[SarahL]

Is there a thread for raw foods people? I am interested and I would like to talk to likeminded people.

Please feel free to move this thread..or push me to another place, if I am totally wrong as to where I posted this

Hope all is well..

Peace
Sarah

[mauvaisroux]

Hi Sarah and welcome!

I think your post is in the right place but I'm not sure if anyone here is doing a a raw food diet.

Hopefully you will attract some like minded people here.

[junebug41]

I have also been curious about this. I like to keep my diet as "raw" as possible, but would love to pick the brain of someone that's "all raw all the time". I don't think I could do it myself completely, but it's definitely a topic I would participate in!

[SarahL]

I am all excited to give it a go...I love the crunch of fruits and veggies..

[SSarah]

Hey SarahL and others interested, I am not vegan or raw foodie yet but have been chatting with 2 vegans about starting a challenge/support group doing the Eat to Live system by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I've just started browsing the book so my knowledge is limited but the first part of the program is plant foods only, raw being best. Anyone want to join us?

[Ann1231]

I followed a raw foods diet a few years ago and felt fantastic. I lost weight, my skin was gorgeous, I felt the best I'd felt in years, but traveling several days a week and lunch meetings, dinner meetings, etc. made it more than difficult to stay on it. When I'm home now, I try to eat as much raw as possible.

[Nirvanagurl]

I just went raw 2 weeks ago, I was aiming for a true 100 percent too, but after alot of thought and self awareness I have decided for now, for this moment in my life I am ok with only doing 75 percent most days, and some days 100 percent..So my new official title for myself is *Pretty dam close to Raw Vegan* LOL

I try to keep my all my morning and afternoon foods ( I dont really offically eat meals anymore, I nibble..off and on all day pretty much )
But I try to keep what I eat before *dinner* time 100 percent raw, then around 5pm, if I am going to have a cooked something thats when I eat it, and then after that I stay raw the rest of the evening

except sometimes when I just HAVE TO HAVE POPCORN..lol

But then there are some days when I do stay 100 percent raw..Those are my *cleansing days*
What I would like to do is, 3 days a week raw and 4 days 75 percent raw and then eventually in time, start you know 4 days a week 100 percent, untill I am like at only Saturdays eatting cooked food incase I go out to eat and there is a lovely bready vegan dish I want or something
Like have a cheat day once a week

But I have only been raw for 2 weeks and the first week I lost 4 lbs, this week I lost 5lbs so at this point I am really afraid to mess with whatever I am doing, because apparently I am doing something good
So I am going to keep on this path I am on and when I start to platue or something then I will maybe add another 100 percent day or something and see if that wakes up the platue or something..

But I love Raw, I love it, love it, love it, love it, love it !!
I dont shove it on anyone, my friends are all now asking me why I am loosing weight so fast, or well how I am and I tell ppl I went raw ..when I was vegan I was a bit of a bread addict..and peanut butter ..lol I mean really..I was eatting ALOT of bread and peanut butter..like I would go on kinda werid complusive binges of eatting kinda vegan junk like that, not that bread and peanut butter are horrible for you, but it was WHITE bread and ALOT of peanut butter..lol
I was pretty heavy for a Vegan still actually, When I was just a vegatarian I was a utter junk food veggie too, I ate all sorts of crap I am totally embarrassed to admit I was eatting..as long as it didnt have meat in it, I was still eatting it in mass amounts..lol and it wasnt fruits and veggies..lol
But anyways so my friends are askings how I am loosing this weight, and its funny because when I went vegatarian a few years ago and then eventually vegan I lost just a few lbs here and there but ppl didnt go OH MY GOD JESS what are you doing? But now since going Raw, thats what I hear and I tell them about it because it is exciting and important to me, but I try not to shove it on anyone at all cuz its not meant for everyone I dont think just like vegatarism and veganism are not meant for every single person, I dont like when people shove religous stuff or what not on me so I dont want to be like that you know?
But I cant help be excited about what I am doing so I tell everyone I went raw , well pretty dam close to raw, and its amazing the people who now want to look into veganism and raw foods now..Now that I am really starting to trim down and my skin looks really good, now I am inspiring, ..
which is cool..
cuz yah being a vegan junk food junkie was apparently not inspiring to other ppl at all..lol

But I have to admit I have one horrible habit that keeps me shy on raw food boards on the net, I still smoke cigs, I am quitting Nov 1st, that is my quit date, the program I am in you can set it up to 6 months in the future, so I set mine on Nov 1st ( it was a good date due to some other stuff going on in sept and oct )
And I will quit this time!
But yah till I do that I carry this guilt thing with me..

I also still drink wine in moderation, and most raw foodists and fruitarians get really crappy about wine drinkers too, I dont think I will give up my wine, I really enjoy my after dinner glass and my few glasses on Saturday nights outside in the summer here, and that is just something that I feel is ok for my body at this moment in life..if it ever feels not ok or is not in decent moderation then I will consider giving it up..

[fikustrees]

Hi, I just went 100% raw last week and I love it to. My plan was to just do it for a couple weeks butI don't think I will be able to stop. It is the easiest "diet" I have ever gone on, no figuring out portion size and ratios. Instead I just eat whatever I feel like. Going to the farmers market and the grocery store is a treat because I don't have to do any planning or wondering I just go to the produce section and buy what looks good.

