Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Add in the good stuff now, worry about cutting the bad stuff out later...


A big thing that I learned on my path to health with living foods was that the idea of sacrifice for health will not produce a healthy person, and certainly not a happy one.

Because I was working in New York at the time, I was really trying my best to immediately lose weight and develop more lean muscle. So I cut out everything bad. Or at least I attempted to. For a few weeks, I dropped ice cream, pizza, indian food, and falafels. I was doing two green smoothies a day, plus apples. I was losing weight fast, but in my mind I was suffering. I was still addicted to those foods, and by cutting myself off right away, the weak part of me was angry and resentful towards the disciplined part of me. I was going crazy, and I would reach an occasional breaking point.

Wandering the streets of the East Village like a drug fiend, I would walk into a pizza place and order two slices. After eating them too quickly, I would realize that I was yet to be satisfied. So next, I would get a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Soon after adding that whole pint to the pizza, I was starting to feel the food-coma setting in. I would return to my apartment and lay in bed, feeling guilty and bloated. I would swear that I would learn my lesson, but these episodes would continue off and on for months.

I wasn't in the proper mindstate yet. I was too worried about what I was cutting out, and not focusing on what I should have been adding in. This is the key. Don't focus on what you want to cut out right away. Of course cooked starches and cooked oils and refined sugar are horrible and should be completely eliminated from your body, but that will happen with time. As long as you continue to feel as if you are depriving yourself of these items, you won't be ready yet. What I am saying, is that the best path early on is to just add good things in, and the rest will work itself out with time. The body will know what is good, and the idea of canceling out your healing foods with garbage again will quickly lose its appeal.

So get your green juice in everyday. Get a green smoothie in your body everyday for breakfast. Make sure you eat a grapefruit, and one avocado a day is magic. Make a superfood smoothie with coconuts and raw chocolate and goji berries and bee pollen. Eat highly mineralized raw foods. If you still desire something else, go for it. But sooner, rather than later, you will shift towards 95-100% raw without having that feeling of regret and guilt and sacrifice.

I knew the truth...I had experienced the "raw high" after those first two weeks. Nevertheless...the old habits were ingrained in my mind, and I still desired the garbage. Now, I can honestly say that I eat everything that I want. The only difference is this: What I want now isn't what I used to want. I don't miss the pizza, the burgers, the eggs and pancakes. Thats not even food in my mind anymore. I don't want it like I used to. And this will happen to you as well. Just add in the goodies, and the rest will take care of itself.

Peace and love ALL WAYS...

Anthony

3 comments:

The Green Girls (Rose and Erin) said...

What you're saying is so true! I'm on my 3rd attempt at eating raw and this time it is so easy and I feel so dedicated. I'm finally at the right place where I know what I want and I no longer desire my old lifestyle. Raw rocks!

Ingenue, Interrupted said...

Bless you for sharing this! It's exactly this kind of honesty that helps people that are excited about raw truly transform into people that are freed from food addictions. Raw Dogma can be really intense and misleading to the seeker. It is entirely possible to feel nutritionally elated and at the same time experience a sort of spiritual bankruptcy 'cause your mental is just not on.

Suddenly stripping yourself of all your comfort foods leaves alot of the psyche bared and ready to rumble. I'm a recovering alchoholic and I see alot of parallels between the two. Just stopping drinking is nearly impossible w/o a spiritually based program of recovery running in tandem. And if you do succeed in staying dry you're likely miserable and angry, seeing as you've just lost the only coping mechanism you had.

I find food issues to be surprisingly similar...

Cheers,
Ingenue

R L Yurisko said...

What is in that pic? It looks delicious!

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