I've tried and I just can't go 100%...

[Sooboopa]

I've tried to go 100% and can't.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to transition.

I seem to eat out a lot. It is the social pressure that is holding me back. It is especially difficult to eat raw in a Thai, Chinese or Indian restaurant.

Even in restaurants where salad is on the menu, I try to spell out what I want...no dressing, everything 100% raw...and it comes out with cooked olives on it or something.

Hopefully I will be 100% raw one day though...

When I was younger (around 18) I was much more able to jump right in. Now(aged 34) my resolve is much weaker... Plus I have a boyfriend who wants to share food with me and hassles me if I eat all raw all the time...

I admire people who jump in 100%. It's just that the pleasure of socialising, at this point, is important to me. I'm aiming for around one or two cooked meals per week...max...and reducing from there...

I have been a vegetarian for 18 years.

Unfortunately today I ate a toasted cheese, tomato and onion sandwich in a cafe for lunch. When I bit into it, there was ham in it. How utterly hideous. It was so disgusting. I spat it out. It was like being punched in the face. I feel sorry for that pig.

[chilove]

I found it easier to avoid restaurants for a good year or so when I first went raw. Now it is much easier and I just bring my own dressing. You might need to avoid restaurants for awhile.

Take care,

Audrey

[karenisraw]

Just do the best that you can. There is no raw police hanging around to get you so just do the best you can. I have cheated once in a while and I have learned after so many years of feeling bad about not being perfect that I simply don't even care if I mess up any more. Life is too short too even mention anything so trivial in life as eating a cooked meal. For your health, I say stay as raw as possible. Otherwise, there is no contest or law or doctrine that dissallows cooked.

Have a good day and spend your time enjoying the raw life and the other joys in life you enjoy and forget immediately about your cooked ones.

k
:)

[misslinda]

Sooboopa! first of all, I love your SN. I totally know whatcha mean, mu good friends his family owns 2 Indian restuarants!!!!!! Spinach Dahl is my favorite..........I have to be reall honest. YOu may have read alot of peopel attemptong 100% raw but I can guarantee you that MANY of us failed b/c or struggled b/c it is not an overnight change. Food is connected us inmany ways--just like you mentioned-- the social aspect of it!

If you start out 30% raw--MORE POWER TO YOU and develop from that,,,,,,,,,there is nothing wrong with that......as you grow and your body adpats to raw, it WILL start craving more and more for purer foods. Happens day in and day out around here.

Better to be paritally raw that try 100% and yo yo then you'll really be doing more harm than good.


Welcome and warmest wishes to you :)

[Shivananda]

>>It is especially difficult to eat raw in a Thai, Chinese or Indian restaurant.

Personally I find those the EASIEST to eat raw in. They already have the raw vegetables prepped to cook with. Just ask them to bring you the chop suey, say, or whatever sounds interesting to you, but just not cook it, please!

>>Even in restaurants where salad is on the menu, I try to spell out what I want...no dressing, everything 100% raw...and it comes out with cooked olives on it or something.

Cooked olives? Who uses cooked olives on salads any more? But in any case, I get the picture. So here's what you do... take them off.

>>Hopefully I will be 100% raw one day though...

And I hope I will be 6' tall and 20 years younger when I wake up in the morning. I probably have a better chance of getting my wish because I'm clear it's just a fairy tale. You aren't that clear yet. Hope doesn't get you anything without commitment and action.

>> Plus I have a boyfriend who wants to share food with me and hassles me if I eat all raw all the time...

Share food with you like go out with you to restaurants, or share food with you like having you take bites off his plate? If the former, no worries, you can get food anywhere. If the latter, is he 12? That's immature behavior, and what you eat is none of his concern. Why put up with that?

[pinenut]

If I can add my 2 cents in here to help out....

I live in Grand Cayman and I can tell you that one thing this place is known for is it's incredible restraunts. Catering to tourists is 90% of our economy!! The food here is beyond unbelievable.

I can't afford a car so I ride a bike back and forth to work and in doing so, I am forced to smell all the incredible smells of all the outdoor restraunts here as I ride by them. It is sheer torture to say the least.

But one thing that I have learned: that in order to "contain" myself from induldging I no longer carry any cash or any sort of credit/debit cards with me. If I don't have the resources to make the purchases, then I can't stop at the restraunts to eat.

I've spent a lot of time at the restraunts and bars here to know just how easy it is to drop $40 or $50 on dinner and drinks every night. The temptation is hellish. But the only way I can contain myself is to deny myself the resources to make such choices.

