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major concerns about going 100%

So, I tried the whole vegetarian thing a few years back and had some adverse effects. Like massive amounts of hair loss—I’m talking chunks of hair coming out daily. I will admit I didn’t eat the healthiest food (french fries, cheese pizza, bread, pasta…bread), and eventually gave it up.

But I’ve come to the point where I truly want to do what is going to be best for my body and the more research I’ve done, the more I see that 100% raw vegan is the way to go. I’m pretty new at this - like, less than a week new - and I’m very (VERY) concerned about giving up fish. The omega-3’s in salmon is sky high. Also, vitamin B12 and essential amino acids (that nourish hair) are plentiful. What raw vegan foods compare to fish when it comes to this?

Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Comments

  • ajchanterajchanter Raw Newbie

    Hi there! :) Pollution in fish is also sky high. Just go down the food chain and you will see that the fish get the omega 3 from algae. For exemple, check out E3 live. http://www.e3live.com/?kbid=1003

    Good luck on your path!

  • rawforhealthrawforhealth Raw Newbie

    is that true even for wild fish? I have sky high mercury levels and only eat wild salmon if i were to have it at all.would’t dare eat ANY farm raised fish.

  • Wild fish can also have high levels of mercury in them. It depends on where they live. Sometimes the mercury is even higher in the fish that live in the wild compared to those that live on farms.

  • elizabethhelizabethh Raw Newbie

    you may lack the enzyme to convert omega 3s from plant sources into usable forms, so if you really don’t want to quit eating fish, don’t. or take a fish oil supplement. the mercury thing is exactly why i take a daily fish-oil (lemon flavoured b/c ewww) supplement and will only eat very low mercury fish (i.e. wild salmon) once every few weeks. i always say it’s best to supplement B12, find a high quality vegan sublingual supplement and use it. this stuff just isn’t present in sufficient amounts in our food anymore unless you leave it unwashed. which isn’t a good idea since most of us lack immunity to possible contaminants present in soil. good luck!

  • I actually don’t care for salmon all that much; mostly I eat it for the health benefits. I do only eat wild Alaska salmon and am looking in to taking a B12 supplement. I take fish oil sporadically - couple times a week - and find that eating the fish is much more tasty than taking the fish oil.

    I’m going to look into algae, though, and see what’s up with mercury in fish. Thanks for this guys!

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    You can get better omegas that your body can use more effectively from hemp, seaweed and flax. Also walnuts have them in too. The fish only have the omegas in them from the seaweed they eat, so when you are raw you are getting the same omegas they eat in the seaweed.

    It is good to transition to 100% slowly. Just take your time with it, ease your body into it. Let go of fish when you are ready, doesn’t matter how long that takes, does it?

    Good seaweeds to eat raw: dulse, kelp, sea spaghetti, raw nori (hard to get truly raw but possible).

  • troublesjustabubbletroublesjustabubble Raw Newbie

    I agree with Zoe, you don’t need fish if you eat plenty of flax and pumpkin seeds.

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    some “food” for thought: when you were eating pizza, fries, and pasta were you concerned about all the vitamins and minerals you weren’t getting? i think there is a certain comfort in following the common diet because we are in some respects brainwashed to follow guidelines and charts rather than our bodies and intuition. but there was far more reason to question your past diet than raw veganism…

    i understand your concern about your hair, but there is a BIG difference between raw veganism and junk food vegetarianism. a HUGE HUGE difference!

    keep the fish for your if you feel you need it, but try cleaning up your diet and seeing if that doesn’t solve some major health issues. my guess is you’ll be giving up the fish soon…

  • Eating seaweed, hemp, flax isn’t getting the same omegas. Fish have enzymes to convert the fats from one type to another. Some people make the enzymes, some don’t. if your ancestors ate lots offish, then you might not be able to convert the fats yourself.

  • intestinal flora actually produce all the omega 3 fats the body requires. that is if your intestine is working properly, which is not the case with most of the population.

    and if you have a celiac condition, or intestinal dysbiosis, it doesnt matter how much pumpkin seed or fish you eat, you wont digest the fat properly.

  • sweetpeasweetpea Raw Newbie

    You can get adequate omega’s from flax, hemp and pumpkin seeds. For B12, take a supplement and B vits. Learn what you can about raw. Being successful at raw takes time.

    www.rawlifestyle.co.uk

  • ungratefulungrateful Raw Newbie

    Legs_77,

    You don’t have to give up anything. Just eat more raw foods, that’s all. Get yourself an apple and a glass of filtered water and sit down and google RAW FOODS and start reading, watching videos and listening to pod casts.

