Raw Food Diet

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jdenig
jdenig Posts: 26
in Food and Nutrition
Recently, a friend of mine completed 30 days of a Raw Food only diet. She lost over 18 pounds while still packing on the muscle working out 5 days a week doing cardio and strength training/lifting. She said that she has never felt more healthy in her entire life.

I am considering doing this and would appreciate any feedback I can get on the benefits or drawbacks to this type of diet.

Thank you for your time, in advance!
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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,619 Member
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    Recently, a friend of mine completed 30 days of a Raw Food only diet. She lost over 18 pounds while still packing on the muscle working out 5 days a week doing cardio and strength training/lifting. She said that she has never felt more healthy in her entire life.

    I am considering doing this and would appreciate any feedback I can get on the benefits or drawbacks to this type of diet.

    Thank you for your time, in advance!
    Well you don't pack on muscle while losing weight. You can "see" definition which is perceived as building muscle, but to build muscle means calorie surplus (weight gain) and not calorie deficit (weight loss). Now could she feel better because she's 18lbs lighter or now has a better metabolism from exercising (which does raises dopamine which is a pleasure effect hormone)?
    That said, unless you're willing to eat that way the REST OF YOUR LIFE, then it's usually going to be a temporary fix like any other diet.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • meagan1106
    meagan1106 Posts: 4
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    Eating raw foods is great. When fruits and veggies are eaten raw, you aren't cooking the nutrients out of them!
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
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    Recently, a friend of mine completed 30 days of a Raw Food only diet. She lost over 18 pounds while still packing on the muscle working out 5 days a week doing cardio and strength training/lifting. She said that she has never felt more healthy in her entire life.

    I am considering doing this and would appreciate any feedback I can get on the benefits or drawbacks to this type of diet.

    Thank you for your time, in advance!
    Well you don't pack on muscle while losing weight. You can "see" definition which is perceived as building muscle, but to build muscle means calorie surplus (weight gain) and not calorie deficit (weight loss). Now could she feel better because she's 18lbs lighter or now has a better metabolism from exercising (which does raises dopamine which is a pleasure effect hormone)?
    That said, unless you're willing to eat that way the REST OF YOUR LIFE, then it's usually going to be a temporary fix like any other diet.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Yes to all of this.
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    I eat cookies, pizza, bread, etc. and I lost weight just fine. It's just another gimmick to make you eat fewer calories.
  • fooninie
    fooninie Posts: 291 Member
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    I eat cookies, pizza, bread, etc. and I lost weight just fine. It's just another gimmick to make you eat fewer calories.

    Well said...and have you seen the profile pic? AWESOME! Also, I agree with the comment about temporary unless you are going to eat this way forever (and some people do).
  • jdenig
    jdenig Posts: 26
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    She's always been active and exercised regularly before she started this diet. She considers it more of a lifestyle change as she will incorporate a lot of what she has learned about her body into her future meals and lifestyle. If I do this, it would be the same for me, as I fear I would pack back on the pounds if I switched back full force into my regular diet. I think she feels better because she is only consumer all natural raw, healthy foods. I plan on trying some of these things just for breakfast and lunch and eat a regular dinner to better manage my cravings to cooked food.
  • SusanB148
    SusanB148 Posts: 72 Member
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    While I have not done a raw food diet, I do try to incorporate some raw food into my diet every day.

    Even if you don't plan to eat only raw food forever, I can see how it could be helpful to eat raw for X number of days just to experience how many great foods you can eat raw, and help you make better food choices in the future. I can also see how doing something like that could help you lose your cravings for processed foods, and make healthy eating easier. Just make sure you get enough calories, protein, etc in to keep your body healthy!
  • jdenig
    jdenig Posts: 26
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    Also, if I were to do this and get to my goal weight, would it be easier to maintain? I seem to be stuck at a plateau now and it's frustrating to me. I thought if I got there with this diet then I could work from their to maintain my goal weight....
  • jdenig
    jdenig Posts: 26
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    That's my plan! I want to start this to know what I like that is raw and the different things I can have that are packed with protein and good for you nutrients. I want to re-learn what my favorite foods are and replace pizza with fresh avocado salad, etc. I think if I were to eat "clean" for X number of days and see those kind of results I would be less inclined to pick back up any old habits. Old habits die hard, but they DO die!
  • jdenig
    jdenig Posts: 26
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    While I have not done a raw food diet, I do try to incorporate some raw food into my diet every day.

