tips for gaining weight on raw?

[ctbizzle]

I'm looking into becoming raw for health and energy reasons but I do not want to lose weight. I did the raw challenge in the past for 30 days - it felt amazing but it was not something I wanted to maintain at the time. I lost a little weight then but didn't mind as I had a little to lose.

I'm currently breast feeding our 6 month old son and I'm 9 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight and, in my opinion, am too thin. I've virtually lost my appetite since giving birth. (No pp depression at all, just not hungry.) I'm wondering if anyone has had experiencing gaining their appetite back with raw and/or gaining some weight. I also am concerned that my husband would freak out if I lost more weight while being raw as he's already a bit concerned.

[Veganforlife]

Hey! First off - EAT! and eat often incorporating all the good fats, nuts, avocados, coconut butter/oil...in smoothies and as meals and such. No wonder you are thin - you are NOT eating...

Your body is gonna do what IT feels it should do and if you eat 100% Raw, it won't get you too thin...YOU are depriving it and that's why you are where you are in your weight.

[Raw Angel Mom]

Weight lifting/exercise (people think this make you loose weight when in truth it normalizes your body. If you need to loose weight you will, if you need to gain you will too). I was underweight all my life and when i started to do exercise and weight lifting it normalized. So much that i had to watch what i eat for not getting too much weight, lol...

Maca powder
Gojii berries
cacao
Eat food rich in nutrients so your body can use what it needs.

Listen to your body.

Consider to do a fasting. You will loose weight during the fasting and heal your body in a deeper level, but you will gain it back and more. Because your body will think that you are in a famine period and your metabolism will slow down.

I am not a doctor, please do your research

[Green_Woman]

RAW Foods stabilize your body and until your body finds its equilibrium your weight may go up or it may go down. :)

I was underweight (like you, just had no appetite for a very long time and thus did not eat) when I ate High Raw last year for several months. I gained 10 lbs and was healthier than at any other point in my life! I hope this encourages you.

You will find a balance. Give 100% RAW a try for a month and just see what happens.

[rawnutt]

I have been raw for about 2 1/2 months now, I am about 10 kg underweight and looks like I have a mild case of candida. I want to gain this weight back, I have cut out all fruits because I think I have overdone it with the G.S.
If anyone has some real factual evidence experience on how to fix this, would be great to share your information and knowledge.

:)

[Green_Woman]

Rawnutt: without more information, I'm not going to "diagnose" anything here, but I will suggest you read Gabriel Cousen's RAINBOW GREEN LIVE-FOOD CUISINE and consider following his approach outlined in the book.

My fiance had Systemic Candida (at one point, it made him literally deathly ill). He doesn't deal with it anymore. ;)

[rawnutt]

Rawnutt: without more information, I'm not going to "diagnose" anything here, but I will suggest you read Gabriel Cousen's RAINBOW GREEN LIVE-FOOD CUISINE and consider following his approach outlined in the book.

My fiance had Systemic Candida (at one point, it made him literally deathly ill). He doesn't deal with it anymore. ;)

ok thanks I will look into it.

:)

[chilove]

I have been raw for about 2 1/2 months now, I am about 10 kg underweight and looks like I have a mild case of candida. I want to gain this weight back, I have cut out all fruits because I think I have overdone it with the G.S.
If anyone has some real factual evidence experience on how to fix this, would be great to share your information and knowledge.

:)

Hi Rawnutt,

Dr. Douglas Graham's approach to dealing with candida helped me. Check out his website at foodnsport.com or his book 80/10/10.

Blessings,

Audrey

[TaupeRawMan]

Rawnutt,

what does a typical day's fare look like for you?

[rawnutt]

Rawnutt,

what does a typical day's fare look like for you?

Hi,
do you mean how do I feel? or what I eat? or both?

[TaupeRawMan]

Hi,
do you mean how do I feel? or what I eat? or both?

Sorry. I meant what do you eat?

[rawnutt]

Sorry. I meant what do you eat?

I used to have a GS (1 litre) every morning with about 2-3 fruits and 1-2 greens in good amounts, adding flax seed, hemp seeds, linseed, bee pollen, cacao powder and maca powder on rotation 2-3 of them max at the same time.

For lunch I would have vegetables (carrots, parsnips, onions, garlic, celery, cabbage, zucchini, kale, lettuce, beetroot, dill...) the whole shabang again having maximum of 5 ingredients at once

had nuts like almonds, walnuts, pine nuts... cold pressed olive oil.

drinking plenty of water in between meals

dinner would have soups and plenty of vegetables, GS sometimes, or similar to lunch.
a lot of avocados.

realised that it would be hard to meet daily calorie target eating just veg and nuts so I assume that is why I lost all the weight.

In the meantime during the raw transition, I had some crazy insane periods of sweet tooth which I didn't make anything of at the time and a few weeks ago it was quite bad so I went to doctor to get it checked and I was diagnosed with candida!!!! Why now though???
Since then I have decided to lower my fruit intake, I re-inserted organic meats (once or twice per week) in my diet,
I decided to go easy on the whole raw 100%, no need to be that strict on myself.

