18 Years old. Raw!... Need help with family support..?

[TectonicLacklustre]

Please help me?

I am currently on the raw food diet as of recently. I am not planning on doing this for only the 30 days, but accepting it as a new lifestyle. I feel wonderful and the benefits are countless already!
There's a catch... I am an 18 year old boy... Very tall (6'5") Very skinny (around 150lbs) and I have a very concerned "standard american" (Canadian) father..

I sent him an email knowing that he doesn't support me not having meat and mashed potatoes on my plate and opened it up for discussion so he could tell me his concerns and I could answer any questions he had about raw foods.

However... I am not sure what to tell him... or even whether he's right?

The main thing he focuses on is how we both have a very high metabolism and wind up "running on empty". He believes my body has been growing (up) for all these years and is now ready to grow out but can't because my body wants to draw off of reserves that he doesn't believe I have. He thinks I will get insufficient nutrition and balance in my diet which will cause me to "run on empty" which will seriously affect me emotionally/intellectually and physically.

Another thing he talks about is Balance. He believes whatever the body craves (aside from sweet tooth cravings) is exactly what the body needs. I completely agree with this idea. However he thinks I "need" a glass of milk. Or an egg. Not enough or its bad. But if you don't get enough than I wont be "balanced".


If I could learn enough to be able to keep him informed about all of this I would be so grateful!
I simply wish to give my dad the information he needs to keep him confident in what I am doing, and to also educate myself enough to know whats going on too!

Thankyou so much!

[Aleesha Sattva]

Congratulations on making this choice for you life.

I recommend you start reading everything you can on this forum. It's an absolute wealth of information. There are books you can read as well. For example both of Alissa's books will assist you to learn much of what you are asking. She goes into great detail as to what you eat and why.

When I first went raw I read for hours every day. I searched the archives of this forum... I read everything I could find. Watched youtube videos and drank in everything I could.

I'm sure that being raw for 2 months now you can share with him how you feel different and go from there. Also... get some bloodwork done with your dr and then do it again in 6 months. Let him see the physical manifestation of your raw self.

:)
And again... welcome
in light,
Aleesha

(ps please don't make double posts on the forum. Posting things once is enough)

[healthywealthy]

your body gets so much more nutrients from natural foods.
we are a very athletic family,and we never feel we are running on empty.

try it for a little while,keep a diary,take photo's,see how you feel.

reasure your Dad that you know what you are doing,its natural that he is protective with you,maybe its something you can learn together?

good luck :)

[Psychalone]

Please help me?

I am currently on the raw food diet as of recently. I am not planning on doing this for only the 30 days, but accepting it as a new lifestyle. I feel wonderful and the benefits are countless already!
There's a catch... I am an 18 year old boy... Very tall (6'5") Very skinny (around 150lbs) and I have a very concerned "standard american" (Canadian) father..

I sent him an email knowing that he doesn't support me not having meat and mashed potatoes on my plate and opened it up for discussion so he could tell me his concerns and I could answer any questions he had about raw foods.

However... I am not sure what to tell him... or even whether he's right?

The main thing he focuses on is how we both have a very high metabolism and wind up "running on empty". He believes my body has been growing (up) for all these years and is now ready to grow out but can't because my body wants to draw off of reserves that he doesn't believe I have. He thinks I will get insufficient nutrition and balance in my diet which will cause me to "run on empty" which will seriously affect me emotionally/intellectually and physically.

Another thing he talks about is Balance. He believes whatever the body craves (aside from sweet tooth cravings) is exactly what the body needs. I completely agree with this idea. However he thinks I "need" a glass of milk. Or an egg. Not enough or its bad. But if you don't get enough than I wont be "balanced".


If I could learn enough to be able to keep him informed about all of this I would be so grateful!
I simply wish to give my dad the information he needs to keep him confident in what I am doing, and to also educate myself enough to know whats going on too!

Thankyou so much!

Hahaha, ah yes, I get this too. I'm 20 now and quite thin due to my love of meditating while fasting and of fruit/milk diets. if I can I'll try to supply you with some literature that will help you.

First in terms of metabolism and "energy reserves" I HIGHLY suggest you order a copy (or download) of Arnold Ehret's Mucusless Diet Healing System and read the chapters titled "New Physiology". Here's an excerpt: http://www.arnoldehret.org/healthclub/trilogy_1.html

This completely refutes the popular understanding of the human body and through my own experiments, I am finding it true. On my fifth day on a water fast having only drunk a total of half a liter, I was able to play 4 hours of paintball and keep up with 11 other "healthy" individuals in the 20's age range. By the 2nd hour they were all tired and I was experiencing a continuous flow of seemingly unending energy.


In the argument against meat or protein rich diets, The China Study by Colin Campbell will more than suffice with scientific documentation proving the danger of animal proteins.

In the argument of raw food and enzymes I would suggest sharing the study of Pottenger's Cats and Dr Edward Howell's "Enzyme Nutrition" would certainly be good starts. Also you can do your own experiments with enzymes. For example buy some ACTIVE enzymes and mix them with blended cooked white rice. The enzymes should break down the starch of the rice into sugar and thus should produce a "sweet" taste to it.

As for "running on empty" and nutritional deficiency... I have to lol at this. Check this out real quick:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...roducts/4296/2

Thats the nutritional profile of a TYPICAL kidney bean thats dried. According to this:
http://www.sproutnet.com/Press/sprou..._nutrition.htm

Mung beans increase vitamin and mineral content by varying degrees, sum ever over 500%!!!

When you soak bean/seeds/nuts/grains they absorb minerals from the water. So now lets say you soak them in water mix with sea salt or crystal salt...imagine the increase in mineral content!! Nutrition is not an issue with home grown greens. The sproutarian knows no deficiency. You'll also see that in the kidney bean profile that it has a balanced amount of omega-3s and 6's. Nutrition is not an issue to the well informed raw foodist.

