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Help! with staying raw

liger99liger99 Raw Newbie

My story:

I was 100% raw for three months, but for the past 2 months I've been going between 100% raw and 100% cooked, and I hate it! I just can't seem to get past this cooked food addiction. I have an eating disorder, which really doesn't help my self image. I've gained 3 pounds, my clothes fit tightly, and I just never have any time to run, and i hate it! Please, someone help me. I was so happy when I was raw. How do I stop eating cooked food, and get back to my health?

Comments

  • AVLAVL Raw Newbie

    liger99, I think that I could have written your post for you, because I am experiencing the same thing. I did so well in May, June and July, but then in August I started "cheating" by eating some cooked foods, and now I'm eating more and more of them and I really hate it. I mean, it does taste good as I'm eating it, but I feel guilty and physically not great afterward. I also have an eating disorder so it really affects my body image when I feel bloated and like I have eaten too much.

    I find that limiting my variety of food helps reduce the urges to eat cooked foods. Also, having a set routine with my meals (in terms of the time you eat, the type of food you eat and where you eat) helps reduce my anxiety. For me, I like to eat by myself at home (I live alone). I know that I don't have any tempting foods around so I won't want to keep eating more. When I go to my parents' house there so much temptation, with breads, cookies, cheese, etc., that I find it hard to resist. So I make sure that when I go there I don't go during meal times and when I know I won't be hungry.

    I'm pretty good with my exercise routine and work out everyday (but that's also part of my eating disorder). So I usually go for a run when I wake up, and I find that it helps start the day on a positive note. It helps me "forget" about the cooked foods that I ate the previous day.

    I don't know if I am offering any suggestions here, but I just wanted you to know that you are not alone :)

  • the59soundthe59sound Raw Newbie

    Eat enough, lots of people blame willpower, but I study their habits and usually they are not eating enough.

  • You're doing this for your health, right? So just stick with it and say no to the things you don't think will be healthy for you. I mean when your mind is ready you will stop eating cooked food. If you still do, that means somehow your mind is not totally convinced. You should find out what it is and analyze it to get the answer.

  • juicefastfanjuicefastfan Raw Newbie

    I'm not 100% raw and I don't really plan to be, for the simple reason that I don't feel that it is enough for me. I am high raw, 85% or higher, and when I eat cooked food, it is still an organic vegan diet. Usually its millet in a gluten-free tabouli or quinoa, brown rice, kim chi, etc.... The biggest thing to remember is to find that balance that is right for you and your body. I do go through 100% raw stretches, like right now I am because I just came down off of a juice fast, and I think it's a great cleansing tool but after adjusting my diet here and tweaking things there for thelast 5 years I have in the last year or two came to a great place in my diet choice that really works. Now that I have incorporated some cooked foods, maybe once or twice a week I don't find myself "cheating" or with the food cravings I used to. Once in a great while I will eat wild Alaskan salmon at my parents for dinner and I don't feel a moment's guilt or pressure that I "shouldn't" eat it Thankfully they are extremely healthy eaters, so it is easier there than what others have said about visitng the 'rents, and my mom was pretty much all raw until this last year when her studies led her to believe that she needed to add the salmon and organic cage-free/veg-fed eggs in her diet.

    Anyway, with all this rambling, my point is everybody has to find their own balance for themselves...in their diet...in their life etc...and when you "cheat", enjoy it! Carrying around those feelings of guilt are way worse for your health than having a cookie here or there!

  • luxdivonluxdivon Raw Newbie

    it must be by month 3 or 4 you feel like you've accomplished "raw". I feel like i'm in the same boat. the cooked food I am eating I am choosing to eat, but I feel like i'm being drawn to cooked food as much as raw food. a combination for me had me eating not so raw this past week. We had already set a date to go out on Wednesday and eat burgers -I had a chipotle bacon cheese burger and it was tasty. I have to say, that I expected it to be the "to die for" taste being that i hadn't had a burger in 4 months, but it was just "good" (the place we went to has pretty much the best burgers in town). my next door neighbors (we live in a duplex) are good friends, and somewhat bad influences. They totally are respectful of whatever we want to do, but they also offer us home baked chocolate chip cookies... yea.. i had to have one. I've had Beer, dairy, bread, ice cream this week. The other part of this is that my fiancee has started working at a local farm in our area. We get a bag of groceries for the labor, and it has many vegetables you have to cook to eat (it's what is in season) Potatoes, eggplant, okra, spaghetti squash etc. So last week and this week, we had one meal with those vegetables. So although it is cooked food, It is something I truly want to support, in that it's not big farm, it's local, it's organic, and it helps our food budget. I guess maybe 3-4 months in, we're back to auto-pilot, and auto-pilot wants what we've been eating for 20+ years. We shouldn't be so hard on ourselves. Like everything. It's just part of the process. Tonight for my snack I had a mango, instead of the sausage & cooked veggies my neighbors offered me. we win some. we lose some.

