I am such a failure!

[Soka]

I went back to a cooked vegetarian diet. It took two weeks for my body to readjust to the dairy and eggs. I came back to this site for some info on a raw diet for my rats and reading the posts has me wanting to go back to a vegan diet and try increasing my raw intake, but I'm worried about my husband. He eats the average cooked diet, including meat. He was ok with my vegan diet before but I've gone back and forth so many times, I'm afraid of this being just another TRY and not a DO.

I have been increasing my raw food intake slightly, especially now that I'm feeding my rats (I got two new girls today!) more raw fruits and veggies. How can I stick with this though. No one around me is raw vegan. If anything, people just roll their eyes when they hear I'm vegan.

I want to try a juice feast to cleanse myself. Do you think this would help the cravings for dairy, eggs, and cooked foods?

I really need some help. I've gained 15lbs and am on the border of 200lbs. I'm so unhealthy. I was carrying something at work yesterday and caught myself breathing hard. I feel like I'm killing myself slowly and I don't want to do that. I want to be healthy. What should I do?

[Colorawdo girl]

soka, you are similar to many here. No worries. This is a process and it takes time. Many had to ease into it and go back n forth a bit...it really gets you clear on what you want.

Getting clear on what you want is powerful. If you have a powerful reason, or many, for raw, you will have continual motivation. So, what do you want for your life and your health???

Pssst failure is not a word we use here. Learning experience I guess. You posted and asked for help..that doesnt look like failure to me.

Read and read more on all the info here. There is a ton on this type of thing. Read until something hits you. It will.

It is ok. Love yourself exactly where you are. Its a great place to be.Welcome back and rawk on.

[commoncents]

First of all, you are not a failure. If you want to be Raw again, congratulate yourself for making a decision that will benefit your body, mind and spirit.

I have been where your at (several times) and what's helps me is doing a short fast. I then crave Raw foods and I start over preparing the food and life is wonderful again.

The way each of us embraces Raw is our unique individual journey. Do not diminish yourself or your journey. Just make a determination that you will eat Raw and start preparing the food. Before you know it, you'll be eating Raw and loving it.

Best of luck to you.

[RawHeaven]

You're not a failure in the context of there being absolutely anything wrong with you. In terms of failing, I view it as very valid experience. A sometimes necessary process to supercharge ourselves to move forward, persevere in spite of challenges or obstacles and achieve goals on a different level. Yes, of course, it doesn't feel good at first and we tend to feel really terrible and want to place alot of self-blame or be in judgement. But every time it's happened to me and probably for you too?, there was always a blessed gift on the other side of it or I gained a different appreciation for whatever it was that I just experienced.

I think green smoothies will definately benefit you. As will anything raw that you feel you're needing to consume. The more I learned about my organs, ALL of the systems in my body and how they work in concert, and the more nutritional information I learned along the way seemed to really help me stay raw and work with my body. Build a relationship with it if you will. For example, once you understand how dairy products or even cooked food work in the body or I should say do not work...it keeps things in perspective. Learning about my anatomy, cell function etc on a deep level has helped me overcome many emotional associations to foods I used to eat based on being addicted to them either because they tasted good or held sentimental value for me. Ie. my aunt's famous rice pudding or my grandma's well everything. haaaha.

Seriously though, once you get tuned into your body, the foods that your individual body requires to support its overall optimal function and your emotional/mental well being while you live and breathe in your body....well I just find this wealth of knowledge is oftentimes in direct correlation to being able to stay Raw.

[Colorawdo girl]

Soka. I looked at a couple threads from you to see how we can help you. Here is a post from before..


Sitting here, feeling like crap, I opened my email to find an message from someone from this forum. I came back to the site, and started reading around and now I'm really wanting to go back to a vegan diet and start transitioning to a raw diet.

I would like to thank this site for simply existing. Its time to get up, stop kicking myself in the rear and do good for my body.

It is evident this is what you want. All the help you need is here. It is you that can comitt to it if you choose.

Ancient chinese proverb say "one who kicks self in rear get nowhere except with a sore behind."

As pop shoe ad says "just do it". Happy trails on your raw walk.

[apb1172]

Soka, please don't call yourself a failure. You will set yourself up for a self fulfilling prophecy! Besides, you can't fail something you aren't being graded on.

If you eat raw you eat raw, if you eat cooked you eat cooked. Vegan not vegan whatever! No one here is or wants to be the raw police!

I myself find that I always want to eat more raw and vegetarian during the spring and summer, then more cooked and meats in the winter, that doesn't make me a failure, it makes me where I am at. Every little bit pushes me more and more to being raw so I take it as it comes. Fortunatley here, you don't have to prove your rawness no one is judging you.

I agree with RawHeaven as well that education is KEY! So to make this a GO and not another TRY, do something different this time. Whether it is learning more about nutrition and why raw is so great or learning how to meditate and cope with your cravings. Something you didn't do the last time you tried to go raw. This time, I am trying to learn about the living part of living food. I already know how to make food taste good, now I want to know about what makes it good for me. That is something that I didn't do the last time I tried to eat this way and MAN have I learned a LOT!!!

Hang in there and don't give up on yourself. Remember, we can support you, but YOU still have to make your own choices. Chose yourself!

Lots of hugs!!!!!!!

[Myca]

Oh, Soka, you have arrived just in time!!!
The next 30 day Raw Challenge is right around the corner!
You have time to ask questions, get your shopping list, order a brand new appliance!!!
Be ready on May 1 for the next 30 day challenge!!!
It will be my first one too.

[Colorawdo girl]

Good idea....whats the thirty day challenge about...haha. Who knew that many of us do not know.....wooohooo...we will soon.right?

