Hi,

I'm trying raw food since January 3rd and so far things are going well. I'm 20 years old and pretty healthy in my standards (not overweight at all, even some people think I might need more weight)

I haven't heard about the raw food diet since this time but I saw what Steve Pavlina (stevepavlina.com) is doing and read about it on different sources on the Internet and was inspired to do the same.

I come from a SAD diet with lots of dairy and some meat but I was considered a healthy eater (no junk food, ever). I do lots of sports, especially running, but I have problems with tight hamstrings that prevent me from running since 3 months (hoping the raw food diet could help here).

So far I'm having very good days as well as lower ones, but everything looks fine. The first two weeks were sometimes bad with sore troath and stuff but it passed.

A lot of people say that the transition should be gradual, but being an all of nothing kind of guy I decided to go a 100%. I even went for the low fat version of the diet.

I have no major cravings and so far I'm loving it. Don't know, maybe my emotions weren't so attached to food at the beginning.

Of course I read lot of things telling that I'll get deficient in this or this vitamin or nutriment, but I believe in those who tried and succeed.

However, I have a question. Being a student with no steady income, I try to cut on fancy food and since I read that lots of fatty raw food is not better than the SAD diet, I decided not to by any fatty raw food.

I had a couple avocados in the beginning but since the second week, I haven't bought a fatty fruit nor eaten any nuts or seeds.

So, the diet recommends 10% from fat, but I must get even less than that, maybe only 5% or maybe even less, I don't really know. I want to know if this is recommended or not. I read that eating no fat at all is very bad for ones body and it does damage to lots of things.

Now, someone posted on stevepavlina's forum that signs of Omega-3 deficiency are dry skin and urinating very often. Well, I have both. Very dry skin on my hand since the second week of going raw and I urinate often also, sometimes every hour.

Now, I'm used to get dry skin in winter and this could be normal or just from detox and the urine thing could come from the fact that I probably consume much more water since there is plenty in fruits and vegetables.

So, do you people think that not eating any fat is good or bad. Depending on your answers, I may introduce more avocados in my diet.

Thanks in advance. (sorry for the long post, I'm very verbose even if English is not my first spoken language)

I have the same question...and that's after 5 years on raw. Overt fat causes fatigue, acne, and other issues in my system. I initially feel great when I eliminate all overt fat but then I develop other symptoms.

Most of my fat-free excursions have been high fruit diets. What I'm not sure of is if the new symptoms were due to a lack of fat or an excess of sugar. I'm experimenting with raw complex carbs right now to see if that works.

Are you on a high fruit diet? Do you urinate more frequently because of high evacuation volume or has the urge the urinate increased even though the evacuation volume isn't high?

this makes me think. i been attempting the raw diet for about a week now. i purchased many fruits and veggies, some raw nuts, avocado, coconut, and oats too. i did a variety including fats since i figured a balanced diet would be most beneficial. now that i am reading yours, i wonder if i eat raw with fats if i will still loose weight. loosing weight is one of the reasons that i am attempthing this change in lifestyle.

all parts of the diet have their place, i think. follow your instincts. if they lead you to fat, i'd eat that. we need fat. although it needs to be good fat- raw vegan organic fat. but, i think our body leads us to the right proportion that we need. Fat is so necessary. So is greens and so is fruit. No vegan food should be eliminated, I think.

Opinion:

-I think that, in the beginning transition period, eating a measured amount of reasonable fats every day will aid in sending signals of satiety and fullness and promote mental/emotional stability. Just be conscious of the amounts (10-20% of calories is not unreasonable) and have conscious and intentionally volitious goals (just made that word up I think). My opinion is that deviating radically from the diet a person was previously very comfortable with....will often cause over-riding mental stress....and perhaps even acute physical crisis and symptomology......that generally offsets (or worse) any physical health gains. I would eat a level that YOU have chosen if YOU are worried - or eat what you feel like...if you are not worried in the slightest.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

There could be 100,000,000 different answers on this.

For me, I always like to have some nuts and seeds in my raw food diet - not just for the fat, but for the nutrients. Avocados are great, but they won't supply nearly as much of the iron, calcium, zinc, and selenium that nuts and seeds supply.