Now, obviously I don't know your situation. But if going out to eat is solely your choice, as it was mine, then teach yourself the fine art of self denial. You'll be amazed at how quickly you loose your taste for cooked, prepared foods. If it is sheer social pressure that causes you to go out, you can always make the excuse that you just can't afford to do it. Usually no one ever harasses you about lack of funds.

Just my 2 bits...

[misslinda]

LOL.............Pinenut! :p

Yes, you can't be worse off than Pinenut.........read his thread "Help!!!!"

just teasin ya Pine ;) :)

[rawpriestess]

I must admit, that I find it EASIEST to eat raw at a Thai, Chinese or Indian restaurant, as Shivananda states, they already have the fresh produce prepped, also Mexican, Greek, basically all restaurants, except maybe fast food.

you see, IF you want to do something -- you will find a way,

IF you dont' want to do something -- you will find an excuse.

I'm not trying to be harsh here, but I am trying to express that it is really all up to you what you eat.

If your boyfriends is having challenges with what you eat, then he is controlling, and may choose to look at his own issues with control and maybe even food.

But it is up to you, to let him know that attempting to control you, is not acceptable behavior, and you really only need to let him know this once, after that, then he's deliberately doing it to test you, for what purpose could this be a positive relationship?

As far as socializing with others, yes, by all means go out have fun, eat raw, it really is that easy, if you order salad, order it with EVERYTHING on the side, that way, you can order and just have all of these fun little cups of things, and what you don't eat, you can leave, or take home to your dog, or let your boyfriend eat it, they serve it this way in Indian restaurants all the time, tons of little dishes.

If you want fresh veggies, just ask for them, one of the very best raw veggie platters I've ever received was in a Mexican restaurant, and they charged me only $2.00, because THEY said they didn't give me any food--haha

there was this huge platter of lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, garlic, peppers, carrot, tomatillos, jalepenos, parsley, brocolli, asparagus, oh, I can't even remember it all, and they also had some fresh strawberries, and some kind of melon, I can't remember but it was exquisite.

So, eat raw, live long, it isn't easy, that is why this board is here, and we aren't all perfect all of the time.

but, we keep striving for perfection, we keep on keepin' on, we don't give up, it may take all day, or all week or all month or all year, but we come back, and start raw again, one bite at a time.

so, don't give up, that is the ONLY form of failure, is to NOT try, so keep on keepin' on,

YOU can do it, we are here with you, hold our hands, read our journals, feel our pain, and we'll do the same, we are with you, we are struggling too, and we can ALL do this, IF we DO NOT GIVE UP--no matter what!!!

[theresaann]

don't fret, darlin'. you'll get there. It took me 15 years of false starts with lots of cooked time in between, and then 4 two-three week periods of 100% for this last year to be ready physically, psychologically and spiritually. If people put you down for not being clear, ignore them. You will find your way. Just keep tryin'-you'll get there. No one is perfect, just love yourself and your body and ignore messages of "perfection". It'll happen.

[pinenut]

LOL.............Pinenut! :p

Yes, you can't be worse off than Pinenut.........read his thread "Help!!!!"

just teasin ya Pine ;) :)


:p Thank you for acknowledging my patheticness!!! :p :p

[misslinda]

:p Thank you for acknowledging my patheticness!!! :p :p


LOL..........Pinenut, I totally have a visual for eveything you describe on the Cayman Islands..........I"m picturing Gilighan's Island :p :D



to the OP. I'm sorry I missed that last part about the ham and the poor pig :eek: Can I ask, why do you want to be 100% raw? Did you become vegetarian overnite?

[monkeyboy]

Hi Everyone,

Yo Pinenut,

I was in Grand Cayman late last year.

We sailed there from Florida, then made our way to Central America.

Our sailboat was repaired there and I enjoyed the beaches.


Peace,

M.B.

[Shivananda]

If you want fresh veggies, just ask for them, one of the very best raw veggie platters I've ever received was in a Mexican restaurant, and they charged me only $2.00, because THEY said they didn't give me any food--haha

OK, just to be clear and straight up front, this is definitely off-topic, but I hope y'all will give me license to share a favorite story this just reminded me of. Please turn back now if the mention of cooked non-vegetarian meals is a problem for you.

