I have fallen

[kimbi]

I was doing so well. I fell and now I feel awful. Tired all the time. Headaches. It was amazing how my hair and nails were growing and how energized I was every morning. The scale says I have only gained back 4 of the 9 lbs lost but that is a lot. I was so ashamed to come and post. But sitting here, I remembered all the post I was reading from people like me. I am going raw again 9-19-07. I now know what to expect. Its funny, things don't even taste the same anymore. I look forward to the large salads. I just have added pastas & enchiladas, tacos to the mix. All vegetarian but not raw. Thats how I justified it. :o

[Green Life]

Well......

Seven swats with a zuchinni noodle, you bad girl!!:p :D

Hey, we've all fallen.

Why not just start NOW and not wait another minute.

[kimbi]

I thought about that. What can I do to pick me up? A green smoothie?

[Eva]

Green smoothie is a great idea...

Next up: Go to the grocery store ASAP. Buy really, really tasty stuff, a nice mix of food to make anything you may desire that is raw. :)

[Eva]

And don't kick yourself when you're down too! Just get back up and move on without all of the pooh-poohing yourself that comes so naturally with mistakes. It's totally unnecessary!

[GlimR]

It's all a progression, even if we take three steps forward and one back we are still closer than we were before and eventually you learn enough about yourself and how you work and what works for you to make the changes that
matter most to your health and happiness. Glad you posted~

[TheAvocadess]

And dust yourself off and hop back on the wagon is all!

Glad you came back to post! No one is perfect for sure and the important thing is you're back! :D

Glad you're here!

Love,
The Avocadess

[kimbi]

from my heart...thanks....:)

[justinesmith]

Seriously. You are still doing better than most people out there. Do NOT beat yourself up over this. We're here for ya..... take care :D

[TheAvocadess]

You haven't fallen, but just tripped! It happens! Just get right back to raw, and do your best. Oh, and never look back!

Love,
The Avocadess

[lukster9]

Kimbi,

Oh I so here you:o I myself am currently being pulled under the wagon! I did really well and then I crashed and burned! I tried to start again on Monday and had a migraine by noon so of course again off the wagon.:(

I'm frustrated with myself, but I realize that this is a marathon not a sprint. Don't beat yourself up. Be happy that you made good choices (I am taking the 5th on telling ya'll what I've been eating). If you eat SAD food vegan is a great choice;) tomorrow is another day!

xoxo

[Nurse in the Raw]

Relax.....you didn't eat a big mac, so not much harm has been done. You are on a learning curve and you need to know what your triggers are so you can stay away from them. Now you know how bad you can actually feel, so go drink some green smoothies to flush it out of your system and get back on track. Simple as that!

Everyone boo boos from time to time and we forgive ourselves and move on. Don't be ashamed to confess. It's all a part of being accountable to one another so be of good cheer.

[StarFire]

Rawk on kimbi!! and so the journey continues ;) ... it's so great how we just keep on learning~growing~learning... :D and growing some more!!! http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/cheer1.gif ... you CAN do this!

[Stina]

Kimbi- I'm healing from compulsive overeating and swinging from binging on junk to peaceful days on raw.

Things that definitely helped me:


- flooding my body with green lemonade and green smoothies

- always trying new raw recipes

- allowing myself to eat raw deserts

- meditation and prayer

- hanging around this forum


Most importantly:



Don't give up!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[lukster9]

Stina,
can you please post the recipe for the green lemonade smoothie, it sounds taste:D

[dalimeindacoconut]

It's a good thing you were not around me when I had a three day slip. Let's see it started with spare ribs, sweet potato fries, pizza, Ben & Jerry's with hot fudge and for some unforsaken reason: gooey marshmellow crap that I have never purchased in my life, but here is what happened during my hellfire food tornado..I missed my avocados, I really wanted to try my frozen banana dish (of course I stuck the banana in the fridge with the skin, but trust me I was on a mission and that banana was peeled) I was also soaking seeds and things, tried making a tahini that was horrible, and checked out the website while I was going through this. Jumped right back on when I got home. The interesting thing is that it really did not taste that good. I gained back any weight I had lost. I paid for it, but I also realized this is a change I am making permanently and I am just going to have to learn how to take care of myself when I am not at home. Sometimes that is as graceful as it gets.

[puzit19]

It's all a progression, even if we take three steps forward and one back we are still closer than we were before


LoL I totally adore this way of showing it :)

It's ok:D We learn for all our life.. and food doesn't have to be the worse lessons of it... don't feel sorry for that... just be happy that you now know what is better for you and that you are finding that out and learning !

