[mrsfatty]

Can someone please explain the raw foods diet to me?

I'm honestly interested...I'm just concerned that it's not HEALTHY...I've been reading up (on communities/websites about raw)--and their daily food journaling is disturbing to me (not enough calories and not enough protein, etc.)...I understand that you CAN get enough nutrients if you plan well enough--and eat enough--but I'm finding that it's typical of the diet to NOT have a balanced diet (or those who I have read about on the diet)...

I'd really appreciate any thoughts/explainations/examples of the right way to be raw...

Thanks!

 

[WriterMama]

I've read some things that suggest a raw diet can be good if it's followed for a short amount of time (a week or a few weeks) sort of like a detox. Admittedly I don't know much about it, but some of the claims made by raw-foodists seem to be quite trumped up, imo.

 

[Guest*]

I'm certainly no-expert, but we eat about 50% raw foods diet. We were completely raw for a week, but it's VERY hard to wave a permanent good-bye to piping hot meal.

The thought behind the raw foods diet has to do with enzymes. If you cook food, you kill the enzymes, so the food is harder to digest, harder on the body...etc. etc.

Raw food retains the enzymes, so it basically digests itself. Your body doesn't have to spend so much energy digesting and can spend more time taking care of other "housekeeping."

Raw foods promote a cleaner gut, which, as many of us here believe, is important for a stronger immune system and general health.

Check out www.rawguru.com for more info.

HTH,

 

[danieliausmama]

I was eating raw for 3 weeks and felt great. Unfortunately then we went to a wedding, and it is very hard to get back. We are addicted to cooked foods like we are addicted to sugar.
As for nutrients, when you are raw, or not - the most important stuff to incude in your diet is greens - kale, mustard greens, spinach, any dark green leafy vegetables. I usually have them in the smoothie with banana or pear. They have a lot of calcium and other good stuff. As for protein- babies tripple their weight on mothers milk in the first year - aren't their protein needs much bigger than ours? And yet, mothers milk has just 1 to 5 percent of protein. That's excatly what the fruit has, vegetables have even more, and nuts and seeds even more than that, and that's why raw foodists tell to limit them a lot.
On another hand they say, that swithching to raw foods improves your digestion so much, that after a while(maybe 6 mo or a year)your body is much more efficient absorbing nutrients, and you naturally eat less.
Again, nobody really knows what the balanced or ideal diet is, and nobody even tries too - reasearchers are busy developing new drugs and "treatments" - that is much more profitable, isn't it?

 

[mrsfatty]

So do those one the raw diet have different nutritional requirements?

For example, aren't we supposed to get 1800-2800 calories a day?--many of the journaling I've read doesn't even breech HALF that...

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for raw foods--I just don't know how one could healthfully survive on such an exclusive diet (for those who are 90-100% raw)...

 

[mrsfatty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by danieliausmama On another hand they say, that swithching to raw foods improves your digestion so much, that after a while(maybe 6 mo or a year)your body is much more efficient absorbing nutrients, and you naturally eat less. Again, nobody really knows what the balanced or ideal diet is, and nobody even tries too - reasearchers are busy developing new drugs and "treatments" - that is much more profitable, isn't it?

hmmm...food for thought...thanks!

 

[mrsfatty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlpolzin Check out www.rawguru.com for more info. HTH,

Thanks for the link!

 

[danieliausmama]

My personal feeling is that IF we eat just nutritious meals, nobody needs more than 2000 calories and most people around 1500-1600. Regular diet gives tons of calories, but we are still starving for nutrients. Fruit has a lot of calories, so it is not that hard to get it. Add a handful of nuts or seeds, sprouted grains, oil in your salad and you have plenty.

 

[moma justice]

i have read that most people get way to much protien in their diets adn too much protien is really hard for you rliver and body to deal with...
and yes, you can get plenty of cal from fruit....and veggies..
and trust me
when you go raw, after close to a week or two, you are getting so much nutrtion from your food that you don't need to eat big bulky foods...

raw foodist also connect the fact that we are the only animals on the planet that eat cooked food...
that are viod of enzymes and have lost a good bit of their nutrtional value

i have been eating raw for months now. some weeks 100% somoe not, and i can tell you that i feel better than i ever have in my life when i am raw (after i detoxed,t hat is , the detox can be kind of hard for some people)

ther ewas a raw food group on mdc, you should search it out.....lots of great info and links.
good luck to you.
s

 

[danieliausmama]

Do you mean like a group, not just the topic?

