How can I get to where I don't have to eat so much?

[kurt28]

I have increased the amount of raw foods in my diet. I aim for 2 greens smoothies a day. So I am getting a little bit of fruit in my diet and some greens. I also get my omegas by adding some seeds, nuts, olive oil, or advocado to my smoothies.

The problem I have is that I am actually consuming more food now since I added the green smoothies to my diet. I haven't decreased the amount of other foods that I eat, I have only added on to it with the smoothies. I have a green smoothie a couple of hours before lunch (usually consider this one breakfast), and another one a couple hours before supper. But, the amount of food I eat for lunch and supper has not decreased any with the addition of my green smoothies.

You would think these nutrient rich smoothies would fill me up some and make me not want as much other food for my main meals. Any ideas why that is not the case? Like I said, I do include some nuts or seeds or some other form of good fat in my smoothies.

I wish I could be like Ann Wigmore and not have to eat much food in a day to feel satisfied. But, even with all this healthy food I've added to my diet, I still feel hungry all the time. Has anyone overcome this problem?

[Aleesha Sattva]

How long have you been raw?
How long have you been adding these smoothies?
How were you eating before?

When your body is nutritionally deficient it needs time to catch up. It can take 6 months of green smoothies with a bit of citrus to bring your residual iron levels back to a healthy place.

And not everyone who goes raw eats like a bird.

[ReneeH]

And not everyone who goes raw eats like a bird.

I second THAT Sista!!!!! I mean, did you check out my photos in your last post? Seriously...that's what I eat! Like a bird?

[Aleesha Sattva]

I'm not a bird either Nee. When I eat (and don't fast)... I EAT!!!

[MysticTree]

There's sparrows then big bird and then snufflufaguses ! I eat like all three in random rotation :)

[robh]

I eat loads of raw food, unfortunately.

I say unfortunately because I've been reading Herbert Shelton's book on fasting. After reading his thoughts on "hunger", I am fairly certain I the volumne of food I eat is a symptom of food addiction.

I too would like to know the answer to question posed in the title of this thread.

[kurt28]

To answer your questions Aleesha, I'm not 100% raw yet. I've been having the green smoothies now for a few months. Previously I wasn't eating breakfast at all. I was getting a salad in once a day before lunch. And I was eating cereal late at night as a snack. So, now i've starting getting a green smoothie in for breakfast, stoped eating cereal as a late night snack, and replaced my salad with a second smoothie. So that's kind of where I'm at. Slowing trying to make improvements.

[walnutty]

I do eat like a bird. I have been high raw for almost 5 months. Eating less just happened naturally. I workout pretty intensely 6 days a week and exercise kills my appetite, so that might be part of why I eat so little. I also concentrate on nutrient dense raw food, so I am getting such high nutrients that my body just doesn't want any more than I am eating. This happens to me every time I am raw/high raw. I am not willing to give up raw, nutrient dense food for anything this time, so it is the final time I am raw/high raw!

[walnutty]

I say unfortunately because I've been reading Herbert Shelton's book on fasting. After reading his thoughts on "hunger", I am fairly certain I the volumne of food I eat is a symptom of food addiction.

robh, something I learned between the last time I was raw and this time was this:

In times of high emotion or high stress DON'T EAT AT ALL!

I started practicing this 5 months ago and it really helps the body deal with the issues better, helps them pass faster and then a person doesn't stuff their emotions/stress down with food.

[robh]

walnutty, congrats on getting back to raw. It sounds like you are doing well. Your comments on exercise are interesting. During the summer, when the weather was nice, I was playing tennis whenever possible. I too noticed that I really didn't want to eat afterward. It makes me wonder if I worked out in the morning if I wouldn't eat less all day.

[Gianni]

It makes me wonder if I worked out in the morning if I wouldn't eat less all day.

I was just going to suggest this. If you exercise in the morning it raises your metabolism for most of the day and helps you sleep better at night. Also like Walnutty said, exercising helps to curb your appetite a bit.

[robh]

Yeah, I'm going to give that a try. I need to shift my schedule around so I have time in the morning.

[raweater]

How much seeds and nuts do you add to your smoothies and what seeds/nuts? Maybe adding a bit more or different nuts would make them more filling. I often add one or more of these to make smoothies more filling: walnuts, macadamia nuts, cashews, chia seeds, flax seeds, coconut oil. Be careful with chia and flax as they will thicken your smoothie over time and if you add more than 1-2 teaspoons your smoothie will thicken into an undrinkable blob.

Perhaps you're deficient in one or more specific nutrients which is not found in what you eat and therefor your body is giving you a non stop hunger signal for a nutrient you're lacking. Chlorella powder or tablets (ideally filler free) contain all nutrients known to man, perhaps adding 1-2 tsp of chlorella to your morning smoothie would help.

[blissrunner]

I had this problem for over a year. While eating high raw and 100% raw no matter how much I ate I was always starving so I'd eat a ton all day and gained weight during that period. I've since lost the weight while staying high raw and what helped me was reducing the amount of fruit and increasing my vegetable intake so that my day includes mostly veggies and just a little fruit and have incorporated some food combining practices (see book mentioned below). I gradually began to feel satisfied and the weight I gained dropped off. Once I got the hunger problem under control I was able to gradually decrease my intake of nuts and avocados which I was trying to fill up on, which helped the weight come off too. I follow a lot of the principles in Kimberly Snyder's book "The Beauty Detox Solution" which basically solved my problem. She also has a website if interested, just google it. It was so frustrating wanting to eat raw, but not wanting to feel starved all day and get fat and no online forums ever had any helpful advice. Now, I can go through the day on almost no food IF I wanted and not feel any hunger discomfort.