Ug. I've been so busy. It's not really busy, but I feel like I have less energy than the tasks at hand require. Maybe I shouldlook into meditation? I do yoga four days a week, sometimes more, but lately I haven't even wanted to get dressed. I love my yoga too.

I have been 95% or so raw HCLF and vegan. My meals are based around colorful, beautiful,organic fruits and vegetables, and they make me happy.

Lately I bought some quinoa to experiment with, but I'm not sure if it's the starch or the protein that's hurting my gut. Maybe just because I haven't been eating starch. I feel so stuffed and stopped up. It tasted good though, kale, Brussels sprouts, quinoa, sun dried raisins and tomatoes.

Wow I have this insane craving for artichoke dip. And soy milk. Can you eat artichokes raw?

Good Journaling! Keep it up.

I've been bad at journalling, but pretty good in my raw vegan diet. I'm not perfect, but some days I can keep 100% raw. Some days I slip up and have some cooked foods (vegan spinach artichoke dip on veggie chips omg). I am always 100% cruelty free vegan.

I've been trying to eat mostly fresh raw fruits, and I am loving the healthy sugar energy. Bananas are amazing. I eat banan ice cream almost every day, and it's so good for me. I really want a dehydrator because I know I could be 100% raw if I wasn't so tempted by warm crunchy treats. If I had a dehydrator, I could make warm and crunchy but still raw foods that wouldn't leave me feeling awful and bloated and stopped up. I also need to learn to make low fat milks. Can you eat raw soy milk? I'm not sure I want to do soy, every time I drink it or eat soy foods now I get a huge and disgusting mucous response. Maybe it's just the cooked protein that's bad?

So much fun with raw foods. I can't wait until my body adjusts to all the healthy raw foods.

One thing I really love about lowfat raw food lifestyle is I get to eat all day without feeling guilty. Even as a lowfat vegan I always wanted snacks. Now I can snack all I want!

It is really hard to socialize because everything revolves around unhealthy fatty foods. Being around all the cooked fats and cheese it's like flipping a switch and I either need to get away or I'll be craving fatty foods. I'm not trying to be 0 fat but I need to make sure I stay looow because I have a lot of weight to lose (I started with 30 pounds but now it's more like 35, but that's probably just my body detoxing from all the years of cooked "healthy" vegetarian fats. I think that's why I've been so constipated. All the healthy carbs and vitamins and nutrients and fiber I'm eating now that I thought I was getting before must be a bigger change for my body than I thoughts. It makes me sad for all the paleo people who convince themselves they're eating so healthy when grains were only a single piece of the puzzle and they're so held back by all that grease and bacon and cheese and flesh foods.

Good today: V8 style smoothie (tomatoes, spinach, red bell pepper, Ginger, and a slice of Jalapeno. Hot! Maybe a smaller slice next time). 7 bananas, 2 pounds of strawberries, 2 raw cacao flax cookies.

O
M
G
!

Yesterday I hung out at BFF's house, which was cool because we've both been super busy lately, but she made this "vegetable" soup, with vegetables but also potatoes, smelly, like really stinky smelly, chicken corpse broth, and a freaking ton of cream. Like heart attack in a bowl.

But it smelled so good. When it was done, not before, like I said, that chicken stank up the kitchen, but after omg. LIke I started drooling. I really wanted some. Pussy, nasty, cow cream. I hate milk, always have. Cheese? Vomit. CREAM?! Hope you have some aspirin with that. But that soup...

The more I eat raw, the more I feel like animals are our sisters and brothers. I could never eat my brother or drink from my sister's mammary glands.

But that soup...

So now I am craing, like serious craving, creamy, fatty, (vegan) cheesey fods. Ice cream, pizza, SOUP. I don't even like soup?

ANyway, thankfully I was at least able to make one creamy delicious healthy raw meal, BANANA NICE CREAM. I have been having banana nice cream (4 frozen bananas) for dinner most nights. Sometimes with raw cacao nibs, sometimes with fresh fruit, most times just plain. It's so good. And creamy. And not heart stroke inducing. Maybe I can use bananas to make a low fat creamy soup/smoothie?

