I hope no one minds doing this, but I am interested in seeing what everyone eats on a daily basis. Maybe everyone could just post their meals for one day? I am looking to get some ideas so that I can make a few more changes to become 100% raw.

Also, does anyone worry about counting calories?

Thanks!

Yesterday my first meal was at 1pm after doing physical labor all morning. I ate 1/2 of a medium red seeded watermelon, probably about 7 pounds worth. I had a snack after working and before dinner, where I shared a frozen durian with a friend. For dinner at 7pm I ate 3 banana smoothies. The first smoothie was 2 vanilla beans and 4 bananas. The 2nd & 3rd smoothies had 2 bananas each, some frozen blueberries, and 4 ribs of celery. After the smoothies I ate a large english cucumbers.

Normally I would have eaten a larger dinner, but the durian snack before dinner dampened my appetite.

Well yesterday
I had
a green smoothie with dark greens and apple.
lovely blueberries.
another smoothie with mango, banana, apple
sprouts/tomato/cucumber
Then I had some lentils/basmati rice with lots of herbs ( im vegan trying to eat raw)
And then I snacked on popcorn )

I feel very good simply eating more raw

Creating a daily menu was my biggest challenge in going ambrosian (raw), here is what I have worked out so far.

First, I soak almonds or seeds overnight.

Meal #1 and 2 is lemon juice or watermelon or bananas or other fruit.

Meal #3 When I start to want heavy food I eat gardenburger: I make almond milk and use the pulp or use the soaked seeds and add carrots, oil, vinegar and salt and process. Then I put it all in the fridge and eat it later in several meals spicing it up differently each time with curry, mustard, hot sauce or this mexican spice blend I bought.

Meal #4 By now I'll want a sugar rush so I dump rasins, figs, coconut, carob, salt, vanilla, coconut oil and various spices in the processor and make a cake.

Meal #5 More leftover gardenburger or a salad.

Meal #6 More cake or a smoothie, and here is where my diet will often fail. I'd love to find out what others eat for supper.

Meal #7 Is going to be blended wheatgrass. I don't have juicer so I just cut a handfull of wheatgrass in 1" sections and blend it in water with an electric hand mixer. I actually like this better than the wheatgrass juice my Mom makes because it isn't as strong and it simulates the chewing of grass which is more natual than juicing. Also, it only takes a handfull of grass. I once ate blended wheatgrass at the end of the day and it didn't have an immediate effect but I was walking on air the next day and felt so clean. That happened years ago it's a memory which won't leave me.

From that experience I have recently been working on a theory that greendrinks should be eaten at the end of the day so that they linger in the system throughout the night during the body's detox cycle and that if they are eaten between meals they are pushed along by the other foods and don't have the full effect.

I've been trying to grow wheatgrass for a month now and it won't grow. I think I am soaking it too much. I changed my technique and now I have some nice sprouts which I started by just putting seeds between papertowels, and yesterday I sprinkled a token amount of soil over them.

So in a nutshell: I start out with fresh fruit until I feel really hungry for something heavy then alternate protien/spicy meals with sugar meals.

I eat about every two hours and I actually do all the blending/prosessing at one time (which is why I leave the spicing of the gardenburger until later, I can't test tast it because I'm eating just fresh fruit at the prep time).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2006 05:45PM by Lillianswan.

Lately:

Breakfast: 32 oz fresh OJ
Lunch: 5 small avocadoes
Snack: 2 apples
Dinner: 1/2 watermelon or canteloupe or papaya

-David Mason

Today I was a busy day for me so I ate a lot more times then I usaully eat.

After a morning run in the rain I started with a small watermelon.

Later 2 sweet oranges.

Meal 3 10 bananas

Meal 4 Nice papaya then a big cuke and some celery.

Meal 5 1 big red pepper,3 big tomatoes,2 cups of okra,more celery,and 3 cobs of sweet corn,and one nice avocado with some lime.

Love Peace and Happiness,
Cherimoya

This is my food schedule:

AM:

-3 out of 4 days I try to do an hour of yoga before I eat anything. Then about 8:30, I eat 3 - 5 apple bananas (they're kind of small), and run or run/walk for about 80 minutes.

