vegan avocado smoothie recipe

I have spent a good amount of my time on raw food forums over the past couple of years. It is a great way to learn about eating raw and to gather information from others who are thriving on the diet.

While visiting these forums, I have noticed a problem that is expressed over and over again by various members. Many people complain that they find it too difficult to stick to a raw food diet. They find themselves extremely hungry and experiencing cravings for cooked dishes on a regular basis.

And I’m not talking about brand new raw foodists. I’m talking about people who have been attempting a raw food diet for years and still can’t seem to stick with it!

So what’s the problem? Why is it that such a vast majority of raw foodists fail on a raw food diet?

Not enough calories, Too much fat

In general, the raw foodists I’m talking about are consuming lots of greens and vegetables, avocados, nuts, oils, dehydrated mixtures like flax seed crackers, some vinegars, and dried fruit.

Even though the raw foodists described above are eating large amounts of greens and other vegetables, these foods do not offer a substantial amount of calories.

Here’s an example…

*Typical Salad without Overt Fats*

A large salad of 1 pound of romaine lettuce, 1 medium red bell pepper, and one medium cucumber is only 153 calories. All of that food has less calories than just two bananas!

This is a problem because the average person needs between 2000-2500 calories a day. To eat that much food from romaine lettuce, you would need to eat 25 pounds (about 50 heads) of lettuce per day! This is completely impractical, not to mention rather unpleasant. My jaw aches just thinking about it!

We’ve now established that it’s nearly impossible to get enough calories from vegetables. While salads like this are high in volume, the satiation is short lived because the caloric needs are not being met.

So where do these raw foodists get their calories from?

Avocados, raw nuts and seeds, and cold-pressed olive oils. To be precise, fat. These fatty foods are used to make dehydrated dishes like “raw” crackers, breads, and “mock” pizzas. They are also eaten on their own or put atop salads.

Let’s return to the salad example…

*Typical Salad with Overt Fats*

1 head of romaine, 1 medium bell pepper, and one medium cucumber is 153 calories. Now, add just one medium avocado and one tablespoon of olive oil. That takes the calories up to 561 calories!

The avocado and oil alone provide 2/3 of the total calories in this dish. Not only that, but the addition of the avocado and oil took the fat content from 10% to a staggering 61% of fat!

As you can see, it only takes a small amount of these foods (fatty fruits, nuts and seeds, and oils) to exceed your needed calories and fat content for the day.

Again, this is just one meal. Many raw foodists have two salads during their day and often times these are even more fat laden than the example I have shown above. This does not even consider the popular complex, dehydrated recipes that are mostly comprised of high-fat nuts and seeds.

With this knowledge in mind, is it surprising that the average raw foodist consumes a whopping 60% of his or her calories from fat everyday? How many times have you come across people who claim to eat several avocados a day and handfuls of nuts in just one sitting? Maybe this isn’t surprising, but it’s certainly unhealthy.

What’s the Alternative?

While greens and vegetable fruits are very important in a healthy raw diet, they simply do not provide the necessary calories to fill you up and combat cooked cravings. However, you do not have to get your calories from low-volume fatty foods.

You are not destined for raw food failure.

There is another way…

*Sweet fruit*

By eating substantial amounts of whole, raw, simple, delicious fruits, you will feel completely satiated and will no longer suffer from cooked food cravings. You will also be getting the absolute best nutrition available and fueling your body right!

And it’s so easy to get started! If you still eat a cooked diet, simply replace your breakfast with as much fruit as you can eat and move on from there. If you already eat raw, just replace the majority of the raw veggies and fats you eat with sweet fruit.

If you are having a hard time getting enough calories via whole fruit, try blending them into tasty smoothies!

So put down the avocado, pick up an apple, and start succeeding on a raw diet today!

About the Author:

For more information on the best raw vegan diet, be sure to visit Fit On Raw and subscribe to Swayze’s newsletter Peachy Keen Ezine. By subscribing, you will also receive the free report The 4 Principles of a Healthy Raw Diet as well as the 5-week mini-course The Fool Proof Transition to Raw.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Are You Destined For Raw Food Failure?

