Just lately I have been really going off raw dinners. A few days ago I had a big salad and literally had to force it down because I had gone off the taste. Since then, the thought of another salad makes me want to throw up!

My dinner salads are pretty big and varied- tomatoes, radishes, bell pepper, olives, cucumbers, avos, greens, carrots, celery sometimes with nuts and seeds. Sometimes they're more simple.

I have started to hate them the same way I went off dehydrated/gourmet raw foods.

The only thing I enjoy eating anymore in these salads is cucumber, so have started to eat cooked organic food to ensure I'm eating a balanced diet. I can't live life just off of cucumber.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm not sure how to overcome this. I used to love bell peppers and carrots, and now they don't even look like food anymore to me.

There are 1000's of varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables. More combinations than you could EVER possibly eat. You will only eat them if YOUR goals require it. In my experience, a desire to eat and live healthy is not enough. You have to have LONG, MID & SHORT term goals that REQUIRE eating raw.....or a person will never have the long-term drive to do so.....no matter how much thier conscience says they "should". You know?

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I have changing tastes, too. Sometimes I know why - like the change of seasons (yes, we have very subtle seasons here in South FL!) or changes in my work schedule.

Sometimes just the thought of another veg is so BORING I could choke.

I have been a strong proponent of green smoothies for several years now. I can chuck a bunch of stuff into my Vitamix and come up with something splendid, that is tasty, and of course nutritious. And it's almost always different, depending on what I throw in there. Sometimes the concoctions are weird but doable; that's the "fun" part of it - seeing what you get with different combos.

Sometimes getting away from the sweet (fruit-based smoothies) is what I need. So I go savory and get hooked on that for a while.

Lets face it - we all get bored with stuff. My hubby can be munching down a healthy cooked meal with olive tapenaude and garlic and I'll have to leave the house - literally - to avoid sharing his food. But maybe if I switch up what I've been eating, it works. Maybe I have a little more savory than sweet; maybe I have an avocado with dressing (which I normally don't use) just to give my taste buds a little variety.

I realized after shopping at Costco for awhile that I buy in such quantities, that I'm eating a lot of the same food for a long time. Apples last me 12 days; that gets boring after a while, no matter how good the apples taste. Same with watermelon: I love it, but 15 pounds of the stuff, since I'm eating it by myself, is just too much. After a few days I'm looking forward to SOMETHING ELSE. Whatever that may be.

Lots of people say stuff like "your body knows what it wants" but I sort of think my body can't tell that a piece of cheese(which I'm craving) has calcium vs eating a calcium rich veg source (which I'm not craving). It's mostly in my head, and my emotions, not like my body is so "woo woo" smart about stuff.

This is all in my humble opinion, you understand.

When all else fails, eat what the heck you want, you'll feel better, and then the veg and salad stuff looks really really great. Or not. But don't make yourself nuts about this.

Variety may be the answer - or condiments - or having food you didn't prepare may turn your taste buds back on.

Hope I'v been of some help and not depressing to you!

My overriding thought: I'm only human! :-]

Have you thought of a short juice fast? Whenever I don't feel like eating anything, or the thought of YAS (yet another salad makes me want to hurl, a few days of delicious juicing always puts me right again. My personal favorite is the fab 4 - carrots, apples, ginger and kale. SOOOOO good. I could drink it for days...

Raw again since April 29, 2008.

Sometimes, upping my physical activity gives me an insatiable appetite for fruit. You seem to be eating lots of veggies, which is great - how is your fruit intake? I find that when I get more active, my body simply desires more calories.

Hope this helps a little! I've been there...

