YOU NEED YOUR FATS – they just have to be good fats, and in proportion with the rest of your meal

Oh, ho! I’ve been saying all along that you need to eat your fats even when you are on a raw or high-raw vegan diet. Along comes Frederic Patenaude, who has been espousing low-fat for years, saying that he is eating raw nuts and seeds and avocados, and, what’s more, he points you to Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s video, in which the good doctor denounces a diet with only 10% fat as unhealthy (now, I have never gone so far as to say that in writing, but I have told my clients who were having trouble sticking to 80/10/10 that, if they would only add some fat to their diet, they would vanquish the cravings and be able to get on with a healthy raw food diet.

My first personal vindication came when Ani Phyo came out with her 15-Day Fat Blast, in which she suggested a diet which is pretty much 40/30/30 (carbs/protein/fats). Now, Dr. Joel Fuhrman is weighing in on my side. Of course, he Is talking about *healthy* fats, and decrying high animal/trans-fat diets. So? When I say “high fat”, and, even when Dr. Atkins said “high fat”, what is meant is a diet that contains approximately a 40/30/30 ratio (carbohydrates/protein/fat), with the fats being good fats)

Dr. Fuhrman speaks against the Atkins Diet because too many people have conveniently ignored the part in his book where he explains how much protein a person should eat (you are supposed to divide your weight by half – or, conversely, multiply it by .5, and come up with the appropriate number of grams of protein to eat in a day, which is to be divided among 3 meals – and then you figure out what is 10% more than that, and what is the same number of grams of fat, and where they are coming from, i.e., will they already be in your protein source.)  

I have never been good at math, so, since I hit on Atkins, and decided that it would help me, I’ve just made my meals be 30/30/30,and it has worked. Actually, if you are raw, it is almost impossible to eat too much. I started out at 250 lbs. (-so 75gr protein per day).

Wow! That’s a lot of protein!   I did try getting that from raw nuts and seeds, but it was work, so I switched to a dumbed-down version of Atkins called 40/30/30, put out by the Daouds. In that plan, whatever I ate, no matter when, had to be a “meal” containing a 30/30/30 (yes, I stuck with that number) protein/fat/carb mix.) I mean, I could eat just protein if that’s what I wanted to do, but, if I was eating carbs, first I had to eat an equal number of grams of protein before I could enjoy my carbs (the fats tend to come in the protein in raw vegan diet – I mean, when have you met a nut that did not have fats in it?)

Usually, if you eat your proteins first, you aren’t going to want much else, as proteins will fill you up. Fats of the type that you can get on a raw food diet (fats from raw nuts and seeds, avocados, and whatever oils (extra virgin olive oil or raw coconut oil, for example) you add to what you are preparing will help avoid cravings.

Actually, it is really hard to OD on raw carbs or raw fats unless you are preparing those time-consuming fancy designer recipes you see in many raw food recipe books. 2 C of raw spinach are only 4 gr of carbs — 2 CUPS! That is a heck of a lot! Can you eat that much in a salad for lunch or dinner? Even if you combine 1 C of raw spinach with 1 C of cashews, and then spread it on tomato slice for dinner, you are not going to be able to OD in one meal on carbs or fats, even if you add in a raw cabbage/wakame sea-vegetable salad with onions, red bell pepper, garlic, and some extra virgin sesame oil or olive oil.

What is dangerous, in any diet, is figuring that you can eat anything and everything you want.

Atkins has an “induction protocol” which allows 25 grams of carbs in a day. Easy to manage, and stay full/satisfied , if you are eating raw vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, and using extra virgin olive oil  The problem is when people think that they can eat as much protein and fats as they like. For some reason, from the beginning, I have found that eating raw nuts and seeds, and using extra virgin olive oil, tends to fill me up before I can OD. From the beginning of my odyssey (I have taken off more than 100 lbs., and, today, stay around 130 lbs., at 5’9”), I have required myself to eat my carbs (and I am a weird raw vegan, in that I do not really like eating traditional salads) because I know that they contain vitamins and minerals that are good for me. Since I have to eat my protein first, I know that I have to leave room for the stupid vegetables, if I cannot manage to combine them with the protein, so it is really really hard to OD on protein and fats.

Sticking to 40/30/30, or, as I tend to do 30/30/30, for each meal, keeps me on the straight and narrow: keeps me eating healthy (I have to eat my vegetables), and keeps me from OD-ing on anything that would threaten my plan to keep my weight steady. (Okay, I will admit that I have found wondrous ways to combine my carbs with my proteins (I have a dehydrator – I can put or any vegetable in crackers! And I can make all sorts of vegetable/nut pates/burgers). I can make zucchini (or other vegetable) pasta with my spiralizer, and then have pasta-like dishes with cashew-crème sauces or almond marinara sauce.

