super inspirational spring RAWnewal thread! - Page 3

[calynde]

I've been eating fairly simply during the week, and doing more recipes on the weekends...which is working out really well for us.

I've upped my fruit intake by rather a lot lately, but still mainly combining it with greens.

I've been having cantaloupe mylk a lot these days (blend the seeds with 3 cups of water then strain ((i use a nut mylk bag)), put strained liquid back in blender, then add cantaloupe flesh and a pinch of cinnamon and blend again. So good and simple!!

Dinner is about 2/3rds salad stuff on the plate and a bit of gluten-free vegan cooked stuff with it. Brown rice, lentils, quinoa, beans, polenta...simple whole food stuff like that. I still haven't stopped coffee. But it's organic and very tasty with freshly blended almond mylk, so i can spoon on some of the foam. hehe

I recently got the recipe book "Living Cuisine" by Renee Loux Underkoffler and I really love it! It's one of the earlier uncook books that came out, and so it's more basic in terms of being light on superfoods and super expensive ingredients. See if your library has it!

I've also been scarfing down a lot of raw strawberry shortcake (google it, recipe is on you tube). LOVE it.

[karika]

hello

I guess this is the thread I need! I want to be raw as much as possible. I believe in it with my mind for sure, but I have not even been a vegan yet. I watched part of the movie someone passed on in the food inc thread called "Earthlings" My mind knew this stuff. It is as though humans are cannibalistic and don't know it or seem to care. If we are all one, then eating flesh of animals is eating yourself... but then again isn't this true of eating sunflower seeds too? So much to wrap your mind around... Me and the girls are GFCFSF already. Cutting out dairy is huge and important in my mind. Once I knew of the practices going on at dairy farms (removing the newborn calf within a day of birth, most likely headed to a veal plant), even organic ones... I just don't see as an attachment parent being able to eat dairy again. But moving to raw is such a new way of being to me. I come from the south where we women cook a meat, a vegetable, a bread and rice or potato and that is called a meal. For years now, I have been doing things differently, like eating when I am hungry not when the clock says it is time for it. So now I have made the change of no dairy, soy or gluten 5 or 6 months ago, and now I want to change again. I need basic help. I am not going to spend time making those extravagant raw dishes I see right now since I will be the only one doing raw (my roommmate, dds father rolls his eyes and avoids change like a sickness) I see a lot of you eat a lot of fruit. I like fruit and do that. I make smoothies with my homemade almond milk too. For salad I make a concoction myself, btw... I take sunflower oil and vinegar with salt and garlic and onion powder and pepper and put it in a tiny jar and shake it up. Is this raw? Like is the sunflower oil and vinegar a raw food? I need the most basic of basic advice for what to look up and read, maybe a book to find at the library? Like I said, no recipes right now, just what do you eat? TIA and glad this thread was already here.

[MoonStarFalling]

Welcome karika. I would use something like Bragg raw apple cider vinegar or you can make your own vinegar at home. You can buy raw oil but research the brand to make sure they really are raw. It should at least say "raw" on the label. I just use organic cold pressed oil and call it good. ETA your seasonings probably aren't raw. I just use raw grated garlic and sun dried sea salt.

[Astrea]

Hi Karika! Honestly, IMHO a lot of the info (books, blogs etc.) on raw is either a) overwhelming, expensive, and incredibly time consuming or b) pseudoscience (at best), which is unfortunate because I think there are strong, clear, simple reasons to eat more raw even without a lot of the woo-woo and extremism that often surrounds it. I think you're really wise to want to keep it simple and not start off with a bunch of fancy recipes, because that's a sure-fire way to get overwhelmed (plus, a lot of the complicated time-consuming recipes end up tasting somewhere between "meh" and "gross" to me! There are a few I've found and liked but it took a lot of time, trial and (expensive) error to find them. Most of my "keepers" came from either the blog HappyFoody.com or from The Sunny Raw Kitchen blog and its associated forum, Raw Freedom Community.

Here's what I'd suggest you start off with--just try to incorporate more of these foods into your diet, as you're able. Don't worry too much about whether every single ingredient in your food (like your pepper, say) is truly raw. Just do what you can and don't go overboard all at once.