 

[Mountain Chick]

I suggest reading the "Eating in the Raw: A Beginner's Guide to Getting Slimmer, Feeling Healthier, and Looking Younger the Raw-Food Way" by Carol Alt. I check it out from my library, maybe yours will have it too. It really helped me understand why raw food is the best in easy to understand language.
I mean I've heard about enzymes...how important they are...how cooking food kills them, but I thought "well people are eating cooked food and living, so it can't be that serious." Wrong, wrong, wrong! In the book a doctor explains that enzymes are proteins, actually the building blocks of our cells, and every function in the body involves enzymes in one way or another. So when we eat raw food the intact enzymes go in and are quickly absorbed and taken to do their respective jobs, and the body functions as it should...your cells are happy, thus you are happy.

When we cook food past 115 F the enzymes start to break apart and parts of them die. They enter the stomach as an incomplete protein, and the body can't use them, but it needs them to keep us alive, so the body replaces the missing parts of the enzymes from it's own precious resources to make them usable again. This is hard work on the body, and causes it to age faster, eventually leading to disease as the body uses up it's own resources to fix the "food" we put in there to help it. Essentially people eating cooked food aren't really living (ie. optimal health and vitality), they are surviving.

People think we are eating food to get the nutrients (like protein and carbohydrates) our bodies need, and we are, but they come in the form of enzymes, so by cooking the food we are killing the very things we are eating the food for in the first place.

(Okay, that was my quick synopsis, hope it made sense). I really recommend reading that book. Towards the end she (Carol Alt) talks about going out to the "raw" restaurants in her area and how they really aren't that expensive, and well...she's a star, and has money, so my thoughts were "well, good for you". But the info and recipes are really good. So check it out.

HTH.

 

[Mountain Chick]

Just wanted to add that eating raw isn't all "cold" meals or all salads. Yes, raw vegetables are a huge part of eating raw, but there are raw cheeses, milk, and butter. Sprouted nuts, seeds, and grains, and Ezekiel breads are part of the raw diet. Also, while I'm not comfortable with it, Carol Alt eats raw fish and seared beef. And foods such as raw soups can be warmed to 115F, or if you are feeling particularly cold you can still drink hot teas.

The Carol Alt book (and several other raw food books) contains several recipes for meals, so you don't have to eat a monodiet. But what I noticed is that most raw foodists do end up eating a monodiet, or the 5-5-5 (or 3-3-3) meal [not more than 5 ingredients, doesn't take more than 5 minutes to make, and doesn't cost more than $5]. because of the ease, and as a pp said, once your body is adapted to the ready supply of needed nutrients from the food you eat, it becomes effecient at obtaining the maximum amount from them and you don't need to eat more or as often.

And one last thing, while 100% raw is best, any amount of raw food you eat will help your body, and most raw fooders aim for 70%. You can start by replacing 1 or 2 meals a day with raw food, preferably breakfast and/or lunch, so that you get the maximum nutrition to get through the day. And if you are going to eat cooked food, be sure to take a good digestive enzyme with it.

Here's a link with some recipes: http://www.rawsacramento.net/recipes.htm

Sorry if I hijacked the thread. I just recently "got the revelation" about the importance raw food, and so am really enthused about it. I'm only at about 50% raw, working towards 100%. And

: will admit that my Thanksgiving feast was 100% cooked. But boy, did I feel it afterwards

, even with the digestive enzymes.

 

[aceboo]

I used to follow about an 80% raw diet and FELT GREAT!!!!!!!
I say 80% b/c there were a lot of nights that I wanted a hot, cooked meal.

It is easiest in the mornings and desserts are delectable and easy as well.

if you make sure you have only fruit for breakfast, smoothies, etc
salads for lunch (heaping)
then you shoukld be OK, most of your nourishment will ocme from those and you won't eat quite so much of the cooked foods

www.fromsadtoraw.com

this website REALLY encouraged me, there are lots of pics of raw foodists in progress.

 

[aceboo]

I should add...then i was pregnant and wanted dougnuts (I know, ugh!) and chocolate, sigh
how I sooo wanna go back!!

 

[danieliausmama]

I am 100% raw for 4 days again(I had 3 weeks 2 months ago) and I am feeling great, so far no cravings for raw food, but I am doing one thing different - I drink a lot of green smoothies, so I am getting much more nutrition than before. Maybe, not that much yet, since my body needs to heal in order to digest it efficiently- when my (sorry)poop won't turn green anymore, then I can say, that it is digested well. But I don't crave, that means it gets much more nutrition than before.
I also would recommend Victoria Boutenko's new book Green for Life. It doesn't go into the enzyme details, but it gives you tons of information about greens and why she thinks they were the missing link from her family's 11 years raw food history. Although they became much healthier, they kept having low energy at night and cravings.

