Hello
After having more health issues, I am back to 100% raw. I was 100% '04-06, but then b/c of moving to a local and time issues, left the 100% raw. But am back...which leads me to my question...back in '04-05 I used to eat more raw protein (ie: nuts/seeds/nut milks/etc) but now I don't seem to be digesting them as well. I know that nuts ARE more difficult to digest, even soaked. I believe that more of a whole foods (veggie/fruit) is better and better absorbed. But HOW MUCH protein SHOULD we consume on a raw diet? Like should I eat nuts/seeds DAILY?, EVERY OTHER DAY? OTHER? of course the quantity would depend on my size/weight (I am 5' and about 105#), speaking of which, I really do not want to loose more weight, how do you stay balanced without nuts/seeds? My mentor back then said "to succeed on a raw diet is to eat a balanced of raw foods".
thx juls

nuts and seeds are not mostly protein; they are mostly fat. if you want more protein and nutrients, eat high fruit and green leafy vegetables. some people also like sprouts but i find they are difficult to digest and not as tasty as fresh foods/produce.

Protein is always one of the biggest concerns - that is actually almost nothing to worry about. For adults, they should be able to get plenty of protein on a varied raw diet. There is plenty of usable protein in fruits & veggies. If you are concerned, eat sprouted sunflower seeds.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Human milk is 6% protein and babies double their weight on only this in the first six month of their life. Adults need less because we are not growing so rapidly so most vegetarians aim for 5% protein. Fruits will average about the right amount of protein, they seem to have a protein range of 3-9%. If you throw in some greens and nuts you probably will have nothing to worry about.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2010 06:52PM by tropical.

julee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello
> After having more health issues, I am back to 100%
> raw. I was 100% '04-06, but then b/c of moving to
> a local and time issues, left the 100% raw. But
> am back...which leads me to my question...back in
> '04-05 I used to eat more raw protein (ie:
> nuts/seeds/nut milks/etc) but now I don't seem to
> be digesting them as well. I know that nuts ARE
> more difficult to digest, even soaked. I believe
> that more of a whole foods (veggie/fruit) is
> better and better absorbed. But HOW MUCH protein
> SHOULD we consume on a raw diet? Like should I
> eat nuts/seeds DAILY?, EVERY OTHER DAY? OTHER? of
> course the quantity would depend on my size/weight
> (I am 5' and about 105#), speaking of which, I
> really do not want to loose more weight, how do
> you stay balanced without nuts/seeds? My mentor
> back then said "to succeed on a raw diet is to eat
> a balanced of raw foods".
> thx juls

If you want to increase your protein content without increasing calories radically and use whole foods, sprouted legumes including chickpeas, mung beans, lentils and soybeans (edameme) are your best bet. Sprouted lentils are my favorite. Very inexpensive and versatile. 7 grams of protein per cup at only 70 calories. Good on salads, in smoothies or dried and incorporated into sprouted bread flour. Next bet are green veggies esp dark greens such as spinach, collards and kale. Nuts are very high in fat and have to be eaten in moderation. Fruit has relatively little protein as a percentage of calories and in absolute number.

my post seemed to had to be moderated so hopefully it will come but pborst how do you use these sprouted legumes, there are something ive been interested in since forever, where do you get them also?

as my other post said gojis and a few other dried berries have complete amino acid profile and are raw.

cheers

I absolutely cannot eat any sprouts and very few nuts and seeds - is that a nutritional problem ?

Utopian Life Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> nuts and seeds are not mostly protein; they are
> mostly fat. if you want more protein and
> nutrients, eat high fruit and green leafy
> vegetables. some people also like sprouts but i
> find they are difficult to digest and not as tasty
> as fresh foods/produce.

Sprouts are not fresh produce?

I am a bit perplexed myself about what to do. I am reading a very comprehensive book on raw foods at the moment (title escapes me but it was recommended by someone here) In the book, the author says that wheat is one of the bad guys, but that all grains, even sprouted, may not be good for us. I have been to raw food restaurants and it seems as if they use nuts and seeds in everything. I don't like this. I don't feel really good eating many nuts and seeds. They seem very heavy and are dense.

I was very happy for some years eating very few nuts and seeds indeed and no sprouts at all either, but back then I also accepted that different people have different needs, and I saw others who thrived on those things. So, flipperjan, if your body does fine without those, it needn't be a problem, just like David suggested. My experience is that there is no one macronutrient ratio that is optimal for absolutely everyone, in every circumstance, climate, society, etc. It comes back to listening to your own body.

It's generally true that higher-protein correlates with higher-fat, and as I think someone on here said years ago, that's not a problem so long as you keep the sugar _low_.

Right now, I seem to be doing very well on basically no sugar, and higher protein and fat. (Anyone who remembers me from a few years ago must be as astonished as I am to read me saying this! Reformed fat-a-phobe!)

I second sprouted lentils - they are so easy and cheap. You just soak them overnight (1/3 cup in a quart jar), drain, rinse, and then you can leave them in the jar and rinse them a couple times a day, and within a couple or three days you have sprouts. They are tastier than some other sprouts I've tried too.

I don't think anyone's mentioned algae yet. I am loving spirulina and chlorella on my salads and in my nut mylks at the moment - and they are both really high in protein.

Hope this is some help!



seeing is freeing
hearing is clearing
feeling is healing

i don't think sprouts are fresh produce - they're made from something dried and obviously not fresh. but whatever you want to consider them is up to you!

i dont eat nuts or seeds or sprouts regularly and i'm in great health.

Wow, thank all of you for your input. The sprouted lentils sound interesting, I just had success with sprouted chickpeas. David, you mentioned using the sprouts in bread, do you have a recipe?

Do raw fooders have to worry about proteins being complete? do they have all the amino acids?

Blessings julie

Complete proteins are nice but as long as you eat a variety of plants you're fine. We actually don't need to consume all of the essential amino acids in a given meal, or even a whole day. It might be a concern if a person was only eating 1 or 2 different foods for many months at a time. If one is concerned about getting all of the essential amino acids, I recommend cron-o-meter which has data for those. You can get approximate recommended intakes from wikipedia etc and see how your diet fares.

complete set of amino acids is obviously better but if over the day you combine with other foods you end up getting the full spectrium of essential aminos anyway.

it becomes a problem when theres not enouhg variety of food.