Hi all,
Been going through a pretty rough time lately.
I am a vegetarian, probably mentioned this before, but was commonly known as a junk food vegetarian. I have been practicing the raw diet for the past couple of weeks;
and really feeling pretty good about it. Even lost some weight. Know that's not the main reason for this diet. But the junk food did put some on. Have problems with my back and knees, so the weight loss is a good thing right now.

ok,to the issue at hand. Have been pretty upset past couple of days, and I ate a whole bag of M&M 's last night. Emotional eating, I know. But today I got up and was light headed, nauseous, tired (keep yawning), stomach hurts a lot. I previously had a lot of stomach problems, but noticed that the raw eating was really starting to minimize it.

Now I feel like I am at day one again.
Candy is my downfall. Anyone get any of these feelings when they eat stuff they know they shouldn't? I feel horrible today, physically, that is. And yes, mentally too....
Debbie

Try eating more fruit. Here is an example of the amount of fruit that one might eat on a 2000 calorie a day menu. Veggiefreak posted this out of the 80/10/10 book in a post called Re: 80/10/10 question.

samhein

Don't beat yourself up about it. when I have a sweet craving and fruit doesn't fix it - like when I am really pre-menstruel I eat organic green and black chocolate. I don't know if you have green and blacks - it is a very good quality chocolate and I obviously go for the vegan ones.
Usually it is just a phase - i haven't had any chocolate for ages now but maybe I will when pmt strikes again (if it does - always live in hope lol) and I will let myself go through the moment and come out the other side without carrying guilt etc.

Raw chocolate is good but very hard for me to find. I also have discovered that opening a squidgy date and filling it with cacao nibs is really yummy too. You can spend ages crunching all those little nibs and the sweetness and texture of the date is just the right contrast.

try to avoid really horrible sweets that are full of sugar, colours and who knows what else. If you are going to eat sweets then make a decision to eat the best you can find. you will feel a lot better about it then.

you aren't at day one - accept a blip - tell yourself how well you are doing and keep the big picture in mind - know that you are doing really well

Philippa

samhein, this is what helps me when I crave sweets. It works every single time. I eat a plate of very sweet juicy fruit or make a nice fruit saladt. After few minutes the craving for sugar is gone and I feel good. After about a few months, I regularly eat sweet fruit (along with veggies etc) it keeps any craving for sugar under control.

Take care
A Iyer

Also check all the raw recipe things for all the dessert type stuff you can make with fruits, nuts, dates, etc. You don't want to go overboard on that stuff either, but it's good transitional food for getting into healthier eating.

One nice snack that somebody here told me about was to blend some nuts and dates together in a food processor. You can them roll them into little balls and they are kind of like some kind of caramels. Also I put some of this on celery and it was great. Carve a little "m" to them and have raw m&ms!

There's a huge world of creative possibilities out there! Raw eating is not all carrot sticks and apples (not unless you want it to be).

-DaveK

When first going raw, I made a lot of "fudge" for when I wanted sweet treats. All you have to do is dump some walnuts into a food processor, add some shredded raw coconut, some carob powder, and agave. Blend it all up and adjust the sweetness and flavor with more agave or carob powder. I pressed it into a pan and cut it into squares to eat whenever I felt like something sweet. It was a great thing to take with me whenever I left the house, too.

I hope you find something that tastes great to you, that you can feel good about eating.

Lots of love to you,

Wendi Dee
XOXO

No raw substitute will ever stop the underlying cause: emotional eating. Even eating some kind of raw substitute or overeating on raw can make you feel awful. What's that wonderful saying I read on here? "When I overate SAD foods, I felt like crap, now when I overeat raw foods I feel like a compost heap." I know that's not a direct quote, but it's on point. I'm an emotional eater and am in therapy to address my underlying issues and to find better ways to cope with emotions than eating. I agree that it can be necessary to find something to use between identifying the problem and actually getting better, but please don't neglect the emotional and mental work that has to be done too.

When my mom stopped smoking, she chewed gum constantly. Certainly a gum addiction is better tan a nicotine addiction, but addiction itself isn't healthy.

