The Rawtarian Community
The Rawtarian Community is one of the largest online raw food communities. In addition to this community forum, you can browse and search thousands of community recipes added by over 5000 talented Rawtarian Community members just like you!
Visit The Community
Comments
Thank you for this post. I really needed it today! It is always good to get insight from others.
Glad you liked it! It cheered me up too.
yes! this has been my approach since i started doing the lifestyle, and i find that i tend to want one particular thing for a week or two and then the craving moves to something else. for about 3 weeks staight all i wanted was banana, blueberry, strawberry smoothies, morning noon and night. in the very beginning it was massive amounts of carrot juice. now i’m into pears and apples.
I’ll be honest, I’m not so good at listening to my body’s food needs. I try, but, um… Geez, if I listened to fickle appetites, I might be eating SAD like just about everyone else I know. For me, it’s more about listening to my mind. I mean, we have the information. We know what it takes to eat well: a variety of fresh, whole, organic, raw vegetables and fruits every single day of our lives. The advice is to eat this food even when the body wants a double cheeseburger. I really would like to learn to listen to my body’s nutritional needs more carefully, so if anyone has any advice…
Meanwhile, my approach is a little more mundane. What I do is list and enter what I eat daily into a database that analyzes about twenty or so vitamins and minerals. I try to eat “balanced” by eating (only raw) about 55/25/15, and by getting as far over the RDA for as many vitamins and minerals as I can manage for each day.
For example, I know that one cup of kale (a wonderfully amazing food) has about 36 calories, 30 mg of sodium, 296 mg of potassium, 354% of the RDA for Vitamin A, 9% for B-6, 89% Vitamin C, 5% Vitamin E, 9% calcium, 10% copper, 4% folate, 6% iron, 6% magnesium, 27% manganese, 3% niacin, 1% pantothenic acid, 4% phosphorus, 5% riboflavin, 2% selenium, 5% thiamin, 2% zinc, etc, etc… And I also “know” that this one cup of kale is more bio-available by predigesting it in a blender and then drinking all that goodness. I mean, I think I know this. I’ve read this. Others have presented good arguments for this way of eating based on what I hope is honest research. So for now, I’m going this way.
This approach may sound tedious and not as intuitive as listening to the body, but it’s actually been a very fun and interesting exersize. I mean, I’m feeding my body just like I’m feeding my dog’s body. Not based on what it and he want, but what I believe are the “best ways” and amounts to eat. When we all find out more information based on advancing science about how to better feed our bodies, then hopefully we’ll adjust to the new info…
shane—You’re actually right in line with what the original post advocates: doing what works for you! Entering my meals into software to see how well balanced they are worked for me a long time ago, but wouldn’t stand a chance right now. I’m glad, though, that it works for you, AND that you’re out here sharing the benefits of it. Some people need to count calories. I can’t stand the thought of weighing and measuring my food any more. Intuition isn’t just limited to knowing what foods to eat at a particular time! Yours is working at full-speed when you reach out for advice when you need it. Continued success!
i think i read in one of botenko’s books that whatever you are craving indicates what part of your body is detoxing at that particular moment.
shane—i don’t know how you do it! i’m just not that organized or meticulous!! but i’d probably be losing alot more weight if i were as conscious about what i eat. i just eat what i want(as long as its raw), when i want and don’t stop til i’m full! congrats on being so practical and disciplined about your eating habits. i think what you are doing is alot more of a scientific approach, and that definately has its merits—you will always know you are getting the nutrients in the proper amounts. BUT, i have to say that when/if you ever take the step to go completely raw, or closer to it, your intuition will present itself, you’ll most likely stop craving cooked food. this was my experience, and i was a serious carb-a-holic.