I have been graduating towards 100% raw for the last 2 years from a former SAD diet. During the 1st year I went vegan, eating all vegetables & cooked sweet potatoes. During the next 6 months I replaced the cooked sweet potatoes with berries, apples & honey. During the most recent 6 months I replaced the honey with high glycemic fruit such as watermelons, pineapple & dates and was 100% raw.

I've noticed intense cravings with the high glycemic fruits. I crave fatty meats & cooked carbs; I have also had occasional canidia issues. Will the cravings pass with time or should I take the higher glycemic fruits out of my diet? My moods & temperments are definitely better with the higher glycemic fruits - I feel relaxed, joyful & on top of the world - only issue is the intense cravings.

I im interested in anyone's comments if they have experienced the same cravings witht the higher glycemic fruits and what they did to resolve the issue. Elizabeth

You didn't mention what your fat intake is, as a percentage of calorie. This is the biggest factor in candida. Lower your fat intake down to 10% of your calories, and the candida will leave, as well as any sugar related issues and problems.

Bananas are a great low glycemic food (52-55, 55 is considered the max of low). They are very filling and versatile. They make a great smoothie, frozen ice cream, and are fine to eat by themselves. Make sure the bananas you eat are ripe, that is, they have very frecked skin, not pure yellow skin.

For myself, the biggest factor in having cravings was the use of spices and condiments, like salt, spices, vinegar, miso, etc. After I removed these from my diet, my cravings all went away.

Thanks Byran!

cravings vary day to day hour to hour, based on what looks good, is in season and what is around.

also,Just because someone craves baked potato does not mean she is lacking in baked potato vitamins...

high glycemic fruits are great, don't blame the cute fruit lol

candida is around because it is cleaning up all the coooked food crap inside of you, that's all. It's nature's housecleaner. Stop with the bad food and you will be fine.

my opinion, if you care.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2007 01:25AM by coconutcream.

Thanks coco for responding. I do value your input!

ooo love youoooo

Elizabeth,

My experience with cravings is that there are 2 types. One craving is when the body is asking for something it truly needs that is in short supply; this is actually true hunger. The other comes from an emotional/psycological place. Heavy, hard to digest foods are craved when the emotional pain level gets intense because they numb me out. For years I referred to these as "comfort foods".

Breaking old habit patterns and years of conditioning as to what's right and wrong to eat is intense transformational work. The lightness of a high fruit, low fat/protein diet can bring me a blissful sense of well being and an emotional high. This is very threatening to my old set of belief systems, habit patterns and preferences and I begin to crave fat and salt. My fat of choice in my raw diet is cashews (most of which are technically not raw because they steam the shell to get the nuts out) or olives. The second thing I crave is salt.

And yes, I do indulge my cravings while trying to stay consciousness enough to keep the amounts eaten at a level that will not whack my digestion out. Sometimes I do a combo-abombo and pay the price the next day (or two). But over time it has gotten better and I'm starting to experience cravings for certain fruits like banannas and dates instead and gladly stuff myself along with a "chaser" of greens: romaine or butter lettuce or celery.

I had a lot of severe candida problems years ago when I was on a high fat non-vegan diet and was told to stop eating anything sweet, which left me feeling tired a lot. As I transitioned to vegetarian, then vegan, then fat raw and finally started lowering the fat in my raw diet - candida symptoms became a non-issue. I didn't know why this was happening or really think about it much, it just wasn't causing problems anymore. Meanwhile, my information on candida was getting way out of date.

After all those years, I just got updated information on candida from Doug Graham's new 80/10/10 book. Candida are actually our life-saver "friends" and are in our bloodstream for a good reason. That is, to consume excess sugars that aren't being used by the cells and keep the blood sugar level at a normal level. What blocks the absorbtion of sugar by the cells? High blood fat levels. If you eat a lot of fat it will eventually be broken down and used or stored, but that takes a longer time and meanwhile the blood fat levels are rising and the cells are being deprived of fuel. The sugars that are being eaten are raising the blood sugar level to a dangerous level and the call goes out for the candida to do their job. Fortunately candida posses the ability to increase their numbers quickly and die off quickly when their job is complete.

It is only when the above sceanario becomes chronic that candida problems become an issue. The body becomes fatigued and loaded with excess toxins that aren't being eliminated. You are becoming dis-eased.

The solution is not to eliminate the simple carbohydrates as I was advised to do 15 years ago, but to reduce the fat. The body will most likely heal itself and take care of the blood sugar level just fine by itself.
Wishing you good health and success with your raw transition,
Uti