Loose weight by going raw?

I’m currently doing weight watchers. If follwed properly, this does work, but i’ve recently discovered a love of raw food, the great taste’s textures and so many different recipies. Most importantly the great health benefits. My main problem is. I tend to loose weight only when i count calories, and stick to a set limit. Boring i know, but it works. When i make my raw recipies, i love them, but it’s really hard to keep an eye on how many calories i’m taking in. For example, i love the onion flat bread, nuts and seeds, raw deserts (i have a very sweet tooth!) and they tend to make me feel more full but they have a very high fat content. Good fat is better than cooked/prossesed. But I’m concerned i won’t loose the weight on a raw diet, as it’s harder to count/find the calories (weight watchers points) in some of the more unusual raw ingredients. Does anyone have personal experience of loosing weight by going raw and not counting the calories (did the weight just fall of?) Or can i make low fat flat breads, low fat raw recipies? and where can i find them?

Comments

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    I think everyone I know who has gone raw with the intention of listening to their own bodies and focusing on feeding the body what it needs has lost weight, even if they had a hard time losing weight before that. Also, sprouts & things with the most enzymes seem to help speed it up. I hear people on here say they can’t lose weight if they eat nuts or some other things, but I think it’s important to just pay attention to your body and focus on the health. It’s been my experience & observation that focusing on health facilitates healthy weight loss, while focusing on losing weight makes it harder to get healthy OR lose weight. If you are worried about it, though, just try to fill your tummy with greens, sprouts & fresh vegetables first, and you will be consuming less calories that way, but again, listen to your body. Everyone needs a different way. Also, something that works well for me is to drink a full glass of water before eating – especially before breakfast. Cleansing also helps, though I heard someone say that raw food IS a cleanse. Let us know how it goes!

  • I though thte same thing at first and it’s not true – you can very easily put on a lot of weight if you eat whatever you want, even if it is RAW.

    If you want to loose weight I would suggest sticking with the basics – green smoothies, veggies and fruit… and not so much with the recipes that resemble meals from the SAD diet – that is where the calories and fat really start to add up. If you do that I don’t think you would need to calorie count.

    I am still new to this so I can’t really offer sound advice but I can tell you my experience. When I started RAW I was making a lot of the recipes from here and recipe books and actually gained weight because of all the nuts and seeds and whatelse I was consuming. When I stopped that I started losing weight by sticking with green smoothies, salads, soups and plain fruits and veggies (all RAW). I was eating a lot at first, I was actually eating all day long. By the second week my food consumption slowed a bit but I was getting really tired (detox). Anyway… making my history a little shorter, now I have certain meals and snacks that are RAW and some that are not. More of a transition. I feel I can better control my cravings and watch what I am eating this way (i.e. nutrition labels). Right now I feel really great. I am still in the rough stages and trying to find what works best for me so I can’t give any real advice, but I hope this helps.

    As far as preparing your own RAW foods, there is a light recipe section, I don’t know about low-fat. I tried doing a internet search for low-fat RAW recipes and did not come across any good references. You really just have to look at recipes and judge for yourself. Also, don’t be afraid to modify any recipe to your own needs, use less of the fatty, high calorie ingredients and see what happens. Also look up the calorie content of foods. I made the oatmeal recipe on this website and was astonished at how many calories are in 1 cup of oat groats (there is no nutrition facts on the package). To look up the nutition facts I did a google search.

    What ever you decide to do, you need to make informed decisions, if calorie counting helps you to become aware of what you are putting in your body you should do it, at least until you have more knowlegde of the foods.

    Good luck!

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    Junebelle – Oat groats aren’t raw, but you can get sproutable oats from http://www.sunorganic.com

    Elisha7 – Sorry, I should have been more clear – you can eat whatever your BODY wants. I went through emotional clearing before I started raw, so whatever I wanted was what my body wanted. I also didn’t make a ton of recipes, just a few, & ate lots of simple stuff – lots of sprouts & fresh veggies & fruits. I read the book “Raw Family” and they ate whatever they wanted as long as it was raw. They also didn’t have all the recipe books we have access to now, but Victoria said that at first she poured a half-cup of olive oil on her salad! That changed over time. I think it gets tricky – when I eat for taste & follow recipes, I don’t do as well because I am not just eating what my body wants. I am most successful when I have a big variety of raw ingredients to choose from and just figure out how to make something out of the things I really need, or just eat things by themselves. I agree with Junebelle – recipes that try to mimic the things we are used to eating are designed with flavor, texture, & appearance in mind, & may not be the best things to eat. (They are still much healthier than a SAD diet, though :)) Also, it is important to transition at your own pace & do what feels right for you. Good luck!

  • Here is a thread on low fat raw food.

    http://www.goneraw.com/forums/3/topics/255?page=1

  • I am not 100% yet but I entered raw through Green for Life and that book totally shaped my approach to raw. Right now I am eating raw until dinner. I find that I feel best when I eat a ton of greens (via green smoothies and green juices) and fruit and an avocado a day. I don’t eat any nuts or seeds and I haven’t used my dehydrator yet (it’s still at my wife’s work). But the more I read about people who have cravings and other issues with losing weight, etc., it really makes me feel so strongly that greens and fruits with some fat is the way to go. And to respond to your question about weight falling off, 10 pounds or so totally fell off with eating this way. I was almost unaware of it. Plus I think that eating nuts and seeds and dehydrated foods in excess not only makes you crave them but also just gets away from the spirit of raw. I am really not judging anyone. I just want to help the people who are having trouble. Sometimes I look at people’s raw diets and can’t believe that they don’t eat any greens via juices and smoothies. I don’t know how I could have transitioned so easily to mostly raw otherwise.

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