I had been about 60% raw for a couple of months and more recently became 99% raw, which I have maintained for 16 days (I have only deviated with piece of cooked cauliflower, three bites of fish, and 6 roasted nuts). My diet was pretty clean before I started going raw (no sugar, grains or dairy). I am hypothyroid and have difficulty losing weight in general. However I didn't become raw with a main focus of weight (but I sure didn't expect to gain weight!) I became raw in the interest of achieving optimal health and with the notion that perhaps I might be able to some day cure my thyroid. (I'm trying desperately to get off of thyroid medication (I take natural, Armour Thyroid, by the way).

My issue is that I've gained about 10 pounds since I became partially raw..... and that's ten more I need to lose. Here are the facts. Perhaps those of you who are more experienced in the raw lifestyle can shed some light on my situation. Thanks in advance!


1. I'm drinking lime water during the day, along with wheatgrass and/or chlorophyll, in an effort to balance my often acidic pH.

2. My eliminations are great (and were before going raw). I have about five per day.

3. I work out six days per week for an hour, rotating cardio and weight training.

4. Here are several examples of my daily food intake during the last couple of weeks:

Example Day One:

- Green drink (all fresh; all organic - spinach, kale, parsley, one green apple, wheat grass basil, mint, lime)
- 1 large young coconut
- 2 bananas
- Romaine with an avocado
- macadamia nuts, cherries and blackberries


Example Day Two:

- Green drink (all fresh; all organic - spinach, kale, parsley, one green apple, wheat grass basil, mint, lime)
- Blueberries, watermelon, a banana
- Raw harvest sandwich from leaf cuisine with sprouts, avocado, lettuce
- One small pear
- Raw veggies (carrots, peppers, olives, jicama)
- Green drink (all fresh; all organic - spinach, chard, parsley, one green apple, wheat grass basil, mint, lime)
- Berries, peaches, cherries and macadamia nuts with flax oil


Example Day Number Three:

- Green drink (all fresh; all organic - spinach, chard, parsley, one green apple, wheat grass basil, mint, lime)
- Young coconut
- Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
- Fresh squeezed orange juice
- Avocado and 2 raw taquitos
- Macadamia nuts, cherries, blueberries and flax seed oil
- Mango

Example Day Number Four:

- Small organic apple
- Green drink (spinach, kale, parsley, lime, apple, mint, basil)
- Lara bar
- Green Drink
- Two fully raw taquitos
- Glass of water with wheatgrass tea
- 1C. berries (organic wild blueberries and organic cherries) plus 1/8 C. raw organic macadamia nuts, Flax oil
- 1 small organic avocado with sprouted raw soy sprouts, onion sprouts, salsa, cilantro



I welcome your raw advice! The only thing I can think of is that my thyroid has been a bit too low lately.

Thanks so much!

I've been entering my foods on www.nutridiary.com. I was getting way more fat that I thought and had to cut back on it. Sometimes tho, I think the weight loss pauses when your body is working on healing something more important. That's what happens with me. Good Luck!

I'm not sure if your still checking this site but here's my advice.(Same thing happens to my daughter, vegan, bikram practicer..)
1. You are eating too much fruit, foods to high on the glycemic index.
2. You are not eating enough. I know it sounds wrong, but you are giving your body the message to store fuel because your feeding it fewer calories in needs. Your body slows it's metabolism to reserve fuel.
3. Eat more greens, vegetables, oils, avocado, one banana a day if you must, the green drink is great.

I have seen this many times before (experienced it myself) and both posts are correct. The optimal balance for a Raw diet is 80/10/10; meaning 80% carbohydrates, 10% protein and 10% fats. I can see that you are consuming a lot of fats (as good as they may be). I would be happy to give you more specific information with caloric consumption etc. if you would provide some basic information as to your age, height, current weight and daily activity routine outside of working out.

Too many avacados and nuts would be my guess. Also, you are working out a lot. You must be getting quite an appetite, I found that since going raw 100% Not only did I loose weight I did not need to exercise as much or as hard as before. Try eliminating all the nuts and avacados for a few weeks and see what happens.

