Help with raw/ best cooked foods for high raw

JDole

Hey guys I'm kinda of new to raw, but not completely. I stumbled into it about two years ago and have had a few bittersweet runs at it. Raw helped me feel better than what I thought was possible, and gave me more energy than I had ever had before and more mental clarity than a (very) long meditation retreat did. It also helped me realize I'm sensitive to gluten and might bea nonclassical celiac, and that dairy has significant, negative psychological affects on me. I loved the way raw made me feel…when it worked. But, I haven't been able to make it sustainable. 

I miss the mental clarity and energy I got from raw. I miss it so much. Part of me wishes I had never discovered how amazing it could make me feel so I wouldn't know what I'm missing out on. When raw worked I felt so alive. Apart from copious amounts of bananas, along with other fruits, I was eating a pound or more of greens a day plus small amounts of nuts/seeds/avocado plus miscellaneous other veggies. I was following Douglass Graham's program of eating a minimum of 80% of my calories from carbohydrates, and a maximum of 10% of calories from both protein and fat each. Also, I was using cronomoter and faithfully tracking my rda's. Aside from protein, which hovered around 4-6% of calories, I was meeting or exceeding just about everything on a daily basis (zinc and choline were others that I wasn't regularly meeting or exceeding, but I was close). 

Before trying raw I had been a sos free whole food vegan for years, exercised regularly, and fasted routinely. I didn't suffer any detoxing when starting raw; I felt great early on, but gradually started feeling worse and worse. At different times and different degrees, some of these negative experiences were as follows: Indigestion, irritability, vacillating mood, low energy, sleeping 10 or more hours a day, development of horizontal grooves in fingernails and toenails, a loss of almost all of the positive benefits of raw, joint pain, insatiable hunger that was only satisfied with meat, and dreaming of meat. 

I want to speak to this last one, which was an odd experience. Like I said, I had been a vegan for years prior to trying raw. During all my time as a vegan I never, not once, craved meat or wanted to eat it. In fact, the longer I was a vegan the more and more disgusting meat seemed to me. And I'm not an ethical vegan. I don't think it's wrong for people to eat animals. I just don't like meat and like animals, and would prefer not to eat them if I can help it. Yet during one of my failed raw vegan attempts, I started dreaming of meat multiple times a night every night, and at the same time was experiencing insatiable cravings that no amount of fruit and vegetables seemed able to satisfy. Then, one day in a near daze, I found myself eating tuna. It was as if my body, without me realizing it, had gone and grabbed a can (I live with someone who keeps such food around) and forced it into me. It was a strange experience, almost dissociative,  as if my body was saying, "you're going to eat this whether you want to or not." Within 15 minutes of eating the tuna, all of the negative symptoms I had been experiencing were gone. I soon after learned that I had low blood amino levels (or whatever the clinical description is of "not getting enough protein" is). During my last attempt at raw, after dealing with persistent tingling and needle sensation in my hands and arms for a while along with some joint pain that came out of nowhere, I ate some nutritional yeast in a broth, ate some beans and meat, and all the symptoms went away almost immediately.

Most raw vegans, in my experience, just say things like "it's impossible not to get enough protein" or "you're just not eating enough sweet fruit" but that wasn't the case. When I was raw, I was slowly but steadily getting fatter over the course of a year attempting to make raw work and was, obviously, eating more than enough (mostly bananas and romaine). I was physically active during this time as well. I've tried increasing nuts and seeds to increase protein, but the high fat left me feeling sluggish and sleepy and unsatisfied.

I live in a small town of fewer than 2000 people and the quantity, quality, and variety of fruit and veggies available is limited. Aside from bananas, the fruit is too expensive to eat very much on a regular basis and is usually of poor quality (for example, only once in the 30 years I've lived here have I had a good mango). There is a better selection of vegetables, but not by much. As for tender greens, there is spinach, romaine, celery, and greenleaf. There is a small selection of non sweet fruits as well as most of the common veggies. Long story short, due to price and quality I tended to get most of my calories from bananas and I ate lots of romaine. 

I would eat other things too, but price and quality was a (severely) limiting factor. Later I started buy sun-dried dates and figs. They are delicious, but they just didn't leave me feeling as good as fresh fruit. I've tried incorporating more protein rich foods like hemp seed and legume/bean sprouts, and even in my last attempt added raw hemp protein powder. I don't like sprouts. I can tolerate them, but there's no way I'm ever going to make them a regular part of my diet. I've added high quality raw barley grass juice powder (which I really like, especially in banana ice cream). In my next attempt, I will add nutritional years as well. But as it is, I just can't seem to figure this thing out. It simply might not be possible logistically or financially where I live. I don't know if there is a question in all of this or if I just needed to share my lament with others who might understand. I want raw to work because when it does, life is so much more, and more enjoyable. 

But maybe I can't make it work, at least not where I live. Logistically, financially, and perhaps even psychologically it's too challenging. If you guys have any advice or tips or anything, really, I'd appreciate it. Is it possible to get the benefits of raw without being 100%? Raw isn't a religion to me, so I don't care if I'm 100% or not so long as I feel great. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks to anyone who's made it this far. Sorry for rambling.

Tolikam

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healthywz

For cooked foods, lightly steaming or roasting veggies (like broccoli, sweet potatoes, and zucchini) can help preserve their nutrients while making them easier to digest. Quinoa, brown rice, and legumes are also great additions to balance out the raw elements of your diet. The key is to maintain a mix of nutrient-dense raw foods with simple, minimally processed cooked foods to keep things diverse and satisfying! Safe cooking tips for Cataract Surgery