Hello all;

I started the raw vegan life style/diet about 10 days ago and (I guess) went %99 raw (I am still drinking tea 2-3 small cup per day). It just hit me one day while I was sleeping and have decided to go raw the next day and I am extremely happy with this decision. I have lots of energy and feel good about my self.
When I started I was eating and eating all the time from nuts to salad and you name it!. It was like I was hungry all the time and couldn’t stop eating. Then I moderated a little bit and started listening to my body which was more fruit.

I have 2 questions if anyone can help me with, I appreciate it because this is completely new to me.

1- I started having lots of pain in all over my body specially my joint, back, lower back etc ….. I had these pains on & off in my life before. They are not new but having them all at the same time??? Should I consider this as a detoxifying faze?
2- I am not loosing weight at all and I know that I have like 6-7 kg extra which I don’t feel comfortable with (I gained them all in past few months). I have to add I didn’t gain this weight because of going raw but I was kind of looking forward to loose weight! Maybe I had too much nuts in 4-5 days.

Thank you in advance for your responds
Me

Mehnoush Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1- I started having lots of pain in all over my
> body specially my joint, back, lower back etc …..
> I had these pains on & off in my life before. They
> are not new but having them all at the same
> time??? Should I consider this as a detoxifying
> faze?

Chances are detox, but noone can correctly answer this without really knowing you or more about your health.

> 2- I am not loosing weight at all and I know that
> I have like 6-7 kg extra which I don’t feel
> comfortable with (I gained them all in past few
> months). I have to add I didn’t gain this weight
> because of going raw but I was kind of looking
> forward to loose weight! Maybe I had too much nuts
> in 4-5 days.

10 days is nothing, give it time.

Thanks for your respond Tanawana.

I consider my self healthy at 44 without taking any vitamins according to my last check-up. But I used to have a high protein diet before .
I have 1 avocado per day in my salad. Is this too much? How much nuts is enough?
When I started I thought “you can eat anything, anytime without any limits”. Is this correct? I did this diet 18 years ago for about a month but then I missed warm food and couldn’t keep it because I was looking at it as a diet. But now I see this as a different "life style" not a “diet” and I like the way I feel.

Do you know any web site that will tell you how much and how many times a day to eat?
Thanks again

I would eat when hungry but focus on fruits (except avocado, eat only 1/2 per day, if that) mostly and also leafy greens and salads and other vegetables, sprouted legumes and seeds, adding in limited quantities unsprouted seeds, nuts, and oils.

Try to get less than 20% of your calories from fat.

[utopiankitchen.wordpress.com]

This might be a long shot, but (thinking you might be female?) do you think you could be pregnant? I lost 10 pound after going raw a few months back and I've been on the atkins diet too. When I started the raw food diet again recently I was wondering why I wasn't losing weight but I soon discovered I was pregnant!

It's funny but in fact my stomach is getting so big that I thought about that too!! but NO I am not pregnant...
but congratulations to yours!

How long it took for you to loose weight after you went raw?

a month maybe? I juiced carrots, ate lots of figs, salads with vinagrette, munched on lots of almonds and drank LOTS of green smoothies--banana, 2 apples (or pears, or combo) lemon/lime juice to taste, raw agave nectar to taste, greens (kale, romaine lettuce, cilantro, parsley etc...) occasionally I even ate ezekiel bread with honey (that bread is not raw). Sometimes I ate smoothies with more greens than anything else--did not taste good, but I knew it was good for me. Green for Life by Victoria Bountenko is a great book about blended foods and the importance of green leafy veggies. I ate lots of avocados too with Nori wraps, cauliflower ground up to be like rice and Nama Shoyu. I don't think I exercised then either! It would have been much better for me if I did, though, I am sure (Dr. Clement says exercise speeds detox by 7 times or something like that (don't quote me)). I also drank barley green (a powder you mix with water) in the ams sometimes. That worked for me! I was 150 and 5'2. Dropped to 140 in about a month. Don't know if it matters or not, but I didn't dehydrate anything cause I did not own a dehydrator. Hope this helps.

Weight on raw can be a very strange thing. 10 days is an awesome start, but the journey will bring new change that unfolds as months tick by, supposedly into years (I haven't been journeying for that long yet!).

My first month, I dropped 20 pounds, eating LOTS of fat. I plateaued there for another two weeks, and going into my third month I gained 15 pounds back, eating much more fruit--but it all came back in different (and more attractive) places. Now, my waist seems to be shrinking again in month #4, but I have no idea where my weight stands.

I have some jiggley stuff in my arms I'd LOVE to see go away, but my body has much more important priorities, even after four months: my lungs and sinuses have relentlessly started clearing themselves out this past week, and I had a few days where all I wanted to do was sleep, while this cleaning and healing took place.

Your body's goals are very different from your mind's goals: it will heal according to a schedule you only get to glimpse through results. But the results will astound you, and in the end, everything unnecessary should be eliminated, if you maintain a healthy lifestyle and give your body nothing but pure fuel!

Thank you all for your responds. I believe every body’s experience is different and I appreciate that you are all sharing yours.

Have you lost a bit of weight since your first post?

Mehnoush,
I won't lose weight unless I really watch what I eat AND exercise...every day! For about an hour and a half, cardio and weight lifting. I think my body just adjusts to the decrease in food and I have to exercise to keep it burning the same calories. My theory is that this is an evolutionary skill that my body has developed. I have Scandinavian ancestry and I can't imagine if I was a viking lady in the cold I'd want my body using all its fat just because I didn't eat enough that day! I think this mode of thinking nice things about my body is helpful too. What a good working machine it is, keeping all its fuel and doing a good job. I wish I could tell my body that it doesn't need to keep all that extra fuel, though that there will always be plenty of fuel in the future! Anyway, I suggest exercising a lot. Good luck!

maybe your bowels are full of @#$%&!

seriously, john wayne died with over 50 pounds of mucoid plaque in his bowels

No I haven't!!!
I am trying to eat less Nuts to see what's going to happen.