It’s been almost three weeks since wandering away from my RAW lifestyle.  I say “wandering” because it wasn’t a total abandonment.  I still averaged around 50% of my calories from raw food.  Even though I had cooked food, we remained vegan.  So, I definitely wasn’t eating the Standard American Diet (SAD).

Gradually, symptoms crept back.  Things like twitching in my left eye-lid (just noticed this today), mild chest pain, bloating, unfriendly digestion with all the yucky side effects, fingernail breakage, lower energy levels, cravings, aching joints, mild acne, sinus pressure, mood swings, and headaches.  These are some of the symptoms that drove me to try eating raw, plant-based foods in the first place.

I did learn something while eating cooked food.  I learned that most of the time, the cooked food didn’t taste nearly as wonderful as it smelled.  There were many times when I would take a bite of something simply because it smelled incredible, only to end up spitting it out in the trash because the taste wasn’t worth it.  Unfortunately, that didn’t last long and the last couple of days I noticed a shift.  My sense of smell gradually decreased, but my cravings for higher fat, salty food increased even more.  One afternoon I sat down and ate an entire container of grape tomatoes.  No, not bad for you, but that’s how much I wanted salt.  You may be thinking, “Really? Grape tomatoes are salty to you?”  When you eat primarily fruit, heck yes, they taste salty!

I should be ecstatic that my massive sugar cravings haven’t returned; However, I am aware that they would find me again eventually.  And so, as of today, I am back to high fruit, raw vegan.  I’ve had a couple of green smoothies and a few pieces of fruit so far today.  If I said I feel amazing already, I’d be lying through my smoothie straw.  Truthfully, all I can think about is taking a nap.  Perhaps I should.  My eyes aren’t going to stay open too much longer whether I want them to or not.