cravings are generaly for fat which is concentrated energy,try some nut butters and see if it quenches your craving.

Greetings,

Adding nutbutters is a great suggestion. You could also just make trailmixes including various nuts and snack on them whenever throughout the day. There is no rule or reg about how much you can it when eating raw. This should never be compared to a SAD (standard american diet). The guidelines should be determined based on individual need and food desire. More than anything ya gotta enjoy what you are eating!!!

Hi there _ I have some similar issues to you and for those reasons have not had much success going to a 95-100% raw diet that I would like to do. I don;t have any weight or willpower issues - I can easily eat anything I decide is good for me without craving bad food, becasue I'm very results-oriented - but unofrtunately I've had to stop all-raw several times because symptoms I already have (despite a super-healthy organic high-veg diet and running 5kms 3X/wk) become worse each time.

I am perimenopausal but the neuropathy started some years ago after giving up all grainsdue to IBS. (so far, after all the medical tests and scans, this is unexplained and so is described as an idiopathic polyneuropathy - it could be CIDP but there is no apparent reason for it). Palpitations started 9 months ago when my epriods became more sparse.

It seems to be linked with grains - I have been able to (just) keep the neuropathy at bay or even sometimes improve it by eating lots of sprouted Essene ryebread (cooked above 110 so not strictly raw); this is by far the BEST grain food to stop me feeling cold and getting neuropathy in my extremities. I also seem to need to grind and eat fresh flaxseeds at least 2X daily - plus eat 3-5 Celery stalks/day and several cups of hawthorn & hibiscus tea to calm down palpitations (and ensure I dont get a recurrence of increased blood pressure which happened last year when stressed).

It's very distressing because I am in theory (and still look!) so "healthy" and I really do think a very-high-raw diet is THE way to go to fix everything! Just looking at others, including women my age and older, tells me theree HAS to be a way and it CANT be wrong!

However, I cant deny that I get worse - so far - every time I try it, and unfortunately neuropathy and palpitations are both scary and dangerous, so cant fool around with them. As soon as I eat some of the ryebread and some cooked veggies and rice, that worsening reverses and I go back to the status quo. Given their effect on my symptoms, I think if I can eat enough ryebread and flax in addition to other healthy foods, I can eventually get rid of these unexplained (medically) symptoms. I guess it's only the ryebread that isnt strictly raw, though it IS sprouted, so next I maybe need to try making that my only non-raw food, maybe that will work!

In terms of the connection to YOUR issues, there does seem to be a huge individual variation and while many many people can go happily with NO grains and feel satisfied and good long-term with calories from nuts, fruit and veg, it seems MY body really NEEDS grains. Like you, I tried some sprouted grains (and to see if I could be 100% raw and still eat them - the rice stays very hard and I think is not really digestible, I also find quinoa and buckwheat not satisfying somehow, MY sprouted rye doesnt satisfy me the way the Essene ryebread does, and the only sprouted grains that seem to really approach it (but i cant eat enough quantities to get the same effect as even one slice of the ryebread!) are WHEAT and OATS. I also tried adding 2 ears/day of raw sweetcorn, very delicious and digestible but I still need the ryebread to avoid getting worse, so far!

Anyway, I'm just sugesting that you may be one of those rare ones like me whose body seems to need GRAINS rather than fats or fruits (and believe me I never craved them - 4 years on NO grains and craving them was NEVER a problem, I was having LOTS of ORGANIC fat in the form of nuts, coconut oil, butter, yoghurt and wild salmon - I only eat grains because these symptoms developed and grains are the ONLY thing that helps!). If you read the Dr Bass mice experiments, I think it gives a good indication of what we may need to be healthy on a raw or high-raw diet - because the mice still havce their survival instinct intact!

Good luck - I'd LOVE to hear if you have made more efforts and experiments to get raw and stay raw, because I think we could exchange the fruits of our efforts!
Cheers,
meadow