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herbalgirl
09-04-2007, 01:47 PM
Hi! My name is Michelle. I am 32, and a stay at home mom to 3 boys and a newborn girl (3 wks). I first heard of the raw lifestyle a few yrs. ago, but thought it dealt with carrot sticks and salads. The mother of one of my friends at church is into raw, and she lent me a few books (The Complete Book of Raw, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, Rejuvenate Your Life) and I thought it was all so interesting! Not everything is crunchy and cold and boring... LOL :cool:

I am trying to gather lots of info about the lifestyle as well as start incorporating more raw meals into our days. My husband thinks it is a great idea, too, and is willing to try out raw meals. We already purchased a spiralizer, and have tried raw spaghetti with zucchini. It was pretty good! I have tried raw oatmeal by soaking the oats overnight, then whirring them up in a blender with fresh fruit.

What I find hardest now is gathering all the raw foods needed for some of the recipes. Seeing as we are so used to eating cooked things here (and are not vegetarians), I think I need to try to recreate the cooked meals first, then when our cravings back off, try more simple raw things, you know?

I felt so great drinking a 40 oz. green smoothie yesterday for breakfast! I threw in a cucumber, some leaf lettuce, some zucchini, a peach, a banana, some coconut, and some flax seed. THEN, I went to a family picnic for Labor Day to show off our baby girl... There was just a ton of cooked and "bad for you" things there-hot dogs, potato chips, cakes, cookies, macaroni salad, etc. Needless to say, I was hungry and tired (my baby is only 3 weeks, so I am still recovering and I am nursing), so I ate that stuff. I am too tired to whip up something raw to bring last minute.

So, I felt terrible physically as well as mentally. Then, my husband came back from a trip up north with our two oldest loaded down with a bunch of junk from his grandparents-Pop Tarts, store bought cookies and pastries, canned soups, etc. I wanted to cry!!! :( I feel like whenever I become resolved to do this raw thing, something comes up to sabotage my efforts!! Of course, I have raging sugar cravings now and want to attack all that junk!

I didn't mean to make my intro a huge complaint, really!! :p I just would love to hear how all of you dealt with this in the beginning. I am looking forward to learning much from you all! :D

Veganforlife
09-04-2007, 02:13 PM
Hey there! Welcome! Keep drinking green smoothies and you will soon not even notice the SAD/CRAP foods. Seriously! Keep on keeping raw and you will see amazing results. Your body will crave the raw food.
I don't know if I'd go to the "cooked" version of raw instead of simple. I think keeping it simple would be better and what is more simple then green smoothies? Fresh fruits, veggies and dips? All this will fill you up, give you oodles of energy and THEN I would venture out into the more "gourmet" meals.
Get Alissa's book and DVD - powerful tools to help one on their raw journey.
Welcome again!!!

herbalgirl
09-04-2007, 03:04 PM
Thanks for the warm welcome, vegan! :D Just in looking through threads here, I am starting to see what you mean about the fact that trying to recreate cooked foods may not be the best idea. You could seriously spend a ton getting all these fancy things I had never heard of a month ago (nama shoyu, for example)!

I just know that I WILL get horrible cravings for cooked things and sugar, as I have it now! Arrghh. I will take your advice, though, and keep on with those green smoothies. I have also read that if you keep having sugar cravings, you should back off on the fruit content of the smoothies, right?

justinesmith
09-04-2007, 04:28 PM
Hey Herbalgirl! Congrats on your new little!! How wonderful ~ they are such a blessing. My best advice for you is to take it easy on yourself. Do what you can and don't worry. The best food in the world can be sabotaged by worry. Welcome to a friendly place :D

Yogi Alicia
09-04-2007, 06:01 PM
Hi Michelle,

I understand how difficult it is to transition over to a raw food diet with a family in tow. A couple of thoughts for you:

1. why not try to do a raw breakfast and lunch (and snacks), and then a cooked meal at night to simplify things at first.

2. you have a newborn baby - give yourself a break! when a new mom is sleep deprived, you are lucky you remember your name, much less if your food is raw or uncooked!

3. if you can carve out some time (yeah, right!), do a bunch of food prep all at once, even if it's just chopping vegetables up.

4. Always, always bring snacks with you - I have them in the car all the time. Nuts and dried fruit are easy to keep and do fill you up.

5. finally if you do fall off the bandwagon, for whatever reason, try not to beat yourself up - once a week I have a cooked meal if I go out or if i really like the look of the pizza my kids are eating. you don't have to be perfect all the time - you still get the results.

Alicia

spicyfull
09-05-2007, 03:23 AM
I wish you everything you need to Stay RAW........Welcome to MY World.

StarFire
09-05-2007, 10:54 PM
Aloha and Welcome to RFT! Congrats on da new baby!! You're gunna love RFT! LOADS of information and tons of support...

blessings on your journey!

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/welcome.gif