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View Full Version : The power of simply being raw is amazing



RawHeaven
11-07-2007, 11:51 PM
I have to share this story with you all. This evening my housemate invited our next door neighbor over for dinner. She heated up something from Trader Joe's for them, it actually looked pretty good and made some cooked spinach or something like that. I was in the middle of making one of my monster green salads with lots of colorful vegetables, greens and of course a sliced avocado. Yummy. I squeezed some lemons to make my dressing and she commented, "hmm that smells good" regarding the lemons. This was just the beginning.

Mr neighborhood guy (he's very nice actually, just keeping his name anonymous) arrives and he's a hardcore meat and potatoes person. We've had conversations about "my diet" before and I could see his eyes glazing over but he was always polite. I actually didn't know he was coming over until the last minute and so they invited me to join them. I was still chopping my veggies, so I told them to go ahead.

So when I arrived at the table with my big plate of greens, this guy's eyes almost popped out of his head. Just like a kid who wants something better. He said, wow, that's a great salad and then he looked down at his plate of baked processed xyz and back to my salad. hahaaaaha. I have to admit it was hands down, one of the most spectacular salads I've ever made and it was beautiful too, with lots of color so I can understand his reaction. Then my housemate told him that I also squeezed fresh lemons,etc for the dressing. He seemed very impressed and couldn't keep his eyes off of my salad. (That sounds like something else, but I don't feel like rewording it, lol). I asked him if he wanted some, but he declined twice. But he kept staring at it. Finally I scooped some of it onto his plate and he really liked it. According to him, it's been years since he's eaten a salad or greens. He then started asking me a lot of questions about what I eat and I could literally see the lightbulb turning on in this man. I had his full attention this time. He was sincerely interested in learning more about being Raw and this is someone who doesn't even really know what vegetarianism is all about. It was an amazing experience, to watch someone transform before my eyes like that.

For dessert they had chocolate ice cream bon bons. Of course they asked me if I wanted any and I politely declined. Somehow we got on the topic of raw desserts and I told him I'd make a raw chocolate cake one day so he could see what I was talkin about. He said, "oh, how do you make it, there's such a thing and can you make it next week? lol.

I guess my point of sharing this story is simply remaining true to yourself, doing your thing and living the raw lifestyle is enough. There is no need to preach or try to explain how you're living your life.

It's easy....when you build it (a heavenly salad ;) ), they will come! :D

kaleidoscopeeyes
11-07-2007, 11:58 PM
CONGRATULATIONS.
That must have been amazing! :D

sfdreams
11-08-2007, 12:10 AM
Wow! What a great story! If you had tried to "recruit" him, he probably would have run screaming the other way. As many people have said: "Be the change you want to see in the world." Change begins with you.

You have made me very curious....what is in your dressing? I haven't found one I like yet. (not too fond of ACV which is in almost every recipe in raw books). I tried lemon and raw wine vinegar with herbs--better, but still too vinegar-y.

I will have to make a monster salad sometime. Mine are rather pedestrian and boring. (But no iceberg-yuck!)

Mialsse
11-08-2007, 12:31 AM
What a great story!! And I had a good laugh at the end ... "if you build it, they will come" HaaHa! That's great!

RawHeaven
11-08-2007, 10:11 AM
Thanks you guys! I think everyone should experience what happened with this gentleman last night. I'm sure you will also encounter someone like this if you haven't already. It's taught me to never give up hope and has reinforced why I decided to go Raw in the first place. I really do believe in it and I think this speaks for itself. He is ready to make some changes in his life and it was kismet. It's a great feeling, especially after my experiences with very negative or judgmental individuals.


-------

SFdreams, I've been using a salad dressing recipe I pulled from Matt Amsden's Rawlicious prep book.

It's called Citrus-Hemp Dressing

1 1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup nama shoyu
1/4 cup olive oil (i use extra virgin)
2 tbs raw apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup hemp seeds (sometimes i substitute flax seeds)
2 to 3 peeled garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I skip the salt personally, too salty for me)

In a high speed blender, combine all of the ingredients, remove any foam that rises to the top and enjoy!

