Last time I made the raw journey I felt it was pretty straightforward and "easy" (battling with all the issues that are brought up on this board) compared with now. I had been veggetarian and then vegan etc, etc. single and had enough money to pay for the lifestyle.

Now I am practically married and being a stepmom to two young children, this relationship was the slippery slope that led me into a year and a half of not eating 95%+ raw. My diet was not unhealthy but not what is was and not what I wanted it to be. Now I have made the decision to get back on board. The hardest part is not feeding myself, beacuse I know that I have done it in the past, I can do it again, it is the rest of my family that I struggle with. I am doing 99% of the meal preparing for all of us and it is hard. I know there are a lot of people on here who have similar situations, and I guess my question is; how to you find the balance?
Balancing your meals and theirs?

The kids are pretty good about eating lots of fruit and veggies, there is not a lot of junkfood, but they do like to get treats and desserts. Bf needs a lot of calories and doesn't have a very good attitude about changing his diet.
Ultimately I have controll of the grocery shopping and putting the food on the table. Maybe I just need to take it slow with them and not vocalise what I am doing/changes I am making for them.

The past week or so I have been thinking a lot about the spiritual underpinnings of what we are eating, probably having to do with the serious cleansing my body is going through.

This is a lot, and maybe should go into another part of the forum but if you have any advise or suggested readings I would be appreciative.
thanks

You seem to already think that taking it slowly with them will be the most effective. I bet you're right. I still make cooked meals for my husband, but it's to the point now that we both often have a huge salad for supper. I always have lots and lots of fruit available and frequently give him some as a between meal snack. He didn't know he loved mango before I started giving him slices. He won't drink a big smoothie, but likes about a half cup of mine. We enjoy reading and discussing news in the morning paper together and I always bring up the nutrition articles. He points out those articles to me now.

As to treats with children... I don't know how old the children are, but young children really enjoy making healthy treats when there are good ingredients available in the kitchen. And there are lots of raw goodies to be made (frozen banana "icecream," smoothies, date-nut bars, etc. You probably know about sites like goneraw.com and allrawrecipes.com. They offer lots of inspiration, although it may be a challenge to steer them away from "gourmet raw" recipes with lots of fat from nuts and lots of sugar in agave, etc., but at least it's going in the right direction.

You modeling good eating habits will have a positive effect, even if it isn't obvious right away. Will they be able to resist when they see you eating sweet, juicy strawberries?

Good luck!


My favorite raw vegan

for me, living with my father, a cliche 1950's meat and potatoes kinda guy, I found the easiest way to get him to eat healthier, is to start by making the things he loves, with some slightly healthier ingredients, like I made a vegetable lasagna, As a side I made some crispy garlicy bruschetta as a garlic bread substitute, then as another side, I made my all raw recipe called south american slaw, its delicious, lots of flavor, was a light flavorful counterpoint to the heavier foods, and he was perfectly fine with trying it as a side... sure the other stuff wasnt raw, but some raw, is better than no raw, and honestly, you cant really make a person eat healthier if they dont want to, but if you make a slightly healthier but equally delicious version of cooked foods they already like, paired with a delicious raw dish, they have a choice, and you also have a raw entree for yourself as well^_^ (sometimes my dad will even randomly buy the ingredients for the south american slaw and ask me to make a big batch,lol)

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Curator; would love to get your recipe for south american slaw...

no problem!!!! here it is megan copy and pasted from my website, with a few alterations ive made lately...

"South American Slaw.

This recipe makes enough to feed ALLOT of people, or 2 people for a week... but believe me,it hardly ever lasts that long, 4 days is the longest ive seen it last...

first I will start with the main slaw part, you will need...

1 small green cabbage
1 small red cabbage
1 Large purple onion, red if you want a bit more bite...
3-6 yellow,orange or red bell peppers, any combination of the 3 youd like, or just one of the 3...
1 bunch of cilantro
(a really large mixing/salad bowl!)

Quarter and core each cabbage, then slice into thin ribbon like strips, then cut strips in half so they are somewhere between 2-3 inches or so long, it doesnt matter much but its better for both presentation and is easier to eat... slice onion into strips of similar length, slice bell peppers into about match stick thickness, and finally wash cilantro, cut off most of the stems, and slice it up small... mix everything together!

Dressing:

the juice of 8-12 fresh limes, NOT those plastic things full of lime juice...it just doesnt taste right...its actually kinda nasty in this recipe... for me at least, the more limes the better! I love lime in this recipe...

1-3 large jalepeno peppers depending on how spicy you want it, I usually only go with 1 if they are rather hot peppers...

and an entire large bulb of garlic.

Pinch of salt and pepper.

Place lime juice into blender or food processor, if you want to spend the time and you have a zester, a teaspoon of lime zest can be added in at this time too... remove the stem and seeds from the jalepeno/s, slice them up and add them in with the lime juice, peel the garlic and add them in as well, add the pinch of salt and pepper... blend all till completely smooth or as close as possible, then add to your sliced veggies and toss thoroughly... if possible, let sit covered in fridge for at least an hour, its even better the next day as leftovers!!! there are so many health benefits from this recipe... its all raw so you keep all the yummy minerals and vitamins, its chemically cooked by the acid in the lime juice though so it kills bacteria, an it tastes sooooo good you can even get meat and potato eaters like my dad to eat bowl after bowl after bowl of it voluntarily...lol..."

Id also like to add, that this is best to make when you wont be crunched for time, so you can just relax and have fun making it, as it does kinda take awhile...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

megan, you gotta follow your heart and do what makes you happy. Its that simple.

Well, duriamrider,

I am following my heart, am happy, just tryin' to balance being a student, wife and mother.

This is the path my heart has led me on.

It is simple to be raw if you are the center of your universe, throw in a few more people that you love and things can get topsy turvy when you have to feed them all.

"I had been vegetarian and then vegan etc, etc. single and had enough money to pay for the lifestyle. " - Is it really cheaper to be on the SAD diet?

Anyway, we should all have a garden, then vegan life is much cheaper than any SAD life.

I was spending over $100+ on a weekly trip to the grocery store for just me and stuff to share with roomate, going to the fancy co-op buying organic and such.
Now am spending the about the same, sometimes less to feed family of 4 for a week, not SAD diet but not vegan.

We did plant a garden, but this summer in San Francisco I can count the number of sunny days on my hand so there hasn't been much to harvest, mostly strawberries and zuchinni. Our neighborhood is infamous for the fog.

It would be an interesting thread to see how much all of us are spending on groceries...

Im not on SAD, but I am definitely not on a 100% raw vegan, although ive been rather high lately with the really good sales the last couple weeks, but ive had $200 a month to spend on groceries, and usually I have extra food that carries me into the next month, since Ive been eating heavier than normal raw, not organic though, other than the kale, I have about $35 left till the end of the month, and wont have much extra left over...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?