hi!
i started a raw diet over a week ago to clean out my body. i meant to do it temporarily before a friend encouraged me to try it for a little longer, listing all the health benefits i'd get after i got 'over the hump' of detox. thing is, i lift weights and run, and while the weightlifting, being short spurts of energy, hasn't suffered, my running has suffered dramatically within a few days of being on the diet. when i was eating breads and white meats i was running 7:20 minute miles at top speads of 9 mph, and now my energy fizzles at 7 mph and i have to slow down, and my mile times have climbed back up to 9 minutes. raw food could work for me if i was inactive, but because cardio and being able to 'play hard' is a big part of my stress relief i know i'm going to be flushing this whole diet down the drain in a bit if this doesn't change. is this just part of my body getting used to working off only these foods?...will it get back to normal? is there something vital that i'm missing from my diet? (i've been eating nuts, flaz crackers, veggies and fruits). i'd like to be able to stay on this diet long enough to experience the health benefits. please help!

Well sir.

Now your raw the first priority your body has is to clean/heal itself from all the damage done by the cooked food,etc you have had in the past and that is going to take a very long time and all your energy not to mention all the emotional detox, etc, at this point your body will know nothing of nor care about body building competitions, marathons, your vanity or any athletic perfomance, it's not a nice time for the ego especially for an athlete, as you see all your previous result/times go down the drain.

But the good news os that if you can get over all that you will be just as good if not better than you were!

It's a bit of a sacrifice and you need to be patient and compassionate with yourself as your body is only doing what it's supposed to do!

Hope that helped.

F1





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2007 10:44PM by The Fruitarian One.

Count your calories!

Because you eat so much more bulk with raw food (I can go through a grocery sack of fruits and veggies in a day!) often time you'll end up consuming more calories. Write down what you eat, check your BMI and BMR and make sure you're giving your body enough fuel to do what you need.

I've often heard from other raw foodists that after a while they can do more on less food. My experience is, in the beginning at least, you need to maintain the same number of calories that you ate on a cooked food diet. After awhile, you'll become a more "efficient machine" and be able to cut back. But completely changing your diet AND cutting calories will surely leave you less energetic.

Hope this helps!

rawpagan

I agree with the above post. F1's point is deffinetly cruical IMO

staying full in general will be a key to staying satisfied. but 'fueling up' or not, eating the proper foods - fruits and vegetables. without any of the added density of cooked or combined foods, large ammounts of added fats, or raw products and stimulants - will certainly initiate detox and subsequent fatigue. It certainly helps to continue being active throughout the process, but as F1 writes..it can be a challange to the ego...but getting over this is one win in the 'fight' for sure.

Read, read, read all you can. Not only on what and how to eat raw, but read about general nutrition to understand what protein, carbs, etc. do for your body. The more knowledge you have the better you can adapt and learn. More importantly, the more you can "sustain" yourself for years to come.

Get enough calories and rest is key also.

Be careful of a lot of contradiction out there and trust yourself before taking others words on things too easily.

rawpagan Wrote: Sorry for the confusion, that should have been "less" calories, not "more" calories. The revised post is below. Sorry I haven't figured out how to edit my posts yet
-------------------------------------------------------
> Count your calories!
>
> Because you eat so much more bulk with raw food (I
> can go through a grocery sack of fruits and
> veggies in a day!) often time you'll end up
> consuming LESS calories. Write down what you eat,
> check your BMI and BMR and make sure you're giving
> your body enough fuel to do what you need.
>
> I've often heard from other raw foodists that
> after a while they can do more on less food. My
> experience is, in the beginning at least, you need
> to maintain the same number of calories that you
> ate on a cooked food diet. After awhile, you'll
> become a more "efficient machine" and be able to
> cut back. But completely changing your diet AND
> cutting calories will surely leave you less
> energetic.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> rawpagan

You might try adding raw wheat germ or sprouted wheat or some other sprouted grain to your diet. Also good are sprouted sesame seeds and sprouted sunflower seeds. Lots of good minerals in all of that, and sprouting the stuff seems to make the nutrition more available to the body.

Congratulations on your fantastic running skills!