Step #6. I will find my own support
.In other words, find yourself a "friend who is a raw foodist". Try to find at least one person who is a raw foodist, such as someone from your work or a family member, with whom you can make a raw meal together daily and socialize. This step may not seem so important to you, and also difficult to accomplish.
Based on my years of experience and observations of hundreds of people seeking to transition to a raw diet, I believe that this individualized support is essential, especially in the first two months. I think it's impossible to become a raw foodist without support. On the other hand, when you have support, it's not hard at all to stay on raw food diet.
It's important that your raw food friend to support you in what you're doing. If you are really serious in your intention to become a raw foodist, you need to find support. All of my students in my 12 Steps classes have found support. Sometimes such a friend is not a raw foodist himself. Often it's a relative of a seriously ill person. For example, Aneta has cancer and her husband, himself not a raw foodist, has decided to be her support.
How does this support work? On a psychological level, the opinion of others is almost always more important to us than our own. It is harder to break a word given to another than it is to break a word given to yourself.
For example, when you walk up to the salad bar in a restaurant, you may have the thought of eating something cooked. Your inner voice says, "Who knows if the beans are really cooked or not, so put some on a plate. And those beets look raw too, maybe they're just pickled. It won't hurt you, put it on your plate too. And mayonnaise won't even make up 1% of your entire meal, you can put that in too." But if you have your raw food friend with you in that moment, who understands and supports you, your inner voice is silent. And it would be ideal to sit down to eat at least once a day with a raw food friend interested in helping you. It's not as hard to organize as it seems. Most of us eat three meals a day, one way or another. Why not share breakfast or lunch or dinner with a raw food friend while getting that much needed support.
Very often many people think that they have understood everything about support and will do without it. Unfortunately, this is what usually happens next: such a person comes home from work and says to himself, "I'm too tired to cook something for myself. I'll just eat an apple." Eating too monotonous, uninteresting, to last long on a raw diet manages to very few, counting the few, and even then only for a while. On the other hand, when you already have a raw food friend scheduled for dinner, you'll always want to cook something more appealing. And if inspiration strikes you, you can even cook something special. Variety in food will make your raw food life much more appealing.
If you try to transition to a raw diet on your own, it will be difficult to learn and embrace all the processes involved in raw food preparation, such as sprouting grains, dehydrating, souring vegetables, and making raw pies and cookies. And if you have a raw food friend, it's much easier to do it all together. For example, you make the salad first and your friend brings the dressing. Later, you'll learn how to make breadcrumbs and cookies in the dehydrator, and your raw food friend will learn how to make a raw pizza or cake. This commonwealth will inspire you to learn to cook more complex, gourmet raw food dishes and make your life more interesting and enjoyable.
When you don't have a raw food friend and your friends invite you over for a cooked meal, you run the risk of feeling deprived and lonely very quickly, it will make you feel stressed and you may be tempted. In a similar situation, if you have a raw food friend, having lunch or dinner with friends will give you a boost. Friendly support helps us get through a healing crisis without panic. Friendly support helps us see more clearly what the right choice would be and why. My observation is that those who have support find it much easier to stick with raw foodism than those who don't have that support. Everyone I know who has been on raw food for several years has support.
Step #7. I will find new activities and hobbies
.My whole existence used to center around food. I realized this as soon as I switched to raw food. When we eat cooked food, we literally live from meal to meal. We can't wait until it's time to eat something. Food is a kind of reward for our hard life. When we want to entertain ourselves, we eat. Very often our day goes as follows: have breakfast, work, have a snack, work, have lunch, work, have a snack, work, have dinner, sit, watch TV and chew something, go to bed. Most people don't have any other entertainment in their lives.
When you switch to raw eating, within just a couple weeks you will notice that the amount of food you eat decreases. Within a few months, your diet will quite naturally reduce to two meals a day. And then you can no longer center your life around food. Those who continue to have food as the center of their lives stop feeling joy and happiness and eventually leave raw foodism. If more than anything else you love a good meal, I suggest you find something else to do.
When you are on raw food diet your body will require less sleep. Since you will be eating less food, you will save a decent amount of money. You will also have noticeably more energy. So what will you do with this excess energy, time and money? Please don't answer by smiling: "No problem!" Yes, we all know what to do with extra money. However, from the unusual flow of turbulent energy, many people begin to feel "out of place" and, as a result, begin to do things that they later regret, others feel a strong euphoria. Excess energy can make an unprepared person too nervous. Excess time with no exercise can lead to deep depression, or even some unhealthy hobbies. Especially when life's main pleasure until recently was boiled food, which is now gone. Time and energy, if utilized properly, are invaluable assets. When you notice that you have started eating less, your life can no longer center around cooked food, now you have to find other things to do and as soon as possible.
Think back to your dreams that for whatever reason didn't materialize. In addition, find a couple small hobbies. Pay attention to what others are passionate about. And listen to what your heart draws you to.
Below I list my students' dreams that they have shared in my classes:
To learn to draw.
Learning to speak French.
Write a book.
Learn to play the flute.
Go camping.
Spend more time with the kids.
Sign up for a yoga class.
Plant flowers around the house.
Learn to dance.
Travel.
Learn to sew.
Learn to scuba dive.
Each of us has a dream that we have not been able to realize due to lack of time, money or energy. Now it's time to remember those dreams.
I also recommend that you engage in some type of exercise. This will bring your physical and mental energy into balance. If you didn't enjoy exercise in the past, I want you to be happy that by going raw, you will find any form of physical activity much easier and more enjoyable. No more stabbing in the side, no more panting and more attentive to nature and your body.
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