I admit it. I splurged on bagels, sweets and meat for 3 whole weeks and now I'm ready (& needing) to go raw again! I gained 5 lbs in the process and my whole attitude has changed!! I've been waking up sluggish. I've been snapping at my husband at every little thing. I've been having negative and depressing thoughts I've sabatoged myself!!! And all this after going raw for 2 months and fasting for 7 days and getting really clean and clear. I've dissapointed myself.

I felt myself really wanting to splurge and be bad for some reason. A part of me wanted to just not think anymore!! I really have to analize why that happened so I don't do it again.

I'm done hiding. I'm ready to find myself again.

I've put it on my calender.
Today's the first day.
I know the first few days are the worst with cravings and all that.

I can't wait to start feeling good again!!!!

Love you guys!

Jen Rose

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2006 07:35PM by Jen Rose.

Good luck and have fun, Jen!
I know exactly how you have felt after eating cooked food for a while!
I have been there too.

It usually happens when I travel.
It is difficult to stay raw for me during the trip.
What happens after you get back home is that you are moodier, more tired (not because of the busy schedule during the trip but eating all the cooked food!), and stressed out!

I have been 70% raw for a few months now and I totally love it!
I hope you will find your enjoyable way back to raw!

Gadjoemi

Confession is the first step to healing.

What I do is if I think about how good a certain bad food tastes, then I visualize myself eating it, then I automatically remember what I felt like during and after I've eaten something. So that makes me stay away from the bad stuff. Then think about how good you will fell eating healthy! You can do it!

Thanks for the replies guys, I"m feeling better already! It's the commitment to myself and the abundance of raw food starting to do it's thing in my body. My spirit is being lifted, I feel it already.

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

If you did splurge on cooked foods please make sure that the pace at which you are eating raw foods is suitable and comfortable for you. Many people go back and forth eating cooked foods and then eating raw which is not very good.
Simply adding more raw food is much healthier if it means you won`t feel a need to splurge. Slow and steady and all that
You know yourself best, do whatever feels good and healthy!

hi Jen,

I had been doing the back and forth thing too and I understand how you feel. In my case, much study, and confrontations with all the contradictions and differing dietary philosophies had me feeling less confident that I know what I'm doing at all.

My temporary solution has been to eat raw for breakfast and lunch everyday and to rotate raw one night and very simple, lightly cooked the other for my supper meals. I am taking no supplements (something at the beginning of this journey I was taking quite a lot of), and basically working to really tune in to my bodys' reactions and responses to what I eat and do.

My "very simple, lightly cooked" meals consist of greens steeped in hot broths (veggie) removed from heat or whole grain "pastas" such as spelt or soba noodles eaten with greens or other veggies simply wilted together with the hot/warm noodles. Or brown rice with "stir-raw" veggies which I cook in a little water just until vibrant in color. I also try to eat very little at my evening meal.

For now this is working for me and is giving me a little more psychic space to deal with other issues in my life that need attention.

hope this helps,

Kathleen

It's just possible you have a wheat or dairy intollerance. I get incredibly tired and moody from these

There's a difference between cooked food and junk food.

Don't be hard on yourself, that's really good advice. Do what makes you feel good, and stay away from the extremes.

Best
~G

I love this thread! Great reminder of why to stay away from cooked food.

I get the same symptoms when I eat crap food for a few days - lethargic, grumpy, easily irritated, anxiety, depression, brain fog, etc.

But when you eat raw for awhile, you tend to feel so good that you start getting carried away thinking that nothing you can do can make you feel bad (like when a schizophrenic stops taking his medicine because he starts feeling good).

Ha Ha! sunshine that's funny and so true! Usually I would agree with moderation but in the case of going raw I am on all or nothing type of person. I can see how extremes can be bad but I just can't wrap my head around a middle ground between the two. I can maybe add in some fish now and then. But then I think, why bother? As long as I get through the few days of craving I am home free. Cooked grains and veggies don't appeal to me at all.

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

Hi there,

You can do it!! Changing ones diet can be much more difficult than we first imagined. Emotional eating patterns are usually very deeply established and we need to learn to separate eating for nurishment from eating for many other reasons. For many of us, food has been our best friend for a long time, it is always there when we need it, it comforts us, helps us celebrate, helps us mourn, helps us numb ourselves from realities that we'd rather not face. Using food for inappropriate reasons is firmly entrenched in our culture and it is a habit that requires some thought and planning to overcome. But it CAN be overcome. Be gentle with yourself. As you said, learn from the experience and move forward. You are on the right track!

All the best,

Audrey
www,rawhealing.com

Thank you for the kind words, Audrey. Day 2 today is done, and I feel really good. My husband ate all kinds of yummy SAD food in front of me today and it was hard but I was just kept in mind how it would feel if I ate it. It did the trick! I'm remembering how easy it is now to keep in your mind the Truth about cooked food and not to let it seduce you. It's all an illusion isn't it? It looks good and smells good (sometimes) but the after effects are so not worth it.

