Hi All :-)
BACKGROUND (feel free to skip) For the last year and a half I've been reading everything I can get my hands on for what IS healthy eating. I grew up eating a very sad SAD and now I'm prediabetic at 25 years old and at least 70 lbs overweight. We recently moved to a place near the ocean (LA swamp, not FL beach :-D) with hardly any cold weather and water abundant so everything is fresh and green and it feels...right. Hot, but right. But more importantly I can easily access fresh fruit and greens at a local huge farmer's market only a few miles from my house open almost year round. Score.
Last year I tried LFRV in the middle of a desert where I couldn't even get my grass to grow out front let alone find much fresh fruit. I gave up quickly, even though probably a more stable LFRV would have been OK. I wasn't ready. I wasn't happy either with my situation out there.
But now that we've moved, I feel like really giving my health a chance. Heck, just how much happier I am here has allowed me to lose 5 lbs just by my body relaxing.
But here's my question: Does the follwing sound like an OK way to ease into it? I'm not mentally ready to go straight from a SAD diet to a LFRV diet 100%, but I do want to start conditioning my brain for it. I was thinking of just doing "breakfast" and "lunch" as LFRV and dinner just whatever since I eat with my husband each night who is the last person I expect to go LFRV (unless he really sees a difference in me...even then he's not much for change). I LOVE spending dinner time with my husband and I would not trade that time for anything, so until I figure out what to eat WITH him I don't want to be alienating him and not eating around him for fear of giving into temptation. I have friends at work who think the idea of LFRV isn't crazy (which is a HUGE start for me with the reactions I usually get) so I think doing LFRV while at work would be doable and would give me a great start.
Since I would be eating fat at night and everything I find shows eating fat at night is better than fat in the morning or with other foods, I would just limit my LFRV meals during the day to fresh fruit, green smoothies, savory-type soup/stew creations, and non-fat salads. With how portable fruit can be, it's actually one of the easier meals to take to work however I'm under 2 miles from home so I can easily pop on home to grab something.
Does this sound like an OK idea? Will eating the cooked, fatty food at the end of the day spoil everything or will I gradually move towards LFRV dinners naturally (like stepping it down from SAD to cooked vegitarian, to cooked vegan, to raw vegan, to LFRV....)? Do I just eat however much I feel like eating LFRV and then restrict my SAD meals calories, or should I just not watch calories during this time and just eat as many fruits and veggies as I can?
Thanks, y'all :-). I find it so silly when people complain "oh your teeth will dissolve....you don't get enough protein...." etc when the state of our current diets are so miserable. I bet I'm doing pretty average right now and my diet is absolutely pathetic. Everyone's information here and efforts to spread the news has really helped me explore the field of health and happiness.
All the best,
Gig
PS, I started a mid-size garden this weekend to take advantage of the great growing conditions here! My next step is to get a citrus tree and a grape vine, then plant some lettuce in some portable half-barrels! Can't wait to have home grown tomatoes again!
Permalink Reply by Freshtival on quote: "Does this sound like an OK idea? "
Yes. Each time I have "slipped" from the all LFRV diet I have gotten back on course by always starting my day with a LFRV breakfast and then later adding more raw food meals as it feels comfortable. This works so well for me as a transition diet because it takes advantage of the break-fast idea of eating fruit on an empty stomach to improve digestion. After that adding more raw food meals as the day progresses continues the good digestion principal and also allows me to take as many days as I need to feel comfortable in transitioning to a higher LFRV lifestyle. When I reach that point in my day when I want to switch to cooked food I just allow about 45 minutes to 60 minutes for the quick digesting fruit to clear my stomach and I'm ready to make the switch. An interesting thing that always happens to me as I move forward in time from my "slip" is that my body responds very well to the raw foods and feels less then optimal on cooked foods and that help me to easily move back to the all LFRV diet without having any "white knuckle" effort in the transition process as I allow my body to be my raw food coach. Good luck.
Permalink Reply by Gigi on Fantastic. This exactly the phenomenon I was hoping would happen should I make the effort to be LFRV in the mornings and as long as I want to that day. Thanks for responding. I'll use your tip of waiting 45-60 min to allow the quick digesting food to clear before making the switch.
Thanks!
Permalink Reply by PK on Gigi,
We promote going 100% as soon as possible. Your first choice should be vegan. Animal products make us very sick as well as being unethical for the animals.
