I wrote another letter to someone on Curezone about how I am using a raw-only diet to stop my bingeing and achieve a "fasting way of life" (i.e., a way that includes regular fasts). The person asked about a high fruit and low fat diet as a specific strategy for doing raw food only diet.

Here is the letter I just wrote:
thanks!!!!!

I appreciate the good wishes,

Interestingly, when I was on raw food only for 2 years, May 2008 to May 2010, I sort of naturally followed a diet of much fruit/low fat. I was starting to be successful with fasting, just a bit, at the end of that period, fasting about 4 days-5 days, a big success for me, but I abruptly had the relapse into the processed food and struggled ever since (3 years May 2010 to May 2013, but it really is over now, I am sober for good). Now I really am committed to raw and with the experience I had previously I just feel ok doing it intuitively. I really would like to know about different diets, though.

I am slightly aware of/informed about the paleo diet and the fruitarian diet, but I really don't know about any advanced thinking people have done about all this. I am just into , again, keeping my all-raw commitment now, any which way I can. I feel basically intuitively comfortable simply working with ways that control my cravings... Still, again, I would be very interested in all this... do you have a link?

All fruit/low fat sounds valid to me. My own thinking about it is this: food that is calorically concentrated, with either fat or carbs (or maybe protein, too, idk) is going to be unsafe for someone like me who is prone to "hedonic eating," or binge eating, because bingeing on an item high in calories has a high impact on the body that can be quite dangerous. So... I seek to cease these (calorically concentrated) types of foods altogether. I seek to make a commitment, eventually, when I am ready, to not only raw food only but low-calorically-concentrated food only as well. No foods of high caloric density, even if they are raw.

I tried to find a convincing/compelling intellectual basis on which to do this and one did occur to me recently. This is that i could think of any food that is highly calorically concentrated as being "processed." Man can process foods, and this is obviously something that generally makes them more binge-triggering or addictive (see "Super-Size Me"), but...

...Nature can be said to "process" foods as well! A fruit, especially a high-calorie/high/fat/high Sugar fruit/vegetable, is in a sense a processed food. It has been sitting on a branch or stalk of a plant maturing (being "processed") a long time, and could be thought of as being more intensely processed, the higher its caloric concentration.

Compare this to a sprout (non-starchy, like an alfalfa sprout, a truly "living food"). A sprout has only been alive a short while and is said to have a different kind of life energy (subtle organizing energy fields, or SOEFs) due to its being newly alive; and is perhaps the least processed type of food, either by man or nature.

Again, the sprout would ideally be non-starchy/not fatty, would not contain large amounts of more "dead" matter, not have a lot of the stored fats or starches present in some seeds. Instead the sprout would be a slightly mature sprout, several days old, a more "wholly living" entity, which had reached a stage of having converted the starchy/fatty parts of the original seed to *living* matter (and thus would have ceased to be a little "starch bomb," if that were what it had been in its earliest phases of life).

I have long thought of "living foods" as the way to go, though my addiction has made me struggle to ever stay on a sprouts-only diet for longer than about a week. I have achieved that level of sobriety a couple of times in my adult life but as I say only for a week. It is still my ideal. I am recovering from terrible chaos right now associated with my 3-year chemically-processed-foods relapse and bingeing, so I am fine with any raw food diet I can manage to stick to, but the living diet does remain my ideal.

I do feel so much better and under control and have so much peace of mind and sense of security staying just on all raw food, and staying off chemically-processed (human-processed) food, that that is fine for now.

Eventually I will need to get more advanced, though. I am actually taking a step toward this today (Wednesday, May 15, 2013) by bringing my daily caloric intake way down, therapeutically, until this therapy has accomplished some effect. Again, this is like a fast, ... a fast being what my body REALLY needs... the low-calorie diet is a good compromise for me right now with my food addiction, which prevents me, for the moment, from fasting for very long. Being on this low-calorie (500 cal a day) plan will prompt me naturally to choose lower-caloric-density foods... By not trying immediately to GIVE UP calorically-dense, "Nature-processed" foods, I won't quite yet have to deal with the stressful feeling I will inevitably have, to some extent, when I do decide never have such foods again, ... only when I get ready, later, to work with myself toward committing to this, will I try to commit to NEVER again having calorically concentrated foods. Incidentally, THEN, when I do commit to low-caloric-density food only (perhaps living food only) I will be really ready to fast, too, since the eventual breaking of the fast will, after I've committed, for life, to low-caloric-density foods only, the breaking of the fast will not ever carry the threat of dangerously high-calorie bingeing (I will be committed to simply never eating highly-calorically-concentrated food).

