[Delight]

I've been searching this board and was surprised to find a lack of threads about the raw food lifestyle. Does anyone here eat raw or partially raw?

We are currently working towards a raw diet...I've always been very health conscious, and have recently been reading a lot about it. I feel soooo great and I am so much more in tune with my body. I've noticed such a connection between what I eat and how I feel.

I have several raw books and Alissa Cohen's DVD (which is GREAT!)...I'm looking forward to "cooking" up some great food.

Raw fooders come forth! I'd love to hear how you learned about it and how it's working for you.

 

[UnschoolnMa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delight I've been searching this board and was surprised to find a lack of threads about the raw food lifestyle. Does anyone here eat raw or partially raw?

I do! It's something I have been getting into for the last year or so, but it's been a slow process for me.

Quote:

We are currently working towards a raw diet...I've always been very health conscious, and have recently been reading a lot about it. I feel soooo great and I am so much more in tune with my body. I've noticed such a connection between what I eat and how I feel.

Yea I do enjoy the "lighter" feeling of eating raw, if that makes any sense. What makes alot of sense about it for me is that Ive always really liked raw veggies and fruits. I like very few of them even warmed, so this is a good fit for me.

Quote:

I have several raw books and Alissa Cohen's DVD (which is GREAT!)...I'm looking forward to "cooking" up some great food.

I currently have "Raw Food, The UNcook Book" by Juliano. It has wonderful recipes. I need a food processor and blender so badly now LOL. It will be easier for me to do more then.

Quote:

Raw fooders come forth! I'd love to hear how you learned about it and how it's working for you.

I learned about it through an independent newspaper that had raw food potlucks. I never have gotten to one (we moved from the area) but it sparked my interest in researching it more if only because I already felt that raw stuff appealed to me and I was thrilled that others found it cool too.

 

[Delight]

Yay! I knew there had to be someone

Now if the rest of them will come out to play, it would be really fun!

You should check out the book called "Living Cuisine" by Renee Underkoffler (forward by Woody Harrelson). It's an awesome resource and has tons of great recipes. Some of them are listed here. The chocolate mousse at the bottom sounds amazing.

I haven't done many recipes yet...mostly just fruits, veggies, and nuts. We're traveling right now, but when we get home, I'm going to be using that food processor like crazy!

 

[*green*faery*]

Hi! My dh and I have experimented with raw foodism and we love it! I have never felt so good in my life (well, after the first few days), lots of energy, and after a few weeks my skin looks so good, no puffy eyes...

We have done it (100%) for 5-6 weeks I think 5 times now through out the years. Right now I am pregnant, eating lots of fruit, but lots of cooked food too. After the baby is born we are planning on getting more serious about it again.

I took a class at The Living Light Culinary Academy and would like to eventually get a raw foods chef certificate from them. I also has the pleasure of meeting the lady that wrote The Raw Family, an amazing and very inspiring book, and attended one of her seminars.

I love Alissa Cohens site. Also check out www.purejoylivingfoods.com, Elaina Love has my favorite raw "cook" book that is really great. I've made several things from it.

I think the hardest thing is in the beginning, if you are not prepared and have interesting food ready to eat, it is difficult. Sometimes I'd just not really eat, and that just made me crave things. But if I plan ahead its much easier. I am so lucky my dh is in to it. Also having the right tools and setup help.

I could talk about it forever, so I should probably stop

If you want some of my favorite recepes or foods or anything else let me know. I'm glad to see this post!

*erin*
#1 edd 10/29/05

 

[Delight]

Hi Erin!
I'm so glad you chimed in! I am sooooo jealous that you went to Living Light! I just found their site and said that someday I wanted to attend

I love how great I feel eating raw...I've only been doing it for a couple of weeks, and I've just been starting to get "serious" about it in the last week or so. It's to the point now that cooked foods really don't appeal anymore. If I'm starving, a pizza or thai food sounds amazing, but if I just have lots of stuff around to eat, I'm fine. Even after I have just a small amount of cooked food...I kind of feel yucky. Did you experience that?

