hello everyone... i just want you to know how inspiring you are to me for striving, in my opinion, for one of the most neglected, yet influential life progressing crusades of our generation(s)...

so today i am interested in your opinion:
(i'm sure this question has been brought up several times in the past)

In furthering my exploration of health and longetivity i am taking a deep look into my diet (DUH). i need your advice on my idea of a daily meal plan. here is what i have going through my mind currently:
(i know, variety is key..)

breakfast [approx. 7.30 am ]: SMOOTHIE (different frozen & fresh fruits everyday + spinach/sprouts + flax oil + barley powder- ever tried it? have knowledge about it?)

lunch [approx 12.30 pm]: simple- fresh FRUIT available such as oranges, strawberries, carrots, (any added suggestions?)

afternoon snack [approx. 4.0 pm]: more FRUIT...possibly left over smoothie?

dinner [approx 7.30 pm]: SALAD (a little overwhelmed with what should be in it besides greens + tomatoes + olive oil- boring)

**(water throughout the day)

so..what has/is working for you? i am just foraging for ideas here- i just want to get this right this time around, which i know will take a while for personal adjustments, but i figure i can cut through some affliction by interacting with you about do's and don'ts, etc.!!!

thanks, beauties...
one love.

do you do weel with lots of fruit/carbs? if so, eat them all! jackfruit, starfruit, figs, passion fruit, berries, bananas, citris, melons, pumpkins, guava, mango, grapes, durian.....

also explore sprouting seeds/grain. winter wheat (sprouted), buckwheat, millet, and steel-cut oats make a great 'cereal' with nut milk/coconut milk/sesame milk/oat milk...

and seeds, sunflower/flax/pumpkin make great dehydrated crackers or breads...

you can make great pate's, hummous, babaganush w/ zuccinni/ nuts & seeds/ squash/ chick peas....

And one of my favorite dishes: soup! juice carrots, beets, bell peppers, greens, butternut squash, and/or tomatos etc... add avocado, or coconut, or oil, sea salt maybe, savory herbs, hot peppers... blend well, garnish and serve cold or warm

Variety in my salads works for me. I think they taste better when they are very complicated. I use 3-4 different types of lettuces, including radicchio for color, tomato, cucumber, any one of swiss chard, beet greens, or spinach, arugula or bok choi or kale, bell peppers of different colors, yellow and green summer squash, carrots or sweet potatoes, beets, corn kernels, Italian parsley, purple onion, radish, asparagus, sprouts (usually alfalfa), walnuts, etc., a riot of colors and flavors to keep things interesting.

What do you use for dressing?

Simple dressing ideas:
* orange juice
* orange juice + tahini
* strawberries blended with tahini
* strawberries blended with macademias
* lemon juice + tahini

Gosia


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THANKS...

innervegetable: great suggestions, i've never been a big sprouter. i used to sprout sunflower seeds (so good) but always kind of afraid to go deeper. i bought some steel cut oats (transition food?)..i'm definitely going to try that soup, sounds tastey & filling.

arugula: where do you get all of your ingredients? how long does it stay fresh in the fridge? sounds great, i tend to get stuck in a salad rut so that really helps.

mallow: i usually use lemon juice & tiny bit of olive oil, what do you use?

rawgosia: wow! i would've never thought of those combos. thanks- most def trying those! what's your favorite?

No problem. Most often I use orange juice and tahini, but I like to treat myself with strawberries and macademias (which are more expensive than tahini). By the way, you can use any acidic fruit in place of orange/strawberries. Plenty choices out there.

Gosia


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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2006 04:49AM by rawgosia.

I get my groceries from my local independent grocer. She buys a lot from local growers. So it's sort of like a hybrid between a big grocer and a farmer's market.

I usually go twice a week and I get mountains, for one person and two large dogs. I hardly every have spoilage. I have learned to time my purchases in amounts so that I use it up. Usually the last day or two I am out of something, though, better that than throwing anything away.

I use olive oil (1-2 tsp for 10-12 cups of salad) and vinegar (unlimited) for dressing. Mostly red wine vinegar, but sometimes cider and sometimes raspberry. Too lazy to use the blender with nuts and acid fruits like Gosia does but that would be better.

Arugula, if you like vinegar you may want to try Ume Plum. It's awesome as a salad dressing with either olive oil or flax. I also use it to thin down tahini for veggie dips. It's seriously yum. (Salty though so don't add salt too)

~Kathleen

Yes, it does sound great, thanks! Do you use the Eden Foods brand? I will have to see if my grocer carries it.

