Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jules on April 14, 2012 at 5:58am

great response Mary!  We sound so alike in our journey with this lifestyle.  I'll admit I was slightly bummed for awhile when I wasn't losing my extra 25 pounds fast enough and even gaining 15 pounds, but looking at my energy, mood, digestive health is my focus.  And the ability to be playful, truly playful with my 4 and 6 year old boys is the biggest blessing this has given me.  :0)

Permalink Reply by Mary TG on April 15, 2012 at 12:29am

When you've had weight issues all your life, and you try a new diet or lifestyle, it's hard to think about it not getting you where you want to be.  You've others to contend with who think you're crazy and see you gaining or not losing or whatever it is that they see.  But it's really all about what you see yourself as, forget about what others think, right?  Living a lifestyle in the midst of everybody else living a different lifestyle and criticizing yours is not going to be easy.  But feeling vibrant and feeling alright with the world are the real rewards.

Permalink Reply by DURIANRIDER on April 13, 2012 at 9:34pm

Basically this thread is very 'impatient' in that is assumes that the lifestyle is at fault if one doesnt reverse decades of bodily abuse in 2 years or less. 

LFRV who still have weight to lose after a year or even two. LOL! Its like me saying to the newbies that come out training with me 'your still getting dropped after 1 or even 2 years training?? whats wrong with you man?!'. When the reality is it takes years and years of consistent training to build and maintain solid fitness.

I read it as 'you live on fruit but your STILL FAT after 2 years when you have been eating and living wrong for maybe 40?'. It highlights the status quo mindset of finding whats wrong with this lifestyle vs finding whats right.

I do love these threads though cos they help our sight rank higher in the SEO rankings and overall web rankings. They also stir up a lot of emotion and help get the point addressed of:

DOESNT MATTER HOW FAT YOU ARE, ON FRUIT YOU EVENTUALLY GET DOWN TO A HEALTHY WEIGHT....EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT BUT THEY ALL END UP AT THE SAME LOCATION IN SLIM VILLE SOONER OR LATER.

My 10 000$ is still up for grabs. Someone sent me a pic of Doug Graham and said he was fatish and where is the 10k$? Bloody anorexics lol!

Permalink Reply by Ryan Betker on April 14, 2012 at 5:13am

Hi Allison,

I think you've met me ;). Would you say I have weight to lose? :D  10# isn't the end of the world

I'd say I have a lil weight to lose , but I'm just barely overweight and SAD folks call me thin anyway :) I lost 20# when first going 811 in 2010. That was even when I was calorie restricting on gourmet raw before. Now my weight seems to fluctuate up and down about 10# a year. That's pretty good weight stability for me!

 

Anyway, if a person does have cellulite to diminish and are getting enough sleep, water, and carbs to satisfy you... these are other factors that may be missed (at least for me) 

 

Emotional poise (feeling comfortable with your life and this lifestyle choice). There's no need to doubt it unless it's not what your truly want. We are doing something different than most and it's bound to bring up some fears in rare cases but moving past that and trusting the guidelines and know in your heart what works best for you. If we get extra emotional and are driven to unhealthy choices, we aren't growing as a person and the fat holding toxins won't release until we're in harmony where we can better handle that release.

 

Filling your life with things other than food.

Sometimes people do some heavy eating to get over ingrained cravings. This is beneficial upfront, but we also need to continually work to mentally get over cravings (even craving for caffeine - which is a hidden craving for sleep and true excitement in our lives) so they present themselves less and less. I know there's so much focus on calories here, and that's great, super, and awesome!

Now I think the point about this lifestyle is that, yes, you do have to eat "a lot" (by society's standards) to maintain weight but it also has to be balanced with other activities. If a person is stuffing themselves so much that they get lethargic and don't feel like working out, that's not health promoting.  A negative pattern that I've done a couple times - eating nearly all day long and never letting the stomach get fully empty doesn't end up being much fun for me and that experience could stunt weight loss because I didn't do any pleasurable activity either. We have to learn to love enjoying the movement of our bodies, be in the company of others which is so extraordinary and uplifting in its own right, oh, and do some volunteering that is up your alley.

After a person has tracked their food calories using a gram scale (without counting peels) for each type of fruit through the year and they know what calories are in certain foods, it's easier on a person to not track and just live your live and go with the flow of your body's needs. If you're not feeling hungry but just bored or lonesome - don't eat, do something that's FUN for you. Take a piece of fruit with you just in case. When you're done with a few hours of that then, eat and eat big. Most likely you'll be intensely satisfied from the previous activity that there's no gravitation towards unhealthy food choices :)

 

This last point is maybe the most important, but ONLY take this in if you already consistently eat enough food for your size.. and obviously 1500 calories would be too low. Appreciate how it feels to have an empty stomach feeling when you're doing other things with your life. I think a less talked about area is the feeling of having an empty stomach and how beneficial this to be comfortable with this (because we can't 100% of the time always have food on us - but it is necessary to transition this way in the beginning). On the opposite side of the coin we also need to be comfortable with eating as much food as we want: slowly munching on fabulous fruit until we no longer desire any more food at all.

To end: It's so pleasurable to be able to say: I ate until I was no longer in the mood for anymore food.

 

oh, and we should meet sometime, again :D

Permalink Reply by Allison on April 15, 2012 at 12:56am

Thanks Ryan.  You are not fat, we should meet again, and thank you for your input, I respect our opinion greatly :)

Permalink Reply by melonhead on April 14, 2012 at 5:41am

http://www.livestrong.com/article/277947-what-fruit-and-vegetables-...

