Can someone please help. Been on raw foods for about 4 wks now We can't find one recipe we like and I have spent more money than I care to say and have several good books (Alyssas. Rawvolution,ect.)Every recipe we tried was just gross to us. I have thrown out more meals because we just could'nt force it down.And I personally hate salads. So here i sit completely frustrated, very disappointed another meal tonight down the drain. I'm thinking what are we going to eat now? I can see why you might lose weight if you can't eat any of the meals you make. We have been breaking down and eating out more not because of cravings so much, more because we are so freakin hungry.Does any one have any suggestions? maybe more green smoothies could work? Big bowls of salad just make me almost cringe maybe blended could work better. Oh and that braggs aminos is quite possibly the nastiest stuff I don't like it in anything!The worst thing is I have always been very opened minded to lots of different foods but this has been quite possibly the hardest thing to get adjusted to we have ever done, I mean my husband was totally handling this really well until all my evening meals keep failing and he is tired of taking salads to work.Sorry if i put any dampers on any of you all. This is just really upsetting to us because we want it to work so badly!

What are some fruits & veggies you like? Maybe we can come up with some good combos for you using only things you actually like.

I like to make smoothies with my Vitamix, Try:

1/2 Avocado
1/3 Lemon
1 Banana
Handful of Romaine Lettuce
3 sticks Celery
1 Grany Smith apple

mix it up and wala you are now the energizer bunny

I also take supplements: Super Greens, MSM, Udo's choice oil & Protein shake

[www.youtube.com]

Eat raw foods you like, of course! Do you, by any chance like fruit? If yes, then eat them as is, or you may wish to try some recipes. Suggestions:

* blend bananas, plus mangoes/papaya/blueberries/strawberries, plus water - delicious smoothie
* blend bananas and strawberries - delicious pudding
* freeze ripe skinned bananas and then process them plain or with a handful of raspberries - delicious icecream
* blend tomatoes and a bit of avocado (or tahini, or blended macademias) - delicious tomato soup
* blend zuccini and some tahini - delicious hummus
* just in case - feel like greens? why not have a simple salad - greens of your choice, juice of one orange, 1 tablespoon of tahini,
or, try a simple wrap - put some avo or whatever you wish (strawberries, tomatoes, cucumber, anything you like goes) on a lettuce - and roll it up, ready


Gosia


RawGosia channel
RawGosia streams



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2007 12:45AM by rawgosia.

I am not much of a recipe person myself. My man and I have tried quite a few recipes and neither one of us were to keen on most of them. I find that sometimes it works best to keep it simple. Just eat individual things and learn to enjoy the flavor of each. I say this because one of the first raw recipes I did called for avacado. I had never had an avacado and knew nothing about it. Into the recipe it went.....EXTREMELY UNRIPE. I had some leftover and tried a piece and hated it. Once my boyfriend pointed out that it wasn't ready I went back to the store and got a ripe one. I loved it!
If you learn about the individual foods first and learn to appreciate their individual taste, then you can start experimenting. After a while you will figure out what you like and don't like and will learn how to combine certain foods.

I'm still new at this, only a few months at trying to be raw.

I could not find what I wanted in the recipes/cook books either until I adjusted my taste to a good base of simple raw meals like smoothies and mono fruit meals. The recipes are for when I want some variety and I feel like making something special.

Supper is still hard for me, I still compromise with some cooked soups and vegetables though less and less because it hurts more and more to eat salt and fat especially if it's cooked.

I don't feel like salads most evenings either and so blend my greens with fruit either in the morning or when I get home or both.

Hunger is something I still experience though I can usually go a lot longer than I think and feel fine. Cravings are more and more under control as I get healthier.

It's important for me too to have healthy standby snacks so I can think straight and make good decisions about what I'm going to eat including getting my green/fruit smoothies in.

My tastes are changing and yours will too. Unbelievably now I can be satisfied by a couple of big mangoes or a big ripe papaya for a meal but I have to have plenty of ripe bananas sometime in the middle of the day or I may be out of control when I get home and do something stupid.

Fruit is becoming more interesting to my palate, I taste things I never did before, the first few bitefuls of my papya today tasted like chocolate.

If you are motivated you will find a way to do this and you will find what you like to eat and make raw food your thing.

this seems a little silly actually... where do you live? what books do you own? what other things are you trying? Sorry if I sound skeptical but your post actually sounds bogus to me. Sorry if I seem harsh, it's just that I've never heard of anyone becoming raw who hates salads.

