Why Do I sabotage myself, need help

[OrchidRaven]

I cannot go just 1 day raw, I get up, do great then all of a sudden I HAVE to eat something horrible like chips and onion dip just as an example, and I can't just have a taste, I eat it until I don't feel good...
I honestly don't know what to do, I am tired of trying to be raw and have food be my main thoughts throughout the day, I need things simple, but I get bored, I don't have any desire or enough money lol to make gourmet meals ....
Sorry, I am feeling very discouraged today and I know it's all just excuses, I find myself talking to people about being raw and I myself can't even do it lol
well thanks for listening/reading to me vent

[DandelionPuff]

Hi,
I've been having the same problem...
I'll start of the day great- maybe not always 100% raw, but pretty close. Lunch will be just dandy, usually a nice raw salad. And then after.. I decide I 'need' to make granola or choclate pudding, and... well.. you know where that goes!
I remember when I was up to 80-90% raw, and I felt so good. I miss that.

So, all in all, I'm still trying. I'm about to have lunch, someting raw, and then I'll start drawing or knitting- anything to keep my mind off of eating. You should try to find some project to work on to keep you busy between meals. Once the cycle of binging is broken, it should be easier...

Best of luck! I'm sure we can both get over this problem :D

[MysticTree]

I just know a bunch of people will rush on here and say EFT ... I've not tried it but it does seem to be a valid and successful method.

I'd hazard a guess though that whilst there may be an element of sabotage involved, you aren't eating enough.

Not eating enough is the root cause of many RAW failures. Your body wants the old rubbish and unless you give it more than enough of the raw food, monkey mind will get you back on the crud before you have time to blink.

I cannot go just 1 day raw, I get up, do great then all of a sudden I HAVE to eat something horrible like chips and onion dip just as an example, and I can't just have a taste, I eat it until I don't feel good...
I honestly don't know what to do, I am tired of trying to be raw and have food be my main thoughts throughout the day, I need things simple, but I get bored, I don't have any desire or enough money lol to make gourmet meals ....
Sorry, I am feeling very discouraged today and I know it's all just excuses, I find myself talking to people about being raw and I myself can't even do it lol
well thanks for listening/reading to me vent

[Revvell]

EFT when used correctly is a great modality. I've seen major changes with women I've worked with.

[kaleboy]

You are trying to be perfect and your goals are too high. Try something simple like having 3 green smoothies in a week and two salads then the rest of the time you can eat what you like. By achieving this you'll start to gain confidence and feel good about yourself. It is also a fairly cheap way to go...

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Yeah, not eating enough is a major problem. Best thing to do is to fill yourself up with smoothies, easy and simple. Never let yourself get hungry. lf you haven't got a really good blender, buy one!

[MysticTree]

3 green smoothies in a week and two salads then the rest of the time you can eat what you like.

That is such SAD eating though. High raw isn't difficult to do as long as you eat enough. 100% is difficult as long as you eat enough.

[PunkRotten]

I have a similar problem. The way I handle it though is knowing that I am mostly raw and not beat myself up over it. Everyday no matter what I do I almost make sure to have my green smoothie in the morning. The way I see it is you don't have to be so rigid about this diet. I find myself too worrying about food and what to eat and what not to eat, and how to make more interesting food. I get burned out and bored too. But I try to tell myself that eating SOME raw is better than nothing. It may take awhile to really learn this this diet and get good with it, but one day you'll get there. For the most part I probably eat about 75% raw, and I certainly eat more fruits and veggies than everyone I know. Unfortunately I know only SAD eaters and not one Raw food eater.

Every now and then I will binge and eat a bad food. The way I understand it is that it's an addiction and also probably emotionally comforting for me. I convince myself that I can have a little here and there, but then I get into the habit of buying it at the store. What you need to do is not buy it and have it in your house. Have only healthy raw foods.

[MysticTree]

Another key to success is looking at what your motivation is in the first place.

If a person's goal is fabulous over-all health then I think they are more likely to succeed.

I think a person is less likely to succeed if their primary goal is weight-loss. If it is treated as just another weight-loss program then it fails just like all other weight-loss programs because the program itself isn't the answer the person trying to stick to it is the answer.

[Myca]

I think it is food addictions. I really think some of us are extremely addicted to highly refined carbs and such. I firmly believe that some of us have an addiction that is as bad as any street drug. ( No disrespect for anyone who is dealing with a drug or alcohol addiction, is intended here.)
I read somewhere that you can be addiction in 21 days. My answer to that is...not all of us. I have found that large amounts of raw fruit keeps me in line more than any thing else. I still will eat a bag of potato chips or an ice cream...going so far as to get up in the middle of the night to go find one. Only addicts do stuff like that.
What I have found is that I can go for longer and longer periods of time...generally, between binges.
How else can anyone explain why you would put food in your mouth that causes physical and mental pain...over and over again.
Am I spelling the word right? My spell check is not working

Keep fighting it.

