My salt addiction is after me too. I suspect in fact that it is the salt addiction that has been the reason of most of my cooked food relapses.

Gosia


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Day 30 (12 April):
watermelon, persimmons, black Muscatel grapes, .... (more to come)

RESULTS OF THE TRIAL

Total fat intake and the corresponding calories estimates:

OVERT FATS:
2 teaspoons of coconut butter - 123 cal from fat
14 tablespoons of tahini - 1002 cal from fat
1 and 1/6 avocado - 490 cal from fat
1/2 cup (unshelled) pistachio nuts - 125 cal from fat
1/2 cup olive oil - 972 cal from fat
TOTALS TO: 2712 cal from overt fats over 30 days.

Assuming that I consume 1800 cal per day, 30*1800 = 54000 cal. Since 2712 of these are overt fats, the rest is 54000 - 2712 = 51288 cal. 5% of that is 0.05*51288 = 2564 cal from fat (as fruit and vegies have 5% from fat on average). Hence, total cal from fat is 2712 + 2564 = 5276 cal. What percentage of 54000 is that? (5276/54000)*100 = 9.8 %.

During the 30-day trial period my diet was indeed low-fat.


Other observations

* My weight before the trial: 49 kg, after the trial: 48kg. I have observed some but not a dramatic loss in the excess fat. (I do not desire a weight loss.) I have had days when I felt really bad about my body and face.
* My skin is not completely clear. This could be partly due to detox, and partly to me eating less than optimal foods such as kim-chi and gourmet salad (with olive oil in it).
* I have not exercised on daily basis, or too vigorously. Nevertheless, I managed to overcome my mental block against swimming, for example. There is a lot to be done in this area yet.
* I have been fighting my salt addiction. So far, I have not got over it yet.
* I stayed raw, with the exception of pistachio nuts.
* I did not experience cooked food cravings until I had some added salt (in a gourmet salad), after which I had some pretty rough days.
* Overall, I would like to see more dramatic improvements than I have.


CONCLUSIONS

Someone said

"If you do what you always have done, you will get what you always have got".

Wise words, and I am going to apply this wisdom. How? I am going to make some changes! See you soon.


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Gosia, I have similar experiences, and in fact just did recently: I was on a very high fruit, low fat, mostly mono diet for a few weeks with practically no recipes (no dressings, raw burgers, wraps etc.).

Then I went to a raw gourmet restaurant and indulged in the works. Salty, oily, fatty, spicy yum! After that I kept wanting more and more fat and complexity, my avos & nut consumption went up again and I made my yum sunseed burgers with the works. It is starting to taper off after almost 2 weeks. But it's interesting how much my appetite changes after that sort of indulgence.

I live hours from the nearest raw restaurant so this cycle seems to happen every couple of months when I get to eat at one. It's fun to play with and feels good for me to allow the swing. Like you say Gosia, it feels like mono fruit eating serves me so well, feels so good, yet I don't want to push myself into it from being strict. Playing, seeing if it will show up more and more.


Thanks for your experiment!

Love,
Uma

Uma and Gosia,

I've thought about playing with it like Uma said, but I'm scared to! 'Cos I've conscientiously gone w/o salt and high fat for 3 months and a part of me is scared to mess my progress up? You think I'm being too perfectionistic? I guess I keep wondering when I'm going to fall off the wagon because every long term successful long term raw fooder I know falls of the wagon at some point. Right now I have several times stopped myself from falling off by sheer will (and other things, lol) because honestly I'm afraid if I fell off I wouldn't have the willpower to get back on. (Last year I yo-yo-ed wildly back and forth). I wonder if I'm being too strict with myself and that's going to be my downfall in the end.

I sure don't like feeling like I'm "waiting" for that inevitable fall-off-the-wagon event.

Is there anyone out there who for any reason has been able to stick with high fruit low fat 100% for a longer period of time (say, a year or more) w/o any lapses into cooked food or salt and huge amounts of fat?

Sarah
[goingbananasblog.com]

Gosia,

Thank you for creating this thread and staying with it through the 30-day mark, and for doing those calculations and summary. It has been so helpful to check on this thread every so often and notice the similarities and differences between the patterns that arise in everyone that has shared their experiences and feelings!

Sarah,

I think most folks who have played around with months and years of 100% raw can relate to what you said. Lapsing back into cooked food often comes when you least expect it. That experience has truly been a wonderful teacher to me. I've been a raw fooder for almost four years (80-10-10 for about a year and a half), and have gone back and forth more times than I can remember! It's really only in the last six months or so that I've started to learn to appreciate the experience, rather than wallow in self-inflicted feelings of failure about it. The cooked food "sleeping giant" will inevitably wake up and stretch her bones a little bit; why should we tiptoe around her, when instead we can dance with her, speak with her, ask ourselves about her desires and her deeply buried feelings? Maybe then she can begin to heal inside, and thus, so can we.

