Why do we fall off the wagon?

[HollyGolightly_86]

I just started to wonder.. maybe I have missed something, but I just started to think about things.

For myself - like for all of us, I believe - eating raw is the only natural way for us to eat. It's food in it's most purest form. Ok then, so, why do we fall off the wagon? Shouldn't this be the most natural thing for us to do? Is it because we're so used to eating cooked food? Do the cravings stop the longer you're raw?
I was just wondering.. like, does maybe Alissa get cravings and does she eat anything cooked?
Can you raise a child with raw food only? Would he or she then have any cravings for cooked food after growing up?

Just pondering these little thoughts... after I've been eating all kinds of horrible cooked and processed foods... ie... fell off the wagon. :(

[tracyinfo]

The cravings do stop! Thank goodness. I also find that once I decide to have a cooked meal, that the cravings will come back. It generally takes a couple of days to get those stupid cravings out of my system.

[sport]

The answer has to be the same as in all new eating plans. Get rid of the source of temptation and replace it with an abundance of nice things in your fridge. If you have to keep bad things in the house for other people then place them at the back of the shelves and fridge so that you have to take the good things out to get at them. That will force you to make the decission a second time and maybe this time it will be the right one

[sweetgoddess]

Hi Holly. Nice to see you again.
I have noticed with me, there is a variety of reasons. I think the biggest for me is emotions. It is such a reaction for me to want to soothe my emotions.
Great when I am up, but when I am emotional, habit kicks in and I have always let that rule before.
Mental patterns take some work to break!
What we are used to, whether it serves us or not, is easy, because we are used to it.
But easy isnt always better, as I have found out. :rolleyes:

Just keep heading towards where you want to be, persistence will pay off!

Warmly~

[HollyGolightly_86]

Thanks to you all for your replies!
I need to get back on track tomorrow.. or actually.. today! :p
I went to the grocery shop and bought a lot of fruits and veggies, so, I'll be ready.

[Sharon in Colorado]

I've been back and forth with this for years, and this is how it works with me:

After 3 days being all raw, I don't have any uncontrollable cravings - i.e. I still have cravings, but I'm in control, and usually won't break it after the initial 3 days.

Then I go along pretty well, but for one reason or another (usually I'm making mashed potatoes or something starchy like that for the family)...I feel some sort of taste sensation come along, a desire to taste what I'm preparing. I may lick the spoon, just to have that 'taste' in my mouth.

That is usually when I start falling off the wagon. It's the little taste here and there that will crack open the seal I've created. That is the problem for me. The only way for me to stay raw is all raw, no excuses, no tastes, etc.

I do believe we are dealing with an addiction and it often takes one taste for most of us to fall back into the cooked world, just as those who are addicted to certain substances can't just have a sip of alcohol, or 1 cigarette. I admire those who are able to go right back to raw after a cooked meal - I have trouble doing that - I can do it a little, but it eventually leads me down the wrong road!

I've also read about how the structure of food is changed during cooked, specifically in grains and other starches. In the book Grain Damage Dr. Graham has written how scientists have discovered several opioid sequences in cooked bread and grain products. This leads me to believe that there is an addiction involved.

[HollyGolightly_86]

Sounds kinda... sick.... it seems that the cooked food is kind of a drug.. just like coffee and cigarettes.. but yeah, bread really is the devil! :p

[twinyoga]

I think you got really good advice. But don't be too hard on yourself. I had cooked and even some junk food (yikes!) on Sunday night and I went right back to raw the next morning. It's ok! I personally feel that if we are so high raw that if we have a bite now and then our bodies will clean it out quickly.

Not everyone thinks this way, but it works for me.

Just enjoy.

[HollyGolightly_86]

Hey!

Today has been really nice for me, I got on the track again. :)
I've relished myself with fresh cherries, grapes and strawberries, yummy, yummy ..

[misslinda]

I use to view the "falling off" as a BAD thing but now I see it as an [opportunity] to get back on. The same way I see why is there is a 'left and right' 'good and bad' or 'love and hate.' :) I have to remember myself everyday until it becomes natural to me.

