I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....

[tiggerbounce]

I have fallen soooo bad these past two weeks. Someone needs to write a book on how to be raw with husband and kids who are SAD. DH has gotten better and is actually making much better food choices for himself, but he is still an everything in moderation guy and loves eating out and having pizza and icecream as well. It is when I am cooking that I do the worst these days. And lately we eat out again quite a bit. I feel soooo bloated. And yucky. But with studying, working, kids, kids activities, and dh --- I never seem to take time for myself to just take care of myself.

From a practical standpoint, other than throwing out all SAD just to have it replaced the next day by DH, what do you do???? And when I eat SAD I have ZERO desire to exercise because I get so tired. Do you think it is any easier to maintain raw lifestyle when you are associated with other raw foodists? And if so........giving a call out to other Missouri raw foodists!!! Am I setting my goals out of reach? Do I just suck at attaining goals? Do I sabotage myself? This should not be this difficult. It is just food, right???? Is it partly because I am somewhat not social? I tend to stay close to home. Do I need to get out more and join in activities not associated with my family? Maybe I am just to absorbed with my own family and life? There must be some sort of underlying issue here. I never had this sort of problem when I was younger. Think, think, think.....what has changed??? What do you do to energize and motivate yourself???? I don't want to focus on the eating. I think maybe I am too focused on the eating/food and need to be less so? More focused on life? (am thinking of joining a kite flying club with the kids to get outside and get moving a little bit - well until the kite is up in the air anyway --- but at least it is NO where NEAR a kitchen/food!)

Does anyone else ever feel this way, or did you when you were first starting out? How did you overcome it? I expect to not be perfect, but some days I just seem to get completely out of control. Other days I am 100% without even thinking about it. Just happens.

Those of you who are fantastic at making and reaching goals, how do you do that? How do you stay focused?

(shakes head and collapses back in chair in frustration.....)

[Zella Juice]

I was just there a few days ago....I slipped up and had thai food. Then I read a book called "Green for Life" and realized that the key is Leafy Greens. So I started making Green Smoothies. Basically by adding organic leafy greens to my smoothies. And WOW...now I have energy, less cravings, everything has changed.

I no longer think I need to have crackers dehydrated or I am going to be miserable. When I first was turned onto Raw Food...I got to taste the pizza, enchiladas, calzone, cinnamon roll and I thought...I could do this. Then I realized all the work that goes into those foods and how little time energy and money I have to make those meals happen every day. Now I just have my green smoothies and I KNOW I can do this.

We whipped up some corn chowder today and it was yummy. I just need the simple recipes for now and when I get to a place where I can make the other stuff ...I am going to make it for everyone and share the great food. Because It's just impossible for most people to prepare anything beyond a simple smoothie. Even a smoothie is hard for some people to find time to make. If you are busy and working there just isn't any time. There is only enough time to pick something up on your way home from work.

So I say...blend up a huge green smoothie and share it wtih everyone. My son didn't like it until I put bananas in it..now he loves them.

When I first met my husband he only ate meat and cheese. I wanted him to have some veggies and fruit in his diet so I started sending him to work with bottles of fresh juice. He lost 70 pounds and decided to becomee a vegetarian. I was so shocked. Just by giving him the juice...he changed. Few months later he decided he wanted to be vegan. We are all Raw now (my 7 year old son, me and my husband) and we own a juice bar.

So keep working at it...just feed them the food, fresh juice, and green smoothies and they will respond.

[ItsSimplyAmazing]

Believe me, Im right where you are. My husband has no desire to go raw - infact he thinks Im a bit nuts and the stove was invented for one thing ;)

I too have a hard time staying on program at dinner time. I also can not afford to let some food go to waste and uneaten that I bought for myself an my son for lunches during the days ( Im a sahm ) so Im weaning the foods out of the cupboard or fridge/freezer that my husband will not eat. And upping the veggies and fruits and adding in more greens throughout the day.

