I just wander how they did it? I ate fish a couple of times, just to please my forever complaining family, and felt stomach ache even while I was eating and felt bad whole day.
For me, it would be very, very hard to go back to "normal" food, even though I have been on raw vegan food only 7 months.

The only thing that can maybe help this reverse transition, I think, is regular salt consumption. I noticed that salads with salt are somehow related to SAD memories. Also, hunger is a factor too - SAD dishes look attractive when I haven't had enough of normal vegan food. There, this is the first time I used the word "normal" for vegan food. Noted. ))

After being vegan, high raw, for many years I did find myself going back to eating vegetarian cooked food, and then some (you can PM me about it if you want, but I don't want to break the rules and offend anybody by posting on the main board)

It started when I was preparing food for kids at my job, I would be craving something, so after holding back for so long I would put piece of cooked food in my mouth, get the taste then spit it out, after doing this for a little while, I thought that it was worse. eating disorder style, to chew it and spit it out, so I would started swollowing it. Then it was a slippery slope, maybe because it was so gradual is why I never got sick. Sorry to gross anybody out.
If the cooked food hadn't been in front of me and available I probably would not have had those intense urges.
I never got physically sick, but psychologically it was no good,

I can relate to "feeling bad the whole day" but not a sick to my stomach, more of a guilty feeling that I was sabotaging myself.

meganbubbs, that is probably right - if you set down and ate the whole SAD meal at once, you would have gotten sick. But, gradually, you built the "protection" layer in your intestines again (I assume) and slowly you got used to it again. I really think that it is the only way to do it. I would be surprised if anyone was able to wake up and switch from normal vegan diet to SAD. It seems impossible to me.

i have had fried asian food (vegan), and cooked vegan food like beans and squash and grains like quinoa. i did it to fit in.

> quinoa. i did it to fit in.

That sounded like a bad after school special.

IloveJen - I can relate to that.

I never ate S.A.D. to begin with so there's nothing to go back to .
I do eat cooked foods now, I found maintaining 100% raw very unrealistic in my life with kids who need lunches for school, family events, socializing, time and money in my own kitchen. I don't stress about it, we eat a very high percentage of raw, no flesh foods, organic and local when we can, include 'living' foods often. We are very, very healthy by any standards and I don't feel guilty (an extremely unhealthy emotion IMHO) for eating something that used to be "off the list". A sandwich isn't going to hurt me or have a negative impact on my health. I'm just not that fragile.

Absolutely right coco. You said it for me

The topic was meant mostly for people who are 100% raw vegan or very close. I don't think that guilt has anything to do with the whole issue (at least it shouldn't). I was just curious to see if people had similar body reaction to SAD food after being on raw vegan for a significant time.

There are different kinds of this "SAD" diet. My grandparents lived 105/95 years on a farm, eating bread, milk and meat (from their own sources), but also a lot of fresh garden veggies and fruit, fresh air, water from a well, lots of natural sunshine etc. Their life is almost impossible today.

After being 100% raw for well over a year including into a pregnancy, no, I didn't have a bad reaction to eating cooked foods again. My circumstances were a bit unusual (5 months pregnant) but the lentil soup I had was jjuuussstt right. After that I ate everything, frankly my pregnancy demanded it.
I know tons of multi-year rawbies who added cooked foods back into their diets seamlessly. I wouldn't suggest starting off with hamburgers and cheesecake but some steamed veg or veg soup shouldn't make you feel bad unless it's way too full of salt or something. Or you have your mind set on something...

Oh, I am not planning to switch back at all. I just thought that it was interesting and maybe even from a medical point of view - can a regular meat and potato lunch after a year of raw vegan cause a serious intoxication? Someone said that raw vegans have a higher sensitivity due to clean intestines.

Maybe I have explained what I really wanted that well, sorry.

I think I understand what you're saying, I just don't agree that some cooked food (healthy, obviously) is going to make someone sick after eating all raw. I think that's psychological myself but who knows, some people are particularly sensitive.

coco, in my case, I assure you, it is not psychological. And, I don't think I would react the same if I ate some cooked vegan food. I ate steamed fish, which is harder to digest, so that is why I had a reaction like that. When I say SAD diet I do not mean cooked vegan, but a "regular" lunch with a steak, potatoes, sauce etc.

Rab, your grandparents diet does not sound like S.A.D., but Weston-Price style diet. Very different, and much healthier.

