Freelee's brother jumped ship.

[raw-al]

I have the same experience with any high carb food. If i eat too much carbs short before going to bed i sleep very restless. I wake up all the time, have weird dreams and just feel nervous. I wake up feeling severely hung over. Took me a while to figure it out but there is no doubt the same every time.

Ayurveda says that fruit is apropos in the morning, OK in the afternoon and not a great idea at night.

[Dorothy]

Ayurveda says that fruit is apropos in the morning, OK in the afternoon and not a great idea at night.

What are the reasonings?

[raw-al]

What are the reasonings?

That one I can't explain. Maybe it's because the fruit goes through so quickly that it bumps up against the slower digesting food you've had for the evening meal and then it sits behind it and gurgles.

They also say to not eat modified milk products at night, although that is easy to explain. They tend to be hard to digest so your stomach is hard at work all night. Same with proteins late at night. They tend to bring on nightmates.

[RawZi]

Ayurveda says that fruit is apropos in the morning, OK in the afternoon and not a great idea at night.

    Kapha (morning-damp cool heavy relaxed) doesn't have as strong digestion as Pitta (midday sun-sharp direct). You might want something that gives a lighter energy at those times, with quicker release of said energy, like ripe fruit.  Midday fires of agni? (powers of digestion) help break things down and get them where they need to go. Sound plausible, Raw-Al? 

    I wonder what the practice of Ayurveda was like five thousand years ago before vegetarianism and excessive cooking became popular.   

[RawZi]

I learned that by mushing them up in a bowl they for some reason became more palatable. Adding cinnamon also helped.

    Bananas made me nauseas as a kid, in particular on an empty stomach. The cinnamon trick sounds good, maybe I'll try it in a pinch. Sorry for bringing in SAD foods, but I had to put "tons" of cinnamon on bread or cereal in order to tolerate their (lack of) flavors. Cinnamon lowers blood sugar? I know it does something, and made things palatable. Mushing the bananas too, helped bring foods to room temperature and made them nicer to eat. I guess that's only with foods I didn't like. Juicy fresh fruit I had no problems eating as it, nor raw veges etc. 

[raw-al]

    Kapha (morning-damp cool heavy relaxed) doesn't have as strong digestion as Pitta (midday sun-sharp direct). You might want something that gives a lighter energy at those times, with quicker release of said energy, like ripe fruit.  Midday fires of agni? (powers of digestion) help break things down and get them where they need to go. Sound plausible, Raw-Al? 

    I wonder what the practice of Ayurveda was like five thousand years ago before vegetarianism and excessive cooking became popular.   

Hey, excellent, I slipped a few cogs on that one. You are right on. Then in the evening/night you want to be subdued by vata pacifying foods (heavier) so you can sleep, otherwise you get too much vata in your sleep, which will bring on fitful sleep as hit_it_raw described.

Five thousand years ago is a wild guess at best. I heard a theory that prior to moving into the valleys to farm, disease wasn't as prevalent so Ay. was not as important. The people were not veges at that time. It was only when Buddhists and Hindu philosophies hit them that the Brahmins started eating vegetarian from what I understand.

Cinnamon does lower blood sugar from what I have read.

[goodsamaritan]

Ayurveda says that fruit is apropos in the morning, OK in the afternoon and not a great idea at night.

Some people, like my son when going low carb, consume all his carbs at night.  his liver is empty.  The sugar in fruit gets him started.  he's 11 now.

[Dorothy]

Interesting about the kapha morning vatta evening issues. In meditation I was instructed not to eat in the morning at all - I haven't been eating until afternoon - usually after 2 - then again around 7 - but never after 9 pm. I usually go to sleep around midnight or after. My heavier meal is in the evening. I feel much better not eating anything until the pitta time of day and it is true that if I eat my heavier meal at night I rest better. It also feels great going so long with eating nothing. I feel like it gives my entire system a rest. I might need this just for a time for healing, but it interesting that it is coming up now and so is the information about Ayurveda corresponding.

Thanks so much Al and Zi for that!

Oh - and cinnamon is a powerful healing herb for the adrenal glands. It doesn't reduce blood sugar directly - it works at feeding/healing the organs that are responsible for blood sugar stability.

Cinnamon isn't a SAD food. It's a powerful plant helper.

[raw-al]

Interesting about the kapha morning vatta evening issues. In meditation I was instructed not to eat in the morning at all - I haven't been eating until afternoon - usually after 2 - then again around 7 - but never after 9 pm. I usually go to sleep around midnight or after. My heavier meal is in the evening. I feel much better not eating anything until the pitta time of day and it is true that if I eat my heavier meal at night I rest better. It also feels great going so long with eating nothing. I feel like it gives my entire system a rest. I might need this just for a time for healing, but it interesting that it is coming up now and so is the information about Ayurveda corresponding.