The next problem is when going lfrv, the body starts to get cleaned out. When you add something cooked, processed, and or high fat, you will have issues with indigestion and feeling sick and tired.
Good luck with your on your journey, you can do it, and never look back!
BTW, I had borderline blood sugar as well, borderline blood pressure, and borderline cholesterol. My blood sugar is low now at 72, and my BP is perfect at 110 over 70:) The cholesterol is to be determined. If you have conditions you want to heal, go lfrv!
Peace, PK
Permalink Reply by Lindsaycat on Hi Gigi, I'm fairly new to this too but here's my experience.
I came to this diet from a fairly 'healthy' vegetarian diet (bearing in mind healthy means different things to different people - I had to laugh the other day at work when someone described a lasagne as healthy!)
Of course if you are eating a mixed diet (though not recommended) this is the most logical way to do it - fruit all day with the cooked portion of the diet with the evening meal. In the past I would eat huge vegan meals (quinoa, rice, beans, veggie curry etc) and always want a second helping, and dessert, and further snacks throughout the evening. I could never satisfy my appetite. Now, when I fill up on fruity carbs throughout the day, I find there is little room for much else. So the golden rule here is to eat as many fruity carbs as you can during the day.
For the past few weeks I have been eating about 95% lfrv. My downfall is that I am the designated cook for my partner and self - and my vegan cooking is pretty tasty! Luckily my boyfriend is quite healthy, even though he thinks all this fruit malarky is a bit nuts. I usually make us both a big raw salad (spinach, tomato etc) for dinner with some cooked 'healthy' vegan food on the side- eg sweet potato or quinoa or beans etc. I will usually have more of the salad and just a small portion of the cooked compared to my partner. This way we are both satisfied and not eating completely different meals.
The interesting thing is that now I only need a small portion of the cooked food to satisfy and don't tend to get hungry again for the rest of the evening. The other day I sat down to dinner and found I couldn't even eat my salad and small veggie curry, because i had such a large fruit meal
about an hour before (a whole pineapple with berries in a smoothy). The
curry looked tasty but it was no great loss, that day I did 100% raw. Another thing I have noticed is that I am more sensitive to how food affects me. From eating a very clean diet all day I notice what an effect even the smallest amount of cooked food has on me (fatigue, fuzzy head, heavy tummy). So that further encourages me to eat less of the cooked.
Do try and make the cooked portion of your diet healthier and more vegan. Cooked and raw vegan food is so much more exciting than standard meat and two veg when you think about it! There is so much you can do and our meals are always so colourful! Just use your imagination!
Permalink Reply by James Duncan on Permalink Reply by Gigi on Sounds great, y'all! Thanks for all the wonderful advice!
Here's one more question that's related that might be silly: if I get a sweet craving at night, can I eat as much fruit as I want, even it's after (not right after, but a few hours) eating a non-LFRV meal? Or will this not be good for my system? I should probably just go to sleep, but it seems what happens is I end up eating a lot of processed sugar at night due to not eating properly during the day, or I ignore it and CRAVE things like donuts or poptarts (or thai food) in the morning, making it hard to stick to LFRV in the morning and thus continuing the cycle. I'm thinking if I ate the fruity carbs when I get the sweet cravings that I might help my chance of sticking to it in the morning.
Or I can define it as an addiction and just go cold turkey. I do believe processed sugars and fats are super addictive and I have an eating problem with them. With how good that pear was I just had, I might actually be able to, but it'd be tough, of course, as is any cold turkey plan. Hmmm.
As it works out, tomorrow is my last final before "summer" which for me just means I only work a normal full time job without my Masters classes at night, but it's SUCH a break from everything! Maybe just the concentration I need to make this change in my life. Lots of talk, right? Now to do.
Permalink Reply by Lindsaycat on I hear you, I have made the mistake of avoiding fruit because I have already eaten cooked food earlier on but fruit is always better than junk at any time of the day or night! I personally think bananas digest best if eaten on a non empty stomach beacause they are a bit slower to digest because they are starchy - I could be wrong there.
If you are craving sweet treats in the evening though, it's simply because you haven't eaten enough fruit during the day, so if you eat lots of fruit calories during the day, you probably won't even need or want to eat anymore after your evening meal. Even though the foods you mention are addictive, it's amazing how much these sweet tooth cravings come down to the body's simple desire for quality carbs. Meet this desire with fruits (the best quality carb there is), naughty cravings all gone! To me it seems as miraculous as it is common sense :-)
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