Pardon the ramble!

I have a very simple rule about what I eat:

Eat fresh raw food

Rawtastic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No raw substitute will ever stop the underlying
> cause: emotional eating. Even eating some kind of
> raw substitute or overeating on raw can make you
> feel awful. What's that wonderful saying I read on
> here? "When I overate SAD foods, I felt like crap,
> now when I overeat raw foods I feel like a compost
> heap." I know that's not a direct quote, but it's
> on point. I'm an emotional eater and am in therapy
> to address my underlying issues and to find better
> ways to cope with emotions than eating. I agree
> that it can be necessary to find something to use
> between identifying the problem and actually
> getting better, but please don't neglect the
> emotional and mental work that has to be done
> too.

I agree but I'd like to tweak this a bit. I think there is kind of cycle that occurs as one takes on more raw.

Eating raw --> feeling better --> clearer mind --> wanting to eat more raw --> eating more raw

There seems to be a kind of developement of bodily awareness that starts to go above immmediate pain/pleasure responses into a more sense of long term well being.

I'm not saying going raw will solve everybody's emotional problems. But it can help a lot. Many emotional fluctuations are biochemical, that is, physical problems.

I think that coupled with maybe something like meditation/prayer/yoga/whatever your thing is that one can become a lot less susceptible to these sorts of impulses.

This is cyclical and developmental. It takes a looooooooooooooooong time to change mental/emotional habits. I think some of the transitional strategies (raw candies or whatever) are a skillful means to keep one on the path for as long as possible, rather than beating up oneself wrestling with emotional demons as an underlying cause.

-DaveK

When you are stressed try adding more magnesium type raw foods to your daily diet or try adding a tablet or 2 of magnesium oxide a day to your diet for a little while.

A mineral imbalance may be at the root, try balancing with more leafy greens, and or try adding 1 T of unsulphered black strap molasses to your daily smoohties, or raw treat or whatever. That has a lot of minerals and b vits.

Love,
Prism

rawtastic is right, you're not going to find the magic raw food bullet that stops the cycle of emotional eating. you've got to attack this problem holistically. i understand about emotional eating. for me, its not even about craving pizza, burritos, chocolate, M&Ms, or whatever IT is, so raw substitutes don't cut it for me. its more about self-sabotage, about not feeling worthy, about bringing your physical state down to meet your mental/emotional one. does any of that ring true for you? the good news is that this self-negating cycle can be ended. i feel like i have finally developed a big enough toolbox to deal with emotional eating effectively.

my first strategy has been to knock out the negative self talk almost entirely. i am SUPER gentle with myself, like i would be if i was a little child in my care who was learning a new skill. you don't tell a child "you're lame, you're weak, why can't you do this right?" so if/when i slip up, i don't spend one MILLISECOND of time or energy thinking about it or dwelling on it. the only bite that is important is the NEXT one, not the last one (or the last 200). what we focus on increases, so i might instead log all the fresh fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds i ate this week on the wipeboard on my refrigerator, and then whenever i glanced at it or thought about it, i would congratulate myself for all the wonderful healthy things i was now putting into my body.

some other things that have helped me: mantra meditation ("i breathe in spiritual nourishment, i breathe out all blocks to my optimum health", intention and goal setting, power statements/affirmations, learning what my triggers are (sadness? anxiety? boredom? shame, rebellion? deprivation?) and discovering ways to combat them. its helpful to simply start to notice without judgement our thoughts/emotional state/physical state before or even while we're eating cooked foods ("i notice i'm standing in front of the cupboard about to eat the cheeze doodles, i notice that my breathing is shallow and my chest feels tight" or "isn't it INTERESTING that i am not hungry at all but still craving X... hmm, i notice that i'm feeling stressed because i'm running late, i wonder if the two things are related?"

raw foods is a path to health AND self knowledge. be curious! how does the craving feel in your body? is your stomach or chest tight, do you clench your jaw, are you antsy? take some deep, nourishing breaths into those areas and try to calm them.

but step one is definitely to just be lighter with yourself. try to stay completely in the positive. if you ate garbage all day and also ate a banana, pat yourself on the back for the banana. every day try to congratulate yourself for discovering and experimenting with the raw food path. how many people even have this in their awareness? we are truly blessed. and the more blessed you feel yourself to be, the more you'll want to eat the foods that give you your best self.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2008 01:32AM by maui_butterfly.

have dates on hand or a date roll (pureed and rolled in coconut).

