kinda afraid...

[missgabbygrl]

Im kinda afraid of gaining weight eating raw due to high fat content in for example avocados... lara bars...olive oil... and nuts (some of my favorites) but I dont want to just eat fruits and veggies. Im looking forward to cooking or uhhh uncooking now ;) I just dont want pounds to pile up please give words of encouragement
Thank You
-Gabby
<3

[ShantiLove]

Ok I can just speak for myself but I have lost weight eating more fat than I did eating only vegan. I eat atleast one avocado a day plus seeds (I dont do well with nuts), and olive and flax oil everyday.
The fat is just melting away (a bit to much I have to say), and if you are in for loosing weight you dont have to worry about fat, just eat a good balance of foods and enjoy :D

[missgabbygrl]

Thank you!
:D
I'm not looking to lose weight at all I am recovering from an eating disorder and I believe after the damage I have done to my body through that I am in dire need of changing my lifestyle to raw. Im finally getting excited about food for the first time in my life I was just worried about gaining extra unwanted fat. Just want to be healthy in mind and spirit
thank you
<3
-Gabby

[raven]

Gabby,

If you are recovering from an eating disorder, you should be gentle on yourself and take things slowly. No matter what type of dietary program you are following, there will be some source of fats. On a raw regimen, it is recommended to consume only the highest quality, most easily digestible and beneficial fats. You do not have to overdo it. If you had an eating disorder, your body is most likely demineralized and you want to flood your body with nutrients. Including some high quality fats will help you feel satiated, will stabilize your blood sugar and will help your nervous and hormonal systems heal. Raw is no different from any other regimen in that overeating fats can lead to weight gain. However, most people don't put on excessive weight while raw, even when consuming a relatively high amount of fats. Half an avocado per day, a tablespoon or two of coconut oil and some soaked nuts and seeds shouldn't be too much fat. You'll have to find out what works best for you. Are you under the care of a doctor or nutritionist who's monitoring your bloodwork? Good luck.

Suzy

[Veganforlife]

Hey there. Do you have Alissa's book? It really explains the good fats and the need to consume these. I highly recommend it.

[tanishamarshall]

When I first started eating raw, I had the same concerns. I had bought a raw food book from a local bookstore and every recipe had nuts in it, I thought wow I don't want to eat all of these nuts. Later I started eating a lot of nuts and I still lost weight but as I became more and more raw I was able to see that my body works better on a small amount of nuts.

If you are just not starting to eat raw, I wouldn't be overly concerned with how much fat you are eating. Raw is so much different then a SAD Diet where you have to measure calories all of the time. The longer you are raw the better you will be able to tell what works for you and what doesn't.

Like Alissa says in her book, just eat raw and don't worry about anything else. I believe she says that because eventually you will know what works and what doesn't.

[Riiiya]

my experience:

i was slim, exercised a lot, was on a low-carb low-calorie diet... when i started raw i'd eat so many nuts that i was reeeally scared of gaining weight..and yet, a month later i weighted myself and LOST like 3 pounds! even though i didn't need to lose more. it was great


then i had a huge 4 month SAD break..made me gain all back :((( then i started working in an office and stopped exercising- wow still can't lose all of that weight back! i'm back to raw..eat quite a bit, but i really really need to start moving more! so i wouldn't say i gained more since going raw again, but i really can't lose while eating all i want and sitting on my butt :mad: sooo gotta start running soon :D

bottom line- i never really experienced weight GAIN on 100% raw

[Raw Angel Mom]

Dear Gabby, our body isn't the one that make us fat or ill but our emotions.

Right now this is important that you get comfortable on raw food first before worring of losing or gaining weight, once you get the hang of it, you will naturally loose weight on its own time. If you mental resist raw food, you going to go back to your old habbit, it is important to feel free and happy first. If you need to eat raw bar in order to help you to stay raw, i would say this is a great bonus. You know, you can make your own home made bar or fudge ball where you know what is in it. I personally don't eat La Raw bar unless that i am stock for my body doesn't like that.

Remember, FOCUS ON YOUR HEALTH ALWAYS. Loosing the weight will be a side effect. Once you heal your unhealthy craving, your body will be able to give you the right craving for your needs and not your emotions giving you craving that make you sick or ill.

Congratulations for doing raw food!

p.s MAKE ROOM FOR GREEN SMOOTHIES!

