For awhile, I have been experimenting with supplements. I found that niacin and calcium both have a weight loss effect on me. Other supplements caused weight gain in me.
In general though, supplements were such a minor effect that I think it’s time to go back to switching diets weekly.
This week, I’m eating raw. This is a totally vegan diet plan. In addition, nothing is to be cooked.
For breakfast, I had strawberries.
There are several Costa Rican salads that fit this plan, so I’ll probably be eating a lot of those.
Costa Ricans have a variety of salads that use cucumbers, cabbage, cilantro and tomatoes dowsed with fresh lime juice. I love all of the variations.
I generally avoid the vegan diets because they have all resulted in weight gain for me in the past. In addition, most vegetarians I know are fat.
However, I haven’t ever tried actually eating raw. Proponents of eating raw claim that it is a huge difference over just eating vegetarian. They claim that cooking destroys important enzymes and probiotics.
OK. It’s time to give it a shot.
BTW, the only proponent I know of eating raw is skinny… so we’ll see.
As usual, this diet will only be for a week and then I’ll switch again. Because of that, I’m not going to be concerned with the nutritional deficiencies that are a normal part of eating vegan.
My body will just have to do without the missing nutrients until next week.
I’ll let you know more when I know more.
-James D. Brausch
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Hi James,
I’m glad to see you’re finally giving the Raw Food Diet a try. Let me know if you’d like some assistance or email coaching.
Eating raw can be quite tricky because it’s so different than what most people are used to eating. Raw foods are so much higher in fiber and water and lower in calorie per bite that it can really through you off.
One of the biggest mistakes 99% of new raw foodists make is to not consume enough calories. Even the ones who are trying to lose weight.
From what you’ve described of what you are planning to eat, you might be way low on calories.
This could leave feeling excessively hungry and then quitting the diet before you’ve given it a good shot.
I don’t know if you’re aware of sites like www.Fitday.com. You can get a free account there and enter the foods you’re eating there.
Then you’ll know the approximate nutrients and how many calories are in those foods. You might be shocked at the results when entering raw foods.
What you may find is that you feel full but on maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the calories you’d normally eat. But then in a few days, you start feeling hungry all of the time.
This is due to not consuming enough calories. You may want to try eating bananas as they’re higher in calories per weight than many other raw fruits and certainly strawberries.
And for many people eating raw is so effective for weight loss that they don’t even have to count calories at all.
The kinds of foods you eat make a tremendous difference when it comes to weight loss.
There are animal studies to back this up.
One group of rats was fed their normal rat chow, another group was fed junk food but the exact same calories as the rat chow group.
Which group do you think put on significantly more weight? The junk food rats of course.
As for missing nutrients in the raw vegan diet. I don’t know of any except the possibility of B12.
I do supplement for that personally. But one week will not make much of a difference at all for that nutrient.
Best of success in your weight loss, Roger
Hi Roger,
Thanks for stopping by and for all of the tips.
I discovered bananas yesterday (which would normally be taboo on many eating plans). Fortunately I’m in Costa Rica right now so I had about 22 different varieties of bananas that are all very nice.
Another problem I have down here is finding organic produce… and they still use a lot of pesticides that are even banned in the U.S. Bananas are great because you don’t have to scrub the skins to get off the residual poisons. You just peel and eat. Only the systemic poisons are a problem and that is very minor compared to the residual skin poisons on most fruits and veggies.
The weight loss on raw looks great so far. Of course, I’ll try it surrounded by other plans a couple more times before calling it one of the best plans for me.
Am I’m certainly not ready for your lifestyle. In fact, I think next week is going to be a meat only week. But eating raw weeks will most likely end up in the mix.
-James D. Brausch
Hi James,
I have several raw food friends who live in Costa Rica or who have visited there as well.
It was actually Frederic Patenaude who emailed me that you were trying a raw experiment. He’s also a raw food proponent and he spends part of his year in Costa Rica. I told him about you by the way, in the first place.
I’ve heard the same problems with my Costa Rican friends in regards to getting organic produce. I have a friend who at this point can pretty much sustain himself from the fruit trees and garden on his own property. And they are of course organic.
You can see his property here:
http://www.vidanatural.info/
Steve is a Libertarian by the way.
Just realize that if the meats you eat are not organic that they would probably have 20 times the level of pesticide that raw but commercial produce would have. It’s because these animals have been eating pesticides all of their lives and are storing those toxins in their fat cells.
I’m glad you’re finding some benefit with eating raw. I know what you mean. It takes a while to switch into this kind of mindset. It certainly did for me. Over 5 years of going back and forth and fighting all of the misinformation out there.
I’m sure if you find the benefits of eating raw to be high enough that at some point you’ll take a more close look. It certainly keeps me at about 5% body fat and I don’t count calories at all. I eat as much as I want. I had about 10 to 15 pounds more of fat in my cooked food days.
Another really great thing that happened to me was the reversing of aging symptoms. For one thing I started having arthritis in my mid twenties. Now I’m 40 and have no symptoms of it at all.
Also I look more like a 25 year old than a 40 year old. It’s the ultimate diet if you want to stay young, be happy and use your full brain power. Athletically I still compete with the 20 year olds and have more energy and endurance than a 7 year old child.
Just realize that there are many people out there who have been eating 100% raw vegan for years and thriving. I know a number of them personally.
I’ve been doing virtually 100% raw foods since about 10 days before 9/11/2001. I started experimenting with it in 1996.
By simply eating a 50% raw food diet, I got rid of my depression of 6 and a half years in one day.
Another thing that stopped was my receding gum line. Every time I went 100% raw my gums stopped receding. But then when I switched back to some cooked foods, the process would continue. Then back to eating 100% raw and it would stop.
I also used to get infections in my gums all of the time. But that stopped as well when going raw. I even got 18 stitches on my hand while being 100% raw. I knew I didn’t need the antibiotics because there was nothing in my body that could feed an infection. And I actually removed the stitches myself and never got an infection. The wound even got a bit wet but no problem.
There were many other incredible things that happened to me as a result of eating raw. Kinds of stuff that never happened on any cooked food kind of diet.
I wish you the best and maybe I’ll come and visit you some day if I take a trip to Costa Rica when you’re there. That is if you’d like me to.
I’ve certainly benefited much from your business advice and thank you for your contrarian thinking.
I’m also glad that you stand for freedom in the United States and for all of humankind.
Cheers, Roger
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