camiheartsraw

What kind of exercising do you do? Do you really need to lose weight? What all are you putting in your smoothies (protein supp, oils, etc.)?

I'm not sure if this applies to you, but I find it unfortunate that people use BMI so often to determine whether or not their weight is in the "normal" range. BMI does not take into account muscle density, etc. What is normal is also skewed quite a bit. There is also the possibility that too few calories are being consumed and your body is hanging on to anything it can get.

I struggled with my weight for a long time and fell ill a few years back. Then I had the opposite problem - I couldn't absorb my food and rake in any calories. Switching to raw actually helped me gain enough weight that I need to exercise now to eat everything I would like (coconut ice cream on occasion or maybe a slice of raw "cheese"cake every couple of weeks). I do eat some cooked but have had to watch my simple carbohydrates. I still eat whole fruits, but try to stick mainly to leafy greens and other vegetables. I eat psuedograins once every few days and a few legumes (mostly sprouted) and try to limit nut and fat intake (minus the aforementioned occasional treat). I also have been exercising daily (with a day off every couple weeks) - I've been working up to running (alternate run/walk for 30 min), do Zumba (it's fun!), and some strength training. I was one of those out of shape skinny people though - didn't feel I had to exercise because I was rail thin and eating healthy. That was the wrong approach but hindsight is 20/20 :) I'm not rail thin anymore but am having very slow progress!

I guess what I'm trying to say is your body is recognizing what you're feeding it as real food now and getting more out of it. I really recommend reading Brendan Brazier's Thrive Diet for optimal sport performance. The theory is good and can be applied to a raw diet. He emphasizes raw, with a base of leafy greens and variety of other plant-based foods.

I am so frustrated....I have been eating tons of fermented foods, supplementing with probiotics in addition to that, and I've cut out fruit. At first I cut out fruit for the most part, but any time I had anything with sugars in it (i.e. fruit) I would be in horrible pain. The left side of my intestines felt just awful...like being stabbed. I tested positive for candida and c. difficile a while back. I had other parasites/bacteria and had to go on antibiotics after being in the hospital a couple of times and then of course candida came along. I'm worried I am not getting enough variety, but any time I eat fruit I am in tons of pain. I started zeolites and really hope they help because I'm running out of ideas. I really don't want to do diflucan and have already tried Nystatin without improvement. I kept getting worse and then was told Kombucha is a big no-no because of the sugars still present. I thought it was the right thing to do because it has the sacro. b that can help with c. difficile as well as good bacteria but sounds like the benefits didn't outweigh the issues. Because I can't have fruit, I have to eat nuts and fats...if you can't have one you have to have the other. My hair is getting more fragile, but other than that everything seems *ok*.

I guess this really wasn't so much of a question as a rant :P Sorry. I'm just bored with my food. I loved being raw vegan and fruit is such a treat. Now I feel like I'm detoxing from the diet and zeolites (which makes me cranky!) and am hoping I can have my fruit again before the two flipping years some claim it takes to get rid of candida. Egads. Wow that was a lot of whining LOL.

It's actually really easy to get the protein requirement without the eggs, and my husband is turning more vegan because it's easier to get easily absorbed calories into him. He has developed food intolerance/allergies so the quick wheat based carboloading he relied on as a competitive athlete (long distance running) are no longer an option. Animal proteins are a really complex string of amino acids and harder for the body to break down, and fruits and veggies are really simple strings and generally easier to process. There are a lot of athletes that are turning raw vegan because it is really easy to keep a low BF% while retaining muscle mass (if you work at it). My husband is noticing more and more - you may want to check out Brendan Brazier's books. He's a professional tri-athlete and is primarily raw vegan (he still eats some cooked).

I know raw vegan goes against conventional medical advice. My doctor was stunned I thrive on this diet because of all of my digestive issues - most people think food cooked to oblivion is the easiest to process. It seems like the more processed the food, the more your body regards it as foreign - at least in my case. I'm not a big fan of one diet fits all, so making a slow transfer is a good thing in my book.

Coffee replacement? I gave that stuff up a long time ago because my stomach is so sensitive. I replaced that addiction with kombucha ;) I don't have any good tips for replacing the taste, but would encourage you to find ways to phase it out.

I try to be 100%, but have some cacao and don't have any opposition to fermented foods.

Well, I'm looking into making my own fermented foods now. My stomach is a mess. I was taking Nystatin to kill candida for months and months and feel like I haven't gotten anywhere. I also have c. difficile. I've been downing kombucha, putting probiotic supplements in everything, I'm searching for a kefir grain vendor that doesn't have dairy or soy, eating soy free miso, and looking into buying an expensive item to make my own kimchi - minus peppers (allergic). There has to be a way to kick this without the medications....

What goes well with sauerkraut? I'm going to start throwing it in wraps, but I'm not sure what else to do with it. Used to LOVE it in the pre-vegan processed foods days, but now it doesn't sound great on much. Might be my stomach doing the talking.

Any other ideas for fermented foods? I'm staying really low fruit. I had some raw vegan cheesecake this weekend and half a glass of wine (stupid stupid stupid) and I have really been paying for it.

Thanks so much,

Cami