[Steven]

I think it is food addictions. I really think some of us are extremely addicted to highly refined carbs and such. I firmly believe that some of us have an addiction that is as bad as any street drug. ( No disrespect for anyone who is dealing with a drug or alcohol addiction, is intended here.)
I read somewhere that you can be addiction in 21 days. My answer to that is...not all of us. I have found that large amounts of raw fruit keeps me in line more than any thing else. I still will eat a bag of potato chips or an ice cream...going so far as to get up in the middle of the night to go find one. Only addicts do stuff like that.
What I have found is that I can go for longer and longer periods of time...generally, between binges.
How else can anyone explain why you would put food in your mouth that causes physical and mental pain...over and over again.
Am I spelling the word right? My spell check is not working

Keep fighting it.
If you undereat on calories and carbs(which is very easy to do on raw), you will eventually binge on things like chips, ice cream, rice dishes, pizza, etc. A lot of the time it isnt food addictions but your body is pretty much starving and will force you to go get food no matter if its unhealthy as long as it has the carbs and calories for you to survive.

[MysticTree]

If you undereat on calories and carbs(which is very easy to do on raw), you will eventually binge on things like chips, ice cream, rice dishes, pizza, etc. A lot of the time it isnt food addictions but your body is pretty much starving and will force you to go get food no matter if its unhealthy as long as it has the carbs and calories for you to survive.

+ a million :)

[OrchidRaven]

What is EFT? Thank you all for the advice, I feel a lot of it is both not eating enough plus boredom , I was trying to figure out yesterday what I ate and how much and when I usually eat the bad stuff, when I am home out of work like right now and when I am at my weekend job, I work nights and once things calm down I eat poorly and just snack on crap, I try to bring a variety of snacks to work so this doesn't happen but I "talk" myself right into the bad stuff, I also believe that I need to remind myself that if I have a snack, say an apple, it's ok to have more than one if I still feel hungry lol


I just know a bunch of people will rush on here and say EFT ... I've not tried it but it does seem to be a valid and successful method.

I'd hazard a guess though that whilst there may be an element of sabotage involved, you aren't eating enough.

Not eating enough is the root cause of many RAW failures. Your body wants the old rubbish and unless you give it more than enough of the raw food, monkey mind will get you back on the crud before you have time to blink.

[MysticTree]

I think it is food addictions. I really think some of us are extremely addicted to highly refined carbs and such. I firmly believe that some of us have an addiction that is as bad as any street drug. ( No disrespect for anyone who is dealing with a drug or alcohol addiction, is intended here.)
I read somewhere that you can be addiction in 21 days. My answer to that is...not all of us. I have found that large amounts of raw fruit keeps me in line more than any thing else. I still will eat a bag of potato chips or an ice cream...going so far as to get up in the middle of the night to go find one. Only addicts do stuff like that.
What I have found is that I can go for longer and longer periods of time...generally, between binges.
How else can anyone explain why you would put food in your mouth that causes physical and mental pain...over and over again.
Am I spelling the word right? My spell check is not working

Keep fighting it.

I don't think it is addictions so much as compulsions. Caffeine is addictive but I don't think doughnuts are. They are sweet and comforting and we behave compulsively because we are conditioned that way.

[snoops]

I totally disagree - I am addicted to refined carbs. I get up every day and say I will not eat them, force green smoothies, do EFT, by the end of the day I am eating them. Then I hate myself and go to bed saying tomorrow will be different, I can't do this anymore. Wake up and repeat. If that isn't addiction I don't know what is.

However if you can get some days - 4-5 under your belt the cravings will go away. It doesn't even take the 21 - for me anyway. I think, as the proverbial addict, that I hit bottom when I was having so much acid reflux at night that my throat hurt all the time and I was not sleeping well. I got so mad that I got the 4-5 days behind me and am on day 11 now of no wheat or dairy. I am doing well so far but know the only thing that I need to ruin it is to have some junk. I don't want esophageal cancer - had a friend die from it - so I am determined for many reasons to keep this up.

You may wonder why I am on a raw food forum if I eat wheat and dairy(or should I say used to!):) I know raw is the way to go and strive for it everyday. Still not all raw but no wheat and dairy is a huge step towards it.

My Dad was an alcoholic(which predisposes me to addictions of any kind) and I was leafing through the AA book after he died. Many things apply to all addictions. I recommend it.

[MysticTree]

I would say that your behaviour is more compulsive than addictive.

[Revvell]

If/when EFT doesn't "work", it's because there are other aspects that are not being addressed, meaning the root is deeper than just what's obvious and there may be offshoots of that root.

