Hey! I'm new to this forum, & newly 'raw' - which has been not going so good for me, I just binged on chocolate & crisps =o! I'm finding it very hard to break my trashy food addiction, mostly because I am finding raw foods to not taste as good....
Does anyone have any good recpies for snacks and meals? What are your favourite dishes? What are your alternatives to your old favourite processed foods?
I read about raw chocolate, has anyone tried this? Is it pretty intense & bitter like dark chocolate?
Also, I don't like nuts, coconuts or seeds - could anyone recommend alternatives here, is it vital to have these things included?
Can you use an oven on a very low temp to cook things like raw pizza?

Thanks guys! Sorry about all the questions. <3 xx!

you don't have to awnser all the questions =)

Raw chocolate beans or nibs on their own are a little bitter, but once it's made into a chocolate bar or cake with natural raw sweeteners like lucuma, carob and agave then it's delicious. I love making my own raw chocolate.

An oven on the lowest temperature is still going to cook the food. If you leave the oven door open then you might be able to make something still raw.

See my blog at [www.rawrob.com] for some of my recipes, including some quick snacks and chocolate recipes. Actually right now I'm eating a quick snack I made - I ground up sesame seeds, dried mulberries and cacao nibs and mixed in a little agave and a few drops of mint essential oil, tastes pretty good to me.

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

First bit of advice: Beware of experts. We have some here and they are generally cranky and have fake names attesting to their wonderfulness. That said, this is my favorite raw online forum because all are welcome. I read on another board, someone reported a successful raw way of eating that wasn't in line with what the guru there was selling... and <GASP!> The forum moderator shut her up lickidy split!

Anyhoo, I'm not an expert... but what has worked for me is to have lots of yummy, easy to prepare foods available. I make sure I always have some easy to eat raw food like easy to peel tangerines or oranges or plums or bananas. When I started out, I ate a lot of transitional raw foods like weird "raw" candy bars like Lara Bars and the like. I also ate a lot more nuts and nut butters than I eat now.

Try and have food handy that is easy to eat that doesn't have chemical names in the ingredient lists. For me, that's generally fruit. Also, I keep dried fruit in my car for hunger emergencies. And, I drink plenty of water.

One of the few people whose advice has really helped me has been our very own Bryan here. He suggested I use fitday.com (or some others that are very similar) and also that I cut back on oils and fats. I can't remember what else, but generally his advice is worth listening to. And he doesn't get insulted when people don't agree with him. THANKS BRYAN!

I hope this helps. If it doesn't, just recycle the electrons it took to make this.

Best of luck to you,

Lee

Hi Meao!

Welcome!

For a newbie, craving chocolate, I'd recommend getting into green smoothies right away. When the body is craving chocolate, it's actually craving minerals like magnesium and calcium. When I learned to make delicious things in the blender that included dark leafy greens, and some fresh fruit to take away the "greenieness" of the dark leafy's.... I found my cravings for sweets COMPLETELY disappeared. This is coming from a HARDCORE EX-CANDY EATER. I mean, to the point I made myself diabetic, and I still had to have it to function normally and not be cranky at work.

I have been trying to go raw for 10 years, and learning to prepare greens in a way you can eat 1, preferably 2 bunches of dark leafy greens each day, will in my opinion be the foundation of your raw diet. To eat only fruit, nuts, and seeds, in my experience, made me binge horribly (like I'd eat great on raw for a few days, then binge and have a huge cinnamon roll, followed by a latte and extra chocolate candy bars). And I thought about food ALL DAY.

You will need a Vitamix... I found one on www.craigslist.com for $200 (new they're $500). It's well worth it though, when you think of how much you could be spending on doctor's visits, sick days, and when you think about how long you will use it - the warrenty is ten years but most of them are still up and running well beyond that.

Here are some good ideas to get you started:

6-7 leaves of kale (about a whole bunch)
25 strawberries (I use frozen)
1 banana
Optional - 1 avocado
1-3 cups of water, depending on how thin or thick you like it
Blend

Spinach or kale - a handfull or so...
Bag of "Mixed Berry" - don't know if you have that over there (you said "crisps" and I know that means "chips" in the UK - teehee), but it's a 12-16 oz. frozen berry package that includes, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries, and one banana, 1-2 cups water, blended.

And what I'm sipping right now is:
3 handfulls of baby spinach
4 apricots (frozen from my fruit trees this summer)
DELICIOUS and CREAMY

Read Greens for Life by Victoria Boutenko - it's awesome!

Good luck on your raw journey!

Angie


Me (30), Joseph (24 mo.) Jeremiah (4 mo.)

We are enjoying spring and being outside!!!

Check out www.goneraw.com

It's a good resource for "transitioning" recipes-- most recipes are all raw, but have more fats, or rawify certain foods like chocolate, rice, cakes...etc.

Also check out www.rawdorable.blogspot.com

Check out Shannonmarie's recent recipes for donuts and girlscout cookies. I'm not joking! Girlscout cookies...pretty crazy.

Hope this helps. Another blog that comes to mind is www.thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com

Wow I just learnt so much from you guys already! Thanks so much =)!

Try exploring new fruits, if you can. Check out the Asian markets--there are plenty of tropical delights I'm sure you didn't even know existed. Durian is my new Thanksgiving turkey.

It's also worth revisiting old favorites in the raw form--I tried raw corn for the first time yesterday, and was shocked to discover how SWEET and JUICY and REFRESHING it was! Why anybody cooks it, especially in the summer, I will not understand. Just chill it. <3

Seeds and nuts pulled me through the first month. They are actually easier to digest if you soak them. www.sproutpeople.com is an awesome site, both for learning how to soak... and to sprout!

Dehydrators and vitamixes let you do some awesome things, but a conventional food processor should be enough to get you started. Our ancestors got by perfectly fine without them... Although, from time to time, I really wish I could dehydrate some raw pizza crust. =)

You can also heat raw soups on the stove on low temp, taking great care to keep the temperature always cool enough for your fingers. I learned that this week!

hi meao ( cool name

AHOY! welcome aboard

well, if u don't like nuts but u like chocolate

maybe u could sprinkle some dates with cacao nibs that way you could forgo the nuts and coconut oils and seeds that u said you don't want

ookay.. that's my tidbit of advice

also look at the recipe section here

it is on the left hand column and its got loads of stuff and different categories

but i like what lee said about keeping simple foods on hand

like tangerine or oranges

or a few apples

they are refreshing energizing and keep you going

angie is enthusiastic about her green smoothies and it is infectious

but if u dont have $ for a vitamix , u could just get a regular cheap blender

food processors are hard to do watery stuff ( cuz it just gets broken up in chunks)

its true that the more of the good stuff u put into your blood
the more your blood will crave that