I'm feeling myself again. More in tune and in harmony with my environment. What a lovely feeling...I"m relishing in it.

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

-Do what you like and/or like what you do.........but don't do good and feel bad.....or do bad and feel nothing but shame and guilt.

-David Mason

Feel no shame... Or at least, tell your mind that you aren't interested in shame anymore, because it's an emotion best discarded. You can and will succeed. Best of luck.

Thank you. I feel the love in that statement.

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

I know how you feel Jen Rose. My husband eats yummy SAD diet in front of me, too. (Fried chicken today.) Well, it smelt so good, but then I remembered how I would feel afterwards.

You did good!

Hello All. I am currently struggling with 'going off all raw' for the past few days, after being about 90% raw since September of last year. I haven't been feeling well for a few days now (lots of nausea, tiredness, and I am not pregnant), and introduced a few cooked foods to see if it would help. In some ways it has, but I have certainly noticed a difference in feeling, a heaviness, which of course comes from the shock to my system. However, while I know for me that a predominately raw diet is the best for me, I just don't share a seemingly common opinion among the raw food community that cooked food is this great evil of the world. I would like to ask Jen Rose, you mentioned 'the Truth about cooked food' I am just wondering what you believe that to be. There many diets in the world as there are religions and no one way can possibly be the best way for everyone. I am interested to know other's thoughts on this. Dogma is so dangerous and it seems fairly prevalent among so much of what I have read and learned about the raw food community as an 'entity', if you will. I share these thoughts openly and with love.......in hopes of peaceful and honest replies.

To the bounty of the Earth
April

Jen,

When you say sad diet was anything vegan? The one thing that I've found to be truthful about raw foods is that vegans have an easier time of transitioning because they're already eating a plant-based diet. If you were a raw vegan and fell off the wagon then you'd atleast be going back to a healthier diet.

Cheers,

Marcos

Go Vegan for your life, your health, the planet and, most importantly, the animals that we share this wonderful world with!

lunamama,

Your questions are understandable and I will do my best to explain. I was simply referring to My Truth about cooked food. Yes, there is a stigma attached to cooked food in the Raw community but I've noticed that everyone here is wide open to every individuals private needs. It all depends on how YOU feel about it and what level of detox you are at. So you have been 90% raw for a year? That is amazing! Congratulations! My experience with Raw food (which is limited) has been this. Either I go 100% Raw or fall off completely which includes non-vegan items like cookies, breads, meats, and icecream. I have tried to go mostly raw and a little cooked and it does NOT do well with my digestion. I feel bloated and sluggish afterwards.
Now, I've been getting into food combining to help the Raw diet along. Like eating fruits alone and on an empty stomach. So far I've been eating fruits (smoothies or juice) all day until dinner time followed with a nice salad for dinner.

I really do think that the Raw diet is the most healing and spiritually advanced commitment I've ever made for myself. And yes, I do think it could be for everyone. Hope that helps.

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2006 06:30PM by Jen Rose.

Hi Jen Rose. Thank you for your reply. I have struggled since the age of 8 with eating disorder, (I am now 34) so that of course has really thrown a major wrench into my digestion. As you have experienced, many foods, raw or cooked, put my body into states of bloating, severe pain and discomfort. BUT the raw diet has proven to be the most helpful to me. I would like to put out there that Homeopathy has also been a saving grace in my life. I am now taking a remedy daily which has been so incredibly life changing on so many levels. Does anyone else incoporate homeopathy into their lives?

Being committed to a raw foods lifestyle is certainly a spiritually uplifting path and I bless and honor all who choose to explore it.

Blessed Be.

Hey Jen!
OMG!! I'm not the only one!!! I just got back from visiting my family and my Grandmothers funeral in the South....LOTS of BBQ ( I know...), poundcake, mac and cheese, potato salad, fried green tomatos, sweet iced tea, and wine....I had been 100% raw for nearly two weks before I left. I need to go raw again, without so many nuts and nut butters (seems that they aren't so great according to alot of people...) I'm back on "the raw wagon" as of today....I dread detox again....but like most of you here have said, its all or nothing...there is NOT an option for me to go half way or in between...Hang in there Jen....we can do this!! Post your progress!

Dafodil

"Life must change from time to time if we are to go forward in our thinking".
Frances Mayes



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2006 08:07PM by dafodil.

Ah, I'm feeling like my old self again. Clean and clear and with no stomach bloat!! I'm past all the cravings and into exploring new ways to make raw meals. The fruit in the morning and mostly all day is so nice. I found a website online that delivers raw desserts like pudding and apple pie and also sprouted hummus and flax crackers! It's a little pricey but so worth it! YAY! My spirit is happy again!!!

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"