Im reading alot (I think) about people eating "too much fat".

I started to think If I eat too much fat but honestly....before I ate cookies, cakes and food with, which I think, was alot more fat....

So when you say you eat too much fat what do you mean?

Is half of an avocado+ 100gram cashewnuts on 1 day too much fat?

And besides like many people say here, I try to listen to what the body wants.

Hi Weronika,

Personally, I don't worry about it. I eat what I want when I want, and don't think about too much of this or not enough of that. For me, overthinking everything takes all of the joy out of eating this way.

"And besides like many people say here, I try to listen to what the body wants."

That's what I do too, and I love it!

Raw again since April 29, 2008.

You can compute it. It's more an overall % of your daily intake. If 50% of your daily calories are comprised of fats....that's a lot. Heh..heh. 10-20% would be a more reasonable figure. But it's not etched in stone. You know?

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I agree with David...personally I find that the lower my fat intake is (as in, when I stay away entirely from avos, nuts and seeds), the better I feel and the more energy I have.

Sarah
[goingbananasblog.com]

Weronika,

100 grams of cashews + 1/2 avo is going to be about 500 calories of fat. Lets say the remainder of your daily menu was 1000 calories, of which 50 calories would be fat, for a total of 550 calories of fat out of a 1500 calorie a day menu. This results in 36.6% fat.

This is pretty high fat, close to the fat levels in the standard western diet (42%). A better number would be closer to 20% fat.

But it may take some time to get to the lower fat. Just slowly decrease your fat intake at a rate that is comfortable to you, and don't worry about how long it takes to get there, as long as you are making progress. It took me 2 years to drop my fat intake from 20% down to 10% fat.

Wow... I didnt know it was so much fat.

But Im at a normal weight so I wont care as long as I dont gain weight.

The thing is that I dont feel I have enough energy if I only eat greens (fruit etc). I will continue to listen to my body and try to eat more greens and less nuts avocados etc and see if my body will feel good or not. That s the most important thing for me anyway.

From the peanut gallery:

keep in mind, what you are eating is GOOD fat, not the hydrogenated trans fats found in processed foods that most people eat.

Good fat is good for you. You can determine what percentage makes you feel bad, and cut back.

If I go on a low fat regime, I feel horrible and my skin gets all dried out and my joints hurt. When I add back the good fat, like from seeds, nuts, avocados, and just the fat that lives in leafy greens and other raw foods, I feel fine.

I guess you can tell I don't think much about how much fat is good fat.

In any event, you probably won't keep eating 50% or more of your daily intake in fat for a long time anyway. I'd guess you'd naturally regulate your intake without even consciously making the changes.

Now, if we were discussing, say, Micky D's french fries or something like that, I think it matters. But fat from almonds, or flaxseeds, or sesame seeds?

Nahhhh....

Just my thoughts...

well...im not too sure about listening to your body, it can play tricks on you...

I could eat ONLY young coconuts, old coconuts, coconut oil, coconut flakes...EVERY FREAKIN DAY.

I have issues, i must battle against that "devil coconut posession", cause thats what it is!!! lol

hahahhaha.. i hear you mira, i HEAR YOU!

i could easily live on coconuts alone. i'd be totally happy doing a 1000 day coconut water feast.

if that amount of fat feels food to YOU..hmm.. all about how it makes your body feel

Mine isnt happy with overt fats..enough in fruits and veggies

oh maui_butterfly... it feels so good to be heard!! lol!

Mira,

If the coconuts are raw, it's possible your body is taking something essential from them, and it's a positive signal indicating needed nourishment.

There are several of us here (myself included!) that have gone through MAD COCONUT LUST. I could sit and eat literally 8 tbsp. or more of coconut butter at a time, so I switched to young coconuts exclusively, since I worried about the fat at the time, too.

Trust is very important. Trust your body! Trust yourself. Nobody here has had any bad results while having a steamy affair with coconuts.

I rarely desire them now. I just stopped wanting them one day.

Interestingly enough, I had the same thing happen to me for all of January-February with durian. I ate a whole durian every day (can pack up to 2000 calories!) and my waist got smaller. *!* Then, one day, the spell was broken, and my body was sated with whatever I was desperately craving.

I'm not advocating a mad fat-binge spree, but if you genuinely get deep cravings for healthy foods--especially coconut, as that seems to be a popular lust in the beginning of a raw diet--please, indulge. A Thai coconut also has 1/10th the fat of a mature one... so you can't go wrong, there.

I'm lusting for berries and watermelon right now... Yum!

well thats what i was wondering... I think i read somewhere that young coconut have something like 140 calories, wich is really not much for the whole nut!! compared to the old ones...

I'm also working on reducing my fat intake. I'm not worried about it at the moment, although I certainly feel awful when I overdo it. I take it one day at a time.

Coconuts and coconut oil are actually great for ya....and may even help you lose weight, boost metabolism.

"Coconut oil is full of healthy benefits. Next to mother’s milk, it is nature’s highest source of medium chain fatty acids (MTC’s), which raise the body’s metabolism, leading to weight loss. It has fatty acids such as lauric acid and monoglycerides, similar to mother’s breast milk."

[www.kokonutpacific.com.au]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2008 04:09AM by rawangel.

They did a large study in Kerala, India in 1996? which found whole food consumption of coconuts (< 400 g/day) to be inversely associated with hypertension.. here's the abstract:

Association of higher saturated fat intake with higher risk of hypertension in an urban population of Trivandrum in south India.

Beegom R, Singh RB.

Department of Home Science, College for Women, Trivandrum, India.

Saturated fat intake appears to be a risk factor of insulin resistance which is important in the pathogenesis of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This study aims to demonstrate whether saturated fat intake may be a risk factor of hypertension. Cross-sectional survey in six randomly selected streets in Trivandrum city in south India was conducted to study 1497 randomly selected subjects (737 males and 760 females) of 25-64 years of age. The prevalence of hypertension by Joint National Committee V criteria (> 140/90 were 34.6% (n = 255) in males and 30.7% (n = 234) in females. The consumption of food groups showed that they were within desirable limits. However, the intake of fruit, vegetable, legume and coconuts was lower and saturated fat intake higher (> 10% kcal/day), although total fat intake was within desirable limits. Total and saturated fat intake, and the consumption of coconut oil and butter, flesh foods, milk and yogurt as well as sugar and jaggery were significantly associated with hypertension. Total visible fat (> 20 g/day) intake was positively associated whereas fruit, vegetable, legume and coconut intake (< 400 g/day) was inversely associated with hypertension. Salt intake (> 8 g/day), smoking and illiteracy were not associated with hypertension. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that saturated fat intake, age and body mass index were independently and strongly associated with hypertension whereas fruits, vegetable, legume and coconuts, coconut oil and butter and alcohol (males) intakes were weakly associated with hypertension. The odds ratio indicate higher risk of hypertension due to higher intake of saturated fat in both sexes (mean: odds ratio, 1.07, 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.09; women, 1.08, 1.06-1.12, P < 0.01). Significant determinants of hypertension were higher saturated fat, particularly coconut oil, and lower fruit, vegetable, legume and coconuts, particularly legumes and coconuts in the diet, apart from conventional risk factors.

[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

.. as you can see the consumption of "visible" oils "particularly coconut oil" did not fare so well in this study. Coconuts are a staple in the region and coconut products an important part of the economy. [www.keralabackwater.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2008 12:45PM by loeve.

oh i know, thats actually why i started using the coconut oil, i wasnt really craving for it at first....But then, things became serious. I just could NOT pass one day without eating some.. Its been 2 or 3 days that i havnt ate ANY coconut, or coconut product....