Raw food advice?

[H2Ogrl]

Okay I am a 21 yr. old female who wants to start eating better. I would eat some greens or fruit, but never a lot of "enough" of them. Normally smoothies were how I got my intake of each. Anyway two days ago I decided that I would go mostly raw. (I kept getting sick) I say mostly because I do use: low-calorie, high fiber tortillas; light ranching dressing (only a little of it), and some Smart Health peanut butter (only one tablespoon).

Because I use the aboved items I would consider my diet mostly raw- unless does it still count as 100% raw if I use peanut butter, etc? So this is my third day and I am slowly gaining back energy- but still am exhausted. On other internet sites they say this is normal, but I wanted to make sure. It feels like I have low energy, and can't even get myself to do my daily 2 mile walk. Should I push the walking or just wait till my energy levels are up?

Here are the foods I have been eating/drinking daily:

Fiber drink: cranberry juice, water, frozen berries, and 2 tbsp. of Psyillium Husk

Grapefruit or Apple

Two tortillas with different greens, mushrooms, cucumbers, and ranch dressing.

carrots and/or celery with ranch or peanut butter

microwaved frozen mix veggies: corn, kidney beans, peppers, etc. with some Smart Health butter.

Depending on how hungry I am- possibly another Fiber Drink but I freeze it so it is like my "ice cream" if I need sugar.

[Jonathan Mead]

I would recommend more greens, salad and maybe a green juice or green smoothie. Carrot juice is good as well.

Also, peanut butter isn't consider a cooked food. As long as the peanuts aren't roasted.

[TheHulaQueen]

H2O Girl... have you looked at the total calories you are getting? Maybe it's not enough? I'd compare what you ate before, to what you are eating now and try to match it fairly closely at first just to make sure you're eating enough to feel good as you transition your diet.

There's a raw food recipe ebook you can download free with ideas at Raw Food Australia - Home (see free ebook in the top right corner). It was a community project with over 40 contributors and available free (I was part of the project). There are some great stories included too of people's experiences going raw. Make sure you read Steve's journey too in his blog.

What are your goals going more raw? Weight gain? Weight loss? That will all have an effect too on what you choose to do. Consider too other things that might be impacting your energy (sleep, hydration etc). Hope this helps.

Have fun!

Cheers,
Sheryl

PS I've been mostly raw for years, and 100% for long periods of time too.

[oberlee]

I just started testing a raw diet myself, and for the most part really like it.

I'm gathering that you're using this diet to lose weight. The thing I found with this diet is that if you truly go raw, you don't have to worry about calories. I mean, your body should tell you what you need, and don't eat like a jar of almond butter, but honestly, it so efficiently uses the energy you intake that it's not much of a concern. If I'm hungry I reach for fruit. And I always have carrots, nuts, and dried fruit on me just in case.

Also, from my findings, peanut butter is not raw. Maybe if you do the in-store peanut butter grind with raw peanuts, but I have switched to raw almond butter (and purists say not to get anything processed in any way from a store, but whatever. I only have so much time!).

The ranch perplexes me here. Also, what is "smart health"? Is it a product? I couldn't find it on the web; it sounds like some BS "low-fat" product. Sorry, maybe it's not--but don't buy a low-fat peanut butter or anything. It's better to just buy regular old fashioned peanut butter. Or, almond butter (raw) if you're truly raw.

I think if you want to eat healthier, cut out the ranch. Dairy sucks, anyway. If you want to go "mostly" raw, the tortillas are cool, the pb is cool, but try oil and vinegar instead of ranch or some creamy dressing. Eat many more fruits and vegetables. Lots and lots. Eat nuts. Nuts have so much nutrition in them. THey're the perfect food--fat, carbs and protein. It's all there.

[H2Ogrl]

Aww thanks everyone for the advice and support!! I knew I could always get it here. So I looked at what I had posted and I meant to say: Smart Balance....I have no idea why I had written Smart Health. I do want to use this raw diet for two reasons: 1) get healthy and 2) weight loss. I put those goals in order too. Weight loss would be great, because I do need to lose some pounds....but I also know that weight loss means nothing if you are not healthy.

I have started using greens in my fiber drinks or create a green smoothie whenever I am low on energy. I know that I should cut out ranch, but that is my compromise.....my way of keeping some foods so I can ween off of it. I have heard from many people that they will cut out foods or products, and then when they have a "cheat day" they go bonkers for it. So I don't want to be like that, but I will be incorporating a more healthier dressing soon.

Another reason why I am going "mostly" raw is because I am allowing myself one cheat day- like how some diets have. I do this so I stay on track to continue eating healthy. I have designated that Friday is my cheat day and it worked!! I ate healthy for the majority of the day except for dinner- mcdonalds (2 cheeseburgers). This actually got me sick and you can believe I won't be looking at any junk/bad food for awhile.

