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Scared/Confused

Sooo, last week I ate tons of fast-food/junk and now I am sick. Of course, I am thinking of exactly how I am gonna get back on track BUT I can’t help BUT be scared and confused. While I know that raw vegan is the way to go (I eat almost no junk), I can’t see how I am gonna give up cooked food. The main item I love is multigrain pasta (as well as bread). Should I eat as much raw food as possible and still have the pasta and bread a few times a week? I have mentioned before that I don’t wanna make elaborate raw meals and I am worried that trying to eat vegan (cooked) food will just end up allowing me to eat the same stuff (except meat/dairy). I always thought being a vegan was tough BUT I was soooooooooo wrong. You can eat the same crap as you did before, with just a few changes. I wanna be raw (as close to 100% as I can) BUT I guess I’ve just lost my motivation. I feel like I’m killing myself with cooked food. Not sure what to do at this point.

Comments

  • TomsMomTomsMom Raw Newbie

    I had cravings until I gave up the grain products entirely. They’re horribly addictive and create other unhealthy cravings. Believe me, it was hard because my family is Italian, but it was so worth it. I just threw everything from grain away.

    I think you’ll find your cravings for cooked foods will become much, much less once you kick the habit of eating grain products. Especially pastas and breads. I would do that first, and then see how you feel after a few weeks. And don’t kick yourself. No one expects you to be 100 percent raw. OOXX

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    Hey tamisha, I’m still learning too and it’s been a year of raw with lots of slips and slides. I wish I had read Matt Monarch’s book, Raw Success, a year ago (I read the entire thing today) for the one simple lesson that it’s best to make slight changes at a time and keep slowly moving forward, instead of a drastic change with drastic slip-ups – that’s when you get sick. He recommends getting rid of refined sweeteners and grains first, so whole grain is still not bad. Then you can slowly change the ratio of raw to cooked. It makes so much sense now and you don’t get the whole failure syndrome. Move slowly forward, whatever you can handle, but don’t go back. His book and blog are helping me a lot.

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    tamisha-you are going to be fabulous at this! Who needs gourmet raw? If you start your day w/ a big (1.5 liter) green smoothie and graze on fruit ‘til you absolutely need something to stick to you..then grab the avocado (a little sea salt and a fresh squeeze of lime), oh heck…eat it right out of the skin! Now you’re set ‘til dinner a big salad w/ some yummy dressing, dulse flakes for those salty cravings and maybe a date or 2 stuffed with some homemade almond butter for dessert or any of the great frozen banana ice cream recipes. If that doesn’t help, I really like a savory dip-see my favorite spinach hunmmus-with zucchini slices or grape tomatoes.Cooked starches are the hardest to give up. If you bump up those greens, you really won’t want them anymore or they start to taste rancid after a little while. Take your time. It takes a long time to “get it”. Listen to your body. Head all those little signs that you already know. I’ve fallen off and come right back to detox all again now 4 times in the last 2+ years. I always come back for longer and longer each time. I’ve learned WHY I fall off and that’s more than half the battle. We all struggle. You are in a good place.

  • thecavsmanthecavsman Raw Newbie

    Don’t worry. I remember I used to eat all raw – EXCEPT for rice cakes w/ almond butter. Then eventually I faded that out when I started the full body detox from dherbs (dherbs.com). After I did the herbal detox I felt like I wanted to stay clean for good. It’s like the food that I used to eat now felt dirty. Eating right shouldn’t be a chore and you shouldn’t beat yourself up over it. It should feel natural and easy so just take your steps – do your best and set goals – even tough goals, but don’t beat yourself up. While I didn’t take long to transition, a lot of people do.

    The reason I mention the full body detox is because, first of all, it works, but more importantly, it gives you a reason to go 100% raw, even if only for 21 days – when you are ready. My goal was to detox, so I transitioned to raw so I could use the dherbs product the right way. And then the detox made me a reason to strive to eat only raw foods. Sometimes we need a reason. Also, if you click articles on www.dherbs.com, there is some really inspirational stuff there. That was a big help.

  • thecavsmanthecavsman Raw Newbie

    And also – I will agree with alix. Grains are addictive and were my biggest hurdle. Even now, I don’t think it is the end of the world if I incorporated grain into my diet – but I refuse to eat even whole grains because I am an addict and it will eventually consume me. That is just how it is. I’m that dude who knocks out all the bread and butter at the restaurant and gets full on it before the food comes. I might as well be an alcoholic – and we know alcoholics should’t take one drink. Now I don’t even feel the need to.

