food amounts confusion :) help

[twinkletoes]

hi there,

im on day8 of MC1 and have been busy planning out my new post-cleanse raw lifestyle.... i think im on information overload and trying to sort things out and would appreciate a little help :)

ive been reading lots of stuff on the internet and have purchase a couple raw food books.... a lot of the recipies look SO yummy, i cant wait to try them in a few days.... here is where my confusion comes in.... i keep coming across things that say you can eat AS MUCH AS YOU WANT on the raw food diet and not gain any weight.... all of my logic tells me thats impossible and im stumpted.... in the end isn't it all about calories? i mean, if i eat 15 mangoes, a pound of nuts, and drink 5 green smoothies a day, i dont think i could maintain a normal weight.... so when it all comes down to it, is it all about moderation just like on any other "diet/eating style" ? ???

someone, please shed some light on this for me :)

(im an inpulsive/emotional eater, so i really WOULD eat as much as i could unless i was in the right frame of mind, and im trying to set up that frame of mind NOW while still on the cleanse)

[Res]

Oh dear....not sure I can be helpful here.

Don't go by what books or anyone else says (including me ;)). You already know you're a compulsive eater (for whatever reason) and emotional eating takes its toll on many of us so you're not alone.

But yes, logical thinking will tell you that if you overeat you're going to gain weight. Plus, you'll get a protruding belly all over again BUT, this is something that's going to take time to learn to control. If you learned to turn to food for comfort you're going to have to unlearn it. It's not about the food, it's about something going on inside of you that causes you to reach out for comfort...your comfort comes in the form of food. Other comforts are alcohol, sex, work, isolation (to name a few). So unfortunately it goes deeper than food. Most people don't want to delve deep to figure out what's really going on. It's the opening of the proverbially can of worms.

I run from anything that says, "EAT ALL YOU WANT AND LOSE WEIGHT". I hate gimmicks. It's just their way of selling something. There isn't a perfect EASY way to pig out and look like a super model at the same time, it's all bull and we have to accept that. I know I'm preaching to the choir here. It's as you said, "Moderation". But sometimes we don't feel moderate and we pig out for emotional reasons and we get fat again or feel uncomfortable with the weight gain so we go back to whatever helped us take the weight off (diets of some sort usually).

There's no guilt trip here. It's difficult to unlearn things so thats why many of us come back to the MC again and again. Some people say we're YO-YOing...well, they either have never had a weight problem OR they are simply perfect. If they're perfect (then what are they doing here?) then they haven't a CLUE as to what we're going through so we TURN THEIR VOICES OFF and go back on the Master Cleanse which is a step forward because we're "learning" to deal with our food issues.

I don't know anyone in school who takes "Brain Surgery 101" for 10 days and is ready to operate. It's a process and that's EXACTLY what we're doing here. We're learning from ourselves and from each other.

My "weight gain" issues equate to about a 5 - 6 lb weight gain from a weight that I'm comfortable with. But even those 5 lbs or so feel like 20 when I'm "comfort food" eating, because you know I'm not eating health comfort foods. However, that's the plan! Since my inclination is to look to food for comfort (and so far it's better than some of the other options out there) my TASK is to find healthy food that I can exact the same kind of comfort from so that I'm not harming myself. I haven't found it yet, however there's a carob cream recipe I posted in the Lemonhead Recipe box that comes awfully close....I haven't had it in a while...hmmm (pondering ;)).

OKAY: STEPS OFF SOAPBOX

[twinkletoes]

thanks EXACTLY what i need to hear!!!! Res you're the best, seriously :)... you hit all the points that ive been thinking about.....

*whew* i feel so much better now knowing that im not going crazy and that my logic still works lol....

thank you very very much Res...

~M

[sopheetsa]

hi twinkletoes

I just wrote and pushed the wrong button-and all my recent edits went down the tube-- rather than scratch this-- i'll send it-- also-- Res thanks for all u say!

i write not to impart wisdom but to share my difficulties on this topic. thanks for bringing it to the bb! i have been fortunate to be in situations-- a "detox" group of Gary Null's for example, where the overall idea was that we were given a "way to eat" rather than a strict calorie counting approach-- and amazingly-- I lost weight-- without having to watch the quantity of food. Now that approach was interesting-- and there were a lot of foods that weren't allowed-- so if I give you an itemized list, you might understand why something like that could work.

However, I have had fair amount of difficulty-- these days-- and throughout my life-- with weight issues. After finishing my "serial" MC 2 & 3 I bottomed at 123 lbs. But-- having issues with food-- I rapidly started gaining weight. I didn't want to go on and on about it, because I thought I'd be setting a bad example. Right now-- I'm really trying to figure out what to do-- and I haven't got it figured yet!