How do you get over cravings for cooked food?

[NappturalBeauty1980]

Hello,

I am currently on the RFC (day 10), and I am SERIOUSLY craving cooked foods. I want like, chinese food and sandwiches. I didnt have all of these cravings at the beginning. So, I was wondering how do you satisfy all of the cravings for your old favorites?

Any suggestions would be wonderful, thanks!

[Rawkinlocs]

what I do is try to re-invent them in a raw version if I can. Sometimes I'm successful and sometimes I'm not. When I'm not, I'll do one of two things, either eat the thing I crave or I try and shake it off.

With sandwiches are you craving meat, bread, or the whole shabang? You could do sandwiches using dehydrated "bread" and veggies of your choice, you could do lettuce or greens wraps with your favorite (raw) sandwich fixings and some kind of raw mayo or raw dressing, I've heard some use dehydrated or fresh eggplant slices as bread, I've heard of some using marinated portabela mushrooms as "meat"...just gotta be creative.

As for Chinese food...do spring rolls using cabbage or greens as the wrapper and fill with...well, I posted what I did in the thread about collard wraps in the recipe section...you could do stir-"fry"...if you're talking fried rice...well you can TRY but it won't be quite the same.

Also keep in mind that you've been at this for 10 days which is a long enough time for your body to now begin bringing up old cravings, old feelings, old ailments, etc. and it's a part of the whole detox process.

But getting over cravings is very tough. It's a mind thing for the most part and sometimes you gotta play games with your own mind to overcome. I (thankfully) was raw all day today. I haven't been able to do this for a little while now. I'd do well all day long and then in the evening, at dinner time is when I'd end up eating cooked food. But today, I just kept stuffing my face with what I really love that is raw and that helped. Now I just gotta get my butt in the bed before the midnight munchies hit me!

[smasty]

Yep...exactly what rawkin said...find the raw alternative that will satisfy your cravings. I found the burger buns to be a really good bread alternative...put some mozzarella cheeze, black olives and kale and tomato on it and it's heaven. For meat...I was astonished the first time I tried mushrooms. I always hated mushrooms, but all of the sudden they tasted like meat to me.

Also...for chinese food, I get my fix with my nama shoyu salad dressing...I love it! You can marinate veggies in it and it will be like a stir fry. Try using olive oil, nama shoyu, tahini, lime, ginger....then pour it over bean sprouts, pea pods, shredded chinese cabbage, corn, green peppers, mushrooms. Yum!

[Allison]

I, too, just eat a lot more raw when I am really craving something cooked...oh, and drink a lot of water, too. That seems to help.

For chinese, you can try slicing really thin onion, mushrooms, and peppers and marinating in nama shoyu or Braggs and a little olive oil. If you have a dehydrator, you can even put this in there for a while to warm it up. Also, we eat Savory Spring Rolls from Gabriel Cousens' book with Thai Sauce from Eating Without Heating. If you would like the recipes, let me know. The Thai Sauce especially has a good oriental flavor.

For sandwiches, we use dehydrated bread or crackers. You can also use a lettuce or cabbage leaf, but if you're really craving a sandwich, the crackers might do the trick. You can, of course, use raw almond butter and honey or fruit on it. Or you can make a mock tuna or gardenburger. Top with lettuce, tomato, etc. Delicious!

Allison

[Rawism]

I drink a lot of water and go to sleep (if I can). That way I am no longer thinking about it.

It works for me. But the cravings do tend to cease after a while. I promise.

[Sweet lips]

Napptural,

You have received some wonderful suggestions. Last evening, I went to a lecture by Doug Graham and he suggested that you eat plenty of fresh fruit - which will swatisfy the craving for cooked, sweet, salty and starchy foods. He eats fruit first every day and before wach meal, given proper digestion time - and since Raw is not mainstream, there are no portion sizes to be equated with what to recommend - so eat until your hearts content or bowel tolerence cause it will do that.