But please answer my questions, what book have you purchased? where do you live? what other things are you doing?

As others have pointed out, try simple combinations: avocado and tomato, bananas and strawberries (blended or not), romaine and a great dressing, celery and almond butter. Raw food recipes can sometimes be complicated. Since you're dealing with fresh ingredients and different preparation methods, these recipes can be difficult to interpret. Do you soak the nuts or not? How big is the onion supposed to be? How should you cut/slice/dice the squash? All of these things affect the final outcome and the recipes are sometimes vague. If you're going to use recipes, here's my "rules":

1. Substitute Nama Shoyu or sea salt for Braggs (I agree... yuck...or just leave it out)
2. Dehydrated foods get stronger when you dehydrate it so don't over-season.
3. Experiment with how you cut fruits and veggies. If you don't like sliced carrots, maybe grated is for you.
4. Don't use ingredients you don't really like, so think about what you're putting in. There's time later to expand your palate.
5. Food processors will turn food to mush. Some things taste better with a grainier texture. Pulse to the right texture.
6. Combine recipes for better results. For example, if you see a recipe for taco "meat," be sure to make sides that will help it out... like avocado (mashed with lime) and fresh salsa.
7. Try some of the raw soups with flax crackers. Very filling.
8. Don't be afraid to put your hands in the food. If the recipe says massage the liquids into the greens, really get in there.
9. Look for recipes online that others have given a positive review. Try goneraw.com because the reviewers have added helpful hints.
10. Get it out of your mind that the recipe should actually taste like it's name. It's won't!
11. Don't try too many recipes at once. If it doesn't work, throw it away... and make a smoothie.
12. If you're going to wrap something in a green leaf, make sure that the taste and texture of the leaf complements the filling. As much as I love my greens, I don't like many things wrapped in a romaine leaf, let alone a collard.
13. Buy the freshest organic in-season produce you can find. It seems wasteful to throw food out but I don't hesitate to do it if it doesn't taste good. Unlike cooked food, the taste won't change because you put it in a recipe.

Good luck!

Pam

I hate it when every recipe includes the Braggs soy sauce in it. It makes every dish taste the same and I can't stand the taste of it. There are lots and lots of raw recipes that do not have it in them... try those.

Some people just don't like fruits and veggies. Just go back to cooked and low fruits and veggies if that makes you happy.

I'm not all about recipes personally. All the recipes I tried not only weren't good but they cost me too much. Just eat whole foods not in recipes and you'll probably like them better

____________________________________

~Christi~
Natural Living Info
AP/NL mama to Jacob 10/25/2006

It's sounds to me that you've jumped into raw too quickly. Start slowly, just adding say fruit for breakfast. And start to have a small salad with your main meal, you might eventually find you like them!

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

hmmmm...
yep

not sure how to respond
read your post twice

i'm still stumped
good thing we got other cool people here on board
they know better

Do you like veggies? Every other day or so we just have a huge vegetable tray... sliced peppers, tomatos, avacado, carrots, celery, brocolli, cauliflower... I make a dip by pureeing a cumcumber with seasonings... it is a great ranch dip, and it's all vegetables again... so we sit with this HUGE platter of veggies (often 2 platters cuz we're piggy), we each get a bowl of the ranch dip, and just chow. It's delicious! I can stuff myself and not worry at all. You can also make a great pesto sauce, and dip in that instead of the cucumber ranch dip.

We also love raw spaghetti... invest in a spirializer if you don't have one. They're not expensive. I have the Cooks Helper because it had the best reviews... and it was only $42 bucks. We use it a lot! You can also get the Saladuco for about half that. The reviews weren't as good. they do the same thing... turn hard fruits and vegetables into fun and delicious pasta like strands. Great for zuchinni spagetti... and really fun cole slaws... carrots and apples that turn into fun noodles, mix in the raisins, celery chunks, and add a dressing made with avacado, a little apple juice, a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar, and a bit of agave. Absolutely great! So you can have a great sald with the raw spagetti... I love variety in a meal.

My husband hated vegetables when we started this 4 months ago. He now enjoys them, and can look at a recipe and say "That looks good." On the SAD diet, our tastebuds have been deadened to the delicious flavor of real food. Instead we have to add loads of sugar and spices to make them thing something is good. As you persevere in eating live, your taste buds will wake up the the true pleasure of live food... it's amazing how good it can taste.

