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Brand New to Raw

nycgrrlnycgrrl Raw Newbie

Hi all- I am a former long-time vegan (about 12 years) then got pregnant and basicaally started eating whatever I craved, from meat to dairy etc. Not very healthy. About 3 months ago I decided I wanted to lose the baby fat (my youngest is 2) and I am just about down to my ideal weight, and eating a LOT better. Much more fruits and veggies than in the past 2 years, and my energy is MUCH better. Also exercising 4x a week.

ANYWAY.

Picked up The Raw Food Detox Diet a few days ago and it sounded so interesting to me—not at all what I thought “raw foods diet” meant. I mean, I can transition slowly, right? Eat some grains and beans at night if I like? How will this affect me? And how important is food combining? I totally get the “only eat fruit til noon’ thing, as I followed Fit For Life for 2 years, and they have a very food-combiny’ approach.

I would love recomendations as to the best way to go with this diet. I live in NYC so I am going to visit high-vibe,and I bought some of the Lara Bars today which are nice when I am running around the city with my kids.

My three main questions are: 1. Re nuts and coconut and avocadoes—do you think Natalia is correct when she says that these will not make you gain weight if eaten appropriately and, of course, raw? I do not want to gain weight.

2. How important is food combining? Should I just try things for myself, and if, say, raw tahini on crackers works for me, then go for it? (yes, i’ve been craving that)

3. what happens when y ou fall off the wagon (tonight being passover, DH prepared some dishes that were not raw, and I tasted them all…will my stomach regret it? do you just get back on the wagon?

4. there is no way no how I can stop coffee. I have definitely cut back ALOT but at this time cannot give it up. what is the raw perspective on coffee? thanks. thanks!

Comments

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie
    1. on the forums ive heard that overdoing it on nuts/coconuts/avocado can increase weight, for SOME people, not others. i limit it to 1/2 cup nuts, 1 avo per day, and maintain weight. i do calorie count, but that just helps make sure i eat enough fruit/veggies to meet my caloric needs and i don’t go out of whack with eating too much nuts. 2. food combining can wait until you’ve been eating raw food for a while. i’m 6 weeks at 99% raw, and I just think about delicious raw foods and get excited – i don’t worry at all about food combining. my stomach has been fine, no problems. 3. some people get stomach problems switching back and forth, others don’t. chances are, if you have a really sensitive stomach (i do, when i ate cooked anything not homemade and vegan would set off digestive problems) so if you have sensitive stomach, you could have problems switching between heavy cooked (slice of pizza) if you’ve been raw for weeks. just try it, see how things go. 4. when i quit coffee, the first week was rough, then i felt more awake than i have my whole life. maybe try sun brewed tea some mornings?

    anyway, don’t be discouraged – there’s LOADS of info out there, just pick what you like and eat what makes you smile and go from there. this food makes ya HAPPY!

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    Hi and welcome to raw food!!

    Loads of people transition slowly. My husband did and he has never had any detox which is very surprising seeing as he used to be REALLY unhealthy, look: http://purelyraw.com/ourstories.htm

    When I transitioned I ate alot of fat and sweet things. A huge amount of raw food actually, and a lot of young coconuts, and I lost at least 2 dress sizes. Then my body shifted, it had got through stage one of my detox/healing, and I went off eating large amounts and sweet things and ate a lot of avocados, olive oil and green juice. My weight stabilised. During that time I would ‘cheat’ if i had a food craving for longer than 6 hours. When I was cheating once or twice a month my weight would creep up. Then I stopped cheating and my weight has dropped again, and the amount I need to eat has dropped dramatically.

    What I am trying to say is that your body will do different things at different stages of your raw journey. I believe it is best to eat intuitively. That means if you suddenly feel like having a huge raw pie, then do it, and if you feel like fasting then do it…

    Go as fast as the slowest part of yourself, and try 100% raw for 2-3 months at some point in your life, so you know what it feels like not to take in any toxins.

    I was 99% raw for 1 year before I gave up coffee, coffee was the 1%. I can’t believe how I managed that ;) I stopped because I was ready to. I didn’t rush myself into stopping it. I didn’t have any withdrawal at all. because I was already raw and had been for so long. I stopped coffee and drank Roosboch tea for a month, then the next month I had lemon and hot water, and then green juice! Other people like to use cacao to come off coffee because the caffeine and theobromine gives a coffee like hit.

    Just take it easy and make this all about pleasure and enjoyment.

    I was vegan for 12 years before I went raw too! Going raw opened up a whole new world of pleasure for me. For the first time in years I felt like I was not deprived or missing out. Raw is just the Best!!!

    p.s. coconuts have a rare kind of fat in them which means that you don’t put on weight with them. There is a book all about it. It sites a story about a cow farmer who gave his cows coconuts because he thought it would be a cheap way to fatten them up. It didn’t work, the more coconut he gave them the skinnier they got! Interesting huh?

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    Zoe – i second that bit about not feeling deprived. i ate mostly vegan for 8 years, and always felt left out when other folks got to have milk and cereal and i didn’t. boo. now i eat the best cereal EVER. i can actually savor and enjoy a whole new set of flavors, and i’m experiencing the most incredible variety cause i dont waste money on packaged stuff and spend it on the most flavorful, amazing, organic berries – the delicious avocados – the tomatoes i eat out of hand – and so much more!

