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rawcanadian
Raw Newbie
Now that I have lost 20lbs, i think i want to slow down my weight loss for a while.
I'm sitting at 6'2" and 185lbs.
Ok how do i up my calories without added nuts and extra fruit and cooked meals?????
Is there some easy way because salads are low in cals and nuts are high in fats.
I was looking at the nutrition info of 1 cup of chopped nuts, looks like 70+ grams of fat and close to 900cals would do it, but the fat is so high.
I'm looking for something filling, not really a smoothie. Once in a while smoothies are fine, but again, are smoothies really natural??
Not sure about adding extra fruit, is 4-5 pieces per day good, or should i shoot for higher amounts??
Thanks.
Comments
You can add healthy oils, seeds, and avocados. I try not to eat nuts because they mess up my digestions. I recommend hemp seed oil, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, pure avocado with a spoon right out of the shell, coconut flesh, adding some raw tahini to your smoothies/dressings, flax meal, etc. Upping your fiber can help keep you satisfied as well.
dates/figs should help
If you are concerned about digestive problems with nuts a suggestion would be to soak them overnite first. Adding the nuts would also help with gaining and maintaining.
You sound fine to me. Just naturally slim. I bet you will stabilize in time if you just continue to eat great fuel. I'm down about 13 lbs. from about 2 months ago. No complaints. lol
Yes, I am small framed and to get down to a 22 bmi I would still need to lose about 15 lbs. That would put me at a very healthy weight of 170lbs at 6'2".
Right now my bmi is around 24. I read that the healthiest longest living people have a bmi around 19-22. It is hard to visualize myself weighing so little. lol
I used to weight that much when I use to do construction about 16 years ago. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet, this has already been a big adjustment.
Yet, it seems like a goal worth pursuing. I have already change my weight goals 3 times and have easily reach each mile stone without any probs.
Can't see any ribs yet so i guess i am safe ;-)
I used to have an eating disorder and weighed 98 lbs and had a bmi considered anorexic. My ribs stuck out and I look awful. After gaining weight, getting over my eating disorder I went up to about 113. After being raw for 6 months I am down to 100, after not weighing myself for more than 6 months. My body type is entirely different and I look healthy. Before I weighed myself I guessed I was 110! I'm 5'5.
It's best to let your body do that thinking, don't analyze too much. It's healthy to weigh less.
Bless you!
Just wondering if it makes sense to up my fruit intake to around seven or eight servings, from 4 or 5, that would increase calories by 200-300/ day. I also realize that 5 dates = around 100 cals.
Because if I increase nut/oil intake (which i have been doing and it seem to work) then my fat intake would be higher.
In other words, to balance carbs/ fats/ protein I may need to increase the carbs if I increase the fats/protein.
Does this make sense?? But I don't feel like counting every calorie, but if I hit 1000 from fruits and veggies, and then maybe add a few hundred from dehydrated fruits, then I could reach 2000 easy with a little oil and nuts. This would give me around 20% cals from fats. Is that too high fat??? If not then I can see this working out.
Thanks
You might want to check out Storm's website from http://www.thegardendiet.com/ if you are a man... I still think it's healthy to let the body do what it wants.
Good luck!
I'm assuming you are a man and want to be built, obviously ;) Since women seem to all want to be thin... it is healthier anyways I believe.
OK how healthy is it to eat dates and a lot of fruit??? I just don't want to over consume too much sugar, but since it is natural sugar should i be concerned. Is 12-20 dates / day ok??
Any links, info much appreciated.
Thanks.
Simple carbohydrates (not long chain as in bread) are easily broken down by the body and converted to energy. You should definitely be okay with this kind of sugar. I have no facts though.
Actually if you have diabetes the story is different and I think that most fruit is best blended with greens. If you have diabetes that is.
No, im not diabetic, but i think i am going through a transition. I'm slowly eating more and more raw foods, it's becoming more natural. Ya, i have falling off the wagon lots of times in the last 3 months, but the next day I aways just back on.
Just wondering if I popped say 20 dates , i could get 500 extra cals. I've been eating lots o nuts and seeds. They are high in fat, so i kind of looking for a easy way to take in some carbs.
I find eating fruit first thing in the morning makes the rest of the day easy as far as staying on track. Not going to crave sweets with a steady intake of fresh fruit ;-)
Edited: Oh and I was wondering about soy powder, i seen it in the organic section. Is this stuff any good, it is high in protein and i was thinking about getting into the iron again.
I think 20 dates in the morning is totally fine. It is high in fiber too so the body can't digest all the sugar at once. It is slow releasing. Regarding the protein powder, everybody has a different ideology about these things. I used to supplement when I transitioned, but over time my body has indicated that the supplements seem to do more harm than good. (in my personal experience). So I don't supplement anymore. Hardcore raw vegans have gone in for blood tests and have found themselves not to be deficient. I believe that you could research the 80/10/10 diet or maybe even raw bodybuilding. I think many well built people do not supplement at all. It is important to remember that most of what we westerners BELIEVE about health isn't necessarily true. I have read that PROTEIN is not what builds MUSCLES in humans. Like we've been taught eating animal meat and muscle builds meat and muscle in us. But it doesn't work exactly like that. Having elegant amino acids in the form of raw plant food is best. I have read this from multiple sources that. I have also read that the recipe for more muscle is to exercise the muscles so that they are overtired, and then make sure they are getting the proper nutrition to build more strongly. Then repeat. I don't think humans evolved eating soy. I don't eat it, but some people think it's good.
And yes, why would anybody want sweets when they can eat 10+ dates any time they want? It's great.
Sorry for such a disorganized post.
