I have been reading recently about the benefits of Raw Foods, and thinking about what it could or couldn’t do for me. I decided I would go ahead, and give it a go, it seems fairly simple, and if I didn’t like it, I could just eat something cooked, right?

My first day into raw foods I started with some green juice, which, by the way, I have been drinking for several years on and off in the mornings, because it gives me a serious burst of energy, (green juice is made in a juicer out of an apple, lemon, kale, spinach or lettuce – not iceberg)

For a snack, I had an orange, and a kiwi, lunch was my own raw version of sushi, nori with cucumbers, alfalpha sprouts, carrots, diakon radish, and avocado, wrapped up like a sushi roll.

Next snack was a handful of raw nuts, dinner was just a huge bowl of vegetables with vinegar, parsley, and cold pressed olive oil dressing.

It was A LOT of food. My band isn’t super tight, it’s been a while since I had a fill, but slow and steady chewing helped me, and I didn’t get stuck once.

I have been on raw foods for 7 days now, I don’t know if I have lost any weight, I probably have, but I don’t weigh myself unless I am at my doctors office. My primary concern when thinking about changing what I ate to a raw food diet was the Protein, which I have been able to supplement with sprouts (did you know that one cup of sprouted lentils can have as much as 49 grams of protein!?!)

I feel awesome, honestly, the first few days were super hard, but I have yet to experience any withdrawal symptoms, I wake up earlier in the morning, there’s a new bounce in my step, and several people have commented on my weight/skin and how it seems to be changing. I’m excited about it.

I sat down and had a discussion with a few of my friends, told them about how I was eating, and was told that the band gave me an eating disorder (forced bulimia, they like to call it) and that raw foodism was just the next step. The foods I was eating weren’t going to be sufficient for my body to run, and that eventually, I was just going to keel over and die.

One, I don’t believe the band is forced bulimia, I think that’s a stupid notion, and whenever my friends say something about it, I want to chuck my shoe into their face, two, can shoving your diet full of vegetables, super foods, and fruits really be that fucking bad? I literally sat through a 3 hour lecture from 2 obese women, and one overweight woman about how I was eating myself to death; it was so offensive to me.

One of their main points was the lack of meat in my diet, which I countered by saying, just because I turned into raw foods doesn’t mean I gave up meat entirely, one of the principals of raw foods is that a food should not be heated about 116 degrees, but it can be dehydrated, I made Jerky out of lean steak, sliced thin and marinated for 24 hours, and dehydrated it, and it was rather delicious.

I am so sick and tired of having to justify everything I do to my fat friends, it was never that way until I had my band, and let me make this point clear, I am still a fat girl, okay, I haven’t met my goal weight. Before the band, we would all sit around and talk about various diets that we went on, and how they worked, and now, its like, you actually DO something about your weight besides a bunch of failed diets, and bitching and you’re not part of the group?

I’m tired of these catty bitches, and I’m tired of being judged because of my effort to evolve, and make MYSELF better. It hurts my feelings that these women KNOW what it feels like to be picked on and singled out because of their weight, and now, they are turning around and doing the same thing to me because I had a WLS and want to eat some vegetables, fruits, and nuts?

I’m done ranting, I’m going to take these hurt feelings, and anger, and put it into my workout, which I am sure, according to my friends, is going to kill me too.

:thumbup:

They emailed you with that crap in writing??? Kick 'em to the curb, mate, they're not worth it!!

Wow Angelica -- I know it hurts to lose friends - or to discover that people you thought were friends aren't, and to have people treat you this way.

Here's hoping you will have a new set of supportive friends soon to take their place, and that you'll forgive your old ones. I won't be surprised if at least one of them hits bottom and ends up in the WLS camp themselves.

Wow, cutting you out till you get your eating disorder fixed. Sounds like some real winners for friends you got there.

Time to find some new friends!!!!!!

And kudos on the raw diet, I know I couldn't do it. Reminds me of being a vegetarian, which I couldn't do either.

I still don't get the mentality of losing friends as you lose weight. I never had any friends judge me or say anything negative about me getting WLS, they were all 100% supportive. Maybe the only difference is, I am the fattest of all my friends, so no one is jealous of me? Only thing I can think of, because when I hear people talk about their friends cutting them off, talking bad, trying to talk them out of it, etc.. I am just baffled.

heh, the latest installment of Angelica drama for the week, now, one of the ladies that got together and talked about me having an eating disorder is sending me text messages asking me for the name of my doctor, and if he performs the gastric bypass..

dun dun dunnnnn, geez, wonders will never cease

If I got a message like that from a 'friend' who'd just admitted getting together with other 'friends' to talk about how sick I am and how they aren't going to talk to me until I'm "better" (read: fat again), I don't know how I'd react. The nice person in me says I would ignore her, the vindictive tiny part of me (that almost never gets to act out, it only gets to tell me what I "should have done"), says I would respond and ask her something like why she would talk about what an eating disorder I have, and then turn around and ask me to help her get the same eating disorder.

