Hello to all, i'm having a hard time sticking to this way of eating. just eating fruit all day, i'm always hungry so i eat raw nuts which have high fat content. i also eat foods from a raw restaurant that is very good but i'm not really seeing or feeling results. i've only been doing this for a week. do i need to just wait a little longer to see and feel results?

thanks, Laura

Hi tristani,and welcome!! well-i read your other post and you said u do feel better. you feel better from just one week of eating this way.to me this says alot.to feel better and maybe even good is wonderful.stick with it a while and it will show results.maybe u aren't eating enough.The other people on this site are old timers to this way of eating and they would know more than me.I just wanted to say hi and to say i am glad u are here and you are feeling better.the others have way more knowledge than me and they would know more of what to say.I have only been on this raw food thing since the new yr.thanks taylor

Wow you are lucky that you have a raw restaurant. What results are you looking for? Dont worry if you eat too many nuts etc in the transisiton phase. Hell, I still eat too many nuts! Eat veggies too. They are very filling. I am only raw for a month or so so I remember that phase well. I got a runny tummy but no other problems.

Laura,

Its time to get out the nutritional calculators to see if the reason you are so hungry is because you are not eating enough food. When I first started, I didn't realize how few calories there were in fresh fruit and vegetables. Of course, at the time I was loading on the fat, but if you are fat conscious, you will need to eat a lot more food.

The nutritional calculators are free and they include fitday, nutritiondata, nutridiary, and Cron-o-Meter. The first 3 are websites, and the last one is a Java application that runs on Windows/Macintosh/Linux, although on Windows, you'll need to follow the direction on how to download Java.

Or if you provide your daily menu, the foods you eat and the exact amounts, I can give you an estimate of your caloric intake.

thank all of you for the encouragement. i am going to stick with it because i believe in it.

yah, there are a few raw restaurants around here. i live in huntington beach ca and it's very nice to have that. my goal is to of course drop quite a few pounds, gain alot more energy and my overall health. i eat mostly watermelon, pineapples, apples, oranges, nuts, (kind of alot), and i'll buy dehydrated foods from a raw restaurant. i excercise about 3 times a week right now but hope to increase that.

hi bryan, do you know anything about raw wines and where to get some?

I drank wines when I first started raw. What I looked for was organic and no sulfites (I think organic means no sulfites anyway). I bought my wines at the health food store (Real Foods in San Francisco). Anyway, drinking wine fell away one I quit eating the high fat foods. Once I started eating a lot of fruit, the wines never felt good to me anymore.

thanks for the info bryan. i'll check it out.

i'm having a really hard time sticking to raw. i eat alot of fruit and veggies but still want some cooked food. if i don't eat cooked, my body seems to get shakey and weak. does anybody have any suggestions? i can eat all day on raw but still feel weak and when i feel this way, i'll eat some sooked food and feel better. is that normal? thanks, laura tristani

I went through the same thing when I first started. I thought my body was deteriorating to nothingness! I felt like I had a hangover without the partying. I got through it by eating some heavier foods like bananas and raw nuts. A few dates are great if you're craving something chewy and sweet. Processed foods can be more addictive then nicotine and your body will not just seem to want the processed food, but DEMAND IT! It does get easier. Just make sure that you are eating a variety of foods and hang in there.

thanks kelbel, i'm glad i'm not the only one to have gone through this. it's very difficult for me. especially around "that time of the month". i almost have no control when it's that time. but i'll keep trying. i do feel a little better inside. thanks again. laura

Trhistani, here is another possibility, something to consider to reduce your struggles.

Your body can crave food substances that you’re allergic to. The immune system response to a food allergy causes endorphins and other substances to be released. These chemicals cause a very pleasant "high" to take away the "pain" of allergy symptoms. Your body, in turn, becomes addicted to the release of these chemicals, so you crave more of the food allergen.

Perhaps your body craves cooked food for this reason. You could be "allergic" to cooked food. So you NEED to eat it. In a case like this, going cold turkey until the urgent cravings stop could be indicated. It is possible, that you should never eat cooked food again if this addiction is like alcoholism. I couldn't say for sure, but it could be a possibility.

You feel bad when you stop cooked food and the only way to feel better is to eat cooked food. Could you stay away from it long enough to see if you get to feeling better?

tristani,

It sounds like you are trying the "cold turkey" approach to becoming all raw. This works for some people, but it didn't work for me. It took me 5 months to transition from SAD to all raw. After becoming all raw, it took me another 5 months to figure out that I was eating 60% fat. Once I realized this, I tried to bring my fat down to 10%, but that didn't last, and it took me 2 years to go from a 20% fat diet down to a 10% fat diet.

What I am trying to show is that some of these transition take time. Also, the withdrawal from cooked foods can be intense. One thing you can do to help is to make your cooked foods even simpler and closer to raw. Only cook with steaming, and don't eat any processed cooked foods, only steamed whole foods, preferably no grains, but starchy vegetables instead. If you can avoid it with your cooked foods, don't use salt, vinegar, and other spices and condiments. This will help your body adapt to the natural taste of foods without flavor enhancement. This will also accustom your body to preferring the wonderful flavor of raw fruits and salads.

hi mtnkathy, thanks for the advice. i think you're right. i think i am really addicted to cooked foods. if i don't eat it for a week, i binge on everything i'm not supposed to eat. it's very weird but i truly believe i'm addicted. i'm going to start cold turkey 100% eating raw as of tommorrow. only because i've already had some brown rice with chopped nuts. i can tell with certain foods that i am allergic. even some nuts. i'll eat something and a few minutes later, i'll start sneezing and my skin gets real red and hot. even some fruit will do that to me. thank you for pointing that out. Laura

hi bryan, i've tried going only 70% raw or so and i just seem to go back to my old way of eating eventually. i do love to eat fruit, nuts and veggies but my body craves the unwanted. i think ,like what mtnkathy said, that i'm addicted to cooked foods and maybe need to go 100%. i don't really know. i've definitely gotten better but still binge on cooked foods. do they have a "cooked foods anonymous program". haha just kidding.

Going cold turkey can be difficult if you don't prepare yourself for the struggle. I think part of our addictions to food can be the greedy microforms in our tissues craving what THEY need to survive. What THEY need can make US sick. Try to remember when you are craving whatever foods that it is sort of like the microforms are starving to death and they want to force YOU feed them what they want. That is a craving! Starve those critters till they die!! It isn't really YOU that wants those foods. Killing them off may not be pretty, but you will feel much better when they are gone. This isn't exactly scientific, but I hope you get the general idea. This is what helped me.

i guess that would be will power. it's just trying to be stronger than the cravings. that's the hard part but i am definitely going to keep trying. thanks mtnkathy. how long did it take you to go 100% raw.

I am not 100% raw, but I am properly alkaline at 80-90%. Once your tissue ph is properly balanced your cravings for cooked food will diminish remarkably. Work on your ph for now and take the other advice in other threads about balance in other aspects of your life such as exercise and stress management. Let us know how you are progressing.

No, it is not "will power." Just tell yourself what is happening and move on. Eat something healthy, take a walk, a bike ride, call a friend, etc. Just don't give in. It is actually "won't power" that you will be accessing.