Raw Food and Emotional Eating

For years I have struggled with emotional eating. I think it is one of the things that drew me to studying nutrition (that and my passion for everything having to do with anything edible). I would swear off of sugar only to binge three or four days later. Feel terrible for four days and then repeat the cycle. As much as I loved breads, cereals, cakes and cookies I felt imprisoned by their allure and my desires.

I tried many things to break this cycle. I fasted, cleansed, journaled and meditated. Everything helped in its own way but the song of sugar always rang loudest and in the end, the box of cookies prevailed. How could someone like me, who knew so much about food, still fall prey to ingredients?

And then raw food came along. And I was doing my Wisdom of Wellness series. And as part of the series I was interviewing David Wolfe. And I love nutrition. And I love David Wolfe. And David Wolfe is raw.

So I took up the challenge to go 100% raw for three weeks. Well, I didn't make it. I haven't been 100% raw but man, what a journey it has been (and in such a short time!!). The most amazing thing, apart from how alive I feel, is that my cravings, my emotional eating, is gone. Gone.

Now, I'm not saying it is gone for good. I've been down this road too many times to make a statement like that. But for now, right in this moment (which is all I really care about), I have no cravings. Don't get me wrong - I am still eating sweet things. The only difference is they are foods sweetened with dates and agave. Foods that don't encourage insulin spiking that lead to stress on the system resulting in a stronger desire for the very foods that wreak the most havoc on my system. They are foods that feel good. That nourish me. And I feel nourished.

I don't have to resist eating chips at 10 pm or frying up a tortilla with butter just before bed. I don't need to force myself to stop eating the chocolate chips or deny myself that second piece of cake. I don't have to do any of this because I don't even want it.

If I had known that raw foods would lead me here, I would have walked this road years ago. But all in its own perfect time. And that time seems to be now.