Yes, you can be a raw vegan even if you think you don’t love vegetables as much as they say you should. The trick to doing it is to avoid the complicated “transition-type” recipes, and stay simple.

I will admit that one of my hobbies is reading raw vegan recipe books – but I recognize that I am not going to spend hours or days preparing a dish.  Okay, I am willing to wait overnight for a batch of crackers, or kale chips, but breakfast and dinner have to be things that can happen within 20 minutes or less. Sometimes breakfast is down to a cashew shake with whatever is on hand, or just plain with some sweetener, done up in my Nutri-Bullet (the VitaMix died and I haven’t been able to afford to get it repaired yet), and lunch is always what I didn’t finish from breakfast plus what I didn’t finish from dinner the night before.

High protein does not mean that you knock yourself out eating lots of protein. It just means that you balance your protein/carb/fat intake. This makes sense if you consider that 1 slice of white bread has 25 grams of carbs – so you have already reached your carb count for the day with just one slice of bread (oh, gosh! but I want some spinach! I want a salad! Think about it!). If you get into eating a lot of dried fruit, you could run into a problem (Oh my gosh! I’ve eaten a lot of carbs, but I can’t figure out how to fit in my protein!) but, if you stick to simple recipe combinations, you will find that it is easy to stay raw and maintain your health and stick to a healthy weight (I’m still at 135 lbs. 18 years later!)

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ANNIVERSARY MONTH: It was 10 years ago this month that I knew I had taken off 100 lbs. They are still off!

POST #833
Ten years ago, on October 2, my birthday, I realized that my clothes were rather loose.  I ultimately took off @100lbs.

So, now, it has been 10 years that  I have kept the weight off.  I hope you will understand if I reach around and pat myself on the back.  Yeah, I’m proud.  Today, instead of wearing a size 22, I am wearing a size 2.

 

THEY SAY YOU’RE LOOKING TOO SKINNY

I’ve just watched an interesting video from Philip McClusky—wait, stop! Before you watch the video, read here first.  This video inspired me to write out something that I’ve been feeling, thinking for quite some time.

I used to weigh 225 pounds.  I got there by forgetting what I knew about nutrition, at least as far as it concerned me.  I mean, I could still counsel my nutrition clients and see them through to the goals they had set, but I was just “big-boned” (there are so many other euphemisms for “huge”, “a whale”, “fat” – even my orthopedist avoided the “FAT” word by telling me that I was a “big girl”).

One day, I just got it all together – a combination of raw and low-carb, and the pounds came off.  It took me a year to take off 100 lbs.

I will start by saying that I was extremely fortunate to be in the care of a wonderful chiropractor at the time.  When she noticed that I had lost some weight (I’d gone from a size 20 to a size 12), I asked her to tell me if she thought I was getting anorexic-looking, and she agreed to do so.  (to this date, she has never told me that I look too thin).

Be that as it may, when I dropped below the teens in sizes, I started to hear from close friends that I looked sick. Fortunately, I was sufficiently goal-oriented (and sane) to notice that those who complained about my looks were still where I had been when I started my journey down the scale.  (It seems funny to me that people would never dare tell someone that they have put on a ton of weight and look awful, but they think nothing of telling you that you are too skinny).

My only fans were my chiropractor, my mother, and my sister.  Even my PCP suggested that I was too thin (we are talking here about a rail-thin, unhappy-looking middle-aged Korean from Korea woman).  I challenged her, telling her that I would like to be as svelte as she was, and she told me that American women can’t do that (oh racist so-and-so… I bit my tongue so hard it almost fell off)

My best friend stopped talking to me.  That could have been that I was just so excited about being skinny (I was about a size 4 when that happened) that I was talking too much about clothes and trying to get her to try what had gotten me to where I was (last I saw of her, she was a square – about 5ft tall and 5ft wide)

My other good friend, who had put on a lot of weight right around the time I had (call it weight-opause), was incredibly graphic, showing me where I had lines on my face that she thought shouldn’t be there, even though her beefy face had the same sort of lines.

I finally learned to say to people who complained that “I looked good” (my assessment of what I saw in the mirror), by saying that I looked to thin, or I looked sick, “Thank you.  I’m working on this.”

That became fun, as their  critical faces became confused.

