i understand this is really simple for a lot of you but omg my craving senses are going MAD right now! seriously i cant control myself from going to nearest fast food place and binging on like 5 hamburgers, ive done this before and i always regret it after..

i keep feeling like giving up because how in the world can i rely on myself to ALWAYS eat fruit? its not practical, how could i EVER go out with someone again? on a date? out to dinner? its like i would have to stay inside all the time and prepare my fruits, never going out to eat. i would be a total recluse. this is why i feel like quitting, plus the cravings...

the main reason im doing the fruitarian diet is for health and appearance. i love the ways your eyes can change going to raw it just fascinates me for some reason. but alas im too weak i must eat.. help before it is too late meh

why are you restricting yourself to all fruit, might I ask? I don't think you are ready for that. It will be an easier transition if you eat all the raw foods you can find, including vegetables, nuts and seeds, plus you can make delicious recipes (look at rawfoods recipes link on the home page).
I just wish you would DO something, try it all, get busy and STOP whining!
if not, then go get your McD's and enjoy them until you are a little older and really ready for change. good luck.

Eat some fruit. ;-) Figure out what exactly you are craving for, the burger? bun? oils? the relish/dressing? the fun of eating it? And then find some raw food or fruit that may have a similar taste or nutritional content.

Another option might be going out to a raw vegan restuarant for meal once in a while. I'm lucky, there are five or six raw vegan restuarants in my town, so I've got a lot of choice for eating out. Also, I normally find something to eat in many restuarants. One time at work lunch outing to Thai restuarant, all they could serve me was a big plate of fresh mango slices and young Thai coconut - it was a great meal.

As for dates... well, since I've been raw vegan I've had not problems at all with dates. Many of the girls I meet are really interested in eating raw and are pretty excited to have somebody else to talk to about it. Preparing a meal together is pretty fun raw vegan date (it's a fun thing to do with friends in general).

I really admire you guys who the mono-fruit or combining, but for me I find it a little to restrictive, making the raw vegan life style a little boring for me. I enjoy making and eating multi-course meals with lots of flavors and textures that end with a mind blowingly decadant deserts (that even SAD eaters love).

But I think, if you're a mono-fruiter, then try to break the diet with some other raw vegan food rather than cooked food like mark58 said. You can also order raw vegan foods over the internet, keep some hidden away for when you get cravings and want to take a little break from mono-fruiting.

Cheers,
Ian.

I think all raw fooders are struggling with the same things you are and are constantly backsliding and binging and, yes why are you eating just fruit? Not even fruitarians eat just fruit. You remind me of when I first went raw and didn't know how a lot about raw food recipes and ate just fruit for a few weeks. It was a serious shock to my system.

Have you tried flax seed crackers, filling foods like avocados, brownies made with dried fruit and walnuts?

Go ahead and quit, you'll be back before you know it, totally disgusted with fast food.

You can make crackers, dips, pate's, chips, awesome salads, don't forget olives!
Almond milk, coconut milk, a million recipes with avacado. Start somewhere and somewhere down the road meat will begin to turn you off! MD's is sooooooooooooo
gross to me! Hang in there and take baby steps first! Chill and find friends who
are going in the same direction as you are...
Peace

tropical Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think all raw fooders are struggling with the
> same things you are and are constantly backsliding
> and binging and,

Not ALL rawfooders are struggling or backsliding or binging. If you are talking about newbies, well then I agree.


Anyway, yes, you don't have to restrict yourself to all fruit. You can eat mostly fruit and you can eat some greens, sprouts, and nuts and seeds. Those will help with your cravings. THey do for me and haven't had any cravings, and I cook for my family! I look forward to eating a few dark leafy greens after eating fruit. So, don't give up. ANd it isn't isolating as you think, social wise. Yo just need to figure it out. You, like many of us, are new. And when detox kicks in, all of the cravings will be there because of all of the old toxins from the old food are leaving the body. So a little self dicipline will have to take place. And for young people, it is hard to have self dicipline. So if you do well, I will congratulate you for being such a wise and diciplined young person, because not many are. You will mature a lot faster than others.

ew, fast food? i'm only 26 and haven't had a bite of that for over 10 years! it doesn't taste good. or i don't remember it tasting good, but the smell seems more tempting.

i'm with the rest. diversify. sometimes, i don't have enough time in the day to eat all the delicious foods i want. and even more frequently, i realize i'm not hungry, so i have to WAIT until i'm hungry to eat the foods that tempt me.

also, my husband enjoys meat once a week. and other meals together. and i don't feel right now that my remaining 100% raw is worth making him eat alone. he's come a long way, but that doesn't mean i need to push him to join me now. since he's not eating cooked right now, i'm fine, but usually once a week to once a month i will eat a cooked meal with him. usually homemade chinese. and i figure that my healthy eating the rest of the time will balance it out. when i go out with friends, i compromise a little, but not a lot.

