Step #1. I recognize that I have developed an addiction to cooked foods and my diet has become uncontrollable

The first step is the hardest. Usually in my classes, after hearing the above sentence, someone gets up and leaves the room, slamming the door. And I never see them again. I apologize if you get the same urge. Please don't jump to conclusions. Let's first answer the following questions.
A questionnaire to identify addiction to cooked food.
This questionnaire helps determine your addiction to cooked foods. Please answer only "yes" or "no" to the following questions. If you feel like answering "sometimes", "maybe" or "rarely" - that still means "yes. Please be honest in your responses.

1) If you are not hungry but you are offered your favorite dish, will you refuse or not?
2) You know it's bad to eat at night, but there is a delicious meal on the table, will you eat it or not?
3) If you feel stressed, do you eat more than usual?
4) Do you keep eating until you feel your stomach is full to bursting?
5) Do you eat when you are bored?
6) Do you pay attention to the names of restaurants even when you are not hungry?
7) Do you always accept an invitation for a delicious free meal?
8) Do you usually overeat at restaurants where you can eat as much as you want?
9) Have you broken your word to yourself not to eat at night?
10) Do you spend your last $10 on your favorite food?
11) Do you reward yourself with a delicious meal for an accomplishment?
12) Do you finish everything with no leftovers just so you don't have to throw it away?
13) If you know that a certain food you really love usually makes you sick, will you eat it again?

If you answered yes to three or more questions, then you have an addiction to cooked food. Sometimes even raw foodists answer yes to more than three questions. This usually happens to those who are not 100% raw or have just become raw. For a year and a half after I became a 100% raw foodist, I looked to food as a source of comfort. I still thought that food was a symbol of love, that love came from food, and that we get joy and pleasure from food. That view changed when I reached the one and a half year mark. I began to find other pleasures in my life. I didn't look for comfort in food anymore. If you are a raw foodist and answered yes to more than three questions in the above questionnaire, don't feel bad. After a while, this will change (your focus will change). For those of you who only follow a raw food diet 99% of the time, food can remain a lifelong source of comfort and pleasure. That 1% of cooked food in your diet still keeps you addicted in the same way someone who thinks they've quit drinking but still has a shot of vodka on Saturdays. Did he stop being an alcoholic?

Have you heard the expression "hitting rock bottom"? It is said that a person must "hit rock bottom" before he or she can stop drinking. Imagine those who have been drinking for years, ruined their health and family, lost their jobs, who have been begged by their family to stop drinking, but they can't. And then suddenly they "bottomed out" and a miracle happened - they quit drinking for good. Have you ever wondered what happens when someone hits rock bottom and why it affects people so much? I used to think that people hit rock bottom when they experience deep despair or near death. If you think so too, I want to assure you that this is not true at all! People "hit rock bottom" at different stages of their addiction. Some no sooner quit smoking than they get pulmonary emphysema, some can quit in the initial stages of their addiction, and some lose everything and die but can't kick the habit. This means that hitting "rock bottom" is not due to illness or despair, but depends on something else. What is it? What is it about magic that brings people back to full life?

It's the power of acceptance. In other words, you face the truth. This is the foundation of all 12 Steps programs. I want you to understand that clearly. People "hit rock bottom" when they honestly recognize that they have lost control. Often it only happens after years of suffering. Which shows how many people are afraid to admit the truth and don't understand why it's so important. How many times have you heard an alcoholic assure, "I can quit drinking at any time. I just don't want to." They can't admit they've lost control. It's called "denial." Have you ever heard a smoker say: "I can quit smoking, but it makes me feel good and I don't have any health problems". Are they not in denial? We all know that smoking is bad for your health. However, not everyone knows that those who recognize their powerlessness are literally instantly relieved. It's immediately clear what needs to be done, and you don't have to fall into despair or acquire a serious illness to change your life. When we recognize that we have a problem, then we begin to work on it, and then we begin to move toward healing from the addiction. So it's better to "hit rock bottom" sooner rather than later. Let me go first.
Hello, my name is Victoria Butenko and I am addicted to cooked food. In the last eight years of being on raw food, I've only had one breakdown. Even though I don't eat cooked food now, I know that once I taste it, I'll want to start eating it again. I know that clearly. I feel this craving for cooked food as something huge sleeping somewhere in my body: sleeping a deep sleep for today and not preventing me from living a full life and being happy. But I also know that I depend on cooked food, and if I eat it, this giant will wake up and completely take over my life. There, I said it. I admitted that I depend on cooked food. And the world was not destroyed by it. No one died from my revelation. My husband also loves me. My children also love me. It's okay. That confession made me feel more powerful. I have clearly defined my addiction, and therefore know how to deal with it. The power lies in self-knowledge.