Sorry for this LONG post- but do any of you have some easy raw recipies? I have only a blender and a food processor.

[Lauxa]

Hi H2OGrl, I tried raw for 27 days and I was also having energy problems, maybe due to not getting enough calories. Here are my best recipes. I'm not giving amounts because with raw it's really all to taste.

Corn salad: thawed frozen corn (or fresh corn), fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, onions (not too much), avocado, pepper and sea salt. Chop and mix.

Marinated mushrooms: sliced mushrooms, olive oil, and apple cider vinegar. Marinate at room temperature for at least a couple of hours.

Marinated broccoli: olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and ginger (blended), chopped broccoli, drain and toss with sesame seeds before eating.

Lettuce tacos: cucumber spears, bagged shredded broccoli/cabbage/carrot mix (for broccoli slaw), avocado, and miso spread on lettuce leaves and wrapped like a taco. Can also add marinaded mushrooms to this.

Dipping sauce for wraps: favorite nuts, fresh lime juice, ginger, and red pepper. Mix in blender, adding water if necessary.

You can make a mock mayonnaise with nut milk and oil, but I couldn't always get it to come out right. Check out this thread for tips. Once you have the mayo, mix with shredded cabbage and raw honey (cole slaw) or shredded carrots (or beets) and raisins. Or mix with chopped drained cucumber and dill (tzatziki) for a nice veggie dip.

I made raw hummus once and it was really good, you just have to soak/sprout the garbanzo beans.

I also really enjoyed Steve's suggestion of chopping up tomatoes and mixing with mashed avocado, I had many meals of this.

Wow, writing down these recipes makes me hungry for raw food!

[H2Ogrl]

Wow those recipes sound really good!! I might try them the next time I go grocery shopping. However hearing about all the different and easy things I can do with raw foods....I have decided to experiment!

My "hummus"/dipping sauce: mushrooms, carrots, lettuce, garlic, water- blend them all up and it is great with celery and cucumber!

In the beginning I though raw foods could be either one of two ways:
1) Just whole foods like carrots and eat them after being peeled.
2) Highly complicated recipes that require a juicer which I don't have or a lot of foods that are expensive here to buy.

However I am seeing that raw foods are just like cooking in that it could be as complicate or easy as I want it. Any more easy and quick recipes though would be appreciated!

[H2Ogrl]

A lot of people are saying that a good way to improve health would be to fast (juice or water) for as many days as I want and THEN go to raw food. Does this work for people? When I went mostly raw I did notice my digestive system had improved, but would this way be better?

While I ponder and wait for opinions, I decided that it couldn't hurt to try it right? So I took magnesium citrate to clean my colon pretty good and then will do a juice fast. Hopefully my overall health will improve!!


What do you guys think? Bogus or a good idea?

[oberlee]

I don't think you need to fast first, but I haven't fasted before, so I'm not sure. I think it's a personal choice. Like, I change my diet drastically a lot. I have no problem going vegan after being a carnivore. Or just saying "I'm cutting out sugar" or whatever. But maybe it's easier to go all out and go on a fast before committing to such a diet for some people. Just be educated (I know you are, H2Ogirl, from being on this forum) and safe.

I just had to share my experience with young coconuts. I was originally inspired by "Raw Food Real World," a cookbook by these 2 insanely beautiful people (not a couple anymore, but were when the cookbook was made) about raw food. There's also "Raw" by Roxanne Klein, which is also really good. I love to hear chefs talk about raw food because they seem more realistic about it than those on certain raw food websites. That is, they treat their diet like an open relationship, not like a marriage. I like that, because while I'm eating raw, I want to feel good going to an event and trying wonderful cooked dishes, wonderful artisan cheeses, delectable desserts. Food is to be enjoyed.

Anyway, both cookbooks talk about young coconuts, and so I bought 2 at Whole Foods ("Whole Paycheck" as I usually call it) today. Each was $1.99, and I live in CA, so while this is expensive for a unit of food, I think it's totally worth it. I found out how to open it on rawguru.com (great tutorial) and found the thing full of delicious, nutritional coconut water. I then hulled out the coconut gel-stuff and used it for "noodles" for pad thai (should have put quotes around that too, of course) and it was delicious. These things ROCK. The meat is sturdy but malleable, so you can use it as I did, or you can blend it in drinks or use in a multitude of other ways. At any rate, it was nice to find a food that had such substance in the raw diet.

[H2Ogrl]

Okay another update. I had a major healing crisis and today is only day 2!!! Unfortunately juice nor tea nor lots of water helped. I need to go to class tonight and I needed not to be all runny nose and coughing. So I had 1 tablespoon of raw honey and 4 ginger chews throughout the day. So though this is technically breaking the fast....I am still going to continue with it for the rest of the week. I wonder if my healing crisis hit me more early and hard because I cleaned my colon first?