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That is not uncommon at all. I believe that when are endorphins are low we tend to crave foods high in sugar and fat. All I could really suggest is to observe your frustration and ask your self questions like: What am I feeling right now? and why am I feeling this way. With this heightened sense of awareness you should be able to over come those cravings.
i think juicing is the answer, fill your belly with something really good first and then see if you still have the craving
Thanks Humanimal,I’ll try to do that.I think that I freeze and than I get like a robot eating and eating.I’ll try to think in the middle of the eating “attack” and analise the sittuation.It is a plus that I can see this now.
I’ll try to juice sweet fruits like grapes.Thanks Stylistchick.
Wow, I never really thought that eating sweets being linked to stress! I have a huge craving for sweets… but, maybe I’m really stressed and haven’t realized that. I can see that happening to me.
Good info here. Thanks.
It is also important to point out that stress can be good or bad, and both can lead to those endorphin cravings. Whenever I have a craving for something sweet, I ask myself questions like those listed by humanimal, paying close attention to feeling both good and bad stress.
i read in the sunfood diet success system by david wolfe, blending green cabbage, kale, & loose green lettuce..can help stress/anxiety. there could be one more thing in that blend, i don’t remember word for word. so i would look it up, if your interested. i want to turn to sweets when i miss the affection/comfort of a loved one, or simply feel alone. i normally crave carbs though, when it comes to stress. carbs turn to sugar, so perhaps it’s a different sugar “high” that i miss. (miss meaning getting over the addiction). i caught myself the other day while doing a lot of school work…having stress from school & life in general. i had intense cravings & the feeling of not getting full. i just received advice from my friend who is raw, a little recipe to help the feeling full craving…it’s not something he recommended to do often…& he did warn me it did not taste good. so perhaps it might work for you to feel full, & stop the eating attack right away because of the taste =) (i have not tried it yet) *1-2 avocados, medjool dates, cacao powder, & coconut oil. blending/juicing something up…or a little of everything that’s fresh has helped me most of all times. yoga or some sort of stretching/exercise would help always, or ask your husband to give you a massage! =) perhaps you know all of this & i sound naive, but i know i appreciate help & support in words of advice & education… in this beautiful path/life choice that i have began of eating raw foods…when life itself can be full of bumps. hope this helps.
if you are really under alot of stress, take some kava kava, that’s like nature’s valium, but as far as i know its not habit forming.
Thanks for the info Purebeaut,I really appreciate that.And I’d like to know about David Wolfe’s blending juice.Thanks. Evrything helps. Now that I am realizing that I use food to cope with my problems and stress in life,I want to know how could I deal with the problems without the food.The food nums me and takes me away from the situattion,but without the food I have to deal with the situattion. I saw this behavior in my grandmother and I learned it from her,and now I want to understand and create my own way of dealing with things,not imitating her anymore. Meditating on this and send her back her behavior would be something.Changing the chocolate to juice would be another good thing,asking me questions,asking my husband for a massage,all of this is great. I’ll do that,and I’ll find my way. Taking kava kava is another great thing,thanks Stylistchick.
I think a couple small handfuls of something like raisins and pumpkin seeds might help to calm the initial sweet craving. I also make popsicles out of blended fruits and juices and greens, which are great at calming my cravings. Some popsicle combos I like: 1 head red leaf/2 ripe bananas/6 org.strawberries (blend well and pour into popsicle molds); papaya/banana/cardamom sds (blend well); avocado/pear juice/lime juice/pomegranate seeds. Anyway, smoothies are a good fix, and so are popsicles. Try fruity puddings or soups. These are better than truffle-type desserts.
I can relate so well. Yesterday morning, I made raw chocolate pudding w/two avos and ate it all in one sitting. Then later in the day, I made Ani Phyo’s garden pate-and ate the whole thing in one sitting. I’m dealing with a stressful situation and already I’m sliding into overeating raw! I would love to go along with the idea I see expressed here by some that I can eat whatever I want, as long as it’s raw. I don’t know-I seriously feel that I over-ate. I also had a couple of green smoothies and some other whole fruits, nuts, etc. It felt like alot!
No idea why there are lines through part of my post!
I think it’s the dashes. It’s done that to me before and when I removed them, they went away. I can really relate to this thread! I am also an overeater, but mostly just at lunch. I am really overdoing it with nuts. With stress eating I’m OK if I can not start, but once I eat one thing- watch out! I am certainly doing better on raw food than cooked, though because I seem to get that full feeling quicker. I think this is a problem we just have to be cognizant of and retrain our knee-jerk response to eat and transfer the stress to another nondestructive activity. I read somewhere the statement”Never eat when you are stressed or upset” and this is wise advice- just hard to do!
I had the tendency to overeat during the first year and a half I was raw. (I wasn’t 100%) I would overeat on dehydrated foods, fruits, fatty things, seeds/nuts & dried fruit. Basically everything, haha.
