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Come on people cant I gain weight?!? please!?

valgal123valgal123 Raw Newbie

I need to gain weight for my health, my doctor and my parents sanity!!! Are there raw doctors out there that can tell me what exactly I need to eat for my size and age so I can gain weight? Or am I just dreaming. If I don't gain weight (I'm trying so hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) my parents are going to force feed me cooked food and I don't really want that. They say "what about just steamed veggies?" I'm not sure, what do you guys think? They are still nutricious just not live. DOES ANYBODY REALLY AND I MEAN REALLY KNOW HOW TO HELP OR KNOW WHO I CAN GO TO FOR HELP??? MY DOCTOR WANTS TO SEE ME HAVING MY PERIOD BY 2 MONTHS OR HARD TIMES.

HELP ME thank you everyone!

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Comments

  • I know this sounds silly- but first off, try to take a deep breath and relax:-) The stress your in is just as unhealthy as about anything you could eat. Try to remember that the health and wellbeing is the most important thing- more important than "being raw." IF (and I'm just saying if) you need to eat some cooked food to gain some weight as you adjust your diet, so be it. That isn't the end of the world, seriously. You need to relax and cut yourself some slack.

    I eat some steamed vegetable, and it works well for me. But, I would doubt that the steamed vegetables would help you gain weight. Vegetables are pretty slow in the calories. You need them for vitamins, and they are important. But, generally not calorie heavy.

    If you don't mind- what are you eating? Could you give us a low down on your normal day? That way someone could give you better advice.

    You may just not be eating enough. Your stomach may not be used to eating as much, and you stop too soon or don't eat often enough.

    Are you eating much fruit? Fruit has more calories many times. And making smoothies are a great way to get stuff down if you don't feel up to eating so much. I tend to use bananas as the base of most of my smoothies.

    Let us know what you are eating, that may give people a better chance to see what you are missing.

  • zinfandelzinfandel Raw Newbie

    I think having periods indicates the body is unhealthy. In societies close to nature women don't have their periods regularly. Here's an informative blog post on the subject: http://www.debbietookrawforlife.blogspot.com/

    I've been raw for a year and haven't had my period for 4 months. I feel great and 500times healthier than on cooked when I was having regular, painful, sickening periods. There is no way that can be healthy, in my opinion. I'd probably just lie to them on this issue or try to educate them.

    Dr. Douglas Graham could give you a consult. (google him). He's very well respected and has had healing clinics for 30+ years. He's into low fat raw vegan.

  • valgal123valgal123 Raw Newbie

    Now I eat a green smoothie in the morning with coconut oil and flax oil, 1 T nut butter, some raw cereal. Lunch is a salad with a bunch of different veggies, avocado, vinegar, olive oil. Snack is fruit with coconut butter, another snack more fruit, dinner same as lunch with maybe a raw burger patty and some sort of raw dessert. Snack in fruit 1 T nut butter. another snack is more fruit.

  • joannabananajoannabanana Raw Newbie

    zinfandel, thanks for posting that link. i read the whole article (very long but it's a sunday) and i'm just really surprised that getting your period might not be so good for you. i didn't get mine for a year and my doctors and parents were panicking so much. they wanted to put me on birth control but i said no way.

  • When I was 15 I lost enough weight that I stopped having my period. After about 4 months, my mom took me to see the doctor, who said I was anemic and underweight. Once I started taking iron supplements and gaining weight, it still took me 9 months for my period to start again. I think setting the "deadline" at 2 months is a little impatient.

    How old are you, valgal? It sounds to me like you feel quite powerless in your current situation... over your body, your relationship with you parents, and with your doctor. Remember that you are the only one who can make the decision for what is right for your body, so if eating steamed veggies sounds right, do it, and if not, don't do it. Have a little more faith in yourself. Love yourself a little. You deserve it.

    ~Parsley

  • valgal123valgal123 Raw Newbie

    Thanks everyone. I'm 19. My parents are VERY supportive and the reason i am so health concious is because of my parents, but they believe having periods is healthy and hate seeing me so thin. Heck, I HATE SEEING ME SO THIN. This morning I've lost another pound. :(

  • blueyzblueyz Raw Newbie

    You seem to be eating foods with fat, but maybe not enough other things to round it off??

    Not sure...my first instinct with something like that is to have hormones checked(including thryoids, adrenals outside simple reproductive hormones) because they can affect weight, periods and other things. Even if you are eating the best of diets, hormones will be something to deal with if they are 'off'. Plus coconut oil daily could be increasing metabolism, I use it for that reason to help lose weight(at times, rest if used on my skin).