... The only complicated thing that arises with the "low-processed" way of eating is: what if a food is chemically processed but the processing dilutes the food, calorically speaking, making it apparently lower-calorie/less calorically concentrated? How would this compare with a food that is only "processed" by nature but is highly caloric???? Which should one choose? Should one eat avocadoes instead of frozen yogurt??? This choosing of avocado over froyo seems really dangerous, even stupid, to a binge eater: avocado (a binge food for many) seems way more dangerous. What is the answer?? This is the big dilemma. My tentative response to this is: any food that is chemically processed is going to result in more overeating/bingeing, over just a few days' time... whereas a more natural food, the avocado, although high-calorie, will, over only a few days, result in one's eating less. Fewer calories.

When you think about it, 3 avocadoes -- which would be Option One for one's binge/overeating episode -- is approximately the same calorically as, or even slightly lower-calorie than, a quart and a half of froyo, which would be Option Two. 900 calories, approx., versus 1000 calories, approx.

The real difference is that bingeing on avocado to begin with will actually result in less calories consumed, over a few days' time.

Say one chose froyo: The eating starts with the froyo but it progresses from there to higher-calorie foods or simply a lot more froyo than one intended... anyway, over 2 or 3 days one ends up eating more calories than with raw foods. After 3 avocadoes, you are, like, done, and you are not going to wake up the next morning quite as crazy for more as you are with froyo. I could imagine being stuck eating the froyo for several days, whereas with the avocadoes, I feel like I would always get back on track the same day or the next day. I would not sit there bingeing on avocadoes for a week. I would be content to stop them quite quickly and just eat salad (low-carb vegetables) and melon or apples for a bit, going low-calorie for a few days to compensate for the caloric excess of the avocadoes.

... I feel, or have convinced myself, for the sake of my own peace of mind and sense of security, that this is how it works for me, and I conclude for now, after 3 years' trauma with chemically-processed food bingeing, to stay all natural/raw/non-human-processed/non-chemically-processed even if the natural food is apparently dangerously high in calories -- because over just a few days, one's calorie count always stays lower, over the course of a few days, with natural foods.

Oils may be a slightly different story, but I think even with oil one is better off than with froyo because I cannot imagine bingeing as many calories, over a few days, with oil, as with froyo, especially if the oil is raw. Raw foods just seem to have that special kind of energy that prevents one from bingeing as much -- keeps one's caloric intake down.

Now comes the question of nut butters. These are also a known binge food. Many have horrible binge experiences with them. Would one ever in one's right mind choose nut butter, even a raw nut butter, over frozen yogurt??? (frozen yogurt is my prime example of a processed food that is especially tempting due to being ostensibly lower-calorie and seeming to be safe, but which does, upon examination, as I am about to claim, reveal itself ultimately not to be as safe or effective in controlling caloric intake as any raw food...)

... I guess I feel, again, that even if I ate half a jar of nut butter one day, that would be equivalent calorically to only about 2 quarts of frozen yogurt, and I could eat 4 quarts of froyo in a day but would stop after the 8 ounces of nut butter, and get back in control, not go for days bingeing on it.


(...I hope this is the truth!!! But really, my sense of horror at eating so much nut butter actually does act as a deterrent to really bingeing on it for days, whereas with froyo, the eating of it could continue and continue because, due to its deceptiveness, -- due to its seeming to be a "safe" food -- I don't have the same horror of it [though I ought to be more horrified by it! It results in MORE calories ingested -- bottom line!] ... I guess my fear/possible reservation about nut butters here is that the hedonic eating experience LASTS a shorter amount of time with the nut butter. This can feel terrifying. One needs, as a food addict, to have a time-lengthy eating experience. However... the nut butter may actually deliver an experience that is sufficiently intense [traumatic, really] that one does not crave the long-duration eating experience as much... and so the result would still be less calories over the several days of the "food-sobriety relapse," if it is unavoidable that the relapse last several days... so I hope!!!

