Hi Guys...I've been posting here and have been raw since August. I loved being raw, however, my binging still persisted on this diet. I thought being raw and feeding my body such healthy, beautiful food would take away my obsession with food but it didn't. I am finally getting help and my first step is to "legalize" all food. I have forbidden foods my whole life since they were "fattening" so in return, I craved them more. To un-do those cravings I must allow myself to have them.

It has been working! And now, my body is craving salads and other raw foods. However, I still crave sweets. That’s my nemesis. I am still a vegan because I didn't forbid animal products, I disgust them! I love animals! I just can't kick the sweets and flour.

So once I kick this obsession, I am back to the raw lifestyle.

I love you guys and thank you for the support during the past 8 months!

I'll be back...sooner than later.

Love you,
Jamie

so no doing my project for you? I think your story would make a great addition

Jamie,

My thoughts will be with you! Soudns like you are definitely doing what is best for you at this time, and that is what is most important.

xoxo - Kim

Jamie...

I have to second Yogamama's sentiments... I think it's a good idea...

well-i understand.i wish you the best of luck and i always enjoyed your postings.hugs taylor

Hey! Nice to see you back! Last post I remember from you, you were ill. Hope everything works out for the best!

I hope you get to where you want to be with food. Good luck!!!

With Love,
Kise'

Yeah, you'll be missed. And wishing you the best. Really, the best.
Troy.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

hi jamie

if you miss raw
it will always be there waiting for you
give a pineapple a hug
u don't have to eat it

then maybe you won't miss it as much
wishing you a spectacular life


V

Jamie:

I do not know you - But I SOOOOO support your decision. I think it is brilliant. I too have struggled with bingeing for 16 years. I have read a lot of books by women who have recovered and they did exactly what you are doing to heal. They went through a period where they allowed everything. Eventually, by allowing, their cravings for such went away and eventually they settled on a healthy balanced diet. Smart move on your part. I have noticed that, with myself, since I have learned of raw foods and become convinced that it is the holy grail, my bingeing is a heck of a lot worse - Because I believe on some level that everything is bad - And with too many mental blocks, I rebel and go hog wild on food. Making everything OK is a super sane decision. Perhaps I will follow in your steps. For what is the point of eating green smoothies and fruit all day if you chase it with a gallon of ice cream, three bags of oreos, ten doughnuts, and nine muffins at the end of the day? (I kid you not).

Blessings and best of luck. It is hard to take care of yourself when it means doing what you fear most. I applaud your courage.

Ali





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2007 08:29AM by dancerinthenight.

HI Jaime...good luck with everyone...i like you have been struggling and an ED and i was really inspired by your courage to giveit a try to legalize all food no matter....that is amazing spirit...good luck..hopefullyou wil find your happy medium....i surely hope i find mine sooN!!!
good luck and i am always here for you!
love sachelle
xoxoxoxoxox

You guys are the best

dancerinthenight and sachelle:

You should really try this book "Overcomming Overeating" and "When women stop hating their bodies", They are by the same author, Carol Munter.

They are amazing and have changed my life. TRUST ME: i have tried everything and read everthing but this woman gets it! She understands why we are obsessed with food and body image. If you cannot get it, just tell me, ill mail you my copy, I truly believe in it.

ThanK you again for the love...in this crazy world!

Love you,
Jamie

Hi Jamie, and to Everyone,

I have been a binge eater most of my life, and still do, but am now naturally thin. I found Dr. Douglas Graham’s book “The 80/10/10 Diet: Balancing Your Health, Your Weight, and Your Life One Luscious Bite at a Time.”

And his other book “Grain damage, rethinking the high-starch diet - the grain-free diet is not radical, it is ultraconservative”.

He talks of how grain was never intended for humans to eat. Nor raw sprouted grains, or sprouted beans, or a lot of the vegetables that are hard cellulous fibered (such as kale). Humans can only eat grains ‘addictively’. We are all grain addicts. And most of us we are not willing to give up an addiction.

