Which raw?

[James Smith]

Hi,

I am a vegetarian / vegan, experimenting with raw. I have a couple of questions for all the experienced raw foodists out there.

- There are several different raw food diets. For example, Doug Graham says to eat 80% carbs / 10% protein / 10% fat, basically from fruits, vegetables, and some nuts and seeds. What experience do you have with these different diets? What has worked best for you? I have not read Alissa Cohen's book (yet). Does she have some specific approach / diet? If so what is it?

- What is the best / easiest diet to transition to raw? (There might be better long-term raw diets, but I am just talking about transitioning from cooked to raw.) I shop at a regular supermarket. I have a MagicBullet (a smaller version of the Vitamix) and a sprouting gizmo. At least while transitioning, I do not want to shop in specialty stores or buy lots of equipment. Or spend a lot of time preparing food or eating. Which issues did you face when transitioning and how did you find was best to deal with them?

Thanks all for your help. :)

[Bobbie]

Our closest relatives, chimpanzees, eat 50% fruit, 40% leaves, and 10% other.
I feel best by far on just fruit, leafy greens and some fat, and I've heard lots of longterm raw foodists say thats what all the people they know of who are healthiest on raw food, eat.
But thats quite hard to stick to, especially socially.
So eat what you want, but make sure you get some of the above every day.

The easiest diet to transition with is the one that tastes the best!!!!

If you stick to 100% raw with no non-raw ingredients (which you will find included in most raw recipe books!) then after a few months your body will stop craving cooked food and it will be really easy. If you keep eating some cooked food, even a little, your body will keep wanting more.
So I really recommend sticking to 100% raw with no exceptions. The first few months are really hard, so don't worry about eating healthily, just eat what tastes best to you. Once you stop wanting cooked food, then you can concentrate on eating a healthy raw diet.
For my first three months I ate cake almost every day. (walnuts ground with fresh dates, a layer of that, a layer of chopped strawberry, banana, papaya, a layer of that, a layer of fruit, a layer of that, then a topping of white nuts blended with lemon juice, water, a couple of dates).

Then again you might not want to eat completely raw, you might want to continue to eat some cooked, but if you do want to stop eating it, then sticking to 100% makes it a lot lot lot easier.

Eating lots of blended fruit is really good, because its quick and fills you up. I either blend fruit with water and drink, or blend berries or apricots with 1 avocado, and 2 bananas, to make a pudding, and eat with a spoon.

[Rawkinlocs]

This link will give you an idea of what Alissa's approach to raw foods is (and what this particular forum is based on):

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22492

[BuddyLive]

Alissa has the very best approach to living foods there is out there. I would read her book and look at her CD if I were you....

[codajess]

If you're going to attempt anything beyond simple, raw foods, I say food processor first. They're cheap, too. Mine was about $40 and I like it a lot. Then if you have the money to spend, a dehydrator. Many people here have Excaliburs. I have an Excalibur 9-tray. It was a little over $200.

However, if you're keeping it simple, I'd say a blender for smoothies is good enough.

[Gosia]

The best approach is to eat foods that YOU love.

Gosia

[JinxieKat]

Eat Raw.. Be happy!

I do have all of the 'gizmoes'.. The ones I use the most from most used to least are my Vitamix, food processor, mandolin slicer, dehydrator. I have a spiralizer and while I do like it I haven't used it much lately. I think that is more because there aren't any good tomatos out there to make 'pasta'. I use my potato peeler more though because I enjoy wider noodles.

Jinx

[Sharon in Colorado]

I also suggest just eating raw, eventually you'll figure out which foods make you feel better and which ones don't.

I have the Magic Bullet, I love it. I normally do not use it for smoothies, which is what I use my K-tec (Blendtec) for.

The Magic Bullet's great for grinding nuts, seeds and grains, making dressings, puddings, sauces, and smoothies.

I do not use the Magic Bullet for chopping or making stuff like salsa as it doesn't do an even job of that kind of thing.

Food processor is good for chopping, grinding, slicing, etc..

High speed blender is good for a very smooth result - smoothies, puddings, sauces, soups, etc.

You don't have to use anything, and just eat your food whole - fresh fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds. If you get into a lot of recipes that is when you start needing more gizmos and equipment. It is just not necessary, and if you are good eating simple whole foods, this is your best route.