Now from my personal wisdom libary - I make things with avocados and soups which are comfort foods. I also love Alissa's Almost tuna, which helps me and I use marianted and dehydrated eggplant as my bread, with lettuce and tomato and I drink water, with lemon.

[racheljj]

This is one of my downfalls with raw foods, and I was going to start a thread about this myself so I'm glad someone else did. :) When I smell yummy cooked foods and see others eat it (which is every day with a family), I crave it/ want it so badly. In fact, I often cook healthy, delicious meals for my family and then want to eat what they are eating with them (My husband will never give up meat so advice to make my family go raw wouldn't be helpful--I need advice about how to deal with it myself...and it's hard to have the energy to make substitutes for myself when I already cook for my family, work three part time jobs and homeschool my children). Sometimes I've been able to force myself to not give in to the cravings and other times I'm not able to do that. Do we ever get rid of the cravings? I don't want to create that mental/emotional conflict within myself anymore (where I'm trying to force myself to stick with raw when I really want cooked) so I haven't even been trying to stick with all raw lately. Still, I would really like to do all raw for one to three months to see how I feel, to see what it does for me, to experience it for myself. I've made it about a month before, but that's it. Also, just eating all fruit or tons of fruit like Dr. D suggests doesn't work for me because my body doesn't feel good on that--I feel like I have too much sugar in my system and then I crave fat and salty things.

So, how DO you stick with raw when you have strong cravings AND stay emotionally/mentally healthy? If I'm going to stick with all raw, it doesn't help to have a cooked meal because then I go back to eating mostly cooked.

Rachel

[Rawkinlocs]

Rachel,

I think that there are a few factors that come into play with this whole "raw" thing. One has to ask themselves several questions:

1. Why am I doing this?
2. Do I TRULY feel this is the right thing to do?
3. Will this benefit me and how?
4. How do I feel when I eat cooked food vs. when I eat raw food?

See, for ME, I feel that this is the right way to eat...the way we were all destined to eat. Now, all the recipes and stuff, that's fine in the beginning stages if one NEEDS that to help them stay raw or as raw as possible...but ultimately, fruits and veggies in their natural state with some nuts/seeds is the goal.

Sometimes I just don't feel like whipping up a lot of recipes, so I have to rely on the raw comfort foods for those times. Lately, I've been loading up on bananas and almond butter, grawnola bars from my dehydrator plain or with almond butter, pears, and a few other things that I really, really enjoy eating.

When I see or smell the foods my family eats, I just grab my comfort foods and while it's not what or remotely close to what they're having, it satisfies me and I feel good when I notice I didn't eat the thing I was tempted to eat.

This is day 4 for me after a LOOOONNNNGG period of eating mostly raw and actually ALLOWING myself to eat other cooked items. I mean, I just gave myself that because I needed to get it out of my system. Then, a friend and I talked on the phone and she and I both agreed it's time out for playing and time to do this thing right. So, I made the committment to myself that I would try my darndest to stay raw. If I slip, I won't dwell on it, I won't harp on it, I won't make excuses for it...I'll just keep on trying the next day.

So far I haven't swayed and it feels good. But I had to be ready because you're right, the mental/emotional anguish of beating one's self up isn't healthy.

So I say to you, do what you need to do. Re-evaluate why you wanted to try this raw thing in the first place, what your past diet lacked that you thought you'd gain from this way of eating, weigh out the pro's and con's for yourself and decide if this is what you really want to do.

You mentioned you've done it for one month...how'd you feel?

Eating a LOT of the raw foods you love the most...finding at least one or two raw recipes that you love and making it - I understand about not wanting or feeling up to making all the different meals...but look at it this way...suppose you had a health issue that the doctor said you must eat this type of food or cook you food this type of way...your family is eating burgers but you're only allowed to have fish and no red meat. What do you do? You either disregard the doctor's orders and disregard what eating that red meat will do to your present health condition and just deal with the consequences or you do what you gotta do and work it out.

