So, I'll try to make the long story short..

I'm 24 years old. I've been training at the gym and eating "bodybuilding style" since I was 16-17 years old.
I can say that I mostly have been eating pretty decently (comparing to the ''average person''). The foods that I eat everyday are oatmeal, fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs, milk and fish. I rarely eat 'junk food' such as candies, cookies, fast food, etc.
In the last time I've been dealing with a lot of stress in my life and I developed a binge eating disorder. I gained back about 15 lbs that I'd lost some months ago and I was depressed and frustrated.
So, now I had like a 'revelation' and I decided to do a water-fasting for at least 20 days, to break my food addiction, detox and 'reset' my body and to lose the weigh that I gained from my binge eating (I'm aware that I will also lose some muscle along with the fat, it's ok).

So, I have been reading a lot about water fasting and also the raw diet, and I thought that it would be wise to give it a try after breaking the fast.
I have a few concerns, though, and I'd like to receive advice about them:

1) I've been counting calories, weighing the food, etc.,and I don't know if I should continue doing it while on the raw diet or not. Maybe just doing 'portion control' would be enough? I don't want to overeat nor undereat.

2) I know that gaining weight or losing weight is just matter of calories in vs calories out, and that meal timing is irrelevant. Anyways, I would like to know if you recommend to have "X" amount of meals a day, or if it's the same having 2 big ones or 4 small ones, for example.

3) I also know is that FAT is very important in regulating many hormones from our bodies, for example, testosterone. Should I eat a good amount of nuts/avocado/olive oil everyday in order to prevent hormonal imbalances?


Thanks a lot in advance!
Martin

Hi Martin,

Welcome to the forum.

When someone has recently experienced binge eating, its generally not a good idea to start a fast. This is because there is a phenomena known as the "binge/fast" cycle, where binging leads to fasting leads to binging leads to fasting ad nauseam. Before you fast, its a good idea to get in touch with the feeling that led to your binging, and see if you can heal it on your current diet. These same issues of stress and pain can come up on raw, even more so, and this can lead to some health issues.

The reason its worthwhile to understand your calorie intake on a raw diet is to insure you eat enough calories. Many new raw foodists under eat certain foods and don't get enough calories, or they eat too much fat based calories. The standard american diet is 40% fat, which is a very high fat. On the raw diet, you probably want to start out at 25% fat or less, and lower your fat intake over time.

As for calories in and out, it doesn't quite work that way on raw foods. If you have a clean non toxic raw diet, that is you are eating whole ripe raw organic fresh fruits and vegetables, its hard to overeat and gain weight as long as your fat intake is on the low fat side (say 20% or less). Some people when they first start raw do gain some weight, but over a period of a year or so this initial weight loss disappears. This may have to do with the body cleansing itself.

As for fats, eat fats from whole raw plant foods. This means raw nuts and seeds, avocados, coconuts. Avoid processed fats, especially oils. Even if you don't eat the overtly fatty foods, say like nuts, seeds, or avocados, you will still be getting some amount of fat in the fruits and vegetables you eat. Eat enough fat to feel comfortable, but make sure your fat intake isn't at the 40% fat or higher as a percentage of calories. When I first started raw, I was eating in excess of 70% fat as a percentage of calories. As a percentage of volume, I was probably eating 10% fat volume wise, but fat has double the calories per gram of carbohydrates and protein, plus the non fatty foods have a low calorie density because of the high fiber and water content, unless you are eating a sweet fruit.

Thanks a lot for your help, I really appreciate it.

Regarding to the bingings, it was really bad until a month ago or so, but now I have it more or less under control. I used to binge many times a week and in the last 20 days I had only one episode which wasn't as bad as my previous binges at all.
If there is something that I have that's willpower. I'm really determined to do this fast and I'll finish it no matter what. I also feel that I must do it in order to make a big change in my lifestyle. That's why I'm also finding out about the raw food diet, which seems to be very interesting.

I live in the city and I don't have access to organic fruits and vegetables (I mean, maybe I can find them, but I can't afford them either), but I'm willing to eat as healthy as possible (only raw/dried fruits and veggies, nuts and maybe some grains and sprouts -oatmeal is my weakness!-).
As I said, I have experience eating "plain" foods, and I really enjoy doing so. For example, I can eat raw cauliflower or broccoli plain, without any spice or sauce, and I LOVE it, although many people may say I'm crazy, lol Let alone sweet fruits like apples, that I like a lot.
So, I don't know if the diet would be very hard for me or not, I think I should give it a try. I know that eating 2000 kcal a day only in fruits and vegetables is A LOT of food and very filling, because of the fiber, so that's great.
The only question that I have left (by now!) is if it would be better to have a few set meals (let's say breakfast-lunch-dinner), or to have those three meals along with some snacks in between or if it doesn't matter as long as I weigh the food and control that I'm eating enough.

Thanks a lot,
Martin

Make sure you read a lot about fasting before you do it. Also a 20 day fast is pretty intense, you might want to practice with a shorter 2-3 day fast. In general, long fasts are not recommended unless you have supervision, as things can go wrong. Also, as a healing tool, fasting can make symptoms go away, but really true health comes from permanent lifestyle changes. One of the hardest parts of fasting is coming off the fast and refeeding yourself. This is where you can get into trouble, as the mind is going to want to eat a lot of food if you felt deprived during the fast. So be careful, do some reading, and perhaps practice with a smaller fast. Also check out this article: Fasting: A Dangerous Game.

If getting organics is too expensive, then do the best you can. Buy fruits that you can peel. Its worthwhile to buy organic leafy greens if you can afford it, as there is no skin to peel. Also, you can make your own sprouts and plant a garden and grow some greens.

As a transition strategy, you might look at just increasing the amounts of fruits and salads you eat in a day with your current diet. Its easy to eat a breakfast of all fruits and a lunch of all fruits. When I first started eating raw, I needed to eat 5 to 6 meals a day, because my stomach was not used to holding the volumes necessary eating raw foods. Remember that cooked foods are highly concentrated, so people eating a cooked food diets have very tiny stomachs. Over time, your stomach will stretch out to accomodate more foods. For myself, I can eat 8 to 10 bananas in a meal pretty easily. When I first started, I was challenged to eat 3 bananas in a meal.

Thanks a lot again.

I'm really excited about doing this change.
I read the article and it's interesting what it says, but as I said, I really feel that I must do it. I don't plan in incorporing any other fasts in the future, it's only this time, before going for the lifestyle change.
I've already been fasting for 46 hours (when I wrote my first post I had already started the fast) and so far so good. I don't have strong cravings nor hunger pangs. Just feeling a bit tired, but that's about it.
I'm aware that whenever I break the fast I'll have to be for the first few days only on fruits and veggies smoothies because my digestive system will be very delicate, and then move to whole fruits, vegetables, etc.


Thank you so much.
Martin

To maximize the healing you might get on a fast, its best to get as much rest and sleep as possible. If you can, see if you can clear out your schedule so you don't have to work or do much physical activity. The healing you get on a fast has to do with the amount of rest you get, more so than the not eating any food.

Enjoy your fast, it can be quite a rewarding experience.