- Green smoothies. Aim for one a day. Change up the ingredients so you don't get bored. My 2 favourites are peanut butter (or other nut butter--raw if you can get it), banana, spinach, "milk" of some kind, stevia; and spinach, orange, strawberry, pineapple, stevia. I often put in some maca and/or lucuma, or some raw coconut oil, and sometimes chia seeds, but these "superfoods" are not necessary
- Salads of all kinds. Great for lunch. I don't do 100% raw so I often have a bit of cheese or a slice of bread on the side. Today I had Greek salad made with red onions, cucumber, bell peppers, tomatoes, baby greens from my garden, mint, parsley, feta, and an olive oil-red wine vinegar-garlic-oregano-salt-pepper dressing. Awesome!
- Plain old fruit! You can prep fruit salad in advance and keep in the fridge for a few days, usually.
- Raw nuts and seeds (almonds, cashews, hemp, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and pecans are my favourites). It's ideal to soak and rinse them before using. You can Google for more info on that. It's tricky and $$$ to find truly raw almonds and cashews but there are a lot of places online you can order them from.
- the avocado soup recipe in the current issue of Mothering is da bomb and super easy.
- Raw cocoa powder blended with almond milk and agave or stevia is yummy.

Those are some really simple things. Honestly, if you eat a wide variety of fruits, veggies, and greens, with a dose nuts and seeds, you'll be doing really well nutritionally. It's what all the great apes eat and gorillas sure don't seem to lack for muscle and stamina

[ikesmom]

Hopefully we can keep this thread going and I have a lot to learn. I used to be vegetarian for 10 yrs..vegan for 4 of those. I had various health and life changes that led me back to eating meat. As a family we need to make an effort to eat better and become more physically active. I don't want to be completely raw.. If we could make it to 50% raw then I would be happy. Personally for myself ..I would like to have more energy.

One major disadvantage is my youngest ds(4) has nut allergies. He is sensitive enough that we can't even have them in the house. We were told to avoid flax seed which I think might be safe ..but they are usually processed/contaminated with nut production.

We can do sunflower and some sesame though..so I am hoping that we can work with those.

[MoonStarFalling]

Welcome! Yeah lot of raw foods add nuts so it would be tough. You can still do lots of fruits and veggies. Green smoothies and green juice are great for extra energy. You could do raw granola cereal with just the seeds and raisins, fruit sorbet, veggie chips. I like goneraw.com for recipes.

[boogiemonster]

Hello! I'm in my first trimester and was feeling ghastly, but thanks to a little help from my new BFF Diclectin, I can actually consider eating something other than peanut butter on toast or brown rice (gross, huh?).

Check out this gal's raw recipes: www.brittanybullen.com. She's a cute mama and her food is really simple and tasty. I've loved every recipe of hers that I've made.

I'm not aiming for any specific % raw, but since I'm pregnant and nursing my toddler, I need to make sure I'm feeding myself quality, healthy food as much as I possibly can. I LOVE the way I feel on a high-raw diet: so energetic and lively and healthy.

[ikesmom]

[QUOTE=boogiemonster;15494152

Check out this gal's raw recipes: [url]www.brittanybullen.com[/url].

Thank You ..I have a lot of tomatoes to use right now. My basil is finally growing nicely too . The soup is a timely recipe for me.

We haven't reached a % of raw yet. We are just eating a lot of fresh fruit and veggies and minimizing the amounts of other foods.

We are eating a lot of apples right now. We will go through a bag a day sometimes. We are also enjoying fresh pineapple, mangos, and nectarines this week. I dehydrated some of the fruit and it was really sweet. I have to watch my youngest ds (4) with the dried fruit..he has the sweet-tooth. We are eating a lot of carrots, celery, cabbage and sprouts. I want to do more greens.

Initially I thought we would still feel hungry after eating a meal without bread or meat..I am not finding that to be true though. I was surprised to see that the kids are not snacking as much as they used to. I don't know if it is the increase in nutrients , the increase in chewing their food, or the fiber? I have also noticed that I feel sluggish after consuming breads or meat. We have gone out to eat after church the past two Sundays and I felt like our food was drugged. I was so tired .

We are landscaping our yard with plans for a better veggie garden. Our first attempts were unsuccessful.. as our soil needs a lot of work. We are hand shoveling and screening out rocks . DH commented on how surprised he was that I am able to keep working without too much fatigue . I am not overly sore or tired the next day either.

