I just took 20 steps backwards--

[meancat]

After being raw (90%) for almost 4 weeks--couple slip ups here and there--nothing too major-now I had a major one.

I have ate totally sad for a week and a half, and man I honestly can't believe how bad I feel. Everyday that I eat sad I feel more tired and lethargic. Can't keep a thought in my head and am having trouble coping with some issues that have cropped up in the last week. I'm so mad at myself!!!!

I was feeling so good! I had so much energy and a much better outlook on everything! How could I just stop completely??!! I think it started when I ran out of fruit for my GS. And lately the grocery bill has been an issue. I have a sad household to feed along with my raw diet. Plus, I have so much trouble with sad cravings when I cook. Along with eating out issues.

I haven't been on the website for that entire time eating sad and I know that it made it easier for me to falter. I need this encouragement. I feel like an alcoholic that hasn't been to their AA meeting and has fallen of the wagon because of it!!

I'm going to the store tomorrow and restocking my fruits, veggies and nuts. I have to start all over but that's Ok. I'm realizing just how crappy I've felt forever and how crappy I'm gonna feel if I continue to put junk in my body. I'm still going to have problems with my food cravings, but maybe it will be easier now because I know how the sad crash is going to feel. Didn't feel this bad on my worst detox day.

I honestly thought I was enjoying my cooked meals but I have been nothing but stuffed, bloated, foggy headed, constipated and cranky. I've also had a headache for two days. I'm definately not enjoying this.

One of my trouble spots has been not knowing how to just create dishes from my raw foods. I know it's a learning thing but when you've been concidered a great cook forever its hard to not to just know how to prepare all the raw food dishes. If I know how to make a great cooked meal out of anything in my freezer and pantry, I should know how to mix the flavors of raw foods to create an awsome meal!! But I don't!! Yes, yes, its all about ego and not being good in my kitchen anymore! :( Oh Boo Hoo huh?

I EVEN ATE HALLOWEEN CANDY!! I never ate candy when I was eating sad!! Can you belive that? AAARRGGG!!

It's amazing though, I have only gained a couple pounds back on my sad eating binge. I have also not gone back to drinking coffee and trust me, eating this way all week I know why I drank doffee for years (it was my only energy source). And I have not drank any beer. Have had wine (not all organic but at least its not brewed) and I'm having a glass now while I'm complaining to you all about my laspe in self control.

Well, its back to taking my 20 steps forward again. I'm hoping these 20 steps will be even easier than the last because I truely know this is not just fad diet, but a genuinely healthy way of living. (yep-have had the "fad diet" arguements with people, along with the "don't get too weird on us" advice)
uugh--people!!

Anyway--sorry for ranting--but thanks for listening. :o

[Aleesha Sattva]

ya but don't you see the great part of this? you got to see what it would be like if you weren't eating RAW. you were able to see, feel, experience the SAD diet from a totally new perspective!

i'm so proud of you. what a great experience you've had.

hip hip hoooooray!!!

[Mialsse]

Don't be too hard on yourself. Just pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and continue on your journey. Mistakes/Slipups are great opportunities to learn from. You now know, without doubt, how GREAT you feel on raw, and how crappy you feel on SAD. Let that newly found knowledge speak for itself, and continue moving forward. :D

GREAT job not returning to the coffee. I haven't had the addiction, but I hear it can be a killer to break. Good for you! That's one less thing you have standing in your way!

[crystalmoon]

Hi Meancat...Ive done a week or two of SAD afer 2 weeks raw a few times now & am always amazed at how crappy I feel & how quickly it happens. My whole outlook on life changes, I get very down & grumpy:(
Maybe you are feeling low due to the SAD foods...please dont be hard on yourself this is just part of the learning curve/journey. I have found it helful to have lapses cos the SAD foods I have been craving actually dont taste as good as my craving mind thinks they will. Now when I walk round a supermarket alot of my 'so called favorites' just disgust me when I look at them;) So all in all it is a useful process for me & I hope it will be for you too.

