Nasty Little Cravings

By Monica D. Siembor

“I’ll go crazy if I don’t give in to my cravings. They’re so excruciating and unbearable. They persist and never end . . .”

Get a hold of yourself. Put these unrealistic beliefs aside and know that cravings are uncomfortable, but not unbearable. They are time limited, and they will pass. By now, you know quite a bit about the addictive powers of cooked foods. They trigger cravings and make it difficult for us to keep our elephant appetites at bay. You can overcome those nasty little cravings. In fact, you will be more emotionally and physically healthy by learning to resist them. The first step to conquering cravings is to know why you experience them. There are generally three reasons for cravings.

1. Excitotoxins (salt, onions, garlic, strong spices, etc.)

These addictive substances are added to cooked and processed foods to make them more palatable. They excite your system, causing you to crave more and more of them. They interfere with your taste buds, so you tend to favor these foods over the simple goodness of fruits, veggies, and leafy greens.

2. Detoxification

Know that when you eat a low-fat raw vegan diet, your body detoxifies, eliminating years of cooked-food residue, sugar, caffeine, excitotoxins, etc. During detoxification, your body dumps these wastes and toxins into your bloodstream for elimination. When these harmful substances are in your bloodstream on their way out of your body, you crave more of them

3. Emotions

Many cravings are triggered by emotions, especially feelings of anxiety. People are used to dealing with emotions by sedating themselves with cooked and processed foods. They use these foods to put themselves into a “food coma” so to speak to escape their uncomfortable feelings. On a low-fat raw vegan diet, however, you don’t have this option. Raw foods do not offer that sedative effect as these foods are not dense like cooked foods. You are forced to deal with your emotions in ways other than by turning to food for comfort.

As you progress on your raw food journey, these cravings will continue to diminish day after day, year after year as you heal your taste buds, cleanse your body, and retrain your brain to choose raw fruits, veggies, and leafy greens over cooked and processed foods.