It was maybe 8 years ago, and I was traveling across Kansas, leading computer training seminars. While in Kansas City I had had dinner at Stroud's, world famous for its fried ch*ck*n dinners. (I know, I know, but cut me some slack on this one... committing to an all raw vegan diet doesn't erase one's memory, and it IS a very cute story nevertheless) Starting from depression era desperation as a cheap roadside dinner that simply served incredibly fresh clean food, individually cooked, Stroud's eventually parlayed its excellence into a still fairly cheap roadside diner that warranted an 8 page spread in Gourmet Magazine, as written by Calvin Trillin. I ate there myself, enjoyed the food thoroughly, and wrote copious notes for an article I intended to write, tentatively to be called *The Best Chicken Dinner I Ever Ate.*

Then the next evening I was driving towards Abilene, my next seminar venue, when I remembered an obscure reference I had read somewhere about another legendary fried chicken restaurant, called Brookville Hotel, dating from even earlier than the Depression Era, but this one very much off the beaten track, at an all but abandoned old railroad crossing out in the boonies, cut off from the mainstream when the Interstate Highway was built miles away. I decided to check it out, and to compare my experience with the previous night's repast.

Somehow I found the place, after losing myself on the backroads several times, but I was late arriving. It was almost closing time, and being late February, and in the middle of nowhere, the place was nearly empty. But I could see signs of its former heyday, when it famously served hundreds of fried chicken dinners a day to eager GIs from cross country trains and nearby militart bases during World War II. But despite the light patronage, I was amazed when the flustered hostess apologized to me "I'm sorry, but we just ran out of chicken dinners. We sold the last one 15 minutes ago."

To which I dsperately replied "I've been driving for hours to find this place, and it's late and I'm starving. Never mind the chicken, can you just give me anything to eat?" And she said "We've got everything else, just no chicken." And I said "I'll take it." And in just a few minutes I was served a huge spread of everything else, including a plate of relishes, a sweet-sour cole slaw, cottage cheese, mashed ptatoes w/ cream gravy, cream-style corn, and baking powder biscuits with creamery butter and preserves, and it was all exceptional. (OK, yes, it was all cooked, and SAD, and I wouldn't eat a dinner like that now, but that was then, and it was all really fresh and clean and totally delicious)

But the biggest surprise, as I finished a wonderful dinner while the staff patiently waited to close up, occurred when I asked for the check. I was completely satisfied by my meal, and totally enthralled with the place, so it never occurred to me to do anything but to pay for the big meal I had eaten.

"Oh, I couldn't charge you nuthin' honey. You didn't get any chicken. Come back again, next time you're out this way, and we'll take care of you right."

And thus, there outside Abilene, at a historic place that is no longer even in that same location, I enjoyed the *Best Chicken Dinner I Never Ate.*

[virginia]

I enjoyed your story about the toasted cheese sandwich, you spit it out because it had ham in it and was disgusting. One day you may find yourself biting into a toasted cheese sandwich (without ham) and spitting it out because it seems disgusting (or just not something to eat) and know you've made more progress.

[juliebove]

The chicken dinner story reminds me of a time we dined out when we were in the middle of a cross country move. We stopped at a homey, Amish restaurant. I realize that it proably wasn't truly Amish, but advertised as such and it featured homestyle foods. While the menu was extensive, most everything on there was some kind of meat or fish or sweet, carb laden food like pancakes or waffles. There was a green salad listed on the menu, but I wanted something more. That's when I noticed that many of the other tables had these sort of divided dishes on them filled with all sorts of raw vegetables. I'd never seen anything quite like it before. They were made of metal and had a handle in the middle to make it easier to pick up and pass around. I ordered my salad and then asked the waitress for one of those, even though I didn't see it on the menu.

Come to find out, it was called a "relish tray" and came complimentary with the meal. My husband is the only one of us who ordered an actual meal. I ordered a side of fruit for my daughter and she and I also ate from the relish tray. There was so much food on there that I was too full to even eat my salad. They also refilled a couple of the things because my daughter was begging for more. She was 5 at the time.

I can't recall what all was there other than a fresh pea salad (may have been cooked, can't remember) and every kind of fresh raw veggie you could imagine! When we got the bill, it was something like $12.00. I didn't think this was right. They hadn't charged us for our drinks. Only my husband's meal, my salad and the side of fruit. The waitress said that drinks and desserts come with the meals and even though my daughter and I hadn't ordered actual meals, they just gave them to us. The relish tray was made up based on how many people were dining there. And since my daughter and I hadn't ordered actual meals, they added more veggies to ours! I think the waitress may have thought we were destitute rather than just weary travelers, happy to finally find fresh food!