-Around 10:30 or later, I have a pretty big breakfast consisting of as much fruit as I want (sometimes a lot, sometimes not) and 1 or 2 handfuls of nuts or a half large avocado.

I try to have this meal include something kind of special. Right now we have a special variety of jackfruit (delicious, tastes like pineapple/banana) and surinam cherries (very cleansing zingy taste). Very soon we will be harvesting a LOT of lychee (oh wow!).

For nuts I eat either macadamia nuts, coconut, peanuts, or walnuts. Or I have the half avocado.

I usually finish off this meal with a couple of dried figs or dates or 1 or 2 Tbsp goji berries.

Then I take a vegan B12 supplement.

PM:

-At some time between about 2:00 and 5:00, depending on my work schedule and how much I ate for breakfast, I eat a combination of 1/4 cup hulled sunflower seeds and 1/4 cup unhulled sesame seeds. Along with that, I eat a small portion of fruit, like maybe just 1 orange, but usually not more than 2 pieces of fruit. I finish that off again with a couple of dried figs, dates, or a couple Tbsp goji berries.

-Between meals if I'm hungry, I'll eat fruit, usually a banana or an orange.

-If I ate dinner early, I might have another SMALL handful of nuts later in the day and another piece of fruit and/or a couple of pieces of dried fruit.

-That's my food schedule for 3 out of every 4 days, but on the 4th day, instead of the sunflower/sesame combo, or in addition to it, I have a big salad in the afternoon always consisting of: lots of red leaf lettuce, 1/2 cup fresh parsley, 1/4 - 1/3 cup of wheat germ, dulse, lemon juice, cold-pressed olive oil; and usually consisting of 1 or more of the following: tomatoes, cumcumbers, sprouts, mushrooms, bok choi (delicious raw in salads), arugula, green onions, minced garlic, cauliflower, spinach, chard, or kale.
If I feel like it, I'll have 1 or 2 pieces of dried fruit or an orange after the salad.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In answer to your other question, I never count calories. In my experience, I've gained weight on cooked food and lost weight on raw food, from the same amount of calories.

I try to go easy on foods containing lots of fats, but I do eat a pretty good portion of those. I maintain my weight as long as I run/walk.

Love, Ally



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2006 11:14PM by Ally.

watermelon and juiced watermelon rind and seeds

huge green salad
1/4 of above salad blended with an apple for dressing
5 nori sheets torn and sprinkled atop

sometimes almonds, dates, dried figs or bananas on long bike rides.

Lillianswan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Meal #6 More cake or a smoothie, and here is where
> my diet will often fail. I'd love to find out what
> others eat for supper.

I like warm or room temperature soups for supper. I'll use a base of raw tomatoe and celery or cucumber juice and add diced raw veggies to make a gazpacho type soup, or I'll use a base of carrot and some fresh apple juice to which I'll add chunks of avacado and blend to make a delicious creamy soup (this is great seasoned with fresh cilantro, lemon and freshly ground coriander seeds). I'll also, in a pinch, use Imagine or Pacific veggie stock (no yeast in either) and warm very gently, remove from heat and add raw kale, spinach, carrots, potatoe ribbons or whatever I have on hand to make a yummy veggie soup.

I love to prepare food (I cooked for a living for many years...though not raw) and enjoy creating in the kitchen. Some of the above daily menus, though impressive, would nevertheless bore me silly after too long. I don't think that we have to give up the sensual enjoyments of food and eating to either eat raw or to be healthy...or at least that's my hope.

A typical day of eating goes like this for me right now:

A cup of warm Master Cleanse (I was a big coffee drinker and like something warm early in the morning...also, I find that the cayenne is less acrid to the back of the throat dissolved in warm (not hot) water)

A cup of single herb tea (typically dandelion, nettle, or oat straw)

Breakfast during the work week is either a large glass of fresh juice (usually a blend of at least three veggies and occasionally apple) or a fruit smoothie with spirilina or green powder added, sometimes with the addition of 1 tblsp. of flax seed oil if I feel my body wants it.

