It should be easier for vegetarians, right?

[Dirkg]

I'm one, and I thought it'd make it a lot easier to go raw. Well its day 2 of being ~70% raw and it really isn't. I have a pretty healthy diet, not addicted to junk foods or anything bad. Problems I'm facing -

- I'm not a salad person, never have been. I know there are other types of foods but they take a long time.
- Smoothies just don't make me feel full (since its liquid). I used to go to Jamba Juice before and also get a small bread to go with it.
- I like coffee! With milk! esp at night, its cold here, I like a cup of hot steaming tea/coffee with dairy.

I know its a process of adjustment and of finding the right foods, but its taking a lot of mental effort at this point.

[Psychalone]

Hey I'm all for vegetarianism, I think it's a great first step but in terms of kicking the addictive stuff it's childs play, IMO. Meat is an addictive substance that people have problems kicking but so is wheat and dairy and so are cooked foods in general. Vegetarianism is a good first step but go vegan next, then kick out the stimulants like sugar, coffee, chocolate, salt, etc, THEN start upping the raw pecentage. Ever try a diet of just brown rice and brocolli? Great way to transition to raw. By the time you've done that for 4-6 weeks eating raw is like eating candy. Or fasting, fasting also is a great precursor to transitioning to raw. I mean naturally it's healthier to include as much raw as you can but don't expect to be able to go 100% overnight (unless you're an extremist like me). Try to focus on cutting out wheat and dairy and allow yourself some room to fall, but when you go to cooked foods next restrict it, say "okay no dairy or eggs, it has to be vegan", then after a bit next time you fall say "okay lets keep it vegan but no wheat or soy" then after a bit you may have been able to fully transition, but if not then next time restrict it even further, say "okay vegan, no wheat, soy, sugar, oil or processed foods" that way you're kicking one addictive substance at a time instead of trying to overcome them all.

The other thing is that you're trying to be "full"...not i'm not going to say thats a "bad" thing but if you're worried about calories you're going to have to focus on either fruit of sprouts. The 80/10/10 way says heavy on fruit, as much as you want, some go as high as 3-5k calories a day. Personally I prefer sprouts as I don't have access to local, in season, ripe off the motherplant fruits, therefore sprouts are second best for me, still 80/10/10 if it's grains/beans.

Another consideration however is this. Normally when we say "The average american needs 2400 or 2000 calories a day" that is for people who eat cooked foods and animal products. Normally those foods take more energy to digest and thus give you a lower NET caloric intake then, say, fresh squeezed orange juice which goes right into the body and takes little to no energy to process. SO on a raw diet you're spending less calories on digestion and elimination so you don't need as many calories as most people may think. AT least this has been my personal finding. I tend to agree with Arnold Erhet's theory in "Mucusless Diet Healing System" of V=P-O. If you haven't read the works by Arnold Erhet or Doug Grahams "THe 80/10/10 diet" I suggest you pick them up or download them free --HERE-- (http://instrumentals-beats.com/raw-foods-and-health/) for Arnold Erhets stuff click on the "Fasting/Inedia" tab.

Best of luck on your journey

[dime]

Another consideration however is this. Normally when we say "The average american needs 2400 or 2000 calories a day" that is for people who eat cooked foods and animal products. Normally those foods take more energy to digest and thus give you a lower NET caloric intake then, say, fresh squeezed orange juice which goes right into the body and takes little to no energy to process. SO on a raw diet you're spending less calories on digestion and elimination so you don't need as many calories as most people may think. AT least this has been my personal finding.

Hmm, you sure about this? :) Juices and fruits yes (you wouldn't cook these in a normal diet anyway), but vegetables and protein stuff would be more easily digestible when cooked in my opinion. Could be that the toxic byproducts of heating are taxing the system into spending extra energy, but digestion itself should be less demanding than if eaten raw.

[Psychalone]

Hmm, you sure about this? :) Juices and fruits yes (you wouldn't cook these in a normal diet anyway), but vegetables and protein stuff would be more easily digestible when cooked in my opinion. Could be that the toxic byproducts of heating are taxing the system into spending extra energy, but digestion itself should be less demanding than if eaten raw.

I'll assume for the moment "protein stuff" is nuts/seeds? Raw nuts/seeds I say should always be sprouted before conscumption. Cooking does indeed make it easier...no i should say POSSIBLE to disgest raw nuts and seeds, but I believe sprouting to be a superior method of making the nutrients more available and assimilatable as the enzymes and nutrients are released in a more natural way and to a higher degree. If you're talking about any animal products I"ve tried them all both raw and cooked and can personally attest, raw meat, raw eggs and raw milk are superior in digestibility to their cooked counterpart.