For dressing, I like to use chopped up pieces of avocado, and I pick one up in every forkfull.

Hi all5senses.

I always love it when people ask about menus because that is one area I struggled with and I always get lots of ideas from the posts people write in response.
When I first started raw it was like, there are all these great recipes, but how do they fit together into a nice daily meal plan? I eventually learned that instead of breakfast cereal I should eat fruit (melon in the morning sounded so weird back then), instead of a sandwich I should have veggies or more fruit, and it took a while to not expect a heavy supper everyday (I think I'm still working on supper).

----

My menu plan is always changing but recently I've been eating like this:

I wait until I am really hungry because it seems that once I start eating, I eat often.

Then light fruit such as frozen berries, melon, or cantelope (mmmmmmmm cantelope is my new cake)

Usually within an hour of that I'll feel like something heavier like chopped avocado and tomatoes with dulse (mmmmmmmm remotely like pizza, but without the guilt trip)

Then dried fruit.

If I feel like it, sometimes I'll have almond butter or khale soup (green smoothie) I don't know why people eat green smoothie in the morning (anyone feel like expounding on that please)

Finally lots more fruit of all kinds

----

I would just keep lots of fruit around and eat what appeals to your hunger and don't eat anything that you don't like. BTW if nuts or sprouts are hard to digest, you don't have eat lots of them, you can get calcium from dried fruit like figs.

Hey, I'd love to hear how you eventually put together your menu!



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2006 06:33AM by Lillianswan.

Yes Arugula, the one I use is an Eden product.

As for menus I don't currently do them. I work to balance my diet against previous meals. In other words if I had bananas for breakfast one morning the next morning I will use another fruit. I also still use small amounts of cooked beans, grains and greens (such as mustard, collard and kale) for the evening meal (I always eat raw breakfast and lunch) and generally alternate grains, greens, and beans from day to day. I always aim to not eat anything two days in a row (this is not always possible). I also work to eat raw at least three evenings a week along with the everyday habit of eating breakfast and lunch raw. I also have something raw with any cooked food meal even if its just sliced tomatoes or a small romaine salad. I love the combination of warm grains and cool diced veggies and unsweet fruits.

I think its probably easier to balance out a day of eating if one is incorporating small amounts of healthy cooked, which is one of the reasons that I'm still doing it. It's also much more economical. One large Mexican papaya will feed me three or four times or one large avocado twice. Beans and grains are some of the least expensive foods on the planet. I don't eat a lot of food in one sitting at all. 100% raw foodies tend to eat large amounts of fruit and veggies in one meal because they are getting all of their calories and nutrients from these sources. With the addition of some balanced (macrobiotically speaking) cooked food, one can systematically undereat (at least by most standards) and feel quite well or at least that's been my experience. The bulk of my daily calories probably comes from my morning fruit smoothie in which I'll blend fairly large amounts of fruit. I tend to taper off as the day progresses.

Presently I am not using any supplementation. I do keep a good green supplement powder on hand for use in emergencies (on busy days when I've been eating on the fly) and I do use digestive enzymes and probiotics every other month on average.

On reviewing this post I'm suddenly not at all sure that this will be helpful to anyone else. My goal still remains to eat as raw and simply as possible but I'm not pushing myself to eat 100% raw right now. It seems to be an evolutionary process and certain choices that had to be consciously initiated are now becoming second nature to me. Last night we celebrated yet another family birthday (I'm surrounded by Virgos) and met at a Mexican restaurant. I ordered table side quacomole (they actually scooped the avocado from the shell and prepared it in front of me), a side of pico de gallo and a small mixed green salad. I was extremely satisfied. If you knew how much I love Mexican food (or truthfully any food) you'd appreciate what an accomplishment this is for me. The happy part is that this is actually what I wanted; there was no force or conflict at all. To me THIS is optimal health.

happy eating friends,

Kathleen

I should add that most of the days I simply squeeze orange juice on the salad, then pour some tahini, and then mix the salad with a spoon. No blender (I'm lazy too).

Gosia


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For a hearty salad I like mixed greens, sprouts, tahini, flax oil, red wine vinegar, and dulse flakes - especially good for the tougher greens rather than baby lettuces.

I think that tougher greens go down easier when they are shredded.

I use some cooked beans to help avoid the high fat vs. high fruit problem and to add some protein, I think it gives me a better macronutrient balance. Plus it's easier and cheaper for me.