Raw Vegan?

annakaren83
annakaren83 Posts: 4
edited November 7 in Health and Weight Loss
I am tempted to change my lifestyle and pursue a raw vegan/Raw-Till-4 plan. If you watch Freelee the Banana girl or keep up with Loni Jane, you'l notice these tiny women eat thousands and thousands of calories but are some of the most fit/slim women on the internet! Freelee encourages her followers to eat around 3000-4000 calories of carbs a day.

How does this diet work? Further, how long does it take to see results (clear/glowing skin, dropped pounds, etc.).

Replies

  • Mohana94
    Mohana94 Posts: 54
    Please do NOT follow Freelee's diet... she has no credentials and does not understand nutrition.

    If you do, Do NOT eat 3000-4000 calories a day. I know she loves to say that her diet is special because there are no calorie restrictions but that's bull****.

    For the 1st, 1 and a half years on her vegan diet she didn't lose much weight. After that, she actually cycled across Australia from Adelaide to the GoldCoast across Australia for 40 days and that's when the pounds dropped off. She was burning an a lot of calories everyday... Unless you want to quit your job or school and do that everyday. Freelee herself has said this. She even appeared in a newspaper for that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvsXf9q2vHs watch 4:16 onwards to 6:15 or you could just skip straight to 5:53 to see Freelee herself say it.

    She understates how much she exercises but I can guarantee that there is no way you can get abs like hers or arms like hers by exercising 3 times a week like she says she does and eating such a high calorie diet.

    She cycles everyday and jogs in the morning as well. If you notice she only has 2 meals a day. her lunch is usually very light like some dried banana chips..

    I really don't care about the 'rawtil4' diet. you can try it if you want to but everything should be eaten in moderation. 51 bananas a day on top of the coconut sugar and the coconut water she dumps in is insane. Do not aim for a 3000-4000 calorie diet. unless you exercise as much as Freelee does.

    This diet may not work for everyone the way it does for freelee.

    Don't go eating 51 bananas a day.

    I have nothing against raw vegan lifestyle. I just don't think you should be eating 3000-4000 cals like Freelee does and advocates.
  • Chain_Ring
    Chain_Ring Posts: 753 Member
    You should totally do it.
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    banana_despicable_me.gif
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Go for it. Who wouldn't want glowing skin, right?
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    I think she looks great and seems healthy (she gets B12 shots I believe to prevent that issue). But I find if I don't eat some seeds and nuts in there I get very foggy headed and very cranky and depressed very fast. I need more fat in my diet than some people seem to need. It's up to all of us individually to find the foods that work best for us: satisfy hunger, give energy, and improve mental and emotional well-being. So experiment with anything you want that isn't likely to put you in a pine box.
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    I always take fitness/health/nutrition advice from unqualified internet/youtube gurus. I also take advice from people who play doctors on TV.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    I always take fitness/health/nutrition advice from unqualified internet/youtube gurus. I also take advice from people who play doctors on TV.

    The only nutrition advice I'd take from a YouTube guru is Furious Pete. He can shotgun 2 family size bottles of yellow mustard in a sitting.
  • TheBrolympus
    TheBrolympus Posts: 586 Member
    You had me at
    watch Freelee the Banana girl
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    You had me at
    watch Freelee the Banana girl

    Now with improved gag reflex!
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    I always take fitness/health/nutrition advice from unqualified internet/youtube gurus. I also take advice from people who play doctors on TV.

    The only nutrition advice I'd take from a YouTube guru is Furious Pete. He can shotgun 2 family size bottles of yellow mustard in a sitting.

    Sounds like the run up to some interesting experimental paintings. With names like "Yellow Despair" And "Woman in Yellow" or if his aim is really good, "Yellow vase with Yellow Flower".
  • climbing_trees
    climbing_trees Posts: 726 Member
    Look into FullyRaw Kristina's recipes.
    They are all very delicious and have a good balance of veggies/fruit and nuts/seeds/fats.
    I love to eat her recipes, but I usually cut the portion size down quite a bit.

    I don't eat fully raw, or even raw till 4. But I love fresh fruits and vegetables, and I feel great when I eat lots of them.
    I try to fill my diet with loads of raw fruits and vegetables, but I will eat bread, grains, chocolate, etc too.

