RAW what %

[iaborn42]

I am curious how many of you are 100% and how long it took you to get there. I would also like to know from those of you who aren't if you are still reaping the benefits of weight loss and feeling better.


Right now I feel I am 80-90%. It is increasing slowly. I did great yesterday.

[shashibala]

Hi! I was glad to see that you are feeling better! I am 95-100% raw. I don't eat cooked foods at all as meals, but some of the small things I use are not completely raw. Such as: cashews that are not really raw, miso, hot sauce, some store bought spices, occasional hot herb tea, occasional dark chocolate.
That is all I can think of right now. I find that these things that are used in minute quantities are okay for me, but anything more makes my asthma and fibromyalgia pain flare up. I also really can't eat cooked foods with out triggering overeating. I have a history of disordered eating and being all raw
and eating all the raw foods I need keeps me eating normally.
I do think that for some people eating high raw can provide many benefits even if you're not ready for all raw. I do also think that leaving out dairy, meat, and most grains is important for healing. Some people can pick and chose, but for me, partially raw just doesn't work. My body reacts differently to raw foods. On raw I don't
need to overeat, I don't wheeze, and my body doesn't hurt. And most wonderfully, I am losing weight and healing my depression!

[Aleesha Sattva]

i'm the same. i use the odd thing which is not considered raw... but for the majority of the time... i'm drinking green smoothies and eating kale salad! might sound boring to some but it's my life blood LOL i just love them both!

that said, for me... i consider myself 100% raw... because i do try to use fresh herbs to season my food, i seldom use miso, never use braggs but i'm not going to freak out if my favourite restaurant runs out of balsamic vinegar so i have to use a little of their "almost raw" house dressing.

[SuzyQ]

Some days I am at home and can make everything I eat such as smoothies, sunburgers, salads with my homemade dressing, ect. Occasionally I will eat at a restaurant with a friend or my husband and I will eat vegan. I haven't had meat for 3 months and I feel great! I take raw veggies with me almost every day and if I find I am out longer than I thought I would be and I am hungry, I head to the grocery store for raw green beans or something I can eat in the car. The days I am 95% raw are the best! Like someone said before, there are a few things like spices or ingredients that aren't raw, so unless I eat salad & fruit all day, I wouldn't expect to be 100%.

[lanettasmouse]

same here, spices are the only things that i'm sure aren't raw, so i figure that its around 99%. thats what i voted as too, but i actually personally consider myself to be 100% because i don't use spices everyday.

[Eva]

I think only people who farm all of their own food can really say they're 100% and ALSO be 100% sure. I aim to be 100% but may not be because of spices being irradiated or something like that.

I jumped in 100% and found great benefits. (Actually -- AMAZING!) On Easter last year, I thought it was okay to have some nonraw food and had a few awful days. Since then, I've been mostly (aiming) 100% but have tried high raw.

I feel so much better aiming at 100%, better than I could have imagined before trying it. :)

I think it's worth doing 100% for a few months just to see, but it's not just about the food. I feel perfectly comfortable bringing my own dressing into a restaurant to have a salad and bringing food to a party, things like that (FYI Recycling Goddess -- This is NOT aimed at your comment about every once in a while with dressing in a restaurant but about habitual actions! :)). I can see how different individuals would have emotional reasons or whathaveyou for not going all the way. Maybe they're not ready. Maybe they never will be.

And that's okay. :) But for me -- aiming for 100% is where it's at!

[RawSinger]

I can pretty much relate to everyone else. I consider myself 100% raw. I do use store-bought spices. Occasionally, I'll use a little miso and some Braggs but I mostly try to stick with Nama Shoyu.

As for how long it took me to get here, it's kind of a weird story. When I first bought Alissa's book, I went 100% raw immediately and remained so for 3 weeks straight. Then I thought, "Come on, I should be able to have 2 cooked meals a week." I tried that and it didn't work for me; I kept eating too much cooked food and was slipping back into my old ways. I then decided to go 100% raw again. I hada set back because I didn't have enough raw food in the house (major mistake!) so I started over again. Technically this is my third attempt at 100% raw and it's going really well so far! I haven't lost any weight yet but my weight isn't going up like it was when I went back to eating cooked food.