My chiropractor never said a word about my being too thin until I put some pounds back on and she asked me what that was on my stomach.  (Bless her soul, she understood my paranoia, and had found a way to tell me that I was “going back to hell” if I didn’t turn things around)

I took off 100 lbs 10 years ago.  I have had most of them off for all that time.  About 2 years ago, I drifted up 20 lbs. and it has taken me that past 2 years to really get them off. (interestingly, in the time that I have been fighting those 20 lbs, I have had comments about how I had put on weight)

So, here is my take on how these things go.

When you start to lose weight (if that is what you want to do), the people around you who are heavy are going to complain to you, and criticize your efforts.  (you just have to keep your head on straight and remember your goals)

If you lose weight and meet your goals and are happy, then, if you put on 10 or 20 lbs, people around you are going to complain about that.

Face it.  Your body size is what you want.  You cannot expect much support when you are taking off weight, unless you are working with a kind friend who has already gone that route (then you may find yourself dealing with a drill sergeant), or a nutritionist.  Even doctors are scary territory – if you take off a lot of weight without their permission, they can get weird on you. (the interesting exception for me was that my PCP’s husband, who was also in the practice, and whom I occasionally saw, asked me how I had taken off the weight because he wanted to take off some weight)

If you want to take off some weight, do it, knowing that you are right. Don’t listen to anyone else.  (People around you who should take off weight are going to be critical, because you are doing what they want to do, or because you are changing and they are not). What you need to understand is that there are any number of saboteurs out there who don’t want to see you succeed, for whatever reason. They may be in your own family, they may be your best friends, or whatever.  Just be aware that they are out there, and recognize when they step in.  Don’t let them stop you.

Get with a doctor who understands the work  you are undertaking and already thinks you need to lose weight.

A raw vegan diet, particularly one high in protein and low in carbs, really can help you lose weighteasily and quickly.

Ani Phyo’s 15 DAY FAT BLAST

Well, I did finish Ani’s 15-day Fat Blast… I guess we can see that I am not the person to give you day-by-day updates.  I liked it well enough… As I have previously mentioned, I did email Ani Phyo to ask her if I had to do the varied diet, or if I could stick with one thing, i.e., one breakfast smoothie, or one evening soup, etc.  I never received an answer from Ani Phyo (which fact has made me like her much less – always, before, when I have approached a raw vegan book author with questions about the recipes In the book I have bought, they have been very helpful.

Anyway, I just pretty much stayed with the blueberry shake throughout the whole 15 days.  Sometimes I did do a banana shake, and, in the last days, I did a banana-blueberry shake, based on both shakes.

I ate spinach salad until the spinach I’d bought started to wilt. Then I made a big spinach/sauerkraut salad.

I liked the tomato soup, the coconut tomato soup, and the red bell pepper soup, so I stuck with those.

When I was finishing up, I went back and read what Ani Phyo  included after the diet info.  There, I found a lot of the usual – eat what you want to when you want to. Ha!  This seems to me like a disclaimer. You eat what you want to, and you will not get the results promised in the title.

By the middle of the Fat Blast, I found I needed to add a laxative tea at night.  Things just weren’t moving through. I was eating things which were suggested, and I was using a blender, as opposed to a juicer, but needed some additional help to perform my morning ablutions.

I am happy to tell you that I came down  to suing two or three of the shakes pretty much exclusively. 1    I found that the blueberry shake, and the banana shake worked well for me throughout the diet. A big reason there was finances.I just really didn’t have enough money to add in all of those lovely ideas that are suggested in the program.

Regardless, I did stick with the *idea* of the program, and I did lose at least one size (I don’t have a scale, so I can’t tell you what the 9weight equivalent was – I just got into my jeans and did not have to hold my breath to close them. I was able to put on a couple of dresses and not look like I was selling something.  In one case, I was able to wear a dress I’d received as a gift, for the first time. Whoopee!

Since I am a veteran Master Cleanser, the whole time I was going through this Fat Blast, I felt a strong desire to do the salt cleanse.  I think that was why I finally went to the laxative tea in the last days. I avoided using laxatives or the salt cleanse during the first part of the diet because I wanted to know how the diet worked.  My experience, in the end, was that I needed a little more excitement to move me, so I finally resorted  to the laxative tea.

Should you do this diet?  I’d say yes. If you have enough money to eat all the things on the diet, it will be fun (all of the recipes are easy to prepare).  If you adhere even moderately strictly to this diet, you will lose at least 15 pounds.

MASTER CLEANSER: reasons people fail

I’m thinking a lot about Master Cleanser right now (duh!)

The first time I did a Master Cleanse, it was all by myself. Nobody had any misgivings, and nobody had to quit. I just went on and on until I stopped (I forgot to read that the Master Cleanse can be done up to 40 days, so I stopped at 10 days). I did great.