I can kind of see how someone would think of the band as force bulimia, IF you are PBing all the time and should probably be seeing your doctor anyway, but as a normal way of life? It's a hell of a lot healthier than not doing anything at all.

I went through a lot of drama stuff with my last set of friends, and after that point I never really put forth the effort to make any more. I have TONS of online friends that I talk to every day, but I don't have anyone that I hang out with in real life, and to be frank, I don't miss having friends very often.

It sounds to me like your friends are worried that you will actually achieve success and leave them behind, trapped into their obese bodies and repeating patterns of dieting and failure.

I think that there is no denying that the raw foods diet is a far healthier way to eat, in comparison to a diet of highly processed foods. However, I think the concept behind the raw foods diet, that man has not evolved to eat a diet that included cooked foods, is incorrect. The history of fire in human evolution goes back about 1 to 1.5 million years and even the most conservative estimites agree that cooking food was a widespread human behaviour at least 125,000 years ago. This is more than enough time for our bodies to adapt to cooked food in our diets. Here's some interesting reading on the subject: When was fire first controlled by human beings? and Timeline of dietary shifts in the human line of evolution.

If the raw foods diet is working for you and is making you feel healthier and satisfied with your food choices, the more power to you - go for it! Personally, I think it is simply enough to cut out the overprocessed foods (such as refined flours and canned/prepared meals) and include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables in with our cooked (from fresh!) meals.

I couldn't agree more, and that's what I was going to chime in to say. If you're happy and healthy on the raw food thing, by all means stick with it! But, I really think that the health benefits are coming largely from the fresh, non-processed nature of the food, not the raw nature (although this surely contributes--Vitamins are lost from veggies in the cooking process although some heat is needed to "unlock" nutrients from leafy greens--otherwise it's mainly roughage).

Personally, my plan for this summer is to get at least 75% of my food from within 100 miles of my house, meaning from local farms and things--that pretty much automatically means fresh, non-processed, in-season, (usually) organically grown and raised fruit, veggies, meat and dairy.

The 25% is for things that are difficult to control--olive oil, for one, baking soda for another (I use that mainly for home cleaning purposes though) and the occasional splurge on a mango, avocado or fancy French cheese . I hope to learn how to preserve and can things at home so that I can save for winter! It's good for you, good for the local economy, and good for the environment!

Edited May 7, 200818 yr by PennyLane
clairification of the 100 mile thing

I completely agree, Penny.

I think flooding you system with an abundance of food that is not processed or turned into a frankenfood before you eat it is where we can all acheive alot of health benefits.

As far as the local food thing, I am so lucky, I get all sorts of good stuff around here, and the produce, because I am so close to the Mexican border (I'm talking, I could be in Mexico in 10 minutes) means really affordable produce. Having said that, if you do get your produce from Mexico that grows on the ground, it MUST be washed like crazy, because they use human fertilizer, which is kinda gross.

I hear people talking about Avacados, and how expensive they are, we get them for 33 cents a pound down here! If you invest in a good coffee grinder and dehydrator, you can make almost all of your spices yourself,

Garlic, onion powder, just throw the onion or garlic in the food dehydrator, and once its super dry, grind it up in your coffee grind. You'd be surprized at how many ways you can save quite a bit of money, and have your food taste much better too. Bottled spices and powders taste like woodchips to me now.

-A

It is terrible what your "friends" did to you. They cant look past their own insecurities enough to support you so you dont need em! On another note, has the diet helped your lupus (blood work and stuff)? Also, did you know you had lupus before you were banded and have you had any problems due to being banded with it? Congrats on your success so far and it sounds like you are doing great. I am originally from Texas too, but north Texas....a looooong way away from El Paso!

One of my favorite Snacks is a big fat garden tomato (don't worry, I live in Europe) and a cucumber. My band loves it and I love it. :confused_smile: I think you're doing a great job and your friends are insecure. Tell em to straighten up or you're getting new ones.

How's the raw diet coming along? :crying: