Feel like crap

Hi everyone,

I love this website.

I decided to post an intro to get some feedback and support. After reading other posts, I am pretty confident what others are going to tell me, but I open myself to hearing it anyway!

I went raw a couple years ago and lasted only 3 weeks. I felt great for the first week because I maintained eating lots of greens, but then I added WAY too many fats and sugars. Also, whenever I would look at a raw book, I would shut down by the concept of planning my meals a week in advance so I gave up. I had bought a vitamix and dehydrator and they both have gotten dusty!

Then 2 weeks ago something snapped (ok, I snapped) and I felt something drastic needed to be done to improve my life. I have been veg for 20 years and vegan for 12 of them so I already eat more healthy then 95% of other Americans, however, I felt strongly it was time to go raw. So I bought the book Raw Made Easy and it motivated me a lot. However, here I am again eating WAY too much fat and sugar. I totally feel like crap. I have always had food issues like so many others and I am so freaking tired of it! It is sad because it is such a waste of precious time to beat myself up for eating this or that.

So the bottom line is I am hoping for inspirational feedback so I don’t give up because I am feeling like it right now. I read a post from a woman saying she went raw and did not lose weight and was eating an avocado a day. Most of the responses were to reduce that significantly. Well, I am too embarrassed to say how much fat I am eating! Pate´s, salad dressing made with cashews, desserts, etc. I am just starting to learn about sprouting so I am hopeful that if I introduce sprouted grains and seeds, this will help satisfy my and I can ween myself off the heavy duty stuff! I seriously don’t know what to eat. I try to plan ahead, but it’s not going that well.

My friend says that what is happening to me happens to most people who try to go raw and that adding in more simple carbs like breads should help.

Any suggestions? I really do feel like crap.

Thanks!

Comments

  • heyenglishheyenglish Raw Newbie

    First of all, keep going!!! We’re all making this journey together, and there are always times when we fall off the wagon. If that happens, don’t beat yourself up over it. Just make sure you climb back on again! You’re only human, after all.

    Every person’s body will respond differently to raw foods. I know for me, I just started eating at least one avocado a day because my calories were too low. Try inputing your food into something like nutridiary.com. It will keep track of the calories you take in, the calories you burn, and the percentage of carbs, fats, and proteins you get from your meals. That way you can make adjustments in your diet if you’re trying to lose/gain weight.

    I’ve really stopped planning ahead because it does feel like a chore. This also means I eat more simply, especially during the week. If you get hungry and really start craving the heavy, fatty stuff, eat fruit. Not just one piece either. Eat 3 or 4 bananas, or a couple apples. This will really help curb your cravings.

    Make a quart of green smoothie in the morning to last you until lunch, snack on whole fruits and veggies for lunch and the afternoon, and then maybe prepare something a little fancier for dinner. I usually opt for a salad then, and instead of the heavy, nut-based dressings, I’ll just squeeze half a lime and drizzle a little avocado oil on my salad. Instant flavor without all the calories and fat!

    I love to make sunflower seed “cheeses” to stuff bell pepper halves with, but I’ll always finely dice up veggies and mix it in with the “cheese”, so I still get all the flavor, but I’m using a lot less of the “cheese” to stuff my pepper.

    And because I typically just eat salads all week, I don’t really plan out the ingredients to have on hand. I just make sure I have a nice assortment of veggies and lettuces that I know I’ll consume in a week. It also means that I really look forward to preparing something a little more gourmet on the weekends, like a nut-based “alfredo” sauce.

    Listen to your body, and just take it one step at a time.

  • shawnieshawnie Raw Newbie

    Well since you know what everyone is going to say, it should come to no surprise that you should be eating greens daily. Even if its just smoothie – get it in! You will see an improvement simply from that over time.

    Don’t worry about over eating or what you eat at this point, unless it makes you feel like crap. In my case when I first started eating raw I was all over the nuts and dates, but only because I was so used to heavy cooked foods. It will go away, and I don’t recommend adding breads to your diet either, unless you feel you can’t go without it and need to make a slow transition. You’re already vegan so that helps a lot!

    What I did was just experiment with simple recipes until you find a few that you like. This site is a goldmine of recipes! I never use the oven anymore, it’s all blender, processor (and my newest additions) dehydrator and juicer. A juilienne (sp?) peeler also saves me from the pizza in the fridge at the end of the day! Maybe you could try some carb filled vegetales like squashes and such to curb your cravings?

  • hey vegan—

    I do the same thing. I’m the BIGGEST dessert freak in the world and I can’t get enough of avacados and cashews.

    Just recently, I did a 2 1/2 day water fast with a friend and that helped me realize what it was my body wanted. It was a little tough being my first time (it was supposed to be 4 days!), but worth the effort because right after, I felt like I was more in tune with what my body wanted. Before, I would eat just to eat (even raw foods) but now if I’m hungry, I stand in the kitchen and think about it for a second. If I want cashews, I EAT cashews. If I want a banana, then a banana it is.

    The second day of my fast, I did a little online research and a lot of sights were saying to eat slices of avacado and banana to curb nervous jitters. I couldn’t believe it! The 2 1/2 days I fasted, I couldn’t stop complaining to my boyfriend about how much I just wanted an avacado or a banana.