This first week I lost 5 lbs. OMG! I have never lost that much in a week and I have never eaten so healthy.

I have been reading lots and lots about it so if you have any questions ask away!

[Ellen]

Can you share some typical foods you eat? I have tried to incorporate more raw foods, and read a lot, but I just can't get my mind wrapped around what a day of raw eating would look like...and how to get enough protein while doing it.

[willmakeit]

So what would a raw food diet day look like? (considering Breakfast, lunch and Dinner + 2 snacks)...

I eat raw foods but not ONLY raw foods. I do salads for one meal but I cant them without adding the fat free dressings (atleast a few drops of zero cal balsamic vinegartte)
is there absolutely no cooking??? it must require lots of motivation...

[junebug41]

Originally Posted by Monet

Can you share some typical foods you eat? I have tried to incorporate more raw foods, and read a lot, but I just can't get my mind wrapped around what a day of raw eating would look like...and how to get enough protein while doing it.

On a varied raw food diet, protein is not a concern. The proteins in meat and the proteins in vegetables are different in that the proteins in meat are broken down less efficiently than with vegetables and much of it is wasted (but still keeping enough to benefit from it). The lowest protein source in vegetables is the potato (11%). If you were to live solely off of potatoes, you would have plenty of deficiencies, but protein would not be one of them. The other idea is that cooking the protein source in turn kills off half of it. By keeping the enzymes in tact, it becomes much more useful to your body over an extended period of time.

The problem with protein difficiencies in vegetarian diets and what gives it a bad rap is that some vegetarians don't rely on natural food sources, instead opting for vegetarian "junk food" (high sugar, high refined carbs, processed garbage- you get the picture). A natural vegetarian diet actually contains twice the protein of the standard American diet.

A raw food diet relies heavily on fruits and vegetables, so protein is the least of their concern.

So that's my soapbox on protein.

I typically eat one raw week per month, but it is a difficult lifestyle to maintain. It's a very committed way of eating and I've said before that it's hard to assimilate with a group that focuses on their bowel movements so much. But the benefits are outstanding with the proper education. If you are curious about what a typical raw foodist eats, you may want to check out rawfoodtalk dot com. While the topics are nothing short of interesting, you will find the every day stuff as well.

When I go raw, I don't get very creative. There are all kinds of "fake" recipes out there, some of which are really good. I try to make sure I have enough fat (avocados and bananas), and salads that can contain every vegetable under the sun. I've also recently discovered the wonderful world of sprouts and rely heavily on juices (green ones in particular). If you are serious about going raw and stick to it, you may start out with a salad heavy diet, but it will bore you eventually and you will be forced to find new stuff anyway. And there is some interesting stuff!

[Misti in Seattle]

I'm certainly not 100% raw foods... but I have been more and more discovering how yummy my veggies taste RAW... which is nice as I have never really cared for them that way. Much easier LOL.

[nelie]

junebug, it is my understanding that you can't get complete proteins from just veggies unless soy is included in that list.

I guess I'm curious as well as from my understanding legumes, nuts and grains help make your proteins complete. I can't imagine eating legumes, nuts or grains raw, especially without breaking your teeth. Well I have eaten a raw nut before, I would say maybe that is doable.

Your body does need complete proteins though so how do you get them from just veggies and fruit?

[junebug41]

Ok. So we are made up of 12 amino acids from the body, and 8 or 9 essential amino acids that must be found from an outside source. Correct, animal products contain all the essentials, where as veggies by themselves might be strong in a few and lacking a bit in others. However, over the course of 1-2 days, all needs are eventually met.

Legumes, nuts, and grains are extremely helpful in this area, but it's limited for raw foodists. The most commonly occurring source that I have seen is the juice that comes from nuts as well as the nuts themselves. You can make as well as purchase almond milk, for example and it "completes" the requirement. Also, it sounds odd, but raw foodists, high raw foodists in particular eat a number of things raw that you or I wouldn't think of to eat. It is also my understanding that as long as the caloric need is met, the protein need is naturally met as well.

The other consideration (and this is regarding animal products), is that when you consume a protein source, you must also consider the entire package. Sure, anumal products contain that "complete" protein, but can also contain excessive fat and calories. There is a lot of data coming out about the long term effects of diets that are super high in animal protein. It promotes short term weightloss of course, but also damages kidneys (causing kidney stones), effects your urinary tract, sucks calcium from your bones, etc...

Ok, I know you didn't inquire about that, but it paints a bigger picture for me.

[nelie]

Well I'm converting to vegetarianism, slowly The main reason is health concerns. Meat does tend to have high calories and fat, even for lower fat meat. Part of my concern was to make sure that I had complete proteins.

When reading through what I needed, it basically sounded like if I ate a mix of legumes, whole grains and veggies in a single day then I would naturally get complete proteins. Also I use unsweetened soy milk almost every day.

So if someone says they are a raw foodist and eat only fruit and veggies, I'm just curious how they get complete protein? So I'm curious what a raw foodist would eat in an average day. I'd also be concerned about fat as well unless they are eating raw nuts.