I am trying to get healthy and lose weight (started diary on the diary section). Today is day 16 raw and yesterday I experienced a death, a surgery, and some other crap...I went INSANE on the nut butters/tahini/avos/olive oils.

Is this normal? I am also pmsing. A moment ago, stress became bad and I had a improperly combination of agave, banana, dates, almond butter. I cannot seem to stop but I must. It is like drug addiction, this fat issue.

I also noticed that I have no cravings for cooked or grains, All I want are fats. I crave broccoli, radishes, cukes with tahini and loads of oil. I want more and more, Nothing else matters, What is going on with me?

it sure is-small amounts is the key. i went raw in jan. of this yr. and i had at least 100 pounds to loose(started oct.06)i found so many recipes have nuts. i love nuts. some say u don't have to worry but others day they gained on nuts and avocado's.i had lost a fair amount of weight and did not want to test theses idea's of not worrying and not counting cals.so i just think small amounts. some will disagree but what i did is raw tahini and a banana in the morning.it helped and it is so good.i would dab out some tahini in a bowl and get a knife and dab some on my banana and eat and then smear some more on.all in calulated servings.no matter-what anyone says-my experience is go easy if u want to loose weight.eat more veggies.things like sun dried /roma tomato sauce on zucchini noodles is a comfort food and very food. or try some carrot truffles where u use carrot pulp and put carob in it with very little dates. not grate but sort of help keep the sweet tooth away/or banana milk-just banana and water in the blender.there is ways to appease the fat and comfort foods and sweet tooths.i think simple is easier.take care.taylor and good luck

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i do this 2 fats make u happy amega 3,6,and 9, i binge eat on them like u 2, they r comfort foods, i wouldnt worry about gaining weight frum it, theyre very very healthy 4 u, u might gain like a pound or 2, but thats nothing 2 worry about :],im sooo sorry that u experienced a death , i think your body is just using this as comfort food bc ur soo stressed out, yah it is like drugs,, but it is wAAAAAY better than binging on cooked junk stuff so dont get 2 freaked,, u sound like ur getting kindof depressed, i suffer from chronic depression, and eat ur eating sounds like wat i eat almost everyday, dont worry once u get more aligned with yourself your body will stop craving so much fat, but for now just take it easy, so u dont completely break down, im here 2 talk if you want to

thanks for writing, taylor. I must say, you are SUCH an inspiration to my family and me!

I experience intense meat/fat/protein cravings prior to menustrating each month. I am anemic. However, this tahini thing seems to be the only thing that satisfies me right now. I did do loads of nut recipes early on, but the man and I didn't like them and they bound us up. I noticed that yesterday we went thru 3 BOWLS of tahini spread (done israeli style with water, lemon, garlic, parsley, olive oil) with veggies and though I tried the almond butter with banana thing this morning, it didn't satisfy me like the leftover tahini and a plate of veggies did a moment ago,

My husband and oldest son ALSO ate so much tahini and veggies last night and wanted more. They said it was like their bodies couldn't get enough, so I am wondering if the female problem is even an ISSUE for me and maybe it is the sesame paste.

I trying to determine if we are just tahini addicts or if we have a genuine NEED for this stuff. We have been attempting to do as you have and just eat fruits/veggies. Up until the stresses of yesterday, we seemed to have been doing pretty well, all things considering.

I just need, I think, to try to wean myself from this and do this boot camp style.

Seems like the men can lose weight on ANYTHING (husband's lost around 20 lbs in 2 weeks and youngest has lost 6). They feel great (so do I, but my weight loss isn't nearly as nice and I've not had any time to exercise as we all just got over mono and my youngest had surgery last night...then we had a death in family as well)

thanks for writing

mia

thanks fuzzysocks~

your post helped keep me in perspective. I am glad that at least I haven't been going back to cooked (dont think it is even possible...even at this juncture, I noticed the body doesn't even WANT IT.). I just don't want to be the world's fattest raw vegan (hehe). I gained 15 when I went from omni heavy carnivore to cooked vegan and only lost weight on low carb carnivore (which ticks me off to no end. I don't want that stuff in me).

