Anybody have any thoughts about a RAW Diet. (vegetables, smoothie, weight loss)

[LiptonGuy]

I was wondering if anybody might know anything about going on a RAW DIET ? (but not RAW meat or fish)

I've been reading some articles and watching some interesting videos on YouTube, about people that implemented a RAW diet. People have some remarkable claims, about rapid weight loss, improved health & energy.

Fitness guru Jack Lallane (now 93 yrs old), was just on Jimmy Kimmel a couple months ago. Some of Jack's old videos, from his show, are on YouTube too. The guy says he just bought a new sports car (Corvette). How many 90+ year old people, do we hear about buying sports cars ? Probably not too many.

I know I have the will-power to go 30 days...RAW. I haven't had any soda-pop, in almost 3 years now. If I could kick that habit, I think I can get past the bad-carb cravings. If I can make it to day 30, I would like to try and go 100 days straight.

Initially, I thought I might have a difficult time, consuming 1,500 to 1,800 calories a day, but I figure I should be able to accomplish this, with the right mix of foods and nuts.

The only area I am thinking about cheating, is maybe with hard boiled eggs and COD fish. I am using the white part of the eggs, but discarding the yolk portion. I also cook cod briefly.

I know a lot of people combine fruits & vegetables in a blender and create green smoothies. Myself, I prefer to just eat my foods regular.

Anybody have any commentary or advice on this subject ?

[rubyskye]

If your digestive fire is strong (ie; you digest well), if you enjoy eating raw and if you feel better when you're eating a raw diet then fine.
It's not for everyone though. Alot of people hear these testimonies, go on a raw food diet and feel worse and don't get the results that those that it does work well for speak of.
Then they feel bad about themselves.
Alot of raw food people are extremely fanatic. It's the only diet that i know of that often has an almost religious fanaticism about it. Raw food people can often be extreme purists and judgmental and find fault with others who don't do well on a raw food diet.
If your just doing it just to lose weight, i would suspect that it will be like any other diet.
If you don't enjoy it and end up starving yourself, then what?
I love eating raw food but i'm not rigid about it at all.
It's especially enjoyable when you eat at an excellent raw food cafe if the "cook" is really good at what he/she does.
If you're doing it for a long time and don't get really creative with raw food, it gets pretty tedious. But i've had some amazing raw food creations that other people make. I am not good at making raw food meals or cooking regular food for that matter.
And if you're going to give it a try, depending on where you live, i'd wait until the weather warms up quite a bit.
Do you live in or near San Francisco by any chance? There is an amazing raw food restaraunt <sp? there called Cafe Gratitude. Anyone who is interested in eating great raw food and lives near S.F., you may wanna check it out. It's so good.
I'm providing a link to probably the largest raw food web-site. It's David Wolfe's (a whacky raw-food entrepenuer - arrgghhh, i can't spell!) site and there is much information and products there. And by the way, raw food products and raw food cafe's are often very expensive.
Sunfood Nutritionâ„¢ - Your Source for Raw Superfoods!
Also, if you decide to eat a raw food diet i would ease into it. And when you go all the way raw, you may find your body expressing some symptoms that are new and different for you. Often there is alot of detoxing occurring and i think that often people get discouraged because the symptoms make them feel that their health is getting worse. So you need to know your own body well enough so you can be discerning about the symptoms that you more likely than not will experience if you go all raw. Again, i'd ease into it.

[*Danielle*]

I have a great friend who is RAW...She deals it. She is some kind of super food guru...She has lost a ton of weight, her body has detoxed and her husbands bald head is regrowing hair...She feels fantastic and will never eat "normal' food again. She loves it.

[lemon&lime]

I did the raw food thing in the 90s. It works short term but was not good for me after a few years. I got very yin (macrobiotic term which refers to condition, yin being more open and spacey). I'd recommend a few days at most on a raw food diet, no more than once or twice a month.

[monkeygorilla]

My sister has been eating raw for about 2 years. She has never looked better & even her personality has changed (for the better). I think if you start by trying for, say, 50% raw, its easier than trying for 100% raw right away. That's what my sister did & she said the more she ate raw food, the less she wanted cooked food...like her taste for it went away!

[chielgirl]

Interesting topic.
I'm on day 2 of a 5-day liquid fast and toxin/colon cleansing.

It talks about the different diets and recommends that you only change by 1 at a time.
Here's the listing:

raw juices
raw food
vegan (no eggs/dairy)
macrobiotic
vegetarian (w/ eggs/dairy)
meat eater no processed foods
meat eater plus packaged processed foods.

Don't know if this helps at all, but I found it interesting.

I'm currently researching macrobiotic because I'm vegetarian and want to be healthier.

[PinkString]

Definitely ease into raw foods gradually. Some find the best combination is 60% raw to 40% vegan. Or 50-50. Find what works for you.
I tried the raw diet a few years ago, but I couldn't keep up with it totally. I still like hot soup now and then, plus steamed veggies and rice. So for me I do a combo of raw and vegan. It's easier in the hot weather to eat more raw foods, since they are so much in abundance and so much variety, and for me, I hate to cook when it's hot. And where I live, it's hot 7 months out of the year.

If you have the willpower to go 100% raw, and you need to lose weight, you can lose 50 lbs or more in just a few months. I heard this from a woman I know locally who ventured into raw foods to lose weight and lost that much in 3 months time. I know it can be done, because I once lost 60 lbs in a little over 3 months doing basically the same thing, although i hardly ate at all. So that's probably why i lost so much so soon.

There are some excellent books on the raw way of life at amazon. I have several. Try the 'The Raw Food Detox Diet' by Natalia Rose for one of the titles to look up. It takes you step by step away from the standard american diet and to raw living.
It's a 5 step plan for vibrant health and maximum weight loss.

[carrot juice]

Jack Lalanne says that exercise is even more important than food.

I have a hard time getting obsessed with all the food I eat, because in the end it becomes too impractical for me to sustain.

Most of the time, I just eat what I like. About four times a year, I drink Coke. It can be a great pick-me-up sometimes, and I just can't really eat pizza without a cold Coke.

I love veggies and salads and I try and avoid too much pasta and bread and sweet stuff.


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[carrot juice]

Okay, can we talk specifics?

I'd really like to hear from one of you raw folks, what a daily menu looks like? Can you write it out for us? I'm trying to get a clear idea of what a raw diet would look like.

Thanks,

Carrot

[Six Foot Three]

Jack Lalanne also eats lots of Egg Whites and usually has Fish everynight at Dinner.

He's one of my Hero's on this earth !!
Sports Review Magazine - Jack LaLanne is 92 and still going strong (http://sportsreviewmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1588 - broken link)