Even with my slip ups and sad dinners last week I still managed to lose weight and Im excited about that :) I look forward to next week as I try harder to skip sad meals

Ill tell you this, right now Im paying heavily for having 1.5 fricken beef hotdogs (without bun) my breasts hurt soooo bad and they didnt before I ate them. Im defiently relizing some of the feelings I use to have before transitioning into raw were defiently associated with sad foods!!!

SO that right there makes me want even more so for the raw lifestyle to scoop me up and take me away lol

I have a 2yo son, and Im defiently wanting raw to be a big part of his life too. Since going raw hes really slowed down on constantly saying " EAT EAT mmmmaaahhhhh " which is great because man I always felt like I didnt know what to feed the kid LOL

[Nenyath]

You can, you can, you can, you can! I know you can do this! If it helps you, then start simple. Eat fruit for breakfast, come to really love it (I wouldn't want to eat ANYTHING else in the mornings now- totally addicted to my oranges, mango or nanas! Then move on to one more meal- get into salads- they are beautiful! Go at a pace you are comfortable and everytime there's a little voice of guilt chiming in your head- dismiss it! You are already dong so good! The more raw you eat, the less cooked becomes attractive. True enough we may stumble from time to time, but the fashion we do it in changes over time. This is a journey- please enjoy it!

Fly forever free!

[Firicia]

Well I think you need to give yourself some slack. You are wanting to make big changes and it's not always easy. So try not to get down on yourself, and pat yourself on the back everytime you make a good food choice. If you focus on all the bad choices or bad foods you're going to be creating them appearing even more in your life. If you focus on the right foods and tell yourself how happy you are after you eat them you're going to create eating more foods that you want to eat. Does that make sence? I was just re-watching The Secret and thought about applying some of what it was saying to my food "issues". Worth a try :) Just keep remembering why you want thism for whatever reason that may be.

[NFrawRUNNER]

...Someone needs to write a book on how to be raw with husband and kids who are SAD. DH has gotten better and is actually making much better food choices for himself, but he is still an everything in moderation guy and loves eating out and having pizza and icecream as well. It is when I am cooking that I do the worst these days. And lately we eat out again quite a bit. I feel soooo bloated. And yucky. But with studying, working, kids, kids activities, and dh --- I never seem to take time for myself to just take care of myself.

Do you think it is any easier to maintain raw lifestyle when you are associated with other raw foodists?...I tend to stay close to home...I don't want to focus on the eating. I think maybe I am too focused on the eating/food and need to be less so? More focused on life?...Does anyone else ever feel this way, or did you when you were first starting out? How did you overcome it?

(shakes head and collapses back in chair in frustration.....)

Are we related and married to the same man???:confused: oh, you're in Missouri and I'm in NY so I guess not. Listen, I have been raw since August, 2005...It is definately an ever evolving process. My family (hubby + 5 kids) go in spurts...They eat healthier than the typical SAD families but there is temptation everywhere! I have my food they have their's....That's just the way it is...I am a bit posessive of "my food" but that's the way it is. I have tried to educate my family about healthy eating habits without forcing it upon them (resentment is not a good thing when it comes to food issues as it leads to eating disorders)...Sometimes they choose a "raw meal" when they don't like what the dinner is and they take a lot more fruit in their lunch....but KFC and pizza still grace our doorway occasionally....It tempts me only if I let myself get too hungry....so I suggest grabbing an apple when you see the delivery guy pull up!!!!:D Anytime you make a major lifestyle change their will be hurdles in your way. Try to look at the big picture. DO YOU FEEL BETTER? If you are new to raw people will begin to notice your "glow" and as you feel better it should reinforce your desire to reach optimal health...Your family MAY see this too and make some changes....Good luck!
ps....the book is a great idea, let's do it!

[jendy]

[QUOTE=NFrawRUNNER;230748]Are we related and married to the same man???:confused: oh,



I am so relieved to find out there is more than one man like mine. Thank you. I don't know what else to say for now. I'm not doing raw yet. Maybe I'm too easy on myself. For now I just try to have at least one Green smoothie, which is just greens blended up with some spirulina or something, every day. I'm planning/thinking of going to The Tree of LIfe REjuvenation Center in April for about 3 weeks, and that will be my jump start into raw.