I think the raw food ideology is really amazing, it helps you get rid of all the bad sugars and sodium in the system, basically SAD toxins, but the problem with this for me me unfortunately is that I have lost too much weight and it made sense to stock up a little fat especially during winter periods, also I would like to lower my 100% raw to 75% so that my system can still recognise conventional commercial foods and raw foods, As long as I respect the food combining rule and stay away from refined sugars and salt, I am safe.
I do know that approx 3 months is short to judge but I have been strict 100% raw and the underweight issue was really bothering me.
What are your thoughts about this?

[Marin Mom]

Ctbizzle- how do you feel now? I also cannot gain weight for the life of me on raw- oils, avocados and nuts didn't help, and made me feel sluggish if I had too much. My body seems to want to stablize at a certain number no matter what I do. The only thing that put a few lbs. on me was going off 100% raw to high raw, which included a little steamed veggies, quinoa, millet,etc.

We are all so different so I believe we should be free to experiement to see what works best for us.

[Green_Woman]

I do know that approx 3 months is short to judge but I have been strict 100% raw and the underweight issue was really bothering me.

Well, I have to agree with you. 3 months is too soon to judge. ;)

First, going back to meat is not gonna help you. You may gain weight, sure, but consider the whole picture of what that choice is taking from you, and from the animals that are dying to feed you... unnecessarily. (This is my thoughts, you may take them or leave them.) And on that note, just remember this is a Raw VEGAN forum. ;)

Second, what I have experienced in the past (when at least twice as long all-raw as you have been now) is that even though I did lose considerable weight, I would eventually gain back what was needed and my weight would stabilize.

Third, by whose standards are you judging that you are "underweight"? Don't use the standard medical BMI charts... those things are rather poor and inaccurate, at best! But rather, are you HEALTHY? is your IMMUNE-SYSTEM strong? do you have consistent/decent ENERGY?

Just remember: Your body didn't get to where is is today in just a short 3 months... maybe you need to give yourself longer than 3 months to experience Health and Balance on raw?

[Green_Woman]

also I would like to lower my 100% raw to 75% so that my system can still recognise conventional commercial foods and raw foods, As long as I respect the food combining rule and stay away from refined sugars and salt, I am safe.

P.S. Hmmmm... sorry.... but you're NOT "safe" if you really do want to keep eating Conventional Commercial Foods. :) I strongly suggest that you go watch FOOD, Inc (http://www.matttrailer.com/food_inc_2009) on Youtube or Hulu tonight.

[rawnutt]

Ctbizzle- how do you feel now? I also cannot gain weight for the life of me on raw- oils, avocados and nuts didn't help, and made me feel sluggish if I had too much. My body seems to want to stablize at a certain number no matter what I do. The only thing that put a few lbs. on me was going off 100% raw to high raw, which included a little steamed veggies, quinoa, millet,etc.

We are all so different so I believe we should be free to experiement to see what works best for us.

Hi,
somedays I feel good and somedays not amazing as it is also winter season it is quite challenging to keep warm and motivated. Ever since starting the raw food diet. The following things have happened.
- had head rushes for 3 first weeks, haven't had any since
- boost of energy in the beginning and kind of feeling slugish these days.
- need less sleep
- ever since I have embarked on the raw diet, I have experience total loss of libido. ????? according to few articles, being underweight promotes loss of libido and hormone imbalances, I was never like that before.
- my body rejects alcohol and does not need it, I used to love drinking beers and getting drunk prior to this diet.
- I have had intense small periods of sugar cravings, sweet tooth.
- white coating on tongue plus white and red spots which indicates possible case of candida, but it is really difficult to tell if it is or not even with professional testing.
- 10 kg underweight

so that is where I am after 3 months of being raw.

[rawnutt]

Well, I have to agree with you. 3 months is too soon to judge. ;)

First, going back to meat is not gonna help you. You may gain weight, sure, but consider the whole picture of what that choice is taking from you, and from the animals that are dying to feed you... unnecessarily. (This is my thoughts, you may take them or leave them.) And on that note, just remember this is a Raw VEGAN forum. ;)

Second, what I have experienced in the past (when at least twice as long all-raw as you have been now) is that even though I did lose considerable weight, I would eventually gain back what was needed and my weight would stabilize.

Third, by whose standards are you judging that you are "underweight"? Don't use the standard medical BMI charts... those things are rather poor and inaccurate, at best! But rather, are you HEALTHY? is your IMMUNE-SYSTEM strong? do you have consistent/decent ENERGY?

Just remember: Your body didn't get to where is is today in just a short 3 months... maybe you need to give yourself longer than 3 months to experience Health and Balance on raw?

Hey,
1. I agree with you on the animal food, it is just so difficult to keep the calories going without dairy and meat.
2. You mentioned that you have lost weight in the past, how much underweight were you? and how long did it take you to stabilize, did you experience any problems during this period?

Being underweight can promote few issues:

- hormonal inbalances
- hair loss
- osteoporisis
- anemia
please correct me if I am wrong about this.

3. Yes I based it on the bmi but being 10 kgs approx below standards is a lot to me.
I haven't been 100% great since winter has hit, and a few symptoms have emerged in the last few weeks which has got me a little worried.
But I haven't caught any bugs or have gotten the flu, I usually always get the flu during winter season, but my symptoms are making me question if this raw diet is right for me.

Finally, yes 3 months is a very very short time to start making final judgments. I am planning to visit a nutritionist and learn more about what is best for me.