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Tired Rawlready

Hey all – I had a tough weekend. My best friend came to visit and we went out every night to restaurants we both love. I’ve been 100% raw since the 1st- and I’m basically doing a 1 month trial run to see how things go – or – change, until I decide how committed to raw I’ll be in the future. However, after this weekend, and realizing how much social interaction, and enjoyment is derived from going out to eat with friends, and enjoying good food with good company I’m bummed. In addition to being disappointed with restaurant selections, I’m getting really low on funds. I hate that it’s expensive to eat well. No wonder this country is so obese. On top of that, I’m getting sick of preparation time. Everything takes so long to “assemble” and I haven’t even attempted anything requiring a dehydrator, or food processor, I’m sick of chopping and blending!

I apologize for being such a complainer, but I am in need of a little motivation or encouragement, or any kindred spirits out there feeling what I’m feeling! We’ll see, I’m going to begrudgingly trek on… =p

Comments

  • I went 100% raw from Thanksgiving to Christmas last year and I think I went through the same things you are going through! I ended up finding that I personally am much happier at 75% raw. I can still go out and enjoy the social aspect of eating a cooked meal, but the majority of my food is raw. However, there are plenty of people that have made a 100% raw lifestyle work for them. But if you are constantly “hating” it, then you are not going to enjoy it of course! Find what works for you. But I do encourage you to stick with the 100% raw for the rest of the month. You will find that it does get easier – or at least you get more used to it! Good luck!

  • This lifestyle is definitely more work than a SAD lifestyle. I believe that you need to give it a bit of time to see if it’s worth it. I was very excited about it at the beginning so completely motivated to put in the extra time and effort. Then I began to experience impatience with it – it’s time consuming, it’s expensive, it has social implications, etc.. – so I slipped back a bit and had some cheese and a few crackers and a chocolate bar or two, maybe some potato chips…and you know what? It is now COMPLETELY and TOTALLY worth the time, the effort and the expense. When I eat raw I feel my food – I feel the energy that it gives – I feel what it’s doing to my body and my mood. When I eat SAD I feel it too – tired, lethargic, unsatisfied.

    It’s not for everyone but I suggest you listen to your body – not your friends or the commercials. Your body will tell you what’s right if you take the time to listen.

    I hope this helps. Good luck.

  • food processor is a big time saver, in my opinion.

    you may prefer an 80% diet, so that you can eat what suits you when you go out with your friends.

  • I agree with mandelicious, a food processor is a necessity in terms of speeding up food prep. I had always tried to eat healthy and organic, but last summer I went 100% raw for about 3 months and I felt amazing! I was previously very low energy, but on all raw food I was bouncing off the walls and loosing tons of weight. I have two teenage kids and a husband and while they were fine having salads and smoothies all summer, it became too difficult for me to take the time to prepare two separate meals every evening once fall set in and everyone wanted hot food. At first I caved and figured if I had to eat cooked food then I would eat something yummy, like pizza or eggnog lates, but after a few months of putting weight back on and loosing energy I decided to eat raw until dinner and have a salad or steamed veges with a healthy cooked main dish. I feel much better and I have given myself the freedom to shoot for 100% when viable but be satisfied with just eating as healthy as I can. Don’t feel defeated, what is important is that you find what works for your body and lifestyle. If you do want to try to go all raw though, there is no better time than summer.

  • Hi everyone, I’m a working Mum with 3 children. Time is a constraint for me and most of our money is spent on just eating well. I have struggled on this path for years because of it. But I found a plan, and it works. 1) I grew myself a veggie garden. Pots on balcony, full of the greens I need, and vegie garden out the back. Only with the neccessities. Mostly salad foods. I found this to be a huge saviour. When I couldn’t afford organic I would get really sad. NOw I rarely go without. 2) Dedicate one night to soaking, next day for drying and sprouting. I would soak the nuts for nutmilk and soak for my sprouts and bread. Then I would make loads of Linseed cracker bread and Essene bread. I had to write all the recipes I wanted to make and try to time it in with my time schedule and day off. It took some preparation at first but I now find it a habit that works well.

    And I swear by my blender and masticating juicer. Again chopping but the juice last longer and you make up big batches and then just add to your blender with loads of fruit and greens.

    It helps me alot. Good luck.

  • worleyhimself2worleyhimself2 Raw Newbie

    sounds like you need more greens. load em up. that will get you motivated. juice em smoothie em or salald it up. i eat 6 lbs of spinach, 2 lbs of mixed greens, bunch of kale, head parsley, head of cilantro a week. as far as my greens. i go threw it like crazy and dont even realize it. that gets me goin.

    social concerns: eat something you totally are into before you go out and then order some kind of salad. you can even sneak in an item or 2. to put on your salad.

    low on funds: keep it simple. and eat lots of greens. i have always been a big time eater. whether it was 3 hungry man tv dinners or 5 guacamole wraps. till recently i have been eating alot of spinach. spinach in my juices and smoothies and salads. and i have never been so satisfied. otherwise i would buy nuts and seeds like crazy. and then agave, or yacun, and coconut oil and cacao, and raisins, and all this other stuff to go along with them. nuts and seeds have baggage. buying some extra greens saved me alot of green.

    preparation: keep it simple once again. i dont mind spending time in the kitchen, but i dont. find a few recipes you’ll love all the time. those recipes will evolve into others and change without you realizing it. and throw something different once in awhile. you dont have to be scraping coconut meat and slicing veggies all thin every other meal. i buy cherry tomatoes. that saves me time on cuttin. also rinse everything when you bring them home from store. you can even… example chop up your parsley and put it in a air tight container. then when ever you need it just pinch it. theres time to prepare everything at once, but as the week goes on it helps big time.

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    NewbyRaw – you can DO this. really. initially I was discouraged too. but it’s possible! I eat green smoothie breakfast, fruit for lunch, (this is all cheap, NO PREP required), and a yummy goneraw recipe for dinner – something that takes 30 minutes or less. my fave recipes are here: http://www.goneraw.com/account/box/94981

    once you learn to make some fave recipes, it’s super quick to make them. you can churn out 5 fresh dishes in a couple hours on the weekend, for example: cabbage slaw, dancing chicken salad, tuno, Lorianne’s Spicy Yellow “Rice”, etc. and eat a different one each day of the week! That way, you spend ZERO time in the kitchen during the week. Truly amazing!

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