This is my first "health" post but it won't be long and I figured it might help some people with things like stomach issues and fasting.
To begin, it's oftentimes hard to figure out what type of raw food diet to eat. Should I eat low-fat, high-carb? high-fat, low-sugar? lots of calories? very little calories? fasting? juicing? gourmet? wild plants? food combining? So many questions arise; it's so funny that you choose to live a healthier lifestyle and all of a sudden eating gourmet raw is the unhealthiest thing you can do or food combining suddenly becomes so important.
I say it's best to first find the raw foods that work for you. This means analyzing your exercise routine, caloric needs, food allergies, other health issues and most importantly,
experiment. I think that once you decide to follow this lifestyle it takes months and even years to figure out the way that works for you. Some really active people need lots of energy throughout the day so they may be better off eating more fruit and some fat in the evenings. Others may be fine digesting fat and feeling great while needing less sugary fruit. And this might vary for everyone on a day to day basis. So this gets even more complicated. I say: listen to your body every single day.
Try Different Routines! And see what makes you feel best, changing routines day to day:
- Low-fat in the morning: Low fat raw food usually digests quickly making you feel light during workouts and throughout the day. I've personally noticed that eating something fatty slows me down which is why I save my fats for dinner usually (but not all the time because sometimes I want fats earlier!)
- Low-fat all day: I feel really good the next day after doing this but find myself craving fats so I don't do this often. However this gives the digestive system a nice run through.
- Liquid Fasting until Lunch: I find myself doing this quite often because I feel really light doing this and because I'm usually not hungry in the morning. I have lemon water and ACV water in the morning as well as a wheat grass powder drink and wait till lunch to eat which feels really good.
- Exercise: If you are getting a good amount of activity daily you may feel great doing any food routine.
- Liquid Fasting until Dinner: Sometimes I do this when I want to fast but fail by dinnertime, yet this still gives the digestive system a nice rest.
- Having a very light to no dinner: It's not good to eat a lot close to bedtime because you can get stomach cramps at night this way. Some people thrive on not eating dinner but just eating it relatively far away from bedtime should be good for digestion as well.
- Normal, gourmet meals all day: Some people do just fine eating normal and gourmet raw meals at normal meal times, as much as they want. Some people have trouble with digestion but many do not. If you are fine eating normal meals then do so as long as you listen to your body.
- Basic meals all day: Many in the raw food world like to eat basic meals of fruit and greens and that is fine too!
- Green Juices: If you don't like greens or don't have time to chew them, green vegetable juices are a fantastic way to get in all of the great stuff nature has provided us with.
- Fruit Juices: Fruit juices are good sometimes but can be high in sugar.
- Different types of fats and soaking: Some people can digest certain types of fats and not others, experiment! Try to soak nuts and seeds, they might improve your digestion of them.
- Different types of fruits: There are many different types of fruits to be aware of: dense, sugary, acidic, watery, non-sweet, fatty, etc.
- Smoothies: Smoothies are another great way to have a quick and digestive meal.
- Greens: Greens are so important to health that they should be eaten no matter what the type of diet is. There are so many different types of greens out there do some research and find something you like.Wild greens are even better.
- Supplements: Vegans need special supplements like B-12 for optimal health so make sure you get them. Eat a variety of foods to meet all of your nutritional needs and if you can't then supplement with natural and high-quality supplements.
- New Recipes: Try new recipes once in a while to keep up your interest in the lifestyle.
- Juice Fasting: I will be doing this in a few weeks as a detox program for a month and will keep you updated on how it makes me feel.
- Water Fasting: This is more extreme than juice fasting but very good once in a while even if its just one day long.
- Smoothie Fasting: This is a very easy fast to do and very quick for a busy person. One can even make this his or her daily routine of just smoothies.
- Enemas: Do enemas if you are not going to the bathroom at least once a day. Ideally you should go 2-3 times a day; take Cayenne pepper in water to help this problem.
- Satisfying Cravings: OK if you crave something really badly to the point of always thinking about it, just eat what you are craving. Otherwise, make a raw version of the food you are craving and it should go away. Oftentimes cravings are just a symptom of under-eating so make sure you eat enough.
- Cooked Food: Also OK sometimes if it is an unprocessed and whole food and is easier when traveling. It's your life so don't stress about minor things like wanting rice and having it, it may actually do you more good than harm.
