ex junk-food addicts??

[Klarissa]

I hope this is the right board to post this.

For anyone who has had a food addiction in the past (eg. Chocolate) how long did it take before the intense cravings went away??

my body is craving sugar like something crazy.... and i'm not even hungry... i want this to stop :(

[GlimR]

How long have you been raw? There is no set time table because everyone is different and some cravings are physical and some are emotional.

The thing, to me, about raw is if you want something you can have it...within reason. If you want something sweet have it...find a substitition for what type of food you want. It takes awhile to find new favorite foods. But you can eat and should...food is a good thing~:D

If the cravings are emotional then you need to find some other way to deal..distract yourself, drink some water, go for a walk or just try to ignore it till it passes because it will pass and eventually lessen as you find other ways to cope and satisfy your needs.

Wishing you the best.

[Klarissa]

yes it is emotional.... and all my problems will be gone in just under 2 months :)

[RawHeaven]

I hope this is the right board to post this.

For anyone who has had a food addiction in the past (eg. Chocolate) how long did it take before the intense cravings went away??

my body is craving sugar like something crazy.... and i'm not even hungry... i want this to stop :(

what helped me with this was to make myself raw chocolate desserts and eat sweet fruits. i found that i experienced a difference sense of being eating the raw cacao minus all of the sugars, processing etc. Over time I gradually moved away from chocolate altogether.

some simple recipes I prepared was just mixing coconut oil, raw cacao butter & powder, raisins, a pinch of sea salt...putting the mixture in the fridge to make my own chocolate bar

banana ice cream with cacao powder is good too - makes a raw chocolate banana pudding or ice cream

Upping your greens intake will help with sugar and all cravings really. I think the emotions and physical well being work in concert the longer you go at this. You may find one day you're just gravitating to more healthier alternatives for your body. I still get cravings...but they don't take over like they used to.

Best wishes.

[Rawkincake]

I am the biggest sugar addict and struggled with going raw for a year now. As of this week I don't have cravings any longer. Sunday night I was eating Ben and Jerry and probably had some kind of refined sugar every day last week so it wasn't a gradual thing even. The two things I am doing different are - I am "treating" myself with a raw cocoa smoothie every night if I stay raw that day and I have had a kale and avocado salad for dinner each night. I really don't know which is helping me more, but so far i'm on my 4th day and the longest I have gone RAW is 6 days. I think the biggest thing was I went to get Subway for my husband last night and I LOVE Subway and their cookies - I got his and went home and made my salad and to me it was better than anything I had ever eaten :) I was VERY proud of myself! If I can beat it you can!!!
The chocolate smoothie -
1 cup of water
2 frozen bananas
1 heaping tbs raw cocoa powder
1 tbs coconut butter or oil
1 squeeze of agave nectar (left it out once and it tasted fine without it)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (again I left it out once and it tasted good without it)
5 cubes of ice
Blend! :)

Avocado Kale Salad can be found here http://www.goneraw.com/recipes/6-Avocado-Kale-Salad

[Klarissa]

thank you all for replying. i have found some dry fruits are pretty satisfying. i want to get a food dehydrator and make my own,

[Clare]

Maybe I am "addicted" to stevia now :-) in that I much prefer to add a drop to my green smoothies and herbal teas. I have been a binge-eater (almost cured completley by raw) and certainly love sweets, but I would rather dig into a pineapple or a papaya now than something purely sugary (like a soda or candy). Sometimes I make stevia lemonade which everyone I have made it for enjoys. What are you craving? Remember to drink lots of water if you are eating dehydrated fruits. Maybe try some rehydrated (soaked a bit) raisins, prunes, and/or dates...

[Raw Yogini]

I have been a HUGE sugar addict in the past! My first week w/out sugar I used banana ice cream as my crutch. I ate it every night for the first week. I also used a fudge sauce recipe that I got off here and that helped w/ my chocolate cravings. I stopped having immense cravings after one week. I still make sure I have some kind of raw dessert every day and I take it with me when I go to family parties because I know they'll have a tempting dessert. Another thing that helped me was declaring my sugar-free state, without being judgemental or condescending in any way, I feel somewhat held accountable to others to remain sugar-free because I told them I was. Good luck!

