High energy needs - trouble feeling satisfied

[dgmulf]

Hey there. First post on the forum. Great community you've got here. =)

I'm trying to do the whole, raw diet thing... not strictly, but at least 80-90% raw, for sure.

I tend to need a high-calorie diet. Even in the past when I was eating more meat and breads and cheese and the like, I was basically eating till I was stuffed and my doctor was telling me to gain weight.

So as you can imagine, now that I'm trying to eat raw, I'm attracted to the rich and fatty whole foods like avocados, nuts, seeds. My problem is, avocados get tiresome after awhile, and the nuts/seeds feel a little harsh on my digestive system. Even after soaking.

Hemp seed seems to be one of the friendliest fat sources so far, but they still leave me feeling slightly uncomfortable.

How can I stick to the raw/whole food diet, meet my high calorie requirements, AND feel good doing it?

[Arky]

If you have great difficulty maintaining or increasing weight, have you eliminated one or more of the following possibilities?:


Bowel inflammation

Intestinal parasites

Thyroid over-activity

Insufficient stomach acid

Pancreatic insufficiency


Do you have any medical symptoms other than difficulty gaining weight (no matter how trivial they might seem)?

I would highly recommend you invest in a Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis - e.g. Metametrix, Great Plains, Genova Diagnostics etc. - I've had this done, myself (albeit for other reasons). I went with Metametrix but all these labs are well-respected and have been in the industry for many years.

It's not cheap and you'll need to go through a clinician/practitioner but it is worth it to identify any underlying issues which you may not be aware of and which may very well be contributing to your inability to reach your ideal weight. When I began addressing bowel inflammation, my weight increased very naturally to a more healthy level.

[dgmulf]

Thanks for the reply.


Do you have any medical symptoms other than difficulty gaining weight (no matter how trivial they might seem)?

I'm pretty sure I have mild acid reflux. That's it, though.

Surely if there were a possibility of some illness causing my difficulty in gaining weight, my doctor would have recommended further testing? My doc just chalked it up to high metabolism.

[Arky]

Thanks for the reply.



I'm pretty sure I have mild acid reflux. That's it, though.

Surely if there were a possibility of some illness causing my difficulty in gaining weight, my doctor would have recommended further testing? My doc just chalked it up to high metabolism.

Perhaps.
Perhaps not.

Testing would enable you to find out.

It was certainly worth it for me, and I say that as someone who'd previously been told by a consultant gastroenterologist that there was nothing wrong with my and that I'd only strained an abdominal muscle.

Turns out I had chronic inflammation of the bowel along with pancreatic insufficiency, amongst other things. Doctors deserve respect but they aren't gods and their perspective is limited by the paradigm in which they've been trained. Objective, scientific lab-based testing, and assessment by a doctor trained in an alternative paradigm can (sometimes) result in an entirely different conclusion or diagnosis.

None of this is intended to alarm or worry you - that would be utterly missing the point. All I'm saying is that if you and your doctor feel you are struggling to attain your ideal weight, then it is only logical and intelligent ask further questions and to contemplate whether there might be some contributory factor(s) to your situation, that neither of you has yet considered, that's all.

Aside from the pain of open-wallet surgery for the lab tests, there is no pain involved, samples can be taken by yourself, in the privacy of your own home, mailed to the lab, and the tests results are generally completed within 10-14 days.

I did, and I'm very thankful I had the sense to keep searching for answers.

[Stina]

I'd recommend a diet bountiful in fruit.

[dime]

Why do you have high energy needs, are you doing some sport?

Best way to get extra energy is with fruit juices, you can even add sugar/dextrose to them if the juice alone is not enough.

[dgmulf]

Thanks for the heads-up Arky. I suppose it would be prudent to get some testing done, just in case.


Why do you have high energy needs, are you doing some sport?

No. Just regular jogging / weight lifting, but I presume I don't really push it any harder than most people here.

It runs in the family. My dad had the same problem.


Re: fruit -- Yeah, I've also had an instinctive desire to consume a lot of fruit. At some point you just feel sick of it though.

Maybe I'd be able to tolerate the nuts and seeds better if I somehow combined them differently in meals? Should I eat nuts and seeds on an empty stomach? Should I eat each nut / seed separately? Should I blend them into my daily GS?

Maybe raw just isn't for everyone. Maybe I have a body type that really is not well suited for raw, and I should cut back to only 50-60% raw.

[modernmonkey]

If you are only 80-90% raw, you haven't really tried raw. See how you go on 100% before you rule it out as 'for you'. Why would you not be suited? It's as nature intended? I think you just haven't figured out yet what your body needs. If you make yourself feel sick on fruit I would say were full and nutritionally satisfied. If you still want food when you are full something needs addressing. I can't help there. Maybe a juice fast?

[green goddess]

Maybe raw just isn't for everyone. Maybe I have a body type that really is not well suited for raw, and I should cut back to only 50-60% raw.

