I think it's time for some input

[Pailani]

I did that, too - I'd have a smoothie for breakfast and another for lunch, and then I'd have something healthy for dinner. I did this for a few months. While I did that, my bloating that I had while raw went away, but I was always craving food. And then I started feeling more lack of energy and my immune system seemed weaker. In my case, it didn't work, and I knew it wasn't working. But it took months to get back to eating totally raw.

[greeninlosangeles]

So how many bananas did you eat per day and how did you feel?

[twinyoga]

Ok, just came back from a lovely dinner with friends. I had about 50% raw at the dinner.

Following are my observations...
Eating cooked food has:

made me feel a little calmer/more balanced

made me extremely thirsty

made me feel ill after some meals (my heart would race after eating a cooked meal and I wanted to bring it all back up)

retain lots of water (my rings are tight)

made me a little more flexible with my children's diet (with the wrong foods), I've allowed them to eat more "junk" food

So, these are my observations so far. I'm thinking about raw foods right now....:)

[twinyoga]

I was just re-reading this thread. I believe I had my last cooked food this evening. I am bloated, constipated and feel "greasy". I thought the grass was greener in the cooked world, now I realize it just seems that way. I tried it and I had enough.

I'm still a strong advocate of 8/1/1/ and would like to go right back into that. I'm a little scared, but one week of cooked foods has been enough. What a challenge!

Thanks, again for sharing so much information.

[luvnraw]

TwinYoga ~ I know for me 8/1/1 all of the time does seem to lead me to cooked food binges easier when I am under major stress for awhile......maybe you could do 8/1/1 for 4 or 5 days a week, or even start with 3 and work your way up to find what ratio's feel better for you? Hope you feel better soon! ;)

[fiddler]

I was just re-reading this thread. I believe I had my last cooked food this evening. I am bloated, constipated and feel "greasy". I thought the grass was greener in the cooked world, now I realize it just seems that way. I tried it and I had enough.

I'm still a strong advocate of 8/1/1/ and would like to go right back into that. I'm a little scared, but one week of cooked foods has been enough. What a challenge!

Thanks, again for sharing so much information.

Hi Debbie,

Agreed, the grass is definitely not greener on the other side of the fence. I went through similar trials recently and definitely realized I just CAN'T go back to cooked -- its just too painful. Sometimes we have to hop the fence to see for ourselves :)

Good luck on your journey and happy 811rv'ing,
Fiddler

[fiddler]

Twinyoga,

Here's an addendum to my last post.

I'm tracking my food intake into www.livingcookbook.com software to track my 80/10/10 ratios and to make sure I'm getting the calories. I'm also making note of how I feel each day in terms of cravings, energy levels, moods. Doing this has helped me understand my 811rv approach. If you're not already journaling your food and notes, you might wish to consider such an approach.

Also, sounds like Bethany is having great success with the consult from Doug Graham so that might be an option too.

Anyway, hope some of this helps,
Fiddler

[Sharon in Colorado]

So I just picked up a case of nanas and I'm procrastinating about going on my banana diet, lol.

[sosiesmom]

Hey all,

Debbie, it's been so interesting to hear about your visit to the land of the cooked! The last few days I've been off raw for real. I've had some popcorn and some breadsticks and a few bites of rice here and there. I'm not wanting raw right now, or cooked. I am simply feeling nauseated and I think the cooked slows down those detox symptoms for me. I plan to return to raw 100% gradually over the next few days.

I looked into 8/1/1 and it seems like it does work for some people. The only thing I thought in relation to your experience with 8/1/1 and then wanting cooked is that you were not getting enough calories. For someone like you who exercises as much as you do (not to mention all the mommy-calories you burn!) you may have been starving your body. Just my two cents...I look forward to reading Graham's book this fall- his website is not user-friendly, in my opinion.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

[Gosia]

twinyoga, may I share my approach to raw foods and other matters with you here?

In my view, all experience is good, and there is no need to get upset about anything. There is no need to put oneself down or restrict oneself in any way. Let yourself free to experience whatever your spirit wants. Let yourself experience feeling bad after eating cooked and then perhaps decide that you may prefer being raw, without any judgement.

The most helpful realization of my life was this:
Only if the choice is truly YOURS (rather than coming from the point of feeling gulity when you do not do what you are expected to do) then your path will be EFFORTLESS.
Realizing this has helped me so much in my journey, not only in the sense of my diet, but in a larger sense.

