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Alcohol and Raw Foods

Before I went raw, I loved sitting down to a nice pint of stout. I know from previously being a homebrewer that beer isn’t raw. However, I wanted to know where things like beer and wine fall for a mostly raw diet. I’m about 90%-95% raw and wonder if a pint or a glass every couple of weeks or so would be that detrimental. It’s one of those very dear pleasures that I really miss.

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Comments

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    oh gosh, i have been going through SUCH a long period of trying to give up wine. i do well for a couple of weeks and then have a glass and every day after that think “well, just a glas…”

    raw foods are about feeling ALIVE and VIBRANT. compare that to how you feel after you drink alcohol! but then again, sometimes it’s nice to just feel relaxed… of course, i prefer when it’s been induced by yoga, not wine. =)

    in the long term, i know i’ll be giving it up. but i’m giving myself time. where food is considered i just went 100% raw a week ago, so i know soon i’ll no longer want the alcohol. right? help! =)

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    pianissima that is the hardest thing for me so far. I have hardly craved other foods (well excpet chocolate) but I have bad cravings for wine. I keep trying to distract myself with other things. it sometimes works. I tried some kombacha tonight. it does not have the right taste, but at least i am trying. for me it is also about the empty calories. my drinking really puts on the pounds.

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    Technically, wine is raw. But not necessarily vegan, unless it says vegan on the bottle. so if you drink, it might be good to sit down with a bottle of vegan, organic, sulfite free wine. I’ve chosen to be 99% raw, so I will have one or two drinks once a week. Here’s an entire post on it: http://goneraw.com/forums/3/topics/52

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    bitt—you’ve really inspired me. i bought a case of kombucha this morning so i can have one a night instead of wine. it’s really a nice feeling to sip something “special” with dinner and kombucha is a nice treat.

    winona—it seems to be an all or nothing thing with me. i REALLY want to stop because i just feel better when i don’t drink it.

    the wine thing is confusing because it has gotten such great publicity for its health benefits. and, unlike soy, i just can’t find any literature that states the contrary. if anyone has an article or something i’d REALLY love to read it!

  • Slosh-uhSlosh-uh Raw Newbie

    I drink a lot. Usually more than once a week. I’d like to give it up just to see how I’d feel without it, but I really like getting really drunk. Soon I think I’ll try going a week with no drinks and see how I feel. Maybe two weeks.

    But as long as you’re not 100% raw I don’t see a problem with a few beers once in a blue moon.

  • Slosh-uhSlosh-uh Raw Newbie

    Hahaha blue moon. I’m hilarious. Good pun, Slosh.

    Pinkie
  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    for me it is also about addiction. my grandmother was an alcoholic so I am trying to steer clear of that path. i need to only put things in my body right now that are super-healthy for me.

    for relaxing I have also tried kava. but i think you can only get it raw on the islands. but it is an amazing drink.

  • KrystaleKrystale Raw Newbie

    Both my pastor and a therapist have told me that making changes that are supposed to be good when you’re not ready to is not good. Beating yourself up kinda negates the good. (Literally, when it comes to brain chemistry.) Ever done the rice experiment? (Make rice… I know… go ask your neighbor for some… with purified water and split it in half into two glass jars and set them aside. Pick one for good and one for bad, every day tell your good rice how good and beautiful it is, lavish it on. Then go tell your bad rice how really bad it is, all cooked and all, full of cancer, ugly processed whatever. Be mean! See how it comes out. Pretty much without fail the good rice spoils much slower, staying fresh looking longer.) My pastor says if you’re doing all sorts of stuff to be healthy and live longer but making yourself miserable about it and never treating yourself then what the heck are you living longer for? (I’m a UU. ROFL)

    Kombucha was a great fix for me. I stopped drinking it daily because I wasn’t feeling that relaxing zing any more. I’ve even chugged it for panic and anger and it works. Now I save it (and my money) for work days when I need the help to deal with the modern world.

  • KrystaleKrystale Raw Newbie

    Both my pastor and a therapist have told me that making changes that are supposed to be good when you’re not ready to is not good. Beating yourself up kinda negates the good. (Literally, when it comes to brain chemistry.) Ever done the rice experiment? (Make rice… I know… go ask your neighbor for some… with purified water and split it in half into two glass jars and set them aside. Pick one for good and one for bad, every day tell your good rice how good and beautiful it is, lavish it on. Then go tell your bad rice how really bad it is, all cooked and all, full of cancer, ugly processed whatever. Be mean! See how it comes out. Pretty much without fail the good rice spoils much slower, staying fresh looking longer.) My pastor says if you’re doing all sorts of stuff to be healthy and live longer but making yourself miserable about it and never treating yourself then what the heck are you living longer for? (I’m a UU. ROFL)

    Kombucha was a great fix for me. I stopped drinking it daily because I wasn’t feeling that relaxing zing any more. I’ve even chugged it for panic and anger and it works. Now I save it (and my money) for work days when I need the help to deal with the modern world.