Midmorning I eat a large cucumber and about 12 soaked almonds (actually I eat this over about a 1-2 hr. period)

I drink lots of water and occasionally kombucha tea (I buy Synergy's raw, organic kombucha teas @ the health food store)

@ around 3:00-ish I'll have a salad or a bowl of warm miso soup or occasionally a sprouted grain "tortilla" wrap (Ezekiel brand) stuffed with raw greens and some avocado

between 3:00 and 7:00 (supper time) I'll sometimes make juice or drink a green supplement in water

supper is usually a raw soup and another salad, or some "stir-raw" veggies (I quickly stir raw veggies in a tad of warming water until the colors of the veggies become vibrant and eat with a small amount of cooked millet or quinoa or brown rice (still transitioning to 100% raw) or I'll make a grain salad with illet and lots of raw veggies as in a tabouleh and stuff avacado's with it. (I do try to make supper interesting and satisfying on every level...that's important to me).

On the weekends I'll often juice fast, sometimes with the addition of smoothies if I wake up really hungry or I'll do a mono-diet thingy with watermelon all day (especially if I've f**ked up during the week).

I'm still studying a lot and am still absorbing and assimilating all the contradictions and options out there. I find that my body seems to plateau quickly and what made me feel great three weeks ago just doesn't cut it today...so, I experiment with different things. I find all this totally absorbing though. It's great fun and extremely interesting to me.

peace,

~Kathleen

Let's see if I can remember...


Green Smoothie with 1-2 c. fresh apple juice, dandelion leaves, kale, pears, frozen (organic wild) blueberries and 1/2 tsp. cayenne powder (latter added for medicinal reasons)

Later about 10 semi-dried organic "California figs"

Later (non-raw) 2 cans asparagus (again medicinally because so alkaline-forming) and a can of non-raw "ripe" olives (mistake -- those commercial olives are the pits even when pitted) and RAW okra, just washed and eaten straight, and one-half of an avocado

plenty of water throughout the day, also (medicinal) herbal teas and "firewater" with water, garlic, ginger and cayenne

Evening snack 4-5 more figs

morning: salad, lately greenleaf lettuce + radicchio + arugula + alfalfa sprouts + tomato + green bell pepper + shredded broccoli + onion + beans + scallion + walnut + tiny bit of olive oil

day and evening: fruit + nuts/seeds. I used to make fruit salads but now I just eat apples, grapes, peaches, etc. throughout the day with a brazil nut or two and a tbsp or two of flax ground.

I still do cooked beans in the salad and soymilk for my coffee, about 10% of my calories, and sometimes a little bit of cooked sweet potato.

yesterday's menu:

breakfast (1:30pm): 2 pounds grapes
lunch (4pm): 4 bananas
dinner: 1 pineapple, followed by a salad consisting of a head of romaine and some cherry tomatoes

i spent most of the day sitting inside the bookstore i work at, so i didn't have much of an appetite or need for a whole lot of food.

conversely, here's a sample of what i ate one day recently at Doug Graham's Health and Fitness week (the days were packed full of physical activity and sunshine):

breakfast (8:30am): 1/2 watermelon + 8oz glass of blended watermelon
lunch (12:30pm): 14 peaches
dinner (6:30pm): 16oz orange juice, followed by a blended soup (fresh-picked blackberries + oranges), followed by a large salad with romaine/spring greens/cherry tomatoes and a blackberry/tomato dressing

Excellent thread!

This is a typical day lately:

1:00 pm 6 oranges
3:00 pm 1 lb. muscadine grapes
5:00 pm 1 lb. muscadine grapes
7:00 pm 1/2 watermelon or 1-2 cantaloupes or 1-2 honeydew melons

It's like candy all day long. . .



Love,
Julie

Man, I can't eat as much as you people can. lol

Here is me yesterday:

4 lemons juiced- breakfast 6:00a.m.

1/2 cantelope- breakfast 8:00a.m.
worked out at the YMCA later on about 11:00a.m.

