Yeah, it was easier when the weather was nice.
I'm still working on transitioning to raw/live foods.
The weather has gotten cold and wet and it makes it very hard not to cook a hot something.

How do you do it. Any advice to help stay the course?

What about green and herbal tea? There are probably raw foodists adverse to this idea, but it isn't like a pasteurized juice or something. No enzymes to be deficient of, just the flavours and phytonutrients in the water.

It's a suggestion anyways. Otherwise there are various warming herbs which I'm sure someone else can point out to you (I'm not sure what they all are).

Thanks Surfin bird. Excellent suggestions.

I invite more as hot tea will only go so far.

(I'm brewing ups some now... might add agave or honey for fun)

I drink a lot of tea. The leaves are processed by fermenting and drying/roasting them, but I figure, in the "list of crimes" against raw foodism, that's a minor infraction! It also helps, if you have a low-temp food dehydrator, to put stuff like smoothies or raw soups or flax crackers or cut fruit(you get the picture) in the dehydrator for 20-30 minutes at a medium setting to warm the food up to taste. Or, just take stuff out of the fridge a few hours before eating to take the chill off it. It is speculated[in Ayurveda and non-allopathic Dietetics] that your body must heat up to internal temperature anything you put in your stomach, which is why supercold water is sometimes not immediately refreshing. When it's cold and my body is already struggling to keep my metabolism stoked, I don't further torture it by making digestion of ice-cold substances a priority! I truly feel that the standards have to be set a smidgen lower for those of us not living on Maui!

Tamukha Wrote:

> It also helps, if you
> have a low-temp food dehydrator, to put stuff like
> smoothies

Eww. Warm smoothies?

i love to make zucchini,onion,carrots,cabbage, and pour some warm water on them like soup.it is very good.

This article might help.

[debbietookrawforlife.blogspot.com]

I used to do a similar thing, cy, using miso soup. Raw veggies in a bowl, add the hot soup.


I, too, have huge problems with the cold. Its a sort of cold that three sweaters and sitting directly at a hot oven wont touch. Its an internal coldness. When I eat my watermelon these (winter) days, I start shivering . Hot tea does help a little, or a hot long shower followed by some cold(er) water. or the above soup. Right now I strongly feel I need some warming foods (potatoes, beets, carrots, steamed veggies). I have a thyroid condition, amd the sensations of coldness are very strong. The other day my body temperature was 97. Putting a warm hat on, by the way, can be more helpful than the sweaters, however, if the body's internal thermostate is off, it will fight to cool itself off to whatever it thinks is right. I actually started sweating with my hat on, and was still cold at the same time. It's a feeling of severe unbalancedness and hot foods )especially roots and tubers) feel balancing. Taking it step by step and listening to my body rather than neing dogmatic.

I too crave something hot,or at least warm,pretty much all year.
I am not 100% raw,so anything I have that isnt raw is a lightly steamed veggie.I usually make brocoli,brussel sprouts,or squashes.Then put them in a warm veggie broth.Really hits the spot.

Brian

SurfinBird,

A warmed fruit smoothie can be like a pudding, like if it's a lot of bananas or berries. A green smoothie warmed is OK if it has a lot of herbs and some apple and carrot, and cabbage, as opposed to say, kale. It tastes like a veg soup.

cocao_nibs,

Totally relate to that bone cold feeling one gets with a thyroid disorder. It's like theres a block of ice occupying the space in my abdomen where my organs should otherwise be. It's horrible, horrible!

cjumpc,

I am currently wearing a knit hat and a thick cotton cravat, á la cocao_nibs, and I feel quite warm, in spite of the doldrummy ash grey 25 degree day outside the window. I also neglected to add in my first response, and this is pretty obvious, that moving around as much as possible really helps. Like dividing chores into trips: running up and down the stairs to get separate laundry loads instead of bringing three loads up at once, washing a lot of dishes vigorously by hand, vacuuming with a manual floor sweeper[back,forth,back,forth]can really heat you up quickly. And this is kind of counterintuitive, walking briskly outside even though it's cold--the house feels REALLY warm when you come back inside overheated! And this isn't counterintuitive, kundalini or "hot" yoga! I forget that we humans aren't supposed to be sitting around for hours at a time while our blood thickens and cools. We're supposed to move! Good luck!

