Help for my friend, please

[RawTruth]

My friend wants to try eating raw. However, she's totally blocked by being unable to visualize what a day's meals would consist of if she doesn't fix a gourmet dish every day. She attended an uncooking class with me (entrees) and has Alissa's book and has watched her DVD. However, she's heard both me and raw chef in class talk about eating more simply and that living raw doesn't mean preparing cooked meal replication type of recipe every meal.

For some reason, my examples and explanations are not sinking in. Are you willing to share a few days of what you eat? Or what you consider an ideal day or two of eating? I know I could look in journals, but I think it's different after the 30 days ... and some newer people on here are long time raw foodists, I've noticed.

Thanks so much!!!

[JustMe]

Well i know in alissa's book, she wants you to make a lot of recipes because she wants you to get the feel for it. i say just let her make those gourmet raw meals to her content and then she will probably see for herself that she will start to eat more simply. also tell her to try more smoothies since those are simlpe and filling.

[PixieGreen]

Maybe if you show her a spectrum of meals she'll get the idea that while gourmet can be fun she wouldn't have to rely on it for tasty meals. Does she cook gourmet SAD food every day? If so, maybe she'll have fun with the complicated raw stuff. Anyway, here are some of my typical meals from "complicated" to simple:

Breakfast: raw granola or meusli or smoothie or whole fruit

Lunch: sushi or spring rolls or guacamole or salad or whole veggies w/ dressing-dip

Dinner: gourmet entree like the lasagne/ pesto stuffed mushrooms or unfried rice or soup or lunch or breakfast item

Dessert: Carrot cake or oatmeal cookies or banana ice cream or banana/ nut/ cacao/ honey mix or piece of fruit

Christa

[SamL]

When I did 100% I made lots of recipes, I found myself eating more food than I usually would.

My biggest struggle is now, I'm trying to eat more simply, if it's a mind issue or that 'full' feeling I haven't worked out yet, I'm definately the type of person who needed the recipes to make the transition.

[flutterfly]

Alissa's menu in her book is very simple. Has she seen it?

[SedonaSun]

I've been raw 10 weeks now and my body seems to have told me what it wants now...

BREAKFAST:
-used to always be a smoothie
-now is either a smoothie or fresh juice (I juice a bunch at a time and have it for several days of breakfasts)

SNACK: fresh fruit

LUNCH:
-usually my heaviest meal, a "recipe" like chili, falafels, fried rice, crab cakes, etc.
-occasionally I feel like only fruit, but not often
- sometimes go out for a salad with friends

DINNER:
- usually snack on fruit (like right now! :)) or carrots and dressing
- then usually have a dessert or banana smoothie in almond milk
- occasionally have a "recipe" for dinner instead

This is how my body seems to like it... heavier at lunch, I'm assuming to get through the afternoon, then generally light at dinner. This is fairly typical now.

[swingbolder]

Breakfast is smoothie with fresh oj, mango, banana and spinach or kale

Lunch is my big meal and I usually have two nori rolls with avocado and sprouts, flavored with miso. I usually have a big salad on the side.

My digestion is poor, so I eat lightly for dinner, which I have no later than 6pm. I'll have a smoothie or a small salad, or sliced banana in a bowl with:

almond butter
raisins
dried coconut.

This evening I also had a big mango.

[heather]

breakfast: smoothie or whole fruit
lunch: large salad (sometimes smoothie instead)
snack: fruit or nuts (usually fruit)
dinner: large salad


i occasionally try raw gourmet but it is just for fun.

[rawpriestess]

Hi,

Breakfast is juice and fresh fruits

Lunch is salad with lots of veggies

Dinner is nuts and dried fruits, or sandwich which is greens wrapped around almond butter and veggies, or nori rolls with veggie filling.

Deserts are nuts and dates with some fruit.

Snacks can be fruit juices, or almond milk with a few dates.

[RawTruth]

Thanks, everyone.

I cut and pasted everyone's into one document for her. Yes, G., she's seen Alissa's 4 week menu, but still is baffled. I think I'll stop being codependent now and just step back and let her figure it out. I know that my first week or so I wasn't sure what was going on. I think it's something you just have to experience for yourself. 'Course, I followed Alissa's plan at first, and my friend is determined to do it on her own. So ... I'm just going to be glad that she's doing it at all!!!

Thanks a bunch, again. It's really interesting to see everyone's typical day!!

[Sharon in Colorado]

Well, I recall a raw meeting where there were a couple of new girls and one of the girls was asking the most obvious questions, and it threw me for a loop. Sometimes I think a lot of folks who don't have much experience in the kitchen in general and are used to getting tons of prepared and easy to make meals might be all befuddled when it comes to raw food. I guess I'm fortunate in that I was raised around plenty of fruits and veggies and making a lot of meals from scratch that it wasn't a big stretch from one place to the next.

One of our newer members used to teach home ec and she kept asking us how much of this and how much of that. She wanted these precise measurements. Being comfortable in the kitchen already, I don't always measure so I believe this frustrated her.

That's why certain books may be easier for people like that. They really need everything mapped out exactly for them, from where to look for certain foods, to how to keep and store them, and even what parts of the fruits and vegetables should be used, and how to cut them open, etc. It is almost like showing a child how to get around in the kitchen (this is something that requires a great deal of patience on my part with my own kiddies).

I think the best thing to do for her is help start her out by taking her to Whole Foods or Wild Oats or another kind of market. Help her to pick out the fruits, greens, veggies and nuts & seeds. Then show her how to store them and how long they'll keep. If she needs help on making a salad (I don't know how clueless she is?) then take her through the steps. After she gets the hang of that, she can move on to the more complex recipes like nut milks, raw ice cream, pies, etc.

This is of course if you are willing to extend yourself to her to do that! It would require a lot of your time and patience! But you'd be greatly rewarded for doing a good thing!

[RawTruth]

Thanks, Sharon. Good suggestion. She's actually an accomplished cook and baker. I think her confusion is because she may not be ready to be totally commited. She's looking at it like a diet and, in fact, already plans to eat raw (not 100%) only during the week and go off it on weekends - though still eating SAD desserts each night. Ah well. Each in her own time. I'm having to let go of this!