    In other words, I’m a firm believer in eating what you want because that’s what your body is asking for. If you want those avacados, eat them! :)

  • Thank you everyone! I really appreciate the support. I have been feeling discouraged because the way I feel. My stomach has been upset probably from eating too many nuts and I just feel gross. I did not go raw to feel bad!

    heyenglish, I wish I could say I could live on salads with lemon juice but I will fail all over the place. I love food and have the will power of a pea. I will look into seed cheeses though! That sounds great. Maybe after I am on this journey for a while, I will be able to be satisfied on lemon salads :o)

    Valeria, I think this is what I needed to hear. I am thinking things will balance out and I will learn to listen to my body more. I have in fact been over eating, but this is more emotional than physical.

    Thanks also chrissypie123. I have been thinking I should do a fast and a cleanse to really jump start things. I feel toxic anyway. Even though I have been veg for so long, eating processed foods is not optimal and I got in the habit of relying on packaged stuff because I am lazy!

    Thank you all. I really appreciate the support. I don’t want to give up!

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    I love and live on MUCH more than an avocado a day! I would die or at least feel miserable trying to eat lowfat salads & green smoothies all the time. I love my greens, but I often eat salads with avocado and/or an oily dressing and/or hemp seeds. I also love seed cheeses and fruit and nuts and… I love to eat raw food! I just eat a lot of it, and I eat as much as I want, of whichever raw foods I want, and I feel good/great/amazing/fantastic/fully functional/etc. Each person is different, so what works for some may not work for others, and what works for you now may not be what will work for you next year, or next week! It is up to each person to find what works for his/her own body, and I love reading everyone’s responses & experiences.

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    vegan – you could focus on a slow transition, if that’s easier for you. you can experiment with one quick recipe each week, still eating a cooked vegan dinner a couple nights a week. then gradually transition to more raw. by that point, you’ll know so many quick recipes that you won’t feel like it’s a problem to make dinner. Also, I get so full eating raw Ratatouille (from goneraw), marinated/dehydrated summer squashes, tomato soup, zucchini noodles with alfredo sauce (goneraw), corn etc. that i only need to eat 1 avocado and 1/2 cup of nuts a day. It’s all about finding foods you love! go with what you crave. go to the farmers market with an open mind. look around. what do you want?

    this week, i ate corn. a LOT of corn. corn for 2 or 3 meals a day, 4 days in a row. Corn for BREAKFAST! : ) but another week, I ate raw vegan sushi. sushi for dinner, for 2 weeks straight. Another time it was young coconut water and watermelons for a week. I do eat other things in addition to what I listed, but the bulk of what i ate was according to what i craved. i make the sweetest fruit smoothies. that’s easy and you have a million variations!

  • I am sure that I don’t feel well because of not knowing recipes and so I just eat what is easy and what I know now, like pate´s and stuff. Winona, I am afraid if I go back to eating cooked food, I will struggle to get back. Cooked food is so addicting and being the all or nothing kind of gal that I am, I may stay off the wagon.

    Thanks everyone so much for the support! I already feel better just putting it out there and being a part of a community. I am so reclusive working from home and now being raw, I fear my social interactions will be limited.

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    If it’s any help to you, I am more social now that i’m raw. Raw improved my personality for some reason.. i have more energy to do outdoor activities (hiking/kayaking/boating), more energy to go out with friends, and I’m more brave (I don’t mind or notice when my friends buy a stack of 8 pizzas and eat em right in front of me). my willpower is so huge now! It was just baby steps… just eat raw, take one day at a time, and at the end of a few months you’ll be AMAZED at the wonderful results. I can’t even predict what incredible changes you’ll have, it’s different for many people.

    I love your website by the way… how positive to use your graphic design skills for animal activism and related activities. If only more businesses cared about the welfare of the planet and the life that is on it!!!

  • Thank you again for the encouragement Winona! And thank you for the compliment on my work. I commit my life to animals…which is why I don’t eat them :o)

  • troublesjustabubbletroublesjustabubble Raw Newbie

    Vegan! I know I just posted to you on the other thread but here I am again.

    I definitely recommended a cleanse. I did that after my first month of raw and it really made me crave raw food and figure out exactly what my body really needs. I’d take it easy on the nuts as well since they’re pretty rich.

    I hope you feel wonderful soon!

  • Hey troubles,

    What cleanse did you do? I am thinking about this one:

    http://www.blessedherbs.com/?af=1185#the%20Colon%20Cleansing%20Kit

    I think I need to be able to at least drink juice or green smoothies to get thru the fasting part, as I am hypoglycemic.

    Thanks so much for the suggestion. It is reaffirming what I was feeling.

  • troublesjustabubbletroublesjustabubble Raw Newbie

    I did the blessedherbs cleanse! Very good. I also am border line hypoglycemic and so I drank fresh juices to help. Sheesh! we have a lot in common. I didn’t do smoothies but I didn’t really need them. Fresh juice is so thick it’s almost a smoothie. haha.

    Even if you weren’t trying raw I highly recommend this cleanse. I do have to say that one lady I knew who did this cleanse (she wasn’t raw or even vegetarian) broke out in sores on her arms because of the massive detox. I just did raw first and didn’t have a problem with that. If you feel like your skin is releasing toxins just dry brush or scrub to keep them from causing sores.

  • Holy crap (no pun intended) :o)

    I hope I don’t break out in sores. I have been veg for so long, I imagine I have an edge over the non veg lady!

    So troubles, did you do the whole cleanse or just the colon one?

  • troublesjustabubbletroublesjustabubble Raw Newbie

    I did just the colon one. Although I hear the other one is really good to. More intense of course.

    Yeah, I highly doubt you’ll get sores, I did just a month of raw and didn’t have a bad detox at all.

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