Anyone tried this?

1. I slipped up in a big way from my raw diet. Looking back, it wasn't too bad really, but still I feel kinda gross. My stomach feels uncomfortably full and heavy. I will probably have a reaction because I ate grains, but I talked my self into it being okay because they were sprouted. Maybe they will be? Still not worth it for how I feel. I had a great raw morning and a salad bowl sized salad of lettuce and kale and mango and berries, all organic, all raw, all healthy. For dinner I went to a friend's house and she is vegetarian and eats sprouted grains and some dairy. She had grilled geese with apples in Ezekiel bread and I had almond butter and apples on the bread. So much fat and grains. My body hasn't had that much fat and it's amazing how I just didn't realize how I felt before when I was eating overt fats. But at the time I couldn't stop. I had three pieces with more almond butter *After* for desert. Tomorrow it's back to raw. Maybe if I feel really bad I'll stick to orange juice since I can make that raw without a juicer. I will also practice forgiveness for myself for my binge.

2. Savory bananas are gross. Just in case you were wondering.

I've been trying really hard to get back into raw foods. I can eat perfectly for breakfast but then it seems writhing a couple hours, I just lose motivation and for some reason staying clean and raw isn't a priority anymore. I'm even caring less about remaining vegan, and the funniest thing is it's dairy, and I think dairy is grose. I'm thinking of maybe allowing some overt fats, and just keeping them in strict moderation. As opposed to the total lack of moderation I've been setting with my almond butter and chia seeds. I feel like I put on ten pounds of bloat and sluggishness. I know cheating like this is why I'm not losing weight, and why I feel bad, byt I also feel like I'm stuck in the mud.

I think you should try and stick to the raw vegan lifestyle, especially since it doesn't make you feel good to eat those bad foods. Whenever you crave bad foods, you should look back and think about how those foods made you feel so heavy and bloated and awful, while the fresh fruits and veggies make you feel light and great. Read back in this food diary you have been posting here and remember all the good aspects of the raw vegan lifestyle.

Also, stay away from non-vegan foods, as they are terrible for your health as well as from the ethical aspect. Always remember that those "yummy" chicken soups and other non-vegan meals only seem to be "delicious", but they are actually full of cruelty and disease. They may look tasty, but they are actually made with dead meat disguised in spices and flavours, made to look and taste good. Imagine eating raw meat, with blood and skin and bones and all that, and your cravings should go away. Think that you don't want to put disease in your body, and you don't want to eat your animal friends.

I also find that I still like the smell of cooked foods, both vegan and non-vegan, but I would never eat them, I keep it at the level of smell and that's that. Maybe in time I'll learn to "unlike" the smell, but in the meantime I don't stress too much about it, the raw vegan diet and lifestyle is so amazing and it gave me so many benefits that I would never go back to the standard diet.

Also, make sure you stick to a low fat high carb raw vegan diet, especially since you said that the overt fats make you feel lethargic and heavy. If you want, you can still have some overt fats, but not that much and choose the whole fats like avocado, which has more water, or coconut water, or the flesh from young soft coconuts. But you can also use some flax seeds (they are better grounded, to be better absorbed), or chia seeds, or hemp seeds, sprinkled on your salads, or in your salad dressings. The key is to stay away from the junk vegan fats like nut butters and such, they are too dense and processed.

By eating raw fresh fruits and veggies and little to no overt fats, you will lose weight effortlessly, without even thinking/worrying about it. It happened to me while eating raw water-rich fruits and veggies, little or no bananas (I noticed I gained weight when eating lots of bananas and banana smoothies and banana ice-cream), no dried fruits, no spices/condiments/stimulants/overt fats, drinking enough water, focusing on a balance between fruits and veggies, not eating more food than I actually need, not eating too many calories as I'm not that active. In my case, calories are calories and if I eat too much, I gain weight.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2015 12:24PM by Ela2013.

