So, I have been raw for almost 1 month now.

In the past week, I have kept on with eating my regular raw, but added a few items.

Went to a banquet where SAD food was being served so I decided to eat only the pre-dinner salad and leave it at that. 4 different waiters tried to give me a dinner plate. ha! Thought I was doing great. But then....chocolate cake. I totally caved. I have always had a huge weakness for sweets, and most especially chocolate.
Then, the next day I found 3 chocolate candy bars that my dh must have bought from some fund raiser. He was "hiding" them in the garage. Well, they were in plain sight and I took advantage and scarfed one down in seconds. Then, the next day we went to friends' home for Superbowl Party. I was a good girl and brought my own salad and dressing. BUT, caved again, I did! Ugghh. I ate a huge salad with guacamole on it (my salad, their guac) and then I ate a helping of cowboy caviar (is basically a black eyed pea, corn, cilantro, and avocado salad). But wait, there's more. One of the guests brought that giant dark chocolate cake from Costco. I could NOT resist. Had myself a big piece.

Since then, I've not had anything sweet but sure have had cravings and temptations.

I guess that chocolate and sugar really are like drugs.

And...I am an addict.

Crazy what power it has over me. I've got figure out what to do when in such situations in the future. I had ZERO willpower.

Mindy





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2013 04:28AM by mindy66.

if you don't eat enough calories, you are attracted to treats more. Sstuff yourself with good food (a fruits smoothy?) before going to those places and the cravings could be smaller.

Hopefully you wont but chances are you'll replay similar scenes so many times you'll give up counting in frustration.

Hi Mindy,

I agree about eating enough calories, especially during a transition to raw.

It's interesting that you would use the word confession. This implies the guilt of not following the rules. You may find your transition easier if you rethink that since there are no rules.

I'm about to hit my 10 year raw anniversary, and the way I see it is the goal is to eat as healthy as possible whenever you eat. Raw foods do that for most people. If there are some days that you don't achieve that goal, that is all it is, a missed goal. Look at every meal is an opportunity to eat healthy. It's okay if you don't take full advantage of that opportunity every time, just work harder at the goal the next meal.

Feeling guilt about eating a less than perfect diet has been known to lead to eating disorders.

This should be about eating for total health, body, mind, and spirit.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2013 05:50PM by swimmer.

True. I probably am not getting quite enough calories. I feel like I'd be eating almost every hour of every day if I were to incorporate all that I should be getting. Need to learn about some higher calorie foods, I guess.

Swimmer, thanks for your encouragement. I guess I am feeling some guilty, but mostly frustrated with myself. I will remember the stuffing myself before going somewhere where there will likely be sweets. I will say, though, that even if I am stuffed, chocolate cake is like heroin to me. No kidding. It is crazy how badly I want it when I know it's near. I'll be glad when the day comes that I am no longer addicted (or whatever you want to call it).

Right now, a typical day for me, foodwise, looks something like this:

4-5 Medium Oranges for breakfast
2 Apples (1 hr later)
12-16 oz. Fresh Juice (Carrots, spinach or chard, italian parsley,celery, lemon, green onion)
Huge Salad (usually just greens and avocado)
Another Juice
Handful Nuts and/or seeds
*somedays I add a smoothie to the above.

I am getting somewhat lost once evening comes as to what to eat.

Need to get some good salad dressing recipes still.

Thanks again to you all. You are an important part of my journey.

Mindy

Unfortunately, if you hang out with people who do things like watch the Super Bowl, you're more than likely going to be tempted on a regular basis. There are a lot of social issues around diet, obviously. Ever since I first went raw something like 7 years ago, my friends and acquaintances have mainly been from outside the mainstream. That's fine with me because I don't really like things like the Super Bowl, but it can be hard for others. There's a recipe out there for raw cacao coconut balls. You might want to hunt that down. That would be a much better alternative to chocolate cake drenched in gluten and refined sugars. And for the sake of truth, I'm neither 100% raw or vegan right now. I am however high raw vegan and looking to get back.

an easy way to add calories is with smoothies. I do a lot of them on the weekends. I buy like 5-6 bags of 'quick sale bananas' and do like a smoothy for every bag. I put like 6 dates in every smoothy and a mango or an orange.

HH, Yes I do and will continue to hangout with folks who like the Superbowl because my dh and I do too. Your Cacao Balls idea is a good one. I know that it is still not the very very best, but certainly much better than the choc cake. Thanks for the idea.

So, Panchito, are you saying that you put approx 1 whole bunch of bananas in one smoothie with the dates and mango/orange added to it? Do you freeze the bananas first?

Mindy

I don't freeze them now. But they (frozen) make nice ice cream if mixed with strawberries. You cut the frozen bananas with a big knife. Blend with some water. Warning. Requires a very powerful blender.

Yes I usually use a plastic bag or a paper bag (like 8 small bananas) in every smoothy. It is like 1000 calories each. I may do like three of them in the days of the weekends (fri, sat, sun) plus my other meals. I fill up a tall pitcher and watch some tv while eating. Many times the energy is used internally (I can feel it) instead of for 'locomotion'



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2013 08:10PM by Panchito.

Wow! That is alot of bananas! Not sure I could withstand that many at once as it used to be that I could not eat them at all as they would trigger a migraine. Now, since going raw, I am able to eat 1 and am ok. Guess I could try to eat 2 and see what happens.

Have had an interesting symptom lately with avocados. I ate one by itself last night and then again (by itself) today. Both times I felt a little bit of a headache within 5 minutes of eating it. Not a migraine, but a slight headache and my head felt sort of heavy.

Any ideas as to why this might have happened? It doesn't seem to happen when I have an avo in my salad, but, perhaps I need to pay closer attention even then.

Mindy

I disagree with your assessment of yourself. I think you have the ability to resist. I think in these specific situations, you chose not to. That's not good or bad; it just is. Eat foods that you feel good about. And trust in your own ability to do so.