As for listening to your body... this is a long discussion that canot be held here but i'll put things briefy. To a body that is pure and clean and in nature, it knows very well what it needs, however for us who have strayed so far from nature we do not. As him this question...What is in a bag of doritos nutritionally that is not is a bowl of sprouted brown rice? Yet so many of us have cravings for doritos, cereal, twinkies, fast food, etc Why would we crave things that are bad for us? There are various reasons and i'll try to explain one or two below. But This article really sums it up

http://membres.multimania.fr/xbeluga...tivefoods.html

1.) Addictive substances in food. This is meaning that certain chemically creates substances and some natural substances can be naturally addictive. these are well known by food companies and purposely placed in foods to keep us addicted. To quote the article...

" Pieces of milk and wheat proteins (peptides) can act like the body's own narcotics, the endorphins, and were described by Zioudro, Streaty and Klee as "exorphins" in 1979. Other food proteins, such as gluten, results in the production of substances having opiate- (narcotic) like activity. These substances have been termed "exorphins." Hydrolyzed wheat gluten, for example, was found to prolong intestinal transit time and this effect was reversed by concomitant administration of naloxone, a narcotic-blocking drug."

Now I wonder why they put milk and wheat products (and if you look closely it's usually protein isolates) in almost ALL our food ;)

Another reason we tend to crave food is due to it's sedative nature. Foods high in saturated fats like milk eggs and meat slow the system down and slightly sedate the mind. This is good if you worry overactive. it also causes a lower awareness, especially of one's pains whether they be physical or emotional. Thus emotional eating is born. We eat food to suppress our emotions, then after years we go on a raw food diet and we begin to get bouts of irritability, depression, etc and we blame it on the food. Fasting and raw food diets dig up the unconscious dirt we collect for processing.

2.) Caffene, sugar, stimulants. This is a more well known issue. When you really on stimulants, you get a short boost which then leave syou worse off then youw ere before. When you hit your low, the only thing that can get you back up to normal (at THAT moment, obviously if you just give your body some rest it'll repair and restore itself), is that stimulant. This of course starts a vicious cycle.

So the problem is that eating is no longer an instinctual process of nutrition, it's emotional, it's sedative it's addictive, it's poisoning and we love it because we don't like to deal with the consequences of our faulty lifestyles. Food is mainly social and sedative, by poisoning our body and making it use all it's energy toward healing, digestion and detox 24/7 it doesn't have the energy for the higher function of the mind like awareness, psychic phenomena, spiritual experiences, etc so we rely on drugs for our "spirituality".

I hope some of this helps. If you have trouble finding any of the resources i've listed let me know and i'll upload some to my blog (pdf) or something. And if you have any other questions or would like any other resources I'll be happy to try to help.

Best of luck to you
-Psyche

[Raw Raw Sis Boom Ba]

I am not any sort of expert at all, but my mom is always worried about my protein and vitamin intake, so you could try nutritional yeast (I really don't know what to put this in yet) or garden of life has raw vitamins and stuff.

[michigan roman]

ive not read replies but heres my thoughts :

the what the body craves it needs outlook i completely disagree with as people can get addicted to very unhealthy items and crave them like crazy

my next point is look at this kingdoms people that have been living on the ' wonderful ' meat / potatoes / etc diet for ages and how fat / unhealthy / diseased they are , with the vast majority dying of dietary caused diseases . its more so a diet you want to rid yourself of as opposed to being a proponant of it . its not working so try something different (light bulb moment)

as canadian you can probably get great price on hemp seed , you / dad read up on hemp seed . its a very popular protein / omega 3 / 6 food today amongst vegans as its 33% protein = more then creature flesh . ide feature large amounts of hemp seed in diet

one winter before i became raw foodist it was very cold out , and from seeing squirrels eat every ear of corn i ever planted in garden i figured if i put a can of corn out by tree they would eat it . but not one kernel was aten . their senses of scent / taste warned them the heated plant matter was no longer of any value to their body thusly eating it was not life condusive . were as humans have been distanced from their senses by books / tv / old habits and opinions to think cooked stuffs like corn are good for them when in reality youll build a healthier cell / body on raw corn

and the bases are easy as in : calcium - iron - A - C - E , but the B vitamins are something that needs to be focused on . obviously B12 , but the rest of family imo is where more knowledge has to be gained in order to master vegan / raw diets . i eat raw mushrooms and use nutritional yeast for B's but still feel its more complicated then that

[Norie]

First of all I wanted to say that it's great that you are both talking about this. I know so many people who would just push everyone away who thinks differently.

I don't know much about gaining weight on a raw food diet, but perhaps your father would feel more at ease if you agreed to make doctor's appointments for regular check ups every month or two?

[jahkamakura]

I see this is an old thread, but here's what we did if someone else needs the same help.

My husband was very worried when our daughter (14) decided to go raw. He was worried about her growing and not getting enough protein. We went to www.fitday.com and inputed all the food she ate for a week and all the food her brothers ate for the week. fitday gives a pie graph of all the nutrients in the food as well as minerals. Her chart was more balanced and healthy than the boys' charts. You could try that and show your father how healthy you are eating.

Juli

[darkthistlefaery]

Try getting some raw protein powder, like Sunwarrior. Also, read a ton on the subject. Go on PETA.com, and I bet they have tons of resources for you to prove to your father that an animal- free, raw lifestyle is fantastic. Try going to some of the 'raw gurus' online, like Kevin Gianni, Nomi Shannon, and Swayze Foster, and Frederic Patenaude. They all have some pretty interesting information and tips for going raw and proving to family members (and incredulous friends) how great a raw lifestyle is!
best of luck!