Strange thing happened yesterday.

[Hannah]

I know you veterans out there find this silly, but for me it is interesting to see how things are changing for me. Maybe other newbies will know they are not alone.

Yesterday I woke up hungry. I had an urge to eat a raw egg, but had not yet cracked one open and eaten it. So I gave in to societal norms and didn't eat it. I then decided that I didn't "feel" like eating raw meat and would give my stomach a rest for the day. So I put some honey on a banana and sat down with it. It was like my body was totally against it. I ate it anyway and waited a few hours. By this point I was grumpy and had low blood sugar and didn't feel well at all. I was trolling around for something to eat and opened the fridge. I immediately grabbed some sirloin and started eating it with my hands until it was completely gone. I felt soooo good. Like a fat cat ready for a nap. It was so strange to me how without following any rules or guides my body is plowing towards this diet on its own! I usually eat wilted greens with my eggs in the morning (runny yolks) and this morning it just tasted downright bad. So I ditched it and ate a few raw yolks straight from the shell. Seems like raw food is the only thing that makes me feel good now.

When I started reading on raw food they said it could take up to a year for a person to start liking the taste of raw meat. That was scary. Only took me 3 weeks.

But I am worried about not eating enough raw veg. What sort of things should I be eating? Most of the things that I ate in the past required cooking (beets and greens, broccoli, onions. etc..)

[Raw Kyle]

You don't need any raw vegetables at all. Any minerals or vitamins found in them you would want can be found in organ meats.

You don't have to cook onions by the way, or any of that stuff really. Broccoli is hard to digest and I wouldn't recommend it raw, but most greens and beets can be eaten raw. You could make a salad out of that stuff and raw fruits if you wanted. Some of the tougher greens like kale and chard are hard to eat raw, you could try chopping them finely or marinating them in lemon juice to make them softer.

Seems like you're having good progress so far anyway so I wish you continued good luck.

[Hannibal]

But I am worried about not eating enough raw veg. What sort of things should I be eating? Most of the things that I ate in the past required cooking (beets and greens, broccoli, onions. etc..)

I practically don't eat any veggies. IMO there isn't any compulsion do eat them.
I prefer fruits.

[Iguana]

Here you'll find all kind of advices, often contradictory, which is a good thing as you can then make your own opinion. 

Peas, tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, sweet potatoes, yakon, carrots, celeriac, cauliflower, broccoli, fennel, cucumber, okra, kale salad, spinach are good raw for me. I like the stem of broccolis but not the flower and I never had the slightest problem to digest it. If you eat the vegetables raw, unmixed and unseasoned, you have no risk to eat too much of them.

François

[laterade]

About 1 month in I was loving RAF, haven't got bored yet.
At the moment I am eating about a 1/4 pound of liver and loving it.

[miles]

Broccoli and beetroots are fine raw. Every raw animal food I've eaten of good quality(more about the handling of the meat itself than the animal), I've liked it the very first time I've eaten it.. Badly handled/poor quality meat I still wouldn't like.

[bharminder]

I like vegetables raw. Beets, celery, chard, kale, collards, cilantro, basil, parsley, dills, other herbs, broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, cucumber, sunchokes, parsnips, cabbage, carrots, romaines and other lettuces, spinach, burdock, bell peppers. etc

[sabertooth]

I liked okra when I began to adapt to paleo, and I would eat tomatoes, and even the occasional greens, but the same thing happened to me where I would just not feel any satisfaction after eatting a vegtable and before I knew it I was happy just gorging on meat and fat, although I cant live without coconut. I still kind of crave okra from time to time , I have just become so lazy and set in my ways to go to the store and get some.

I have gotten use to having a bulk supply of meat and fat and buying a months supply of coconut, and then having the occasional slankers organs. Before this diet I would go to the store every 3 days and buy fresh vegtables( and spend a fortune), Oh yes I should also menton that I am poor and IF I had more money I would actually buy the occasional organic tomato, but organic vegetables are more expensive per calore than any of the meats I buy, Its gotten ridiculous, Three dollars a pound for tomatoes. Plus I am siding with a theory that many organic vegtables are not as safe and pure as we would like to believe.( I am a little paranoid about things)

The last time I had a banana the same thing happened to me, where I had a drop my blood sugar and felt a little down.

I  used culinary spices in everything but within a couple of months on paleo my taste changes so much that I could no longer could stand to eat all the things I used to love. Garlic is just horrible now, and so are onions. The herbs like parsley, basil and thyme, now taste poisonous to me. It often makes me wonder if perhaps some of the problems I was having before wasn't partly caused by eating the horrible things I used to eat.

[wodgina]

I mainly eat ground beef and often get onion, parsley and garlic in it because the butchers use left over steaks and ground them down. They use parsley as decoration and I think onion is stuck in the grinder.

