Hey guys, any raw foodists out there? I'm about to have a baby any day now and early on in my pregnancy I just couldn't eat cooked food anymore. So, I had to learn to eat raw vegan (going from meat eater to vegan isn't easy!). Eventually I was able to eat cooked again and sometimes I do (hey, whatever the baby wants the baby gets). And sometimes I tend to go all fruitarian (eating nothing but fruits and nuts). To be honest, I love being raw. Before I concieved you couldn't have talked me into being a vegan if you tried. But, I love it now. I'm not strictly raw and I mostly eat fruits and nuts still. I do try to be as raw as possible. I was just wondering how many other raw foodists are out there. What brought you to raw food? etc. And for those who are wondering, yes I am able to get enough nutrients and proteins for myself and the baby on just raw food. I used fitday.com to help me monitor everything at first till I got my bearings. *hugs to all*
I'd really like to go raw entirely. I'm went from Omnivore to Vegan in about two weeks over a year ago, and I guess it was easier for me than for others. Anyway, I'm trying to lean towards raw food now. Kale's great. Trying to get off of fake meat. Um... yea. Congrats on staying raw. Keep it up.
why do you wanna go all raw? I suppose it's possible to do so and maintain good health, but you'd be missing out on lots of nutritious vegetables such as broccoli, beetroot, parsnip, peas, squash, asparagus, cauliflower, pumpkin, sweet potato, brussel sprouts ...WAIT! That's it!!! You just want an excuse to not eat brussel sprouts! what about lentils? just be sure you get the "low down" on micronutrients you might be missing out on. There's some good stuff on this vegan site about B12, iron, etc. http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/raw_food.php (some raw food diet problems) http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/all http://www.veganhealth.org/ on protein:http://www.veganhealth.org/shv#proneeds "Vegans might not meet their protein needs, resulting in a loss of muscle mass and/or reduced immunity, if: 1. Food intake does not meet energy needs such as in cases of anorexia nervosa, depression, poverty, lack of appetite due to illness,3 or dieting. 2. Higher-protein plant foods are not included in sufficient amounts. This can happen if protein is believed to be unimportant and/or higher protein foods are avoided (such as in some fruitarian or raw food diets). Vegans get some of their protein and iron from grains and legumes, so if you're excluding these foods, you'll have to be extra careful.
I saw your name and I have to say i though *eek* but i found your post to be witty and informative... are you actually an omni? Anyway... From this post (the first one i mean) I have just realised that inadvertantly I am actually mainly a raw food ist. hadn't considered it before, I wonder if it's something I will move towards in the future... *ponders*
Why can't you eat that stuff while raw? I eat a ton of veggies raw. Broccoli, when marrinated, tastes really good raw. And I love putting squash in salads. Same with spinnach. Peas make a great snack. Just wash and eat, pod and all. The rest...well I wouldn't eat it while cooked let alone raw but that's personal opinion (except for sweat potato). Plus, there are raw food recipes that can include all of that. It's just about how they're prepared. I mean, you don't need to do special preparations but you can if you want. I've had raw cake, raw ice cream (not really ice cream since there wasn't any milk but it's really good), raw pate, raw potato chips (not quite as good as the greasy crud at the store but it worked), raw breads, etc. *sigh* You can get a ton of protein too. 1 cup of nuts usually has about the same amount of protein as a helping of meat. You just have to soak the nuts for about 8 hours first (makes them easier to digest and therefore more of the protein is useable by the body).
Yeah, I do eat "omni", but I shouldn't have used that name because people just assume I'm a flamer. Plenty of vegans and vegies have the low-down on nutrients, but some believe (and I was one of them about 15 years ago) that they can thrive on fruit and water, so I just like to give them some good info from vegan web sites. If I provide non-vegen or non-vegy sites, some will immediately dismiss it as hippy bashing
I've gotta admit, I struggled to come up with a lot of vegetables that I wouldn't eat raw. As I said at the end of that post, vegans and vegies get a lot of energy and nutrients from grains and legumes, so, excluding these (unless you can eat raw beans ), means the food options are further reduced. Despite my user name, I'm not a flamer..... Surely one of the points of a raw food or fuitarian eating plan is not to eat processed foods. Aren't these examples processed? What is "raw cake"? I wouldn't say you'd be getting a "tonne" of protein. If you're only getting protein from nuts, then the your amino acid range may be limited. One problem with the thoughts on protein is that you we often here vegans and vegies saying: "have you ever heard of anyone in the western world having a protein deficiency? This suggests that protein deficiencies are only associated with serious conditions, such as marasmus and kwashiorkor, but a protein deficiency can manifest itself as various things like poor immune fucntion. So, if someone is getting a lot of colds or throat infections, it could be partly caused by lack of protein. By the way, if you're soaking nuts, isn't that technically a form of processing? What if the water is slightly warm? Does that mean the nuts are cooked? What temperature does the water have to be before the "soaking" can be defined as "cooking"?
Yes and no. If by "processed" you mean put together than yes. However, that's not what most people consider processed. To me, "processed food" is food that has had things like preservatives and sugars added to it. Raw cake is simply cake that isn't cooked. It's made usually by using a food processor (not the same as processing the food, it's just like using a super blender) and maybe freezing it or using a dehydrator. "Cooked" doesn't mean "warm" btw. Warm water from the tap won't cook the food (in the case of soaking nuts for instance). For the food to become cooked it usually has to be heated to above 120 degrees F. At that point the food's properties change and it becomes, what most raw foodists consider, toxic. Yes, toxic. Your body protects against this by creating a mucus lining along your digestive tract. This keeps most of the toxins out but also some of the nutrients. Someone who has been raw for a while doesn't have this mucus protection because their bodies no longer need it. There are a lot of reasons why people go raw. Most raw foodists, if they're sure to get enough protein (yes, you can get plenty while raw), calcium, and nutrients (vitamins, minerals, etc) generally don't get sick. How hard is it to keep track of all of this? Not hard at all. BTW, I wouldn't be only getting protein from nuts. Every food has protein in it, just some more than others. And cooking the food doesn't give you more protein or nutrients. It just takes away from it. A raw lifestyle isn't for everyone. It takes dedication, desire, and a willingness to learn.
Hmmm....I'd like to see the science on these "toxins" being in all foods. I don't wanna get into a whole thing about about cooked food, but there is some VERY frightening stuff around about a nasty carcinogen called "acrylamide", which is found in starchy grains that are cooked at over 120 degrees C for (I think) more than 10 or 15 minutes. Acrylamides are, at the moment, thought the be the worst edible carcinogen! We previously thought that compounds in charred meats, and nitrites/nitrates, found in heavily processed meats were the worst, but now it looks like acrylamides. Unfortunately, this includes, most breads, rice cakes, breakfast cereals, and most baked products, such as cakes, doughnuts, buns, etc, etc
