Raw food diet is dangerous! frustrated!

bumpkinz

What a nightmare this last diet has been. There is a reason I never do these things. I have lost 10 lbs but now I am no longer getting my time of the month. I think it is because I did the raw food diet AND stuck to only 1200 calories a day AND did cardio and/or strength training everyday without factoring in the calories lost from that. My body will not lose anymore weight this way and it thinks I am starving. This week I started eating more and will continue to do so...

Just wanted to rant and warn people about the dangers of the raw food diet. I was very stupid thinking I could go on 1200 calories. DO NOT make my mistake. I am only mid twenties I am afraid my reproductive future may be compromised.

Achrya

How did you eat 1200 calories on the raw food diet? I could never eat 1200 calories of just fruit and veg. I guess there are nuts too tho..?

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caesar164

What a nightmare this last diet has been. There is a reason I never do these things. I have lost 10 lbs but now I am no longer getting my time of the month. I think it is because I did the raw food diet AND stuck to only 1200 calories a day AND did cardio and/or strength training everyday without factoring in the calories lost from that. My body will not lose anymore weight this way and it thinks I am starving. This week I started eating more and will continue to do so...

Just wanted to rant and warn people about the dangers of the raw food diet. I was very stupid thinking I could go on 1200 calories. DO NOT make my mistake. I am only mid twenties I am afraid my reproductive future may be compromised.

I'm sure you will recover, the human body is very resilient... Have you started logging?

neandermagnon

the raw food diet is nutritionally unbalanced, as cooking makes some nutrients more bioavailable.

some foods are healthier eaten raw, as some nutrients are denatured by the heat involved in cooking. These foods tend to be ones that are generally undereaten in standard western diets, such as fruits and vegetables. Many of them (though not all) are more nutritious when eaten raw. The inclusion of more raw fruits and veggies would benefit a lot of people's health. Also, a lot of oils are better eaten raw or only lightly cooked as some of the nutrients in oil are easily lost with heat. Vegetable oils used for salads etc should be cold-pressed. Oily fish (and fish in general) should be cooked very carefully (for taste too, not just nutrition). Sushi's probably good for the same reason (i.e. not cooked, so some nutrients in the oils are preserved). Use cheap oil for frying (no point buying cold pressed extra virgin expensive oils then using them for frying and basically destroying all the nutrients) - of course you need to be careful about portion control for fried foods, I use minimal oil for frying so as not to waste calories on it.

However, you don't need to go 100% raw to get these benefits.... cooking is not the devil and it improves the bioavailability of some foods, for example tomatoes (there's a compound in cooked tomato that has a strong protective effect against cancer, but you don't get it easily from raw tomato)... some foods for health reasons should be cooked, e.g. meat, potatoes, beans, lentils.

You can get all the benefits of raw foods without any of the risks by being selective about which foods you cook and which foods you eat raw, and making an effort to include more raw fruit, veg and the right kinds of oils in your diet... being careful not to overcook fish and some fruits/veg... overcooked veg tastes gross and you do lose vitamins... lightly steam or boil for a short time if you don't want to eat it raw..... then eat other foods like meat, potatoes, beans and lentils cooked.... and tomatoes personally I eat the actual tomatoes raw but cook a lot of food with tomato puree (for that compound, as I like the taste of both cooked and raw tomato... I just eat loads of tomato lol..)

Also, 1200 calories plus all that exercise is not healthy, even if you switch from a raw food diet to a more balanced one, you still need to eat enough calories to support your body and your workouts. Most young women who are active and workout regularly find they can eat much more calories, more like 1800-2000 a day (depending on their size) and still lose weight... some women because of their really high activity can lose weight on quite a bit more than this. Too big a deficit is counterproductive and can be unhealthy in the long term.

Also, when you start eating cooked food again, take it slowly... especially if you've not been getting much fat in your diet... increase these foods slowly as suddenly eating a lot of these foods after hardly eating them at all for a while, can cause some digestive issues. So introduce them slowly, and also slowly increase the total number of calories you're eating.

daterminedfatburnerX

On the raw diet you can eat as many calories as you want! I don't know who told you that you only needed 1200

snazzyjazzy21

On the raw diet you can eat as many calories as you want! I don't know who told you that you only needed 1200

Sure, if you want to gain weight. Eating raw food doesn't exclude you from weight gain. Calories in, calories out.

Zombielicious

I don't think you can completely blame a raw food diet and call it dangerous when that wasn't the only factor in your situation.

"I think it is because I did the raw food diet AND stuck to only 1200 calories a day AND did cardio and/or strength training everyday without factoring in the calories lost from that."

neandermagnon

On the raw diet you can eat as many calories as you want! I don't know who told you that you only needed 1200

Not true. There is no diet where you can eat as many calories as you want. Fat loss only happens when you're in calorie deficit. If you're in calorie surplus you'll gain fat, no matter whether the food is cooked or raw, or whether it's from plant foods or animal foods, or whether it's foods commonly considered as "clean" or not.

BaconMD

Yes, raw food diets can be very dangerous! I strongly advise everyone to not eat raw chicken.

CassieJohnson68

Do not eat raw food except for raw fruits and vegetables.

paperpudding

^ raw nuts are ok

have known some people to eat raw eggs - wouldn't do it myself admittedly.

