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Originally Posted by Joeschmoe  I also tried and failed. I feel alright, because what i learned is that i didn't feel at all deprived in any way, and I know what to shoot for. My problem is that most of my eating comes from somewhere other than hunger. This diet satisfies my hunger completely, but it doesn't satisfy any of my emotional eating cravings. I was unprepared to deal with these things in my life right now. I think that i will take a cue from everyone else who eats this way long term and approach it slowly of the course of a year or two, making small changes toward what I know I want to do, but am unable to yet.
Just want to say that this is pure eating. This is eating to fulfill nutritional needs only and will not fulfill any of the other needs that modern people have attached to eating. |
I honestly think anyone who has past issues with eating disorders should try 100% raw for awhile, precisely because it does force you to confront those non-hunger attachments to food, and gives you tools to deal with them. It can be overwhelming at first. Eating vegan didn't help me deal with my overeating issues, in fact, I think it made them worse because I was feeling deprived of all the comfort foods I liked best. With raw, I do have those thoughts, but the depression I had been in the last few years is slowly but surely lifting, I look and feel healthier and when I'm feeling lazy, it's a lot faster to eat bananas than go get fast food. I still have the desire to eat certain foods (read binge), but I keep telling myself that I can have them, just not this week. When your body is feeling nourished and healthy, you start realizing all those thoughts about how good a bacon cheeseburger would taste are not coming from anything like true hunger, but rather a self-destructive appetite. I think one of the most challenging (and yet awesome) parts of the of raw food diet is that it truly will change the way you relate to food.
At this point in my raw journey, I still overeat in the sense that I eat too much because it tastes good and I want to feel full. Fortunately an extra 2 cups of spinach on my salad is very low in calories. I don't do this with fruit. I get banana fatigue much earlier than Steve does.