[tanishamarshall]

I agree with Raw Angel Mom be sure to get some green smoothies in... they help with cravings and is great for transitioning to raw.

[Robison]

Im worried about the opposite. I looked at what I ate yesterday and while I ate a lot and felt full all day I barely broke 1200 calories. Im gonna have to add something or other or Ill drop weight too fast.

[missgabbygrl]

thank you so much for all your wonderful responses it really is making me feel more at ease
<3
-Gabby

[annavon]

I have done a great deal of reading about eating raw. One of the things that I have read is that you may lose weight at first during the detox phase, but then your body will stabilze where it needs to be. I was concerned about the fats at first too, but I have not gained weight, but I gradually have lost a few pounds (which is what I want to do). I eat avocado and nuts daily. In fact, I feel like I am missing something if I don't have my usual avo.

[missgabbygrl]

ohh I know how you feel I looove avocados nothing better than a BIG green salad with tonss of veggies and half an avocado mashed up
MmmMMmMmm....
I really appreciate all of you and your words of encouragement
It has been an interesting journey through recovery I'm looking forward to reaping the benefits of taking on the raw food lifestyle. Ive been growing and healing spiritually, mentally, and physically with the help of yoga and meditation (the best therapy personally in my opinion) and now with the raw foods I know I'm going to feel at total peace with myself
I'm already planning on uncooking for my bf and my girlfriends (in two weeks im uncooking dinner for my two good friends)
thank you so much!
<3
-Gabby

[Maddi]

Alright, not that I'm worrying too much about it, but, is a WHOLE avocado too much fat?
And last night I ate a whole pound of dates and my scale told me I had gained two pounds in a day (my scale is really weird) but I went back to sleep for a few more hours and it went back to where it was the day before.

[missgabbygrl]

Weight actually fluctuates quite often... I wouldn't recommend weighing yourself everyday as this could get you obsessive about losing weight not to mention your weight could fluctuate due to water or bloat. Believe me I know all to well how obsessive someone could get to the scale. Just take a second to listen to your body if your hungry than eat and just eat til your satisfied if after the dates you felt satisfied and not stuffed than don't worry about it your body needed it ;)

[Tea]

I don't think it is possible (if so, very extremely rare) to gain weight on a raw food diet regardless of fat content.
Look at all the threads "i'm losing too much weight"...do you ever see any saying "i'm gaining too much weight?"

[juliesvoyage2]

Just take a second to listen to your body if your hungry than eat and just eat til your satisfied if after the dates you felt satisfied and not stuffed than don't worry about it your body needed it ;)

What great advice! I need to remember this when getting obsessed about calories. It's too bad that my body is telling me that it is time to eat now, and I am stuck in a meeting where it would be inappropriate to whip out my snacks. So, instead I'm just pretending to take notes while look at this forum. ;)

[jacsam]

The best words of encouragement I could give you is READ ALISSA'S BOOK & WATCH HER DVD!!! You will read about her friend that would call her and say there's no way I'm going to loose weight if I keep eating all the food your telling me to eat and then she'd turn around and find she'd lost weight. You've got to read the book....then you'll understand why you can enjoy your food and find health at the same time.

[raweater]

Im kinda afraid of gaining weight eating raw due to high fat content in for example avocados... lara bars...olive oil... and nuts (some of my favorites) but I dont want to just eat fruits and veggies. Im looking forward to cooking or uhhh uncooking now ;) I just dont want pounds to pile up please give words of encouragement
Thank You
-Gabby
<3



If the food is truely raw, it doesn't matter how many calories or fat or carbs it has, it will make you loose weight. Only artificial/manmade/processeed/cooked foods can cause abnormal weight gain.

The reason is that artificial/manmade/processeed/cooked "foods" have no or little nutrition left and will not satisfy your hunger, causing you to eat excessive amounts of calories. Raw food has all it's nutrition and you will feel full after a fraction of the calories you would need to feel full if it was cooked, so eating raw will make you eat less calories automatically, so as long as it's raw, don't worry about fat/carb/calories, you can eat raw chocolate cake and ice cream every day and you'll see the pounds fall off.

By the way if you check my signature yes I am gaining weight, but it's because I do intense weight training exercises and the weight I'm gaining is muscle, not fat.

[goobygirl]

I agree with what many of the posters say, don't worry about the calories right now, just eat good food and let your body heal.