[Heather Lynn]

if i do fall off it is because i don't have anything in the house....... things get crazy and there is no time to shop. or i do not prepare a proper lunch to take with me to work, or out with me. i just have to be consious and aware what the day ahead holds for me so i can be 100% raw every day. yeah i have slipped up a time or to but it is always right back on track for me when i do.
hey that reminds me i gotta hit the market today!

[RawTruth]

Ok then, so, why do we fall off the wagon?Many reasons. It could be:

1. We haven't prepared a "raw kitchen"

2. We haven't educated ourselves enough about exactly what non-raw does inside our bodies and how it will have to detox again if we eat cooked

3. We have unresolved emotional issues (i.e. we at our core feel unlovable and thus don't treat ourselves in a loving way, or we are continuing a lifetime of abuse, only this time we're the abuser, or ... )

4. Cooked food is definitely addictive (see Victoria Boutenko's 12 STeps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Addiction to Cooked Food)

5. We don't have a plan for going and staying raw.


Shouldn't this be the most natural thing for us to do?Coulda, woulda shoulda -- toss them all out!!! To answer your question, though -- we don't live in a natural world, we haven't been raised this way, we have physical and emotional ties to cooked food, and we're usually the Lone Ranger in that when many of us begin, we're the only raw foodist we know.


Do the cravings stop the longer you're raw?If you mean does the smell of cooked food trigger our salivary glands and sets off a desire of sorts? No, that doesn't go away. I've recently asked five other raw friends and they all said this still happens. We all agree that it's just a lifetime of conditioning and it may never go away. That's okay. I can live with that, because I don't do anything about it. And, I don't linger where there will be an onslaught of these aromas and sights. For instance, I avoid the food court at malls, I'm prepared with my own food when I go to the county fair, I have snacks with me in my car. I've been a vegetarian for most of 20+ years and, when I smell barbecue or a fish fry, it still smells good. The big difference is that I'm not going to go eat it. It's that simple.


I was just wondering.. like, does maybe Alissa get cravings and does she eat anything cooked?Would it make a difference to you if she did? Isn't going raw all about you and your health? (BTW, I believe the answer to your question is no -- she writes very candidly about the period of time -- years, I think -- when she seesawed back and forth, including a time when she'd do raw during the week and "everything else" on weekends, if I recall correctly. So, there'd be no reason for her to lie about being all raw all the time now.) But, you can always send her an email and ask her yourself.


Can you raise a child with raw food only?Yes. Many people are doing it, and some have written books about it. Also, www.thegardendiet.com is that of a couple who are rearing raw children.


Would he or she then have any cravings for cooked food after growing up?Who knows? But ... logically, how could someone have a craving for something they've never tasted? That's like me wondering if you have a craving for durian (assuming that you've never tasted it, of course :p )


Just pondering these little thoughts... after I've been eating all kinds of horrible cooked and processed foods... ie... fell off the wagon. :(That's okay. Now, just get back up, dust yourself off, get yourself a plan ... or refine the one you have, and continue eating raw.

[Doe]

HollyGolightly_86,

Jinjee has written about this. Her two older children who have eaten cooked foods, have cravings like all of us. Her third child who has never eaten cooked has also never expressed any desire for it, even when watching the older ones eat it.

Also I had a friend 20 yrs ago whose son was my son's best friend. He was 4 when we met. You could offer that child candy or a cookie and he would ask for fruit instead. He liked the taste better. Although he might eat the other if you didn't have fruit and he was hungry, usually he would just say no and go on playing. Didn't bother him a bit. We just thought he was kinda weird at the time but it does prove what you are talking about.

Teri

[HollyGolightly_86]

Thanks, Raw Truth, for your comprehensive answer, it was a delight reading it.

For me, it doesn't make any difference whether Alissa gets cravings or not, I just tried to make and example since she has been raw for many years.

And yeah, I'm on the track today, and I've felt fine.

Thanks for your reply too, Doe!
My boyfriend is sometimes kinda like that boy - he loves fruits too, and sometimes prefers fruit better than candy.. though, now he has "warmer" up for candy again, sadly in some way.

:D