Listening to your body -- share your experiences

[swingbolder]

Okay, as a spin-off from the other thread, I thought I'd start a thread where people can share their real-life examples of listening to their bodies. Where you suddenly had a little voice in you that told you to eat a certain kind of food, and then later you found out that that specific food was just what your body needed at the time.

This has happened to me several times, but probably the most dramatic was when I did the 30-day challenge again after straying on cooked foods for about 3 months. I had to detox all over again. I was weak and had all kinds of sinus pain, which I used to only get after a cold (back in my cooked days). I didn't want to go to the doctor and get antibiotics, as I used to all the time in my cooked days, but I didn't really know what to do.:(

Anyhow, I suddenly had this huge craving for kimchee, which is a type of Korean sauerkraut. It's a fermented food that has lots of healthy flora, which aids digestion and the immune system. Anyhow, I didn't really know all this at first. All I knew is that I REALLY, REALLY wanted to eat it. For about a week pretty much 75% of my diet was kimchee with chopped tomato and dulse seaweed. I was eating like 3 bowls of it at a time. . . which was funny, bc it'd been about a year or so since I'd last eaten it. . .the stuff had just been sitting in my refridgerator for months.

So, after about a week of just mawing on this stuff, I did some research and found that kimchee is a huge antibacterial and immune system builder. So much in fact that scientists in Asia were feeding it to birds infected with avian flu, with promising results.

I was really floored when I found that out. My body had told me what it needed, and I listened to it, and voila: my sinus pain went away completely and I haven't had any since. I also haven't had ANY desire for kimchee. That's how I know it was my body dictating that particular appetite.

In the last week, I've been eating a lot of tahini. . . this is after not having had any desire for tahini since last summer. And I'm positive that it's bc my body wants/needs it for some specific reason. I just haven't figured out what that reason is yet. ;)

[Vegan Diva]

I really love my greens and eat them daily. However the past few weeks I have been eating kale and collards (juiced and raw) at each meal. The past few days I have been incredibly tired. Which is unusual for me. I sleep 3 - 6 hours nightly. After thinking over what I ate and ruling out possible reactions I know it's my bodies way of cleansing. I've been expelling a lot of mucous and have a "mucousy" feeling in my throat. I’ve been increasing my intake of lemon water (freshly squeezed three times per day) and I received my order of raw olives (great for eliminating mucous and I’ve been craving them) from Alissa’s site today. I was going to go to the sauna today but I feel too exhausted to do that. I will make it tomorrow morning. The past few days I've been taking it easy.
That's kind of hard to do with a very active three-year-old girl! :p

[Apasaraw]

I went though a crazy period of eating nothing but grapefruit and greens for weeks this last winter. Funny thing is, my hubby, who isn't raw per se had the grapefruit freak out too but he craved them with almonds. He couldn't get enough. It was like an obsession with both of us! Everyone at work or in the neighborhood had the flu or a bad coughing cold for weeks at a time and we didn't even have a sniffle. I know it was the craving keeping our defenses up. Our friends would laugh at our 15 pound purchases of grapefruit while they were hacking up a lung.

When you get the crave....go with it or try to find out what the primary nutrients are in the food you desire and substitute a food that might work as well to make your body happy.

swingbolder...you have me seriously craving kim chee right now!

Apasaraw

[Brianna]

I go in cycles of what my body craves. Lately, I intuitively feel that I am deficient in sodium and I have too much potassium. I've just been craving salty things, like celery and olives. I don't eat celery that much though I do drink celery juice, but lately I've been wanting to eat celery. And olives!!! I haven't eaten them in months and then a couple weeks ago I started really craving them and I will eat like 30 or more at lunch and dinner each day! And chard! Because it's so salty I've been craving it. Another thing I've been craving like crazy lately is raw sauerkraut. I used to never eat it and now I eat like 1-2 cups per day of it!

[Pailani]

I've just been craving salty things, like celery and olives. I don't eat celery that much though I do drink celery juice, but lately I've been wanting to eat celery.

I was craving celery, too - which is odd because I've never liked it! It must be the sodium. I'm not craving it this week.

[flytie]

i was never a cantaloupe person before going raw. i'd eat it in fruit salad, but it wasn't my favorite. well, i have always had issues with my vision, and it seems like at one point about a month ago it was getting worse. around that same time i was moved to buy a cantaloupe and ate the whole thing without it really crossing my mind that i didn't like 'em. after that i just wanted more. and more and more and more. i think i ate 1 and a half every day for 2 weeks. come to find out cantaloupe is a good source of beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A, which promotes good eyesight.

sunflower seeds. i was also never really a sunflower seed person until recently. i have literally eaten a 12 oz bag of organic, raw sunflower seeds everyday for the past 4 or 5 days. I just haven't been able to get enough. soon as i get in my car i'm tearing the bag open and eating them. so in the midst of my chewing one day at a red light, i look at the bag and read that they're a good source of iron. i was diagnosed with iron deficiancy anemia 3 yrs. ago. i take iron supplements (when i remember to), but i guess they're not enough. after doing more research, i found that sunflower seeds also provide other benefits that my body is lacking.

i too have been eating tahini like crazy lately. and it's funny because when i first bought it, i really didn't care for it too much, so the can has just been sitting in the fridge. well, here lately i have been craving it badly. not sure what that's about.

[Svadhyaya]

So far, my cravings are all about my tastes and not my needs.
But I'm not completely raw yet and am still very new on this journey.

I'm trying to think harder into it, though.....if I'm craving sweets, for example, I wonder if my body isn't really crying for fruit and my indoctrinated mind isn't just adding it's twisted desire for candy in there. In these instances, if I reach for fruit instead of Twizzlers or Nerds I am always completely satisfied and my body feels like......YES!

[swingbolder]

i think i ate 1 and a half every day for 2 weeks. come to find out cantaloupe is a good source of beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A, which promotes good eyesight.

That is so cool. Have you noticed any improvement in your eye condition?


swingbolder...you have me seriously craving kim chee right now!

I've got about two gallons in my fridge if you wanna come 'n get it!

[Tombi]

Here's a little something that comes from my journal dated Dec 15th (exactly one month of being raw) Evidently I was craving really bad and couldn't get satisfied. Didn't have a clue what I was craving but I found myself eating exactly what my body needed by the end of the day :

"Yesterday I had decided that I needed to slow down on my nut and avocado intake so I ate just fruit. First I had a Pomogrante (love them!), then I had an orange, later a tangerine, later a pear, later some grapes and I was never satisfied. I kept feeling the urge to eat something...bad (so bad it would be good). All kinds of SAD foods started floating in my mind all through the day. I was determined not to eat anything that I would be sorry for. Around 9pm I decided to chop up a bunch of spinach, pour olive oil and plum vinegar over it. I put a helping in a small bowl and before I knew it I had eatten the whole bunch! Boy did I feel good!! I was so happy and relaxed."

I also noticed that this is also an example of what not to do in way of eating when you first go raw. Notice that I was not really satisfied eating that day. First I ate the pomogrante, then an orange, then a tangerine, then a pear, and some grapes. What I should have eaten was the pomorante and then at least 4 oranges and maybe 3 tangerines until I was full. The idea is to make sure you are satisfied. Notice after I ate the entire bunch of spinach I was satisfied!

[flytie]

That is so cool. Have you noticed any improvement in your eye condition?


oh yeah. i can actually see a little better without my glasses. I find myself squinting with the glasses on now. i remember reading a post where someone had a similar situation after being raw, and was told by an eye doctor that their perscription was too strong.

i'll go to the doctor within the next couple of months to see what i'm told.