Health or Weight??? [Archive]

ShelShel

10-16-2006, 04:05 PM

Ok...I have to ask...who started raw for health reasons and who started because of weight?

I personally started for health reasons that blossomed into a much needed weight loss. I was able to fix two problems with one solution. ;)
My ability to function was just incredibly low...I drank lots of coffee (major mood swings and lots of grouchiness!) and I was packing some major extra weight.
Within the first month...I knew this is what I needed! Things have been changing all year...more energy...a happiness...even more than I had before and a 52 pound weight loss. So, for me Raw Rawks! :D

How about you??? What was your reason for starting raw...and has it helped?

Ginger

10-16-2006, 04:09 PM

Health reasons. Yes it did help very much even in very unexpected or hoped for ways! Like growing back a chipped tooth i'd had for most of my life! I found that for me raw is the answer to ALL my health issues. Everything heals on raw.

sunflowery

10-16-2006, 05:09 PM

Health reasons. I was sooo sick. I was having chronic fatigue syndrome, depression and some digestive disorders. So raw diet was magical for me, in the first week I felt wonderful and full of energy, in the first month I left the medication... My health in general is better, my skin, my eyes and also I'm happy all the time... Well, I still having DD :( but this is other story.

I really love raw food ;)

girlsmiley

10-16-2006, 05:16 PM

I started for *health reasons* which were caused by my *weight* :D

Mango

10-16-2006, 05:28 PM

I originally started dieting to lose weight. I was 200lbs! I lost eating SAD but counting points (weight watchers). My diet evolved over the last 3 years and I now eat 100% raw. I chose raw for health. Not that I had any major health concerns but that I didn't want any. I want to be around a long time for my children. I don't want them to have to suffer needlessly from me dying of cancer or heart disease.

RawNut

10-16-2006, 05:35 PM

I started for health reasons as a preventative measure, considering all the cancer in my family.

Craig

Veganforlife

10-16-2006, 05:41 PM

I started for *health reasons* which were caused by my *weight* :D

Couldn't have said it better!
Actually, it was a natural progression for me. 26 years Vegetarian, 2 Vegan and now 100% Raw.
I have not had one migraine since going raw and have dropped over 25 pounds in 13 weeks! WOO HOO!!!! :D

rawpriestess

10-16-2006, 05:47 PM

Definitely an inner knowingness told me to eat raw foods, for health, I knew the weight would melt off, as it has.

whenever I touch a bit of cooked, I instantly go back into stuffy nose, headache mode. LOL

so it's pretty easy to stay 100% raw right now.

Conscious Midwife

10-16-2006, 07:11 PM

Hmm gotta go search my first post to see how I got here in the first place.

BRB

Ok can find my very first post but I think I found this site after spending a year on a natural hair site and then want ing more for myself in the way of what's more natural and healthful.

So Health was why I inquired, weight loss is definately needed, as a health benefit of course! :D

eatyourbroccoli

10-16-2006, 07:19 PM

probably a bit of both. it was weight loss that led me to raw, health that got me really into it.

i dont weigh myself anymore..its all about health now.

Cinnamon

10-16-2006, 07:40 PM

For health reasons, but a wonderful side effect was losing some weight that I never thought would leave with any type of diet. Losing tummy fat was an added bonus!

Brianna

10-16-2006, 07:43 PM

being overweight is a health issue, but I understand what you're saying. I went into it for both.

Raine

10-16-2006, 07:50 PM

I do it for health and vanity reasons.

The family has been dealing with diabetes & heart disease ... I just didn't want to go down that path.

I need to drop some weight and that is happening. I'm also a bit vain when it comes to trying to keep my hair color for as long as possible and avoiding wrinkles.

I'm OFFICIALLY at my half way mark on my 30-day juice fast -- 20 pounds lost! Yea me!

Forever Young

10-16-2006, 08:20 PM

Health was the main interest. We have a friend in TN. that got us started on raw food and taking weight off was a bonus!

Forever Young :cool:

SmilingRawDancer

10-16-2006, 08:29 PM

Crystal Rose

10-16-2006, 08:31 PM

At first, it was both, but more about weight than health. Then, during that first week at OHI, it flipped and became more about health. Then within 2 weeks, it was totally about health, and I figured the weight would take care of itself which it did. And this was the first time IN MY LIFE I was ever able to say that to myself and really mean it. It's been a year and a half, and I never stuck to any "diet" for longer than 3 weeks! That's the Miracle of raw and living food. yay. :) :) :)

Raine

10-16-2006, 09:03 PM

Both.

I have little to no weight to lose now, just a huge spread of fat on my stomache.

(Speaking of which, does anyone have any experiance with that? Losing tummy fat? What worked? what were you mainly eating? It's hereditary and irritating!)

<3

I do 20 minutes of pilates every morning. Get yourself a DVD and give it a try.

There is one move in particular where your legs are stretched up at a 45 degree angle, your arms are parrallel to the floor by your torso and you raise your upper body up. Hold that until a count to 100. Things will start tightening up!

SmilingRawDancer

10-16-2006, 09:05 PM

Well, see, thats the problem.
I have strong stomache muscles (yoga, walking etc.), I just have a hereditary layer of fat.
I have a short stature, and pretty much no waist. I look very much like a toddler :)

ShelShel

10-16-2006, 09:26 PM

SmilingRawDancer

10-16-2006, 09:28 PM

Thanks everyone for all the replies. ;) Very cool to read all your responses!