I've started to CRAVE fruits so much now. The more I eat, the more I want

I'm just about ready to dig into my first papaya! I'm totally addicted to mangos with lime and raw cashews are sooo yummy. I need to work on getting more leafy greens...I love spinach and kale, it's just that I have to remember to eat them.

Do you have a juicer? Vitamix? Processor or blender? I'd love to hear some advice and also some of your favorite recipes. I'm anxious to try some of the bread and muffin recipes in the dehydrator. You can PM me if they can't be posted here.

I know what you mean about being able to talk about it forever! I have a great friend who was actually the one who got me interested in it...and we email daily with what we're eating...things we've learned or found online. It's so fun. I've always been very passionate about health and nutrition, so this was a natural progression. I was already vegan...so it didn't seem like a HUGE change. Mostly cutting out processed foods was hard. I love crackers, cereal, etc.

I also find it hard not to talk about it to my DH and family all the time because I soooo want them to experience the benefits too. I think my DH will join me soon...but we are away from home almost all summer and it's more convenient to eat cooked food for him. But my mom is showing some interest...she has been anemic forever and I truly think this could help.

Thanks for the site too...it's awesome!

 

[*green*faery*]

Quote:

Even after I have just a small amount of cooked food...I kind of feel yucky. Did you experience that?

Yes! Sometimes when we eat out we would get a salad and regular dressing (not raw) and even that made a difference in how we felt and made us a little more hungry!

Fruit is so yummy. On the raw family website she recommends "green smoothies" basically just fruit with leafy greens and water. Something like mangos, blueberries, water (or coconut water) and a couple handfuls of leafy greens. Its a good way to get more and its kinda pre-chewed for you. It really taste decent, even though it may not sound yummy.

Have you tried young coconuts yet?? Oh my, sooo good!

I have a vita mix, I love it! I have a cheap food processor (could use an upgrade) I do have a juicer and a dehydrator. I finally got some really good knifes, which make such a difference! In the dehydrator I mostly have done fruit, especially if I bought too much and cut it up before it goes bad. My favorites are apples with cinnamon, bananas, strawberries. I have done crackers once which came out ok, and I tried julianos falafel recipe... I must have done something wrong, they came out horrible! I also did thin sliced yams that were marinated in spices and oil and they came out soooo good.

Next on the list is an ice-cream maker. Maybe next month for my B-day I'll get one! I've been to restaurants in San Francisco that had yummy raw ice-cream, I think that would be a good thing to have around!

That must be challenging to eat raw while traveling! If your going to Southern California at any point, let me know, so many raw cafes down there! (I'm in Northern Cal)

I will look up some of my favorite recipes and PM them to you~
Have a good night!
*erin*
#1 edd 10/29/05

 

[UnschoolnMa]

I wonder if we should do a raw foods recipe thread? Ohh I have lots to share.

I totally know what you mean about feeling different after eating cooked foods, or too much cooked foods! I'll probably always eat some cooked foods, but I do prefer more raw. I feel "lighter"... that's the best word I can find to describe it.

 

[shaper]

Hey! We're raw fooders!! Well, i've been on and off for the last year and a half almost, but nearly 100% the last week.. I think it's clicking this time - so exciting!! My son is 10.5 months and he's never had anything cooked..

Maybe we should post some recipes on this thread? All the raw food threads seem to die quick here.. I have a good recipe I made up for cucumber salad.. and I've got some experiements going this week!

Good to see other raw foodists here though!

Oh, and Delight - since you asked - what's really working for us, is a HUGE emphasis on fruit.. we eat a mostly fruit diet, some cut veggies w/dip or maybe a salad.. not everyday... occasional nuts and seeds. No dehydrator or elaborate stuff.. we love our smoothies though! A really great resource is www.rawschool.com - she (Nora Lenz) also has a yahoo group now.

Maybe we could post food logs to see what else everyone is doing?

