Since I'm just a newbie at raw (10 weeks), I'm still learning. I know a number of you on here consider yourself "high raw" while others aim at 100%. I'm still trying to figure out what is best for me and what will work for me.
I am wondering a number of things....

1. Why are you high raw and what exactly does that mean? Is it a deliberate choice that you are making or what you are settling for because you fail at 100%? Is it giving into cooked foods or simply a lifestyle you can live with?

2. Do you feel differently (better / worse, etc. ) eating high raw versus 100%?

3. What types of food items do you allow yourself on a high raw diet that would be considered non-raw?

Just trying to gather info as to the whats and whys of this lifestyle. I know everyone is different...with different reasonings and motivations, but I think getting your input will be helpful.Thanks.

hi island girl...being a newbie as well i don`t know if my response will help or not but....
1. to me high raw is a high percentage of my diet coming from raw foods. for me being high raw is a result of many factors. sometimes it is deliberate and sometimes it is a "slip".for me it usually consists of giving into peanut butter which is organic and only consists of peanuts and salt but is still processed i suppose, cooked broccoli, cooked corn on the cob, hemp bread, white rice and sashimi. the latter happens once or twice a month but i won`t elaborate on the reasons since this is a vegan board and i don`t want to offend anyone.
2. i haven`t been 100% raw for long enough at a time to compare whether i feel better or not. i feel a helluva lot better since i adopted this lifestyle of higher raw than i used to be....but i can`t compare to 100%.
3. the foods i said earlier are pretty much the foods i consume that are not raw...oh coffee...i still have a cup of coffee and wine...i also drink a glass of (or 2) red wine at night. sometimes.....not too often i will have whole wheat pasta, maybe 1/4 cup but since i did the raw spaghetti i am pretty satisfied with that. i don`t know why i do the cooked pasta thing...probably convenience and unity with my family at dinnertime?
in the detox through raw foods book natalia says that not everyone is 100% and that`s perfectly fine. strive for feeling good, having energy, being at a place you`re happy with and putting as much nutrient packed foods into your body as you can
patty

I'm high raw and have been for a year and a half because it works better with my life at the moment. I'll go 100% when I can assure a constant supply of raw food. I think 100% is really a commitment because it's pretty much impossible for me to stomach any non-raw food at that level. On high raw I can still socialize "normally", travel for business etc. On 100% raw my whole philosophy of life changes, and I feel I'd rather go towards that change in small increments by allowing certain things into my life at the pace that I feel ready for them. I've been looking for ways and opportunities in my life that will allow for 100% raw, but right now I still have one foot planted in my cooked life and I'm not ready to let go just yet. By cooked life I don't mean I need to eat cooked food, because the food I could care less about - I mean the social aspects.

Yes, I think the social side is important. Politeness, appreciation, fun . . . sometimes these don't go hand-in-hand with being an 100%er. One should do as much for one's own health as possible, but not alienate other people in the process, I don't think.

For me, it would kill me not to be able to eat any of the food when I travel to other countries. Food is so much part of a culture - it's difficult to have a complete experience without it, I think.

I'm aiming for 100% raw except for when I'm invited out. Oh, and herbal teas - well, I'm still a big fan of my teas. So I guess that would even out to high(ish) raw.

Gee, you're all making me consider going from 100% to high raw!

Betty

"Don't believe everything you think."

--Bumper Sticker

Personally, it still doesn't work out socially...even high raw, heck, even vegan cooked. Not in my social circle anyway and not in most of the restaurants that I'm invited to socially. The best I can do in a social situation such as out for dinner at a restaurant is to have a nice salad and indulge in the bread (which I've done countless times). So for me, and strictly for me, this wouldn't count as a good reason to remain high raw versus 100%.

