New to Raw - Questions about BF'ing

[CraftyMommy]

I really want to do this Raw Challenge but I've never even eaten Vegetarian, much less raw/vegan! LOL

My DD is 5 months old and 100% breastfed - I have a few questions.

1. Is it safe? I've heard that the toxins will get into my breastmilk.
2. I think I'll starve, seriously, I CRAVE protein and am hungry every 2-3 hours.
3. Is there a better way to start? I need it all laid out for me, as I've never done this, which is why I thought this book would be good, it has a meal plan and shopping list, all in one.

TIA for any help.

[Maria]

My best advice is to buy and read Alissa's book (see top bar left hand button for shopping.) She explains everything about raw and there are shopping lists, menu plans, and lots of yummy recipes. Your best bet is to really educate yourself before going raw.

[CraftyMommy]

Thank you. There's no way I can get the book at this time so I'm limited to internet research and other free means.

[faith4u]

Why don't you just incorporate more and more raw foods into your daily diet? Try one meal a day for awhile and then keep increasing it to the level that you want.

That way you don't cause a lot of stress to yourself right now.

By the way, my fourth baby is now one year old (as of last week). Every time that I went 100% while nursing him he would show signs of detox. As he got older it happened much less. So give yourself time and be kind to yourself.

[BGVDiva]

You should contact Jinjee Talifero from "The Garden Diet" (info@thegardendiet.com should get you started) and ask her your questions. She breastfed her babies for three years each while eating a raw food diet. She discussed this on Revvell's radio program a couple of weeks ago. It's a good listen, you should check it out.

http://www.bigmediausa.com/archive.asp?aid=8445

Mods: Sorry if mentioning this other website it forbidden but the original poster mentioned it and now I've noticed the reference was deleted. Not sure if you did that or if the poster did it. Either way, feel free to edit my post and accept my apology if I have violated any of the board rules. Just trying to be helpful.

[anyanyapie]

You say you are craving protein and are hungry every 2-3 hours. First of all, what you crave will change. If you crave protein have a handfull of raw nuts. I used to drown my salads in dressing, now I munch on spinach right out of the bag. I also found that I eat way less, it just took a while for my stomach to get used to it. Go slow, ease into it, don't beat yourself up if you slip, and keep reading about it. The more educated you are, the more comfortable you will be with it. (I just google raw foods or raw food diet and I get a ton of results) Change won't happen overnight for most people.

[Lunar*Fey]

Green smoothies are delicious and generally filling...they have protein too ;) .
One of my favorites is ripe banana blended with dandelion greens (I am a growing teen and ever hungry...a breakfast smoothie of banana-dandelion greens would generally consist of at least 5 good sized bananas and maybe 7-9 cups of dandelion green)

you can really blend up any fruit (sweet or not) with almost any leafy green...to make a nutritious green smoothie or soup. :)

[adrienne]

welcome and congrats on looking to new avenues of health for you and your family!
i went to hippocrates health institute (a healing spa in florida) for 3 weeks with my 8 month old baby who was pretty much only breast-feeding at the time. i drank lots of green juices and only ate raw foods for those 3 weeks. i had a lot of detox and my daughter seemed to have none.
i think encorporating more and more raw foods into your diet will be awesome. like lunar*fey said - green smoothies for sure.
good luck to you and let us know how you are doing.
Adrienne

[fruitcake]

Hi, I'm in the same boat as you. I'm breastfeeding my 15mo son, and I can't afford books right now either. I knew I really had to do something about my diet, but since he shows no signs of wanting to wean, I didn't want to wait for him to be weaned. I've read that if you detox it will dump toxins into your milk, but then I figured if I keep eating like I am I'm dumping toxins into my milk anyhow. While doing an internet search I found a thread on this forum (if my computer was working a little better I'd find it for you, sorry) on that subject. It confirmed what I had read about toxins, but there were also suggestions that you go slow, not do any kind of major cleansing that will dump a bunch of toxins into your milk all at once. So I thought about all this and decided to do, but go slow about it. I don't know if that's the *right* answer or not, but it's what I did. I took it in stages. Whole grains instead of white bread, got rid of sugary cereal, things like that. Then I started buying more fresh food and less stuff that had to be cooked, and before long we were eating mostly raw. Green juices really seemed to help with all the cravings I was having. I run 3-4 leaves of kale, 2-3 apples thru the juicer and then squeeze 1/2 a lemon into it. It taste like lemonade! The baby likes it too. We split a cup of it everyday. :D I really ate a lot of food at first, but it gets better as your body adjust to your new way of eating. Good luck with it!

[luckitri]

Most likely if the milk is bad the baby will reject it. If the toxins are too much those picky tender taste buds will know.