Going Raw Update - Day 11 (Blog)

[Erin Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Erin Pavlina's blog:

Going Raw Update - Day 11

[freddy]

Way to go Erin!! I'm on day 5 myself, and my biggest problem is having to cook food for my kids. I try and stuff myself before hand. So I will be to full to eat even one bite. Like you mentioned on weight I've lost 5 lbs and would like it to continue to go down. Will see how that goes.
I had a bit of I guess you would call it intuition the other day. But I didn’t pay attention. And it cost me 4 hour more in work. I hope I get better at paying attention and following that little voice.

[jayh]

Keep up the good work - I think you're inspiring us all to expand our horizons. I was glad to hear you eat bean burritos too (or used too...) I'm still a "new" vegetarian, but still feel guilty for some reason when I go to taco bell for bean burritos... lol. Perhaps it's because they're owned by Yum!, who also owns KFC... Oh well...

[staceyterry]

Have you tried any green smoothies yet Erin? I was initially dubious about these, but now I get cranky if I don't get a daily green smoothie! Right now I'm in experimental mode, going out and buying greens I've never bought before (I can't believe I just bought dandelion greens...most people pay to get rid of them). I can't confess to know anything at all about foods that regulate blood sugar, but maybe the green smoothies are a good way for you to still have your fruit and add a few greens to make it less sweet?

Tera, of the raw divas, is hosting a one green smoothie per day challenge until Christmas. Maybe you'd be interested? I'm doing it and can invite guests, so here's a link (just ignore the link name... it really does take you to the invitation page!):

Green Smoothie Queen's Green Jugs - Modeled after the theories of Dr. Emoto

Keep up the fabulous work!

[Erin Pavlina]

Ah yes I forgot about the green smoothies. I will definitely incorporate more of those into the diet. Thanks for the reminder.

[spazgirl]

You're doing so great, Erin! I'm really enjoying reading your updates.

Green smoothies are great, and they are wonderful as a base for adding other things. I find that when I add a few tablespoons of chia gel to my smoothies, my energy doesn't rise and fall as quickly as when it's just greens and fruit. I add spirulina to some of my green smoothies, and sometimes I put in herbs and spices like turmeric, cayenne, and ginger to get their beneficial properties. Lately I've had a rash on my face, and adding a bit of coconut oil and hemp oil has been helping where nothing topical did. These oily smoothies have been keeping me full for much longer! And the coconut oil tastes great with pineapple and mango - yum!

Good luck!

Dana

[squeakywheel]

After doing a 30 day raw food trial myself, I determined that it was definitely worth sticking with for the full 30 days for the exercise of discipline but that 100% raw wasn't for me, especially this time of year. One thing that really helped me was making miso soup -- I let the water cool down enough to where the miso would not be considered "cooked". I am now following Natalia Rose's book, The Raw Food Detox Diet, and find it to be a perfect fit for me. It allows you to find what "raw" level you want to start with and then move to a higher level as you see fit. One thing that was interesting to me is that cooked vegetables actually have a higher measurable vibration level than raw nuts/seeds and dried fruit. Many raw foodists eat lots of dried fruits and nuts. To me it would be more important to "calibrate" your eating to what most raises your vibration level rather than striving for 100% raw perfection -- I'm guessing the equation may be different for each person. More info on this plan can be found at Author and certified clinical nutritionist Natalia Rose - author of The Raw Food Detox Diet, Raw Food Life Force Energy, and The New Energy Body. Best of "luck" Erin!

[carenkh]

Originally Posted by staceyterry

Green Smoothie Queen's Challenge

Keep up the fabulous work!

Thanks for that link! On first glance, I like their site a lot.

[Erin Pavlina]

Yeah I have a feeling that some cooked veggies added in to my rawness would be a good balance for me. I'm going to complete the 30 days totally raw though, and then experiment a little with some cooked foods and such.

[Lena Carpenter]

Originally Posted by squeakywheel

After doing a 30 day raw food trial myself, I determined that it was definitely worth sticking with for the full 30 days for the exercise of discipline but that 100% raw wasn't for me, especially this time of year. One thing that really helped me was making miso soup -- I let the water cool down enough to where the miso would not be considered "cooked". I am now following Natalia Rose's book, The Raw Food Detox Diet, and find it to be a perfect fit for me. It allows you to find what "raw" level you want to start with and then move to a higher level as you see fit. One thing that was interesting to me is that cooked vegetables actually have a higher measurable vibration level than raw nuts/seeds and dried fruit. Many raw foodists eat lots of dried fruits and nuts. To me it would be more important to "calibrate" your eating to what most raises your vibration level rather than striving for 100% raw perfection -- I'm guessing the equation may be different for each person. More info on this plan can be found at Author and certified clinical nutritionist Natalia Rose - author of The Raw Food Detox Diet, Raw Food Life Force Energy, and The New Energy Body. Best of "luck" Erin!

Thanks for sharing. What you said about cooked vegetables having a higher vibration level resonates with me very much. I tried raw as well and now I'm doing mostly vegan with LOTS of vegetables. I find that my energy is quite high. I'm sure if I cut even more grains out (I use only freshly cooked whole grains), the energy will go up more. I noticed that a lot of raw fooders go from junky diet to raw diet, and so of course, they experience awesome benefits. I would love to try 100% raw with more nuts and dried fruits and then vegan with some cooked vegetables, and see how they compare. It's definitely something to experiment with.