I use to be on the high-fat raw vegan diet (Alissa Cohen’s). But I still carried excess weight that I was not happy with. Dr. Graham talks of fat higher then 10% and protein higher then 10% in not being healthy.

The diet changed my life. I never thought I’d ever find a diet to be naturally thin, till I found his. I can eat and eat and eat as much as I want on his diet, and still stay thin. But I only eat ½ an avocado a day, and only about 9 nuts at a time, and some seeds. I never thought I’d ever be able to feel so satisfied on mostly fruits, and just leafy green soft cellulous fibre greens. Fruits contain carbohydrates, and it is these carbohydrates from eating so much fruit, that has me feeling so satisfied.

I always thought my eating was only emotional. But now on his diet, I see it was mostly physical. On this diet, of so much fruit, it’s like your cells are Dancing inside, and you become so HAPPY. It is the high fat diet that causes diabetes, hypoglycemia, NOT high sugar fruits. The high fat diet doesn’t allow the fruits to exit the body. And a high fat diet of good fat, is also taxing on the body, and is not healthy either. It could eventually cause illnesses as well.

Mostly on this diet, it has given me HAPPINESS. And what comes from grain is ‘gluten’ and humans don’t tolerate gluten very well either. Learning disabilities, depression, bipolar illness, schizophrenia is also linked with gluten products, (from grains, flours). I even feel my learning disability has vanished just being on this diet. Your brain fog leaves you, and you become so alert and can think so clearly being on this frugivore diet. There was even a bipolar lady, who said that if she even had just a little gluten again, she'd be back in a straight jacket again.

Humans are frugivores, we were meant to eat a frugivore diet for optimum health AND such happiness where it feels your cells are dancing. Even animals can produce vitamin C see from meat that has none. Where as humans can not. We were intended to have a diet mostly comprised of fresh fruits and some leafy greens and a few seeds and nuts. When on this diet, it is like your cells are just dancing with LIFE and happiness. I never felt that on Alissa Cohen’s high fat raw vegan diet.

This diet is phenomenal. I feel more happiness now then I did once as a child, and even more ENERGY now on this diet then I did as a child. I would wish every young girl, every woman who ever had to suffer eating disorders, binging, to read his books.

For young girls/woman to live their life always preoccupied with ‘weight’ is not living at all. It was miserable for me to live life this way. It was not LIVING at all. No one should have to live life wanting to be thin, not wanting to get bigger and bigger. Feeling no control over their weight. And you don’t. Because humans were never meant to eat grains at all, nor beans, or most of the vegetables, but a diet mostly of fresh fruits. It is not healthy for us to do otherwise. Even brain chemistry changes from omitting the grains from your diet, and eating mostly fresh raw fruits.

On Dr. Graham’s diet, I have never ever felt so incredible in all my life. When I was a young girl, happiness left me, and in return I had depression. Now depression has left me and happiness has returned. I would recommend to everyone Dr. Graham’s books, if you want to be happy and healthy and ‘NATURALLY THIN’.

I never would have believed to have found the information hat I did in his books. Un-be-lieve-able! You will be amazed in what he teaches in there. Never in a million years, would I have believed this to be true in what he speaks of.

I was diagnosed as hypoglycemic as a young girl at 17. Told I could only have a half a banana at a time, a granny smith apple, as those aren’t as sweet. And I would crave sweets so much. So then I’d go and overindulge in sugar flour sweets, and gain weight. On Dr. Graham’s frugivore diet, my blood sugar has never been so normal! And I have never felt so happy! And I eat bowls and bowls of fruit all day. Fruits are like the food of the gods! So delicious that it is what my body has been wanting all these years, and I have been denying.

Try Dr. Graham’s frugivore diet. You can eat all you want, binge and stuff your face, literally and still lose weight. For me, I lose 5 pounds of excess weight every two weeks, stuffing myself (but I don't eat more then 1/2 avocado a day, or 9 nuts, and a few seeds, because a high fat diet is not healthy). After awhile, you don’t even care to binge anymore, you are so satisfied in finally realizing you are a frugivore, and need a frugivore diet for optimum health, happiness, and natural thinness. And even if I do binge, I still can’t gain any weight on the frugivore diet.

