living with SAD eaters

[findingmyway]

Does anyone else live with people who eat SAD foods. I have been a vegetarian for sometime and meat doesn't appeal to me, but sweets do so much. I still cook for my husband and don't mind doing so. But, I have a huge sweet tooth and there is a very large cookie on the stove I am trying to resist. I dont ask my husband to not have those things in my home because he is free to eat what he likes. This is just the way I prefer to eat. But, I must say it is sooo hard when there are yummy treat everywhere. I know people say to eat fruit but I will be honest with you when you have only been raw for 4 days fruit doesnt seem to compare to a chocolate ship cookie. How do you handle it?

[rawstrength]

First off, go make some raw chocolate chip cookies! Or whatever other sweet you are craving. If I remember correctly, you don't eat nuts? Here's a nut-free pudding recipe and a nut-containing chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Avocado pudding:
1/2 avocado
a bit of water
some raw sweetener (soaked dates, honey, agave, stevia, whatever)
Some fruit
Blend all ingredients until smooth in a blender. For chocolate pudding, use a banana for the fruit and add cacao. The options are endless!

Chocolate chunk cookies
You can use raisins, macadamia nuts or cacao nibs instead of the chocolate chunks if you choose. The texture of these isn't exactly like SAD chocolate chip cookies, but the FLAVOR is PERFECT.
For the dough:
3/4 cup oat groats, ground into a flour
1 3/4 cup cashew flour
1/4 cup honey or agave
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut oil

For the chocolate chunks:
1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup honey or agave, 1 cup cacao powder

First, make the chocolate chunks by gently melting the coconut oil and then blending it with the sweetener and cacao. Spread this out in a thin (3/8 inch) layer on a greased or parchment paper lined tray and freeze it. When you have made the dough, take the cacao mixture out of the freezer and chop it up into chunks.

To make the dough, gently melt the coconut oil and blend it with all the other dough ingredients. Wait a few minutes for the dough to firm up, then form it into cookie shapes on a cookie sheet. Decorate them with the chocolate chunks. Put your cookies in the fridge or freezer for 3-4 hours and then enjoy. I prefer them frozen.

I have been a vegan in a SAD meat-eating family for years. I have been a raw vegan with my SAD meat-eating family for about 6 months.

Just like meat no longer appeals to you, SAD sweets will also lose their appeal. Seriously, SAD food looks like toys or other unedible objects to me. I almost never have compulsions to eat it.

In the mean time, stay well-nourished and well-fed. By well-fed I mean don't deprive yourself of raw sweets! Keep your mind, spirit and body happy and you will successfully stay raw. Oh, and greens greens greens help with cravings. That falls under the nourishment category.

[DavidZaneMason]

I make sure to remind myself that MY goals REQUIRE healthy eating. It takes no more discipline for me to avoid things which conflict with my goals....then it does to drive a car. As long as I know my destination.....and I know that a car is the required TOOL to get me there......I'm not tempted by busses....motorcycles....horses....or walking. These things are all great....but I KNOW what tool I need. I may be (according to the nightly news) SURROUNDED by violence....but it is not a tool I need.....so I am not phased by it.

-David Z. Mason

[chilove]

You DON"T need to be deprived on raw at all! Especially if you are craving deserts/sweets. There are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many delicious raw desert recipes. Look around on the recipe section of this board and do an online search for other raw recipe sites and you will find enough delicious recipes to keep you busy for years!

Raw is about wonderful abundance and health and happiness, NOT deprivation.

Raw Priestess' Brownies (posted here somewhere--do a search --click on the yellow banana above) are awesome!!!!

Fill yourself up on delicious raw food that you really love and be sure to keep the ingredients of your favorite recipes on hand at all times and it will make it MUCH easier for you to stay raw with SAD eaters and cooked around.

Blessings,

Audrey

[juliebove]

I guess I am lucky in that I don't like sweets much and I am allergic to eggs and dairy so I could never eat anything like a regular cookie. My daughter has some allergen free cookies that I *could* eat but I am never tempted to do so.

