Been reading for months and now the intro

[quigman]

I thought I would introduce myself since I have been voraciously reading this website for the last month. I am 42 and about 100 lbs over an optimal weight, long time SAD eater now moving towards RAW. I am doing this to gain health, energy and to lose weight. I want to be healthy and then have the weight go off.
Before I started this, I would need a couple of cups of coffee in the afternoon. Although I am not 100% RAW yet, I don't need the coffee on days when I am close to RAW, and I get really tired in the afternoon without it.

Anyway, I wanted to thank you for the information and differing viewpoints and the level of tolerance. I have read on some other vegan and raw vegan boards and some times it seems like the way that people are making the decision to go this way is this:
> I think eating meat is wrong;
> I think that any processing of food is damaging;
>> therefore, it must be healthier to eat raw vegan diet must be healthier.

My attraction to this way of eating is that it has a certain amount of common sense in it. I think everyone knows that the healthiest things to eat are fruits and vegetables, and that heavily processed foods are (generally? always?? I don't know) terrible for you. So if the vast majority of your foods are raw (not processed at all) fruits and vegetables, it should be very healthy. and it seems to be, by my own experience.
my logic is this;
> I think fruits and vegetables are the healthiest foods;
> I think that any processing of food is damaging;
>> therefore, it must be healthier to eat raw vegan diet must be healthier.

I will post as I progress, right now I would say that I have been eating 80% raw this month, my goal for June is 90-95% raw, (maybe 1 or 2 meals that are cooked, or a little rice) and then RAW.

-- a caveat, I am not making vegans who are vegans for moral reasons wrong; I think that that is a great reason to be a vegan; maybe the best one, but I am not one of the people viewing it this way at this time. I believe living by your convictions is more important than eating healthy food. But since I am not there I appreciate that I haven't seen anyone making a religion out of eating raw or focusing on the moral aspects of the vegan diet on this site. Thank you all for that gift.
At this point I would switch to a high fat or high protein diet if it was going to provide optimal health. (and I know it won't otherwise, I would have been an energetic son of a gun. I am primarily doing this to boost health and energy levels.

[The French One]

Welcome here!

My only advice to you, since you seem to have radically changed your lifestyle, would be this:
- try to get exercise, at least twice a week. Just choose an activity you like and that won't be a chore;
- LISTEN to your body. I say this because you already seem to have planned you "raw evolution". Sometimes, people fail staying raw because they were too ambitious at first and feel deprived. It's not a matter of eating right or wrong, but listen to your body and spend as much time in the transition as your body will need.
- Finally, use and abuse super food, like maca powder, goji berries, kelp, blue algae etc. They're full of nutrients and can easily be added in a smoothie.
- And I forgot, invest in a blender, but sprouting and dehydrator can come later, when you'll feel secured in your new lifestyle habit.

Nice to see a new raw foodist, I can tell you that the changes in health will show very quickly.
Good luck to you!

[jesslcochran]

Hi and welcome! Everyone is here and raw for their own reasons. I kind of like that because you get to see different sides of being raw.

My personal advice would be to have some transition raw foods available to you. For me this is raw deserts, crackers, etc. For example, when I'm seriously craving something sweet I'll eat a small slice of my date nut torte (recipe is Living on Live Foods). It is so rich, so sweet, and so yummy. I feel better after eating it.

Crackers are also good. I never make mine the same way. Once I got them to taste like wheat thins and I've been trying to remember how I did that. lol Anyway, crackers help when you're craving chips or something like that. They're really good with a raw hummus or something.

*hugs* It seems overwhelming at first but after a while it feels natural.

Also don't sweat it if you find yourself going off the raw wagon. Just dust yourself off and get back on. That's what I do. I've had trouble staying 100% raw though I know I feel my absolute best when raw.

