It looks like you're new to The Community. If you'd like to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookWhat do you think of a diet where about 1700 calories a day comes from seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame—about 2.5 cups worth), plus some fruit (bananas and apples, mostly), and some veggies (lots of carrots, plus broccoli, celery, and some others that I haven’t started getting yet)?
I’ve read on this forum that you don’t want to eat TOO MUCH seeds, but I don’t know how much is too much.
Perhaps I should mention that I don’t have a blender, food processor, juicer, or dehydrator, and I would prefer not to get one. I also don’t want to sprout—I’m okay with soaking.
Comments
Just go with what your body wants. However, it is most likely that if you eat that much seeds, that you will eventually start to drag. It’s different for everyone, though, so who knows!
i am curious why you think seeds are the best for you.
how about greens?
I don’t think seeds are the “best” for me—I would be hard-pressed to pick a food that is. I just want to be able to eat simply—go to the store, buy some food, and enjoy it. All the greens I know of are relatively low in calories, so I would have to buy and eat A LOT of them, or supplement them with high calorie foods to meet my daily requirements (I am not averse to the latter option).
One thing I like about the IDEA of a raw food diet is that you don’t have to deal with lots of food prep and cooking. After browsing this site and others, that seems to be less the case than I previously imagined. If I can eat well, with minimum food prep, and without breaking the bank, I would like to. If you have some specific suggestions about how to do that, I would love to hear them.
:)
If it feels good, don’t argue with it… Some people feel nuts and seeds are a little hard to digest and make them feel sluggish. If you’re feeling fine, there’s no problem. I would still suggest you start eating a lot more greens, only the ones you like of course… And you don’t have to get fancy if you don’t want to, you can just make a salad or something. Make sure you soak the seeds first of course (as I think you mentioned you do?) otherwise they’re even harder to digest and have a lot of anti-nutrients. I’m curious- how do you eat sesame without a blender? It’s impossible to chew… Also, do you get whole seed or the white, peeled kind?
If you’re a fire type you can digest more protein rich foods like seeds. Some people (including me) need very few seeds in the diet. You might require algaes if you’re looking for seeds too often as you might be craving the protein. Try adding in more greens and possible algaes if required and see if you still crave them. 1-2 handfuls a day is about right for an average metabolism. Otherwise, you will be putting in too much acid forming food.
Just curious, but why don’t you want to sprout? If you’re worried about the work, don’t—sprouting can be super low maintenance (like a minute or two of time each day)
cal_gungert05—if you allowed yourself to eat more greens i would bet you would find you needed less calories. this is what is happening to me. but are you asking because you aren’t feeling fantastic? if you feel fantastic on your diet, maybe it’s working for you… just be aware if that changes.
Thanks for the replies.
Morning_theft: I haven’t actually tried sesame seeds, yet. I was looking through the list of raw ingredients in the “New to Raw” forum, and they looked like a good alternative to sunflower and pumpkin seeds—it sounds like they may not be, though.
suzyq: I am currently living in a former college dorm that is now a rooming house. So I only have access to water via the shared bathroom, which makes the rinsing kind of difficult. I will be moving in a month, but I’ll be renting a room in a private home, and (while I do have access to the kitchen) I’d like to be as uninvasive as possible.
sweetpea & pianissima: Yeah, I should be eating more greens—maybe cut down on the carrots (I eat a lot) and add some more greens. For a few days this week, I was feeling kind of lightheaded and out of it—I think I was getting too few calories, as I lost some weight (and I’m pretty skinny). I’ll keep an eye on how different foods affect me.
One more thing—does anyone have anything to say about the fat content of seeds? I’ve read on this forum that the fat in seeds is good fat, but also that traditional recommendations for fat intake don’t really apply on a raw diet. For 2.5 cups of the seeds I’ve been eating, the fat content is over 200% of the daily recommended amount. Is that too much?
Thanks again.
