[dood2112]

I'm attempting raw veganism (currently vegan). The issue has been... what to eat? I was dependent on grains - quinoa, cereal, and bread. I feel reducing or eliminating grains could be healthy and help with weight loss.

I eat 2 meals per day - one @ 11 am and the other @ 11 pm. So far I have lost 84 pounds as of today.

At 11 am I'm trying a smoothie. Hemp protein powder, hemp hearts, flax seeds, almond or soy milk, and fruit (frozen mixed bag - applies, peaches, cherries, pineapple - and/or a banana, frozen blueberries and strawberries - different mixtures).

My 11 pm meal is the challenge. I'm craving grains. Miss my quinoa and chick peas. (I read that chick peas and quinoa were high in omega 6) I'd cook my quinoa in a rice steamer, and then I would add chick peas, broccoli and cauliflower. Or, a veggie sandwich, or a large bowl of cereal.

So, what do I eat? I have spinach, romaine, kale, onion, cukes, etc... salad veggies. I also have beans. I am resisting the salad though.

Dood

 

[lightergait]

I'm obviously not a nutritionist but I'll use what I know so far here. I'm surprised to see the lack of fruit there - I don't know what quantities of smoothie you're drinking for your 11am meal, but if it's not a huge amount I would personally eat fruit for your night meal as well. Eat the bowls of fruits first and then go onto your veggies, or try a mango salad if that gives you a buzz. Vegetable smoothies are a great way to avoid a boring salad but still get in good taste and nutrition - in terms of salad, it's the dressing that makes the salad! Look up some good raw salad dressings and believe me it was change your boring salad days forever! Good luck

 

[Kiwibird08]

I found watching some of the long-time raw vegans on youtube very helpful when I started a few months back. Going raw is hard, it requires certain kitchen equipment (if you want a more varied menu), and you have to remind yourself that just because it's cold when you eat it doesn't mean it necessarily 'raw' (you mention soymilk- definitely NOT raw, hemp protein powder-probably processed in some way and may have additives). And whats with all the hemp anyways? Raw diets typically promote low protein and low fat. You're suppose to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables with a smaller amount of sprouts, seeds and nuts. I think you should do more research before attempting it, or you are going to get malnourished in a hurry.

Perhaps this will help at least a little bit in your decision on whether or not a healthy raw diet is right for you:

As for people who've had success with a raw diet, I like this lady:
https://www.youtube.com/user/FullyRawKristina

She answers a lot questions you may have with being a new raw vegan if you browse around her channel

 

[dood2112]

I knew my diet wasn't completely raw. I was seeking advice on dealing with grains. I can do without the condescending "do your research" bit. Could this be why omnivores aren't so keen about vegetarians?

Happy Holidays. Maybe Santa will bring you lots of new veggieboard members to talk down to.

Dood

 

[Kiwibird08]

I wasn't talking down to you, I was informing you those specific things aren't raw. It is entirely possible you didn't know that. I recently converted to this raw stuff myself (and am still in the process), and it's a whole new way of thinking about food. There were a lot of things I didn't realize weren't 'raw' just because I personally didn't cook them and they weren't overtly unhealthy foods (mainly beans, grains, nuts and seeds). You asked what to eat, and I provided a visual raw food pyramid and suggested a raw food channel on youtube I found informative. Would you like some more suggestions on other raw food channels? You wanted to know what to do with all those veggies, well these people have "shows" almost like a cooking show where they teach you how to make everything from "pizza" to "chicken nuggets", all raw vegan using the fruits and veggies you need to be eating. Once you get the hang of prepping these foods and see the tools you need, you pretty much don't have limitations on the kind of dishes you can create using raw foods.

As for grains, you shoudn't eat them unless you soak/sprout them (as shown in the food pyramid) and you need to research the specific grain you're interested in eating to be sure you are selecting it in it's "raw" form or if it's even something you'd want to include in a raw diet. For example- one of my favorite grains are oats. Oat groats and steel cut oats have not been heated, and thus could be included after soaking, in moderation, as part of a raw diet. Rolled oats and cooking oats have been heated, and thus are not appropriate for a raw diet. Buckwheat groats are also a good oat alternative. Never would have known or thought about it until I specifically asked and looked into it. Grains and legumes are not a cut and dry subject. Neither should make up a significant portion of your diet though.