[iaborn42]

You have no idea how much I wish I had more room to garden and plant my own food. I am enjoying reading these answers. Thanks!

[RawSinger]

iaborn42: me too! My dream is to one day build my own home with a completely green construction and have a big garden so I can grow most of my own organic produce.

[Aleesha Sattva]

(FYI Recycling Goddess -- This is NOT aimed at your comment about every once in a while with dressing in a restaurant but about habitual actions! :)).

i didn't take it personally so no worries there. :) i would love love LOVE to be organized enough to remember to take my own salad dressing with me LOL but alas,... i am not :P

[RawSinger]

I forgot to bring my own dressing to school once but my school isn't too bad with packaged dressing-they have Newman's Own natural light dressing, which I used. It's frustrating but it's not the be-all end-all. It's when you start popping tic tacs or gum that it gets to be habitual and problematic. That reminds me, is there such thing as RAW gum?

[Blazin'Jane]

I think of myself as very high raw, eating much the same way that lanettasmouse and recycling goddess do. My other little deviation is that a few years ago, before I even heard of RAW, I started a vegetarian gourmet group that meets once a month. At the time I was grateful to have an event to prepare food for--'got me out of my hum drum menu. So the group is still going. I've been very RAW for 15 mos. now, and once a month I have a taste of what others brought to to the vegetarian gourmet dinner. That's it. I don't experiment with anything else coooked. I've eaten enough cooked food i nmy lifetime to need to experiment with it further.

[iaborn42]

I have so much respect for all of you who are doing this. I can only hope in time to get there. I am waiting for Alissa's book to arrive in the mail and with any luck spring will get here soon, growing season will start and I will have access to more produce.

My one store here in town is about worthless. I can't afford to order everything and with diesel so high it really makes traveling any distance difficult.

So I am doing the best I can right now. There is a chance we may have to move later this year and if we do I can only hope for room for a garden!

[Snoozy]

Well I marked 100% but I forgot about the spices. I don't use a lot but I do use them so I guess I'm more like 99%.

I tried this last year and failed because I didn't have any support and didn't know what I was doing. But this year, I'm finding others around me who want to eat raw or do eat raw and that has really helped. Plus of course this website!!! :D

This time, I jumped right in and went as close to 100% as possible. The first week was the hardest and I took a few bites of cooked food just because it smelled so good. But I kept at it and haven't had any cravings or need for cooked food since. Even when it smells so good, I stop and think about what it would do to me, and then I eat raw!

The benefits are mostly subtle and I really have to think about it (like "hey, I haven't had a headache in the last 5 weeks") but some things I'm actually monitoring to see how I do (like my allergies). And to my surprise, they are getting better. I haven't taken my allergy medicine in 6 weeks! The same medicine I've been on for 22 years and couldn't be without or I would get severe headaches and usually end up with bronchitis or a sinus infection. So I've very pleased! Weight loss is slow but I'm sure it will pick up soon when it's time.

[chilove]

Interesting! Great poll! Thanks for starting it!!!! I responded to it.

100% for 4 plus years and LOVING LIFE!!!!

Blessings,

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com

[Bodhi]

93% at least. Probably a little more.:p

[Eilene]

98% raw for 1 year and 10 months...and loving it!!

[iaborn42]

Thanks everyone for responding!

[Carlsbad]

I'm 100% but human. :p

I switched cold turkey from junk food addict to 100% raw last summer. For the first 6 or 7 months, I would eat 100% raw for 29 days and then slip and binge on cooked junk for a day and then go back to 100% raw for 29 days, etc. etc. I finally buckled down though and have been slip-free since February 1st. I'm an all or nothing girl, and anything less than 100% sends me face first into junk food. It really is an addiction for me, and abstinence from cooked food is my only hope. Luckily, raw is so delicious and makes me feel soo good!!

[Riiiya]

i suppose i have to say about 95%? I intend to be 100% but since i have some odwalla smoothies now and then..some larabars now and then (which are "doubt-able") and pickles from the store (i bought the organic ones without any preservatives but i assume they're not raw(?))

If i don't see any weight loss (which i need since i gained a bit after a cooked break) i suppose i should get rid of EVERYTHING i suspect of being un-raw :)

[2 Corinthians 7:1]

I've only been doing this for two weeks, but I'm 100% raw. :D