To Erin: I really admire your determination. I have to say that reading your stories about eating raw is somehow more motivational for me than reading Steve's. Maybe as a woman, I can relate to you better, especially on an emotional level. It is also awesome to know how kids benefit, and is a huge plus in my mind.

[Akemi]

Hi Erin and friends,

I've been thinking about this since you mentioned your health issues, but was withholding because I didn't want to solicit advice. . . Now that you asked for advice, here is my 2c.

From what I can see in your recent photos, you have too much yin energy. Is your lower ab cold? Is your period painful? These are some of the symptoms of excess yin. It loosely translates to low metabolism in the modern medical terms (although not exactly).

Foods can be categorized warming (yang), cooling (yin) or neutral. You need warming foods to have more yang.

Here are my suggestions that are compatible with your vegan / raw diet.

1. Add ginger
Make carrot, ginger root, and maybe apple juice. Ginger is very warming. Be sure to get organic ginger root because the quality of conventionally grown ginger is so bad it gives you bad aftertaste.
Root vegetables such as carrots and beets are warming too. Fruits are generally cooling or neutral, and fruits that are harvested in cold climate, such as apples are less cooling.

2. Spice up your salad
Use hot pepper in your salad. If you don't mind a bit of onion breath, add onion or anything in onion family, too.

3. Less tropical fruits
Tropical fruits are very cooling. Cold climate fruits such as apples and berries are much more preferable for you. If you must have tropical fruits, eat them for breakfast.

There is a whole lot of info about foods' yin / yang nature and maybe you can google it.

When you do want to eat cooked foods, soup of root vegetables would be good. If you are not vegan, I'd recommend adding meat, especially lamb to the broth. . .

I hope this helps you ^_^ Now my disclaimer -- I'm not a medical pro, so you may want to see traditional Chinese medicine pro. I just have a working knowledge about this.

Oh, and I'm Japanese, not Chinese.

[Erin Pavlina]

Hmm, interesting take. I dislike spicy foods, but I do like ginger and onions.

[MasterD]

Hey Erin,

The initial weight loss is mainly water, for the rest of the pounds to melt off you will have to underconsume calories. I once switched from only fruits to 'whatever I liked' and I gained 15 pounds within a week, but it went off again almost immediately after I switched to mainly fruits again. I don't know exactly how this weight loss thing works, it would be really interesting to find out. For instance, many people reports plateaus and then again a big weight loss within a relatively small amount of time.

How many times per day are you eating? I certainly find it benefits me to limit this amount to 3. Further, eating later in the evening has a significant negative impact on my sleep and my energy, though a very small snack should be fine I guess.

Keep it up, it seems you are truly moving in the right direction!

[Erin Pavlina]

Eating only fruits isn't a proper way to live though. I'm looking to eat in a way that is sustainable and which will bring me to a proper weight over time. If I wanted to go on a diet, where I eat few calories, I could do that eating cooked vegan food (or meat for that matter). From everything I've been told, raw = weight loss. But I'm not seeing it at the moment.

[MasterD]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

Eating only fruits isn't a proper way to live though.

I don't say it is. I am just sketching the effect it has on weight loss/gain in an extremely short amount of time. The 10-15lbs I gained in a week could never be a fat gain, because I didn't even eat near that amount of fat. So it's an increase in a.) probably more foods being in my body, because digestion is slower b.) lot's of water retention.

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

From everything I've been told, raw = weight loss.

That's because they lose a lot of water, people generally get more active AND get much more in tune with there body so they are much less likely to overeat.

[Erin Pavlina]

Ah gotcha.

[MasterD]

By the way, Erin, not my intention to discourage you , just want to explain a bit what is happening, as far as I understand it.

I have never been overweight, so I don't know too much about it, but I think it is almost inevitable to lose weight. What I do experience, however, is that I feel much sooner satiated, where in the past I could eat too much and got sick (I don't gain weight when I overeat, I just get sick). I think when you are overweight you will feel satiated a bit sooner. If you get to a point where you underconsume 250 calories a day at some point you will lose 22lbs of pure fat in a year. Along with (I make a guess, not sure) 20lbs of water, this is a 42lbs weight loss in a year. I don't think that is very irrealistic to expect, could be a bit more, could be a bit less. A year ago I saw a weight loss television program in the Netherlands where one person lost 90lbs in 3 months, so maybe you are lucky .

[RRR]

Erin:

Ooh. Do you think you will experience an increase in power and courage as a result of weight loss? I'm unsure how comfortable you are with your weight. It would be very interesting to see if you are inspired to do more speaking or if it comes more naturally. Dropping a lot of weight had big changes in how free I felt to express myself, courage became a lot easier once I was given the widespread social acceptance of being physically attractiveish (in relative scale).

How do you feel about the physical attractiveness aspects of weightloss? Does this change once you are married? It will effect how many people greet and treat you. I'm told your personality and way of treating people already has a lot of warm fuzzies, I'm curious to see how this adapts to weight loss.