In exactly three weeks, I am going raw vegan.

Well, at least high raw anyway (I must have my pure trim shakes).

Been thinking about it for a while, but after finding this site

www.greenchefs.tv

and seeing all the delicious raw recipes, with step by step instructions AND pictures (some even have video of the chef actually preparing it step by step), I cant resist.

I never really knew that "raw" could still mean so much variety, from raw pasta to raw chocolate mouse cakes to raw mango ice cream to raw stuffed mushrooms, and the list goes on at that site.

ya, so I am going raw vegan in three weeks (as soon as I get some academic stuff out of the way).

And I would like to stay raw for the rest of my life, primarily in the hopes of looking 40 when I am 60 and having a youthful healthy body.

Can somebody give me one good reason not to go raw? I challenge you to find one good, serious reason not to go high or full raw. There simply are no cons to going raw, right?

Can somebody give me one good reason not to go raw? I challenge you to find one good, serious reason not to go high or full raw. There simply are no cons to going raw, right?

I can't give you a reason not to go raw. Good Luck with this, it's pretty tough to ride through the cravings. I know...I am still working my way through it!

Cons:

If you think it's hard to find Vegan food when you travel, raw is harder.

Detox - they call it detox, I call it an adjustment period. When if first went vegan I was tired and grumpy and what not. The same can be said for raw while you find the food s that agree with you and give you energy.

Caffine -I love my caffine, mainly my coffee, which is why I am not sure I'll ever go entirely raw. Altough they claim herbal teas are raw (seep below 115 degrees), so I don't see what is wrong with green tea.

Alcohol - I live in a resort and do drink occassionally. This would mean no more beer which is my favorite. Although organic red, no sulffites added, is raw and vodka is up for debate.

These cons are based on what I am used to and my resistance to change, which is why I am transitioning. It may take years for me, but it'd be nice to have someone else along for the ride!

Storm recommends transistioning to help limit detox. We are already to the vegan stage, so from here he recommends raw all day with a cooked dinner for a month. Then next, raw all week with a cooked meal once per week. The allow it once per month. Finally going all raw.

The biggest issue is wading through a lot of peoples opinions on what is raw and what isn't, as well as what is best and what isn't. There is a lot of information both good and bad out there. In the end you decide what you are comfortable with.

Yeah...it's not a decision to be taken lightly, just make sure your doing it for all the right reasons.

The best way I can explain it is to say it like this...

Imagine you are a drug addict and you wanna get off drugs....well your gonna pretty much go through the same thing with cooked food.

It's real tough....

Seasiren is right...just go with what your comfortable with.

please don't go raw. it will overly sensitize you to the harsh cruel world out there.

i dont think i could go 100% raw but i am slowly adding more raw f00ds into my diet .... lots more nuts and fruits .... some veggies i just cant eat raw like peppers, ewww lol

Summertime must bring out the raw cravings in follks!

I have gone raw for short periods: like for 2 weeks years ago when I had my wisdom teeth out. I started with a 3-day juice fast, then did raw. I don't know if I didn't eat enough or what, but I got really skinny. Not anorexic, but feeling like I was 'too thin." I did feel good, though, and my sockets healed faster than the dentist thought they would. I decided at the time that once I got back to adding cooked foods, I would avoid those that didn't pass the 'raw" test (except for beans and grains). That's when I decided I didn't want to eat eggplant!!

I've also gone through periods of going more towards raw, and I definitely feel better than when I tend to avoid greens and eat more pre-prepared foods.

Over the last couple of months, I've been adding more raw foods to my diet, and acquiring the equipment that would help me do more, like an automatic sprouter, a dehydrator (on the way!), along with some internet suppliers for sprouting seeds and raw nuts and seeds and raw coconut oil and olives, etc. , and some books . The best I've found so far (combining information that seems more rationally based and not 'fanatical,'and tasty-looking recipes are Rhio's "Hooked on Raw" and Allissa Cohen's "Living on Live Food" book and DVDs---especially the DVDs, because seeing her make the foods really helps, and the food all looks marvelous!

