Hello everyone, I have been browsing this forum for about a month now and finally created an account after realizing that I want to change my lifestyle a bit. About a month ago I started adding raw fruits, veggies, and nuts to my diet in an attempt to get rid of my mild(but worsening) eczema,allergies,and asthma. Within the past month I have noticed that I feel so much better when I stick with a high raw diet,but I am certainly still in the transitioning stage of this process. As a college student I am struggling a little bit with the social aspects of this lifestyle. Right now I've only told a few of my friends that I have been eating mostly raw foods. I do occasionally like to go out and drink with friends, which I am trying to cut back on. I have switched over from drinking beer to wine most of the time, which helps me feel much less full,bloated,ect. I have also found challenges when I have friends or family in town visiting me. When they visit there are temptations of cooked foods everywhere. My family was visiting in town last week and I gave into the temptations, but I did not feel too well after eating this way. I just need to remember that feeling and why I have decided to change my lifestyle to raw foods.

Tomorrow I will start logging what I have to eat during the day to help keep myself on track.

Anyone have eczema or other dry skin conditions here? If so what have you done/used to help alieveate the itching/dryness/ect. I have been putting coconut oil on my skin a few times a day which seems to help some.

I just want to say thanks to everyone that is involved with this forum, there are so many great people here. I have already been motivated and encouraged just by reading the posts on here.

What I have had to eat so far:

Breakfast: Stawberries and Coffee---trying to eliminate coffee, I noticed I was a little bit shaky after having the coffee this morning

Snack: Banana

Lunch: Salad(baby spinach,green peppers,tomatoe,cucumber,lemon,tiny bit of olive oil), 1/4 of a watermelon mmmm

dinner: 1/2 c almonds and 2c green grapes

greeings uncwsurf looks likeyoure well on your way .. and welcome to the forums

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Today has been a great day full of friends and sunshine, I love living by the beach
Went out last night with some friends and didn't go to sleep until around 430am, and got up around 9. I woke up without feeling tired at all even though I had very little sleep. From raw foods maybe?
My eczema has gotten so much better the last two days which I attribute to eating almost 100% raw. Improving my health conditions are great motivators to keeping up with this lifestyle.

Ok so food for today:

B: Almost one whole cantalope (I got full towards the end so I put it down, something I would not have done with cooked food)
One mug of coffee

L: 2 Banana, 1 Apple, 10 stawberries

S: Stopped at the local farmers market so I could go home to make a salad with: zuchinni, cucumber, tomotoes, and green pepper with spices/herbs, lemon juice, and a bit of olive oil

D: 1/4 c almonds, 1/4 c peanuts

Pretty soon I'm on my way to the gym to workout with a friend---60 min cardio then a 15min group abs class



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2007 10:42PM by uncwsurf.

Hey there..welcome to the forum and congrats on choosing to take this amazing journey into the raw foods lifestyle!! i know how hard it is when you are younger and the pressure of going out with friends and then the going out to drinks with friends situation..i have been there too....it is still hard but i try to keep a balance you know...i have to remember that i am eating raw for my health and life and that i can still go out and have fun with friends and enjoy their company you know?? but it gets easier as you are farther down the path of raw eating!!
but you are doing great..you are really trying and that is so important..and each person is different so don't get discouraged when dick and jane are doing this much raw and you are at a different point!!! this is your journey and you have to make it your own!!
so enjoy yourself and keep a balance!!
take care
lots of love
earthangel
xoxoxoxo
ps..where do you live or what state?? i am in cali..laguna area!!!

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Than you for the encouraging words earthangel. I live in North Carolina.

Goals:
-Lose 10 lbs (Right now I weigh around 138 and I'm 5'7)
-Stay as high raw as possible, but don't get upset with myself if I slip up
-Read a few books about raw foods, any suggestions? I just ordered 12 steps to raw food and concious eating...what others do you like?

Challanges:
-Having people visit/make food for me at social events
-Making meals for the children that I babysit, I tend to give into my tempations to taste the foods I make for them, but I am getting much better at controlling this
-Staying away from cravings during that time of the month, the cravings were so strong!

more goals and challanges to come throughout the process...

Hi uncwsurf and welcome! Sounds like you are doing great. You should be proud of yourself with all the temptations you are encountering.

12 steps to raw food - I love all of Victoria Boutenko's books and recommend them all. I have heard Conscious Eating is very good book too. I like Raw Spirit by Matt Monarch. I also recommend anything Ann Wigmore has written - there is a free downloadable one by her online called Why Suffer? Any of the old ones by Norman Walker are very good also. There are also good podcasts you can listen to on rawveganradio.com - once you listen to someone, if you like what they have to say then if they have a book you could go buy it.

That is exciting that your excema is already improving!

Thanks for the book ideas, yea I have listened to all of the rawveganradio podcasts that I could find on itunes and looking forward to the new ones that come out, those have really helped me. I listen to them while I'm working out in the gym...keeps me motivated and the time goes by real fast!

Food so far today:

b: 2 kiwi's and 10 stawberries

s: 1 banana and 1 large apple

l: cut up one zuchinni, one large tomatoe, and half of a green pepper...mixed everything in a bowl along with some spices and a tiny bit of mustard. I
also had a hand full of almonds while I was cutting all the veggies up (I was starving after getting back from the gym!)

and now I am off to campus to learn about abnormal psychology...

