Cravings

[jeanneji]

Hello All,
  This is my first post here. I have been eating 100% raw since Feb 21. I've read both of Aajonus' books.
I am following  the meal plan in the Recipe for Living Without Disease, eating every every one to two hours.
  In the past (pre-raw) I was plagued with night time cravings, foraging in fridge and cabinets but never finding anything that hit the spot.
  The past two nights I found the myself feeling the same need to forage. It starts soon after my last meat meal between 6:00 and 7:00.
   In his book, A.V. mentions having a piece of french bread about a half hour before a daily slump occurs. I have adrenal fatigue and this really worked for the afternoon fatigue. This happened only for a few days in the beginning and before I started eating red meat.
   Now, the old night time elusive need is popping up. Last night I tried a piece of bread and butter and I instantly felt satisfied which lasted until I went to sleep. It got me thinking maybe a green juice might do the same. I would prefer that. I have no need for bread at other times. I am wondering if anyone has any input on this night time crave. Before the bread I had tried slices of raw cheese with butter and honey, with only honey, with only butter, some dates with butter but nothing helped until the bread. I later wondered if a glass of green juice might have been the missing link, but it was too late to see.

Thanks,

Jeanneji

[van]

  I think many of us use food to sedate, not only at night, but during the day also.  So, with me,  it's a balancing act of looking what's underneath the craving and truly feeding myself.  An egg yolk in the middle of the night always puts me back to sleep.  But, for me, eating and then going to sleep doesn't allow complete digestion.  Everyone is different.  So, more and more I have learned to self sooth myself, thus avoiding the addiction that eating maintains.  Interestingly, most of the times I wake up after self soothing,  I am not really hungry at all.  But in general,  I would look to fats, rather than sugars, or bread, to put you back to sleep.

[Guittarman03]

Try maybe a couple eggs and a small tomato.  I don't know how many times I was having trouble getting to sleep, or woke up hungry, and used that to immediately satisfy me and get me back to sleep.  I've tried other stuff, but nothing has seemed to work as well... except raw goats milk.  The tryptophan helps alot, but alot of ppl don't drink milk.  Eggs and milk can work too.

[TylerDurden]

I had adrenal burnout which did not improve under the primal Diet.

If you have adrenal fatigue, then I should mention that raw dairy is absolutely deadly for people with adrenal-related issues, as they very often also  have some sort of food-intolerance towards dairy, whether raw or pasteurised.

The veggie-juice is also another issue with the primal Diet. Many people have complained about the fact that juicing veg makes not only the nutrients in the veg more bioavailable but the antinutrients as well, resulting in increasing ill-health. Vggie-jucie is simply nto a natural food, and won't help much.


What you need to get hold of is to ditch the bread(like cooked food and dairy, grains contain addictive opioids) and get hold of  raw fatty (grassfed organic meats). it's also vital that you get raw adrenals and raw thyroid(after all like cures like, so if you have heart-disease buy high quality raw hearts from organic-raised 100% grassfed cattle etc.). I don't know of any farms selling the stuff, but Dr Ron's website sells raw(well, freeze-dried) adrenal and thyroid in capsule form(just open the capsule and swallow the powder minus the capsule - the gelatin hinders absoprption of nutrients):-

http://www.drrons.com/

(Dr Ron's is the only company selling decent adrenal supplements. All other companies I know of seem to use magnesium stearate as a filler for their capsules, and magnesium stearate is a trans-fat which blocks absoprtion by a considerable amount.

It's very easy to get addictions to things as those with adrenal-related issues often have a need to get some form of stimulation in order to get their wrecked adrenals working again.

[jeanneji]

Thanks for all your input. I would never have thought of these things on my own.

I tried the eggs last night and they worked very well. I felt peace in my body for the first time during the waking hours before sleep (from 7:00PM on). I've wondered if I just wasn't getting enough nutrients during the day because I am just not that hungry during the day, so maybe my body is catching up with itself at night. In the past I was a night owl, doing artwork at night when there are not so many worldly demands, so maybe this night time hunger is from the days when that other part of me woke up. 

