gecko
12-24-2009, 04:23 PM
Been lurking around for a few weeks but thought I should introduce myself/ourselves.
I'm 41, male from the midlands of England. Have been overweight for "ever" and the only time I've ever consistently lost weight was in the early '00's when I was on Atkins! However, it was that experience that taught me a lot about food until I learnt enough to see the real dangers of that diet! I was 261 lbs in 2001 and dropped to 200 by 2003 but then gave up on Atkins. Between 2003 and 2009 I slipped back into all the old ways (pizza, chinese etc) until I once again hit 261 lbs in October and decided that something had to change. I've also become thoroughly fed up of meat being dreadful quality and pumped full of all sorts of rubbish. I decided something had to change and started looking into ways I could change...knowing that vegetarianism was at least part of the solution...
My wife used to be very slim, but was diagnosed with underactive thyroid in 2000 and her weight ballooned. Atkins, again, got it under control but just like me, was horrified at the content of the diet and packed in the same time as I did. She's gained steadily since then and reached 166 lbs in October 2009. In addition, shes also been diagnosed with Menieres disease and the doctors said she needed to eliminate caffeine and tightly restrict salt intake.
The restricted salt meant that my idea of "normal" vegetarianism was off the agenda (cheese is a weakness for both of us!). Searching for ideas on low salt diet lead me to various Raw Food sites and we decided to look into it further and here we are! We've been introducing Raw meals into our diet gradually over the last month, drinking green smoothies instead of grabbing the sandwich for lunch etc and both feel better and lighter (I'm down to 248, she's at 160).
We've therefore decided that January 2010 is a new start and we'll do our best to go (almost) 100% Raw...just not sure we can get (or afford) 100% but we'll do the best we can. We are gearing up in the last week of the year and there is no meat/cheese planned in the next week - but xmas can be difficult so deliberately not setting ourselves up to fail by saying we start now.
I've learnt a lot off this forum already and hope you'll all help us along too.
Thanks.
Gecko & Mrs Gecko
I'm 41, male from the midlands of England. Have been overweight for "ever" and the only time I've ever consistently lost weight was in the early '00's when I was on Atkins! However, it was that experience that taught me a lot about food until I learnt enough to see the real dangers of that diet! I was 261 lbs in 2001 and dropped to 200 by 2003 but then gave up on Atkins. Between 2003 and 2009 I slipped back into all the old ways (pizza, chinese etc) until I once again hit 261 lbs in October and decided that something had to change. I've also become thoroughly fed up of meat being dreadful quality and pumped full of all sorts of rubbish. I decided something had to change and started looking into ways I could change...knowing that vegetarianism was at least part of the solution...
My wife used to be very slim, but was diagnosed with underactive thyroid in 2000 and her weight ballooned. Atkins, again, got it under control but just like me, was horrified at the content of the diet and packed in the same time as I did. She's gained steadily since then and reached 166 lbs in October 2009. In addition, shes also been diagnosed with Menieres disease and the doctors said she needed to eliminate caffeine and tightly restrict salt intake.
The restricted salt meant that my idea of "normal" vegetarianism was off the agenda (cheese is a weakness for both of us!). Searching for ideas on low salt diet lead me to various Raw Food sites and we decided to look into it further and here we are! We've been introducing Raw meals into our diet gradually over the last month, drinking green smoothies instead of grabbing the sandwich for lunch etc and both feel better and lighter (I'm down to 248, she's at 160).
We've therefore decided that January 2010 is a new start and we'll do our best to go (almost) 100% Raw...just not sure we can get (or afford) 100% but we'll do the best we can. We are gearing up in the last week of the year and there is no meat/cheese planned in the next week - but xmas can be difficult so deliberately not setting ourselves up to fail by saying we start now.
I've learnt a lot off this forum already and hope you'll all help us along too.
Thanks.
Gecko & Mrs Gecko