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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookOk, so I’m transitioning into all-raw and right now I’m at 2 totally raw meals a day (breakfast and lunch). I have a green smoothy (kale, chard, a banana, an apple or tangerine, some berries) for breakfast and by the time I’m nearing the end I have a totally full feeling. But then 60-90 minutes later I’m hungry so I eat some more fruit (today a whole grapefruit). For lunch I made the Spanish “rice” recipe from this site (basically 1/2 a small head of cauliflower, 1 tomato, a splash of olive oil, a little hemp protein powder). Once again I have a very full feeling – I would even go so far as to say “stuffed”.
Now, I know I have not eaten very many calories so far today. Is this something to be concerned about? I don’t want to loose weight, actually I’d love to put on a little in the form of muscle – I work out 3-4 times a week. Since all the plant fiber and the water in the plant matter makes me full, I’m worried I won’t be getting enough calories.
Does anyone have any insight into this? Should I just wait until I’ve finished my “transition” and have been fully raw for a week or so to see what happens? Should I do anything differently?
Oh, I should mention that, previously, I’ve been eating a “Zone” diet so it’s been pretty healthy (as opposed to SAD). I’m already pretty fit, but I suppose I do have a little extra body fat percentage points that I wouldn’t mind getting rid of. But I certainly don’t want to start loosing muscle mass too.
Thanks for any help!
Comments
Just for your raw meals, it’s very little in the way of calories, but I wouldn’t worry about calories or fat grams or anything for now. Give your body a few weeks at the very least.
Your body probably needs to adjust to taking in foods differently. People who become 100% raw simply desire much less food than people who are transitioning or eating less than 100% raw. Some people add supplements to their smoothies such as bee pollen or maca. Some people add flax. (That didn’t work well for me b/c I didn’t end up reacting well to flax and it’s also not good food combining, if you’ve investigated that approach to eating.) I find that in a situation where I would would have been starving before, I no longer am. I think you just have to eat until you get full and then eat again. It’s normal to eat a lot in the beginning. You should look at Natalia’s Rose’s book. She’s not 100% raw but I think she does a good job of explaining a way to transition to raw food and just showing how your food intake changes both in composition and quantity as you become more raw. I would definitely make sure you are getting enough fat. I eat an avocado every day and I think raw coconut is also a great form of fat. There’s also nuts and seeds. It just sounds like you need to eat way more. And only because in a former life I was all about zone/protein power, I would just emphasize not to think of things in terms of protein, carbs, fat, calories (if you still are) b/c eating raw is just not about that. I would just focus on eating everything you are eating raw as raw and organic, if possible, to get the most nutrients. You also won’t ever feel “stuffed” on raw—you basically should feel a feeling of “light fullness.” And that’s a very different feeling than the full feeling that is associated with cooked food.
In Raw Food Real World, MK mentions that when he was trying to put on weight, he made his nut milks extra rich and creamy (i.e. doubled the amount of nut butter/nuts he put in). You could also add coconut butter to your smoothies.
Thanks guys. I just got back from the gym and had a smoothy (banana, some berries, coconut oil and hemp protein powder). I wasn’t hungry, but I’m used to always having something right afterwards. I also had a banana right before I went to the gym.
I’m not really thinking in terms of P/C/F anymore. But after doing it for so long, I have a very good idea of the amount of food I was eating in one meal and how many grams of P/C/F certain foods have – without even thinking about it.
As far as feeling stuffed… I would think no matter what you’re eating, if you stuff your stomach full, you’ll feel stuffed.
I think you shouldn’t worry about the calories, if you eat enough fruit( as it seems from your posts) and some nuts or avocadoes every day you should be fine. For building muscles the hemp protein powder is a good choice, but you may want to add some spirulina, bee pollen, wheat sprous and mung bean sprouts too, htese are great sources of essential amino acids. Greens are also a gret help building muscles, so continue with your green smoothies after workout.