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    krystale—that is SO true! i’ve heard of experiments done with water like that! i don’t believe in beating myself up, that’s why i’ve continued to have a drink every once in a while. i think i’m ready to challenge myself a little more. it’s also good to step slightly outside your comfort zone.

    oh, and yep, kombucha is DEFINITELY going to be a once in a while thing after the 12 bottles are gone. i thought i’d mention that i added some raw ACV (for krystale, “the spokesperson”) to my water (about 1 TB for half a glass) and it tasted pretty kombucha-y. i think with some adjustments i might be able to make a quick “kombucha cocktail” on the cheap. =) i’ll post it when i’ve figured it out.

    bitt—addiction is a good point. i don’t like feeling dependent on things. it feels really good to be able to say “i don’t NEED that.”

    i’m so glad you brought this up omnithought! it’s been on my mind for a while.

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    p.s. i can’t say i would ever have kava again after backpacking through fiji and having to drink about 5 coconut bowls filled with it every time i went to a new village! it is quite numbing!

  • is kombucha pretty much the same as sake? because sake, (fermented rice) is raw i believe. and you can make some pretty fantastic cocktails with it.

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    hey birdflew—sake isn’t raw since it’s made from fermenting cooked rice. nama sake is unpasteurized, which is probably what you are referring too. kombucha is a raw “tea” that is made from the fermentation of a special mushroom… i’ve never made it, so some know better about the process. kombucha isn’t alcohol though. (though it has a tiny trace i believe… it says 0.5% on the bottle)

    but yes, i’ve made cocktails with kombucha. delicious!

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    hey birdflew—sake isn’t raw since it’s made from fermenting cooked rice. nama sake is unpasteurized, which is probably what you are referring too. kombucha is a raw “tea” that is made from the fermentation of a special mushroom… i’ve never made it, so some know better about the process. kombucha isn’t alcohol though. (though it has a tiny trace i believe… it says 0.5% on the bottle)

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    hey birdflew—sake isn’t raw since it’s made from fermenting cooked rice. nama sake is unpasteurized, which is probably what you are referring too. kombucha is a raw “tea” that is made from the fermentation of a special mushroom… i’ve never made it, so some know better about the process. kombucha isn’t alcohol though. (though it has a tiny trace i believe… it says 0.5% on the bottle)

    but yes, i’ve made cocktails with kombucha. delicious!

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    I have replaced my beer with wine, and I’m feeling the difference. The wine, since it’s raw, is MUCH easier on my stomach than any other type of alcohol. FYI for those of you who still drink – wine is the way to go. I drink 1/2 to 1 glass, diluted in sparkling water, every few days. And you can still have a mixed drink – make fresh squeezed oj, mix in sparkling water and white wine. Enjoy!

  • Not to be the bag guy but lets not forget that alcohol kills every cell it comes into contact with. JUST A THOUGHT>

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    thanks ardesmond2—i’m much more open to that DOOMFUL REALITY since i quit ;)

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    p.s. do you have any literature to support that? i’d love to read something that would corroborate my body’s natural inclination to stay away…

  • I recently had the biggest “advancement” in my entire thought process.. regarding food, friends, fun, life and so forth.

    I want to have fun in life.. as I believe slosh once said somewhere on this site. I don’t want to look back on my life [still prettttty young- 21.] and wish i had hung out with friends and enjoyed myself. People have been consuming alcohol for a long time.

    Honestly, despite the whole ‘unhealthy’ thing about alcohol [which you’ll have with EVERY possible thing you can think of], I doubt you’ll fall over dead from enjoying a pint with friends occasionally.

    For me, I’m all about fun. Though health is very important to me and I will NEVER jeopardize my veganism, I have learned to stop obsessing about other people’s rules, labels and guidelines and instead start to love life and enjoy every minute of it.

    I will step off my soap box now.

  • sure let me dig it out.. I have been storing information on my home computer like a little squirrel I will find it and and link you to it. I know what you mean by having something to read to give you that advantage to want to stay away from it.

    PEACE

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    Here’s some science behind alcohol consumption: http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/1999…

    http://www.wonderquest.com/BrainCells.htm

    Thanks for the warning, ardesmond. I definately don’t encourage people to start consuming lots of alcohol, and alcholism . However, for those who already consume it in very small amounts (as I do) wine is easier on the stomach than other drinks. I agree with mango woman’s view of alcohol – I have the same opinion.

  • Pianissima, you’ve been able to stay raw all this time…you WILL be able to keep away from alcohol, if you so choose. Remember that! And if there’s anything in you that’s not ready to choose to completely cut out wine, then know that you’re just not ready yet…and that at some point you probably will be, and it’ll be easy to stop. I’ve been really working with myself the last couple of weeks on being gentle with my own cravings, and to know that it’s when I stop resisting them that they will fully drop away. Sometimes it’s helpful to give in and have the glass of wine to see just how much you don’t really need or want it. In my case, I had a little bit of vegan Thai food and promptly my lymph nodes went nuts and my throat swelled up and I felt like I was coming down with something for about an hour. What can I say? Lesson learned. Way better than to have gone on wondering and craving something I now know I do not need.