[Revvell]

Failures have two choices ~ sideways or up. Which way do you want to go?

Remember something ~ every hero's journey has highs, lows, detours. Every hero has "lost" at one time or another. The only time one is a failure is when they NEVER choose "up"... so, go sideways for as long as you want but keep looking up. We tend to go where we look and we're always surprised when we arrive.

Enjoy your journey and remember, always, play with your food! :)

Revvell (http://LetsTalkRaw.com)

[Revvell]

Good idea....whats the thirty day challenge about...haha. Who knew that many of us do not know.....wooohooo...we will soon.right?

http://rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=49893

[Raw Angel Mom]

Here is what i suggest. Don't tell him just do it. If he ask why you don't want egg and dairy just say, you don't feel like it and wants this raw vegan instead. I have tried the egg and dairy and i feel much better without it. THE END.

I went back on cook food such rice/steam potatoes and trust me i didn't feel the need to justify any of the choice. I love raw food and this is the only food that work for me.

One dvd that help me to have faith on staying vegan was " A diet for all reason". Trust me, you aren't going to want any dairy or animal product in your body ever. Milk contains a natural ingredient that make you addictive, even for the mother milk. This is a way that nature does thing to help the baby to stick to the milk and to bound with the mother. Cow milk is design to develop and 500lb animals. It is way too rich for us if you think about that, lol... I was so hook on dairy and egg because i craved it, i assumed it was because i needed it, well nop. The proof all my skin problem went away once i let that go.

Don't worry about your husband wanted to eat his meat. Once he realized that you look so much younger and that the men are starting to look at you even more, he will get worry and start to explore this diet, lol.....Anyway, this is what happened to someone i read about, lol....

[Soka]

thanks everyone. I wont have much money to go shopping for produce but I have a bit at home already. The challenge seems like a good idea. Im going to bring my juicer over to my new place and juice something for breakfast tomorrow. I will join in on the may challenge.

[RAWmen-Noodles]

Don't give up. My husband could be the poster boy for a SAD diet. If you eat something cooked, dont sweat it. Just pick up where you left off. Jeust keep trying. Trust me I KNOW! The thing to do is to keep yourself from getting hungry. Just eat something or drink something all the time. My weaknesses happen when I am hungry. You have great support here. Don't beat yourself up over a stumble. That will only make you want to eat more. Just do what you can. I am 32 years old and have been eating cooked meals for at least 31 of those years. We are creatures of habit. Do your best!

[Aleesha Sattva]

I want to try a juice feast to cleanse myself. Do you think this would help the cravings for dairy, eggs, and cooked foods?



It absolutely will!!! I am thrilled with how many cooked food addictions my fasting has assisted me to release.

;)
Aleesha

[Medusa1977]

but I've gone back and forth so many times, I'm afraid of this being just another TRY and not a DO.


God, I can't tell you how many times I have felt the same thing. Only now I'm getting back to raw after months of eating, well, crap.
I too beat myself up and called myself a failure.
But then my sensei told me that if you're busy attacking yourself you don't have time to defend yourself. The last thing you need is to add another attacker.
We all have been there and we all are here for you. I believe in you. If that helps any. :o

[Soka]

As soon as we get rent paid, I'm going up to the Fresh Market right across from where I work and getting some fresh produce. Last time we were there, they had so many yummy things! I am a fruitaholic. I love blackberries (I could eat my weight in these), mangos, bananas, plums. Yum! I need to start eating more veggies though. I think I'm going to try increasing my raw intake bit by bit and maybe do a bit of juicing. Once my juicer gets moved over here, I can start juicing several times a day. Even my husband and mother in law want to try juicing.

I even found a juicing book at work with tons of recipes in it! Wow, now I'm getting excited. I don't work today, so I might head on over to my old apartment and get my juicer. I have so many strawberries in the fridge that are just begging to be juiced.

I think one of the main reasons I wasn't able to stick to raw the last time was my cravings for cooked and dairy, but also the fact that the produce didn't stay good long enough. I suppose I could always just buy a few days worth at a time now that the Fresh Market has opened up, but at the time, we were doing 1-2 weeks worth of groceries all at once and things started spoiling (my mother in law had taken over the fridge and we had no room for our own stuff. She has since cleaned it out and we have room. :) )

Any ideas on keeping things longer. Is freezing ok?

[alfredosanchez]

I think one of the main reasons I wasn't able to stick to raw the last time was my cravings for cooked and dairy, but also the fact that the produce didn't stay good long enough. I suppose I could always just buy a few days worth at a time now that the Fresh Market has opened up, but at the time, we were doing 1-2 weeks worth of groceries all at once and things started spoiling

...


Any ideas on keeping things longer. Is freezing ok?

Hi Soka!

It sounds like you had the exact same problem I had when I started. I would always buy too much and end up throwing out piles of fruits and veg.

This is how I got on the right track: With raw food, I would only buy enough to eat for the next day or maybe two days.

I would always make sure I had one ready-made salad on hand, even if this meant having to pop out to the supermarket every day (and always have a nice selection of delicious salad dressings!).

By doing this, I stopped wasting a lot of stuff. Gradually I learned what things I would probably use and could safely buy enough of to last three or four days with minimal waste.

Most fresh produce will not last longer than four or five days. So to be a raw foodie, in my opinion, realistically requires at least two trips to the supermarket or farmers market per week.

Regarding freezing: Yes, there is a lot of raw food you can freeze. Fruit is always freezable. Peeling and cutting up some bananas and freezing them is very useful for going into ice-cold fruit (or green) smoothies. :)