Since I´m carbed up with ripe fruits, I can think clearer and see, how I function throughout the day, what makes me lethargic and what makes me feel alive.
So I see that I have still some "addictions" that I could ignore before, but now not anymore:
Watching for hours and days movies on the internet, I love the stories, the actors, the world of phantasy and it´s so hard for me to say "no" to it. It keeps me of being more alive, more creative in certain days. Mostly I have this after a stressful time and I´m falling into a hole,
a hole of movies ;)
And then I feel bad because it´s a comfort zone, which makes me want to stay there forever.
But I know the real life has much more to offer than other peoples live´s who are even invented.
I think I have to do "all or nothing" and stop watching movies for a fiew month, going out and meet real people.
The other drug is cooked food and I know that it´s very bad for my digestion and do everything I can to avoid it.
What are your worst addictions and what are you doing substitute them?
Tags: addictions, substitution
Permalink Reply by Justine on I'm definitely addicted to tea. Sometimes I go through the drive-through coffee shop at "happy hour" just so I can get a 32oz iced tea for the price of a 24oz. When I'm not doing that, I make cups of it at home. I'm just starting to transition to raw, so I think I'm going to wean myself gently. I'll start with green tea and move to white tea to get my body used to lower caffeine levels. Eventually I hope to get to herbal sun tea or just lemon or cucumber in water.
Permalink Reply by Freshtival on
I've found that a cup of warm water makes is a good substitute for other warm drinks.
Permalink Reply by Freshtival on
I just got up and the house isn't warmed up yet and I'm having my first cup of warm water. The clean water tastes so good in a refreshing way that other drinks can't achieve. I like the warm water to be between 108 and 112 degrees f so that it warms a body just right without being to hot. Try it you might like it :)
Permalink Reply by Grapefruit on It´s a good way taking your time for the transistion. When I was missing tea I soaked the herbs overnight in cold water and it tasted good in the morning. Now I don´t even miss it, because of the much water I drink :)
Permalink Reply by lovebug on yea, warm water with lemon changes my life. it makes me feel so calm and cures an upset stomach so fast.
Permalink Reply by Sheepmobile on While my addiction to cooked foods has lessened since I started getting serious about this lifestyle, I am still very much addicted to TV and the internet.
I use TV mainly to drown out the voices in my head (which are due to schizo-affective disorder), not so much for its content. I already got rid of my TV set years ago, but you really don't need one these days to fuel your TV addiction ;-) Currently, I'm trying to substitute educational videos for some of my regular favorites. Since I don't mind watching the same thing over and over, it's at least a way to pound the raw/vegan/fruity message into my head. But what I really need to do is deal with the voices instead of just covering them up. I tried various techniques, but even the best ones only work some of the time. Going HCRV has so far had the most pronounced effect of them all!
My internet addiction has probably similar roots, but while I could theoretically avoid TV, I can't avoid the 'net as I am a student in an online post-graduate program. I guess I could limit myself to certain times and/or websites, but I am an all or nothing kind of person.
Permalink Reply by Grapefruit on Wow, this sounds incredible, that HCRV has the best effect on your disorder! I would be interested, if it works also for ADD, do you know something about it?
Watching fruit videos several times instead of US series is a good idea! I should try this...
Permalink Reply by Sheepmobile on Funny you should ask about ADD. As it so happens, I do have ADD as well and while I still distract very easily, I find that when I do HCRV properly, including getting lots and lots of fruity carbs, I can study for considerably longer periods of time. I have even started reading for pleasure, something I haven't done in years. Used to avoid doing any reading outside of my studies (fortunately, I'm not in a literature-related field!)
Permalink Reply by Grapefruit on Incredible, it sounds like you´ve really improved your level of living with the diet! A friend of mine also has ADD and she is interested in changing her diet, I have to tell her more about HCRV, she is almost a vegan.
Permalink Reply by Adam on Hey Sheepmobile
Re: the voices in your head, I think that my favourite quote may come in useful here:
"If you are scared of dying, and you are holding on, you will see devils all around you tearing away at your life. But if you have made your peace, you will see that the devils are really angels, freeing you".
This is a metaphor of course, rather than something to be taken literally. But the reason I see it as being relevant to your circumstance is that it provides a metaphor for how we relate to ourselves. Often we resist insight, awareness, or behavioural change, and it is this process of resistance, of avoiding and clinging to the way things have been or are (whether that is related to a sense of identity, of the way we perceive the world, the way we take responsibility for what happens to us and the choices we make) that creates the internal sense of things working against us. Whether we thing that our own body or mind is working against us, or our own family, friends, society, nature or if religious "god" or "the devil".
When we do this, we choose to see things in one way, but we miss the underlying positive potential for learning within that perspective.
The voices are generated by your brain. Your brain is part of your body. Your brain/body are always motivated to keep on improving your chances of survival and reproduction- that is the core positive intention. Hence whenever your brain or body does something, it does so with a specific purpose.
