Overuse of the word "need"

[lissomllama]

This doesn't just appply to raw foodists, in fact, I most often see this from cooked, SAD eaters. I hear people using the word 'need' far too much and often when it is not sensible. For example, I was having lunch with my mother and grandmother and was enjoying my raw veggie plate while they ate some cooked concoction that I couldn't even recognize and my grandmother asked me how my veggies were. I smiled and said that they tasted wonderful and she immediately said "boy, I could never do raw, I NEED my coffe" and she said the word 'need' with this desperate expression on her face and it really was scary looking and made me sad. She was that bent out of shape over the THOUGHT of giving up her precious coffee. I just can't fathom that. Even at my worst when eating cooked, I never thought I couldn't deal without one of those SAD things. I hear this word everywhere from everyone I know."I NEED my candy", "Oh I could never give up my weekly ice cream binge, I NEED it". It is one thing when the person really believes that they won't be healthy without those items but I usually hear this word used preceeding things that they know are bad for them. We all know that a person won't die without coffee (quite the opposite) and yet, so many people decide that they won't be able to *deal* without it. I wish that people would just use the words "like" or "want" instead. Because that is the truth. This is common in partially raw folks as well and I think it holds many of them back from just taking the plunge. Now, I know this is a process and this is in no way an insult to those who aren't yet or never will be 100%, I'm just saying that there is a big difference between 'want' and 'need'. Sometimes a person is exaggerating, but sometimes they really are brainwashed and it is disconcerting. For a raw foodist, it is normal to say: "I need my fruits" or "I need my veggies" because these things really are needed. Now, that is truth. Just something to think about. I notice this way more now that I'm raw.

[juliebove]

I well understand the need for caffeine. I can easily do without coffee. Can't even remember the last time I had any. But caffeine? Nope. I do need that.

[mcasburn]

You know what I need? Mangos.

Okay, I still struggle with alcohol... but at least now it's organic wine with no added sulfites instead of whiskey or vodka. And at least I recognize that it's an addiction. That's a step in the right direction.

[rawpriestess]

I used to "NEED" so many things in my life, now that I am eating raw, I don't need anything.


I can live without everything, I may not wish to, I may not want to, but I can, and the "I" that I am, is NOT my body, so I don't REALLY even need food or air,

but I do NEED love, in fact I believe that LOVE is all there really is.

I don't worry or even care about the words people use, if they are happy drinking their coffee, so be it, who am I to tell them not to.

I believe that every being, has the right to make their own decisions, and to say whatever they wish to say, I just wish my Grandma was alive, so I COULD have lunch with her, or even my mom, but I'd never take away their freedom of choice in their food just so I could have more time with them.

I simply feel very blessed to have known my mom and Grandma, two beautiful Goddesses in human form, they helped me become my most glorious self in this life time. I am blessed.

[berrymarymac]

Sounds just like my grandmother! Everyone in my family wants to go raw because I have lost weight and my cholesterol has gone down a lot. But she said she could never give up her coffee. I used to be addicted to expresso and would drink it straight or I would go through withdrawals without at least 2-4 shots a day! I would consume maybe 2 energy drinks a day as well, needing that high. I have been off of caffiene for almost a month now. If I can do it...anyone can do it lol

But I say I need things a lot, but what i don't need is cooked food!!! It gave me the worst heartburn today and it was a mild food! So yeah, I don't need that!

[lissomllama]

Well of course, EVERYONE needs love. We all know that. I was talking more along the lines of dietary issues, although love plays a big role in that as well. Also, I didn't mean that people shouldn't be able to have these things or even that they shouldn't be able to use those terms or that they are bad people for it, but it is something to realize the way some people think. I find it very interesting.

Julieabove, I highly doubt that you would DIE without caffine. Therefore, you don't actually need it. You just love it and really want it.

[mcasburn]

I "needed" cooked food for 34 years because I didn't know what it was like to live without it.

I "needed" caffeine for 20 years because I had forgotten what it was like to live without it.

I have "needed" alcohol for 13 years and cigarettes for 21 years because I have forgotten what it was like to live without them.

One step... two steps... three steps... I'll get there. It's a process we're all going through.

The last time I saw my ND, she told me that she loved raw kale and I thought to myself, "Eww, I can't eat that raw." I can't wait to tell her where I am now. We all have to let each other go through their process in their own time, too.

[lissomllama]

I agree, people don't always know what they really do and don't need. Even raw foodists don't know it all.

[Pailani]

I highly doubt that you would DIE without caffine. Therefore, you don't actually need it. You just love it and really want it.

I was addicted to caffeine to the point that I couldn't function without it. I think I wore out my adrenaline system and the caffeine was keeping the symptoms of adrenaline exhaustion at bay. I know I wouldn't have died without it, but I felt like I would be in a vegetative state without it and I did need to keep my job. :p Granted, not a life or death need, but I still considered it a need.

[swingbolder]

I don't think that when people say they "need" coffee, they mean to say that their bodies really need that substance to be healthy. I think that they're mostly acknowledging a psychological and/or physical dependency.

It means that they're unwilling to consider an existence without that substance, and they're acknowledging that unwillingness.