...The real answer may be that after a jar of nut butter it is easier to say , "Ugh! Enough! Stop!" and actually STOP, instead of eat it for days, as one might do with processed foods.

... This is because the processed foods are simply more "addictive!" ... They are DESIGNED, chemically ENGINEERED, to make you want them day after day after day.

And you can lie to yourself about processed foods, somehow. They seem somehow "safe," sometimes, not as intense as an obvious "danger food" like nut butter -- particularly in the case of my big go-to binge food, frozen yogurt.

Whereas with a jar of nut butter, you might be like, OK, I have had that high-calorie trauma episode, once is enough. now I can truly stop and leave it alone, I don't have to do that day after day for days on end.

...Natural "danger foods" are more "honest" and "open" and "obvious" about being danger/binge foods! Chemically processed foods are much less obviously dangerous, sometimes... As a result (as I now see) my relapse and bingeing with these processed foods has lasted 3 years and really, in various ways, ruined my health and life! If only I had been able to opt to eat a jar of raw nut butter 3 years ago and be done with my food-sobriety relapse!!! -sniff!-- )

It was very tough to actually look dispassionately at these different food/binge choices and try to perform this analysis really honestly -- and as I say I am still not totally able to allow myself to be what I feel is COMPLETELY free and open and honest in my thinking about it all, -- I still have real reservations about the nut butters, even raw nut butters: but i am able to refrain from buying them! Fresh raw fruit is quite effective for me as a substitute experience for a binge -- or, really, to be honest, my raw vegan coconut sorbets, made with fresh raw coconut and water and raw honey, are my current and very effective substitutes, but whatever: my calories are under control.

[... raw honey was terrifying to allow into the house, but using just a bit of it, not half a jar, in each serving of sorbet, is, astonishingly, very effective and sufficiently -- quite intensely -- sweet. I also bought raw stevia and this gives me a low-caloric "hit" of sweet taste that I can either actually have, or just know is there, and feel reassured by. It gives me that intensity I crave, without caloric consequences. This kind of "taste trickery" is, as diet soda studies show, also somewhat treacherous (possibly binge-triggering), so I think it is best practiced with something as natural and raw as possible, so... hurray for stevia, I guess. It's not ideal to be so intense with tastes, but whatever, I feel safe with stevia. It helps that it IS very sweet but actually does not taste very good.

With the raw honey, I also followed the strategy, for a couple of days, I guess, of just bringing about 4 tablespoons of it home at a time, in a salad dressing container, from a salad/raw food bar. This was enough to make the raw sorbets daily and seemed to work. So I demonstrated to myself I had an ability to just be satisfied with a little raw honey, so then I was able to stop stealing it, hahaha, :) and buy a jar and bring that home, but the point is now I have a jar sitting there in the fridge and later today I will make my sorbets with a small amount of it and I will actually be satisfied by that and stick to that plan. -- And this is true even though today is going to be a day of only 500 calories! Hurray for raw foods...the special energy of raw food does seem to help my adherence to a calorie-controlled diet.]

... And so, in my theorizing about all this, I am now just sort of "constructively shutting down," and choosing RAW, blindly, because I just want peace of mind, and I feel too overwhelmed to get very nuanced about it all, I just need a simple, clear "food policy" or plan... but I do honestly feel when I look at these different "binge options," comparing the raw with the man-made/processed, I do honestly feel I am actually being realistic, and honest, and it is surprising how simple the choice becomes. Binge even on a whole 16-oz jar of raw nut butter (and often the raw stuff comes in 8-oz jars, much safer and more controllable), and the nut butter calories are still the same as only about 4 quarts of sugar-free light froyo, and with the seemingly terrifying nut butter, your binge is over a lot sooner and with, ultimately, less caloric damage than with the chemically processed food. Just my theory, and something I am admittedly a little too insecure to think about completely freely right now, but I feel confident enough in it to relate it to you here. Raw! Raw! Raw! :) Leading me toward the real healing of fasting. Which I hope to be writing a lot more about as I develop!!!! hello and good luck to the forum!

Hi, I am starting a Water Fast today also. I would like to go as long a possible for health and weight loss. I have done a Water Fast for 15 days before, and several 3-5 day fasts.