How

[raw?]

how do I do the raw food thing? I have tried for 2 weeks and failed. I know I must be doing something wronge because the food is awful.

[tracyinfo]

What are you eating?

[Rawkinlocs]

Hi and welcome!

Okay, I'm assuming when you say the food was awful, you're referring to some of the raw recipe dishes you've tried?

Which ones have you made? What was the source of them? What types of equipment do you currently own?

Start by discovering which fresh, whole foods you like - what are your favorite fruits and veggies? What types of nuts do you enjoy? Start with those and eat as much as you want. Blend up fruit smoothies and make salads. Give yourself a chance to adapt to eating fresh foods and then when/if boredom strikes, try a simple recipe such as the date-nut torte (you can find it at Alissa's site, http://alissacohen.com)

We will try and help and support you as much as we can. Oh, and what is your current diet like? The more info you provide, the better we can try to assist you!

[maraw]

Welcome raw?. You are in the right place for support and encouragement.

When I first went raw, I didn't have Alissa's book and I made it really simple - carrots sticks and guacamole, salads, fruit smoothies, etc. Then her book came and made it all much easier. Are you going for the more gourmet stuff, or the basic recipes? If I may suggest a couple of my favorites: pesto pasta (pg 417), zucchini spaghetti w/marinara (pg 395), mock salmon pate (pg 380), raw veggie stir fry (pg 430), blueberry pie (pg 484) - I preferred this to the blueberry cheesecake), date nut torte - of course (pg 483), the banana ice cream (pg 516), and my personal favorite, the raw ravioli (pg 397). Plus there are many raw recipes on this site and others. Just do a search for "raw food recipes" and there will be many sites with wonderful, simple recipes to try. The key really is to keep it simple. Eat plenty, and have fun with it. There are no rules to break - just go find fresh ripe ingredients and get to playing in the kitchen. Most of the time I am full before the meal even begins because I snack while I am doing all the preparation!

Anyway, glad you are here. I hope some of this helps.

Best wishes,
Anna

[pizda]

how do I do the raw food thing? I have tried for 2 weeks and failed. I know I must be doing something wronge because the food is awful.

LOL, no offence. I just was watching gluttons (my co-workers) porking out on the free bar-b-q lunch and talking how great this meat. I was thinking how awful this tastes. i am looking forward to my evening salad. You did not fail until you give up idea. Very few people have will power to chnge instantly. You make two step forward and one step back. Eventually your taste preferences will change. One day at the time.
The 10,000 mile jorney starts with the first step.
MK

[rawpriestess]

Hi raw?

FIRST, THERE IS NO FAILURE, ONLY FEEDBACK.

Glad to see you here.

I would say the first thing to do to make transitioning to raw and living foods is to eat what you love as far as fresh fruits and veggies go, and then add in a few other recipes, like others have suggested.

To me that is the easiest way.

First, I would say,
what fruits do you like?

pineapple
oranges
bananas
apples
peaches
strawberries
raspberries
papaya
kiwi

etc.

just make a list of the ones you like


now lets see on fresh veggies

spinach
lettuce(there are so many varieties)
tomatoes
carrot
celery
cabbage


Now let's see about other stuff

nuts
almonds
cashews
brazil nuts
macademia nuts

raisins
dried apricots
prunes
dried figs

There, that's a pretty big list, and I would say you could go to any store and get these things raw and fresh, you might need to go to a health food store for the raw nuts and dried fruits, but at least we have several things to try.

Even if this is all you ate for a week, you wouldn't probably get board as there is so much food here to choose from

but let's just say, that you do get board,

Okay, take a few banans, and peel them, cut them into bite sized peice, then freeze them, then take them out and eat them, they taste like ice cream, or if you have a food processor, you don't need to cut them up, but you can pulse chop them into ice cream, mmmmm.

You can add a touch of honey if you like or some chopped nuts, and this is truly a magickal dessert.

Or let's say you want some really fresh and tasty salad.

