I'm no gourmet chef, so I consume a lot of salads and green smoothies, most of which are divine, but every once in a while, the thought of another salad or smoothie is about as appealing as a scalding bucket of black coffee on a hot humid day, and it's been years since I enjoyed coffee.

I know what the problem is: it's my old self, my old identity, popping his head up from a shaded hammock - too stuffed with SAD foods to get up - saying, "Yoo-hoo, over here. Come on back, the cookie dough is fine...burp."

"I'm done with you," I yell back, and turn to walk away, but look over my shoulder when he bellows again.

"Lookie what I have," he says, and stuffs a chocolate chip cookie into his piehole. "You know you...brap...want some."

One day at a time, I tell myself, one day at a time...

Can you buy gourmet raw food where you live? Pizza crusts (and put your favourite toppings), hummus and crackers, etc. Even if they are on the expensive side, it's only once in a while as you said. And your troubles will be gone.

To be honest though the internet is full of recipes which are nothing like gourmet (easy to put together and small number of ingredients), yet they are not salads and smoothies.

Soups, fillings for nori rolls or lettuce wraps, puddings and so on. You just need to look them up, get up and cook them. Very many are delicious so that after you've eaten them you feel satisfied and do not crave SAD food anymore.

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<

Cooked foods are calorie bombs and your brain was made to recognize these bombs to survive -on the wild-. However, modern times place bombs everywhere and you don't live on the wild no more. On every corner you find pizza, machines, cakes, pasta, etc. The bombs will take over your brain just like cocaine does. You have to become aware of the bomb trick and get your body to respond to normal food (not cooked).

Yeah, I can buy gourmet foods at a local raw food restaurant, and sometimes do. The above post was just a little creative writing exercise about trying to say goodbye to the old me

I know, weird...

here is a banquet feast of raw vegan cookies


[fficial&channel=np&prmd=imvnse&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=DyDiT67QEeTe2QXH-ui9Cw&ved=0CGoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=497" rel="nofollow" >www.google.com]

no reason to give them up

if u wanna have one

jimtoo... i was meditating on this last ngiht... the old me... fear of letting go? i have tummy issues i am working with ("ibs" but i just look at it as a chance to really get to know, my body, learn more about me, a beautiful journey of self and healing raw food transtioning is an adventure with self and understanding

i liked reading your post im ok with giving up the old food... but i am wroking with over eating, and as my isides feel weak, and full of stagnent old energy/thouhts/feelings/toxins, over eating really puts a strain on my system, but im working with it each day, and letting go with the old

keep strving to be your truest beautifulist version of you

you will get there peace x

jimtoo,
Great example above of a dialog that millions of folks have every day.
Food is SOOOOOOOO much in control of our actions and thoughts.
Every day I struggle with putting the right foods into my body.
"one day at a time" is about all we can do.
The great pyramids were built one block at a time.
Vinny



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2012 02:20PM by eaglefly.

Yeah, for years I wondered why I couldn't stop stuffing questionable "foods" into my piehole, or why I'd sometimes get it under control only to eventually fall back to old patterns. Then one day, not too long ago, it became much easier and I wasn't sure why, before realizing that I had finally let go of an old identity, one that felt the need to fit in with what everyone else was doing. Not that I'm completely immune to all the constant temptations, so it is one day at a time, and probably always will be.

Fruit, jim. Calorie dense fruit. And nuts, jim. The more concentrated calories you get from raw foods, the less your brain will signal your gut to signal your hand to reach for cookies, which, to my mind, are just as unpleasant as hot coffee on a swelterer. Barring that, calorie dense vegan foods, like storebought vegan cookies, but training to resist their attraction all the while. Remember that this is a process, and you have been through it before. Take stock of what you did and what you learned about yourself then, and draft a plan on how to deal with these issues this time around; this will be an additional step in the process, thus taking your further toward your incremental goals, whatever they may be.

I still eat some cooked food, though especially in the warm months, I tend to avoid even the healthiest cooked food because it's so noxious seeming when all I want is a gallon of chilled mintwasser and a siesta twice daily Even raw gazpacho is a pain to prepare when it's 90 degrees, but cutting open a ripe cantalope or scarfing down a handful of frozen raw almonds, not so!

I wish you luck in your battle with the wee devil on your left shoulder(unless you are in the southern hemisphere, in which case it's opposite, I believe . . .), and gently remind you that you are fundamentally in control of what you put in your mouth. Even if that isn't your reality right now

One thing I like to do is warm soups on the lowest setting on the stove, stirring constantly, and checking the temperature with my finger. If it doesn't burn your finger, you're not really burning the food. It does wonders to eat something that's still warm!

