As most of you know I have one more day until my 30 day 100% raw food challenge, I am so excited and ready to go.

For those of you who are wondering how did I prepare myself for this challenge I have to say that it did take some time to get to the point where was ready to go 100% raw. At this point, in my raw journey, I do not crave cooked foods and I find that I am not hungry very often. When I am around people eating, I am not tempted to want their foods. I am not sure when this addiction to food went away but I am sure it had something to do with me being consistent with eating raw foods and not giving up even when I was not eating 100% raw.

I strongly believe that getting involved with researching foods, reading about raw and drinking lots of green smoothies have helped me get to where I am today.

Before raw food, I had a food addiction, I thought of food morning, noon and at night, there was not a time where I did not think about food.  I did not know I had an addiction until I went raw. After going Raw, I noticed that even though raw food had so many flavors, I still wanted to eat cooked food. I would remember how great and warm cooked food would make me feel, how it would comfort me when I was upset or dealing with some personal issues. I noticed that raw foods does not give you comfort, I learned that food is not suppose to comfort you and that is what cooked food does.

Most people find cooked foods hard to give up because cooked foods cover up problems and issues that you may be dealing with.  When you go Raw, there is no cover up, raw food will not comfort you and/or keep your feelings suppressed. Raw Food will only nourish your body and give it what it needs. Cooked food does not nourish you but will give you a temporary feeling of satisfaction and then a couple hours later you are hungry again. With raw foods, I do not eat as much and I am not hungry often.

The biggest difference between cooked food and raw is that Cooked food is addicting, it is nutritionally deficient, does not have enzymes, and causes many of the diseases we have today. Raw Food has all of it’s nutrients in tact, all of its enzymes are available, and helps us to heal from diseases caused by cooked foods. I don’t know about you but I like the benefits of eating raw over the benefit of being addicted to cooked foods.

If you are ready to kick your habit and eat more raw foods, check out my tips below:

• First, you have to recognize your addiction
• Start researching the foods you eat. Lets say you love McDonalds French Fries, well go to McDonalds website and look up the ingredients and research each and every ingredient, I guarantee you, that you will see just how bad they are for you.
• Start getting involved with other people who will support you, if you are deciding to go raw, find a friend locally or someone online that you can keep in contact with.
• Start reading some of the following books “Living on Live Foods by Alissa Cohen“, “The China Study“, and “The Complete book of Enzymes“.
• Learn how to make Green Smoothies, they are key to helping you kick the addiction to foods, and most other addictions as well.
• Start a blog to help you write down your thoughts, or find some outlet that will allow you to express yourself and your emotions, you will have to learn how to release any negative or addictive thoughts that you have and for me writing works but maybe painting will work for you.

I hope that these tips will help you fight the addiction, I’m sure there are more tips available but these should get you off to a good start.

Tanisha