How long before making the jump?

[livenraw]

How long before you finally made the jump to 100%? And what made you finally jump the fence? I really want to, but the weather is sooooooooooooo cold up here, I tend to long for warm foods and warm drinks. But I got pics back today from when I ate nothing but raw foods and drank only water, green tea and herbal tea (so I wasn't 100%) and what a difference! I look soooooooooooo good! I mean, we're talking beauty queen status here. So what if I went 100% with everything? I just can't imagine!

[ReneeSC]

I had to hop the fence pretty quick - I gave myself 2 weeks of a vegetarian diet before going vegan/raw. I'm glad I did.. because I needed that time to figure out what on EArth I was doing.

Warmth: We've been discussing this for several months now, and most of us do a few things for warmth:

Higher fat content - could be a supplimented oil or an oil in a salad dressing ( olive or flax seed ), avocados, nuts..etc.

More movement - not necesarily aeorbic - just movement..could be long stretches.

Warm baths or showers - I've done this since I was a teenager. Cold days - I take very warm baths and it makes me feel wonderful. Also feet soaks - hot epsom salt feet soaks. Ahhhhhhhhh

Hot packs- These can be made very inexpensively in your home with muslin ( et al ) and rice or flax - mixed with an herb that are heated.

Hot spices or pepper-: 90,000 BTU cayenne does it for me! Wow! That'll make you sweat in an iceburg. Seriously, it works, too. If you can stomach peppers, and many can't, then you can use the ground hot powders in drinks or in a salsa.

The all-time obvious answer.. wear more clothing. When we were living in this one particular house as kids - the part where we were sleeping wasn't heated. We went to bed in coats, hats and gloves. Sure did!

Space heat: We will not use propane - so we use electric space heaters. I have one on my desk right now.. and although I'm wearing a turtle neck, a gingham over dress, tights, I also have on an enormous pull-over sweater. I don't look sexy, but I'm WARM.

I'm buying every bed here a large, hot water bottle. We would use those as children, too.

Another thing that keeps heat in the body... is eating. Honest. Keep that inner fire stoked by feeding it. Keep yourself busy by keeping yourself moving - and stretched - soak away some shivers, wrap yourself in warm clothing, eat spicey foods, keep up your fat intake, and sit near something very warm!

:) Welcome Home. ( feel a warm fuzzy feeling yet? )

[Sharon in Colorado]

Try remember that your body temp is always going to remain the same, and you really don't *have* to have something hot. However, you may want to abstain from anything paticularly cold which may cause you to have chills as your body is adjusting to the temperature of what you put into you.

If you are an all or nothing person, you should go ahead and jump right in. However, if you are able to, you might want to give yourself a few weeks to a month to gradually get into it. First week start with eliminating animals, then next week drop refined sugar, then dairy, then cooked grains, etc.

It is different for everyone. I was already a vegetarian when I went raw, I hear it is easier for most people. There is always a minority of people who are able to jump right into it. You can try it both ways and see for yourself.

[Fruitarianone]

Personaly, I would think and take time to prepare yourself before you take the plunge and go 100% you can jump in and go cold turkey if you want but the detox is really no joke! I would wait until the summer (depending where you live) before I think about going 100%!!! so I would take from now till the summer gradually reducing whatever cooked food your eating so that by the time the summer comes your cravings/detox won't be so hard! I would take time to prepare yourself first but that's just my personal opinion. ;)

[Goddess_girl]

I have been on /off about a year now; but now I intend to be 100%. My push was my husband. His support and love. He has been helping me stay foccused. Another push was looking at myself in a full lenghth mirror.
I dont want to be fat and unhealthy all my life.

[RawTruth]

Regular, garden-variety vegetarian one day -- raw vegan the next. I did it using Alissa's terrific 30-day method in her book, which is what I advise everyone to do. You'll be a different person at the end of a month.

As to detox - everyone is different and many people don't have severe, prolonged detox.

Renee has very fully addressed the warmth issue. Also, many raw foods can be heated to a safe temperature in the dehydrator.

If your appearance and health was so improved that it was visible in photographs, I'd think that's all the push you need.

However, you may be the kind of person who needs to transition more slowly. If so, maybe making a specific plan would be helpful.

Just one last note - having a husband who supports you in this is a phenomenal thing. I can't count how many posts have been on this board from people whose spouses and families are not behind them and who actively undermine their resolve. You are very lucky!

Good luck!

[TimmyC]

I was a big time SAD food eater. I changed overnight. I'm so very glad I did. The detox wasn't a laughing matter for me. However, I wouldn't change a thing if I did it again.

[twinee1]

I have always eaten what I consedered "clean" and not really the SAD...but I simply ate too much protein and after 10 years of that I was simply not "handling" it anymore. So I went to RAW in a few short weeks, though I had a few cooked items that I used to help with the transition. I am now 3 months into this way of eating and 100% Raw diet challenge for two weeks.
My husband says it is a FAD and I will go back to my high protein diet...but NO I WON"T GO. I fell so much better and looking better too. I got my bright eyes back !

I went through a month of detox, two weeks I felt really bad...then fine but now 2 weeks into the 100% challenge I am going into another detox. My sinuses are draining and it is giving my a sore throat and upset tummy.