Need some encouragement from "experts"...

[wtng4amiracle]

I am hoping some of you that have gone through the beginning stages can help me. I started with the whole raw food lifestyle on June 7. For several years, I have eaten very healthy...but was not a vegetarian. So, changing to raw (even 85%) has been difficult. I have cut out mostly all dairy, meat, etc., but I am still REALLY struggling. I will make it through almost the entire day, and then just binge at night. None of my family is raw, so it is SO HARD making dinner for them, etc., and then watching as my DH eats his ice cream. Before trying to go raw, I would have a sensible breakfast, salad for lunch, and sensible dinner. For instance, I tried to go 100% again today, and failed...again. I had the following:

Just fruit for breakfast
Snack is dried fruit/Raw bar
Big salad for lunch
Snack of fruit/dried fruit
Salad for dinner
THEN: raspberries and pineapple juice---OK, so far...
a small bowl of ice cream and 3 pretzels :(
a piece of cinnamon bread and a few goldfish :mad:


I would love to go 100%, but keep failing. Any suggestions???? I am a Type A personality, and do not like to fail at anything.....:D I just can't seem to do this!!! HELP!:eek:

Thank you in advance for all your help!

[shine72]

Cherie -

One of the things that really helped me at the beginning, when the rest of my family was eating SAD still - I made my oldest son my taste tester for EVERYTHING! That way we still all new it would be good, but I wasn't the one having to make sure of it!;)

I also made sure I ate before I fed them. Even if I wasn't all the way hungry yet. That way, I would be sure to be full, and not be tempted by any of my old favorites.

Also, I made sure I had a LOT of my food ready to go. I have a big sweet tooth, and am a CHOCO-holic, so I made everything I could find that contained raw chocolate or something sweet. That I think was the best move I ever made. I was feeling like a queen and a "bad girl" all at the same time while doing the best things I possibly could for my body. It was nice to feel like I was doing the best for my body while at the same time enjoying yummy treats all the time.

HTH!

[beppa66]

I think adding some nuts and avacado earlier in the day would keep you satisfied. And I agree, making a tasty sweet for later at night would be a good idea. I found a good carrot cake recipe at freshtopia.net, my dh and I LOVED it! PS. you can do it.

[amyambro1]

A lot of it has to do with the commitment. You have to decide whether or not you are going to do it, then don't back down. Sounds like something in your mind is saying it's ok to eat cooked, therefore you do. Discipline yourself, tell yourself it's not allowed anymore.

[StarFire]

sweetie - gotta treat yourself to goodies too! ;)

lets see...

coconut oil fudge (my new favorite ~ and all SAD eaters swear it's cooked - HA!)

RAW ICE CREAM: frozen coconut milk, frozen banana, 1 tsp vanilla, 5 frozen strawberries about 1 tsp of agave - in the food processor - wa'laa - delicious ice cream RAW!! good for you and better than any dairy ice cream - i SWEAR! (plus there are a bunch of other ice cream recipes floating around on RFT!!)

Alissa's fudge balls a must - just to keep them in the fridge to pop in your mouth when ever you want to!! (jes cuz you can --- looove it! :D )

any phyo's donut holes... a truly amazing treat that tastes JUST like a donut hole.. only its raw and healthy and delicious! You can find that recipe here on RFT also by doing a search (see the banana up above?)

Alissa's blueberry cheesecake.... OMG GOOOOOD!!!

Cheesy Cashews... like chees puffs but it's cashews! Snowdrop put those on her blog - but I forgot how to make them - I tried they turned out okay - but the nutritional yeast wouldn't stick to the cashews! If you go to her blog and ask her I'm sure she will repost it!

the list is endless!! treat yourself to some yummies too!!!

You'll do fine!! and before yu know it -- your family will be lookin at what you're eating and saying... hey -- I wanna try that? what is that!!! ;) :D

[wtng4amiracle]

Shine72-

Are there any really good "chocolate" recipes you could recommend?

[Revvell]

You might wish to listen to RawkinRadio.com, show #1. It's very informative especially for someone such as yourself. After that, listen to #2.. and so on and so on. Lots of questions answered there for ya.

Revvell

[snowdrop]

i think it was tigger made the cheezepuffs from cashews
i remember her talking about them on our first (and only so far) pamper me wednesday nite..
;)

[Blossom]

I make my cooked husband a raw dessert every evening(he loves them) that way we never have any cooked sweet food in the house, if it is not there you can't eat it.

[Rubyred]

Have you tried Green Smoothies? The good thing about them they help control cravings - or at least they do for me. Also, I find if I eat too much sugar (yeah, the fruit will break down into sugar) early in the day, and not balance it out with greens my blood sugar levels go up and I have more cravings.

I could only handle a small amount of fruit in my smoothies when I first started, or it would affect my blood sugar levels, but now I can throw more fruit in there and it doesn't have the impact it used to.

Also, if you're craving salty things later in the day the green smoothies help with that. Or another thing that worked for me was drinking carrot/celery/apple juice. There must be something in the celery. Maybe minerals or salts that help with cravings.

[styersky]

I am new, just started yesterday 100%. Saturday I thought I would go part way and had a lot of fruit for breakfast. I blew up like a baloon, remained starving hungry all day and overate terribly. Monday I had done my shopping the day before and was ready for smoothies. Monday and today for breakfast I had green smoothie made from oranges, strawberries, celery and spinach, and almonds. I have no cravings, no gas and no hunger. For lunch today I had the remainder of the smoothie which I made for breakfast. Still not hungry. I thoroughly recommend green smoothies . . . something miraculous from the "green" mixed with the fruit and nuts.