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Less hungry on raw diet?

RawsikiRawsiki Raw Newbie

Does anyone find that as the longer you’ve been a raw foodie the less hungry you are? I heard that when you start out, you are extremely hungry because your body is used to cooked and processed foods, but as time goes on, you become satisfied with fruits and vegetables and therefore don’t need to eat as much.

Energy Healer

Comments

  • RCBAliveRCBAlive Raw Newbie

    I think it depends on whether your hunger is physical or emotional. Unfortunately, many of us bring our emotional food issues with us to the raw food diet and until those issues are dealt with the hunger remains.

  • SarahJSarahJ Raw Newbie

    I have found my hunger decreasing as time goes on. Yesterday is a perfect example – I was up at 6:30am, had a green smoothie (the green and black smoothie from this site), left for my meditation class at 9:00am then went shopping, visited my parents (had an apple there) and finally got home at about 3:00pm, had a nice light smoothie with grapefruit and then a salad for dinner at about 6:30pm. Amazing to me that I wasn’t hungry.

    Energy Healer
  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    definitely. i can’t believe how much less i am ABLE to eat. that said, i can digest a lot MORE, so i’m learning to stop when i don’t need any more food, rather than when i feel very full.

    we eat so much more than we need. have you read “the raw life” by nison? its kind of silly, but i thought it had some good insights about this.

    Energy Healer
  • HAH. gosh,.. I wish.

    Some days I barely eat anything.

    Some days I eat my entire house, town and family.

    I just realized that sounds weird. I don’t do this on purpose. Some days I feel bottomless, like I haven’t eaten in days!!!! Generally I eat pretttttty “normal”, but I guess some days are just.. off.

    Does anyone know why I would get like this?

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    mango woman- i rationalize the “bottomless pit” syndrome not as real hunger. i noticed it for the first time i did a juice fast (haha and the last time i did one!). i felt SO starved, and yet i wasn’t emaciated looking, so my body had stored to draw from obviously.

    i think what must happen when we aren’t constantly giving our bodies “something to do” is that they get a little restless. what? no food to digest? what now? tv?

    this happened when i switched off cooked food (a lot less for the body to do) and then again as i pear down my food intake. this is something i’ve only started recently, so i’d love to hear from others with more experience…

  • Yes, I feel this way & it’s such a foreign concept for my brain to absorb. We as culture have been taught to eat in such an unhealthy manner. ‘Make sure you eat everything off your plate’.....

  • shgadwashgadwa Raw Newbie

    Yes, I agree that as I have been eating raw foods (and exercising more) that my food lasts longer in my tummy. Also, there is that thing where, when I am at family reunions or get togethers and such, where so many people would say, “eat up you’re a growin boy.” They say eat up, you need your protein and you need strength and meat on your bones. When, in fact, for more energy, I would need to eat less (especially cooked foods) and then I have more energy.

  • elizabethhelizabethh Raw Newbie

    i definitely feel the need to eat MUCH less on a raw diet, which is great, its both healthy and economic!=P

  • worleyhimself2worleyhimself2 Raw Newbie

    I can eat pretty light but i came out of a diet where i consumed 7000-9000 calories a day of majorly processed foods. I am talking large pizza for lunch and 5 cheese burgers for dinner. 3 sausage sandwiches before bed. 3 hungry mans for breakfast. terrible times. woo wee.

    So like i was saying i can eat very light but just growing up like that. it is just a habit to eat excessively. but now its all good bcuz its all raw and organic. i just keep myself busy. and then later in the day. I say maybe i should eat something. i think it is ok to eat very light as long as you eat dense nutrition. get them superfoods.

  • Ok, so I’m not the only one! I find that after my big green smoothie every morning I don’t want anything but water before 2 or 3 o’clock! I used to eat a huge breakfast and eat a morning snack by 10:00am, lunch around 11:30, a second lunch around 1:00, snack around 3:00, snack around 5:00, dinner around 7:30, and night snack around 10:00! From non stop eating to smoothie, light lunch, small dinner and snacks depending on activity level… Big difference.

  • alpdesignsalpdesigns Raw Newbie

    I eat much less food without being hungry. I’ve been eating raw for over four years. I rarely make the gourmet raw dishes anymore, but I do sometimes and I like to read the recipes.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    I heard that, too, but Icould never figure out why I still ate so much. I never gained back any weight, even though I was eating just as much as before (& I could always out-eat most men I know, including my brother who is a lot taller than me & always ate a lot). I never ate quite as much as you, though, worleyhimself2 :D Wow! I just thought I had a super-high metabolism, and maybe I did, but I felt my body was just starving for vitamins & minerals! I was on food stamps & couldn’t buy supplements, so I had to eat a lot to get what I needed. Now, I eat a ton of greens, and I use supplements of kelp & other herbs and now spirulina, and I am down to a more “normal” food intake, which seems way low to me compared to the amounts I used to eat! So I agree with the superfoods thing. I am loving it! Another thing about the nutrient needs thing I just mentioned: I use muscle response testing to test what vitamins & minerals I am low on/need more of, and then I either take supplements or eat the foods that contain those nutrients. A couple of years ago I was doing this once every week or two, and I was always coming up short on vitamins & minerals – at least 5-7 of each. It felt like a constant battle, but after a year or so it got to where I would only come up needing 3 or 4 of each. I hadn’t done it for a few months, and when I did it the other day, I only needed 1! I was shocked – I kept thinking, “what else?” I am glad. I feel strongly that that is the main reason I need less food now. It wasn’t about the calories, but my body is finally feeling more satisfied. Another thing I wanted to mention is that a lot of people are chronically dehydrated. A lot of times I used to mistake thirst for hunger, and now that I can tell the difference more often, one to three glasses of water will help give me what I need & help me know if I really need food.