Sarah
[goingbananasblog.com]

agree with all of the above-

switching fruits and veggies works for me- esp in the summer time i lose veggie tastes and want a lot of watery fruits- like cucumbers and tomatoes.

and berries, yum, berries.

and smoothies have helped a lot. fasting also isn't a bad idea. i hate those days when i'm HUNGRY and NOTHING sounds good. except bread and cookies. but i remember how crummy those make me feel, and it's been 7 years since i ate any of those. but when i craved brown rice, it was a sure sign i was pregnant...

now zucchini sliced like spaghetti with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt, and a touch of roasted garlic (cheating, i know, i know) satisfies that carby craving. but it's a better compromise than the real dish (noodles and all). i only make raw gourmet when the act of cooking and eating something worked on is what i need.

peace-

I get bored very easily with salad... but NEVER with pounds of ripe, juicy, succulent berries and mangoes.

Maybe you need more fruits instead of greens? =)

I get bored with the salad. But here's what helped me.

I know soices are not the best food additives, but just to create more varieties I tried these and loved them. If you can tolerate sipces, you can try these. Disregard if you can't tolerate spices.

Spicy Indian Salad

Grated carrots, tomatoes diced, cucumber small pieces, greens, sliced onion/little garlic if you like etc add some sea salt.
To this add some chaat Masala (available in most Indian stores) or curry powder or both if you dare. Add some lemon juice. toss and enjoy!!!
This tastes almost like teh curry from Indian stores - same flavors.

Fruit Chaat:
Cut up lots of fruit and add some sea salt.
To this add chaat masala.
You get the idea..

I hope this helps a little..

Take care
A Iyer

I experience this all year round. I have days when I stuff myself with salads and then days I can't look at them. I have days when all I want is fruit and days when I do not feel like eating much at all. My body self-regulates itself and asks for what it needs, hence the range of experienced likes and dislikes that change continuously. It's healthy to respond to these body signals!

Gosia


RawGosia channel
RawGosia streams

Last Friday June 13th I felt like I wanted something different to eat. In my journey I was ten 1/2 months all fresh raw and VERY pure in my raw eating. Up until Friday the 13th I had 3 "slips" and each time I had gotten right back on all fresh raw, Friday the 13th was different. I ate a delicious cooked meal and it turned my head. I had very strong urges to eat foods other then raw starting the next day and continuing each day there after and I had a few meals with cooked and raw food. Then this morning I felt like I hit a wall and didn't want any raw foods. The raw foods just didn't appeal to me. I ate a salad with processed food salad dressing which is something I don't do and it tasted great. My next meal after the salad was back to all fresh raw foods for the rest of today. The raw foods taste great again and the raw foods with some non-raw components like salad dressing taste great too. Now I'm just trying to sort this all out. Maybe I was just being to pure in my approach to raw eating ? I am still high raw but enjoying a little more room to move. Anyone else experience changes like these ?

try more fruit..........its sweet and so delicious

Jackie - where in south florida!?!? Hopefully close - I am in coral springs and would love a "raw" friend in real life, especially one that says "woo woo!" LOL.

EZ Rider -
I am totally with you. I am back on track, but had an emotional breakdown, and really just hit a wall! Today I was at Salad Creations and I couldn't resist the garbonzo beans, even though I knew that they just came from a can, ugh....and the peas which I also knew were previously cooked. I only added a few, but it was heavenly - two things that I always love and never have anymore (cold peas!) I was delighted that I was craving salad again, (and really could have eaten two of them) that I didn't badger myself about the cooked/processed additions. When I fell off the wagon I ate pizza and it was pretty much toture to my body. I know that I need raw foods, but I also know that I need to stop being SO rigid. I have been 100% for about two-three months now, and have been just cold turkey with no cooked foods. I am excited about the possibility of having more flexibility (however, staying vegan...no more pizza!) again if I desire it.

veggiefreak Wrote:
I know that I need raw foods, but I also
> know that I need to stop being SO rigid. I have
> been 100% for about two-three months now, and have
> been just cold turkey with no cooked foods. I am
> excited about the possibility of having more
> flexibility (however, staying vegan...no more
> pizza!) again if I desire it.

