Raw food is leading to bingeing?? Help!

[HighVelocity]

First off, I am guessing that this is the right forum for this question, if not, let me know and I will gladly move it! I am currently sitting at about 122 lbs and 17.5% . My goals are to decrease that BF% by either decreasing BF or increasing LM while decreasing the BF. I woud love to see first a 4 pack and then a six pack!

 

My current thoughts are that I would ideally love to eat raw foods all day, a cooked vegan meal for dinner and raw nuts before bed. Problem is, everytime I try, I end up bingeing!

 

Lately my diet would resemble this..

 

Grapefruit

 

2 bananas

 

green smoothie consisting of 1 entire bag of what ever green leafy stuff looks the freshest at Trader Joes, and anywhere between 2-5 peices of fruit depending on the size

 

either hemp seeds or goji berries

 

cooked vegan dinner...here is where everything falls apart! My usual portion control goes flying out the window and I end up bingeing on vegan foods for the rest of the evening!

 

I cannot figure out if it is physical (am I mssing some nutrient my body needs or not consuming enough cals...although I think I am?) or is is psychological...and I just need to reign in those obbsessive food thoughts?

 

Any thoughts or ideas?????

[JW]

I still a bit of a newbie at this but I definitely feel more prone to a binge after eating a cooked meal.

I found that if I incorporate some raw foods into the cooked meal (side salad) and then have an apple or banana about a half hour after dinner... I'm satisfied.

I also find that a cup of tea helps.

[Zack]

Eat more calories.

[beforewisdom]

People binge because they are not getting enough calories ( or nutrients )

 

You don't want to reduce your calorie intake anymore than enough to lose 1 pound a week, maximum. This will minimize muscle loss, minimize loose skin and help prevent you from looking like a raisin when you arrive at your goal weight.

 

Doing this will also prevent you from feeling motivated to binge.

 

Get yourself a good vegan nutrition guide ( http://www.veganoutreach.org/starterpack/ ), make sure you are getting enough of everything, and cut back on your calories at a moderate rate.

[joninvegaz]

you might want to check your calorie intake, and also carb/protein/fat ratio. other than that, i had the same thing for a while and have found that if my meal before "dinner" (six meals a day) is dense protein and carbs, ie a nut butter sandwich and a banana, cravings for more food at dinner are gone. another thing to try is following your serving of cooked food at dinner with a green salad.

[HighVelocity]

Thanks so much for all your help!! I entered everything in fitday, and assuming I eat both the goji and hemp seeds as well as the other foods I listed, it comes out to:

 

Total: 1102

Fat: 10 87 8%

Sat: 1 9 1%

Poly: 1 13 1%

Mono: 1 5 0%

Carbs: 255 855 83%

Fiber: 41 0 0%

Protein: 23 91 9%

Alcohol: 0 0 0%

 

All these cals are eaten before dinner. I am assuming I need approximately 1750 cals to cut fat w/o sacrificing LBM. Add in raw nuts before bed and it is...

 

Total: 1375

Fat: 33 301 23%

Sat: 3 26 2%

Poly: 7 65 5%

Mono: 16 141 11%

Carbs: 264 870 67%

Fiber: 47 0 0%

Protein: 33 132 10%

Alcohol: 0 0 0%

 

Leaving approximately 400 cals for dinner. Assuming dinner contains at least 25 g protein, that brings me up to 58 ish for the average day.

 

So 2 questions...

 

I didn't think the cals were to low, if they are, let me know.

 

And, coming from a background of having the standard body building dogma drummed into my head about needing 1 g of protein per BW, is 58 too low? I have read so many different opinions from raw food "guru's" and read things by people such as Storm and Richard Blackman as well as Doug Graham and I am totally confused!!!!

[Guest]

I think the one cooked meal/nuts thing is the culprit. You're always willing to have a little more if you have any. If you go all raw its easy...or if you just say I'm gonna eat as much raw food as I can stomach thats easy too. Limiting yourself to one meal is very hard.

[JW]

I think the one cooked meal/nuts thing is the culprit. You're always willing to have a little more if you have any. If you go all raw its easy...or if you just say I'm gonna eat as much raw food as I can stomach thats easy too. Limiting yourself to one meal is very hard.

 

I agree 100%

that's exactly what I'm going through right now.

The cooked meal just weakens my resolve for some reason.

 

Make sure you don't overdo the portion size on the cooked meal and DO have some fruit shortly after the meal.

[HighVelocity]

Thanks everyone, I am going to incorporate a lot of these ideas! I appreciate all your help...I'll let you know how it goes

[andesuma]

I definitely agree with Potter..

But you CAN also just focus on eating as much raw as possible, just

keep increasing your raw food intake..until your cooked food intake gets

cleaner and cleaner, until eventually you're eating one or two cooked things,

and then one day you just won't want it anymore!

 

I love this method, because you feel NO deprivation.

It is also what worked best for me

 

 

Good luck in achieving your goals!

We are here to help.