Help! Need to gain weight.

I have been raw for nearly a year now and although I feel great, I think I have lost too much weight because I haven't had a period in 7 months. I am 167cm tall and now weigh 49kg. I don't think I look too skinny but some of my friends and family do. My diet consists of plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables including avocados (1 every day) and bananas (1 every 2nd day) and a small handful of nuts and seeds every day. I also include hemp seeds and olive oil in all my salads. I feel that I get enough EFA's through these foods in my diet and I also take macca every day as well.

Basically, I just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced loss of periods after going raw and whether it was due to weight loss or the raw food diet??? I don't want to go back to a diet of cooked foods which is what I have been told by 'doctors' that I should do to put some weight back on. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • powerliferpowerlifer Raw Newbie

    It seems quite a common theme with raw and loss of periods. One thing you dont have an iodine source so you will probably want to add some seaweeds. The loss of periods is most likely down to lacking in some nutrient,

    Try upping your calories if you need to gain weight and well watch yourself theres being raw and theres hurting your body also.

     

  • You need alot of iron, eat alot of grapes, spinach, eat sprouted mung beans if completely raw, if you cant digest sprouted raw, you can cook some grains. You need alot of calories, I finally got my periode back after a year, I ate more and got it back:)

  • rawcanadianrawcanadian Raw Newbie

    Why only one banana every other day??

  • eat 10 bananas a day, i used to eat that much.

  • quinoa has iron, and calcium for the bones, its very healthy. you can cook it. Dont worry about how much your eating, its healthy food and you need as much of nutrients as possible.

  • joannabananajoannabanana Raw Newbie

    eat more calorie dense foods like bananas and dates (i ate about 16 bananas yesterday!). they fill you up, too. even make your smoothies with caloric liquids like orange juice, coconut water, or coconut juice.

  • greenwoodgreenwood Raw Newbie

    It's really worrying me the amount of young women on raw vegan who are losing weight and losing their monthlies- come on girls- eat your greens, eat nuts, eat some fats- EAT UP girls!! Skinny is not pretty or healthy. I'm 42 and haven't put weight on being high raw and having some cooked wholefoods- even ..shock..some roasted spuds!!!

    (To give you an idea this is what I eat in a typical day- rice cakes/ryvitas and peanut butter for breakfast or banana smoothie, snacks of fruit throughout the day (I get up late as got ichty eczema keeping me awake some nights and not going out so don't need lunch), dinner- huge salad mixed with hummus, served with steamed spuds/sweet potatoes or lentil dhal or bean stew. More fruit later on in the evening.Drinks of fruit juice and water. Supplements- liquid vit D and flaxseed powder).

  • greenwoodgreenwood Raw Newbie

    Sweet how long do you boil the quinoa for? I could never get it to go soft.

  • Thanks lovely people for all the advice. Will try incorporating more iron in my diet and up my calories. Will let you know how I get on with that.

  • greenwood I boil my quinoa for 12 to 15 min, it cooks rather fast. I buy the EDEN brand .Its reallly good .:)

  • the_chumanathe_chumana Raw Newbie

    I personally don't think there is ANYTHING wrong with not having your period. This is a great article on it. Makes you think twice about bleeding. http://tinyurl.com/d9qbpv

    Also, your diet makes me worry. You need more calories. What are you basing your diet on? Some posts you read on a website or actual fact? Why would you be eating one banana every other day? I recommend reading books by people with experience. Dr. Graham, Ann Wigmore, Viktoria Boutenko,etc. You need to figure out how many cvalories you need daily and aim for that. There are tons of free nutritional tracking websites. It sounds as if your body has entered starvation mode. If you don't start eating nutritionally dense RAW food, your body will begin consuming your internal organs. Yes, it will.

  • rawcanadianrawcanadian Raw Newbie

    Being scared to eat more than one banana isn't a raw diet problem, it is an eating disorder IMHO.

    Don't be afraid, nobody died from eating bananas!!!

  • Just to say I cant eat hot cooked food , such as quinoa, veggies.I always rinse it under cold water and eat the food cold LOL, Does anyone else do that, im so used to eating cold food, such as fruit.

Sign In or Register to comment.