I've been reading this board for about 2 weeks now. I've recently tried to change my diet away from the hard-core junk food junkie I have been all of my 37 years. I've gone raw, most days 85%, some 75% for about 2 weeks. Here's my story:

I'm 5'4", was 160 lbs. when I started. I'd like to get to around 135. I've teetered between 5-6 lbs. of weight loss since I started eating more raw. My problem is that I don't like salads, and I don't like many fruits. However, I bought a vita-mix 3hp blender and find that blending things is pretty easy for me. A typical day right now is a smoothie for breakfast (assorted berries, apple, carrot, ginger, lime, flax seed, coconut oil), a banana for mid-morning snack, watermelon and cucumbers for lunch, and then another smoothie for dinner (same contents as breakfast), maybe another apple or banana for a snack later if needed. Is this routine ok long term?

I purchased a rebounder at the same time I started going raw. I took it slow the first 3-4 days and lightly bounced. Then started getting into higher bounces, jumping jacks, kicking my legs, etc. for a few days. I found my insides getting really sore. I've had to go back to very lightly bouncing for the past week or so trying to let things heal. Is this normal? If anyone has any experience with rebounding I'd love to hear about what you've done and how long you've been using it. Right now I'm wondering if my body will ever feel good doing it again which really has me discouraged. I've heard such good things about them.

I also have a juicer but I hate using it because I feel like it wastes so much money to throw away the pulp. If I blend everything, I use everything.

Appreciate any good websites or books you could direct me to on the raw lifestyle. I've looked at several, but it's hard to decide who's right and who's off in left field when you don't know much about the subject!

when i was quite a bit heavier i occaisionally had pain while rebounding... hmm my good friend said if it hurts .. stop doin it lol... so i just slowed it down liek you and it went away. I doubt we are doing any serious harm ..more likely things that arent used to moving much are just protesting a wee bit from the new exercise ... like when you weight lift then have muscle pain for a few days

rebounding is good for stimulating the lymph system so another thought might be the organs are just detoxing a bit too?

Hi Razbery! I too am new with raw, but not with nutrition! I am reading, "The Raw Food Detox Diet" by:Natalia Rose. I hope this book will help you as it does for me! I have been reading what ever I can get my hands on.
As far as a rebounder, I have never done that. My thing is biking or walking almost every day. I have heard of the rebounder, my only thought for that was, what your feeling now. I have 5 kids and was worried about jumping something out of place! :-) I hope your feeling better! Raz, do you think you should just stick with light bouncing for a longer time, like a month? Then see how you do with more.
Did you know that after juicing your fruit & veggy's you can place in your plants, give to your dog, or start a compost. So no waste here! :-)
How do you like your Vita-Mix? I am pricing blenders now.
Talk to ya soon!....

Razbery,

i don't have any experience with rebouncer but I have been working out with weights through my life.

after about a year when I started raw life style I lost about 30 lb of my body weight and my work out was lousy.

Since that period I have gained my weight back in lean muscle an I feel really great.

Be prepared to lose some weight and get all the information about different raw food possibilities you can.

What i have found the important in my "Gorilla diet" is that you need a broad variety of different kind of foods (fruits, greens and nuts+seeds).

And boy... I LOVE my Vita-mix. It kicks A$$$. :-)

Good luck

MJH

I got my vita-mix at www.rawfoodadvantage.com, I also bought my rebounder there. It was one of the first raw websites I was ever directed to. The salesguy there is very high strung and hard to talk to, he bounces all over from topic to topic, but I LOVE the blender! I love the rebounder too, hopefully it will start to love me back

I forgot to mention in my previous post how well I sleep since I changed diets, wow! There is no comparison. I sleep like a baby now, and fall asleep much quicker. I haven't noticed a need for less sleep yet, but I'm guessing that will come.

Another question I had is water intake. Some places say if you're eating mostly fruit that you will get all the water your body needs naturally. Other people say you still need to drink lots of water. Opinions?

I do eat walnuts and peanuts in addition to the things I mentioned above as snacks from time to time. Forgot to mention that. Thanks for your input so far, keep it coming!