He even speaks of coconut, being very hard to digest, and not to eat it. The Thai coconuts that are like jelly, are easier to digest. But he doesn't even recommend coconuts at all. Nor dried fruits, nor supplements, etc. I was amazed, but so happy not to have to buy these things any longer. I was so occupied all the time with making sure I got the proper nutrients. I feel so free and healthy and happy now! It's incredible. But mostly, I'm NATURALLY THIN without having to try. That is the most amazing for me, in having to live with a weight problem most of my life.

I think it’s more physical then emotional, for binge eaters, like I was most of my life. I never would have thought this, till I found the frugivore diet that Dr. Graham teaches. When you eat a diet that comprises mostly of fresh raw fruits, you feel WHOLE and HAPPY. You no longer have weight issues, you no longer think of 'weight' anymore. What a freedom. What a joy. What happiness that is alone.

I feel very grateful, privileged, to have found Dr. Graham's teachings, that humans are 'frugivores' and need the frugivore diet for optimum health, and satisfaction from eating, and NATURAL THINNESS.

Good health and happiness to all! May your cells dance with such JOY inside you of optimum health, the optimum diet for us frugivore humans!!!

Take care, to All,
Denise.

If anyone is interested,

Dr. Graham’s talk board is found here:

[www.vegsource.com]

And his website for lots of info is found here:

[www.foodnsport.com]

[Dr. Graham teaches Olympic trainers and professional athletes.]

I'm glad things are getting better for you! You still have everyone's support. Stick around if you feel like it (not everyone here is 100% raw).

Jamie, DITTO what Thomas says. I wonder if even most are 100% and / or vegan or vegetarian all the time. Why not hang out, read, post, and stay on as a member? At the very least you can get inspiring messages like the one above from Denise.

And thanks Denise for posting that. I've been interested in 80 10 10 since Bryan started a thread a while back. I don't know all the details, but I do eat a high fruit, pretty low fat diet. Can't say I feel nearly as good as you do though.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

Hi all,

I understand about what my mom calls the "100% Rule" where you get down on yourself if everything isn't perfect. I've been on the bingeing trip myself for many years now. The common ground I'm picking up between Jamie's and Denise's posts is about generosity and compassion. I am realizing more and more that being healthy is so multi-faceted and has a lot to do with creating healthy routines and thoughts. So, I'm going to try to keep learning more about raw, stay in touch with the community, develop a practice I can depend on (tend to want to overeat when life seems overwhelming). And when I fall, not get down on myself. Because when I do, that just drives me to eat more (unhealthfully). I have been growing in compassion and it is wonderful! Also, I think the resistant part of myself continues to binge on what I would call unhealthy foods because it knows that things are going to change and is afraid. If I can make healthy, small improvements then that part of me will not be so afraid. Also, books I've read that helped talked about finding something so meaningful that you are willing to work for it and it distracts you/pulls you out of powerlessness spirals.

Jamie--do the books you recommend relate to this at all?

Thanks,
Requarry

Thank you Troy.

[Sorry for the long posts. I got inspired from this topic.]

The photos that you created, (when I saw them enlarged), are really funny. Made me laugh! So thank you for that. It’s always good to laugh. I was looking at them awhile back, when I was looking around this site. I like your sense of humour. It’s good not to take things too seriously all the time. It relieves stress I find, to be able to laugh, in having a sense of humour about things.

The carbohydrates from eating so much fruits, really makes me feel so good inside and out. I find I just get so much energy from carbohydrates mostly arrived from fruits. And just so happy on them too. For me, it was a real addiction to ‘grains’. It is not easy to finally give it up completely 100%, after eating it all your life. I am an ADDICT, when it comes to grain.

In the book ‘grain damage’ by Dr. Graham, he says that gluten, which is a protein found in many grains (wheat, barley, rye) is a real factor in psychoses and neurological disorders. It chemically contains morphine molecules and it has ‘exorphins’ that are addictive and neurotoxic.

