Raw Food - Ism

[Bathsheba]

I'm sure there is a proper "ism" title - as far as I'm aware raw-ism often goes hand in hand with Veganism...

Has anyine ever followed a raw food diet - most of what I eat at the moment is pure raw food (salad, raw veg and chopped fruit) - however I do find myself eating a few too many of the naughty things (biscuits/pasta/rice/toast/bread etc)...

I'm thinking if I could confine myself purely to raw food then it would inherently be healthier because I can't eat either meat or those "beige carbohydrate things"...

Just wonderign if anyone has done it = I'm trying to maintain/lose more weight after a huge weight loss, but I'm also 7 weeks pg...I want to be as healthy as possible really.

um..... cooked food isn't inherantly unhealthy.

If you want to loose weight and have a healthy diet the key is variety, not more restrictions.

Nothing wrong with carbohydrates like bread, pasta nad rice. It's the quantity that's important.

As for meat, you can eaat it raw you know! I certainly do

I don't think that giving up carbohydrates would be healthy, particularly when you are pg. There is nothing inherently "naughty" about carbohydrate-rich foods such as bread. You could switch to more wholegrain versions if you want to avoid highly processed foods.

Also, the raw foods you describe don't sound like they contain much protein - if you're not eating meat or dairy, then you need to include protein-rich veg such as pulses, and I'm not sure to what extent you can have those completely raw.

It depends on the extent of the raw to be honest. If you go on some of the internet sites, they're a bit extreme, ie for lunch I had a pineapple, then I had an avocado for a snack. Thats not good enough, imo. (Am a nutritional therapist btw)

Plenty of raw foods is a very healthy thing to be doing, but make sure you include loads of veggies, not just salads. Things like cauliflower, sweet potato, broccoli. That will give you plenty of carbohydrates, athouh not enough to sustain you in pregnancy I feel. As for protein and essential fats, the things to go for are nuts and seeds, and lots of em, with plenty of variety, especially things like flaxseeds and sesame seeds.

TBH I think a mix of wholegrain carbs such as brown rice & jacket spuds with lots of raw and healthy veggie (cooked) soups is the best way forward. Particularly in pregnancy. I also wouldn't recommend dramatically changing your diet, just because you are pregnant = your body has enough changes to make without adding to its confusion !

Meat and dairy also have their place in a healthy diet, TBH if you just cut out refined carbs and sugary products & replaced them with fruit you'd be inherently healthier !