Ive been doing good for about 5 days now, not long but long enough to struggle a bit about not waning to be hungry all the time! I havent been eating all that bad for years but there are times when a pizza or wings and such gets in there and I"ll feel bad for days, just tired and icky feeling but I do love salads and eat them regularly, soup, just not enough raw in my old way of eating. Raw recipes seem easier but really there is usually alot of prep work, grinding nuts or seeds, then dehydrating for hours! Ive got to get in the habit of thinking ahead past all that, but need to figure out what I can eat NOW. I have on order an Excalilber 4 tray dehydrater so that should help and I already have a hand mixer with a small food processor attachment for nuts and such so Im ready almost for whatever I want to make.
I also have a problem with bloating after I eat a raw salad, always have really, belly just stays bloated pretty much. Heard on a youtube video that its from a SAD diet for years of coated intestines that needs cleaned out. UGH Im sticking with it no matter what. THats all for now......

Bad day altogether, as stated in my other post about failing my pre-employment drug test because my urine was too diluted, it was just a bad day. I went to Burger King with my son and had a Jr Whopper and fries, it wasnt near as good as I was expecting. Only had 1/2 the fries and threw the rest away. Went to my local "Earthfare" grocery store and thought for sure they'd have the raw soy sauce I am supposed to have for my ginger dressing I was going to make but I still cant find it. This is just difficult to find certain things and it makes it hard to stick to the program. I guess I"ll probably have to order online like alot of you all probably do. Salads are getting old and I used to LOVE them. THe bloating is getting old too, was going to get a colonic today but since they hydrate you more decided I better hold off until I can figure out how to pass a drug test for future job interviews w/o them being too diluted too. Ugh Im sure tomorrow will be better.

<3 welcome! I need to do my homework so I'm going to keep this short but 1) this health journey is about progress, not perfection. Now that you are starting to understand what is suitable food to eat, and you increase the amounts of those foods, your body will most likely naturally start to dislike the food you used to love, and 2) it will take some time to find the best raw for you, but I can suggest big fruit smoothies in the morning with a kale leaf or two, gradually increasing the ratio of greens (this will have you jumping out of bed before your alarm) and avocados blended up with greens, apple cider vinegar, and vegetables. Never fail, suuuuper quick, super cheap, and amazing for you. The good fats in avocado seem to tone my skin and hydrate my body. Pitted or fresh dates are great snacks when you want something sweet. Fancy recipes are tempting but raw is usually successful when it's cheap and fast.

Good luck! If you have more questions, I can reply again later. Read about green smoothies and make them your breakfast staple, you'll be amazed. When you slip up, always try and forgive yourself. There is a lot of valuable information in old threads on this site, so spend some time reading (but take eveything with a grain of sea salt.) Above all, YOU decide what YOUR body likes. If you like eating onions, don't cut them out because Raw Foodist X was told by a monk that they're toxic (just an example.)

That wasn't short. Haha.

THanks Cyclopsicle, I do a smoothie for breakfast almost every morning, but I tend to do the same thing almost every time. I get the big bag of frozen fruit, mixed fruit, and add a handful of organic spring mix or spinach, some ground flax, hemp protien, almond milk ( its not raw tho) its good but I do need to mix it up a bit for different flavor and nutrition values. Was the avocado and ACV and veggie thing a smoothie thing or just something you do as an edible thing not in a smoothie? It didnt sound very appetizing as a smoothie! I just stated eating avocado's so im not very used to them. Im better today, looking forward to finding some of that Namu SHoya stuff locally! THanks again. Jill

Made some ginger salad dressing today that is awesome, tangy, but awesome. I ate a big bowl of onions and cucumbers with that on it and was still hungry and I had a salad with my normal stuff in it and Im still not filled up. I'll get out the celery and almond butter next. Im a little afraid to keep going knowing that another drug test is going to be in my future when I get another interview call. I just dont know why my urine is diluted..... hmmmm

Today was good, spent the day running around thrift shopping and checking out the health food and asian markets. Couldnt find any young coconuts, dang, but did find some unsweetened shredded so that's good. Not raw probably, but better than nothing. Ate at a great salad bar, then came home and rewatched the sprouting youtube videos and started my mung beans soaking and almonds. Dehydrator should be here next week so Im checking out all the raw bread recipes. Got a papaya, now I have to read up on how to eat it, Ive never bought one of those before so its all new to me. Hope its good...........

