Curious about going raw

Hey everyone!

Let me start off by saying that I'm not a raw vegan, in fact, right now I'm not even vegetarian.

I was vegan for two years, and then switched to vegetarianism for two years after that. The problem was, I was on a "lettuce and water diet", and ended up gaining weight because I was so famished that I'd devour whatever high calorie food I could get my hands on (like peanut butter, cheese etc). I was also malnourished. I had a bad b-12 and iron deficiency, my hair was falling out, and suspiciously, when I started eating carbs again I suddenly developed an unpleasant wheat-gluten intolerance.

With the combination of the wheat-gluten intolerance and also gallstones, a lot of foods leave me with painful cramps and bloating. Further, many packaged or prepared foods have traces of wheat-gluten that make me sick immediately. I've found that the only food I can eat comfortably is lots of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and about a serving or two of homemade buckwheat bread a day. I also eat one serving of lean meat or fish a day.

This combination seems to be working for me, but the more raw food I eat and the less cooked food I eat, the healthier I feel and the more my body craves natural raw. In addition, I've been losing weight, and I'm NEVER tempted to snack or overeat! I really want to switch to raw vegan and cut out meat and cooked bread all together, but I'm terrified of being malnourished again.

Sooo what I'm curious about is how hard it is to be raw vegan and also well nourished. I'm also curious as to what raw foods will give me an adequate amount of carbs and b-12.

Sorry for going on for so long, and thank you in advance for your help ^.^

-naiiad

Comments

  • It sounds like you didn't eat varyed enough last time you did the vegan thing. It is very important as a vegan to know where to get enough fat and enough proteins. And yes, your body need fat as well even though the food producers try to tell us otherwise. Sugar is much worse:-)

    But that set aside, it will be no problem being vegan if you get enough fat, enough protein, and enough minerals. Lots of the vitamines will come with that. I guess. I'm not very good at where to find vitamines but I've been almost vegan even before going raw and I am healthy enough:-)

    I do find my fat in healthy oils (cold pressed of course, that's the healtyest ones too:-D) and avocado; wich I love! Protein is in seeds and nuts; they tell me it's smart to soak nuts but at this stage I find it hard because I love to chew those dried nuts *sigh* but my stomack doesn't do very well with it so I will have to start soaking (tomorrow LOL)

    Iron is in broccoli, I love to eat it as it is, but it's not good in a smoothie. Yup, I've tried LOL in spinach and some other place don't remember. Any vegetable with much colour contains lots of minerals and lots of good things. I've heard from people who know what they talk about:-) Cabbage is also very healthy and I actually find it better tasting than salat in salats. And yes, it can be eaten raw. I have even had it on bread, with only mayonnaise on it. That is of course before going vegan;-)

    Hope this contained some smart ideas. Good luck!!

    (ps: avocado and banana smoothie are delicous! Especially with some lime, ooooh!)

  • Thanks for all the great advice! All those foods sound so yummy and I always try to eat fruits and veggies of all colors.

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