Hello all,

I'm an almost 40 year old male, computer trained, college educated idiot.

I've been studying the "living food" life style since a programmer from New York introduced the concept to me while I was on a job assignment in an Atlanta Georgia suburb in early '99 at a company called "Bailey controls" (now ABB Automation). I wish now I had asked for his contact information.

A little over 2 years ago I was on a job assignment out west, away from my family, and I was able to go raw for almost 3 months. It wasn't living foods but it was a start. It wasn't 100% organic either but again, it was a start. I dropped quite a few pounds and was feeling great. I had even stopped all my allergy and asthma medicines, under the guidance and observation of a doctor at the VA. Unfortunately I was in a car accident that caused my job assignment to be cut short. I returned to my family back east, going through surgeries for my shoulder, and giving in to people asking me to cook for their birthday parties,etc. Needless to say, I gained the weight back and more. I am morbidly obese and disgusted with myself.

I think they're finally finished with the surgeries on my shoulder and I'd like to find a "camp" environment that I can spend time at, even in a different country if necessary.

I have two goals I'd like to achieve. One: get through the withdrawal symptoms I seem to experience when trying to quit cooked foods and become as close to living foods as possible. Two: to get in tune with my body and become more productive. I have become extremely depressed and down right lazy with all this weight gain. I can't stand it any more. I feel if I can achieve these two goals, then the weight loss should happen without having to be obsessed with weight loss.

Please do not take offense: My biggest weakness is animal fats and proteins, mostly milk, eggs, cheeses, etc. But I do cave in to the addiction and eat animal flesh. I'm tired of this and honestly I hate myself. I need help. My family doesn't understand why I can't just "quit" the foods that I want to get away from and yet all the while they're cooking potatoes with cheese, or fresh breads with butter. sweets and confections, etc.

I have difficulty reading most books (I think I might have pesticide induced ADD ) and haven't found a support system that I can be open and honest about my failures. I'm afraid I'm going to need an extended time away from "cooked food". I don't know if there is anything affordable that I can do. I don't have living food friends that I can spend time with. I've heard of people spending time in Europe or Asia and coming back completely recharged and full on track for living foods but I don't know how they afford it.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I don't know if email exchanges are allowed on this board but if so I'd be delighted to receive emails from anyone who thinks they can help/guide me properly.

Thank you so much.

hola fud..and welcome.

im an almost 20 year old female, high school dropout..and sarcastic cynic. :p

its great that you want to take the right steps to be healthier...for lack of better word..

do you think it would help if you started small..by first cutting dairy or meat out of your diet completely, and substituting with fruit or vegetables...and proceeding from there?

also..try not to think of cutting out animal and cooked foods as deprivation. i think thats a concept that the media, government..etc..has tried to (and successfully done so in most people) convince us into believing.

i feel like a bloody hypocrite for what im going to say...as it tends to go against my nature...but its true...

..think positive.

..about making changes that can have a positive impact on your health, at least. though no one else would recommend it..i fully encourage pessimism alomg the lines of reason..and not just being told what to believe and doing so with a smile on your face.

if i havent completely insulted you..and you would like to talk via email on the subject..id be cool with that.

Thanks for responding. I've tried cutting just meats, or just dairy but it seems to be all or none with me. I did wonderfully while living alone before the accident that stopped me preparing foods and brought me back to the family. I am addicted to foods. I realize this. I'm not a big sweets fan. It's the greasy foods that gets to me. I can cut out refined sugars with no problem and not miss them. Take away butter, milk, cheese and I start getting the craving/withdrawals even to the point of having the stomach cramps. Same thing when I take away meats. I love dark chocolate but I can drop that without any effects at all.

When living alone on the job contract I basically went through the stomach cramps by keeping myself busy. I forced myself to eat very plain for 3 weeks then splurged on the natural ingredients for making guacamole and started using that as a dip for raw veggies. I had tasks outside of work to keep me physically active and that saw me through. At home Everything has to be coordinated with the family and becomes too much of a hassle. Even just going for a walk is too much planning here.

This is why I think I'd do better at a place I can afford to escape to for a few months. Even if I can find a place where weather permits extended camping or something. I found a place in England but it appears that place requires you to move there permanently. Even if I could get the family to agree, I doubt I possess any skills the country is likely to require to approve a permanent residence visa. I've tried to find some places in Mombai India as most Janists live there and it would be easy to submerge into the anti-animal products. Most "retreats" I've found online only have 1 to 2 week sessions and that won't even get me through the bends.

