Thanks for the information!!

[Guest guest]

Roger, I can't thank you enough for posting all this info. Last time I

was raw, I was eating some cooked foods, allowing potatoes and whole

grains soaked. I'm sticking to simple veggies I can keep in ziplock bags

and canisters in the refridgerator plus bananas, apples and any other

fruit thats cheap or free. I have been just about 100% raw for three

weeks now.The veggie stand guy is tickled to pieces that I've gone raw,

he says I'm his best customer now.

I liked what Bob did, taking out his stove and putting in an extra

refridgerator, and mentioned to my DH that I would like my own

refridgerator. So he is going to actually trade our little chest freezer

off for a refridgerator just for me...must be true love...well, I DO

cook him veggies that I don't allow myself, and promised that we'd still

eat out every week on payday-Now thats MY problem about what to eat. I

suppose it'll be just salad, or take my own meal of raw foods and eat it

there with the salad...sounds good enough for me. Yes, the fat is coming

off of me. Not going to weigh till a whole bunch comes off.

Encouragement and freely shared information is priceless.

Elaine

 

 

Roger Haeske wrote:

 

>

> Ways I failed at going 100% Raw

>

> I've had some requests to share in my failures on the raw

> diet. I attempted to go 100% raw for extended periods of

> time and failed at least 5 times.

>

> The very first time I tried it I had only read two books on

> a raw food diet. In fact, it was a mucousless diet that I

> was doing, according to Arnold Ehret. I felt good but after

> 3 days, I realized that I was giving up way too much. Where

> was the flavor? All I was basically eating where fruits and

> some vegetables. I didn't know anything about recipes. I

> don't even think I was eating much in the way of nuts, seeds

> or avocados.

>

> It was too big of a jump for me to make mentally at that

> time. The tastes were bland to me and so I couldn't imagine

> eating like this long term. This wasn't what I wanted for my

> life so I stopped. The cost for super health SEEMED much too

> high at the time.

>

> The next time I tried it I had read more books. I read Fit

> for Life and Fit for Life 2 and then I looked for something

> in Natural Hygiene that emphasized going 100% raw. It seemed

> to me that would be the best way to go. I got The Basic

> Health Library of three big 8.5 x 11inch sized books put out

> by T.C. Fry. So I learned all about Natural Hygiene and

> fasting.

>

> I went 100% raw in the wintertime. I felt many benefits.

> Eventually I ran into some problems. First of all, I became

> very thin. So this worried me. I didn't want to look that

> thin. (Now what I think is normal weight has changed. I've

> also learned to put on muscle so I don't look so thin.) Then

> I was cold all the time. I was also hungry all the time.

> Eventually I realized that I didn't have as much energy as I

> used to have.

>

> So I started eating dried fruit. Somehow this gave me a

> little more energy. But I never had as much as in my cooked

> food diet. Then I got the flu. I decided to heal it by

> fasting. So I got really skinny. This flu just wouldn't go

> away. It lasted for 6 weeks. So I got very skinny, but I

> refused to eat cooked food as I equated it in my mind as

> being poison. I started getting cramping in my feet.

> Unfortunately had I known a few things I could have stopped

> that flu. Part of it was elimination but the other part was

> that my body became either too acidic or too alkaline.

> Muscle cramping I found out later in the book Conscious

> Eating, is a symptom of both of these conditions.

>

> I probably was so acidic because I was detoxifying too

> quickly. I really should have done more of a transition to

> the raw diet. But I wanted the great results right away.

> Also, had I known about the acid base balance issue I could

> have made some adjustments. But if I was too acid then I

> don't know what I could have done besides eat cooked food to

> slow my elimination down, because the food I was eating was

> mostly alkaline fruits and vegetables. I barely ate any fats

> because I did not digest them well.

>

> At that time I didn't know about soaking nuts and seeds to

> make them more digestible. Also my body needed to be infused

> with enzymes, vitamins and minerals from my poor eating

> habits. Now I can handle fats much better.

>

> I believe had I just eaten some cooked foods I could have

> stopped that flu within the first week or two. That would

> have been preferable to such a fast detox. I was sick for 6

> weeks and it took me longer than that to get my strength

> back. Eventually I got to the point where I was still

> feeling hungry all the time and I didn't have enough energy

> and so I figured the raw diet was quite good but that my

> body could not handle it. I was 100% raw for about 3 months

> and finally gave it up.