as for cravings, it sounds like you have an allergy/addiction to something in these foods. a severe one, since you have such bad reactions but still put it in your body. sound like any other addiction? i would recommend some sort of spiritual and emotional disciplines in addition to dietary. your body does not need junk food, and you shouldn't give into it when you think it's demanding it.

it's not hunger or even dietary needs that would take you to McD's. you need to figure out what it is in you that keeps dragging you there. when i was pregnant i made my own oven fries to fill my stomach. it was the only cooked food i ate consistently. now i don't eat it. it filled the need i had then. now i don't keep eating them just because they taste good.

good luck. sorry you're having such a hard time.

Try motivation, order fruit diet books and get inspired.

shep252 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tropical Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I think all raw fooders are struggling with the
> > same things you are and are constantly
> backsliding
> > and binging and,
>
> Not ALL rawfooders are struggling or backsliding
> or binging. If you are talking about newbies, well
> then I agree.

You're right I should have said "All raw fooders HAVE struggled" - past tense.

Ok, now someone is going to pop up and say "I had no struggle". Well anyway, I stuggled with it, for several times a year for years I would start raw and then go back to cooked. I would be so dissapointed with myself that I couldn't stay on raw perfectly. Of course, I was in good health so I really didn't have a pressing motive to go raw.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2006 04:30PM by tropical.

Heheh, I don't remember struggling, it just came and seemed so natural. I never made a commitment to "eat 100% raw vegan" or anything, I just ate raw, it's something that has fitted so perfectly into my life style.

I am new here and a little shy about posting. I have been reading and experimenting with raw recipies here and there for about 9 years. About 3 yrs ago I decided that I wanted to go 100% raw because I am morbidly obese and have struggled with food for a long time. I found out just how addicted I am to cooked foods, especially fat and salty foods. The longest I have stayed on raw was for about 1 week and that was long enough to know that raw is the way to go for weight loss, health and an ending to depression. But the drug of choice (cooked food) is a hard one to overcome. I am glad I found you all here, you give me motivation and answers to a lot of questions. As for falling off the wagon..........I keep trying, everyday. I seem to be at least at the point of not eating any meat and when I do fall back to cooked I get back on the raw fruits the same day. So, hopefully, I will make it to my goal........100% raw. Please don't be to hard on us newbies that are really trying to change our unhealthy eating habits....it is a very hard thing to do for some of us. Thanks for being here and I am glad I found you all!

mari

Wecome Mari, glad you found your way here as well.

Please feel free to ask any questions and well as share your throughts and feeling about raw food.

Cheers,
Ian.

Thanks lan,

When I am on raw foods I know it is the right thing to do. I just start losing weight easily and I can almost feel my body shifting. When I diet on cooked foods it is a constant battle of when enough is enough (cooked seems never to be enough) and I can eat the same amount of calories on cooked as I do raw and on cooked I will not lose any weight but on raw, I will. I just think that is amazing. What are your viewpoints on calorie counting vs unlimited raw? I don't think the body will let you overeat on raw, but on cooked I just don't know when to stop. Has anyone else ever experienced that?

Mari

Mari

The only time I bother to even consider calories is if I'm going camping and want to make sure I'll have (more than) enough food for the time I plan to be away.

I've definately felt the same way about cooked foods with regard to over eating, I see it in my co-works a lot when they are not getting healthy food. They stuff them selves and they are still hungry. I believe this is because there body is missing/craving nutriants, so it say's "feed me!". If they where to eat some fruit instead of another Sneakers bar, they would probably stop being hungry.

Cheers,
Ian.

I have a similar problem--and I keep coming back! Finally, I'm getting tired of feeling tired; I'm getting sick of feeling sick! I'm learning that I can take a couple of apples with me when I go out to eat and while others eat their burgers, I eat my apples!


Ron

Hey Maribill,
Have you seen the website of Angela Stokes, www.rawreform.com? She used to be obese too until she started to eat raw. I found her site very inspirational, maybe you too! Great pictures and I am sure you will find some good advice and resources there.

good luck!
Sabine

Positive visualizations can be very powerful. Work on the pictures in your mind. Create a couple that you can use as tools in your "raw toolbox". See yourself as glowing with health, moving with ease, waking up smiling, sleeping soundly, performing your exercise effortlessly, etc. Include eating raw foods in simple form in your "pictures".