Second, yes...I too am short...with all my excess weight in the middle. :confused: Why does that happen? It actually hurts to sit for long periods of time...because I have lost so much from my butt...and still...I have the belly bulge!!!!! It makes me very frustrated...
If anyone has any tips or info on why this is...and if it will eventually disappear as the weight goes please let us know! ;) Thanks!

EXACTLY. It hurts my butt-bone to sit and do the seated asanas at my yoga classes, but I still have stored fat in my mid section.

Being only 18, this is very disconcerting.

: (

(I want to pierce my belly button. Oy.)

greeninloanageles1

10-16-2006, 09:34 PM

I was following Paul Bragg program, which is around 70 percent raw for a while for health reasons( I started getting boils in my underarm one after another, and that scared me enough - my aunt died from breast cancer, my mom-from colon cancer, their brother has stomach cancer now), but raw diet came as a quick way to loose weight for my friend's wedding and I did loose -my bridesmaid dress was hanging on me -I did not try it again night before and once I put it on it was to late to fix it.
After wedding I went back to cooked, but I just missed that light feeling I had on raw - so I went back. I am raw now for close to a year, if you don't count two fall offs maybe a month together.
So it is both - health and weight, but also I love the feeling, more energy.

rawnora

10-16-2006, 11:15 PM

[QUOTE=Smilingkyle]"does anyone have any experiance with that? Losing tummy fat? What worked? what were you mainly eating? It's hereditary and irritating!"

I always had what I thought was "hereditary" tummy fat. Actually it IS heredity that determines WHERE on our bodies fat will be stored, if we indulge the causes of becoming fat in the first place. Even when I was otherwise fairly thin in my 20s, I always had a bulging tummy. I was teaching fitness classes 5x per week in my 30s and was still always getting asked if I was pregnant. I never imagined my tummy would go away, but it did without the slightest bit of effort (except that required to go and stay raw!).

Being fat is more about being toxic than eating too much. That's why so many raw fooders lose weight while eating almost constantly or eating lots of fat, which has the unfortunate reputation of being fattening. The cause of overweight is eating foods that cannot be digested fully. Undigested food is toxic to the body and must the eliminated. If a person eats cooked food everyday, the eliminative channels of the body quickly become overburdened and it is theorized that in this threatened state, the body stores fuel against possible food shortages. It makes sense to me because it wasn't until I'd been raw for several months, and my body had some time to purify itself that I started losing weight. Also, my various periods of weight loss have not coincided with changes in my diet, or decreases in my fat consumption. It should be mentioned that it's possible for some raw fooders (especially women) to have difficulty losing weight unless they learn to eat very simply over a long period of time, however, because sometimes a diet high in complicated or gourmet raw recipes can create almost as much waste in the body as eating cooked foods, and the body doesn't have a chance to normalize and let go of its tendency to hang on to excess fuel.

Warm wishes,
Nora
www.RawSchool.com

SmilingRawDancer

10-17-2006, 09:20 AM

So pretty much, the longer I go raw, the purer I get, the less tummy fat I endure? :)
It makes sense, especially since I had been on a COMPLETELY unhealthful diet from birth up till 2 months ago.
I'll wait and watch :) I need to find some ways to slowly progess from 95%-ish to %100.

Sharon in Colorado

10-17-2006, 09:48 AM

Health :)

lily

10-17-2006, 10:19 AM

What an interesting thread.

I went raw first of all because one day when i was surfing on the internet i came across a raw food site with pictures of mouthwatering raw cakes and things and I was intrigued by how creative you could be with the food.

And also because I thought I could do with losing 28 pounds or so. Oh, and because at the gym they said my blood pressure was 'on the high side', though not high enough for medication, thankfully.

And because in my late 50s I wanted to look about 20 years younger (which people say I do)! And to get rid of migraines...

Gradually, with some ups and downs and lapses, I'm achieving all of those goals. No more migraines now; gradual weight loss -- only another 20 pounds to go to get to the size I want to be (and I hope my body agrees!).

Not sure about the blood pressure as I haven't had it checked, but I do know that I feel so clean and alive when I'm eating raw, it's an unmistable feeling once you've experienced it, isn't it, and it keeps pulling me back, even after the lapses.

lily

Raine

10-17-2006, 11:06 AM

Not sure about the blood pressure as I haven't had it checked, but I do know that I feel so clean and alive when I'm eating raw, it's an unmistable feeling once you've experienced it, isn't it, and it keeps pulling me back, even after the lapses.

Lily - I agree. I'm on Day 15 of my juice fast and before I began my blood pressure was at stroke level when I was calm. I've not taken it since I began my fast, BUT, last week I checked my resting heart rate which is normally 100+......it was 70!

I feel certain the bp has come down as well.

ShelShel

10-17-2006, 11:59 AM

Your stories are wonderful! Isn't exciting to know that so many of us are sharing the same journey. We aren't alone in it. Whatever it took to us all to start the journey...we are now on it together! ;)

Raw Nora~ Thank you, thank you. I was hoping someone who had experienced the "tummy bulge" and went raw would have something encouraging to say. :) So, now I'm going to have to check out your site again and really, really look at your pics! LOL Raw Inspiration! Thanks!