I think we ought to be proud of our sheer will to create acts of self-love through diet, exercise, sleep, walking in nature; whatever you do to create a healthful life. I also believe that by practicing these things over and over, willpower becomes less about externally inflicting control upon my actions, becomes more of a part of me, just as is my breath, as is my heartbeat, as is my ability to put one foot in front of the other and walk pretty much effortlessly.

I guess at some point, food has to fall into the background; after all, are we living to eat, or eating to LIVE?

Adam

Fantastically put, Adam! I might just print that out and tack it to my 'fridge. :-)

I agree! Thanks so much, Adam. I may have to quote you on my blog this weekend.

Sarah
[goingbananasblog.com]

had some small quanities of fruits I havn't been including much so decided to try all day small mono fruit.

11:30: green juice: celery, spinach, kale, cucumber

1:30 : 3 cantelope (5 lbs)

2:30 : 2 small pepino dulse (never had this fruit, tastes oddly like a mix between a canned pear and a potato both taste and texture!, and although that sounds gross, oddly is was very interesting and good)

4:00 : 2 med white grapefruit [ from the rappid sucession of my meals you can see I was not satisfied with this way of eating (after doing a heavy workout late morning i just want the food, cant say if its a need or not) ] the 2 grapefruits didn't cut it so I packed on 6 large honey tangerines.

6:30 : 1 1/2 huge cucumbers peeled

in a bit I plan on eating 8 small red bananas. (the only ones that have dam ripened!)


I think the spread out mono meals won't work for me till I figure things out a bit more with what my body is saying and how much food I truly need. I can say, and this happened far before the trial, that eating 'all I care for' with fruit has been a major benefit to me psychologically and with cravings. I almost never eat till i'm totally bogged down full but I pretty much eat till I don't want to eat, and that DOES keep me from going crazy with the fats etc...it is also quite easeful to eat a large meal around 6:00 and be up till midnight or later with no complaints or urges. my total consumption has increased pretty dramatically, (as has my activity) so even though I probably averaged an entire avo every 2 to 3 days, the days I did nutritiondata lookup it was always under 10% sans the day recently I did macadamias which was close 20%

not many physical observations other then some VERY emotional days, hopefully there has been some purging in that respect and not reabsorbtion. I've had some skin blemishes and things come and go on my body but could also be lazieness to showering. i've probably gained some slight muscle mass. which is reasuring. I had gained some in Nov or so only to lose it once I went more fruitty/ less fat/complicated. hopefully this is a sign of cleaning out a bit further and that my body is ready to build out a bit.

a few general remarks. I'm starting to doubt the whole big salad after large fruit meal for dinner. I think its too much food matter, too much fiber.

I DON'T think that tomatoes, cucumber, salad combine all that well after a large juicy meal, differnt water contents and TOO MUCH dam water maybe.

I have been eating avos whole even though sometimes I can feel like it is a bit unnecessary (i'm full). I don't think its a fat issue at all but is actually a overeating or water content issue (after the juicy oranges or whatever) that causes slight distress/gas

I'm going to continue trying more fruit only days (along with the juicing) not as a goal to be more fruitty but just to get a grip on these issue for myself.

going to continue trying to work in more apples, cucumbers, melons, grapefruit into my diet somehow, probably as snacks at work before lunch or on days off like today. or the before dinner salad might be like melons or something that digest super quick. but even oranges-30 mins-> salad with tomatoes seems to not work so well as the weeks go by. i'm curious why I have to wake up 8-9 hours after I eat in the middle of the night to urinate. never have any problems falling back asleep, but I think it disturbs my sleep in some way.

up next for me high fruit/ high fruit seed eating trial.

ak

It feels so good to talk to people who understand me and who I can learn from. This has been a good experience. THANK YOU! oooxxx As far as cooked, I have days when I nearly cry and so want to give in, but something stops me. A combination of past experiences and awarness that I am too old for cooked ha ha. If I go back to cooked, I might fall apart lol!

I do look better than before the trial. I just cant help being overly critical and demanding of myself. I know I have to work on this. There is no use in putting oneself down. I can be such a perfectionist. There must be a difference between being determined and unsatisfied.

At the moment I am gathering thoughts and energy for my next move. I would like to take advantage of the momentum that the trial gave me.

