Just thought I'd report on my most recent experiment with raw food.

It's not a big change (or at least it doesn't seem like it), and I've talked about it some already. I'd like to go into a little more detail, and I hope people will read and send me their comments and suggestions.

I started sprouting my sesame seeds and sunflower seeds, mostly as a response to all the enthusiasm over 80/10/10. My personal challenges with going all out 80/10/10 have been: I'm very sensitive to greens, so I can't eat them everyday. Without seeds (sesame and sunflower) in my diet everyday, I get severe vertigo and such strong food cravings that I feel overwhelmed. Yet those seeds are considered overt fat, so eating them wouldn't be consistent with 80/10/10.

So, I decided to go for the middle ground and begin to sprout my seeds. I think the sprouting causes much of the oils in the seeds to convert to natural sugars. By sprouting I am able to get the same nutrition - in fact more, since the enzyme inhibitors that are present in the unsprouted seed are disabled by the sprouting process.

The first thing I noticed is that sprouted seeds taste good. I was surprised. I thought they'd be just soft mushy seeds. But they really taste a lot better sprouted than unsprouted as long as I don't sprout them too long. After about 36 hours of sprouting, they begin to cause a burning sensation in my mouth.

Next, I noticed that my @#$%& was smoother.

Next, I noticed that I stopped getting side cramps when I ran. Side cramps have been my running nemesis for many years. I'd often run for a few months, but then the cramps would get so bad that I had to stop. NO MORE. The cramps just disappeared. Amazing.

My weight has started to drop a little. For a couple of years I feel like I've been about 5 pounds more than I'd like to be.

My skin got smoother.

I sleep better.

And amazingly, I digest greens better.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

After about a couple of weeks of abstaining from unsprouted seeds, I forgot one day to start the sprouts and was left the next day without sprouted seeds. I got hungry, so I ate the seeds unsprouted. What a mistake! I got so sick to my stomach. Never again. It seems with the raw food diet, once you make some progress, you just find you can't go back. Or anyway, it hurts when you do.

I'm also eating sprouted wheat once a week. I know some people have a really bad problem with wheat gluten. Somehow that particular sensitivity has escaped me, and I really like the sprouted wheat. I only eat about a handful or less once or twice a week, but just having that small amount of grain seems to satisfy something that otherwise would not be satisfied. If I couldn't eat sprouted wheat, I'd try sprouted kamut or oats or some other grains. Hm. Maybe I'll try some other grains even though I like the wheat.

In my past, I've had major problems with food cravings where I was really a slave to food. If food wasn't in my mouth, it was always on my mind. I started attempting this raw food thing over 30 years ago a couple of years after I began experiencing my food obsession. I wasn't able to stick with raw food or even with being a vegetarian for the first 10 years. After that, things slowly got better. To be honest, I have to say that things got a lot easier when I began to eat nuts and seeds regularly. And yet, as many of us know, too much of those overt oils can be difficult.

Often when I read posts on this website, I see others going through the same problems with food cravings that I went through for over a decade. It makes me sad. I just want to say to everyone, don't give up. Don't close up. The solution could be right around the corner. It's not your fault. It could be something as simple as beginning to sprout your seeds.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2007 07:30AM by suncloud.

awesome post suncloud thanks for sharing

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Interesting observations. Remember though, that 811 does allow for some overt fats, just not too much. I eat an avocado or two, once a week and do enjoy that. I no longer have cravings fo overt fats. I can now take it or leave it. It takes time for the body to adjust.

Good point Felix about the avocados. I eat avocados too, usually about 1/2 to a whole avocado almost every day. I used to think I needed the oil from the avocado PLUS the oil from the seeds everyday to stay satisfied. But now I know it's not so much the oil from the seeds that I need (since I already have avocado). It's the NUTRITION from the seeds.

Sesame seeds and sunflower seeds supply a great quantity of iron and calcium. Many raw food diets are deficient in those minerals. I've come to think that cravings for oily foods are often actually due to deficiencies in those minerals. My theory is that eating more oil can temporarily fool the body into thinking it's getting what it needs, but what it really needs is the nutrition - not oil - that can be found in seeds and nuts.

I believe our BODIES know when they are deficient in some nutrient. But nature doesn't automatically program our MINDS to know when we are deficient OR what nutrients are found what foods. Fortunately though, we know what "sweet" tastes like, and we know what oil tastes like. So when we become deficient in carbs, our smart BODIES automatically cause us to crave something sweet. In response, our MINDS would tell us to eat a piece of fruit (before the advent of processed sweet "foods" like cake, candy, etc.). Perhaps it's the same with oils. When we become deficient in minerals that are abundantly found in seeds and nuts, we might naturally crave something oily, and (before the advent of processed food like french fries, chips, etc.), we would naturally eat an avocado or seeds or nuts.

That might help to explain why obese people who eat lots of sugars and oils are continually hungry. The junk foods they're eating are temporarily satisfying their mind's clues to eat sugars and oils, but their more deeper body cravings are being left unattended.

And to me it would also explain why if a person relies ONLY on avos for their oils, they often end up binging on cooked food. I've definitely been there, and for me, even over a decade of attempting to "adjust" was not long enough. I don't mean to offend anyone, but please keep in mind that 80/10/10 is not a totally new concept. Before 80/10/10, there was Arnold Ehret's mucousless diet healing system.

In my opinion even those the "raw" nut and seed butters often process out much of the essential nutrients.

Interestingly, since I've been doing this sprouting, I've actually been satisfied on eating LESS seeds than I ate before, even though there's less oil in the seeds. I really think it's because more of the nutrition in the seeds is released due to the more active enzymes in the seeds.

As far as what you say about taking more time for the body to adjust, there may come a time in every raw food diet when it's no longer a matter of adjusting your body to become used to your diet (option A), but more a matter of adjusting your diet to what's best for your body (option . IMO we often think we're doing option B, without realizing we're actually putting way too much focus on option A.

Peace.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2007 08:53PM by suncloud.

how do you sprout these seeds? what's your method?

thanks!

m.

Hi m,

I have those green plastic sprouting lids that fit (sort of) over the wide-mouth quart or pint jars. They're usually available at the health food store. In the morning, I measure out a quarter cup sesame seeds and a quarter cup sunflower seeds and put them into the jar. I add water to cover over half the depth of the seeds, then stand the jar upright and let the seeds soak all day. At night, I put on the sprouting lid and pour out the water. Then, to rinse the seeds, I open the jar and add more water, replace the lid, and pour the water out. I leave the seeds to drain all night by turning the jar upside down into a bowl (with the lid on of course) and lean the jar against the back of my kitchen coutertop. The next morning I rinse the seeds again and turn them upside down again to continue draining. If the day is dry, I rinse them a few hours later too. I usually eat the sprouted seeds sometime between 4 and 6 0'clock that evening.

We have a very wet tropical climate. In a dryer, colder climate you might have to sprout longer, like start them soaking in the evening and eat them around 48 hours later. But if they taste hot when you eat them, they've sprouted too long.

I've noticed the sunflower seeds in the bins are more whole and sproutable than the ones I've seen that are prepackaged.

I only buy the brown (unhulled) organic sesame seeds and the hulled organic sunflower seeds.

For wheat, I follow the same procedure, except I start the wheat in the evening, let it soak all night, then rinse in the morning, rinse and drain 2 or 3 times that day and the next and eat the sprouts the evening of the second day (48 hours after they began to soak). I use very few seeds, maybe 1 quarter of a cup of dry seeds, and then I usually don't eat all that I sprouted.

thanks so much!

m.