The proverbial wagon

[McKenzie]

I fell off of it today. Badly. Really bad. :mad: My question to all of you experienced raw foodists - how long did it take for your bodies to stop craving things? I've been raw for about 3 weeks now, ranging from 80% to 100% raw, depending on the day. Have any of you found that if you're craving something cooked, or sweets, or pizza (good Lord, I ate so much pizza today, and I feel horrible for it) that eating a raw food in particular has helped to curb the craving? I ordered Alissa's book yesterday, so I'm hoping once I receive that and (hopefully) follow the 30-day challenge, I will get over the monotony of eating the same things over and over and really build up my repertoire so that I can continue to keep it interesting. Any advice you can offer would be so helpful. :o

[sigtau66]

Well, I don't know if I would qualify as an experienced raw foodist, but I do have cravings all the time. I usually find that if I can withstand the craving until I get home, I eat some nuts (usually cashews) and my cravings go away. Recently, they had been getting pretty bad so my wife and I made the decision to eat cooked food again for 1 meal. It's been a week now and I seriously haven't had another cooked food craving. It might have to do with how I felt afterwards, but I can't say for sure.

[rawpriestess]

I've heard so many raw food gurus speak about this and they ALL say one thing stops the cravings, and that one thing is

eating 100% raw, no bottled salad dressings, no canned olives, no peanut butter, no roasted nuts or nut butters, no steamed veggies, no heated honey, no frozen veggies, no toasted nori, no ume plum vinegar, no nothing that is even a little baby bit raw.

And I must say after due consideration, and lots of experiementing, that I believe them LOL

I've tried to cheat every way possible, and it sends me right back to cooked full force.

So, you can bet your booties, I'll be 100% raw again, in short order.

Because I am getting ready, right now, right here, with you.

[monkeyboy]

Hi Everyone,

The new vw passat wagon is mighty nice. The 4 motion v6 version is awesome.

Audi allroad is pretty nice too.

Bmw x3 is ok .


Peace and safe driving,


M.B.

[Purl]

My new motto "N.O.B." (Not One Bite). Not even when I am seasoning the cooked food for my dh and dc. if they want more salt, chili powder, pepper, etc they can add it to their bowls. I don't even lick the roasted cashew butter of my fingers. Today is Day 8 of 100%. I struggled since the beginning of Jan. When I would eat cooked-I just went CRAZY, esp popcorn. OH how I LOOOOVE popcorn. Once I scewed up it would take days, maybe a week to even eat 75% raw again. I just finished Victoria Boutenkos "12 steps to raw"-and it was life changing. Have you read it?

"N.O.B"

[levamssg]

McKenzie
Ive been 100% raw for 1-1/2 yrs now -- and there are still days I crave something cooked. Well - perhaps crave isn't the word -- more like if I'm hungry and smell something good cooking ... my mouth waters. But deep down I don't really want that food -- I want MY food.

The answer is - don't let yourself get really really really hungry or overly tired AND hungry. (bad combination). Keep lots of tasty raw food around, and like you said, find some recipes you really like and make those up often. If you are a dessert person - make sure you have some good dessert/sweet recipes. You don't want to feel deprived. If you're craving a certain TYPE of cooked food, see if you can find a recipe that will fill that craving.

example, kale chips have satisfied my craving for potato chips (that oil/salt taste). Flax crackers for something crunchy and something to dip with.

Alissa's book has so many tasty recipes ... you'll love it.

Best of luck to you!

[Amberly]

I ate SAD today too. Feel REALLY crappy. It wasn't a craving, but teasing from the BF and his friend. Plus they taunted me with a SAD food that I only had about once a year anyway and it was one of those silly fun treat foods, ya know. Like at the fair or something.

I think the reason I keep slipping is because non-raw things slip in. For example I was out of lemon so I used SAD lemon, and I used conventional sundried tomatoes in my salad.

I am going to have to do a 30 day challenge with a few more restrictions than I normally have when eating 'raw'.

I've been doing the "eat what you want as long as it's raw thing", and it's great, but I'm going to try to get even more results with a little more care in the food combining area, etc.

[fiddler]

The answer is - don't let yourself get really really really hungry or overly tired AND hungry. (bad combination). Keep lots of tasty raw food around, and like you said, find some recipes you really like and make those up often. If you are a dessert person - make sure you have some good dessert/sweet recipes. You don't want to feel deprived. If you're craving a certain TYPE of cooked food, see if you can find a recipe that will fill that craving.
Thanks for this post levamssg!

Just a moment ago I was really wanting a Chipotle's black bean burrito. I managed to make it to my blender to toss in 4 huge oranges, two bananas and some mixed berries. That helped with my craving. I think the extra calories was exactly what my body was wanting and had nothing to do with Chipotle's.

Anyway, halfway through my blender-sized raw smoothie my craving went away. I then came to this forum to search for "curb" and I read your post and it really matched with what I was thinking. So true! Tired and hungry is a bad combination.

Oh, and monkeyboy's post was fun too. Focusing on something else can also completely eliminate a craving too :)

Thanks again for your post, Gil

[Gosia]

Interesting that this topic should come up now. I am in my third year, and I still occasionally relapse. As far as cravings, I do not experience them as long as (rawpriestess is right) I eat all-raw and simple (no salt, for example). Sometimes, I do experience, what I call, "raw food fatique". That is, I feel that I've had enough of all this (raw foodism). But when I eat something cooked, my body hates it (signs: I stink and look worned out), and I quickly regain my motivation. If I relapse, I do not dwell on it anymore, or spiral to cooked food destruction, but go back to what I love eating. Yes, emphasis on what I LOVE eating.

Even long-term raw foodists experience temptations:

"Wow! I just came through a time of being tempted to eat cooked foods that would have broken me down in the past, but this time I was able to resist. Why? I believe a lot of it is the ability to engage discipline due to plain old maturity. I’ll be starting my 40th journey around the sun next month. Just going through life for all these years has actually changed me. So I guess maturity happens. Or perhaps maturity is things really getting easier because of the cumulative effect of all the efforts one has made over the years!


In Health,

Jinjee"


I suggest that you do not worry about this (or punish yourself), but focus on having fun with the foods instead! :)

Gosia.

[jaurequi]

I ate SAD today too. Feel REALLY crappy...
For example I was out of lemon so I used SAD lemon, and I used conventional sundried tomatoes in my salad.


Hi, Amberly,

Sorry you're feeling so bad, but it's all part of the learning; so keep that in focus and remember this experience next time you are faced with a similar situation.

Now, I have to ask: What is a SAD lemon? Do you believe you need organic? Is that what you mean?

Best,