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    I definitely eat less food. i always say it’s the only sad part of being raw because there’s SO many great foods out there and really i only have room for fruits only or a green smoothie for breakfast, a good recipe for lunch (heavier, like a couple of raw tacos), snack around 4p (sometimes grapes or sometimes a little raw chocolate). Dinner is late and almost always a bowl of greens w/ dulse and dressing. i’m never hungry at night, but i know the greens will help me digest that bigger lunch. If i only ate when i was hungry, I’d have a smoothie around 11am, and a salad w/ avo around 3pm.

  • I’m definitely less hungry—it’s pretty amazing. And definitely economical!

  • sarawsaraw Raw Newbie

    Definitely! although, the last few days, I don’t feel like eating anything, or nothing sounds so good. The smoothie keeps me full for 4 hours. Last night I ate half the amount of salad that I usually eat. The only thing t hat I am frustrated about, is that I bought all these greens and avocados, ect, and the Avocados went bad because I couldn’t eat them fast enough, and I ended up dehydrating some greens because I knew I wasn’t going to eat them as fast as I did a month ago. So, I can buy A LOT less food this week now. whew! Oh, and my need to eat nuts has dwindled They don’t even sound that good to me right now.

  • I’m also less hungry… my body just feels more content. That, in itself is sometimes a frustrating thing since I’m trying to gain weight and need more calories… and to have my body say “No no.. no more food.” Perhaps it’s my body’s way of saying, “You don’t need to gain weight, this is your size.” ? Who knows. :)

  • there is research that suggests that hunger and satiety are not directly related to how much—or what—you eat. Each person’s body has, apparently, a unique “full” message. I wonder if the raw lifestyle modifies the satiety messaging in some folks.

    I do find, however, that I am far less hungry. I wonder if you can build up a “nutrient reserve” that causes you to become less hungry, as raw lifestyle is so nutrient-rich that you’re never really running on empty the way you do on SAD.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    I think that is true – the longer I eat raw & fill my body with nutrients, the less I have that “running on empty” feeling i used to get – even if it is a long time between meals! I also am able to handle stress WAY better now. I told my mom a while back that I think the only reason I hadn’t shut down yet (I was under a ton of stress!) is that I eat raw!

  • i definitely eat much less now… like i ate an entire bagel with cream cheese the other day and was sooo stuffed and gross! i used to eat a whole bagel and a big coffee and fruit all the time! a whole bagel wasn’t enough!

    and i eat a salad for dinner all the time now, which i never used to be able to do unless it had meat and cheese in it!

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    AHHH! All those empty calories from our cooked days never filled us up! Now everything we are putting in is immediately useful to our bodies. We are on jet fuel!

    Full Time Raw Vegan
  • cmportercmporter Raw Newbie

    I've literally been raw for two weeks and have experienced the same affects. I used to be hungry ALL the time and was always told that it was because I work out 6 days a week. Growing up I adored fruits/veggies so this transition has not been difficult in any way--other than not knowing if the decreased appetite is an issue. I've been on a mostly organic/non-processed diet (?) for the last 2 1/2 years and so far I'm loving raw!

    Anyway, it's encouraging to see that I'm not the only one feeling satisfied after eating so much less (and better!)

    ClaireT
  • Energy HealerEnergy Healer Raw Newbie

    Raw food is nutrient dense. Our bodies become more adept at the process and the extraction of the nutrients. This is why we require less once we have adapted .... xoxo 

    It's now 6pm and I am just finishing my breakfast fruit bowl ... haha can't figure out why the font is bold ... sorry

    ClaireTHarmony1Full Time Raw Vegan
  • Harmony1Harmony1 Raw Superstar

    I'm the same way. I have fewer sugar cravings too. 

    Full Time Raw Vegan
  • I’m very relieved to read all of these responses. I’ve been raw for about a month and a half and the last couple of days I am having a hard time eating my salad at dinner. I’ll make a smoothie later in the evening. 

    ClaireT
  • arigafoods Deletedarigafoods Deleted Raw Newbie
    edited October 2023

    There are a few reasons why you might not feel as hungry when eating raw food. Raw foods are high in fiber, give you a sensation of fullness, and meet your body's nutritional demands because of their density. Fruits and vegetables with a high water content keep you hydrated and full. Your blood sugar will stay balanced, which will reduce the likelihood of unexpected hunger sensations. The natural fats and proteins in nuts and seeds help people feel fuller for longer. Additionally, probiotics and enzymes' ability to speed up digestion helps lessen cravings. Keep in mind that every person's experience is unique, so maintaining a nutritious raw diet that is well-balanced is essential. Seek expert advice on a fulfilling raw food diet.

  • To introduce raw food into your diet, include fresh fruits, vegetables, and salads in your meals. You can also include nuts like almonds or walnuts as a healthy dry fruit option, but consume them in moderation for a balanced diet.

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