When I cleaned up my diet and went "high" raw I felt terrific. But considering what I was eating before, which was anything and everything, its no wonder. High raw for me was raw breakfast and lunch and a cooked dinner of usually brown rice, beans, lightly sautee'd veggies - usually cooked without or with little water and no oils and something else raw to go with, like a salad or slaw or sliced tomatoes or whathaveyou. I still think that this is a very good way to eat, but it still wasn't do-able socially. I mean, how many times do YOU get invited for beans and rice? I mean around here red beans and rice is a local classic but the rice is denatured and the beans are topped with a @#$%&-shaped sausage.

So, I'll tell you what really happens high raw for me, aside from all theory and good intentions. It keeps the door open for piss-poor eating. Period. Perhaps one day, after a long enough time on a raw food diet, I'll be able to remain conscious around food to a degree that I can choose to eat something for the right reasons, no matter what it is, and not fall into gluttony, stuffing emotions or eating away boredom, or trying to fit in where I clearly don't and all of that razzmatazz. For now, I'd just as soon be free of all that.

khale

khale Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
I mean, how many
> times do YOU get invited for beans and rice? I
> mean around here red beans and rice is a local
> classic but the rice is denatured and the beans
> are topped with a @#$%&-shaped sausage.

lmao Khale ! lol ... @#$%& shaped sausage

another one of those foods that come out looking the same as they went in

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

So am I gathering that most of "high raw" has to do with the social aspects of eating with others and is therefore somewhat determined by how often or to what extent you eat with others and desire to fit in with them? Granted, eating out is a challenge if you are 100%. You are destined to salad with dressing that you bring from home. For me, salads get really old! I guess I'm asking these questions because I really want to be honest with myself and I want a lifestyle that will last in the long run...for the long haul. Still thinking...and welcome more input!

LOL, @#$%& shaped sausage! Hahahahahahaha!

I love 100% raw.

High raw can be very good too, for a lot of people. But for me, it's easier to function on all raw, because I'm physically such a weakling! I was always close to the last one picked for games as a kid, etc. And as an adult, I've really had to work very hard to be healthy. It's definitely paying off now that I'm in my 50s!

It's taken me a long time to be all raw, and I used to think of myself as a failure when I couldn't do it. I was disappointed at what I perceived to be my lack of willpower. I couldn't do all raw, and high raw didn't work for me either. It was SO frustrating!

But I gradually learned that there's a lot more to staying raw than just willpower. Willpower is part of it, but definitely not all of it.

In my own experience, learning to have sufficient nutrition on raw has been huge. The better and more complete the raw diet, the less willpower is needed to maintain it. At least for me.

My theory is this: Our bodies are miracles. Our bodies will send a signal, even against our wills, to let our minds know (subconsciously if necessary) if we're not giving our bodies what they need. If our minds don't know what raw foods to eat to appease our bodies, then our minds will contrive an excuse to eat cooked food, whether we want to or not.

In the beginning, going raw, it's quite natural and healthy to focus more on cleaning out the bad stuff, than getting sufficient nutrition from the good stuff. Because it feels so much better to get the bad stuff OUT, people can sometimes think that's all there is to it, so they focus on keeping out anything (even raw) that might slow down their detox, or prevent them from being being perfectly cleaned out.

The desire to lose weight can also interfere with adopting a sufficiently nutritious raw food diet. And we might sometimes try to apply the SAD rules for dieting to our raw food diet, and miss out on essential nutrients by doing so.

But in the long run, and for the long haul, I've found that sufficient nutrition IS very important, and it doesn't just come automatically because a person is all raw.

IMO, a person on high raw can have a healthier, more sustainable diet than a person on "100% raw" who is constantly going back and forth from a restrictive raw diet to binging on cooked food.

Sufficient exercise is also crucial, because it enables us to properly digest sufficient raw food nutrition. Health depends not just on nutrition and inner cleanliness, but also on strength. In addition to the strength of our limbs and our abs, the strength to digest our food properly - especially as we get older - comes from exercise. And if a weakling like me can exercise, most other people can too. Sufficient exercise gives us a positive attitude as well as a strong body.