    Good luck!!

  • My guess (just a guess) from your list of food is that you are not getting enough calories- seriously. I know it sounds like you are eating a lot. But, unless your really hitting the nuts, seeds, and such really heavy- you probably are under calories. I'd I'm not suggesting that you do load up on fats. If you do check out some of Graham's stuff- he writes about really needing to eat a lot more fruit to cover the calories you need if you are not relying on fat (which he is not in favor of). I've just been looking into the more low fat, high raw diet- and you really need to hit the fruit pretty hard (by "normal" standards) to meet your calories without eating lots of nuts, seeds and avacodoes, etc. Steve Palina did a blog on when he went low fat, raw for a month- with pictures and nutritional data for each meal. He kept fifty bananas at a time in his kitchen (at least that many, he shows a picture of his banana collection:-). As I mentioned, I just started looking into the low fat, raw idea (my high raw diet was very heavy in fat and grains). But, I would check out Steve Palina's blog on it, fascinating what a great documentation he did (descriptions of how he felt each day, etc). If you do, you may realize that you really are not getting enough calories.

    Either way, if your period has stopped, and you are still loosing weight (assuming you are already thin, and do not need to lose weight) I'd side with the somethings still not quite right position. Someone else mentioned hormones and anemia- definately have some blood work done. If the doctor suspects it's your diet- he really needs to let you know what you are NOT getting. It could also be that it isn't diet related? Blood work ought to help, if you don't think it's not just under eating.

    How skinny is skinny? Are you just skinny in your parent's opinion? Probably not if the doctor is worried? Just wondering. Are you a healthy skinny? Are you dizzy, really pale? How do you feel? Where you skinny before going raw? How long have you been raw? Are you vegetarian, vegan (and how long)? Where you skinny before going vegetarian, etc?

    Sorry, if any of these are to personl to answer, don't. These are just things that may help someone come up with suggestions (if you are comfortable answer any of them).

    Oh, and here's Steve Pavlina's blog about it. Maybe it will help.

    http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/01/raw-food-diet-day-1/

    I hope you find your answers. Just remember, it's nice to have caring parents:-)

  • valgal123valgal123 Raw Newbie

    I really appreciate the seriousness here. I'm 5' 83lb. and I have been thin my whole life. I have been vegetarian since birth and then when I turned 10 and I was feeling really ill we started this long journey of tests, diets, supplements, doctors and more tests. For the past 2 years I was eating a pretty normal vegetarian diet, bread, pasta, cereal, cheese etc. but healthy. I gained weight then would lose some, then gain some. 1 month before going raw i was at 87 and i started introducing more raw foods. Now its 83. No I do not feel dizzy, I am pale, but have always been. I have had extensive blood work done and EVERYTHING is good. Maybe it would help people to help me if they would read my other post going on right now about feeling bloated, fatigue etc.

    http://goneraw.com/forum/2-weeks-raw-and-bloated-mucusy-fatigue-all-stress-would-yoga-and-meditation-help

    My goal is to be as healthy as possible, happy, strong

  • RawaholicRawaholic Raw Newbie

    valgal123,

    I know how you feel. It took me what seemed FOREVER to put on weight and be a raw vegan, but know, five months in, I have gained almost twenty pounds, and am now only five pounds away from my goal weight. I feel much better and my period came back three months in. I don't have them as "regularly timed: as I used to but when I have it, it's a pretty normal three day period (I have never had PMS, cramps, or bloating that is commonly associated with periods). Here are some things that I found in combination that helped me gain weight. Try to get plenty of foods with zinc and iron in your diet. Zinc is a great mineral that aids the body in gaining weight when it needs to. Iron aids in regaining your period. Also I take a tablespoon of maca powder everyday and it helped bring my period back and has also aided me in bulking up so far. Green smoothies are lovely too (the greens provide calcium and IRON).

    bananas - snack, or in smoothies

    mangos - smoothies

    pineapple

    avocados (I have one EVERY day)

    macadamia nuts (great source of zinc)

    coconut (oil, butter, water, meat)

    almond (mylk, butter) - smoothies or raw cereal

    sprouted then dehydrated buckwheat - as a cereal

    brazil nut mylk

    flaxseed and flax oil - salads and smoothie

    spirulins RAWvolution bars (great to have when your out and about, 100% raw, and spirulina is a complete protein and a reliable source of vitamin b12)

    zuchinni pasta with a nut cheese or basil pesto dressinf

    raw hummus

    tahini

    olive oil

    raw cacao

    golji berries

    dried fruit (dates, figs, apricots, prunes, raisins) - IRON

    hemp seed and hemp protein powder

    various other nuts & seeds (walnuts -IRON, pecans, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, and cashews)

    I juice a lot as well. Fruit juices provide extra calories (so does carrot juice) and green juices aid the body in absorbing as much nutrients from your food as possible during digestion.