When I buy food for my husband or my daughter, I tell myself it is their food. I have my food and they have theirs. I often label the food. For instance, the other day we got salad from the salad bar. One bowl for each of us. I wrote our names on the bowls so we'd know whose salad was whose.

If I know the food belongs to someone else, I will not be tempted to eat it because it is not mine and eating it would be akin to stealing.

[findingmyway]

Thanks Rawstrength for the recipes I am going to get all of the ingredients today. Sound yummy and I am really excited.:D

Thanks everyone for your help. The more I here from everyone the stronger I feel like being RAW is something I will be able to stick with.

[Raspberry4]

I am surrounded too by SAD eaters. But my oldest likes to taste my food alot and I love to share with him (and anyone else who is curious about it). It makes my food even that much more special. And the desserts -my kids love most of my desserts - so again, even if they choose to eat SAD at dinner, they will get to share with me the raw desserts afterwards so we are enjoying the food and each other too. Double benefits to raw. It can be done. I am not going to say it is easy for me, because it is not, especially during the weekend BBQ's. But then is when I make something really 'special' to me like the taco meat and cheese and sour cream (all raw) and wrap it in a green lettuce leaf - even my oldest will eat that with me. Yum, yum! I am making myself hungry. Good luck to you :)

[Theogirl]

My DH and kids (ages 2 and 4) are not raw or veg. I am more tempted by fried and savory foods than sweets. This seems funny to me because I always had SUCH a sweet tooth (3 pieces of cheesecake for breakfast, anyone?) I guess the fruit really satisfies me. Also, whenever I crave something chocolatey I make a mix with raw cacao and whatever I have. Like, dip raw pecans in a mixture of a little coconut oil, raw cacao, a touch of orange rind finely grated. Oh yeah, Chocolate bars got Nuthin on that!
My 2 year old girl loves cacao mixed with ground dates and flax meal.
In the past, several times a week I had a large Tim Horton's steeped tea double double (for you non-Canadians, that means double sugar, double heavy cream) with 3-6 triple chocolate cookies. (Can you believe it!) Amazingly, after the first week of feeling wistful, I don't even miss that treat very often at all. The cacao is very "quenching" and I don't need to eat half a dozen cookies loaded with who knows what to feel satisfied.

[findingmyway]

What is the best brand of Raw Cocao to use and will I be able to find it online?

Thanks a bunch everyone.

[jacsam]

I've found some great raw desserts and sometimes I'm tempted to hide them in the back of the fridge so everyone won't eat my desserts but I really am glad that they want the healthy stuff too. Anyway, find some great raw desserts and pretty soon your's will be the ones tempting everyone else.

[iamacranberry]

Only trouble is it will probably hurt your budget after a bit...

[KellyL]

The best and quickest thing I have found is dates. When I would get a craving, I would tell myself I could eat the non raw cookie but I first had to eat a few dates. By the time I ate a few dates my sweet tooth was satisfied and I didn't really want the cookie. Just a little trick I would play on my mind to keep me from feeling like I couldn't have the cookie.

[findingmyway]

I have to go see if I can find some dates. I see a lot of people use them for satisfying a sweet tooth. Im going to the store on my way home to pick some up.

[Jenifae]

HI Findingmyway,

I think I wrote to you in another thread about the same issue I have with my husband. Yes, for a short period of time I asked my husband to not bring that food in the house until I'm stronger. Once, I"'m stronger it becomes more of a choice. I would either ask for his support and have him keep his goodies out of sight. That way if you don't see it constantly it's not a constant battle. That's what I'd do.

But, here's some good news and maybe some hope for you. I have been been 100% since the 1st. Last night I went to my women's group and they were celebrating 2 B.D.'s. Usually, I can not pass the cake. I too am a sweets person. If I do pass the cake up I usually am struggling inside fighting off the cravings unsuccessfully until I finally go have a piece. Here's the miracle - I saw 2 cakes.....one looked like one I would love. I noticed them and had no physical/emotional response. When they started serving the cake I knew I didn't want any and felt comfortable with turning down a piece of cake. I stayed feeling comfortable watching everyone else eating cake. :eek: This is HUGE for me. I don't know if anyone else can relate to how HUGE this is but, this is HUGE!;)

So, what I''ve been doing is I eat Cacao Nibs, Raw Chocolate, Larabars, RawVolution bars, Active X raw bars and that has subdued my cravings I do believe. And I feel good after eating raw cacao/chocolate not up and then down and get a hang over the next day....but, actually energized and feeling good.

