Hello everyone, As I write this post I feel sad, depressed, and mad at myself. In July 2007, I discovered the raw lifestyle. Suffering from many allergy symptoms and looking for some kind of relief, I stumbled upon this website. I immediately began to incorporate raw foods in my diet and cut out all wheat and sugars and felt really wonderful. Probably for the first time ever. Insomnia, headaches, itchy skin, dull completion, mucus, post nasal drip, aching joints, etc were all gone!! I was elated to say the least. I had tons of energy and lost 40 lbs. I was walking everyday and feeling wonderful!!

Last winter, 2008, I broke my ankle and also had major surgery, of which it's taken me a year to recovery. During the last year I've gained 25 lbs and totally fallen off the raw food band wagon.

I do pretty good at home, but terrible at work. I have a pretty stressful job and people constantly bring into work cookies and crackers... I am a stress eater and have not been able to stay away from chowing down when they are right there in the lunch room...

Each morning I get up and resolve that today, I'll stay away from the junk... But often I am only able to make it through half the day and I give in...

I felt so good for a year... why am I doing this to myself? I feel miserable, achy joints, no energy, insomnia, and the list goes on... and now my peri-menapause as advanced to hot flashes, just adding more ill to my already ill feeling body...

Please, I could use some inspiration and some moral support or as I said a swift kick... I am about at my wits end... If you could share some of your successes and struggles that would be great... Thank you...

I offer you support instead of a kick

What worked for me when I was transitioning was to keep a large bowl of fruit at work at all times, so that I would not be tempted to eat all the snacks and candies that were always available.

When you had your surgery, you were exposed to a lot of medication. Taking medication while on the raw diet really doesn't feel that good, so I can see why your body wanted to eat cooked foods to numb some of that bad feeling.

If you are still taking medications, perhaps slowly weaning yourself off (assuming this is OK with your doctor) might help you get back into the swing of raw foods again.

Do you have a personal yoga practice? For me, having a personal yoga practice gave me a lot of willpower and energy is takes to resist unhealthful habits in my life.

yea i cant kick ya either sorry

when i was at an office job an trasitioning to raw i kept bringing in with me in various 6pack size soft coolers all sorts of fruit veggies nuts an seeds (all in whole form) and i had a magic bullet at work for whipping up mini smoothies and dips.

i kept like Bryan says , bowls of stuff around me all the time to much thru the day. when they would start ordering stuff like pizza an chinese food etc i would just have to leave

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Don't take it all too seriously. If it was that easy being raw and eating 100% healthy then there would be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people eating raw. You're not Robinson Crusoe here.

Do your best and leave it at that without beating yourself up. You won't die if occasionally you eat something objectionable.

Just because you haven't climbed Mt Everest doesn't mean you're a failure. You can still go hiking or walking and get great benefits. Just eat as much raw as you can, and get on with life.

as well as all the other wonderful advice...
you could get right to the 'source' and begin a daily meditation practice... this works WONDERS. Or even try something like this:
[www.centerpointe.com]

very powerful stuff



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I'll give you swift kick


KICCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

HA HA!

just kidding

bryan "prana" had some good suggestions

and so did jodi with her six pack thing where she packs different foods in different containers ( was on a previous post i recall

think of it as war


the general always prepares

ammunition is a MUST

your raw food preparations you make ahead of time will be your arsenal

if that is how you are feeling

admit that it is a battle

just don't go into the battle field with zero armor

study the situation carefully

create a strategy

then take action

oh yeah.. and listen to bryan and jodi ( wise raw soldiers)

and hey... maybe yoga will do the trick too

oh yeah

hope your ankle is feeling better

i once injured my foot
but don't regret the reasons why it got injured ( hey everything has a risk

but anyhow

the thing was
i could NOT BELIEVE how painful and difficult it was to get around

hobbling about
here and there

pushing down on a cane to take the weight off it etc.

was sooooooooooooo grateful when it totally healed

maaaaan! that was tough

its tough cuz your feet and ankles support your entire weight and how you get around .. mobility

i ne'er thought about that before

well... i mean.. i never HAD to ..well.. you know what i mean

but yeah...

real bummer


hows your ankles doing now?

yea like those little cooler bags i dont like smells from stuff like bananas making my zuchini smell banana-ish

there are all sorts of good little thermal bags on the market for cheap
reuseable lunch bags come to mind as well

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

For me it helped to get into the mentality like when I was pregnant. I always carried snacks with me cause I always got hungry. And then shortly after having the baby..I had to carry snacks around for him. Do the same thing with raw...always have some tasty raw snacks available so you have that to grab when you are weak.