This is a site about protein found in fruits and vegetables- I haven't read the whole thing, but I'm gathering that the gist is that one cup of just about any fruit has 1 g of protein. One of the responders to Allison mentioned somethings about protein and I guess I needed to hear it- How many grams of protein 'should' I be getting, anyway? I have researched it, but like I said, I think I haven't placed enough emphasis on protein and am still wondering about what I 'should' be shooting for (100% raw, 3 years, HCRV for about five months, feeling great, lost some weight, am thoroughly enjoying myself eating fruit as often as I want/need!). Thanks, in advance for any info/advice!

Permalink Reply by Greenmama on April 14, 2012 at 6:32am

Adequate calories and adequate greens equals adequate protein.  No need to sweat it.  

Permalink Reply by Jon Fergus on April 14, 2012 at 6:43am

Some good stuff on protein here:

Permalink Reply by Myca on April 14, 2012 at 8:19am

Allison, I weighted 244lbs two years ago. I went on RAW high fat cold turkey...for three weeks. Since that time I have battled severe food addictions. I bought into the whole...there are no food addictions you are just undercarbed talk. Don´t believe it. Read everything you can get your hands on. I find reports all the time about the addicting nature of meat, sugar, artificial food (the stuff in the middle of the store), dairy, caffeine. If you have lived on these things most of your life, it is going to be a battle to break away from them. Add onto that, your family and friends who think RAW is NUTS! 

Also, a recent study of 'normal' people on sleep deprivation had to be stopped short because ALL of the study participants developed uncontrollable issues with their blood sugars. Some to the point of pre diabetes. They could not even complete the study.

Add into it our modern work 5 day a week, minimum 40 hour work week plus mandatory overtime and you can see why so many people don't exercise regularly.

Add the Beef, Dairy, Egg and Processed food spending MILLIONS  of dollars in advertising to the point that even the government puts out official recommendations to eat certain amounts of these things in order to be 'healthy.'

I ended up seeing a therapist and a medical doctor who helped me break free of the worst of my addictions. The only hold over I have is that very rarely, I drink about 60ml of coffee because I work at night in an NICU and lives are on the line. I now treat caffeine like the addictive drug it is and only take it when I absolutely must. 

After two years of mainly failure after failure, I no longer feel the need to drive to McDonalds in the middle of the night for ice cream. I don't fight myself every time I drive by a fast food place. In the past few months, I transitioned again and am now RAW and low fat, low protein. Since I have gone completely, 811, I lose weight every day. If I miss a day of weight loss, it is almost double the next. Remember, I am obese. I do not think you will lose like this if you are only 20 or so pounds off. 

I have also paid attention to what DR keeps saying...it takes time and effort...as in years to undo all the damage done to our bodies. I finally started my exercise program because I don't live in chronic pain any more. 

You should really pay attention to the fat in your diet. Avoid animal fat like it is poison. An avocado once in a while should be fine. 

Permalink Reply by Adam on April 14, 2012 at 8:57am

Hey Myca

Thanks for your post. Your point about the study with the sleep deprivation is absolutely fascinating (and very relevant to an essay I am writing at the moment). Please could you send me (or post here) the name of that study, I would love to read it.Thanks.

Take care

Adam x

Permalink Reply by Amelia on April 14, 2012 at 11:08am

Yes, Myca, please post the title of the sleep deprivation study.  And CONGRATULATIONS on taking control of your life and your fantastic success!

Permalink Reply by Amelia on April 14, 2012 at 12:43pm

You have to pay to get the full article, but here is the abstract:

Sci Transl Med 11 April 2012: 
Vol. 4, Issue 129, p. 129ra43 
Sci. Transl. Med. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3003200

• RESEARCH ARTICLE

OBESITY AND DIABETES

Adverse Metabolic Consequences in Humans of Prolonged Sleep Restriction Combined with Circadian Disruption

1. Orfeu M. Buxton¹,²,*, 
2. Sean W. Cain¹,², 
3. Shawn P. O’Connor¹, 
4. James H. Porter¹, 
5. Jeanne F. Duffy¹,²,
6. Wei Wang¹,², 
7. Charles A. Czeisler¹,² and 
8. Steven A. Shea¹,²

+Author Affiliations

1. ¹Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
2. ²Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

1. ↵*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: orfeu_buxton@hms.harvard.edu

ABSTRACT

Epidemiological studies link short sleep duration and circadian disruption with higher risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. We tested the hypotheses that prolonged sleep restriction with concurrent circadian disruption, as can occur in people performing shift work, impairs glucose regulation and metabolism. Healthy adults spent >5 weeks under controlled laboratory conditions in which they experienced an initial baseline segment of optimal sleep, 3 weeks of sleep restriction (5.6 hours of sleep per 24 hours) combined with circadian disruption (recurring 28-hour “days”), followed by 9 days of recovery sleep with circadian re-entrainment. Exposure to prolonged sleep restriction with concurrent circadian disruption, with measurements taken at the same circadian phase, decreased the participants’ resting metabolic rate and increased plasma glucose concentrations after a meal, an effect resulting from inadequate pancreatic insulin secretion. These parameters normalized during the 9 days of recovery sleep and stable circadian re-entrainment. Thus, in humans, prolonged sleep restriction with concurrent circadian disruption alters metabolism and could increase the risk of obesity and diabetes.

• Copyright © 2012, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Citation: O. M. Buxton, S. W. Cain, S. P. O’Connor, J. H. Porter, J. F. Duffy, W. Wang, C. A. Czeisler, S. A. Shea, Adverse Metabolic Consequences in Humans of Prolonged Sleep Restriction Combined with Circadian Disruption. Sci. Transl. Med. 4, 129ra43 (2012).

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