  • The past few weeks I have felt like an adolescent again. Me and my husband just started sharing a house with a couple of his friends and one of them likes to drink alot. Like every other night we’re mixing drinks. I’ve been 70% raw since November but since we’ve all been hanging out alot I’m having trouble sticking with my feelings about food. There’s 4 of us. 3 of us are mostly raw, except one is like the perfect example of a horrible SAD diet. That one person is influencing the 3 of us (same person that buys all the drinky drinks). I just don’t know what I need to be doing to be stronger. I think I am just giving in because it is conveinent. I don’t like the way I feel afterward and I know I am not making any progress in my body healing if I am drinking alchohol 3 – 4 times a week. I think I need reinforcement or something. Anyone have any insight??

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    mango woman—i totally agree. but giving up out of a sense of fear and lack is different from giving up out of a sense of abundance and bliss. i LOVE not drinking. people in bars are not HAPPY just because they are acting OUT LOUD. i am just as crazy and adventurous as ever, able to sing in the aisles of the grocery store and dance on the streets with my friends… but it comes from a TRUE sense of inhibition rather than a chemical reaction i can’t control, acting FOR me.

    health and fun aren’t mutually exclusive. it’s FUN to be healthy. that’s what i’m realizing… and, yes, life is short, so why settle for less than BOTH?

    audrey—thanks. that was beautiful! i have really proceeded in this way, giving myself a LOT of time to be weened off wine… i feel ready now. =)

    rawAdisaurous—i’ve been trying to give up wine since last summer. if you want it, you’ll get there!

  • I am newly raw as of 2 weeks, and have been exploiting the fact that wine is technically raw…a lot. Haha. Well I have an active social life, and I didn’t want being raw to inhibit that in any way. So far, my diet change hasn’t been a huge issue, as most places my friends go to eat have salad. But they also have wine. It doesn’t bother me at all because I am not a raw vegan. I eat sashimi, and I don’t know if I could survive a raw food diet without it!

    And why beat myself up about my habit? I love wine, and I will give it up when I’m older and more mature. For now, my new diet makes me feel great. And wine does too!

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    rawnessrox – agreed – i enjoy my wine, it agrees with my system, and i love going out with friends for drinks. i say we can enjoy it if we so choose.

  • I stopped drinking on the first of january 2008. Almost all my phobias that I used to have are gone. I sometimes go to parties and dance all night on green tea but not as much as before. I used to drink a lot (A LOT!) on fridays and saturdays and be the funniest party monkey, so for me being 100% sober has been a more difficult transition than going raw. A lot of people have been really encouraging and think it’s really cool although I live in the country with what if I’m not mistaken the drunkest european youth (Denmark) (I think that means drunker than the american) Rawfoodism is very socially challenging because so much socializing is concentrated around food. Same thing goes for alcohol. I think if you stick to your ideals and even take pride in them people will respect them more rapidly and slowly you’ll come across people that feel the same way. And let me repeat that almost all my phobias are gone. I have a friend who also gave up alcohol about 6 months ago. It was a bet that he should stay sober for a year. He also says he’s not afraid of things anymore. I used to be scared of forgetting to shut the door, turning off the stove (don’t need that anymore:)) having things stolen, losing my keys. It’s almost completely gone. It’s a feeling that comes suddenly like icy fire inside you a few inches above your navel. I’m sure you know it ;)

  • Okay I did a little experiment just to see how bad wine could possibly be. First I must say if you are going to drink wine at least make it vegan. You would be surprised at some of the nasties that they put in wine to make it clear so on and so forth. Here is the link to all the vegan wines to help you out http://vegans.frommars.org/wine/

    Now as of the experiment I drunk a considerable amount of wine to celebrate my wifes birthday this week but I also tested the PH of my urine. The first morning afterwards I almost fell out because I was terribly acidic, but I must say I also indulged way to much. This is all in keeping with being 100% raw, so I still had my green smoothie and green juice in the morning, and plenty of veggies and fresh water throughout the day. In the evening I would allow myself to drink no more then 3-4 cups of wine. Now besides the fact that the stuff makes me terribly sleepy, my PH levels were very normal. I did this over a span of 3-4 days and my PH levels are now back to being very alkaline as they always were while I still have a drink of wine or two in the evening. After this I am not sure if I buy into all wine is bad, if you take the time to buy the wine that is vegan (FREY Vineyards is the best I had mmmmmmm) with no GMO yeast or sulfites I think you are in good shape. If you choose to just go out with friends and drink whatevers pouring then you could get into some trouble. We have to remember that we absorb a lot more being raw and vegan. MODERATION have fun out dance your friends still have the glow and drink a little water in between and I think everyones happy.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    The health benefits of red wine are touted all over the place, & people love it. Those same health benefits can be obtained by eating red grapes or drinking red grape juice, because it’s the grapes that give the wine its health benefits. It’s either a campaign by the wine industry, or the fact that wine is more appealing to most people, or both – that makes red wine get the attention for being so “healthy”

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