Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ilene your choices are healthy. One of my cousins recently ate fruits/veggies and a handful of seeds/nuts everyday for 3 weeks. She wasn't hungry and lost 20 pounds. She said she felt great!
Ilene you come here asking for people's opinions and then chide them when they give them to you. Your posts reflect very little knowledge of good nutrition or how to lose weight in a healthy and successful way and also your insecurity - you take offense when some tells you that you are not eating a healthy diet. By your own admission your diet tactics have not worked. The most successful weight loss programs advocate eating a diet with protein of some kind - a diet rich in a variety of foods - not just fruits and vegetables. If you can't accept answers that don't jive with your views on "good nutrition" - don't ask any questions and you can keep on doing what you've been doing.....and failing.
I agree 100% with this sentiment. We are asked to give opinions, and we do, and then we're told our opinions are not wanted, because the OP doesn't agree with them. It sounds to me like the OP is looking for people to validate the choices she's already made, and not for opinions that might not provide that validation. I recommended already that she check out the vegetarian forum, and she never went to post there. She's asking about a healthy vegetarian diet, there are dozens and dozens of posts in the vegetarian forum about that very topic, that she could get all kinds of information.
Eating a vegetarian diet can be -dangerous- unless you learn how. It is not something that comes naturally, because we are naturally omnivores. We need to -learn- how to give ourselves proper nutrition without flesh or dairy, when we endeavor to eliminate those things from our daily menu. We need to learn which non-flesh and non-dairy foods will provide the same nourishment, the same vitamins and minerals that our bodies NEED to be healthy.
You need to do that first. Which is why I said - and continue to say: go to the vegetarian forum, where you will find a wealth of information that can help you.
Eating a vegetarian diet can be -dangerous- unless you learn how. It is not something that comes naturally, because we are naturally omnivores. We need to -learn- how to give ourselves proper nutrition without flesh or dairy, when we endeavor to eliminate those things from our daily menu.
Actually it comes very naturally...why? Because for millions of years our ancestors ate little or not meat.
You are speaking as if people have an innate understanding of a meat based diet, but humans don't have an innate understanding of any diet. Our bodies may be best adapted to a particular sort of diet, but our eating habits are learned whether they include meat or not.
A vegetarian diet can only be dangerous if you take the toxic American diet and subtract meat. Meat is the only thing, at the sacrifice of long-term health, keeping people from developing macro-nutrient deficiencies. But there is nothing difficult about a vegetarian diet, no understanding of dietary science required, just a simple rule:
- Eat whole plant foods in reasonable variety and take a b12 supplement for insurance.
You won't develop any deficiencies so long as you're consuming sufficient calories.
Anyone else ever tried this? Did it work or did you constantly stay hungry? Any suggestions as to how to "dress up" or jazz up recipes without adding fat and calories? Thanks for your input.
Without adding calories? I'm not so sure what you have in mind, but you can find numerous recipes for foods without added fat in this book:
Actually it comes very naturally...why? Because for millions of years our ancestors ate little or not meat.
You are speaking as if people have an innate understanding of a meat based diet, but humans don't have an innate understanding of any diet. Our bodies may be best adapted to a particular sort of diet, but our eating habits are learned whether they include meat or not.
A vegetarian diet can only be dangerous if you take the toxic American diet and subtract meat. Meat is the only thing, at the sacrifice of long-term health, keeping people from developing macro-nutrient deficiencies. But there is nothing difficult about a vegetarian diet, no understanding of dietary science required, just a simple rule:
- Eat whole plant foods in reasonable variety and take a b12 supplement for insurance.
You won't develop any deficiencies so long as you're consuming sufficient calories.
The OP, in her title, specified fruits and vegetables only. That isn't a healthy vegan diet. You need to incorporate nuts, legumes, and grains, and possibly soy. You have to have some fat, B12, and much more proteins than fruits and vegetables contain. She later said she only wanted to do this for a short time, but that wasn't clear in her original post. It's better to make a diet plan that you're going to follow for the long haul anyway.
The OP, in her title, specified fruits and vegetables only. That isn't a healthy vegan diet. You need to incorporate nuts, legumes, and grains, and possibly soy.
Actually....its a perfectly healthy diet. You can get all your nutrients from just vegetables and fruit. Fruit and vegetables both contain protein, fats, etc. For example, the macro-nutrient ratio for Kale is: 20% protein, 15% fat, 65% carbohydrate. Some others are higher in fat, some others higher in protein. The composition of fruits is usually around 10% protein, 5% fat and 85% carbohydrate.
Don't believe it? We have two very close relatives that have the same nutrient needs and have very similar digestive systems and what do they eat? Chimps are primary fruit eaters (in fairness chimps do consume 1~5% of their diet from insects and in some cases meat from monkeys) and Gorillas eat primary vegetables.
The real issue here isn't one of nutrients, its that you're going to have to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables to meet your caloric needs so eating more nutrient dense foods like nuts, legumes, etc allows you to consume less food (in terms of mass) than just fruits and vegetables.
Well we are not chimps and the human body requires more than what a chimp would need. Vitamins and minerals are important and while they may be available in fruits and veggies a lot of times they cannot be absorbed unless paired with other foods. Where is the protein coming from? Surely not enough to subsist on. The addition of legumes, nuts and soy would be a much healthier way to go.
Well we are not chimps and the human body requires more than what a chimp would need.
The human body requires more of what exactly? Chimps and Gorillas both have digestive systems that are almost identical to humans. Same organs, same structure, etc.
Male Gorillas weigh between 300~400 pounds and have large muscle mass, humans in comparison are weaklings. Chimps also have more muscle mass than humans as well. The nutrient needs of these guys are greater than humans, not less.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Luckyd609
Vitamins and minerals are important and while they may be available in fruits and veggies a lot of times they cannot be absorbed unless paired with other foods.
The absorption of vitamins is effected by a number of things, but vegetables and fruits are the primary source of vitamins and you don't need to consume non-vegetables/non-fruits for them to be absorbed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Luckyd609
Where is the protein coming from? Surely not enough to subsist on.
Surely there is enough! Vegetables are, in general, high in protein! I gave the example of Kale which is somewhere in the middle...and 20% of the calories in Kale are derived from protein. The human diet only needs to consist of 10% protein, so kale contains twice the amount of protein needed for humans.
I ate cantaloupe for breakfast and tomatoes and cucumbers for lunch but I'm still hungry.
I can see that. Do you remember that crazy TWA Stewardess Diet or the Cabbage Soup Diet from the 80s? I about chewed my lips off trying to stick with those -- and they're not solely fruit and/or vegetables.
Fruit does absolutely nothing to satisfy my hunger once I've stopped eating it. Some vegetables are more satisfying than others. But that's just me. I can go fresh fruit/vegetables for a day or two, but any longer than that and I start seeing double.
Some veggies you could probably munch on all day with very little caloric impact -- greens, cucumbers, celery, summer squash, cabbage, bell pepper, mushrooms, broccoli rabe. As for jazzing up the fruit and veggies, you could use spices like cinnamon or nutmeg on the fruit, or herbs or lemon juice on your veggies.
I know you said you don't want to add dairy for awhile, but maybe consider sprinkling a teaspoon of feta cheese on your veggies for flavor? A little goes a very long way.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
![](http://quantumpublications.com.au/sites/default/files/459292254_7fdf520442.jpg"]http://quantumpublications.com.au/sites/default/files/459292254_7fdf520442.jpg)
