Body composition

[ahj]

Hello again,

I have another question about the raw food diet. I have done a few juice fasts, a water fast, and a mostly raw diet for the past 7 months and while I am pretty thin I have noticed that my body composition has changed unfavorably. I seem to have lost muscle and replaced it with fat! There were some weeks of eating heavy cooked foods when I was discouraged and I sort of blame that. But at this point, back on nearly 100% raw, and exercising every day including weight training, does anyone have any advice on what to expect with my body composition? Any tips on how to improve this?

I just think my metabolism when into a sort of haywire between fasting and indulging and now my body is in starvation mode, hanging on to any fat it can get. I don't know if this makes sense. Any advice would help!

[Juicyfruit]

Hi ahj,

The best way to prevent muscle loss is to not let your blood sugar drop too low. This is caused by going too far between meals and not eating enough sugars and fats to help keep blood sugar levels stable. The best way to keep muscle is to eat several small meals a day (keeps blood sugar stable) and sufficent fats with your sugars, which in raw translates into alternating fruit meals with fat meals throughout the day. If you do low fat, you just have to eat more often since the fat helps keep the blood sugar stable longer. When your blood sugar is low, your body burns more muscle along with some fat, so you end up loosing muscle and having more fat. The bodies main and prefered source of fuel is glucose which is easily obtained by eating fruit. Adding fat just helps keep the sugar in your blood longer, thus giving you longer lasting energy and keeping you full longer. Hope that makes sense! :)