Hey there .. I've been reading the posts for quite some time now and have finally decided to inquire about my predicament.
I have been a vegan for 5 years, 90% raw for the past year and 100% for a little over a month. When I became vegan I lost a total of 110lbs in my five year journey also curing myself of asthma, chronic bronchitis, daily migraines and seasonal allergies. I felt so grateful and healthy!
Now, after my decision to be 100% I have gained 10-15lbs and it feels awful. I feel incredably uncomfortable and puffy and know I look just as bad. My daily caloric intake is between 700 - 1000 calories so all of this weight gain does not make sense to me!!
Has anyone else experienced this or have any insight into what it may be that is causing it?
I don't mind the number on the scale, I just want to feel confident and comfortable in my own body. This is really doing my head in!


Oh yes .. I also wanted to mention that everyone on here looks so great .. and I love reading all of the wise and diverse advice on these boards.

You might be underestimating your intake. Underestimating is the much more common mistake compared to overestimating. Are you keeping a diary of everything you put in your mouth and weighing it before coming up with the kcal total?

Have you recently increased your sodium intake? That might cause water retention.

Hi Ellington,
This is a wild guess, based on my own early experience with going raw. You could be eating a lot more fruit on an all raw diet than you were as a cooked vegan, and having cleansing or candida-related reactions to the fruit sugar. I experienced both early on in my raw food 'career' and I definitely had problems with bloating and water retention which cleared up quite a bit later on.

Sharrhan:


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kwan-- Could you specify what amount of what foods you ate to help the problem? I'm suspecting I'm having a similar responce to a largely fruit based diet.

ambaryarena--

I didn't find my solution overnight, because I had candida, severe toxicity from drugs given to me as a child, and what seemed to be a very strong insulin response problem (hypoglycemia). I tried a lot of things, including leaving the diet for a short while entirely, but I came back to it, persevered and got well. I can eat plenty of fruit now without any problem.

What worked for me at the time I was struggling with weight gain on the diet was a combination of eating more salads and less fruit, and-- most importantly-- fasting to get rid of the candida and the toxins. Sometimes I juice fasted; sometimes I water fasted. Exercise was real important too; I'm not thinking so much in terms of to lose weight but for moving the blood, squeezing toxins out of the muscles, etc.

Are you following 80/10/10 or are you pretty much still in transition? You can try Doug Graham's concept that if you keep the fat content of your diet low (less than 10%) you're almost guranateed to get rid of the above-mentioned problems.

Good luck! Feel free to PM me if you want and keep me posted on how it's going.

Sharrhan:


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The comment about candida yeast could be right on here. In a basically healthy gut, fruit is not a problem, but many people - especially if they have been previously eating a "SAD" diet or have ever taken antibiotics-- have higher-than-optimal levels of candida yeast growth in the gut. Fruit sugars can feed this stuff disproportionately, exacerbating the problem. Candida produces over 400 by-product chemicals, many of which are toxic and can cause symptoms like bloating. You might want to temporarily decrease the fruit intake and simultaneously increase your intake of garlic, to help reduce the yeast levels. If that doesn't help, then look for other causes.

Also consider WHAT kind of cooked food you eliminated from your diet, and what kind of raw food you replaced that intake with. Perhaps there is a clue there; try to find a raw food or foods that is/are closer in composition and nature to what you have stopped eating, and eat more of that.

Your calorie total seems very low to me, especially if you are on a raw diet which typically contains a lot of calorie-negative foods (that is, ones that require more caloric energy to digest than they contribute to your body). If you are an active, full-sized adult, 1000 calories is TOO LITTLE! Your body may actually be slowing down your metabolism and storing away food energy, to compensate for a near-starvation level of caloric intake. You may need to eat more of the fatty/oily foods (nuts, avocados, olives, cocounuts, etc...) to raise the calore count enough fir your body to settle down at its healthy, natural weight.

One other thing to check: when you made the shift to all-raw, did you make other changes in your lifestyle at the same time? Perhaps you cut out some form of exercise that you were getting?

Check your sodium intake, too, as too high a ration of sodium to potassium will cause excess water retention. Are you eating commercially dried raw foods with added salt, or adding salt yourself to any foods? Most raw foods are higher in Potassium, so this shouldn't be the problem, but it is worth looking at just to eliminate it as a possible cause.

arkay--
Yes, very true. I was given antibiotics over and over again, time after time during my childhood-- the 'miracle' of penicillin was very in vogue at the time and I remember the doctor coming to my house on many occasions and giving me a shot for even the hint of a sniffle. Thus by the time I was a pre-teen I had a lot of symptoms of candida overgrowth. I was starting to get the candida out of my system in my 30s, but then I had an abscess in my mouth at one point and the dentist gave me antiotics (I should have toughed it out and done a water fast, but I didn't know enough to do it at the time)... and I was became a walking yeast factory all over again in my late 30s and had to once again work to rid myself of candida.

And one of the side-effects of candida overgrowth for me was that I had trouble losing weight.

If you're ever offered antiobiotics for any type of infection or condition, think very carefully about it and consider the alternative: fasting for a week or two. Antibiotics are deadly.

Sharrhan:


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Thanks so much for your insights.
I have a feeling that your suggestions are correct in regards to the candida. My diet is largely fruit based (85-95%) with about 1 T of almond butter daily and some cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower.) I do eat quite a few dried fruits in that percentage, but none have any added salt.
I am a bit concerned because I have also some vitiligo (loss of skin pigment) on my shoulders and chest which could be because of a yeast overgrowth, no?
I am beginning to research candida more and what I can do to rid myself of it.
Would this be wise?
Thanks for your help!

correct, white spots are usually candida overgrowth..