I think this is a really bad habit of mine - but I tend to graze on dried fruit and nuts etc. when I am at home. I am absolutely not hungry - maybe a bit bored. I know a good bit of self control would be good but I can't seem to summon it.

Also my other weakness is good quality organic dark chocolate - not raw I know. Why do I crave that particularly after a lovely scrumtious raw salad when I am not at all hungry but really want something sweet. Dates just don't equate to chocolate for me.

Does anyone else go through this - I feel so fed up with myself. David's talk of goals is always great and some of my goals are not to graze when not hungry and not to buy chocolate -but I can't seem to achieve them. how could I make these goals smaller and therefore more achievable - actually I don't want to make them smaller I just want to achieve them - arrr going mad (full of chocolate and remorse)

looking forward to your help and advice

Hi Flipperjan, I hear you very well.
I LOVE chocolate,but I stopped eating commercial ones and I'm eating only cacao or carob. I make my own cacao brownies and I eat them like crazy sometimes.
Chocolate has a lot of magnesium and when I'm on my period I eat a lot,and get so much cravings for sweet...
Well,another thing,I don't eat after 2 pm,so if I have to eat them has to be in the morning or at noon. Only some days that I got "crazy cravings" too.

I found out that if I criticize myself I do sabotage all my good doings,so I let go.
I try to talk with myself to eat a little evry day,or if I eat like crazy (like yesterday) I try to get a little portion the day after.

Another thing that is very important is that sweets are comfort food,and I eat them when I need a "inside hug",or I feel that I'm confort myself after a bad day at work or with a bad person.

Hey FlipperJan! Its funny:

Posit: If a person asks themselves if they think something is good or bad. If the answer is 'bad' then agree that is what YOU think...and we set a schedule to eliminate it. If you think its 'good' then we set a schedule to consume more of it. If you think it is 'ok to do every once in a while' then there IS NO way to stop. A person never will. This is the 'gray area' that many folks live their life in. One can never 'back' one's way out of this gray area by trying to quit the habit in the gray (whether eating, booze, addictive emotional states, etc.). One can only find, with laser-precision, the passionate goals in yourself. Only with goals that PRECLUDE poor eating can one cease to eat poorly. What do you think?

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I think thats lovely

Nice one David.

Digestion takes a lot of effort, I used to eat all the time then I read Quantum eating and stopped eating after 3pm until next morning. It works for me, I am always full of energy.
A lot of healing and cleansing is triggered when the body is not constantly digesting food even if it is fruit even water. Properly managing the balance between eating and not eating is the key to healthy living



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2008 09:22PM by madinah.

Can i ask how much you eat before 3pm,
And have you lost weight since doing this.
Perhapse you could tell us the reason you stop eating at 3pm.

Cheers,
Paulie.

1. Morning
green juices (dandelion, celery, spinach, wheatgrass)
fruits
2. Lunch (12 noon)
Green smoothies or salad

3. 2pm
lime juice, or freshly squeeze juices

4. 3pm
some nuts

I stopped eating after 3pm because I came to realize that I was just eating too much. The body does not need that much food, I used to think I needed all that food. I am actually gaining weight since I started dry fasting after 3pm. I drink a lot green juices, at least 2 pints a day.

I read two publications that changed my views on eating all the times.
1. Quantum eating
2. [www.soilandhealth.org]

flipperjan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also my other weakness is good quality organic
> dark chocolate - not raw I know. Why do I crave
> that particularly after a lovely scrumtious raw
> salad when I am not at all hungry but really want
> something sweet. Dates just don't equate to
> chocolate for me.

Are you sure its the sweetness you crave? Dark chocolate tends to have less refined sugar in it than that abomination, milk chocolate. Might you be subconsciously self medicating with the bitterness of dark chocolate to aid digestion?

What kind of greens are you selecting for your salads? Perhaps a more bitter leafy green like Dandelion leaves might resolve your craving, yes?

There's a Traditional Chinese Medicine theory that suggests a meal should have each of five tastes in it; sweet. pungent, salty, sour, and bitter.
Ayurvedics enclude one more, astringent.

Depending on one's health, each of these tastes might need to be present in varyingly specific degrees.

Thank you very much for that madinah,

Im pleased to hear you are gaining weight eating this way because thats exactly what i would like to do, im way to thin at the moment.

Thanks,
Paulie

Thank you very much for all those interesting answers. Will go away and digest (ha ha ) them.

Three things jump out at me

1. grey areas - yes definately, need to address this

2. more dark greens and salads with the different tastes - need to address this

3. giving my body time to digest; longer periods of time without eating which is scary as not accustomed to feeling hungry as graze all the time - need to address this.

I feel like I am approaching one of those turning points in one's life - is this the moment when I change my eating habits for good? think goals, think no grey areas.

thanks again every one - this really is a great, supportive place to come to

People eat because it is a pleasure. This is why there are so many overweight, obese, and diabetic people around these days. Living for the moment, to heck with the consequences.

I think we eat because we are bored and do not have anything to be passionate about. I mean when I get into a project of one kind or another, I can go without thinking about eating for long periods of time. Even go without sleep.

Its comfortable..