 

[Delight]

Hi Melissa!
Thanks for joining us

I would love to see some recipes posted here. I think we have to be careful with copywrited stuff though.

Since we've been traveling, I've been mostly eating fruit as well. I do fruit for breakfast and a big salad at the coop salad bar for lunch. And supper has been varied. I snack A LOT right now. I've been thinking about going to buy a blender because I want to make smoothies! We have one at home, but it's not very good.

That is so awesome that your son is raw too. I would love for Bella to be...right now she is. I know I shouldn't worry, but I tend to focus on protein too much. I come from a protein-obsessed, body building family...so they have made me paranoid. Where do you tend to get the most protein from?

I think most of mine is coming from nuts right now, and I'd like to cut back on that.

I'd love to start posting food logs...I'll start!
All food is organic.

Today I had:

Breakfast:
Strawberries
Cherries
Plum
Fresh Apple/Carrot juice

Snacks:
Raw Cashews
Raisins
Apple with raw almond butter

Lunch:
Spinach salad with avocado, tomato, cukes, carrots, broccoli...sprinkled with olive oil and lemon juice

Supper:
Green curry tofu (cooked)
1/2 of an Alternative Baking Co. cookie...(so not raw!...but so good)

Bedtime snack:
Some bites of papaya with lime
Raw Cashews

We went to this organic vegetarian restaurant in Iowa City for supper. I just couldn't bring myself to order a salad when I had been waiting so long to go to this place. Not a good excuse, I know...but I NEEDED it

I didn't feel too bad after that. I haven't gone 100% yet though.

What do you guys do for salad dressings when you go out to a restaurant? I've just been throwing a lemon in my bag...and an avocado (yum!) and then drizzle olive oil on it. But it's not the tastiest. Do you ever make your own at home and bring it in a a small glass jar or something? I'm trying to learn tricks for eating out because we travel so much for business, so I will have a lot of salads to eat I think!

Also, if you can recommend any restaurants that are especially accomodating, that would be great. We don't have any raw restaurants here in the Midwest. Hasn't quite caught on yet!

 

[shaper]

Hey Delight - I don't worry about protein at all. It's near impossible to become protein deficient - and if someone was, doctors here wouldn't even know what it was.. they've NEVER seen it.. Don't worry about it, let it go

That's probably easier said than done. I know Stephen Arlin wrote a book called "Raw Power" that is about raw diet & weight-lifting. Maybe that would be a good book for you to get? I've not read it myself, so I can't say if it's any good. I hear about it all the time though so I suspect that it probably is.

Here are some good links though:
Protein: Fact & Fiction (good article, 3 pages)
Protein & Propaganda
Alissa Cohen's take on protein

Your salad dressing question - we don't eat out at restaurants when we're raw because there's just too much other tempting stuff to get! I don't have to travel or do any kind of business thankfully, so it's easy for me to avoid. I think it'd be pretty easy to bring a small jar of some kind of homemade dressing though. I made a strawberry vinaigrette last week that turned out pretty good - it was just 1 cup of fresh strawberries, a couple tbsps of apple cider vinegar, a 1/4c of olive oil, and fresh cracked pepper. simple, but good.

There's a really good vegan restaurant in Victoria, BC called Green Cuisine that has a lot of raw stuff & juices.. but as you can see, I'm far from you so I can't really recommend anything - hopefully a raw neighbour will turn up

I'm not going to put down what I ate today because I'm rather sick & not eating much/well... but this is what I ate a couple days last week:

tuesday:
-a fruit salad (strawberry, mango, banana)
-most of a honeydew (soooo good)
-a bunch of snap peas
-a pear
-pecans, dried mango, pistachios (not raw - made me sick)
-few grapes (kinda sour.. ick)
-lots of water

wednesday:
-couple pieces dried mango
-lots of water
-a smoothie (banana, mango, blueberry, strawberry)
-lots of water after swimming (rehydration!)
-quarter of a watermelon
-guac & cut veggies (liam looooved the guac!!)
-quarter of a watermelon

I'm going to add a couple recipes tomorrow - they're homemade so no copyright issues

i have pictures, too! (i'm a nerd that way)

 

[Delight]

Melissa,
Thanks for the reassurance about protein...I know that it's total propaganda, and I still worry deep down. Duh! That's how much media affects us I guess!
I envy you not having to eat out much...I just dread it now. I have about 10 more days in a hotel this month and then in July and August we'll be traveling about 60% of the time! I finally went and bought a mini food processor, and I'm having fun with that.

