Hello Friends I am new to this site and have only dabbled in the raw food lifestyle. To Start the New Year I am just finishing a Master Cleanse Fast (day 8) and am inspired to go raw afterwards. I may jump right into 90-100% raw (giving myself room for guilt-free failure) or else I was debating on eating all raw excluding suppers with my veggie husband. My big question is about preparing to go raw. What would you have done if you were transitioning into a Raw food lifestyle from a fast? Would you start sprouting? Making crackers (that you can't taste until days later)? What types of preparation would you do?
I do have a cheap juicer and dehydrator however I live in a small town in Canada and it's the middle of winter....Very little organic produce (apples and carrots only) and No local produce. However making a trip to a city health food store is certainly an occasional option. I appreciate any advice that you can give me to help my transition go smoothly and easily and hopefully inspire my husband to sample some tasty creations!

Peace, Love, and Light!
Namaste <3

It looks like you've already done quite a bit of preparation, given you've just finished a cleanse. The transition strategy I followed was just to include more fruits and salads into my diet, reducing the cooked foods over time, until I was only eating raw foods.

Fresh foods are the best, so dehydrating is not a high priority.

Sprouting is an inexpensive way to include more fresh greens in your diet. Myself, in terms of sprouts, I lean toward the alfalfa and clover sprouts, while occasionally having some mung bean sprouts. But if you have organic greens available, you don't need to sprout. On the other hand, if the only greens are commercial, which are often highly sprayed, then make and eat your sprouts, or grow you own greens in your garden.

Juicing is not necessary, but if you like juicing, then go for it.

Fruits make up a large part of my diet. This time of year, the fruits I eat are mostly citrus (navels, valencia, tangerines, grapefruits) and bananas and fresh dates. During the summer and fall there are a wider variety of choices. For commercial fruits, eat those you need to peel, or find a good detergent to clean off the pesticides.

Hello, and welcome!

I second Prana's suggestion for sprouting: it's cheap and can be done in any climate. Consume more of whatever fresh fruits and vegetables you can get(think volume rather than variety for now), and take advantage of the greater availability that will come with the thaw. Good luck and happy eating

i love sprouting mung bean sprouts are my fave .. also alfalfa . once in awhile i sprout some mustard sprouts to mix in a little with my alfalfa to give it a little spicy kick yum

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Thank you for the replys I'm glad that not everyone is as gourmet as the raw cook books! I find them overwhelming with lists of ingredients, machines, and complicated time-lines for soaking, sprouting, dehydrating....It reminds me of Math class "if Train A is going 120Km/Hr and Train B is going 160 Km/Hr when do they cross paths with each other and smash Train C to bits!?"
Next time I go to the city I will get some alfalfa seeds and clover seeds and veggie cleaner. I have green mung beans for cooking already so I will try sprouting those as well. Thanks for the advice. I already eat lots of veggies and fruit so it's just a matter of making more salads and dips for veggies. One thing I would probably miss the most is Tofu Coconut Curry.....sorry, I haven't eaten for 8 days and now my cravings are talking! haha

Namaste <3

Theres no reason not to be high raw in my opinion and still occasionally enjoy vegan cooked meals such as your tofu curry.