Consider the source...

[Alissa]

I just wanted to make light of this really quickly. I donÂ’t have too much time right now to be on the boards but I do check it off and on all the time, even if its just for a few minutes here and there and every time I come on I seem to be hearing all these things like: fruit keeps me from losing weight, I donÂ’t eat any nuts anymore, I have to count calories into fitday in order to keep track and lose weight., etcÂ…

If you donÂ’t agree with me fine, find your way, its ok and everyone needs to do whatÂ’s right for them, but for the new people here or the people that have been on here for a while but still think they need these silly rules and cant seem to find success with raw let me say once again (as I know you oldies here know this is my pet peeve, lol!) donÂ’t say that this diet does not work when your not DOING IT!!!!! Please people!
DonÂ’t go out for pizza or have a steamed potato and rice and then say you need to cut out fruit! DonÂ’t be eating a cooked meal once a week and then blame the nuts for no weight loss!!!!

If you choose to eat 70-80-90 percent raw, thatÂ’s fine, but you cannot say that eating these raw items on a raw diet donÂ’t work for you unless you are RAW!

And calories are not calories. Someone posted in a thread that no matter what you eat if you take in too many calories you will gain and if you eat less you will lose. This is not accurate.
There are about 80 grams of fat in my date nut torte and although I only had about 10 - 15 pounds to lose when I first went raw, I lost it eating this every night! So stop counting CAOLIRES, FATS, CARBS AND PROTIEN!!!!!!! And GO RAW!!!!! 100% raw for 30 days, thatÂ’s it, just make the commitment and you will see results!

Ok, enough of the exclamation points. But really, I want you all to succeed in this. ThatÂ’s why I wrote the book and made the DVDs, but its amazing to me when people claim it doesnÂ’t work but then come to find out they arenÂ’t doing it.

This doesnÂ’t mean you will never fail or you have to be perfect. It does mean however, that if you want results, stop lying to yourself and realize that if you want to actually see and feel results with this in a big way you need to do it!
Best,
Alissa

[RawTruth]

You tell it, girl!

[rawpriestess]

YES!!!!!!

I totally agree.

[dragonfist70]

ME 2!!

[Alissa]

HAHA! I knew i could count on you guys to agree with this. because you know its the truth, right?
I know you are both successful with raw.
Rawtruth, i know you are 100% raw and you are feeling and showing the effects. Period.
Rawpriestess, i know you mentioned in another post that you cheated a little and didnÂ’t lose weight that week. But you were real about it and knew why.

ItÂ’s about being real with ourselves, you know? Its so easy to justify to ourselves what we do and what we want to do and keep ourselves from seeing the truth.

You know, i have gone through so so many periods with raw food. 18 years ago i went raw and then went off and on for many years, thinking i didnÂ’t want to be too strict with myself and i didnÂ’t want to have it interfere with my social life and my lifestyle. Then i went 100% because i knew i needed healing but i kept going off after 6 months, a year, etc.. because i didnÂ’t change the mind set, i didnÂ’t accept that this was the way i felt best and that i really deserved to do what it the best for me and if no one else liked that then they didnÂ’t deserve to be with me because i do deserve!

At one point i went off raw, of course I was still eating a lot of raw in the morning and most of the time during the day but I would eat a cooked dinner almost every night for about a year. I would fast thinking i needed to get back to raw and then drive myself crazy with the cravings, etc...i took a break from being 100 percent raw because i thought i was getting older and you know what “i was sick of starving myself for the perfect body, i was tired of feeling deprived and i wanted to love myself and eat what i wanted when i wanted'. Well, it took me a long time to realize that loving myself doesn’t always mean allowing myself to have what i crave. Loving myself doesn’t always mean allowing myself to never feel deprived. There are other parts to ourselves that can trip us up, like negative ego and our inner child who feels like she didn’t get something a long time ago and now she wants it. Well, you, as the adult have to make some rules. You as the adult have to react from your adult and decide that sometimes it may not be a good idea to indulge at that moment.

When you learn to move into this space and choose things from your adult self and not your negative ego, your child, your adolescent, your critical parent or whoever else is hiding beneath the surface and running the show (and we all have these fun sides of us people!) then that is when you realize that saying no to your once favorite food when your out with friends one night is so much less satisfaction then the feeling of waking up in the morning and feeling alive, truly alive and vibrant with the most import gift in life that you could give yourself, optimal health.
How much more loving can you get then that?

[RawTruth]

Loving myself doesnÂ’t always mean allowing myself to never feel deprived. There are other parts to ourselves that can trip us up, like negative ego and our inner child who feels like she didnÂ’t get something a long time ago and now she wants it. Well, you, as the adult have to make some rules. You as the adult have to react from your adult and decide that sometimes it may not be a good idea to indulge at that moment.

When you learn to move into this space and choose things from your adult self and not your negative ego, your child, your adolescent, your critical parent or whoever else is hiding beneath the surface and running the show (and we all have these fun sides of us people!) ... How much more loving can you get then that?

Exactly!! This is why going raw is so much more than "just" a change of diet. It can impact every area of your life, including assisting in emotional healing ... IF we let it. I, for one, want to be fully present every minute of my life. This wasn't always the case, but being 100% raw is helping me be 100% awake now -- loving myself, making decisions from my true self, present and reporting for duty to my life.

[VeganVixen]

YES , I get what you mean -dont half arse it ,then say the "raw's" not working



but Ive done ALL raw ,not even vinegar ,and had lousy success with nuts ,of course there are people like pialani with candida ,who need less dried fruits , or in order for me to develop gallstones ,my body had to have been VERY fat-sensitive ,so maybe going ALL raw -then tweaking it to personal needs is best -but I do think a lot of people "give up before they try" or "find a way to fail " - It seems almost seems like a subconcious thing....


