Hi Y'all

I am brand new to eating raw. I have been contemplating going raw for a while and I have just decided to change my life. I hate spending a lot of time in the kitchen and I did not have much variety in my diet...I use to eat oatmeal, cereal, or yogurt for breakfast, bagel, cereal bar, fruit for lunch, and pasta and cheese with veggies for dinner.

Any suggestions of meals I can eat every single day? I want to make sure I have a balanced diet with those standard meals.

Thanks.

Hi asferebee,

I am pretty new. still experimenting and moving between wanting to be all raw and staying the way things are. I feel great when I eat all raw. I know it is the way to go!!

One great breakfast idea is to eat the oats raw, I add almond milk sometimes or raw milk if you can get it. And raw nuts, with fresh fruit (bananas, strawberries, peaches etc) It's a great filling easy breakfast.

Lunch I will do a green smoothie. I try to keep it simple. The complicated recipes are delicious, but I have to get so many things out and put away and cut up. I like to keep it simple. I like spinach & strawberries & 1/2 banana. Also Mango-Parsley is one of my favorites. I buy organic frozen mangos so it is cool to drink and already cut-up. There should be about 1/3 greens and 2/3 fruit to your taste. Add a glass or more of water to these smoothies. Sometimes I add flax seeds, not sure if they are raw. I am starting to experiment with greens and fruits that my body is attracted to. There are no rules.

BTW, a stronger blender is good for this such as the VitaMix, because some of the greens are hard to chop in a regular blender, but I did so for months before I got my vitamix, which I LOVE.

those are my ideas.
good luck & enjoy!

Asferebee,

I'm looking for the same thing...your previous diet sounds like mine. I am having a hard time giving up bread & cheese. I do a fruit smoothie for breakfast (1/2 cup almonds chopped in blender, add 1-2 cups of filtered water, frozen organic strawberries and 1-2 bananas). This is very filling. I eat fresh fruit through out the day. I do okay until about 3ish when I want FOOD.

I tried a green smoothie with celery, but didn't really like the taste, although I'm sure it was very nutritious. I read that you should combine fruit and veggies (except apples are okay) and that melons should be eaten alone...although some don't adhere to this rule, it seems.

I'm hoping you'll get some good responses here so I can borrow them as well.

Islandgirl,
If you're in your first year of raw, don't worry about combinations yet. Just get through the year! You'll have plenty of time to fine tune your diet after it becomes easy and second nature. You're wanting "real food" reminds me of the days I craved Taco Time. Somehow, when I went raw I jonesed for the things I rarely allowed myself to eat as a cookie. Yesterday I had what would totally have satisfied this craving: I so recommend the tacos in _Raw Food Real World_. The beans made from sunflower seeds truly taste like the real thing. The whole recipe is easier to make then I'd expected.

Mduggins,
Great suggestions! And yes, flax is raw.

Asferebee,
Check out my looooong response to Sewraw in the "burnt out on raw" thread.