Raw Emotions by Angela Stokes [Raw Book Review]

The Beautiful Cover of Raw Emotions

Eating Raw is Not Just a Food to Mouth Journey

If you have been around the raw food movement for any amount of time, you have undoubtedly come across the work and world of Angela Stokes, an incredible woman from the UK who has overcome obesity and a lifetime of food addictions through eating a raw food diet.

You may know Angela for her stunning before and after pictures.

When most of us first find out about raw foods and surf through some of these unbelievable before and after pictures and stories, we are awe-inspired.

But after the initial shock wanes, the question "Sounds great, but how do I do it?" comes to our minds.


Ok, So Raw is Good, How Do I Do It?

A lot of us in the raw food movement who are teachers, authors, and "experts" tend to focus on the how of the raw food world; making recipes, meal planning, not eating too many nuts, etc.

We have to admit, that is where we put most of our energy and enthusiasm here at Raw Food, Right Now!.

But this is practical stuff, right? "Do I really need to learn about the airy-fairy emotional stuff to just go raw?" you may ask...

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) we can't get around it...everyone experiences some inner journey on their raw path.

Deep-seated emotional issues are often directly related to food, and when you don’t have that heavy, clumpy, clogging food pushing your emotions down and out of sight, you are going to have old emotions and memories bursting forth, whether you are ready or not.

Finding tools to ease this inner journey is just as "practical" as learning how to make flax crackers.

What you need is some emotional “raw tools” as much as you need recipes, sharp knives, and a blender.


Discovering the 'Emotional World' of Raw Foods

The first time we came across someone seriously talking about the world of the "inner change" that comes along with going raw was from Karen Knowler and her insightful Five Stages of Raw Transformation.

Karen dared to express what we all had experienced: Going on a raw food diet (or even just increasing your raw intake) is more than just what we put in our mouth every day.

We would wager that almost everyone who has undergone some sort of change in their diet (especially those eating all/mostly raw foods) have come across incredible resistance and often life changing emotional releases...or blocks.

Most raw food books skirt past this important part of the journey. Some, to their credit, do mention something about inner changes, but we are often left without any further guidance or clarification from the author.

Only a short line of advise is given; classic lines include "be prepared" or "watch out"!


Enter Your Inner Raw Coach and Guide

In Raw Emotions, Angela Stokes takes her six years of experience overcoming a lifetime of emotional eating addictions, and provides a practical and spiritual blueprint for traversing the inner raw emotional journey.

This book is big. Raw Emotions clocks in at over 170 (mostly text only) pages. As Angela mentions, this book is her self-proclaimed "labor of love".

And it delivers.

Many directions and ideas are presented in this book, all crafted around her story, which Stokes' uses to illustrate how someone actually did traverse this journey. And lived to tell the tale!

From identifying how your emotions are tied to food, to creating your Optimal Vision, and following up with an incredible wealth of very useful tips and tools, Angela has run the gambit in Raw Emotions.

The book is a complete guide. From start to finish, Angela winds you around each potential pitfall and giving you "power-ups" along the way for those extra tough times.

Since this book is so incredibly deep and broad, we are going to give you a classic Raw Food, Right Now! breakdown, so you can get the skinny on this gem. In bold is Angela's main headings, followed by our brief explanation of what you need to know:

• Introduction - Introduces you to the concepts and gets you thinking about what emotional eating patterns are.
  
  
• What does your emotional connection with food look like? - Identify and understand your current emotional connections to food.
  
  
• How have you been dealing with your emotions? - In this section, Angela has the you do the tough work in identify how you might be sabotaging yourself. What's not working?
  
  
• Living with 'Toxic' emotional attachment to food - How does it feel to live this way now? List of signs that you may be an emotional eater.
  
  
• So where would you like to go? Creating Your Optimal Vision. - This is where the change begins. What do you want your relationship to food to be? Detail it as much as possible, all action and change begins with a thought, a vision.
  