Once, I agreed to to a Master Cleanse with a friend. I did great. She, on the other hand, began to experience fatigue, extreme hunger, and faintness on the second day. (I should mention that she was on the “hefty” side). I have since seen a number of people experience the same “symptoms” on the Master Cleanse, and I have come upon an explanation as to why some people have serious trouble on the Master Cleanse.

The way I see it, some people who try the Master Cleanse but cannot go through with it are fearsome. I really do believe that some people have a fear of not eating food Most such people are what I call “constant feeders”,(i.e., they eat often during the day, as opposed to eating only at mealtimes, three times a day). “Fear eaters” have trouble on any kind of diet, because they are in constant fear that they will not get enough food. On the Master Cleanse, they do not get any of what they consider food, and, so, they freak out early on, and cannot continue with the Master Cleanse. (I base my theory on what people have told me: that they felt they were not getting enough nourishment — although the Master Cleanse fulfills all nutritional requirements), or that they did not have enough protein in their diet (although they had previously done well on low protein weight loss diets consisting primarily of raw salads).

The other group of people I have found who do not do well on the Master Cleanse are those who feel they must alter the recipe. As I see it, the recipe was developed because it worked. Alterations risk failure or lack of benefits (either way would be failure as I see it). The Master Cleanse, as it was originally devised, works extremely well and is quite easy to do.

When people begin to tinker with things, quite often, they come up with something else. In the case of the Master Cleanse, if it is changed, it does not work, and, so, people will experience problems completing a Master Cleanse program.

MASTER CLEANSER NOW: happy again

I have broken my Juice Feast and started a Master Cleanser.

I had already figured out that, if you try something, and it just doesn’t agree with you, you should probably stop it. I do slog on for a bit, just to make sure I cannot get used to whatever it is, but there comes a time when I have to pull the plug.

Anyone who has come into contact with me in the past few weeks will likely be happy to know this.

No, I did not suddenly become enlightened – the tip-off as to why we were not getting along was a big-time physical issue (yes, boys and girls, raw foodies can get sick). Good! I know! I can get on with healing!

So… when I broke the Juice Feast, I  started a Master Cleanser. Anytime I have had to face down something seriously annoying (i.e., a big problem) in the past, it has helped me. I am putting my faith in it this time, too. I do know that, no matter what, I will feel better.

I do like the Master Cleanser. I love my lemonade. I am happy and friendly now.

What is the Master Cleanser, you might ask. Actually, I have spent the last couple of days writing a page detailing the Master Cleanser: what it does, why you would do it, how you do it, and responses to misgivings and/or objections. Please do look at it and see if it doesn’t answer your questions.

I will be adding more information as I go along on my Master Cleanse. Meanwhile, if you like, you can check out Stanley Burroughs’ book on the Master Cleanser Unfortunately, Burroughs’ fantastic book on natural healing, Healing for the Age of Enlightenment, in which he first published the Master Cleanser, is no longer published (I have a few copies, available at a reasonable price, if you are interested)

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JUICE FEASTING

Is it the moon or something? All by myself I had decided to do a juice fast for a while, starting with a Master Cleanser “Lemonade Diet”, and then moving on to a juice regimen. I don’t much care for green drinks the way I make them, so I went looking for some new ideas, and, lo and behold, it seems like everybody and her sister is doing Juice Feasting. It seems that I have decided to do something that is all the rage right about now. First, it was Terilynn at Daily Raw Cafe, and then, today I see that Heidi at Raw Food Right Now is doing it, too.

Then I found a site which was totally devoted to coaching people who are juice feasting. Goodness!! I never thought of getting someone to help me do a juice fast…. I’ve just always kept on slogging through all by my lonesome.

If you’re thinking of doing the Master Cleanse, you can find the recipe at this Master Cleanser page.

Of course, if you are thinking of doing any sort of Juice Fast or Juice Feasting (it seems the difference in terms has to do with whether you are juicing your vegetables or blending them), you will need to have, at the minimum, a powerful blender. I love my Vitamix, which some describe as a “blender on steroids”. It will pulverize just about anything you put into it (within reason, of course). You might also want a personal blender, so you can blend fresh anywhere (I usually just blend up and carry my juice for the day in an insulated bag — not the guru’s choice, maybe, but it works for me).

I do like plain old juice, so I need my Champion juicer. I do have a Green Star juicer, but, even though it does juice greens and wheatgrass, but I just do not like all the work for clean-up — I can take apart my Champion and wash it before ice cream can melt on a hot summer’s day in a non-air-conditioned New York City apartment (about 2 minutes, I’d say). The Champion wins.
If you’re ready to do a Juice Feast, or even if you just want to read about the concept, A Juice Feaster’s Handbook is a good guide.