Also the raw lifestyle IS very flexable!!!!!! I can easily eat stuff that both taste good and makes me feel fanta-bulous!

[Sweet lips]

Thanks Alissa for letting us know your journey, it helped me a lot, especially the part in the quotes below. I am really learning to love myself and the part of me that is in other people too, and yes, while we can justify our behaviors, it really doesn't change the reality.

It was refreshing and I thank you for the fresh air today. I got a magic bullet and I am going in the kitchen now to do something great for me, because I love me - linner (lunch and dinner)!

ItÂ’s about being real with ourselves, you know? Its so easy to justify to ourselves what we do and what we want to do and keep ourselves from seeing the truth.

Well, it took me a long time to realize that loving myself doesnÂ’t always mean allowing myself to have what i crave. Loving myself doesnÂ’t always mean allowing myself to never feel deprived. There are other parts to ourselves that can trip us up, like negative ego and our inner child who feels like she didnÂ’t get something a long time ago and now she wants it. Well, you, as the adult have to make some rules. You as the adult have to react from your adult and decide that sometimes it may not be a good idea to indulge at that moment.

When you learn to move into this space and choose things from your adult self and not your negative ego, your child, your adolescent, your critical parent or whoever else is hiding beneath the surface and running the show (and we all have these fun sides of us people!) then that is when you realize that saying no to your once favorite food when your out with friends one night is so much less satisfaction then the feeling of waking up in the morning and feeling alive, truly alive and vibrant with the most import gift in life that you could give yourself, optimal health.
How much more loving can you get then that?

[Alissa]

yes, absolutely. I have tweaked my diet constantly since being all-raw. It can change with the climate, the amount of working out you do, the stress in your life, etc...

But if you think you cant eat all raw for a month without being deficient in some mineral or some vitamin or that eating all raw, whatever it is, is not better then a cooked food diet, especially the SAD diet, then think again. (Not you personally vegan vixen, i know your a committed rawie :) )

[Alissa]

Hi Sweet lips,
Ya, its interesting isnÂ’t it, the way we lie to ourselves? I did it for so long.

And the way I went full circle to abusing my body and then trying to love myself and never have it feel deprived and never wanting to feel that wanting, and thinking that love meant allowing whatever I felt was right at the time. But I wasnÂ’t taking care of myself or working on my self enough to know that what I wanted at that time was not in my highest good and I wasnÂ’t clear enough to see it.

Anyway, that is a whole other topic! But thatÂ’s the beauty of raw food. It clears you out enough to clear the cobwebs so your issues and baggage rise to the surface and then you have to deal with it. (or go off the diet so you donÂ’t feel anymore and continue to numb out with cooked food)

Its astonishing to me that people try to do therapy with out the physical part or try to do raw foods without dealing with the issues. We are not one-dimensional human beings. Everything we do in one area of our lives effects the other parts. I truly believe that this is why people fail on this diet.

[Ginger]

Awesome awesome & awesome! I especially liked this:

Its astonishing to me that people try to do therapy with out the physical part or try to do raw foods without dealing with the issues. We are not one-dimensional human beings. Everything we do in one area of our lives effects the other parts.

I know quite a few people who think that the mind is so powerful that they can eat whatever & do whatever to the Earth & be ok. While I big time respect the incredible power of the mind & am not knocking it at all, I have to disagree that you can eat/do whatever with no consequences!

[VeganVixen]

Awesome awesome & awesome! I especially liked this:

I know quite a few people who think that the mind is so powerful that they can eat whatever & do whatever to the Earth & be ok. While I big time respect the incredible power of the mind & am not knocking it at all, I have to disagree that you can eat/do whatever with no consequences!

YES ! sorta defies the laws of physics ,huh?

[calee]

Alissa,
Thanks for your post. It's a reminder to me to keep on going one day at a time. I know that eating raw is right for me. I've been raw since April 1st when I started my journal. I've eaten 4 rice paper wrappers around fresh veggies and had salad dressing less times than I can count on one hand. My favorite place to eat out is the raw side of the Whole Foods salad bar. I've upped my exercise to 4 or 5 hours a week. I write in my raw journal faithfully everyday. I sleep, get fresh air and work hard. I do weigh my nuts and keep them to 2-3 oz a day. I don't make recipes except flax crackers, banana ice cream and those yummy caramel coconut cookies that somene posted here.

I'm one of those that just can't lose weight. I'm frankly surprised I haven't jumped ship, for at least one meal, but i'm doing this for my health. In Feb my doc wanted me on meds because my bad cholesterol is a little high. My BP has been running somewhat high for over a year. I told him I wanted 6 months of raw food and exercise before I'd talk about meds. So for me this is a matter of quality of life to stay raw. At 214 pounds I should have lost more than 2 pounds in 86 days of raw.

So what's a girl to do?
lee

[monkeyboy]

Hi Everyone,

Ah.....Alissa is rocking the party...rocking our bodies.

She is correct.

Al Gore may have said he invented the internet but what Alissa says is true.

Stay raw, see results, fall off.....keep trying but don't throw raw foods under the bus.



Peace,


M.B.


King of the A5.

[avanderland]

Thank you for posting this, it is a hint of what is coming in your book, I imagine... I asked about calories because it is hard to imagine not counting them---it is ingrained in us, you must count calories, you must do this... It is nice to hear someone say NO IT IS NOT A MUST... I am starting to transition towards raw as soon as possible (but definitely by August 1st--my 30 day challenge!) with my fiance transitioning more slowly (September is his challenge) and I am looking forward to the freedom that such a diet---lifestyle---seems to bring, after hearing everything that you and most everyone on the boards has said. Thanks again!