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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookI’m just having a terrible time. I’ve been raw for about a month and was doing really good. Probably about eighty percent raw. I had lost some weight. not a lot probably about eight pounds and was where I wanted to be. I love raw food and I love the way it makes me feel but the past like three days I can’t seem to stop eating lots of cooked foods. And its food that I didn’t even use to eat before going raw because its so bad. like doughnuts and ice cream and some pizza. I feel terrible and I don’t want to eat it but when I see it I feel like I can’t stop, even though I’m telling myself to. I’ve gained a few pounds and feel terrible. I was wondering how everyone stays motivated. Does anyone else have problems like this… I hate to say the word but its like I’m binge eating. I’ll do good all day and it usually happens at night. I’m ashamed that I even say I eat raw because I haven’t been. I’ve been baby sitting all weekend at my dads house. I’m sixteen but I usually live with my mom. So its just been me and the babies and I know I only do this when I’m alone. okay well now that I’ve just typed out all my negative feelings. sorry. I guess what I’m looking for is how everyone stays motivated and commited. or is it just me that has problems with this?
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You are not alone. One thing I have learnt about being on these boards is that lots of people slip up from time to time, and not everyone eats 100% of their food raw either. But they are all great people who offer support and help and advice when its needed. I went through a phase a couple of weeks ago when I started eating loads of cooked food, but then my stomach started to play up (I have IBD) and I felt rotten. it was the kick up the backside I needed to get me back to raw.
Find some raw food that you love and is easy to prepare so that it is readily available when you want somehing cooked. The cooked food needs time to cook so if you eat your yummy raw food you wont wanted the cooked food. However, if you are still craving the cooked food it might be better to give in and have a little bit (eg one slice of pizza with a large raw salad) rather than run the risk of scoffing the entire pizza. The large raw salad will help offset the chemical reactions of the cooked food in your body.
It takes time and I (and Im sure lots of others on this site) are still learning.
But most of all rememnber you arent alone in this.
Thank you very much! your post makes me feel a little better all ready!!
I have been reading 12 steps to raw and she mentions the addiction people have to cooked food. I have been wondering why I haven’t been craving it. I realized it is because i haven’t eaten wheat or dairy in years. wheat(in the donuts and pizza) is VERY addicting and I had a very rough time transitioning off of it. the other thing she mentions in the book is that it is very hard for some people to do less than 100% raw because that small percentage of unraw food can lead them back to pretty much a cooked diet.
one thing you can tell yourself (and others) is that you want to try to eat 100% raw for a week to see how you feel. and then take it week by week. one step at a time is how i am doing it.
as for the night eating, try making yourself a green smoothie at night. it cuts my cravings.
good luck.
mallorymoore, I completely agree with Fee and from your profile I can tell you have no support from home… That makes it even more difficult and you are young, which is wonderful but also difficult at best!!!
One thing you might try is to make sure you eat certain things not only daily but each meal and snack time… I learned by the time I had ingested all the omega 3’s, dark greens, dark oranges, dark reds in both fruits & Veges and seeds & nuts, I didn’t have room or desire for other “bad” SAD foods…
Good luck and don’t be hard on yourself… Today is a new day and each hunger time is a new start on being as raw as you can be!!!
Hi I agree with what everyone said and I’ll add that I think these cravings are a form of detox. I went (and still am to a lesser degree) through the same thing at about my 2 wk point. I then started into a 3 mo binge on things I hadn’t eaten for years and I literally couldn’t stop. I gained a good 20 lbs and felt horrible! I got back on track for the new year and did OK although I ate too many nuts and sweets. I developed quite the date habit LOL. I juice feasted and made it 35 days and cravings hit again. They were not nearly as bad. I have had several occasions this year that I really binge ate but that is a significant improvement from 3x per week at the end of last year! Keeping the colon moving is exceptionally helpful with detox. I am not regular no matter how many green smoothies I have and I found that ensuring waste was exiting in a timely manner was/is very helpful at controlling signs. After a good 4 mo high raw plus the juicefeasting, I still have pitting edema on my legs and a rash on my abdomen that I’m sure is still detox. I am doing much better with the sweets and nuts, but I still would like to decrease the sugar content a bit more. I am not diabetic but I am dysglycemic and I would like to see my bloodsugar lower than what it usually runs after I eat. I plan at some point in the future to juicefeast again. It was very healing, but I am going to wait until I can cut my hours back at work. It is just very time consuming because I do mostly greens and the greenstar is not a real fast juicer! I never thought I would see the day I could resist a craving, but it is getting better. Hang in there and it does eventually get better.
