I am still about 25 pounds above my goal and am currently on day 14. I was just wondering if it was at all possible to switch to a raw vegan diet after I reach my goal weight. I plan to lose about 10 pounds under my goal weight so that when I gain back my water weight, I will be at my goal weight.

The reason for this is that I feel so rejuvenated and in EXTREME health when I eat and all raw diet....really, do some research about it...the effects are breathtaking!!! I also live in a dorm so its really hard for me to eat raw....so this diet is more convienient while im living here but I plan to get a house in May...where eating raw foods will be MUCH easier.

I mean, It can't really be all that high of carb because it is mainly salad, nuts, olive oil, avocados, olives, and well fruit. But I was wondering if I did in fact eat alot of fruit, it at least has fiber.....not to mention that I have never heard of someone getting fat off fruit and salad. It sounds difficult but you would believe how great it is. I personally think its hard to LOSE weight with it because.....well I like this diet better for losing....and that diet better for maintenance.


Am I stupid for wanting to change???? Is it going to make me gain all my weight back with eating all that fruit (like 4 pieces a day sometimes).

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure most (if not all) the fruits we consume are hybridized to maximize the sugar content. So that would be a lot of carbs. And I seem to recall Suzanne Somers saying in her story (Eat Great, Lose Weight?) that her husband, Alan, gained quite a bit of weight around the middle from such a diet. But, as they say, YMMV.

as long as you choose the 'right' fruits it shouldn't contribute greatly to weight gain; opt for low glycemic fruits like strawberries, cherries, and blueberries; i wouldn't go nuts with pineapple, watermelon, and bananas. I had a friend just like you that lost ALOT of weight on atkins, so much that people thought she was anorexic (she did develop bad eating patterns later) and she did a vegan lifestyle, although it wasn't all raw, but it was ALL organic with absolutely positively no dairy (i know thats what vegan is but some people eat dairy and there) Anyways, she would eat a lot of fruit and around 2200 cals a day and couldn't seem to gain any weight. She stayed underweight until she added other starchy foods back in. Anyways, in her case, she didn't gain any weight, even with a high calorie diet. Although, I don't know if I can believe that she ate that much in a day because I never actually saw her eat 2200 cals she just claimed she did. But regardless, just choose good fruits

I say go with what makes you feel good.

honestly....Im pretty boring with my choices of fruits. I pretty much only eat strawberrys, apples, and oranges.

Although I do have to have dressing on my salad other than olive oil so perhaps I wouldnt be completely raw either.

When I lived on Maui I had tons of friends who were 100% raw and it *can be* an extremely healthful and energizing way of life. The only caution I would give you is that many raw foodists tend to eat too much fruit which, combined with other chemical changes that happen in your body (and mouth) from your diet, can lead to serious tooth decay and other mouth-related problems. It is completely preventable, but you must be well educated about the causes and preventative measures. I am not a raw vegan, so I don't know the specifics (just gross details explained to me by friends) but there are loads of great raw resources on the internet that can give you more information on how to transition and properly balance a raw diet.

When going on s strict vegan diet you NEED to make sure your getting all your nutrients this is were a lot of vegans fall short it can be done and really great for you but please consult a nutrionist!

I was just about to add something along these lines...specifically about your protein sources. There are a lot of vegetarian/vegan meat-alternatives that are relatively low in carbs and also contain a large amount of protein.

Personally I always think its a bit risky to go from losing the weight one way to something radically different to maintain. I suppose to me it seems a bit counterintuitive. I have always felt that the way you choose to lose weight should mimic the way you plan on maintaining that loss. That said, if its something you really want or you really feel good on you should do what makes you feel best. I think eating whole raw foods is a good choice for anyone to make. A lot of it depends in the food choices you make. I do know a couple of very heavy vegans so I wouldnt assume that just because one follows a raw vegan diet they will be thin, but veggies and some fruit are far from evil foods. I would educate yourself as much as possible, make sure you have good sources of iron, b12 and protein and do what makes you feel the best.

Raw is good, but why vegan? It will be very hard to meet all your nutrition needs. You will probably feel really great at first (I think raw vegan diets are probably really good for you short term, get you all cleaned out), but if you stay on it for a long period of time you'll eventually use up your stores of certain things.

Things to watch out for in particular are the B vitamins, and your essential fatty acids. You might consider adding raw eggs if they don't squick you.

Good luck to you, and good health.

There's a vegetarian forum on this site. They may have more information for you..

http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=109

I did the raw vegan thing for around 4 months, and got very out of balance. I restarted my sugar addiction through eating too much fruit (I thought I wouldn't do that but I ended up so hungry I couldn't help it). Don't get me wrong - I never once had anything junk - just started craving fruit more and more. It didn't seem to matter how many nuts or avocados I ate in the day, I was still HUNGRY!! My acne got really bad, and I was bloated all the time, and couldn't sleep. I had blood sugar swings like you wouldn't believe.

Anyway, not saying that will happen to you, but I just couldn't stick it. One day I had my usual big salad at lunch, felt ok, then 3 hours later felt really really anxious and just cracked and ate some eggs. The difference was amazing. I felt soooo good.

I lost a bit of weight on raw veganism - namely muscle. I put on fat and lost muscle. Seriously.

Also, after later on trying veganism (cooked) for awhile, I ran into some similar problems. Once I started taking taurine and fish oil supplements I felt much better. Note I was taking multi vitamins, B complex etc the whole time I was vegan, and still had these problems. My knees always hurt on these non-animal diets.

Minerals can be a big problem for vegans. I am really really convinced humans need animal fat to absorb and retain minerals found in vegetable foods.

Think about it - what would be more advantageous - eating just plants, just animal foods, or both?

I know some people who do say 80% raw vegan, but then add in some form of animal food like raw cheese/milk/eggs and feel much better. Obviously you'll want to find out for yourself (which is what I always do).

After I came of raw vegan, I did this mix of eating mostly veggies/fruit, then a little bit of eggs or meat - but to be honest, it was still a constant battle to keep my weight down, and I ended up restricting food intake. I had been on Atkins before all this vegan stuff - in 2 years I put all the weight back on messing with veganism - and I hardly ate any extra fat.

YMMV - I wish you all the best - just be careful!

I do know that some raw vegans have a hard time keeping their weight down because of all the avocados, nuts they eat although that is really good for you, some of them mix that with like 4 bananas and dates and figs and all those HIGH sugar fruits and I'm positive that if you mix pure fat with pure sugar...your bound to gain some weight. I plan to eat like 80% raw now and eat lots of salad with canned tuna and full fat dressing. (who knows if that is 80%) and limit myself to 2 pieces of fruit a day....and no fruit after lunch..... So basically it is atkins without all the fat (except the dressing i use has loads of fat in it .....so I can still get all my nutrients. And I LOVE salad with baby spinache so I think I will be getting all my nutrients.

And about the nutritionist thing.....well, I am studying to be a nutritionist (not even close to graduating though) so I am still learning like all the rest of us.

The good thing for me is that I dont like bananas, or any other of those high sugar fruits....and I'm not a big fan of nuts.

I don't really see the point in going exclusively raw. I don't doubt that most foods are best raw, but I really think a lot of the miraculous benefits are smoke and mirrors. Have there been studies conducted comparing people eating identical diets, raw vs cooked? I'd like to see proof that the benefits are coming from the fact that the food is raw, and not the fact that you're eating a plain, whole foods diet.

It's nothing like Atkins, but I certainly wish you the best as you find your way to 80% raw.