raw food-real world and emotional eating

[nfracer]

I know the thread starter sounds like a strange connection but let me tell my story. See, I have/had been a "100% raw vegan" for 3 years. If you are wondering what that means exactly is this. I ate "raw foods" such as fruits, vegetables, nuts & seeds! Yes, it is POSSIBLE and extremely beneficial for the body too! There is a lot of information "out there" if you want to learn more. I grew leaner and healthier and felt great. Unfortunately, the very thing that drew me to raw foods began to consume me once again and that was "obsessing" over my food.

Let me back up, I grew up a "chubby girl" not "obese" per se but that girl that would be really pretty if "she just lost a little bit of weight".....yeah, that helps a teenager right? It only helped me to become a closet or "speed eater!" My mom is wonderful and I love her but her snide comments did not help....Hence, I became even BETTER at "closet bingeing"...Flash forward to my mommy years and I gained and lost with each baby not ever really getting or staying "where I wanted" for very long.....I never addressed my issues as an emotional eater....too much shame involved. So I became very controlling about what I did eat......Unfortunately several years ago I lost significant amounts of weight in a short period of time and put myself right into "early menopause" at the age of 36.....After that came the "old age" side effects of osteoporosis, lack of estrogen, digestive issues which got worse and worse resulting in (at least) IBS.....The only foods I could digest well were gluten and dairy free. I found myself reading labels constantly which fed into my emotional eating control issues but ultimately I would lose control and binge on a "forbidden food" resulting in a bad reaction + all the emotions that go with it! Desperate, I stumbled upon "raw food" and thought FINALLY I can eat without reading labels + eat as much as I want. That was August, 2005.....I gained my health back and was as fit as a fiddle......for quite sometime......until again the eating demons (read SATAN!) came to sit on my doorstep....Then, once again I began obsessing over food! Then the "sneaking" (from myself?) resurfaced and the digestive issues reappeared....AAAGGGHHH!

Well, this summer I decided that I would just eat "whatever" in moderation.....Big mistake....Fortunately or unfortunately my body has not responded well and I had several bad reactions back to back until bam I just seemed to hit bottom and did not even know WHAT to eat after being "raw" for so long.

It has been only about 2 weeks since I threw my hands up to God and said "alright, I'm done-you take over!" I have/had been fighting these emotional issues about eating my entire life but never realized it until I faced it head on. It is only NOW that I can see it as an emotional issue and not just a dieting thing! Go figure-I'm 41 and am just realizing I am an emotional eater!.....At any rate. I WAS on a great forum with some other Christian raw foodist's but really had to step back from the forum because it was feeding into my obsessions over food control....I have been praying to God DAILY for help with this and feel like I am not the only one who struggles with this so I wanted to start networking with other women who struggle so maybe we can help each other out----without obsessing of course! The raw food forum I was on was great in that I made some good "cyber buddies" and the ones I drew closest to are Christian so we still "talk" via e-mail. However, I think I need to focus more on the emotional struggles I've faced than the foods aspect so I thought it best to step away from that forum for awhile.

So, here I am....looking to see if there are others who struggle with this as a Christian woman in today's society where we are bombarded daily with images of perfection. I am trying hard to let God take over but still "catch myself" in the bondages of emotional eating and self criticism....So, if you have advice, I'm all ears....Maybe I can end up helping someone else too just by admiting my faults!

I must also add I am only "recently saved" although I THOUGHT I grew up a "Christian" I never truly was saved by Jesus Christ until just a few months ago. I thank and praise God every day for opening my eyes and will continue to praise him and seek his guidance in all aspects of my life! I look forward to getting to know some other ladies here!
Now, I must go to bed as I start back to school tomorrow!!!

[LilMommax5]

Wow, what a powerful post! Yea, I do believe I am an emotional eater too. I know what I am supposed to eat but it all goes out the window when an unpleasant situation or emotion hits me. I block out or stop the emotion that I am feeling by stuffing my face with whatever is around. It's so hard. I really didn't even recognize the habit until a few years ago and have been pretty unsuccessful at controlling it. The frustrating part is that I KNOW what I should be eating and I subconciously know what I should be NOT eating. But there is no connection there. I too have always felt that if I lost weight, I'd feel better, that I'd be happier, that I'd have more friends. It affects the way I see myself in the mirror, the way I view myself as a woman, the way I feel when I am intimate with my husband.

I haven't controlled the eating part but I have begun an excercise program. I listen to my favorite contemporary christian music (TobyMac, Casting Crowns, Third Day, Barlow Girl) and after I am done excercising (usually 30 minutes a day on the elliptical) I feel great. When I am tempted to eat, I ask myself if this will nourish my body in a way the Lord has intended food to or is this gluttony? I know how long it takes just to burn off a few hundred calories and how quick it is to eat it back.

It is so difficult to obsess over weight. I pray that the Lord will take the urge and desire of unhealthy food from my mind, to encourage me to become healthy vessel so that I can take my mind from my weight and put it on the Lord.

