I want to reach true emotional healingl by eating raw food but lately I only seem to be able to go raw for a couple of days before giving into uncooked foods. I usually give in becasue I start to doubt myself, am I just feeling too insecure, being too strict with my diet?

Yes. Set smaller goals. VERY small goals that you are MOTIVATED and PREPARED to do. Keep breaking them down until you are getting traction. Consistency for a lifetime wins over superior discipline. Don't hold yourself to some guru's (or even your own brain's) ideals. One foot in front of the other!

-What do you think?

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Vibrant, Figure out what emotion/pain you want to heal. While raw foods helps, it isn't the complete answer. Your issue is a spiritual/psychological/conditioning one. Figure out the earliest incidence of the pain, or if not-- the closest one, or if not that, just concentrate on the emotion/pain. What happened to cause it? What associations did you have with that situation? Then, see where a similar situation occurred but the reaction was favorable to yourself. If there were no exceptions, look at the consequences of the action-reaction cycle associated with that emotion/pain. Figure out what else could take place in a chosen reaction and then picture the positive consequences from a chosen reaction. (You can journal all this as sometimes it helps to see it on paper.) From that point of reflection/introspection, continue to chose your action to similar situations and then the action-reaction cycle is stopped. You will have carved new associations, released the pain regarding that emotional incident, and you will be free from the emotional pain that has kept you from being your true self.

Also, do not continue to punish yourself for eating cooked. Just notice how your body feels and the physical reactions from eating cooked. Once you get in tune with your body, you will be able to chose on purpose if you want to "cheat". Cheating in the beginning is good (as long as you're not critically ill) in order to prove that the raw diet is beneficial to one's body. It took me about 3 years to where I completely gave up dairy and now, it's easier to give up cooked as I see the ill effects.

Hope that helps. Therese

I'm having the same problem. I can go raw for a few days, then get scared for some reason of being hungry. I'm hungry most of the time when I do break with raw and eat something cooked, but if I could let myself get past that craving for cooked, I know the hunger would lesson.

I think I will have to break the cycle this week-end. Just take Sat and Sun and relax, eat some gentle fruits and veggies, take my apple cider vinegar thru-out the day and concentrate very hard on doing those 2 days at 100% raw.

There is some emotional trauma I'm sure that I'm using junk foods to cope with as Theresa says. But it's the immediate hunger part that I'm afraid to let run its course.

Maybe I'll start Friday which would give me 3 days, which is how long it takes me to shrink my stomach and have the hunger gone. Someone said, it's not really hunger..it's a feeling of the need to eat.

It seems like I might be where you are at Vibrant, the need to do emotional healing.

Love,
Prism

Hello,

Thank your for your advice. Yes, I often do set very lofty goals and then end up crashing. I will try and ease into it more and more!

April

www.rawfoodpassion.blogspot.com

Yes, I know that I have a lot of emotional pain to heal from and that I usually eat junky food as a way to deal with that pain. I lost my mother when I was fifteen and I can tell that it changed my life. I was seeing a counselor, which was good for me, I suppose seeing a counselor in conjunction with eating raw foods would be beneficial!

Thanks!

April

www.rawfoodpassion.blogspot.com

April,

I've found it helps to focus on what you intend to eat, rather than what you intend not to eat. For example, think of all the delicious raw living luscious fruits and vegetables you will eat. And be easy on yourself.

Regarding the emotions, in my experience they are just sensations in the body that we put a label on and attach stories to. If you can just notice the sensation part of it, and let the sensation be there, it will tend to dissolve and you'll feel better.

April, Sorry about your loss. I lost my mother before my memories began. She died in my infancy, I'm assuming as I lost my father when I was 5 and he was the only one I could ask. (I remember to age 4.) I went to a grieving class once I figured out what my problem was. A great book regarding loss on Mothers is "Motherless Daughters". Also, it helps to set up some sort of ritual when you get lonely. I used to light a candle and that would help. I also started journaling. Love and nurture yourself first as the source of all things is within you. Hope that helps. Good luck. Therese

I ate brazil nuts and chocolate in the tad-tiny-fish beginning of my raw food diet. It WAS motivating and bit-expensive...but I explored after that, lost weight and became a kinder person. This will help you (from one tooth grinder to the next), because there is true goodness in you.

It seems a person has to become a raw eater in stages. Ages ago I wanted to be a vegetarian, but there was this thing about meat. It took me 3 years of trying and prayer to release that desire for meat. I didn't have the information about raw, so I did not do well as a vegetarian; I was ill and listless. But now it's a lot different. I'm about 80% raw and people now tell me how wonderful I look. I suppose so, but I am more interested in feeling alive inside. Best wishes to you.