So, if you really feel raw is for you, then you do what you gotta do and work it out, realizing that it will be challenging with having to cook for a family who eats the total opposite. But if you come to realize raw (all raw) ISN'T for you, then accept that and eat the best, most healthful diet you can.

Just re-evaluate, Rachel. Figure if this is what you really want and most of all, WHY you do if you do and go from there.

[Sweet lips]

I read your post yesterday and it stayed with me through today, so I hope you take this in the spirit that it is given - as suggestions and not a personal affront or critique of you as a person.

Have you asked yourself why you chose raw in the beginning - Vanity, Illness, spiritual, new way of life, or just curious? I see that you did write that you want to see how you feel, and to see what it does for you. I think those are reasonable questions and goals to set for oneself, and so that alone could be the catalyst to have you select one month to be 100% raw - regardless of whether or not you have all the periphal things going on. I say that because, all of us are living, and with that comes responsibilites, stresses, joys, pains and challenges as you explain, mom, homeschooling, working , wife...., that is just what it is -living. Not to make any light as to what you do, but each and every person feels what they are doing, and adding a lifestyle change can create stress or it can not.

Also, how important are you to you? Really think on that, as this thread has put forth a lot of suggestions and does this board with all kinds of suggestions, and recipes, and delights of life , that is what it was about - "how do you satisfy cravings", and I think that your question was answered - however, that is just my opinion.

So, I posed the question about you as you stated " So, how DO you stick with raw when you have strong cravings AND stay emotionally/mentally healthy?" That has to come from you- because if giving up cooked food is difficult for you - is being raw what you really want - or would you rather just have a diet that is partially raw, with cooked. It really is not up to anyone to judge you if you choose not to strive to be 100% raw - that is entirely up to you, but you really have to give you permission for you and you alone.

There are raw people - 100% and below who do very well with preparing cooked food including meat for the families -and as from what I can see, they have made a personal decision to do so, and are managing to do that well.

Seek the journey that suits you best - you will know it because it will cease to be a such a difficult struggle - there may be some challenges, but it won't be a struggle, peace will be associated with your journey, balance will be a measure, and once you have reached and completed a portion of the journey, new windows of hope will open, new challenges will arise, and you will know that you Racheljj, will be doing the best for you- and you will have peace that exceeds all understanding. ;)

[Sharon in Colorado]

Rachel I would definately try some recipes. All fruit in the beginning is hard for most people. I know you'll desire a lot of fruit later on, but not in the very beginning when your body is still on cooked. You have to allow those recipes for yourself, make enough so you aren't doing them all the time, and eat them when you crave a heavier meal. If you don't take time for yourself to do this, you are going to crave the food you are making your family. You spend time doing this for your family, take time to do a little something for yourself.

It's funny, most people who were once meat-eaters have said they'd never give it up. I did, and I thought vegetarians were weird. People change for different reasons. Most people change for their health. Funny things happen - folks will do anything to get healthy, remember the Boutenkos? They had a hard, hard time changing but 8 years later here they are, with their health problems in the past. Never say never! I'm not saying to deny your family or try to change them, but keep it in your head that people DO change and CAN change. Remove the mental block about things not being possible or doable. Anything can be doable in this world, you know. Even you and I who have to cook for our families!

And, I know, you DO lose the taste for cooked food after a while. I've done it for a few months, and I lost the taste or desire to eat bread. It always tastes strange after I first re-introduced it, but after a while of eating it, the addiction returns and I'm back on the struggle.

In your book, Wake Up Running, you accomplished something that you never have done before in your life. If you can do that, anything is possible. You just have to keep your eye on the prize, girl. You also have to stop trying to come up with reasons why you can't. Those are HUGE mental blocks for most of us. I can't because there's this function....I can't because I made a special dish...I can't because somebody cooked something for me....I can't because I'm having a hormonal time from my PMS... I can't I can't I can't.... STOP....try to block out that monkey chatter in your brain, it'll drive you absolutely crazy. If you think too much about this, your emotions will get in the way of what your brain is trying to do!