KerrymBurgess

The same happened to me on a 1200 calories a day diet but as soon as I reintroduced fat into my diet my cycle recovered!

suzieqcookie

i wasn't doing the raw food diet, was eating 1700 per day and STILL stopped getting my cycle for 5 months. Some bodies just don't seem to appreciate the change.

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Mof3wc

What a nightmare this last diet has been. There is a reason I never do these things. I have lost 10 lbs but now I am no longer getting my time of the month. I think it is because I did the raw food diet AND stuck to only 1200 calories a day AND did cardio and/or strength training everyday without factoring in the calories lost from that. My body will not lose anymore weight this way and it thinks I am starving. This week I started eating more and will continue to do so...

Just wanted to rant and warn people about the dangers of the raw food diet. I was very stupid thinking I could go on 1200 calories. DO NOT make my mistake. I am only mid twenties I am afraid my reproductive future may be compromised.

Did you log everything you ate? Just curious because some of the days in your diary only have 800 for the whole day. If that's all you ate, plus worked out, of course you didn't feel well.

cwolfman13

I personally think doing an all raw diet is rather asinine but done correctly it isn't dangerous. My guess is that you neglected your fat intake...you should have been eating plenty of nuts, avocados, olives, etc for fat. I would personally be eating a lot of raw fish for protein as well.

To do something like this, you need to have a fair bit of nutritional knowledge and know how to get that nutrition from various things. Problem is that when the average Joe/Jane thinks "healthy" they tend to think only veg and fruit and there's just way more to proper nutrition than veggies and fruit.

My guess would be that your lack of nutritional knowledge combined with a very aggressive calorie deficit combined with excessive amounts of exercise are what caused this issue, not the actual raw diet itself. But like I said, I think it's pretty asinine anyway.

asdowe13

^ raw nuts are ok

have known some people to eat raw eggs - wouldn't do it myself admittedly.

Raw eggs sound crunchy!

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Jess__I__Can

i wasn't doing the raw food diet, was eating 1700 per day and STILL stopped getting my cycle for 5 months. Some bodies just don't seem to appreciate the change.

I stopped getting my cycle when my scale topped 260, and came back as the scale got back down to 250; I went over a year without a cycle.

ValerieMartini2Olives

just 2 months ago you were raving about it http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1259761-tips-about-going-raw?page=2

gonna bet it is more about the 1200 calories over the raw food

Sabine_Stroehm

I don't think you can completely blame a raw food diet and call it dangerous when that wasn't the only factor in your situation.

"I think it is because I did the raw food diet AND stuck to only 1200 calories a day AND did cardio and/or strength training everyday without factoring in the calories lost from that."

This. You have very little to lose. You ate a wildly UNbalanced diet (not enough calories, no fat, very little protein). Bad things happened. Now you can fix it.

Kanuenue

A raw food diet is not dangerous. A 1200 calorie diet plus overexercising is dangerous tho. But there is nothing inherently dangerous about raw food, especially if you plan your meals- which is recommended for any diet ("diet" as the biological term to describe a food plan, not a weight loss plan necessarily) to ensure a balance of nutrients. If you did a vegan diet, additional care is needed, but it is not dangerous. A bit of research goes a long way.

I eat 2500-3000 calories on my fully raw food days depending on if I work out. On my 75% raw (Rt4) I eat around 2300. I meet my micro-nutrients only because of the amount of calories I consume and planning. Failing to plan, is planning to fail. I don't think you planned well.

It appears as though you crash dieted and over exercised. Bummer. That's really unhealthy, I don't know why you thought that was a good idea. Fix it by not crash dieting and stop expecting overnight results. Good luck, honestly, I hope things get better for you.

mommyrunning

It is more likely the low calories and lots of exercise stopped your cycle as opposed to the raw diet.

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SnuggleSmacks

It is more likely the low calories and lots of exercise stopped your cycle as opposed to the raw diet.

I'm pretty sure the low calories are directly related to the raw diet. So your statement really doesn't make sense.

In other words, the fact that the food was raw was not the problem. Any diet with extremely low net calories and extremely low dietary fat and protein could have caused the same symptoms.

mommyrunning

It is more likely the low calories and lots of exercise stopped your cycle as opposed to the raw diet.

I'm pretty sure the low calories are directly related to the raw diet. So your statement really doesn't make sense.

What I am saying is the actual foods probably weren't the problem but the low calorie intake and exercise probably were

mommyrunning

It is more likely the low calories and lots of exercise stopped your cycle as opposed to the raw diet.

I'm pretty sure the low calories are directly related to the raw diet. So your statement really doesn't make sense.

In other words, the fact that the food was raw was not the problem. Any diet with extremely low net calories and extremely low dietary fat and protein could have caused the same symptoms.

Thank you

bumpkinz

Smoothie every morning with chia seeds, avocados included regularly, lots of fruit and yes nuts pack the calories in big time!

bumpkinz

I just overworked myself. I think I am going to take a break from losing and just focus on eating whenever I am hungry but I will still eat a ton of fruits and veggies (raw and cooked) but include healthy oils and quinoa and rice. We will see how that goes...

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