I’ll quickly go through these three relatively common problems on the raw food diet and will also provide solutions for them.
Problem #1. Feeling cold when you are ‘not supposed to be cold’
This problem is more prevalent among those living in cooler climates. I live in Calgary, Alberta and it can be as freezing as -45 Celsius with wind. So, I had some trouble staying warm sometimes but was able to manage it pretty easily.
Solutions
1. Increase total daily calorie count. It’s the easiest way; works good for me. But if you are trying to lose weight this won’t be the best solution of course, so consider others I list below.
2. In winter, eat a little more whole-food fat such as fresh/dehydrated coconut, avocado, soaked nuts/seeds. Especially fast-digestible fat works good for this purpose. Two examples of such fat are fresh coconut meat and cold-pressed coconut oil. My “go-to” oil is coconut oil, year-round. My favorite nuts are probably Brazil nuts. I also like peanuts right out of the shells, but because they are legumes and not very good for health, I rarely eat them.
3. Introduce warming spices: dry and fresh cayenne, red and jalapeno peppers; ginger. A good-quality salt-less curry is also a great option. For me it’s usually cayenne, ginger and curry.
4. Wear wool. Wool may not be too ethical but at the very least it doesn’t require killing or hurting (usually) an animal. I wear wool in about 50% of the time during winter.
Problem #2. Shrinking muscle mass
Personally, I haven’t experienced problems with that (I even gained some). This problem is more prevalent among men than women.
Solutions
1. To maintain and help promote the growth of muscle fibers, introduce low-fat, high-protein sprouted foods. Any sprouts are high in protein. While sprouts of high-protein pseudograins and grains are choking with protein. For protein, I mostly eat sprouted quinoa and sprouted amaranth. These two take only 12 hours to sprout. Put them in your daily smoothies. You can use this method to sprout your foods.
Whatever it is you would like to sprout, aim towards low-fat foods. This way you can eat a lot o them without feeling sluggish.
2. Extend duration and the frequency of resistance-training workouts. Such as weightlifting, push-ups, etc. You need to microscopically tear muscle fibers to grow larger, bulkier muscles (1). This tear happens when you feel that struggling uncomfort while weightlifting, for example.
Problem #3. Disappearance of menses (periods in women)
That’s purely about ladies. Again, no problems here.
Solutions
1. Increase total calorie count.
2. If it doesn’t help, try dong quai tincture (2) or black cohosh tincture (3). (Tinctures are more potent and usually contain less side-ingredients than capsules).
If the above doesn’t help, don’t be concerned about it too much. You can have no periods or barely have them and still be healthy – cool, huh? Women in some native African and other tribes have little or no menstruation and still have a bunch of kids!
However, in case of absence of periods, do make sure that you ovulate. You can check this by measuring your morning body temperature [with thermometer] or specially-designed ovulation tests.
Main references:
1.https://homegymr.com/micro-tears-in-muscles/
2.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1525-139x.2002.00018.x
3. https://search.proquest.com/openview/50d6ae71dadd334da9c7c27db10eb398/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=32528