Hi Everyone,

I'm a 25 year old Indian man who has been raw for almost four years. It has changed my life and I have never felt better. However, I have lost a considerable amount of weight (5'11" and 105 lbs now) I used to weigh 140 lbs. Are there any suggestions for gaining weight? I eat high calorie banana smoothies twice a day and mangoes as much as I can.

Lately, everyone has been commenting on my weight loss and I'm fearful of losing out on key jobs (I'm in the film industry). I am quite concerned about my future weight and whether it will continue to decline. Thanks so much for your help.

peace and love.

Maybe eating avocados,nuts,and seeds. I believe they are overt fat. Actually, though you might want to seek opinions on how good or bad that would be for you. I know that some people here advocate a low fat diet. Maybe a lot of fat isn't the best thing for your body, but I know about the pressures of trying to stay a certain weight...I model occasionally. You might also want to weight train. Probably if you gain muscle you would gain weight and not look as slim.

Hi Gavin
I am not an expert or doctor or anything. I am also admitting that I have a poor self body image and do not want to criticize or compare you to anyone else. It is something I notice that women seem to do better (in looks) than men on a raw / vegan food diets. You may feel fantastic which is why you continue, however below is a precis of an article I read recently. I use a nutritionist who is mainly a raw food eater and even he suggests lightly boiling or steaming a some foods sometimes for optimum health. I hope I do not get into trouble for posting this here. The guy who wrote this article the leader of Essene faith in USA, can't remember his name right now.
He say...
"One of the things that I've just noticed, with my own eyeballs, is that a lot of long-term vegans actually don't look healthy. They look kind of emaciated, their skin is kind of sallow, some got bags under their eyes, their hair's splitting ends, their fingernails aren't good and most have teeth problems big time. This is people that have been on it for longer than 10 years. Maybe they're having health problems related to certain nutritional deficiencies.
I notice that a lot of the men (more than women) look quite skinny or emaciated. Some say it's detox and that the weight will come back, but then many have been on this diet for quite a while and still are quite underweight.
It seems some people who have amazing digestive systems are able to digest nutrients properly on an all-raw diet. But the important thing is that those are the exception to the rule. The vast majority of people do not adequately break down and digest all the raw foods that they're eating. And that's why they can't reach a healthy weight.
I’ve learned recently that several people have died on a raw food diet and that when they died; the doctor said that their body had starved to death. Those weren't people that were fasting; they were people that were eating raw foods everyday. But their body starved to death because these individuals had less effective digestive systems than the average person. So, even though the average person would not digest as many nutrients from the raw vegetables as from the cooked vegetables, people with poor digestion digest so few nutrients on the raw food diet that they can actually starve to death even though they are eating everyday."
...Now he is being alarmist There are many people on this and other sites who have been doing it long term and are successful at it.
Personally, I am not knocking the raw food diet, I have achieved amazing results in the 6 months that I been in it, however I am just realizing that there is a lot more to this than meets the eye. Because I am noticing some things in myself that I don’t like and am unsure of, like my skin, on my hands especially, easily getting damaged like it’s less tough or resilient to knocks and scrapes.
The author of the above information readily admits that the raw food diet is excellent for healing and cleansing, however he has doubts as to its long term maintenance diet potential!

I just thought I would share this. I am not trying to turn you off from the raw vegan lifestyle, I am just suggesting that extremism, which I suffer from, is not healthy. My all or nothing thinking got me into trouble in the past. For me today flexibility is the key. Also what I have heard other long term raw fooders state is that exercise is essential for healthy weight gain, which would be muscle gain and not fat or water. I hope you find a plan that works for you soon.
Okun Deji Nu

i find it hard to buy into the philosophy that says vital, raw food with all of its enzymes and nutients in tact, should be heated to the point of destroying those enzymes and nutrients in order to make it better. raw food is buzzing and alive, cooked food destroys that vitality, how can it be better?

gavin, i am by no means an expert, but i would think that you just need to comsume more calories. if you feel good, i think that is a good barometer by which you can judge how your body is responding to raw foods. hopefully someone with more experience and knowledge here can give you more specific guidance foodwise. good luck.

To Gavin,

If you don't eat nuts/seeds/avocados/coconuts, you might try all of those and see how you feel. Wild animals - including primates - eat as much of those foods as they feel comfortable eating, and they don't suffer for it. Even grazing animals, like bison and deer, eat lots of seeds from low-growing plants. Birds eat seeds, wild dogs eat nuts and seeds, even cats love coconut. Of course, none of those animals are sedentary either.

You might try raw wheat germ. It's a traditional health food for gaining weight. Organic raw wheat germ is available online. I've never tried it in smoothies, but it's great mixed into salads (about 1/4 cup or more with a large salad), with a cold pressed olive oil and lemon juice dressing. Mmmm.

The more exercise you can get, the better. And I agree with Satori that weight training might be really helpful.

As a precaution, if you haven't already done so, you might get checked for an amoeba or some other parasite.

Best wishes.

To Okun Deji,

I think your concerns are very important. Although "detox" is very real, deficiency is also possible on a raw food diet, and the topic should never be considered tabu on a raw food forum.

