Raw Epicure

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I wrote a few comments to a person asking about how complex food combinations

can lead a person to

fall off the raw wagon sometimes, or at least to remain stuck in a rut of

non-improvement in health,

and thought I'd cross-post them here in case they might be helpful to some.

Nora

 

Hello,

Whether somebody can give up complex raw meals and do the simple eating that

is required for

optimal, long-term health will be dependent on many factors, including how

invested s/he is in the

business of preparing complex recipes. A person who has made a hobby out of

cooked food preparation

will feel a huge void in his/her life after going raw if s/he tries to eat

simply. Many people who

go raw are happy to find a way to replace their cooked food gourmandizing by

preparing raw food

recipes. Some even manage to earn a living either teaching, preparing foods or

catering. Creating

and preparing raw recipes also allows people to feel more normal around friends

and family, since it

models itself after conventional gastronomy.

In cases like those, it's going to be difficult for a person to give up

the recipes because

they'll have to face the loss of livelihood, hobby or 'normalcy' in addition to

the already

problematic feelings of physical withdrawal that giving up harmful foods or food

combinations

brings. This is the same kind of withdrawal that people go through when they

try to get off cooked

food, caffeine, cigarettes, etc. The digestion of complex meals with multiple

ingredients and

harmful flavorings (garlic, onion, vinegar, cacao, etc.) requires a great deal

of energy

expenditure, much more than simple raw food. When bodily energy is

over-expended, the loss must be

made up for later. The loss occasions feelings of low energy or other

unpleasant sensations which

people have come to call " cravings " . Actually, it's just the body calling for

rest so it can

recover. When those feelings hit, the person wants the thing that gave him/her

the previous 'high'.

So, rather than giving the body the rest it needs, s/he gives it just the

opposite -- more work.

This is the cycle of addiction, and it can obviously apply to raw fooders as

easily as cooked food

eaters. A person who wants to continue making fancy recipes for one reason or

another will find it

easy to deny that s/he is in the grip of addiction, especially since even eating

very complex raw

recipes has huge health advantages over the typical cooked food diet.

It's difficult enough for people to cure their addictions when they're

prepared to face them

and are willing to wean themselves off whatever abusive practice they're doing.

Even if a raw chef

wants to do this, it's going to be difficult because while a person could eat

simply for the most

part and just taste the foods s/he's preparing, the person will find it

difficult to stop there with

everyone else around him/her freely indulging. Most people find that when

trying to get over a

specific food or substance, complete abstinence is what works best. I don't

think it's impossible

for a person to be into raw food prep and eat simply, it's just going to be more

difficult.

It's hard to say whether raw gourmandizing typically leads people back to

cooked food. I

imagine it does sometimes, because eating complex raw foods can keep people from

experiencing the

benefits they were seeking or expecting, and in those cases the sacrifices

required to stay raw

won't seem worth it. On the other hand, raw chefs have a great incentive to

stay raw because of the

visibility they create for themselves.

It needs to be said, as well, that since there will always be people in

transition, there will

always be a need for fancy raw food creations. In transition it is very helpful

to learn how to

create food combinations that replicate cooked food favorites, swap recipes with

others, sample

dishes at potlucks and generally make food preparation a complicated affair if

that's what a person

is used to. In fact, it's necessary for most people to do this for years while

gradually training

themselves to eat more simply. Learning to feel satisfied eating the simple,

unadorned foods of our

biological adaptation is a skill that takes years to master. As the body

becomes cleaner, more

efficient and consequently more sensitive, it becomes apparent to anyone who is

listening to his/her

body that simpler eating habits are required for progress to continue.

Hope this answers your question! Thanks for asking and best of luck.

Warm regards,

Nora

www.RawSchool.com