I bought some broccoli this morning and took a stalk to school/work today, along with a carrot and some sunflower seeds. After eating some seeds, I snacked on the broccoli and carrot through the afternoon and I felt really good.
When I got home, I thought I’d have a banana before taking my usual nap—but I couldn’t eat just one. I ate 5, I think, even though I wasn’t hungry—that’s happened before, so I guess it wasn’t just a fluke. So I’m going to try to find another food share the brunt of the calorie load with my seeds—maybe fava beans.
It’s back to the grocery store, tomorrow.
It’s been about a week since my last post, and I just thought I’d update this thread.
Like I said above, bananas (and apples, to a lesser degree) make me want to eat everything in the house. And all of those seeds left me with little energy (transitioning from what I consider to be a cooked but not SAD diet—brown rice, oatmeal, peas, steamed veggies—I did not attribute this lack of energy to detox).
So I tried some other stuff—quinoa, spelt, whole oats (even though they’re not raw)—but that only worked for a few days. Then I spent a few days eating out while I tried to formulate a new raw game plan.
Now, I’m eating mostly raw veggies (carrots, broccoli, celery) with a bit of buckwheat, and some sunflower seeds once in a while.
I’m liking it, but I’ve binged on candy and cookies a few times. This is usually triggered by seeing candy at work (my boss brings some if for us at finals time) and/or carrying cash (which I usually avoid for just this reason). But after each slip-up I become more and more resolved to kick this habit—hopefully it’ll stick this time. Today’s a brand new day.
it sounds like you are listening to your body. well done. if you have a cheap blender you can make some green smoothies. i find they give me the best energy and fullness with little prep, chewing, or calories for that matter.
today IS a brand new day! Thanks for reminding me!
Anyways, ditto that on what everyone else is suggesting about eating more greens. Also, be sure you are staying hydrated!
I live a pretty simple life in terms of raw food because I have VERY little time in my days right now, working about 18 hours days, so from a perspective of someone who is not following the ideal way of prepping, sprouting, soaking, etc etc, I can tell you that it is still easy. Eating foods in their most whole form is the easiest! For instance, breakfast is whole fruits, and lunch is often “hand salads”, in which I take big romaine leaves and put all the fixins inside and wrap it up and eat on the run! YOu don’t have to have fancy equipment—all I have is a cheapo blender and it does the job for smoothies etc.
The only thing I have to wonder about your lifestyle is if you are getting enough aerobic exercise? I only ask because while you are skinny, the amount of fat that you are taking in could eventually start to build up inside of you even though it doesn’t show on the outside, and it’s something you may need to be aware of, especially if your family has a history of heart diease, high cholesterol, etc. etc. Just sayin’! I look at my dad, who is fairly thin and athletic, but he fills his body with shitfood and never understands why he is constantly getting sick!
bitt: I think I am listening to my body—unfortunately, that has included the part of me (my mind, really) that has been craving sweets for the last few days.
BTC: Today was actually not a new day (but tomorrow is)—I bought some cereal and ate that today (cereal has always been my favorite, but I had given it up on my rice/oatmeal/pea/veggie diet).
As for the blender, I’d like to try this diet without it, because I don’t like owning many things if I can get away with it. Also, I’ll be moving into a room in a private home soon and, while they’ve given me access to the kitchen, I don’t want to make a bunch of noise all the time.
My extreme cheapness and screwy knees (and, to a lesser degree, my aversion to material possessions) keeps me from sticking with sports for very long. I like biking, and I was training for a century ride for a while, but it was keeping me from studying, and the arbitrariness of it caught up to me. However, in order to get my riding in, I’m moving a few miles from campus at the end of the month, and once I’m out of college I plan to remain car-free (I always thought people who drive to the gym were odd—why not get your exercise as a byproduct of a car-light or car-free lifestyle—I know that doesn’t work for everyone, though). So, yeah, I’ll be getting some more exercise (my new place is close to a MUP around the SF Bay, too).
Uhh…that’s it for now. Thanks for the responses, everyone.