Raw food diets and poultry

[sadie]

I'm sorry if this sounds incredibly stupid, but are you not allowed to eat poultry on a raw food diet? I know that red meats and fish can be okay, b/c they can be consumed raw in some circumstances, but what about poultry?

[ArmsOfLove]

actually a raw foods diet would be an extreme vegan diet so no animal products at all :)

[godsgracegiven]

Yes, I do believe so, that is why I am not 100% raw. I don't/haven't ate chicken for over month now because I am trying to eat much healthier., so we have been making changes. And it is neat how much a small change can make. But I do eat eggs and fish, though so I can call myself fully raw. :) :O

[Leslie]

Some raw foodists (Carol Alt, for one) do eat raw eggs, raw dairy, steak tartar and sashimi. But I've never heard anyone say that they eat raw poultry, I think there's too much risk of parasites.

You can also be 75 percent raw and still classified as a raw foodist, so I guess some cooked poultry could be included if you wanted. I still go back and forth, I'm probably 90-95 percent raw and I can't decide whether to include a little bit of baked chicken, baked salmon, or hummus (from canned beans.) I think I'm leaning towards allowing hummus a couple times a week at home, and cooked fish or chicken when I'm eating out and can't get much in the way of a salad. We only go out once in a blue moon, so it won't be very often.

[sadie]

So what about dried beans? If I make lentil soup, and I boil them to soften them and let the seasoning sink in, is that in violation of the rules?

[Leslie]

Pure raw foodists soak beans until they sprout, then they grind them or whatever. They would not boil them.

But, you know, you can do a mostly raw foods diet and experience the benefits of that health without being 100 percent. You can be 80 percent and then still have beans or whatever for the other 20 percent.

[Punkie]

I'm probably 90-95 percent raw and I can't decide whether to include a little bit of baked chicken, baked salmon, or hummus (from canned beans.) I think I'm leaning towards allowing hummus a couple times a week at home, and cooked fish or chicken when I'm eating out and can't get much in the way of a salad. We only go out once in a blue moon, so it won't be very often.


May I ask a few questions? I'm intrigued!
How do you get enough calories? I've mentioned here before that I have struggled with eating disorders in the past, so it is important to me that I don't embrace anything with an especially low caloric intake, because I fear that it would be a foot-in-the-door for anorexia... I haven't found a way to be that raw and still get enough calories.

Do you do the Hallelujah Diet or something similar? Do you take supplements like Barley Green or anything like that?

[Leslie]

<<How do you get enough calories?>>

I typed in a day's meals at Fitday.com and I had 1360 calories, which is plenty for my size and level of activity. I'm not dropping weight or anything! It doesn't take many nuts, seeds and avocado to rack up fat and calories, and I make recipes that incorporate them, like a raw chili that has an avocado blended into it, broccoli soup that has both nut milk and avocado, and a raw Pad Thai that has nuts blended into the sauce.

<<I haven't found a way to be that raw and still get enough calories.>>

I'm having the opposite problem. :lol If you start doing raw recipes you'll get plenty of calories. But if you just eat plain fruit and salads, it might be harder.

<<Do you do the Hallelujah Diet or something similar?>>

I've been getting support and tips from Alissa Cohen's website and message board. I also like Frederic Patenaude's website.

<<Do you take supplements like Barley Green or anything like that?>>

No, I've been doing this for a couple of months so it's still too early to know how it will all work for me. Maybe later I'll decide that I need to supplement. But I'm hoping that the 5-10 percent other foods will take care of that.

[Punkie]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! I actually feel much better now :) Like I said, I'm trying to incorporate more raw foods into my diet, but the only recipes that I've done so far were from Dr. Mercola's book, and they weren't very calorie-dense.

I know that 1360 wouldn't be enough calories for me (as I mentioned above, I'm training for a marathon, and that would not be good!). I've been thinking about going raw for breakfast, then increasing it to breakfast and lunch, and then deciding whether or not I wanted to do any more than that. I've been raw for breakfast most mornings, although sometimes I've been sneaking in some yogurt.

I'm going to go look at the sites that you mentioned. I've just been kind of poking around the 'net to get info... Thanks again!

[godsgracegiven]

It doesn't take many nuts, seeds and avocado to rack up fat and calories

ITA with Leslie. :) I eat 1200 calories day but I am trying to loose weight. I eat a lot of salads, but I add nuts seeds, avocados, whatever sounds yummy. I bet if you added anything protien it would bumb up your calories.
BTW Punkie, I have to say, that is so inspiring that your training for a marathon!!wishing you blessings :tu

[Leslie]

I lost three or four pounds right away, but I haven't lost a thing in six weeks. I'm not really careful about eliminating nuts and avocados from my diet because I'm still nursing. Also, I'm still a beginner and they say you really should throw caution to the wind to begin with, until you acclimate yourself to the diet and your body adjusts. I figure the health will come first, and I can worry about the weight later. Right now, I just eat whenever I'm hungry, which, right now, is pretty frequently.

[MamaBeth]

I'm working on transitioning towards raw. I'd like to be at about 80% on most days with days where I'm 100% if I can manage it...but it's a process. I can not imagine eating any raw eggs or meats of any sort though!! I'll stick to fruit and veggies, nuts and seeds. The whole "so many calories" per day thing, here lately I'm thinking, what does calories really matter so long as you're eating when you're hungry and stopping when you are full? The point isn't living to eat and wouldn't that include being overly concerned about caloric intake, but rather eating to live? If you're not hungry, but you're full of energy and sleeping well, does it really matter if you're eating more like 1000 calories per day?

Nobody needs to answer that LOL I'm just being philosophical...

[Peepsqueak]

I need to lose weight so I may try this raw diet thing. I will look on the website, but can you describe the diet to me? Also can you eat sweets?

[Leslie]

<<If you're not hungry, but you're full of energy and sleeping well, does it really matter if you're eating more like 1000 calories per day?>>

I think you can re-set your body's metabolism if you go too low. If you ever go back to regular meals, it could set you up for some problems. But Roy Walford (The 120 Year Diet) thought that you could live healthier for longer by under-eating. :shrug

[Leslie]

<<I need to lose weight so I may try this raw diet thing. I will look on the website, but can you describe the diet to me? Also can you eat sweets?>>

It's more of a lifestyle change than a real diet, people usually do it because they have a health issue and need something healing. It's a big step to take if you're just looking to lose some weight, although it's a really healthy step to take, even if you don't do it 100 percent.

The basic diet is fresh fruits and vegetables, seeds and nuts. You can do plain fruit, snacks of raw nuts, salads, chopped veggies rolled in lettuce leaf wraps, fruit smoothies, green smoothies made with both fruit and vegetables, blended soups like gazpacho,or you can combine things to make recipes. It can be as simple or fancy as you want. Any grains that are used are often sprouted. Some people use a dehydrator to make crackers from flax seeds and other things. As people get farther into it, they often start refining because they discover that certain things work better for them (some people find that nuts don't agree with them, or that they do well on mostly fruit, or that they need to eat fruit by itself, etc) But in the beginning, you don't worry about any of that, you just acclimate your body to it by eating what you want.

You can eat sweets, but since everything is raw, sweets are pretty much limited to fruit, including raisins and dates. Some people make amazing treats with dried fruit and nuts, and ice-cream-like smoothies from frozen fruit. Since too much of any sugar affects me badly, I don't do many of the hyper-sweet treats, but I discovered that I like a fruit salad of cut-up bananas and oranges as much as anything else.