It's funny because before I was into raw foods I didn't actually like my food warm anyways. I guess it was just part of my progression up to this point, but I didn't understand the logic behind why human beings cared what temperature their food was when they put it in their mouth. My family would always warm up leftovers and so forth and I just opted to eat it cold.

that's interesting you say that surfinbird because I'm obsessed with my food being warm..and i hate it when it gets cold or starts to get cold; so is my dad, he has to have his food like burning hot so it doesnt get cold

haha, it's like a warm food gene..
no but really, everyone probably has their differences in that

Last winter, for the last two weeks of January and all of February, I ate a GIANT durian every day. I'm thinking it might be that time again, soon... Apples, carrots, and beets just aren't doing it. The cold is making me crave fat. =\

The only thing I keep around that is warm is a cup of warm clean water. Everything else I use right out of the refrigerator or at room temperature. My cup of warm water is placed on one of those small electric cup warmers and its nice on a cool morning like today to take a sip now and then. I find that there is nothing as refreshing as clean water. If you are in your first winter raw hang in there and you will find that your body adjusts. Dressing warmly helps.
I bookmarked a slow cooker last winter to think about it as a winter transitioning gizmo but I decided not to get it and I found that my body adjusted OK without it. The feature that I like is that it adjusts down to 115 degrees F. According to my reading the enzymes in food are no longer live above 118 F so if you warm food you want to keep it below 118 F or its not raw. Here's the link to that gizmo if your interested:
[www.amazon.com]
As I mentioned I didn't get one so I can't say if it actually keeps the food below 118 F as it says. If I got one I would put a cooking thermometer in it and check to make sure that it isn't making live food into dead food.
I am in no way recommending this gizmo but I do support everyone in there efforts to be raw and live a healthy life.

When I first went all raw, the winters were quite challenging for me. First off, my body temperature was lower than the standard 98.6 by a few degrees. This took getting used to, especially in cold winter weather.

What I did was wear more clothing - thermal underwear, sweaters. And in my apartment, I turn up the heat high to get warmer. Also what helps is to not eat food directly out of the refrigerator. Let the food heat up to room temperature before eating it.

Over time, this sensitivity to cold went away.

One thing that really helped me, is bee pollen...Now i know that some people do not see it as a good thing to add in a raw vegan diet, since it's not so vegan...

But i'm telling you, i was always cold, even in the month of july! This summer, if i ate something coming right out of the fridge, my nails would turn blue and my temperature immediatly dropped for several hours... I was fearing winter alot, my first winter as a raw vegan.

Then i discovered bee pollen and it changed everything.There is something in it (i don,t remember what exactly) that increases the body's temperature.

Drink water warm or at room temperature.

Kombucha with ginger is very warming.

Try to plan ahead for the next day, and set out the fruit and veg you'll be eating on the counter so that it is room temp when you want it.

Exercise helps.

Cuddling up to someone warm helps.

Laying in the sun feels great. If you are able to adjust your blinds so the sun comes into the window and warms you up without sacrificing the amount of privacy you want, this is a great thing to do in the winter. I do it as often as I can.

In the winter, I like to eat foods warmed in the dehydrator, and I like to eat foods with more herbs and spices. Here is my recipe for raw rava dosas on facebook, if you'd like to check it out. [apps.facebook.com]

Yogic breathing is awesome. You know how you constrict your throat when you breathe on your glasses before wiping them off? Constrict your throat that way as you breathe in and out through just your nose. It will sound a little bit like a high wind going through the trees far away. This works, for whatever reason. It is the fastest way for me to warm up my feet and backside when I go to bed.

When I make my green smoothie and the weather is cold, I blend it until it is just below room temperature. It still tastes sweet and good, and my hands do not freeze.

Wow, Phantom, do you live somewhere where durians are cheap? In the UK, a large durian a day (if I could get one) would cost at least £120 ($200?) a week!

