Beginner with a lot of weight to lose!!

[gabriele]

Hello, my name is Gaby and i am very new to this lifestyle. I had a health scare (a false positive stress test) which led me down the road to discovering all sorts of things about medicine, drugs, doctors, vitamins and then raw/organic/healthy eating. I have to lose just over 100 pounds and i'm finding that this is, at my age (55) quite an interesting path i've taken. I am also a vegetable-hater, so i need all the help i can get. I've begun making smoothies in my small, old Cuisinart, including handfuls of spinach with my fruits. I have such a long way to go though. I don't even talk about this at work because there is such a bias towards people who want to eat this healthily (and i work in a hospital, a place where health should be highest priority). So i'm very glad i found this website and i will be like a sponge, soaking up all the information that i read.

[Amberly]

Welcome, welcome!! :) I don't eat a lot of vegetables either. Too crunchy.

That's so true about hospitals. I went for a test a couple of months ago and every doctor I saw was drinking coffee. My doctor asked me if I drink cofffee and I said "sometimes" and he and the nurse almost fell out in the floor in shock. I'm like
"um you have a pot of coffee brewing in the waiting room for guests!" And these are the people that most people trust with their nutritional advice. Crazy!!!

Sorry for the rant. Welcome again! :D

[gabriele]

thanks for the welcome! I am working in the hospital as we speak. Yes, these are not the healthiest places. I think they have a lot of catching up to do. I don't think many people are very aware of healthy eating in the general public, unfortunately...

[freshlight]

Hey Gaby, welcome :) The biggest step's been made. It's a beautiful path, enjoy each bit of it, it'll be wonderful. Lucky you! ;)

[Revvell]

Welcome!

To encourage you (and others) you might wish to listen to my interviews (http://rawkinradio.com/?s=Philip+Mc) with a big time loser (200 pounds in 2 years) on Rawkin Radio (http://rawkinradio.com).(click on "my interviews" to check out the specific shows).

[aslraw]

Welcome! I just went raw myself starting Dec25, 2008 and have lost 6lbs, my skin looks great and I feel fantastic! I dont seem to require as much sleep either and my husband has said he will do it for 30 days and if he makes it he will continue raw also. Wish I had done this years ago!

Smile! :D

[cara4art]

Welcome! You've come to the right place with great supportive people here. Many of us have families etc. who are not raw, some of us have supportive mates or friends, or not. You're quite right that in the general public there is such massive ignorance about eating right. Soak up as much info as you can about people who have released lots of weight on raw - plenty here, and other raw websites. Check out raw websites with recipes, and don't be afraid to try new things. Arm yourself with a few good recipe books including Alissa's book and the DVD, since you're very new. Also, over on YouTube, there are lots of raw food prep videos which are enormously helpful, and if one is tight on money really helps. But one thing you can start doing right now that will really get you going is to replace one of your meals with a green smoothie - sounds like you're heading in that direction anyway. Eating the right kind of fats is important too for releasing weight, also really pumping the greens.
You're about to embark on the most amazing journey ever - your body will go through some transitional stuff but you will be amazed at what your body can do for healing itself given the right tools!

[gabriele]

wow, what great support here. I am having so much fun learning and reading and trying new foods (to me, raw spinach is a new food!). Thanks to all your advice. Today is the first day that i feel really good (day 6), yesterday i had a killer headache, and every day i've felt lightheaded. Today i feel euphoric!! I just discovered our cafeteria salad bar..... i know that there are things there that are not fully raw, and i'm wondering how good a job they do of washing that lettuce.....but for me, to eat a gigantic salad as my main lunch, that is a miracle in itself.

Does anyone have any advice on using chlorella, especially in smoothies? I have a can of it in powder form. The pills seem to stick in my throat. Is it a strong taste in a smoothie? Any suggestions?

[Aleesha Sattva]

i released 145 pounds in one year eating raw and i'm 45 just to give you an idea that even people over 40 CAN release weight. i read so much about how it's sooo hard. nope it isn't just eat healthy do a little movement and VOILA you'll release it!

