So are tortillas and naan cooked? Is there ANY bread from the store I can eat? I don't have time for much uncooking. But I want bread!... and grains. Evidently even "raw" oats are cooked, so no muesli. Are any grains actually raw, and can they be eaten without sprouting? Just soaked or something? What about bulgar wheat? Why are grains bad for us?

Grains contain opioids and are addictive. To get enough carbohydrates so that you won't desire grains, eat sweet fruit in sufficient quantities to cover your carbohydrate needs.

There are no "carbohydrate needs".

But if you want grains you can get raw sproutable grains at the site I mentioned in my other thread. [www.organicfruitsandnuts.com]

I've found a bunch, I bought raw wheat berries from the Whole Foods bulk section. I don't really sprout stuff to eat, I normally sprout things to see if they are raw or de-natured. I was able to sprout the wheat berries, so I know they are raw. I also bought some raw oats I was able to sprout, I bought those online from some raw web site, I forget which one, it's in another "oat" thread somewhere. I keep meaning to make my own steel cut raw oats. I just end up eating them out of the packed without making any of things I keep saying I will.

Tortillas and Naan are cooked foods. I've made some raw breads that where kind of like pita breads. I've also heard of a raw African (if I remember correctly) bread that was cooking in the sun (not a sun oven, which gets as hot as a normal oven). It was supposed to be made by mixing lemon juice and flour, letting it sit for a little while, then spreading thin on a sheet (like 3mm thick or something) and drying/baked in the sun. I'd like to find out more about this bread, but I've not been able to find anything online. Maybe it can be made in a dehydrator.

Cheers,
Ian.

In the beginning, I ate Sprouted Wheatberry bread. You can find recipes online such as at Sproutmans. Since I didn't have all the equipment to make this bread, it was $3/loaf for a 8"x3"x2.5", and the store that sold it was so far, I gave it up.

Now, I eat organic Spelt bread. Eventually, I will get all the tools/equipment to make sprouted Spelt bread on my own and let it "bake" in the sun.

Brian is right, though in that pure raw foodists don't eat many grains. I tried this in the beginning and had to modify my strict adherence to 100% raw vegan in order to slow down detox and become "normal" again, i.e. I was driving myself crazy trying to stick to rules when my body wasn't able to handle 100% raw vegan that quickly.

In my humble opinion, raw is more than dietary changes. It has spiritual, psychological, and physical implications. I've found that the longer that I'm modified raw, my body signals me as to when to eliminate certain cooked foods and I become closer to raw vegan without all the craziness that I had before.

Good luck.
Therese

When I was in the process of switching to an all raw diet, I did have some Ezekial bread once a day to help out during the transition period. It's not raw, but it is a sprouted grain bread. After a while, I just started to replace my one piece of bread with some fruit, and now I don't crave it anymore. Brian is right...grains are so addicting. I did notice that when I did eat it, I just wanted mroe and more of it! Now I just eat a banana or a mango in place of it, and I am fine. No more cravings.

Thank you all so much! Very helpful.

Sodoff, I never thought about sprouting to see if something is live or not. Duh....

love the breads

the tree of life cafe offers great raw bread recipes

BREAD
Ezekiel 4:9â„¢ Sprouted Grain Bread
Ingredients:
*Organic Sprouted Wheat, *Organic Sprouted Barley, *Organic Sprouted Millet, Malted Barley, *Organic Sprouted Lentils, *Organic Sprouted Soybeans, *Organic Spelt, Filtered Water, Fresh Yeast, Sea Salt. *Organically grown and processed in accordance with the California organic foods act of 1990.

I agree with Bryan. Eat more fruit and you won't crave bread/grains as much. Our bodies run mainly on carbohydrates. The best source of them is fruit.

You might find that flax crackers help fill the emotional cravings you feel for bread.

All the best,

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com

For me, the "bread thing" was the hardest thing to get over. Sometimes my husband would be making toast, and I thought I would go crazy! Potatoes were the next hardest food to give up.

I've seen Ezekiel sprouted tortillas at the health food store. You got some good suggestions from the previous posters.

One thing that I will add - I spend more time in the kitchen than I used to spend as a vegan. I don't mind it - actually I enjoy the kitchen time so much more now - there's just a good feeling about making food that's healthy, fresh, organic, local, alive, etc. Plus I like the challenge of pleasing myself with all the new foods and new ways of food preparation. Sometimes I'm happy with a half of a watermelon on my lap and a spoon - and that's my meal. But there are times when I want some crackers, cereal, almond milk, etc. My point is - that I had to move some things in my life around and make more time in my life for food related activities. It takes time to wash veggies, to chop and slice and dice. It takes time to wash the food processor and the dehydrator sheets, it takes time to play around with sprouts etc. I just accepted that I would be in the kitchen more and then made time for it. As time goes by, I've found ways to streamline certain things.

One day I had been in the kitchen for a long time and I guess I was in one of my "special moods" and I started thinking that this raw thing was crazy and that I spent way too much time obsessing, thinking, cleaning, sprouting, chopping, etc. But then I realized that it's the "fast food no effort" mind set that's killing so many people or at least making them sick and miserable. Our ancestors spent way more time than I do growing, harvesting, cleaning and preparing food. So, I decided that I wasn't crazy after all. AT least not in that area!!! It's not such a high price to pay for the best health that I'm capable of offering myself. Hang in there, rooneymuldooney, you're on the right track!


Life Is Good!

alive!

When I was transitioning to the raw diet, the cooked food that I had the hardest time not putting into my shopping cart were wheat products, namely sprouted wheat tortillas and manna bread. What I did was to not try to force myself to quit the grains, but to allow myself to eat them but to pay attention to how they made me feel. Over time, as I watched how these last cooked made me feel, I was able to let go of buying and eating those products.

It is hard to cut out starches because they provide so many calories for a small amount of food. In some sense it is easier to eat 2 pieces of bread rather than 4 apples or 4 oranges because there is so much less volume and less water. Also, the bread products made me relaxed and feel good, especially after a stressful day at work.

Eating sweet fruit will supply your body with carbohydrates, but they won't take the edge off your emotions like bread will. One of the challenges of going all raw without grains is dealing with the emotions that arise because there isn't a sedative in the raw diet like the opioid containing bread (except for fat, which if you eat enough, does a pretty good job at quelling emotions).

In the beginning I did eat a lot of fat also. I suppose that was part of the transition process. As I worked on my emotions, and my response to the world and its stresses, it became less and less necessary to sedate myself with food.

good response Bryan. I might add, additionally, that the raw diet does contain sedative substances ie. the opiates found in lettuce and other foods in the lettuce family...

A glass of letttuce juice is very relaxing! And alkaline/ stress relieving.

Thanks for that response, Bryan. It's nice to know that you also had to "work at it".

I forgot to mention before, POPCORN! That was another tough one. It still is when I go to a movie. I take a little baggie of salted nuts in my purse.

I really missed breads for a while. But, like Bryan said, I feel sooooooooo much better without them. I always knew on some level that they weren't good for me and that I didn't feel good from eating them.


Life Is Good!

alive!

Thank you all so much! Such support and good suggestions! I really do need to accept and allow myself more kitchen/food prep time. Guess I'll start with doing the dishes!