hello all. so as I am new to this raw diet, I have many questions. One thing I have noticed is that the raw restuarants and the pre packaged Raw meals in the health stores seem awfully high in fat and calories (but are soooo yummy). so my question is....what is the best thing for a person to eat? fruit and greens mostly. like fruit smoothies and green juices. i dont enjoy eating salads much. I'd almost rather have a green juice instead of eating a salad. but it seems to me that without the nut pates/pastes that you find in prepared RAW meals, food can get boring and lack texture.

Basically as a newbie here, I am just trying to figure out the right ways to do this. I want to find overall health and I also want to lose 10 pounds or so. so whats the best things I should put in my mouth to succeed? is it possible to eat too much fruit and gain weight fast?

and one other question....i have read a lot about knowing when your body is really hungry or not. how do you determine that besides simply feeling that hungry feeling? I seem to feel hungry a lot, but now Im thinking maybe its not really hunger I am feeling??????

thanks in advance for your help!

donna

Here is a previous posting by Bryan on nuts that might help [www.rawfoodsupport.com].

There have been previous threads on raw restaurant foods you can search for if you want. I think they are a nice occasional treat, but they can be too heavy and hard to digest for a lot of us.

Sometimes the lighter feeling you get from eating raw food can be mistaken for hunger, so some of us eat slightly more fat in the form of olives, nuts, tahini, or avocados until we get through that phase.

There are a lot of different opinions on what to eat when raw, but fruits & veggies usually comprise the majority of the raw diet.

I also found this article and thought it might help [www.newstarget.com].

In one section she starts out with this paragraph:

"For most people, ‘going raw’ seems like a huge change. I want to re-emphasise that to see real and effective weight loss, there is no demand that you MUST be 100% raw, now or ever, or indeed do anything that doesn’t feel comfortable to you. Try starting with baby steps. Ultimately, the most important message here is to EAT MORE RAW – it doesn’t matter if you begin at 50, 60 or 70% raw, as long as you’re eating more raw than you used to, and more raw foods than dead, cooked foods (or at least equal amounts of each), you will start to see results."

And then she has a section titled Taking it at YOUR Pace... that might answer some of your questions.

Good luck and congrats on your decision to eat healthier.