i found it was helpful to find raw snacks that replaced cooked snacks.

ie fruit meals instead of rice meals.
raw nut butters instead of 5 year old rancid shop nut butters
flax crackers instead of corn chips
dates n cacao instead of rancid commercial chocolate
fresh juice instead of 'bottled' juice
dulse or quality sea salt instead of commercial salt
etc etc

but at the end of the day, the body will always crave cooked carbs if we dont eat enough fresh fruit throughout the day.

if in doubt of what to have for a meal, eat fresh fruit, ideally one type , when hungry till full. ie 12 oranges, 34 bananas, 1kg of pears, handful of sultanas, a paw paw, or whatever is readily available and appealing.

ive learnt that if i couldnt eat a meal of bananas, then im not hungry. and therefore am better off not eating.
this applies only to bananas. no other fruit. not sure why.

drinking a glass or 9 of filtered water upon rising is great too. infact thats my secret weapon for life! get up and glass up!
im nothing without my morning cuppa!

read some books on food combining. it will take you an hour or so and you will remember it for the rest of your life.

when we seek the (heartfelt,instinctive,logical) knowledge, believe it and then take action. we are set up to win!

i use to be writhing on the toilet floor, bleeding and in massive pain.
today im a raw vegan and have perfect digestion.

Journal Entry 4-

I'm very close to having completed a week RAW, which isn't much of an achievement, however, usually around the next week or so I have tended to fizzle out in the past. Yet, this time I feel very strong and secure with my current position. It will be interesting to see if RAW becomes testing for me.

I'm actually not very hungry but I continue to overeat...methinks this might be due to being used to eating large servings or the fact that I like feeling full. I'm not too sure. I've just been eating lots of oranges/apples and pears today, plus some walnuts and almonds...mainly because I'm being lazy again. I've been very good with my salads though, usually having two a day..and salads always make me feel very cleansed, and pretty much the best I can feel. Fats make me feel icky and too much fruit makes me feel sickly sweet and pumped full of sugar.

Tummy update- Well, I will spare making this entry TMI and only allude to the fact that I am 'going' alot...I usually feel great although there are many times in between where everythings not quite so peachy. It really depends on a few things, but I am used to the rythym of my IBS now so I have a understanding of what it all means.

Thinking of buying a manual wheatgrass juice because I'm sick of wasting money buying wheatgrass/citrus juices from the shops. I'd love to buy a electric juicer to make all kinds of goodies but I can't afford to do that right now. Maybe later on. Uni is not too bad, I'm so behind though, because I do not want to sit down and do work...at this rate I will fail. I need a kick up the backside and must get to it. That's all for now.

getting in touch of our emotions in regards to life, food and how we deal with comments from other people, is a big step on the path of a progressive lifestyle.

sounds like your bounding along!

Oh thankyou so much all! 

Your positive comments and encorougment really make me more determined. Plus knowing you have all gone through the same thing and understand where I am at is very comforting. It's like having a safety net.

It's great to be around likeminded people who have been so successful when it comes to RAW

Thanks Mae!!

Journal 5-

Well, I ran out of vegies and fruit on the weekend, and henceforth out of hunger I ate something in the fridge called 'Organic Apple Butter', which was 'kettle simmered' (yes, that's a new one) apples and apple juice concentrate. Healthiest thing I could find (comprising two fruit ingredients only), but cooked and as a result I felt pretty crap. It's the only cooked thing so far,but there was zero food available. I think I was able to manage the last of the salad ingredients that day too. With the 'Apple Butter'-Interestingly enough it wasn't a craving issue. So anyway, come Monday there is abundance of fruit and veg in the house again....which made me giddy and pig out. YUM YUM. Been heaping on the parsley in my salads because it's that time of the month, although I'm taking an Iron supplement as a extra boost right now. I'm going to cut out my supplements once I finish the bottles and then see how I hold up without them.

