What's the best route to take?

[star]

Hello, this is my 2nd post but I've been reading the board for 3 weeks now.

Today is day 14 of my 100% raw diet. While I am feeling more alive than I ever had, I am bombed about not having dropped a single pound. From reading the posts I know that there are alot of factors that plays into weight loss.

However, I was wondering if a 100% raw vegetable diet (no fruits or nuts) for 10 to 15 days would produce the same amount of weight loss as a juice fast? I've got to do something to lose a few pounds as I can bare enjoy this great feeling because I am so worried that I am not going to lose any weight since I have already invested 2 weeks.

I just want your take on a juice fast verses all green vegetable diet.

[flutterfly]

Have you tried on cloths that have not fit for a while? I would bet that you have lost inches even though you have not lost wt.

[star]

Yes, and there are no inches lost here. I assure you that I have been 100% raw and I'll admit that the first week was probably 70% nuts, 20% fruit, and 10% vegetables. The 2nd week was more like 45% nuts, 30% fruit, and 25% vegetables.

[flutterfly]

To many nuts eaten to lose the wt that you want to lose. Try going down to 10%

[Rawmommie]

Normally I wouldn't suggest to worry about losing weight when you first are going raw, but I know how it feels to want that scale to move. I wouldn't tweak things too much, your body still needs to adjust. I cut out nuts and that is when I saw the scale start moving. I still have them in recipies every so often. So, I would just suggest lots of fruits and vegi's and see how that works for you. Cutting out fruit or doing a juice fast will lose weight fast, but you probably will gain it back and letting your body detox and heal is the best thing for long term weightloss. Congrats on 3 weeks raw!

Karen

[Allison]

You are definitely going to have to cut down on the nuts. Instead of just vegetables for two weeks, why don't you try "no nuts" for two weeks or at least limit yourself to like a small handful a day, say around 1/2 cup.

Hope this helps,
Allison

[Sweet lips]

I am going to ask you to not worry right now about not losing any weight - stress prohibits weight loss. Since I don't know how you were esting before accepting the raw lifestyle, cutting out nuts may be a goal, but stress will keep the scale right where it is.

Are you doing this just to lose weight or is it just one of the factors. If it is one of the factors, examine the others and see if they are being met ann then judge accordingly.

IMHO and from my experience, a juice fast or green juice fast is only as effective as the motive - you may lose a bit of weight, but as soon as you refeed, it will be regained - and that folks has been my experience and mine all alone, for those who choose to comment.

Stay with this for a while and see what happens, and don't worry because it will happen. :)

[Sharon in Colorado]

Jenny's Twenty Fat Burning Tips

1. Drink plenty of water. Water is required in the chemical breakdown of
fat burning. I drink one pint (2 cups) in the morning, one in the
afternoon and one in the evening. I eat all raw, which is high water
content food, so I get a lot of water with my food. Cooked food eaters
need at least a pint more of water per day. Also, for every hour of
exercise drink an additional cup of water. Don't get dehydrated at all or
the body can't burn fat properly.

2. Exercise in the morning for a minimum of 15 minutes to boost
metabolism of fat. When you exercise your body makes fat splitting
enzymes to use up stored body fat. Find a type of exercise that you enjoy
because then you'll do it. It is ideal to exercise for 30 to 60 minutes
each morning for optimal fat burning.

3. Exercise at the right pace. Your exercise needs to be some brisk
aerobic exercise such as walking, running, biking, swimming or skating.
If you go too slow and easy, you will not burn fat, so get going at a
good clip. However, if you go too fast the body will not burn fat either.
It is no longer recommended to take the pulse, because it varies too much
from person to person. You know if you're going too fast because you
can't talk while you go and you are panting for breath.

4. Exercise for an extra ten minutes. It usually takes the body 15 to 20
minutes of brisk exercise to get into the fat burning mode (this
varies--when you start to sweat and feel warm you're probably starting to
burn fat). If you keep going for an extra 10 minutes there is more fat
burning accomplished than in that first 20 minutes.

5. Practice deep breathing and get plenty of fresh air each day. Get
outside! Oxygen is required in the chemical breakdown of stored body fat.
Fresh raw fruits, vegetables and green leafys are also sources of oxygen.
Once a food is cooked it is oxidized, which means it no longer contains
oxygen.

6. Don't eat any processed or cooked fats or oils or animal fat. The body
has no use for it and it is unhealthy. Cooked and processed fats and oils
add fat stores right onto the body and/or clogs veins and arteries. Even
"cold pressed" oils are no longer recommended. Get your essential fats
from raw veggies and nuts and seeds! Scientists can inject a needle into
the fat stores of someone's body and withdraw the fat and put it in a
test tube and test it and can often tell the person whether they use
olive or safflower oil or whatever kind of fat they eat.

7. Flax, freshly ground with an electric coffee grinder, is a marvelous
essential raw fat that benefits the body in many ways and helps dissolve
stored body fat. I use about 2 tablespoons of flax a day. I grind it and
stir it into my afternoon pint of water and drink it down. The body is
starving for the essential omega-3 fat from flax seed--satisfies
cravings! Freshly cracked walnuts and dark green leafys also contain
omega-3s.

8. Each day eat a serving of freshly cracked nuts, avocado, and seeds
such as pumpkin, sesame and sunflower, for raw essential omega-6 fats
that help break down body fat stores. Sesame seeds, especially, contain
fatty acids that can actually dissolve cholesterol deposits. Avocados
contain lipase an enzyme that breaks down stored body fat also. Raw fats
are like sparks that ignite the body's fat burning.

