Going raw is more than a way of eating. It's truly a lifestyle change.  Most sites address this fact quite well.  What many don't talk about is the fact that when one no longer stuffs emotions down with cooked food, the embedded social coding, suppressed sexual expression and fear caused by religious mandates -- these all come up for observation, processing and clearing.  This is one of the reasons that you will never hear me say that you MUST be 100% raw.  I cannot make that decision for you.  Only you know what percentage of raw is best for you and your life, because only you know what you are ready to process and face.

While many sites focus largely on the raw food end of things, here we focus on much more than just that.  If you look only at what raw food can do for you physically and don't address the way you were imprinted with cooked food in a whole host of ways, you may find it very difficult to stay raw.  Tips and suggestions are great, and you will find a plethora of them here, but they will typically only carry a person so far.  The emotions attached to the eating habits must be addressed in order to heal the issues so many people have surrounding food.

Sometimes, Eating a Cooked Meal is a Good Idea
Now here's something you don't hear from most raw foodists.  Sometimes, eating a cooked meal is a good idea.  Not for the "nutrition", mind you, because I don't see any evidence that cooked food is good for the body.  However, I have watched several people find the root of their addiction to cooked foods through eating the exact foods which have the biggest hold on them.  When one eats a specific food with total awareness of what one is doing and why, the transformation can be amazing.  Think of it like antidotes to snake bites.  The cure is in the poison.  For some of my clients, the key to figuring out how to stop doing it, is in doing it one more time.

Taylor & Joseph's Story
Let me give you an example.  (Names have been changed to protect identities).  I know a young boy who lost his mother at the age of 4.  We'll call him Taylor.  After her passing, Taylor's father, Joseph, fed him lots of pizza and burgers, because they were easy to get and cheap.

Simple foods for mourning.

And VERY strong imprinting/associations for that young mind.

It was not very long before Taylor unconsciously connected pizza and burgers with being a pacifier for his lost mother, and he began craving junk food whenever he was alone with Joseph.  As a result, Taylor's journey to raw was an intense struggle, particularly when he either saw or smelled pizza, or was alone with his father, because he associated "Dad Time" with "Junk Food Time".  On top of that, wherever and whenever he saw them (TV, billboards, newspapers, restaurant signs etc.) triggered a strong wish to be with his father, and he began to fear his father's death whenever he got anywhere near the mention of them.  He would feel lonely for his father and mother whenever he smelled pizza or burgers (often at school), and hated seeing other children enjoying junk, especially with their parents.  He developed an intense love/hate relationship with fast food joints, had difficulty in school, and even though he loves apples, grapes, raw spinach and raw nuts, was often in tears over eating healthy foods and begged constantly for junk.

One night, when Taylor was 8, Joseph had an idea.  He sat his boy down, held out Taylor's favorite pizza, and told him they were going to have an important conversation while enjoying the pizza together.  He encouraged Taylor to have a marvelous time and to really enjoy the distinct flavors and textures -- to really FEEL the pizza.  As Taylor ate, Joseph kept him conscious of what he was eating and why.  He made eye and physical contact with his son as he apologized for having fed him this dish so much during their intense time of mourning.  Further, he talked honestly about why he had taught his boy to stuff emotions down with food ... because it was so intense for him as a father, that he didn't know how to help his son cope any other way.  He admitted to passing down his addictive behavior.  Now here's where it gets interesting.

Joseph told Taylor to look at the pizza slice he was holding in his little hand and say, to it "You are not my mother, and you cannot replace her.  Eating you will not bring her back to me."  Taylor did as he was instructed.  Now, one might think that Taylor then screamed, flung the pizza at Joseph and ran off to hide in a corner because he was confronted with his addiction, his imprinting, and some very deep parts of his psyche.  But remarkably, because kids really do respond well to honesty, Taylor simply started laughing!  He totally got it, and his deep desire for pizza was immediately diminished!

Later that night, the two went out and each got one cheeseburger, repeated the process, and Taylor almost never asks for pizza or burgers anymore, which is good, as he is lactose and gluten intolerant.  Now he can be around them, and instead of crying for them, throwing fits, hitting himself and becoming extremely emotional, he just reminds himself that they don't bring Mom back, and he calmly asks someone for a hug instead.

How Long Might It Have Lasted?
How many years might it have taken Taylor to reach this conclusion without that experience with Joseph -- and the cooked food?  How many hundreds (or even thousands) of pizzas and burgers might he have eaten if he hadn't confronted his biggest pain with the very tool he used to suppress it?  And how might he have lived as though junk food could cure his emotional ailments, even when they weren't related directly to his mother?

It is still early in little Taylor's life, but he is doing better every day and his ability to deal with emotional pain without turning to junk food is constantly improving.  He still has his moments, but overall, his father has seen a vast improvement.  In this case, fighting fire with fire did the trick.

Should I Eat Something Cooked, Too?
Now, not all stories are as cut & dried as this.  And not all parents spend the amount of time that Joseph does trying to help their child cope with life.  But this is an excellent example of successfully using cooked food as a tool to reach the places in the mind that are connected deeply to certain foods, and then discover how to release them.  If one uses cooked foods on occasion as a therapeutic tool so as to uncover and release the reason behind the craving, this is much different from using it as an emotion-numbing crutch that will be needed again and again and again to avoid dealing with pain.

So while some sites will tell you what you shouldn't eat, why it's so horrible, and why you should feel guilty for eating X food, I won't tell you what food to eat, how to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, or with whom to eat it.  There are suggestions along the way, but they are just that.  I'm here to help you unload, unwind and find peace in a hectic world.  If you want coaching , I'd be delighted to help.  But the last thing you need is another person telling you what to do, especially when it comes to your diet.  The world is nuts enough without me preaching at you.  That's why I call the business by the name I do ... because I'm here to help you Go Raw, Not Crazy.