Where the heck do I start?

[seekingbalance]

I've been thinking and praying about switching my family (me, hubby, 4yr old and 10mo old) to a high-raw diet. I am thinking that hubby will be fairly open to it since he is fine with eating my vegetarian food on a regular basis and he is very health minded and active.
I don't think we are ready to go cold turkey but I just don't know where to start.
Also how do you cope with your cooked food cravings?
TIA!

[AllergyGirl]

Start with green smoothies in the morning. You put enough fruit in them to make them tasty, so even the kids should enjoy them. You want to be sure to rotate greens once in a while (in other words, don't only use spinach in them every day for 5 years). I use spinach most of the time, but rotate in red chard or kale when I can find it and it doesn't look too old/too beat up. You can also use various lettuces and herbs as your greens. Some people swear by parsley in green smoothies, but I haven't tried it yet. There are a lot of combinations you can use for green smoothies, and it's pretty much up to you what you like and prefer. I generally do bananas, spinach/chard/kale, a sprinkling of hemp seeds, and then whatever other fruit I want with it. Today it's honeydew melon with spinach, bananas, and hemp (and water). Another favorite is apple, bananas, red chard, juice of half of a lemon, hemp seeds, and water. Some people use nut milks or fresh juices instead of water, but I always use water in mine. I had been adding a tablespoon of coconut oil to them each day for almost a week (after reading Alissa's new book), but I have been feeling "off" this week, and I'm not sure why, so I skipped it this morning.

As far as cravings - if I avoid cooked food completely, my cravings are manageable. If I start nibbling on cooked food, or have a cooked meal out or something, then the cravings start taking over my life. So for me it really does have to be all or nothing. I think some people can handle it better than I can, so maybe they'll have some other insights.

[Raw Angel Mom]

Start with breakfast and slowly add the lunch.

You can have lovely raw meal for breakfast and you can continue your raw food later on for lunch. Serve a warm meal for diner and perhaps keep it raw for the children..

You can also gather the family and ask them to give a try to 100% raw food for 30 days. Ask them if they are willing to support you with this. See what comes up with the conversation.

Get Alissa new raw book there are amazing raw recipes in there that are so GOOD even for cook food eater.

Have fund during your raw journey.

p.s My child is 5 and is raw vegan and always been. It is tricky when they go to school but i prepared a letter for the teacher when she started and even printed some picure of the food i make. Her teacher ask me information about food now. Don't let your "What if" get in the way and do what feels right in your heart, you will find the support that you need.

[Raw Angel Mom]

Forgot:

What helped me to be able to prepare raw meal was Alissa's DVD. I then afterward got more different DVD's and eventually few years later i went to her raw chef certification. You can find people that do teach raw food in your local area. I recommend to get DVD's.

Have fund

[Mikey_H]

Sometimes jumping to all-raw right away can be way too extreme if you aren't ready for it. The best thing to do first is cut out all the foods that are obviously problematic... refined sugars, pasteurized dairy, non-organic corn-fed meats, expeller-pressed or refined oils, white rice/wheat products or wheat all together, GMO corn/soy
Start experimenting with fun raw recipes, simple raw creations like smoothies and salads, and just focusing on savoring the individual tastes of fresh produce items, nuts and seeds! It's a fun adventure when the whole family is involved.
Just don't restrict yourself too much, slide into your own raw-ified lifestyle where you have your own balance. While almost all raw, I feel better with keeping about 5% of my diet that includes organic meat but I feel worse when I eat cooked grains, for example. We're all different!

[WanderRA]

start with buying a blender and making smoothies.

smoothies are the bridge from SAD to raw imo.

[Stina]

A big salad to start off dinner.

Cut up celery, cukes, grated carrot and scallion or sweet onion with a sweet vinegarette as a side dish.

Can't go wrong with raw desserts.

[walnutty]

I also started with smoothies!

I then continued to replace SAD meals with raw ones. I transitioned over a two month period from a smoothie each morning to all raw one day and then all raw except dinner the next day until I made the leap to all raw on Thanksgiving day 2007. Since it was a 4 day weekend I was just going to try all raw for the full four days, but ended up continuing! I lost 108 pounds in the first 5 months!