It doesn't take a year to get used to a certain way of eating. A few years ago I tried raw for a few weeks and the first thing I had when I gave it up was a can of ravioli that I had been craving. Half way in I had very violent stomach churning and wound up with digestive problems for the rest of the day. Going from really clean to super heavy junk really can cause problems. You can also see this in people trying to end long fasts with a heavy meal. However, making small diet changes or gradually increasing the heaviness of food often isn't noticed.

Thanks, veghunter. That is really what I thought too. So, it would be nice if people who try to make us eat some "regular" stuff new that our defense against that "stuff" is not the same.
I don't think there were any studies on this topic, but I wander if they could find out what is the amount of toxins from processed food that a raw vegan person will have in their system, vs. a SAD person. I am quite sure that raw vegans are much more vulnerable, but I am not sure if this depends on how long a particular person has been raw vegan. What is with people who grow up raw vegan? What if life circumstances force them to switch to SAD? How will that affect them?
There is a number of questions of that type that would be an interesting topic of a study, I think. Not because anyone plans to switch back to "standard" diet, but because it tells us more about how our body works, I hope.

Ive known a lot of people that go back. Dental, digestive, mental, excess weight issues etc hit em hard.

Then again, all these peeps were eating a low carb, high fat gourmet raw vegan diet. The only raw crew that I know that are kick'n raw ass are the banana munchers.

My housemate last year died during a fast after getting food poisoning from raw animal products.

Im learning its more important to do raw right than to do raw just for the sake of raw..

Hi, I have been raw for only about 1 month and last week ate little bits of cooked food. However, yesterday I ate a Linda McCartney vegan pie and lots of boiled potatoes. I thought it would be ok. Oh my god, was I wrong. I have such stomach pain and feel so sick that I had to be sent home from work. I cannot believe that a few potatoes and a pie can do this to me!!!

Some info on Linda MacCartney's pie. I can't imagine a time in my life when eating that wouldn't be bad for me. Just because it's vegan or vegetarian doesn't mean it isn't SAD.

Ingredients
Wheat flour, water, rehydrated textured soya protein (14%), onion (9%), vegetable oil, savoury stock, cornflour, red wine, salt, tomato purée, garlic purée, thyme, malt extract, baking powder, flavouring, pepper.

Vegetable oil contains: Salt, emulsifier: mono and di-glycerides of fatty acids.

Flavouring contains: Dextrose, natural flavourings, maltodextrin, salt, acacia gum, vegetable oils.

Savoury stock contains: Potato, onion, salt, natural flavouring, vegetable oil, sugar, malt extract, yeast extract, pepper.

Baking powder contains: Disodium diphosphate, sodium hydrogen carbonate, wheat flour, salt.
Nutritional Information
Typical values Per 100g:
Energy 1038.3kJ/248.7kcal, Protein 5.2g, Carbohydrate 24.9g of which sugars 3.6g, Fat 14.2g of which saturates 5.9g, Fibre 2.6g, Salt 0.3g of which sodium 0.7g.
Cautions
Allergy Advice
Contains: Gluten, Wheat, Soya

[www.goodnessdirect.co.uk]

Huh, really surprised by that ingredients list, and not a little nauseated.

rab,

I went from vegetarian to high raw(when I was 100%) and didn't feel bad when going back to some cooked vegan from there. But I do think there's a world of difference between cooked vegan/vegetarian and the SAD; the SAD is not food. It's phood, and of course you will feel terrible on it after feeding yourself purely for a while. The terrible response that so many have upon eating animal tissue again after high raw, which seems so similar to a typical allergic response, is some of the best evidence, IMO, for vegetarian nutrition's being generally more appropriate to our species.

well, i didn't go back to sad diet, but after almost 1 year now raw, if i have a full meal of cooked food, even simple cooked veggies and tofu....i don't feel that good. not terrible or sick, but i'll be off for a couple days. and most interesting to me now, is i feel a drop in energy. i like how i feel on raw better!

I wouldn't immediately feel bad if I suddenly ingested something from the SAD menu. My diet has made me strong and adaptable. However, if I kept eating a SAD food, yes, I would definitely not feel optimal over time. I like to think that I've gotten to a point where my body can chew up and spit out a lot of toxins with ease. To me, that's one of the keys to deep strength and health.