I've noticed that yesterday and today I'm not needing as much of the treats now. :p

So, hang in there and try everyone's advice to find what works best for you. I wish you lots of success.

I've had been struggling since, March and finally feel like I"m in my groove with it. The Challenge has seriously helped me. :)

Stay Strong, Be Positive, Visualize you Goal, Enjoy being RAW!

[Jenifae]

I really like David Wolfe's Raw Cacao Nibs the best. You can get those at
www.sunfood.com
But, if you have a whole foods they usually carry it.
www.goraw.com
Go Raw - chocolates w/agave are really really good.

I put my cacao nibs in my GS and it really subdues cravings for me. I am a chocolate head :p


What is the best brand of Raw Cocao to use and will I be able to find it online?

Thanks a bunch everyone.

[iamacranberry]

The trouble with dates, though, is that it's difficult to eat just one.

[Betsy]

How do you handle it?

I llive with SAD family members and here is how I handle it. First, I made up my mind along time ago to take responsibility for my health. This means a strict lifestyle, and so be it. I've accepted that if I want total health, I must work toward it constantly, denying myself sad food is work at times, but I just ingnore the cravings, and they eventually go away. I look to the future and at how I want to be in a few years and ask myself, "will this food get me the results I want and need in the long run?" that one works everyttime.

[iamacranberry]

Good for you! I need to work on my willpower to do that...so far I can most of the time, but it's usually ethics that stops me from eating things like animal products...now, if only refined sugar were significantly unethical, I'd have no problem convincing myself not to eat it!

[parsnip]

Hmmm... according to Wikipedia, about a quarter of the sugar in the US is processed using bone char (usually from cows, I think) as a filter. Does that help? :)

[rawstrength]

Good for you! I need to work on my willpower to do that...so far I can most of the time, but it's usually ethics that stops me from eating things like animal products...now, if only refined sugar were significantly unethical, I'd have no problem convincing myself not to eat it!

Harvesting sugar cane is also back breaking labor. And most of the workers who harvest sugar cane are probably under paid. Sugar cane is also extremely refined and processed, so a lot of precious resources are used to make it. Is it really worth it to waste so much human vitality and our Mother Earth's resources on a cloyingly sweet poison? I don't think so. :eek:

[Jenifae]

WOW :eek: I would love the link of that to read. That is horrifying. I'm glad I'm doing the challenge because, it is helping me kick my sugar cravings. And now I have an even better deterent.;)


Hmmm... according to Wikipedia, about a quarter of the sugar in the US is processed using bone char (usually from cows, I think) as a filter. Does that help? :)

[findingmyway]

Thanks everyone, it is soo nice to know others go through the same thing on a daily basis and it is very nice to have people to talk to about the path I am taking. Its funny when I try to explain what my goals are to others who ask why I am choosing to be Raw they just roll their eyes or have no interest in listening. I got made fun of A LOT when I choose to be vegetarian, people would just pick on me. I dont think I had ever been picked on for anything else. But, now that I am eating Raw foods Im not being picked on as much (still am but not as much) rather people look at me strange like im weird
and make snide remarks. Until I became vegetarian I never knew how mean people could be because someone chooses to not eat meat and until I started eating Raw I never knew how odd people feel about what I eat.


Just ranting..hehe :p

Thanks for being such a great support group!

Have a rawtastic morning everyone!

[iamacranberry]

Hmmm... according to Wikipedia, about a quarter of the sugar in the US is processed using bone char (usually from cows, I think) as a filter. Does that help? :)

It does, actually. That and the unethical labour practices used to harvest it are the things I need to remind myself of on a more consistent basis.