It really scared me the last time I visited www.30bananasaday.com. I read one thread where a person said she was concerned because she discovered she was anemic. The dominant response from several people was that they were also anemic, and anemic is good. Another thread was started by a teenage girl whose picture showed that she was very thin, and she said that her parents thought she was too young to eat so little "fat". The responders said, "Don't listen to your parents." Have we forgotten about anorexia?

Over the course of many years raw, I've had deficiencies. I've had problems with my teeth, etc. Those problems have pretty much been resolved (I hope), now that I'm paying closer attention to getting all my nutrients (plus brushing my teeth more often and using a water pic). I'm way better off now, even though I'm still all raw, because I eat a variety of raw foods - including nuts and seeds - just like the wild animals do. And I occasionally look at nutrition charts - for more than just the carb/fat/protein ratio.

Wild animals don't look at nutrition charts at all, but they might eat a greater variety of foods.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2009 12:04AM by suncloud.

okun deji -

after reading suncloud's very wise words, i realize that i missed the point you were making. i'm glad you've brought up the topic of deficiencies.

suncloud-

i'm new at this, and really feeling empowered right now eating raw, and want to make sure that i keep my diet balanced over the long run. i am supplementing with wheatgrass, so hopefully this will give me all of the micronutrients that i might be missing. thanks for sharing your experience, it was really helpful.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2009 01:03AM by marsh.

Hi Marsh and Suncloud
I love this forum because we all get a say! thanK YOU for your support Suncloud. I am not saying cooking is better, I'm just passing on what my nutrionist told me, that some foods like broccoli, beans and grains, are just as nutritious steamed or boiled in water, as they are raw.
Cooking some foods like that, or grains might help him gain weight, that's all I saying. We maybe need to exchange food plans, Gavin's trying to gain and I'm trying to loose. lol.
What Suncloud say is so important about anorexia. I hear so many people in raw food world talk about calorie restriction, there are people who take it to extreme and to death. Some say it is for longevity. Whatever that is. Quality of life is more important than quantity for me. if I can get a few good years now i would be very grateful, I'm tired of living in pain because of my own food addictions.
Peace

Okun Deji Nu

Hi marsh and OkunDeji. Thanks for the encouragement.

Marsh, wheat grass is very good, but even if included with a lot of fruits and veggies, it may still not be enough. If the wheat grass plus whatever else you eat is not enough, you may find that you'll feel really hungry, no matter how much you eat, and no matter how full your tummy is (that general rule might not apply to someone who is already seriously deficient, underweight, or ill).

This sensation of feeling really hungry when your tummy is very full at the same time, will probably not happen the first day you try a particular raw food regimen. It might not happen even after several months of a particular regimen.

But if it ever happens, and if you're restricting yourself from some raw food category (perhaps even including iodine-rich seaweed; and of course, nuts and seeds), then it's probably time to try a little more raw of something else. Once you have a better knowledge of what you can eat, then you may find it's not necessary to eat a whole lot of food - either to gain weight or to be satisfied with food, and lose weight.

Of course, it never hurts to take a peep at the nutrition charts and learn how to read them, if you don't know how already (keeping in mind that the recommendations are somewhat inflated for "safety" If you're consistently below 50% DV in any of the nutrients (not including sodium), you might consider finding something else raw to eat.

Thanks everybody for putting up with my rantings!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2009 02:34AM by suncloud.

Hi Gavin
Just one more thing. I recently came across David Wolfe Sunfood diet system. He suggests men eat daily, 3.6kg fruit, 1.4kg veg (including plenty greens) and 0.15 kg nuts or seeds. If this is not the amount you're eating then this could be your problem insufficient calories.
When i first came across this I used the version for females and wow. It is a lot of food to eat (and money) where I live, still it is a great indication of where I am in my diet.
Peace
Okun Deji Nu



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2009 03:00PM by OkunDeji.

thanks suncloud, great advice.

i've been nearly 100% raw for about a month now (after many "trys" over the past 10 years). this time feels really solid, and i'm not restricting myself to anything, really. one thing i've noticed is that i get a stomache ache after some meals, particularly if i included nuts. while i'm only having maybe a handful a day, it is either starting to feel like too much, or the wrong combination for my system. i'm going to cut back on those for a bit.

my weight is just about right, and i don't seem to be losing, and, i'm satisfied after eating. so for now, it all seems good. i appreciate this discussion on deficiencies, though, because one month is hardly enough time to guage a healthy balance of food. your guidelines for detecting a deficiency are so helpful. thanks alot for that. it's great to have some long term raw fooders here to share their experience and wisdom!

Try eating less citrus friuts. I read that one of the main causes of too much weight loss in the raw food diet is that you get unbalanced stomach acid. I don't remember all of the details, but you can give it a try.

Gavin,

I agree with the posts about exercise. You want to either do physical work and push your muscles past their current load capacity so that they build themselves, or do anaerobic exercises, which will also build muscle bulk.

And once you are doing this physical work or exercise, plenty of rest and sleep are important. It is during sleep that muscle is built by the body.

Also what burns a lot of calories (and perhaps prevent muscle growth) is stress, worry, and anxiety, or lots of thinking and churning. Do what you can to reduce this and see if you get get more peace and stillness inside.