When I once decided to become a Christian, I used to beat up myself for not being good enough. After several years of ups and downs, and deep unhappiness, I finally decided that enough is enough. I decided that I was going to discover what I wanted to be, not what I was supposed to be. I decided to reject all the rules and instead, observe the world and how I felt, and make my decisions based on that. Several months after my decision, I found myself in a state of bliss! Moreover, I was behaving in a way that once, as a Christian, I thought I should, effortlessly! How on earth did that happen? I realized that once I let my spirit free it went where it wanted to go, without me having to do anything at all, apart from intensely observing the world and my thoughts and feelings.

There is no need to put a human in a cage of rules to follow, no matter how perfect or right they might seem. A human has the ability to arrive at the place of perfect harmony as long as he/she is fully aware.

The raw food diet is not exception here. There is no need to try to be raw, there is no need to try to avoid eating cooked, there is no need to try to follow any system of rules. As long as one intensely observes one's body, a spontaneous transition in the right direction will occur. For example, when I ate unripe fruit, I realized that doing so was leaving me starving. I learned that eating ripe fruit is best. I could have learned this rule by reading a book, and try to follow it without understanding it. Some other time, I tried a little bit of coffee and had a disturbed sleep after that. After doing this a few times, I learned I do not want it anymore, because I hate being sleepless and tired afterwards. In a similar way, by merely observing my body and allowing for gradual changes, my diet spontaneously progressed to high-fruit diet. I am still in transition. I still make mistakes and learn from them. My dietary and lifestyle patterns are still developing. I still have cooked food desires or even relapses. But this is getting rarer and rarer, and staying raw is easier and easier. And, I have made a big progress! We got rid of the stove from the kitchen. My kids are finally all-raw. I now have the courage to ask people at after-hours-school-care not to feed my daughter anything except for fruit (she brings her own foods as well). I LOVE eating fruit in the morning, afternoon and having salads or young coconuts in the evening. All these changes happen because we(my family) or I WANT THEM, not because we think we should. And because of this, they are effortless. I eat what I love because I love eating it, not because I think it is the optimal diet.

My inner self tells me:
Release your self. Be free. Enjoy the journey. Make your own choices whatever they are and do learn from them, but do not beat yourself up for making them. Live your life the way you want to live it. You are on the right path.



Gosia

[luvnraw]

Gosia ~ Wow is all I can say. What you said to Debbie was very profound. I am happy to hear you have less relapses/cravings and still are on this journey. Thank you for sharing *listen to your body*. It sounds simple enough but yet I know it is difficult! When I first started 100% raw last year after doing a detox class (1 week vegan, 1 week raw, 1 week veggie juice) I realized raw felt best for me and actually listened to my body. Then I let myself slip up, kept beating myself up for it and waivering back and forth. I appreciate your honesty and thoughtfulness and the reminder to observe & be aware! That is why I am currently fasting, to get in touch with my inner self and what my body wants/needs and not my head. Thanks for sharing! ;)

[yeahbethany]

I was hoping you'd post here, Gosia. =)

[twinyoga]

Gosia, thank you so much! I read your post and it really means a lot to me.

The truth is, I know I went raw because I thought I'd get super skinny. Well, I probably lost maybe 5lbs. the year I was raw. I followed the "rules" and felt competitive when I heard of other people trying variations on raw (all veggies, fasting, all fruit, etc.).

The last couple weeks, I just got tired of telling myself that I had to eat raw. I wanted my body to tell me what it wants. This is also part of my yoga/meditation practice. Listening to my body instead of making it do something.

Anyway, I've been eating cooked, very similar to a macrobiotic diet (miso soup, brown rice, steamed veggies). And I like it, though I don't feel nearly as clean and light when on a raw diet. But my body isn't ready for all raw again and I know if I told myself to switch back to raw, I would rebel at some point. So, I'm eating the cooked foods (whole foods) and just waiting for my body to guide me.

I'm still hanging around this site, because everyone is so wonderful and I learn a lot. And I still believe that raw foods is just a wonderful diet for many, many people.

Thanks, again.

[Rawkinlocs]

Gosia, that was a POWERFUL post! Loved it, related to it and I thank you for it!

Debbie, you'd BETTER stick around here girlfriend! I mean why wouldn't you? Not everyone here eats ALL raw so while you're eating some cooked (and healthy cooked at that) items, I'm sure you're still eating raw foods as well so what's the problem with you continuing to be here? None whatsoever! So yes, please do stay...there would be no sense in you leaving just because you have incorporated some healthy cooked food into your diet.

[Graciebeliever]

What is here on this site goes beyond eating :)

We should not feel compelled to please everyone, here or anywhere :)

Stay :)

Smile, Laugh, and Learn and be a part of the good people here :)