Buy a candy thermometer from the local craft store. Heat up raw soups on the stove on medium heat (depends on your stove) stirring constantly with one hand and using the other to hold the candy thermometer in the middle of the soup (don't touch the bottom of the pan, it might read hotter than the food is actually getting). Don't heat up above 118 degrees F (or less depending on what you believe about what is too hot for raw foods). 115 to 118 tastes hot to me...just perfect.

If you want an awesome "un chicken noodle" soup recipe buy the E-Book from this site!-- www.lovinglifecafe.com I'm gonna post on her cookbook soon, because it is fabulous.

The soup is extremely flavorful and will also satisfy meat cravings (it did for me). You can view photos of all her recipes. No dehydrator needed for the soup. I use my stovetop-candy thermometer method when making this soup. If you don't warm the "noodles" up first, the warm broth poured over cold noodles equals not-warm-soup.

You'll have to make her unchicken dry seasoning (included in this ebook) first to add to the soup, but the seasoning is so yummy, and you can use the seasoning to flavor all kinds of other dishes.

She had a raw food restaraunt in our area and the food was fantastic (tried and true), so I bought her cookbook thinking it would be great and it was. It's my favorite so far out of all the cookbooks I own. There are other soup recipes in there that I haven't tried yet.

A heads up though...I had difficulty accessing my ebook once I bought it, but I emailed her and she sent me the PDF in less than a day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2008 12:31AM by musicbebe.

With a vitamix you can heat up a soup, but to your finger getting hot is the rule

Bryan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also what helps is
> to not eat food directly out of the refrigerator.
> Let the food heat up to room temperature before
> eating it.

That's a good suggestion. I often forget to take my mangoes out of the refrigerator beforehand and they are so cold digging in to them

Sometimes really ripe fruit is even warm to touch because of all the chemical reactions occuring from the ripening process.


Also, wondering about the Vitamix. When you heat up a soup in the Vitamix, does it heat up just because it's blending on high speed for several minutes, or is there some sort of special blending process? I don't own one yet.

You all rule.



I appreciate all the suggestions and comments.

WOW:O) soooo nice, on this quickie 4a.m. recomnection with the forum, just quietly listening to the storytelling from others seeking to stay alive while residing in cold climates (like i am temporarily), instead of my reacting to that which i read and don't agree, as i have in the past - apologies)

nice, thanks comrades...

cinnamon, garlic, chives, cayenne pepper, ginger, clove fennel seed are all warming herbs... be careful with the cayenne if you get too much it actually act as a coolant as with any warming herb i suspect... you could do ginger clove cinnamon fennel and anise in some warmed water... soak it for a day or so... i've done this in the sun if you have any available to you and it sort of makes a chai sort of tasting tea... add some raw almond milk... or use this water to make your raw almond milk... mmmmmm that sounds yummy to me... stevia to sweeten if you like... or a bit of raw honey or agave... i think agave is vegan... but i don't know the process... anyhow...nuts are also very warming... though i think sprouting them might have a cooling affect... so eat the ones you don't have to soak... or just don't soak them and eat a few..i believe root vegies are also warming... make a rooty tooty salad... with olive oil or coconut oil... it's warming too... fats in general...

and another great way to warm up.... EXERCISE... jog in place for 10 to 20 minutes...and i mean really jog...jump or what ever... or put on some of your favorite music and have yourself a warm up dance party...and i mean really cut your self loose... it works for me...

go outside... go for a run or a walk for a good amount of time... and if you just walk you may be so cold that the inside of your house now feels a lot warmer than it did before...

believe it or not taking a cold shower...actually bath would be better...will warm you up...have you ever jumped in water so cold you started to feel all warm inside... it signals your core body to start up the fire...you can also alternate... if a shower is what you have with hot cold hot cold...it's great for circulation...

i think i'm doing better... cause i spent the whole day with out socks and legwarmers on... and i just realized it... but it's a bit warmer today as well... a wopping 40 F... back to freezing tomorrow though... well many blessings warming up...

I think that according to Doug Grahm lots banannas are the answer.