Do I HAVE to count calories?
February 17, 2010 - 2:32am
I love being raw, but I hate all the complicated planning it takes to make sure I'm getting enough calories, and the right carb/fat/protein ratio (which I posted on separately). By the end of the day I feel full, but have to keep cramming more to get to my required calorie level and then I feel bloated, nauseated, and absolutely miserable and I go to bed feeling like shit.
Can I maintain my weight/gain without spending an inordinate amount of my time planning daily calories, carbs/fat/protein, and staying awake late to cram in the rest of my calories for the day even after I'm nauseatingly full? Do I have to eat things that I do not have any desire to eat on certain days - sometimes I just don't feel like greens, or fats - to make sure that my nutrition is balanced? I get worried about amino acids too, and it takes forever to plan my diet to make sure that I'm getting each amino acid in full amount.
I feel like my dieticians put a lot of pressure on me to make sure my blenderized diet is as perfectly balanced as the non-vegan canned formula I used to be on (I live on a stomach tube), and it's just getting stressful and a bit overwhelming to be spending so much time on NutrientData every day tweaking and retweaking the recipes to make them perfect, and then forcing things down myself when I'm already too full, or when I don't want a particular food, for the sake of calories and perfect nutritional balance. AGGGH! Is there a better way to do this, without ending up really thin and nutritionally deficient?
February 17, 2010 - 11:35am
#1
Your dietitians mean well. More than likely they are not familiar with the raw life style. But remember, they work for you - not you for them. Try to enjoy your new job----you and your diet!!!! Once you get it right, you don't have to do it again and that job will be over and you'll be off to another new adventure. Your workouts, perhaps. An inspirational website with raw food recipes for tube feeding, perhaps, so the next person won't have such an insecure time getting started. There is no reason for you to go to bed feeling like sh*t. Your tummy does not need to be full when you retire anyway. You should not eat anything after 6:30 p.m. except for a veg or fruit juice if you are hungry later in the evening. Your body is supposed to use your sleep time to repair and rejuvenate your body, not to be digesting food. In regards to your reference to oatmeal in another post - some people use no grains or beans in their diets and are perfectly healthy. Oatmeal feels like a rock in my stomach. Just keep asking questions and experimenting and yes, do listen to your body until you find out if it is sending you the wrong signals. You will settle in. Relax and enjoy your new blender!
February 18, 2010 - 1:36pm
#2
Listen to your body, if your hungry eat, if not don't eat. If it feels good eat more else eat less. your body will tell you what you must do. Try to go easy on the grains the are very evil in lots of ways.
I'm still in a bit of doubt if green do get digested properly to give of there maximum nutrient value.
Even if you make almost juice of your green smoothy the molecules are still very much intact.
Greens have long cellulose strings and they say that humans aren't designed to break down those long strings (you need multiple stomachs for that) if you cook the green the cellulose will break down and is digest able.
I think there is a little truth in that (lots of us have problems with greens) only every thing useful in the greens are destroyed if cooked.
So much I don't know.