    Also try not to get to stressed out. Stress can hinder proper digestion of foods. Get plenty of sleep, and plenty of water. I hope you succeed and gain the weight you need to. Good luck and I hope life is kind to you! :)

  • Foot FootFoot Foot Raw Newbie

    What kind of logic would say that regular periods are unhealthy? Somebody please explain this to me.

    Honestly.

    Menstruation occurs when the female gains a certain percentage of body fat. This is why american women start puberty earlier than their non-indulstrialized counterparts. Aside from hormonal imbalances, possible causes for the absence of menstruation include anorexia and malnutrition, which can be closely linked to the level of body fat one has.

    The word 'menses' is derived from the Latin word for moon and month. Meaning it happens every moon. This is how lunaception works, an ancient birth control method that involves correlating your cycles of menstruation and ovulation with the moon, thereby being able to assess when one is the most and least fertile and using that information to one's own advantage. Many ancient calanders featured 13 months because there are 13 moon cycles per year. The advent of artificial light interferes with the feminine cycle, and thus makes it harder to keep track of, but in some cases regularity can be acheived by a prolonged observation of moon cycles in relation to body cycles, exposing yourself to moonlight as frequently as possible, and minimalizing the use of artificial lighting.

  • Have you thought of trying reiki? I have never actually gone to a reiki session (but know several people who have), but I have attended a session that was very similar (from the description) to reiki (it was a "healing" service that sounds very similar. It was very relaxing and stress relieving.

  • ""What kind of logic would say that regular periods are unhealthy? Somebody please explain this to me.""

    Did you read the article posted in the link? Because she DOES explain it. And it would explain that the woman still ovulates and is quite aware of what "menses" means.

  • Two things come to mind when I read of your symptoms, You may have an overactive thyroid, or perhaps a gluten intolerance or celiac disease ( are you eating any raw or cooked wheat, rye, barley or other glutenous grains?). As someone said before me, you most likely need to up your calories some more with bananas, avocados (they are good fat), dates and some healthy seeds.

    Good luck!

    Steph

  • RawaholicRawaholic Raw Newbie

    I found this on youtube which might be useful.

  • Foot FootFoot Foot Raw Newbie

    Her logic had about as many holes in it as swiss cheese. What's you're logic for touting this? Have you investigated the matter yourself or are you taking her word for it?

  • LilEarthMuffinLilEarthMuffin Raw Newbie

    I know exaclty what you mean!

    I am 16 years old and have lost weight being raw vegan and now my mom is actually forcing me to eat un raw cooked foods! it makes me cry and i need to gain weight but im still not so she made an appointment for me to see a nutritionist who isnt going to understand!! :(

  • debbietookdebbietook Raw Master

    Hi Foot Foot

    Assuming you have read the article carefully, I'd be interested to hear what you consider these 'many holes' in my logic to be.

    I'd be grateful if you could let me know, via the blog Comments, or to me directly at www.rawforlife.co.uk. I shall then address them, either privately or publicly, and if you have exposed flaws in any of my arguments, may well edit the article.

    (Good though GoneRaw is, it's not one of 'my forums' and I probably won't be back this way, so contact as per method above would be appreciated)

    Many thanks

  • uhh.. periods are the result of a lack of fertilization and/or implantation in the uterus. Our bodies prepare ahead of time each month for pregnancy, essentially. Our estrogen and progesterone levels increase to thicken and mature the endometrium, to create a viable environment for a blastocyst. If implantation does not occur, the lining is shed. Periods do signal a healthy body, only because they occur if the body is healthy enough to carry a baby.

    Sources please?

  • "'...toxic blood seeks an outlet through the womb via the menstrual function...The quality of menstrual blood varies according to the chemistry of the toxic material. Bright red, profuse, odourless blood accompanied by severe uterine cramps indicates that the preponderant irritant comes from improper digestion of sugars and starches."

    toxic blood? clearly this person is ONLY a blogger, and her opinions should not be taken at face value.

    Menstrual fluid is composed of the endometrial lining (dark, mucous consistency) and blood (from the breaking of blood vessels/capillaries-I believe-in the built up endometrial lining).

    good, god people. Not everything is a conspiracy!

