Serving a raw meal to very sick person

[qfmother]

OK, so my husband has invited a co-worker of his to our house for a raw meal next week. She is a sweet lady, and has become more and more debilitated by MS over the years that he's known her. She walks only using a walker now, and the other day she asked him to pray with her so we know it is getting serious because she's never done that before. He's suggested a raw diet to her before, sent her some links about it, etc. and she seems very interested but doesn't have support - 2 young adult sons live with her and at least one of them thinks it is pure foolishness and she needs to eat her meat.

Anyway, I'd like to prepare a raw meal that she'll really enjoy, but also to give her any ideas, suggestions, or whatever that she can use to put into practice in her life to heal her body. Any ideas for a menu? What about suggestions if she wants to know what she should eat?

[hilarya_m]

gfmother, you are bringing the light of life to that woman!

For people new to raw, I usually do a dish or two raw not the whole meal, but go for it! I keep it Italian raw as there are so many strong and familiar flavors in Italian cuisine that makes an easier adjustment I think.

Raw lasagne or marinara with zukes is always a hit as is anything chocolate!

[Aleesha Sattva]

Alissa has some really great recipes which are easy to prepare. Do you have her book yet?

[andra]

I think serving a raw soup would be delightful.

This is great that you are doing this. :)

andra

[Veganforlife]

Alissa has some really great recipes which are easy to prepare. Do you have her book yet?

YES! Her book is THE best! I, we ALL highly recommend it!

[qfmother]

Yes, I do have her book, which recipes do you recommend? I've never done a raw lasagna, but zucchini pasta with sauce would be easy... also I forgot to mention that the only thing she told my husband that she doesn't like is coconut. We do love Alissa's broccoli soup so maybe that would be a good choice - or what about pizza? We've made Alissa's quick & easy pizza crust with flax seeds twice now and really like it.

I'm just feeling a little bit of anxiety over wanting to make sure I please her with the food so that she'll go away feeling positive about it and hopefully more motivated to make changes in her life...

[rawlight]

I think you might just start with green smoothies. Tell her the benefits and how much of a variety you can make with them. They are easy to do and easy to incorporate into your life. And they are power-pact with nutrition and taste so good! Can't lose with that!

[qfmother]

That's a great idea rawlight, I don't know why I didn't think of that since we have green smoothies every day around here... I could give her a small one as an appetizer and talk about their versatility and ease of preparation, etc. Then I could still fix something else more "gourmet" as well to give her an idea of how good raw food can taste. I'm thinking something chocolate for dessert, but I may ask her if she likes chocolate first.

[babeak]

Along the lines of soups that I have made that went over really well with non-veggers.. 1) Carrot Ginger Lime avocado soup from RFRW. 2) Thai Coconut soup that is awesome from an entertaining book Raw Food Celebrations by Nomi Shannon and it is super easy...well once you get meat out of mature coconut). This book is laid out and scaled up for 8-10 according to different menus: Italian, Thai, Brunch, Cocktail hour, traditional and light luncheon.

[anniez]

What a wonderful thing you are doing! Maybe you could send some food home with her, too. If she is that ill, she won't be able to prepare much for herself.

I am a big believer in eatiing only fruit in the morning. If she would eat fruit in the morning and have a salad with lots of veggies for lunch, she would be off to a great start. Surely her son wouldn't object to that! Caution her, though, that if she does do this, she will need to eat a lot of fruit - one orange won't cut it!

Some suggestions for dinner:

I think I'd stay away from a lot of nuts and seeds. They can be very hard to digest. The simpler foods would probably be best.

Spiralized zucchini with Alissa's marinara sauce. Yum!

Alissa's Easy Cuke Soup. Double Yum!

Sunny Pate. This does have sunflower seeds, but it is good! I love to serve it in endive leaf cups. I put a grape tomato cut in half on top for a garnish. Really pretty presentation.

Avocado Sandwiches. This is a really simple recipe, but so good.

I don't do much in the way of desserts for myself, but if you want to do one, I think one of the date-based ones without a lot of nuts would be best. Maybe Alissa's Date Nut Torte.

Good luck to you.

Annie

[Asa]

The previous posts are all good suggestions for introductions to raw.

My response is actually more related to MS. Whether or not you chose to incorporate these specific foods into her first experiences with raw, here are some foods that are especially helpful for MS.

-sea vegetables (helps to chelate heavy metals and other toxins, which are linked to MS. Builds minerals, assimilable protein, good for digestive system, etc.)

-cilantro (helps chelate heavy metals, good source of other nutrients)

-green smoothies (good source of easily digested, broad-spectrum nutrients, great for regulating weight, healing/detox/etc. Also helps build stomach acid and strengthen system)

-sources of essential fatty acids, especially omegas 3 and 9 (especially helpful are flax, hemp, and chia- brain/mylein sheath nutrients)

-lemon (cleans liver, helps system detoxify)

-pineapple and papaya (enzymes, fiber, etc. etc. which really help clean out the system, great for joints, mobility, etc.)

[qfmother]

Thanks anniez and babeak for the recipe ideas - they all sound great!

Thank you Asa for the food suggestions to deal with MS, I am definitely interested in being able to give her any advice on what types of food will be of most help to her. I don't know how much she'll want to know, but if she's very interested, I want to be prepared with some helpful suggestions. I will also send home any food that she is willing to take, and my husband has also suggested that I could send an extra lunch to work with him for her to eat if she's interested.