I would say that if you're truly wanting to go live, don't give up easily. You say you end up going out to eat, because you don't like what you are preparing. Be aware that as long as you are feeding your body the dead food that you like, you may never learn to enjoy the live stuff. So make yourself some rules: No meat, no sugar. No processed foods.... macaroni, breads, canned soups, etc. If you must eat dead foods to suppliment while you convert... do it simple. Have a baked potato, but do it AFTER you have eaten some live food. You probably enjoy fruits... eat them. You can make delicious ice cream by throwing a frozen bag of raspberries (or other fruit) in a blender with a frozen banana, and processing it until it's creamy. This works best in a VitaMix or other really good blender... but I have done it in a cheap blender as well. The whole family will love the tasty treat... but EARN it by eating a meal with lots of live food, and just a little cooked... make sure you're including enough cooked at first to make your meal somewhat satisfactory... and lots of raw to help your tastebuds.

I want to encourage you to not give up. You must have felt that this was a healthy way to live, that you wanted to improve the health of yourself and your family. What a great goal. Try to keep that goal in sight...

Okay one last thing... it's a personal thing, but it helps me. I pray. I ask God before every meal not only to bless the food so it nourishes me, but I also ask Him to make it pleasing unto me so that I am encouraged to continue on with trying to improve my health through eating nutritiously.

I think He answers those prayers.

Good luck, I hope it goes well for you. Things will change if you can just hold on!

Hugs,

KathyT

Kathy T-bless u for such great words! i too was thinking a bit of quitting cause i wanted to loose more weight-i was 245 and then in oct. i started vegetarian and then vegan...cause of many sickness's from the SAD diet.(NOW I SEEM STUCK AT 180)my problems now are bunched up gutts from too many raw greens(weird huh?).anyway-i am working thru it.but i can not give up.it makes too much sense-and it is too wonderful.i made a raw beet borscht yesterday from the juliano uncook-book.it was so wonderful i can not tell u.i felt like i was pouring a nourishing liquid from the gods into me.maybe seastars..u could center on how very good the raw fruits and veggies are for you and your family. i admit some of the stuff is well! interesting!!i made the sprouted wheat bread and it was so good.last nite i was experimenting with raw candy made out of carrot pulp and carob and raisins with pumpkin pie spice...sort of like a chocolate carrot cake.i am trying to start now and experiment with things for the holidays...to wow my unraw family members.when i cann't do some of the cookbook recipes...i just go simple.my hubby simply refuses some of it.so maybe others are right-maybe u did like me and jump in too soon. i did the same and i am still trying to balance myself.There is alot to learn.i made a raw chili and it was glorious and i made a cream of broccoli soup that is killer.maybe keep trying and mark the recipes that were really good. i dream of having the cream of broccoli soup again(it has an avocado and i am trying to loose weight so i go easy on the avocaods).anyway-good luck.it is interesting and fun to use the uncook books.hubby is not for it though.so i know what u mean,hugs taylor

if you hate it, fix it.

Taylor, you inspire me so much! What you said here, is exactly how I feel when I eat healthy, and people think I just have willpower, no, it's the addiction of knowing how healthy something is for me & and how wonderful I feel.

-i am working
> thru it.but i can not give up.it makes too much
> sense-and it is too wonderful.i made a raw beet
> borscht yesterday from the juliano uncook-book.it
> was so wonderful i can not tell u.i felt like i
> was pouring a nourishing liquid from the gods into
> me.maybe seastars..u could center on how very good
> the raw fruits and veggies are for you and your
> family.

thank u sweetie!! dear rawrrr!you are a role model for "all yourself". look at you! looking good.THAT IS WHAT I AM WORKING ON...the very thing u have always known.it feels good and it makes u look good and healthy.that is quality living.hugs taylor

We pretty much like raw vegetables, I can't think of anything we don't like( 10 yr. old son is a little pickier)Someone mentioned a vegetable platter w/ dip great idea, Of course we love fruits. We tried a papaya recently but it had a funk taste I'm guessing it wasn't ripe. How do you know if a papaya or mango is ripe? WE kinda stick with the basic fruit, We haven't tried to many "exotic "ones yet kinda scared to. We live in the midwest,a meat and potatos state, it being winter we are limited on certain things here.I have also tried green and gone smoothie(yum), banana/apple smoothie and 1 green smoothie called alligater soup. We are pineapple lovers and we buy like 10#s of bananas at a time. grapefruit & oranges are a staple.The biggest thing I'm worried about is getting enough protein. I read somewhere that 42% of raw food dieters lose their hair from not getting enough protein.so smoothie combinations with leafy greens are the best,Right? I would like to have more simple green smoothie recipes If you have some. thanks S

seastars Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I read somewhere that
> 42% of raw food dieters lose their hair from not
> getting enough protein.