    The more time you spend eating raw food, learning about nutrition, sprouting seeds, reading and creating raw recipes and communicating with other like-mined people, the less time you spend eating dead food.

    At the same time, the more you know the more you will want to eat food that is alive and full of sunshine, living nutrition, good health and happiness.

    Win/Win!

    Have FUN! It’s supposed to be fun.

  • ungratefulungrateful Raw Newbie

    One other thing. I have been reading a lot lately and most of the gurus and raw food specialists, etc are not advocating 100%. its too easy to fail. they all said strive for 80%.

    That’s all. Have a great day, folks. I will be spending it in Golden Gate Park with extended Family. Hugs…

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    Hey there christygirl, are you saying that seaweed isn’t as good as fish oil? Why would you say that? I can’t recall ever seeing any research to support that, do you know something I don’t? I’d love to know if you do ;)

  • TomsMomTomsMom Raw Newbie

    christygirl, not trying to be rude to you, but that’s not 100% accurate.

  • TomsMomTomsMom Raw Newbie

    legs_77, lots of cooked veggies become malnourished because they don’t eat well, not because they abstained from fish and meat. I know, haha. Oh, I loved my pastas and potatoes, and that’s pretty much all I ate for years!:-)

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    me too…potatoes and coffee, were my diet as a vegan for 12 years, I’m surprised I have lived this long!!

    When see people advocating 80% raw, I have to admit that it mistifies me as to why?. For Chris my husband and I, it just got easier and easier to stay raw the more raw we went. It took us ages to transition, but the less cooked we ate, the less food cravings we had and the better we both felt all round. Being 80% would be awful for either of us to try and do mow, it just would feel terrible. We both know it would coz of how awful we feel when we ‘cheat’.

    I just think that if you continually increase the amount raw food you eat, and decrease the cooked, sooner or later you’ll find yourself at 100%, maybe even without thinking about it. Just relax and let the pleasure of eating raw take you there gradually, and with enjoyment.

  • TomsMomTomsMom Raw Newbie

    Zoe, I feel the same way! And coffee, too, haha! It’s really surprising to me that I didn’t go bald or something then.

    But I lost a lot of hairs on the raw diet, so I don’t know what I did wrong. Then again, I lost a lot of weight and came off some nasty meds, so . . .

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    yes it is so weird because I was never ill, ever. I just looked so pale I was blue, and I had really low energy, depression, introverted all things I have NO idea were related to my diet.

    Here in the UK most people who are vegan are vegan for animal rights, there is a HUGE animal rights movement here. That is all I was concerned with, not harming animals, I never thought about my health for a second. Then when I found out about raw veganism, compared to the pale, withered vegans I knew, these new raw vegans looked like super heroes, I had to get some of that for myself, lol!!

  • Silk soymilk is now available in a +DHA version. The source is vegan seaweed. Of course, soymilk is not raw, but I’m not totally raw. I am vegan, and this is a good source of vegan DHA. Omega-3s come in different kinds. I also grind flax seeds for the ALA in them. Some of the ALA in flax may convert to DHA in the body, but hardly any.

    And more on vitamins – I take 1000 mcg of methyl B-12, and 2000 iu of vit-D daily. It’s easy to develop deficiencies of these things, but soy milk (calcium, dha, protein) + extra B-12 and extra D take care of my vitamin needs.

    I don’t do any vegan junk foods, and the only cooked foods I eat are things like peanut butter, soy milk, and ezekiel sprouted bread. I eats lots of veggies & fruits, and especially soy smoothies. I tried the 100% thing, but it didn’t work for me.

  • ungratefulungrateful Raw Newbie

    “ZOE:I just think that if you continually increase the amount raw food you eat, and decrease the cooked, sooner or later you’ll find yourself at 100%, maybe even without thinking about it. Just relax and let the pleasure of eating raw take you there gradually, and with enjoyment.”

    Exactly They say 100% is best for some but keep saying it’s too hard to stay raw for most and if you try for 100% it won’t work, you will keep going back to where you were before. Trying to eat 80% doesn’t seen like such a big thing, I guess, that way a person won’t feel like they are cheating if they happen to eat some steamed veggies.