Hemp seeds are a MUCH better source of protein than soy (in my opinion/experience). If you're looking for a good way to get extra carbs/calories, and also want complete protein, you could make the shake I like: 1/4 cup hemp seeds, 2 cups water, 2 - 3 Tablespoons raw cacao powder, & 4 frozen bananas (peel & chop up before freezing). I blend it in the vitamix; if you just have a regular blender, you may need to have part of the bananas not frozen, or add warm water, since it's hard to blend with the bananas frozen. It makes about a quart, is a good breakfast or snack for me & is probably around 600 - 700 calories. I also lilke hemp seeds sprinkled (or dumped, depending on how hungry I am) on my salads. Another good source of raw protein is buckwheat. I soak & then dehydrate it, and then I add the "crunchies" to raw soups in place of crackers, sprinkle them on salads, or make "granola" out of them by adding dried fruit & covering with nut milk. Most nuts, flax & coconut are good sources of iron.
Thanks zinfandel , your right that protein doesn't build muscles, it takes a lot of hard work as well. NO PAIN NO GAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm not worried about building huge muscles, just toning up a little bit, that's all.
and..............
Ya, im not addicted to dates, but don't mind them either, although a little sweet. They are just quick and easy to eat. ;-)
Thanks Angie, i think i;ll be buying myself some hemp seed. I'm not sure if the natural seed is raw at the Bulk Barn.
I bought some quinoa the other day and sprouted some yesterday, so i know it is raw, even though it was only labelled natural.
Right now i'm consuming 2 Tbs flaxseed and 2 Tbs raw cacao bit.
What other seeds would be good??? I am also eating sunflower seeds, pumkin seeds. Thanks
Chia seeds are wonderful, and a great energy source.
Sprouts are a good idea, too, as you mentioned above. I'm not sure about their caloric content, but I suspect they pack a punch.
Hemp protein powder is a way to get some calories without too much fat (most of the oil is removed during milling)(about 135 calories for 4 tablespoons). Chlorella is 75 calories per tablesoon, and only 20% fat. Maca I believe is about 50 calories per tablespoon, and it has many of the effects of a complete protein.
Some veggies are pretty calorically dense. 3 cups of kale is 135 calories, and I believe collards are likely to have a similar caloric content. Good luck! :)
Thanks for sharing the info!!! Much appreciated.
;-)
you're going to need to either eat more nuts/seeds or fruit. why are you so scared of fruit?
how many calories are you eating?
coconut oil is a good oil to add into your diet.
ok a lost another couple of lbs ---- down to 183lbs from 205lbs since going raw so that's 22lbs now
I've added more fruit to the start of my day.
Today I ate 2 bananas , half a cantaloupe and 8 dates for breakfast. That is 5 servings of fruit just for breakfast, and I think around 500 cals.
I'm still not 100% raw, and need cooked (around supper time) to keep cals up.
So i'm thinking i need 2500-3000 cals per day to maintain my weight, im not 100% sure.
Any other thoughts here. Maybe I need more cal dense foods, or more cals for breakfast.
Thanks.
I have the best success feeling great & staying raw when I eat whatever I want as long as it's raw. When I got the cooked starches out of my system, I was able to know what my body needed much more easily. I feel a lot better eating more fat, or a load of dates, than I ever do eating a cooked meal. Everyone is different, so it's probably not possible for anyone on here to tell you what you "should" do; people usually share what works for them & you get to figure out what works for you. :)
Don't you think your body knows best? Why are you trying to micromanage?
ya i know everybody has a different opinion / success story /etc.
I feel better with more fruits, that's for sure.
I'm thinking i need to eat more around lunch time to feel fuller with more calorie dense foods.
Maybe i'll try avocados and dates and see how i feel, and maybe i still need to lose another 5lbs and then i;ll even out.
Only one way to find out, and that is to just do it.
Thanks for the input.
;-)
Hi there, rawcanadian,
Just my 2 cents, is that avocados seem to keep my weight stable. I know that they are high in fat, but it's such a healthy fat, and I really like them. They are great in salads, smoothies, spreads, etc. It's easy for me to eat 1 or more per day, and I notice that my weight tends to drop slowly when I leave them out (which for me right now is OK).
-osoniye
Here is what I ate for breakfast today:
1 lbs grapes
4 bananas
8 pitted dates
total cals: 838
BTW my weight has dropped to around 182lbs from the 185.
I have been eating some cooked food, maybe 1000 cals of it yesterday.
I know I am hitting between 3000-4000 cals per day. Yesterday was closer to 4000.
Just wondering if i keep eating like this, where will the weight level off???
180, 170, 160, 150 .......................
I don't want to end up like a toothpick lol ;-)
rawcanadian: you may find these two pages helpful in determining the calories you need for a day:
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/
I would also suggest a *variety* of fruits (I personally wouldn't eat a large amount of dates -or any single fruit type- *every* day; change it up!). As someone mentioned, look into 80/10/10; no need to be afraid of fruits if you are otherwise "healthy". Your original question mentioned 4 or 5 fruits daily - I think that's really low, myself.
As for the smoothies, they are a really good way of getting the greens in, until you get used to consuming them. I've found I enjoy undressed salads now, where as before I wouldn't have considered eating plain greens! I still do the smoothies pretty much daily (or a green juice), but I -like you- question the "natural-ness" of it. Thing is, if I don't get enough greens into me, my old grumpy self comes back, so I know I need them!
Hopefully those two sites will come in handy for you.
:~)
Don't worry yourself too much about BMI or all that other stuff, I'm a BMI 18 which is underweight and I feel terrific, all my life I have been "underweight" which is just due to my natural body tendency, also I'd recommend trying to live good rather the live long, just listen to your body, you know whats best for you and no one else :).