1:00- 3 oranges
2:30- 2 cups grapes

4:00-3 bananas

later on I wasn't all that hungry so I ate some greens and fasted the rest of the evening

i'm a grazer.....

here's what i grazed on today:

morning:
1 banana
2-3 cups grapes
4-5 fresh figs
3/4 cup goji berries

afternoon:
small salad....greens, bellpeppers, cauliflour
1/2 avocado
small apple

evening:
small salad...greens, sprouts, raw saurkraut, 1/2 avo, sprinkle of hempseeds, nutritional flakes, bee pollen.

all the while sippin' on water with lemon juice and blue-green algae

peace!
m.

shep252 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Man, I can't eat as much as you people can. lol
>
> Here is me yesterday:
>
> 4 lemons juiced- breakfast 6:00a.m.
>
> 1/2 cantelope- breakfast 8:00a.m.
> worked out at the YMCA later on about 11:00a.m.
>
> 1:00- 3 oranges
> 2:30- 2 cups grapes
>
> 4:00-3 bananas
>
> later on I wasn't all that hungry so I ate some
> greens and fasted the rest of the evening

And here I was thinking "Man, I eat a lot more than everyone here!" LOL. Not that much more, really, but I think I just graze a lot more often on fruit throughout the day. I have been noticing that since switching to this diet, I am definitely a LOT less hungry than I used to be, so I would imagine that it just gets to be more and more like that as you progress. Is that correct?

My late summer meals have been looking as follow:

noon: 4-5 pounds watermelon
6pm: 2 banana smoothies - 8-10 bananas, strawberries. After the smoothies digest for a while, I have a salad - 6-8 ribs celery cut with slicer disc in food processor, 2-3 tomatoes, 6 tomatillos, bell pepper, cilantro

24 carrots...
I couldn't find your blog at curezone and I am interested in reading it. can you give the link again and/or some directions?
thanks.

hm,
i'm misbehaving lately, but this is what i do when i have the funds to supply!

breakfast-
6 freshly juiced oranges
wait 1/2-2 hours
4 apples or whatever fruit is in season. lately nectarines, but it's turning to apples again.

lunch-
3 tomatoes
1/4 lb spinach
1/2 large cucumber
4 tbsp unfiltered cold-pressed olive oil (i need a lot of fat)
2 jalepenos

(add whatever other veggies are around, or sound good, and sometimes apple cider vinegar and cayenne. i'll also use seaweed if i'm craving saltier than this offers)

dinner-
dates
almonds/walnuts/brazil nuts (some sort of raw soaked nut)


i don't measure calories b/c i think my body might need more variety than limitations, plus i'm full-time breastfeeding. i snack on fruit, what ever is around, if i feel the need. if i need filling up when i'm out and about i take nuts and dried fruit. i have been indulging in raw dairy, though i think i'm going to cut it out b/c i have been really tired and sluggish lately. i guess i don't feel raw dairy is bad b/c while breastfeeding i've had to pump and hand-express a fair amount of milk, and i don't mind how it's used. i've looked into donating, but didn't have the freezer capacity to store it this time.

and no matter how much raw/fruit stuff i eat, i drink a large amount of water.

peace

Very strange that some of the raw food purists on this forum coaching us on everything they read feed mostly on bananas. Bananas are hybrid with too much sugar

djatchi,

I eat a lot of bananas. While they are not my favorite fruit, they are the cheapest source of organic fresh whole ripe fruits. The more bananas I eat, the lower my food bill is, since I'm paying $1 a pound versus $2 to $5 a pound for that food.

How do you know that bananas have too much sugar? Is this from your own personal experience of eating bananas for years like I have? Or are you just repeating something you read or heard from a popular raw guru?