Sorry - went off on a bit of a tangent. I would have e-mailed this to you privately (I already sent you something else to 'chew' on) but I thought maybe there are others out there who'd like to read this.

Love ya...

[Analeah]

Wow, what wonderful suggestions you all have! I agree with making some recipes and trying to find something that tastes REALLY yummy to you. As for cravings, I have found that the thing which has helped me more than anything is to remind myself when I have a strong craving that the taste sensation will only be very temporary and after I won't feel too good. I found that I used to always eat a little cooked food here and there because I found ways to justify to myself why it is okay to eat a little of this or that. My suggestion is just to remind yourself when you are thinking of eating a chip or a sandwich or any kind of cooked food around the house that it really isn't worth it for your body and sure it will taste good but that will only last for a few minutes so it really is not worth it. I have only been all raw for the last few weeks but I have noticed significant craving decrease for almost all cooked foods I used to desire. I know though that I am ever changing and while I may detox more in the future some cravings will probably come up but making something really raw and yummy will help me a lot.

[misslinda]

I hoep this comes across helpful......

I mentioned this to someone else on this forum. i'm making some fun colorful tags that read "cause headaches and big hips" or "bloated and depressed" these are tags I will put on food or post it in various places of my apartment. That way I will conditon myself to resist. I hope this offers some ideas and is helpful........funny, I admire your massive cravings b/c you have reached a level of detox that i have yet to experience. If anything "Congrats on day 10 Analeah!!!!"

luv,
linda :)

[Sweet lips]

Miss linda,

I like that - actually I could put one on my t.v. as I am prone to watch too much t.v.

Also, I never thought about it like that, but you are right - a sign of detox. I remember once fasting and on day 7 or so, I woke up about 5:00 a.m. smelling fried chicken - I lived in the country, the only chickens around there lived in a coop, and not on our property. It was amazing, the smell was vey significant. I woke my husband up who was a vegetarian then as now (although, he recently became vegan because of the article on milk - another post), and asked him if he smelled it and he looked at me like I was a little crazy. Later that day, I experince one of the worst phases of detox I had ever had.

Thanks again.

[Curtis]

Thank you all for wonderful ideas here. :) I guess for me I miss bread the most and usually use flax seed crackers or make some essene bread when I need it. The one time I craved pizza I went out and bought the ingredients and made Alissa's pizza. :) I am starting to realize to that this change over takes time, folks give your self the slack to make mistakes without getting really down about it or you will quit. Always concentrate on your success not your failures and we will all improve daily.

[misslinda]

That's cute Sweetlips,

I'm getting a visual for this in my head. A 5 am wakeup call b/c you smell friend chicken (!!!!) Love it.

Curtis thank you for reminding us about Daily achivements. I'm one that eagerly invisions the whole picture. I have always been an all or nothing kind of gal. Well, it's time for a change.

luv,
linda :rolleyes:

[Analeah]

Cravings have been a little more hard for me to deal with the last few days because I moved out of my house and now I have no "rawing" equipment (blender, food processor etc). I have pretty much been living off mandarin oranges, dates, avocados and nuts. It's nice in a way because I never do anything much to prepare food lately and I am getting used to eating more simply. I saw an all vegetarian Indian takeout restaurant and I was sooooo tempted as Indian food and any kind of vegetarian restaurant is a huge weakness for me lol. However I don't want to ruin the level I have right now so I am going to try and stay strong and resist the temptation!
If anything "Congrats on day 10 Analeah!!!!" Thanks Linda! I am not sure how many days I have been all raw for but I can really notice huge differences just in the last couple weeks.

