I am new to raw and I need to lose about 15-20 lbs for health reasons (diabetes/hypertension). I have trouble eating enough and I plan on making some basics to have on hand at all times to overcome that, but I still don’t think I will be taking in enough calories. How do I make sure I am eating enough WITHOUT having to track items/calories/etc??? The minute I have to start tracking everything I am NOT gonna be motivated to continue. I wanna make raw a way of life and wanna keep things as simple as possible (smoothies/fruits and veggies/nuts and seeds/mono-meals). I need to lose at least 10 lbs by mid-August when I return for a check-up. Please offer any ideas/tips you may have.
I am in this to change my life-style and improve my health NOT just for weight loss
Thanks.
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I lost over 5lbs in my first month. I don’t think you will have any problems. Just eat all raw whenever you are hungry, until you are full. It’s so liberating
Thanks to everyone for responding. I just got back from the market and I made sure to get lots of fruits/veggies and salad fixings. I am definitely gonna be having some smoothies each day to make sure I am getting in extra servings of fruit/veg. I am also gonna make a few raw recipes BUT other than that, mainly mono-meals at night (the time I eat the worse). Thanks again for the help!
Elizabethh…I have heard this before and it is WRONG WRONG WRONG…And I have noticed that you seem to have a “thing” for telling people to avoid large amounts of fruit, I really wanna know why? As someone who usually eats junk food, fast food, and sips soda constantly-switching to a diet of fresh fruits and veggies (some nuts), and water can only help my condition. My glucose levels are not extremely high to begin BUT I will keep a closer eye on them as you suggested. Thanks for responding and please let me know what information leads you to tell people to limit the intake of fruits (in case I missed something).
haha yeah, someone else was worried about their fruit intake earlier..(they were adjusting to raw, and felt they were “addicted” to sweet fruits.) I told her that when I was transitioning I ate a ton of cashews, which are obviously higher in fat and cals than fresh fruit! and I told her not to worry about it too much. but elizabethh disagreed and said not to eat too much unless super active. the way I look at it is, we all gotta start somewhere. going from the normal SAD diet to raw is a major diet makeover to begin with, we don’t need to make it even harder by taking out fruits too! I believe that they are perfectly healthy, and of course, and obviously, too much of anything isn’t good. but I’d rather be eating too many raw fruits than too many like, potato chips or something, you know what I mean??!!
and good luck to you tamisha, I’m sure if you stick with raw the weight will come off in time.. and besides losing weight, and probably more importantly, you will feel so much healthier inside and out. weight loss is just one of the many perks!! :)
Elizabethh, I didn’t say you were a fruit “basher”...LOL I have just seen many posts from you telling people to avoid eating tons of fruit and to make sure they do more greens and I wanted to know why is all. I am NOT desk bound and I don’t eat 15 bananas a day, but I get what you are saying about making sure the sugars don’t spike and then suddenly drop. I have been watching my sugars really close now that I am having smoothies with bananas in them and if I see any problem, I will make a change (been fine so far). I am glad you explained yourself, lots of good info you gave me( I wasn’t offended and wasn’t trying to offend or be harsh).
Thanks to all of you for posting!
Great post Angie. Can’t wait til I am at the point where I know exactly what works and what doesn’t. Right now I am still learning and love hearing what others have to say.
I forgot to ask, do the superfood juices at the grocery store count as a green smoothie if I add some fruit and blend it OR do I need to make it myself? I find if I blend all the greens,etc myself I don’t have the smoothie BUT if I use 1 cup of the superfood and add fruit-I have two smoothies a day.
Also, I hear that Odwalla and Naked juice are being boycotted, Why? Is this because they are owned by Coca-Cola?
yeah girlie I wasn’t trying to say you were bashing fruits either! I mean, I don’t even eat dates or anything, and I definitely agree with you on the fact that not all raw is good for you.. the only raw food I even eat is fresh fruits and veggies, smoothies and juices. I haven’t even tried a date or a fig or anything!! lOl. I didn’t wanna come across as harsh either, but like Tamisha, I had seen a few posts by you saying to avoid a lot of fruit. I guess it’s what you mean by sweet fruit?? I mean, do you consider apples and oranges “sweet” fruit? Because all fruit seems pretty sweet to me! but yaa and I’m also active, going to the gym almost every day.. maybe not as active as a monkey would be though! :) but I do apologize if I came across wrong!
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Oh my goodness I read that!! Yes, definitely, read it!! :]
I am gonna purchase that book this weekend!
I was thinking vegan NOT raw (the important part) vegan. Thanks Angie.
I haven’t read all of these posts, but in reference to Elizabeth’s replies…Elizabeth-what do you eat? I am about 75% raw and the other 25% is PRETTY good. I do Mexican slip ups occasionally, but I am heavy on the shakes, these days focusing on WAY more greens, cucumbers, citrus and trying to go lighter on the nuts now that i am a little farther into this game.
I seem to have hit a plateau; both in weight loss and interest level and at this point I am scared I am going to fall off the wagon. Its been about 4 months and in the beginning I was so gung ho.
I la la love raw-especially how i feel, I just want to get excited about something other than the shakes and salads I practically live on. (Oh and Tamisha-I gorged myself on transitional foods, in the beginning, like dates, agave, raw honey, nuts, nut butters, cocoa nut butter and LOADS of sweet fruits. I am not diabetic, but it was the only way I could do it. I CRAVED what I now view as some of the less healthy -in quantity-foods in the raw lifestyle and I came out just fine!
Thanks geespen…I don’t care for preparing the elaborate raw dishes that requires tons of nuts,etc…I wanna just eat fruits, veggies, nuts, and my smoothies. Hopefully that proves to me enough. I think I am so used to my old ways of dieting that I think 1 piece of fruit is a serving and I don’t eat enough. Some days I don’t feel hungry and I get back in the habit of eating once a day. I need to work on eating at regular intervals and eating MORE (never thought I would be at a point of not eating enough).
Tamisha, Good job at going raw:) one of the things I did to get more greens was to do green smoothies in the morning…I drink 32 ounces a day and I try to eat one salad a day…as long as I get those two things in I pretty much eat mostly fruit and very little nuts if any. My favorite green drink is 1 banana, 1 apple, 1 orange, few chunks of fresh pineapple, 1 cup pure water, 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed or 1 tablespoon of flax oil, 3 handfuls of organic spinach and couple of kale leaves and a couple of collard green leaves. I then mix that in my vita mix blender and drink it down. It really gives me alot of energy and keeps me going all day..it also keep cravings away. I hope that helps….I know alot of people add greens from a can or jar and that is fine but I find the fresh greens is better:)