Nurses, how do you feel about raw food diet?

anonymurse · Mar 10, 2011

I can only speak for myself: I like cooked food, if for no other reason than that heat kills lots of nasty micro-critters that would otherwise eat me.

Junebugfairy · Mar 10, 2011

there is no special diet needed to lose weight, healthy lifestyle is needed.

i am 124, but i used to be well over 200 lbs.

i am on the elliptical 60 minutes a day, 7 days a week. i also count calories, gave up all processed foods, and ate healthfully.

that is all you truly need to do, but you have to have the self control, discipline, and desire to make real changes.

sooperdooper · Mar 10, 2011

Do you think this should be recommended to most patients who are overweight/obese and want to improve their health?

No, because there is a risk involved with doing this. The only recommendation I would give is to eat more fresh foods, eat in moderation, and exercise.

chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Mar 10, 2011

There are actually several types of "raw food" diets, vegan, vegetarian and raw meat. There is not a lot of data supporting the health claims made for any of them. Vegetarian and especially vegan diets are very difficult to adhere to and must be very well-planned to be truly healthy. It's hard to get the high quality proteins needed exclusively from vegetables. Excluding dairy from the diet makes that task even more difficult.

The best diet advice I've seen, for all of us, overweight or not, comes from the food journalist, Michael Pollan (author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto".) He advises to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Rabid Response · Mar 10, 2011

No. I don't think there are many people, obese or not, who could stick with this kind of diet for very long unless they were extraordinarily committed. The best "diets" really consist of several-to-many individualized lifestyle changes that people can maintain for the rest of their lives.

noyesno, MSN, APRN, NP · Mar 10, 2011

I would refer them to a registered dietitian. As a nurse, I'm not comfortable advising anyone towards one diet or another (even with my BS in nutrition with a concentration in dietetics). The nutrition experts, aka RD's, should be consulted.

chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Mar 10, 2011

here's the longer version of pollan's rules:

7 words & 7 rules for eating

pollan says everything he's learned about food and health can be summed up in seven words: "eat food, not too much, mostly plants." probably the first two words are most important. "eat food" means to eat real food -- vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and, yes, fish and meat (to which i'd add dairy) -- and to avoid what pollan calls "edible food-like substances."

here's how:

don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. "when you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "what are those things doing there?" pollan says.
don't eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.
stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.
don't eat anything that won't eventually rot. "there are exceptions -- honey -- but as a rule, things like twinkies that never go bad aren't food," pollan says.
it is not just what you eat but how you eat. "always leave the table a little hungry," pollan says. "many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. in japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. islamic culture has a similar rule, and in german culture they say, 'tie off the sack before it's full.'"
families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a tv, at regular meal times. it's a good tradition. enjoy meals with the people you love. "remember when eating between meals felt wrong?" pollan asks.
don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. in the u.s., 20% of food is eaten in the car.

brownbook · Mar 10, 2011

It is embarrassing to me that anyone in the medical/nursing field would promote any "fad" diet.

Did you take any nutrition, biology, or chemistry courses to get your nursing degree? Can you explain to me at a chemical, molecular, TCA, level, why "raw" fats carbohydrates and proteins would behave any differently in your digestive system than un-raw fats, carbohydrates, and proteins?????

The only thing that stops me from getting too upset about wacko nutritional/medical/nursing advice is the Darwin Awards.

AddisonLawrence03 · Mar 10, 2011

Raw food is considered a fad diet? I thought about trying it but not sure if its affordable.

jammin246RN · Mar 10, 2011

My sister is from the land of fruits, nuts and flakes.... I think she falls into some of each :) She has been on the raw food diet, the blood type diet, the drink your own urine craze (yes people actually do it). And every time a new diet or fad comes out she is first in line to try it. Try baby steps with your patients. Instead of switching their whole equilibrium around, find things they like and encourage them to eat those. Many times people are obese not because they eat too much but they eat too little. They skip breakfast, and lunch, then gorge at dinner. Their body is in starvation mode and packs on all the calories it can. Encourage the patient to eat a bowl of cereal or something in the morning, this lets the gut wake up and start asking for food during the day. And encourage them to use smaller plates at dinner especially. Baby steps. :twocents:

DedHedRN · Mar 10, 2011

According to the OPs history of posts, they are not a nurse.