However, I would have to disagree with the conclusion that you can eat as many raw food calories you want and not gain weight. You will never convince me that just because you are eating raw food, that regardless of the calorie intake, you will not gain weight (I would challenge a person to try 5000 cal per day which exceeds one lb and do this on a consistent basis and not gain weight. Lie down for 24 hours and eat 5000 calories per day, and you are not going to gain weight?? I doubt it).

Others here have gained weight, but it doesn't mean the weight gain is permanent. It could be for various reasons, such as your body wanting to hold on to nutrition while it heals, detox, etc.

But I agree, at this point, worrying about fat should not be an issue. As the poster says, she has a history of an eating disorder. Almost any advice we give will not matter until she decides that she can let her body heal with good food. Telling her to ignore fat is like telling an alcoholic to never drink again or go to a bar. Good advice that can only go so far.

[SmilingRawDancer]

I don't think it is possible (if so, very extremely rare) to gain weight on a raw food diet regardless of fat content.
Look at all the threads "i'm losing too much weight"...do you ever see any saying "i'm gaining too much weight?"


I've posted the "gaining too much weight" complaint and others have too, they're just hushed or you're told you're "detoxing" or something. Nope, still carrying lots of extra fat. (2 years raw)

[Robison]

I've posted the "gaining too much weight" complaint and others have too, they're just hushed or you're told you're "detoxing" or something. Nope, still carrying lots of extra fat. (2 years raw)

I can lose almost all of my excess weight just by removing bread and still eating meat and other processed foods.

I suppose it would be possible for some people to gain weight on a raw diet but honestly it seems like it would be pretty hard. But then Im a pretty big guy even when not carrying extra weight. Eating raw I have a HARD time getting the amount of daily calories even for a sedentary lifestyle according to fitday.

[raweater]

However, I would have to disagree with the conclusion that you can eat as many raw food calories you want and not gain weight. You will never convince me that just because you are eating raw food, that regardless of the calorie intake, you will not gain weight (I would challenge a person to try 5000 cal per day which exceeds one lb and do this on a consistent basis and not gain weight. Lie down for 24 hours and eat 5000 calories per day, and you are not going to gain weight?? I doubt it).


You are clearly very new to raw food. I challenge you to try and eat 5000 raw calories a day, after 1200-2000 you will be packed so full that you will not even be ableto think about putting another calorie in your body. You're thinking with the cooked food mentality where you could EASILY eat 5000 calories since it's empty calories and will not fill you. Raw food is full calories and after 1200-2000 (assuming you are not physically active), it will not be physically possible to eat more at all.

You need to realize raw food doesn't work and effect the body in the same way at all that cooked food does. Cooked food leaves you hungry, gives you fatal diseases over the long term, drains your energy, and causes weight gain. Raw food satisfies your hunger making overeating impossible, prevents fatal diseases, gives you energy and causes weight loss (since it makes overeating impossible).

[raweater]

I've posted the "gaining too much weight" complaint and others have too, they're just hushed or you're told you're "detoxing" or something. Nope, still carrying lots of extra fat. (2 years raw)

Are you 100% raw? Are you eating foods with naturally occuring MSG like soy sauce/tamari/braggs/etc? Where does the majority of your calories come from? Fruits? Veggies? Nuts/Seeds? Are you using a centrifugal juicer?


I can lose almost all of my excess weight just by removing bread and still eating meat and other processed foods.

I suppose it would be possible for some people to gain weight on a raw diet but honestly it seems like it would be pretty hard. But then Im a pretty big guy even when not carrying extra weight. Eating raw I have a HARD time getting the amount of daily calories even for a sedentary lifestyle according to fitday.

I've gained 30 lbs (which is what I want) of mostly muscle eating raw by working out intensely. To get enough calories (4000/day for me) I get most of my calories from nuts, maybe 2000-3000 calories of nuts per day.

[goobygirl]

I am not new to raw food, started exposure to it over 7 years ago, through my husband.

What you are talking about and what I am talking about are two things. You are saying that one would never get to the 5000 calorie range, therefore you cannot gain weight.

However, that is something very different from what I said, which was eat 5000 calories of raw and see if you don't gain weight. Unfortunately, those new to raw often do go off into the deep end of fats with their total dietary intake sometimes exceeding 60% or more of their calories from fats. It is very easy to eat raw fat, just give me a couple cups of nuts, a 1/2 cup of oil, throw in some dates and fruit to make it sweeter, then call it dessert! Hmm, I could eat one whole "raw" pie a day that way.