So if you have any easy food processor recipes that I can do in a hotel room, that would be great. Today I'm going to whip up some nori rolls and Alissa's date nut torte.

Yesterday I ate:

B: strawberries, cherries, banana
Snack: cashews and almonds
L: spinach salad with everything on it/balsamic ving. dressing
Snack: mango with lime
S: curried tofu salad and cous cous (vegan, cooked)
Snack: strawberries, almonds, mango

How do you all get more leafy greens like kale, etc. if you're not eating salad? Do you juice them? I don't like kale when it's not steamed and soft. I just know that I'm eating a lot of fruit and I'd like to eat more greens.

I can't wait to see the pics of your recipes.

I take pics of my creations all the time! So if two of us do it...that' means we're not too weird...ha!

On a side note, I just found out that Minneapolis has a new raw restaurant called Ecopolitan. I'm going to try to go on our next trip to Minnesota. My DH's parents live just north of there. Yippee!

Happy Eating.

 

[callmemama]

Hi, I've been lurking on your thread to get more "raw" ideas.

I'm vegan and we eat way too much cooked food.

As for your question about greens, I like to tear up kale and add it to my salads. I don't like collard greens as much that way, so sometimes I'll just chop it really fine and toss it in too. Ditto for cabbage. I use my food processor to shred beets and carrots. I also add frozen peas and corn, nuts and raisins and broccoli sprouts (er, only the peas and corn are frozen!)! We're getting fresh snow peas from our garden right now, so I'm eating a lot of those too!

Putting my lurker hat back on.

 

[shaper]

hi callmemama - i envy your snow peas!! :LOL

Kale, spinach, and swiss chard can all be shredded and blended in smoothies - my fave is banana, kale, pineapple

it's a beautful green. if you have something like strawberries in there, then it's really ugly unappetizing green - but if you put bluberries in then you can't see it anymore!

i also love marinated kale salad. i wing it every time from this recipe but skipping the spinach, less onion, sometimes a little honey - depending, you know. custom

i never liked kale cooked (too bitter for me) but in this salad it's GREAT.. you just tear bits off the stem, don't eat the stem or ribs. yuck.

but these days, i'm not even worried about getting my greens. i don't feel they're something i necessarily have to do *every day* .. but when i feel like a salad, i love lots of romaine, tomato, cucumber, celery, peppers, pumpkin seeds, ground flax, sprouts, grated carrot... and a bit of salt.. YUM. i call it my supersalad. i cant' do the juiced greens. i'll throw up, seriously. i dont think it's natural.

:

i do have a good recipe for spanish rice that uses a food processor and nothing else - it belongs to a friend of mine, i'll ask her & post it later - it's quite good! it has cauliflower in it though, is that ok?

my body is healing up a vicious storm today.. it's day 7 now & things are getting started, I think. yuck... cough, cough.

this is "Just Like Mom's" Cucumber Salad
To make it, I mashed up 2 avocados, added a splash of olive oil, a couple tsps of raw honey (I don't know what you would sub if you don't do honey), a tsp or so of dried dill (but fresh is better, didn't have any), and little splash of vinegar.. I think that's it. mix that up really good, and add sliced cucumbers - enough to use up the goo. it's really good! i know it kinda looks like something the dog brought up.

this is a simple tomato salad using big chunks of tomato, avocado & cucumber. the marinade is olive oil, vinegar & italien spices. simple, but good.

and for the hell of it, here's:
baby foodist after a feast of blueberries

more later! so excited to have other raw people to talk to on mdc!!