[nfracer]

Thanks for posting! I was beginning to think I was "the only one" struggling???
O.K., 3 weeks later (from my original post) and I think I am doing much better. I have found out (through CRA testing) I am intolerant to gluten (wheat) and dairy for sure and they may have been some of the cause for some of my issues. Unfortunately it is very difficult and expensive to be sure everything is "gfcf" (which stands for gluten free, casein free). I am finding myself gravitating more towards my "living foods" ways that became all so familiar to me as a raw vegan for three years. I do eat some "cooked" foods and am working on NOT feeling bad about it. The good news is I am not "sneaking" food or bingeing as much. I have put on a few (OK, 10 ) pounds over the summer but I am trying hard to NOT freak out over it and allow GOD to keep me centered on that issue. See, several years ago I lost weight (THE WRONG WAY) and actually got too thin. I gained about 10 pounds back and stayed there for the past few years until for some reason this summer I started "gaining" more???
I unfortunately went through "early menopause" at age 36 (I am 41 now) and that leads to many issues I wasn't ready to deal with either. One of which seems to be the havoc it's causing with my metabolism. I exercise a lot (I am an endurance athlete-runner + cycler) and am extremely active as a mother of 5 and special education teacher for kindergarten aged children so I know all about the importance of exercise.
At this point I am continuing to pray that God will lead me in the right direction with my eating and control issues.
He IS AWESOME.....I have to remind myself to allow Him to guide me...Then I feel guilty when I don't so any guidance on that would be helpful. I feel selfish praying for myself on these issues but I suppose I should not right because in order to be a good wife, mother, teacher, etc... I need to be healthy right?
I am sorry to ramble. I would really like to get this thread going so we can work through our issues together.

I love inspirational bible verses and or quotes so maybe we can look for a "quote or verse of the week" to focus and pray on? That may help all of us having difficulties in this area. I am horrible at memorizing bible verses. I am working on this of course but it takes time!

Anyone else struggling? In helping each other we can help ourselves

[ingleshteechur]

I was very happy to see this subject posted! I am newly saved and after the initial euphoria of letting God into my heart and completely giving over my emotional eating to Him...I found out that my will is something to contend with!
I am 38 and have struggled with bulumia and binge eating for the past 25 years. Once I was reborn I was elated--I figured I'd never struggle again. Well, God HAS removed my desire to purge--I do feel that freedom. But I do continue to struggle with emotional eating. Sugar is a huge problem for me--I can't do moderation when I'm dealing with sugary food--candy, cookies, cake, etc. So I have been eating pretty much sugar free for the past two weeks (yes! even though Christmas!) but now it's over doing other foods. My will is so strong. I'm not sure how to keep turning it over to God. I know He knows my heart and wants me to live the life I dream of...but I keep snatching back my will and want to do it my way...I make little deals with myself, rationalize, etc. Any suggestions, advice? I'd love to connect with others that have this struggle. I do feel so optimistic about God's ability to guide me--but how do I keep my own will in check?

[Bondservant]

Kim, do you have someone to be accountable to when "your own will" wants to take over? Someone that will pray with you?

For me, I am not necessarily an emotional eater, I just love to eat. Well, I guess I better take that back. If I am extremely stressed at work, I eat a can of that nasty processed cheese. You know the little cans of frito cheese (jalepeneo flavored)? A whole can of that has enough salt and msg to give me the shakes, not to mention if I polish off the whole can its like 800 calories.

I don't do that so much anymore, but alas, I fall too. It's funny, but since I started to focus on foods in their natural state, not so much vegan, but as unprocessed and unrefined as possible, I eat better in whole and am much more aware of what I put into my body. The occasional blip isn't enough to de-rail me.

I find that if I have healthy snacks on hand, I don't binge on the cheese. I like nut and dried fruit mixes (cashews, almonds, ect.). I just make sure they don't have a lot of oil in them. That and lots of fruit on hand. That usually satisfies the sugar craving.

That said, if you get into natural and herbal remedies, one of the things you learn is that you usually crave what you are allergic to. And yes, you can be allergic to sugar. It creates an immune response in your body, raising levels of histamine. Your body craves this "response" and seeks it, almost like a high. I can tell you when I do eat that nasty cheese, I actually shake after eating it.

Dang, I don't know if I helped or not, but I always recommend finding a knowledgable herbal practioner who can guide you in proper nutition. Knowledge is power.

[ingleshteechur]

Thankfully I do have a wonderful and supportive husband who will do whatever he can do to help me. The trick is going to him first before I engage in any kind of binge behavior.

I absolutely believe I have a reaction to sugar. When I remove sugar from my diet I go through a few days of headaches and mood swings--very similar to someone going off caffeine or nicotine. I've never thought about being allergic however...that is interesting.

My next step is to really begin eating as close to nature as possible. I am pretty well versed in nutrition--I ate a vegetarian diet for five years and although I now eat chicken and fish I still try to eat pretty clean. It's one of those cases of I know exactly what to do--I just have trouble doing it!

Thanks for some good ideas!

Kim