Middle of the road.

[Luciano]

here is where i am today after 3-4 months of raw food and a few years of vegetarianism / veganism:

Pros:
-energy levels are consistently better
-perception and subtle things in life become much more apparent
-i feel more in sync with nature

Cons:
-ive become an outcast socially. cant go out and eat out anymore, cant share a meal in anyones house, always have to cook my own food.

-ive lost so much weight im not comfortable with it. i feel good but im really skinny now and i dont see a way of getting it back.

-cant even touch anything cooked, diary or grains, cause ill go down like a lead zeppelin. this is irritating since i work as a chef and i HAVE to taste the food before i offer it to people. In my current working situation offering 100% raw food is equal to financial suicide.

-even a subtle bad food combination will trigger gas and low energy. before i could eat pounds of ice cream with no major effects. people lunch pizza and burgers everyday and continue with their lives, i make a bad mixture (ie honey and salad) and have to take a day off. i dont feel this is fair.


Can't go back. Destination seems too far away.

today is the first day i lost my faith in raw food, and, having seen a few pillars of the movement fall lately, i could use some soothing words.

thanks.

[blizzardfrisbee]

Well, Keep sounds like you are having a little struggle. I've only been raw for a 3 months too. I understand how hard it is when invited to someone's house--we are in the minority. I get a salad when I go to a restaurant. I have people telling me I am crazy.

I keep going back to how do I feel on raw and how do I feel on cooked food. Raw wins hands down. I have slipped a couple of times but have found that my taste buds are changing and cooked food doesn't appeal to me.

I say to you--remember how you feel now! Remember the pros.

I have the same problem you have--- I have always been thin--- but had gained up to 140 lbs. Since being raw I lost 40 lbs. I think I am too skinny and don't really know how to change that. Any suggestions from others/??

You don't happen to live in PA do you??? Anyone live near Duncannon??? Harrisburg??? I would love to hook up with someone that is raw.

Raw is new to me. I have struggled some here and there. Again, I say remember, remember how good you DO feel. SAD does make me SAD.

Somehow we have to figure out how to eat raw and still be able to go out(as I said, I get the biggest salad I can) That seems to work for me. The hard part I have is not the restaurants but other people's houses. People don't get it. But it is my life-- and I just am working on remembering. Remembering how I feel. I've started to tell those that give me a hard time--I'm doing this for me--cause I'm not going on all the medicines like you are on.

Anyway, don't know if I helped you any--I was kind of rambling somewhat.

[DebB]

This doesn't address all your concerns, but I always order a big whoppin' salad and ask them to throw everything they've got 'fresh' on there and that I'll skip the dressing (I always tell them I've brought my own if they question). I pack along my own salad dressing plus an avocado. Before I leave home, I cut the avo in half and remove the pit. Then I put it back together and put it in a ziploc. No one even notices!

We go over to other peoples' house for dinner often. I simply do exactly what I did when I was low carbing - I take my own. No one minds a bit!

We went to our oldest son's for Thanksgiving dinner. I made my favorite salad for myself, I made pesto stuffed mushrooms to pass (everyone loved them) and the Jumble Berry Upside Down Cake (only I don't make it into a cake) for dessert - another favorite of everyone in our family! *Ü*

[blizzardfrisbee]

DebB --thanks for sharing. I like hearing what others are doing that have been doing this longer than me.

[Stella Green]

I hope this doesn't defy any rules, but keep track of your calories, just to make sure you're eating enough. If you can, I also recommend getting your blood levels checked. You don't have to count calories every day of your life, but just keep track of what you eat for a couple days. Then you'll be able to tell whether or not your body is getting whatever you need.

As for the social aspect, this is what works for me, but I'm not giving advice, just sharing: I stopped centering my social life around food. I know that sounds crazy, but I just don't do it anymore. It's a lot cheaper that way, too--I used to try to bring stuff wherever I go, and bring stuff to share, but that got to be too much. For example, my friends and I are having a Christmas party, and so of course there will be lots of snacks. I'm just going to eat a lot beforehand, and then I'll take some teabags (roibus) in my pocket, so I can have something warm in my hands when everyone else is scarfing down treats. You know what always happens is that there are a few awkward moments about the fact that I'm not eating cookies, in which I shrug, and then we move on to other talk. Because I don't make it a big deal, it's not. Sometimes even, people end up complaining that they ate too much and that they feel crappy (I've learned not to say I told you so, either.) Anyway, life is so wonderful and interesting and quirky! Food shouldn't rule my life, and it doesn't rule my social life. Merry merry!

[Stina]

Once I called ahead to a restaurant that I knew I was going tho and predetermined that I could have the garden salad and that the salsa and guacamole were fresh too. I piled all of this food up on my plate, didn't call attention to what I was doing and none of my dear friends had tho be offended by the fact that I had a delicious healthy meal.........

Too skinny? Figure out if your phisiology thrives on more fruit, more fat or mixed together.