Yesterday I apparently made a bad choice b/c I made a smoothie that tore up my stomoch. Collard greens, large leaf of Kale, papaya, rasberries, almond milk, I think it may be the kale but got a stomach ache after I drank it and then after all day of an awful pain I threw it all up which didnt seem to help ALOT but some. Im water fasting today with detox symptoms, achy, tired, laying on the couch the whole day. Makes me think Im going to have fruit smoothies with a little greens to start out with from now on. Maybe I shouldnt go 100% raw from the start......... not hard to not eat cooked food, but my belly is still rebelling. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I think a bentonite bath might be in order.......

Maybe it was the collards, they're kind of tough when they're not lightly steamed? Definitely work your way up to a higher green ratio, sometimes it is better to do mostly fruit in the beginning. It sounds like you're really paying attention to your body! How excellent . If you don't feel comfortable being 100%, don't. It's not for everyone, it's not for me, and I see worthwhile benefits from eating certain cooked foods, i.e. quinoa, oats, etc. As long as it's real food and it doesn't require intense cooking, I'm okay with it. I will still eat all of my fruits and vegetables raw, but I won't restrict my diet to only raw foods. Good luck and keep posting! I don't always reply, but I've been following along.

Hi Cyclopsicle! I have read you shouldnt eat the stems of kale and collard greens, is this true and if so that could be it, b/c I ate the stem of both of them in one smoothie. Havent had any since and Ive been great. I do eat my Farro cooked, I tried soaking it and it just didnt get it. I feel the same way, I still have yogurt, but really that is the only things Ive had but Im going to keep an open mind like you and keep it healthy and natural cooked or not, mostly raw tho'. I made a butternut squash recipe with apple, onion, pumpkin seeds and coconut that was awesome! My belly is much better and ive lost a few more pounds, I have about 8 more to go and I"ll be a happy camper. Well, IM a happy camper either way but its bound to come off if I keep this up which I will. I feel so light and my head is clearer altho' I am experiencing some strange emotional feelings, nothing I can pin down but something is different for sure. Its all good.

Im still doing well even tho I had turkey mashed taters and corn, chocolate pie for Thanksgiving at my son's house. Im not going to be 100% and dont really want to be yet, I was getting bored with eating cold food all the time. As long as I stay eating healthy, whether its steamed veggies or some cooked farro, Im going to stay committed to this no matter what. I feel good when I eat raw, and I want to stay that way. With winter coming on quickly Ive got to add some heated healthy food or the raw will fall by the wayside b/c its cold all the time, I know you can slightly warm it up but I really like my veggies cold, and I havent tried any raw soup yet that you can warm up a bit. So all in all, Im doing good still.

I ate lots of cooked vegan food this week too. I woke up crying today. Its only becoming more and more apparent to me how sensitive my mental health is to certain foods and how periods without fresh food really take a toll on my body and mind. It tasted good but I was so excited to get my kale, chard, broccoli and avocados today. Anyway, I'm happy to hear you feel mentally sound, that's possibly my favorite benefit. The weird feelings can be chalked up to "emotional detox" which I believe is a real thing. It's good that you pay attention to that. It seems the mentality you have and the loving attitude towards yourself and your choices will make you a successful healthy person for life. Even when we choose to eat less healthy foods, we know that the majority of our diet is very clean and that it feels good to do those things, and that's that. Even if we eat crap all the time, we know what a healthy diet is and how to prepare foods accordingly, which is very powerful and important knowledge. I think for Christmas this year I'm going to send cards to my family members/friends and include hand written raw recipe cards-something they may not have seen before.