Hi.
I am very new here,and am in a real struggle for weight loss.
I have heard so many good things about Atkins diet,low carb.
But its very heavy on meat and dairy.
My gut feeling is to go raw.
I really appreciate any opinions...

Vinny

Vinny, Vinny...Do you really think you're going to get a "comparison" on a Raw Vegan board? If you want to loose weight and be healthy, a dedicated raw vegan diet and exercise program would be the best thing for your body.

There is plenty of documentation on the health problems caused by following that low carb diet fad. The most important is that our bodies were created to work best on a high carb intake.

Do what you feel is right for you, your gut knows what it wants.

Be healthy, be happy, be vegan!

I actually lost significant weight following my own veggie version of Atkins. At what cost though? I never felt healthy while on Atkins, despite the weight loss. Raw feels good for your body, mind and spirit. On raw I never had much weight to lose, but it's not hard to maintain weight while nourishing my body with the best foods ever and indulging on lots of raw treats!

Sunflower
Raw Food Chef and Writer
Comfortably Raw
[www.comfortablyraw.com]

I am loseing weight on a raw diet. I did try the meat diet a very long time ago and felt ill from it. I love eating fresh raw vegitables and fruit, it makes me feel so good it is indescribable. I just weighed in today and lost 8.6 pounds in two weeks and I could eat anything I wanted as long as it was raw. Its really simple, in many ways. One real plus is if you have a large amount of weight to lose many people end up haveing loose skin and have to have a surgery after a large weight loss but on the raw food diet most people state they have little or no loose saggy skin from loseing weight. I would call that a plus. Going raw would change your life in many ways. give it a try for a month and tell us how you feel.

Here is a web on a man who lost from eating raw foods..[www.greensmoothierevolution.com]

best of luck
Pam

The body's main fuel is carbs so how is a low carb diet going to supply that need ? The raw food lifestyle is all about supplying the body with what it needs to be healthy. As a byproduct of going raw I have lost over 60 pounds since Aug 1, 07 in a safe and healthy way all the while eating plenty of fresh raw foods. Try it, you might like it

Quote

The most important is that our bodies were created to work best on a high carb intake.

Created? I thought we evolved.

[/canofworms]

Tony,

That's a can of worms so big I'd love to have it in the garden! However, this is a matter of syntax. I meant created in the sense of building blocks. As in the "machines" we call our bodies "run" most efficiently on a high carb diet.

As far as the "can" you're cracking open, I believe in a created, semi-controlled, and continually evolving world leading to human beings with the free will, and the intelligent capacity to develop and have various belief systems. :~)

edit: corrected spelling.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2009 11:53PM by swimmer.

How do you reconcile semi-controlled with free will. And also, controlled by who or what?

hmm, maybe one of us should make a new thread. How's things in SD by the way?

Think about it, that reconciliation is easy, but yeah, different thread, another time...

Things are real good here! Well except my shoulder(s) (yeah both now), but I'm dealing with it.

How life in New England? I miss you guys.

I've been vegetarian most of my life so I'm somewhat biased, but my mother's tried every fad diet. She stuck with Atkins for awhile, because she did lose weight originally, but then she put a ton back on, weighing more than she ever did. Now, she is slowly, yet steadily losing weight on a mostly raw diet. I lost extra weight going raw as well, even though this wasn't a goal of mine.

Vinny,

I've never tried Atkins, but I've known several people, including family members, that have. Their reports were the same: initial and phenomenal weight loss accompanied by debilitating feelings of "um, where did I put the . . . " and insatiable cravings for sweet fruits and bread of any kind, followed by forgetting the route to work while driving, resulting in returning to a diet with carbohydrates, but with excess starches(to make up the deficit) and consequent weight re-gain. One of my friends is an engineer whose former co-worker was doing Atkins for a long stretch. He was making mistakes in his work, but that stopped when he resumed eating carbs. She was horrified watching this, and she's a moderate meat eater. "He's getting dumb," she'd say, "they could fire him." There's a reason why we have the term "Meat Head." The brain cannot use fat or protein for fuel; it must have carbohydrates. As for me, I'd rather be fat than stupid, but becoming a vegetarian has helped me to lose weight, so . . .

Hmm
I wonder if I am in the right forum

There's been a lot of controversy about whether low carb is better or worse for weight loss than average carb diets and high carb diets, and whether it's safe. (This all involves people eating standard non-vegan food.) Conventional doctors have little doubt about whether it's safe. To them, low carb is not safe.

Then low carbers would say, but we have a scientific argument that eating high carbs is really what causes diseases scientists have been trying to pin on high fat all these years.

Granted, candy is not really food. That doesn't mean high fat is good for you instead.

Look at how different the picture is with raw veganism:

No one doubts that you can lose weight on raw fruits and vegetables. Almost everyone in the general public would agree with a criticism of a raw vegan diet that goes like this, or come up with it themselves when they first hear of raw veganism: But you can't eat just that. You'll waste away. That's not enough to survive on. You're thin enough already.

The argument for a raw vegan diet being safe is much stronger than the argument for low carb. Every animal on planet Earth has lived on raw food forever. Raw vegan is the kind of raw food that humans can eat safely that's found in nature and in the supermarket. It's full of recommended nutrition.

eaglefly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hmm
> I wonder if I am in the right forum

Well, this is a forum for raw foodists to communicate. You don't have to be raw or vegan to participate, but just be respectful of that choice. Questions about other diets are more than welcome, proselytizing is not. Having sad that, I think it's great you've come here to ask questions (although as has been stated most people here have more experience with raw than Atkins and have probably already made their mind up on what they prefer.)
Welcome and good luck on your journey to health!

anne

swimmer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Think about it, that reconciliation is easy, but
> yeah, different thread, another time...
>
> Things are real good here! Well except my
> shoulder(s) (yeah both now), but I'm dealing with
> it.
>
> How life in New England? I miss you guys.

Well I'm glad you don't hate us, keep in mind we were super stressed out back then.

Anywayz, my back's being bothering me too. At least you're not tall, tall guys have way more back problems (and die earlier too).

Things are good up here. Jamie's getting a bit SAD (Seasonal Affective) but the days are getting longer & we've had some sunny days (though today it's snowing) so she's getting a bit better.

She's taking some Natalie Rose nutrition class this week so hopefully that'll be a nice break for her.

I am finding that my weight seems to hinge entirely on grain products in my diet.
I would like to eat raw,as opposed to loading up on meat and cheese.
So I guess I can try eating raw,and eliminate any and all grains.
There are no edible raw grains anyway when you think of it.

Vinny

This thread has made me think back to an earlier time when I knew a guy they called "tiny". He was average height and really huge. I think the chances are that tiny is no longer with us unless he managed to turn things around. Tiny liked two types of food the most 1) meat 2) grains. He just loved his grains in the form of donuts and muffins. I hope he turned it around.