Transition Guide

[kaleidoscopeeyes]

Hello, all!

My dearest friend, who has been a vegetarian for two weeks and is preparing to go vegan (I'm so proud of her!) ultimately wants to become raw. Personally, I went cold turkey...but I didn't have that much to detox since I had been a vegetarian all my life and a vegan for awhile prior to going raw...was raised as a very healthy eater, etc. Knowing her as I do, I think she would do best easing into raw...so I created this lovely transition guide for her, and I'd love to share it with all of you! This is meant as a transition guide from a vegetarian diet.

Month One: Switch to healthier forms of dairy, but still use it. Instead of cow's milk, drink goat's milk or sheep's milk. Instead of cow cheese, eat goat cheese, or raw cheese. etc. Continue to eat eggs.

Month Two: Remove eggs from your diet but continue to eat cheese and milk.

Month Three: Remove milk from your diet, continue to eat sheep and goat cheese.

Month Four: Begin to remove cheese from your diet, a little at a time. Have it about three times a week until the end of the month.

Month Five: GO VEGAN!

Months Six to Twelve: Continue to be vegan. Do not change anything else.

Month Thirteen: Switch to gluten/free wheat bread products

Month Fourteen: Cut out refined sugar and artificial sweeteners

Month Fifteen: Make all your breakfasts raw

Month Sixteen: Cut out all gluten-free bread products, replace with steamed brown rice.

Month Eighteen: Make your lunch 75% raw

Month Nineteen: Make your lunch 100% raw

Month Twenty-One: Cut out all frozen/preprepared meals, but still include cooked at home meals.

Month Twenty-Two: Make your dinner 75% raw

Month Twenty-Four: GO RAW!

What do you guys think? Any additions/amendments? Keep in mind that this was just something I designed for her, I'm not saying it's how everyone must do it.

[RawHeaven]

I think your intentions are great, but what if her body is ready to release cravings and attachments way ahead of schedule? I think the danger in mapping everything out for a prolonged period of time is it doesn't give her a chance to listen to her own body and eliminate things naturally. She may just surprise herself and be completely comfortable and happy with raw in 2 weeks or it could take a year. You just never know. Your list is right on though because basically it's how I released certain foods but over the course of many years.

Keep in mind I'm very biased based on my personal experience, but I actually think she can jump in at 100% raw if she wanted to. I would only recommend maybe narrowing down the timeline a little bit if you're going to use it.

I wouldn't use it though. I would instead start her at 100% and coach her through it. Not my intention to be negative, just sharing my honest opinion.

She's lucky to have you as a coach and I hope everything works out!

[Jenifae]

I think your list is well thought out and for me.........I transitioned at a different rate. For me what worked was becoming educated. First I learned about being Vegetarian - then I learned about the importance of Organic - then I learned about RAW-VEGAN!
I was Veg for a couple of months then went Organic for a few years then RAW came in and that's when I slowly have gone Vegan since, March. THe first thing I gave up was eggs and cheese. Cheese was huge for me. Hadn't really drank milk in years but, did frozen yogurt. THat took a lil' longer ;). But, I"m there now. Oh yea, and croutons, bread.................that took a lil' longer, too. BUt, I"m done now :)

I think it's better to educate and coach along, myself.
Good Luck with your Friend.

Blessings

[queenfluff]

Yeah, cheese and dairy can be hard.


One tip might be to give her recipes for either cooked vegan or raw cheezes to help replace the dairy ones.

In my opinion, I wouldn't replace the cow's milk with other animal milks. What about a raw nut milk?

Even while switching her to vegan - you should start incorporating in some raw and what better why to do that with the nut milks and raw nut/seed cheezes?

Be wary of starting her on any fake vegan cheezes (the store bought) kind - they are very addictive and have a lot of soy.

Also you might want to change your schedule as you go along - maybe she might not need a whole month to give up one thing at time like that - sometimes waiting too long to give something up is to good either. It can make it harder.

Good luck let us know how it goes.

[RawHeaven]

Kaleidoscopeeyes on second thought, do what you feel is best. i agree with all of the advice you've received, but ultimately you have to decide. and more importantly your friend. don't be afraid to let her slip up here and there. that's the energy that i feel in your list to be honest - wanting to heal and take care of her and ensure her success. nothing wrong with this, but remember it's a journey and she's going to have to experience it for herself. probably including some pretty heavy detox or mild to none if she's fortunate. i'm guessing you probably already know this. ;)

wishing you both the best.

Crystal