I'm more than happy to have email support from anyone who likes to write. Thanks for offering. If I can just get to the point where I can deal with the constant temptations in this house of cooking I'd be ok.

I've even tried to train myself similar to "Pavlov's dog". I've found a few things that really cause me stomach problems when eaten and I've tried associating those symptoms with all the foods that tempt me but it hasn't kicked in yet. I'd eat these items whenever I'd smell the foods I'd like, I'd go through the torture of it disagreeing with me. After several weeks of trying this I finally quit because it the associative patterns weren't developing as I'd hoped.

I probably sound like a nut case. I'm desperate though. I want to go 100% raw foods and as close to living foods as possible.

Well, I've decided to start (yet again) on raw today. last night I took a couple "before" shots and weighed in. 305. bleh!

I'm going to try to use one of these public blogs to keep myself accountable, and read as much as I can on here. Here's my blog spot for those of you who need a good laugh I guess :p.

[rawfoodtrip.blogspot.com]

I hope it keeps me accountable. Thanks to anyone who can respond with suggestions, info. etc. I'm really tired of this addiction to cooked foods.

you can totally do it. im not even 100% raw yet as i still drink coffee and beer..and eat the occasional (weekly) slice of hemp toast (my cooked food addiction...)
to help keep you from feeling deprived at first...you could eat all raw except for one snack or small meal each day..something you can enjoy..and..dont let yourself feel guilty about it.

ive been on and off with 85-100% raw for a couple of years now...what got me back into it recently was a really bad cold. i ate nothing but huge salads and lots of garlic..the only cooked food i had was that one slice of toast...and i realized within a couple of days that i felt ten times better. and i want to continue that....ive stopped craving veggie chips and bread..the usual cooked foods i liked to indulge in..and instead spend lots of time drooling (figuratively speaking...i dont think drooling would go over too well with my co workers..) over salads and fruit.

still..i havent given up my morning cup of coffee..(sometimes with a chai tea or yerba mate chocolate tea bag dipped in it) or cigarettes..or beer. but we all have to start somewhere.
....if its any consolation to myself, ive cut my smoking down from a pack a day to about half.

this is a really cool blog of a lady losing several hundred lbs i thought you might find interesting if you have the chance to read it from day one its very cool

[greensmoothieexperiment.blogspot.com]

Thanks for that blog. I found her clip where she's lost over 50 lbs in 6 weeks and also the clips about Victoria boutenko's issue with the "plateau" on high fruits. I'm going to read Victoria's books on Green for life, etc. That may be what I need. If it can get rid of certain cravings, maybe it will reduce the discomfort I go through.

I'm still going through the blog of this woman, though it appears she's using processed juices. I wonder how that affects the results.

she would probably get better results with fresh .. no doubt about it ..i think he extreme weight at the moment though prevents her from standing or moving about or doing so her prep time is limited

in one of her entries she writes she cant weight till she can start being able to bend over and do tihngs like work in the garden or climb a ladder to clean gutters or pick apples hehe

its all about baby steps i guess

I understand that. I fear that if I don't get on track now I'll end up having the similar issues. It scares me tremendously. God Bless her for making the steps she's taking. I hope she makes her goals. From what I've read so far it sounds as if her partner is being supportive so that will be a big help to her.

ima salt/fat addict sugar doesnt do much for me and in fact when i first started this back in 2001/02 fruit pretty much repulsed me as i dont like sweet, avocados made me wanna hurl, and as ive posted before wheatgrass ejection stains are still on my kitchen wall lol

some of the things i did to get over the cooked stuff and eventually get them out of my diet

1. stop beating myself up over everylittle failure, it doesnt get you anywhere and makes you feel like crap

2. i started off with fruit one at a time and ate as much as i could of one kind to see how much of what each would fill me up to that point of being full, this gave me an idea of what i would have to do make step 3 work hehe
(i started a fruit a to z thread somewhere for fun here if i can find it will post the link gives you an idea how much variety is out there lol ..you oculd go through the fruitalphabet if you like for 26 days and see what you like what fills you up i did a veggie one too after that lol)

3. anytime i wanted something bad i made a deal with myself ie; it would take 5 apples to make me feel full .. so if i wanted a lb of chicken wings ..i eat the 5 apples first .. moreoften then not .. i didnt want the wings anymore after that

