Should we have better results after week 2?

[Sai]

DH and I have been pretty darned careful in eating raw and have read a lot of info on it. We've made mostly simple meals, with one exception. Lots of greens and fruit. So after two weeks? No weight loss. We still have all the same little nagging issues (stuffy noses, etc.) that we had going in. We look the same. We both have new digestion problems. DH's blood pressure actually went UP a little. My old fingernail biting habit re-emerged with a vengeance. We broke a cleaver trying to open a young coconut and the blender motor burnt up on making almond yogurt. Basically everything is worse than before, including our budget. :(

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? I was hoping at least for some weight loss by now. I hear people say you don't have to count calories, but it sure looks like we will. We're both disappointed.

[didi_dancer]

Has to get worse before it gets better, and you probably will feel even crapper. BUT THINK! you are getting it out of you. Detox is a part of going raw. Drink lots of per water with lemon. Try also to sweat a bit every day. This will make it go alot faster. Also think spicy foods to up you metabolism. Add red pepper or paprika to your raw dishes, and real cinnamon to raw desserts.
Best of luck.
Get your spirits up, the benifits will come dont worry.
Oh, sorry bout your blender I have to get a new blender too, but I am going to invest in a vita mix. Not a crappy wal mart one.

[Colorawdo girl]

Sai, Sorry for your challenges. To me, anything worthwhile will have those. This is a life long journey for me. I enjoy every moment of it(sometimes harder than other times) and look not to the outcome or for an outcome, but rather to be right where I am, in this moment to enjoy it.

Life is a series of moments one after another. And they will never pass this way again,only pass. So on raw, I savor the flavors, the tastes, the preparation with loving hands and fingers, sharing with others my love for living foods and enjoying the process.

All of a sudden, I look up and voila', I realize I look thinner, my clothes are loose, I have vibrant skin and energy, people look at me to figure out whats different, pains I had disappeared with out my noticing and much more.

I am in it for the long ride. My blender broke too. Many do until you get the big one (veeta vita vegga min...haha) and they are pretty easy to replace ...either way.

Weight loss happens. I do not look for it or plan for it. It just came, with no effort only eating and loving living foods.
My stuffy nose comes and goes.It is my body ridding the stuff so its all good !

Best on your journey,we we with you.

[gs4life]

yes, be patient...sounds like detox. it will pass if you give it time and let it work. as didi_dancer said, things get worse before they get better.

focusing on losing weight won't help you necessarily to lose weight. it takes time. make sure you are drinking plenty of water. if you are mostly eating fresh fruits and leafy greens as you say the weight will come off--in it's own time.

trust in the process. you will both feel much better after this passes.

also, there are a few youtube videos showing how to open young coconuts with cleavers. and if you can afford a vitamix i would highly recommend it--but if that's not in your budget right now, don't worry about it.

i would suggest blending more if you are having digestion issues. and if it's really bad you might want to look into food combining as certain people are more sensitive to "bad combining" than others.

stay strong...you can do it!!

[T-Bird]

Check out Livingrawgirl's post of before and after pics for inspiration!

[MrsJ]

I love it... when it doubt? "Sounds like detox!"

[Zanjabil]

Everyone has said what I would have said, except ...How much nuts are you eating? Sometimes eating a lot of nuts can prevent you from losing weight and it can cause nasal congestion. That has been my experience, anyway.

[Sygma]

Cut out the nuts (at least mostly), that's the only thing that works for me...and just remember that you have been eating SAD for a long time, and it won't take only a short time to correct a body that has been eating poorly for a long time...you know..."Rome wasn't built in a day" type thing.

Oh, and add some exercise. :]

[spicyfull]

It's a LifeStyle change and Weight Loss is a By-Product of it. You just need the right equipment, like a Vita-Mix, it's worth the investment. During Detox, your symptom can be worse than before because ALL the old Junk is rising up in order to expel itself and it makes you sick.