Still sleeping like HELL...I have some kind of fear of bed. I hate getting in it and I can't sleep for ages, so instead of lying there attempting to relax I get up and do something stimulating, which is the wrong thing to do. I love sleeping but I just can't get to sleep...I've always been a night person but going to bed at 1am is getting draining. Plus I'm too on edge to do my readings for uni so I'm falling behind. No idea what is going on. I'm so passionless, I wonder if I should go see someone. Hmmm.

I'm thinking about taking up Yoga if my stomach settles down, I do hope it does because I'd like to test out Ashtanga in the Spring...I'm ready for some warmer weather.

Two changes on RAW:
- My skin seems to be looking better, I don't know whether it's because I'm not in the city (the pollution and tiredness don't agree with me) OR it's the beginnings of RAW...stay tuned I suppose.

- My weight has gone up. AUGH!!! When I went vegan I put on weight and a week and a half into RAW I'm putting on weight again- I'm now around 65 kilos. Why do I go in the opposite direction to other people? This is a pain in the bum. It's probably coupled with the fact I am shoving alot of fats into my mouth and not doing any exercise. How I do miss running. I'd love enough time to go running and swimming and all kinds of outdoor activities.

Anyway that's it.

Oh, PS. This is probably common logic but don't drink three shots of wheatgrass in one day if you are not used to it. I thought to myself- what could it hurt for one day? My god, I was wrong. At least I got a huge veggie hit for that day.

Hi SE,


I recently quit honours after going raw. I went through my Degree and first half of honours with so much passion but once I had been raw for a couple of months I also started to become unsettled. Without my cooked treats I began to have so much trouble making myself sit down to study (or do anything that I really didn't want to do). I just wanted to hang out in the sun. I decided that, at least for a while, I would only do what I felt inspired or excited about and hoped that that would help me find/rediscover my path. I started ballroom dance teaching full-time and feel pretty great. I am loving the new friends I am making (both teachers and students) and feel like I am able to express some of my gratitude for life through my daily interactions. I made the right decision for me at the time but everyone is different. I cant give you any advice except that which the other people on the forum gave me - follow your heart and don't feel afraid, everything is certain to work out for you!

Perilla. 

Journal 6-

Phew, okay I haven’t written for a while but I’m happy to say that I am still RAW.
I’m coming up to the end of week three, which means I will have soon been RAW for a month. Time flies- sort of.

Tummy update- still up and down, and a lot of the time this depends on how I am eating. I need to reform my eating patterns; I will make it a goal to be more balanced this coming week.

Sleep- I’m still going to bed late (1-2am) and while I set my alarm but can only manage to get up after 8 or 9 hours sleep. Even then I feel so EXHAUSTED for the first half of the day. On Thursday I pulled myself up and I wanted to die, honestly, I felt so wrecked and I’d had the required amount of sleep. I’ve been sleeping on the train into uni and I don’t seem to start waking up until 5pm, and even then I am still in a lull. I don’t know whether it has to do with my bed time cycle or that I am just that tired.

Skin- My skin has been very good, because the city is so polluted my skin can sometimes break out a little after four days of being in there. So this is an improvement I am favouring. The excessive dryness and peeling of my skin on my hands, knuckles and other little areas (near my ankles) I am not. This started when I went vegan, it seems to have intensified under RAW. I really hate it and I don’t know why my skin has become like this. It can’t be related to water (I drink enough) or fats in the body (I’m ploughing through those) and my doctor didn’t seem concerned by it.

Cravings- I only get cravings when I don’t eat properly or I haven’t eaten for a while, which happens a lot of the time. Again, I need to do some serious food reforming. I just seem to lack effort when it comes to doing anything these days, even making a basic meal. I used to be vigilant with beautiful green salads back in the day. How I miss thee. If I crave bread, I eat nuts.

I’m just thinking of this as a time when my body is sorting itself out, detoxing and healing up all the scars. As long as I’m eating RAW (even if I’m not eating balanced as of yet) I am still doing more good than harm. I’ll also be proud if I can stick to this until summer, because you eat lighter in summer and there are more varieties of fruit available. It will be my reward for beginning this on the last month of winter.