I'll stick by my "you need to do more research" bit because I did not say it in a condescending way. It's never a good call to make an uniformed decision, especially when it comes to diet and your health! Why is suggesting to do more research before deciding on a rather drastic lifestyle change so offensive to you? The more research I did, the less confused I became about what to eat, how to include the greens I'm not terribly fond of and I started to see the huge variety of foods that could be made raw besides smoothies and salads 3 meals a day, because that would suck to have that little variety IMO. I can't say I've been doing this forever (raw), because I haven't, but based on my research and results so far, I encourage people to look into it and see if they have the time and resources to do it themselves. Have you taken the time to sit down and calculate the sheer volume of fruits and veg you'll need to consume in a day to meet caloric and nutritional needs? Especially since you shouldn't make up calories by eating fatty foods? The prep time to make more complex dishes? The kitchen things you'll need if you want to make some of the more gourmet meals? The detox symptoms you may experience? This is all very very different than conventional cooking no matter what you were (omni, veg/vegan) before. When I became a vegetarian almost 16 years ago, I made an emotion-based decision. I did minimal research, mainly following some bad advice from rural bumpkin doctors who frowned upon the entire concept until I developed Crohns disease years later (which I'm sure my very inadequate diet played a role in). I started a healthier vegetarian diet after that and my health issues improved somewhat, but I STILL never did an adequate amount of research into whether dairy and eggs really were healthy until I developed a dairy allergy over the past year. After that, I researched all the different 'ways' to go about a plant based diet and decided raw was the best way for me. I started out with a good understanding of what I needed to eat and how to make that happen and after a particularly nasty detox reaction, I have noticed significant, positive changes. It's the first truly informed dietary choice I've made and yes, I would strongly suggest anyone else not toy with their health like I did. You should absolutely take the time to do in depth research and use all the resources the internet offers for free to start off right instead of blindly forging ahead possibly causing health issues for yourself. Thats not condescending, it's a good suggestion.

 

[dood2112]

I apologize. Perhaps I should have included in my first post what I knew up to that point. I see that I didn't really provide much for someone to comment on. And my inclusion of food that's not raw probably didn't help. I can see how you thought that I might be clueless. Maybe there are folk who try it on a misguided whim? To me, doing one's homework is obvious. So obvious that I give people the benefit of the doubt, thus I wouldn't admonish someone with "do your research before you blindly do something that will hurt you." It's annoying. I suppose prattling "Why are you offended by good advice?" to the naive would be good advice. I don't find it endearing. Just sayin'.

Of course I'm not an expert on raw veganism or any aspect of veganism. I tend to keep my diet simple. I rely on standard grains too much. Researching, and then trying it, albeit for a couple weeks with some non-raw items to ease the transition, felt untenable. As you mentioned, prep time and the volume of input daily aren't to be taken lightly, not to mention a sore jaw from chewing and intestinal discomfort. Since I rely on simple grain staples, I was looking for your "go-to's." Again, I should have made that clear in my first post.

 

[Naturebound]

I am not currently raw and don't plan to be, but I have tried a full raw diet twice in the past. The first time I included soaked and sprouted raw grains (oat groats and quinoa and wild rice), soaked and sprouted lentils, and some nuts/seeds. My raw vegetable and fat intake were quite high and I wasn't really comfortable with the amount of fat I felt I needed to be satiated with a raw diet. I was also fifteen lbs underweight and it was winter and I was freezing all the time. So I gave that up for a while. A year later I tried a different approach, using 90% fruits and leafy greens with just a few seeds and no raw sprouted grains or beans. I actually had a little more success and looked forward to meals with fruit. I have always loved fruit but would always be careful and stick to just a few servings because I was conditioned that too much fruit was "bad" due to sugar content. But when ALL I ate was fruit and leafy greens I felt I could be much more generous and free with it. Fruit is very easy to digest on the body and I wasn't having the digestive issues I had the first go around. I also ate when I was hungry as opposed to specific meals, and there was little to know food prep needed other than occasional smoothies and chopping. no soaking or sprouting, no dehydrating, very little blending as I preferred to eat my fruit whole for satiety. I enjoyed it more, but again at that time I was still not eating enough and a raw diet of that nature absolutely requires that you eat a LOT to meet nutritional requirements. Which also means you need to be very active to consume the quantity of fruits necessary for it all to work. Athletes do very well as fruitarians. I was very physically active but struggling with an eating disorder and not willing to eat the quantities of fruits I would have needed to sustain myself, so I felt I would be safer going back to cooked food. I also missed my grains and my body just feels better with them in my diet. I also rely heavily on beans as a staple. I have finally come to peace with this, that this is what my body loves and craves the most (as long as I keep bread and flour to a minimum) and I feel best with the type of diet I have right now. It doesn't mean it is better or worse than a raw diet. It's just where I am right now in my growth and in my recover from my eating disorder.

