Hi,

I am in the process of entering the raw food diet. I am not new to healthy diets and have done all kind of fasts. But I have never followed for a long time raw food approach. One of my questions is if eating predominantly fruits does not create sugar imbalance and if it is in accord with my intention to lose some more pounds? Is it advisable to eat small portions of fruits instead of stuffing oneself with them?

anadikaal

It would serve to your do some exploration on your own and see what works for you. Initially, most people coming from a SAD (Standard American Diet) can't eat a whole lot of fruit, so they have to go slower on the fruit. My experience is that eating a predominantly fat diet doesn't work for me, but when I first started raw, it was an excellent way to transition.

Hi Prana,

thank you for your response. I am not coming from SAD, far from it. I have been eating pretty healthy. I am sure I could eat fruits easily all day without problems, but I do worry about the sugar and loss of weight. are there any members who actually gained weight through raw diet?

If you want to lose weight, most effective way is to watch your calories. To this extent it matters not very much from where the calories come from: sugar, fat, or anything else. If you eat less calories than your body needs for energy, you will lose weight. And if you eat more calories than the body needs for energy, you will gain weight.

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<

Well, this is a common knowledge. The raw food diet naturally restricts the intake of calories, unless one eats kg's of nuts. however, the excess of fruits some report as fattning as well?

Yes, calorie counting is common knowledge, but what is the problem with fruits then?

Calories don't come from nuts only, they come from fruits as well, and a lot of them. If you eat excess of fruits, it is likely that you eat excess of calories, and because you eat excess of calories you become fat. Pretty straightforward and, as you said, common knowledge

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2012 11:20AM by chat.

yes, of course, but my question relates to the fact that if you simply count calories you would have to eat huge amount of fruits to get fat. i am more concerned if sugar in fruits does not translate into fat. some say it doesn't, some say it does. the whole concept of calories is being questioned these days anyway. counting calories does not seem to really work because there are so many factors to consider. for instance, if you eat 100 calories fruit (an apple) and 100 calories bread, the bread will make you obviously more fat than fruit. i noticed that people on 3000 calories fruit diet often report losing weight. in fact, many say that you can eat as much as you want and the fruits will not make you fat. i just wonder how true it is. i am sure you guys from the forum have much more experience in this matter....

anadikaal,

I agree with Prana that it will be a case of researching and trial-and-error for you. Personally, I have found that my body registers fruit calories differently from fat calories, in that large amounts of raw fruit daily, and not a great deal of nuts, cause me to lose weight. My body doesn't seem to store fruit calories, efficiently, but primarily burns them and uses them for utilization of stored fat. High fat, nut rich "gourmet" raw wasn't initially different when I tried it first, but over time, my body came to see these nut and oil fat calories as something to be stored rather than regularily burned. It ended up not working as well for me as high fruit.

With you, it might go differently--you have to try and see. Good luck, and welcome to these boards!

Temukha,

thank you. i will definitely do all kind of experiments with raw food! the only problem i can foresee is that currently i have been living for a while in India in the high mountains of Himalayas and people there don't have much variety of fruits or veggies at all! for example, often there are only 2 kind of fruits in the market (like papaya and oranges, depending on the season). with vegetables it is a bit better...so i hope not to starve myself prematurely

Wow, I would think in the Himayayas there would be tons of different tropical fruits. Are you just traveling, visiting an ashram, or there for work? Sounds very interesting.

tropical fruits are in the south of India mostly. the mountains people are more poor and simple, and the transportation is rough so not much is coming from the plains. there are some local fruits but not much. one has to be on a very simple diet. i lived on and off in India for 20 years, the last 10 in the high mountains in my jungle house. i don't do much there, just living simple life. apart from that i hold meditation retreats.

anadikaal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i am more concerned if sugar in fruits does not
> translate into fat. some say it doesn't, some say
> it does. the whole concept of calories is being
> questioned these days anyway. counting calories
> does not seem to really work because there are so
> many factors to consider. for instance, if you
> eat 100 calories fruit (an apple) and 100 calories
> bread, the bread will make you obviously more fat
> than fruit.


As I said there are nuances, but I would doubt the suggestion that counting calories as such doesn't work. It is rough, but accurate: providing you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. And if your goal is to become less fatter, there can hardly be anything wrong with a simple proven approach

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<

I, too, like to eat a high-fruit diet as opposed to high-fat, though my percentage of calories from fat is probably about 15% and not lower than 10%. I love avocadoes.

Also am very active and muscular.

If you are sedentary, that's something to take into consideration.

Hopefully you have access to dark green leafy vegetables?

thank you guys for your suggestions. my access of green leafy vegetables is very limited. at times there is spinach. do you consider cabbage a green leafy vegetable? i noticed that nobody in the forum speaks about cabbage! where i come from, the folk believes in medicinal value of cabbage...

my choice of veggies would be very simple, but it maybe not necessary an obstacle?

i am now on an intermittent raw food diet - one day fruits and vegetables, and one day just juice...

a big class of mix veg juice with an apple or two - how much calories it would made?

and yes, i am very active and i do some weight lifting plus some interval training...

Yes, cabbage counts, anadikaal, but it has potent goitrogens, so I wouldn't eat raw cabbage to excess unless your thyroid health is excellent.

what is the impact of goitrogens??

anadikaal,

Goitrogens impede iodine uptake in the thyroid, and other receptor sites. Some people on here know, from previous threads, that I did my thyroid a disservice by consuming large amounts of cabbage and kale juices without also modifying my iodine intake. Once I started taking an iodine supplement, the harmful effects of goitrogenic veggies ceased to be an issue.

Tamukha,

thanks for this information. the only thing i noticed about cabbage that is is more difficult to digest than other vegetables, and its juice is kind of irritating for the stomach....

anadikaal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> thank you guys for your suggestions. my access of
> green leafy vegetables is very limited. at times
> there is spinach. do you consider cabbage a green
> leafy vegetable? i noticed that nobody in the
> forum speaks about cabbage! where i come from,
> the folk believes in medicinal value of
> cabbage...
>
> my choice of veggies would be very simple, but it
> maybe not necessary an obstacle?
>
> i am now on an intermittent raw food diet - one
> day fruits and vegetables, and one day just
> juice...
>
> a big class of mix veg juice with an apple or two
> - how much calories it would made?
>
> and yes, i am very active and i do some weight
> lifting plus some interval training...

---
I don't consider cabbage a green leafy vegetable. Celery, romaine, spinach, spring mix, arugula, mustard greens, beet greens, kale, chard, collards, red leaf lettuce all would apply (and that's not an exahustive list, just common ones that come to mind for me, my area).

Juices aren't very high in calories if they don't contain a lot of fruit. Maybe about 100-150 calories per 16 oz. with the apple in it.

AWESOME that you are active. Yay!

In the past here there has been a lot of talk about cabbage and fermenting it. In fact someone (I can't recall which user) had crocks for sale for fermenting.

Cabbage would be ideal I think, fermented or not. I think there were some recipes where you don't have to add salt or so much salt. You might do a search here.

Love,
Prism