that`s where i am at the moment. i am not 100% raw but pretty close and i find that when i am too rigid it`s harder and i want cooked foods more. the whole if i can`t have it i want it more syndrome.i mean c`mon...seeing cold canned peas as a junk food?? that`s pretty damn good in my opinion. in todays society where fast food and crap is so mainstream and healthy is considered lowfat cows milk and chicken or ground turkey and a baked tater w/ lowfat sour cream and blue bonnet on it......or burger king....cuz it`s flame broiled canned vegees ain`t nuttin. LOL you should be proud of yourself for what you ARE doing

Hi Veggiefreak

I'm in Lake Worth, about a mile west of 441.

I'm a bit up the coast from you!

Hey Florida peeps. I'm in Central Florida among the orange groves (Sebring/Avon Park) but I often get down Miami way (and all over the state). I hope you'll keep in touch.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

It may very well be that your body no longer needs the vitamins/minerals from the foods you've been eating and it's telling you to find something else. However, it could possibly be about more than the food--your mind might be trying to find excuses to not eat raw foods, so that you can feel the comfort that cooked foods give.

How are you doing now, with the taste for raw food?

I'm sending you lots of love.

Wendi
XOXOXO

<<literally had to force it down>>

weird--did your parents force you to when you were a kid?

---------

<<so have started to eat cooked organic food to ensure I'm eating a balanced diet>>

why are you afraid of fasting? or better question how can you learn more about it?

and

why don't you believe in raw diet? or better question what do you need to do to convince yourself you can do it? and that it is worthwhile?

for help with this

<<or better question what do you need to do to convince yourself you can do it? and that it is worthwhile?>>

read this

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]

I'm still sorting out my recent experiences and right now I'm thinking maybe its about going with the flow consistent with my belief that raw foods provide better support for the health of the body & mind. Making good choices that are in line with moderation considering both the health aspects and any other considerations that may apply. Thoughts and opinions appreciated.

EZ Rider,

I understand those feelings, and for me, it's always something emotional that makes me just want to "sit, stop, and EAT RICE" or something. I am now so clear-headed, sensitive, in tune with myself--if I find myself in oppressive situations, I want to "self-medicate." The old way.

The truth is, I feel my absolute best when eating 100% fresh, pure, raw vegan foods! (To paraphrase someone who has helped me stay on track from time to time. )

Even if the cooked food tastes good--it's never as good as I remember it--and I always feel awful afterward, going into the next day.

I can't drink alcohol. My limbs feel numb and paralyzed, my stomach feels firey. Any other food (excepting steamed veg. and baked potatoes) will make me feel lightheaded, dizzy, irritable, anxious, and lazy. I feel weak and feverish... the world becomes a blur... and feel like I should be listening to Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb.

If you DO find yourself being too pure, getting bored, or needing to ground, eat some raw gourmet in the meantime. I stopped falling off the wagon when I discovered raw restaurants, honestly. >8) Any money gourmet raw dressings will taste better than stuff out of a bottle from the store.

Good luck! Hang in there! Figure out your goals and stick fast to them! =)

When I lose my taste for raw food and start craving cooked carbs or too much fat, I do one (or more) of four things to get back on track:

a) juice fast

b) make 'fake pasta' using summer squash, zucchini, cukes or a combination of all three with tomatoes or decied red pepper and a nice dressing-- for dinner. Very satisfying, and you're still eating botanical fruit.

c) get really disciplined and focused on mostly mono-fruit meals plus either a fruit smoothie with greens for breakfast, vegetable juice, or maybe a good vegetable and greens dinner with a little bit of avocado or tahini dressing.

d) any of the above combined with dry fasting after 5pm

Oh-- and the best trick is to just not bring anything in the house you wouldn't want to be tempted by. :-)

Sharrhan

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

I agree a fast would probably do you a world of good.