 

[danieliausmama]

Oops, i wrote no cravings for raw food - i meant for cooked food!

 

[danieliausmama]

Mountain chick, are you still raw? I read Carol Alt's book, but she seems to be on the looser end of raw foodism, because Ezekiel bread is cooked, and she eats diary and even raw meat(yak!). It is better than nothing, but I'll bet she won't be as healthy as she could be - time will show...
I found great forum about raw foods and it is very active www.rawfoodsupport.com, although I did have problems registering - I would not get the email for activating the account, got in just from the third time and third email address.

 

[rootzdawta]

I heard thar evolutionarily, now humans need heat to partially break down food so that the body can use it properly--that ever since the invention of fire humans cooked and so the body changed to use cooked foods. Ever notice how sometimes you can pass whole seeds or nuts so how much could you have used? So that made sense to me. And just because animals eat raw meat doesn't mean humans should follow suit. My cat licks herself clean but I can't do that. But I also think that the idea of enzymes becoming denatured by heat is valid. From a chemistry standpoint, this is absolutely true. I don't know . . . I think balance is called for--maybe 50/50 cooked and raw. To me, smoothies and salads are a godsend but I love my bbq tofu and such. I don't think I will ever swing completely one way or the other.

 

[Mountain Chick]

danieliausmama- Yup, I'm still doing raw, about 60% now. I agree about the raw meat thing

, I just don't think it's right. So let me reiterate that for anyone else who may have read the book, I DO NOT ADVOCATE EATING RAW MEAT IN ANY WAY!
As for the dairy aspect, the dairy she eats is raw, and raw cheese it better tasting than any cheese I've tasted. It's super expensive at Whole Foods (

: big surprise), but I found it at Trader Joes for alot less. TJ's has a Raw Extra, Extra Sharp Cheddar, and several raw Swiss Cheeses. And if you still want bread, (and I do), sprouted grain bread is the way to go. (Shout out! for Ezekiel Bread

)
Anyway, I liked her book because of the simple language it used to explain why raw is best, and the simple ideas on how to incorporate raw into your life, (like deciding what your cheat will be ahead of time, and then not feeling bad or guilty about eating it), but her philosophy on eating raw is in it's strictest sense for her life only. You have develop your own philosophy, what works for you.

rootzdawta said:

Quote:

Ever notice how sometimes you can pass whole seeds or nuts so how much could you have used?

This happens because the person did not chew the food well enough. And so yes, the body didn't get to use anything from the unchewed seed or nut, but if you swallowed a piece of cooked food whole, the body wouldn't get anything out of it either. Chewing really well is important whether you eat raw or cooked food.

And if 50/50 works for you, then that's what's right for you.

 

[zrhmom]

about a week ago we started trying to go raw- well we are aiming for 50%raw 50% vegan. it went well for the first two days, then we realized how much we miss cheese. i guess i didnt realize how much cheese was in our diet, its been the cause of constant falling back into old food habits for us. do any of you know of a good substitute for cheese? maybe a vegan sub- not so much a raw sub i have seen lots of nut cheeses and such for the raw food diet, ill try them but i just dont know if they will cut it!lol!we have managed to give up soda and coffee, so that is a very big step for us. we have also gotten rid of all red dye, and most of our refined sugur. we are really striving to get rid of processed food-this is one of my biggest goals. so i have started making our own breads and stuff-very yummy!!we started out as mostly vegitarian(ate fish alot) but this is still a very big step. i am suprised and dissapointed at how often i was eating for comfort or bordom or whatever, once we went into this and threw out all our old foods i was actually sad that when i went to the fridge i didnt have the things i was used too. and the sad thing is i realized that i must not really be hungry, otherwise i would eat a raw food, but i didnt i wasnt hungry, i was lloking for comfort, i guess. weird. i didnt know i did that. i thought i ate pretty healthy before-and i did, i guess i just ate to much of a good-or at least decent thing. i hope i can get excited about this again, because i have to admitt, im not so excited right now. i miss my old food. i love to cook and entertain, i dont know anyone that would be willing to go near my "new cooking" now, so what do i do for the holidays?maybe i can trick them into eating it...?lol!! anyway, ok im rambling...