If warm raw food doesn't cut it, if gourmet raw food doesn't cut it, and you're still just absolutely going to crack, be real about your options because you have two that are worlds apart:

1) Eat processed garbage non-food (Chips Ahoy?)

2) Eat steamed or boiled whole foods (steam some turnips!)

There's just something so important about eating foods in the form you found them. A few whole foods absolutely must be cooked to be eaten. A can of organic beans in a mostly-raw chili is not the same as a frozen TV dinner.

I do eat small amounts of cooked food from time to time. If staying 100% raw is going to send you on wild oscillations of eating well and binging on processed non-foods, I think it makes way more sense to eat 90% raw and 10% cooked whole foods... or whatever % is comfortable... until it becomes second nature and you are ready to take the next step forward.

Success is what you DO eat, and also, what you DON'T eat. I think keeping all the chemicals, grains, and animal products out of the diet is more important than a perfect 100% raw.

Steamed turnips will NEVER give you mad cow.

I still advocate as much raw as possible, but only within the context you can reliably commit without doing something more destructive in the long run. I had a friend who literally took one bite of KFC after nine months of high raw and was sick for two days straight.

It takes time to transition to a fully raw diet. They say one month of raw = undoing one year of SAD eating, so it really is a long process. I don't think it's best for everyone to transition to 100% overnight. Move at your pace, stay focused on the goals, be reasonable with yourself and think about damage control. I could have never made it through the first six months of raw without those sprouted Ezekiel wraps. I'd never want to eat them now, though.

Your "slip" (I would advise not thinking about it that way) doesn't have to end with your head in a toilet puking greasy pizza and processed cookies! It could end with you finishing a plate of turnips thinking, "Well, that wasn't bad... But raw food is more flavorful, crisp, and feels a bit more invigorating. I think I want to eat more tomorrow!" But no tummy pains and no hard feelings.

And most importantly, your body learns and distinguishes what foods really ARE best.

Once raw, cooked food will never, EVER, EVER taste as great as you remember it tasting. But it's interesting that way, because you can experience how much your body really HAS changed... One day, you won't even think about it.

Thanks for the comments, but they make me realize I didn't write my posts very well...

I was trying to say that, after years of struggling to eat healthy, with a lot of ups and downs, I am finally succeeding, because the old me has been beaten down. But I'm still at the one-day-at-a-time phase because I know my history. I tread forward lightly.

Must have been that title I used. It focused on the negative instead of the positive, and it's the positive that is dominating the day.

one day at a time
i enjoy the sunshine sparkling wildly on my hair
one day at a time
i enjoy a juicy fruit that seems to come apart cuz its so ripe
one day at a time
i smell a fragrant herb and spin delirious
one day at a time
i sip all the minerals out of a green leaf
and wonder
why oh why
did i have to be so lucky
why me?

WHY?

life is so brutally fair at times
it makes me wonder
..

i take it one day at a time
jes one day at a time
cuz that's all i can handle

Phantom, I totally agree with what you said. I would also add it helps to make a small list of "not-so bad" cooked options. When a craving is messing with your mind it is by definition going to be difficult to come up with alternative ideas, and so easier to succumb to the craving. Whereas if you have such emergency list you can quickly look at it and choose a dish that appeals most. I would also include few raw options on that list, the ones you find tasty but don't eat everyday.

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<

Last time I visited family I took a fruit torte with me, making a crust out of nuts, dried coconut, and dates, filling it with a mango-banana puree, and topping it off with berries. As usual, my youngest sister arrived with her creative array of cheesecakes and pies and cookies, but I stuck to my torte, which was amazingly good. At one point I took a small sample of her desserts, and it definitely struck me how much better mine tasted. Even though I recognized how easily it would be to indulge in her treats, like Tony Montana on crack, there was a slight sinister taste to hers as well, an aftertaste of toxicity, and ever since I've easily stuck to my own creations. Now I keep a supply of ready-made crust in the fridge, usually just some ground up almonds and dates, and if I don't have the time to make a torte but am craving something sweet, a couple spoonfuls of that crust takes care of the desire.

And La_V, nicely done, turning the grinding phrase of one day at a time on its head into a more positive outlook.

I thought I would share what started me on the path of eating well, not nessisarily raw but alot better than what I was doing. In 1986 I rode my mountain bike from Florida to Colorado, and along the way my body was becomming very clean from all the sweating and riding an average of sixty miles a day, some days 100+. One day we stopped and got our sugar fix from a convience store in the form of a snickers bar and a coke. I was so sick after that I never went back but a few times over the years. I have not had a syrup ladden soft drink in twenty seven years.
On the other hand being raw is a bit different and I believe it is harder the sicker you are, mind or and body. Mix it up try new things and eat some cooked food.