Raw food as a way of life sounds very interesting to me. I have been juicing a lot lately and now I am interested in taking the whole idea up a notch. I don't know the first thing about preping raw foods. My main question is: what does a typical day in the diet of a raw fooder look like? This is obviously more complex than munching on celery and yet the unknown frontier of sprouting/raw breads(?)/raw pasta(?) sounds intimidating. Also, are there major NO-NO's where food combining is concerned? HELP?
Thanks,
Sunflowergirl

A typical day for me would look like this

Breakfast: a grapefruit, half a cantaloupe and half a pint of blackberries
Lunch: A large green smoothie and the water and meat from one coconut
Dinner: cream of watercress soup (watercress, avocado, lemon juice etc) and a salad or raw zucchini pasta with a raw marinara

Lately I have been embracing more simple meals though I still like the occasional complex one on special occasions. There are a lot of great free recipes online all over including this very site! If you don't have a lot of fancy equipment (vitamix, dehydrator etc) I would keep it simple.

For instance, if you don't have a mandolin or veggie slicer like a Benriner, you can easily make pasta using a regular ol' vegetable peeler and you can use a small food processor or regular blender to help you make sauces.



My website: The Coconut Chronicles

Thanks coconutchronicles!

Good advice. Start simple. About making pasta...are we using the term "pasta" loosely here? What is the pasta made from? Could you recommend a good, all 'round starter book for covering some of this basic stuff? I don't want to bore everyone with my ignorance

Thanks for your reply.
sunflowergirl

Hey sunflowergirl,

The pasta is made from the vegetables... all you are doing is taking a vegetable peeler and using it to peel long strips of vegetable "pasta" (this is if you do not have a vegetable slicer like the one in the link above). I typically use zucchini or carrots to achieve this effect.

A great all around starter book in my opinion is Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Food Made Easy... the recipes are simple and quick. Another great starter book is Warming up to Living Foods.

I know you have an interest in the more complex recipes so good books for those are RAWvolution and Rawsome. If you think you might be interested in trying raw foods that are more like cooked foods a great author for that is Alissa Cohen. If you are interested in green smoothies Victoria Boutenko's book Green For Life would be a great place for you to start.

Theres a wealth of information online and a quick google search for "raw food recipes" or "raw food diet" will yield a good deal of information. Names to look out for are Gabriel Cousens, Douglas Graham etc...



My website: The Coconut Chronicles



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2008 09:45PM by TheCoconutChronicles.

Thankyou Coconutchronicles!
I just found out my chiropractor is a raw foodist. She told me about cornbleet's book too. Thanks for the helpful start.
Sunflowergirl

hi sunflower!

the most super DUPER easy simple book and one of my first raw recipe books i got was from phyllis avery ( author)

it was called ' Garden of Eden"

its a little thin cute book

most ingredients for each recipe is about hmmm. i think 5

the most complicated machine u need is a blender ( if even that at all)

she also is really good about combining stuff ( i think... its been a while since i looked through it. i thinnk i gave it away)

anyhow... she has good tips for " brown bag lunches" etc

very simple

but i remember the feeling of hope and lightness and just feeling good overall

while i was making some of her very simple little concoctions

average time it took to make ANY of her foods was 5 minutes ( if even that)

hmmm... trying to think of another one

okay.. there is a guy named matt ( can't remember his last name)

but he has a book recipe book... that is called RAWVOLUTION ? ( i think)

i saw it at the store and riffled through it

it was very beautiful

i liked the recipes... though i didn't buy the book cuz i'm so lazy that if it takes more than 5 minutes... well... anyhow

it is a good book though

and it shows which recipes need which machine

and some of them dont require that much machinery

but nice recipes

i liked his raw soup section

i think he has a business where he makes raw food meals and ships them to different places



hmmmm... yeah, pasta is made mostly from zucchini

u can use a mandolin like coconut chronicles says

then u just make a sauce over it like tomato or basil or something like that

my most favorite is just salads

or just fruits

or green juices

quick and easy to make

( well... the green juices can be a bit of a chore... but when you've done it a million times.. u can do it with your eyes closed and time yourself too LOL

also look at the regular forum where it has "PICTURES OF YOUR FOOD"


and posters have posted their favorite foods

and the photos are GORGEOUS!!! wowwwzersss!!!


pop your eyes out vibrant radiant colors

check out maui greg's stuff

rawdanceruk desserts

suvine's colorful salads
lots and LOTSS o ideas on this site

plenty to keep you busy and happy in your rraw adventure

Thanks a bunch! La_Veronique! There is so much on this site and it is nice to meet a community of people interested in eating this way. It feels supportive to log in here each day. I have been juicing twice a day through weekend. This morning I woke up feeling ready to go...and...well, let's just say, that NEVER happens! lol.
Thanks everybody.
Sunflowergirl

hey sunflower girl


<<This morning I woke up feeling ready to go...and...well, let's just say, that NEVER happens! lol.>>

WOW!! how RAWESOME is that??!!

yeaaaayyyyyyyy!!

feeling good when u wake up is truly a gift

really

it is

trust me on that one