[MysticTree]

If/when EFT doesn't "work", it's because there are other aspects that are not being addressed, meaning the root is deeper than just what's obvious and there may be offshoots of that root.

I don't really know anything about EFT or CBT or any of the other therapies but I figure that problems with and around food are symptoms of "something" and that just as we - on RTF - don't hold with medications that mask symptoms in clinical dis-ease so we need to deal with what causes the symptom/s we express with our food issues. So ... for example . . .

My father was an alcoholic. He hated himself and felt he was a failure.
My mother was very weak
My father told me I would never amount to anything.
My mother comforted me with food.
My father, when he felt repentant, comforted me with food.
My mother when she was frustrated with my father and with me told me "You are as bad as your father"
I comforted myself with food.
and so food and failure and comfort are all neatly packaged into this horrible web that fuels itself and perpetuates. It's not addiction. It's conditioning.

Once that is recognised and ACCEPTED it is possible to start dealing with it.

[Myca]

If you undereat on calories and carbs(which is very easy to do on raw), you will eventually binge on things like chips, ice cream, rice dishes, pizza, etc. A lot of the time it isnt food addictions but your body is pretty much starving and will force you to go get food no matter if its unhealthy as long as it has the carbs and calories for you to survive.

Absolutely true. I also found out the hard way that I can be so full I am going to pop, and still be anxious, restless and seeking ice cream...and will eat it if I can get to it. It makes me so mad at myself.

The other thing that I noticed, is that WHILE I am eating the very bad thing, I start thinking and planning my next 'cheat'. I have also gone as far as getting ice cream at one McDonald's and driving down the road to the other McDonald's to get another ice cream.

Reflecting on that behavior actually made it easier not to go looking for bad things in the first place. I know it doesn't make the craving go away. The craving is still there while I am eating the bad thing!
Now when I really start thinking about cheating, usually triggered by something I saw or something someone is eating, I drink water, I play with my phone, I pray to God above, and I think about how running off and getting the item is not going to stop it, just makes it worse. I may as well be good, the craving is not going away with the cheat.
The longer I go in between, the better things get.
I always, always keep bananas with me now. Everywhere I go I have a bag of bananas because you are so right, if you get too hungry, you are going to crash. It may be days before I get a grip.

[Myca]

I sometimes lay awake at night and think about bad food. I dream about it. I fight it everyday. Some days are worse than others. Lately, I have been seeing research items that are alluding to this.

Snoops, that's me...Raw for today.

[Revvell]

Once that is recognized and ACCEPTED it is possible to start dealing with it.

Yep! And those can be acknowledged and eliminated with EFT. Those are some of the various aspects that I was talking about. Some just say something like "Even though I don't want to eat this now, I choose to love and appreciate myself." Which can work up to a point yet, doesn't address the deeper aspects which you just mentioned... and many more.

"Even though my father was an alcoholic and hated himself, I choose to love, honor and respect MYself".... etc. (While tapping)

[MysticTree]

I think that is what I do - in essence - but without the tapping and without the structured statements.

[Revvell]

I think that is what I do - in essence - but without the tapping and without the structured statements.

Ummmm... o.k. Well, EFT is with both. The tapping is what frees the emotional energy behind the self-sabotage.

[MysticTree]

I haven't self sabotaged in ages :)

[OrchidRaven]

Thank you all for your replies I really appreciate it and I am going to work on this, I really don't want food to be my main focus every waking moment lol

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Absolutely true. I also found out the hard way that I can be so full I am going to pop, and still be anxious, restless and seeking ice cream...and will eat it if I can get to it. the craving is not going away with the cheat.
.

l was only listening to a worldclass expert talking about this exact thing yesterday. He has delt with thousands of people with the same problem. He say that without exception these cravings are caused by blood sugar disorders. ln his experience he highly recommends that folks addicted to refined breads, booze and sweets take the green algae Chlorella. He says the high quality protein in Chlorella will regulate blood sugars properly.

l have been trying Chlorella on my diabetic mother and it is working wonders. Only use the best stuff, Sun Chlorella A or buy the same repackaged stuff from HHI. lt is amazing stuff!

[snoops]

I will try that Mr. Raw. My naturopath also gave me gymnema which is an herb used to regulate blood sugar. I have been taking it for about a week and cant say I have noticed a difference yet though.

[karenisraw]

Hi,

I have food addictions. Fine if it is raw vegan. I find that if I keep something in the fridge ready to eat for when you have urges, you may cut down on your binges of SAD food. I like to keep chopped veggies with some kind of marinate in it like olive oil and lemon juice and then I put the veggies in romain leaves.
If you keep something like this available and ready you may stay raw.

Good luck!

[Myca]

Where might I find cholorella?