When I first started out eating raw foods last year, I loathed salads. I much preferred to put leafy greens etc in a blender and toss in a banana or apple.

Now I'm loving big monster salads again and cooling juices like cucumber. It was 101 in my neck of the woods today and I know the weather is also dictating my food choices.

Perhaps it's just the summer solstice that has your body changing gears and not so much that you're losing your taste for raw food entirely. Maybe it's time to just drink cucumber juice and eat cucumbers for awhile. I've done the same with celery for 2 weeks once and I'm still healthy, living and breathing.

As strange as the choices are sometimes, I find myself paying more attention to what my body wants and usually, if not 99.9% of the time it's absolutely correct.

I hope you find balance and peace with it.

Thanks so much for the support and ideas, everyone. I think I will add more fruit into my diet to see how I hold up. I still adore fruit, and (perhaps surprisingly) sprouts! I wont be eating tomatoes and celery again for a while though!

It's not like I'm craving cooked food, it's more that I'm hungry and sick/bored/unfulfilled by the salads. I don't believe that all cooked food is poison so I'm not eating anything especially unhealthy in my eyes (i.e. no fast foods, cakes, biscuits or crisps), just things like cooked vegetables, rice, cous cous, quinoa etc. Because I have a very hectic schedule at the moment, fasting (and juice feasting) is definitely out of the question.

I understand there are tonnes of different fruits and veggies, but realistically, for a salad, there are some limitations. So I'm going to stop eating salads (it was the repetition that was driving me mad!), and try and put more planning into more varied meals instead i.e lots of little meals during the day i.e. fruit salads, crudites etc.

It did also occur to me that because I get home so late from work, I wasn't eating my dinner until late evening- about 2 1/2 hours before going to bed.

I will report back in about a week with how it goes Thanks again, all.

I don't understand why you couldn't live off of just cucumbers. If it was caloric sustenance that you were worried about, you could always eat some avocados or raw nuts (seems that a lot of people here like them and don't have a problem eating them).

If I were you, I'd try new things...there's a tropical fruit section, a section devoted entirely to different tomatoes, melons, grapes, apples, citrus, sprouts, pulses, etc. at my local grocery store. You could also try the Farmer's Market nearest to you. Good luck.

Hi rawfrancois, as much as I love cucumber, according to fitday.com I'd have to eat 40 large cucumbers to get over 1300 calories. I've also gone off avocados (I know, I've become very fussy!). I can't afford to even sustain a 10-cucumber per day habit.

There's a fruit stall near when I work so I'm going to start raiding that. It's not organic, but the range is very good! Thanks again

dont worry too much about calories and all that jazz..

I got a case of cucumbers for £6 ... thats food for a good few days for me!

Would be bored out of my mind eating salads..enjoy seasonal fruit..it is so bountiful right now..dig in!

I am dying to try the indian salad...

i understand about being bored. I ran into that myself only after a month...how sad is that...however, i just feel better eating raw...so it is a sacrifice i am willing to make.

I'd recommend fasting or juicing for a few days. You will appreciate all the solid fruits and vegetables that you eat thereafter!

Sunflower
Raw Food Chef and Writer
Comfortably Raw
[www.comfortablyraw.com]

I thought I would re-visit this thread with an update about my "slip" from a 100% all fresh raw foods eater to a high raw eater. I still don't eat any stale, oxidized raw foods preferring to eat fresh raw foods. Also most of my meals are still simple mono meals. My slip on Friday the 13th of June after 10 1/2 months of eating a pure all raw food diet showed me how close to the cliff edge my raw path was. I yielded to a weak impulse to eat a "Mexi veggie wrap" that caused me to tumble right off the cliff and I have not been able to achieve all raw eating since. I am now about 95% raw. I eat baked potatoes or steamed brown rice in the evening now and seem to be settled into that as a daily pattern. I have been humbled by this experience and realize more then ever before the importance of keeping an open mind and learning everything possible from life's experiences.