Uma, I really want to beat my salt addiction. This is the last string that holds me to my cooked foods addiction and I do want to cut it. I am not giving a hope.

Sarah, I think that you are in a perfect place. I admire you!

Yes, we eat to live, Adam!!!

Gosia


RawGosia channel
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Gosia and all,

I have a request. Can we keep a thread going (whether this one, or a new one if this one is too long) so that we can keep keeping up with each other for awhile? It has really helped me even though I kinda found y'all at the tail end of it...

Doesn't have to be an official trial or daily food log, but I'd love a place to come check in with you guys every day.

What do you think?

Sarah
[goingbananasblog.com]

I think it's a good idea.

I would start a new thread I think. it seems like people's routines don't vary all that much so the log isn't so important. maybe less time reflecting on what you ate throughout the day would be good for meaningful reflection.

I agree with the both of you.

For you folks battling the salty/savory cravings, here's a suggestion that I think is DELICIOUS:

Blend three small/medium tomatoes with one large green bell pepper. Nothing more, nothing less.

Personally, I don't care much for tomatoes in their whole state; but I do love the flavor of salsa, gazpacho, tomato soup, etc., so this works well.

I ate one of those personal-size watermelons today and Thursday. I've noticed that if I eat it too fast I experience a brief "sugar bomb" pain in my abdomen. This happens with other fruits, too. Gotta slow it down a bit. :-p

Yes, I would love to see this thread continue!!

Gosia, thanks so much for starting this and sharing your experience for the entire 30 days. It's been great! I have the same problem with perfectionism and being hard on myself.

It's so helpful to have like-minded people to communicate with!



harmonyraw.blogspot.com

Gosia, I'm not sure I understand how salt ties you to cooked foods: The last time I was cooked I didn't use any salt, yet in the past I used tons of salt in gourmet raw foods. So I don't know if my process of weaning off of salt was tied to cooked or not. But it's true if you put salt on something cooked like rice, you can just keep eating and eating and eating and eating and eating and eating....

Gosia and Sparkler, have you read any of Bryan's posts about "indulgence with awareness"? That is a place I am exploring right now. If there is a habit i see as "bad" and try to push it away and control it, it usually backfires at some point. But if i embrace it and consciously observe myself doing it and feel the effects without judgment, it is more likely to shift on its own when it is ready to. He has specifically played here with salt addiction too.

Love,
Uma

Wow, what a helpful post, thanks Gosia and all!
Don't stop now.

Hi Gosia

I wish to thank you for starting this post.
I jumped in half way through the trial.
I read the posts for a while then felt inspired to join in.
I ordered the 8/1/1 diet book. It arrived today!


I also wish to thank all of you that have shared your experiences as i have learnt so much from reading your posts.


Participating in this trial has helped open me to the following:

Eating more fruit than i have ever eaten and feeling good!
Mono eating ( I have experimented before but not to this extent)
Not stressing about daily intake, rather focusing on weekly instead.
Eating more whole foods. (I have eaten smoothies but not taken juices)
Focusing on listening to and choosing what my body wants (early days but i feel more confident)

I intend to keep up this way of eating.
Im finding it easy to do at the moment.


I would also like to see this thread continue in some form.

that thread was great !! thanks everyone for sharing.
I did learn so many things. Actually, the most important one is that exercising every day may change the physical response to raw food.

I'm willing to continue too

Love and blessings to you all,
Cynthia

Hi All

I guess if you are going to continue the thread it's not 2 late to join in. I was trying to read a lot of the book before I jump in there is so much to read and understand. But here I go.

4 Rome apples
2 bananas
6 oranges
4 pears


Romaine lettuce
cucumber
celery
Brocc.

I made a dressing with 1 apple,celery,cucumber,2 dates( It didn't taste good) but I ate it anyway.

I think that it is a good idea to keep this thread going for those interested in doing the trial. It has been such a valuable lesson to me!

Now, as far as what's after the trial, I realized that I badly want to set some goals and keep going. I want to transform myself. So, I am going to start another thread, called "Transform yourself in 12 weeks" and please, do join me, if you are interested! Why 12 weeks? Because 4 weeks seemed not long enough ha ha!

Gosia


RawGosia channel
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Hey Uma i totally agree with you...i never did salt when i was cooked i just didn't care if i had it or not...but since going raw i find myself salty raw gourmet things or putting salt in it rather when preparing...so i don't find it is a tie to cooked foods...but i do look up to and respect bryan and think he has a valid point that we need to rid our diets of it!@!!! so i know where you are coming from!!!
love earthangel
xoxoxoxoxxooxx