In both Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine the diet is mainly that of cooked food because both tend to make up much of the diet around vegetables, grains and legumes with animal flesh(only cooked for sanitation) and occasional fruits and nuts. Since vegetables have an indigestible plant fiber, it was recommended to cook it to break down that plant fiber so it wasn't so rough on the digestive system. THis is a true case and should be noted, we do not have the enzyme cellulase and thus cannot digest cellulose. So when it comes to eating certain vegetation I can see where cooking would indeed help. But because of the lack of enzymes in cooked food and the resulting degeneration over the past generations I think some alternatives should be made available.

Again when it comes to grains, seeds and legumes sprouting is superior, imo. to cooking. Now thats not to say sprouts are without flaw. Sometimes it helps to ferment or even slightly steam or cook with temperatures of around 100 degrees the sprouts if the digestive system is SUPER sensitive. If one has a dehydrater one can take sprouted grains and make "essene" bread full of enzymes and much easier digested. Also fermented seed cheeses can be made.
As for vegetables, juicing is usually the best way to go, but even if you cant afford a juicer, knowing which vegetables can be eaten and how helps a bunch. FOr example, broccolli. Normally broccolli you can eat the floretts(?) with no problem but the base part..the stem? root? idk what to call it, is surrounded by rough indigestible plant fiber that would need to be cooked to "soften" it up. However if you simply peel away the rough surface and eat the inside and it won't cause any trouble. Likewise sticking to lettuces and leafy green is also a good idea.

I'm not saying cooking doesnt have it's place, i'm simply saying there are better preparation methods and alternatives that are easier on digestion and higher in enzymes. However not everyone follows such guidelines so you bring up a valid point that should be considered. If someone is going to try to eat raw plant fiber and raw nuts and seeds and not prepare the properly then yeah they're going to find that cooking makes it easier to digest, but I believe they'll find that other preparations like fermentation, sprouting, etc work even better :)

But please, anyone reading this, at the very LEAST soak your nuts and seeds and at least restrict raw plant fibers. I've had so much pain caused by raw seeds and too much raw plant fiber, sometimes to the point of literally rolling on the floor writhing in agony...not fun, I don't want anyone to have to suffer through something like that if they can avoid it.

[Raw Angel Mom]

Replace your coffee with teccino and ditch the coffee. It eats up your calcium from your bone and store your fat. You can do a green tea to help to transition.

As for dairy, replace that too. There are so many more delicious raw vegan version for this (yogurt, cheese, icecream and milk). Elana love sell an excellent DVD on how to prepare fermented food. Alissa new recipe book has many fermented food recipes.

Watch a diet for all reason and a diet for a new America, this will inspire you to dicth the dairy as well.

You can do a transition with raw food by using steam vegetables but please no dairy or coffee.

Before i went to work, i did in no time a mock salmon patee (Alissa Cohen recipe), fudge ball and a cheddard cheese sauce. Alissa has all the recipe in her book.

You can eat more consistent food if green smoothie isn't enough for you. It does heal addiction, you may not want to do raw food without. So healing and balancing.

Such a lovely granola with a nice nut milk. One easy granola to make is sprouted and dehydrated buckwheat with cinamon, apple, banana and raisin.

Raw food rock and if i was you, i would have plan and consider to commit to a 100% raw for 30 days to reset your craving button.

You will be ok!

[sport]

The main advantage of being a healthy vegie before raw is that if you do fall off the wagon you have less distance to fall.
I was vegan so less again. For me falling off the wagon was a steamed sweet potato.

[Raw Angel Mom]

The main advantage of being a healthy vegie before raw is that if you do fall off the wagon you have less distance to fall.
I was vegan so less again. For me falling off the wagon was a steamed sweet potato.

So true, for me too, lol.....

[DebB]

What are you putting in your smoothies? Are they green smoothies with lots of greens (using things like chard, kale, etc.)?

I eat a salad about every night for dinner and they're "non lettuce" salads. I've been eating this way over 3 years now and I think I've had a lettuce salad maybe 5 times. Here's one of my favorite salads by Paul Nison, just as an example, Spanish Rice (http://www.youtube.com/user/thedurianking#p/search/2/dVTgdMKDY5g).

