Okay so I’m having a huge problem sticking with raw. I’m great all day—sometimes I’ll juice in the morning, then eat fruit and/or green smoothies during the day. The trouble comes at dinner time: it’s like once I start, I can’t stop. My normal dinners include salads or veggie nori wraps or zuchini “pasta”... all good stuff. But then I want to keep eating. And after reading Natalia Rose’s Raw Food Detox Diet, I am super-paranoid about food combining. I am afraid I will gain weight if I don’t eat the “quick exit” way… I thought that fruit or a smoothie would make a good desert or “midnight snack”... but I know this is not proper food combining. So if I eat fruit after dinner, I feel like I already screwed up and will turn to my boyfriend’s non-raw junk food. I eat food I would normally never touch, thinking “Oh well.. I’ll just start again tomorrow.” This has been going on for some time now, and it just makes me feel awful emotionally and physically. I love the way I feel when I eat raw, but this whole food combining thing is just so overwhelming! How bad is it to eat fruit after a veggie meal? Will it keep extra weight on my body? I mean, it would obviously be better than eating the way I have been the past month or so, but I just want to know why eating fruit after veggies is so bad. I was doing so well for awhile, but now I feel like I have to think about food too much, which triggers disordered eating (I do have a history). I am confused and in need of some good advice. Thanks for your help!!
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Thank you bitt - that’s exactly what I needed to hear!!!!! By the way - I read a lot of the posts here on Goneraw to try to learn as much as I can, and so I’ve happened to read a lot of your posts. I checked out your blog the other night and your New England vaca. caught my attention… then I saw a pic of you in Portsmouth and nearly died!! That’s where I am from and have spent all summer!! Point being—seeing that was such an inspiration.. if you were able to stay raw while on vacation, there really is no excuse I can make up not to stick with it. At the risk of sounding like a creepy stalker (haha I’m really not!), I did want to share that with you. Thanks again!
I would like for you not to become overwhelmed by thoughts of food combining. =) It is easy to become completely obsessed with it. If you eat live food with some degree of awareness of food combining, eating the appropriate combination will no longer be an issue!
The general principle behind food combining is that different food types require different enzymes and digestive pH’s for their assimilation. Not only this, but different types of food have different rates of digestion. A good example of this is comparing the digestion rates of Fruits and Protiens. Fruits have a faster digestion rate as compared to protiens – slow.
It is important to note, as others have brought up; we all have different and unique constitutional types, and therefore different digestive processes. Though really, if you can keep the basic principle behind food combining in mind, you shall not have any problems.
warmth and love to all
I am new to raw and dont know much about food combining, but I know exactly what you mean about overeating at night. I had struggled with overeating for years until I realized that my problem was breakfast and low blood sugar. I really think you should have more for breakfast than just juice. I have a big green smoothie with 2 bananas, greens, and hemp protein powder. I also have 1/2 cup soaked buckwheat with nut milk, raisins and pumpkin seed. Then I have a normal lunch and by nighttime I am not at all hungry like I used to be. I can just have a salad and a glass of wine and Im good. Its really amazing, I’ve come a long way. So, like I said, the food combining is probably all wrong but at this point I’m not too worried because I’m doing what works.