Going raw

[razza]

What do you recommend; going 100% or just going slowly? Which did you do?

[Rawkinlocs]

Everyone is different. If you have some major emotional eating issues or if eating ANY amount of cooked food will cause you to:

1. Make justifications to eat OTHER cooked foods in greater quantities
2. Go into a downward spiral of eating more and more cooked foods
3. Keep the cravings alive

...then you should consider going 100%. Alissa recommends this (if you don't have it, get a copy of her book) because she has worked with many people and seen how most people tend to keep the cooked food cravings alive and continuously crave things. But some people are more disciplined and can set a goal to eat only one cooked meal a day or to eat only one or two cooked items and the rest raw - but many of us (note I said "us" which means me too!) simply are not disciplined enough to do that without it causing us to (as I mentioned above) begin to justify other things in addition to those "allowed items" as well as send us into a downward spiral of wanting more and more cooked food. So for someone like ME, I cannot do cooked food in small quanitities but if YOU can, then transition the way that is best for you.

It also depends on your goal...if your goal is to be 100% raw or simply to add more raw foods into your current diet.

[razza]

Everyone is different. If you have some major emotional eating issues or if eating ANY amount of cooked food will cause you to:

1. Make justifications to eat OTHER cooked foods in greater quantities
2. Go into a downward spiral of eating more and more cooked foods
3. Keep the cravings alive



It also depends on your goal...if your goal is to be 100% raw or simply to add more raw foods into your current diet.


Thanks a BUNCH! that DOES sound like me!

[darkchild]

I had to go 100% from the start. Give me options and I will cave every time. I told myself I could eat whatever I wanted as long as it was raw, and it has worked better than anything else I have ever tried. After saying that, I must add that each of us must make our own choices and do what works for us. This worked for me! :)

Dawn

[Morn]

I tried to go as close to 100% right off the get go. I made some mistakes here and there not realizing certain things weren't raw. But from where I was it felt like 100%. I don't think I will ever obtain 100% raw status but that is ok with me. I think going cold turkey is the best way to go cause it forces you to learn/about and live this lifestyle.

[Rawkinlocs]

I tried to go as close to 100% right off the get go. I made some mistakes here and there not realizing certain things weren't raw. But from where I was it felt like 100%. I don't think I will ever obtain 100% raw status but that is ok with me. I think going cold turkey is the best way to go cause it forces you to learn/about and live this lifestyle.

I think Morn makes a good point - I don't even use percentages to define my dietary practices because as she pointed out, there ARE some ingredients/items that I may include in my raw diet (nama shoyu, less-than-truly-raw cashews, etc.) but I STILL consider myself raw even with those items here and there in a recipe. I think the TRULY-truest of true 100% raw fooders are the ones who eat ONLY fresh fruits and veggies...but that's just my opinion! Will I personally ever get to that point? Maybe...as time goes on, but right now I'm comfy doing the best of MY ability and incorporating a few of the "questionable" items! ;)

[DavidZaneMason]

My suggestion is to start at a very slow pace. If you find that easy - you can always increase it. If you fail at 100%, you'll feel bad - and that's a rather heavy detox load to dump on a body in a very short time. Just my opinion.

-David Z. Mason

[RawVegan4Health]

I started at 70% and then found myself going higher raw naturally. After being 100% raw for about 3 weeks I found out that eating a cooked meal brought on some tremendously strong cravings for more cooked food. So for me I started slow, easing into it, but after going 100% it now has to be all or nothing it seems.