9. Don't eat after supper. Don't eat when it is dark. The metabolism
slows down at night.

10. Don't eat anything with sugar/sweeteners in it because when your body
doesn't need the calories they go right into storage as fat. Enjoy fresh
fruit for your sweets--they are naturally fat free!

11. Don't eat dried fruit, except for special occasions when you are very
active and need the calories, such as a long hike. Dried fruit is also
great to make a sweet nut cake for a celebration food, but only have a
little bit and only for a special occasion. Extra calories will be stored
as fat.

12. Don't fill up on cooked grains. Fill up on raw vegetables, salads and
raw fruit instead. These foods are packed with nutrients, raw fiber,
proper pH, water, oxygen and live enzymes that our body needs to do the
job of fat burning. When you eat all raw fruits, vegetables, green leafys
and nuts and seeds to satisfy all nutritional requirements of the body,
you conquer food addictions and food cravings.

13. Try to get a pound of a variety of green leafys a day in juices and
salads. Wheatgrass juice is the most potent or powerful of the green
leafys. These green leafys contain enzymes that activate the body's brown
cells and aid in fat metabolism. Lipase, an enzyme known to decompose
fats deposited in the body, is also contained in green leafys. Wheatgrass
juice is probably the best fat burning food that exists. It is the most
alkaline of foods, so it neutralizes the body's acidity. It also
spontaneously invigorates the function of the thyroid gland to do its
job.It contains every nutrient known to man and after drinking a "shot,"
which is one to two ounces, you don't feel hungry because wheatgrass
juice so satisfies the body's need for nourishment.

14. Only eat when you are truly hungry and do not overeat. Extra calories
usually go to fat storage. Overeating causes the body to put energy into
digestion and stops working on fat burning.

15. Stay active; don't allow your life to become sedentary. Choose to do
such things as take a walk after meals, park your car a long way from the
store on purpose, and run and play with children whenever you get a
chance.

16. Get outside and get at least 15 minutes of sunshine (or light)
directly on the body every day. If it is hot, go out before 10 A.M. or
after 3 P.M. In the winter, go out in the middle of the day. Sunshine
affects the release of hormones and hormones influence enzyme levels in
our body. Enzymes are like worker bees and certain enzymes do the job of
fat splitting. A sunbath nourishes the body and, indirectly, helps you
lose excess weight.

17. Grow and juice wheatgrass and drink an ounce or two of wheatgrass
juice a day. Juice vegetables and green leafys have a pint of fresh green
juice each day. Always drink fresh veggie juice on an empty stomach. My
favorite, at the moment, is spinach, parsley, chard, cucumber, apple,
celery juice! The fiber is removed so the juice bypasses the digestive
system, goes straight into the bloodstream and floods the cells with
nourishment. Ah! So satisfying. Cures cravings. The body is strengthened
to do the job of fat burning! (Please note: Do not juice fruit because
our body needs the fruit fiber to slow down the sugar. The exception is
apple and lemon. They are commonly juiced along with veggies and make the
juice yummy.) In the book "How to Keep Slim, Healthy & Young with Juice
Fasting" Paavo Airola states that on a vegetable juice fast you lose a
pound a day.

18. Don't use bottled or oil-based salad dressings. (By the way canola
oil was renamed to sound healthy and advertised as such. It is actually
rape seed oil. The oil is only fit for greasing machines. Growers of rape
seed have no problem with bugs or animals eating their crop because it is
poisonous and the animals know it. The oil does not have an odor or
flavor and it is the cheapest oil to produce, so it was passed by the
government for human consumption. The reason it is in almost every
bottled salad dressing is because it is so cheap; they can make more
money on their products. Money is the motive, not the health of the
American people. Canola oil is toxic!) Have fun experimenting in the
kitchen and make your own fresh salad dressings with either a nut and
seed base or an avocado base, and use fresh citrus juice, apple juice,
raw apple cider vinegar or fresh herbs like parsley, oregano, chives or
cilantro for seasonings.

19. Be sure to have fresh air and good ventilation in your room at night
because your body needs extra oxygen while you sleep.

20. Get plenty of sleep. While you sleep your body does various jobs such
as renewing, rebalancing and rebuilding. One of the jobs is to metabolize
fat. Most people need 7 or 8 hours of sleep at night. Don't forget to say
your prayers. Have a good night sleep dear Health Seeker!

From: http://associate.com/groups/healthseeker/read/?0::100

[Allison]

Sharon,

#3 has me wondering...if you run too fast and are not burning fat, what are you burning? Do you happen to know?

Allison

[star]

I appreciate all of the feedback. I am going to greatly reduce the amount nuts and seeds for a couple of weeks as well as some other things suggested. The main thing is that all of you have convinced me to let the diet work instead of trying to juice fast only for weight loss.

Thank you so much for the advice.

[Sweet lips]

Allision,

I asked my P.T. guy and was told you are burning muscles and instead of building it up, you break it down because the body has to work too hard to accomodate what you are doing. BTW, read your journal - great job!

[Sharon in Colorado]

Sharon,

#3 has me wondering...if you run too fast and are not burning fat, what are you burning? Do you happen to know?

Allison

Allison, I'm not sure about that. What Sweet Lips says seems right, but maybe Jennie (who authored that) knows. You can use the link at the bottom of my post to find out her e-mail. She has lost a load of weight on raw food. I think she went from a size 20 to an 8 within a year. She mostly goes by the Natural Hygiene principles.

[misslinda]

Sharon,

#3 has me wondering...if you run too fast and are not burning fat, what are you burning? Do you happen to know?

Allison


from what i understand, you burn the glycogen int he muscles and you are liely to burn out fast too--endurance.

luv,
linda :p