Submitted: 9/5/07 Modified: 9/9/07 How long have you been a rawfooder: 4 years Your current percent raw: amost all raw How long: 3years Your goals -- why you're on a raw food diet: I feel better, bit by bit, it helps a chronic disease that doctors have no cure or good methods of treatment. There is no comparison between eating raw/vegan and a lifeless cooked diet. The raw gives me energy, the cooked takes away energy. My goal is to one day at a time continue to eat mostly raw vegan for the rest of my life. What you like about a raw food diet: It is wonderful for spiritual practice that integrates living on this earth in harmony with plants, animals etc. I feel lighter in my body. Even though I am just one person, I am glad I am not harming animals for food. More and more people are interested in raw foods lately. This is good. What you haven't liked about a raw food diet: My family and friends used to eat the same way as me and we enjoyed the cooked foods at restaurants and in their homes. The social thing of turning down all these foods is hard. However I don't get the illnesses they get when they eat these foods. It takes a lot of discipline but it is well worth it. Family gatherings are hard but my mother in law now brings some raw foods. Salads can get boring after awhile, I have health limitations on what I can eat, even raw. What you would have done differently: Absolutely nothing. Easing into the raw foods diet and taking it from there makes a difference. I might have eliminated processed sugar earlier but I wasn't ready and I'm afraid it would cause me to eat more cooked foods. Your tools for dealing with cravings and with feeling deprived: I tried just going ahead and giving into my cravings once in awhile but it didn't work.. It was the processed sugar things that would get to me like gourmet ice cream. Now I realize how horrible processed sugar makes me feel and I no longer eat these things. I deal with the cravings by reminding myself where I was when I ate foods that were bad for me, for instance allergy asthma which no longer is a problem. WebSites:
http://homepage.mac.com/chirper
http://homepage.mac.com/chirper/raw.html
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