Hi All

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this. I switched to a raw diet (around 80%) five years ago and within days began to see the expected benefits.

I fell off the wagon about 8 months later, and went back to eating a cooked vegetarian diet, but still included around 40 to 50% raw foods on average.
I have just had my 46th birthday and it's motivated me to go back to being raw- up till now my health is intact and I want it to stay that way.

However although I have been eating around 85-90 percent raw for two weeks now, I can't really see any benefits. I could do with dropping around 10 lbs, and I don't think I have lost anything-my eyes may look slightly brighter, but I can't really see or feel any real positive changes.

This was not my experience the first time round, and I'm a bit nonplussed!

Thinking about doing the master cleanse to jump-start my efforts...hope someone can chime in with some thoughts!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2011 12:51PM by startingover.

I haven't been through this myself, but I respectfully suggest that you consider that it's five years on from your last attempt and your body may be responding differently this time? It hasn't been that long since you resumed high raw, right?; maybe give it some more time. Hope you get the answers you need here.

Yes thanks Tamukha, maybe I'm just expecting too much too soon. And there is always the mental benefit of going to bed feeling with the feeling that you have not spent the day eating stuff that can be detrimental to health.

It is just so different to what I experienced the first time round-but then again I'm older and maybe things take longer.

Sometimes our initial enthusiasm goes a long way in making us feel very good when starting out a new regime. We don't know what to expect and so any change is an enormous happy surprise. Not so much the second time around when we have higher expectations and anticipate great changes only to feel that things are not going as quickly or happening as radically as we'd like. This has certainly been my experience.

There have been a few amazing posts here over the years addressing health in a wholistic light, discussing the many aspects of good health of which diet is only a small part. If I were in your situation I might take a look at everything else that was happening in my life right now with an eye to how it is affecting my health. How are you sleeping? What is your stress level? How are your relationships with loved ones, at work, etc? What sort of physical activity are you getting? Do you have a spiritual practice that feeds that need? Are you taking time out to meditate, do yoga or just do nothing at all? And so many more.

It takes years to attain our current level of health, whatever it may be, and it can take years to improve it, especially as we age. I know that at 39 things definitely happen slower than they did only a few years ago. But I think it's great to focus on the positives no matter how small or insignificant they seem as they all add to one's overall health and increased vitality. I don't think I'll ever feel as I did in my roaring twenties but I expect that I'll feel better than if I wasn't making this conscious effort to be healthy and sometimes I've got to remind myself that that's pretty fantastic all on it's own.

Thanks Coco, I think you've probably hit the proverbial nail. I haven't tried to improve any other areas of my life, which obviously I should. (I was kind of waiting for the weather to get warmer )

in addition to the many good points made, any amount of cooked can hold you back from feeling as good as your body wants to feel.

The benefits you seek would hit you much quicker and faster if you went ahead and took it to the 100% level. I am a HUGE 100% advocate, as any amount of cooked food can block your detoxing process. And so much of the initial magic of raw can come from detoxing. So consider a couple weeks fully raw, low low fat if you wanna lose weight. This will jump start the magic. I have lost 190+ pounds so far, and this is mainly thanks to 100% !!!

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

Oh you guys, the effort and inconvenience of going 100% raw sometimes outweigh any benefits you might experience.

I am not an advocate of 100% anything. I've done it and it was good in it's own way but not the end all be all for me. I maintain the belief that every good step in the right direction improves your life. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, that's not a healthy attitude IMHO.

Startingover, I am not loving this cold weather either, it does make some things more difficult. There is indoor swimming at the Y though, and hot yoga, and there are always social groups meeting even when it's a pain to get to and from. I try to stay as active as is comfortable during the winter. What things I must wait for summer to do I replace with reading and reflection and visits with the like-minded online .

Good posts coco especially the first i liked that.

Eating some cooked food doesn't block any detox processes our body doesn't work like that, the body is in a constant state of detoxification, yes things can burden it such as alcohol.

not my intention to get into another 100% raw argument, just making a suggestion, since it didn't seem to be considered the by OP.

also, it's not about detox processes, powerlifter, it's about energy level.

way to go, rawlion.

100% raw doesnt mean its 100% healthy. Ive a few friends that eat all raw and eat animal products. (One died last year). I know people that eat all raw -811 style and are thriving.

If you eat a high fat raw gourmet hollywood diet you WILL DESTROY your health eventually. Fruits and veg are the staples. Read 80/10/10 by Doug Graham if you want the raw truth.

Here is a pic of a 100% raw vegan. She eats more fruit than any female in the raw food movement today. [www.youtube.com]