Anyone hear follow Gabriel Cousen's recommendation

[livenraw]

of eating more veggies and nuts and low sugar fruit and avoiding all the high sugar fruits? Does it work for you?

Yesterday, I did that and even though I don't need to lose weight (Or I didn't think I did), I ended up losing 3 lbs overnight. Whoa!

I started doing his program because fruit still bloats me all the time, and I can't stand that (especially higher sugar fruits) And I felt less hungry and better with his program.

[Revvell]

Not to get off topic (well yeah, that's what I'm doing ) yet, since we can't pm anymore ~ do you know your link doesn't work?

Revvell

[JMD]

Hi,

Yes--i follow most of his principles....and have found them successful. I feel better eating more greens and veggies esp in the afternoon. I can handle fruit in the morning or in a blended veggie drink with greens in the afternoon and that is about it.

I tried the low low fat and higher fruits and man I was bloated and lethargic and cranky.... It worked for me in the summer a bit when it was really hot, but did not last.

Everyone is different and I am glad you are having successes today:) To me , I have a plan but stay flexible to changes that my body may desire in the future!!

Kudos to you!

JMD

[Punky]

of eating more veggies and nuts and low sugar fruit and avoiding all the high sugar fruits? Does it work for you?

Yesterday, I did that and even though I don't need to lose weight (Or I didn't think I did), I ended up losing 3 lbs overnight. Whoa!

I started doing his program because fruit still bloats me all the time, and I can't stand that (especially higher sugar fruits) And I felt less hungry and better with his program.

wow 3 pounds in one night! I like the sound of that.
I have a lot of respect for Dr. Cousens although I haven't started his
program. I have alot of his books. Maybe I'll try his program for a bit and see how I feel. I just love mango's too much.
I love summer fruit (melons, mango's etc...)so it's hard for me to give up right now when summer is approaching, sigh.

[Green Life]

What? And go without my fresh, raw orange juice every morning? :eek: That would be a sad thing, indeed!

Sound great for you, though. Congrats on loosing three pounds:)

[JMD]

Actually I did not think he "shunned" oranges and mangoes etc... I am reading his book Conscious Eating and am eating for my dosha and type. I tend to do better on higher greens and fat/protein versus higher carbs like bananas....It has worked thusfar but I do eat mango occasionally.

Just my 2 pennies for today!
Happy eating all,
JMD

[Punky]

Actually I did not think he "shunned" oranges and mangoes etc... I am reading his book Conscious Eating and am eating for my dosha and type. I tend to do better on higher greens and fat/protein versus higher carbs like bananas....It has worked thusfar but I do eat mango occasionally.

Just my 2 pennies for today!
Happy eating all,
JMD

I was referring to his program in one of his newer books, "Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine"; You go thru these phases and in phase 1 there is almost no fruit allowed at all. In phases 2 & 3 some fruits are added back into the diet in moderation. I can't remember which ones off the top of my head, but things like blueberries and apples in the later phases if I remember right. I can go look if someone is really interested in which fruits are ya or nay.
Peace

[Punky]

Ok, I got curious and went and looked for myself:
fruits allowed:
phase one: lemon & lime
phase 1.5: low glycemic fruits:grapefruit, raspberries, blueberries,
strawberries, goji berries, cherries, cranberries (fresh, Unsweetened)

phase 2: low glycemic fruits (see above), plus moderate-glycemci fruits:
oranges, apples, pears, peaches, plums, pomegranetes, goji berries, blackberries
high glycemic fruits (in strict moderation only)
Grapefruit and orange juice diluted

so YES, we can have our banana's, pinapple,mangos and melons in moderation in phase 2.
Maybe I will do it in the fall and by the next spring/summer I can have some mango's again. Right now I'm doing the green smoothie thing from the book "Green for Life", but I would love to challenge myself to try it for awhile and see how I feel thru it.

[JMD]

ok Punky--got it!! :)

Good luck with it...Follow your gut !

JMD

[rawpriestess]

I thought this was ONLY for people with candida, I have his book Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine, but don't care much for this recipes, probably because I'm still eating some dates each day, now that I've tried agave' I may be eating that instead.

I like Alissa's way (FOR ME) just sticking to eating raw food is challenging enough, maybe after I've been 100% raw for a while, I will naturally transition to different foods, but for now, staying 100% raw is my goal, and like I said, that can be challenging without trying to limit what I eat.

Besides, I don't get how any kind of raw food can be bad for you.

But maybe that is just me, In his book, he talks about different diseases, maybe if I had experienced a disease then I could relate.

Right now, I am overweight, and that is about it. I'm not big on diseases, or at least I haven't experienced much.

[SparklePlenty]

I've been reading his book Rainbow Green....and I love that he says one size does not fit all,because intuitively I know that! Eating for my oxidizer/nervous system type and my dosha lead me to higher protein, lower sweet, which i also intuitively know is the best for me. It's just that for me it's been a process of letting go of certain foods in certain amounts...but I am evolving in that direction for sure.

I am also aiming to release excess body fat. We'll see how following his guidelines work for that.