The trouble is that, a bit like chinese whispers, we might receive a message, but filter or translate it in a different way, and hence the message gets lost. The other trouble is that we might be incapable of properly translating the message, because we never learned to fully understand the language. And so we might be a bit like the fateful holiday makers who venture off to some exotic country and then only know how to say hello and to ask for a beer or a sandwich. Useful for some things, but often, we end up completely stuck.
One of the difficulties of understanding your brains messages to you, is that the motivation for communicating in this way comes from a part of the brain which is much older, and less cognitively developed. It ends up playing out a little bit more robotically, like a machine since it has a more limited range of functions. It is very sophisticated - it can store infinite amounts of memories and information. And it can piece them all together, matching them up to detect similarities and difference between them, to an unparalleled degree. However it does this in an automated fashion. It isn't thinking rationally or creatively. It is just making auto-pilot associations with different pieces of information and then attempting to communicate them to the higher parts of your brain to motivate action - ie. to get you to do something.
Children and many ancient, traditional cultures, understand the important value of metaphor. They often spend a lot more time day-dreaming, creatively fantasising, dreaming in sleep and using more right-brain activity (as opposed to our modern-day conditioned left-brain dominant activity). We, as adults in a western developed society, often have a more distorted sense of perspective. We often see things too literally and get caught up in the content, whilst missing out on the essential elements of the metaphor.
The purpose of the brain initiating the process of "pattern-matching", ie. linking up associations with different pieces of information or experience and attempting to communicate something to other parts of the brain to take action, is that something has occurred which has potentially threatened our ability to survive and procreate. This something, has potentially impacted on our ability to meet either our physical needs (like that for food, water, sex, fresh air, sunlight, sleep, physical activity) or emotional needs (eg. for safety, security, attention, intimacy, acceptance/status, belonging/contribution, achievement, autonomy, privacy, meaning or purpose).This something might be external (ie. something that has happened outside of us to provide the threat), internal (ie. something we are thinking or doing - or not doing, that is providing the threat), or a combination.
When your brain attempts to communicate something to you through voices, it is your brain trying to let you know something is going on that you need to respond to. Something that you need to take responsibility for resolving. You need to figure out what the positive intention behind the voices are (ie what the message is that is trying to help you), so you can do something about it. This requires you to develop the patience, curiosity, compassion, trust and creativity, to develop rapport with that part of your brain. To attempt to think "If I stop getting caught up in the content (ie. what are the voices actually saying), what might the potential meaning be with reference to the unmet needs?". This requires you to slow down first...to reduce stress hormone levels in the bloodstream, to slow down the heart rate and slow down the rate of the voices.
A good way to do this initially, is through 7/11 breathing, which stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, triggering everything in the body to slow down and relax. To do this, you need to breathe in to your abdomen slowly, at an even pace, for as long as you can (eg. for a count of 7) and then breathe out slowly and evenly, for longer than you breathed in (eg. for a count of 11). Most people can't manage that length of breath initially, but you can modify. So if you can only breathe in for 4, then you can modify the outbreath to 7.
In any event, you want the breath to be slow and even. The exhalation should be almost double the inhalation but not quite.Once you find the comfortable number for you (you shouldn't be holding your breath, forcing yourself to reach a number, or creating tension in your chest, shoulders, neck or abdomen), keep on breathing this way for at least 20 cycles. You should start to feel yourself immediately relaxing.
If you are really anxious, you can try an initial modified version. To do this, you breathe in for one sharp, short breath, and then slowly breathe out for as long as you comfortably can. You can then see if you can relax your stomach more to breathe out just a couple of seconds longer still. Then repeat. Once your system has relaxed a bit more, you can start the 7/11 breathing (or modified number).
The more you listen to the voices and attempt to hear the positive intention behind these voices, rather than see them as enemies working against you that need to be drowned out with different noise, the more you will improve the rapport (ie. connection/relationship) with yourself. This will not only help you to relax more, but will help to make the communication (ie. the talking and listening) with yourself more easily understood. And it will also have a knock-on effect with the communication you have with others.
The relationship you have with yourself, is just that - a relationship. And communication always makes any successful relationship. Effective communication requires you to listen patiently, compassionately and with trust that there is a positive intention, with a focus on attempting to maintain the relationship and improve understanding. And to talk back with calmness, compassion and clarity in your voice.
A happy relationship with your mind, means a happy relationship with your body and a happy relationship with the world around you.
And hence "If you have made your peace, you will see that the devils are really angels - freeing you".
Take care
Adam x
Permalink Reply by Sean big Sexy Rich Ⓥ on 
Kelly Kurcina replied to Kelly Kurcina's discussion If still struggling with salt, lower calories for now?? in the group High Carb Cooked Vegan Discussions
Kayla Marie replied to Kelly Kurcina's discussion If still struggling with salt, lower calories for now?? in the group High Carb Cooked Vegan Discussions
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