yikes...I really fell off the wagon...but I am back...

[raw-siobhan]

:( Oh guys, I need more help than I thought. I completely gave up on raw recently, for about the last month or more. I have gone through a rough time financially and emotionally and I have resorted to eating like a pig and eating them as well...along with cows, all things fried and of course my personal earthly demon - french toast sticks. I dont know where or how to start eating raw again. I am mostly scared about the financial aspect of things. I have always trusted your opinions and your advice...that is one thing that has not changed, so please please help me get back on track. Thank you so much for your understanding and help.

[Morn]

If I were you I would start with a juice (or water) fast (that is if you have a juicer). Fasting always brings my eating back under control and then when you come off of fasting all the other raw food will seem like a treat since all you have had is juice or water.

I understand the financial aspect of things, however, raw fruits and veggies are still cheaper than buying a bunch of meat. Try to buy in bulk at a Sams Club or Costco or check out the produce at Meijer that is older that they are getting rid of just before it goes bad. There is always a shelf at my meijer. I just got a huge bag of oranges for 99 cents and it must of had 10 or more oranges in it. The oranges didn't even look like they were old at all. Maybe they were stragglers.

I know buying nuts can be expensive but if you do some sprouting of seeds, it is cost effective and you get a lot of food in return. I also buy my oat groats, sunflower seeds, etc. in the bulk food section at good foods and those things are really reasonable. Hope this helps.


Best Wishes to you and welcome back.

[raw-siobhan]

Thank you for your help. I will work on this transition. I have ZERO discipline these days...I dont know why this is so hard for me...some people just seem to have no problem with raw food transition, but I am really struggling. It makes me so mad.

[Morn]

I know what you mean that is why it requires a drastic measure for me (like fasting) to real me back under control.

If you give fasting a chance I think you will gain back the discipline you are looking for.

Before raw I too ate everything. I really feel what Alyssa says is true about cooked food being very addicting. I find when I eat raw I don't tend to overeat.

You can do this - Believe it!

[luckitri]

Glad you are back. Forgive yourself is key. The weather is finally cooling down here for us desert rats and that may have something to do with it as well. Maybe just treat yourself as if you were starting all over for the first time and feed yourself as much as you seem to want as long as it is raw? Maybe more root vegetables since it is cooler? Beets, parsnips, sweet potatoes?

P.S. I have really appreciated when the long-timers here like Raw Priestess share that they did not stick with it the first try and Sharon in Colorado's site has a nice explanation on transition that I found helpful.

[raw-siobhan]

Tell me what to do with the sweet potatoes...I would like to try them and I havent yet. Do they taste good in a salad like shredded? Is there any other way to eat them?

By the way, you're right...I love hearing the fact that the long-time raw fooders have struggled and overcome their cravings and come out successful. I will visit Sharon's site.

Thanks for your help...I hope your health is looking up from the last time I was online. Have things ironed themselves out? Are you able to work?

[luckitri]

Just started back to work this week. Keeping the job will be difficult as I was not able to find a doctor who was willing to fill out my employers mandated FMLA forms - nor even a doctor who was willing to find out what is wrong. I don't think severe detox of kidneys and liver will be acceptable unless I am at the point of dialysis or needing a transplant. I saw some sweet potato dehydrator recipes on here and personally I do like them raw. I think that a cookie sheet in a very low oven temperature would also suffice. I don't have a mandoline or spirolli cutter yet - now that I know what a mandoline is - well I had something I had bought at the swap meet but after almost cutting off my fingers a few times I tossed it. Definitely not a product I would want around children at all. Maybe when I get rich I can get all the equipment and I will find one that is safe for me to be around. LOL! Be WELL!

[swingbolder]

Hi, siobhan, welcome back!!!!!

Most of us have fallen off the wagon, and OH MAN is it HARD to get back on!!!! I went through what you're going through late last summer and for about a month I would wake up every day and say "today is the day I go raw again" and then everyday I would just scarf down anything, whatever was around. Sometimes I'd make a special trip to the store just to get some cooked "goodie' that I felt I had to have, like tortellini or Chinese food or whatnot. Of course my body felt horrible and I started feeling really cranky and depressed.

I remember pleading to my husband one night "why can't I stop this, why can't I stop eating this food this food that's making me sick?" I was in tears.

The very next day I made a new commitment. I did a three-day juice fast to "reboot" my body away from the cooked food. Morn suggested this upthread and it's a really great way to make a new start. The hardest part is just making that step.

When you go to bed on that first night, after having been raw all day, you and your body will feel such relief. You will have gotten yourself out of the downward spinal. You will have your momentum back, and in no time you will start to feel really good again. And this whole relapse into cooked food will just be a bad, fading memory.

[luckitri]

Yep - I have been so successful in avoiding my family's leftovers - that was always a big downfall for me because they waste so much. But I have been pretty good.....been too sick to be much bad! LOL!