With the adrenal issues I have to be careful not to overdo. I was taking something for the adrenal's but stopped when I started paleo diet. I stopped all medications and supplements now since around 2/22 with no ill effects. The eggs have made a huge difference in my mental well being.

I appreciate and have printed out everything recommended by you all. I'm going to start a notebook so that these things can stay within my mental reach.

[TylerDurden]

Dr Ron's isn't really a supplement, IMO, but a raw(well, freeze-dried) food. Of course, if you can get hold of the "real thing" from farms that would likely be better.

[jeanneji]

I looked up Dr. Ron and book marked his sight. All these products seem good. It's quite an education just reading the descriptions. I will keep these products in mind. I just started taking Isocort again. It really helped. As I said I stopped everything the last week of February. But the past few days I am feeling like I am winding down. I am thinking this might be where the cravings started coming from.
It was helpful and sad to read here that this diet didn't help adrenal fatigue. From A.V.'s book anything is possible and I hoped that this issue would be met quickly. Anyway, I started taking the isocort again this morning. My naturopath said it could take a year to not need it. She mentioned it is like a bully. It takes over and gives the adrenals a rest. Maybe this is something to write about in the 'health' subject. I have also been out of my first gallon of raw milk since around the time my energy started to fail and the cravings started up. 

[TylerDurden]

I'm not clear, you're saying that the raw milk consumption was or was not linked to the fatigue/cravings?

[jeanneji]

I wasn't clear about the milk either. It just seemed that the fatigue and cravings started the day after I didn't have any more raw milk. But this afternoon I think I got at least a partial answer.
 I went to sign up for some raw goats milk and they happened to have some raw cows milk for sale so I bought some. I had some this afternoon and feel much better tonight.
The other thing is that I forget that cleansing takes on different forms. It isn't always a flu or a cold. I never felt like I woke up today. After a brief rest where I may have dozed off for 10 minutes, and the milk I felt really good.
Milk has not been a part of my life since pre teen years. And I read how some can drink it and some can't. I also read how things change and milk is no longer needed or wanted. It kind of makes sense to not need dairy after a while because in days long ago, who had a lactating animal by their sides every day?
So I think that there is a place for it right now. There's something healing about it. So for now I am a milk drinker. It sure made a difference today....Still needed a piece of bread with butter tonight though. I think I might need more raw fat. It takes almost 2 weeks to get an order of raw cream raw butter and raw cheese without salt. In the mean time I have avacados and eggs.

[TylerDurden]

Folow your instincts, for now and drink the raw dairy. I should mention, though, that in those early days when I as doing the primal diet,  I experienced an energy-rush for half an hour after drinking raw dairy, but would, in an overall sense, have considerable fatigue after that period. Same goes for raw eggs and veggie-juice. I'd get a rush of energy in the short-term after consuming them, but, in the long term, they were not as helpful as raw meats.

[jeanneji]

That is good to know. In the past I have had energy surges from not so healthy foods like sugar etc.
I started with making enough juice for a day. but after reading the possibility of eating only meat, I am making juice every few days.
 Is meat and the fat from meat your primary diet?

[TylerDurden]

That is good to know. In the past I have had energy surges from not so healthy foods like sugar etc.
I started with making enough juice for a day. but after reading the possibility of eating only meat, I am making juice every few days.
 Is meat and the fat from meat your primary diet?

No, I also eat raw organic fruit and the occasional veg. It usually averages out at 10% of the diet as plants, I think. At least I often eat a pound or two of meat a day without necessarily always eating some raw fruit.
I wouldn't recommend going zero-carb, just yet. Some people do very badly when they go through the transition phase of zero-carb. It would be better to ask dozens of questions of raw zero carbers like Lex, and get used to raw plant and raw animal food diet, first, before taking such a drastic step. I, for example, find that raw zero-carb doesn't work for me, though low-carb works fine.

[jeanneji]

I have been away and just saw your post Tyler. Call it coincidence, while I was away I found it easier to go zero carbs. So far no cravings. But I know the first few days of anything will not necessarily show problems and I will look out for problems. So far I do feel better. Thanks.

Jeanne