Hi all! I'm a 15 year vegetarian and 3-4 year (can't remember) vegan. I'm super secure in vegan cooking/eating, but I want to transition to a high raw diet. I've been reading and reading and reading the last few weeks and I am not sure that I've gotten anything but confused. I'm generally eating about 80% raw for most meals/snacks now, but I'm not sure that I'm "doing it right," and the contradictions between different books/authors/websites has me downright confused. Sprouting seems really complex. I don't own a dehydrator. I have a blender, but not a juicer, and even smoothie recipes are sometimes a little complicated looking/sounding in terms of equipment or ingredients. I've got a big family (hence the user name) and not hours to make some of the recipes I see.

So, that is my long and involved way of saying, if you have 3-4 top tips that you would give to a vegan transitioning to a high raw diet, what would they be?

Thanks in advance,
Sixx

I hear you Six. Sounds like you are confused. This is not a diet that some one has patented. It's just a high volume of fresh plant foods. There isn't a 'buy a bunch of equipment and only eat organic' entry requirement. If you are already eating high raw (fresh conventional produce) then more power to you! You are well on your way! The key is to NOT stress over doing 'right' and eat in a way that allows you to live stress free and healthy.

Top tips:

1) Concentrate on finding the raw foods that are satisfying and filling to you....and that you love.

2) Don't expect other people (especially those eating poorly) to understand or support you. They probably won't. It is your job to support and be compassionate towards THEM.

3) Don't make your diet an issue. Simply eat the foods you love and don't feel you have to 'convert' others - especially family.

4) Concentrate on finding a veggie salad that's appealing and satisfying to you - even if you use non-raw condiments - and find fruits that you LOVE to snack on.

5) Avoid large amounts of nuts. Don't use oils - or use them lightly.

-Sorry...that's 5! Heh...heh.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Thanks, David. I'll take 5! It's interesting (and a little disconcerting) to be this flabbergasted. At 43 with six kids, I'm used to telling other people what to do. Ha! I appreciate the tips.

i (and a bunch of others from here) posted a list of thing that help us

its here ifyou want to read over it [www.rawfoodsupport.com]

and welcome to the site ! =D

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2009 06:21PM by Jgunn.

I also ask myself these questions everyday , especially when i find myself slipping in one area of my life or another food and diet are just a peice of the over all pie !

nutrition health - are you eating the best you can at the moment

financial health - are you doing what you love and lovign what you do

emotional health - are you a happy person able to give and receive happiness

physical health - is your body in good condition or healing towards being good

mental health - do you challenge your mind and think positively

spiritual health - do you have faith in something ..anything.. even yourself

environment health - is your home / work healthy places to be

relationship health - are ya feeeeeelin the loooooove =D

fun factor health - are you having fun, we all have to cut loose an go crazy sometimes !

hydration health - are you hydratted, water water water and more water!

sleep health - do you get enough sleep,

breath health - do you get enough oxygen, learn to breathe

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Hi sixxmum, you are right where I was when I first started. All the recipes seemed complicated and confusing, then I started hanging out on raw food boards and realized that most raw meals are too simple to qualify as a recipe and so they don't make it into recipe books. Raw fooders might eat only one or two "recipes" a day and the rest of the meals are very simple mono meals (and sprouting and nuts are optional, woohoo!)

Hi sixxmum,

I find that the simpler I do raw the better raw works for me. Fewer recipes and more mono meals. Less complicated and more picnic style meals of whole (as is) natural fresh raw vegan foods has been like a God send to me in terms of health & wellness. I am almost two years raw now (Aug 1, 07) and there's no way I am ever going back to SAD. I recently stepped on a scale for the first time in a long time and I am 172 pounds now (dressed). Thats down from 260 when I started. I havn't paid attention to the weight it just melted off as I stayed all fresh raw (more accurately 99.9% fresh raw because I take B12 and D). My health has been the big win for me though. I feel good again. Keep it simple.

Thanks all for the advice! Today went pretty well (I think). I have no clue yet about combining etc. so I'm sort of winging it while I read.

