Stomach hunger

spring · Post by **spring** » Wed 20 Feb 2008 12:39

I've been reading about stomach hunger here and I think that's the reason why I have a tendency to be obese. I love drinking water with my meals. I usually drink 3 glasses of water with my meals; I cannot NOT do this; my mouth feels dry and I feel really thirsty if I don't drink water. A few people have noticed this about me. Some have told me it's not healthy to drink water with one's meals.

Because of this habit of mine, do you think I've overstretched my stomach and that's why I feel hungry all the time?

I'm not following Wai's diet now but when I did in the past, I felt hungry all the time. Could this have been the result of stomach hunger because of years and years of stretching my stomach? And my abdomen swells up a lot and this is due to the amount of water I drink with my meals because after some time the swelling goes down.

I really find it hard to stay on Wai's diet btw. I have gone back on it after standing on the scales and finding my weight has ballooned to 67 kg, the biggest I've been - 2 years ago I was 50 kg and I was following Wai's diet but with 3x the amount of munch food I was allowed I have to admit. And I've noticed I am less hungry when I've consumed egg yolks. If I don't start my day with egg yolks, the cravings begin and conversely if I consume egg yolks early in the day I don't feel the urge to eat all the time even though I eat munch food with the egg yolks (I eat toast with it).

Part of the problem is that I live in Korea and there aren't any avocadoes in the normal shops. So I feel like I can cheat a little to compensate and before I know it I'm eating too much munch food.

Another question I have is: is the amount of exercise required to lose weight and achieve the ideal weight variable from person to person? I know I lost a lot of weight when I did my daily walking (1 hour at least every day) but I really hate exercise of any kind - I find it SO boring that I want to skip the exercise part IF I can. But if for me, exercise is a must, I will take up the walking which I hate. And other types of exercise isn't suitable for me either in this environment.

I feel kind of depressed as I don't really enjoy being on Wai's diet especially where raw salmon, avocado and things like that are hide to find and I don't like nuts and olive oil is kind of bleh ... but it looks like I will have to be on Wai's diet FOREVER to keep this excess weight off.

At the moment, my budget and availability of foods means I have to be on a diet of bananas, tangerines and apples and have tomato/cucumber salads with o.o and egg yolks. Some raw salmon that I have to make myself from salmon fillets and for some reason it doesn't taste as good as the sashimi I buy (maybe I don't cut it right?).

To be honest, I have been on my behind almost 24/7 working on a project on the computer getting nil exercise except occasional housecleaning and walking 5 minutes to the local shops and although I tried to eat healthy as possible (two-three pieces of fruit with o.o and 1-2 egg yolks with as much munch food I felt like) but not sticking to the Wai diet, and I think that's why my weight has ballooned so much.

Anyway it's back to the Wai diet but I don't look forward to continually monitoring what I eat all the time and exercising. Plus I have become turned off fruit in the last ten years; I don't really enjoy the taste as I used to - I no longer savor the taste of strawberries or bananas or tangerines (and I used to be mad about tangerines and strawberries as a kid): it's just nutrition and 'part of the W's diet' for me.

Thanks for any gems of wisdom.

dionysus · Post by **dionysus** » Thu 21 Feb 2008 18:52

It is ALL about energy management.

spring · Post by **spring** » Fri 22 Feb 2008 04:21

Yes, but it's so hard. If I'm not obsessing about it every minute of the day my weight balloons out. I'm sure this yo-yoing can't be good for my body. I just wish this diet was easy for me. But following it really takes up a lot of my time and concentration and I have to think about it all the time - I have to discipline myself constantly - it's kind of taxing after a while. Following these boards helps with the motivation factor and reading about raw food does keep me on it but I wish I could just relax and not think about it and still remain slim.

dionysus · Post by **dionysus** » Fri 22 Feb 2008 12:01

It is very easy.

Make 2 litres of OJ a day. Add 500ml to a (water) bottle, plus add 40gs of Olive Oil.

Thats it.

Sip everytime you feel less energetic

spring · Post by **spring** » Fri 22 Feb 2008 14:25

I guess I'll have to bring out the blender and start juicing again (tangerines not oranges). I won't add o.o and see if I like it better. I don't really fancy this: from memory, it was really messy with the pulp and oil separating out after the juice had been sitting for a while (I know I should be straining the juice - can't be bothered).

I started back on a raw diet today. I bought a book "Eating without heating" by the Boutenko children and went shopping and bought some ingredients. I made borscht soup and ate mackerel sashimi that I made myself. I am going to follow the recipes in the book and though not strictly Wai's diet I think this is what I need to stick to a raw diet. I'm not really counting how much munch food is allowed and so on, the recipes include a lot of things that would be counted as munch food and would be over the allowed limit eg. cabbage, carrot, ginger, beetroot, celery etc... and though raw there is the use of some grains: buckwheat and linseed (flaxseed) ...

But the pictures in the book look delicious and I can't wait to make things like the unchocolate cake and pizza. I guess there is a bit of cheating with these recipes because even though the food isn't cooked in the conventional way, the ingredients are dehydrated in a dehydrator and this is really a form of cooking.

This is the compromise I have to make. It won't be a completely healthy diet as Wai's diet but it's better than what I was eating and because it's appealing to me tastewise there is a bigger chance I will stick to it and be more raw than I would be otherwise.

So I'm adapting the vegan raw food diet that is found in these raw cookbooks and adding raw egg yolks, sashimi - raw animal foods to the diet.