    I don’t think I will ever say that I am 100% raw vegan. If i did, a bug might crawl in my mouth while i was sleeping just to prove me wrong. lol :) BUT I can be 100% today. And I was 100% yesterday. Tomorrow might be another story, who knows?

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    ron, your post made me think of something:

    i have a sneaking suspicion that soy is responsible for a lot of vegan malnutrition as well. please do your research on soy. it makes me ill that it is being so carelessly promoted as a health food when it isn’t even a food.

    follow the money… soy is one of the 3 most grown crops in the world, GMO, responsible for a LARGE % of deforestation in the amazon…

    it’s very sad.

  • Well, I’m pretty new to this and whenever I first start something, I tend to go overboard. But going 100% raw right away is obviously not the right thing to do for me.

    pianissima When I first went vegetarian back in college, I was more concerned about losing weight than being healthy. Now it’s a bit different, and I’m researching foods that will actually nourish my body. I was talking about it with one of my friends a few days ago and, although she understood why I was doing this, she still looked at me like I was crazy.

    “The system” has pounded into our heads the benefits of the SAD, and it’s hard for people to accept that they have been lied to. I’m beginning to think that everything is related to food: depression, anxiety, violence and most certainly obesity.

    ungrateful Since I was around 14/15, I’ve had this iron-deficiency anemia issue that I have allowed to get quite bad a few times; my iron levels were so low that I could barely get out of bed, depressed, sad/crying, pale skin, weak, etc. And all of this is somehow linked to insulin as well. Something I’ve learned in the past ten years is that what I’m eating directly effects my iron and insulin levels; when I eat right, I have no problems and vice versa.

    What you’re saying about researching raw is so true. Ever since I figured what the real problem was out, I have been a big proponent of really knowing what exactly I’m putting in my body. So great advice, and I will definitely keep googling everything I can about this new lifestyle.

    Zoe and TomsMom I actually love Starbucks and I know that eventually it will have to be omitted from my system. But I have cut down considerably from when it was really bad, and I don’t do the sugary drinks anymore, just the straight coffee. I’m a writer; it’s what we do. And I’m seeing (well, feeling) that the more raw I eat, the better I feel. I think I’ve been transitioning to this route for a while now, it’s just that I’m ready to really do it, rather than just think about it.

    ron4540 I have B12 but since I’m still eating fish and, on occasion, turkey I don’t take it yet. I do drink soy milk, but I didn’t know about vitamin D. That’s something I’ll try as well.

    Thanks guys!

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    I was all raw except for coffee for about a year before I could bear to quit it, you have my empathy ;)

  • chicorychicory Raw Newbie

    I just heard on NPR radio a couple days ago, that women who drink coffee every day have gradual shrinkage in their breasts!

  • legs_77 I was just watching Jameth Sheridan on Rawkathon. He was saying that sometimes vegetarians are anemic because dairy blocks the absorption of iron. So there is less of a problem if one is vegan than of one is vegetarian.

    pianissima The phytoestrogens in soy are helpful for menopausal women who don’t want to go through Hormone Replacement Therapy. However these same phytoestrogens can be very bad for males who haven’t gone through puberty, as the phytoestrogens alter their development. They have less of an effect on fully developed males. When I was vegan I would buy silk soy milk all the time and I’m pretty sure (can’t quite remember) that the soybeans they use are organic. However Monsanto+Soy=Evil GMO

    chicory – My mum (who loves her coffee) had to stop drinking it as it was causing pain and sometimes swelling in her breasts. I never really asked her more about it…

    The balance of omega 6 to omega 3 in the modern western diet is in complete disarray. The omegas found in a lot of seeds, like sunflower seeds, are omega 6, which are inflammatory. I’m not sure about how much omega 3 or 6 are in flaxseeds, but all the flaxseedoils I’ve seen have more omega 6 in them than omega 3. Omega 3 is anti-inflammatory. The DHA found in omega 3 has amazing health benefits – it can raise people’s IQ and reduce ADHD in children, because DHA influences the neurotransmitters in the brain. Not being able to take fish oil was one of my major concerns about becoming vegan, but I gave it up anyway and then Silk came out with Silk DHA. Now I’m back to not having an omega 3 source. The body can convert the ALA found in walnuts into DHA, so I’m trying to eat more walnuts. Blue-green algae like spirulina has a lot of omega 3 in it, I want to buy some soon.

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