11 things you can do when you crave unhealthy foods

1. If you ate some cooked food or unhealthy food already, remember that you were brought up on a cooked food, and you probably ate this food for many-many years.

Of course it is not surprising that most people who try to embark onto raw food lifestyle journey will occasionally slip and give in to the cooked and ‘bad’ foods.

You can be certain that most ‘raw food’ gurus experienced this too. It's just they persisted and eventually succeeded. A successful person is who will get up after his or her fall with a smile and continue what he or she was intended to do. So, smile and get back on the wagon!

2. If you crave sugary foods, make sweet fruit smoothie, eat some dates (they are so-o sweet!) or dried mango, or add raw honey into your tea. I find all these very helpful.

3. If you just want ‘junk’ food and don’t even want to think about 'raw' or any healthy choices, then you need to look at your emotions first, because you probably feel low at that moment.

‘Bad’ foods might help your cravings for 10-30 minutes, but then you will want to have something else, and this can start the down spiral to unhealthy foods.

Make yourself feel much better first, by doing something nice like going for a walk, and after that you will be ready to address your physical cravings.

At times like this, I even promise myself that after a walk I can go and buy anything I want. The chances are I will go for much healthier option or will not buy anything at all.

4. If you crave something ‘heavy’ like bread or potatoes, then you can try eating raw fatty foods instead.

Eat (sparingly) some nuts, raw bars like Nakd or Raw Revolution, or raw dehydrated bread (if you have it in your cupboard).

This is one of the best short-term solutions, which works for me. It might not be suitable as a long-term solution, and if you experience this often, you will need to look at your overall diet.

5. Find new delicious raw recipes, make them your new staple foods. We need only 6-8 staple foods in our diet, then we won’t be tempted by cooked and unhealthy foods as much.

Another rule is that to add something (a new raw food) before you subtract something (from your diet), then you won’t feel as if you are missing out on something. Even better, bring in 2 new raw food creations to replace 1 cooked or unhealthy food.

6. Watch motivational videos on YouTube and/or read info on the benefits of raw food diet such as on this website. These 2 methods are highly motivating for me.

7. Sometimes ‘all or nothing’ approach is better than a slow and gentle one when transitioning to raw foods. If you slipped onto ‘cooked path’ again, get back onto 100% raw food diet next day. Of course, this might not work for everybody.

8. If you can't stop thinking about some ‘naughty’ food, you can always replace it with something else in your mind.

For example, if I crave white baguette, I can straight away start thinking about something raw and delicious like banana-papaya salad with pine nuts.

I love it and I can think about it at any time of the day, however, it doesn’t mean that I need to have it ASAP. Often these cravings are gone quite soon anyway.

It’s like when you have some memories from the past suddenly popped into your mind, for example, about some activity you did with your mum/dad/brother/sister when you were a child.

You would love to repeat it again but you know it’s not possible. When you understand that, you simply let these thoughts go after enjoying all the pleasant memories they brought. The same could be applied to cooked and unhealthy food.

9. Write down some interesting facts, statistics, research findings etc. regarding what you found about a raw food diet. Put them on small pieces of paper and stick them in places where you can see them easily.

This will motivate you to stay ‘raw’. This method helped Victoria Boutenko and her family when they were transitioning to raw foods.

10. Read something motivating every day. For example, I read about the benefits of raw food diet and other people experiences, I look at their ‘before and after’ photos and watch their videos nearly every day.

Some people might benefit from reading about spirituality and how it addresses human nutrition. Spiritual writings often guide people eating a natural and mostly-raw food diet.

11. Keep a success diary. Write down what you eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. State the %-age of raw foods of these choices.

Put smiley face in the end of the day when you hit your target. I also add to my diary – how I feel, and what raw foods I enjoyed the most. Aiming for high % of raw foods in my diet and especially writing about it, motivated me for many months in the transitioning period.

Now I find it easier to opt for raw foods (with or without diary), however, I still write them down and put a smiley face when I reach my target in the end of the day.

 

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