Do I have to eat nuts and grains?

[Miss Marie]

I am transitioning over to RAW and I was wondering if it is ok not to eat sprouted nuts, seeds or grains? or will that be an unbalanced diet?

The only cooked thing I ate today was roasted nuts because I didn't have any raw nuts. I still have to go get my supplies - I haven't had any meat, poultry or dairy products in a couple of days - I guess I will have to start eating wheat or something? I have been eating 2 big leafy salads a day and 3 servings of fruit, plus some carrots or a cucumber - some veggie whenever I get the munchies.

I am also diabetic, but it is so slight that I only have to change my diet and lose weight to go back to normal - Do you think I should only be eating fruit once a day for now?

any info on this?

:)

[juliebove]

I'm diabetic too. During the winter and thereabouts, I eat sprouts. Mainly pea, lentil, chickpea and some spicy radish mix. I make my own. Seems I have more time during the winter to make them and I do have my own garden so I have plenty of other things to eat while that is going. I'm going to can some pears (other family members are not raw) soon so that will take up the area of my kitchen where I would normally do the sprouts. After that's all done I can start some sprouts again.

I do eat nuts. Those and sprouts are really my main protein sources these days, although I'm not 100% raw just yet. It has taken me some time to accrue all of the equipment I feel that I need and also to come up with enough edible recipes.

I've never been much of a fruit eater. Basically don't like it. So it has never been a problem for me. I do eat the strawberries from my garden but we have a possum who also eats them leaving precious few for me. A couple of times I bought a large amount of strawberries and found I was able to eat quite a lot of them without them making my blood sugar too high. I've also eaten apples and pears (usually 1/2 at time) along with a green salad with no problem.

I sometimes mix dried fruit in with my nuts, always using a very small amount and cutting it in tiny pieces. When I do this, it is my meal. Makes for a good meal on the run, perhaps with some cut up raw veggies to go along with it. I've also eaten pumpkin seed bars as a meal. They have some kind of fruit...dates perhaps? One bar is filling enough for a meal and doesn't make my blood sugar too high.

I find I can also eat RP's brownies but I've changed the recipe by adding coconut, coconut oil, a bit of vanilla, some water and a lot more nuts. I use just enough dates to keep it held together. I then roll it in balls and more coconut. I make them bite sized. These work for me too.

I've tried the nacho cheese. The recipe calls for one orange. The end result is so rich that I can't eat much of it at a time. So that bit of orange isn't enough to worry about. I also use lemon and lime juice with no problems. And occasionally 1/2 a grapefruit.

I've tried the onion bread made with flax seeds and sunflower seeds. This makes a yummy sandwich with lettuce, tomato and "Swiss" cheese.

As for the grains, I have made salad with raw corn. The raw corn chips I've tried were a disaster. Tried them three times, varying the recipe eat time and all were yuck.

Right now I'm having a hard time finding balance to keep my blood sugar stable. If I eat only raw foods, this works for me sometimes. Other times my blood sugar is too low and I find that I have to eat something more carby than I can find with raw food in order to keep it up where it should be. I suppose if I liked fruit or fruit juice this would be less of a problem. But I don't and I have a hard time forcing myself to eat foods I dislike.

Other days my blood sugar is too high and I can't seem to bring it down even if I eat nothing more than pumpkin seeds and celery. It's very frustrating. I do have other medical issues aside from diabetes and I think those things also affect my blood sugar control.

I suppose the amount of fruit you can eat would depend on what (if any) diabetes meds you are on. For instance, Starlix or Prandin work well if you eat starchy foods like baked bread or potatoes. But they won't work for carby foods like an apple or an orange. The amount of insulin resistance you have would have an effect too. If you are overweight and lose weight than can (but doesn't always) lower your insulin resistance. Building muscle can do the same. If you are taking something like Glucophage, then start by eating the same amount of carbs you were before (assuming that worked for you). For instance, if you used to eat two slices of bread, a cup of pasta, or 2/3 cup of rice (equivalent to about 30 g of carb) per meal, then you might be able to eat two pieces of fruit at that meal. If you use insulin then you may have more leeway with your meals.

You mighy also check with this diabetes newsgroup if you haven't already done so.

http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/

There are some diabetic (although we're the minority) who are raw foodists and several who do sprouts.

[spicyfull]

Great Advice..................

[Miss Marie]

Thanks juliebove :)

I take 5mg Glyburide in pill form once a day for my diabeties, I don't have a problem with my blood sugar going too low, only that it goes too high for too many days.

The doctor says that my weight is causing the fat cells to block the absorbtion of the sugar so it goes into my blood. If I exercise regularly and don't eat too much sugar I am good. The dietician that I used to have (she moved) said I could have 3 servings of fruit a day and 2-3 servings of bread/grains a day.

So if I eat raw corn does that count as a grain? or will I still have to eat wheat or anything?

My blood sugar was almost the same as a normal persons a few months ago, then I screwed up and got lazy and started eating whatever was around. I have now stopped doing that and I am trying to get back on track :) .

Thanks for your help :)

[Pierre]

You may want to eat fat fruit (olives and avocados). Paradoxically, eating lots of raw fat fruit helps me lose weight.

[Judy]

You don't have to do anything, but for variation, you may want to add some of those to your diet. Don't you like them or something?
Personally, I don't eat grains. I know that there are many other raw foodists that also don't. They just don't appeal to me. Furthermore, I don't like sprouts a lot, with the exception of alfalfa, so no. I do use some seeds and nuts, but only the ones I really like, those are mostly hemp seed, sunflower seed and sesame seed. I feel most nuts are too heavy for me and don't make me feel well, so if I use them at all, it is in small amounts. I mostly use almonds, those I (and my body) love. I go with my gut feeling and what feels right for me at this very moment. This may vary from person to person, so for you it may be totally different than for me.

