“Dear Frederic,
“I have been studying raw foodism for some time and have moved in that direction significantly over the past few months. I would like to make the transfer to 100% raw, but run into situations I need to solve for myself.
“I can eat a balanced raw food diet for 3 to 4 days, and then about 6 in the evening of the last day, I will get the "gnaws" for something. I will try an avocado or some raw muselix or some almonds, trying to understand what that grinding restlessness is.
“Typically I will start my morning with a :
“7:00 am Diced apple and 1/3 cup of muesli (sunflower seeds, flax seeds, almonds, raisins and oat bran)
“9:00 am 1 Grapefruit
“12:00 pm Fruit salad of tomato, avocado, cucumber, Greek olive, and dulse
“3:00 pm Sun tea (peppermint)
“5:00 pm Green salad, black olives, cauliflower, leaf lettuce, cucumber, with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
“By 6:00 pm, I sometimes get the “gnawing.” It’s not hunger because I feel full but not satisfied. So, I begin this search for satisfaction. If I eventually have an apple fritter or bread, then I am satisfied (but I feel heavy and have a loss of energy and mental clarity). When it comes, it is strong. Sometimes I break down and have buttered popcorn with salt and that doesn’t do it either until the bread.
“Is this compulsive eating and I need to work with it that way?
“Is it a carb addiction?
“Is it an imbalance to my diet even though I have sweet fruit, fatty fruit and green veggies???
“I am willing to face this issue head on. Do I need to walk thru this for a week or a month until this craving is broken?
“Do I need to juice fast to break through this block?
“Maybe prayer and scripture time to carry me beyond this ?
“I am just not sure how to approach this challenge, psychologically or physiologically or spiritually.
“Any suggestion to the evening "gnaws" would be helpful. I suspect that grapefruit would suppress this. It’s strange to have a full stomach and still be climbing the walls in restlessness for something else.
“Any insight you might and could share with me would be helpful. Obviously, being intellectually convinced of this lifestyle is not enough. I want to know how to embrace this without it always being a white-knuckle experience. What will be the price, I wonder?
“Sincerely,
“Woodman”
MY ANSWER:
Dear Woodman,
Thank you for writing.
To respond to your questions, let me take some time to analyze your basic raw diet first.
You say that you eat a balanced raw food diet. Well, I’ve been looking at it and to me it’s quite obvious why you have those cravings.
Your basic diet is not something you can maintain in the long term. You are getting approximately 1000 calories a day, which would be enough for a sedentary 85-year old lady, but probably not for you!
Also, your diet is over 60% fat (by calories), which seriously compromises your nutrition and health potential.
This is not an emotional issue, or not “carb” addiction. You’ve simply been eating the wrong raw diet, and thus you’re body is doing the right thing by “requesting” more sustaining food!
For a start, I would recommend replacing your lunch, which is currently a fatty vegetable salad, by a large fruit meal or fruit smoothie. Right now, you are seriously undereating carbohydrates and overeating fat. You are also undereating in general.
The following resources will help you:
1- My book, “The Raw Secrets”, contains all the necessary information to get you started with a sustainable raw diet:
The Raw Secrets.
2- My course, “How to End Confusion About Nutrition”, will help you understand the problems with fat and why your current diet is not sustainable:
End Confusion.
3- My recipe book, “Instant Raw Sensations”, will give you the most essential recipes you need to get started:
Instant Raw Sensations.
4- My bonus book “The Best Foods on the Planet”: Which contains easy-to-follow menu plans and more explanations on how to create a diet that works for you. You can purchase it with the book “Instant Raw Sensations”.
Yours for success,
Frederic Patenaude
Frederic Patenaude's