[Portia2012]

I am working through this right now myself. I do know that my cravings are more emotional, but so is all of my food addiction. I ate to make myself obese to avoid abuse, and thought men would not be attracted to me. I have found out that all it has done has alienated me from my own body. So I understand what you are experiencing. Just find a way to substitute a raw alternative. It is not easy I know, but now that the Farmers Markets will be back in business us raw foodists can go shopping :D


~Portia~

[Cinammon]

The thing that's helping me is - wait for it - green smoothies.

When I tried them before, I didn't add any fruit, and it really didn't work - couldn't see why everyone here raved about them.

Have since started adding two bananas and punnet of blueberries, and oh my! Difference is amazing! I'm a total chocolate and junk food addict, but after huge green smoothie really don't want to put refined sugar in my body.

Don't know if it'll last, but right now is working a treat.

Interesting thing for me was how I didn't feel eating raw could be so gorgeous - subconsciously thought it was healthy, so it 'had' to be hard.

Wonder if low self-esteem - even a very surface kind - has something to do with our inability to really nourish ourselves?

Think sugar cravings come and go; biorhythms, time of month, detox(?) etc?
Sorry - rambling a bit.

Hope your sugar cravings go - if you must, maybe eat a bit, just so it isn't 'forbidden' - and then try gorgeous raw food, and see the difference? Always a step at a time - I should know, I'm revolving-door raw!

Best of luck

Cinammon x

[Betsy]

I second the Green Smoothies, sweetened with Stevia if needed.
I use Stevia in everything now.
There are many different flavors of liquid Stevia, too.
My favorite is Lemon Drop and also I like Chocolate.
Zero glycemic index, but lots of sweetness.

I do not crave sweets thanks to Stevia.
Here's a fun recipie I use.
cacao powder
coconut butter
Chocolate or Chocolate/Raspberry Stevia liquid
walnuts
Just mix this and freeze into chunks or haystacks, ect. I like adding some coconut shreds, too.

[MrsJohnnyG]

I've only been "nearly-all raw" for a week but my sugar/chocolate cravings as well as my coffee cravings have gone away. (That's not to say I won't have moments where I have a relapse craving, but this is WORLDS away from my constant need for sugar/caffeine.)

I have to echo the green smoothie theory, and also eating avocados and/or a spoonful of extra-virgin coconut oil has, oddly enough, helped hugely. (Of course, I now crave avocados and coconut oil!! :D)

When is the last time you ate something with sugar in it? I've found that after you go a few weeks without it, and are nourishing yourself well (with greens and veggies and other good stuff), the cravings drop away to the point that eating something sugary is actually repulsive. I'm not at that point quite yet since I've only been on board for a week, but I'm just happy not to be craving the wicked stuff!

Also, are you exercising? That tends to chase away my cravings for sugar.

[~deb~]

I found this online a while back. I haven't tried it but have some seeds soaking now.

....................

Cravings for Sweets

An excerpt from chapter 2 of 12 Steps to Raw Food by Victoria Boutenko


"Have you ever craved sweets? When our body needs calcium, we actually crave sweets. Calcium, in nature, has a sweet taste. If we plant strawberries on a soil rich in calcium, the strawberries will be very sweet. Sometimes we are so low in calcium that we become addicted to sweets. I had a hard time getting off sweets. I did not eat them, but every time I went in the store I had to cover my eyes so I wouldn't see them while on my way to the produce section. If I looked at the sweets I suffered from wanting to go and try them.


I shared with a friend how much I craved sweets. He said, "Victoria, you are just craving calcium."He told me to soak sesame seeds and make sesame milk and drink it every day for two weeks on an empty stomach.


I followed his instructions. First, I made sesame milk from sesame seeds with honey. In a few days I didn't want it to be as sweet, so I added less honey. After a week I didn't want honey at all. Then I wanted a bitter taste, so I switched to brown sesame seeds. For two weeks I didn't go anywhere without my big mug of sesame milk. Two weeks later another friend offered me a medjool date. I love medjool dates! I took one bite and I could not swallow it! It was too sweet for me. The balance in my body had changed. I didn't want sweet things anymore, not even good sweet things. Fantastic! "