Why am I hungry when I eat rawfood?

[Mona]

Every time I try to eat raw food for some days I feel hungry all the time. It´s hard to continue with this feeling in my stomach and I quit after a week. Why is this feeling? Have you experienced it, and did it go away? I´ts not that I eat to little food. I´ve tryed to eat simple, I´ve tryed to eat a lot of seeds, I´ve tryed to eat a lot of greens. I´ve really tryed to do everything right. It feels like acid in the stomach. Any advice, anyone? I am a vegan right now.

[Sharon in Colorado]

You may just be used to having a heavy feeling in your stomach.

Often with cooked food, we are taking in miscombined concoctions which leave us feeling overly full, sometimes even bloated which is an unnatural way to feel.

When you start eating raw, the lightness is something to become accustomed to.

If you don't feel satisfied, just eat a little bit more at a time, it may take a while to get used to eating a little extra, since fresh food isn't what most people are used to eating.

:)

[vgloveforlife]

I felt the same way Mona when I started eating raw. The feeling is really noticeable at first but you really get used it. Now I love the way I feel after eating a big salad rather than a cooked meal.

[Shmoopie]

It might be a good idea to read up on true hunger so that you can know the difference and understand what you're feeling when you're feeling it. It helps. What you're feeling isn't true hunger. You've eaten, you've gotten nutrition into your body. It feels like hunger to you because you're used to feeling heavy and tired when you're finished eating. That's what you've taught yourself to feel in order to decide that you're satisfied with eating. That's from sugar, amongst other things. Your body is cleaning out and getting accustomed to the changes you're making. It does get better and you could probably try a lot of different things like eating all day instead of meals. Finger food, sort of. Picking at fruit and stuff, know what I mean? Or maybe a slower transition? Whatever works for you...but as long as you're eating...you're not hungry. It's just an adjustment. Probably partly detox as well. Good luck.

[wisslewj]

Mona,

You could be low in fat when you eat. that helps me alot. Also, raw foods dont sit in te gut for long so you are not left feeling "full" as you may be used to. Finally, its possible you are hungry because your body is telling you that it is malnourished.

Humans do not make an enzyme to digest cellulose so many of us dont get adequate nutrition from veggies. THOUROUGH chewing wil help to remedy this to some extent as it breaks down the cellulose well better. Too many fruits will leach minerals from your body, again leaving your body tired and hungry. If ya want help, you can email me and I would be happy to advise based on your diet. Lemme know. My email is:

wisslewj@yahoo.com

God Bless and Good health
Jeff

[solarliving]

I felt this way too when I was raw for 2 weeks. I think it has to do with the stomach being expanded from always eating till your over full, then when you switch there is the recognition that something has changed and your body starts to adjust.

[rawnora]

What you're feeling is not hunger, it is your body's attempts to heal from past dietary abuses. Real hunger is not a pain in the stomach, weakness, headache, or even an 'empty' feeling, and it's not unpleasant. The pains in your stomach stop when you eat because your body must divert its attention away from healing and to the digestion of food. Please read my full explanation of real vs. false hunger in an essay on my website called "Are We All Emotional Eaters?", on the "Philosophy and Other Articles" page.

Regards,
Nora
www.RawSchool.com

[Vandy]

If you want to feel satisfied eat more fruit, however, I agree with Rawnora completely, and her article is excellent.

[Allie]

Thank you for the infomative replies, i have been having a hard time staying raw because of these exact same things (headache,pain in the stomach, and feeling weak). I'll keep this in mind when i start eating raw again. How long do these feelings usually last or does it just depend on the person? (hope thats not a dumb question) :)

-Allie

[VeryBerry]

I would recommend a more gradual transition to 100% raw diet.

For a long time I ate raw food & some bread. I just felt that I needed it, otherwise I would think about it all day long and get nothing done.
Then I swithched to yeast free bread. Then I decided to have the bread only once a day. Then I started making yeast free wheat free bread out of almond flour (not raw). I did this for about 2 weeks. Then found that I was able to easily replace the almond bread with plain almonds. An viola, I was 100% raw.

It is a good idea to leave a few cooked foods that you like in the beginning and then gradually, reduce, replace and eliminate them. It could take weeks or months to transition, but I think it is better to do it this way then try to force yourself to eat 100% raw right away and end up binging on junk food.

Best of luck,
Nicole.

[Shmoopie]

It's probably different for everyone but from the replies you've already gotten, and from my own experience personally, it seems like it doesn't usually last very long. A week or two seems to be the norm...at least before you get used to it. You'll go through all kinds of detox symptoms and it seems like just about anything can BE a detox symptom. White-coated tongue, pains, dizziness, weakness, headaches, nausea, hair changes, skin changes, outbreaks of old problems that you throught were gone, new problems that you thought you never had (new cases of eczema seems to be a big one...but it'll go away), emotional changes, diarrhea...anything. If you get uncomfortable about something, just come here and ask about it. I don't think there's anything that anyone hasn't experienced here. Combined, it seems like this group has seen it all, so they can always put your mind at ease if you're worried about something.

[rawnora]

Excellent post, VeryBerry. That's exactly what I did -- just kept gradually replacing upwards until I reached optimal.

Allie,
Regarding the "hunger" feelings, when they go away is dependent on lots of different factors, like age, overall condition and the habits a person has developed. For example, if a person never developed a full blown automatic habit to eat response to those feelings, it will be much easier to get healthy because when those feelings are present, the body is healing and the more we can just put up with them or do *anything* except eat, the faster we will heal. I've known a few rare people who didn't necessarily *know* that the feelings weren't real hunger, but just never developed the urgent sense to eat in response to them like most of us did. For me, the symptoms were so unpleasant that I trained my mind to immediately seek relief when I felt them. Obviously stopping the habit is going to be more difficult for someone like me who's been practicing it for 4-5 decades than it will be for someone who goes raw in his/her late teens or twenties. It's a very slow process re-conditioning ourselves to not eat in response to symptoms. I'm still doing it to some extent, although the feelings are much more tolerable now. It is liberating to not have to suffer when food is not around or if it's not convenient to eat. Our bodies are very provident when it comes to fuel reserves. Even thin people can do without food for weeks before feeling real hunger.

Warm wishes,
Nora
www.RawSchool.com