new to raw foods--question

[djkristinab]

i've been vegan for almost four months now and i'm interested in making the transition to an all- or mostly-raw foods diet. i was wondering if any of you would mind sharing any hints or tips or answering questions? my primary concern is planning ahead. planning ahead has been key to remaining vegan without feeling deprived or tempted, ever. specifically:

 

-i am often at school for hours on end with no access to refrigeration. any one have ideas for me in terms of snacks or meals to bring with me?

-why do most raw dessert recipes that i've find favor carob over chocolate. any particular reason?

-i'm hypoglycemic FYI--anything to worry about there?

-any one have any book ideas for me? i have the book "RAW" by juliano so far and i'm excited by some of the recipes--other suggestions would be appreciated!

 

thanks!!

[Marcina]

Carob is raw, chocolate isn't because you gotta roast the cocoa beans before you can make chocolate. I've had some carob fudge. Very good. I'm also trying for a more raw diet. So far I've incorporated more raw proteins such as hemp, seeds, nuts, and stuff like that. I still eat cooked food but I find I feel so much better when I eat raw. A lot of the food I eat doesn't really require refrigeration. For example, raw almonds and fruit. Veggies can be kept in a baggy for lunch but should be refrigerated beforehand of course. Especially leafy ones since they wilt.

I hear a raw diet is very beneficial to one's health and is very easy to follow.

[djkristinab]

yes--i figured fruit and nuts would be a good snack. but i dunno...if i'm at school for ten hours i can't see myself feeling satiated on nothing but fruit and nuts.

 

i found a couple sandwich recipes which might work tho...

[Couture547]

You can find raw cocoa and powder. Dr. Sheridan who was a big advicate for carob nows finds that it's toxic in the raw form.

[beforewisdom]

djkristinab, the ideas that raw food authors write about as to why all raw food diets are benefical are not scientifically validated. and many of those ideas contradict very old, very well proven science.

 

Many of the benefits claimed by these authors for all raw diets can be had with an ordinary vegan diet based on legumes, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.

 

There isn't any need to inconvenience yourself or turn your diet upside down.

 

The best thing you can to boost your health is to learn a little bit of nutrition and then make the effort to eat well. Vegan Outreach has one of the most nutritionally complete vegan starter kits out there. You can read it for free on the web or get a hard copy for about a quarter.

[djkristinab]

agreed. however, as of late, i've found myself eating wayyy too much bread and pasta relative tot he amount of fruits and veggies i consume. also i'm over-relying on soy.

 

hence, i want to experiment with raw food so i can get into the habit of having meals inclining more towards fruits, veggies, etc. raw by day, vegan by night, is what i'm thinking about...

[Lean and Green]

Juliano's RAW book is really cool but for someone just starting out and even for a veteran raw food prepper, he has some of the most intricate and detailed recipes imaginable. It can be quite trying to find all the ingredients and then to piece them together.

 

Rawvolution (Matt Amsdem) owner of euphoria loves raw has recipes that are still involved but much easier to get through yet still have that gourmet appeal.

 

Rainbow Green Live Foods Cuisine and Conscious Eating (Gabriel Cousens) Tree of Life retreat center has a ton of recipes and many are incredibly easy and don't even require a dehydrator which not everyone has. I'd rcommend his books as well.

 

As far as Carob over Cacao, well for one, Carob has zero caffeine in it and alot of people prefer to use caffeine free recipes in their prepping. Raw cacao powder is very easy to find and is a little more expensive as well i believe. http://www.naturalzing.com has really competitive prices and they always stock raw cacao (raw chocolate).

 

You can whip up some cacao and carob and coconut oil and coconut flakes and agave and make a batter. Roll up the batter into truffle sized balls and freeze. It's super easy and they taste really good. Cheap and cost effective.

 

As far as transporting food to school and lack of refrigeration, fruits are the absolute best way to go. You can pack 5-7 fruits a day and that will provide some nice energy. You can also blend up some green leafys and store the juice in a container (i like polycarbonate ones) and take that along with you.

 

Fruits nuts seeds and veggies are the staples of a raw food diet and some mono meals throughout the day should be able to give you a nice amt of calories and you could always do something cool with them when you're home.

 

If you do have a dehydrator, most dehydrated snacks need no refrigeration and fruit rollups/leather work really well and are the easiest thing to make in the world......

[andesuma]

It is absolutely a great idea to eat primarily raw foods during the day,

and a cooked dinner. It is a good transitional approach.

 

"-i am often at school for hours on end with no access to refrigeration.

any one have ideas for me in terms of snacks or meals to bring with me?"

 

 

----- I find almost all fruit is EXTREMELY portable.

Apples, bananas, pears, oranges, mangoes, coconuts

if you wanna get serious about it.. haha ;P

Typically when I go on long road trips, I bring very water rich

fruits, and not all sweet... things like celery, cucumbers, etc.

Also you can find "raw" trail mixes at places like Whole Foods/Wild Oats.

They do sell "raw" nutritional bars at natural food stores as well

that could be of benefit to you while transitioning.

 

 

"-why do most raw dessert recipes that i've find favor carob over chocolate. any particular reason?"

