All that food...one stomach.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by erica on March 11, 2009 at 12:56am

have you tried mono meals? i find if i just eat one type of fruit or veggie at a time it's easier for me to tell when i am naturally full, and it prevents the bloat!

I don't know if this helps.. but give it a try? :)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Reetz on March 11, 2009 at 11:13pm

wow, this was such a massive help for me too.
thanks heaps :)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Breanna on March 12, 2009 at 12:42am

Thank you Durianrider! I have never tried eating mainly mono meals, but I will say that I always feel better after eating three bananas rather than eating only one banana but combining it with an apple.

I am also an endurance athlete - I run college cross country and track. It is obviously not the same as riding hours upon hours a day, but it does require a sufficient amount of energy. One of the things that has prevented me from going completely raw is getting enough calories without feeling too full to do anything. I think I'll try cutting down on the nuts and bread (yes I know that is terrible) and start relying on nutritious but delicious bananas!

Thank you again for the advice!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by WhoRaw on March 16, 2009 at 1:05pm

Hello durianrider
Is that why my stomach looks like I'm 4 months pregnant? Could it really be the nanners and the kale? I have a banana, kale and spinach smoothie just about everyday.

oh boy, i'm in a heap of trouble.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Uti on March 14, 2009 at 1:34am

Most people transitioning to raw are used to eating calorie dense, low water content foods. Fruits and raw veggies are less calorie dense and have a higher water content. It took me a while to get used to stretching my stomach out to accommodate something like 10 pounds of watermelon in a sitting. It a bit more difficult if you're still eating slower digesting foods and then follow with a big mono fruit meal. If there's nothing in the way of a big fruit meal it digests very quickly.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Susan Virginia on March 14, 2009 at 12:20pm

The general idea is that fruits take 20-30 min to digest, veg 2-3 hours, and most everything else 3+.

Fruit combining -- melon first (most watery)... wait a bit if you're going to have
... general sweet fruits, and a bit longer for...
... starchy fruits

Most fruits should be eaten only with other fruits (very acidic). Fruit should be the start of the day, start of the meal.

Try to allow for complete digestion between meals.


Most veg combine fine with either starch or protein.

Avoid combining starch AND protein.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by rawrawraw! on March 14, 2009 at 2:26pm

POUNDS??????? Pounds of fruit and vegetables. Wow I couldn't afford to eat pounds of either. But if I could... I don't think I would. I manage to fuel up on very little but because of the foods nutritional content I feel satisfied throughout the day.
I don't know how many calories I am consuming that's for sure, but if I am hungry I eat, and if not then I usually won't.
I really was not aware that people could eat 10-40 bananas and that would be healthy?

Am I getting this right? Either way we all have different eating habits, I am just curious about the amounts of raw food people ARE eating. Is this only for really active people or what?

Hmm very interesting. I'm hungry now.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Uti on March 14, 2009 at 4:47pm

rawrawraw,
I had been raw for some years before I finally had to send myself back to school and get a handle on how much fruit and veggies I had to eat to get enough calories. So I learned to measure and weigh and by the end of a couple of months of keeping a daily food diary with the calorie total I was ready to put the scale and dairy away. Durian Rider said something similar earlier. You eventually can just look at things and "feel" if its enough.

One thing you have to learn is what your daily caloric needs are for your level of physical activity and, imo, what season it is and where you live.

YES, POUNDS! If you're in this for the long haul you can't approach it from a place of scarcity. If you do scarcity you may wind up losing too much weight and compromising your health.

You can teach yourself to shop more efficiently and you can afford to feed yourself. Take bananas for example. They are a cheap source of calories and available every day in most urban markets. An average medium sized Cavendish imported banana has about 90 calories. I personally would have a hard time being raw in winter without them. So 6 to 10 bananas a day is not an issue and is balanced by eating dark leafy greens.

Eat seasonally because when a particular fruit or veg is in high season and abundant the price drops. Watch for sales at the markets. Support your local farmer's markets because the food you get there will be fresher and likely have a higher nutritional content.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by rawrawraw! on March 14, 2009 at 9:10pm

Thanks Uti for that information.

▶ Reply to This