The social thing doesn't bother me very much. By now, I'm used to being the odd one out. And I think that because I accept it, other people find it easier to accept too. They know they can kid me about buying me a hamburger or whatever, and I won't mind. I always try to reassure people who don't know me very well that it doesn't bother me at all if they eat whatever they want when I'm around.

All this got a little off topic. But I love being 100% raw, and I want everybody else - who WANTS to be all raw - to do it well and be happy with it like I am.

Cheers to everyone!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2007 12:37AM by suncloud.

excellent post suncloud kudos
patty

islandgirl, I am glad you asked the question. I was curious too! And the information shared was especially helpful.

I began a raw food lifestyle 9 weeks ago. I am still at the stage of getting the bad stuff out. My long-term goal is radiant health which includes lots of things. Nutrition is very important to me so as I incorporate more raw foods, I am mindful to learn what each food provides and what may still be missing.

I could not exercise for the first 6 weeks after taking animal protein out of my diet. My muscles were very weak. Then without realizing it, the burning sensation I felt when going upstairs, etc. disappeared. I returned to my exercise program and I am as strong as ever. The weakness could have come from losing weight in the first few weeks. Since then I stayed the same weight.

One thing I have noticed most recently is that drinking juiced vegetables, including collards or kale, helps reign in my hunger and cravings. I was hesitant to make my first glass of vegetable juice, but the Green Star juicer does such a terrific job and vegetables have a much milder and more pleasant flavor than I realized (cabbage, squash, onion, herbs, cucumber, bell pepper, poblano pepper, tomato, carrot, apple, sprouts). To my surprise, I like green juice! So I just keep pushing toward my goal, and enjoy the growing benefits along the way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2007 05:30PM by lovebird.

I think there are a whole bunch of points that are involved with choosing our diets, but I think the motive for being raw is for our health benifit over and above other considerations.
This said, I think that choosing high raw for the sake of social or other considerations is just a case of our personaly dietary philosophy or nutritional understanding being still in the developing stages.

My experience with cravings has been the same as sunclouds where it seems to be triggered by a lacking in nutrition more than a psychological cause.

I'm still working out what a "good" diet is for myself, but I believe that raw isn't the whole answer either. I've just been listening to a bunch of long term raw foodists on the raw summit, and something I have picked up from that is that thier common experience is that lots of greens are necessary.

From what I've read, heard, self experimented and feel intuitively I believe something very similar to the 80-10-10 is the most likely optimum health supporting diet at this stage.

I know those @#$%& shaped sausages Khale. LOL!!!

Beautiful post Suncloud. It was also very enlightening. How long have you been 100%?

I have been transitioning with my husband and three kids for a year. The first month we went 100% to get a taste of what our goal was. Mine is 100%. My husband's and children's are yet to be decided. I think if I wasn't transitioning with them I might think I eat cooked for social reasons. The truth is we have been restricting what we eat for years. My kids were used to hearing they couldn't have many things kids around us eat everyday. Many of our closest friends understand raw and eat a lot of raw themselves. I personally feel like suncloud may have turned on a light for me. I think I am testing raw nutritionally in a way. The kids are so young and uncontaminated and if we wean them off the crap slowly they will see how the good food feels and teach their bodies to tell them what it wants and needs. I think it is important that they learn how to listen to their own bodies. I think food is way more of an emotional issue for me because I have been programmed to think things taste good for 38 years. A couple of years after becoming vegetarian, meat began to smell really bad like B.O. or litter boxes. And when a huge hamburger flashed across the TV I would become repulsed. I felt like I had de programmed myself. That is what I am attempting to do for myself now. Having the kids is a huge motivation because right now we are setting them up for their relationship with food and a that requires a lot of consideration. Asside from de programming I totally agree that nutrition is the key to fighting cravings. I used to love salads but had a hard time eating them everyday. Salads seem to taste better each time I eat them now. It is even more true for fruit. My husband and kids have been eating gobs of fruit since the beginning and I wasn't that into it. Now I mono eat fruit a lot for a meal. I love getting full on fruit. I used to not ever feel satisfied with it. I know I will one day be satisfied eating 100%. In one year I have come so far. I am ahead of where I thought I would be. The only thing I can't see ever giving up is herbal tea so maybe 99.9%.