My position is that if you eat too many calories, regardless of where it comes from, you will gain weight.

While I agree with you that it would take a lot of eating to get to 5000 calories due to the generally low caloric density of raw food, and that people feel satisfied easier, we are not even arguing about the same thing.

I myself have personally experienced the lack of hunger, lower calorie intake, and I agree with your points. But your points are not related to the fact that if you take more calories in that you burn, you will keep weight on, whether it is through 3 cups of nuts, 5 avocados and all the fruit you can eat or a pizza.

OVEREATING is possible, so please don't make it sound as it is not, as clearly this person has an eating disorder and any other person who could not stop or is unable to physically stop eating for whatever reasons, you are telling them something that is not true under those circumstances, and it could be dangerous to not be truthful about what science can prove.

Plus, there are other people on this site that have complained of gaining weight. Are they all liars? I believe there are various reasons, and as I have said before, fat is fat....eat too much and not burn it off.....well I'm sure anyone can do the math.

I am a raw food proponent. However, I am not a proponent of espousing ideas that are not scientifically sound. Scientifically, you cannot eat 5000 calories per day, from any source, do nothing, and lose weight.

QUOTE:
"You are clearly very new to raw food. I challenge you to try and eat 5000 raw calories a day, after 1200-2000 you will be packed so full that you will not even be ableto think about putting another calorie in your body. You're thinking with the cooked food mentality where you could EASILY eat 5000 calories since it's empty calories and will not fill you. Raw food is full calories and after 1200-2000 (assuming you are not physically active), it will not be physically possible to eat more at all.

You need to realize raw food doesn't work and effect the body in the same way at all that cooked food does. Cooked food leaves you hungry, gives you fatal diseases over the long term, drains your energy, and causes weight gain. Raw food satisfies your hunger making overeating impossible, prevents fatal diseases, gives you energy and causes weight loss (since it makes overeating impossible).[/QUOTE]"

[raweater]

I understand what you're saying about eating more calories than you burn will cause weight gain, but with raw food your hunger is satisfied normally since you're eating the food your body was designed to eat. I can tell you on my first 2 years raw I struggled to eat all the fat and calories I could to gain weight, the more raw food I eat the more weight I lost, and most raw foodist have experienced this also. The fact is that if food is raw in it's natural state, your hunger will be satisfied after a far smaller portion and calorie count than cooked food would.

Again, try eating 5000 calories of raw food a day assuming you're not an active person, after 1200-2000 you absolutely will not be able to eat a crumb more, I've tried. When I was raw and not working out I could barely eat 2000 calories a day and was so full I couldn't think about eating anything else. Since I started working out again, I need 4000 calories a day before my hunger is satisfied since I'm burning so much energy.

Likewise, I had friends come over a few days ago, one raw and one planning on going raw, the one planning on going raw was packed full after a 500 calorie slice of raw onion bread, he couldn't eat anything more. I garantee you if he had eaten 500 calories of cooked food such as cooked bread, he'd still be craving probably another 500 calories. That's because raw food satisfies hunger and cooked food doesn't, and often actually increases hunger as many cooked foods actually deplete the body of nutrients. I easily ate 1000 calories of the same raw bread and was still hungry after, but that's because as I said I'm very physically active.

I think most people here will agree that it's very hard to overeat/gain weight on raw food, and I suspect those that gained weight on raw would be for one of these reasons:
-Being underweight to start with
-Not being 100% raw and having things like soy sauce which increase hunger due to the MSG they contain which leads to overeating
-Using a centrifugal juicer which makes juice that has all the calories but most of the nutrition destroyed, making a product very similar to white refined sugar
-Eating too much refined products like oils (olive oil is not natural, olives are, coconut oil is not natural, coconuts are)
-Having a candida yeast overgrowth that needs to be eliminated by eliminating sugar for a while

[goobygirl]

Raweater,

I agree with your reasons for gaining weight and also eating refined foods.

Some people even say that soaking food to make it edible means you shouldn't be eating it (such needing to soak wheat, buckwheat, legumes, beans).

If you have to soak it then it's probably something you wouldn't eat in the wild (so the theory goes).