They cause behavioural problems such as addictive eating patterns. Dr. Graham says in his book, that scientists have repeatedly linking gluten consumption to learning disorders and schizophrenia.

I was told when I was very young, that I had a learning disability. After being off grains completely, I noticed a difference, even right away. Just so much more clear headed and able to concentrate so much better. I don’t even believe I have the learning disability anymore, being off the gluten. And I have even read boards online, such as bipolar boards of many people doing so well off the gluten. One bipolar lady even stating that if she ever ate just a little bit of gluten again, she knows she’d be back in a straight jacket again. I find that amazing, that something like ‘gluten’ from grains, can cause such illness. And a guy from Dr. Graham’s board, who had schizophrenia. And when he adhered to Dr. Graham’s diet, no ‘gluten’, he no longer has it. He has been healed of it for years. It is amazing, I find.

Dr. Graham also talked about the grains in his books, that the fibre from it is too harsh for our intestine. It scrapes the lining of your intestine, and people who are gluten intolerant (Celiac disease), can get irritation causing abdominal pain, and some who are gluten intolerant may feel no discomfort at all. It actually damages the tiny finger-like projections (villi) in the small intestine that are used to absorb nutrients.

Celiac disease is linked to malnutrition that can lead to anemia, osteoporosis, depression. Because of the ‘villi’ being damaged, you can become malnourished. There is so much info on it, all over the web about gluten intolerance (Celiac disease). I find it so interesting, as I was not aware of this disease before.

Even in Italy, where it is very common to be gluten intolerant, they test all the children at the age of 6, for this. Because if it goes undetected it can lead to severe malnutrition, and sometimes people have to be fed intravenously because the villi is too damaged and won’t even repair itself, even after being gluten-free for a long time. These are extreme cases of course, of people having it for so long and not treating it properly.

.............But with me, I found that I would over-eat all the time of flour grain products. It was as though once I started, I just couldn’t stop. I found it so addictive. So I would then gain weight, and be unhappy. I find now, that since I have finally realized that I am an ‘ADDICT’ when it comes to grain, and have stopped eating it completely, that I can eat just normally now. With satisfaction on the diet Dr. Graham recommends of mostly fruits, and leafy soft cellulous greens.

Like I have said before, getting most of my carbohydrates from fruits now, just satisfies me so much. Completes me. I feel just whole and happy. Just so good. And such ENERGY, it is amazing. I find fruits just so amazing now. And they are so delicious! They are really the foods for the gods to me now! They have changed my life.

It sounds funny to say that fruits have changed my life, but they have! Who would have thought, that just ‘fruits’ alone could make such a difference in someone’s life? I never would have.

I would love for every young girl, woman, to read Dr. Graham’s books, ‘the 80/10/10 diet’, and the book; ‘grain damage’. (And for men to, too).

For me, I no longer have a weight problem, or a real binging problem anymore. And to become naturally thin, it is most woman’s and young girl’s dream. And it is a dream come true for me. To be able to eat as much as you want, and to feel satisfied and full, and eat such delicious fruits, and still not be able to gain weight. To still be ‘naturally thin’. I think it is many woman’s and young girls dream. It was mine. To be preoccupied with your weight constantly, is not a way to live. It is not LIVING. It is not LIFE. It is misery, living such a way. It was for me. I finally found that I am a ‘frugivore’ and need the frugivore diet, to be naturally thin and healthy and HAPPY.

And that is where grain comes in, in being ‘addictive’ and not being able to be eaten except ‘addictively’. And then woman gain weight, and they become so unhappy. So then they may binge eat. And when you are an ADDICT, you no longer feel in control. And that is an awful feeling. Because you are not in control, when you eat grain which can only be eaten addictively. So you eat and eat and eat of it, and can not get satisfaction from it. So you constantly over-eat. And so you gain weight. And you can’t be happy, living this way. You try, but you can’t. You try everything you can, and you begin to feel so ‘hopeless’, that you can not find an answer to your problem. You wonder if you will ever find an answer, if you will EVER be naturally thin again. That is how I felt.

