Are You a Raw Food Perfectionist?

To subscribe to my free weekly newsletter, sign up in the box on the right or Click Here. Enjoy your stay at Fit On Raw!

Yesterday I talked about the majority of raw foodists being too food focused and the inherent problems with this obsession. I spoke briefly about perfectionism and how no diet – even a low fat raw vegan one – can give ANYONE perfect results.

Today I want to continue the discussion on perfectionism and its relation to diet. In particular, the low fat raw vegan diet.

I’ve noticed that many beginner raw foodists are obsessed with going raw perfectly. Instead of focusing on simply getting enough calories in from sweet fruit, the person is intent on implementing rules like “no more snacking between meals,” “no more dinners after 5pm,” “no more white sapote after labor day”…

Hehe.

While its important to get the basics right as early as possible (i.e. eating enough calories), this “attention to detail” often leads to unnecessary stress and complete inaction. The individual is so worried about getting his or her diet “just right” that they are too afraid to take the first simple step.

Here’s a Little Story…

When I first went raw, I hardly ate any organic produce. In fact, for my first year or so of being a low fat raw vegan, I bet less than 1% of my food was organic (maybe some organic greens or celery on occasion).

Much more often than not, I ate from the grocery store for a couple of reasons:

1. Organic produce where I live was ridiculously expensive.
2. The quality of organic produce was barely decent at best.

After paying $3 a pound for fine-on-the-outside, rotten-at-the-core organic apples on multiple occasions, you’d shun the organic stuff, too!

Anyway, my point here is that I did not strive for perfection from the beginning. I was new to raw and certainly new to eating fruit for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

As long as the fruit was tasty, I really didn’t care where it came from! And if I had focused on getting all organic
fruit and vegetables, there’s simply no way that I would have had enough food (or money) to sustain myself.

I would not have stayed raw for very long.

Even today, I still don’t eat all organic, or even close to it.  And after the information I learned from that Penn & Teller episode, I don’t feel too bad about it.

That said, I do buy tons of local produce during the warm months and visit my local farmer’s markets whenever I can.  I don’t do this for perfection’s sake, but because shopping locally is how you get the tastiest fruit!

Prioritize Your Life

We can’t possibly do everything we want, need, or think we need to do in life. That’s why it’s essential to determine what is most important to you and prioritize accordingly.

And this is especially true for our diet plan.

As I mentioned earlier, I did not worry about eating organic produce right away. Just figuring out how much fruit to buy, where to put it, and how to eat it all was a big enough struggle!

If you’re new to raw, don’t stress yourself out over the little stuff right away. Learning to eat enough fruit and limiting your fat intake can be stressful enough without you having to worry about eating late dinners and snacking between meals.

Transitioning is an important part of the process and you can’t get things perfect right away.

Again, No One’s Perfect

No matter how long you stay raw, you will never “do” raw perfectly…whatever that means!

Take me, for instance. Like I said, I still don’t eat all organic foods. Most of my produce is still conventionally grown and certainly isn’t local.

Sometimes I even like to consume…*gasp*…frozen foods! When I eat smoothies, I like them cold and so sometimes I add ice or frozen fruit to the mix.

My poor intestinal flora!

And how about the other health factors?

Let’s see, I stay indoors on the computer quite a bit, sometimes I skimp on sleep, I don’t get much sunshine during the winter…

And I’m sure as heck not always “emotionally poised!”

Life’s a Journey

As corny as that sounds, it’s so true. I’m always amazed at how far I have come in terms of health and self-development in the past 4 years or so.

To think that this fruit-loving fitness fanatic was a junk food couch potato just a few years ago is pretty amazing.

And I’m sure you have gone through a similar transformation in your own life!

So whenever you find yourself obsessing over the little stuff, just remember that achieving health is an ongoing process. It’s something that we are constantly working at and tweaking every single day of our lives.

And while we can’t ever be perfect, we can always improve.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze