Hello all,

I joined this site today because I started to eat more and more raw food. I am a vegetarian for 10 years now, but when I became vegetarian I lost 6kg, although I was already quite slim.
I am afraid that if I will only live on raw food that I will even loose more weight and become too skinny, or will all the extra nutrion I get from raw food make me gain a little weight again?

Thanks!!

I have read that green smoothies (fruit based with some greens, like kale, collards, etc), can allow one to transition to raw without necessarily losing weight.

If you're combining your foods well and taking in all the nutrition you need, and underweight person will gain weight and an overweight person would lose weight.

You may also combine this with exercise. The increased muscle would add weight and the body would also store fat where it's most useful: in the muscles(vs. the more convenient places like our stomachs or backsides).

WimC, I'm glad you brought this up. I've lost what I feel is too much weight. I was told to try eating more sprouts which would build tissue, so I'm now in the process of sprouting. I hope it works.

Oneris, would you mind expanding on combining foods well? I'm just curious to see if there's something I could be combining wrong. It's highly possible. I'm eating way too much fat, I'm sure. The hope was that the extra calories would mean more pounds, but that isn't happening. I was also told to eat less fat to gain weight, but I'm not sure how that would work. I think that's what I need to understand better. Thanks.

Mona

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2006 05:39PM by Mona.

Mona,

One thing I was referring to is getting a balanced source of nutrition. A lot of vegetarians/raw foodists don't get some of the nutrients that only come from sea vegetation like kelp and algae.

The other thing I was referring to in combining is that different types of food digest at different rates and you don't want to mix them up. If you eat something that digests quickly with something that digests slowly, it will slow down the quick digesting foods, which may be too slow and they may ferment, cause gas, etc(an especially popular effect eating fruits with anything, or eating more than 1 fruit at a time). Same goes for drinking water, it's better to drink at least 15 minutes prior to eating, but not during or for up to 2 hours after because it messes with the digestion process.

I'm sure there's a lot of books that talk about this, the one I'm referencing is Living Foods for Optimum Health.

Oneris,

Thank you for clearifying that for me. Living Foods for Optimum Health looks like a good book. Will add it to my wish list and check it out.

Mona

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key.

Oneris,

Water doesn't mess with the digestive process. Problem is, most people don't get enough of it and then it fights during eating to squeeze every drop of water out of it. Your body does this regularly anyway trying to find the proper amount of water the body requires. This is where the confusion about water interfering with digestion came to be.

Peace,

Marcos

Go Vegan for your life, your health, the planet and, most importantly, the animals that we share this wonderful world with!

How funny, I just joined this board so that I could ask about the same problem. I am 5'10, have always weighed 160 lbs and been very thin (also, been a vegetarian for ten years). Since my wife and I went raw two months ago I have lost 10 pounds and don't seem to be bottoming out yet. I am a toothpick and worried about the fact that maybe I am actually starving myself. Sounds like you guys have seen stuff like this before. I work out a lot and lift weights, have been doing so less since I went raw because I didn't want to lose so much weight (I didn't actually want to lose any weight). I drink green drinks every day and have been eating a lot. At this point I think I am way too thin. Hoping to build up again.

Eat your greens! Eat as many different kinds of greens as you can! Yummy mixed greens salads with good fats/oils/nuts/seeds. But greens! Green smoothies are definitely a really good way to get the greens you need. I think eating plenty of durian and avos would be good too.

Can some one give me an idea of where to go to get green smoothie recipies? Being new, I don't have anything but an empty note book to start writing them in.

Umm Victoria Boutenko has the green smoothie thing figured out. Check out rawfamily.com And green smoothies...just about any green that you like mixed with some good combos of fruit with spirulina or whatever you want to put in it and voila! Its good to have a blender that is strong enough to get everything mixed together good. It makes it yummier, but I guess if the blended is too fast that can be bad too. I am just getting into green smoothies myself.

what mixes do you like best??

Wheat germ is an old time favorite for vegetarian body builders and will help prevent weight loss.

You might try throwing a little wheat germ in your salads. It tastes good, contains good fat and provides a WHOPPING AMOUNT of nutrition. Check it out on www.nutrition.com (but keep in mind the serving size listed on www.nutrition.com is 1 whole cup, a bit more than most of us would eat in a serving).

I actually have quite a bit of weight to drop, but I was wondering about how to maintain after weight loss. That's why I had asked. I have about 80 pounds to be rid of first though.

well i lost 30 pounds i went from 153 tp 120 and im 5;2 i dont think im skinny at all , i feel like i need to lose a couple of more pounds, even though everyone says not to

you and I are close to the same height! I'm 5'3". I weighed around 260 last year at this time. I'm down to 190. my doctor is stressed about my weight since i've had open heart surgery. I was 4 when I had it, but since I'm in my 30's now, he encourages me to drop some poundage.

Luna, you are one strong and courageous person, with a lot of good faith. Way to go!

OH! garsh! ! TY!