Good luck on your way :)
I actually just posted on my blog about this... so you can check it out...

Lots of love,
Mary

[Lilly the Naiad]

Most people have to do it. I was on a no sugar diet for over a month, I lived on stevia, I ate brown rice with lentils,I was doing it for my body and then all I could think of was CAKE because everywhere i looked, everything I heard had the word on it. So I had my cake, in fact I had a whole half cake, the next day I had pizza and chips, I went all the way, then BOOM.

I couldn't get a bowel movement in a week, I had a constant headache, my stomach was burning, my guts were in horrible pain. I took laxatives as a last resort but even that didn't stop me from feeling poisoned.

I hit the bottom and I couldn't even think of food for days. The sheer thought of it made me sick. So I went on fast for about 3 days. I couldn't fast thoroughly because of hypoglycemia.

And before I knew it I was eating raw.

Here I am, much wiser and feeling great. It sure makes you think twice about falling for the junk food after experiencing something like that!

Take it as a lesson, something that makes you stronger, it does.

Now be healthy, do it for yourself, your body and life!

[walnutty]

I was doing so well. I fell and now I feel awful. I was so ashamed to come and post. :o

I will tell you what I tell myself when I make one disaster after another in my dehydrator and despair that I will NEVER have anything to eat but salads...."Trial and Success!!!"....which comes directly from the mouth of David Wolfe (I watched him on youtube last night...:p ). I love this quote! Instead of thinking failure when we try hard and then get off course...just think about it as a part of our journey towards success.

[freebird]

Congrats on making the steps toward eating well for yourself again! You can do it. It actually gets easier once you've experienced and realized the choices you made lead you to make better ones and you'll feel better! Don't beat yourself up about it. You're learning. Here's to a wonderful day for you, it's my 2 week 100% raw anniversary, and I will celebrate for you too.

Peace, Love and Light
xxx

[TheAvocadess]

How to Stay Raw
by Alissa Cohen

The last 4 people i did a consult with had the same questions about
staying raw so i thought id mention it here.
There 's so much information out there now about going raw and staying
raw. So many different ways to do this diet, natural hygiene, mono
eating, 80-10-10, no nuts just fruits and vegetables, fasting, juicing,
no fruit….

If you are new to raw there is no way you are going to be able to go on a
strict mono diet (eating only one food at a time until your full) and be
able to stay on it.. Ok, some of you may be able to, for a while. But
this is the reason I see so many people fail on this diet.

For years I have worked with people who have spent time at some of the
top healing centers, worked with the raw ‘gurus' and finally come to me
and tell me they are sick of just eating salads, being so rigid or not
feeling like they are having any fun with this.

If you have to 'white knuckle’ this the whole time your doing it, its not
going to work.Yes, you may be able to do it for a while but eventually it
will just be a matter of will power and that never works. You need to
make this fun and easy and joyous! Otherwise why do it?! For health?
Forget that. If that’s the only reason it wont work. You wont BE healthy
because you’ll be so stressed and uptight and stress and anxiety produce
acid in the body which is why you’re eating raw in the first place, to
create an alkaline state not acid!

So, you need to make this fun, you need to make this something you can
live with, something that resonates with you, something you enjoy and
look forward to and not something you dread. So what do you do? Your not
having fun, your getting bored, or you want to do it but the smell and
look of other peoples food around you looks appealing and you find
yourself wavering…
Well, if your dreading this way of eating, not having fun and not
thoroughly enjoying yourself, you need to change what your doing, now!

Being new to raw foods, you cannot expect to go from a cooked food diet
to a strict one of minimal amounts of food, this does not make sense!
Think about this, please! So many times I go to peoples homes after they
go raw and they have a small bowl of fruit on the counter. I ask,
“where's your food” and they tell me, right there in that bowl. HA!
Forget it! When you eat a cooked food diet, even when your are on a diet,
there is plenty of food in the house to eat, in the fridge, in the
cabinets, on the counters, etc… but for some reason when people switch to
raw food they start eating minimally, they hardly have any food in the
house or they go shopping and get just enough for what they need for a
few days… stock up people! It is only logical that if you get hungry, run
out of food and are new to raw food eating you’ll be headed to the
nearest fast food place within days! Don’t be so hard on yourself and
expect yourself to suffer through this diet with minimal food available.