 

[shaper]

oh! i had a raw dinner party last november and this is what i served..
butternut mango soup
marinated veggie salad
marinated kale (and swiss chard)
stuffed peppers
green salad
a fruit salad
and macaroons for dessert

i also served pesto stuffed mushrooms - which if youve never had, and have a dehydrator, you should have!! you can get a good recipe at alissacohen.com - i don't use no "lite" recipes..

 

[UnschoolnMa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shaper Oh, and Delight - since you asked - what's really working for us, is a HUGE emphasis on fruit.. we eat a mostly fruit diet, some cut veggies w/dip or maybe a salad.. not everyday... occasional nuts and seeds. No dehydrator or elaborate stuff.. we love our smoothies though!

Yes I totally agree on the fruit and veggies thing. I do seeds and nuts as well. One thing that I love is creating the amazing salads! When I say that people usually just think green salads= boring but really there is so much you can do with fruits, veggies, and nuts that the options seem endless to me. I don't have a dehydrator (though I plan to get one) but use my stove on super low settings for longer.

 

[UnschoolnMa]

Green N Red salad:

There are no "set" amounts for this. I just vary how much I use to how many people are eating it, or for how hungry I am LOL

Cucumbers (cut into "spears")
Tomatoes in big diced pieces or cherry
Green and red bell pepper (cut into spears/sticks)
Red and green onions chopped
Radishes
celery
Any leafy greens that you like: spinach, cabbages, red leaf, etc.
Sprouts
Avacado

Combine the leafy greens, tomatoes, sprouts, avacado and onions in a bowl and then arrange the veggie spears upright around edge of the mixture to make it colorful.

For dressing I top with a mix of lemon juice and/or a bit of vinegar , freshly chopped garlic, some salt, and some olive oil. It's lovely!

 

[Delight]

callmemama...thanks for de-lurking to say hi!

shaper...you rock! holy raw dinner party! I think it's awesome that you take pics of it all. That's so fun. Who did you have over? Was it people that were raw also? I can't wait to try those pesto stuffed mushrooms...I've read that they are amazing!

I'm trying out the date nut torte right now. The dates are soaking...I'll let you know how it turns out...it's my first real "raw recipe".

Some questions for everyone...why did you go raw? Or even, why are you interesting in going raw, as many of us are still in transition. What is your favorite thing about eating raw? What have you noticed in your body since going raw? Also, do you tell people about the raw lifestyle...or simply say "I'm eating more raw fruits and veggies"?

I became a vegetarian last Sept. and started eating more vegan this spring. Then, a friend of mine mentioned that she was reading about these "people" who ate only raw food. My first thought was "no way"...and I kind of filed it in the back of my mind. Then I came across a raw board and started to read about it. It's nothing like I thought it would be...there is so much variety.

My favorite thing about eating raw has been the transformation of my body. I have always been slender, but after having Bella, I had lots of jiggles

In just 3 weeks of being about 75% raw...I am so defined and toned, I can't believe it! I've been working out a little each day, but nothing too hard. It's makes sense...but I didn't think it would happen this fast. I don't feel tired as much either...even though I only get about 6 hours of sleep a night. I can see why people who eat this way for years look so great.

shaper...I am also excited to have other MDC'ers to "talk raw" with. I love it!

 

[Delight]

I finished the torte...and boy, was it tasty! Super dooper sweet and rich. My DH and brother had some and thought it was too sweet. That's coming from the junk food king too...hmmmm. I love it! Here is a photo. It's supposed to have raspberries on top, but I used kiwi...and it would be prettier on a pretty plate, but it's on the hotel-provided kitchen plate.

Yay for my first recipe!

 

[shaper]

UnschoolnMa - that salad sounds really pretty! simple things often the best.

Delight - that torte turned out really pretty! i like the kiwis.

