I have spent this entire day reading the success stories of raw vegans and watching YouTube videos on living raw foods. Well.....

I am making a commitment to going 30 days, 100% raw...beginning right now!

I truly believe that this is the way to go. Why would man want to improve on God's beautiful creation by killing it with heat? Ah... because it tastes good! Is that a good reason? NO!

I believe that only one lease of life is granted us. The question I ask myself is, "How can I invest my powers so that they may yield the greatest profit? How can I do most for the glory of God and the benefit of my fellow men?" I know that life is valuable only as it is used for the attainment of these ends.

I believe that every faculty with which the Creator has endowed us should be cultivated to the highest degree of perfection, that we may be able to do the greatest amount of good of which we are capable. So... the time spent in establishing and preserving physical and mental health is well spent.

As of right now, 5:15 PM, April 12, 2010, I commit to 30 days of 100% raw diet. By the grace of God. I realize that today is the only day granted to us, but if I should live and see tomorrow, the commitment will be renewed.

I don't have any health concerns that I know of, other than being overweight. I am weighing in at 155.6 lbs. Looking forward to FANTASTIC health!

jthompson

"Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Genesis 1:29

Okay, so here is an update.

Although the 100% raw didn't happen, some progress is being made.

Breakfast is about 95% raw. We are REALLY enjoying fruit smoothies in the morning. I use 1/3 C. raw oats, 1 banana, 1 apple (or orange), 1/2 c. water, and 1 scoop of Vanilla Naturade Soy Meal replacer. (That's the 5% not raw. The milk shake taste is sooo nice. If someone has another suggestion, I'd be willing to try it.) I process that in our Blendtec and then add a tray of ice and blend again. We look forward to breakfast every day!

I have been having a quart of green drink each day. (Celery, carrots, collards, kale, and now cucumbers from the garden!) It doesn't taste all that great, but it's a fast way to eat a big salad. We tried mustard greens in it a few times... Whew! To strong!

One dish that my husband and I really like is the marinated greens. I pull the stems from the leaves (blend the stems in the green drink) of two handfulls of mixed greens (the mustard works well here). Chop them up fine. Shred or chop some carrots, a little green onion, celery, whatever... and put it all in a bowl. Then add a sprinkle of salt, a little olive oil, a drizzle of lemon juice, and a dribble of honey. Work all that in with the hands until it wilts (only a few minutes). We've been enjoying this in a sandwich, over potatoes, rice or other cooked grain.

Today I decided to be adventurous and added some kudzu leaves and day lillies from the yard. The kudzu was too tough for our teeth (we just had some caps put in) so I blended the mixture and added some sunflower seeds to thicken it. It made a nice dip for other vegetables, and a nice spread for our bread. My husband said it would taste good on pizza!

It's fun to experiment on different things.

I tried sprouted wheat bread in the dehydrator, but I think I sprouted it too long. We didn't like the taste and it kind of turned us off of raw breads for a while. Maybe we will try it again someday...

As far as health goes... The first thing I have noticed is that my bowels move much easier. That's wonderful! I also have more energy. I find myself jumping up to take care of things that need to be done instead of looking the other way.

Looking forward to learning some new recipes in the very near future. Thanks to all for the recipes on this site!

Good for you! It's inspiring to read how people are changing their lives through increasing raw foods. I, too, am about to venture into this. Tell me--have you been making other things in your dehydrator?

Thank you for the encouragement banana who.

I have such a large amount of greens coming out of the garden right now. So much more than we can eat or freeze, and I don't want to can them, so I tried dehydrating them. I put them in the dehydrator whole for a little while. (We have an Excalibur so there is plenty of room.) Then I take them out and crush them into a bowl. The parts that aren't finished yet I put back into the dehydrator for a few more hours. I don't know how nutritious these will be, but I think it will be better than cooking them.

Last year we had LOTS of tomatoes from the garden and I sliced them and dried them. They were wonderful all winter long. I'm just new at this raw thing so, instead of cooking them like I did, I think I would blend them into a nice juice, add them to a green smoothie, or blend them into tomato paste, etc.

I've made some nice goodies too, like cookies, and chips that I make from sunflower seeds.

But the latest thing that we really enjoy is raw pizza! I sprouted some wheat, processed it in a food processor. Added just a little water and a few seasonings and kneeded it a few times. Then I shaped it into a circle on a teflex sheet (about 1/4 inch thick). I dehydrated that until I was able to peal it from the teflex and flip it onto a tray. I put it back into the dehydrator while I prepared the other ingredients. I made the sauce with dried tomatoes in the blender with a little water and added seasonings. The vegies on top I sliced really thin. And then I topped it with some sunflower seed cheese sauce. I dehydrated it for about 4 hours and we ate it warm out of the dehydrator. Really nice! My husband thought it was great!

I haven't been able to just stop all cooked foods. But the raw things that we are doing have been a help to us.

I look forward to hearing of your progress, banana who! What raw foods do you enjoy?

I have been doing raw for 8 days now and today my taste-buds WOKE UP! The fruit I had for breakfast was absolutely DELICIOUS! It's the same fruit I've been eating all along, but it never tasted this good!

Have any of you had this experience?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2011 03:50PM by jthompson.

Hi. Saw your thread and i felt it went really well with what is happening for me at the moment so i would like to share this and hopefully you won't mind. I had a real struggle with raw food, tried to go raw many times in the past few years and only managed one week at a time, so today i want to say that i am, at this very minute starting a raw food diet, as close to 100% as possible. I can't afford to look at raw olives or raw nuts so you know, won't be to the letter, but as close to as possible with available means. And i am starting tonight with a small and simple tomato, basil and olive oil salade as i ate cooked food the rest of the day. Hope we will be able to exchange status updates and recipes and tips along the way, but in any case see you on the other side of one month. I am looking forward to becoming less tired and to my tastebuds waking up.
Best of luck in your continuation. X