hi all,

i'm having a difficult time right now.

i love to eat fruit...but i'm not a "sweet" person and too much sugar makes me feel funky...and really makes me crave protein. overall, i crave protein in the form of beans and tofu. if i try to compensate by eating fatty foods such as nuts and avocadoes (even in small amounts), i feel toxic and sick. i'm frustrated because i want to attain the health benefits from being 100% raw...but, my protein cravings get in the way and i end up overeating to compensate for these cravings. i eat greens, fruits, avos, nuts, flax, tahini, and some superfood (blue-green algae, cacao, maca) in smoothies. i eat simply and don't combine my foods too much unless i make a green smoothie. i'm frutrated and don't feel well unless i eat a little bit of beans every day.

does anyone else have "protein" cravings like this?

if david mason is reading this: i know you stated that it took you a while to transition....how was your transition and how long did it take?

thank you for any input,
m.

for some reason i love the taste of high protein foods..hemp toast, beans..etc.

what i find helps with the craving is a decent sized salad with whatever veggies you want on it..and a scoop of raw hemp protein powder.

I crave protein too. It is my decision to do whatever it takes to stay raw, even if that means overeating on protein, and worry about cutting back on that when my transition is over. I actually have found myself eating less and less protein without even trying.

have yoou tried goji berries ? i crave protein like crazy 2, and gojji berries hav helped me, i think its bc they have all essential amino acids in them

I had same problems last week and now feel better. I think it was my menses that caused it...tahina saved me.

Mia

I don't think there's such a thing as a protein craving.

seems like it's a cooked craving.

all foods contain protein.

our body doesn't know that chickpeas have 3 grams of protein per 80 calories
and bananas have 1 gram of protein per 80 calories.

my opinion anyway...

I am anemic and understand protein/iron cravings. I believe the body DOES understand what it needs...better than we do. How else would intuitive eating work?

Mia

miaculpa Wrote:
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> I am anemic and understand protein/iron cravings.
> I believe the body DOES understand what it
> needs...better than we do. How else would
> intuitive eating work?

hello miaculpa,

i'm not saying anything about anemia.
it doesn't make sense to say protein/iron cravings, they are unrelated.

the body certainly does give us signals.
i'm just saying not for protein.

here are the above foods that people are craving:
beans, tofu, hemp toast, tahina

none of them fresh/raw .

certainly we all have had cravings for foods such as these.
they are addictive.

I craved nuts. Raw ones. And I was craving raw tahini. I couldn't ever get satisfied until I ate some protein when I first went raw.

See how much you crave nuts when you have to handshell them... lol

Same goes for eating sesame seeds in their natural state, eat them in the natural state to see how many you would eat...

Not to be negative, but I would have to agree with fresh in saying it is a craving not necessarily for protein but for something else. I think everyone has gone through this though, including myself.

pakd4fun Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I craved nuts. Raw ones. And I was craving raw
> tahini. I couldn't ever get satisfied until I ate
> some protein when I first went raw.

tahini, raw or not (raw tahini is not really raw, it cannot be processed without producing heat), is "addictive".

most nuts are not raw, they are dehydrated.
even pulled of the tree, nuts are a highly dense food and could be somewhat addictive. i don't know since i've never had them off a tree.

any food that is processed, dried, concentrated, not fresh is likely addictive.

i think there is a common miscategorization that is being propogated here,
which is, "this is a protein food"
and it does not make any sense to me.

it can be said that some foods contain higher amounts than others, but the same can be said of any nutrient.

why is there never any talk of a riboflavin craving?
or a folic acid craving?

why always a protein craving?

i'm not insulting anyone or criticizing anyone or saying that anyone should do anything differently. i'm posting regarding what i consider to be a misconception. i'm glad that others posted things counter to what i believed in the past, so i could get a different perspective. i hope this is taken in the same way. it is not "negative" to present a different viewpoint.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2007 10:30PM by fresh.

i think you may be right...

it may be a "cooked" food craving versus a "protein" craving.

hopefully i'll make it through this time... :*(

how many of you slowly transitioned?

what kind of transition foods did you eat?

for those who went raw "overnight", did you have these kind of cravings too?

thanks,
m.

Fresh,

I just want to say that I appreciate your prospective and I know it will help me in the future. I'm new to raw and haven't actually craved anything yet, but when I do, I'll look at it differently - it may not be a craving for a specific food but for "cooked" food. Thanks!

Susan.

I don't know about transition foods, but I do think that if you get a balanced range of raw, vegan foods you will not have overwhelming cravings. What people typically call "transition" foods are heaver things, dehydrated items, nut butters, complex raw cuisine dishes and such. This type of eating should not be the majority of anyone's diet in my opinion. Keep it simple, keep it fun, and try things you wouldn't think of! And most importantly, don't starve yourself by thinking mostly about what NOT to eat.

If Tahini is addictive it didn't snag me. I craved it for a bout a month and hardly touch it now. Maybe protein isn't the right word for what I was needing to satisfy me. I think fats are more likely what I needed. I went from eating a lot of cheese and pasta. I didn't feel full at first. Now I am doing well with more fruit.

I have been transitioning for eight months. I am going all raw May 14 for seven weeks with Khale. I am more successful at quitting addictions if I take baby steps.

Rice and beans are good transition foods.

When I first started I craved fat and salt a lot! Now an avacado blended with a tomatoe tastes salty to me. I'ts been 6 months of transitioning. Still will occasionally eat steamed brocolli or potatoes with avocado for fat. Have a persistently painful "frozen shoulder" (detox?) and if I don't want mega pain I have to stay as simple and raw and low fat as possible. Forget spices and oil!