Hello everyone:
My name is Amanda and I am started RAW Monday morning. Some friends of mine have been living quite happily, raw, for quite some time and they have challeneged me to two weeks of eating raw. For the past while me and food haven't been getting a long and I've had a yearning for 'going back to basics' and being the healthiest I can be.

I've read Alissa Cohen's Book"Living on Live Food" and it swyaed me. I'm saying goodbye to all the cooked food I once loved and adored.

Any tips for newbies? How expensive is this diet?

thanks!

my advice would be to transitiom. In other words eat a litle cooked along with the raw to alow your body to adjust.

Yo-welcome!!Here you'll find everything and everyone you need to hit the top of all tops!!This "diet" aint that expensive at all.Have fun with it..

See you at the top....Dorian

See you at the top!!

Amanda,
Welcome.You can get a lot of information on this site just as long as you realize that a lot of the advice you get is influenced by a person's personal experience may not be exactly right for you.
Depending on the leverage(reason) you have,you can enter this journey at different stages.If you're really sick and fed up with the conventional way of living then you might want to think of going 100% raw right away.In my opinion, 100% raw is the only way to be.If you just want to experiment a bit and see what this is about then maybe you can do a 50/50 or 75/25 raw/cooked food.Of course this slows your progress to good health but hey,it's better than eating all cooked.The thing that's a problem when you mix raw and cooked food is that as soon as you eat cooked you always have some symptoms of detox like more mucus and stuffy nose(my experience)and breakouts etc.So you might want to think about going 100% raw asap.
Then you have to go through a period of detoxification,which is simply the body cleaning itself out.Then as you press on with this new way of eating a new you begins to emerge.I don't want to go into full details but you can get this information on the web.Try to read as much as you can,on this site and others.
You can fast(juice or water)to help you speed up cleansing.And of course exercise and fresh air and all the usual suspects are definitely recommended by me.
As for cost..well this is relative.Just think about money and time saved going to the doctor and better self esteem and less stress,clearer skin,sweet breath and many more and you'll you see it's worth it.
Organic food is recommended but I don't know if that's possible for you to get.If not buy regular.
Try to read up on possible vitamin b12 loss in this diet.I don't concern myself too much with it but if you feel you need a supplement then do what you think is right for you.
Don't beat yourself up if you backslide a few times.Nobody is perfect and remember you're trying to beat years of habit here.
Be patient and persistent.Good luck.
Brian

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." -- Calvin Coolidge

It's funny. when I first went raw there was always lack , lack of this or lack of money...after a while, it's cheaper to go raw because you have more of an abundance mantality and everything comes more and easier.

Plus its cheaper because no more doctors or their pills,