Bfast - 3/4 cup blueberries/strawberries
Snack - 2 bananas
Lunch - 1 cup grapes, strawberries, mango, kiwi
Snack - 4 brazil nuts
Dinner - salad with green leaf lettuce, radish, tomato, raw sesame seeds, avacado, mushroom, olive oil and vinegar

Sound reasonable?

Hi sixxmum,

I started out trying to 'uncook' complicated recipes. i spent a lot on unnecessary equipment.

I found the recipes difficult, expensive, time consuming and almost impossible to digest.
They made me feel terrible. They also tended to contain lost of spices and added flavourings which just over stimulated and created unnatural excess energy.

The most complicated thing i make now is a salad, juice or smoothie. I rarely combine more than four things at any one meal. My smoothies are often 1 or 2 fruits with ice and water.

There is no substitute for fresh raw fruits and veggies ( despite what the 'Gurus' try to sell us!)
Top Tip- Keep it simple and enjoy.

ff

Hi Sixxmum

Your thread is encouraging to me as a raw newbie myself. I'm still learning how to porportion and manage my mealtimes and amounts and ingredients so I don't get hungry, but I still haven't gotten it down to where I don't need snacks in-between. Right now I'm snacking on a few raw walnuts or almonds or dried dates or figs when I get the "hungries."

Anxious to keep learning. =) Hang in there.
Blessings

Hi sixxm

Have a look at my site www.rawforlife.co.uk

It's full of information and tips. In particular, see the Articles page (reached via Home page menu).

Best wishes!

Hi there,
I just started a blog where I share about this raw journey and everything I eat in a day. There's recipes there too. I'd love it if you'd join me there. We can support each other. I've been exploring this lifestyle for 4 1/2 years. At first, I was so totally overwhelmed by all of the conflicting information that I actually gave it all up for a while. Then one day I had a simple but profound epiphany that basically said "all of these differing expert opinions are right! They are ALL right for THAT person!" I realized in a deep way that the raw food lifestyle is a true calling from our inner divinely knowing selves to look to the wisdom of our bodies for the answers of what is right AT THAT MOMENT. This was a huge awakening for me and gave me the freedom to joyfully return to eating raw foods with big trust that I AM doing it perfectly for ME. I am listening to my body and hearing what it is telling me that it needs. This takes practice, but I'm improving all the time. Most of us in this culture (U.S.) are not raised to listen to our bodies and follow those cues. We are actually quite detached from our physical natures and are bombarded with programming that perpetuates this disconnection. We've forgotten our divinity and have given over our power and trust to others. I share these thoughts because I believe they are relevant to the raw food lifestyle. It is challenging to stay with it at times and to always be trusting that it is the right thing. So, I hold onto the ideas I just shared and use them as tools to remind me when I start to feel unsure.
Blessings,
Shawna
mydailyrind.com
(p.s. I'm going to post this note on my blog for others to see too.)

Three rules to live raw by:

1) Keep it simple
2) Eat raw food
3) Listen to your body

Hi Sixx

your diet looks really well-combined, it's good you're keeping it simple, and keeping the fats for later in the day at dinnertime. I see you have a blender,(I think that's by far the most useful of the raw 'tools') you could think about some green smoothies - can keep it really simple, ie banana/celery, orange juice/strawberry/spinach, etc - just one or two ingredients is enough, and helps you get plenty of leafy greens in. Great for the kids as well. Start off with just a small amount of greens so you get used to the taste.

And sprouting is actually really easy, just soak some seeds like sunflower/hemp/quinoa etc overnight, drain the next day, then leave them in a cupboard for a day or 2, then put them somewhere with some light, and in a few days you have sprouts! alfalfa are really easy, practically impossible not to sprout! I have a routine now where every night I soak a jar of seeds, I try to vary it, so I end up with a variety of seeds in different stages of growth on the windowsill.

have fun! x

sixxmum,

Everyone here offers excellent advice. As for your posted diet of that day:

Breakfast - 3/4 cup blueberries/strawberries
Snack - 2 bananas
Lunch - 1 cup grapes, strawberries, mango, kiwi
Snack - 4 brazil nuts
Dinner - salad with green leaf lettuce, radish, tomato, raw sesame seeds, avacado, mushroom, olive oil and vinegar

If you are eating 3/4 cup EACH of blueberries and strawberries, 1 cup EACH of grapes, strawberries, mangos, kiwis, and a large salad, it looks good. However, if these amounts are literally as listed, that may not be sufficient calories. I have found that if I am at a deficit of calories over more than a few days, this results in hunger--->cravings--->misery. And that is possibly the worst pitfall for me. Be sure to eat good fresh raw foods, especially fruits, to satiation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2009 02:35PM by Tamukha.