I was not happy living as an ‘addict’. You feel out of control. No control over how you want to eat, the weight you want to be. Just to be naturally thin without having to try to be. To live feeling out of control, there can be no happiness found in that. Without your cells dancing within you, of a joy, there can be no happiness.

Fruits, make you happy. It must be all those carbohydrates and sugars from fruits, and enzymes. It makes your cells become alive again, so you begin to feel so alive again. And just so happy.

Dr Graham even says in the book ‘grain damage’ that grain leaches calcium from the body. The ‘phytic’ acid found in grains binds with calcium and interferes with absorption. And it also contains acid forming minerals like phosphorus, so during the digestion process the body must yield up calcium from the bones to neutralize the acidity of grains.

To think, that fruits, can satisfy you and make you so happy and have you be naturally thin? I never would have imagined, in a million years. To me, at age 18, I started the Dr. Paavo Airola diet, of lots of whole grains and beans. I thought that was the diet for optimal health. But looking back, in how tired I was all the time on that diet, I remember going for a walk and having to turn back, because I was just so lethargic. So now, finally after all these years (I am 44 now), I see the connection with grains and lack of energy. Lack of happiness, the depression I had on the Airola diet.

When I first started ‘experimenting’ with Dr. Graham’s diet, I would do 2 weeks of the fruits and greens, and then I would go off. On it, it was like my cells started to dance and wouldn’t stop dancing. I became so happy. Then I’d even eat cooked and grain and beans, and it was as though my cells would stop dancing. And, a dark black depression would come upon me after a couple days off Dr. Graham’s diet. And then I’d experiment this way again and again till finally I was convinced, that I wanted to stay on this diet.

I think people should try things like an experiment at first, to see how it affects you. Mentally, physically. For me, it made me happy. So of course, it was the optimal diet for me. But, I believe that us humans are ‘frugivores’. And that we do well on the frugivore diet that it is the perfect diet for us. I never heard much before of a ‘frugivore’, or even herbivore, or insectivore, or even a ‘grainivore’. I knew of carnivore and omnivore though of course. But I never would have believed, in a million years, that humans are frugivores, and need the frugivore diet for optimal health.

If you eat the frugivore diet, which we were designed to eat, then you will have optimum heath, of course, eating a diet that we were ‘designed’ to eat. The other foods are for the animals. But not for us humans. To eat some herbs is fine, but it can overwhelm the flavours of your other foods you are eating. I always ate fresh herbs, but I finally understood what Dr. Graham was saying when I started to try his diet. But a little herbs is okay, or eaten separately from meal. But grains were never intended for humans to ever eat. They cause too much complication and disturbances to our physical - as well as mental health.

So for me, I have learned that HUMANS are frugivores. And if we adhere to a frugivore diet, we will then find that optimal health, happiness and natural thinness that we are searching for. I am just so happy on this diet, of mostly fruits. I never thought before, that ‘fruitarians’ could get enough nutrients from fruits alone. So when I heard of his diet, what it entailed, I was very hesitant about it. As I heard it was similar to a fruitarian diet. But then I learned that he also highly believes of the importance of greens. And that red and yellow and orange peppers are fruits, as cucumbers, tomatoes and yellow squash and zucchini and eggplant are too. And the importance to eat celery. And as I continued to read his book, I was really blown away. That I can meet all my nutritional requirements from fruits and soft cellulous leafy greens, and a few seeds and nuts. Who would have known? Not me. I came from the Airola teaching of you have to have lots of whole grains and beans for good health.

Thanks again for your comment Troy! It really brightened my day. And your photos too.

Optimum health and happiness and Natural Thinness to you Troy! And to Everyone!

May Everyone have cells that are DANCING with utter Joy and Happiness! Of wonderful delicious FRUITS - for the gods! They are so delicious!

Take care,
Denise.