Here's another one that I make several times a week too - so good - I add fresh cilantro and dried ground cumin into the blender too, it's a savory green smoothie/soup (http://www.youtube.com/user/thedurianking#p/search/1/5oaJS_Ac-Ko). *Ü*

[EscapeArtist]

If you haven't read the works by Arnold Erhet or Doug Grahams "THe 80/10/10 diet" I suggest you pick them up or download them free --HERE-- (http://instrumentals-beats.com/raw-foods-and-health/) for Arnold Erhets stuff click on the "Fasting/Inedia" tab.


Thank you for this!

[speltrong]

For myself, there is NO way I could have gone from being vegetarian to raw.. that's a HUGE leap. It took me several tries and a couple of years to fully give up cheese. The thing that finally did it for me was reading "The China Study".. an amazing book that you should read if you have not already. It had just never occurred to me before reading that book that when you're eating cheese, drinking milk, etc, you're still consuming large amounts of animal protein! Anyway, I think if you take it slow, and go at the pace that you can mentally handle, you'll do a lot better with it long term. For me, it was carnivore to vegetarian to vegan (with a lot of vegan junk food) to healthier vegan, and just this month to raw. And the transition has been easy for me... enjoyable really! So just don't be too hard on yourself.. give your body time to adjust and you will be successful in the end. :-)

[Dirkg]

What are you putting in your smoothies? Are they green smoothies with lots of greens (using things like chard, kale, etc.)?

I eat a salad about every night for dinner and they're "non lettuce" salads. I've been eating this way over 3 years now and I think I've had a lettuce salad maybe 5 times. Here's one of my favorite salads by Paul Nison, just as an example, Spanish Rice (http://www.youtube.com/user/thedurianking#p/search/2/dVTgdMKDY5g).

Here's another one that I make several times a week too - so good - I add fresh cilantro and dried ground cumin into the blender too, it's a savory green smoothie/soup (http://www.youtube.com/user/thedurianking#p/search/1/5oaJS_Ac-Ko). *Ü*

I haven't found the exotic stuff like Chard/Kale yet. Its been spinach, celery, cabbage and parsley/ginger/cilantro/chillies/lemon and fruits. I need to learn more raw food recipes which are easy to prepare.


For myself, there is NO way I could have gone from being vegetarian to raw.. that's a HUGE leap. It took me several tries and a couple of years to fully give up cheese.

Luckily I'm not a big cheese lover. For me the hardest will be giving up carbs in the form or rice/bread. Are you serious about the huge leap? I'd thought meat->raw would be a lot tougher than vegetarian->raw.

I'm going to go to a health store like Whole Foods and look around for ideas. Can already feel its going to get expensive! I can no longer buy regular milk/yogurt/bread which are all cheap.

[mcster]

I'm one, and I thought it'd make it a lot easier to go raw. Well its day 2 of being ~70% raw and it really isn't. I have a pretty healthy diet, not addicted to junk foods or anything bad. Problems I'm facing -

- I'm not a salad person, never have been. I know there are other types of foods but they take a long time.
- Smoothies just don't make me feel full (since its liquid). I used to go to Jamba Juice before and also get a small bread to go with it.
- I like coffee! With milk! esp at night, its cold here, I like a cup of hot steaming tea/coffee with dairy.

I know its a process of adjustment and of finding the right foods, but its taking a lot of mental effort at this point.

I've been vegetarian since I was 6 y/o and went raw recently. Up until I went raw, I was never keen on salads, I don't recall ever having had a green juice (or desiring it anyway) and I didn't drink coffee regularly but I would have a mocha or two on the weekend.

Since going raw, I have found an unbelievable array of flavors in salads. When all you eat is raw fruits and veggies, you quickly start to realize how diverse our access to flavor really is. I LOVE salads now. But it's not the typical salad bar stuff. I don't even use lettuce half the time. I've also become a huge fan of green juice. Who cares about feeling full when you feel like you're going to burst with energy on a light stomach? The need to feel full is psychological in my experience. What your body wants is to feel nurtured and nourished. As for coffee, it neutralizes and leaches out all the vitamins and minerals you consume so you may want to drop that off your diet and quickly if you want to make your life easier and feel better. Dairy is another highly toxic food that we vegetarians think it's great but it's actually terrible for you. I know this may sound counterintuitive because raw is more restrictive but going raw is the easiest way to eat and feel healthy. Good luck!

[rena]

Love green smoothies, love salads, have them both everyday. Am a vegetarian, BUT, I also love, love, French Vanilla coffee. Is it really that bad for me?? Am I blowing all the good by drinking it??

[speltrong]

My theory is, the more raw you can eat, the better. But I know that for me, when I start allowing myself little indulgences, I tend to get more and more lax until I realize that I'm not really doing what I set out to do. Not everyone's like that though. :-)