I also cook for my SAD family & find the smells sart me craving what they are eating. What I do now is eat my meal first so i am full up while cooking then when they eat theirs I have my yummy raw dessert & that way i dont feel deprived in anyway:)

actually last night I made them food I used to really enjoy & the smell was making me feel really ill & I couldnt seem to rid the house of it so slowly but surely things are changing inside of me...and you

[crystalmoon]

LOL just noticed my freudian slip....helful instead of helpful...well yes eating SAD is a living hell but it is a useful reminder of why we are RAW ;)

[lore-ah]

I've been having some challenges, too. I'm taking it one day at a time. So happy we have this site. I always have somewhere to come back to when I feel I'm losing my way

[Mona]

I´ve been there too, I know how frustrating it is to say every day to yourself that "Now I´m going back to raw" and then not make it through lunchtime even. But you can and you will come back, you can do it! Just make it through the first two days, then it is much easier. And remember that every time you return to the raw lifestyle you have learned something new that will be usefull. Welcome back!

[Yeshia]

You are sp lucky!!

One LICK of sad and I had an allergic reaction from hell!:D

I would be scared now to eat a whole meal

Seriously I feel for you and I know you can do it.

Buy Allissa's book if you can afford it and you will be an excellent raw cook in no time , and making your own creations too.:D

[solongng00dnite]

Do not worry. Being a flip flopper between raw and SAD, I can tell you that as long as you stop and realize the situation and correct it, that's the biggest accomplishment. It is tough to switch completely but being able to have that little light go on in your head telling you something has gotta change, is a great thing to over come. Keep your head up, try again. Practice makes perfect;)

[EZ rider]

I honestly thought I was enjoying my cooked meals but I have been nothing but stuffed, bloated, foggy headed, constipated and cranky. I've also had a headache for two days. I'm definately not enjoying this.Sounds like your body has definitely been sending you some signals lately. Its good that you are listening.

[GlimR]

Life really is a progression and there is no pass or fail it's just learning as you go along toward whatever end you envision for yourself. Some people dive into raw and never look back but most try and try and try again, learning as they go what works or what does not for themselves.

Your week of eating sad foods was a choice you made but it doesn't negate what you learned during the previous 4 weeks you were high raw. You learned a lot during that time that you didn't know before and you learned this past sad week that raw makes you feel better.....there is no need to start over...you are already on the raw path..slips, falling back temporarily into sad eating doesn't cancel out the good you've already done for yourself.

You just need to keep moving, keep trying...take the lessons you learn and hold them close, think about them and advance the wonderful things you are working toward. Don't focus on the negative because what you focus on grows in strength...instead focus on how good raw made you feel and try to figure out how to make it work for you...then that will flourish.

Wishing you all you need on your journey~

[EZ rider]

I also cook for my SAD family & find the smells start me craving what they are eating. What I do now is eat my meal first so i am full up while cooking then when they eat theirs I have my yummy raw dessert & that way i dont feel deprived in anyway:)Thats a really good idea !

EDIT -- I was just thinking another possible approach would be to eat some of your healthy food before cooking the SAD food and then have some more healthy food while they are eating theirs and finish with a healthy food desert.

[thenamesben]

Same thing has just happened to me. I boasted a couple of days ago on here how I have been mostly raw for the last 4 weeks and how great I was feeling.
I felt so good and comfortable I ate sad that night, was out of my fruit and veggies and ate sad the next day, and ate candy halloween night. So, yesterday comes and I felt like crap, grumpy and tired..
I am back on the good food today and slowly coming out of the funk..
This is one of those cases where what doesnt kill you makes you stronger deffinately applies.
This little down fall has really helped me realize how sad SAD food is..

[Raw Joy]

I just went through the same thing, except it was like two months. I was probably about 90% raw most of the summer, with a three-week period of 100%. Went on vacation and, with good planning, still stayed about 90%.

However, when I came back, I hadn't planned. No food in the house. Tired. Swamped and backlogged at work. So it was whatever was easiest and fastest. Pretty soon, I'd fallen back into all of the old habits.

I wasn't completely sad. I'd have a few days raw, a few sad, one day raw until supper, one day eating nothing but junk.

Finally got back on track this week. Already my energy's up and I've lost some weight in my face.

Ahh, the journey of life.