*hugs*
Jess

[quigman]

thanks for the advice French One, I got a vitamix when I decided to do this, so I have the blender. I have been drinking spinach and banana and orange smoothies.
I have been enjoying the food so it hasn't been hard, the only slipups have been going to end of school year events, birthdays, etc. That and I had 2 salads with cooked black beans on it, (not much cooked food). My energy has been really good. The reason I estimated at 80% raw was because I wasn't food journaling strictly enough to give a definite figure.
I am trying to get close to 80 10 10 because I followed pritikin 20 years ago, and I felt great on it but it was very, very hard to eat enough rice and potatoes to get the calories I need. The fact that 80 10 10 lets me eat a lot of fruit is something that is 'do-able' for me.
I do think this is is ambitious, so the advice to listen to my body will need to be heeded. If I start having problems, I will slow it down. My goal is to be very healthy with high energy.

and thanks for the input, jesslcochran; my cravings aren't so much for sweets but for heavier food (meat-like food). I will keep those ideas in mind if I start wanting sweets. When I was eating vegetarian I would eat black beans or something like it when I wanted heavier food. I don't know what I will find to combat those desires yet might have to fight through it. Any input is always welcome.

[spicyfull]

I wish you everything you need to Stay RAW........Welcome to MY World.

[The French One]

thanks for the advice French One, I got a vitamix when I decided to do this, so I have the blender. I have been drinking spinach and banana and orange smoothies.
[...]
I am trying to get close to 80 10 10 because I followed pritikin 20 years ago, and I felt great on it but it was very, very hard to eat enough rice and potatoes to get the calories I need. The fact that 80 10 10 lets me eat a lot of fruit is something that is 'do-able' for me.
I do think this is is ambitious, so the advice to listen to my body will need to be heeded. If I start having problems, I will slow it down. My goal is to be very healthy with high energy.

and thanks for the input, jesslcochran; my cravings aren't so much for sweets but for heavier food (meat-like food). I will keep those ideas in mind if I start wanting sweets. When I was eating vegetarian I would eat black beans or something like it when I wanted heavier food. I don't know what I will find to combat those desires yet might have to fight through it. Any input is always welcome.

Hi! Nice to see that your journey is smooth. But don't worry too much about calories. Just eat when you are hungry. You will soon realize that you need less calories in raw food than you would in a SAD diet. Why? Because your body gets all the nutrients he need and you absorb them better than in SAD food. There are testimonies of athletes eating raw that actually say they eat really less calories than before, but their strength got higher.

[jesslcochran]

and thanks for the input, jesslcochran; my cravings aren't so much for sweets but for heavier food (meat-like food). I will keep those ideas in mind if I start wanting sweets. When I was eating vegetarian I would eat black beans or something like it when I wanted heavier food. I don't know what I will find to combat those desires yet might have to fight through it. Any input is always welcome.

Have you tried recipes that are nut heavy? In Alissa's book there is a recipe for fettucini alfredo. The fettucini is squash and zucchini peelings and the alfredo is made of nuts. It's really yummy and the nuts make it kind of heavy.

*hugs*
Jess

[Ocean]

Welcome! I've only recently started posting as well, I'm doing the raw diet for health reasons.

I wanted to comment on the morally vegan comment.

I too changed my diet for health reasons. Became vegetarian in 1998 overnight (and never looked back), for health reasons. I didn't know anyone did it for moral reasons at the time! I was doing it as part of the Hallelujah Diet (a mostly raw, vegan diet).

Almost 7 years later (just about exactly seven actually), the moral aspect hit me like a ton of bricks. Duh! Why hadn't I seen it earlier?????

I do it for both reasons now and after having not eaten meat in over 11 years, it sounds strange to me.

Anyhow, the body replaces every cell within 7 years (many are replaced sooner, but you have a 100% new body in 7 years)! I don't know if this is why it happened to me 7 years later, when every last cell made with meat was gone, but it was very cool I must say!

Don't worry, no one will try to convict you morally here it seems, everyone is pretty even keeled and intelligent (from what I can tell on my short time here), and very helpful and friendly.

You've found a great place to go raw my friend!!!


Ocean

[Frugal Raw]

Welcome!! I wish you the best of rawesome health!!