welcome! Glad you made it. Have a ball!

xoxoxo

You'll get there! It can help to say you're doing a 'detox' (if necessary). Most people are familiar with this idea and won't think it too freakish! It's taken me a good while to be open about my diet - I'm confident now (after 2.5 years  ) that I'm on the right track, and this comes across when I do speak to people about the way I eat.

Enjoy your three weeks raw!

ggxx

Hi VeggieDelight,

Welcome to the forum.

All I can say is that every one of us has been through different journeys with raw....believe me, I've been through a few on my own. 

For example:  some start eager for 100% and "fail" miserably (when I say "fail", I mean what they preceive to be failure!)
                      some decide to start slowly by replacing certain meals/food with raw and gradually increase their raw intake slowly
                      some decide to be only 50% or 60% or 45% or 80% raw (whatever) and don't intend to be more than that
                      some eat only fruit and veggies with no raw gourmet dishes
                      some can't even contemplate only eating f&v and can't imagine being raw without gourmet dishes
                      some eat nuts
                      some don't eat nuts
                      some dehydrate foods
                      some don't dehydrate
                      some only have juices and feel fantastic and better for it
                      some wonder "how can you survive only only juices!!!"
                      some will only consume organic
                      some can't only consume organic..........

Do you get the picture?!    But the above list is excellent though.  It just means people have tried different things and can give you suggestions.  What a forum!!!!

Just keep in mind:  THERE IS ONLY A SMAAAALLLLLL PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ACTIVELY 100% RAW FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME.  (I'm sure someone will tell me the figures?!) So don't be down on yourself.

I've been through MOST of the above list through my raw journey, and have found something the suits me and my family and balances me without being ridden with guilt and feelings of failure for "not staying on the raw wagon".

As for what others think, yes, that can be a challenge at times, but the longer you are raw (whatever raw is for you - 50/60/100%), the stronger you become in yourself.  If you need to use excuses, say you've been to a naturopath and you're off dairy, wheat, meat, sugar, and preservatives!!! Maybe that will help, maybe not.  That should at least cover a few areas of food that you don't want to eat.

Anyway welcome

Take care

Luv

Rita

I've started 100% raw! I was going to post yesterday but I felt horrible, I had a headache all day and felt sooooooo tired I could hardly keep my eyes open. I've also been craving coffee like crazy, I get serious cravings every morning and a nasty headache if I don't have one. Another thing that I've noticed is that now I have actually started eating all raw I keep questioning if this is the right thing to do. I was so excited before I began I was researching raw food for months and I couldn't wait to get started, but now that I have I'm really not feeling into it. In fact I keep questioning whether I'm being silly for focusing so much on food because there are other things in life that are more important. I'm not sure if my mind is trying to sabotage me or if its because I have lots of other things happening at the moment and I'm losing focus. Has anyone experienced this before? I'm still determined to keep going though, I made a commitment to myself and I want to keep it.

Yesterday I ate:
Breakfast – 1 apple, 1 banana
Lunch –  6 raw date rolls
Dinner – Spinach salad with seaweed, cucumber, tomato, carrot and cucumber. Drizzled with Lemon Juice

Today:
Breakfast – lots of fruit
Lunch – Salad
Snacks – Almonds
Dinner – Planning on having another salad

Not the most creative meals but I was never much of a cook

Haven’t posted in a while suddenly found myself crazy busy. I didn’t have any work scheduled for two weeks which I thought would be a good time to start my three weeks raw but I ended up getting a fair bit of work after all. I'm not complaining though, just means I haven’t had time to post. Anyway I have today off so I thought I'd bring you up to speed.

I'm still eating all raw I've been having fruit for breakfast and salads for lunch and dinner. I've also been eating soaked almonds and gogi berries for snacks. I've been keeping it really simple I'll probably include different things like green smoothies and juices after the three weeks. At the moment I need quick, easy and something I can stick to.

I'll be honest though, I haven’t been 100% raw as I just cant seem to kick this coffee habit. It's not just instant coffee either I'm completely addicted to the iced milk coffees that you buy at the supermarket. Its driving me insane!! I get intense cravings first thing in the morning and it doesn’t go away until I buy myself one.

I had know idea that trying to give up coffee would be so hard for me its similar to when I tried to quit smoking which took me 3 years. I didn’t even know that coffee could be so addictive until I tried to stop drinking it, makes me feel really weak like I have no control over myself.

I bought some dandelion tea today I'm hoping that it'll work as a substitute for coffee, I'll try it tomorrow and see. I know its not raw but it will be a lot better than the horrible milky, sugar laden processed stuff I've been drinking.

Well thats all from me for now have a good day

VD xx

Thanks Jennie I will definitely give that a go. Actually it makes a lot of sense to me. I tried quitting smoking for years, tried everything; Smoking lighter cigarettes, less cigarettes, patches, Zyban (prescription drugs), cold turkey. What did it at the end was telling myself that I was a non-smoker I stopped focusing on quitting. I also told myself that I could have a cigarette whenever I wanted to if I felt like one. After a while I just didn’t want any anymore. Ahhhhhh (light bulb moment!!!) Just realised that I started drinking coffee instead of having a smoke so I guess its become a replacement.

You could try sticking the coffee up your a** instead of drinking it. Maybe not the iced milk sort though. Nothing beats a coffee enema and it could change your relationship with the stuff for ever 

ggxx