Gaining undesired weight on a plant-based and raw food diet is entirely possible, and there are a few usual reasons for this.
For instance, in an inflamed body (acidosis), the sudden higher intake of high water-content raw plant-foods and juices will provide the body a lot of fluid to retain and use for buffering the inflammation as a first line of defense. Bloating and edema is the likely outcome to follow and increased increased body weight.
Compromised adrenal glands (and kidneys) are usually always implicated in such cases leading to inadequate cortex production of anti-inflammatory corticosteroids. This further prompts the body to use water as a buffering medium.
Be advised that body weight can fluctuate up and down throughout the healing process and is not necessarily an issue of major concern.
However, if weight gain continues month after month without plateauing, this should be looked at closer to determine what's going on and what steps to take next. At this point, inadeqaute sugar metabolism (resulting again from low corticosteroid production) should be taken into consideration as it leads to unstable blood sugar fluctuations, fermentation of sugars (breeding fungal problems) and stored fat.
Periods of increased stress and lack of rest, as well as incidents of trauma and emotional challenges all have a suppressive influence on the adrenal glands.
Some people also adopt a high fruit diet while carrying over the idea of needing to intake “X” number of calories each day regardless of their lifestyle and state of health. And to meet these daily caloric goals, the person is often pushing themselves to consume what's often an excess of food. When trying to detoxify, they may substitute the dense fruits for high water-content alternatives, yet needlessly still try to aim for a similar caloric intake.
A person with compromised adrenals and/or thyroid gland – to which systemic acidosis can often be added to the equation – shouldn't follow such guidelines. It's counterproductive to reversing edema and achieving weight loss and will in many cases result in the exact opposite. To claim, as some do, that it's not possible to gain weight on a fruit-predominant diet isn't accurate. It only takes a mixture of the “right” tissue weaknesses to cause weight gain, and especially so, if the person is unknowingly over-eating.
Some people will also need to limit or refrain from starches (complex carbohydrates) such as:
- rice (substitute with wild rice)
- potatoes (substitute white potatoes with sweet potatoes)
- pasta
- bread
- quinoa, millet, amaranth, etc.
- rye, oats, wheat, spelt, etc.
Dr. Morse doesn't advocate calorie counting nor eating excessive amounts of food as it's not necessary.
Do note that we deal with health primarily within the framework of detoxification, and not so much as in regard to what to do for an overall lifestyle.