Hi Everyone!

Soo.. I have been lurking here for about 8 weeks, trying to learn all I can.
Short intro-
My name is Kristy, I am 28 and I am 6 weeks Raw, I live in Vancouver BC. I was a vegan before hand. I have had all the ED's you can imagine but have been pretty stable for the past 2 years (besides the odd B&P- hard habit to break when you get in the mood)

I did not transition to Raw- I had my wisdom teeth pulled and I planned to Start Raw right away by drinking Green smoothies because that was all I could eat anyways. So I jumped right in. I don't crave any cooked food and I have a very supportive BF.

My problem is that I crave fat like I never have before and I am over eating like crazy, until I get uncomfortable which causes me to get all those old ED feelings back and makes me want to B&P. I have used fit day to track my calories and I am eating around 1500 calories a day with a bunch of fat.

I am waiting for my 80 10 10 book to come in the mail because I think it might help to give me a clue about what I should be eating (quantities and menu suggestions I hope)

I don't like making the gourmet Raw food because I want to eat it all right away. I will give you an example of what I eat during the day:

breakfast/morning snack:

green smoothie with-

a bunch of rainbow chard or half a head of romaine lettuce
an apple or pear
frozen banana
raspberries, strawberries or blueberries
a tablespoon of vegan flax oil
a tablespoon of spirulina (SP?)

it's pretty big so I usually drink one big glass at 8:45 then sip it at work

lunch:

few pieces of fruit

Dinner:

big salad with an avocado, tomato, cilantro, red onion, cucumber, sprouts, Celtic sea salt
or grated beets, yam, cabbage, sprouts, cold pressed olive oil and a shot of braggs
or vegi hand rolls with an avocado

ect..

but then I always gravitate to the nuts and seeds or olives- right now I can't stop eating raw sunflower seeds and raw peanuts with raw honey or raw nut butters with raw honey or pudding made with bananas, raw cacao powder, raw almond milk and raw honey with seeds on top. I just graze all night, never satisfied.

Am I not eating enough during the day and that is causing me to binge at night?

I am not gaining weight but I am not loosing it either (I have about 20 p to loose, but I am ok with what I look like) I am just going to bed stuffed and uncomfortable and I am just so tired all the time!

I just don't think I am eating the right way or combining correctly. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Sorry about the long post but I look forward to contributing to this community.

Kristy

Sorry- I forgot to add something else as well- How do you know if you have Candida or Parasites? Am I being paranoid?

Thanks!

Just my opinion:
It is hard to overeat fruit. If you are feeling hungry, keep eating fruit. I would try to limit the nuts, seeds, and oils though. On SAD, we were so used to eating such calorie dense food (hamburgers, fries, etc.) that we were trained to eat smaller portions. When we eat low calorie fruits, we need to consume more than we were used to. I consume tons of fruits and veggies everday. I personally never eat overt fat. Reading 80-10-10 will be a huge help! Good luck to you!

My father has said forever:
"I forgive you, stomach"
when he feels he's overeaten.

I eat carrots when I feel like I need to keep eating.
1. they're delicious
2. I can't eat so many, or I get the carrot-stomach-ache-blues
3. The crunching sates my need for an oral fix

Don't beat yourself up over nuts.
When I began, I'd get into the SOAKED nuts at night, and still wake up light.

measure twice, cut once.

"In Watermelon Sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar." ~r.brautigan

I make paintings

i agree with Shaine.
eat carrots. i also
find mangos at night
make me feel full.
eat a few nuts during the day
and go for carrots and
celery and peas and snow peas
at night. one more thing
drink lots of water in
the evening if you can
good luck
dc



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2007 06:53AM by mrdc.

Hi Kristy,

I had some issues with eating too much at night. For me, the best way to deal with that was to floss and brush my teeth shortly after dinner. I found that having a strong toothpaste taste in my mouth always made me not want to eat...especially sweet stuff or nuts that would get caught in my teeth.

good luck

A more substantial lunch would carry you well into the night without you being so hungry. Otherwise your body tries to catch up later what it didn't get during the day.
What I remember from the 80-10-10 book (among other things):
juicy fruits in the morning ( or nothing at all)
sweet, nourishing fruits for lunch
salad or greens, and citrus fruits at night

hope this helps
blessings,
Cynthia

Thanks so much to everyone for being so helpful and nice!

I can't wait for my 80 10 10 book to come because it looks like it will be very helpful in figuring a few things out.
I have been making huge salads for lunch for the last 2 days and making a smoothie right when I get home to take the edge off. So now I guess I have to try to break the habit of going to the fridge all night even when I am not hungry.

xxx
K

at first it's such an odd thing to stop eating and still feel kind of "light". we are so used to feeling stuffed after we eat, we use that as an indication that we are full and it is time to stop. it can take a while to get used to the lightness of raw, how easily digestible it is, how nourished you are with less food. so many people have a similar experience at the start, you'll balance out .