My favorite right now is carob powder, pecans, walnuts, almonds, coconut butter, dates, and a bit of water in the food processor. Process that till smooth and roll into balls in shredded coconut. I make a bunch of those and put them in wax bags. Now the whole family wants them. So my husband takes them to work and son takes them to school. My husband is eating mostly raw because I make tasty stuff. So that is another thing to remember in the beginning..to practice and make those comfort foods. Make sure you have leftovers for the work day.

________________________________________________________________________

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Books for and about Vegetarian, Vegan, and Raw Vegan Kids!

Thank you to all who've provided me support and wonderful suggestions... Byran and Jgunn.. Yes, you're so right having those yummy fruits available at my desk is good advise... I think about when I first started raw I had fruit at my desk and I carried a cooler with fruits, veggies and smoothies and even a blender everywhere I went.. I even had a blender at work... But I've fallen away from those practices... and I can see how I've gone into battle, as La_veronique puts it, without proper ammunition. Then I become vulnerable to the calling of foods I want to avoid and that make me feel icky...

Lisa M, meditation is excellent advice, thank you.. I seem to be so rushed all the time I've not taken time for nurturing me...

Zella, what a yummy sounding treat. I am definitely going to make those coconut balls to have when I am feeling tempted...

Peter b, you're so right I tend to take things too seriously and expect perfection and when I miss the mark on my high expectations of myself, I then spend time beating myself up.. I've been told in the past to put down the big stick.. thank you for granting me less then perfection

Thanks to you all... I've been on this board since 2006.. mostly silent.. and as of late mostly absent... But now want to come back and listen to such wise advice and support...

La_veronique.... you asked about my ankle and how it was doing... it healed up very wellnow only occasionally feels stiff or hurts, usually in damp cold weather.. However my hardest recover came from major abdominal surgery that I had two weeks after I broke my ankle. The recovery was much more difficult and longer then I could have imagined... But each day I feel better and after a long dark winter I am ready to get back on board... Thanks...

Elayne

Just a consideration, if there are cookies in the office go ahead and make yourself a stash of raw dehydrated cookies. Pack em in a tin and tuck them in your desk. Have one when the urge arises to devour a cooked cookie.

My husband and I were taking these long evening walks and we would use the time to discuss lots of different things, but also to evaluate our diet. We pinpointed our "weak" times of day. For us it was dinner time and dessert. We found that we were eating raw at every other time, but would freak out at dinner when we couldn't have a solid "cooked" meal. Once we recognized this, we then developed strategies to help us transition. We haven't actually made the perfect transition to raw/vegan, yet, but I like to call it a journey or an evolution. I developed good vegan/veg cooked meals that satisfy us and have worked on finding and making good raw desserts. Lately I've been satisfied with fruit, so I'm coming along. Recognizing where you are having the most trouble allows you to make strategies for that particular time of day (ie. at the office), rather than feeling like you are totally off track.

We make those ball things, too - that's my husband's specialty, he really gets into it - it's always an experiment to see what he can create, they are really satisfying and yummy. Good luck with your journey and happy healing!

Hello to all...

Thanks for all the great suggestions and support!

I wanted to report that I've made it through my entire work day without one single cookie or cracker!! I came prepared, not only in what I've had here to munch on, but also prepared in my mind.. I am already feeling light, more energized and pleased with my progress for today.... I told myself this morning when I was getting ready for work.. that all I had to do was "one day at a time" "one hour at a time" or if it was really bad only "one minute at time"

Yummys for today: (basically only ate something when I was feeling hungry)

3 stocks of celery
1 orange
3 kiwi
1/4 head of lettuce
7 radishes
1 yummy yellow pepper
1 ok mango
1/2 lemon with filter water

Plan later to have (when I get home) a blueberry, banana, mango smoothie with spinach or parsley

Yeah!! one entire day of no wheat and no sugar!!

Last night I was too cold to have a smoothie, so instead had a bit of hummus and 5 almonds another banana and a carrot. and a warm cup of herbal tea

This morning for breakfast, fruit salad:

1 banana
1 cup strawberries
1 kiwi