Hi everyone, Thanks for making me feel so welcome to the group - I received so many supportive notes. One questions before I forget: How do I get off the list? (Only half-kidding) Somehow I am receiving more than one of each message, so I think I'm signed up more than once. Regarding cravings, I have really struggled with this one. My current feeling is to trust my body (finally). Previously, I simply decided to transition to raw food (practically overnight), with no communication or respect for my body and the foods it, and my family, have been eating for so many years. Basically, I really made my body angry. I agree with you Ed: What we resist persists. If we "can't have" something, of course we're going to want it. So I am presently giving myself permission to have whatever I want. This is so difficult! I am amazed at how worried I am of what others will think of me. I've permitted myself everything from a piece of chicken (I've been vegetarian for over ten years) to an ocassional egg and other stuff. Most of these things I had never really missed, until I made this more extreme step, too fast, and brought up fears of starvation, deprivation, self-punishment, social isolation, etc. So, I am now striving for balance. I can't fast for awhile - each fast or cleanse seemed to trigger another binge or intense food cravings. I need to do whatever it takes to find balance and make peace with my body. I expect that, as I allow my diet to include more brown rice, tofu, grains, veggie burritos, and other goodies I've craved but not often permitted myself, my body may (or may not) stop craving them. In truth, I feel that, at least during transition, my body truly needs many of these foods nutritionally - especially for someone with hypoglycemia like myself. Too much fruit simply did not work for me. On a more Spiritual / emotional level, I believe I brought these food issues up in my face to finally deal with them. Food has always been an issue for me (and many other people in this culture), to numb me out, resist feelings, etc., but perhaps it never would have become obvious enough for me to deal with. I worked my way through the addictions and compulsive behavior around alcohol, sex, drugs - even sports, travel, and more - but food is the hardest, because we do need to eat (at least most of us do at this time). So I'm trying to look beneath the cravings, and food is basically the replacement for the love I feel I never got. So, I'm trying to fill that gap, truly loving and accepting myself, and hopefully getting food back to the place it deserves, where I am eating only what my body truly needs, when it needs it, in the amount it needs. Awareness and acceptance are the key first steps. I am also letting go of what others say and think. If I've made mistakes about raw or cooked or vegetarian foods or anything else in life, I need to shift. We are all different, at different stages or phases, and as Tom says, we have no right to judge anyone else. I invested heavily in the raw food idea these past 3 years, but manbe, with my thin, vata constitution, living in Seattle, with genes that have been programmed on cooked food for thousands of years, maybe I'll never reach a raw food diet in this lifetime, and maybe I'm closer to eating all raw than I realize -either way is fine. I do like some cooked food after a couple days of all raw food, but too much and I really crave something raw and "live". So, let's all just love and support one another on this journey, try to laugh at our seriousness and aims at "perfection", and be with Spirit, easing out of our ego and intellect and into our bodies - gently and lovingly. Let's pay attention, be flexible, and follow the path of love. Remember, food is only one (though tasty) tool to enlightenment. Sending you love, peace, and bananas, Roy