IF i did want the cooked after the deal was done .. what i did is took all my fat greasy things and froze them in one bite serving sizes, that way id have to defrost one bite at a time instead of the whole bloody pizza for instance lol

now i carry around cotton sacks of whole fruits and veggies with me... i have a magic bullet blender in my car for away home use

i have 3 juicers/blenders at home .. ocaisionally use a dehydrator for snacks and preservation from the garden

but i eat alot more simpler now i played around with all the fancy stuff years earlier to compensate my transition which helped alot .. i just dont want all that stuff even now i prefer to eat whole or juice depending on the situation

oh and i also wanted to post im not 100% ...most of the time yes .. but not always ..nobodys perfect and there is no magic number or formula just keep on reading here there are thousands of great ideas good luck to you



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2007 04:11PM by Jgunn.

heres the fruit / veggie a to z link
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2007 04:28PM by Jgunn.

hey check out Taylors blog here too shes lots a huge amount of weight too
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]

heres a link of a guy (5'6" whos lost 100 lbs
[www.youtube.com]

and his website
[www.raw-licious.com]

10 oz carrots, chemical free
3 small vine ripe tomatoes, chemical free
3 strawberries, chemical free
1 orange, chemical free
your blog doesnt say wether or not you succumbed to the chicken ehhehe so i didnt add it in...


Total: 239 Calories
Fat: 2 15 7%
Sat: 0 2 1%
Poly: 1 6 3%
Mono: 0 2 1%
Carbs: 57 168 81%
Fiber: 15 0 0%
Protein: 6 25 12%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%



o.O

this doesnt look like even close amount of food to sustain you or give you energy to get moving which is what you need to lose weight .. someone posted here somewhere that you should try to add stuff to your diet before taking away things ..makes sense if you want to have energy

water is good too but too much can be harmfull too .. i think more then 2 gallons a day and you risk water toxemia (Hyponatremia)
[chemistry.about.com]

ive read that half your body weight in ounces is at least what you should drink a day if yer not sweating working out etc. for you that would be 152 oz which is just over a gallon (1.1875gallons)
convert here [www.ez-calculators.com]

fitday is a great place to log your food intake and add custom foods and best of all its free hehe ... it gives you the option to provide a link for otherpeople to ssee what your eating or to keep it private and gives you the nutritional breakdown of the foods which can be elightening once you get into the higherfruit lower fat stages of your transitioning
[www.fitday.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2007 06:01PM by Jgunn.

Nope I didn't succumb to the chicken. I'm thinking of running to the market and getting some produce right now. I haven't had much today yet either.

I just found out that we have several books by several authors but they're all boxed up and in storage. We're having to try to be out of this house by Monday so the estate of the owner can sell it and we don't have a home to move into yet so every thing's going into storage.

I'm surprised that I'm not the only one who's been trying to research raw foods around here. I'm the only one with apparent health problems and everyone else loves the sweets and confections.


I'm going to go through the links you posted. Does the calculator link have the calculator you used to figure up calories and nutrients from my blog? That's something I should start doing so I don't deprive myself.

Thanks so much for all the great info.

nah we all have our issues , health , mental, physical, psychological lol ..just jump right in an join in the pool

the calorie thing was done on fitday

deprivitation is the number one cause of failure i read somewhere .. it doesnt get you far and it frustrates you

and your welcome

by around here I meant in my family . Every time I've tried to go raw they've all given me a hard time and essentially chastised me when I caved in to their cooking :p.

Not much of a support group. When they start cooking I shut myself into a room and try not to smell it .

ohhhh lol ok i get it lol

well one thing you can try is say everyone wants spagetti on friday ..you get first dibs at the kitchen .. make yer raw spagetti using raw stuff .. eat your meal and go for do something else somewhere else while they finish up cooking and eating ..that way yer full of good stuff and not so tempted and you dont have to lock yourself up in your room

there seems to be so many cooked replacement recipies

and leave tons of raw fruits and veggies everywhere in bowls ... become a raw gourmet !! make it fun make it exciting !

maybe you will be suprised the rest of the family might start reachign for the good stuff when they see how good yer doing

when i started this i told my sweet babboo i dont mind steaming your veggies or cooking your rice but im not frying your steak sorry babe yer on yer own there ..

he eats way more fruit and veggies now lol ..still a carnivore but not as much so as he was

[www.rawfoodfarm.com]

has a live chat on everynight at 8pm EST if ya wanna come say hi .. DavidZMason is a real cool guy to chat with

i love the masterlist of raw foods on his site too

and he does email coaching too from his site which you were asking about in your original post



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2007 08:47PM by Jgunn.

I missed this until too late this evening. I'll try to hit that chat tomorrow. A daily chat would really help things a lot. Thanks

cool thing Fud .. tommorrow he's chatting on Dealing with Social Situations

see ya there