Now, if your not one to prepare a lot of gourmet meals that’s fine. Many
of my recipes only take minutes to prepare, but you have to have
something in your house to eat. Stock up on nuts so you whip up a torte
within minutes, buy a red pepper, scallion and walnuts to make the mock
salmon, have some nori available to roll the mock salmon up with some
avocado, so many easy things you can make. But you have to plan and think
this out a bit. Its not hard, you would need to do this with any new plan
or diet…. Teach yourself how to make a few things, buy the spices,
ingredients, etc… and get used to preparing it. It’s so easy with raw
food but there is a learning curve just like anything else. Take a couple
of weeks to make all these mouthwatering goodies, get your body adjusted
to the lighter feeling of raw foods, allow your taste buds to appreciate
the pure flavor of fresh natural foods instead of processed cooked foods.

You should not feel deprived or cheated or hungry on this diet, if you
are then your not doing this right. What is the ‘right ‘diet for everyone
on raw? There is no right one, you need to figure that out for yourself.
Ill write more about that in another post. But the only way to find
what’s right is to allow your body to adapt and cleanse and shift while
eating raw foods. Eventually you will begin to eat lighter and ‘feel’
what your body needs. Eventually after you have been eating delicious raw
foods and having fun with it and making this a joyous adventure you will
begin to feel better and heal and realize how this diet can be the most
wondrous gift you will ever give yourself.

Once you have been raw for a while you know when to eat less nuts, when
to eat more greens, when to cut out certain things, add certain things or
change your diet and it won’t be big deal. It wont be painful and you
will be able to do that with ease, but please don’t expect yourself to do
that within the first month or two of changing your whole way of eating
which you have known your whole life.

Its amazing to me that after 40 years of eating pizza and chips and
cookies and candy, people go raw and after three days are worried they
will be deficient in protein or certain vitamins! Come on, think about
this, silly isn’t it? First of all you will be eating healthier then ever
before, you probably have never eaten as much fruit and veggies before
right? And it takes years to become deficient in most things…. After a
couple of days of not rotating your food choices or having a green drink
you’ll be fine really, trust me on this one. Most people have never had a
green drink in their life!
So, closing thoughts – JUST DO IT! Stop talking about it, stop worrying
about it, stop obsessing over it. Stop thinking you need to make this
even more rigid (mono, natural hygiene, no fruit, no nuts, raw food is
strict enough) Do it for a month and see how you feel, make the
commitment and you’ll be floored!
Have fun, stock up on tons of food, make fun things to eat, talk to
people about what your doing, stay connected (very important!) and
discover your true self!

Best wishes on your journey to a new life!
Xo Alissa

[JulesRules]

Well,

My karma led me to give up meat overnight. It was harder to give up sashimi which I love and crave sometimes, but, in my heart I wanted to do that too. Having always eaten SAD, but a careful relatively healthy cooked diet, I didnt know how to go veggie...So I went online to learn more.

I decided to go raw immediately...for me it seemed simpler, healthier and I liked the logic of live foods.

So, I have been doing this for over 2 months. I thought I could go right into it and I looked forward to the weight loss that others were enjoying.

For the most part I give myself credit for doing pretty well. I have eaten 100 raw for at least 40 days (the longest stretch was 15 days) of the 60 and on the other 20, I have had one cheat/treat, but not a huge one. I always stayed aware of my effort, acknowledged that eating something cooked or drinking a cup of coffee, was not what I ultimately wanted to do long term, but giving myself credit for what I was doing and giving myself permission before I indulged.

That is until the last two days...I participated in an intervention for a dear friend of mine. OMG...emotional eating invaded. On the day we prepared, I ate ff bean burrito's. Yesterday, the day of the intervention, I ate a chicken sandwich with fries and drank a soda...

OMG...I really paid for it last night....serious GI pain, distress and then many trips to the smallest room in my house during the night...I think it is amazing that my body reacted so quickly and adversely to cooked meat and soda...after only 2 months or eating mostly raw. I learned my lesson.
I think for me, I might not have regressed on the intervention dates if I had lots of luscious raw food with me, but my mind was somewhere else. Also, thinking about the intervention, brought up a lot of old pain for me. Today, I feel better and have great plans to get back on track...slowly...to give my system a break.

Thanks for sharing your struggle...I expect to have some more...but when I think of the great progress...I am happy and look orward to 100% perfection some day. Don't know how long it will take, but it doesn't matter because progress feels so good right now. I haven't lost the weight I would have liked, but I feel so much better, that I just attribute it to my cheats. Also my body is changing regardless of what the scale says.

Jules