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bree
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hi everyone

i'm from Melbourne, Australia, i've been into health and fitness since Nov 2012 after gaining heaps of weight while travelling. after about 6-7 months I reached 20kg loss. i lost a bit of control when it came to maintenance and struggled to find a balance but i haven't put it all back on!! haha

 

i found i had some problems with my digestion and my metabolism was stupidly slow, even though i had a high fibre diet, exercised and drank heaps of water and green tea. i thought it might have been gluten so i've been gluten free for a few months, it helped but didn't eliminate the problem so i'm trying veganism. its only been about 3 weeks but i'm feeling heaps better so i'm thinking i'll stick to it for as long as possible

 

just trying to find out as much as i can about healthy vegan diets, benefits of going 'raw' and what i should avoid while gluten free/vegan, for example, dried fruits?

at the moment i'm trying to keep up my protein and lessen carbs but from what i've been seeing on the internet it should be the opposite! but i thought high carb diets would only suit some kind of metabolic types?? i'm nervous if i go high carb raw vegan it wouldn't suit my metabolism...

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Hi Bree,

 

Welcome!

 

Forget protein. If you eat plant-based whole-foods, you will get plenty. Focus on carbs and fat. Maximize carbs and reduce fat as much as possible for now. And focus on the foods from which you are getting those carbs. Ideally, raw fruits and vegetables are your best sources as they contain large amounts of phytonutrients (over 10,000), that will help your body to repair and regrow. Also, a lot of calories in fruits and vegetables are high in fiber which isn't easily digested.

 

I would suggest you avoid all grains for now. They do cause a lot of people problems and often more problems than they know. I'd also like to suggest that you avoid nuts and seeds as they are very high in fat. You can add them in after you hit your goal physique.

 

I would also highly recommend you track your calories. It is very easy to do easy a lot of raw fruits and veggies. http://www.myfitnesspal.com is a great tool and completely free.

 

One of the most important things to understand is that for every 100 calories excess you have each day, you will gain around 10 pounds a year. That is one banana more than you need. Tracking your calories can really help you see your calorie balance.

 

Good luck!

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+100 for what Cappy said!

 

Curious, is Veggmite (lol!) vegan? maybe gluten free too! #MenatWork reference.

 

Gluten seems to be a go-to self-diagnose when feeling bad or having gut issues following eating. As you didn't improve much when you went GF, but feeling better after going vegan -- might suspect it was the dairy, not the gluten. Good self-experimenting is to eliminate both...then once feeling better, reintroduce GL and see. Possible you gut just needs to heal up.

 

Agree with Cappy on changing your thinking when going plant-based. There's a difference between a 'high carb' diet derived from processed foods/flour/etc. and 'high carb' derived from plants. Keep focus on building up a diverse variety of plants, foods. Hopefully you can get quinoa in Oz? It's GF. Tasty and mixes will with variety of meals (cooks like rice more or less).

 

Let us know more about your typical diet routine and how your goals progress...always happy to answer questions (or try!).

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Cheery guys!

 

i really appreciate the replies, and that helps because i do snack a lot on raw nuts and seeds so i'll cut those out for a while.

There is so much to learn about food nutrition and i find it so interesting!

Why is it stressed that the fruit and veggies are raw? i love fresh raw fruit and i snack on raw celery/carrots but coming up to winter here, i look forward to warm cooked meals. would it still make a difference if there were blanched/lightly cooked. or do they have to be completely raw? I haven't looked much into grains but i'll educate myself and start avoiding them, thanks . But yes, have been counting calories for a while now so i'll keep on top of that for sure!! thanks Cappy

 

VeganBadass (awesome name) haha vegemite is the best! i know its vegan, i can't remember if its gluten free. its very high in vitamin B and actually quite good for you (used to be my go-to hangover cure on toast). its an acquired taste though, i don't really know many people who haven't grown up with it that like it.

 

Yeah i agree, after i reach some of my fitness goals i'd like to start introducing certain food groups back into my life, but at the moment i'm feeling so great i'm going to keep it up as long as i can.

I appreciate the information, its all making more sense now. we do get quinoa, i have it in salads as a substitute for coucous/rice and i have a porridge recipe for it but i'm yet to try it.

 

What are your views on gluten free products, like gluten free bread? i try to stay away from other gluten free pastas/pizzas and stuff like that, but i've always liked having a slice of toast with breakfast...

 

as for typical diet, i usually have baked beans and spinach for breakfast, either dhal, quinoa salad or bean salads for lunch and for dinner tofu salads or lentil dishes, lots of vegetables and i have Slendier products, like rice/noodles/pasta. Do you have Slendier in the states? its made from konjac. very low in calories, carbs, everything pretty much.

 

and C.O it is a beautiful city, but so is New York! only been there in feb though so i was freezing!

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nailed it 100% on the learning part of what we eat. Generically, my parents did best with what they knew, but times have changed and so much more new (and sometimes conflicting) information. Still learning myself!

 

Need to do more digging on benefits of 'raw'. I know that cooking to any degree can transfer nutrients to the water used for cooking. Some say that heating up the items either in water, oven or microwave changes the molecular structure of the item. The nutrient leaching part I get, not sure yet of the other stuff.

 

As for gluten free...had some (and still have GF bread in freezer)...was poor substitute for the real thing. BUT, GF is all the rage over here. However, learning more about the 'why' for the increase in intolerant people. Emerging science is something called leaky gut syndrome. Issue being that some people are legitimately allergic to gluten. But others aren't yet have similar symptoms. Cause being that gluten isn't supposed to enter into your bloodstream. But, damage to intestines allows gluten to pass through to blood causing reaction. Leaky gut attributed to damage to intestines by meds which creates gaps and allows gluten/blood transfer.

 

Other stuff supposed to contribute to leaky gut...stress, etc...

 

General consensus is if you suspect gluten intolerance/allergy, get tested by Dr. If negative, could be leaky gut, which is recoverable once causes are eliminated.

 

Not too far unlike adrenal fatigue caused by inflammation in the body attributed to acidic state that occurs due to how body breaks down/digests dairy.

 

Who knew!?!? (I didn't....).....

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