My dinner party was people who were'nt raw.. the liked it though

i don't really know anyone locally who is into raw.. actually a friend here is, but i'm only here for the summer.. and on to the questions (i love questions!):

why raw: i honestly don't remember. it seemed like a good idea at the time :LOL i came across the idea while pregnant with my son but didn't want to rush because of fears of "detoxing into the baby" and whatnot.. now that i have a better understanding, i don't entertain any fears of that sort whatsoever and am ready to fully go 100%.

favourite thing: don't have to cook.. just grab and go. it's easy. just like junk food.. only GOOD for you

noticed in my body: slow weight loss over time - but since going very high raw i've lost 8lbs in the last week. and still going

i've never really been slender (kinda "average") but i can notice things tightening & toning, too. when i eat cooked foods, the next morning my face is so puffy and gross.

what do i say: this is something i'm having a hard time with, actually - which i discovered this morning is just because i'm self-conscious and don't want to people to know i'm "dieting".. because i'm not supposed to care how i look you know?? it's like all this emotional/mental baggage that i'm diligently working through this week. it's hard work. i'm trying to get to the point where I just say "no thanks" and leave it at that when people offer me things, or say "i feel better when i eat ____" or "when i eat that i feel ____" - can't argue with that. a lot of the times i say, "my body can't handle ____" and it's entirely true - it's like a food allergy now. i use the food allergy reasoning a lot for liam. people don't need to know the ins and outs of his diet, but they do need to know enough not to feed him chips.

oh, and i WISH i could sleep at night - liam doesnt let me sleep for more than an hour at a time these days.. that's a big part of what inspired this last week of 100%.. i want to figure out his sleep issues because i think they're related in a big way to what i eat.. but he's detoxing a bit these last couple of days (quicker in babies, i'm just starting) and is pretty darn snarky. poor guy.

 

[*green*faery*]

Shaper~ Your baby is soooo cute!

A few friends of mine are planning a raw potluck. I can't wait!

OK, why did I go raw?

Well, I guess first I should say that I'm not raw right now. I hadn't been for like 6 mo. and now I'm pregnant, picky as hell, and my main excuse is that I am overweight & loose weight quickly when raw. Normally a very good thing, but if I were to be all raw during pregnancy I would loose like 50 lb., which I don't think would be good.

This is a long story, so I'll try and keep it short. I've been vegetarian since I was 15, and struggled with being vegan on and off. When I was 19 I started working at a vegetarian restaurant. It started with this guy Danny, who first told me about raw, and what he ate, etc. Then I was introduced to several customers who were raw, including David Wolfe (the author). At the time I started drinking raw veggie juice everyday and noticed a difference in how I felt. I also noticed that all the people who ate that way had great skin, looked much younger then they were, and overall had really good energy. The diet just made since to me, and the more I read about the more I understood why.

I have had weight issues all my life and been on various "diets" since I was 12. (both parents are obese) By the time I was in high school I was a little over average weight (like between 140-160lbs, I'm 5"6') When I have eaten all raw for any period of time, it has been the only time in my life that I don't feel like sh*t while loosing weight. I have hypoglycemia, am very sensitive to sugar/white bread ... but when I'm raw that goes away. I am very heavy now, I was working a lot and I over eat. Now I don't work much, but being 5 mo. pregnant, I've gained 20lb. But I'm not going to stress, I know its just a matter of time.

The first round of eating raw my dh and I did it for 6 weeks. After a few weeks we noticed our skin looked way better (everyone noticed), his chronic red eyes got better, when we woke in the morning our eyes were not puffy, and we were not full of mucous. I also awoke very alert, way more then usual. It seemed so right. But then we ate burritos one day and took a downward spiral. We've done this several times now! To me this is the ultimate way of eating, even when I overeat on the raw diet, I still loss weight and feel great! Oh, and the first 6 weeks I lost 25lb.

I try not to tell people in general, but I can't help it and find myself explaining the whole thing. I fell like I shouldn't tell people until I'm at a healthy weigh, so I'm a good example, know what I mean?

Ok, this is getting very long and my dh is home. Thanks for the recipes!
*erin*

#1 edd 10/29/05