  • zinfandelzinfandel Raw Newbie

    My recommendation is to allow yourself a little wiggle room as you transition. Allow yourself to eat steamed vegetables every other day for grounding. Allow yourself to eat rice and steamed potatoes when you really have to. Once you allow yourself these without guilt, you will quickly move past wanting them. My advice is also to phase out salt as quickly as possible. Cooked food doesn't really taste good without salt and added fat and spices, so once you stop eating these your desire to eat cooked food will totally stop. Going raw takes learning the skills to back it up, it just takes time. It's the destination that's important, not the speed.

  • sv3sv3 Raw Newbie

    Yeah, I would say not to aim for 100% straight away. Take it easy on yourself and maybe start by eating raw until dinner. This way you don't swing back between all cooked and all raw.

  • joannabananajoannabanana Raw Newbie

    zinfandel, you make a really good point.

    "Once you allow yourself these [cooked foods] without guilt, you will quickly move past wanting them."

    this is definitely true!! i used to think of cooked foods as my crutch and felt guilty after i ate them. by transitioning slowly, you don't feel guilty when you eat them anymore because you know they are always there. even the other day, i had eggplant parmesan. yeah, i felt sick afterwards, but i did NOT feel guilty. i just felt that it was another food choice in my day.

  • I have a huge problem with salt! I love to eat salads as much as I can, but tend to use more salt than necessary, which in turn takes away from the nutrition naturally there for me. I normally use apple cidar vinegar and a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. I have had this combination pretty much my whole life. I have heard to use red pepper as a substitute, but sometimes the heat can can give me minor heart burn. I am looking for a new yummy salad dressing that will taste good without salt (or as little as possible). Any recommendations would be helpful.

  • Hi green apple!

    Here one dressing that I found in "the raw food detox diet" by Natalia Rose.

    "GOLD ELIXIR"

    2 cups fresh lemon juice

    3 cloves of garlic ( i put just 2)

    3 tablespoons of minced ginger ( i put just 1)

    3 tablespoons of soy sauce

    3 tablespoons of raw honey

    1 cup of cold-pressed olive oil

    Put all the ingredients except the oil in a blender, mix well. Add the olive oil slowly til its completely blended.

    You can keep this "elixir" one week in the fridge.

    If you need more salad dressings just let me know.

    :)

  • liger99liger99 Raw Newbie

    thanks for all the support, guys.

    I recently told my doctor about my ED, and he's putting me on a low dose Celexa, which will help with my depression and ED. He said it would also help with my cravings for processed foods

  • i think you should listen to yourself. incorporate raw and cooked food together at whatever amounts you are comfortable with. if you make healthy choices for both then you will feel good. don't bog yourself down with guilt when you eat cooked. sometimes we become so obsessed with trying to be something that we aren't that we miss the whole original goal. lets say that you are eating mostly raw and some cooked and then you have a cookie one night and feel horrible about it. the feelings of negativity and hate are way worse for you than that one cookie. we all gotta chill out and do the best we can do and support each other!!! if you do not so good one day then devote the next day to doing better! :)

  • internettouristinternettourist Raw Newbie

    For health, a raw diet is the gold standard. It's difficult for many of us to maintain a 100% raw diet because we socialize with non-raw people and work. If one cannot be 100% raw (I'm not), the best thing to do is decide how to be high raw and what are acceptable splurges and indulgences that you decide you will eat and not feel guilty over. I really don't know why someone would be 100% cooked when one could easily plan a head to have at least a raw breakfast smoothie.