    Even if you don't plan to eat only raw food forever, I can see how it could be helpful to eat raw for X number of days just to experience how many great foods you can eat raw, and help you make better food choices in the future. I can also see how doing something like that could help you lose your cravings for processed foods, and make healthy eating easier. Just make sure you get enough calories, protein, etc in to keep your body healthy!

    That's my plan! I want to start this to know what I like that is raw and the different things I can have that are packed with protein and good for you nutrients. I want to re-learn what my favorite foods are and replace pizza with fresh avocado salad, etc. I think if I were to eat "clean" for X number of days and see those kind of results I would be less inclined to pick back up any old habits. Old habits die hard, but they DO die!
  • SusanB148
    SusanB148 Posts: 72 Member
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    I just noticed there are some raw food groups on My Fitness Pal, so if you decide to eat mostly raw, you might want to check them out for recipes and ideas.

    Personally, the less I have to do to food, the more likely I am to prepare it instead of grabbing something that's pre-packaged.

    I tried doing one freshly made green smoothie meal a day for a while, and still do sometimes, but I know when my schedule gets busy, I am better off buying organic pre-bottled green smoothies or juice in the produce section of the local supermarket because I know I won't take time to make it from scratch.
  • jdenig
    jdenig Posts: 26
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    I just noticed there are some raw food groups on My Fitness Pal, so if you decide to eat mostly raw, you might want to check them out for recipes and ideas.

    Personally, the less I have to do to food, the more likely I am to prepare it instead of grabbing something that's pre-packaged.

    I tried doing one freshly made green smoothie meal a day for a while, and still do sometimes, but I know when my schedule gets busy, I am better off buying organic pre-bottled green smoothies or juice in the produce section of the local supermarket because I know I won't take time to make it from scratch.

    I am worried about the time consumption of this diet myself, with a 1.5 year old, house for sale and a new house to work on I am afraid I will get lazy and go back to my old ways. Ugh. Its a tough decision and thanks for the tip on the raw food groups!
  • SusanB148
    SusanB148 Posts: 72 Member
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    There might be some ideas you can use here:

    http://www.trulyrawdiet.com/blog/374/raw-food-recipes-for-kids/
  • CookNLift
    CookNLift Posts: 3,660 Member
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    I eat tons and tons of raw chicken. Plenty of protein. lol

    But on a serious note, I wish I could eat raw veggies. I can't get myself to eat raw broccoli unless I have ranch or honey mustard to dip it into or if it's in a savory smoothie. More power to you if you can, I can't imagine ONLY eating raw vegetables and fruits though, as it would get fairly boring after a while.
  • Metallux
    Metallux Posts: 117 Member
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    I'd be really suspicious about how "great" anyone would feel losing 18 pounds in 30 days. I think a raw food diet is actually amazing, and went for about 5 days 100% raw. But unless you are already building up to it quite a bit, eating extremely clean, maybe already at 80% raw, you will probably have a train wreck of a time. shedding fat releases all kinds of things into the body, like sequestered toxins and estrogen. not to mention rapidly losing weight at 4 pounds a week would be really hard for your body to process, unless you have a lot of weight to lose like 100 pounds. I think you'd just be a cranky, sick, hormonal mess. My 5 days started out great, but I ended up breaking out in hives, having migraines, could barely get out of bed. for whatever reasons, (detox, not enough protein, not enough calories, food allergy perhaps) it was just too radical a change on my body.