I AM getting depressed. Thanks so much for writing. It helps a ton.

Mia

For me, eating fats will quell emotional stuff. Its the all the energy it takes the body to digest the fats that diverts the energy away from emotions. I get this when I don't want to feel something. Could this be the case for you?

ok got some info on garlic,, i couldnt find really nething that says why we would hav garlic cravings but we can prolly figure it out from sum of this:

Garlic (Allium sativum), also know as the stinking rose, when consumed regularly has amazing health benefits.Garlic will help you improve cardiovascular health, prevent cancer, counter infections including anthrax, and find a safe source of phytoestrogens (great for menopausal women).

Garlic is a great friend to old hearts. Several cloves a day of fresh, raw garlic can lower blood pressure, reduce phospholipids and cholesterol, strengthen heart action, increase immune response, reduce platelet clumping and clotting (thus reducing strokes), and stabelize blood sugar levels.Garlic and its smelly relatives (onions, chives, and leeks) are hormone-rich plants that most women crave. Garlic is an excellent source of phytoestrogens; these hormone-like substances not only reduce cancer incidence, they help ease the menopausal passage.


To add further to garlic’s acclaimed benefits, history records that during the 17th century, when England was caught up in the Great Plague, many people who used garlic were the only ones who could minister to plague victims without contracting the disease themselves. Coming a little closer to modern times, it is said Russia once relied so heavily on the use of garlic for its soldiers that garlic became known as Russian penicillin. (kool)


Health Benefits of Raw Garlic
Chinese people have known of the health benefits of raw garlic for thousands of years. In China, apart from being used to flavor food, garlic is also traditionally used in teas and folk remedies. Why? Garlic is one of nature's strongest immune system boosters, and a powerful antibiotic, digestive aid and libido enhancer. As you'll see below, these are just some of the health benefits of raw garlic.

However, while the health and medicinal benefits of garlic are numerous, it can also overheat your system if you eat too much. According to Tradititional Chinese Dietary Therapy, garlic is warm in nature and a strong stimulant. Therefore, people who have excess heat in their body should first balance their system. Excessive internal heat comes from eating too many heating foods and drinks, e.g. meat, fried foods, coffee and alcohol. This causes symptoms like red eyes, bad breath, constipation, yellow urine, a yellow tongue moss and acne. If you have these kinds of symptoms, eliminate or greatly reduce the above items from your diet for a few weeks before you start eating garlic regularly, or it will just make your body hotter and your symptoms worse.

Below are some main health and medicinal benefits of garlic.
Note: To get the full health benefits of raw garlic, you have to do just that - take it raw! Commercial garlic pills, tablets, oils and capsules, especially the odorless ones, are often devoid of the active enzymes that provide the benefits. Crushed, raw garlic may be mixed into virtually any meal, or put in gelatin capsules for easy swallowing, or drunk as a tea by simply crushing 1 or 2 cloves and adding hot water. These methods may not be very appealing, but do you want the benefits or not?

Health & Medicinal Benefits of Garlic:
-Powerful immune system enhancer
-Antibacterial, antiviral
-Antifungal - effective remedy for yeast infections & candida
-Clears boils & infected sores
-Improves appetite
-Digestive aid - especially good if eaten with meat
-Increases libido - take several raw cloves a day
-Expells intestinal parasites & worms
-Reduces high cholesterol

Health Remedies Using Garlic Cloves:
Below are some Chinese health remedies using garlic cloves as the main ingredient. These are common, traditional ways that Chinese people make use of the health benefits of raw garlic.