[Jay]

Hi everyone,

I too still suffer from cravings, and maybe that's because I still allow some cooked/processed foods into my diet from time to time, or because of detoxing and that they remind me of the food, I don't know... what I do know is that eating just a little bit of non-raw cookies/ice cream/bread eaten on a sunday can cause MAJOR detox symptoms up to three days after!! I didn't feel too good on monday- tummy ache, feeling down and blèh (day after non-raw), but yesterday was awful!!! It started out with a slight headache in the afternoon and again some tummy aches, but then, in the early evening, detox struck back! OMG! I was in so much pain, my whole head hurted so much, it must have been one of the worst headaches I have ever had in my life!! Normally they kind of fade away when I go to bed, so I did (it was 6:30pm) and it just got worse! I kept thinking about other stuff, but after a minute my attention got drawn back to the pounding pain in my head, awfull! At 10pm, I couldn't take it anymore and took something for my headache, neurofen, always worked in the past, but not this time! Around 12pm it slightly got better, only the back of my head was still acheing, I think I fell asleep, finally, after 2am... woke up around 9am, headache is gone, although I can still feel it very lightly in the back on my head, I drank a ton of orange juice, I craved that last night, so hopefully the vitamin C works his magic...

Lesson I have learned: whatever it is, however good and tempting it smells, I'm staying clear of everything non-raw for now! No way I want to experience this again!! I should put colorfull post-its on items saying: 'remember 14th December??'...

J.

[smasty]

Wow...I love the posts here! So thoughtful and insightful. I love the "tagging" of foods...GREAT!

I have really struggled the past week...but I'm firmly back on track now. I always say...avoid the one bad decision. Everytime I've struggled to get back on track I can trace it back to one single bad decision I've made. My one bad decision this time? Eating Godiva chocolate last Wednesday. That started me spiralling out of control...and I'm lucky it only lasted about 5-6 days. Usually a spiral will last months with me. It's just not worth it!! I love living in the world where I can eat anything I want (if it's raw) and not lose control, not gain weight, not get bloated, not feel achy, not have a runny nose.

Anyway...I'm not answering the question, am I? At some point you do have to just conquer the cravings. Enjoy the smell of cooked food like it's poupourri (sp?) in the air. Take a deep breath, appreciate it, but don't associate it with eating. Make something yummy that's raw and feed your body and soul knowing you've made an awesome choice.

[Allison]

That is exactly how I am...one bad decision, and it's all downhill from there. I've been 85% raw for several years, but someone suggested 100% raw would help. I didn't think it would really help, but lo and behold, it has! For me, it all boils down to the mind. I have been 100% for two weeks now, and it's been great. Occasionally I'll be slightly tempted by cooked food, but at those times, I just eat an abundance of raw food to make sure I don't cave, and it has worked. I never stayed 100% before, because I always thought I would feel deprived. By the grace of God, I don't feel that way this time. I'm not sure, but I think it is the realization that it's MY choice. It's not that I CAN'T have cooked food; it's that I CHOOSE not to have cooked food. It's like I tell my children...every bite counts.

Allison

[misslinda]

Perhaps for some of us (coughing ugh hum) that have a hard time, should know this......I did some research and came across some interesting information.

Did you know? The Supreme Court declared the bleaching of flour illegal in
1918. But the law was never enforced because the vice president of one of the
biggest milling companies (Pillsbury) was also the executive head of the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA). The criminality of flour bleaching was admitted
by the flour millers themselves in a bulletin published by the North Dakota
State Agricultural Experiment in 1906. They sent out 24 questionnaires to flour
millers and asked them what they thought about flour bleaching. Eighteen of the
millers wrote back and said that it was a criminal act and hoped that the FDA
would ban the flour bleaching.
Flour bleaching brings on diabetes by converting xanthine (which is one of
the nutritional chemicals in flour) into alloxan, which is a very dangerous
poison that specifically destroys the Islets of Langerhans in the pancreas.
Insulin is produced through the Islets of Langerhans.

