mattm
06-22-2007, 10:46 AM
Hi guys, again some words of mine I feel very important for those starting out and crucial in suceeding with raw. I originally posted about this topic in Seren's "Should I fast" thread where I've been helping her out with her progress on raw which is fabulous, very inspiring and, for those who haven't, worth a read through. I thought it important however to give it its own thread for all your guys comments and views. What I want to talk about, as the thread suggests, is the fact that overcoming our SAD cravings, addictions is as much about our lifestyle as about the food we eat. When you start removing something from your diet or just generally lifestyle whether it be pasta, the occasional chocolate, smoking, alcohol or whatever...things you 'loved', that are very addictive...if you don't find something to replace it, to fill the gap left by that craving, it will remain niggling away at you. Now, when it comes to 'filling in this gap' it doesn't neccessarily have to be with food, it can also be through other lifestyle changes. For instance, a lot of people overindulge in junk, choose to abuse their bodies because of boredom, depression, stress which are all sypmtoms of NOT JUST INCOMPLETE NUTRITION BUT GENERALLY INCOMPLETE LIFESTYLES. I remember when I started giving up the cooked food all that time ago, I found myself thinking about it all the time, what I was missing out on etc...so how did I overcome that...I filled my life to excess with other things...I socialised more, talked to my friends, went for long bike rides, ran, took walks in the countryside, indulged myself in my hobbies. All of these activities helped tremendously at replacing the voids left by that junk food that I realised was often being used as AN INSTANT FIX to boredom, stress etc. I came to realise that was also the source of the junk lifestyle's power over me...THEY WERE JUST QUICK FIXES FOR MUCH MORE WIDER AND DEEPER ISSUES...any benefit I felt from them was as short lived as it took for me to eat that bago of sweets(!) and this is why I (and I think many) crave them because we then look for ANOTHER QUICK FIX and so on ad infintium. When I sat down, saw the problems in my life (the things about my lifestyle I used these quick fixes for) and started to treat the problems directly through lifestyle changes, things that were LONG TERM FIXES becuase they addressed and eliminated the root causes, my cravings for the junk dimminshed dramatically (and that's a total understatement!!). So as you can see eating these SAD foods, leading a SAD lifestyle is complex, and as I always say UNIQUE FOR EACH PERSON. People, for themselves , have to ask...why am I wanting to eat that food?...what am I trying to achieve through eating that food?...becuase, in answering those questions, they will then be in a much more powerful position to overcome their addictions, their cravings. As they say "know your enemy" becuase in understanding its nature, tackling it...and I can tell you this from peronal experience...is a hell of a lot easier.
Hope these words are of help to everybody and I wish all of you the very best of luck with your progress....as ever please comment and write if you have any questions.
Matthew
Matthew
Hope these words are of help to everybody and I wish all of you the very best of luck with your progress....as ever please comment and write if you have any questions.
Matthew
Matthew