The foundation of my salad consisted of jumbo pieces of kale (my favorite - it happened to be very bright, green and beautiful) spinach leaves, and romaine lettuce. I think this is why it looked so big. Then I layered it with lots of chopped vegetables. I don't do iceberg either, yuck!

I also just bought these square white plates at Pier 1 that are great. They sort of look like a box with a nice design of course. But your food doesn't spill off the plate and the presentation always looks really cool. I recommend these plates, I always like to be a little different.

RawHeaven
11-08-2007, 10:16 AM
Oh SF dreams, I just realized you don't like ACV! I love ACV and put it on everything, lol. You can probably prepare the recipe above without it or experiment with your own take on it. I usually tweak the receipes to taste myself.

cinnamon panda
11-08-2007, 10:33 AM
same exact experience recently. feels great. my friend actually skipped heating up his frozen pizza and just ate all my raw food i made for us breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Eva
11-08-2007, 10:41 AM
So, so true! People will be curious more often if you are not trying to recruit them, it seems. And that is so cool that he was actually curious. Next thing we know, he could be posting here on RFT. :) :D

sfdreams
11-08-2007, 11:01 AM
Oh SF dreams, I just realized you don't like ACV! I love ACV and put it on everything, lol. You can probably prepare the recipe above without it or experiment with your own take on it. I usually tweak the receipes to taste myself.

Thanks, Crystal! I will try this. Not really adverse to ACV, but it has totally overwhelmed everything I've tried it in. The two new raw vinegars aren't as overwhelming, so maybe I will try them. I used to like balsamic vinegar, but I understand it isn't raw (::tears:: ) so I will only use it as a last resort. I am not too fond of salads with NO dressing; I need at least to dip my fork in something. That doesn't add a lot, but it improves the taste/moisture content or something.

EZ rider
11-08-2007, 11:11 AM
I am not too fond of salads with NO dressingI always had to have a dressing on my salads until recently when I tried one with a good HFS oil (found in their refrigerator) and that worked. I liked it a lot and now my salads are a lot simpler as I now prefer them to be greens and oil. Try it you might like it to. :)

Sunluvva
11-08-2007, 11:13 AM
Hi Guys

Im in the UK and chat on a runners forum there. Some of the regulars are vegetarian but most are normal BAD (british average diet). We decided as a group to have a healthy november. I've been telling them all about the juices and smoothies i've been making, green ones and fruity, and they've all dug thier blenders and juicers out of the cupboard and started making them!! Some people have even gone out and bought juicers/blenders.

I haven't mentioned to them that i'm raw and it hasn't occured to them that they are changing thier diets to at least 30% raw by having a smoothie or juice for breakfast but they are all loving it.

You're right about not trying to recruit or preach about a raw diet, most people wont entertain it.

Lets all keep leading by example!

RawHeaven
11-08-2007, 03:11 PM
You're welcome Terri, I hope you find a dressing that hits the spot.

I'm going to try EZrider's suggestion too, I'm always looking to simplify.

Thank you for sharing.

RawHeaven
11-08-2007, 03:14 PM
Hi Guys

Im in the UK and chat on a runners forum there. Some of the regulars are vegetarian but most are normal BAD (british average diet). We decided as a group to have a healthy november. I've been telling them all about the juices and smoothies i've been making, green ones and fruity, and they've all dug thier blenders and juicers out of the cupboard and started making them!! Some people have even gone out and bought juicers/blenders.

I haven't mentioned to them that i'm raw and it hasn't occured to them that they are changing thier diets to at least 30% raw by having a smoothie or juice for breakfast but they are all loving it.

You're right about not trying to recruit or preach about a raw diet, most people wont entertain it.

Lets all keep leading by example!


Wow, this is awesome. I love it!!! The fact that they went out and got their blenders and juicers.

I also find it kind of humorous the word play and double meanings of the acronyms....BAD & SAD. Self explanatory I guess. :D

StarFire
11-08-2007, 04:55 PM
What a great post! Looooved this story! Yer changing the world... just by being raw! now how cool is that?!!!

RAWK ON!! (and thanks for posting that salad dressing recipe - it sounds fabulous!!)

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/thGood-Post1.gif

RawHeaven
11-08-2007, 08:34 PM
Starfire, I'm glad you loved the story. It is cool being raw. You're welcome for the dressing recipe - it is deeeelicious! :D