[veggiefreak]

Hi there!
I am new to raw foods, and have so many questions.

First off, I am doing a raw diet after struggling with an eating disorder for a very long time. My problem was more with bingeing/purging, some food restricting, and some compulsive exercising. I have always weighed a normal to slightly low weight for my height. I was practicing Vegan Macrobiotics, and while really enjoying the principals struggled with the foods and cooking styles. I couldn't eat enough salads!!

So, now that I am transitioning to raw I am finding that I am not sure how much to eat (remember that listening to my body is somewhat of a foreign concept!!) When I wake up and start to feel hungry (usually pretty quickly) I make a green drink - I usually drink Green Lemonade from Natalia Rose's Raw Foods Detox Diet book. Then I might have a banana mid morning, or I might wait until lunch. At lunch I eat (for example) some celery dipped in hummus, a salad with arugula & other mixed greens, cukes, sun dried tomatoes, 1/2 an avacado, sprinkled with gomashio and the juice of 1/2 a lime. I also might snack on some carrots.

Then at around two or three (always a terribly horrible time for me - ED or not) I want to have bagels and sandwiches, cookies, pastries, anything "white" I can get my hands on....in fact, it could possibly be a piece of bacon and I would eat it!! I do have to add that diabetes and hypoglycemia runs heavily in my family. So, I usually have a snack of fruit or something and then get my "fix" from a huge bowl of oatmeal for dinner.....HELP!!!!

As far as technical questions go, I also have a few regarding tools. I have a juicer that is the bottom of the barrel, target brand juicer that I got some time ago to "try" - I wanted to make sure I was going to be into this before buying an amazing juicer. Now, I want to juice everything I can get my hands on, but am debating as to whether I should buy the Green Star or the Champion. If I got the champion, I would also buy a manual wheatgrass juicer to use as well. (I believe the greenstar will juice everything - veggies, fruit and wheatgrass?) Also, I have a cuisinart food processor and just a standard blender. Do I need to get a vitamix or a K-tec?

Any information about the diet and what the heck I should eat would be great. Maybe I am just not getting "enough" and therefore am out of my mind by mid-late afternoon. I do have Natalia Rose's book, along with the 12 Steps to Raw that I am just now reading. I would also love whatever product info I can get on juicers. Thank you SO MUCH in advance!!