Wednesday, June 1, 2011

[Blog] 30 Bananas A Day

Someone wrote me; "I don't get the 30 bananas a day thing..."

My response:

You don't actually eat thirty bananas in a day. Between my husband and I, we eat about seven bananas a day.

The point is, you want 80% of your calories to come from raw fruits on an "ideal diet" according to the theory of 80-10-10.

10% of calories from vegetables -- which actually is a lot of raw vegetables since 4 cups of spinach is only 40 calories

10% of calories from fat -- which is actually very little fatty foods since 1 spoonful of olive oil averages 100 calories).

If you're getting 80% of your calories from fruit, you might eat the following in one day:

3 bananas
2 apples
2 oranges
1 kiwi
1 mango
a bite of pineapple
quarter of watermelon
1 fig

That's an estimate off the top of my head of course.

Today, in terms of fruit, I ate:

An apple
A banana
Two dates
Fresh coconut "meat" & coconut juice from a young thai coconut
Some orange
Half a watermelon
A little cucumber
A lychee (a small 'exotic fruit' with a pit in the center)
And a little honeyduw melon.

I didn't eat all of this plain though -- that might get boring for me.

The honeydew melon and orange was in my juice with fresh greens from the garden.

The apple was chopped up with carrot and the couple dates.

The Thai coconut juice and meat was blended into a smoothie with raw cocoa powder (pure raw chocolate) and sprouted raw pumpkin seeds.

The half of watermelon was my breakfast by itself.

But you get the idea -- I don't eat thirty bananas a day, and very few people do. It's just a way to express the volume of fruit we are designed to consume.
He asked:
In your opinion then, Raederle, what kind of effect do you think that kind of diet would have on guy who is six feet tall and five hundred pounds? And what would you say is a healthy weight for that guy?

I replied:

Well, healthy "weight" is difficult, because you can be healthy with a little fat, a fair amount of muscle. You can be healthy with a lot of muscle and practically no fat at all. You can be healthy with a little muscle and practically no fat. Each of those would create a different weight.

It's more about how you feel. How much energy you have, how great you feel about yourself, how motivated you are, and how healthy your body is functioning overall. Weight is deceptive.

I've been the same weight now since I was 18. When I was seventeen I took a bunch of things out of my diet that caused the weight loss. I took out bread, wheat, pasta, meat, dairy, all refined sugars except honey, and all lab-food (such as hydrolyzed soy protein, hydrogenated oil and monosodium glutamate). Taking out those things caused me to go from 153 pounds to 123 pounds in thirty days without adding exercise to my lifestyle.

However, I've been between 120 and 128 pounds since I was 18, but I look very different since I went raw. I now have much less fat and much more muscle, but right now I'm 123 pounds still. So I'm healthier, and look different, but I'm the same weight. So weight is deceptive. So I'm not going to try and tell you the right weight.

What I can tell you is that the diet would be excellent for your health, and it would cause you to lose weight. Eventually you'd naturally reach your ideal body weight.

However, you don't want to change everything right away. I have a detailed entry on my blog about why transitioning too fast can be harmful and how to transition slowly here.

Let me know if you still have more questions.

By the way, to answer you question directly: I think if you changed to that diet immediately and fully that you would detox really fast and lose weight insanely fast and that it would shock your system and leave you with a lot of extra skin. It's definitely something to learn about over time and transition to over time.

How much time? Probably about a year to make the full transition. Just aim to make one significant change a week. There are 52 weeks in a year, so after 52 significant changes, you'll be there, and will have been slowly changing size and shape the entire time.

~ Raederle




I posted a photo of a fit raw vegan woman to my facebook status, and someone commented:

"She needs some weight on her, especially in those legs."

I found this comment quite appalling, especially since the woman has very muscular legs clearly built for running. Much larger, stronger, more-appealing shapely legs than my own are currently.

My reply:

I disagree. I think that's just a concept that people are getting from growing up around overweight people.

I used to have thirty pounds of fat on me and I thought it was normal. I was 153 pounds at the age of 16 and 5'6. Everyone said I was a normal weight. I was very unhealthy and changed my diet for health reasons, not for weight loss.

But I lost 30 pounds by eating healthier and I like my body better. I don't think being large and "meaty" is normal. It's an American standard based on a society of lab-rat food. That may seem harsh, but that's what I feel is the truth.

They replied: "Its not harsh. I respect how you feel. I just personally like a little meat on people."

I replied:
My first love finds women most attractive about 40lbs overweight. He was a bit extreme on that aspect. My only thing is, that photo depicts a very, very healthy woman, and I've come to find that being really healthy is really hot.

No cellulite, no pimples, lots of muscle definition... Of course, personal preference is personal preference. I can't tell you what to find attractive. All I can say is that I think that woman is hot and that it's extra hot that she's a very healthy, active woman.



A friend of mine wrote: "Going to go through with releasing my own spread, "I Seriously, Totally Can't Believe It's Not Butter." Gonna be superior to that other product."

I replied: "Meh. I used to eat half a stick of butter a day. Now I eat none. Gotta say, I don't miss it."

They asked: "What do you use for a spread?"

I explained: "Well, I don't need a spread honestly. I'm a rawvegan, so I don't consume bread. I do make raw dehydrated crackers, but I eat those without any spread typically. I often eat other people's rawvegan "nut cheese" creations at raw potlucks. They're delicious spreads, but I don't feel it necessary to prepare them for myself."




Once again readers, thanks for stopping by!

~ Raederle

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