Hey, y'all, can you help me out??

I'm into my third week of blending veggies and fruits -- mostly veggies, like two-thirds or even a hundred percent half the time -- and aside from ALTERNATING CONSTIPATION AND DIARRHEA I am also ALWAYS HUNGRY!!!

I blend twice a day, morning and night, and generally consume a whole 64-ounce karafe each time. I also happen to eat one to two "normal meals" with meat -- and yet I've only gotten hungrier and hungrier over time, it seems!

I even have one or two protein shakes a day sometimes, like three to four days of the week when I work out at the gym...and now in my third week I seem to be hungrier than ever, as well as alternately constipated and having diarrhea.

It's starting to frustrate me 'cause I'm not exactly a fan of these mostly veggie smoothies I make but I'm soldiering on in continued hopes of doing my body good nutritionally -- yet the hunger pangs make me wonder whether I'm not actually unwittingly starving myself!!!

The weirdest thing is that the hunger pangs are only increasing in frequency and even intensity and duration while I'm not losing any weight!!

Well, thanks for reading all this and any comments you may have....

Stop eating the 'normal meals with meat'. My understanding is that this is a vegan raw forum.

Well, I'm here 'cause of the blending and juicing...if it all works out, I probably would go vegetarian and even vegan -- maybe even raw! But for now this seems sensible to me, to try things out and see how they go. And they ain't going, it seems!

What's so odd to me is how it was fine for the first week but now appears to be getting worse...I thought things are supposed to get better!!

Are you drinking lots of water? Often, the body signals that it is hungry when really it is dehydrated. You need to be drinking 2 to 4 litres of water daily. When you feel hungry, try drinking a full glass of water.

If you are eating meat for the protein, you might want to try adding protein powder to your juices and smoothies instead. There are lots of good ones out there including hemp and vegetable protein powders.

You can also snack on nut pates or hummus made with sprouted garbanzo beans. These can be quite satisfying eaten with raw veggies or flax crackers.

You also might want to consult a nutritionist is you haven't already.

Good luck. I hope things get better for you

cdonovan is correct! The first sign of thirst is feeling hungry. If you stay hydrated between meals, this may help to alleviate your hunger pangs. Hang in there, you are doing fantastic!

cdonavon Wrote:
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> Are you drinking lots of water? Often, the body
> signals that it is hungry when really it is
> dehydrated. You need to be drinking 2 to 4 litres
> of water daily. When you feel hungry, try
> drinking a full glass of water.

Hmm, I'll look into this as I'm not sure how much water I'm drinking, though I do have to say that I use the restroom at least ten times a day (i.e., one 24-hr. period): once to five times a night, and the same during the day! And that's not counting defecation, which is once to twice or more a day....

> If you are eating meat for the protein, you might
> want to try adding protein powder to your juices
> and smoothies instead. There are lots of good
> ones out there including hemp and vegetable
> protein powders.

Actually, I'm using IronMind's "Just Protein" (whey)...I've gotten a hold of Manitoba Harvest's Hemp Pro 70 and Organic Chocolate Hemp Powders and they smell and taste nasty!!!! I don't even care for taste all that much but these nearly made me throw up, literally -- and I haven't had such an urge since like ten...not even during U.S. Army basic training when they had us in the gas chamber with CS (tear) gas!!!!

> You can also snack on nut pates or hummus made
> with sprouted garbanzo beans. These can be quite
> satisfying eaten with raw veggies or flax
> crackers.

Actually, I've been eating roasted almonds and while they help, something feels so "off"...besides, I'm concerned about all the fat -- the number one reason I decided to give veggie smoothies a try in the first place!

> You also might want to consult a nutritionist is
> you haven't already.
>
> Good luck. I hope things get better for you

Thanks! I really want to make this work so I haven't given up yet -- I'm entering my fourth week of this, though last week and this week I've had to substantially increase my intake of "regular food" in order to feel anywhere near normal! As in, not having to sit on the toilet for an hour at a time two to four times a day and not feeling hungry within ninety minutes of an otherwise veggie-packed smoothie....

CleanEatingBeautifulLiving Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cdonovan is correct! The first sign of thirst is
> feeling hungry. If you stay hydrated between
> meals, this may help to alleviate your hunger
> pangs. Hang in there, you are doing fantastic!

Thanks! I'm gonna keep tinkering with things and see how they play out...my live-in girlfriend is also trying veggie smoothies and juices and we've both got the same general issues (though she hasn't needed to defecate so much like me)....

Likely not enough calories and in turn food man, i still after years can drink 1000 calorie smoothies and still be instantly hungry afterwards.

Try increasing food that you can chew on, some nuts/seeds, fruit etc will help.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

you're not stressed out, are you? i know cortisol levels have a lot to do with hunger hormnones. basically, in case you don't know, when you're stressed the body goes into massive carb storage mode. your body will also start converting lesser used muscle protein into fat. you can tell when your cortisol levels are high because hard fat tends to build up on the upper abdomen and you get extra hungry. if it's the case, which it very well may not be, i'd recommend relaxation techniques like yoga, or massage or meditation. the new findings about chocolate are great too if you like chocolate.eat a little dark chocolate/ cocoa everyday for like two weeks or so. (it lowers cortisol levels.)
and by the way, if you take one thing away from this forum, jeez man, don't eat the roasted almonds, eat em raw! in the baking aisle if not in the bulk bins!

Hiya, Newbie here Have you included any avovado in your diet? I too was very hungry while eating loads of high carb fruit and some greens each day. The addition of the avocado's each day really got rid of the hunger and prevented me snacking on cooked foods.

I do wonder, how many people start a raw vegan diet and think "fruits (carbs) friuts (carbs) fruits (carbs)" and forget about the fat intake? Which us humans do need, all be it in smaller amounts than carbs.

Its all relative.