things to keep in mind

[kidkid]

hi y'all. I'm gonna be honest -- I have been having a really hard time sticking to my goal of 100% raw in the past few weeks. I have not been hard on myself, and I'm not a person who sweats the small stuff, but still I would like some support!:) I don't think I need any tips or special recipes right now. I'm reaching out to this wonderful community for some support in the form of sayings or mantras -- What idea, image, mantra, or saying helps you stay on track? What do you tell yourself or what do you conjure in your mind when you really really crave that [insert SAD food item here]? I think it would be really beautiful and inspiring to hear each others' ideas.

I'm sure a lot of you out there who are secure in the lifestyle and felt its benefits no longer have these kinds of craving problems, and so maybe don't really have a use for these techniques, but I would still love to hear from you! Hearing how it has benefitted you could be something that I could remember in the heat of the moment when I need a little raw inspiration.

Right now, my favorite thing to remember is the image of an antelope. I also ask myself the question "Do you want to feel dead today or alive today?"

[T-Bird]

Kidkid!

Keep the faith sister!

When it gets tougher - I think that the body is processing some old stuff - and that that awakens cravings for more of the "old stuff".

So when things are tougher - means a positive! Progress is being made!

Take heart! Just do the best you can and keep going!

[Springtime]

I visualise seeing a parent with an 2-year-old trying to feed the child whatever it is that i'm craving, and observe my reaction.
I useually think something like "NOOOO, g*ddamnit, don't feed the kid THAT!!! Are you out of your mind??!?"

And i think , that if i would not feed it to a little kid, there's no way i should have it. My reaction just told me what i really think about the food i craved, and that reaction useually puts me off having it.

For me, the positive things don't work as well. I need to feel an aversion to whatever it is that i want.

Also, if it's something from a huge multi-national corporation, i just think about how they treat their workers/the environment, and how i'd actually pay them to keep doing that by buying whatever snack i desired. And then i reeeallly don't wanna eat that whatever it was, ever agian :)

Peace

[spicyfull]

Just stay tuned to this Forum. Just reading and Posting keeps My enthusiusam High and aids the LifeStyle. You are taking with Like Minds and are able to Share. We have all been through it or are going through.

[klomasius]

This is one I use for presentations. I hold up a packet of some junk (biscuits, white flour etc.) and I say 'Is this what your lungs are made of? Your blood, heart, brain, face?' It gets some great reactions as often it's the point where people go 'oh my god' and make the whole 'you are what you eat' connection.

So think of the things you crave and go 'do I want my heart/lungs/blood/brain/muscles to be made of this?'.

[sport]

For me the magic thing is Digestive Leukocytosis and pulling my troupes from the real battle site.
I picture my white blood cells multiplying to fight off this foreign invader called cooked food and all my enzymes being diverted to this task and taken away from devouring that clump of cancer cells that has just started somewhere in my body and I decide that they are better off doing the cancer fighting task that they were designed to do and letting the enzymes in the food do the digestive tasks that they were designed to do.
Next time you are tempted, just picture your little army surrounding that cancer clump and think "do I want to pull them away.

[RawKnitster]

For starters I use the magic phrase coined by Alissa.

Don't indulge the thought.

Thinking about the craving will magnify it. Arguing the pros and cons of eatiing the item in question will magnify it, and you will lose the argument.

I scream in my head "Don't indulge the thought"!!!! Then I immediately think of a raw food I would like to eat, now or later, and/or have a big glass of water. Then I tell myself that my determination and persistence are supreme.

Another little saying I have used is that the next year is going to go by whether I am raw and not, and do I want to be having the same struggle at this time next year.

Keep trying. You will find something that works for YOU! :)

[gabriele]

For starters I use the magic phrase coined by Alissa.

Don't indulge the thought.

Thinking about the craving will magnify it. Arguing the pros and cons of eatiing the item in question will magnify it, and you will lose the argument.

I scream in my head "Don't indulge the thought"!!!! Then I immediately think of a raw food I would like to eat, now or later, and/or have a big glass of water. Then I tell myself that my determination and persistence are supreme.

Another little saying I have used is that the next year is going to go by whether I am raw and not, and do I want to be having the same struggle at this time next year.

Keep trying. You will find something that works for YOU! :)

Thank you for this great advice. I literrally have this VOICE in my head that screams for chocolate. I read that it's your super ego yelling this at you. Your inner, critical self that yells "you should go eat it, who cares, you always fail anyway, just do it" and so on. When will this voice go away? But i will try these great tips. Maybe it's time for me to buy Alissa's book.

[kidkid]

This is one I use for presentations. I hold up a packet of some junk (biscuits, white flour etc.) and I say 'Is this what your lungs are made of? Your blood, heart, brain, face?' It gets some great reactions as often it's the point where people go 'oh my god' and make the whole 'you are what you eat' connection.

So think of the things you crave and go 'do I want my heart/lungs/blood/brain/muscles to be made of this?'.


THIS IS A FANTASTIC IDEA. Really. it totally transforms the way you think about the food you're craving. Imagining dead chemical matter taking over my cells is enough to make me cringe, so i bet it's enough to make me skip over the doughnut. I don't want my cells to be made up of dead animal matter or chemicals or colorless cooked matter or unnatural and refined substances! I want to be made of sun energy and vitality and what the rest of the natural earth is made of!

[RaeVynn]

I go looking at great raw food recipes/photos, or I read raw testimonials, or I watch great raw food videos over on YouTube. I try to focus on all the positive things that raw has/is/will do for me.

It works for me, most of the time. :)

[SekhemNefer]

I don't know. I think raw is a process. I used to beat up on myself for "indulging the thought" and actually giving in to the indulgence. Now I don't, because the more you eat raw and when you fall off the wagon, the more realize you dislike the taste of the thing you are craving.

I used to LOOOOOOOOOOOVE pizza. I had it for the first time in months and craved it. I gave in to it and...realized that it did nothing for me at all. It was no longer tasty as my comfort food.

I think to truly get rid of a craving is to eat the craving to realize that after eating it that it wasn't a big deal to have it. After most cravings after indulging in it...I realize that I would be more happier with a salad. So the next time I get that craving, I will remember that the last time I cave into it that I wasn't all that satisfied.

As I do this, I realize that temptation is good. Because a lot of times the cravings are in our head, or maybe not. However the more you eat raw, you will begin to ween yourself from so called tempting foods, because your taste buds would have changed. It is quite a learning experience to see how your taste buds changed over time with cooked versus raw foods. And organic versus Genetically engineered and pesticide latent foods.


This has worked with me. The more I don't cave in to my cravings, the more I obsessed with it. I want what I can't have. That is me. However, having it...according to my taste buds...will show me as time progresses that my old comfort foods do not satisfy me anymore.


But then again, not everyone can do Raw cold turkey. I can't. I can only increase my percentage to being raw as time goes by. For instance, last year I would have craved a hot dog. I don't now, because when I ate one at a movie theater 3 months ago...that thing tasted more like salty salted salt than meat. When I went to the movie theater today, I was happy to skip the hot dog with no temptation due to me eating that horrid thing months ago.

Eventually, your taste buds will move you to raw more and more.

[EZ rider]

I have a pair of pants hanging on the back of the front room closet door that I look at whenever I need some mental mussel. I was wearing these huge pants when I went raw almost two years ago. I never want to go back to wearing those pants !