I yo yo’d like a mad woman when I first went raw. It taught me so much about my emotional relationship to food, and about how cooked versus raw foods made me feel. And now look at me over 3 plus years successfully 100% raw. Don’t stress about it, be proud that you have found raw food, it doesn’t matter if it takes you 5 years to transition,every mouthful of raw food and every raw recipe you make is a huge achievement. What helped me stay raw and keep going back to raw was that I hated how cooked food made me feel.
My advice would be to drink 1-2 green smoothies every day. Add raw food that you love, learn recipes which mimic the cooked food you crave. Eat plenty of fats,salt if you like it, and sweets in your raw food to help you make the transition. In time you will be drawn to eating more simply / mono eating etc, but initially make is as easy as possible on yourself … I think that decadent, luxurious and sensual raw recipes are the path to long term raw success.
I’ve heard that when you crave some food it is because you are detoxing it.Also we have the emotional craving that is the most difficult to get over,or sometimes we sabotage our success because of fear.There are many things about cravings,it is not only physical.
I’m finding that the longer I’ve been raw and then go back to something cooked due to cravings or (inability to come up with a raw meal fast enough when I’m really hungry) it makes my stomach feel terrible. Last week at work my boss took me and several coworkers out to lunch for a special occasion. I could have just ordered a salad as several other did, but I was starving and couldn’t resist some of the cooked choices on the menu. I was surprised that eating it was really kind of a disappointment, it just wasn’t what I was expecting and I felt horribly sick with the worst stomach ache for hours afterwards.
mallorymoore 707 you are not alone. Please don’t give yourself a hard time for the slip ups. We all go through this. Don’t let it stop you from continuing to try. In the past when I tried to switch to an all raw diet I always gave up after a couple of episodes of cravings and going back to cooked foods, and I would tell myself, oh you just can’t do this. This time I’ve accepted the fact that it may take me another year or maybe 2 or 3 before I reach 100%. This has allowed me to pursue being raw in a more doable way for me. Maybe some younger people can switch over to 100% easier. I don’t know. I do know that being older I have a lot of food addictions to deal with. I think if you keep at it in the long run you will start to notice all the positive effects and that will give you more incentive to keep going.
Thank you so much for all this support!! It’s really great. I was a little nervous about posting all this but I’m really glad I did. Whenever I feel like i can’t stay raw I’ll be sure to come back and re read all of this because it’s really helping me right now.
Try to remember it can take almost 2 years to stay raw. Each time you get back on, you reaffirm why you eat raw. If you can stay focused on how you feel vs. weight loss, you will stay raw. Certain things trigger cooked food cravings for me—premenstrually and also if i don’t keep my crackers around. We’ve all been there—reading new raw books and magazines really helps keep my focus.
bitt – it’s very interesting that you reflected on Victoria’s book and the cooked food addiction that she mentions. I don’t crave cooked food either, and I think it’s because i gave up dairy, wheat, and white sugar for a couple years before going raw.
mallory – don’t be discouraged! love yourself, forgive and don’t be too hard on yourself. it took me a couple years of trying to eat healthy in order to be ready to go raw. also, once i was ready to go raw, it was easy to be raw eating 99% raw but it was very very difficult to be 80% raw. perhaps the opposite will be true for you. or perhaps you’ll eventually find another way to be raw that is unique and works well for your body. in any case, don’t give up, and most of all – don’t be negative about raw, because you could mentally start to reject raw if you’re hard on yourself about it all the time. instead, let it come naturally, relax, and become excited every time you have a raw meal. visualize positive thoughts. that’s very important!!
Hey winona!! I’ve been feeling much better and much more positive today! I’ve even decided that I’m givin up coffee for good! After those bad foods I ate my stomach hurt terribly bad last night. I’ll just try to remember that next time some cooked foods look good. Thanks so much!!