Garlic Tea:
Put 1 or 2 cloves of crushed garlic and 1 or 2 grams of loose-leaf green tea in a teapot. Add a teaspoon or two of unrefined brown sugar if you wish. Pour in boiling water that has been left to cool slightly. Stir the mixture and let it steep for several minutes before drinking. Afterwards, leave the ingredients in the pot, as you can top it up with more water once or twice throughout the day. This is a common folk remedy for killing germs and resolving toxins in the body.

Garlic Nose Drops:
This is a preventative for the common cold and sinus problems. Crush several cloves of garlic to obtain the juice. Mix with warm water at a ratio of two parts water to one part garlic juice. Lie down and use an eye-dropper to place a couple of drops into each nostril as soon as you feel any symptoms coming on. Continue for as long as necessary. If the drops overly irritate your nostrils, stop, or reduce the number of drops.

Garlic Paste:
Crush 2 garlic cloves and mix with several drops of pure sesame oil to make a paste for external application to boils,carbuncles and infected sores. Cover then reapply when the paste becomes dry and falls off. If the skin becomes overly irritated discontinue use or wait for a day or two and try again.

Maximizing the Health Benefits of Raw Garlic:
To get the full health benefits of raw garlic, whether in salads, as tea, or in capsules, it's important you eat less refined, processed and canned foods, and more foods in as close to their natural state as possible. Afterall, what's the point in taking fresh, raw garlic to improve your health while, for instance, continuing to eat nutritionally-dead, toxin-producing junk foods?

References:
Matthew Scott is a professionally trained Chinese medicine practitioner from Australia, living in China since 2000. His website [chinese-holistic-health-exercises.com] offers classic, time-tested exercises & techniques for stretching, strengthening, toning, energy, relaxation, pain & more.

thats y the garlic thing didnt show up on the other post i put it on the wrong one lol!! sorry!!haha :p

dearest mia,if u crave things like nut butters-u need more copper in your diet-carrots,turnips,ginger root-also if anemic;u need iron,b12 and folic acid.iron foods are parsley,dandelion greens,broccoli,califlower,strawberries,asparagus,chard,blackberries,cabbage,beets with greens,carrots and pineapple.b12-you may need a supplement.on the folic acid-aspargus,spinach,kale,broccoli,cabbage and blackberries.extra vit.c helps with iron absorption.hope this helps and gf-u are going thru hard times. many hugs and take care and good luck.oh i know-my hubby-agh! i am breathing and living on air and water and exercising and he doesn't exercise and he eats and he looses or maintains.so upsetting.hugs taylor

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well done, fuzzy!

I can see a ton of uses for the garlic in a raw diet, for example:

-the photoestrogens can help with women in certain ways
-the warming nature of the garlic can certainly help the chronically cold raw foodist
-perhaps the cravings for it are a result of the body's healing. Maybe it needs the garlic to assist in the rebuild...hmmm

wow, bryan. I think you are on to something. When I have the heavy, sated feeling I tend to want to 'cocoon' under duvets and escape the world. This thread has been pretty enlightening!

Perhaps stresses trigger the fight or flight mechanism or perhaps the famine memories in our dna, making us want to eat and preserve ourselves somehow.

ive been stressed this week over a few things and had been craving loads of raw zuchini in garlic olive oil. I think ive eaten somewhere around 40-45 zuchs this week lol

today i feel happy and felt like apples and strawberries

go figure lol

i think fats and emotions are related as bryan says.. its possible

Taylor-

Awesome post! Almost all those things you've listed seem to be things I naturally gravitate to lately. Perhaps, in addition to my depression eating, the anemia is rearing it's ugly head. Copper, they say, helps form red blood cells...a definite thing I'd need with my anemia.

oh wow, jgunn. your post also made me think. When things are even and stress free I tend to eat tons of fruit. Up until Wednesday, I had no pressing need for the nutbutter...but a week before I went thru stress and the fats craving was out again. Not like now with the nutbutter, but there nonetheless.

I guess dried fruits are ok to combine with nuts/seeds, and that cuts back on the fat content.. works for me.