I might also very occasionally eat some cooked pork if the meat craving becomes overwhelming. This is like once every two months or so. I am worried that cravings tell me I'm missing out on some nutrient.

I don't have a problem with acne at all; my concern is my weight as I'm prone to emotional eating, lead a sedentary lifestyle and feel chronically stressed a lot (my periods went funny and I was told by a ob & gyn that it was stress doing this as all tests were normal and no other cause could be found).

I also went for an hour's walk including climbing a small mountain near my place, plus I did 20 minutes extra walking while I did the shopping so 1.3 hours exercise in total.

I may post pictures up in a couple of months if all goes well. This is the first time, I've tried the raw recipes (I've been meaning to do it for ages and had the books sitting on the shelf for a while; just couldn't get around it - many ingredients are hard to find in Korea eg. flax seeds) and so far I really like it.

spring · Post by **spring** » Fri 22 Feb 2008 14:42

I forgot to add I will not be neglecting the fruit component. So it's a raw vegan diet + fruit + raw animal foods. I guess it's similar to Wai's diet but the munch food component is way over what Wai allows.

dionysus · Post by **dionysus** » Fri 22 Feb 2008 19:20

So basically,you are making the diet hard. The actual diet isn't hard at all.

spring · Post by **spring** » Sat 23 Feb 2008 00:34

It depends what you mean by difficult. For me, the cravings and boredom are difficult. I know my health won't be optimal on this diet but it's as close to Wai's diet that I can get for the time being. It's better than what I was eating before and I know from past experience that if I eat cooked munch foods I won't be able to control myself. So I am allowing munch foods on this diet but not worrying about how much protein I am ingesting, just eating as much semi-raw vegan (some dehydrating) as I like. I am trying to emphasize the 'raw' without worrying too much whether it's a vegetable or herb or grain and therefore a munch food. Hopefully this way I can get rid of my addiction to cooked food and its chemicals and lose some weight (my main priority).

As Wai said munch food is there to satisfy your cravings and that it's better to have munch foods than be 100% strict like the sample diet and give up.

Maybe I will be eating less than 15 g/d protein by eating raw vegan, I am not worrying about that or counting the grams of protein, just eating raw vegan and fruit when I feel like it i.e. I'm not concerning myself with the quantity or timing of eating or thinking about protein daily limits.

welshie · Post by **welshie** » Sat 23 Feb 2008 11:40

I'm with you spring
I also found this diet very hard to stick to as I was constantly having to think/plan/prepare/eat food.
After a month I am no longer on the diet because of that reason and because I saw no improvement in my skin and felt very tired- despite making lots of oj with oo. At this point in my life it's just not something I can stick to.
Good luck to you if you decide to do it again though.
I would say that I agree with dionysus on one point. it is easier if you do the strict diet with regards to cravings etc. but the planning/obsessing is still a pain in the ****

Christina · Post by **Christina** » Sat 23 Feb 2008 16:40

Hey Spring
I think you'll be doing well on your plan. Just keep it simple, not too many nuts and dried fruit. For weight loss it's best to stick with simple smoothies, salads and yes some yolks or fish every day. Stop eating early in the evening, even at 4pm is helpfull. Around 1500 kcal or so seem to be a good measure, as not to overdo the oils, nuts. The orange juice+ oo thing didn't work for me at all and I do better on less meals.
Christina

dionysus · Post by **dionysus** » Sat 23 Feb 2008 16:59

The problem is our memory. It remembers how the food makes us feel. Thats what creates the cravings.

You have to go 100% Strict Wai Diet or your chances of success are slim.

Its all about how much you want to achieve your goal.

dionysus · Post by **dionysus** » Sat 23 Feb 2008 17:01

welshie wrote:I'm with you spring
I also found this diet very hard to stick to as I was constantly having to think/plan/prepare/eat food.
After a month I am no longer on the diet because of that reason and because I saw no improvement in my skin and felt very tired- despite making lots of oj with oo. At this point in my life it's just not something I can stick to.
Good luck to you if you decide to do it again though.
I would say that I agree with dionysus on one point. it is easier if you do the strict diet with regards to cravings etc. but the planning/obsessing is still a pain in the ****

Welshie, you can get unpasteurised OJ from Tesco (and M&S i've been told).

welshie · Post by **welshie** » Sun 24 Feb 2008 16:02

Welshie, you can get unpasteurised OJ from Tesco (and M&S i've been told).

Thanks, but that wasn't the main problem. I didn't really mind juicing the oranges, I think it was more an accumulation of many of the aspects of the diet that got me down

I'm still juicing oranges now actually

Post by **Oscar** » Mon 25 Feb 2008 12:11

I can imagine it's hard(er) when not everything on the diet is readily available. Like Dionysus said, it's so much harder when you're not 100% on the diet, just like with smoking or any other addiction. If you're not totally off it, you'll keep thinking about it. And it's not easy!
The reason why munch foods were introduced was because Wai thought it wouldn't be possible to get rid of this addiction (this was in the beginning years of raw foodism), so IF one wants to keep eating cooked food yet try to keep it to a minimum, then make sure the cravings are satisfied asap.

johndela1 · Post by **johndela1** » Mon 25 Feb 2008 20:31

spring wrote:Following these boards helps with the motivation factor and reading about raw food does keep me on it but I wish I could just relax and not think about it and still remain slim.

I used to feel this way. Have you considered that you are not eating enough? Sometimes if you don't have the same foods you normally eat available you might just not eat until you are really hungry. This could be making you feel bad about the diet.

Has your weight changed since following the wai diet?