;) welcome welcome welcome

if you look in my sig there are some links you may be interested in.

oops i guess it's not there anymore... here's the link i thought you might be interested in:

http://www.timelessspirit.com/JAN08/walk.shtml

[ChefStef22]

Hello, my name is Gaby and i am very new to this lifestyle. I had a health scare (a false positive stress test) which led me down the road to discovering all sorts of things about medicine, drugs, doctors, vitamins and then raw/organic/healthy eating. I have to lose just over 100 pounds and i'm finding that this is, at my age (55) quite an interesting path i've taken. I am also a vegetable-hater, so i need all the help i can get. I've begun making smoothies in my small, old Cuisinart, including handfuls of spinach with my fruits. I have such a long way to go though. I don't even talk about this at work because there is such a bias towards people who want to eat this healthily (and i work in a hospital, a place where health should be highest priority). So i'm very glad i found this website and i will be like a sponge, soaking up all the information that i read.

Hi Gabriele, my name is Stephanie and I 'm not totally new to the lifestyle but haven't been as consistent as I should be. I need to lose 100 lbs +. I have began releasing weight and it feels good. I started about a week ago making delicious smoothies from some of the suggestions on this site. They are super delicious! I also am inspired by all the members here. Take one day at a time and don't focus on how long. Just look at each day as one step closer to better health and beauty. Your goals will be obtained because the more you stick with it, the more you will want to succeed by seeing your results almost immediately. Have fun with it!!

[lsadeseyens]

Hi Gabrielle,

Welcome and you are right, this is a great place for support!!!! If you go into the food preparation thread or post, VeganforLife has a post with I forget 70 or so green smoothie recipes. Probably at least a few of those you will like. Good luck. I too am 52 years old. I haven't stuck to raw like I should, but am getting off to a good start 2009 and I have lost about 13 lbs so far. Look forward to many more, but most of all, getting my health back on track!!!!!!
Linda

[jacsam]

Get Alissa's book and DVD.....they have soooo much wonderful information in it.....all the in's and out's of eating raw and living foods. It also has all the questions you will have people ask you, so you'll be able to answer them. Good Luck!

[lillierose]

Hi Gabriele

Does anyone have any advice on using chlorella, especially in smoothies?

I don't know the answer to that question. But I do have spirulina powder which has chlorophyl and it has no flavor that I can detect. It does how ever sure change the color of any smoothie you make! Have you thought about just crushing the pills or just throwing them into the blender with your smoothie? I have done that with large pills like vitamin C when I do take that and psylium gel caps. I pull apart the jel cap and pour the contents into the smoothie. I hope to get away from most if not all supplements and vitamins with this way of eating though.

I am new in here too. I just signed in and introduced myself yesterday. I know much of how you feel. I am so happy for you for loosing weight! You go for the gold!

I have been sort of eating some things raw for about a year and find it very hard for some reason to do it all the time. Especially in the winter.

Nice to meet you and everyone else.

[lillierose]

Gabriele,
in this site go to 'Other (Health Related) down in the Misc. section. Go to page 42, go down that page till you see 'Maca, Spirulina and MSM, Oh My!' Then go down to where Davylp25 is. He has a URL there that has a free online book that talks about Chorella and Spirulina. It is dated 8-11-2007 and is #8 in that thread.I have not read the whole thing but it is very interesting in just skimming over it and I think it will answer a lot of questions that you and I both have.

I just happen to come across it today.

[Colorawdo girl]

Reading here and thinking about weight loss, as many are looking for that.

The sad (standard american DIET) way for losing weight, is all over the place.Pills, exercise, powders,frozen meals, liquids, starving, binging in grapefruit etc, overloading on meat....etc.etc.etc.

MY!!!!!!!! Look at what raw offers.

Forgetting about weight and loving life.
Eating what and all you want of living energy foods.
Any food you like in sad world, can be duplicated in raw if you want.
Desserts that are sooooo legal and delicious..haha
Eating all you want-key is you wont want, as they fill you up so quickly.
Ever heard of an eating plan where peeps wonder about losing too much or getting too thin??? raw is it.

And beauty is, while you are eating and loving yourself and not looking at weight. it drops off. No effort, no fuss.

Rawk onto your ideal weight and have a blast !!!!!!!!!!1

[sprouts2go]

I plan to eat raw lose weight and get healthy. I am 53.

[Juwo]

Hey Gabriele! I am Juwo - 70 lb overweight, tired and scared of the changes i am going to make, new to raw. Maybe we can support each other?

[gabriele]

Hey Gabriele! I am Juwo - 70 lb overweight, tired and scared of the changes i am going to make, new to raw. Maybe we can support each other?

i would be very happy to be supportive! Isn't it funny how many of us are scared? I wonder what we are scared of? But i feel it too. I guess it's letting go of a lifetime of SAD habits and comfort.......