Salient Point: Because the vast majority of nutrients are completely destroyed
in the milling of flour, there is a direct correlation between heart disease and
white flour.
“We might as well remove the term heart disease and supplant it with ‘white
flour disease.”
“America’s food industry is built to a large extent on foods which would
ordinarily be highly perishable. Rather than finding methods of efficient
distribution, it has been easier to simply devitalize the food. Foods which
have their vital factors removed will fail to sustain life for insects, molds
and microbes; consequently they can be easily shipped over long distances and
simply stored over long periods. Unfortunately foods which will not sustain
other forms of life, will not satisfactorily sustain human life.” Dr. Royal
Lee, D.D.S.

Excessive consumption of refined sugar and flour has been linked with the
following nutritional deficiencies:

Vitamin B complex Vitamin C Magnesium

Chromium Calcium Zinc

Excessive Consumption of Refined Sugars and Flour has been linked with the
following disorders (to name a few):

Diabetes Depression Allergies

Heart Disease Anxiety
Hyperactivity

Obesity PMS
Fatigue

Hypertension Irritability Insomnia

Headaches Indigestion Cancer

Galatians 6:7 “…for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

“It would be a miracle for us to invite disease by using counterfeit foods and
then have the Lord help us out every time we get sick. That’s like the guy who
tries to commit suicide and jumps off the Empire State Building, changes his
mind on the way down and asks the Lord to save him. It is any different if we
spend our whole life eating counterfeit foods and then develops cancer or polio
or something like that and asked to be saved. We have departed from nature’s
plan and are going to pay the price.” Dr Royal Lee 10/16/1955

Here's more..........************************************ ******

Myth: Cooked food is just as good as raw food.

Truth: Every time cooked foods are eaten it causes a massive spike in
lymphocytes(a form of White Blood Cell) and T cells in the blood stream. This
phenomenon is called “Digestive Leukocytosis”. This happens because the immune
system perceives that the body is being poisoned. This same spike is also
produced from pasteurized milk and distilled water (both viewed by the body as
cooked foods).
Life Saving Tip:
Studies have also shown that if you eat at least 50% of any meal in the form of
raw foods, that the other 50% can be consumed cooked without causing this
massive lymphocyte and T cell spike. So it is a wise habit to have a salad
before an entrée. Paul Kouchakoff, M.D., Institute of Clinical Chemistry,
Lausanne, Switzerland
Salient Quote; “We call arthritis a cooked-food disease because wherever you
find people living on a preponderance of raw food, you find no arthritis at all.
There’s no arthritis in China. They eat too much raw food to have it. They don
’t eat refined food. You can’t find virtually any heart disease in China. We
have 20 million arthritics in this country and we have about 700,000 people die
every year from heart disease. It’s all totally unnecessary.” Dr. Royal Lee
3/10/1955

[Stargazer2]

I can't because there's this function....I can't because I made a special dish...I can't because somebody cooked something for me....I can't because I'm having a hormonal time from my PMS... I can't I can't I can't.... STOP....try to block out that monkey chatter in your brain, it'll drive you absolutely crazy. If you think too much about this, your emotions will get in the way of what your brain is trying to do!

This reminded me of a suggestion someone made to help me get a more realistic view of all the "special days"...it was suggested that I get a calendar, and starting with holidays, put a big red X through all the days of the year where food would be a special item, inlcuding birthdays, anniversaries, family vacations, weekends (for me those were always reward times for me for being good all week, :o ), family get-togethers, etc. I had my husband work with me on this, to make sure I would not miss anything. Even just going over to someone's house for the evening for coffee and dessert was marked off (after all, I couldn't be rude and refused what they gave me, could I???). After I was done, nearly 50% (!) of my calendar was marked off, and I knew I would have to change my way of thinking about food and eating. After all, if I had been diagnosed with a life-changing illness that required a change of diet, I know that (most of) my family would do everything they could to support me in that change. Why can I not make this change for my health and well-being, and ask for their support in it as well? Still struggling with this, but doing much better. Thanks for your post, Sharon!

Peace,
Valerie