  • Thank you everyone. I think I am gonna do a couple of days of just fresh juices/smoothies and then take it little by little. I am a yo-yo dieter and I either do really well or I go nuts and binge like crazy. I will use all the tips to try and stick to this and I won’t pressure myself to go 100% raw overnight.

  • Hi Tamisha. First I think it’s important to not beat yourself up. Like anything else, take it one day at a time. If you wake up and have a goal of being 100% raw for today, then that’s great. If it’s 100% raw until noon, that’s great too.

    I found that after about a week of 100% raw, I no longer wanted bread or pasta or my weakness, potato chips. If I felt remotely like having pasta, I’d make zucchini noodles with raw tomato sauce..and it’s so good and looks so much like cooked pasta…you really feel like you are eating pasta.

    The longer you go, the easier it gets and those foods no longer seem appealing.

    I think it also helps to keep a journal of what you eat and more importantly, how you feel…because when you are questioning later why you did or didn’t eat raw, you can review and remember how you felt.

  • elizabethhelizabethh Raw Newbie

    To keep from yoyo dieting and being obsessive about my eating, I include a whole foods, low glucose load, gluten free cooked vegan meal on most days of the week. I was 100% raw for a year, and while that may work fine for some people, it made my blood sugar go crazy and just generally didn’t really work out for me (I think I’ve said this on one of your posts before lol…) I’ve experienced no negative reactions after adding a cooked vegan meal into my day (not every day) and always with digestive enzymes and probiotics supplemented (naturally sourced, vegetarian capsule). For me, it worked best to stay away from the “cooked food=death” mentality. Healthy food is all relative, mental health is just as important as physical. Take into account your personality and attitude towards food, try and make the best choice for you! Good luck!

  • Tamisha, you also can start by transitioning from wheat bread and pasta to easier to digest and less processed versions, such as brown rice pasta and sprouted grain bread (like Ezekiel). I included these things in my diet for awhile and it really helped me not feel deprived. When I didn’t feel like I needed them anymore, I let them go, and now enjoy pasta made from kelp (raw seaweed) and raw bread whenever I go to my favorite local raw restaurant. As much as you can, focus on all the positives you ARE accomplishing – for me it has been all the watermelon, avocados, coconuts, and salads I could want. I’ll echo everyone else’s point that there will come a time where you won’t want your old favorites so much – or when you do, you’ll feel more in charge about whether to have some or not. To help with the yo-yoing, make sure you’re eating plenty every day, so that your body will be less likely to push you to binge on non-raw foods.

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    tamisha, try not to be all or nothing right now. just move towards healthier choices in general. to stop the binging binge on fruit instead! it is not really a binge if it is on fruit. lots of melon and smoothies. if you make a mistake, just see as that and then your next meal can be raw again or cooked/healthy. you might be inspired by bunny berry’s blog:

    http://bunnyberry.blogspot.com/

  • Still no luck in transitioning back to raw. NOT giving up. I suppose I need to start treating my addiction to the SAD like an addiction to drugs. Gonna start journaling and taking it 1 day at a time. Thanks again for all the tips/help.

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    I’m with Bitt on the Bunny Berry blog. She’s at the end of her 100 day raw food challenge and she’s been incredibly honest about the daily challenges. She’s invited anyone to join her for the next hundred days if you check her blog, she’s created an entire website support group for those just starting out.

  • I will check it out…At this point I need to have a goal of 30 days. I read Raw Food Detox Diet and it helped. I am gonna aim for raw til dinner for most of the week and 100% raw a few days and see how that goes.

  • CarmentinaCarmentina Raw Newbie

    My theory is to be as raw as you can AT HOME DURING THE WEEK, when it’s easier to control, then if you slip up on the weekend you’ve still already had 5 good days!

  • troublesjustabubbletroublesjustabubble Raw Newbie

    I was only ready to make the raw commitment after I did raw all day and a little cooked at dinner. Now I do all raw and occasionally a cooked meal at my families. I’m definitely ready to do all raw but for my families sake I’m still eating a little cooked over there.

    Just ease into the transition. If you do all raw a bit of bread and pasta a week it’ll be fine until you’re ready to phase it out. It’ll be a lot easier that way and you’ll be able to commit with no attachments when the time is ready

  • I am going to the market in the morning and I am gonna try and make it at least 5 days doing all raw til dinner. I will make sure that my dinners are healthy vegan options even if they are not raw.

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    you can do it tamisha!

  • Thanks bitt :)

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