Hi, I am in Australia and am only a few weeks into my raw adventure. My diet was pretty healthy before but I drank raw milk and kefir, cheese, and a little meat.

I have a question about all the fruit. I would love to lose a few kgs and its happening only very slowly, if at all (I am not really overweight but am at the upper end of the range for my weight and its been creeping up in the last couple of years- I am 42). I am getting very, very hungry eating only a green juice and fruit in the morning, no matter how much fruit I eat. I am concerned its going to cause me to break my resolve and enthusiasm for being mostly raw (about 80%). I eat a big salad for lunch, but I am often so desperate for lunch by 11am that I often eat then. (however, I do tend to wake up about 4 or 5am).

Does anyone feel unable to "fill up" on fruit alone?

Have you considered making raw seed ferments (for example sunflower cheese or yogurt)?

I agree with faeterri, adding seeds might give you that satiation factor.

Peela, you're describing a fruitarian diet (fruit and greens). Is that your approach? What kinds of fruit and greens are you eating?

I also was at the upper range of healthy weight when getting into raw at the age of 43 and remember some of those feelings.

Peela,

Good advice to add some dense but healthy fat to your regimen. By the way, how are you determining that you are eating enough fruit? It should be limited by appetite, not by grams, kilograms, pounds, pieces, etc. That is, when you have fruit, are you eating enough of it to satisfy your hunger, and as often as you are hungry? Also, you don't mention your activity level. If you do sports or are otherwise on-the-go, you will need more carbs than someone sedentary. Lastly, is the rest of your dietary intake[the other 20%] calorie and nutrient rich?

"Good advice to add some dense but healthy fat to your regimen."

Faeterri and I suggested adding seeds which are nutrient dense and have protein and carbs as well. They are grounding foods.

loeve,

I am just wondering what your take on "grounding" v "flighty" foods is. I don't find seeds and nuts grounding, exactly; I don't think they're a good source of protein or carbs, ounce for ounce, unless sprouted, but I do think they are filling. Maybe my filling is your grounding . . . I have never found protein-rich foods to be sating, which is why this latest trend in conventional nutrition of recommending that people eat a lot of protein is intriguing to me.

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I am getting very, very hungry eating only a green juice and fruit in the morning

I eat a diet of green juice and fruit and I have found that having more meals works for me. Its kind of like the grazing approach except that I eat until I feel satisfied. I don't eat more then it takes to feel satisfied but enough to feel comfortable. The result is that I don't constantly eat like the grazing approach but I do eat more then three meals a day as directed by my hunger signals. Good luck



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2009 01:36PM by EZ rider.

Also, I am watchful and sensitive to the first slightly hungry signal that I can detect. When I ignore that first weak hunger signal and move to the stronger hunger signals I tend to want foods other then fruit. If I ignore the hunger signals until I get very hungry I can get cravings for all manner of foods.

Tamukha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> loeve,
>
> I am just wondering what your take on "grounding"
> v "flighty" foods is. I don't find seeds and nuts
> grounding, exactly; I don't think they're a good
> source of protein or carbs, ounce for ounce,
> unless sprouted, but I do think they are filling.
> Maybe my filling is your grounding . . . I have
> never found protein-rich foods to be sating, which
> is why this latest trend in conventional nutrition
> of recommending that people eat a lot of protein
> is intriguing to me.

To me a grounding food would provide the body with what it is crying out for, whatever that may be, in Peela's case, seeds possibly helping with satiety. A flighty food would leave the body wanting, purhaps leaving the body in chemical imbalance, vitamin deficient, starved for energy or outside its comfort range of types of food it can digest and metabolize.

I've been juicing and eating raw squash including the seeds and flesh, which is an exception to the usual soaking or sprouting of seeds approach for me. I seldom get the feeling any more that I have to eat unless getting near the point of starvation.

hope this helps



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2009 02:15PM by loeve.