[Vandy]

I respect everything Cousens has to say, and I own all his books. However, I am an athlete...in addition to being extremely active, and I tried eating NO high sugar fruit for about a month. While being raw I have TREMENDOUSLY come to respect that what works for one person may not work for another. I found that I do need some high sugar fruit to give me the calories I need, b/c low sugar fruit has ultimately no calories. Before that I was following a low-fat raw approach and I felt good, but now, I have transitioned to eating 8/1/1 balancing out my high/low/medium sugar fruits. I must say that I feel amazing. I truly needed those extra calories b/c it effected EVERY area of my life, and I felt miserable all the time b/c I was not getting the energy I needed. My performance in athletics and activity suffered, my grades went down, my happiness went down, I slept horribly, got severly consitpated, etc. At first I thought it was a detox, then I realized I wasn't craving anything and my body wasn't releasing anything and thought it would pass. But, I just kept getting more and more tired, and unhappy. Raw became NO FUN anymore, and I stopped listening to my body. That was my lesson. I ended up almost obsessed with what every GURU was suggesting, getting caught up in not being able to do everything perfectly (which I couldn't do b/c everyone pretty much has different methods except for the fact that they all say RAW). Then, I started listening to my body and it's needs, and now I am SOOO EUPHORIC. My energy is amazing, my clarity is great, I am sleeping again, and yes, this morning I ate 10 bananas before my hour run/yoga following, and I felt amazing. I even went poop three times. Although some people say don't eat this b/c it will hurt your blood sugar, they fail to look at the Glycemic Load of such foods, and raw ranks lower than pretty much everything. I never feel blood sugar problems, although I have never had them. I love to try new things, and this was definitely a learning experience for me... I just advise you to listen to your body, everything will balance out. Ok, sorry if this is too long, and I feel like some people will attack me for writing this, considering the huge debate about "too many bananas," but this is what I have experienced. I do take from every Guru though and see what fits best in my life... I love everything Cousens has to say. We should all be loving and hugging b/c were raw!!! yay!!!!

HUG*

[SparklePlenty]

Vandy, it's a great point you make that we should be hugging, cheering, etc simply because we are RAW! My husband pointed that out to me this today after I shared with him how I had dealt with some perfectionistic nonsense. He basically said 'do you know how awesome the changes are that you HAVE made? I hope you get this, and are able to really take it in and feel the celebration you deserve for making these changes to raw!"

It's such an interesting process so far to be trying new variables and getting better and better at listening to my body. Ultimately, that is what will lead me.

[Vandy]

Thanks for the support sparkle... (there's a glimmer in my eye!!)

And isn't it the truth... we have all come SOOO far, and as a team!

[rawpriestess]

RAW is the ONLY way to be, however it works for you.


way to go.

[jujube]

I followed RGLFC for the first year I was raw, and I felt okay (though not spectacular) for most of that time. But around the one year mark my body started freaking out- totally rejecting fats, and I felt so sick and tired all the time, I even considered going back to cooked food...thought raw wasn't working.

I decided to take a big leap and start eating high fruit and greens. I was very anti-fruit at that point and thought the sugar would make me unhealthy and feed candida. However I was so desperate, I was willing to give high fruit and greens a go...and to my surprise it worked! I started feeling amazing, and two years later, I still feel great.

I think Cousens' recommendations can work for some people, but the only person who can figure out what works for you, is you! If you are not drawn towards fruit at all and feel better with a higher fat diet like Cousens'...then go in that direction, try it out, listen to your body. But I don't like the idea of following a guru's rules, unless those rules resonate with your own experiences and intuition. I think a good starting point is going with Alissa's concept of "just keep it raw" and then exploring raw foods for yourself...not just going a certain way because of what someone else claims is best.

[rawandama]

I tried eating all veggies one day and had VERY FEW fruits, and for two days I was so weak that I could hardly stand at times. I felt like someone was pushing down on my shoulders. The second morning I was preparing breakfast for my son and suddenly became so weak that I had to hold the counter to stand up. Hmmm...I guess I'll try it again when I'm not preggo!! :p

[Bobbie]

Everybody's body's different.

About 2 weeks ago there were 3 days where I only felt like eating fruit. It made me feel so wonderful! I couldn't believe it! I had so much more energy. So since then I've just fruit with a handful of nuts. I know it's not healthy longterm, but I'm going with it for now. I see it as a sort of cleanse/fast.
I've been losing weight. Since I became raw I haven't lost any weight - but now my weights going down.

On days in the past, where I've eaten just veg and no fruit, I haven't felt any better, and I haven't lost weight.

[Sunshine9]

I don't "follow" Dr. Cousens program or anyone else's, but I tend to eat pretty close to what he recommends. I have noticed a soar in my health since cutting out most sweet hybrid fruits, and sticking to more moderate and low glycemic things. On occasion i'll eat a banana or something like that, and usually I feel generally unbalanced. I have naturally come to this way of eating on my own, as I started seeing that sweet fruit was just entirely unappealing to me.

In general if i had a "rule" I like to go for nutrient dense food. That is NOT fruit. So I eat less of that, and more of nutrient dense things. That idea goes along very nicely with the foods Cousens recommends.