[spicyfull]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hkJJZuf2Voc

[Sai]

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm sorry to hear about cutting out nuts. You hear so much about "your body needs fat" and "don't worry about calorie counting when you go raw," but it seems people are still worrying about fat and calories (as I assume DH and I will have to.) I guess if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. :( That said, I did already reduce the amt of nuts over a week ago.

I saw a Dr. Oz program on Discovery Health just yesterday and a woman on there ate raw vegan for 2 weeks and lowered her blood pressure to some great degree. DH's blood pressure, as I said, went up and our weight has both officially gone up now as well. We are exercising as usual. According to the Dash diet people, blood pressure should show a change for the better in two weeks time, so I'm really at a loss to understand this. We're definitely eating less salt by cutting out processed food, but then again the processed food we ate wasn't terribly salty to begin with.

I had to add in an electrolyte drink yesterday (ElectroMix brand) because I'm getting dehydrated from my stomach being so out of whack for 2 weeks. I've tried coconut water as well, but it didn't do enough. Until I added the drink, I kept getting shakier and headache-ier. The drink knocks it out quickly, at least, but it isn't a long-term solution.

By the way, we haven't eaten a SAD diet in many years. I have been vegan for about 8 or 9 years and vegetarian well over half my life. DH has been vegetarian for 10 years or so. We tried to eat healthy for the good portion of those years.

I'm not sure about getting a Vitamix. We have neighbors on every side of us in this condo and we both have slight hearing loss already. Neither one of us wants something that noisy around. In fact, one of my reasons for going raw is to help out a problem I'm having with my ear and hopefully avoid surgery (that's roundabout logic, I know, but I was hoping Raw was less inflammatory, which could help.)

Sorry for the sad tone, but as you can see we're discouraged. We didn't expect perfection by now and of course we read all about detox, but we expected *something* to let us know it's all worthwhile.

[freshlight]

Sometimes things get worse before they get better. Spending many years feeding your body with cooked food, you won't be able to experience instant success within 2 weeks.
I would suggest to do a fast. A water fast is the best thing to do: that's the way I started my raw journey. Paul Bragg's book about fasts is very helpful too.
All the best to you and your DH :)

[contessa20]

Honestly, and I don't mean to sound harsh but, I think you just need to chill and give it some time. Your body didn't deteriorate overnight and it's not going to heal overnight. Stress will also cause your body to hold on to fat and toxins and you seem to be really stressing over your food.

And, if you're dehydrated then that is a big part of your problem right there. I only saw small changes in my weight and health until I started drinking a TON of water everyday. Headaches and weakness are common VERY symptoms in the very beginning. Lots of water, young Thai coconut water, resting and eating small 100% raw meals more often are all big helps. It will only slow down your progress to neglect any one of those.

Try to start thinking positively and visualizing how you want to feel on raw. Right now you are seeing everything through a very negative lens and that's not going to get you very far.

[cara4art]