Here is a comparison of the equal amounts in calories of bananas versus coconut oil/butter in terms of costs and various nutrients (from nutritiondata.com):

--------------

(DV = % Daily Value)

4 tbsp coconut oil
==================
Calories: 488, calories from fat: 488
Total Carbs: 0
Total Protein: 0
Total Fat: 28g, DV: 86%
__Saturated Fat: 24g, DV: 244%
__Omega 6 to 3 ratio: N/A, has no omega 3
Vitamins: DV: 0%
Minerals: DV: 0%
Water: 0g
Fiber: 0g

Cost: $3.75 (at NFL)

4 large bananas
================
Calories: 484, calories from fat: 16
Total Carbs: 124g, DV: 40%
Protein: 1g
Total Fat: 2g
__Omega 6 to 3 ratio: 1.7:1 (ideal is between 4:1 and 1:1)
Vitamins (%DV):
__Vitamin A: 8%
__Vitamin C: 80%
__Vitamin E: 4%
__Thiamin: 12%
__Riboflavin: 24%
__Niacin: 20%
__Vitamin B6: 100%
__Folate: 28%
__Panthothenic Acid: 20%
__Vitamin K: 4%
Minerals:
__Calcium: 4%
__Iron: 8%
__Magnesium: 36%
__Phosphorus: 12%
__Potassium: 52%
__Zinc: 4%
__Copper: 20%
__Manganese: 72%
__Selenium: 8%
Water: 408g
Fiber: 14g, DV: 52%

Cost: $2.00

The bananas measured are mostly likely commercial bananas. Organic bananas will have higher vitamin and mineral contents.

This is a great question! Sometimes, I wonder if I'm eating proper?????
I really need to become educated on food combining!
Maybe someone could start a conversation on that....

Jan

Speaking of too much sugar:

When one overeats carbohydrates, what happens is the body converts the excess carbohydrates into fat, which can lead to obesity.

When one overeats fiber, one starts to experience weight loss, because there are not enough usable calories consumed. There can also me malnutrition, because there are not enough vitamins and minerals consumed.

When one overeats fats, this will lead to obesity, constipation, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and gall stones.

When one overeats protein, this leads to osteoporosis, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, liver and kidney disease.

So eat too many bananas (say more than 22 bananas on a 2000 calorie a day intake) will lead to obesity. However, eating too much fat will give you the same obesity, plus a host of diseases. Eating too much protein will not lead to obesity, but will lead to its own set of diseases.

i disagree on the fats issue.

i find when i eat more fats than my body can consume, i pass them through.

there are different metabolisms in the human body-some need less fat, some more, some more protein, some less.

i have never read a study on raw fats that cause health problems. only processed. i have a very high consumption of fats, low blood pressure, low cholesteral, low blood sugar, low heart rate, very good bmi, and no risks toward any of the above mentioned diseases.

if you know otherwise, let me know.

Yes, there are some reasons to avoid high fat diets. I try to keep my fat intake at or below 25%.

In this study, several diets were tested on rats with regards to protection from squamous cell carcinoma (which people get from excess ultraviolet radiation).
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

The diet that was most protective was like Ann Wigmore's but with very large doses of supplemental vitamin C. All raw food.

However, when additional raw peants and raw sunflower seeds (raw fats and proteins) were added to the diet, the protective effect was completely lost.

Another thing to consider is that lower fat diets have been shown to generate less oxidative stress. Reduced oxidative stress provided by low caloric intake is lost when fat proportion in the diet is increased. Even when calories are reduced, if fat intake is increased, the protective effect of reduced calories may be lost. (see ref below).

Respiratory quotient = the ratio of the volume of carbon dioxide (Vc) produced by an organism to the volume of oxygen consumed (Vo). RC = Vc/Vo. The more oxygen consumed, the lower the respiratory quotient. For fats, RC = 0.7, protein =0.8
carbohydrate =1.0. Metabolism of fat consumes a great deal more oxygen relative to the production of carbon dioxide than the metabolism of carbohydrates. This means more oxidative stress. It could also mean accelerated aging.

