Hi!

I am a 19 years old boy, and just started on 100% raw food diet. I am already really thin and I want to live on raw food because I want all the health benefits from it: a lot of energy, better sleep, detoxing the body and also I hope I will get rid of my acne (which does seem to work) etc. I am not doing it because I want to loose weight and I also lift weights 3 times a week so I hope to gain muscle weight. My problem is that I find it very hard to get enough calories. I have read that a raw food diet should be low in fat, but why is this important? Will I still get the results I want from living on raw food if I get like 20-30% of my daily calorie intake from fat? Right now I try to get 10% of my calories from fat, 6% from proteins and the rest from carbs. I have also heard that people in my age need more fat than usual because the body is still growing, and it is very important for the brain. I have a very high metabolism so it is hard for me to get enough calories from mostly fruit and vegetables. Also I wonder if it is bad if most of the carbohydrates I get is from natural sugar in fruits? Most of the carbohydrates I get is from bananas, apples, oranges, carrots and pears... I am a student so I don't have a lot of time preparing and getting the right food and my parents are not very pleased with my decision.

After living on raw foods for only a week I already feel improvement in my wellbeing and I really hope that I can continue doing so, raw food is fantastic! Please share any information and experience you may have on the different subjects, I appreciate any answer! Thanks!

just want to pipe in with some help for the acne, acne is mostly caused by hormonal imbalances, so digestive bitters are the best thing you can do to cleanse the liver, so the liver can breakdown the excess hormones, foods rich in vitamin b's also.

p3d3r,

Please take some time to cruise the boards here for discussions about this--you will find them helpful. There is no reason why you cannot eat more fat than someone twice your age if you still feel good doing it. And there is no reason that you cannot get enough calories from large servings of fruits; it's the sugar content that makes them caloric, and also makes them efficient fuel sources. Unless you are experiencing blood sugar problems on high fruit, don't fear fruit! I would advise not consuming too much fat at the same time as fruits, but it's your call. Working out as much as you have energy for, and in varied ways to keep your muscles thinking, should help alot--at the very least, it will help your skin work better as an organ of detoxification. powerlifer's suggestion to cleanse the liver is related to this, and if you don't want to try bitters, green juices, and beet and carrot juices are also very clarifying. To that end, consider getting a good highspeed blender or juicer to make yourself liquid meals. These tax the digestion less than solids, and can be a really quick way to get a calorie dense meal if you put a lot of high fiber fruit into the mixture. Good luck : )

I would suggest you to include more nuts, avocado in your diet! You are 19, your body is still " growing", and going through a lot of changes. Also, almond butter would work good. Grains are important for your brains, so sproiuts would be a good source of it. Do not forget chocolate ( there are a lot of raw chocolates)- it is important to " feed " your brain, especially while you are studying.
You might find yourself craving certain foods after the while- I would not stop yourself. Your bones are still growing, so calcium is important too!
Raw food life style it is very good value- you just do not want to hurt yourself. This is might be your lifestyle , so do not burn out!

Have fun with foods!

p3d3r,

When I first started raw, I was eating a super high fat diet, in excess of 60-70% fat. When I realized how much fat I was eating, I tried to cut my fat down to 10% fat. But at some point I realized I had desire to eat more fat, and I was controlling that desire. So I backed off the 10% goal, and relaxed it to 20% fat. This felt good for me and it was easy for me to do.

Over the next 2 years, my fat intake naturally dropped to 10% without me forcing myself or feeling uncomfortable or self-controlled.

So I can understand if you want to take the low fat thing a bit slower. It took me 2 years to get to 10% fat,

I agree with Prana. I would simply be aware/cautious of eating huge amount of fats......and allow yourself some transitional meals.

In order to retain/increase weight.....I would eat larger meals...and fewer. 2 large meals a day (one in the morning and one in the evening)....along with the regular weight lifting your describe should be fine.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Thanks a lot for all the answers, I really appreciate it, they have been very helpful!

What kind of food are bitters? I am norwegian so I guess my vocabulary is not that great.

And are powders like barley grass and spirulina any good to get rid of acne and do they contain little nutrition since they are processed into powder-form?

Thanks a lot,
Peder

<What kind of food are bitters?>

Have you ever had raddichio? It's a purplish-white leafy veggie and it is BITTER! But it makes me feel good and if you mix it with a sweeter leaf like romaine lettuce or Swiss chard, then it's great. Add some carrots or shredded beets for even more sweetness to balance, if you wish. Other bitters include dandelion greens and I think endive is pretty bitter.

Peder,

I switched over to raw foods, from a typical "bodybuilder" diet, so I know what it's like to be concerned about the weight you're losing. In Fact, I went from 200 lbs (with 6% bodyfat), down to 155 at one point! Lost 45 lbs of MUSCLE on a raw food diet initially.

What helped me, was finding what raw foods agreed with my digestive system. Smoothies are your best bet for bulking up. I was able to drink smoothies in excess of 1,000 calories, with ease. And not before long, I was back up to 195 lbs with 4.5% bodyfat. So I had even more muscle on my body than before, eating 300g of protein per day.

Make friends with smoothies. Make friends with DENSE fruit. Forget loading up on apples and things like that. My go-to fruits have always been bananas, red globe grapes, anjou pears (or bartlett), mangoes, and pineapple.

