Hey everyone I am just wondering, what percent raw do you eat? If your 99-100% how did you get there? How did you fight the call of cheese, dough and meat and stay that way which seems to be my trouble...
Wow, Durian, in my opinion, you are spot on,. though I'm not from UK.
this is exactly how it is around my place, and I think it does ruin my life, and is just as hard to give up as alcohol, while living with an alcoholic.
Bunny may be right only in that its not the roasted red peppers that I'm addicted to . Its the muffins and crackers and sweets----ie the things that turn to alcohol in my body. I don't have to sell my body to get cooked food---just send hubby to Walmart with some money.
These people are just being like those cooked foodies saying its extreme to compare food to cocaine . It is not. Why are people on raw food? Its not the health and well being benefits? Is there not an extreme enough difference for people to change>? Is there not healing from disease?
OK, ok, I've never known anyone who was addicted to cocaine,. so I'm not "legal" here.
Cheese, meat, and dough were long gone from my diet before I went Raw. Maybe it will be easier for you to transition to raw if you focus on keeping the animal products, and gluten out of your diet. Eat a lot of fruit and keep the cooked foods simple, clean, unprocessed and low in fat. Once you are accustomed to a clean, low fat high raw vegan diet, going 100% will be much easier.
For me...the higher percentage of raw that I ate, and the longer I did, my body became less and less tolerant to cooked foods. Every time I would eat a large cooked meal I would feel horrible and notice more and more negative effects. It came to the point where I would be 100% raw for several days, eat a cooked meal and feel very bad, and experience severe digestive issues. I no longer wanted to feel this way from the food I ate, so I decided I would stop eating any and all cooked foods for good. There were a few times where old food memories would come back, and the cravings would become too strong to deny. I would buy and cook the foods I was craving, with the result of major discomfort, and I would also find that the food didn't taste as good as I remembered, and wasn't as enjoyable as I had built it up to be in my head. I would also get sick of it half way to finishing it all. After, I would think about what a waste of money it was buying all that food, feeling gross from eating it, and then having to throw it in the trash.
I think you are both correct in this notion. I raw cheese and raw fish have been staples for me for many years, yet, I believe I have been without them for about 6-7 months now. I don't feel the "need" to grab for them impulsively like I used to, and it may just be the beginning phase for me before they are gone forever.
For me, meat was easy to give up cuz I realized I didnt really crave or even like it, I ate it in my younger years just cuz I thought it was normal and "healthy" and everyone else did. So that one was easy. As for cheese and dough, I used to love them even though I felt so puffy and clogged afterwards. But I gave them up after a week at the Optimum Health Institute where I learned that they were just "goo & glue" foods that were just clogging up my colon and bringing me down, and when I started seeing how amazing I felt after detoxing and starting to incorporate live foods.
After 1 week of detoxing and live foods & daily wheatgrass & sprouts & such & feeling so amazing & better than Id felt in 3 years, I realized -- why would I ever settle for puffy & clogged & moody again? I realized that those foods I used to reach for for comfort (pasta, cheese, etc) might feel good for the moment, but then messed me up for hours & days afterwards.
I also read Dr. Cousens' Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine recently, where he talks about -- eating in a way that grants you vitality, life force, clarity and energy; and not just eating for momentary comfort but then makes you feel like crap afterwards..
Now I crave live sprouts and greens and fruit and such, and I LOVE feeling so clear & clean & awake & happy all the time.
But you know it doesnt always happen overnight, so dont be too hard on yourself. For example, try being raw / vegan for the week, but then having one cheat day where you eat anything you want. I did this for a bit and 1 - it helps you to not feel deprived, and 2 - you really get to see the contrast btwn when you're healthy and when you're not, and you start to choose health more and more.
I didn't find much of the cooked foods addictive myself. Bread (gluten) definately, also dairy products, particularly cheese (casmorphine+fat+salt), table salt, spices (drugs), potatoes are also narcotic.
Once I got 70% raw and eliminated the condiments, then I just found cooked food (simpel steamed veg) pretty boring. Raw just tastes so much better and is far more pleasant on the pallete compared to cooked food slime with noxiuous condiments.
I went thru some weird withdrawal episodes with bread and potatoes.
I just wanted to thank you deeply for your above comment - the "slightly withdrawn from present concerns" has answered a question I've had for ages - AND (even better) enabled me to (finally) kick my occasional hot chips addiction.
It was (I'm pretty sure) my last cooked foods habit, so this is kindofa momentous occasion. Thank you.
I do eat occasional bites of my boys' vegan meals. But mostly, I feel so good on raw, that eating cooked food just doesn't appeal. SUre, it might taste good on the tongue, but it makes me feel like shite.
"Cheese, meat, and dough were long gone from my diet before I went Raw." Same here! White sugar was gone from my diet for a year before I went raw. Another idea is to select the freshest organic produce possible. Get a farm share if you can. Things taste amazing when you can go pick them from the vine and eat them!
Hi Dave,
Maybe you should buy one lol, I couldnt live without my juicer (literally) if you want one-Dan has got some links on his youtube page it you wanna buy one, or the guy in this video, has a great one but he's in the UK
I lost my ear candling virginity last week, lol. My friend and I didn't have any problems, just really relaxing. So do it with a friend so someone can watch the flame. have fun :)