Here is a great thread on this forum about reasons to love the raw vegan lifestyle:

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Such a great thread. Thanks so much for the support. Maybe I need a reminder of why I chose not to eat our animal friends every once and awhile. Im definitely not craving chicken or flesh at least. It's just the creamy foods from milk and cream (and other mammary foods). I threw out the almond butter and bough bought two avocados which are ripening on my counter. I think this will help with moderation since I can wait for them to ripen and become delicious and that will hopefully help me put off eating more sense foods like nuts.

I weighed myself and after my binge I'm up six pounds. Ug. Iva been eating a lot of bananas, like four or a day in banana nicecream. Maybe my cravings for creamy savory foods mean I'm adjusted to the raw healthy fruit sugars and I should begin to consider them as treats and eat more savory foods like vegetables. Good thing I love my kale salads. I'll have to work on making them more vegetable filled. Maybe tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, and carrots? With a few slivers of avocado.

Yes, that sounds good. I think we should look at dense foods as treats and not something we need on regular basis. We need the water-rich fruits and veggies. I watched a great video from Loren Lockman today about hydration, body temperature on raw vegan foods, and clean eating, he focuses on water-rich food, no dehydrated food. Here is the video: [www.youtube.com]

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I promise I'm not dead! I have actually been doing pretty okay. I've been probably 95% raw for the last month at least. I haven't been totally fat free, but it's been less than before. A typical day for me will start off with a glass of lemon water, then a green smoothie. For lunch I always have a humongous green salad, with tons of veggies, lemon juice, and on days when I really really crave it, a small section of avocado or a sprinkle of seems, usually chia or flax. Dinner is where I have been getting a little more creative, sometimes I have zoodles or a wrap with sprouts or sprouted, mashed chickpeNs, or sometimes another big salad. I almost always finish with banana nice cream.

I got kind of burnt out, and ate whatever (still vegan!) for a couple weeks. I had lots of "on toasts" with either raw almond butter or avocado. That was really the one thing that satisfied me though. I made some stuff with coconut and it just wasn't any good. I never had more than a couple bites. Way too much condensed saturated fat. I have plenty of that in my body, and my body tells me it doesn't need to eat any more. I got even more burnt out in that, so now I'm back to raw and feeling better.

I'm still tempted, but I know now that it's all in my head. I'm not satisfied by that sort of food. The other day I went out for brunch with a veggie friend, eating out is really complicated, because there's really no raw food restaurants in the south, at least not near me. Maybe there's one in Atlanta, but that's so far. Anyway, I had them special make me a vegan salad (no dressing). She had eggs Benedict. It's not even good food, but it still looked good to my brain. I sort of want to try more raw confort foods. Maybe that will satisfy my brain AND my body.

Anyone have any raw comfort food recipes that aren't overly complicated? I still haven't bought a dehydrator.

My all time favourite comfort raw vegan meal is zoodles with my sauce made of tomatoes, zucchinis, fresh dill, bell pepper and carrot pulp from my carrot juice, I make a large box full of zoodles and it totally satisfies me. It's simple to make, just spiralize the zucchinis and blend the ingredients for the sauce, then pour the sauce over the zoodles and mix very well. No dehydrator needed and no overt fats

Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I've been having a really hard time with raw foods lately. It's just the cold weather, and I know that raw foods are warming, but it doesn't feel that way. Just a mind set I have to give myself, but it's hard.

I've been talking to BFF again. It feels good to be on speaking terms again. But it's by helping with the cravings. She's in full on stew and pumpkin spice mode. I need to make some raw "stew" or invest in a Dehydrator or something. I'd rather get a Vitamix, but I'm not sure about the heating function. I'd be worried about enzyme loss and nutriet damage.

I am ashamed to admit I had French fries the other day. It was a moment of weekends that I'll pay for by feeling so horrible blah like u am now. I will take the opportunity to do better in the future. I just really wanted something warm and comforting, but it wasn't worth it.