    I think running is good for beautiful legs. It might be too oxidizing though IMO, too stressful on the body. Yoga and pilates might help you get what you want without stressing the body as much. Plus you wouldn't feel like your exercise routine is weather dependent.

    To Health!

  • FortuneFortune Raw Newbie

    I agree houx - great advice!

  • liger99liger99 Raw Newbie

    Well, I had another binge. Not bad, but a binge nonetheless.

    I don't feel guilty, just a little sad. I really am going to go into a slow transition. I have to, my health depends on it.

  • swayzeswayze Raw Newbie

    liger, I offer a free 5-week "transitioning to raw" course on my site if you are interested. A lesson is sent to your email address once a week when you subscribe.

    HTH,

    Swayze

     

  • liger99liger99 Raw Newbie

    swayze, I think I'll try that.

    I need motivation, I need support, I need help.

    Will you please help me, anyone?

  • RawKidChefRawKidChef Raw Newbie

    if you really feel like eating something cooked, drink some kind of broth-only soup or take out all the solids like noodles or vegetables. it will definitely not throw you off the wagon because it is just a liquid requiring little digestion. I know it's not optimal but it will prevent you from trashing your body. it will fill you up (surprisingly). use it as a backup if you really go crazy.

  • I'm going through the same thing right now. So I'll write this both for the original message, and because I need to write it down for my own sake.

    My weaknesses are breads, rice, and cous cous... and chocolate. I at first allowed myself the exception of 72% or darker chocolate, but then it just became chocolate, then candy then... nada.

    As for the breads, I usually eat a smoothie for breakfast and salad for lunch, then come home starving for dinner and devour anything and everything that will make me full in a hurry!

    My advice to you would be to make a slow transition and mix raw veggies and sauces with whole grain, organic bread, rice, etc.

    Good luck :)

  • liger99liger99 Raw Newbie

    I think my biggest dilemma is the fact that I used to be extremely overweight,(260 lbs), then I dropped down to my lowest of 134. After that, the binges started, and I'm back up to 145. I LOVED being 134, so I'm really anxious to get back down there. I really don't want to gain any more weight, because for me, all it takes is one bite of cooked food for me to go off the deep end

  • KittyKitty Raw Newbie

    Liger, I go up and down all the time as well, been trying to transition for the past 2 months. What i find has helped me in this very gradual process is imagining the way you will feel after you eat heavy, cooked food. Will your stomach ache? Probably..Personally my skin is extremely sensitive so I know that if I eat a burger and french fries , my skin will be red and broken out the very next day! Ask yourself, is it worth it? Think thoughtfully before you put anything in your mouth, and fill up on fruit. I keep fruit with me at all times during the day and that really helps. But please, dont sweat the small stuff. Let yourself cheat here and there, dont tell yourself you CAN"T have it. Once you tell yourself that, you'll just want it more. Its a mental thing too....were here for you. xoxo

  • luxdivonluxdivon Raw Newbie

    it does take awhile liger for your psychology to change. it may be that you're well on your way to permanent change, you just need to do what you can now, until that takes place. It took a long time for me. You'll make it. The anxiety about how much you wish you were 134 again won't help you. Forget that. Only one thing will. Focus one day at a time, each meal you eat. Thinking about what it means, by choosing that option. Everytime I think about the option of cooked food, I can visualize my belly growing out, and being tired and weighed down.. because that's exactly what it does with cooked food, I instantaneously gain weight. I realize why i could never lose it before now. It's the truth. Accept it as true, deep in your heart. And with raw, i can see myself light, and energized. So after I think that, I almost always will choose raw. You must focus on how far you've come being 145 instead of 260. That's a gigantic accomplishment! Focus on that. Everytime we focus on the bad, then more bad happens. Focus on the good, then more good things will happen. I realize more and more each day about how negative energy eats at you, and positive energy lifts you up. (i still have the feelings of dread, and low self esteem to deal with! so we all are on our journeys and need each others help)

  • Green Apple- lime is a great substitute for salt when making raw soups or other meals.

  • liger99liger99 Raw Newbie

    thank you guys so much. your words are very touching, and help me out a lot!

    luxdivon, what you said is true. i have come a long way from 260, and I am proud of that accomplishment. I can only get better, brighter, thinner, and more beautiful!

    =]

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