Hello
I have made a conscious decision to go raw. I am from Glasgow, Scotland heart attach capital of Europe. And I'm tired of feeling tired... I am over weight and I need to make life better for my self. I was a vegan for a very short amount of time... like 5 months and then i fell off... But now it’s different, I want to be healthy and at a normal weight. So if anyone has any tips such as...
What book I should read....
Diet plan to follow for the weight loss...
Recipe tips...
Anything that will help me...
I would appreciate any feed back thanks - Graciela

Hi Graciela! Welcome!

Going raw is definately a great way to make a better life for yourself. I'm from Gairloch in the Highlands (went to uni in Dundee), although now I live in California.

Don't worry about the weight loss, if you stick to the raw thing, the weight loss takes care of itself. I think I was some where between 260lbs-280lbs (18-20stone) when I started eating raw, a year and a half later I'm 180lbs (12.5-13stone). I focus on eat foods that I really enjoy and having fun with the raw life style. I've never focused on dieting/weightloss, I figure it's best to eat good healthy fun foods and let your body find it's natural weight/balance. I will eat anything I crave, providing it's raw vegan.

As for recipes, a good place to start is recreating some of your favourite dishes with raw foods. What are the dishes you really like?

Anyway, I'm excited to see more Scots going raw, who knows, maybe the next time I visit my family in Scotland, there will be some raw vegan restaruants to eat at. ;-)

Tell us a little about your background and feel free to ask questions.

Good luck!
Ian.

Well, I live actually live in Hamilton... but when i say Hamilton people have no idea where that is ... so i say Glasgow.... I have been fat all my life... i am currently 5'10 and 23 stone... And that’s why I want to go raw apart from the health benefits RAW gives...

You support Hamilton Athletic?

One thing I forgot to mention above, is that this is going to work best when combined with some from of exercise. This can be anything that gets your body moving. If you're not currently active in that area, start off with low impacted exercise, like getting out on walks, hula-hooping is another good one (I've just started doing this and it's great), kayaking, slow dances, tai-chi, probably many other that don't spring to mind right now. Kayaking was pretty much the way I got active again. Don't chase hardcore exercise activities at first (unless you're already doing them). There is no reason that we have to do hard exercises to get exercises.

As the weight starts to come off, exercising gets easier and easier. Even if it doesn't feel like it right now, your muscles are actually really strong, but most of their strength is be used to carry your extra weight. Once that weight starts to come off, you're left with a lot of extra strength and energy. Then doing more strenuous exercises not only seems easy, but it's actually fun. Heck, I can't believe that not only can I run 3 miles, I enjoy it, and want to do it.

But, like I said, don't focus on the weight loss right now. Focus on eating and being healthy, enjoying your food, and getting your body moving on a daily basis. I found from concentrating on those things and letting my body getting in to a more natural balance, I started to feel better, have more energy and let my body weight gently swing back to normal.

My "diet" plan involves three questions, "do I like it?", "is it vegan?" and "has it prepare at less than 105f?". If the answer is yes to all three, I eat it and as much as I want. I think this lets my body choose it's own wieght (I figure it knows best).

Cheers,
Ian.

hey graciela

welcome!
neat - o
i didn't know that you and sodoffsocks were from scotland
hullo!


sodoffsocks has GREAT advice
though
i mean, it sounds really sane
to go for the low impact stuff first
then kinda work your way up
tai chi is good
kayaking ( that's something i wanna do more of)
would get you out in the cool fresh invigorating sea
and make you feel happy that you are out there
and yer getting exercise too!

my advice on exercise
is that you gotta ENJOY it
i know that's what people say about food
just enjoy it
and eat what tastes good and raw


well, the same goes for exercise
have a MENU of exercises that you can pick from
just like you do for food

and just rotate them around
so that you can work out all parts
and have fun
do outdoor exercises as much as you can
so you can get sunlight and great air too

if u gotta stay indoors ( due to weather)
at least make the exercise really interesting
to make up for not being outdoors

u may have to experiment
maybe take a few classes
to see what you like best

and most importantly
have FUN!!

tis the only way to go
life is too short to do otherwise