Nuts and seeds have not made me fat at all. On the contrary, they help me stay satisfied, so I'm able to stay raw.

I think it's fine to go for some time without any nuts, seeds, avocados as long as you feel OK. But if you start getting hungry for something else, you'll probably find that eating a few raw nuts and/or seeds will feel a lot better than any kind of cooked food you could eat - as long as you don't overdo it.

One problem people sometimes seem to have is when they try to go without any raw fats for as long as they possibly can, and then they eat enormous amounts in one sitting. That's not good. Finding something that works well for you consistently is better.

I find that any overt fats easily disturb the omega-3/omega-6 balance, don't know yet how to solve this one. On a raw vegan diet without overt fats you get a perfect ratio of omega-3 to omega-6. As soon as I add any overt fats the balance weighs heavily towards the omega-6 fatty acids. We have been using fish-oil capsules with EPA/DHA and vegan DHA to compensate and get a more favorable ratio. I don't know any other way of balancing them. I have been doing an experiment without any overt fats, although sometimes I would use some sesame seeds to get satisfied and to be able to go off to sleep. I believe we do need some fats, so want to add them again in small amounts, but still don't know how to solve this omega-3/omega-6 thing on the long run.

Flax seed are high in omega 3 with little omega 6

My personal experience with fats...

I'm 5'7'', was 120 lbs when I started raw. The first month, no joke, I ate 3-4000 calories some days, gorging on macadamias, avocados, and a lot of other nuts and seeds. I had terrible cooked cravings, but high-fat raw was the ONLY way I could keep them at bay, even if it was not a very wise way of eating.

Even with my heinously high-cal diet, I still dropped 15 pounds the first month.

So it is completely possible your relationship with fats will change.

Now I have nuts--1 or 2 ounces--once a week, and if I must eat seeds, I sprout them (MUCH more yummy, nutritious, digestible, and satisfying!). I found the "stop buying them after you eat them all, silly" approach worked best with nuts. Since I've quit the nuts, I've found my appetite and hunger are returning to something much more natural, and my fits of gross overeating have improved DRAMATICALLY. So, cutting fats have helped me with appetite recognition, rather than actual weight loss.

But my god, have they saved me in times of clinging desperately to the wagon and trying not to fall off!

In time, you'll learn to feel what your body needs. Like David said, if you start to feel like you're missing something, it's totally okay to have an avocado, as they are VERY good for you. 80/10/10 is a great guideline, but especially as you transition, you might need other things. My second month, I wanted absolutely NO greens. Any lettuce near my mouth would make me want to BARF, whereas the month before that, I packed down several bowls of salad a day. Now I can have salad a few times a week and be okay with it.

Pay close attention to how you feel after you eat. If you eat an avocado right now and it makes you feel bloated, horrible, upset, you probably don't need them at the moment. But, if you feel happy and satiated, chances are, your body was asking for something. =)

And yes, flax is a great answer to the omega problem.

I don't just cut fats on purpose. I'm just not used to eat avocados and seeds or nuts. Add that to the fact that a low fat raw diet is recommended for best results, and it results in me buying fruits and vegetables without worrying about fats.

As for salad dressing, I find myself happy with only lemon juice.

Well, after reading all your posts, I bought myself a bag of Flaxseeds. The brand is Natunola and they are 70% shelled so it says I don't need to refrigerate since they are more stable than whole seeds, and I can eat them without the need need of grinding them. I wonder if I should take seriously that I don't need to refrigerate them.

I also read that I should not eat more than 2 Tablespoon per day because they contain a certain toxic compound that can make damage in high doses.

So, last question, do you guys think that eating 2 Tablespoon of flaxseeds a day in salads or other preparations and eating 1 or two avocados per week in a salad would be considered the good amount of fat one should get. Also, will the 1 / 1 ratio preserved? I read that just avocados as a source of fat isn't good because it breaks the ratio.

I also want to struggle that right now I have no physical problems nor problems sticking to the diet, so I don't add fat to help me stick to the raw diet, but more to get the optimal nutrition for my body.

Thanks a lot

No, I don't think that's enough fat, at least wouldn't be for me.

And if you want the benefit fo the omega 3s, you have to grind the flaxseeds.