    Raw food diet is great, but you need to build up to it, slowly and reliably. If only for slowly detoxing whatever is lurking in fat deposits.
  • callieboom
    callieboom Posts: 30
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    I ate raw for a a few months & I really loved it. I didn't do it to lose weight (although that was a side effect, however I wasn't overweight at the time so only lost a few pounds) - I just did it out of interest. I had lots and lots of energy while doing it, although the first week was kind of tough and I felt tired for a while, but after that my energy levels went through the roof! Also my skin cleared up dramatically (I have really bad eczema) and it helped with other troubles I was having (I have problems with digesting food, it can tie my insides in knots).

    I don't do it any more but I still eat a lot of raw food and make some of my favourite raw recipes from when I was doing it (my favourite being a carrot & courgette 'linguine', where you ribbon the veggies and then make a kind of pesto to stir in, with avocado and tomatoes chopped up into it, yummmm).

    I would suggest maybe just experimenting with incorporating some raw dishes into your meal plans, if you try to go flat out (and are specifically doing it to lose weight) you are probably going to be more likely to binge because you're restricting yourself.
  • SusanB148
    SusanB148 Posts: 72 Member
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    My suggestion is starting with one raw meal a day, or maybe one green smoothie meal a day and gradually adding more raw food into your diet.
  • jdenig
    jdenig Posts: 26
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    I'd be really suspicious about how "great" anyone would feel losing 18 pounds in 30 days. I think a raw food diet is actually amazing, and went for about 5 days 100% raw. But unless you are already building up to it quite a bit, eating extremely clean, maybe already at 80% raw, you will probably have a train wreck of a time. shedding fat releases all kinds of things into the body, like sequestered toxins and estrogen. not to mention rapidly losing weight at 4 pounds a week would be really hard for your body to process, unless you have a lot of weight to lose like 100 pounds. I think you'd just be a cranky, sick, hormonal mess. My 5 days started out great, but I ended up breaking out in hives, having migraines, could barely get out of bed. for whatever reasons, (detox, not enough protein, not enough calories, food allergy perhaps) it was just too radical a change on my body.

    Raw food diet is great, but you need to build up to it, slowly and reliably. If only for slowly detoxing whatever is lurking in fat deposits.

    I thought that would happen to her because she didn't go into it gradually, just started one day and she never had any adverse side effects. But something to keep in mind! Thanks for your input!
  • jdenig
    jdenig Posts: 26
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    I ate raw for a a few months & I really loved it. I didn't do it to lose weight (although that was a side effect, however I wasn't overweight at the time so only lost a few pounds) - I just did it out of interest. I had lots and lots of energy while doing it, although the first week was kind of tough and I felt tired for a while, but after that my energy levels went through the roof! Also my skin cleared up dramatically (I have really bad eczema) and it helped with other troubles I was having (I have problems with digesting food, it can tie my insides in knots).

    I don't do it any more but I still eat a lot of raw food and make some of my favourite raw recipes from when I was doing it (my favourite being a carrot & courgette 'linguine', where you ribbon the veggies and then make a kind of pesto to stir in, with avocado and tomatoes chopped up into it, yummmm).

    I would suggest maybe just experimenting with incorporating some raw dishes into your meal plans, if you try to go flat out (and are specifically doing it to lose weight) you are probably going to be more likely to binge because you're restricting yourself.

    That's what my friend said, the first 4-5 days she went through a slump with caffeine withdrawals but after she made it to day 6 she was full of energy and feeling fantastic. I think she lost so much weight doing it because she put in intense workouts because of her energy level. She started at my weight of 138 and is now past her goal weight but over 5 lbs.
  • HideyoshiKinoshita
    HideyoshiKinoshita Posts: 46 Member
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    I don't have much to say on this but unless you plan on only ever doing this for the rest of your life it's only really a temporary thing. Maybe I just don't understand, but I don't think diets work. Only lifestyle changes. :o

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