I do remember her bringing out some of the kitchen staff and they had a bit of a chuckle at my daughter and I enjoying our veggies so much. She said most people didn't even touch the relish tray or just ate a piece of two while waiting for their dinner.

I loved that meal so much that I tried to get my husband to stay there for another night. But there was really nothing to do in the area and the motel we were staying in was nothing to brag about. We were out in the middle of farm country. But that restaurant was one of the highlights of that trip. That and the one place we stayed where I realized I was only a couple of blocks from a Walmart complete with grocery store. I drove over there and bought every kind of fruit and vegetable I could find that I thought we could eat in the confines of our motel room with only paper plates and a plastic knife to prepare things with. My daughter and I went hog wild, snacking on fresh produce that night. Alas, we had to throw much of it out the next night because I wasn't able to find a place with a fridge, so we couldn't keep it fresh.

I've made 4 cross country moves in the past 11 years. During the first move, I was lucky to run across a lone banana, apple or orange that was past its prime. Didn't find any produce at all unless you count one of those shredded iceberg lettuce salads from a fast food place. Now, many of the convenience stores sell fruit and/or vegetable salads and little packages of baby carrots and celery. And some of the fast food places are making an effort to serve salads with organic produce and vegetables with a bit of nutrition in them. So things are looking up!

[Sooboopa]

Hi guys.

Thanks so much for all of your responses. I have started my transition program. I don't want to jump too far out of my comfort zone, but want to continually decrease cooked and increase raw until I am totally raw.

When I was around 18 I started reading Viktoras Kulvinskas' 'Survival into the 21st Century' and a book by Ross Horne (I've forgotten the title). I was utterly convinced of fruitarianism at that stage, but unfortunately I interpreted that to eating just sweet fruit. My mother kept hassling me about having an eating disorder. I swore that I didn't, and tried to tell her that fruit was the perfect diet for humans. I lasted twelve days on this and became very skinny and grey looking. I'm sure if I had the internet at that age, I would have become a raw foodist more quickly. I remember eating out with friends at a Chinese restaurant from a bag of cherries under the table.

I have had lots of times where I have been 100% raw for a period of time...ie days or a couple of weeks. I went three months on fruit and nuts (no greens unfortunately) with one cooked meal a week. I've experienced the radiance of raw. I want to get there again.

I've read a lot of raw books and visited a lot of raw websites. I've bored my friends talking about raw food. I know the magic that it offers.

I've experimented with various ways of doing raw. I've found fruit in the morning, fruit, vegetables / greens in the afternoon and the heavier raw foods in the evening (such as nuts etc) suits me.

Chilove...I don't think I could avoid restaurants. Socialising and connecting with people is so important for me. I do sometimes ask for just a salad (and really enjoy it)...but I am part purist, part hedonist...so sometimes lash out and have tofu and rice or something. As my body becomes more raw, I'm sure I will begin to crave raw more. I am from Australia, but travelling to Egypt, Morocco and Europe in a few months. We have a friend in London. If she cooks me dinner, I'll eat it. But we used to be housemates in Australia. She knows I am raw a lot of the time, so will try and eat fruit and vegetables mostly.

Karenisraw...so true. There are no raw police. It's just that the dullness cooked food produces compared with the radiance of raw can be like a jail cell vs a beautiful green field on a sunny day filled with scented flowers.

MissLinda...I'm glad you like my name. I was attempting automatic writing (essentially channelling) and whatever entity came through said my spiritual name was Sooboopa. It also said my boyfriend's name was Bosworth, which is incredibly ugly...he's so not a Bosworth. So who knows what that was about. I don't want to slip below 80% raw really...

Shivananda...hmmm. I'm feeling quite clear at the moment. I have periods of clarity interspersed with confusion. Regarding the ordering in restaurant issue, sometimes it is so hard just asking if something is vegan. Hopefully I will be bolder in the future, when asking for meals not on the menu. Here is a story. I was ordering a vegetarian risotto at a particular restauraunt. One day I had the inclination to ask the waitress if it was made with chicken stock. She checked with the chef and came back. Yes, there was chicken stock in the vegetarian risotto. Right!!!!!!! Um, yeah, that makes sense. The Vegetarian Risotto printed on the menu has chicken in it. Whatever. My punishment for eating cooked food. I know that as my vibration rises, I won't be able to tolerate cooked food. I take a holistic approach...as I improve my diet, I'm trying to exercise more and do more yoga, meditation, chanting, visualisation etc etc.

