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Calories

How much calories should you eat in a day? Should you be eating only fruit and vegetables ? Do you need to add fats to the diet ,to maintain weight?

Comments

  • amberablueamberablue Raw Newbie

    hi sweet. kind of a 'philisophic' raw question there!

    ...well, that's kind of all up to you!

    - try searching online for a body mass index or daily caloric intake calculator. you enter your height, weight and age and it calculates what you need to lose, gain, or maintain your weight. probably not perfect but it should be a good enough guide. you can refigure it from time to time and eventually get a more customized idea.

    - get a scale if you don't already have one. start weighing yourself as often as you like. then as you experiment with your diet, you can see firsthand what's going on. keep a journal of it if necessary to track changes.

    - in general, you might want to try learning more about basic, essential nutrition since so many people on the raw diet have thier own unique, fine tuned approach from there, but most have a solid understanding of nutrition to start off. do more research on the different types of raw diets and the pros and cons if any. also consider that you can do some diets or restrictions for short times, and it doesn't need to be 'forever'...

    you will learn so much about what's right for you by learning more about those basics, and you will have so much more insight into what you are doing right/wrong, etc than anyone else can tell you. then you will have something to weigh all of the advice and opinions against.

    ...experiment a bit and see. your body will probably signal it's needs to you by certain cravings. listen to those when they happen, and think about what properties are in that particular food.

    hope that helps! i wasn't sure i should attempt such a question : )

  • swayzeswayze Raw Newbie

    It is very easy to find out how many calories you need:

    First, multiply your ideal weight in pounds by 10. This will give you your basal metabolic rate (BMR), or how many calories you burn at rest. Then, add to your BMR any extra calories you burn during the day. This is largely dependent upon your lifestyle. Someone who does construction work will burn much more than a

    person who works a desk job. Finally, add any exercise you do. This will give you the amount of calories you need each day.

    Typically, a fairly active woman requires 2000-2500 calories while an active man needs about 2500-3000 calories per day.

    Of course, you can always just eat as much as you care for until you are full. :)

    Fatty food like avocado, nuts and seeds can be consumed, but should be limited (about 1/3-1/2 avocado or 1-2 tbsp of nuts per day, depending upon your caloric intake). If you wish to gain or maintain your weight, the best way to do so is to: a) satisfy your caloric needs with sweet fruit and b) do some form of strength training. Eating excess fat will have you gain weight, but this will be fat as opposed to healthy muscle.

    HTH,

    Swayze

     

  • joannabananajoannabanana Raw Newbie

    i usually eat between 2100-2400 a day. i'm pretty active though.

  • RawKidChefRawKidChef Raw Newbie

    2000 cals, often more, in mostly fruit, with a few miscellaneous things.

  • camiheartsrawcamiheartsraw Raw Newbie

    I kind of make it a point not to enter my food into a calculator, although I did do that when I was losing weight and found I was eating a minimum of 2500 at the time (I had a health issue it turns out). My metabolism is pretty quick, and although I'm not very active, I eat quite a bit of fat. It seems to agree with me, my blood work is great, and my cholesterol is so low that they can't measure the LDL. I'm a very lean person.

    I think consumption of nuts, seeds, and other fats are a really individual thing. Some people do 80-10-10 very successfully, while others need more fat intake to maintain a proper weight. If I'm fitting in my jeans and have plenty of energy, I'm a happy camper, and for me that probably means a higher than average intake of fats mixed with a wide array of fruit and vegetables (don't get me wrong - the bulk of my diet is still fruit and veggies and snacks are fruit/veggie only). I need a lot of the right kind of fats to control arthritis, so chia, nuts, etc. are my friends.

    My point is, expirement and see what feels bet. I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all diet out there. Raw veganism is a surprisingly broad term when you consider all of the diet types out there that fall under that umbrella.

  • Thanks everyone for your help!!!

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