hey everyone...
I just got a phone call from my high school health teacher from ten years ago, haha.
anyway, she's asked me to come speak to her summer school health class about raw foods. i have never done anything like this before, but i'm 1.5 yrs raw, so I will feel fairly comfortable doing this.

Of course I can anticipate the usual questions: where do you get your protein from? where do you get calcium?

What are some of the other questions people always ask you about being raw? (so i can be prepared to teach these 14 yr olds something!)

What are some of the main points you think i could convey in a 30 min to an hour of presentation/discussion?

thanks for your help :-)

1) Sample meal plans
2) Sample recipes
3) FAQ
4) Pictures of dishes
5) Famous raw food gurus

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

To stay active and that increasing your raw intake can be fun and liberating and that you don't have to live on a mountain top sat with your legs crossed and floating 6 inches from the ground sipping on dew from blades of grass to be raw.

F1

Hahaha....F1, I may have to quote you directly on that one!!!

and David, good idea on the meal plans, hadn't thought of that one :-)

Bridie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hahaha....F1, I may have to quote you directly on
> that one!!!
>
> and David, good idea on the meal plans, hadn't
> thought of that one :-)

Your most welcome...good luck on the day!

F1

Hi Bridie,

DMZ had a good idea about pics, and raw food leaders.

Kids are kids so they need PICTURES! Start off the lecture with a bunch of mouth watering fruit n veggie pictures.. salads etc. smoothies.. whatever. Make it into a powerpoint slide presentation.

Then right afterwards, show pics of the raw leaders. Then ask the kids if they know the connection. Maybe some do? LOL

Then proceed to connect the dots as to why it is important.

Talk about how certain health conditions were healed and in that way, it starts to get their minds moving after they have oogled the pics of the food.

Tell them how all the animals in nature eat their food raw.

Tell them about protein structure, temperature and point of denaturation.

Maybe you could even put up a slide that shows the basic structure of a protein:

Then tell them that RAw is the NEW WORLD ORDER and WELCOME ABOARD!!!!!LOL

I think this is great!
I would really emphasize any mental health benefits you are getting from eating raw.
And how the raw diet can reduce or eliminate things like depression,which might keep alot of kids from resorting to drugs and alcohol.
You might also get the "where do you get b12 question too"
Brian

You have to do some before and after pics too!

I love the ones where they take a pic every month so you can see the progression:
[www.ibeatobesity.com]
[home.comcast.net]
[www.reallyrawfood.com]


These are just plain before and afters.
[www.rawglow.com]
[www.beautifulonraw.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2008 10:17PM by Lillianswan.

As a mom of four teens, here's my two cents.

I doubt that they will be much more than mildly impressed by the health benefits or the mental benefits. Or even how appetizing your most impressive gourmet raw meal looks. And at this point, they are likely totally unconcerned with their personal aging process.

What would impress my kids would come down to two things. 1. Can you make food super easy, no effort, and still taste good and satisfying. and 2. Will it make you either skinny and attractive or will it help you look muscular and attractive. Not necessarily in that particular order. (and will it give you great skin tone - no zits!) It would really drive your points home if you could give a few examples of amazing looking celebrities who follow a raw diet.

All the stuff about longevity, health, nutrition, ethics would be kind of secondary, albeit important. They would be more likely to start the right diet for the wrong reasons, and come to appreciate the right reasons later. Of course if you only focus on the superficial stuff, the teacher might not be impressed, LOL.

Sapphire

Sapphire...thanks for the advice. what celebs are raw? i know plenty of vegetarian and vegan ones, but not raw ones.

Ya know, I am sure there are some, I think I have come across stuff, but I can't remember much. Carol Alt, Woody Harrelson, I think maybe Demi Moore, but I am really not sure. There must be some younger ones that the kids would relate to ??

Somebody must know - anyone?

If you can't find anyone famous, anyone who is not famous but looks fantastic would be very effective also. (there are some of them right here on this forum!)

Sorry I can't be of more help!

Sapphire

Alicia Silverstone is raw, younger, and beautiful, often the face of veganism for PETA.

I would definitely talking about emotional stability and skin, energy, less sleep required! Those are benefits teens could relate to. Also, about feeling wonderful, positive, able to dream big and reach for those dreams! Raw's like a natural high, without having to sneak around, do illegal drugs, smoke, drink, haha!! It will make them want to be healthier, push their bodies further, achieve more, and all while feeling more peaceful, more blissful, more spiritual!

Sunflower
Raw Food Chef and Writer
Comfortably Raw
[www.comfortablyraw.com]

I say if you've been raw for a year you should keep it basic and simple, don't get too much into specifics/raw coaching....I would stick to practicality, benefits and examples of other successful long time raw foodists.

F1

Wow! What a fantastic opportunity to help teens learn about a better way of eating!! Congratulations and I hope you have a great time!

I think with that age, it might be good to point out that even though their youthful bodies seem to be dealing with unhealthy foods just fine, it's the long-term effects that they might want to think about.

Life comes from life...that's what I'd probably repeat a few times.

Good luck and I hope you inspire a lot of young people!!

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

I would also explain leukocytosis. Reading about that in the beginning really drove home how the healing works, for me.

