Back in the Raw!

The holidays proved to be a pretty difficult time to stay high raw. Like many of you, I struggled to stay on my high raw diet. My body definitely felt the difference. While I still ate healthy and vegetarian, I was tempted by the cheese and the sweets. Needless to say, my percentage of raw foods dropped significantly. I felt it in my energy level, my skin blemishes, and bloating. There have been so many times in my past where I broke a diet thinking it would be just for a night or a week. If you are like me, it is easy to get stuck in a cycle of "eat bad, feel bad, rationalize that you have already blown the diet, eat more, feel even worse, rationalize..." I did not want to get stuck in the SAD rut. However a raw food diet is not the typical diet.

I found other diets were hard for me to maintain because I did not feel very good while I was doing them. I tried many ways to lose weight in my past, including The Zone, The South Beach Diet, Slimfast, and yes, even Atkins (I am ashamed to admit some of those, but it is the truth). Desperate people do desperate things. Anyway, all of theses diets made me cranky, hungry, and tired. My skin did not improve, either. However, a raw diet is completely different. Although I thought I wanted some of our traditional goodies, once I ate them I could immediately feel the difference in my body. I longed for my green smoothies! I was able to rationalize that if I did not like the way my food was making me feel, "the only way to get out is to change." And this time I knew exactly what would help me feel better! The last few weeks I have been revving up my raw diet again and kicking it into gear.

This morning I noticed my energy level has returned, my stomach is flat again, and my skin is clear. It is amazing to me how quickly and efficiently the body can work when we don't obstruct it. I am very glad to be back in the raw! The five pounds I gained are history and I learned that sweet and creamy didn't taste near as good as I thought it would.