Anyone who has ever eaten a meal of raw fruit knows how intensely pleasurable this can be.  Fruit requires little to no preparation (all you need to eat a banana is opposable thumbs).  It is easy to eat and digests quickly, usually in just 30 minutes.

Best of all, fruit tastes great and completely satisfies the sweet tooth in the most healthy way possible.

Just like avocado and nuts, fruit is calorically dense.  However, fruit is also high in volume, like vegetables.  This means that a meal of fruit both provides enough calories AND enough volume to leave you completely satiated until the next meal.

Just Fruit?!?

The idea of eating only fruit for a meal is very strange to people.  Much of this confusion stems from the fact that we grow up thinking of raw fruit as a snack or part of a dessert.  The idea of eating more than a couple pieces of fruit in one sitting is completely foreign to us.

As a result, people who are new to a low fat, high fruit raw food diet often under eat on calories at first.

To make the transition easier for you, here is a simple example of a sufficient fruit meal…

*Fruit Meal*

Let’s say you need 2000 calories a day and you like to eat 3 meals a day.  If each meal is divided equally, one meal would be between 600-700 calories.

One medium banana contains about 100 calories.  In order to consume 600-700 calories in one meal from bananas alone, you would have to consume 6 to 7 bananas.

And that’s it!  It really is that simple.

Of course, if eating a meal of only one type of fruit seems much too boring to you, there are many alternatives.  You can combine your favorite fruits into a nice fruit salad.  A popular choice for beginners is to blend fruits into a smoothie.  This is an easy way to get enough calories from fruit.

Here is a delicious smoothie you can make in just a few minutes…

*Two Pears in a Peel*

• 5 bananas
• 2 pears
• 1 cup of water

Blend ingredients together and enjoy!

There are many different combinations you can make.  You can also add greens, which will add some nice variety and counterbalance some of the sweetness.

Problems with Fruit

Many raw foodists believe that fruits should be severely limited, or even eliminated, because they contain simple sugars like fructose and glucose.  These simple sugars are believed to lead to such ailments as diabetes and Candida.

First, I want to clarify that the sugar in fruit does not cause sugar metabolic disorders.  It is an excess of fat in the body that coats the insulin, blocking it from reaching the sugar molecules.  The excess sugar in the blood leads to a high blood-sugar level.

Without the excess fat, the insulin will reach the sugar molecules and transport them out of the blood and into the cells.

Second, there is a huge difference between the simple sugars found in fruit and the simple sugars found in processed foods.  These refined sugars have been removed from whole foods (i.e. fruit, sugar cane) and further processed.  They no longer contain any nutritional value whatsoever.

On the contrary, the sugars in whole fruit have not been processed and are accompanied by necessary water, fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, phytonutrients, etc.

How Much Fruit?

I recommend that the majority of your calories come from fruit.  The best way to determine how much is to simply eat sweet fruit until you are full.  As a general guideline, our closest relatives the bonobos consume 95% of their calories from sweet fruit.  The other great apes consume between 70-90% of their calories from fruit.

Dr. Douglas Graham, a well-known leader in the raw food movement, recommends in The 80/10/10 Diet that 80% of our calories come from simple carbohydrates in the form of fruit.  You can check out this excellent book and the rest of Dr. Graham’s top-quality catalog at FoodnSport.

On average, I consume between 85-90% of my calories from sweet fruit.

Take Action

You can get started today by simply eating all fruit for your next meal.  Many people prefer to wait until breakfast, as it is the easiest meal to transition.

You could also begin your next meal with as much fruit as you can eat, and then finish the meal with your regular fare.  Just be sure to wait at least 30 minutes between your two meals so that your body has time to fully digest the fruit.

About the Author:

For more information on the best raw vegan diet, be sure to visit Fit On Raw and subscribe to Swayze’s newsletter Peachy Keen Ezine. By subscribing, you will also receive the free report The 4 Principles of a Healthy Raw Diet as well as the 5-week mini-course The Fool Proof Transition to Raw.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – A High Carb Diet for Raw Food Success