If you are not ready to juice feast, but you are looking to take off some weight (all that yummy raw food you’ve made from those fine raw food recipes you’ve collected sitting on your your hips?) Try looking at RawReform: How to Go Raw for Weight Loss for some good information.

Need more weight work inspiration? Check out Raw Reform.

INTERESTING POLITICS

I really don’t get into politics. Okay, when we talk raw food nutrition, I do have definite opinions. Normally, I just say what I believe and let people get all upset or not, as they will. I am a trained nutritionist, so I really don’t care what people who have not studied nutrition want to believe. Is that political? In the raw food arena, it seems to be.

T here are several basic raw food camps.

Natural Hygiene, or Food Combining, has been championed by such noted experts as Ehret, Shelton, Walker, Wigmore, Fry, and, most recently, the Diamonds.

Some tout the idea of “intuitive eating”, in which one eats what seems right at the moment.

Even the “low-carb” approach can easily be applied to the raw food lifestyle — I did it!!!!

Then there is the 80-10-10 system, developed and touted by Dr. Doug Graham, a chiropractor. This system has become very popular very quickly, to the point that many raw food groups have adopted the political stance that 80-10-10 is the only way.

Interestingly, I am told that, at the Raw Food thing in Arizona, David Wolfe, of the The Sunfood Diet Success System, spoke out against Graham, alarming people who believe in Dr. Graham’s ideas.

 I, myself, have spoken out against the 80-10-10 system in several venues.  Most people dismiss my ideas, and some denounce them, but, often enough, people come back to me to ask me more.  I am a certified nutritionist (I don’t know about these other folks, to tell the truth).  I studied holistic nutrition and vegetarian nutrition, specifically (I am, after all, a raw food person).  My studies covered biology, physiology, and even psychology, as it is affected by biology and physiology.  

I  have also had the experience of taking off a massive amount of weight naturally (more than 100 lbs.)  in a relatively short amount of time (one year) with no untoward experience (that was 5 years ago… and I remain healthy).

A number of the people I work with complain of  cravings.  I have experienced cravings, but what I have discovered (and this has worked for my clients, as well) is that most cravings are about fat.  The body needs fat to build cell walls.  When the body does not receive enough good fat, it will use any fat it can find to build cell walls. The quality of the fat determines the quality of the cell walls.  Have you ever noticed that, with the rise in emphasis on low-fat diets, we have had an increase in all sorts of physical afflictions (hitherto unknown diseases, environmental sensitivities, miscellaneous rashes, and more)?? Our cell walls are meant to be impermeable, but, if we do not provide our bodies with enough quality fat to build the cell walls in the way they were designed to be built, we leave our cells open to invasion by dieseases, viruses, and more.

Our bodies also require protein to build all of the cells, of the bones, the muscles, the skin, the nerves, the organs……. If we do not take in enough protein, our bodies, in their effort to build new cells, will take protein from wherever they can find it.  Muscles and bones are the first sources from which protein may be drawn by the body.(This is why many people whose diets are low in protein  feel weak, and, in many cases, how people come to suffer from osteoporosis and other weakening of the bones).

I recognize the value of Dr. Graham’s system in that it provides a clear program for those who need a strong regimen to which to adhere in their desire to turn to a healthy eating program. The 80-10-10 diet is strict and uncompromising, and, as such, provides an almost cult-like cocoon of safe feeling to its adherents, who can feel confident and secure in their eating habits as long as they follow the regimen.  (Unfortunately, fat cravings and skin disorders are but the first, and most noticeable, effects of severely restricted fat diets)

Fat and protein restriction are dangerous.We are all concerned about anorexia, which is, basically, severe protein and fat restriction, yet adherents to the 80/10/10 diet do not blink at their potentially anorexic behavior (or, perhaps, they are cheating behind the scenes, and not considering the causes of their cheating)

Although I did not care for Wolfe’s book, which languishes at the far end of my raw food book shelf, and I do not know what his credentials are (other than that he has gained a certain fame), but I laud his willingness to publicly speak out against the seemingly bullet-proof Dr. Graham, whose credentials are equally murky (I know that he is a chiropractor, but chiropractic is about adjusting spinal alignment, not not about diet)  

I do know that protein and good fats are important to the human diet. 

BEFORE & AFTER – so you know

I have just found an old picture (from a family reunion in 2000), and a picture of me now. I was a cute round girl, but I like myself now.

I’d like to make this so you can see it when you first come to my blog, but, until I learn how, here are the pictures.

this is me in my old britches.

I got here on low carb raw.