Aurora

I too have thyroid issues. All diets I go on I gain weight (except for the Zone diet, I had to eat too much and I don't like to eat) so I quit dieting. When I got severe weight gain I tried to stop it, I was working out, doing upper body weights for an hour daily, (alternating days with lower body weight training), walking 3 miles as fast as I could and hiking the equivalent of a 99 story building daily with no physical changes happening whatsoever. Daily. For 8 months. I felt like a freak. Everyone kept telling me I was eating too much so I got diet books for presents. I was eating about 600 calories a day, but looked like a pig and felt like death.

For decades my thyroid blood tests came up normal every time I took one, so the docs wouldn't put me on meds even though I had nearly every symptom of low thyroid. Turns out, just because you have normal numbers it doesn't mean your tissues are using the thyroid hormone. Adrenal issues will cause this, (as well as a few other things). When your adrenals get compromised, the first thing they do is force your body to quit utilizing other hormones. Researchers now say that upwards of 90% of Americans have some level of compromised adrenals, and close to 50% have thyroid issues. I have adrenal issues that need to be taken care of, and maybe you do too. Utilize saliva tests for hormones, they are more accurate than blood tests. You might want to get a saliva test done, you can get them yourself from ZRT Labs in Oregon. I pick up a saliva test kit from The Medicine Shoppe when I need one. They will send a copy of the results to your doctor if you request.

Your weight problems may be low progesterone, too, many women suffer from this, especially if they have thyroid problems. Some of the symptoms parallel. You can buy good progesterone cream but you have to do your research to get it. Fat produces estrogen, though sometimes supplementation (with Bio Identical Hormones ONLY) is needed.


Sometimes overweight has nothing to do with what you eat or how much you exercise. I gained 40 lbs. in 3 weeks from taking Elavil. I was never able to get rid of it. It did something to my metabolism that I was never able to reverse. Since then, I've talked to many women who've had the same thing happen to them.

My old doctor heard my tale of thyroid woe and told me to take my basal temperature in the morning for a week and average it. My average temperature was right around 93F. His exact words were "Oh my God, you're EXTREMELY hypothyroid!" Well big duh there fella. He's the one who disregarded my blood tests and gave me Armour. I got my temperature up to about 95.6F and felt so much better. I wean off of it two or three times a year for a few weeks because my body adapts to it and I lose effect. I lost 10 lbs. that summer doing nothing. I've learned since that hypothyroid people need to avoid cruciferous vegetables, they are thyroid inhibitors. Cat's Claw also inhibits. Coconut oil, and coconut meat stimulate the thyroid and is super good for you. The virgin coconut oil makes great suntan oil, is very nourishing for the skin and helps recover from sunburn.

There are some super good sites on the internet to check out, www.stopthethyroidmadness.com www.wilsonstemperaturesyndrome.com & there is a good adrenal forum in yahoo, but I can't remember it right off hand. Plus Life Extension Org. ( www.lef.org )compiles great research and publishes in a monthly magazine. Dr. Jonathan Wright of the Tahoma Clinic in Seattle has good info and has had online health seminars with top doctors the public can participate in for as little as $10.

Enzymes need to be processed in a body temperature of 98.6F. Lower or higher temperatures apparently prevent them from optimal utilization. Low thyroid/adrenal conditions and diabetes are low body temp. maladies. Dr. Wilson says if you can get a diabetic's body temperature up by even one degree Farenheit, they can get off of insulin. It would be interesting to see if body temperatures of those at the Arizona raw food institute raises with the raw food diet.

Anyway, enough rambling, I hope you get well Aurora, hormone issues stink. If there's anything I can help with, let me know.

Maca is great for balancing hormones. (search for more info)

radishes are greeat for normalizing thyroid. try that.

also, try Emotional Freedom Technique, has helped with weight issues when diet & exercise alone don't work.

www.emofree.com you can learn to do it on yourself in about a half hour, free instructions on the website.

good luck, and please try to worry less.