Thinking about going raw

I am thinking about trying out the raw approach. I am a fitness and figure competitor. Any feedback from competitors who use a raw food diet? What do you think? How is your energy? What are the protein sources? How is muscle development? Any feedback would be great.

Hi Paige, didn't you try a raw 811 diet last year? I thought I remembered you posting about it. How did that work?

Went raw 811. Didn't like it. I would want to do alot of veggies and seeds/nuts, etc. and try an overall raw approach. I still think raw appears to be great for health but straight fruit was not enough to sustain me. Have you gone raw?

Nope. I rely on beans and lentils a lot for my protein. I do incorporate a lot of salads and fruit into my diet, but I eat beans at least once a day.

Good luck figuring it out!

ok, I am going to try raw for one week. Although not going to drop out my green tea. Going to use that instead of coffee. Afraid of dropping all of my caffeine too drastically. I will post daily as to my experience. Going to stay out of the gym on the first day just to see how I feel. Headed to the market to stock up. Found a few recipes to work with.

so second day, almost off coffee, sticking with green tea, but did one cup of coffee, better than my usual 5. I just feel like I am eating too much on this raw plan. Today I had:

Breakfast (pre and post workout)

shake with banana strawberry/blueberries and almond milk.

banana

pumpkin

mushrooms

1/2 avocado

Snacks:

2oz almonds

2 apples

lunch

pumpkin

mushrooms

Dinner:

cauliflower couscous salad (olive oil, cauliflower, lots of dry spices)

2 red peppers

handful of cherry tomatoes

munched on raw carrots throughout the day

Feel fine and full just afraid that I am eating too many cals. Feel kind of bloated.

How many calories is that? It doesn't look like much at all, but I don't know your portions. Make sure you are eating enough!

I think if you go raw the core of the diet needs to be tons and tons of sprouts and tons of leafy greens.

If you look in nature, most of the strongest animals on the planet eat nothing but grasses, sprouts, moss and other greens. Animals like moose and gorillas are packed with hundreds of pounds of muscle... and all they eat are greens.

Most of us humans have so much sludge and gunk in our intestines from eating stuff that shouldn't qualify as food--that our bodies have become almost completely unable to effectively absorb these nutrients from greens.

Also, From what I've learned, I don't think eating tons of fruit is that healthy, our bodies do not need that much sugar. Around 15% of the diet is more than enough to be eaten as fruit.

And going raw doesn't mean you are 100% raw. This isn't necessary.

Getting the benefits of eating raw is not a quick process, your body needs to clean itself out and DETOX. There are ways to speed up the process though..

There are a bunch of people who follow a 100% raw diet, some are in the profiles section of the site, for example off the top of my head:

http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=bio_sofia

http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=bio_jack

http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=bio_tonya_kay

http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=bio_marcus_patrick

But, I personally don't know why someone would go absolutely 100% raw, for health or bodybuilding performance. I think that those who follow a raw diet gain benefits because they are not eating processed or sugary foods, and don't have the heavy things that bloat you like bread and pasta etc. But, you can avoid those things on a non-raw diet, and still get some benefits from stuff like protein powders, and other foods which are rather gross or even inedible when uncooked (like kale, though I do know that some people like raw kale, I personally would rather eat my own hands).

So I'd say you should analyze your interest in a raw diet before cutting out things which might otherwise help your training, or variety in your diet. I also strongly recommend watching the video that beforewisdom posted:

Wait, what? Eating all fruit is not doing 80/10/10. Did you actually read the book? Did you track your calories, macros and micronutrients? You can't say that the diet didn't work for you if you didn't actually read the book or follow the program. Fruit is a staple, but you must also eat 1-3lbs of leafy green vegetables a day. You also have to eat enough calories, 2500 for a woman and 3000 for a man. There are several more subtleties such as proper food combining, sleep, sunlight, etc.

If you're interested in going raw I would recommend taking advice from people who are succeeding on it, rather than people who don't have first hand experience with it. Get educated and read up on it. There is a lot to learn and it's not something you can just implement overnight be a raw vegan. It takes learning and practice.

I've read several books on raw food and I think 80/10/10 book is by far the best. It's the most comprehensive book on raw food nutrition and science. You can buy a copy on http://www.foodnsport.com (it's way more expensive on Amazon for some reason).

The daily menus you show are not enough calories to make your diet sustainable. Check out "TheVeganInitiative" 's blog on the blog section of this site, he does an excellent job of logging everything he eats on 811.

Iron Clad: No I was not able to get enough food down to do 80/10/10. I have read the book but could barely get out of bed when I tried the program much less train. I am sure it is because I was only about to do about 1500 cals. For now I am going to incorporate more raw food into my program. More leafy greens and also try preparing more raw meals as they are very delicious. I have also switched coffee for green tea. It seems that green tea does not take the nutrients out of the body like coffee does. I would like to be fully raw but I believe it to be a process. My brother is a raw vegan and has been so for a year so he is working with me. thanks for the feedback.