Ok I dont get it!

[Davylp25]

Okay...

Heres my thang a lang.
Im confused about sumthin. I keep reading about, certain food combining principles, about no-no's thats are alright to do in the beginning.
Certain recipes, certain combining things.

Okay for me, I have been raw for a year tomorrow. Yeah. The whole year I have been eating such simple means. Mono-blah. Great smoothies. I have done zero, ZERO recipes.

Now after a year of really cleaning out my body, Im not at the weight I would like to be. I haven't been working out with weights. Im gonna start. This year has just been a year of CLEAN, Cleanse, and detox.

Yet I keep reading, that once you have been raw for a long time, you shouldnt, combine food in certain ways. It's alright in the beginning. Well where does that leave me. Im bored as all heck with simple eating. I wanna try newer things. Dehydrated things, recipes. I feel my system would be strong enough, its cleaner. I dunno. I watched Alissas dvd and she said how yes it has been medically proven if you eat less, you will be healthier. But for people beginning raw, you shouldnt worry about that. Well I aint just beginning, Im not at a weight I wanna be at. I plan on staying raw. But this always confuses me.

It's not like Im not gonna try the recipes etc. I will. See how I feel. But it always confuses me to hear that. I have been raw a long time. 1 year for me is long. I have been simple simple simple simple. Im bored bored bored. I need diversity. So I will seek that. So do all you rawsteins who have been raw awhile never make recipes, or combine nuts with ingredients from Alissas book to make a great brownie or cake, is Allissas book only really for RAW Beginners, and those who have been raw will push away from such raw principles, It sounds restrictive to me. It just doesn't sit well. Any thoughts?

[spicyfull]

I don't worry about combining etc. I just keep it RAW. I rely on my body telling me if I should not do something again.

I just want to keep it simple, everyone has an openion, some sounds good and some are way out there. Trust your own instints, try a few recipes, there are some that are real simple............

[Davylp25]

Agree, I have read so many dogmatic posts, from so many places, especially when I first started out. It was very confusing. I agree tho!

[rawbeliever]

I say try whatever sounds good to you. After so much cleansing, your body will tell you loud and clear if it doesn't like it. :)

Good luck, and have fun,
Robbie

[DavidZaneMason]

Opinion:

-Many of those who eat healthy for long time often find themsleves eating simpler. Others choose a level of myriad eating...and are satisfied. Some become raw food gourmet chefs! Ha! ha! It's certainly up to you.

-I think the important thing is that you always have goals - and are always shooting for them!

-David Mason

[Veganforlife]

I agree with previous posts. My theory? Recipes are nice, but good grief! You've got Earth's diet staring you right in the face and there are endless possibilities. I don't count calories. I don't (worry about) properly food combining. I don't waste time worrying about those things.
I do however eat fruit alone BEFORE any other foods unless it's in a juiced drink.
I can understand being "bored" (to a certain extent). So maybe that's why recipes would be interesting to you.
I go with what my body is craving. It know better then what my mind is telling it... :D

[Lay-Lay]

why not if you desire have an occasional recipe if it agrees with you. Find delight with raw!

[Rawkinlocs]

Davyl,

I think that this is the thing...most feel that it's a gradual process to go from eating SAD (or cooked, period) food to raw food and that it happens in steps...from the dehydrated, prepared meals to more simpler eating. However, that is most certainly not the case in every instance and you are proof of that.

I think Alissa said it best in her interview on that Raw Vegan Radio show and you might do good to listen to it: http://rawveganradio.podomatic.com/entry/2006-07-03T14_21_32-07_00

But to paraphrase a little piece of what she said was basically that she feels that people shouldn't restrict themselves by saying, "I'm ONLY gonna eat low-fat/high fruit ALLLLLLL the time" because your body may actually WANT or NEED a bit more fat and you have to be open enough in your thinking to grant it that. So, no, Alissa's book wasn't intended to be a "raw beginner's" book and she'll tell you that. Her recipes are not all fat, not all poorly combined and not all transitional. They vary from simple, having only a few ingredients...to more complex with lots of ingredients and steps.

There are plenty of raw fooders who have been at this for a long while who at times DO want a good, hearty raw meal and there is nothing wrong with that at all...there are some who might eat a raw meal a couple of times a week even. The recipes are not just for transitional purposes or for beginners, but it just makes some raw fooders happier to hear that that's what they are for. But in all honesty, they are for whenever we need/want them to give us variety if that is needed. In fact, let's take a look at various reasons why raw recipes may come in handy:

1. To impress non-raw friends and family (and though there are some SAD eaters who don't like these recipes...there are MANY who LOVE them!)

2. To get ourselves to eat raw when we start out

3. To have something that will satiate us when we are having awful SAD cravings and are feeling weak and ready to go back to eating SAD foods

4. To add more variety to our diets so we don't get bored or to have them available WHEN/IF we get bored

I look at it like gourmet food going out to a restaurant. How many of us ate gourmet cooked food every single day? But it was there for us when we wanted something different from our normal, routine, everyday diet.

I also think the whole thing about eating raw meals in the beginning and then gravitating to more simple is something that does happen to a lot of people because the TRULY natural way of eating is to eat more simpler. But that surely doesn't mean that one can not opt to have something more complex. But for many, it isn't a thing of, "I cannot, I shall not, I WILL not ever eat a raw recipe ever again, EVER!" (though some do feel that way) but it's more of a thing where they just naturally were led to eat less, to eat simpler and they feel better eating that way.

Everyone is different. So, if you started out simpler in your eating and now you want to experiment with recipes, please by all means do so! If you find that you like eating this way and it doesn't bother you or make your digestive system feel poorly, then have fun! If you find that you felt better eating simpler, then eat simpler but always have in the back of your mind that you CAN have something prepared for variety's sake and then go back to eating simple. Sometimes getting stuck in a food rut is what causes many to go back to eating cooked and/or SAD food!

Follow your own mind and body and do what feels right to YOU!

[Davylp25]

Thanks all!

Feel much better now. Got the validation I needed. Thanks!

[Lay-Lay]

kool beans! What changes on raw have you seen?