I agree with what others have said:
-eat more during the day -- maybe try to space your "fats" out earlier so you can have more control by the light of day and won't feel the need to eat them at night. I think the great thing about eating raw is that you become super aware of what your body needs. Your body probably needs fat, so give it to your body. However, if you wait too long during the day then you will binge at night. How about putting olive oil on your salad for lunch?
-brushing, flossing, and rinsing is always my old standby -- I also wear a retainer so that helps me cut off the eating for the day.
-also, when you go to reach for those fatty foods, first drink an entire bottle of water, or a cup of tea (if you drink tea). As you are drinking think to yourself, "do I really need all of this food?" just taking a moment to pause might help you think twice. Plus -- drinking fluid will make you feel full.
-finally, pick a food cutoff point. Mine is usually 2-3 hours before I plan to go to sleep so my stomach is pleasantly semi-empty. I am sure there is still a bit of food in my stomach when i go to bed, but since i usually only eat salad at night it is mostly digested by the time my head hits the pillow.

Sounds like you are doing great, overall. Just this one time period that you need to nip in the bud.

Keep up the good work!

Hi,

You shouldn't eat the salad for dinner.

This is better:
When you wake, you drink some water
8 am : fruit or fresh squeezed juice
10am: fruit or fresh squeezed juice
11.30am: water
12: salad (wakame sea vegetable instead of sea salt - sea salt is not good)
NO tomato because it is fruitvegetable and you shouldn't eat fruits and veggies together - you can eat it as a fruit alone
3.30pm if you didn't eat beans or similar, water
4pm fruit or juice
6pm fruit or juice
8pm 1.5 dl walnut, almond, flaxseed.

If you ate beans:
water around 4pm
6 pm fruit
8pm: nuts

only one type of fruit in once
You also should get the Blood type diet book and don't eat anyithing which is not good for your blood type.

i don't know what this has to do with mood but...

gabriel cousins called that blood type diet bunk. apparently the author took some good scientific research and made up enough other stuff to fill a book. a naturopath can give you a better blood type guideline if that's what you're into.
some fruits and veggies combine just fine. not all of course but they don't all have to be eaten alone.
what's with the nuts at night? that sounds pretty heavy to me. your body goes into elimination phase at night (7pm-ish), eating after that can muck you up but if you really were hungry why not an apple or a some cucumber? easy and fast to digest, not so with protein.

Kristy,

It may be that you transitioned too fast. Perhaps you should go back to your stable cooked diet, and introduce the raw foods more slowly. A low fat cooked vegan diet (10% fat or less) is going to be way healthier than a high fat raw diet. Perhaps add back into your diet some streamed veggies and starchy veggies to get your calories, and cut out all the oils and nuts and seeds. With the cooked foods, see if you can avoid condiments like salt, pepper, spices, vinegars, miso, etc, as these condiments are generally unhealthy, and the sooner you can get away from them, the more successful you will be on your raw diet.

Certainly the healthiest fats to eat are those in whole foods like avocados or nuts and seeds. But nuts and seeds are often not truly raw, and you have to sprout them to see if they are really alive. Avocados are a safe bet.

Avoid oils, especially refined oils, as you cannot tell by taste of a refined oil is rancid, as the refining process removes the elements that make an oil taste rancid.

As for your raw diet, the reason you are craving fats is because you are not eating enough fruit. It looks like you are only eating 4 or so pieces of fruit a day. My first meal is typically 8-10 persimmons, or 6-8 bananas, or 5-7 pounds of watermelon. My second (and last) meal is typically the same amount of fruit, plus perhaps a pound (or two) of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce or celery.

When eating raw foods in the beginning of your transition, it is worthwhile to put a typical daily menu into a nutritional calculator like fitday, nutritiondata, nutridiary, or Cron-o-Meter. This will give you an idea of your percentage of fat in your daily menu plus you get to see if you are eating enough calories in your various meals.

Thanks everyone!

I received my 80 10 10 book in the mail yesterday and I am going to use fit day to make up some meal plans so I can get the feeling of what and how much I should eat in a day. I don't want to go back to cooked foods at all but I am going to reign in my fat intake for sure. I know it will take a bit of adjusting but I will work through it. I have given all my nuts away (save for some sunflower seeds) and am almost done my stone pressed olive oil as well- so I won't buy them again!

I have a bit of a digestion problem with eating so much fruit- it gets me fairly bloated and puffy feeling. Do I just have to mono eat the fruit and get used to it? I am also craving bananas like mad right now- what does that mean?

On another note- I am going to New York next week for some business/pleasure and I am so excited! I have never been and I am going to treat myself to a small meal at Pure Food unless anyone else has any other suggestions?? I am staying right DT and don't have a car so if anyone has had some awesome food in that general vicinity...

xxxK

Kristy,

The 80-10-10 is an excellent raw diet. It has served me well over the last 5 years. Your digestion problem may either be too much combining, or perhaps the fruit isn't at its full ripeness. Did you know that bananas are not ripe when their skins are pure yellow, but when the skins are covered with the brown freckles? Eating fruit before its full ripeness can lead to digestion difficulty.

Craving bananas is a good thing. Just eat your bananas. Perhaps all it means is that you are hungry, and your body knows what food is going to satisfy that hunger. Or it could be you are desiring potassium.

I think less combining will help with bloatedness and improve digestion.