99.9%...that's so cute. The only percentage I really know how to figure is 100%. Beyond that, its a mystery. Maybe because I have PMS this week and I'm craving everything in sight...I am reconsidering a goal of high raw instead of 100%. I just want to be realistic and not set myself up for failure and disappointment. That way if I make it to 100% on most days that will be great, but that will also allow me some room to be real on days like today.

By social I meant that I've always been a nightlife FIEND, I've always loved the delicious seedy depraved filth of the NYC nightlife. On 100% raw though I want nothing to do with it, but on high raw I still kinda do, at least enough for my present comfort level... and if my drinking with my friends leads me to a sandwich at the end of the night, then so be it. I know that I'm moving away from this, because I can feel it, but I'm not mentally ready to completely let go of my life-long love affair with the nightlife just yet. I have to do it gradually. That's what I meant. It's not about food or peer pressure, it's about seeing things with new eyes, noticing emptiness and letting go of that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2007 03:27AM by sunshine79.

No one says you have to decide now. Try it one way and see how it works for you. If you don't like it, try it the other way. The beauty of this is that you can try them both back and forth until you find where you're comfortable, which is what most people do.

Cheers!

Kristen Suzanne
--
www.KristensRaw.com
www.KristensRaw.blogspot.com

I think that's so true Kristen! And maybe the comfort zone might be totally different from one year to the next, or from one decade to the next, or whatever.

Pakd4fun, you asked how long I've been 100% raw.

I wish I could say I've been 100% raw for a very long time, no slip-ups, but honestly I can't.

Hope this doesn't disappoint you, but the last time I ate cooked food was not even a year ago - Thanksgiving, 2006 (vegan though, of course).

The time before that was a day in March, 2006. I CAN honestly say that for the last 21 years, I've been vegan - 100%.

From 1986 to 2006, I varied, once eating 100% raw for 2 1/2 years, sometimes eating cooked food once or twice a year, sometimes eating cooked food several times a year. I did a lot of experimentation during that time with high raw, nuts or no nuts, cooked veggies or no cooked veggies, fruitarian, fruitarian with nuts, etc. I'm still experimenting, but now it's only on all raw.

From about 1976 - 1986, I was severely bulimic, eating just fruit one day, and everything I could get my hands on the next. And then purging it. I wanted to be a raw vegan, but I definitely didn't think I could do it.

One day in 1986, thanks really to the support of my husband (then my boyfriend) and my son, I rather suddenly figured out that I could actually make a conscious choice to change my behavior, and it was just up to me to make that choice. So I did.

I stopped the purging, and things got steadily better for me from there. My husband and I had already committed to being vegan, my son was vegan, and we all started practicing yoga together. And so there it was - the happy beginning!

Ain't life just so cool!

I think maybe the uneasiness for me is that I am somewhat of a perfectionist with tendencies toward being compulvisve...and if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it the right way and all the way. In all honesty, that is why this diet is so good for me...because it is forcing me to listen to my body and make good choices rather than living by rules which is hard at times. The funny thing about all that is that there is no one judging me or keeping tabs on me...just me, doing my thing...but yet, I feel like I have to do it right. I've always had a fear of failure, but I'm gradually getting past that. I'm discovering how that wrong thought process has literally affected every part of me and I don't want to live that way anymore!

island girl i hear ya!! i am "one of those" also LOL. it is good and bad as is everything in this wonderful life. giving it your all is an awesome trait. i have learned/am learning to slack on that a bit as you are. it`s ok not to be 100%. YOUR health, YOUR well being YOUR life is what matters. if it`s not 100% raw then so be it. who says 100% raw is perfect?
patty

point well taken