 

 

----- Many reasons for this one. A few being, there are a number

of people who are allergic to chocolate(especially if it's processed with

nuts, which it typically is), it is harder(in my opinion) to get raw chocolate

over raw carob, carob is naturally sweeter.. cacao is naturally bitter.

Cacao contains addictive properties as where carob does not.

(but some of this information will be bias and different, depending

on who you ask).

 

Overall.. especially in the beginning, I would advise away from cacao.

And lean towards carob.

 

 

"-i'm hypoglycemic FYI--anything to worry about there?"

 

 

------ I was hypoglycemic before I went raw. I'm not anymore, haven't

been in many years. So, you won't have to worry about hypoglycemia

anymore

However I do keep my hybrid fruit(bananas, grapes, fruits without

seeds..etc.) consumption to a minimum because they are grown to

be MUCH sweeter than originally designed by nature.

So, I would just watch the high sugar intake unless you are very physically active, and even then.. I get far more energy from a cucumber

than a banana could ever give me.

 

 

 

"-any one have any book ideas for me? i have the book "RAW" by juliano so far and i'm excited by some of the recipes--other suggestions would be appreciated!"

 

 

 

------ Julianos recipes scare me. His book "The Uncook Book" made

me so afraid to go raw! hah.. but, to each their own.

The book that finally made me feel I could do it.. was

Jeremy A. Safron's "The Raw Truth", he also has published "The Raw Resource Guide"

which is brilliant. "The Raw Food Detox Diet" by Natalia Rose might work very well for you, as well.

Also, anything by Dr.Douglas Graham (80/10/10), Matt Monarch, and

"The Rainbow Live-Food Cuisine" (I think it's called, it's been so long

since I've read it!) by Dr.Gabriel Cousens is very good.

 

Check out Anthony's site for lots of great blog updates, and info:

www.rawmodelcom.blogspot.com

 

 

Good luck with your journey!

Hopefully this information will help you...

[Guest]

I always have at least 4 bananas on me when I'm out and about...when I was in school I'd have them in my locker along with a bag of apples.

 

When it come to chocolate or carob being toxic I don't think any of those studies are really legit. Everything seems like it can be found to be toxic if you analyze something enough. Just eat it occasionally and you'll be fine. So long as you don't make it a dietary staple I wouldn't worry about it.

[Neoveg]

agreed. however, as of late, i've found myself eating wayyy too much bread and pasta relative tot he amount of fruits and veggies i consume. also i'm over-relying on soy.

 

hence, i want to experiment with raw food so i can get into the habit of having meals inclining more towards fruits, veggies, etc. raw by day, vegan by night, is what i'm thinking about...

 

Yeah pasta kills me I absolutely love it! I found in Brendan Brazier's book "Thrive", there is a recipe for sun-dried tomato marinara and I use zuchini and peel it into ribbons. I can eat loads of it ! This one can be cooked or not and lasts in the fridge for a couple days. Not really a transporting thing though just something to come home to sometimes and may take your mind off of pasta a bit! I agree that fruit and nuts are the deal if you are in school and away from your homebase. Can you sometimes grab a salad for lunch somewhere on campus for variety?

We have some simlilar goals I am trying to do raw at work (in the day) and I am eating cooked at night with the family and then maybe a smoothie later at night (I have an addiction to ice cream, which is soy now, so a smoothie is alot better)

[beforewisdom]

djkristinab

 

I think you will find that if you simply eat more vegetables consistently every day, raw or not, especially the cruciferous ones ( cabbage family: broccoli, collard greens, mustard greens, kale, etc ) you will have noticeable increase in feelings of well being.

[Mike]

BW, you seem to not be a fan of the raw diet. If so, it would very helpful to me personally if you could explain why. I've heard plenty of arguments for going raw, but not many against it. I've been thinking about moving toward a raw diet, and I'd like to hear both sides before jumping into it.

[beforewisdom]

BW, you seem to not be a fan of the raw diet. If so, it would very helpful to me personally if you could explain why. I've heard plenty of arguments for going raw, but not many against it. I've been thinking about moving toward a raw diet, and I'd like to hear both sides before jumping into it.

 

To start with there is the article in the first post of this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=11725&highlight=

[Mike]

BW, you seem to not be a fan of the raw diet. If so, it would very helpful to me personally if you could explain why. I've heard plenty of arguments for going raw, but not many against it. I've been thinking about moving toward a raw diet, and I'd like to hear both sides before jumping into it.

 

To start with there is the article in the first post of this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=11725&highlight=

 

My bad, BW. I was looking around for raw food threads and must have accidentally missed this one . Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I'm at the point now where I think maybe 80% raw would be a good way to go for me personally, but I could find out differently after doing more research.

[Couture547]

There's no reason to eat cooked foods, but as long as your eatting a deal deal of raw foods and the rest is organic you'll be more than fine

[Marcina]

You can find raw cocoa and powder. Dr. Sheridan who was a big advicate for carob nows finds that it's toxic in the raw form.

 

Maybe it was maca fudge i had then? I always get the 2 mixed up

 

 

I went shopping today and looked for leafy greens and there wasn't much of a selection. The organic selection is poor too.. Couldn't find any organic oranges ; ;

I bought some kale, it was all i could find, really.