Take all the veggies that you love, and you can either add some orange segments, and some pineapple and some other sweet fruits -- to me this tastes heavenly.

you can add these to your list of foods

lemons (to use in salad dressing)
raw olive oil (to use in salad dressign)
raw almond butter (make sure it's raw)

Or you can add some raw olive oil, and some lemon juice, and some sea salt and some spices, makes a great salad.

If you want some almond milk, you can soak almonds for about a day, then add the soaked almonds and water in a blender, and blend
1 cup almonds
2 cups water
1 date(pitted)
dash of salt

all this together makes great almond milk,

if you don't have a blender

take 2 Tablespoons of the raw almond butter, add to 1 1/2 cups of water, add some date soak water (recipe to follow) and a dash of salt, stir it up , super yummy

date soak water

so easy,
take 4 dates and soak in 1 cup water for about 4 hours, save the dates to eat later, or use in a recipe (make sure you take out the pits) and use the date soak water in your almond milk, mmmmmmm

If you let it get really cold, or freeze it a little, it's like a milk shake, you can add more date soak water as you like.

You can make a really good salald dressing out of the raw almond butter and lemon juice and a little salt

or you can dip bananas (fresh or frozen) into raw almond butter, and eat, or add a little honey and eat, yummmmmmmmy

this is really a simple way to eat raw foods, but there are tons of super fantastic recipes on this site too.

Good luck, and keep us posted, we are all here to help you.

After, all, we had to start somewhere too you know.

[Kris]

What great tips those were, rawpriestess! I think I will try a few of them, especially the almond milkshake. Sounds amazing!

[UltrasonicRaw]

you are the best, you inspired me to get myself back on the 100 percent, i have a bad day today!! thank you so much, you are so right, keep it simple and just enjoy yourself.

leslie

[Sweet lips]

Eating anything raw is 100 % better than not eating anything raw. Nothing beats a fail but a try, and being willing is 95% of what is required to change. You are on your way.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Raw,

I have tried many prepared raw food dishes and don't like any of them!!!! I've had food prepared by Victoria Boutenko's family, by Paul Nison, Serene Allison, and numerous people from our raw food potluck gatherings that we have every month. I don't like any of them.

What I do like is whole fresh raw fruits and veggies! Cutting off a large slab of watermelon. A whole cantaloupe. A bowl of strawberries. A salad of greenleaf lettuce sprinkles with raw almonds. For combinding, the only foods I mix is in my smoothies. Bananas and frozen strawberries or a Tropical Mix (already mixed at Wild Oats of Mangos, Papayas & Pineapple).

I am not all raw yet, but high raw. I'm still working at trying to get grains out of my diet (pasta, breads & potatoes-not a grain but still a problem for me).

Maybe just doing the fresh fruits and veggies could be the way to go. Just keep increasing the amount you eat during the day and slowly decrease your cooked foods.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Teri,

You would think that we would learn :rolleyes:

When I eat grains my joints hurt and I get headaches. Yet after 50+ years of eating grains I am finding the habit so strong that I still cave into them, knowing that I won't feel good. But I do have to say, I eat a lot less of it. I think it's going to be a matter of time for the both of us to kick our old habits. It took me 1 1/2 years to wean off of meat. Haven't had any in over 3 years. So I figure in time the grains will be out of my diet.

I've made the zucchini spagehetti before. I never liked any of the red sauces, but I did like the pesto sauce. But Usually I could only handle about 1/2 cup of the spagehetti and sauce. The first few bites would taste good but after about 1/2 cup, I didn't have any desire for it. Maybe I just need to find a good sauce. I was given a recipe that I haven't tried yet. Because it is pretty simple, I may like it.

Dilly Zucchini

5 C. zucchini, shredded

Dressing:
1/4 C. lemon juice
1/2 bunch fresh dill
1/2 C. olive oil
1/2 tsp. Celtic sea salt
2-3 cloves garlic (I only use one)

Place lemon juice, sea salt, garlic and olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth. When the dressing is mixed well, add the dill, pulsing the blender until the dill is chopped. Toss dressing with zucchini, mixing well. Enjoy!

<>< Helen of Tennessee