Aaaah! Help!

[zig_zag]

So all was going well these past couple of days 98% raw (still drinking green tea with soymilk). I've had a BIT more energy, for the most part, skin has been soft and glowing, have lost quite a bit of weight and didn't feel starving. Then, I wake up today, and.... Everything goes down hill:/ I wake up early, naturally, but am extremely tired. Skin is dry again, dark circles puffed out. And... I'm so hungry. I eat an apple and then a pear, which can usually hold me over a bit in the morning, but not today. So I make a small raw wrap. A little later I'm extremely hungry, and still tired... so I eat again. Then I got to yoga, and I'm amazed at how difficult it is for me to do... and I get so hungry again, so I eat MORE after yoga... shortly after I'm hungry again... eat dinner..... THAN I PIG OUT ON SOOO many nuts, fruits, seeds, lara bars... I feel SO disgusting. The whole day my blood sugar was SO out of wack, I can't even explain how I felt... I just never felt satiated, and my body just wouldn't let me off the frickin hook; all I could think about was how I felt, and how unsatiated I felt. I may not have pigged out on full on cooked food, but honestly I'd rather have just eaten a bowl of soup... That would have been WAY better than this crazy binge I've been on all day. I'm pretty sure I'll have another one of these days in a couple of days once my body recovers from this episode and I wake up on a completely empty stomach again- WHAT SHOULD I DO?!??! HAS ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCED THIS???? I'm sure some of you can imagine how let down I feel right now:/

[Conscious Midwife]

{{{AVOCADOS}}}

[zig_zag]

Yeah... there was an avacado in my dinner. Goody. I'm scared to think of all the fats I've combined today...:(

[zig_zag]

Also... I'm wondering, how I should go about 'starting over' tomorrow? Should I just stick to green juices in the beginning of the day for detoxification... Should I take it easy on the digestive system... Or should I eat regularly so as not to send my blood sugar out of wack again? Has anyone ever experienced such out of balance days as this when first going raw? Did the insatiable hunger, crazy insulin levels, dizziness etc. subside? If so, was it something you changed in your diet, or was it just time? I hear people talking about how the longer they are raw, the more easily satiated/full they feel, but it seems that the more 'pure'/emptied out/thin/clean/raw I get... The more hungry I get.
I don't want to be resistant to raw, coming up with all sorts of excuses as to why it isn't working for me. I really want to prevail as a raw vegan, and I'm feeling like crap rightnow... Please, suggestions:(

[gingincal]

Zig, my recommendation: take it easy on yourself. Get some quality rest and start fresh tomorrow.

[rawfoodmommy#1]

Get some sleep and take it one step at a time

[Radiantly Raw]

Zig, my recommendation: take it easy on yourself. Get some quality rest and start fresh tomorrow.

I agree. Sorry you feel bad now, I hope tomorrow will be better.:)

[Bodhi]

I'm getting hit with seasonal allergies right now. Allergies will cause your histamine levels to go haywire and then a cascade of things in your system will be messed up. That might be part of the problem, but I don't have a cure for you, sorry.:(

[zig_zag]

And what, for you, is "taking it easy"?

[shashibala]

I would suggest that the day after "one of those days" you don't deprive yourself. Just eat normally. This is just what works for me. If i feel at all deprived or punished I go into diet mode and am tempted to overeat again. I can do a juice day or a very light food day, but not right after I ate too much.
That's just me! I'm a recovering lifelong diet-holic. Sometimes it's a matter of planning for me. If I know I have something yummy planned, I can wait to eat.
You will find your own way! Best wishes!:)

[zig_zag]

WELL, it is the morning after, and I'm definately paying for yesterday. I'm so tired, sore, and headachey. I also woke up at 9, as opposed to my usual 6 am! Luckily it's Sunday, so I can relax and take it easy.
I definately think that if I'd just had a large salad w/ avocado during lunch time, as opposed to so many fruits throughout the day, I probably could have stabled things out, but I didn't have access to those things... I was out and about....
Shashibala, thank you for your post/suggestion! I was thinking perhaps I should juice feast today and give my stomach a rest/get some cleansing in, but now that I've read your post it's definately probably better to reserve it for tomorrow, if necessary, as doingn it today might be too much of an extreme- like a diet- from one day to the next. One thing I KNOW I have to do is take it easy on the nuts for the next couple of days:p