Here are some macronutrient ratios and their relative oxidative stress levels
15%F 15%P 70%C (similar to wild howler monkey diet is 17F, 14P, 69C): 1
25%F 14%P 61%C: 1.04
40F 14P 46C -Standard American diet: 1.10
50F 20P 30C carbohydrate restricted dietsL 1.15
65F 25P 10C 1955 Worst case Cretan Mediterranean or Atkins-like: 1.22

ref:
Garait B, Couturier K, Servais S, Letexier D, Perrin D, Batandier C, Rouanet JL, Sibille B, Rey B, Leverve X, Favier R., Fat intake reverses the beneficial effects of low caloric intake on skeletal muscle mitochondrial H(2)O(2) production, Free Radic Biol Med. 2005 Nov 1;39(9):1249-1261. PMID: 16214040

Bryan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> djatchi,
>
> I eat a lot of bananas. While they are not my
> favorite fruit, they are the cheapest source of
> organic fresh whole ripe fruits. The more bananas
> I eat, the lower my food bill is, since I'm paying
> $1 a pound versus $2 to $5 a pound for that food.
>
One or two bananas a day could be ok but eating 10 or more is a problem. Bananas are hybrid with too much sugar in them, no seeds and to say that we need them because their are cheap is a problem, especially comming from someone who has been coaching on some health issues

There are so many cheap seasonal fruit that have seed more nutrients and less sugar. Bananas are addicting because of the sugar.

I have to wonder why you need to consume 8 to 10 bananas in one sitting too Bryan. That's a lot of bananas. In my opinion that's alot of food in one sitting, whether it be bananas or oranges or apples or romaine lettuce. Why the huge amounts? I've wondered that from the beginning or since coming to this forum. I'm not judging it as faulty or wrong because I don't know. It's just that my instincts steer away from eating massive (and I think 8 to 10 bananas in one smoothie is massive) amounts of food at once. I mean, can't raw foodies overeat? even if the food is raw? Isn't it pretty much common knowledge that under-eating is better than over-eating, even when the food is raw? And if bananas are the powerhouse of nutrition some say they are (Darwin considered them the perfect food)then why would anyone need 10 of them at once?

On the other hand I ate 3 large grapefruit juiced this morning. The fiber was removed and so drinking the juice is not as heavy as eating the three grapefruits whole would be, but still I had three grapefruits which could seem like a lot. So maybe its relative. Then again, the grapefruit juice was my first meal, was taken after noon, and was followed three hours later by my next meal, which was one whole sliced cuc with raw tahini "dip". That's not a lot of food all in all and maybe that's how it spreads out for you too?

These questions are not meant as criticism or judgement. I'm just genuinely interested in the "science" of it. The "whys" and "whatfors" so to speak.

Kathleen

I don't think 8 to 10 bananas is a lot of food. Calorie wise, it is 720 calories. This is probably half the calories I might eat in a day, which means I eat 1500 calories for that entire day. For a person weighing 140 pounds, this is not overeating.

A single meal in my SAD days might be a McDonald's Big Mac, large fries, and a chocolate shake, which comes to the same 1500 calories. Except that this was just one meal out of three. My calorie intake during that time was probably over 3000 calories a day. Of course, back then I weighed more like 165 pounds.

When I didn't eat this amount of fruit when I first started raw, what this caused me to do was to eat a lot of fat. Volume wise, it wasn't much food, say 2 avocados a day, 8 tablespoons of olive oil. Except that my fat intake was at 1600 calories a day, and my fat percentages was at 70% or higher. Also, I didn't get the same level of satiation that I get eating high fruit.

As for the science, take a look at how many nutrients are in 4 large bananas in my previous post versus what is the the equivalent amount of coconut butter. These bananas are loaded with nutrients, and I feel good about eating them. Also, I don't seem to have any of the symptoms of overeating, which would be indigestion, foul smelling waste products, body odor, etc.

As for bananas being addictive, I am able to not eat them at will, and not eat them for long periods of time without withdrawals. Of course, I am eating other fruits, and they all have sugars in them.

When I go on fasts, I don't have any withdrawal symtoms from not eating fruit. So I don't think that fruit or bananas are addictive like other common addictive substances like salt or coffee.

I think green smoothies are the healthiest food you can eat. I start my day with one made with kale, sprouts and fruit such as bananas or mango or whatever.

For lunch (doesn't anybody else have a 9 to 5 job?) I have some fruit like watermelon or berries, unless i cheat and have a vegan wok or sandwich.

For dinner I have a salad one night and some cooked beans or gardenburger the next night for my son.