What I no longer need

Caffeine, refined sugar, and dairy products. That about does it. I also do not drink, smoke, or use any other drugs, but since I was already not doing any of those things, I did not need to shed them. I started in massage therapy school in October full time, and still work part time. We had a nutrition class, and for most people they started eating better after learning more.

I however, already knew some about nutrition. I knew that what I frequently ate was bad for me and socially, ethically, and environmentally irresponsible, but had been unable to stop. My eating habits got worse since being in school. I won't say my caffeine intake increased, because I drank a lot of coffee while I was working full time. But the kind of coffee I was drinking was worse. There is a Quick Trip right by my school, and I was getting those horribly sweet cappuccinos, and sometimes a donut as well. This is actually hard for me to write about, it's embarrassing for me considering I've been a vegetarian since 2001, and on again off again vegan since 2006. For years I've hated that I had not been able to commit to being a vegan, considering that they female cows are kept perpetually pregnant so they can provide milk all the time, and then baby calves are taken, kept in the dark in tiny cages so they can't move and their muscles stay "tender" to be sold as veal. I could go on, but there are many websites that talk about these issues. The point I'm trying to make is that even though I had all this knowledge, I was still unable to quit eating chocolate, cheese, refined sugar, and drinking coffee.

Why? As I have found out in the past few weeks, all these "foods" have addictive substances in them. The only way I do not crave these things is if I do not eat them. When I have quit coffee for a few months in the past, and I decide to have a cup, I start drinking it again. If I do not have refined sugar, I don't crave it, but if I consume it one day I want it more. Our bodies are not made to take in high concentrations of sugar. We are made to take in sugar in the form of fruits or vegetables. As a side note, I refuse to believe carrots should not be eaten "because they just turn to sugar" in the system. For the past few weeks, since I have been eating 80% raw, I have not craved refined sugar, chocolate, coffee, or cheese.

What this means practically speaking, is that I pretty much cannot eat any packaged foods whatsoever, because most companies put sugar in everything. Why? Because they will sell more because our bodies will crave it. But is not being able to eat packaged foods really a bad thing? I now have much more raw fruit and vegetable scraps than I did before, but since my partner and I have a worm composting bin even those are not thrown away. And I am not taking into my system a bunch of stuff my body is not made to process.

I feel liberated, I am thinking better, I have so much more energy, and I have a clear conscience that I am living according to my principles.