[Punky]

I followed RGLFC for the first year I was raw, and I felt okay (though not spectacular) for most of that time. But around the one year mark my body started freaking out- totally rejecting fats, and I felt so sick and tired all the time, I even considered going back to cooked food...thought raw wasn't working.

I decided to take a big leap and start eating high fruit and greens. I was very anti-fruit at that point and thought the sugar would make me unhealthy and feed candida. However I was so desperate, I was willing to give high fruit and greens a go...and to my surprise it worked! I started feeling amazing, and two years later, I still feel great.

I think Cousens' recommendations can work for some people, but the only person who can figure out what works for you, is you! If you are not drawn towards fruit at all and feel better with a higher fat diet like Cousens'...then go in that direction, try it out, listen to your body. But I don't like the idea of following a guru's rules, unless those rules resonate with your own experiences and intuition. I think a good starting point is going with Alissa's concept of "just keep it raw" and then exploring raw foods for yourself...not just going a certain way because of what someone else claims is best.


Great advice!
well said

[Lunar*Fey]

wow what you all have said is really helpful. I get kind of worried sometimes that I'm eating too much fruit or too much of this or that and I get kind of worried that I'm "doing this wrong"...even though I feel that the only way RAW can be wrong is if your body tells you its wrong. I just don't know how to listen to my body yet! I tend to eat a lot of bananas. They weren't ever at the top of my list of fruits before going RAW, but now I often want bananas badly and I really like them....when things like this happen I wonder...is this some sort of addiction thing or is it because my body wants them?

Also, I was wondering, when you guys talk about eating higher fat and vegetable...like how much higher...do you mean approximately maybe 40% fat, 40% vegetable, 20% fruit? lol idk I have no idea. I tend to eat a TON of fruit with maybe 20% fat...I suppose I'll have to experiment, I just really don't know how to listen to my body! Especially since I'm recovering from an eating disorder...

[veganman]

I've been reading his book Rainbow Green....and I love that he says one size does not fit all,because intuitively I know that! Eating for my oxidizer/nervous system type and my dosha lead me to higher protein, lower sweet, which i also intuitively know is the best for me. It's just that for me it's been a process of letting go of certain foods in certain amounts...but I am evolving in that direction for sure.

.


I just finished reading this book. How do you determine if you are fast or slow oxidizing and para or sympathetic?

[Sunshine9]

The tests for figuring out your oxidation type is in "Conscious Eating."

Also I've just been thinking as I was reading through these posts... it seems some had unpleaseant reactions when suddenly omitting most fruit from their diets for a day or two, and that is certainly a sign of detox and much too short an amount of time to draw conclusions. Just wanted to say that. :)

[Vandy]

I know that at some times this CAN be a detox; however, everything can be a detox at times. I feel my experience was not helping me, especially since I have not felt this good in sooo long. I have been "euphoric" everyday (I even woke up this morning and did a little dance). The thing is...balance IS needed and you should listen to your body when you learn how to listen to it. I find it difficult to say that fruits are NOT-nutrient dense foods, when if you look at the raw lifetsyle, we should be eating lots of wonderful fruits! If you exclude these from the list, you are missing out on tonnnns of nutrients. Are you going to get all those from fats?? Fats aren't high in essential nutrients or vitamins. Our fruits are extremely high in our vitamins, potassium, and do contain many trace minerals. While vegetables provide us with all/the bulk of our minerals and phytonutrients, it's pretty much impossible to eat that much salad in a day I would say (and I eat at least 2.5 heads of lettuce daily...the other day I ate four!!) to get enough calories. I would say a balance is essential, and while some fruits may be higher in sugar and tampered with, eat them minimally if you prefer. But now a days, everything is a hybrid, even us. We cannot avoid it. Ok sorry got a little sidetracked...been reading a lot about that lately... Again, I love Cousens and everything he has to say. I frequently whip out his books to look something up. But being as active as I am, I have to take care of myself and eat enough to keep me functioning properly. PLUS, I like not being constipated ;) :) :o)

According to the oxidizer thing... It said I was a slow oxidizer, which means I need more carbs... Cousens was right on the money :)

[tvillemom]

I've flipped through his book (Rainbow Green) at the HFS...and since I suffer from candida, I thought he was pretty much right on....at least for me. I need his book to research more if HIS program is right for me, since I don't have it handy, I'm not sure of the nitty gritty details. I just hope that eventually, if I can stay 100% for longer than 2 months, (I really want to be 100% forever) maybe my candida will heal itself, without analyzing everything I eat....eating what my body craves. My QUESTION about this is: with candida, wouldn't my body CRAVE the fruits and sweets that feed the candida?? So initially, shouldn't I NOT listen to my body and stay away from the sweets (or is it the fats) to get rid of the candida first?? Just wondering????????
Wendi

[Vandy]

You should just heal on raw foods. My sister had candida, and she began by eating all fruit she wanted and it went away. I know Dr. Graham will say that fat should be taken out first, and Cousens might suggest opposite, but I feel as long as you are getting in those greens you should be great. Personally, I would nix the fat b/c they slow down elimination and detox from the body...but please take what I say with a grain of sand, I am no doctor but love to help :p