I've heard stories of people loosing their hair, but 42%, I'm pretty sure that's not true - I know loads of raw fooders and none have lost their hair!

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

dear seastars-what is the recipe for alligator soup?? i love the sound of that one!!i have not lost a strand of my hair but my nails are harder and long for the first time in my whole life.i think u can tell is mango's are ripe if they are s bit softer.i have a wonderful recipe for a green smoothie...it is called a broccoli booster. it is 4 and 1/2 oz. of broccoli,2 eating apples and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.sooooo good.good luck.taylor

Here is the recipe for alligator soup

1 large cucumber
1 ripe avocado
1 clove garlic
1 lime juiced
2 c. spinach or tender greens
1/2 c.cilantro
seasalt
mix it up in your vitamix it was a little strong for me at first but got used to it.this is the website I got it from http:// totallytraci.com/rawrecipes.htm, she has other recipes I haven't tried yet.

I had that same problem when I started raw.

I need lots of flavor & variety. I can't eat the same things everyday and I can't eat just simple meals of one or two fruits/veggies. I will lose my mind! And when you are transitioning I hardly see how making dull meals will entice you to go raw completely or motivate you to keep going!

What worked for me is buying more cookbooks and making recipes that were as simple as possible. Some of the recipe books you have may be too gourmet. I recommend "Lifefood Recipe Book" or "Rawsome" by Brigitte Mars. If you don't like salads...you just simply haven't found a good dressing yet! I never touched a salad till I was in my twenties..but now I eat them all the time but only if I like the dressing!

I am still having difficulties with entrees (I am great with making all sorts of desserts!). I have found a raw recipe site at goraw.com where people share raw food recipes for free and rate them. I had made the Herb encrusted portobello mushroom steaks with pine-nut chhese sauce and LOVED them! I crave them. It helps when other people rate the recipes and give their advice.

If you can go to some raw potlucks. You can try all sorts of dishes, find out what you like and get the recipes. I also like to eat out at some raw delis when I am too tired or too frusterated with preparing meal. It really inspires me to keep going because the food is always good and there is always such variety!

Maybe you need to transition more slowly. Keep eating cooked foods until you master some more recipes. It doesn't help any if you are getting so hungry that you just need to order take-out!

Taylor-I love what you wrote about how it feels when you eat the healthy food that you need. I rarely experienced that when I was cooked. I had a perfectly ripe peach the other day and it was like heaven. I had another and then another and then they were gone. If I ate the same peach today I might not get that feeling. After being raw a while I realized very seldom does everyone in the family want the same thing. We were so used to eating the same meal together at the same time. Now one or two of us might have nuts and others might have soup or salad. About once a week I make something special, like nori rolls, and everyone will want to eat together. Because we keep it simple it makes it easy for even the young to see what they want and most of the time grab it themselves. Sometimes we just graze on nuts for dinner. When I was vegetarian I just mimicked my SAD, two vegetables and a main course or a one pot wonder and bread. Raw liberated me from all that. I am liberated from food and it is fantastic. I don't leave the yard I am having so much fun in to make dinner anymore.

Seastars- Since you don't like salad and feel you need greens have you tried marinated greens and indian spinach dip from Allissa's book? Yesterday my son and I ate a whole bunch of spinach made into the dip right out of the bowl. I also serve it with bok choy and carrot sticks and it gets gobbled up too quickly. We have found that our tastes have radically changed. So eat what you like and your body will start to crave what it needs.

I have more hair than ever.

I would recommend doing a detox before jumping into being raw directly from cooked foods. By detoxing, you'll eliminate the cravings and allow your tastebuds to be renewed. In this way, most raw foods will taste extraordinary. You have to listen to your body to see what it needs, and uncook intuitively. Recipes are great for inspiration, but make them your own.