Bridie Wrote:
>
> Of course I can anticipate the usual questions:
> where do you get your protein from? where do you
> get calcium?
>
> What are some of the other questions people always
> ask you about being raw?

besides those you mentioned i get "don`t you get bored?"
i am so stoked that you are doing this. i`m a teachers assistant and we have the health books that have been around forever and that school of thought and i cringe when the lead teacher is teaching about starches and dairy and meat
patty

If you have access to an indigo child/teenager ask them directly what is important to them and take their pulse on how they view life in general. They are generally extremely bright and aware...smarter than we were back in the day. I spoke to a group of teens ranging in age from 14-17 at a community center last summer. Many were already aware of raw veganism to some degree. I'm in California, so perhaps this had a lot to do with it. Many kids are not as focused on what 'celebrities' are doing which surprised me. And if they are, they're not following them "blindly". Many that I spoke to were concerned about the environment and are service oriented. They understand stuff it's taken me years to learn, haha, so be mindful that you may also be a student when you speak to them. :-D

I brought food samples, a blender and demonstrated how to make smoothies. I didn't go into a lot of detail - kept it simple. I did not spend a lot of time with boring details and explaining the science of raw foods...they'll get that at some point.

I mostly spoke about my own transformation and what brought me to raw foods. I brought my before and after photos. Teens today like to keep it real. If you speak the truth about your own experience they will be all ears.

As an introduction I'd recommend telling your story and offering raw treats and where to access them inexpensively, etc. Keep in mind money is a factor for many kids and their parents may not always be on board with spending more on organic produce etc. And some kids, depending on the region of the country you're in, may run up against issues with being viewed as having eating disorders etc. I spoke truthfully about my experiences regarding the social implications of being a raw foodist. It's hard enough being a teen in the first place without adding more reasons to be ostracized. They got it and I think they'll take away more from my being real about this than about food preparation in all honesty. I gave them tips on coping and standing their ground, how to share raw foods with others who are skeptical, where to research and so forth. I also left my card for any child who really wanted to explore raw foods and had questions. A couple called me for advice.

I like David's outline to begin and everyone else's suggestions are right on.

Good luck and have FUN!

Edit: Also teens are VERY technically inclined. Many have websites or access the internet daily. Bring some good resources for them to access...like this site for example. RFT has a section dedicated to teen raw foodists.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2008 12:27AM by rawangel.

I think teens are a lot smarter than they are given credit for

yeah, sure... some teens may only care about getting zits or whatever

but these kids are also philosophical, athletes , are around adults that may have had scary health issues and they wish to avoid them

kids also care about animals and are very passionate about saving them and the connection to veganism etc.

Teen athletes would care about how food affects their performance thus would probably be VERY interested in all the minutiae , health benefits.

They also may suffer from mood swings ( thanks to all the cheeseburgers and fries they gulfed down)

so they are interested in how to stabilize their moods or up the ante and have a positive outlook altogether.

They also have witnessed some of their relatives... whether it is a grandparent or even their own parents or relatives who have died or suffered due to cancer, diabetes, heart problems etc

and they have wondered if it is just a fate that will befall them as well where they have no control or..... if you could give them a picture of how people can take control of their own health, I'm sure they would appreciate it.


I think I was fairly philosophical when I was a teenager and my classmates weren't dummies either. My hanging out with them and conversations with many of them when I was in high school will lead me to believe that if someone just came in to give us a presentation of a new diet and just emphasize:

skin complexion and losing weight

I would get VERY turned off. That's what they have in all the magazines, anyways.

All magazines say "fruits and veggies' will make your skin radiant and make you lose weight.

Big deal.

But if you go beyond that, I think you may plant a seed that may flourish in so many ways for a lifetime.

wow, the good suggestions keep on coming. thanks for everyone who replied so far....i was pretty nervous about this whole thing (i HATE HATE HATE public speaking), but i'm feeling much better with all these ideas :-)

i guess i'll have to go for some sort of balance between appealing to vanity and talking about health concerns, how this type of lifestyle is better for the environment, etc

i do think its important to talk about things such as weight loss, zits, etc, though, because i remember all to well the low self esteem many teens struggle with due to things like that. i always had bad skin myself and remember the repeated trips to the dermatologist in high school, and every pamphlet i read at the doctors office said that acne wasn't due to diet (haha!) and then they just write you three different Rxs and send you on your way.

i've got another week before i do this, so any more info is appreciated

oh okay Bridie

better you than me doing this presentation LOL

i guess you are right about those things

i didn't have zits when i was a teenager and no weight issues either being very athletic but i would have REALLY REALLY appreciated if someone came to my class and told me about raw food diet etc.

i think i would have gobbled every bit of information and taken to it right away

I did take to the raw diet right away after reading one book but that was after high school

would have been super cool to have known it then too

but balance is good

Yeah... This would have been so fabulous to have at my school. I spent my high school years wanting to be a vegetarian, but didn't start until (the exact day) I graduated, since I was a "free adult" and had the time over the summer to learn.

So getting some info that could set people in motion to learn more... is a very cool thing.

I'm shocked/delighted that the school allowed it. :O

Sapphire--
I read somewhere that Demi Moore was questioned about the raw food story, and she said it wasn't true-- she even eats burgers, in fact. ;-/ Carol Alt is raw, but eats raw meat and other animal products.

Rawsun--
Alicia was a raw foodist for awhile, but changed her diet to cooked vegan, unless she's returned to raw in the meantime.

Natalie Portman is raw (last I heard, anyway). I always thought she looked especially healthy and beautiful, so I wasn't surprised when I found out she eats raw food.

Another person who is rumored to be raw is Tobey McGuire.

There's also a female comedian, Margaret Cho (?), who went raw awhile back. She's quoted on David Wolfe's website. I don't know if she stuck with it, though-- recent pics look like she's gained back all the weight, but who knows. Maybe she's just taking her time and detoxing slowly.

There are probably a lot of other raw foodists in Hollywood who just don't acknowledge it out of a desire for privacy.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

So, how did class go, Bridie?