Comments on Cranky Fitness: Update on the Raw Food Diet

Would you reccomend this diet for a 16 year old da...

2009-01-11T23:11:00.001-05:00

Would you reccomend this diet for a 16 year old dancer? Like will I have enough energy to dance?

Would you reccomend this diet for a 16 year old da...

2009-01-11T23:11:00.000-05:00

Would you reccomend this diet for a 16 year old dancer? Like will I have enough energy to dance?

Yay! on the skinny jeans...cuz well ya know :-)

2008-11-13T16:45:00.000-05:00

Yay! on the skinny jeans...cuz well ya know :-)

Here's my "fancy homemade juice" I enjoy just abou...

2008-11-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

Here's my "fancy homemade juice" I enjoy just about every morning:

1 head Romaine lettuce
2 cukes
1 Fuji apple
handful of sweet pea sprouts
1/2 inch fresh ginger root

Total time, start to finish, including clean-up: 5 minutes!

Merry - I guess that doesn't sound so bad...the ra...

2008-11-12T17:35:00.000-05:00

Merry - I guess that doesn't sound so bad...the raw food diet plans and testimonials I've heard always involve fancy homemade juices, smoothies, etc. Maybe I'll give it a try after all, although I already eat a lot of raw food to begin with so I'd just be replacing non-raw foods with more fruits and veggies. Hmmmm...now I'm intrigued.

Transitional.No junk...smaller portions...no junkl...

2008-11-12T15:29:00.000-05:00

Transitional.
No junk...smaller portions...no junklate at night.
Bit by bit.
Even now when I splurge, it's usually way more healthy than before.
I don't think I could go all raw...I need muffins to live.

Ami? I'm puzzled. Probably it's the lack of sleep,...

2008-11-12T15:23:00.000-05:00

Ami? I'm puzzled. Probably it's the lack of sleep, but I don't see why you feel a raw diet takes a lot of preparation.
The reason I ended up going this route was that I needed to go mostly vegetarian and I didn't have time to do anything else.
I went to the store once a week and bought food that I didn't need to do anything to except wash: apples, carrots, things like that. The most prep work I did was to slice a bell pepper up while at my desk.
I'm curious what sort of preparation you undertook. Maybe I was going about this the wrong way?

Eating raw foods is very beneficial if you are try...

2008-11-12T14:15:00.000-05:00

Eating raw foods is very beneficial if you are trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy diet. I don't know about long term though? I think for the most part we can eat just about anything we want as long as its in moderation!

Raw food diets take so much preparation and planni...

2008-11-12T13:54:00.000-05:00

Raw food diets take so much preparation and planning that I don't think I'd be very successful at it with my current schedule.

I've pretty much tried some version of every diet out there, though, and in the end I've settled with listening to my body, making healthy choices most of the time and enjoying the other stuff in moderation. In general, I eat a lot of fruits and veggies and try to avoid processed foods. I try not to beat myself up if I have one or two (or a dozen) not-so-healthy days. And if I lose a few pounds along the way, well that's great, too.

In the past I've had to fully commit to a diet right away or I'd get discouraged. Eventually, I'd find that commitment too restrictive and would end up going back to my old habits. That's why I've started trying things in the opposite order. Gradual change -> long-term habit. This was a great post and you really got me thinking about trying to adjust my diet to include more raw (natural state, as earthmother puts it) foods and less processed/cooked foods.

i just had lunch with a girlfriend who has fibromy...

2008-11-12T12:16:00.000-05:00

i just had lunch with a girlfriend who has fibromyalgia - she went raw and was able to get off of more than 30 pills and pain meds a day. Amazing! But I don't know if I could do it, unless the circumstances were dire.

Thanks Merry!!The study was a surprise to me too, ...

2008-11-12T11:49:00.000-05:00

Thanks Merry!!

The study was a surprise to me too, but makes sense. My background is ecological nit ch and evolution biology before I went to doctor schools.

I started out by sticking to my diet's guidelines ...

2008-11-12T04:42:00.000-05:00

I started out by sticking to my diet's guidelines EXACTLY. Then I realized that I would never be able to keep it up, so, after a couple of weeks of it, I started treating myself once in a while, and I'm still losing.

Oh, Earthmother, I'm with you on the no-raw-fish m...

2008-11-12T03:49:00.000-05:00

Oh, Earthmother, I'm with you on the no-raw-fish movement. I've taken too many microbiology courses to enjoy even the thought of sushi.
Congratulations on the successful transition to a healthy diet.
Where are all the insomniacs of the world? Surely I can't be the only person who's on an insane sleep cycle right now ... can I?
Really? You're all snoozing right now? Well I must say I am impressed.b

I was weaned on chicken paprikash (with dumplings,...

2008-11-11T20:11:00.000-05:00

I was weaned on chicken paprikash (with dumplings, of course) and stuffed cabbage. BIG Hungarian meals and a proud member of The Clean Plate Club.

After I left home, who could be bothered with cooking? 'Comes in a box and can be nuked in the micro' became my staple diet. I racked up frequent flyer miles at the drive-thru windows.