All good input by others here, but I'll add my own two cents:
Two weeks is NOTHING! Rome was not built in a day. It took time for the effects of SAD food to show up. I don't know how old you are, but often it seems that the older one gets, the longer the benefits of raw take to show up, although to what extent will vary from person to person depending on their own general health situation and lifestyle. Do NOT let that discourage you at all! Trust in the process, and believe me, each raw meal you eat is another step on the way to improved health. Weight loss, and glowing skin don't necessarily happen right away either, although for some younger people those can literally show up within days of going raw, since there's less of a backlog of previous eating habits to dismantle. You see, raw works from the inside out. It gets to work by doing some housecleaning, and in that process, stuff gets stirred up. Your weight might be up due to water and fiber retention from the new foods, so you might want to pay attention to your elimination. Be sure you're drinking plenty of water, and as someone else here, DON'T stress. Getting stressed about any part of one's health does more damage than people realize. For one thing, it stimulates cortisol from the adrenals, which in turn packs on body fat, especially around the middle. This is a lesson in patience. Keep experimenting with small amounts of new recipes(that way you don't have to feel bad if you don't care for them)and eventually you will find a few staples that are keepers in your repertoire. You are on the right track with keeping many meals simple - this is good for one's digestion in general. This is a whole new lifestyle you're embarking on. As far as your blender, and equipment in general, lots of this depends on your food prep style in general. If you like to be creative with your food, a good food processor and a dehydrator will extend your options greatly. A good blender will really help too. That blender of yours might have been ready to give up the ghost anyway and that almond yogurt was the straw that broke the camel's back. While you're saving up for something like a Vitamix or a Blendtec, just get yourself a somewhat better blender than what you had - just saying. However, if you've got the money right now, then go for the good one! A few good kitchen items that are appropriate to the way you like to prepare your food do make things easier and more pleasurable, essential for sticking to this.
On the nuts issue, as long as the vast majority of your food is the watery, less caloric fruits and veggies, a few nuts are NOT going to hurt. Obviously, one doesn't just want to load up on a whole cupful of nuts at a single meal, but a few in the salad or with the fruit are just fine. Save the special raw desserts for treats. As you get more accustomed to raw, and past the cravings, your body will tell you what agrees with it and what doesn't.
As far as monitoring one's blood pressure and other things, just hold off, unless there's really a reason you have to do it daily(like a diabetic doing their daily blood sugar readings, for instance). It can take a number of months for certain readings to turn around, again, the older you are, the longer this might take it seems.
In my own case, I'm 61, went mostly raw last year, and it wasn't until 3 months in that I had a detox episode at all, and my skin still goes back and forth between looking good and just eh! I do have people telling me that my skin looks very good, and that I look like late 40's maybe.
Wishing you the very best of luck in this very important venture!

[mattshor]

If I remember I'll measure with my audiometer just how loud my vitamix is, but I wouldn't worry about using it because of fear of hearing damage. I doubt that it breaks 90dB and there is no reason that it should ever be on for more than a minute or so at a time (after all, at around 1 min it will start cooking your food)

[T-Bird]

I didn't want to chime in before - lest I be discouraging instead of encouraging.

But now I think I have to!!!!


Because I have a similar background: long time veggie, many years vegan, and trying to be pretty healthy during that time. Fasted etc.


I'm at 11 weeks 100% - and I still haven't hit "pay dirt" yet. I also started a thread - and never really got a satisfactory answer. Like "it will happen in 3.5 more days!" "or eat X, and it will start!";)

I'm still waiting - for effortless weight loss, happy positive attitude, soaring energy. But not much has changed. I think there are some tiny, incremental advancements, but nothing like the instant sun coming from behind the clouds.

So I'm left with 2 theories:

1) Maybe since we were eating healthier than SAD - that we went into a slow steady detox - rather than the rapid cycling others go through - immediate wonderful followed by a flu - but they have that "wonderful" to hold on to through the flu. So changes will be incremental, slow, etc.

2) Something was much more seriously wrong than I imagined - close to liver failure (because of the no weight loss - liver needs to metabolize the fats), I had cancer and didn't know it - so my body is working FT on that rather than glowing skin and rainbow energy.

Advice for you:

Make sure you're doing it "right" - read some books, etc. Make sure you're getting vitamins D and B12.

If weight loss is one of your major goals - make sure you're drinking a lot of water and getting some exercise. Some muscle building and some cardio - even if you start small.

Stick with it without too much deprivation (giving up on nuts already). Work on making it a viable lifestyle you can live with - hit your stride with the new food regime i.e. you can't imaging going back. Then assess your goals and tweek the program little by little.

[circle]

don't expect immediate results.

how long have you been making decisions that combat your health? has it been more then two weeks?

results are different for everyone, and come in different forms and at different times in different ways.

also, life is a trial and error process.

good luck. i hope you find what you are looking for. <33

[SweetTangerine]

Each time I went raw, it took me about 3-4 weeks to notice any change and feel better. Like everyone said, years of SAD can't be fixed in two weeks. Don't give up!