At any rate, fruit helped me the most to overcome (albeit temporarily) the cravings for grains. Especially bananas and other soft fruits like mangoes, apricots, pineapple etc. I have heard that a lot of high raw vegans that still eat a little cooked food will include sweet potatoes in lieu of grains for their cooked food.

 

[Kiwibird08]

Grain product replacements I've found useful for more varied meals:

I swapped oatmeal in the morning for soaked buckwheat groats. I also eat a handful of nuts every day and that's about all the seeds/grains I've been eating on a daily basis (some days I may do something with cashews or soaked chickpeas, but not on a daily basis)

Cubed up a jiama root then shred in your food processor. It comes out with a rice-like consistency and has a clean taste like white rice. You can add other veggies like peppers, onions, broccoli, cauliflower ext.... to make a stir fry. I have also experimented with the same concept using cauliflower florets.

Zucchini, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, beets, sweet potatoes and carrots (large ones) can all be used to make raw "pastas" with a spiralizer and then make a sauce in the blender. I find an avocado will make a sauce "creamy" and for "chunky" sauces you'll want to pulse in the food processor rather than blender

A cucumber, zucchini or yellow squash sliced in half then cut up long-ways makes a good, solid surface to replace bread in recipes like bruschetta, pizza bites, mini sandwiches ext...

I have also seen numerous recipes for raw chips and breads but they require a dehydrator, which I have unfortunately not been able to afford yet (though I do plan on getting one at some point).

I found juicing the majority of my greens and doing at least one meal as a large smoothie to be helpful. Another helpful tip is to try to eat a food of every color of the rainbow every day to keep a balanced diet. I also found that there is no way I can eat 3 massive meals, my stomach is too small so I've been doing numerous small meals a day. As Naturebound mentioned, bananas and fruits really help while your transitioning until you become more used to it and start diversifying. They seem to be less harsh on your digestive system as your body detoxifies and readjusts to the healthier eating. You may also want to start (if you aren't already) soaking your grains your eating and gradually reduce the amount of grains, adding more veggies each day so you gradually reduce the amount of grains you crave.

 

[dood2112]

Thanks you two. Lots of good suggestions. I tried a couple similar ideas on replacing grains with similar fruits and veggies. Didn't quite work for me. Maybe with more time? Jicama root is a new one for me. Googled and found it interesting and worth trying. I like the idea of cauliflower as a grain replacement. I sorta' tried that once, but didn't do it again (but I liked it, I do it again.

I tend not to much fruit. Sometimes I crave it and other times not so much. Usually in a smoothie or cereal.

So far, I haven't found a replacement for bread, Romaine lettuce, sliced veggies... just not the same. Although, I do like the flavor and texture.

Dehydrating, soaking, sprouting... not ready for that. I haven't tried dehydrating (don't own the device to do it). The rest of the prep takes time I don't have.

I'm not nuts about nuts. I like it in small amounts in some foods. If I buy a sizable amount, it tends to sit there. High calorie and skewed omega 3:6 ratio. I don't mind an occasional nut butter though. I do like seeds though and fully believe in their health value (super food? - not sure I quite accept that idea).

Detoxing... sometimes it sounds like a good thing, sometimes I wonder... I know the body needs time to adjust to a new diet. i've been weary of that term. I'm agnostic on the detox.

Rainbow of fruits and veggies - I've always liked that idea. I'll watch youtube vids of vegans and their refrigerators... open it up to an awesome rainbow. They usually have the cool machines - juicers, processors, high speed blenders, etc... which is awesome. I've been faking it with cheap or inappropriate equip.

Where I am now... not raw. Not sure I will be ever. But I'd like to use some of the raw ideas. My grain consumption is something I've trying to change.

When I'm short and time and busy at work, my posts are basically 10 sentences that blurb an idea.

Thanks again,

Dood

P.S. - Sorry kiwi. Maybe I'm more stressed that normal with the holiday season.