Hi everyone I'm still alive, mostly. After I posted last I saw my gastro and we talked. I've gained 18 pounds in total but managed to lose 6 since I posted last. I don't know how that happened. We talked about how maybe the excessive fiber wasn't what my IBS needed and how she actually found the same thing was true for her.

I haven't been raw really, or vegan, and I have been eating the occasional egg or a little cheese. I must have been "doing it wrong." She recommended cooked vegetables and I can't help but think "okay cooked vegetables are more digestible but nutritionally inferior so what's the point? Shouldn't I be trying to increase my enzyme production so real good food is digestible for me?"

I've been doing a daily raw salad or smoothie, but with less fibrous and lower sugar foods like lettuce and apples. I'm not sure if I have the energy to go fully raw and I don't really know what to do differently.

A few weeks ago I went full semi raw vegan again. I feel better and haven't gained any weight since removing animal foods entirely. Here's what I ate so far today:

Warer with lemon juice
Vegan fat free pumpkin muffin

Two slices Ezekiel bread
Sprouts
Avocado

I plan on making veggie lettuce wraps for dinner.

I had a blood test done for hypothyroidism but the results came back negative. I really want to take it to a naturopath because I don't think it's right. I don't want to have hypothyroidism, but I want to know why I'm so tired and have such a hard time losing weight. I should work out more, but sometimes I'm too tired even for yoga. BFF has been great about doing easy workouts on non-yoga days with me, but sometimes my body just hurts for no reason.

is that all you eat in a day?

No, that was just breakfast and lunch. I also eat dinner and snack (mostly fruit) throughout the day.

Thanks for visiting my journal!

I really want to try raw buckwheat porage. I've been seeing it everywhere, and cereal is a big binge food for me. I'm thinking if I can get the mental satisfaction of cereal with the nutrition of raw food it will help me to not binge. Should I sprout the buckwheat or do I just need to soak it for 1-2 days?

I finally am going to invest in a juicer! I'm looking at the Omega 8006 like BFFs. Any recommendations?

For the best juicer it depends on what you want to juice.
Greens, fruits, or grass like wheatgrass.

The best overall juicer is the Norwalk Juicer but it is very expensive. [www.norwalkjuicers.com]

For juicing greens I would go with the Green star or Green Power

They are more powerful and more efficient for greens than the omega in my opinion
And they will last a very long time.

[www.greenstar.com]

[www.discountjuicers.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2016 04:27PM by RawPracticalist.

Quote
RawPracticalist
For the best juicer it depends on what you want to juice.
Greens, fruits, or grass like wheatgrass.

The best overall juicer is the Norwalk Juicer but it is very expensive. [www.norwalkjuicers.com]

For juicing greens I would go with the Green star or Green Power

They are more powerful and more efficient for greens than the omega in my opinion
And they will last a very long time.

[www.greenstar.com]

[www.discountjuicers.com]

Thanks for the recommendation. I looked at the sight but it was a little werid that it links to facebook. Also $2,499? That juicer must cure cancer. It's ten times as expensive as the "expensive" Omega.

The Norwalk Juicer is used in medical and healing centers.
It is very good and efficient.
It will last you a life time of good juicing
Remember we buy cars that are much more expensive and do not last that long.

But you do not have to buy a Norwalk, the other juicers the green stars or green powers are good enough, even the omega is fine.

Everything you say is true, but I can get to places just as well on a bicycle.

I had a bit of a crisis lately. I'm not so sure that raw foods are really good for me right now. Yeah I haven't been perfect 100% raw vegan, but I've been pretty good. Lately it's been hard to hold myself accountable because even when I was close to 100% I still felt worse. I've felt worse since trying raw foods. I want to feel better.

Maybe I'll try again later, but for now no. I'm even dough ring veganism. I think for my own health maybe I'll have to try some new things. I'm not happy or proud of it, but I can't feel like this forever.