Parsley tastes like poision to me. Onion is not too bad but ruins the taste of the meat.

[miles]

I cant live without coconut.

Do you think you need it to keep your digestive system flowing? Perhaps because your guts have not tightened up enough for the lower digestive bulk of meat only?

[sabertooth]

As a matter of fact when I do run low on coconut I seem to get more bound up, I think it adds bulk and acts as a natural stool conditioner? . My digestive track has seemed to healed and become real efficient and more compact over the last few months, I am still unsure about using other plant foods because the coconut seems to add just the right balance of fiber and low glycemic carbs that help me maintain good digestion, while other veggies just seem to make me feel bloated and slow digestion.

Everyone is different and may not do well on my diet , but I have seemed to have found a synergy with coconut and meat that I haven't found with any other food combination.

[King Salmon]

Sabertooth: What form of coconut are you using? oil? young coconut milk/water and pieces? old/hard coconut chunks?

I'm using coconut oil from Omega Nutrition and it kicks ass

[yuli]

When I started reading on raw food they said it could take up to a year for a person to start liking the taste of raw meat. That was scary. Only took me 3 weeks.

Its not scary I find it normal and healthy...I dunno why it takes some people THAT long to get this "acquired" taste, and why people say you must really eat 100% raw to learn to like it, I am sorry but I find that not true for some people.
I always liked raw beef, I even still eat some cooked food - and I still like it, even when I wasn't at all raw or paleo much I always ate a bit of raw beef just was afraid to eat large amount because of all the stupid false scares. Now I am sure I can safely gorge on all types of raw meat!
My boyfriend similar, actually he eats a lot of crap still and lots of cooked food, but all the time munches on raw meats, so no, you don't necessarily have to be strict paleo to enjoy the taste, you just have to enjoy the taste, or learn to enjoy it.

[sabertooth]

I use coconut butter and haven't found anything better. Its basically cold pressed coconut oil with some of the cream and fiber dehydrated and mixed together. Its cold pressed and dehydrated at low temperatures so it is technically raw

[goodsamaritan]

My raw vegan teacher taught me to slice and squeeze some raw pineapple on the raw vegetables I wanted to eat.  Said the enzymes on the pineapple pre-digests the vegetables since we humans are not ruminants with 4 stomachs.

I do believe in fruit being more nutritious and more easily digestible as most fruit is offered by the plants to be eaten.

[Hannah]

Coconut is AMAZING. In fact, I noticed that I started craving coconut more on paleo. Coconut oil helped to heal me after childbirth .taken internally . And I use it for everything. It is a natural detox so it WILL soften your stool as well as many other wonderful things. I use the oil and the milk/water, but I also find that eating nuts keeps me regular.

The enzyme in pineapple is Bromelain. My husband takes it with his SAD diet to help him digest. It's a great idea to put the juice on veggies.

Tonight I grated my beets and fennel and mixed it with some balsalmic vinegar and olive oil. I ate a TON of it. It was exactly what I needed. I think that will be a good option for me.

[Hannah]

Its not scary I find it normal and healthy...I dunno why it takes some people THAT long to get this "acquired" taste, and why people say you must really eat 100% raw to learn to like it, I am sorry but I find that not true for some people.
I always liked raw beef, I even still eat some cooked food - and I still like it, even when I wasn't at all raw or paleo much I always ate a bit of raw beef just was afraid to eat large amount because of all the stupid false scares. Now I am sure I can safely gorge on all types of raw meat!
My boyfriend similar, actually he eats a lot of crap still and lots of cooked food, but all the time munches on raw meats, so no, you don't necessarily have to be strict paleo to enjoy the taste, you just have to enjoy the taste, or learn to enjoy it.

It WAS scary for me. I can't imagine choking down food that disgusted me for that long. I'm not eating 100%  raw either. I have a family with two small kids and it's not plausable. Plus, I will never give up bacon from a cast iron skillet. lol. Although tonight the skillet cooked pork chop that I normal love tasted foul to me. I ditched it and ate some raw beef instead. I always feel satisfied with raw meat in a way that I don't with cooked food.

[Iguana]

If you eat the vegetables raw, unmixed and unseasoned, you have no risk to eat too much of them.

It's a great idea to put the juice on veggies. (…) Tonight I grated my beets and fennel and mixed it with some balsalmic vinegar and olive oil. I ate a TON of it. It was exactly what I needed. I think that will be a good option for me.

Fine. 

[Hannah]

LOL. That's the beauty of online forums. Nobody gets spanked.   

Feel free to reply with an "I told you so" but I did notice today that after eating a lot of veggie soup and my beet salad I'm having digestion pain again. *sigh* I'm just gonna stick to the meat and fruit that was working for me. and like you said, eat them raw etc. with the exception of my juiced pineapple in the morning. It really helps to ease my stomach pain..