I also find that it can be easy to mistake thirst for a desire to munch. The more I eat foods which are not hydrating, raw or not, the more I find myself wanting to put something - anything - in my mouth. I try to recognize my desire to eat. unrelated to whether I'm remotely hungry, as a possible cue that I might be dehydrated. If I don't recognize it and just give in to the munchies, I almost always find myself eating things that dehydrate me further and compound the problem. For me the solution is usually fresh, whole, watery fruit. Eating it gives me momentary satisfaction of "the munchies", and eventually helps me to rehydrate to a point where I'm back on an even keel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2008 12:44AM by frances.

flipperjan,

It may be that your habit of grazing is self perpetuating itself. When you are grazing, you could be eating enough calories that when it comes time to eat a meal, you just don't have the appetite for a full meal, one that will allow for 1/3 your daily intake of calories. I only eat 2 meals a day, but in each meal I eat a lot of food, and sometimes it takes me an hour or more to finish eating. And after eating, my stomach is full and I don't feel hungry for until my next meal.

Alternatively, there could be emotional reasons, or perhaps even the desire to get grounded with food. If this is the case, perhaps keep a food diary, where every time you eat some food, you write down what you are feeling and why you are choosing to eat. This may allow you to get to the bottom of your eating habit.

thank you Bryan and everybody - those are all good thoughts

I have a HUGE overeating problem and began today to overcome it. I am fruitarian and all I eat is fruit but MAN I eat ALOT!! The less we eat the healthier well be and the body uses a lot of energy for digestion. One od my problems is this: I find a great deal on banannas say 29 cents a pound so Ill buy like 20 pounds and only spend about 5 to 6 bucks which is a great deal. And so I bring them home and there they sit,YUMMMY!! And I will just keep going back and eating them till theyre gone, or at work Ill grab 10 or 15 pounds of them and eat them all by the days end. Ok now this is ridiculous!! I dont NEED ll thease bananas! Just because its fruit and its healthy doesnt mean I need to GORGE on it! So what i did today is this. i only ate TWO fruits when i got hungry because thats enough, Im full after 2 pieces but yet Ill just eat and eat but not today. this is what i ended up eating:
730 am 2 oranges
930 am 2 bananas
1030 am a quart of strawberries
noon 2 avocados
130 pm 2 bananas
230 pm 2 apples

I didnt want to eat after 3 but at 430 I ate 4 bananas

I dont want to eat after 3 anymore so I can give my body a cleansing no food fasting period daily.

All day today I felt much lighter and not so damn full all day.
I have a ton of energy anyway because of my lifestyle but today I had even more energy.

I have written down what I did today so funny Brian mentioned that because I did and I found I ate MUCH LESS than usual.

I always ate when hun gry before and not because its lunchtime or dinnertime but because i am hungry but i DO NOT need that much food at once so today was a success for me and will do this again tomorrow and each day from now on but I need to remember to NOT eat after 3 which is hard to do becasue in the evenings when Im not active I get bored so i eat! I need to overcome this and I will do so.
Rob

I have found several reasons for overeating.


1. Eating food that is low in nutrition/high in pesticides (sometimes non-organic food (like bananas) are the culprit)

2. What frances said. In other words, ANY foods other than fresh whole plants (including high fat, blended, frozen, nuts/seeds, dehydrated)

3. Eating too much variety overstimulates the appetite

4. Using any tools to eat food (this is a minor impact)

peace out



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2008 04:43PM by fresh.

Quote

Posted by: fresh (IP Logged)
Date: May 11, 2008 09:42AM

3. Eating too much variety overstimulates the appetite

I agree with your post and I would expand point 3 to say - eating too much variety in a single meal overstimulates the appetite. For example I have noticed that complicated meals with many dishes and recipes confuse my body and my "appistat". I find that mono meals give my body a simple taste experience and that I can eat smaller meals and get satiated better eating mono meals.

I always eat a snack when I am bored LOL I know it is bad and makes no sense whatsoever. I now feel better that it is an orange and not a bag of skittles

Take care
A Iyer

fresh says:

<< 4. Using any tools to eat food (this is a minor impact>>

i don't know what this means at all but the cryptic way it is worded is so damn intriguing anyhow... that i like it even though i am clueless

la_v, you are so funny.

my claim is that if a blender, knife, spoon, fork, plate, cup, bowl is used to eat, then it can lead to overeating. there is an interaction between food and body and is best when tool less. imo.

using tools can also lead to eating food that is not suitable to eat or not properly ripened.

I know -- start smoking! TOTALLY kidding! Seriously, I struggle with eating when I'm not hungry, and I hate it! I do it when I have this great raw food energy vibe going and though I'm not really hungry, I eat something cooked and snacky if it's around, then hate myself for it later. I wonder if it's partly because I subconsciously feel like I don't deserve that great raw food vibe I get when I eat right (I have self-esteem issues). I do the same thing with my art: Though I've won awards with my art and have money and time and support from my partner and family to pursue it, I have to literally fight with myself and force myself to do it, even though I am in a state of total bliss when I am drawing. These battles with my diet and my art are my two biggest struggles in life, so you're not alone. I'm better about it lately, but it's always a struggle for me.

This is an interesting thread as many websites I've read related to raw foods makes it sound like you can't gain weight eating raw.