I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on their favorite food prep items. DH bought me a Bullet Express Meal Machine/Juicer last weekend. I tried it once and took it back. It worked well , but I don't think it would last very long. It received bad reviews and the plastic is cheap. I already have a food processor so I am mainly in search of a juicer. I feel like I should get the masticating type , but I want to do fruit juicing for the kids too.

I don't want to spend too much $..some of them are $$$. I also wondered if there was any other items for food prep that anyone felt made a huge difference in the kitchen.

[MoonStarFalling]

ikesmom, I don't like to spend much on appliances plus we have limited space. We have a hand citrus juicer which DH lovingly juices a whole bag of oranges or grapefruit for me The juice is so hydrating and the juicer was only a buck or two used. The type that screws onto a glass holding jar is super.

I have a cheap hamilton wide mouth juicer that was $50 and I love it, it got good reviews. I couldn't afford the masticating juicers.

I have a good oster blender, was $30-50, that grinds flours or green smoothies just fine. You can run your blended fruit through a paint strainer or nut mylk bag to strain out the fiber.

I'm borrowing my MIL's dehydrator for occasional weekend making of flax crackers, grawnola and other things.

A freezer for freezing bulk fresh berries and other fruit.

[marimara]

Well I guess I'm back over here. I took a break from Raw starting about April-now. I wasn't 100% raw to begin with but about 75%. Guess what happened when I started eating more meat? My hair started falling out. It's thinned noticeably (to me). I need to get back on track w/my raw and hopefully my hair will stop before I am bald!

[calynde]

Hi Marimara,

Glad to see you back here! I hope you sort things out with your hair! eek!

Isn't it funny...anytime I fail to follow my instincts foodwise I ALWAYS regret it! I've been convinced about raw/high raw since 2005, and here in 2010 I still sabotage myself at times.

Let's do the very best we can for ourselves from now on! woohoo

Lots of delicious summer bounty to entice you to be back on track!

[Sayward]

I've been eating high-raw for the past few weeks, just because that's what's felt really good. Right now I'm eating a sweetener-free raw chocolate cherry mini tart, homemade with cherries from my tree. Um, HEAVEN!

I did a month 100% raw once over a year ago. I have mixed feelings on the lifestyle (for me) but lately I've just been following my intuition and this is where it's led! So hello raw thread!

[calynde]

Originally Posted by Sayward

Right now I'm eating a sweetener-free raw chocolate cherry mini tart, homemade with cherries from my tree. Um, HEAVEN!

sounds incredible! yum!

[ikesmom]

Got my juicer ..give me a yummy green recipe if anyone has one please

[AddysMom]

Hi everyone! I am new to raw about 80% right now. I feel like I have so much to learn. My husband is on board with me so that makes things easier. The only problem I foresee is my 5yr daughter is so picky! She does like fruit and salad. But any other veggies forget it!

[calynde]

Originally Posted by ikesmom

Got my juicer ..give me a yummy green recipe if anyone has one please

cuke
celery
kale/other green
lemon
apple


i feel so clean when i have this. mmmmm.....

[featherstory]

Anyone doing 811rv, Natural Hygiene or high fruit diets? I know I live in the worst place for this, but I'm wondering if anyone economically and calorically thriving off any particular foods/meals. I recently read some disturbing info about non-organic bananas, and there's not many organic bananas here, we buy them all, so I'm looking for a calorically dense and economical solution to eating... we are moving soon, but still want to make sure we can do this without the conventional bananas. We waste a lot of money on crappy fruit where we live.

[featherstory]

To Addy's Mom:

Just give her what she likes. As long as she's eating enough and eating a lot of fruit and a good bit of greens that is great!

[Icequeen_in_ak]

Can I join? I went 100% raw recently and I'm always looking for folks who are experienced with it, to learn from. I've been experimenting with recipes and trying to get a steady menu of go-to's so I'm not forever planning my dinner two days in advance LOL

[Sayward]

Been all raw all day today, getting ready to have a delicious dinner of walnut pesto on zucchini ribbons with a side salad of cucumber-tomato-avocado. Yum!

I'd say I'm eating 70-99% raw hese days, depending on the day. But I haven't had ANY sweeteners (save fruit) or ANY glutinous grains in over a month! I've been making these amazing, fruit-sweetened raw desserts (1 each weekend, hee hee) and they're so divine!