    I'm sorry for being rude, but this total disregard for facts upset me, as many people probably gather information from this forum. I do not want to see some people taking your advice and thus losing weight JUST to avoid having a period.

  • kellyannekellyanne Raw Newbie

    foot foot-

    menstruation cycles are actually a way for the body to cleanse when it is overburdened with toxins.

    that is why females tend to live longer than men, because they have another elimination channel and chance to cleanse every month if they are eating unhealthy. the body wants the absolute cleanest environment for the baby, so that is why people that eat unhealthy have menstrual cycles every month, because they are so toxic that the body has to cleanse out the uterus every month. there are lots of people that eat a low-fat raw vegan diet that lose their menstrual cycles after some time.

    debbie- you have great information! people have a hard time with something that challenges conventional, long-time beliefs.

  • and, might I add that cramping results from the release of progesterone which causes the uterus to expel menstrual fluid and thus, causes cramps. Oxytocin, which acts in the same way - smooth muscle contraction - causes "cramps" during birth called contractions. It also causes myoepithelial cells in your breast to contract ( and thus push out milk ) when you breastfeed.

  • kellyannekellyanne Raw Newbie

    brontesaurus-

    i don't get my period every month. before i switched my diet i got it every month. it was heavy, long and painful. now when i do get it, it's light, it lasts only 2 days tops and it's not at all unpleasant.

    i log in my food intake, i get plenty of calories and plenty of every vitamin and mineral. i am at a healthy weight. i am active but not an athlete. i get 8 or more hours of sleep every night and i can't think of the last time i was stressed. now why is it getting lighter and lighter and less unpleasant?

  • .kelly. -

    Maybe your increased intake of vitamins from being on a healthier diet, or slight weight loss has resulted in a lighter period flow. I'm not sure, and I'm not going to give out any advice because I am not a doctor, and unlike other people on zeh interwebs, will not throw out personal claims without scientific backing.

    The only thing I will respond to is the fact that you say you are, in your opinion completely healthy, and yet you still get your period. It is light, but you still get it.

  • kellyannekellyanne Raw Newbie

    i haven't been on the diet for a long time. it happens over the course of a year for most other people. it's gradual.

    you can have scientific backing for just about anything these days so that doesn't mean much. some studies by scientists will show you how a vegetarian diet is healthier while others say that a diet of meat is healthier. science is contradictory, it's also clouded and influenced by greed. for example, the dairy companies have a lot of money to spread scientific claims about how milk is good for your bones when it's actually the opposite.

    scientists also think that the main causes for disease are germs and bacteria and they spend millions and millions of dollars developing vaccines. obviously, if you eat healthy your immune system won't be affected by germs and bacteria like it would for a SAD dieter. so the sole cause of disease is diet, not germs or bacteria. it's just like how conventional medicine wants to treat symptoms and not the causes of disease.

    i know that i am healthier than ever and i know that my periods are getting lighter and lighter when i have them. i don't need "scientific backing" for that.

  • J AJ A

    I agree with both of you (Kelly and brontesaurus) - scientific evidence is often biased, yet there's no need to dismiss all scientific evidence simply because a lot of it is biased. The reality is, as so often, more complex and you need to take a good look at whatever scientific evidence there is to get an educated opinion. You need to know enough so you can understand why some scientific evidence probably isn't correct while some is.

    To take an example, I have read loads of scientific studies concluding that all dairy products are detrimental to human health and result in weaker bones. Thats my 1st step. My 2nd step is common reason - it makes sense that cow milk is good for cows but not for humans. Now with these 2 steps I look at a study that claims milk is good for your bones. I look at that study and find out that the scientists compared 2 groups of SAD eaters, one with SAD + milk, one with SAD + no milk (but quite possibly more coca-cola etc. instead). Now group 1 has slightly better bones - in my opinion, that proves nothing because a) it is not consistent with what step 1 says, and completely ignores the findings of step 1. The results of this scientific study are pretty much meaningless since they're ignoring the basic rule - that cow milk isn't good for humans. If they instead had 2 groups of raw vegans, gave one of them dairy products and the other water, the results would likely be the opposite.

    What's more, there are confounders; scientific studies of food are often performed by professionals in the field of medicine. A "good" scientific study (approved by the scientific community) is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled one. What this means is, among other things, that you have groups of people who receive different things, yet no one (not even the scientists conducting the study) know who's getting what. Only when the study is over will they "break the code" (open a sealed letter / computer file) to find out who got what and what effects that resulted in. Now that's all good and nice in a clinical study of chemical particles, but how do you conduct such a study on milk? You can have a placebo for chemicals, no one will notice any difference between two different chemicals (if prepared to smell and taste the same) but if one group gets milk, what will you give the other group so they won't notice the difference? Nothing, there is nothing that smells and tastes like cow milk, so it's impossible to conduct a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on milk. The same goes for most food items including bread, nuts etc. These study methods were developed for laboratory purposes, not for real food items.

