Falling Off The Raw Food Wagon

How many times have you seen it? Heard it? Sympathized with it? Done it? If you've ever tried one of the plethora of weight loss diets out there, then you most likely have fallen off the dietary wagon. Binged. Gone off the deep end. Ate like there was no tomorrow, only to regret it later. You were doing so well! You wonder how in the world you could have let such a thing happen?

Many times one of the key ingredients to set yourself up for such a dietary mishap is trying to be too strict or rigid; as the cliche goes "Biting off more than you can chew".

If your efforts at weight loss, health improvement, or any of the other benefits that changing to a better way of eating provide are too vastly different from what you're used to, you will send not only your body but your emotions into such a turmoil and create so much stress for yourself that you can't help but snap back like a rubberband when the tension gets too great.

Depending on what new fad diet you're attempting this time around, you are sure to experience falling off the wagon in some form or another. That is one of the many reasons why the raw food diet has been such a lifesaver for so many people. It is not an 'on or off' diet, you simply change the foods you are eating to healthy raw versions gradually and sanely. Your body adjusts as you go and health improves as weight normalizes. Sounds quite normal and natural, doesn't it? Kind of like the way eating should be!

On the one hand, if you are slowly and intelligently transitioning over to eating exclusively raw foods, you may end up overeating on things that are actually good for you. Now that's not to say that overeating is ever good, but sometimes it's what you're eating that can either help or sabotage your efforts.

If you can't handle the 'deprivation' anymore, which is what most fad diets offer, you may find yourself at the nearest drive-thru chowing down on everything you denied yourself all week. If, on the other hand, you are eating raw foods and you get the hungries, for whatever reason, and you end up downing half of a banana cream pie made with fresh, raw organic bananas, dates and pecans, you will undoubtedly fare much better and still reap health benefits even though you've effectively 'blown it.'

When you are eating a raw food diet the food satisfies you so much nutritionally, and is so rich in water and fiber, that you usually don't experience the same type of hunger. And when you do blow it and eat things that are less than ideal, you will feel its effects much more acutely than when you were used to eating that way. This can be the best deterrent for making these same mistakes over and over again.

When you gorge on all your old favorites after depriving yourself on a fad diet, it can almost feel like your body thanks you. But when you do such a thing after eating healthy raw foods for a time, your body will not thank you, it will spank you!

Wherever you are in your attempts to change the quality of the foods you consume, it's not uncommon to fall off the wagon, and it does go away if you persist. Think back to all the things that you used to do that you can't imagine doing now. Bingeing and falling off the wagon will end up being one of those, too, especially as your health improves and your nutritional requirements are met much more efficiently. A wise person once said "Old habits die hard, but they do die."

If you are interested in learning more about the raw food diet, there are various online resources available. Three websites I have found helpful are: http://rawfoodme.wordpress.com, http://rawfoodists.blogspot.com/, and http://www.kaboodle.com/rawfood.