As far as detoxing, I'd recommend Dr D's 21 day detox, [www.21daydetox.com]. It starts off with the first week eating vegan, 2nd week raw, and 3rd week blended raw foods. By the end of the 3rd week, my mental clarity and peaceful had returned, and I felt much more excited about raw foods than I could have before it.

Hi SeaStars,

I would recommend Dr. Graham's books:

“The 80/10/10 Diet: Balancing Your Health, Your Weight, and Your Life One Luscious Bite at a Time.” And “Grain damage, rethinking the high-starch diet, the grain-free diet is not radical, it is ultraconservative”.

I did not feel satisfied with Alissa Cohen’s high-fat raw vegan diet, but VERY satisfied on Dr. Graham’s low-fat raw vegan – frugivore diet! Delicious!

I found Alissa Cohen's diet too much work, too much dehydrating and all those recipes were too time consuming. Dr. Graham's diet is mostly fresh raw fruits,(red and yellow peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and tomatoes are also fruits), leafy green soft cellulous vegetables, a few seeds and nuts. Very simple, but VERY satisfying and delicious!

Dr. Graham teaches how humans were never meant to eat grains, or beans or hard cellulous vegetables (such as kale). Our diet was to comprise of mostly fruits, and some green leafy soft cellulous fibre greens, and a few seeds and nuts. No supplement buying, no dry fruits either. Coconut is too hard for humans to digest either, the Thai jelly coconuts are better, but he recommends no coconut at all for humans.

Grains are very addictive, and humans can not eat grain without eating it addictively. We are ALL grain addicts. And to live as an addict, is not a very happy existence at all. As you do not feel you have control over your life, or over what you eat.

I was looking for a diet that was just simple and basic with also getting all your nutritional requirements. And without all the cost of buying all the gadgets.

Dr. Graham mostly just emphasizes that humans are 'frugivores' and need a frugivore diet for optimum health. You will find that diet from his book; the 80/10/10 diet. It is the greatest diet I have ever found! I am done now, with searching for the optimum diet. I have found it.

It is very different then the high-fat raw vegan diet of Alissa Cohen. It is a low-fat raw vegan. I never would have thought, there was such a diet as his. Nor that I could feel so happy and whole on his diet. And so satisfied from the frugivore diet. It is like all my diet searching has come to an end. That is great joy for me, alone. I have found the optimum diet , finally.

I think we are all evolving, and eventually we all will eventually find the frugivore diet - which is the diet for humans -- who are frugivores.

Want optimum health? Eat a frugivore diet, it is the diet that we were designed to eat. There is no better diet, then the diet that was intended for us to eat.

Dr. Graham’s talk board is found here:

[www.vegsource.com]

His website for lots of info is found here:

[www.foodnsport.com]

[Dr. Graham teaches Olympic trainers and professional athletes.]

Take care,
Denise.

thank u seastars,so much for the alligator soup-it looks so good.good luck.to me...it sounds like u have alot of the right elements to keep trying.u all really like veggies and fruits-that is about what it takes.it is hard to have time to fix alot of the cookbook stuff.well good luck.we all care about u and your family.hugs taylor

Great recipe for alligator soup! I can't wait to try it!

Thanks!

KathyT

I don't do recipes..except for something like putting shredded coconut and dates together to make cookie balls.

I also disliked making and eating so much salad..so I would cut up my favorite veggies, and eat them with some celtic sea salt.

Lots of fruits during the day, fruit smoothies, sometimes green juice I made most of the time from carrots, celery, and spinach.

I also like fresh mature coconut, medjool dates, and trail mix with raisins, sunflower seeds, almonds, pumpkin seeds.

A lot of raw food guys do add the superfoods to their raw diets, like Flex 4 Life said above, Super Greens, MSM, Udo's choice oil & Protein shake.

If you eat cooked, you could eat an evening meal of steamed veggies, yams, and maybe a meat substitute. You can check the website [www.hacres.com] for more info on that diet. It's over 70% raw, and is a great transitional diet.

People sprout things, dehydrate stuff, and make all kinds of raw foods, but I have never got into that..yet anyway.

Almond and or cashew butter is good on dehydrated crackers, or apple slices, celery stalks.

Try thinking of being a percentage of raw, then pick the lesser of evil cooked type foods, before eating the worse offenders.

Love,
Prism