I'd still like to know if any of you had encountered these days in the beginning... and if they subsided over time? And what did you do in the immediate situation to curtail the problemo? Thanks...:rolleyes:

[shashibala]

I did feel this way a few times at the beginning. I think there were a couple of reasons. First of all, I was getting used to the feeling of eating lighter foods. You just don't get the same heavy, full feeling with raw foods. My mind thought I should be fuller! The other thing is that I was working out the best way of eating for me. At first I wanted to eat on a schedule that had worked for me on cooked. I would sometimes eat breakfast when I didn't really want it, which made me hungrier later. I would feel a bit frantic because I didn't know when or what to eat. Now my mind and body are relaxed about food. I know I'll get what i need when i need it. I know lots of people start their day with just fruit, but for me that makes me very tired and hungry a bit later. I use green smoothies instead. The mix of fruits and greens and some hemp seems to work better for me and my blood sugar. In fact, if i am feeling nibblish, I'll have another smoothie later to keep myself from constant grazing! The thing is that it does take some time to learn what works for your body. What others do might not work for you. I kept track of all my food and my moods and energy levels for about 2 weeks. It gave me somewhere to begin. I get tired and moody still sometimes, but I'm moving toward balance.
Best wishes on your journey of discovery!

[vata]

I have certainly experienced those "famished" days, and having lots of heavy, ceamy type of foods, like dates, avocadoes, and bananas seemed to help. Maybe some raw crackers could get you through those days, too. One thing is for sure, though- if you feel weak and blah and bingey, REST. Lay around all day, for two days if you have to, or just be as lazy as possible. When you ignore your body's signals to slow down, you end up turning to food for energy and burdening your system when really you just need to leave yourself on the charger for a day.

[Florina]

zig_zag> You are not alone! It is natural, and imo. you should welcome it!

It sounds to me like you're just trying to respond to whatever it is your body is trying to tell you it needs. It takes time to get in tune. I bet we all have days where we feel like that, nomatter how long or how raw we are eating. Some days we just never really figure out what it was we were missing all day. It happens.

You should NOT be so hard on yourself! Pigged out!? :eek: That is so mean!
In fact, I think you should applaud yourself for trying so hard to figure out what it was you needed!
Since we're all pretty much unique, the only thing to do about these "cravings for unknowns" is trial and error, really. When you think about what you did, it was just that, wasn't it?

Some day soon I am sure you will look back on that day and be able to say to yourself:


"You did what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better."
- Maya Angelou

You get to know your cravings better as time goes by. It's just like every other relationship; You (and your body) practice communicating and eventually it'll be just like breathing. It automatically happens in an unconcious flow without you even thinking about it.
The secret is to enjoy the journey all the way untill you get there ;)

Most of us have weird cravings now and again.
For lifeAgift it is them {{{AVOCADOS}}} :D
For me it's apricot kernels. I don't even really care for apricots neither fresh nor dried. But once or twice a year, nomatter how much or what else I feed myself, I simply won't feel like I'm fed at all untill I suck on a few apricot kernels.

Trial and error is all there is to it.
You're doing the right thing! So keep going!

Meant in the best way possible :)

/Florina

[Barbie2]

I may sound dumb, but what is an apricot kernel?

[Florina]

I may sound dumb, but what is an apricot kernel?

What I mean is the seed inside an apricot. In danish it's abrikossten, but maybe the word got lost in translation?

Since I'm danish, it's more likely that I am not calling it the right word in english, than it is that you're dumb :D
I usually have to check both wikipedia.org first in danish, then in english... then do a picture-google search to check if I got it right.

Anyway, the point was not the aprikot kernels(?) but that we have different weird cravings as we are different individuals. :)

/Florina

[RawSinger]

Well, I feel completely insatiable when I'm PMSing.

[zig_zag]

Hmm.. Me too, but it definately wasn't PMS:(

[vata]

The pms thing reminds me of something. When I used to have pms (when I was a raw un-vegan) broccoli and marinara was the only thing that satisfied. I think the salt content, plus all the other great qualities of broccoli and tomatoes, may have had something to do with it. Zig-Zag, maybe you needed some salt that day?