    I don't enjoy such a restrictive diet. (Freelee says garlic is poisonous .... wtf)

    But you should try it if you are interested, and change it up to find what makes you feel best ^__^
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    Sounds like a bad idea.
    But do it. And report back.
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    I went on a juice cleanse and diet for 19 days. The recipe was 4 celery stalks, kale, 2 granny smith apples, ginger root and half a lemon and a cucumber. I loved the energy and I never felt hungry. I felt the fat being sucked right out of my body. It was a great start to get me going and i am now continuing to juice some days when i get that starved i need to eat right NOW feeling. Its immediate nutrition and takes that feeling away immediately. Sounds crazy but true.

    Did you document this fat sucking phenomenon?
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Sounds like a fantastic diet for optimal macro and micronutrient balance.
  • Mohana94
    Mohana94 Posts: 54
    Look into FullyRaw Kristina's recipes.
    They are all very delicious and have a good balance of veggies/fruit and nuts/seeds/fats.
    I love to eat her recipes, but I usually cut the portion size down quite a bit.

    I don't eat fully raw, or even raw till 4. But I love fresh fruits and vegetables, and I feel great when I eat lots of them.
    I try to fill my diet with loads of raw fruits and vegetables, but I will eat bread, grains, chocolate, etc too.

    I don't enjoy such a restrictive diet. (Freelee says garlic is poisonous .... wtf)

    But you should try it if you are interested, and change it up to find what makes you feel best ^__^

    ^^ Yes I agree with this. Her meals are much more varied and they look delicious as well.
  • KandGRanch
    KandGRanch Posts: 131 Member
    I was on a RT4 group on Facebook for a small while. After reading about people buying PALLETS of mangoes and bananas every few days and eating a 5lb bag of potatoes for dinner I had to leave for my own sanity.

    FYI-anything that suggests you eat a meal consisting of 5+lbs of any single food cannot be sane.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    I went on a juice cleanse and diet for 19 days. The recipe was 4 celery stalks, kale, 2 granny smith apples, ginger root and half a lemon and a cucumber. I loved the energy and I never felt hungry. I felt the fat being sucked right out of my body. It was a great start to get me going and i am now continuing to juice some days when i get that starved i need to eat right NOW feeling. Its immediate nutrition and takes that feeling away immediately. Sounds crazy but true.

    Sounds legit

    YFW9tha.gif
  • RawIndian
    RawIndian Posts: 90 Member
    Start slow. First replace your breakfast with a fruit based smoothie. Give time for your body to adjust. After that gradually increase the fruit intake.

    I am on raw till 4 diet and about 75% of my calories come from fruits & veggies.

    I agree with all the benefits - glowing skin, weight loss, general upbeat in mood and overall feeling awesome!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    If you haven't noticed, the community isn't big on supporting crazy diets, (as noted with all the sarcastic answers, lol), especially when it's from a nut job on youtube. There is nothing wrong with going raw vegan, but if you do, you have to understand how to acquire the correct nutrients otherwise you will probably end up in the hospital with issues. Keep in mind, that outside of personal reasons, there is no benefit of going raw vegan from a weight loss perspective. You can gain and lose just as much weight on any lifestyle or diet.
  • JenD1066
    JenD1066 Posts: 298 Member
    Personally, I would say it depends on WHY you want to be a raw vegan. Weight loss alone certainly isn't a good enough reason for such a radical dietary choice. Raw food requires a lot of specialty equipment, food preparation is time consuming, and because most recipes are chock full of nuts and seeds, weight loss is not a given. And veganism itself is a lifestyle- not a diet.

    Internet celebrities aside, most raw foodists chose their diets as a way to combat a chronic health problem- (arthritis, IBS, Chrohn's, hormone imbalances, migraines, etc. ) or to reduce dependence on medications to deal with these issues. One would not be able to live their lives eating (as I've seen on YouTube) merely sacks of bananas or tubs of romaine.

    (By the way, I AM a raw vegan, have been for eight years now. My diary is open- feel free to look.)

    Regarding how long it took to notice changes- energy increases within a couple of weeks, my allergy symptoms decreased within 6-8 weeks, and after about a year my ophthalmologist confirmed that my eyesight had improved. I did not lose weight, however. That took calorie counting and exercise.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    If you haven't noticed, the community isn't big on supporting crazy diets, (as noted with all the sarcastic answers, lol), especially when it's from a nut job on youtube. There is nothing wrong with going raw vegan, but if you do, you have to understand how to acquire the correct nutrients otherwise you will probably end up in the hospital with issues. Keep in mind, that outside of personal reasons, there is no benefit of going raw vegan from a weight loss perspective. You can gain and lose just as much weight on any lifestyle or diet.