Thanks so much Al and Zi for that!

Oh - and cinnamon is a powerful healing herb for the adrenal glands. It doesn't reduce blood sugar directly - it works at feeding/healing the organs that are responsible for blood sugar stability.

Cinnamon isn't a SAD food. It's a powerful plant helper.

I'm not sure about the no breakfast advice. Can you say who said that to you?

It is best not to eat before meditation, so your brain has the blood supply to itself to do the important work. But afterwards there is no reason not to. Meditation if anything enlivens the senses, so would improve digestion. I suppose it depends on when you get up.

Breakfast should be sweet, light, but I would not miss it. That would aggravate Vata.

Lunch is the time when the sun is high and so Pitta is strongest and should be the big meal. Evening should be smaller, so it can digest better, because digestion is weaker.

After a meal, you should walk a bit say, 20 minutes and since the digestive process involves movement, it is helped if you move also, so heavy meals are not such a good idea in the evening. Just not really light food like fruit.

Having said that, summer which it is close to in Texas, means less food, because you don't need as much energy and the added heat of digestion will just tire you.

Sometimes all the different advice can be confusing. It all depends on the individual, their environment, lifestyle, goals etc. Take it all with a grain of cinnamon. 

Also when accepting advice remember that it is difficult to diagnose anyone at a distance. All you can really do is guess.

[Dorothy]

Ha ha. The advice was from meditation - so is basically from ME! - who I trust the most in such matters.

I rarely eat really heavy meals these days so it's usually either fruit or salad/veggies and  raw eggs or raw fish a couple of times a week and only once in along while some raw meat and I've given up dairy completely. I know it's not the norm here. The fruit comes first and everything else later with my new pattern.

The pattern isn't from advice from other people Al. It goes against everything I've ever heard to do actually. It's totally personal. I think it's interesting hearing how it relates to Ayurveda though.

 

[cherimoya_kid]

I eat usually 2 meals a day, a meat/.fat meal around noon, and then a fruit meal that usually includes some fat like avocado or fermented cream around 4-5 pm.  That's usually it.

[Dorothy]

Interesting Cheri. That ends up being pretty much the same distance between the two meals as me - I just start a couple of hours later. I have sometimes put the fruit later and it doesn't seem to make much difference - it just works better in terms of being able to have a meal with my husband if I eat the foods that he eats at a time that he likes to eat them too. I always mix the fruit with fat as well. I used to use fermented cream often - but now that I have given up cream I only use my soaked nut cream. I preferred the taste of real cream much more though. The bananas didn't work but I can have a meal of berries and nutcream at night and feel just fine.

[raw-al]

The other thing I could add is that eating raw tends to throw some of the theories out the window. LOL

[Duke]

After a meal, ideally, you should rest, not walk.

[raw-al]

After a meal, ideally, you should rest, not walk.

Why?

[Duke]

Why?

since walking will disturb the flow of blood to your stomach and affect your digestion. Ideally, you should rest, do nothing for half an hour at least. Not sleep, not walk. Sit, browse the net, read a book after a meal. Watch tv....etc.

[raw-al]

since walking will disturb the flow of blood to your stomach and affect your digestion. Ideally, you should rest, do nothing for half an hour at least. Not sleep, not walk. Sit, browse the net, read a book after a meal. Watch tv....etc.

Ayurveda suggests resting for a few minutes laying on your left side to activate the breathing through the right nostril (heating) and then go for a twenty minute walk. The reason for the walk is to move the internal organs which assists the peristaltic action of the GI Tract. By sitting down or laying down as you suggest you are holding the area still which restricts the GI Tract from moving and therefore restricting the peristaltic action. Walking also gets the breathing going which helps the blood to get oxygen to the blood.

Regarding the laying on your left side, this is due to the fact that your body naturally breathes through one nostril for around 90 minutes to 2 hours and then switches. It is called alternate rhinitis. The process starts at sunrise with the breathing switching to the centre briefly (best time for meditation) then it starts I believe it goes right first.

Another way to start the right breathing is to press something up into your left armpit for say thirty seconds. Or put your arm over a chair and press on the armpit. There are 5 nerves in your neck shoulder area that will assist you in this if you know where they are.

That is why you see pictures of Yogis with a stick with a T shaped top on it.

When you are breathing predominantly through your right nostril you are better equipped for making decisions (male aspect)(cooling) when you are breathing through the left nostril you are better setup for brainstorming, creative, (female aspect) (heating) activity. Centre or both equal is best for meditation/spiritual activity and rotten for everything else. So if you have to make a decision or do some factual work, put your left arm over a chair and press down.