[trinity082482]

Get that crumpet out of your mouth and carry on raw...pretend it didn't happen.. :D

[Aleesha Sattva]

LOL trinity! hahahahaha

[lulushka8]

hahaha

...um, i've been strictly 100% raw for about 6 months (not even dried herbs/tamari/nori...), BUT, i also fell off the raw wagon and 2 days ago ate nothing but my old favourite breads and crisps! i felt terrible and i'm still bloated + constipated because of it! the food definately did NOT taste as good as my craving mind imagined it tasted and really messed me up!

i only did it impulsively on a whim as one of my teeth was feeling sensitive that day and i felt depressed, not really wanting to eat nuts/veggies. i regret it big time, and the nezt day i just thought right, i can let the discomfort and guilt eat me up and make me feel even worse for longer, or i can just forget all about it and continue raw as if nothing had happened.

also, i find preparation is the key! - i had coincidently run out of my favourite flax bread and was too lazy to prepare anything that day! xx

[lulushka8]

my dehydrator's currently full of yummy raw creations! mmmm...onion bread.. :)

[sfdreams]

...

also, i find preparation is the key! - i had coincidently run out of my favourite flax bread and was too lazy to prepare anything that day! xx

Yep, you just hit the nail on the head, Lulushka! Being prepared is the most important, and the hardest thing about this lifestyle. I never was a very organized, prepared person--more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants kinda gal.

So, I have gotten caught without supplies. I haven't yet gone totally off diet (the most I've done is tiny bits of non-raw salad dressings, a tiny bite here and there of SAD food) but that's mostly due to my taste changing BIG-TIME within a couple of days of going raw. SAD food just doesn't taste that good to me anymore. (Yay...lucky me!!:D )

I still am struggling with how to coordinate sprouting and dehydrating with my life. (not necessarily at the same time!;) ) Any words of wisdom from the long-timers would be welcomed. I am currently making my first batch of onion bread--can't wait till it's done!

[lore-ah]

Nothing I do makes that onion bread taste good to me and I love onions. I'm so bummed, everyone loves that but me :mad:

[lulushka8]

lore-ah: try making the onion bread recipe your own by making varieties with varying amounts of diff herbs + veggies. i've made delicious breads with less onion, more fresh herbs, tomatoes... i've done one italian style but ith sweet potatoes (+ flax), another favourite is corn and flax flavoured with onion, toms, red-pepper and basil. also have you tried the bread of alissa's calzone recipe?? that's amazing!

sfdreams: good for you for not caving! i envy your determination even at desperate times! :) as for finding the time for sprouting/dehydrating... i understand completely! i found that i coped well by making food in large batches during the weekend, and also soaking and then dehydrating my nuts in big batches so i have pre-soaked nuts ready in the fridge to use in recipes. i do the same with buckwheat sprouts so i have an instant muesli sub that i can eat with my sprouted seeds and dried fruit. -for instant milk i just water down some nut butter. i also make cookies and store them in tins...etc

variety as well as preparation is important in not getting bored. although apart from the raw breads, i mainly eat foods in their natural state as they are, it's just how i've evolved being raw. that's why variety as well as prep is so important to me as i still sometimes get bored from having the same fruits all week. xx

[lori ann]

I understand your frustrations. I am sure you will get on track in no time. I fall, dust myself off and get back on. It drives me crazy that I can not stay on. I always am thankful that we have this board for support and at least we know the benefits of raw and why we should do it, vs most of the world eating sad and not having a clue. So go buy all your fruits, veggies and nuts and get back on the wonderful raw diet :)

[Elle_Murphy]

Take 20 steps FORWARDS...and eat an apple.

[meancat]

Thanks so much for all the words of encouragement!! I should not have stopped coming to this site the last week and maybe it wouldn't have been so bad.

I totally agree with being prepared. I think that's what led to the first slip and that just snowballed. also I'm gonna try Crystal's advice and eat before I cook sad meals. That's alot of the problem, I'm hungry when I am cooking.

Again, thank you for helping me pick myself up by my bootstraps and move forward. It's hard to get out of that funk by yourself.


Okay, I'm taking the crumpet out of my mouth and I'm gonna eat an apple!

:D