotomy between SAD and raw is clear. What about someone who eats a whole unprocessed diet and someone who is completely raw? Anyway, I’m done philosophizing :) I’d like to add though, that some days I am 100% raw but I don’t think about it. If I want something cooked, I just eat it as long as it’s whole, without feeling that I am self-poisoning.I’m feeling better still everyday
Hi Rawspring, Just wanted to let you know you are not alone in questioning raw foodism! Its so healthy to have critical thinking skills and not just do something because others say “its good for you.” If you do the research and it feels good in your body you will inevitably “stick with it.” It has to make sense intellectually and physically. Go with your intuition. One piece of advice I can offer (I’m not 100% everyday either) is to not get stuck in either/or thinking. Like if you’re out and have a salad, don’t freak because you can’t have raw dressing. Your dish was mostly raw.
You should always do what works for you. Myself I’ve found it to be nothing but beneficial to my health and well being. When I eat raw I feel GREAT, my body works on a better level. Every time you put something in your body that is cooked that does not have the enzymes in it help you break it down means you have to get those enzymes from you body which means your body (see above) has to work harder.
Eating SAD food has been a way of life for thousands of years for humans and to change drastically that way of eating is not for everyone.
If you want to know the health benefits it’s had for me I’ll list them.
Wt Loss healthy skin better digestion more energy clear mental functions better health, I don’t get sick hardly at all and when I do I get better really quick Feel more at peace I don’t get weighed down after I eat, in fact I feel alive and energized and want to go out and play
I’m not a 100% raw, I’m working on that, been raw for about a year and half now and wanting to transition to 100%. The hardest thing is going out with friends to dinner. Last night my boyfriend took me out and I had Italian pasta, desert and bread. I came home sick, was sick all night, woke up sick still and wasn’t until I passed some of it and drank my juice this morning that I actually felt better. When I eat raw I don’t feel that way. But this is just what raw has done for me and my body, it may not be for you.
Best of luck to you.
What a supportive group! Thank you all for your encouragement and taking the time to respond to my concerns. Thanks for the advice, om. When I first decided to go raw I was very rigid. When I had something cooked, I felt bad. Now I’m trying to find a balance and when I think long term I think that may be the best thing for me physically and mentally. Thank you too, Bellasera.Eating raw is for me and personally I think anyone can benefit from increasing their intake of raw food. A few years ago. before I had heard of the raw food diet, I was suffering immensely from chemical and food sensitivities. My own clothing would make my skin ache. My heart would race just about every time I ate. Overnight, I cut out all processed foods except for buckwheat groats and occasional organic corn chips. I wasn’t a vegetarian back then so I still ate chicken and fish. I ate a lot of salads and even carried around my own homemade salad dressing just in case we went out to eat. I used an herbal colon and liver cleanser and a liquid multivitamin. In 5 months I had gotten my body to a relatively healthy state. I definitely wasn’t suffering like I had been. But I didn’t appreciate or understand how to care for my health back then, so I went back to eating junk food.
Now I’m thinking, if I had stuck to just that diet, which was really just whole foods, my health would not have deteriorated to the point it did. I would not have gained 50lbs. I guess what I’m saying is, maybe you can achieve optimal health(barring extenuating circumstances) without eating 100% raw.
Also, I think maybe there should be some clarification on what SAD is. When I go the the supermarket, most of what I see is in boxes, jars or cans. Most Americans do not see anything wrong with eating mashed potatoes out of a box. I don’t think this was so much the case even a hundred years ago. People may have consumed a diet high in fat but their food wasn’t highly processed like it is today. the standard American diet is not what is reflected in the food pyramid. However distorted it may be, that is the ideal people are told aspire to. People who actually follow that are the exception rather than the rule. Most of what Americans eat is processed. Bagel for breakfast, cold cut sandwich for lunch, pasta for dinner. Candy, soda and chips are not on the food pyramid. I wonder how healthy someone would be if they actually followed it? Thanks again for your responses. I appreciate each and everyone of you taking the time. :)
I think the truth is that most Americans don’t even give much thought to the nutritional value of what they eat. Most people I know go for a combination of what’s easiest and what they’re craving. Regardless of how Raw we choose to be, we’re making the effort to do the research, make our own informed decisions and do what’s best for our well-being. Rawspring – you can probably find that food pyramid research out there somewhere.
Rediscovverawfood,
After I posted, I did do an image search in google on the food pyramid. I don’t know if I know anyone who eats like that. The serving amounts are very small. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but it’s definitely better than most Americans eat. I think if people ate like that, childhood obesity wouldn’t be near as much of a problem.