I personally think it's ok to soak nuts and legumes and to dehydrate, but I don't do much of either. I don't use superfoods and have just added more raw to diet versus taking things out. That approach seems "easier to swallow" than thinking one has to take away things. Adding versus taking away.. a big psychological difference. Eventually, you start to crave the raw instead!

I didn't have a green smoothie today because I started out with a salad left over from dinner, and by the time I went to bed, I was thinking, hey, where's that smoothie......

I agree too that eating more fiber will fill you up. One green smoothie for breakfast and I am good for up to 5 hours. It usually takes me an hour or so to get through 32 oz. I put very light fruit in it and a ton o' greens, probably 3 greens to 1 fruit. Before, when I ate a SAD breakfast, I'd be hungry within an hour or so, and consequently, I grazed a lot. I still graze to an extent, but many, many of my cravings for SAD food are gone.

But if I started eating my green smoothies with a cup of nuts in it every day or heavy nut cream as a base, I think my calories would sneak up on my small frame and I would gain weight. Sometimes I think the nuts and fat just get very easy to eat and while people are still adjusting to raw, they expect faster results than the body can sometimes handle.

[Robison]

I've gained 30 lbs (which is what I want) of mostly muscle eating raw by working out intensely. To get enough calories (4000/day for me) I get most of my calories from nuts, maybe 2000-3000 calories of nuts per day.

Good to know that it is possible. Im about to start gym ratting again myself.

[SmilingRawDancer]

Raweater
Are you 100% raw? Are you eating foods with naturally occuring MSG like soy sauce/tamari/braggs/etc? Where does the majority of your calories come from? Fruits? Veggies? Nuts/Seeds? Are you using a centrifugal juicer?


I'm 100% raw, 95% of the time. There are rare but somewhat unavoidable situations where I have a little something or other.
I tried braggs once, hated it and never used it again. It's still in my pantry...but ew.
Majority of my calories are from fruit, vegetables, and maybe 30% from fat= nuts/flaxseed oil.
I have a masticating Omega Juicer, but rarely use it except to make a green lemonade :)

The questions posed actually kind of prove my point - it's VERY unpopular to have an experience other than the "I eat raw and can't keep weight on!" story. Some people don't experience the BEST results with raw.

[raweater]

You may want to try increasing your fat intake, even though it goes against SAD beliefs (but doesn't everything with do?), it does help to reduce weight and fat in the body. Coconut oil is proven to cause weight loss for example.

[SmilingRawDancer]

When I tried that (because people have recomended it before) I just gained more weight. I stopped and I went back to as I was before, but man don't give me coconuts! Those baby ones are too good :) Last winter I ate one every day and gained like 10-15 pounds.

[raweater]

Are you exercising? Exercise is as important to health as eating raw. You need to be burning the carbs and fat you're consuming.

[SmilingRawDancer]

Yes, I exercise. 1 hour 3x+ per week of uphill hiking on my treadmill with a weighted vest, sometimes I run (not uphill though!).

[goobygirl]

With eating and exercising, you should "mix it up." Never do the same thing twice in a row unless you want your body to adjust to whatever you're doing. This means don't eat the same breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. Don't eat the same calories every day. Don't do the same exercise every exercise period. Your body will learn to 'expect' the food, or exercise, and adjust to it.

So Smiling, I would say uphill hiking on your treadmill has been something your body has adjusted to. I would cross train and do something different.

When I used to body build, we would specifically pig out on the weekend, gain weight, and burn all that weight and more off by mid week. If I ate only 1000 calories per day, I might lose weight, but I would plateau sooner because my body's metabolism would quickly adjust downward. As well, mentally, I wouldn't be able to hack it. And calorie restricting every day would not guarantee that I was getting all the nutrition I needed to push myself to build new muscle during the week. I would simply peter out with nothing to work with or fall back on.

Purposefully I pig out at least once a week, meaning I purposefully eat a lot more calories. Then my body doesn't slow down. You should likewise mix it up with your routine. I can guarantee that if you do something other than hiking that stresses your body in a new way using different muscles you will get off that plateau.

[MelissaO]

Over the last few months I have been adding more raw to my diet and notice that clothes are looser, I have more energy and less stomach aches. I do eat good fats every day (avo, nuts, olives, olive oil)....with good fats your body knows what to do with them and needs them to function. I gain weight when I fall off the wagon and eat SAD meals- I also feel bad (tired, stomach aches and bloating ) after eating SAD fats as opposed to raw good fats.