Hi there...well good for you doing so well!!! that is awesome i am very happy for yoU!!!...ooh north carolina..one of my best friends lives there.....she is supposed to be moving to cali but i think she has changed her mind ....aww makes me miss her more!!!
anyways keep up the good work seems like you are doing awesome!! yummy foods today too!!
love earthangel
xoxoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

uncwsurf, I live in North Carolina too, near Raleigh! Moved here from Oklahoma, beautiful place to live.

ooh you are all from north carolina sad :*( i miss my friend bunches!! and now i am thinking of her haha and she just called...oh well!!! i hope you wonderful ladies have a fantastic day!!
sending lots of love and good wishes your way
earthangel
xoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Oh raleigh is not too far away from me...I'm in wilmington, going to UNCW (if you couldn't figure that out from my username hehe

s: 1 banana 2 plums

d: 1/4 c almonds, 1 tomatoe, 1 green pepper

So I have more food to add to the list...I don't know why but no matter how much I eat today I still feel hungry. I get full while I am eating the food and then about an hour or two later I'm hungry again...

S: 1/4 c almonds, 4 green peppers, 1 plum (ate all these spread out over about 3 hrs or so)

Tomorrow I am babysitting for 10 hours, usually where I tend to cheat a little bit. My goal for tomorrow is to resist from all of the cooked food, I don't even like the taste of cooked food much anymore, but for some reason I still eat it. I have been doing very well the past three days and I've been feeling great...so hopefully I will be strong tomorrow and stay away from the foods that end up worsening my allergies and eczema.

Wilmington, cool, nice place.

Sometimes the getting hungry all the time thing is a phase that you just have to get through because we are not used to the lighter feeling from raw food. Just keep grazing. :-)

ugh, yea so I was all raw until yesterday afternoon...and then I went out to eat with some friends at a burrito place. Ate way too much and then we drank a bit too much wine after that.

Well today is a new day...

I was reading Angela Stokes weight loss/raw food story today at [www.rawreform.com] and even she didn't stick with 100% raw food right away, it was a journey.

So, don't worry about it, you are doing great!

I've been about 50% raw today...yesterday I was feeling the stomach pains/discomfort from eating at the buritto place the day before. I always have some kind of adverse reaction from cooked food now, so I should just try to avoid it as much as possible. I need to think more about what I am putting into my mouth. Sometimes I'll be eating junk and realize that I'm not even hungry and what I'm eating doesnt even taste that great. I have come up with foods I have eliminated and a list of ones I'm still trying to get rid of..

Things I have already competely eliminated:
-most dairy (milk,eggs, ice cream, ect.)---i have had pizza once or twice since starting my raw foods journey
-meat
-cooked veggies
-breads
-coffee/soda/tea

Things I'm working to eliminate:
-Junk food (which is always around me at work)
-Fatty processed junk from resturants (still in the process of trying to learn how to eat out with friends with this lifestyle)
-Alcohol(I'm not trying to completely stop drinking alcohol but I would like to try and drink less and when I do drink try to stick with wine, which shouldnt be too much of a problem. I love wine!)

Just keep eating more and more of the good live stuff and the bad stuff will get more and more unappetizing!

What is your biggest achilles heel in terms of junk food at work? I miss eating the peanut M&Ms they have in the breakroom, sometimes - but, of course, I don't miss how bad they made me feel.

It used to be ice cream...but now I think it is chips/crackers (which is weird for me, I used to only eat pretzels instead of the real bad junk food munchies)

You could be detoxing chips/crackers right now. At least that's what I've heard. You can be detoxing the junk associated with something you ate ten years ago and that makes you crave it as it heads out of your body.

You are doing great on what you have eliminated so far, especially the dairy. That is a very good one to eliminate cause it is so mucus producing.

You can do it! :-)

Wow it has been a little while since I posted last...since last time I posted I took a trip out to San Diego to visit my sister (where I had a bunch of foods I should not have eaten) but in the last few days I have read a few of the books that I ordered and have decided that going 100% raw is the right path for me. I have spent almost two months now doing anywhere from 50-95% raw, but now is the time for me to make a major change. When reading "Raw Spirit" by Matt Monarch I pulled out a quote that I have decided to live my life by, "It is what you leave out of your diet completely without cheating that heals you." I have been trying to get rid of my allergies and eczema, with improvements but it is not completely gone yet....so now more cooked food. I feel like I am strong enough now to make this committment (although it may be hard at times). Today I babysat all day without cheating my 100% raw diet(this is the first time I have ever done this, there are temptations everywhere at the house that I babysit at) I didn't even think about eating the junk food there...haha sorry if I'm rambling---I'm just proud of my accomplishment today. : )

I always liked that quote too! Congrats on avoiding temptations all day!

hey there, I came across your forum I have jsut started school here at uncw and have been wanted to go raw for quite sometime now...but haven't been able to make the transition (I mean I am incorporating more raw fruits and veggie into my diet). Especially since I have started school it has been extremely hard, especially with Wagoner and the Grille right there and then the normal late night activities of school.
Any words of wisdom on how to get around these barriers. I'm guessing you don't live on campus now, but any help would be amazing.