    Most of the time you need to dig deep down in the studies to find out for yourself whether they make sense or not. Some studies are outright silly, yet conducted in a very professional manner and scientifically sound. A few weeks ago, a leading doctor in the country I live in wrote an article in one of the big newspapers where he warned people of eating much fruit. Why? He based his recommendations on a new scientific study in which they compared the effects of fructose on people. Right. Now, the fructose tested did not come from fruits, it was artificial fructose in light drinks! They fed one group with light drinks having an amount of fructose equalling 25 bananas, one group with light drinks containing no fructose. Now, we have scientists conducting a study on artificial, chemical fructose and this has a leading doctor recommending people not to eat fruit! Clearly this goes to show how far from reality that study was. Yet the study in itself was scientifically correct, the paradigm it built on was wrong.

    So... most of the time it isn't enough to say "yeah I feel this is good so this is right" or "scientists say this or that" - you must look at the facts and get an educated opinion. Scientists say a lot of different things. I know a doctor who's also a scientist and he's been studying food and evolution a lot... He says his colleagues (doctors) will agree with him on his findings (like we can cure diabetes with food, not drugs) but the hierarchy of the establishment is so strong it'll take a generation or two (20-40 years) before his findings become commonly accepted. Maybe even longer. What's more, quite a few of his colleagues realize they'll lose their jobs if people cure their illnesses with food instead of doctors and drugs so... "It's difficult for a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it".

    Just my 0.02 $.

  • kellyannekellyanne Raw Newbie

    i've taken immunology and biology classes, i know that bacteria and viruses exist. but i also know that diet is what contributes to a weakened immune system, and a person with a weak immune system is more susceptible to disease and infection from bacteria while a person that eats healthy and that has a healthy immune system is not. i used to get colds and the flu all the time when i ate an unhealthy diet. i have not been sick once since i started eating healthy while everyone else around me has.

    i also like to look at several sources and form an opinion for myself, but you can read as many books, articles, etc. as you want and not know the truth until you find it out for yourself, which is what i am doing right now. i don't believe that all science is conspiratorial, i love learning about chemistry, biology, biological anthropology, etc. i just don't believe that we should take all science as fact. even scientists change their views and much of today's science is theory, not fact. look at the germ theory of disease. it is a theory, but it is now the foundation of modern medicine and clinical microbiology, which to me, is one of the biggest downfalls to civilization. again, modern medicine likes to treat symptoms while ignoring the cause of disease. if this theory did not exist, we might actually spend money on things far better than researching how to "cure" or "prevent" diseases that are preventable by a healthy diet! maybe that is why i don't take all science as fact.

  • Kelly, your logic is .. interesting. If you would like to deny science, then go ahead. I completely agree that some studies are very sided (influenced by multi-national corporations), however, the simple science of the human body is just, undeniable. And to your comment, bacteria does exist, and it does cause infections. Vaccines target viruses. And again, believe what you would like. I happen to gather multiple resources before forming an opinion. With all sincerity, if you have the sources, I would be more than happy to take your view into consideration. It is dangerous, in my opinion to deny all science as conspiratorial.

  • kelly, I completely agree with you there-the power of a healthy diet! I think that is why we are both here : ]

    I was just left aghast when I read this:

    "so that is why people that eat unhealthy have menstrual cycles every month, because they are so toxic that the body has to cleanse out the uterus every month. there are lots of people that eat a low-fat raw vegan diet that lose their menstrual cycles after some time."

    because it is just, not true! If you've taken biology classes, wouldn't you know this?

    If you have other sources backing this claim, please do share, I would be very interested to see them.

  • ugh.

    just, ugh.

    Congratulations on making an ad hominen attack! If you would like to refute my claim, then please refute my claim! Calling me a passive acceptor of pharmaceutical and government propaganda is besides the point.

    I have science to back up my claim, unrefuted science. Science of the body, anatomy, physical and hormonal processes. It is a fact. If you would like to call this propaganda, then very well - live in denial. Do you also believe that there is a Sun God? because, well, astronomy must be propaganda since it is widely studied.

    Your claim is backed by anecdotal evidence. Good luck with that!

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