Cooked food is one of the strongest addictions. If we go to a health store and see an organic mango worth $2.99 apiece, we exclaim, "How expensive!" Then we see freshly baked pies for $2.99 and think, "How cheap! I'm very naked!" We buy pies for a quick treat or to dull the feeling of inner emptiness. That's how we lose control. How often I hear, "I'd really like to become a raw food eater, but when I get home and look in the fridge, I don't choose raw food, but rather the food that brings me "comfort". Recall question #2 from the "Cooked Food Addiction Questionnaire." Do you eat late at night, even if you're not hungry, if your friend unwraps something delicious? That's how we lose control. You have made the decision not to eat late at night before bed, but you do it anyway, t.к. the temptation is too great. This deliciousness promises to be a pleasure. You remember a previous experience when this dish made you feel good and so you want to eat it. Then your craving overpowers your earlier decision not to eat at night, this is the indicator of addiction. All 132 cancer patients I met at the Health Institute felt better on a raw diet. They all made the decision to become raw foodists, t.к. their tumors have shrunk. Many of them managed to go to college or started looking for a new job. But when they got home and met with temptation when Christmas came around or a birthday came around, they didn't stick to the raw food diet. They're all dead. They left their children and loved ones orphaned, only because they could not resist their addiction to cooked food. And that's the bitter truth. I know their names. I knew these people personally. I taught them how to sprout grains. I talked to their relatives. They all had the support of their families. But the addiction to cooked food overpowered, and they died. I remember Cindy from Michigan. She worked as a school teacher. Her three sons told her: "Mom, we're going to make you juice. Eat only raw food and live." Cindy's husband told her: "Stay on the raw food diet, we'll all support you." But she couldn't, and her cancer came back. She's dead. Here's more proof that cooked food is an addiction.

These stories show that the addiction to cooked food is stronger than the fear of death. Stronger than the fear of any disease, stronger than suffering and pain. The only way to overcome our addiction to cooked food is through awareness of that addiction and the fact that cooked food controls our lives, and through the application of the 12 Step program.
The support of the people around you is a powerful force. If I didn't have the support of my family, I would have died a long time ago. For a long time I didn't realize that right in my house lives an AA group (my family) that is there to support me at any moment. Yes, I've been 100% raw for 8 years now. I am totally committed to raw food. I don't even think about cooked food. When I walk down the street, I don't pay any attention to restaurants. When I walk into the Varne & Noble bookstore, the smell of coffee doesn't entice me. But I know that if, for example, something happens to me and I go to a hospital where raw food is not available, and I eat the first spoonful of cooked food, the consequences will be terrible. I have watched this happen to many of my friends. Something would happen in their lives and they would start eating cooked food again, even though they had been unwavering 100% raw eaters for a long time before that. I am well aware that the addiction to cooked food still sits in my body.

In the excerpts below, taken from my classes, various people share their perceptions of step #1.
Linda: I think I've hit rock bottom. I've been a raw foodist for quite some time. My whole family got together for Christmas, and I decided to make a traditional dinner - all the things I used to cook once before. I baked different pies and prepared all sorts of delicious dishes that everyone loved so much, and the process of cooking for my family gave me a lot of pleasure. And after the holidays, I felt really sick from all the cooked food I ate. That was my "bottom."
Dalia: I eat very poorly and am definitely dependent on cooked food, which started at an early age when my parents started feeding me cooked food.
Carol: This step is hard for me to take.
Victoria: That's okay.
Carol: I haven't gotten to the point where I recognize an addiction to cooked food yet.
Victoria: It's no big deal. We're still happy to have you here.
Carol: I'd really like to move in that direction, but it's hard for me to talk about my addiction.
Victoria: Thank you for your candor.
Brighton: I just can't believe how addicted I am to cooked food.
Caitlin: I already know for a fact that I depend on cooked food, t.к. for the past three years, I've been on and off a raw food diet. When I cook potatoes or rice or whatever for my family, I always know that I don't want to eat it, that it would be better if I cooked something raw for myself. But I end up eating cooked food with everyone else..