Read all that you can tolerate on factory farming treatment of animals, health issues and environmental issues surrounding the eating of flesh, eggs and dairy.
You will find that with enough knowledge and self honesty, there's just no excuse or desire there for anything that causes such misery. You don't have to become an activist to realize that you don't want animals suffering or dying for YOU. See yourself as part of the greater Peace movement on this planet - being vegan is just a part of the movement for a more gentle, peaceful and loving planet.

All cravings pass. They pass if you indulge in the food, drug, process, etc and they pass if you don't!!!!! Just chant to yourself "This too shall pass" and it will!

Always, always, always have a plan. If you fail to plan - you plan to fail!
If you go out for the day, you need to have food with you or else know where you're going to eat, in advance. It's that simple.

Learn to recognize self pity. It's a very destructive mind set. When you start to feel sorry for yourself and start thinking that you are somehow deprived in some way: 1. First of all - remind yourself that you are CHOOSING the raw lifestyle - for some very good reasons! 2. Remind yourself that you are strong and don't have to let just a few tiny taste buds on a tiny area of your tongue rule the outcome of your health and life. 3. Think about all the people in third world countries and the problems that they have. 4. Recognize all the abundance in your life and be grateful for it. Gratitude is the best antidote for self-pity - works every time for me. 5. If you slip and do something that you really don't want to do - don't beat yourself up. Just brush yourself off, try to learn from it and keep on keepin' on!

For those that are new, there's a great book by that little Renee Underkoffler called Living Cuisine that has a transition plan. I didn't do it that way, but it looks helpful.

Hang in there - it's worth it!!!!

Life Is Good!

alive!

i crave a big fat juicy hunk of a ...
beefsteak-tomato (heirloom)

anyone ever had any?
i got one at a farmer's market recently
it was red and orange and yellow
but it was pretty big
it was organic too (course)
it lasted quite a while
it was the size of a lil pumpkin

if u crave something
get it

i did
now i'm happy

thanks those are very inspiring posts ^^^

im going back at it again! i HATE this!! i hate feeling this way again. its like im back in that stupid "way of life" again.. i loved the natural high i was on and how i was just happier and everything was fine...

i cant wait to get back to that way again, but its gonna take awhile because this time i slipped up for about a week...

im gonna be strong!!!! no matter what!!!!

i like your idea about how its just some tiny, stupid little taste buds and they are ruling my life!?!?!!? lol

That's it la_v !! You said it better than I could. I explained it to my sister this way (when she said that she could never go raw and asked how did I deal with all the foods I no longer eat). I told her that instead of dwelling on the foods that I no longer eat and pining for them, my job is to fall totally, completely, madly in love with greens, raw veggies, fruits, freshness, the color green, crunchy, organic, farmers markets, nuts, simplicity, seasonal food, locally grown, road side stands, etc, etc. As long as I focus on those concepts and sit for a few seconds before a meal and smile at my beautiful, colorful, nutrient dense, clean food - I'm too occupied to remember to be deprived!!!!

Life Is Good!

alive!

I just want to say thanks to everyone for the rawsome replies. Just to know I can come here and recieve an abundance of love and caring and some magnificent ideas to help me on my road to recovery and acceptance even after I blunder.......is worth more than I can say! Thanks, I will be using the suggestions. The self pity really talked to me as well as the visualiztion. Great stuff, I feel motivated.

Mari

Hi, Maribill -

I've posted before about cravings, having explored myriad of things, including dehydration, hypoglycemia, "spleen" things with accupuncture...etc. etc. for over five years I've struggled with eating badly, then going back, but never fully straying from the raw food prcess of healing, believing in it as I do so very much.

I'm starting to settle into an awareness of what's been dogging me....I don't know if this will be helpful.

It's been said that all major societal changes are preceded by persecution and denial. I think I'm someone who's very sensitive to that process. I've been yelled at, harassed, even physically assulted for being a raw fooder, having done nothing but eaten my sald on a park bench. I've lost friends.....I think I've internalized that, kind of the way gay people are more likely to be alcoholics/addicts....internalizing the torment they are exposed to.

My job now is to live my life in line with my values of raw, as I have lived my life in line with all my other values. It means being lonilier, it means keeping things to myself, it means not even considering sharing the good news with other people, even if they ask how I got so healthy.

It's the only way I can retrieve myself and keep healing.

A good friend, also raw, recently said that she thinks that people are hostile about the raw/living life because they are very ambivalent about living....that raw living food folks are expressing a lack of ambivalence about living.

I know for sure that I no longer want to take on other peope's ambivalence about living. I've always wanted to live and be healthy, that's how I came upon raw liivng foods.

I can let other people meet their fate (kharm, whatever) and be alive and well.

If this is a piece of it for you, I hope this helps. I'm going to move forward, leaving other behind as I need to. With their ambivalnce, and fear....I wish the best for them, I, for one, have paid the price for their distress and I don't want to do it anymore.

