Need some direction..feeling lost

[RawGirl4Health]

Hi All! I am thoroughly tired of researching nutrition! I am ready to toss in my towel :/ One would think that someone who spends sooo many hours researching nutrition/health/raw/vegan blabla diets would have all the answers. I am getting discouraged. My background: SAD growing up, teased a bit for always being kinda "chubby" even a lil by my parents :(... hardcore dieter as a result which even probably contributed to my failed marriage. I am now alone and trying to embrace my newfound freedom and dating world is just so hard. I got SO fed up last month i did a 30 day juice feast, lost over 20 lbs, but it is slowly finding its way back onto my hips :( ... I am always confusing myself by reading different things: low fat, high carb, fruitarian, 80/10/10, paleo, raw omnivore, etc. FED UP I TELL YA!

I am going to try to just focus on 100% RAW I suppose, and stop worrying so much.. and see what happens. I am so terrified of FAT even raw FAT after reading about how even raw we shouldn't be eating barely any fats. But then i turn to fruit, which possibly hampers my weightlosses due to sugars. Do I need to worry about raw sugars?

I DID manage to do high raw for mostly 2 years, and went back calculating my #'s / averages which came out to something like: 70/20/10, however I didn't really track ratios i mostly focused on doing raw.

Can those of you who managed to lose down to your goal pipe in here and maybe give me some inspiration? I really need it. I am feeling stressed.

On a good note: I got myself a dehydrator! (yay!) and have in general been waking up feeling energized. However, this morning I saw another +2lbs on the scale (yesterday I ate a lot of cooked starch plus raw so it was all over the place!) and this morning actually binged! I had raw bar, raw brownies that i made, manna bread toasted w/ coconut oil... i feel like a downward spiral.

However, I am also coming to the realization that I am a stress eater! I have stuff going on w/ various "guys" in my life, and family coming to town this weekend, likely contributing to this mornings "binge" as if eating is going to "solve" any of my problems! :(

help me!! (ps - i am wondering that maybe my TOM is around the corner as well, this could explain a few things....OK yes I checked, TOM is indeed right around the corner.... hmmmm maybe i ought to just calm down and try to focus on RAW and ME for awhile, rather then dating etc!?)

xoxo

[ReneeH]

Hi there!

If you don't have Alissa's 1st book, Living on Live Food, please get it. It's got TONS if recipes and her advise is golden! Once you read it, all questions above in your text will be answered. Alissa's philosophy is this: eat whatever you want, as long as its uncooked fruits, veggies, sprouted nuts, sprouted seeds, and sprouted grains. Her book has almost 300 recipes, so you'll never get bored.

100% Raw is a fabulous goal! I honestly couldn't do it without Alissa. So glad you're here! :hug

[Revvell]

I'm with Renee. Alissa's first book and dvd set is all you need.

[robh]

rg4h,

I am sorry to hear that you are frustrated.

Walnuts, and sunflower seeds are loaded with polyunsaturated fat. This kind of fat is healthy for your heart. It will lower the bad cholesterol and raise the good cholesterol. On top of that, it makes you full and it's got calories to power your body. You can't go wrong with raw fats. Eat what you want (avocados are my favorite form of fat in my diet). The only one that I kind of stay clear of is coconut oil. It's the only saturated plant fat out there. I still eat some coconut here and there, but I don't eat it every day.

Fruit has a special relationship with sugar. It's not going to make you gain weight. In fact, it seems that the more fruit you eat (as opposed to fats), the more weight you'll lose. I know this from personal experience. I spent 3-4 weeks eating mostly veggies and snacking on nuts when I was hungry. I too was afraid of all the sugar in fruit. I hit a weight loss plataea during this time. I didn't know what the problem was until I increased my fruit intake and decreased my fat intake. Then, I started losing weight again.

It sounds like you've been doing raw for a while. When you do raw, don't you find the cravings go away? They do for me. To be honest, if I wasn't exposed to cooked food on a daily basis, I'd never think about it. If you are craving food, I would assume it's because you're not getting enough calories. Eat more fruit! Especially if you exercise. You body needs energy to move. Eat fruit until the cravings go away. It works and you'll loose weight (as weird as it sounds).

Anyway, just my two cents.

good luck :)

[Living Food]

The only one that I kind of stay clear of is coconut oil. It's the only saturated plant fat out there. I still eat some coconut here and there, but I don't eat it every day.

3 things:

1. Coconut oil is not the only kind of saturated plant fat, there are other tropical oils that are saturated (such as palm oil).

2. Saturated fat is actually better for you then most unsaturated fats (I know that's hard to swallow). We've been lied to because of the profits generated in the sale of vegetable oils.

3. Coconut oil is actually used by many people (quite successfully) to lose fat; coconut oil contains a special type of saturated fat called medium chain fatty acids/triglycerides (as opposed to the very long chain fatty acids present in most other plant fats, which take much longer to digest), which are sent to the liver and immediately used for energy, dramatically raising your metabolism.

Most people tend to lose excess weight by consuming more fat and less carbohydrates (farmers, for example, have known this for centuries; when they want to fatten up their livestock they put them on diets high in grains), but you should also keep in mind that many weight problems are caused by ill health in general - digestive issues, parasites, candida (a big one), hormonal imbalances, the list goes on and on. Just eating raw food will help you to balance your health and, eventually, your weight. Doing a good colon cleanse, in conjunction with enemas and possibly colonics, can do miracles for people's weight and state of well-being.

You might want to try sprouting the nuts and seeds that you eat. This not only makes them far more nutritious, but also much easier to digest, which means much less stress on your body. Stress, physical as well as mental, can be a major contributor to weight gain (and make it seemingly impossible to lose).

By the way, I'd steer clear of excessive fruit intake, but that's just me...whatever works for you.