Pinenut...that's one of my boyfriend's nicknames for me. I have a capacity to be extremely disciplined when I am convinced about something. I think as I've gotten older, and read books like 'The Nature of Personal Reality' and 'Seth Speaks - The Eternal Validity of the Soul' by Jane Roberts, I am trying to not get too caught up in any one belief system and my aim is to continually expand my beliefs and break down the limitations of my mind. One thing I do wonder (whilst trying to be raw most of the time), is how much our beliefs influence a food's effect on the body. I want freedom from rigidity in my life, but I understand that raw foods allow me to access higher frequencies than dull, denatured, dead foods.

RawPriestess...I love reading your posts. I suppose it's the pleasure of health vs the pleasure of cooked foods / socialising. I don't want to be an unhappy rawfoodist who doesn't go out with friends and sits home alone with a bowl of sprouts. I really do think in five years time, eating cooked food for me would be like eating meat for me now, or at least a real rarity. But at this point, it is too far out of my comfort zone. I think going 100% right away, is very confronting, in terms of both the physical and emotional detox. David Wolfe didn't go 100% right away. Alissa went back to cooked and then back to raw again. And Jingee also reverted to cooked, before realising that raw was the only way. I love the idea of the 30 Day Raw Challenge, but it doesn't work for me. To do something for a finite period of time just doesn't feel right...for me. I've read a lot of journals here and I am in awe of the transformations. For me though, if I make changes, they always have to be 'for life'... That's why I have never been on a diet as such... At the time I implement a change, it is for life (with flexibility built in). My boyfriend is definitely not controlling (he has a beautiful heart...and attracts people like crazy) and definitely doesn't have food issues. He is very spontaneous... He just finds fun in sharing dishes etc...(not feeding me from his plate as Shivananda suggested)... I don't think there's anything more complicated to it. He is a vegetarian. And he is used to me being raw a lot of the time and telling him he needs to eat more raw food.

theresaann...thank you for your beautiful words. I totally know I'll get there. I've dusted myself off and tried again hundreds of times...but I've been there before, and I'll get there again... my raw self is beautiful and looks like an angel...my cooked self like a totally different person. People are attracted to my energy when I'm raw. (I know it's not just about what I eat though...my thoughts and words and actions are all important.) I am thirty-four. Earlier this year someone asked if I was 23. People always think I am younger than I am and I know that is because I eat raw a lot of the time.

MissLinda...I became a vegetarian when I was sixteen. I bit into a sausage with a white thing in it...maybe a bit of aorta or something. I said 'Mum that's it...I'll never eat meat again'. I never liked the taste of it. I really felt it was disgusting. So there was no discipline involved. Even fake meat is attrocious to me. Sometimes I think how awful it is and say 'isn't meat gross', and then have to remember, that that meat was actually a beautiful cow, fish, chicken etc...a beautiful innocent being. (Well still is...I think their souls live on.)

Virginia...I have gone through vegan phases, and really try to limit dairy. I can't eat eggs or drink milk, but can eat them if they are in a cake or something. I have gone through stages where cooked food has nauseated me. Somehow I spiralled down... And up... And down... I just want to keep moving forward...where every refinement in my diet is a permanenet change...ie no backsliding.

Juliebove...I can't wait until my tastebuds change so that raw vegetables are totally satisfying to me. I know that if I have been raw for a few days, and then I eat a cooked meal...my face changes. Raw gives your face an innocence and beauty...it lets your soul shine through...

Thanks everyone...it's been really interesting. I've been reading your posts for quite a number of months, but thought I'd register too. I don't know any raw enthusiasts in the 'real world', so am especially appreciative of this site...

[Shivananda]

The chicken dinner story reminds me of a time we dined out when we were in the middle of a cross country move. We stopped at a homey, Amish restaurant. Thanks, I enjoyed that.

One thing I was mulling over while writing my story, and reading yours, is that the Standard American Diet is largely a cultural inheritance from past days when most people worked very hard physically, and needed the big meals and lots of calories to get through the day. And I grew up around Amish people who farmed with horses, etc., and can attest to the fact that they eat huge meals.

They also, despite all the hard work, tend to carry a lot of weight. Even that makes sense, because fat is a protection against famine. And given their beliefs about the world, that's a good thing to do.