Let me know how it goes.

GP

Hi Mari, Welcome!

Mari and Confuzed, the way I dealt with cravings was that I never made a committment to 100% raw. I just said "I'll eat as much raw food as I'm comfortable with & let's see what happens." ---- I ate alot of greens and heavy fatty raw foods in the beginning, which I think helped alot, because I got very few cravings. And when I got a craving I just ate what I craved. Your cravings will decrease over time so don't be too hard on yourself if you desperately want a chicken quesadilla. Just have the dang thing!

I wanted to let everyone know that I have had a great raw day, and am planning on doing it again tomorrow.

I wanted also to address geneticpromise. I understand fully about how others can make you feel. I am retired now but, when I worked and brought sprouts and raw crackers and different recipies that I experimented with at work.....well, I was looked at as the weird one. I mean it was hard enough making the changes but, to have to worry about other's comments.........well, just too much. I have learned how to keep things low key now and try really hard to not say anything. Even my own adult children and my husband can make it pretty upsetting. This morning, I just didn't say a word to my husband, I just did my raw thing............he always says he wants to do it with me, and I believe him and then he puts all this temptation in front of me and says there isn't anything wrong with a little bit. Deep down I think he wants to sabotage my efforts. I am very addicted to cooked foods. I don't think they understand it on the same level as we do. I felt very accepting of my decision today and with that came a sense of calmness which helped me stay raw. So, one day at a time, and if I blunder that is ok too.

To Sunshine79.........I think deep down this is kind of the attitude I have developed, just to do the best I can with raw and not to beat myself up for deviating from my plan.

I have been taking Alive!'s suggestion and rethinking my attitude into gratefullness instead of deprivation and realizing that this is my choice to be thin and healthy and hanging onto the knowledge that I have tried many diets and the raw living lifestyle is the absolute truth of it all.....there is no deprivation with raw because with raw you can actually eat instead of starving yourself. All those cravings I have are just withdrawals from just that "cravings" and they will go away if I find something else to do instead of caving into them.

Rawamsterdam....I have read about Angela Stokes.. Absolutely fantastic how she has turned her life around and she looks wonderful. She and several others help to keep me motivated. I want to do what they have done.

Veganron, I don't think I am as strong as you are yet. I will stay away from watching others eat, for now anyway. But just like you, I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I have to do this for me and no one else.

Thanks all! I am looking forward to tomorrow, another new adventure.

Mari

Hey Mari, I like what you have to say, especially the "there is no deprivation with raw because with raw you can actually eat instead of starving yourself", it's so true, you can eat as much as you want when living the raw food life style. Even if you manage to over eat, you are over eating very heathly foods and compared to cooked foods not doing very much damage (this statement is based of personal experience and not scientific study).

Keep up the raw eating. If you do have cravings, let us know what and why, and we'll (well I and I'm sure others) will help supply recipes that match the cravings.

Cheers,
Ian.

Hey Mari - YOU GOOOO WITH YOUR BAD SELF GIRL!!!!!

Another thing that I would add that worked for me - maybe not others - but I thought I would mention it.

When I first went raw (even though I needed to lose some weight) I let myself eat as much as I wanted of raw foods. I was hungry and cold, just walked into the door, had nothing prepared and kind of feeling panicked one night and I ate 3 or 4 raw bars from the health food store! Plus a cup of hot tea. That would make me feel sick if I did it now, but at the time it worked to keep me from heading for the cooked stuff. I guess I was of the "going cold carrot" mind set. So that was my game plan - I ate anything and all that I wanted for a while and didn't give the weight issue any consideration - just raw. Now, I almost never eat raw nut butters, but at that time, I needed them to help me stay raw.

So, most of the weight has come off and the rest of it will when my knee heals up and I can get back on my bike.

Having said that - still, don't beat up on yourself if you have times of giving into cravings. We fall down, we get up, we fall down, we get up - at some point - we stay up!

Life Is Good!

alive!

Yep! Life is good. I have had another really good day and I feel good about that! Not totally raw but about 85% and that is good. Looking again to tomorrow for another glorious day.

Namaste'

Anyone here read 12 Steps to Raw Food? It has been a lifesaver for me so far.
I have blanked out on the author, but do a search on the title and you will find the book and the website which is www.rawfamily.com.

I was almost raw for 6 months. I let go a little here and there around the holidays last year. It was a death sentence for me. I am "on"again and am preparing mentally and "recipie-arily" for the social occasions yet to come.

This book is a MUST-READ for those having cravings who feel they are addicted to food. I am one of those. Just like an alcoholic, I typically cannot think beyond one day about sticking to raw food. It is just too overwhelming to think I can't ever eat "cooked comfort foods again.