"5 Ways to Overcome Social Obstacles on the Raw Food Diet, Part 1"

by Frederic Patenaude

Let me ask you a simple question. Do you find it hard to try to improve your health, eat raw foods and really take good care of yourself when there is social pressure to eat junk food, get drunk and be just like everybody else?

Do you face opinions, negativity and skepticism from other people about the raw food diet or anything “different” you might be doing?

Do you find it hard to get what you want at a restaurant or deal with someone who’s resistant to your changes?

I find that it’s a big problem for people.

You may want to do all the right things to improve your health but your friends, work colleagues or family members might be very resistant to these changes!

By the time you’ve finished this two-part article, you’ll have 5 great tips to overcome most social obstacles on the raw food diet.

Communicate — With Yourself

Communication is everything. The only reason why you are experiencing social difficulties for doing something different is because of your communication.

There is nothing else.

Now I know you may disagree, but hear me out on this.

The only reason that you find it “socially” difficult to eat a raw food diet or be different is because of your communication with yourself and with others.

Your communication with yourself is the little voices in your head that tell you things like:

“Oh, they won’t understand me.”

“They’ll think I’m crazy if I explain what I’m doing.”

“I’ll never be able to get what I want at this restaurant.”

“It’s so hard to be social on this diet.”

“Well, I’d rather be social and happy but not so healthy than become a hermit, a health food nut.”

Does this sound familiar?

The truth is that all of that is just a big long story and it doesn’t mean anything. You create everything by your thoughts, so if you think that you can’t be social on a raw food diet, that’s exactly what will happen.

If you think that other people won’t understand you, that’s exactly what will happen.

If you think people will think you’re crazy, that’s exactly what will happen.

And if you think it’s not possible to be healthy AND socialize with the rest of the world, that’s exactly what will happen!

So the first step is to really get rid of all these pre-conceived ideas and all of that mental chatter and have the expectation that yes, you can have a great social life and eat whatever makes you feel best!

Communicate — With Others

The next part of communication is with other people. Usually, people communicate a lot but for the wrong reasons. Basically, their communication lacks power.

You may try to convince somebody, but it’s not going to make them change their mind, have you noticed?

You may try to explain what you’re doing, but the other person might not necessarily get it, right?

So what should you do?

The kind of communication you need to have with people around you is a powerful conversation that enables people to realize that what you’re doing is *important* to you, in a way that leaves them touched and inspired.

It doesn’t mean that they have to do it too. AND it doesn’t mean that they have to understand exactly what you’re doing.

But they can be touched and inspired by you sharing with them what you’re doing for yourself and why it’s important to you.

Here’s an example:

Go to the people around you and have a conversation along these lines:

“Bob, I have something I need to share with you, and I’d really appreciate it if you could give me your attention. You know, I really respect you and who you are, and I think it’s important that I share with you something important I’ve been doing. Can I do that?”

At this point, you’ve created a space for communication to happen. Then you could say:

“Bob, I want to let you know that I’ve been following this new diet of raw foods, and it’s something I need to do at the moment.

“I know this means I won’t be able to eat the same foods as everybody else for a while. But this is something I’m doing for myself and I don’t want to force it on anybody else, including you, Bob. I know it’s helping me and my health and it’s really making a difference in my life.

Right now, it’s really important that I get support from people around me. Can I get your support, Bob?”

Now that’s powerful communication. And that’s going to make a difference. And people will understand.

And if you think that you CANNOT have a conversation like that with people around you, refer back to the first part: communication with yourself!

Find Community and Support

Another big part of your success in being able to be social on a raw food diet is to find a community of people that believe in what you’re doing and that can support you in the process.

I’ll be talking about this and more tips for succeeding socially on a raw food diet in the next issue.

Now that you’ve got some of the most powerful tools to transform your relationships and succeed socially on a raw food diet, start using them and have these engaging conversations with people around you.

I’d like to leave you with the definition of the ultimate form of group community and support, the “Mastermind Group.”

Definition of a Mastermind

“The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.”

- Napoleon Hill, author of "Think and Grow Rich"

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