[PaleoPhil]

I forgot to mention that what is sold as "cinnamon" in the USA is a legume, apparently called Cinnamomum cassia Nees ex Blume (Cinnamon aromaticum, aka Cinnamon Canela Molida, aka bastard cinnamon), whereas the "true" cinnamon that provided benefits in some studies is Cinnamomum verum or cinnamomum zeylancium grown mainly in Sri Lanka. I have no idea how much better one is over the other and don't want to debate it with anyone, yet it is interesting that "false" cinnamon is far cheaper and promoted as though it were "true" cinnamon.

When I eat healthy raw Paleo, I feel energized and want to run outdoors. When I eat cooked SAD, I feel sleepy and my grandmother's advice to nap after a meal becomes enticing.

[cherimoya_kid]

After a meal, ideally, you should rest, not walk.

There's a Chinese saying--"take 100 steps after every meal to live to 100."

I usually like to walk after eating, but not any very heavy exercise.

[raw-al]

When you are breathing predominantly through your right nostril you are better equipped for making decisions (male aspect)(heating) when you are breathing through the left nostril you are better setup for brainstorming, creative, (female aspect) (cooling) activity. Centre or both equal is best for meditation/spiritual activity and rotten for everything else. So if you have to make a decision or do some factual work, put your left arm over a chair and press down.

OOps, I had the heating/cooling mixed up

[goodsamaritan]

I forgot to mention that what is sold as "cinnamon" in the USA is a legume, apparently called Cinnamomum cassia Nees ex Blume (Cinnamon aromaticum, aka Cinnamon Canela Molida, aka bastard cinnamon), whereas the "true" cinnamon that provided benefits in some studies is Cinnamomum verum or cinnamomum zeylancium grown mainly in Sri Lanka. I have no idea how much better one is over the other and don't want to debate it with anyone, yet it is interesting that "false" cinnamon is far cheaper and promoted as though it were "true" cinnamon.

When I eat healthy raw Paleo, I feel energized and want to run outdoors. When I eat cooked SAD, I feel sleepy and my grandmother's advice to nap after a meal becomes enticing.

This is eye opening about cinnamon.
I better get cinnamon from the indian grocery.

[goodsamaritan]

We are hopelessly veering off topic.

[Dorothy]

We are hopelessly veering off topic.

But learning really important things about cinnamon!

[afroza]

This is one of many threads on this forum that makes me so happy while reading! There are so many intelligent, gifted, curious and wise people in this forum and THAT is the ultimate proof of the benefits of a RAF diet. More so, than any poster babe.
Although, if we were to have an official RAF babe, I too vote for Sabertooth! Man, you look good  !
And so does all of you who are courageous enough to post pictures here, I am truly inspired by each and every one of you.
The tone of respect for individual paths on this forum is very rare and something that I have never come across on raw vegan forums (before when I were interested in that dietary regime). Freelee, Duriander and other fanatics are a bad rolemodels for young people. Many girls will starve themselves until they lose their periods and boobs to look like Freelee and all the other unhealthy female rolemodels out there. I wonder how great they will feel when their teeth start to come out and their digestive system cracks due to lack of fat.
I'm happy for Freelees brother! Hope he finds his way to RAF.

[veronica5000]

When I first went raw in 2002, it was on a diet of raw fruit, salad greens, coconut oil & nuts. I looked amazing, slim, glowing skin, BUT after 1 year I felt my skin was dry & my hair was dry too.
One night I woke up craving raw egg yolks even though they were not part of my raw diet. But I HAD to have them! So I went downstairs & into kitchen. I cracked open 5 eggs, separated out the whites & drank down the 5 raw yolks. I wanted more so I had 3 more yolks. It was my body telling me: GET OMEGA 3 FATS NOW!
After I ate them I felt so much better & I slept deeply. From that point on i felt the yolks were something my body needed, so I ate at least 3-4 RAW egg yolks daily.
My hair & skin became smooth, soft & I got so many compliments.
When I posted my story on raw vegan message boards....WOW..... I got blasted for even suggesting people need Omega 3 from animal products! Some said it was disgusting, gross, I was a loser, a bad person for eating animal substances
I also got blasted for suggesting egg yolks would help supply much needed B Vitamins .
Luckily a couple of Raw leaders came to my defense (Nazariah was one. He told his own story about temporarily losing the use of his legs due to Vit B deficiency on a raw vegan diet. He was cured after adding raw egg yolks, raw goats milk back into his diet).
Needless to say I do NOT recommend a RAW VEGAN DIET (whether low or high fat) & I DO recommend a RAW PALEO DIET (being sure to have either raw egg yolks &/or raw salmon for Omega 3 etc) with addition of some Cooked veggies in winter.
The one food I personally don't do well with (cooked or raw, soaked) are grains or heavy starches.