Just a thought - how can anything you eat be better for you cooked than raw? What would you have the 40-50% cooked food be?

For helping high energy needs, I would recommend green smoothies! Use lots of bananas, as they are calorically dense, and dates, too, as they also pack quite a sustained-energy punch. And lots of greens in the smoothie! I'm loving chard right now - it adds a bit of a chocolately flavour, I find, which would go nicely with the bananas and dates!

Good luck!

[dgmulf]

^ Funny that you mention the green smoothies -- just a couple days ago I had my first, and instantly fell in love. ;) Going to start making one every day. We'll see how that works out.

Re: cooked food -- Well, I didn't really mean that I would start cooking my foods. More like, I would add processed and therefore more densely caloric foods to my diet. For me "raw" is synonymous with "whole and unprocessed".

Re: 100% raw -- you're right. I can't really knock it until I actually give it a shot. Problem is, I'm living with very SAD parents, if you dig (;)), and since they're the ones buying the groceries, it's a little difficult.



Thanks for the replies, guys, I really do appreciate any attempts to help. =)



I wonder if I would have circumvented this problem if I were raised on raw food...

[dime]

Maybe I'd be able to tolerate the nuts and seeds better if I somehow combined them differently in meals? Should I eat nuts and seeds on an empty stomach? Should I eat each nut / seed separately? Should I blend them into my daily GS?

Maybe raw just isn't for everyone. Maybe I have a body type that really is not well suited for raw, and I should cut back to only 50-60% raw.

Eat only one type at a time (e.g. just almonds) and never mix nuts and seeds. Usually it's no problem if you've eaten something before, but once you eat nuts/seeds don't eat anything for 2-3 hours (avoid even drinking water). That works perfectly fine for me, and before going raw I haven't really eaten nuts/seeds much at all, except for some hazelnuts/almonds in autumn (I have these trees in the backyard).

Raw is for everyone, you just need to adjust it to you individually, experiment a bit and see what works.

[Psychalone]

Hey there. First post on the forum. Great community you've got here. =)

I'm trying to do the whole, raw diet thing... not strictly, but at least 80-90% raw, for sure.

I tend to need a high-calorie diet. Even in the past when I was eating more meat and breads and cheese and the like, I was basically eating till I was stuffed and my doctor was telling me to gain weight.

So as you can imagine, now that I'm trying to eat raw, I'm attracted to the rich and fatty whole foods like avocados, nuts, seeds. My problem is, avocados get tiresome after awhile, and the nuts/seeds feel a little harsh on my digestive system. Even after soaking.

Hemp seed seems to be one of the friendliest fat sources so far, but they still leave me feeling slightly uncomfortable.

How can I stick to the raw/whole food diet, meet my high calorie requirements, AND feel good doing it?

Well first of all, cheese, bread and meat are the 3 most ADDICTIVE (http://www.danmahony.com/bigfood2.htm) substances off all foods. They're all very high in opiods, look them up. You're probably going to have to detox them out of your system, so having a good "replacement"/"transition" foods to fall back on may help if you run into trouble. You could try nut cheese and pates. If you don't end up craving them then good, but i thought i'd mention that in case you do. Bread was a tough one for me, so was dairy.


Anyway energy-wise i've found fruit to be the most effective and efficient source. However if you're worried about calories I can see your attraction to nuts and seeds, however, as you've stated, the digestibility is just plain terrible...until you sprout them. I've been saying alot about sprouts here. Check out some of my other post like:
http://rawfoodtalk.com/showpost.php?p=655370&postcount=15

which shows the nutritional superiority of sprouts. Plus if you're looking for calories, seeds are where it's at. Sunflower and pumpkin are the better ones. Seeds like flax and chia are good too but take a special means of sprouting as the seeds a gelatinous. Plus sprouting seeds breaks down the proteins into amino acids for easier assimilation and use for building muscle tissue. If you still have trouble with sprouted seeds, try an ACTIVE enzyme supplement. To check if an enzyme supplement is active or not see the tests here : http://rawfoodtalk.com/showpost.php?p=654536&postcount=4

I'm not gonna lie, the transition may involve certain discomfort. For example the stomach will be less bloated and begin to shrink, is the intestines are inflamed, the inflammation will lessen. The pancreas will likely return to it's normal size after being over-worked. Mentally your awareness will be raised, you won't be as numb and sedated as when you were on cooked foods. This means you may be more sensitive to things and you may start to become aware of small aches or certain "energies" from people or situations. You may be more easily bothered by things like cigarette smoke, you may smell food stronger, etc. So just be aware that you'll likely be more aware of things. One of the allures of destructive habits like cooked foods and alcohol and drugs is that it numbs you to things.

May peace and freedom be yours my friend!

[dime]

Sunflower and pumpkin are the better ones.

Seeds like sunflower and pumpkin seem to digest somewhat harder for me than nuts (even after soaking for a day).