I always thought they were corny, but I just started experimenting with affirmations before I go to sleep every night, and I feel AWESOME. I do them sometimes to quiet my mind if I'm meditating, too, and I can tell there's really a favorable body/mind response to them.

Whether you just repeat in your head over and over that you love yourself, are self-healing, or whatever, before you go to sleep... they are really helping me battle some remaining issues I have with food addictions and emotional trouble.

Also keeping them very simple and personalized help. I'd feel way too corny (this word takes on a new meaning for me!) using someone else's.

Just, you know, sometimes it's good to be your own support group, and the subconscious can be influenced. Think of all the culturally-imposed negativity it has to listen to, so why not give it something positive? =)

Plus, if you become increasingly aware of the fact that you really DO love yourself, it makes sense eventually that we don't want to do anything self-destructive.

Wow, I am just so totally amazed at all I just read here. I want to thank everyone all at one time for the comments on my candy problem. I liked the idea of a raw sweet once in a while, and I do really understand getting more to the root of the emotional problems too. I was thinking back on all the things I used to do for myself and how I let most of them go in the past 20 years or so.
I learned transcendental meditation about 35 years ago. ( showing my age now). It was wonderful. I came from a very abusive family and ended up in one abusive relationship after another and all the self love went down the drain.
You all have really had an impact on me here.
I am going to get into my meditations again, and I am also reading a book called "the Secret" now. fantastic.
A huge hug and thank you to all!
Debbie

another terrific book i like is Loving What Is by Byron Katie. very, very good book.

for sweets, whenever i have a craving, if i eat just one big fat sticky sweet medjool date i feel super fine. they are just like a caramel to me. i stick a nut inside for an extra special treat sometimes but just the date is usually enough.

good luck!

i'll second coco's recommendation on Byron Katie. its one thing to read books like the Tao Te Ching, The Power of Now, the writings of Gangaji, the Dala Lama etc., and another thing to apply them to your life. after reading her books "loving what is" and "i need your love, is that true?" for the first time in my life, i was able to apply everything i understood intellectually about consciousness, emotions, detachment, etc. for me, it was really where the rubber meets the road. and using her simple (not easy, but simple) method of inquiry on my own stressful/painful thoughts has made a tremendous difference in my life. you can check out how it works at www.thework.com and watch the little video clips where she walks folks through the process. amazing!

Thank you, I am definitly going to look into it. I need it right now in my life.

Most important thing, as others have said, is not to beat yourself up about it. We all stumble sometimes.

If my sweet cravings are truly physical (not some emotional upset I'm trying to medicate) I find dried fruit to be pretty satisfying...dates, raisins, figs are my favorites. Sometimes dried mango if it's moist.

I think the longer you follow this lifestyle the less all those processed, refined flour and sugar "foods" appeal to you...become really nauseating even. At least that's been my experience.

~lanie

"Beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing lies a field. I'll meet you there." ~Rumi

Wow, what a great ideas!

I am really craving chocolate and read this just in time.

Thanks for the ideas. I have found that dates are really good, but give me a stomach ache. I've had problems for years with my stomach. Started with a lot of emotional stress during a really bad time of my life. I like raisens and figs. Do you find they give you a lot of "wind" though? (guess you can ask anything here) there are still a lot of foods that mess with my stomach. It always seemed like the junk foods were the only ones that didnt. but since going pretty much raw, I've noticed my stomach settling down some. But it's been a bit hard on it non the less.
Debbie

i make a trail mix with raw cashews, almonds, sun flower seeds, dried cherries, cut up unsulfered dried apricots, banana chips and raisins....i am a huge candy person and that pretty much kills my candy cravings