  
• Shifting into feeling great about food - Since guilt and food go together, this shift will feel amazing. Once you have a positive outlook on food, anything will feel possible.
  
  
• Healing the emotional connection with food - Three simple steps to break your addictive patterns. One of the most powerful parts of Angela's book.
  
  
• Into Emotional Detox - Remember those pitfalls we mentioned? Here is where you become conscious of them. What to do when your emotions start pouring out of you.
  
  
• Guidance: Treasure Box - And here are your power-ups. Enough to make Super Mario jealous (and possibly thin like Luigi!)
  
  
• Maintaining Maintenance - You've made it! But now what? How do you keep it up? It's easy to change, but hard to keep good habits going.
  

One of our very favorite sections of the book, is her "Treasure Box" of useful tips, tools, and techniques to come back to, time and again, when the going gets tough.

Included are 20 'Recovery Concepts' and 40 'Healthy Action Tips'. Don't let the names fool you, these aren't just one sentence tips in a handy blog post-like list...these are well-written, from the heart, what-you-need-to-know explanations of very practical psychological tools and tips. And you can tell that they all come from her love and experience, with pure passion for helping you on this difficult journey.

Everyone will find at least something helpful here. A great list to keep coming back to.


But Where Does all this Inner Stuff Come From?

There is a lifetime of habitual patterns around eating inside of most (or all!) of us. For example, were you ever told that you “have to” finish everything on your plate?

How do you think that has affected your eating habits now? Do you eat because you fear that "wasting" food is bad?

According to the book, whether we know it or not we fall into certain categories of personal food paradigms. Perhaps (or most likely) these came from our parents. Maybe you developed some of them while trying to maintain a better diet sometime in your past and fell into a particular habit in order to avoid a painful memory.

Angela is very insightful to realize that inside each of us we either have:

• An emotional or no emotional connection to food, and;
  
• Either a focused consciousness, or a non-focused consciousness on our food

Basically, we can either be happy, passive, or uncomfortable about what we are eating. These categories affect the entire way we see food, from the moment we determine we are hungry all the way to the after affects of eating something we believe is good for us or not.

That 'Empty' Feeling...

Perhaps the most difficult aspect for most people when eating a more raw plant-based diet, is the initial 'empty' feeling. Over time, we come to learn that it's not a physical emptiness we are feeling, but an emotional emptiness. One will become very aware of what true hunger feels like on a raw diet (hint: it actually feels pleasurable!)

This 'empty' feeling can cause havoc for someone unprepared!

Not only that, but over the long term, we come to require less and less foods as our nutrient-dense foods start penetrating our cell walls and we are fed on a deeper level with less volume.

When the physical need for food becomes less than it used to be, if we are used to filling our lives with food, we are going to get very uncomfortable very fast.

Often, we’re just not 'hungry'! But there is still that empty feeling hanging there.

What can we do with these new ways of eating become our daily experience?

Angela offers what she calls “20 Core Recovery Concepts”, which are ideas or ways of looking at the world that can help you shift your paradigm from one of deprivation and suffering over cravings, into happiness and acceptance in the now.

These include setting boundaries, looking for answers within, and simplifying your life.

Sounds good, but should I get the book or not?

Raw Emotions reads more like a self-help book than a raw food book. It may not be what you are used to, but within ten minutes of reading, you will discover the immense value that it has to offer. Remember, the emphasis is on food cravings and the emotions that come up when making those changes, not recipes or kitchen tips.

There is no doubt that Stokes has traversed many of these paths and is speaking from her heart, with honesty, integrity, and a lot of experience.

This book truly is a wealth of information. We are confident that any reader interested in really exploring, releasing, and finally overcoming their troubles with going and staying raw will obtain serious benefit with a read through of Angela’s Raw Emotions.

She knows this journey, inside and out. She's lived it. She's been there, and because "success leaves clues", it's highly recommended that everyone who is considering (or has!) changed their diet significantly in the more raw direction, grab a copy and read with an open mind and heart.

~ Raw Food, Right Now