>

> Eventually I learned about eating raw and soaked oat

> groats. I blended them with bananas. I also added lots of

> Spirulina. Sometimes I would blend sunflower seeds with

> banana. So I tried again to go 100% raw. I did fine for

> about 2.5 months. Then I had a vacation coming up. I knew I

> wouldn't be able to handle travel and sticking 100% raw. The

> reason for this was because I needed my blender for just

> about every meal. This didn't seem practical that I should

> need a blender for every meal.

>

> So I eventually gave up again. Also blending oat groats

> with bananas was always producing loose stools for me. I

> eventually developed these red rashes on my face near my

> nose. Somehow I believe I got those because of eating so

> much Spirulina. I ate loads of spirulina for at least 2

> years. It also produced in me orange hands as if I were

> drinking a lot of carrot juice. This happened because of the

> high levels of beta carotene in spirulina.

>

> Those red spots are gone now. It took about a year of going

> 100% raw and no spirulina. I learned that spirulina wasn't

> good because it had B12 analogues that could block the

> absorption of real B12 in my body.

>

> Eventually I attended some talks from Dr. Graham that

> corrected all of my misinformation. Keep in mind that I had

> attended lectures by most of the worlds top raw foodists

> before this. They all came to NY City to lecture. But I

> still couldn't figure out how to do it. I even attended

> lectures a year before by Dr. Graham. I was open to new

> ideas, I just wasn't able to put them into practice for the

> long term.

>

> The stuff that Dr. Graham covered at these two lectures

> corrected all of my false ideas about the raw diet. The key

> thing I learned was that I wasn't eating enough fruit. That

> is why I was weak. Yet I thought I was eating a lot of

> fruit. But when I analyzed the calorie content in what I was

> eating, I realized I wasn't eating enough.

>

> Then I learned all about other Raw Food and Vegetarian

> myths at the next lecture. I learned that bacteria produces

> B12 so I didn't have to worry too much about that. And I

> could supplement B12 if I ever did start showing

> deficiencies. I learned that there are many more meat eaters

> who suffer B12 deficiency than vegetarians. So eating meat

> wasn't necessarily the answer.

>

> A week after those lectures I went with my friend and 100%

> raw foodist Joel Brody to Canada. The night before I had my

> last Thai Food meal and I planned to at least go 100% raw

> for two months and see how I could do it. Having him on the

> trip was really helpful. He brought lots of the organic

> fruit and vegetables. I imbibed how to do the diet in his

> presence.

>

> A great point he said was that if I was craving cooked food

> I should just eat more raw food. That took care of the

> cravings pretty well. I soon realized that at least 50% of

> the entertainment value of my vacations, was going out to

> all the restaurants. This was especially true as we were

> taking a tour of downtown Toronto and going through

> Chinatown. I was constantly thinking of all the restaurants

> I'd like to be eating in. This really made my cravings go

> up. In addition, I was constantly hungry.

>

> Joel told me that in the first year of going raw he really

> ate a lot. Now he eats much less and he gained back the

> weight he lost so he doesn't look skinny. I had to eat a lot

> of food since I was just starting to go 100% raw. Later in

> the trip I learned to focus my mind on all the benefits of

> the raw diet. I stopped myself from thinking about the fact

> that I could never eat in a cooked food restaurant again.

> (At least the cooked foods therein.) I also told myself that

> I could eat cooked food again after two months, if I really

> wanted to. This psychological trick allowed me to overcome

> my initial cravings.

>

> Not thinking about what I was missing, tremendously reduced

> my cravings. Later I found out that most of the cravings

> were exacerbated by my thinking and not any actual craving.

> If you focus on the benefits of the raw diet the cravings

> for cooked foods goes away.

>

> Much later on, I learned to start preparing raw food dishes

> that were so tasty that I didn't have cravings for cooked

> food anymore. The reason being is I knew I could easily

> satisfy my cravings through delicious raw foods. I would say

> that if you can learn to prepare just three tasty raw food

> dishes, your transition to eating 100% raw foods will be easy.

>

> So I hope this was helpful to some of you. Going 100% raw

> is easy if you know how to do it right. Most people I've

> found had a hard time doing it without support. I had Joel

> to watch over me and help me through the initial stages. He

> told me the cold sores in my mouth were normal and that they

> were detoxification. The first week I had these sores in my

> mouth and I kept on biting myself. But they were gone in a

> week. If Joel weren't there I might have stopped my

> experiment right away because I was afraid that eating all

> that fruit was the problem and not that it was a simple

> detoxification.

>

> I talk to Joel all the time. The more you hang around 100%

> raw foodists the more it rubs off on you.

>

> Keep in mind though that you have to be careful. Sometimes

> you can be doing something wrong and it isn't always

> detoxification.

>

> To Your Radiant Health, Roger Haeske

>

>