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    I gave up coffee 2 months ago and it was WAY harder than giving up cooked foods. I had headaches for 2 weeks and fatigue. The raw food would help with the fatigue. Now that I have been off coffee I wonder why I really needed it, why was I not able to get enough sleep? I go to bed earlier now (by an hour) and I am less sleepy than I used to be. So, it can be done. I did switch to black tea first then green tea. I helped. I do drink a lot of tea just for warmth.

    As far as nuts and avocadoes, I have been eating about 1 avocado per day and nuts (haven’t kept track of how much). I know I am loosing weight due to the pants I can now fit into (after 1 1/2 week raw) but don’t have exact numbers. I don’t own a scale.

  • nycgrrlnycgrrl Raw Newbie

    Hi all-0thank you for your thoughtful replies. And Zoe—wow! your stories are amazing. okay, so

    today was really my first day where i made a REALLY conscious effort to avoid cooked foods. I had: coffee, almond milk with cacao and agave, green lemonade, 6 apples (!!), 2 bananas, 1 grapefruit, curried carrot ‘soup’ with avocadoes and almond milk, 1/2 cup cashews, one lara bar, grapes, and a few raw almonds. My non-raw food included slice of ezekial toast and a few ak-mak crackers with tahini.

    So. First of all, this seems like a HUGE amount of food—i definitely wasn’t eating this much when i was eating cooked food..adn 2nd…

    Can I just ask…what the HECK is going on with my body right now? I feel unbelievably good, like I am on drugs, SUPER energized (like CRAZY—it’s 9:30 pm right now, so I should be tired, right?) tingly, floaty, and very happy. It’s been like this most of the day, except for a woozy hour or two nearing dinner (I had my carrot avocado soup and nuts and felt much better). Is this normal to feel this way? Is this my ‘detox’? Oh, and I am beginning some breakout on my face, which I haven’t had for years….

    Please someone tell me whether this experience is ‘normal’, and if so, why everyone on earth isn’t going raw??? this is better than any drug, by FAR. Not that i would know :)

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    breakouts are a sign of detox… it’s good news.

    you are probably getting a little high from all the sugar mixed with the coffee (coffee spikes blood sugar i’ve read, and so does fruit.. combined has got to be interesting). i’ve found it very helpful to have less fruit and add a little fat to them so it’s a slower rush…

    i noticed in your list that there weren’t any greens. i’d consider eating a wide range of colors. it’s not only beautiful for the eye… but a range of colors means a range of nutrients.

    p.s. i tried the natalia rose food combining and here is my opinion: on a 100% raw diet it is more important to make sure you are enjoying your food than to focus on a chart. i got a little hung up on combining and found myself not very interested in the foods i was preparing. as your taste buds, body, and psychology evolve on this diet, you will naturally gravitate towards simple (and “proper”) combinations… but i didn’t find it helpful to rush it. just more to worry about.

  • nycgrrlnycgrrl Raw Newbie

    thanks for the reply. I had greens (some kale and lettuce in my green lemonade) but you’re right, I could definitely have more. i will try that tomorrow.

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    Hi Nycgrrl The good feeling is amazing isn’t it. I am 3 plus years into this and it is getting higher and higher, it isn’t going away.

    Every time I plateau and level out, I feel drawn to altering things a little. Like eating mostly fruit and tons of greens and trying out superfoods – things I have experimented with in the last year, and as I fine tune my diet bit by bit every day, the buzz gets bigger and bigger.

    I don’t have normal cooked food cravings anymore. I do find myself thinking about eating cooked food because sometimes I want to get down off this high – an old pattern of dampening myself down which crops up now and then. My mum used to go mad at me whenever I got excited or too boistorous as a child, and I find myself doing that to myself, something I am working on healing out of me. And when that happens I do something self loving to distract myself, like have a healing session with an alternative therapist, or dye my hair and put on makeup, or do some yoga, or treat myself to a book or a magazine or something. It really works!

    By the way…cannabis, caffeine and cocaine are all alkaline highs this means that they shove your body into an alkaline state which feels so good you get high. But the problem is that if you are SAD of if you SUKD (standard uk diet!!) you can’t sustain that alkalinity and you go swinging back into a worse acid state than before and you need more drugs and so on… So when you go raw your body naturally becomes alkaline, the state we are all supposed to be in, and there you go, you feel as high as a kite. Negative emotions and negative thinking, and stress as well as cooked food can make you more acidic, so keep it raw and positive and you will be high and happy ;)

    I love what pianissima says about food combining, I totally feel the same way, pleasure and enjoyment is the key.

  • nycgrrlnycgrrl Raw Newbie

    Zoe and Piannisima—thanks for your responses. I need all the encouragement I can get.

    Re the coffee-oh man, I totally get you. I really do want to quit, one day. For now, I am down to 1-2 cups a day, whcih is SO MUCH LESS than I used to drink. I too was very boisterous as a child—I was called “wallaby” which is a kind of kangaroo! And I talk fast and people are like “WHOA!” sometimes, whcih I can get self conscious about. I don’t want to feel I have to tamp down that side of me, but man, I have ENERGY on this food. I have suffered from depression in the past, and I really hope this diet keeps me even and not mood-swingy.

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