Wow, loeve, you are very disciplined! Thanks for the explanation : )

when i first started i had to completely throw out the breakfast/lunch/dinner dogma i grew up with. Grazing through-out the day is what kept me going

as far as the creepy weight gain goes , i hear ya ! im 41 and find i really need to keep moving or it keeps creepin I just added tabata training to my fitness protocol to mix things up a bit, look it up , theres free info all over the web on it . my only suggestion then is keep moving , diet alone may not do the trick

and welcome to the site i hope you find your groove !

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2009 06:01PM by Jgunn.

thanks everyone. When I started I bought books with lots of interesting and rich recipes...many of which dont taste good to me at all, and I am pretty open minded about new and unusual tastes. Many are high in fat, for sure.
I am thinking I need to find my own way here....I read about people's different approaches to raw- the 811, the natural hygeine, and then Cousens and others who go for the higher fat, and many who recommend lower fruit. I am thinking that although I would like to lose the weight, I might need to make sure I am enjoying myself and eat the avocados and seeds- in moderation....and play with more of the gourmet recipes until I find what works for me. I have always been someone who cant handle a light breakfast, though a light dinner is fine. The amount of fruit i would need to keep eating seems phenomenal and it also means I am thinking about food all the time, which doesn't seem healthy.
I am also taking chlorella and spirulina in large doses, and the 'other 20%' of my diet is definitely nutrient rich.
Thanks for the ideas...I am just going to have to experiment, and I imagine as my body adapts, it will get easier and I can drop back the fats. I am going to play with "seeds" more.

When I started eating raw I found that I preferred eating fresh whole foods raw and didn't care for recipes and gourmet. I liked avocados a lot and I used to eat up to 6 in a day sometimes. My tastes gradually changed and now i only eat an occasional avo. Listen to your body for whats best for you at any given time and have fun along the way. Good luck.

For myself, definitely, eating a couple of handfuls of seeds/nuts every day is very helpful. I eat different kinds of seeds/nuts, but my favorites are brown (unhulled) sesame seeds (1/4 cup, since they're difficult to eat out of my hand), jungle peanuts (a legume, actually), and macadamia nuts when I have them. Nuts/seeds seem to digest better for me unsoaked. But that's just me. I often replace one handful of the nuts/seeds with 1/2 avocado, but I usually have at least one handful of nuts/seeds per day.

I always eat organic nuts/seeds. Conventionally grown nuts/seeds have made me very ill. I also eat a lot of fruit, and some greens.

I've found that for staying raw, getting sufficient micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) is at least as important as an appropriate ratio of macronutrients (protein/fats/carbs). My macronutrient ratio is almost always: carbs around 75%, protein around 7%, and fats around 18%. That seems appropriate for me, but it may not be appropriate for someone else.

I eat lots of fruit, but I never force myself to eat fruit when I'd rather have something else. I've found that if I force myself to eat more fruit than I want, it won't satisfy me, and I'll still be hungry no matter how full my belly is (That's a very uncomfortable feeling). When I want something else, I eat it, but I always eat raw.

Occasionally, I have a day when I eat more salad than usual or more nuts/seeds than usual or more of both. I'm OK with that, and as long as I get sufficient exercise, my weight stays the same.

Sometimes it's best to allow oneself a lot of options to try out rather than be limited to following a raw food diet just one certain way. Most of us eat a little differently. Like EZ Rider, we can fine-tune what feels best to us along the way.

I found my weight creeping up after menopause, but adding more exercise stopped the creepy creep, and now I weigh a little less than before menopause - about 90 at 5'1".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2009 03:54AM by suncloud.

thanks Suncloud and EziRider...I do think I need to do this more intuitively rather than by anyone elses theory, although I love to hear other peoples' experiences and thoughts.
This morning I had a small amount of avocado on sprouted essene bread (I know, the bread isnt technically raw but I havent got around to making my own yet) and a small glass of almond milk- as well as a green smoothie. I felt much, much better and I only just ate my lunch at 2pm as I wasnt hungry before then. And a pretty simple salad was enough, too.
I will try this one day at a time.