I observed something interesting about myself.

I got a new job three weeks ago. It's not glamerous, but it's at a convenience store called "Zip Trip" - the big draw is that it's just 5 miles from our home in the country and has set hours - four 11-hr. graveyard shifts - which works perfectly with dh's swing shifts. But anyhooters....

t all started with needing several cups of coffee to make the transition from day working to night working. Then it became coffee with a bit of creamer to stop that dry, hunger-like coffee belly feeling. Then it became some hot chocolate mixed in. Then it became a candy bar dipped in the toasty warm coffee with hot chocolate. Which then became a king-sized. And all of a sudden I discovered I was feeling super-intense sugar CRAVINGS again, after nearly a month of feeling NONE for the first time in my life since drinking 2 L of green smoothies a day.

How did this happen?!

Just the small allowance of that daily sugar turned into a big allowance and then a craving. Mix that with a horrible batch of kale and all of a sudden I've missed green smoothies for five days while I wait to buy more kale.

It's amazing how a lack of greens can lead to all sorts of cravings. Because as soon as I started doing my greens again, the sugar craviongs went completely away.

In the "I am pregnant" thread, someone talks about the book, Fat is a Feminist Issue and how we need to stop binge eating. I believe it is so much more than just willpower or a mental issue. It is a physical/nutrient issue!!!

Just my thoughts!


Me (30), Joseph (24 mo.) Jeremiah (4 mo.)

We are enjoying spring and being outside!!!

Coffee give me cravings right away and it's never for fruit and veggies, more like a sandwich or a cookie. So I stay away from it.

I'm the same way with rice. If I have a bite, it's never just a bite, it's out of control. I'm still in transition, so I think my body is reminded of old habits and just goes crazy.

coffee is absolutely my "gateway drug" into eating crap. its screws with my body's feedback mechanism (hey i'm full! hey i don't like this!) and impulse control. alcohol affects me the same way, although to a much lesser extent than coffee.

congrats on jumping off that runaway train!

Ah, yes, that was me that mentioned that book, my mom read it when newly pregnant with me. You know, she was also newly with my dad, who is not American, and he cooked for her. Though not anywhere near raw, he cooked "real-food" dishes with meat, beans, and veggies, and rice. They ate fruit. It was probably light years away from her previous SAD eating. Also, being newly in love, she probably wasn't as interested in SAD overeating.

So I totally agree about the physical component. That's why I don't agree with the idea of stocking your cupboards with garbage so you don't feel deprived (like the book suggests)---sugar is like heroin for me. Not getting enough greens makes me crave nutrients, too. I love greens They balance me.

I can't cope with sugar at all, one sniff and I'm off until I have abused my body horribly.

I also agree that there MUST be some biological cause for it as well as emotional. I'm at a stage now where I don't even like the taste of junk and it goes totally against all my principles yet it still finds its way into my mouth in vast quantities now and then.

I have also noticed that I need greens to balance out my fruit or I get in trouble. If I miss my green juice for breakfast things get difficult!

Claire

> I'm at a stage
> now where I don't even like the taste of junk and
> it goes totally against all my principles yet it
> still finds its way into my mouth in vast
> quantities now and then.

Well put - isn't it funny how we humans are? Like smoking. Everyone knows it's bad but it's addictive! And even with an outrageous sin tax (currently $6.07 for a pack of Marlboros in my state) people buy it like crazy. Sugar is one molecule away from heroin in composition so it's not too awfully different.


Me (30), Joseph (24 mo.) Jeremiah (4 mo.)

We are enjoying spring and being outside!!!

very interesting, angie, When I first went raw in JUne last year I was concentrating on quiting the coffee because I felt it was interfereing with the transition to raw, I compleatly forgot the aspect of getting off the sugar which was no problem. The coffee was the hardest for me and still is.
By the way I live near Tacoma Washington. You live in Washington???? If so do you find many raw foodies in your neck of the woods? I have not met any others like me yet.
Do you smoke? Last year I quit cold turkey, I think the wheat grass juice really helped with that. I also think going cold turkey helps the brain quit the habit of smoking for some reason. Now I can't stand the smell of smoke, but the coffee is a hard one for me. I have just realized that there are two different kinds of eaters. One that is compulsive who "needs the food for inertainment and comfort" and I think the other kind of eater is one who eats just enough to be full and can walk away untill nutrients are needed again. Unfortunately I am a compulsuve overeater. I have used food to sooth my emotions for a long time,Sugar is one of the great soothers and I think you feel the effects much faster, I would think bread is second on that list. I have used food to dull my senses. Now at almost 50 (my b-day is this March) I have to retrain my thought patterns. I think eating raw foods will do that for me.

Coffee definitely makes me crave non-raw foods such as oatmeal, so although I'm addicted (for now...), I will only drink it when I'm mostly full, or if I have a bowl of sprouts or an avacado waiting for me for after the coffee.