Four months ago, I began transitioning to a raw foods diet. I've learned that can mean 10 different things to 10 different people. For me, it means eating food in its natural state, not refined, not processed. That means, I consume a primarily plant-based diet, consisting of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts.

The changes in my health have been nothing short of amazing, and I've kicked over 60 pounds to the curb along the way.

Like you, Merry, I don't crave meat or heavy foods any more. I still have a thing for wild Alaskan salmon though. And, I like mine grilled, not raw, thank you.

I'm a slow learner. It's taken decades for me to s...

2008-11-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

I'm a slow learner. It's taken decades for me to slow myself down enough to learn what feels good for me to eat, and at last I'm attaining a healthy sustainable body! In the past 2 years--since the real glory days of my premenopause--I've tuned in & step by step quit wheat, most wine, most dairy, drastically reduced red meat and added soy. The trick for that last one was to find really delicious soy yogurt. Worth the effort!
I'd be willing to try 90% raw but my dear SO not so much.
Nancy

Dr. J, that is a cool article. I want to read more...

2008-11-11T15:57:00.000-05:00

Dr. J, that is a cool article. I want to read more on that subject.

Also, I liked your peer pressure blog. Don't blame you for getting miffed. I know I would get tired of answering those same questions over and over again!

FYI, buddy :-)http://www.newscientist.com/article/...

2008-11-11T14:22:00.000-05:00

FYI, buddy :-)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7035

Monica, have you read Dr. J's recent column on thi...

2008-11-11T14:19:00.000-05:00

Monica, have you read Dr. J's recent column on this subject? It's a good read, addressing the whole eating peer pressure thing:

http://calorielab.com/news/2008/11/07/healthy-decisions-peer-pressure/#more-2942

I'm in awe of your willpower. 30-day plans never w...

2008-11-11T14:18:00.000-05:00

I'm in awe of your willpower. 30-day plans never work for me because I don't fully commit to the values.

It's funny--I've actually been thinking about this...

2008-11-11T13:54:00.000-05:00

It's funny--I've actually been thinking about this lately. I think the way I eat is 'normal', but I'm coming to realize it isn't. Lately I have been constantly getting comments on how healthy I eat at work--and for some reason, they are often said with a sense of criticism that I just cannot understand (I don't comment on the fact that you eat fast food everyday, eventhough i see that as unimaginable, so please don't make comments to me because my rice and veggies or fruit don't appeal to you).

While I don't think of myself as an overly healthy eater, I do go for all whole grains and lots of veggies and fruit and very little red meat or fried foods. I try to cook as much as possible and rarely eat fast food or drink sodas. Why do I do these things? Lots of reasons--it was how I was raised, so to me it's just habit; I love my body and want to take care of it; it's much cheaper to cook at home than eat out; fried and greasy foods just don't appeal to me; and, on the occasion I'm craving something really rich or fatty, I go ahead and eat it--the result of which is that I usually don't enjoy it nearly as much as I thought I would, so I'm not really tempted again for awhile; when you don't eat a lot of fatty foods, they tend to make you feel icky when you do.

Oh, but my number one rule is to NEVER beat myself up or feel bad about anything I eat! It drives me crazy for a coworker to bring in cookies or fudge to share and get the evil eye from others. Are you kidding me?! These things are delicious, yummy treats and should be treated as such (which includes treating yourself to them in moderation, but also enjoying them when you do).

OK...that was long, but this has just happened to be on my mind lately.

I am not a member of the long-time-healthy-eating ...

2008-11-11T13:14:00.000-05:00

I am not a member of the long-time-healthy-eating echelon. By most standards, I wouldn't even rank with the semi-healthy echelon. Despite the fact that I'm no longer gorging on King-sized Reese's PB cups, I still eat processed and convenience foods.

At times in the past I dove headfirst into new diets, but I'm a bit more tentative now. I've joined Weight Watchers but am allowing myself to play around with the program if I need to ;).

Im a straightinto'er.like ripping off a bandaid I ...

2008-11-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

Im a straightinto'er.

like ripping off a bandaid I had to do it all at once :)

This is all great reading for somebody who has a g...

2008-11-11T12:53:00.000-05:00

This is all great reading for somebody who has a goal of losing about 15 pounds gradually over the next two years. Or sooner...I wouldn't mind that.

I can say that sodas and other sugary drinks have almost no appeal for me, thank goodness. (I might have a Coke once a year.) That's about the only really good thing about my eating habits that I can think of, though.

When I started my quest for healthy living, I did ...

2008-11-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

When I started my quest for healthy living, I did WW pretty religiously. Now I lean more towards intuitive eating - eating whatever I want, basically, but paying attention to things like hunger & fullness signals.

There are some really good raw restaurants and "un...

2008-11-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

There are some really good raw restaurants and "un"-cookbooks out there. One of my favorite places is called Soulstice Cafe, which is raw, vegan, and gluten free. (It's also in the lobby of one of the gyms I teach at-CONVENIENT!). The food is terrific, but heavy on the prep work. I know that right now I'm not in a position to eat that way all or most of the time, nor can I afford the equipment.
But it is possible to eat a varied diet and keep it healthy, IMHO.