Victoria Boutenko has some good ones ("Green For Life" makes a lot of sense) and some whacky stuff ("Raw Family" makes their family seem like they are exchanging one extreme of junk food etc. for another, like water fasting for two weeks! And some of the claims seem extreme, expecially since they are purely anecdotal). When I saw a DVD she made, I immediately thought "she doesn't look that healthy!" How can a healthy raw fooder (or vegan, or vegetarian) have such a gut?

I've gone from wherever I started (hard to measure how much raw it was, maybe 40% or less?) to about 60% raw now.

I don't know if I'd ever commit to going 100% (it seems like something that once you go there, you can't go back or 'slip' or you'll feel like crap, and several sources say that 100% raw is very different from even 99% raw), but 'high raw' is very appealing to me (perhaps less so in winter!).

I still have doubts about some things, like where you get B12 (seaweeds do NOT have a reliable, assimilable B12 content, from what I've read). While I'd believe someone like Norman Walker (who lived to over 100 years old on a raw foods diet he had followed for over 50?/60? years), I find it hard to believe someone like Alissa Cohen, who has only been all raw for 4 years (and may not have depleted her B12 stores yet) or Victoria Boutenko, who sometimes sounds a bit fanatical or "loopy' in her writings.

I still can't get past some nutritional questions. Alissa Cohen lists what she eats during a typical day, and posts the journal of one of her clients who went raw, and neither one looks like they are eating enough calories or a balance of nutrients. The client, especially, looks like she's eating anorexic portions: a 'nibble' of this, a "small piece" of that, (she was overweight, and has lost a lot of weight in a short time. Which of course one would do if their calorie content is way down).

CG: I"d recommend Alissa's "Living on Live Food" DVD: it shows a private session with her and two clients, in one of their houses. Alissa preps about 20 different recipes, and shows how to use different equipment and different techniques for raw food prep. It's very informative, and also inspirational: I came up with a couple of ideas of my own while watching.

Those recipes on greenchef do look awesome!

I was just contemplating posting a message with advise on a good book to read about becoming raw, but decided to search first to see if the info was already here. Low and behold...it is! I think I will see about getting that DVD that Kathryn recommended.

I have started the process of going raw already myself. I don't know if I can give up steamed broccoli and asparagus though. Those are two veggies that IMO can not be eaten raw. My other issue is how to give up tea.

Good luck with your conversion!

Those recipes on greenchef do look awesome!

 

I was just contemplating posting a message with advise on a good book to read about becoming raw, but decided to search first to see if the info was already here. Low and behold...it is! I think I will see about getting that DVD that Kathryn recommended.

 

I have started the process of going raw already myself. I don't know if I can give up steamed broccoli and asparagus though. Those are two veggies that IMO can not be eaten raw. My other issue is how to give up tea.

 

Good luck with your conversion!

I have tried some of the recipes on greenchef and thought to myself "Holy ***, this is good food. I could eat this 75% of the time."

before I was very ignorant of what raw veganism meant and thought it would lack variety and get boring, but that website opened my eyes to the possibilities!

I dont think I am discpiplined or hardcore enough to go all raw, but I am shooting for high raw. and good luck to you too!

Can you eat beans if you eat all raw? I can't think of any reasons to give up eating beans

I think a lot of Raw Vegans sprout their beans, I used to like mung beans.

hows the raw thing gong compassion?? i went raw for several months last year and felt amazing! i have lots of raw books and sites if you would like the info...

I went raw for a month in January...just for kicks. It was incredible...I never felt better. We had a two week span of weather in the mid 50s...then the cold front came. It made riding tough but I still felt amazing. I just ran out of money to keep it a fun diet. I can be raw on the cheap but for me I've gotta have expensive goodies to stay raw so I'm waiting a bit. Really I felt nothing weird during the transition and I didn't cheat at all