But I'm getting a little scared because of all the talk about how hard it is and how everyone else fallls off the wagon. I was hoping if I got it in my system for several weeks then it would be EASY to stay on!!! :o Please say it will be!!!!:)

I will have to be cooking for my kids and husband since I am the SAHM too.

[Frog]

There's a lot of us where you are hun - me included.

I just can't throw away all the non-raw stuff like Alissa suggests in her book as my husband and daughter are not doing this with me - they would go doolallytap:eek:

You have support here from others who know how you feel :)

[sweet pepper]

The same goes here. It has been so difficult for me to stay raw when everyone around me is not and has no intention to go raw either. I did notice on my 6 days of success what helped me was eating two huge green leafy salads, or about 14 oz of greens daily. I also did some reading tonight where it explained that leafy greens help to take away the cravings because it helps supply the body with lots of minerals and enzymes. It did seem to do that for me. My slip up was an emotional breakdown. Another thing that helped was I cooked only enough for my husband and shopped daily for his meat and his meat alone and for me, I bought myself the juiciest fruits and ripest avocadoes, mangoes etc., that I could find. I would ask him what he wanted and I would fix it and didn't leave any leftovers in the house. If there were leftovers he took them to work with him for his lunch. So, I am starting fresh again and hopefully these tools I learned will help me. I also learned about the emotional problem was I cannot let someone else manipulate me just because they cannot accept the change in my life. I have to stand up for myself and believe in myself and trust in my choices for a better life for me, a healthier life for me and I know that journey is the living foods lifestyle. One last thing is too, I am not going to concentrate on losing weight this time around, I am going to concentrate on walking the talk, living the rawfoods lifestyle and have faith that everything else will fall into place.

Namaste'
Sweet Pepper

[raw-siobhan]

Tiggerbounce! You read my mind! I have no answers, but you are not alone. I am searching for an explanation as well. It seems to be I can never live up to my goals and when I fall short I seriously crash and burn, then give up completely, then come back to raw in hopes I can pull it off again. For me, I cant help but be "all or nothing" and I know this is just setting myself up for disappointment and failure, but it is jus the way I am wired. I dont know. I am so frustrated with myself. Youre right. it is just food, right? Why then can we not get a hold of the situation and control it rather than it controlling us? I wish I knew. I hope someone has answers. I am going to read the other responses to your post.

[RebeccaI]

Here are the best things I have done to survive and thrive eating raw while my family doesn't:

1. Have huge bowls of fruit around to snack on all the time.

2. Make very best friends with my crockpot. I can whip a meal together for my family in 10 min in the am and then I have the "normal" dinner prep time in the evening to make sure I have a lovely raw meal.

3. Have a "rescue bag" everywhere I go. (Thanks RawSue!!) Like a big purse only filled with fruit, raisins, macaroons, fudge bars or whatever strikes me. Even if I think I won't be out long, I always have it just in case.

4. Get the children involved. My children totally dig the idea that if it is raw they can have it anytime without even asking. Ice cream for breakfast, pie for dinner, fruit anytime - THAT is nirvana for an 8, 6, and 4 yo!! They WANT to have raw food around because that gives THEM more freedom AND they don't have to finish their plates (of cooked food that we have for meals). COOL MOM!

5. Explain WHY we making these choices in a kid friendly way. I told my littles a story about a man who got his milk straight from the cow (literally LOL) and they thought it was hilarious and funny and so wrong - teehee. Just looking logically at did God make cows to give people milk didn't make sense to them anymore.

6. For my teenager, I have cooking alternative available. She LOVES to bake. But now she bakes with my homemade almond milk and almond flour and is learning that those things are healthy alternatives and taste just as good. One step at a time!! ;)

I'm sure there are more and I will try to ponder them but those are the ideas that have really changed things around my house and changed my frame of reference too! Suddenly my family is cheering me instead of giving me wierd looks.

HTH!

Blessings~