Forget about fat. It's too difficult to digest in its raw state. Cooked fats like butter are A LOT easier to digest, but we don't want butter in our diets. Forget about nuts & seeds -- too difficult to digest. That goes for cacao too. Cacao is a nut, that's very difficult to digest. I'm not a fan of avocados, so I was never into eating them either. I also felt like they impeded my weight gain, rather than helping it.

Once I sorted it all out, I was able to gain about 30 lbs of muscle in one year on a 100% raw food diet.

Best,
Mark

Mark, happy to see you on the website.

I always thought an athlete would automatically digest nuts/seeds easily. Goes to show what a person can learn sometimes!

For myself, I don't have trouble eating nuts or seeds or avos or any raw source of fat, as long as I don't overdo it. I would suggest that p3d3r try those foods to see how they feel. They definitely do add a big calorie boost, as well as many nutrients - especially minerals - that are somewhat more difficult to obtain without them.

I found I can only eat organically grown nuts and seeds. The conventional ones make me extremely ill. I mean, extremely ill - bent-over-in-pain ill. I figure maybe the chems concentrate in the seed of a plant. Just a theory.

Seems our bodies are all set up a little differently, at least as far as what's easy for us to eat and what isn't.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2010 01:47AM by suncloud.

marksquire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Peder,
>
> I switched over to raw foods, from a typical
> "bodybuilder" diet, so I know what it's like to be
> concerned about the weight you're losing. In
> Fact, I went from 200 lbs (with 6% bodyfat), down
> to 155 at one point! Lost 45 lbs of MUSCLE on a
> raw food diet initially.
>
> What helped me, was finding what raw foods agreed
> with my digestive system. Smoothies are your best
> bet for bulking up. I was able to drink smoothies
> in excess of 1,000 calories, with ease. And not
> before long, I was back up to 195 lbs with 4.5%
> bodyfat. So I had even more muscle on my body
> than before, eating 300g of protein per day.
>
> Make friends with smoothies. Make friends with
> DENSE fruit. Forget loading up on apples and
> things like that. My go-to fruits have always
> been bananas, red globe grapes, anjou pears (or
> bartlett), mangoes, and pineapple.
>
> Forget about fat. It's too difficult to digest in
> its raw state. Cooked fats like butter are A LOT
> easier to digest, but we don't want butter in our
> diets. Forget about nuts & seeds -- too difficult
> to digest. That goes for cacao too. Cacao is a
> nut, that's very difficult to digest. I'm not a
> fan of avocados, so I was never into eating them
> either. I also felt like they impeded my weight
> gain, rather than helping it.
>
> Once I sorted it all out, I was able to gain about
> 30 lbs of muscle in one year on a 100% raw food
> diet.


Hey Mark, 300g of protein per day? What the heck? In the 80/10/10 book you have a testimonial where you say that you gained 30lbs muscle in the first year and 10 more the next year. My head is swimming from all the muscle gained/lost in your stories, and which diet you did what on. Can you clarify a little?

Uh I would disagree and say that I'm fairly sure a 19yo male is pretty much done growing, and also doesn't have any special fat needs. Unless you only recently hit puberty or something?

I would caution against doing both highfat binges and high-fruit binges. Might lead to blood sugar issues. If you want more info on the balance of fat and carbs while doing raw, the best book I've seen on the topic is 80/10/10 and I'm a proponent. It's a pretty hot topic around here though.

Another food not yet mentioned which packs loads of calories is dates. I looove medjool. Just don't overdo them, they're kind of high glycemic. I eat 10-20. Bananas are the key though, I get the bulk of my calories from them. They're cheap.

Use cron-o-meter, fitday, or nutridiary to look at caloric values of a meal of various fruits etc. This will ensure you're getting in as many calories as you'd like to.

Back when I was downing 50g of whey protein, 4x a day, I was taking in about 300g of protein per day. This was back a good 11 years ago, however.

Forgive me for bouncing around with my weight gain numbers. I didn't write them down officially. Just jogged them to memory. All in all, I gained 45 lbs of muscle on raw foods, after I stripped my "cooked" weight off of me.

Best,
Mark

Suncloud - I am absolutely fascinated that in-organic nuts and seeds have such a terrible effect on you. You must be sensitive to the chemicals and that is such a good thing - I don't buy organic nuts and seeds because of the truly horrible price but your post makes me think I should - I mean I must be getting that toxic load too but my body doesn't tell me

Sorry p3d3r - I hi jacked your post for a minute.

I agree that nuts and seeds are important in your diet to get those minerals and fats particularly. I also think that avocados are wonderful food.

Remember that you don't have to go 100% raw straight away. Slowly adding more and more raw to your diet is another way to go particularly if your parents are worried about you - it will help keep them calm.

Were you vegan before you went raw? It can be easier sometimes to transition by first going vegan, then cutting out bread, then reducing cooked food bit by bit over a period of time - what ever feels good to you.

anyway - good luck to you - you'll always get plenty of conflicting advice here - you have to sort out what suits YOU.

Hi Mark!

14 kg of muscles in a year? Wow! How did/do you work out? How many calories do you eat/ate each day? Did you work out in the morning or the evening?

Best love // Bun