Debbie,
I've been on your site all day! : )

Tamukha,
As a person who has struggled with sub-level eating for many years, so it's probably going to be a challenge for me. I'll go get some fruit now!

Hi sixxmum

Glad to hear its proving useful :-) Any queries just let me know - I'll be on the case!

Ok, so today I had:
* Breakfast - 1/3 cantaloupe
* Lunch - Wilted kale salad with tomato and avocado dressing
* Snack - 5 brazil nuts
* Dinner - Smoothie with spinach (2/3 cup), strawberries (2/3 cup) and 1.5 bananas

Am I getting anywhere close to a reasonable amount of food? I'm about 5'7" and about 125 lbs, if that clarifies.

sixxmum,

Are you feeling satisfied with this amount of food? To me, 1/3 cantaloup is what a cooked person has as the first course of a three course brunch. You don't say how big the wilted kale salad was, so maybe it was a large bunch of kale with a couple of large tomatoes and an avocado. That's an OK amount for the nuts, but some people do more and some people do less. That smoothie would amount to way less than a quart, right?

I don't mean to harp on this, but maybe plug your specific amounts of food into something like nutridiary[nutridiary.com] and see if you're getting sufficient calories and hitting your nutrient requirements over a week or so. Or perhaps this is how you are eating now, and you may see changes in the future.

Yeah, I think you should definitely be eating three or four times that amount, but more sweet fruit, not more nuts or avocado.

Ok, I had a big snack (sesame dip, celery/carrot sticks, and some berries) and entered it all into nutridiary. It came out to about 1200 calories. Hmmm... Obviously, I need to work on this a little. I think that my calorie need is probably lower than most people because of some long term eating issues, but I know that I'll just compound the problem if I don't pull this up a bit. It feels like I've been doing almost nothing but eating. LOL Ah, well, tomorrow is another day!

sixxmum Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ok, so today I had:
> * Breakfast - 1/3 cantaloupe
> * Lunch - Wilted kale salad with tomato and
> avocado dressing
> * Snack - 5 brazil nuts
> * Dinner - Smoothie with spinach (2/3 cup),
> strawberries (2/3 cup) and 1.5 bananas
>
> Am I getting anywhere close to a reasonable amount
> of food? I'm about 5'7" and about 125 lbs, if
> that clarifies.

She's right about harping on the AMOUNT of intake. I'm still learning it myself, but have learned now that I can stuff myself pleasantly (sometimes UNpleasantly) full with very large amounts of raw ingredients to feel completely satisfied. Hubby's eyes bulged out of his head this afternoon when he was curtly informed that the MIXING-BOWL-SIZE-SALAD on the counter was not for US, it was for ME !! I had made him a very healthy, nourishing meal and he kept eyeing my salad. "STEP AWAY FROM THE SALAD AND NOBODY GETS HURT!! HUNGRY WOMAN ON THE PROWL!!" *LOL* I typically eat one whole cantaloupe in one sitting, which usually satisfies me until the next meal, but if I'm still hungry, I'll add another fruit like peaches, plums, or nectarines. (Will be SO glad when my juicer gets here, hopefully tomorrow.) This evening I cut up one whole watermelon and split it into TWO (2) lunches - tomorrow and Tuesday - plus a gallon sized bag of carrots and equal amount of celery for quick/easy snacks at work when I get hungry.

Long-story-long (sorry) is that I'm learning to increase my QUANTITY and I stay satisfied and don't get hungry. Hope that is helpful. =)

*****************************
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson

I frequently eat a half of an entire watermelon for my breakfast. :)

Sixxmum,

please just eat as much as you like, as long as its raw. If that amount of food felt satisfying, and you didn't feel any great desire to eat more, that's absolutely the right amount for you.

But if you do feel like eating more, unlike on a cooked food diet, you can eat freely with no adverse consequences.