As far as the diabetes is concerned, just notice how your body feels after eating certain things. You may want to be careful with (very sweet) fruits and sweeteners like dates and honey (if you use it). If they make your blood sugar spike, you may want to cut on them or eat them in a different manner. For example, if you make a fruit smoothie, you can add a spoon of hemp or flax seed, or something other that's fatty, like a bit of olive oil, so the sugar in it will be released less quickly. You can also cut up some fruit and eat them with almonds.
I don't have diabetes, however, I always felt my blood sugar levels weren't always very constant before going raw, although my diet was quite healthy. In the beginning of raw, lots of fruit didn't make me feel well because of that reason and the adding of something fatty helped. Nowadays I don't have problems with spiking or crashing blood sugar what so ever (unless I eat cooked foods, I had chocolate a couple of days ago and it totally wacked up my blood sugar level for days because of all the cafeine and sugar). So nowadays I can eat pure fruits with no problem at all, so it may be that your body will happily adjust in time too.

[sport]

You may want to eat fat fruit (olives and avocados). Paradoxically, eating lots of raw fat fruit helps me lose weight.

I think that Doug Graham says that this is because eating too much fat inhibits absorbtion but the problem there is that you are not getting the benifit of the nutrients either.

[juliebove]

Thanks juliebove :)

I take 5mg Glyburide in pill form once a day for my diabeties, I don't have a problem with my blood sugar going too low, only that it goes too high for too many days.

The doctor says that my weight is causing the fat cells to block the absorbtion of the sugar so it goes into my blood. If I exercise regularly and don't eat too much sugar I am good. The dietician that I used to have (she moved) said I could have 3 servings of fruit a day and 2-3 servings of bread/grains a day.

So if I eat raw corn does that count as a grain? or will I still have to eat wheat or anything?

My blood sugar was almost the same as a normal persons a few months ago, then I screwed up and got lazy and started eating whatever was around. I have now stopped doing that and I am trying to get back on track :) .

Thanks for your help :)

Yes, the corn would count as a grain, but keep in mind that since it is not cooked you get to eat MORE of it than you would in the cooked form. For most veggies, a serving is 1 cup raw or 1/2 cup cooked. That's how much it compresses down to when cooked. Not sure if corn would have the same ratio. When I eat it, I mix it with things like onions and peppers and I seem to be able to eat quite a bit of that mix.

You might find that eating meals on a regular basis will help keep your blood sugar stable. I generally have to do that. My brother (who does take glyburide) doesn't necessarily do this and has also never had a hypo, even though the prescribing information states that this med can cause them. But then he has additional medical conditions aside from diabetes as well and his are not the same as mine.

If it is weight loss you want, I highly recommend raw coconut oil. My naturopath has me eating 1-2 T. daily. My weight loss had stalled but it has now resumed since I've been doing that. I also find that working out with weights helps a lot too.

If the dietician you say said you could have that many servings of fruit and bread a day, then he/she is going the conservative route. Unless of course they allowed for several servings of milk on top of that. Most of the ones I've seen have been big milk pushers, even for adults. I've seen three dieticians. One while pregnant, one while breast feeding and one after that. The last one factored in 10 servings of carb a day regardless of source be it fruit, milk or starches. I was a vegetarian at the time and was not consuming any milk and fruit very seldom. She said this was fine and they they usually factored more fruit in simply because people like to eat it, but that it wasn't the best thing for a diabetic to eat. I guess I'm the odd one because I don't like it. I've had some diabetics tell me that they do better with some fruits rather than others. Some say melon works well for them, others say it doesn't. Berries are usually the best for most diabetics. Grapes, bananas and oranges are a problem for many as are peaches and tropical fruits.

The best thing to do is experiment. Test your blood sugar before you eat, then two hours after. If your blood sugar is in normal range, then that food is a good one for you. If it's too high, you either need to eat less of it or maybe none of it at all. Luckily for me, most of my problem foods are not those in the raw world!

[juliebove]

You may want to eat fat fruit (olives and avocados). Paradoxically, eating lots of raw fat fruit helps me lose weight.

Diabetics have to be careful not to eat too much fat because fat slows the absorption of carbs. Not likely you'd eat a lot of it on a raw diet since you aren't eating fried foods. One of the worst foods for a diabetic is the SAD pizza, especially one with greasy toppings. Eating that can cause a hypo because all the fat slowed down the carbs and they didn't get into our system when we needed them to. So we eat candy or some other form of glucose to get our blood sugar back up then *wham* those carbs from the pizza hit us and suddenly we have high blood sugar!

I do eat olives. I just have to be careful not to overdo them. I have stopped buying them from the olive bar because I can easily sit there and eat half the container. :eek: Well, that didn't come out right. I don't actually eat the container. Although I'm sure it has less calories than the olives! :D

[Miss Marie]

I would definatly stop buying the olives if they were so good I was eating the actual container lol :D


My dietition wanted me to also drink 2 - 3 glasses of fat free milk a day. So I think that also counts into the carbs. If I am not drinking milk - how much fruit can i have?


I was wondering how much avacado is ok, would it be half of one or a whole one a day - would that be alright? since I am not eating any other types of fats. Would I not eat nuts on the day I eat the avacado?

Thanks guys you are all very helpful.