Hello Everyone,

I am brand new to this forum and have been predominately raw for a year now. Bare with me as I am going to open up quite a bit. I would say that I am 90-95% raw. I enjoy raw fish and will have it in a sushi form once in a while. My regular diet is quite simple, I juice a lot and will have 2 Litres one is green filled with leaves and the other is more colourful filled with root vegetables, some fruit usually not mixed and a salad with an avocado. I am very active, ski touring in the winter, rock climbing and swimming in the summer. When I crave fish I buy sashimi grade wild salmon or tuna and will enjoy it (for the first 6 months I did not give in to the craving but found I was eating a lot of dates or avocadoes in one sitting to the point it made my tummy hurt), I eat most of the fish as sashimi (just cut up) and a roll or two bue most of the time I feel a little guilty when I add rice to make rolls as I believe I have been cleaning house (letting go of old debris physically as well as spiritually) and do not want to go backwards. I believe the rice leaves a little residue in my intestines and I have found I have gotten rid of a lot of mucosal plaque through the raw diet and fasting, I have to say it has been a very interesting experience, painful and relieving at the same time. I guess my question is... Is it bad to indulge in such rich foods when eating such a simple diet on a regular basis? Thank you for listening.

Love & Light

LilyPad

Lily, this is a vegan site and as such not the best place to ask about eating things like fish. there are other sites where discussion of such is welcome.

as for whether consuming a little cooked food is healthy for you or not, only you can say that. for some eating even a little leads to eating a lot and giving into bad cravings. for others it's no big deal to have something cooked now and then or even every day. listen to your body on this. you may find that things change over time as you gain greater and greater health.

Welcome LilyPad
As mentioned above please refrain from talking about eating anything with a face.
About the cooked food in a raw lifestyle - everyone is different but I have found that for me it is like stepping off the raw path and right into quicksand. I eat something that is not raw and down I go. Its like a Chinese finger puzzle and grabs me. One bite leads to another and I find my raw compass hunting and surging wildly as I lose my "true north". Recently I have found that I can get past a craving using a short exercise session. A 10 minute moderate and enjoyable exercise does the trick for me. My favorites are: a bike ride, or a brisk walk, or some rebounding. I'm not sure why the exercise remedy's the craving but maybe its a meditation in motion ?

Hi Lilipad,

Welcome!

We were just talking about this in another thread (see the one about Shazzie)-- about newbies going totally raw too quickly and sometimes-- but not always!-- having problems. You might want to transition a little slower so as not to detox your body too fast, and that means you may want to eat a certain percentage of cooked food for awhile and gradually wean yourself off of it.

I was pretty sick and toxic when I started the raw food diet years ago, and I found what helped me increase my percentage of raw food was to do occasional juice fasts to accelerate the cleansing that was going on while still getting plenty of nutrients.

As you start feeling healthier and healthier, that is your body telling you 'Yes, give me more raw!'.. and eventually 'Give me all raw.'

This is just 'raw food 101' according to Sharrhan; take what I say with a grain of sesame (not salt!) and listen to what everybody else advises too, but ultimately, listen to your own body and let it decide what your path should be.

Sharrhan:


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imo i don`t think it`s bad to eat a bit of cooked food once in awhile. i would just try and make it nutritious cooked food like long grain brown rices maybe some lightly steamed vegees...stuff like that. as you read, for some it spirals them downward, for me it`s ok. i`m not 100%...med to high raw about 90% most of the time and i enjoy my steamed vegees. i would stay away from sushi rice though as i don`t believe it has much if any nutritional plusses for your body
patty

Thank You Everyone for your Insight. I will take all your advice and internalize it. I can't imagine going back to cooked foods on a regular basis. My boyfriend is on the opposite spectrum and will eat anything. I have been with him for a long time and he watched my transition but never wanted to join the adventure. His food does not appeal to me in the slightest even when I cook it for him with my special love. I apologize for my comment regarding non vegan information and will not talk about it again. I have been transitioning into the raw diet for two years prior to this past year, where I started to eat more cleansing foods. I find when I eat cooked food, I do not want it again for a while, the craving does not linger. I have been told that cooked food has an addictive property and once the cooked food has left your body the craving disappears. Well thanks again and I will look at Shazzie's post.

Love & Light

LilyPad

Right. I think people will reflexively (sometimes compulsively) gravitate back to the LEAST issues that they have not dealt with......and the level that IS comfortable to stretch from. I think this is a good thing...and to fight against that....or hold some other mental 'ideal' in the head.....if that ideal is not helping you on a day to day basis....is not helpful. Power to you!

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

not morally bad...

but notice how you feel the next day
frequently folks notice
some of the following:

stuffy sinuses
stiff fingers
creaky joints
headaches
cramps in toes
bloated stomach
desire for more cooked food

and on the day it was consumed even some raw foods are problematic for me:

endless thirst
if raw onion was eaten.

and endless appetite
if raw garlic was eaten.

of course the particulars make all the difference:
steamed broccoli as a side dish along with a raw salad will be different from
from a cheese sandwich with a side of beans or fries.