Raw Food Weight Loss

For most people, raw food weight loss is very swift. There are often raw food weight loss stories from people who lose enormous amounts in the first couple of weeks or months.

However, everyone is different. There are people who don't lose anything for a few months, only to have it fall off at an enormously fast rate. Nora Lenz describes how she was raw for five months without losing an ounce of weight. She then went through a healing crisis, which felt like the flu, and after that the weight couldn't come off fast enough!

Calories In, Calories Out

In terms of the standard adage, calories in, calories out, it obviously does apply whether you're eating a raw diet or cooked. However, there is more at play than just calories, for example, not all calories are created equal. In The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted it was found that people in China consume more calories than Americans, yet they are thinner.

WHAT you eat is more important than how much!

I feel enormously sorry for obese people who eat very little. People tend not to believe them when they say they are limiting their calories yet unable to lose weight.

I read the story of a 22 year old woman who weighed 300 pounds. In order to MAINTAIN this weight she did vigorous daily exercise, and limited her calories to 1500 per day.

She barely managed to maintain this weight without gaining!

In desperation she cut her calories all the way down to 500 per day and then she began to lose weight at the rate of only HALF A POUND PER WEEK!

Her body was so badly out of balance that it viciously defended its fat stores. This is not as uncommon as you might think! The next time you find yourself thinking that a fat person is just greedy, think again. When this woman adopted a raw diet, her body balanced itself and she reached her ideal weight.

Restricting your calories in order to lose weight, is often a self defeating measure, as your metabolism slows down in the process, making all future weight loss attempts even harder!

This is why the best way to lose weight is to adopt the BEST POSSIBLE diet, which is the low fat raw vegan diet, and then ensure you are getting ENOUGH calories to fuel a great exercise program.

In 2008 I began a very high protein regime (vegan protein powders forming the bulk of my intake) in desperation and did not experience any weight loss whatsoever, even though I was getting around 1200 calories per day and exercising hard. It was only when I dropped the high protein nonsense and reverted to a high raw diet that I was able to achieve success.

So it's really not ONLY about calories in and calories out.

For more about calories, see my article Calorie Restriction Diet - Is this really the way we should eat for weight loss success?

Raw Food weight loss is best achieved through a low fat raw diet

Therefore what you DON'T eat is just as important as what you DO eat. For instance, if you are eating a 75% raw diet, but the other 25% is made up of ice cream and alcohol, you are going to struggle.

You may not even feel any better than you did before. Similarly, if you are 100% raw, but you live off avocados and nuts and raw puddings, you will not feel or look your best.

Eating a lot of greens is important, and I find the easiest way to do this is with Green Smoothies. If you love salads then go for it.

Raw food weight loss is made easier by eating tons of greens. The more greens, such as spinach, lettuce and celery, the better.

They are filling, satisfying and contain very few calories. You can also eat unlimited quantities of fresh, whole ripe fruit together with minimal amounts of dried fruits, nuts and seeds.