Anyway, over the past month I’ve made a very conscious effort not to overeat. I listen to my body’s signals when I’m eating and stop when I’m full now. I also try REALLY, REALLY hard not to eat when I feel “stressed.” Because face it, even if we’re truly hungry, if we eat when we’re stressed it usually just gets shoveled in (I like that you described it as “just swallowing food”, because thats literally whats happening), and the enjoyment and ritual of nourishing our bodies is lost. Its also bad for digestion because the food doesn’t even get thoroughly chewed!
I haven’t been making dehydrated foods (not that I made them regularly, but in the past I’d dehydrate a few pans of onion bread every 3-4 weeks) lately just due to scheduling/transitional living situations. I’m glad they’re not there. I could go WEEKS without onion bread, but once it was sitting in my kitchen, the entire batch would be gone in a matter of days, always due to stress/binge overeating. I’m feeling so much better now since my diet is basically fruits and a salad every day. I’ll throw in some olive oil or a few almonds.
The next thing to consider is if the cravings/overeating is due to physiological factors. If you are at all deficient, any stress can be translated in to intense hunger/cravings. How long have you been raw? Are you 100%? This could also be a factor.
I second the juicing idea & would also suggest you drink green smoothies on a daily basis. I was really getting in to green smoothies for a while and had literally no cravings, despite a recent transition to 100% raw foods.
I’m STILL so confused by this issue. This is RAW FOOD! Why are people counting calories, worrying about eating too much? I’m a little frustrated that I seem to have lost the feeling of freedom from this mindset that I assumed/read was a part of a raw food diet, and that I felt in the first blush of really enjoying the food. Now, when I make guacamole and enjoy it with some fresh peppers, I worry a little that I might be overeating! I’m eating fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds—not ice cream, steak, and pie. I hope to find a comfortable attitude and approach about this soon :)
I can relate to craving fruits and dehydrated snacks, and to overeating them. In the past I have gone to both extremes of starving myself, and overeating. Since I’ve been eating just about 100% raw, for the past 6 months, I have mostly felt like I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want- and that cravings and the desire to overeat have decreased. However, this past month I have moved from NYC to San Francisco, started a new career, and am now living alone for the first time in several years. And all of my kitchen equipment is in storage- so, no vitamix or juicer, no green smoothies or homemade juices. Big changes! I’m definitely feeling like I’m treading water in some respects. One of the results is that I’ve had lots of cravings for raw “junk food”, and I’ve been bingeing on it the past few weeks.
In reading this, and writing this, I get it that it’s okay. My behavior is okay, my feelings and thoughts are okay. And even more than okay- everything is happening exactly as it is meant to. It’s also helpful to read and remember that I am not alone. Thanks to the rest of you who have shared. I trust my body and the universe, and know that all of this will balance out. I know that I feel best when I am eating for nourishment, and getting all of the other kinds of support I need from other people, and areas of my life. I also recognize how grateful I am for everything that I have.
So it seems that what there is for me to do, is to continue to be forgiving of myself- for overeating, for beating myself up about it, for disliking various aspects of myself at times, for placing a lot of attention on all of these things. And following that, is the opportunity to create a vision for the present and the future that I can live into. I am healthy. I am happy. I am whole. You are healthy. You are happy. You are whole.
Hi savrah~ Lucky you to be in San Fran. I love it there. If you are not interested in reinvesting in kitchen stuff (or anything else for that matter) that is in storage, check out www.freecycle.org for you area. Instead of throwing stuff away or giving it charity, people post unwanted stuff on that list. You can also post for a “wanted” item. All posted items and the post itself on freecycle are FREE! Happy new home to you.
I used to have to remind myself…”Donuts can’t buy me love..” Anything can trigger compulsive overeating. It is about choice, however. Pick up that apple instead of those truffles. Or sprinkle some cinnamon and nutmeg on green apple slices. Chew slowly and thoroughly. Have a couple of bananas or dig into a sweet, juicy cantaloupe or other melon. Sprinkle some cinnamon on these, too (all great mood boosters). It works, trust me. Also, as delicious as dehydrated goodies are, I would work on keeping the temptations out of the house and off the menu, and instead replace with sweet, whole, ripe, real fruits and salads and smoothies. Revamp your thinking. I plan to take my own advice, by the way, because I’ve been binging lately on the wrong foods as well (too many nuts and seeds and dried fruits, dehydrated bread, etc) and have been feeling like crap. Back to the whole fruits and veggies, simple smoothies and juices and salads. I’m not making or buying anymore foods that make me feel like crap. Back to nature we go…
Savrah – Welcome to SF! It is a good place to be raw. You must check out the SF Ferry Buidling Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. Alive is a really good raw restaurant that also has a booth at the market, and Cafe Gratitude is also very good. Rainbow Grocery is where I get a lot of good bulk foods and spices, organic fruits and veggies, raw nuts, etc. They even have a prepared raw food section.
In SF, everyone uses craigslist for buying/selling/trading/giving away stuff.
Enjoy!