    I have the disagree - there are two benefits of only eating raw vegan as proposed in that quick go (nothing bad about balanced r. V) with regards to weight loss.
    - it's harder to go over calories when you've eaten 5 kg of spinach.
    - the resulting diarrhea and malabsorption issues will induce further weightloss.

    It's effective for weight loss. It's just a bad idea.
    (And I agree that raw vegan for work if that's your thing but you need to clearly understand nutritional elements. The publishers of that site have to regularly inject vitamins - something they've blogged about)
  • mommyrunning
    mommyrunning Posts: 495 Member
    I don't think there's anything wrong with eating raw vegan. However, the diet that is promoted by Freelee seems unhealthy and I think it's important to research the source if you are going to follow a diet. She has a history of eating disorders (not judging just mentioning this) and what she is doing seems like maybe another form of that. She also lost her period for 9 months which indicates this diet was probably harming her body. She probably started with good intentions but anytime someone is making money off of their advice it's important to remember that they could be biased or not sharing all the facts. You could probably get similar results that are less harmful to your body by eating a balanced raw vegan diet (as opposed to eating dozens of bananas for a meal as she does) and exercising on a regular basis. Good luck on your journey.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    If you haven't noticed, the community isn't big on supporting crazy diets, (as noted with all the sarcastic answers, lol), especially when it's from a nut job on youtube. There is nothing wrong with going raw vegan, but if you do, you have to understand how to acquire the correct nutrients otherwise you will probably end up in the hospital with issues. Keep in mind, that outside of personal reasons, there is no benefit of going raw vegan from a weight loss perspective. You can gain and lose just as much weight on any lifestyle or diet.

    But Psulemon, it was on the internet! They can't say stuff that isn't true on the internet! :wink:
  • lyndsayfletch
    lyndsayfletch Posts: 26 Member
    Mohana94 wrote: »
    Look into FullyRaw Kristina's recipes.
    They are all very delicious and have a good balance of veggies/fruit and nuts/seeds/fats.
    I love to eat her recipes, but I usually cut the portion size down quite a bit.

    I don't eat fully raw, or even raw till 4. But I love fresh fruits and vegetables, and I feel great when I eat lots of them.
    I try to fill my diet with loads of raw fruits and vegetables, but I will eat bread, grains, chocolate, etc too.

    I don't enjoy such a restrictive diet. (Freelee says garlic is poisonous .... wtf)

    But you should try it if you are interested, and change it up to find what makes you feel best ^__^

    ^^ Yes I agree with this. Her meals are much more varied and they look delicious as well.

    Omg I love her!! Had her zucchini noodles with avocado pesto last night.....soooo good!!!
  • vytautegudelyte00
    vytautegudelyte00 Posts: 3 Member
    Hey guys, as I see a lot of people here are up to date with raw veganism? I actually want to ask if anyone actually had problems with it? I'm personally not so healthy (in illness matter) what means i need to take daily thyroid medicine and also some for allergies. .. yet today i had a complete meltdown, in a way that i was actually almos fainting. .. now I'm having a cold now and was sleeping more than normal and was probably a bit dehydrated. ... yet still i wanted to know if anyone actually had any problems with raw food lifestyle?
    Thanks a lot
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    51 bananas? Holy crap, that's a lot of potassium and sugar... Do monkeys even eat that many?
    And how can one afford that many bananas? :open_mouth:
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    If you haven't noticed, the community isn't big on supporting crazy diets, (as noted with all the sarcastic answers, lol), especially when it's from a nut job on youtube. There is nothing wrong with going raw vegan, but if you do, you have to understand how to acquire the correct nutrients otherwise you will probably end up in the hospital with issues. Keep in mind, that outside of personal reasons, there is no benefit of going raw vegan from a weight loss perspective. You can gain and lose just as much weight on any lifestyle or diet.

    Yeah, that was basically what I came to say.

    If you have other lifestyle reasons you want to be raw vegan, well sure, you can make it work, but if your only goal is weight loss, skip that.

    The best diet is the one you can stick to. Rather than try to worry about whether you get enough B12, or whether you're eating a complete protein profile, etc. that you have to do to be healthy on a raw vegan diet, take the diet you currently have and add one restriction (a calorie limit). Don't make things harder on yourself than you absolutely must.
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