Question about starting a raw food diet?
I already eat a lot of fruits and vegetables…but eating a 100% raw food diet interests me a lot lately. Does anyone know what to expect? Should I buy a juicer? Would you recommend buying a book that explains this in depth?
Thanks!
I should have added that this would be a vegetarian diet. I don’t know if milk is allowed or not..?
Tagged with: buying a book • fruits and vegetables • juicer • raw food diet • vegetarian diet
Filed under: Raw Food Diet
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i have done raw only for periods. the only drawback is the lack of protein. if you incorporate legumes and higher protein veggies along with supplementation you should be fine. i have a juicer..actually i have a few…been juicing bout 7 years….its not practical to do all the time..but juice fasting is very very healthy for you…in addition to water only fasts i practice juice fasting. with juice fasting you can maintain your normal life i.e. work, exercise etc…but you cant really do much recreational. no toxins that is. there are some things to think about when getting a juicer..types are masticating or centrifugal….one spins(centri) and the other chews(mastic)…the chewing retains the more fibers and doesnt heat up the enzymes as much but is not as good with soft fruits..the spinners go super fast and produce more heat which could be bad but they yield more juice and equally as good with veggies but way better for fruit… if you are just making for you or 2 people then spinner is fine. the spinning centrifugal ones are easier to use…one exception-if you are juicing wheat grass you have to go with masticating. otherwise spinner all the way.
you would benefit from this greatly during the winter. you literally give your insides a sun tan. you are eating foods that are only one level of energy transfer. the sun then the plant then inside you. typical food nowadays many levels from the sun…sun, plant, animal, stove, inside you….
prepared foods..forget about it..they dont have any of the suns good vibes left in them
there is a difference between raw foodists and raw vegans.
A raw foodist will eat raw animal products, unpasturised milk, cappacio, sashimi etc:- a raw vegan follows normal vegan rules (no animal products) but insists on that being raw.
The fundemental similaritry between the two is that neither will eat food which is heated about 46 degrees celcius (115f).
This automatically rules out all cheese and any pasturised milk and also eggs unless you can find the courage to eat them raw. It also rules out most yougurts and soya milks / derrivatives as this has been processed.
If deciding to include animal products in your raw diet I would strongly suggest you research the risks associated with eating unprocessed materials of this nature.
I don’t know how strict your vegetarianism is at the moment but it’s also worthy of note that some red food dyes and all geletin (if you eat geletin you’re not a vegetarian) also include animal products such as shell fish and bone / marrow of cloven hoof animals.
There are several means of food preparation for raw foodists to note;- Juicing, sprouting and dehydrating. A juicer and a dehydrater are key parts of a raw vegan diet. Any juice, fruit of vegetable must be homemade generally as most store bought products are processed and pasturised.
Going raw is really a large undertaking and involves a significant amount of committment, I really admire the people that can stick with it. -Possibly the best way to go raw is to do it gradually, try to eat half your food under raw restrictions and do it that way.
Expect to spend a lot of money while figuring it out. Expect to learn a lot about fruit and vegetables. Expect to feel like a hippie. Expect to feel awesome, expect to feel awful. Expect to fail and succeed at the same time. Expect to make a lot of excuses. Expect to be thrilled and excited.
Raw food was really difficult for me. While I was getting into it, I had trouble keeping my nutrients balanced and getting enough calories. At bad times, I would often go hypoglycemic and faint. This was tempered by the fact that the food was exciting, fun and delicious, and when I did get things right, I felt very healthy.
Eventually I realized that 100% raw was not for me. It may, however, be for you. A few pointers for starting -
- Don’t go 100% all at once. Ease in.
- Stock up on long-lasting staple foods so that you never run into the situation where go "Oh, you know what, I guess I can get away with canned chili I found in the back of the pantry just this once…"
- Don’t ever eat like you’re limiting yourself. Eat to be happy.
- Don’t buy expensive crap like juicers until you’ve been at it for a while. When you do, make sure to buy a juicer that is first and foremost easy to clean, or you will never ever use it and you will grow to hate the infernal machine. Besides, they take up a lot of counter space.
- The raw foodie community is full of junk science. Enzymes do not necessarily help you digest your food. Don’t OD on phytoestrogen capsules. Cellulite isn’t caused by backed up cooked food rotting in your guts. Eating raw will not cure cancer. "Juice cleanses" are silly. If doctors aren’t prescribing it, it probably isn’t going to be a miracle cure. Eat food, and eat fun. Don’t make your pantry your medicine cabinet.
Milk isn’t really "allowed", but who’s telling you what to do?
Edit: I’m sorry, Melissa pointed out that I wasn’t entirely clear. I was referring to the claims that enzymes in raw plant matter assist digestion, which is untrue. While the human body does make its own digestion enzymes, those enzymes are calibrated to work in the human body at the ph and temperature present in the digestive tract. Vegetable enzymes will denature in the stomach’s acid environment and do little good.
As for the other claims, while eating healthy diets like raw food diets will correlate with improved health, it does not follow that raw food diets "cure" psoriasis, cellulite, or cancer. I won’t contest that the diet probably contributed to the body’s ability to recover on its own, but a raw food diet is not a panacea and should not be considered a substitute for good, solid, science-based medicine.
try to cut down on junk foods,pastas made with white flour,potatoes,white rice and everything made with white flour and sugar.try the internet with the phrase "raw vegetarian recipes" or with the phrase "vegetarian raw recipes".
buying a juicer is a good idea and one of the best juicers out there is the jack lalanne
power juicer.for more information go to http://www.powerjuicer.com
hallelujah acres diet & lifestyle is a vegan christian organization and website with recipes,testimonies on the hallelujah acres plan plus additional information at http://www.hacres.com
Yes you should buy a greenstar juicer and preferably a vitamix blender. An excalibur dehydrator, a spiralizer to make spaghetti out of zucchini, and a food processor.
You can eat raw unpasteurised goats milk, as it comes straight from the goat. Milk from the shop is not raw. You can drink raw cows milk if you’re not allergic. Its better from organic grassfed goats/cows.
Raw eggs are fine, but its better to just eat the yolks as egg white stops the absorption of biotin. If you want to eat the whole eggs go ahead they wont kill you. Again they’re better from organic grassfed ducks or chickens.
Raw unpasteurised honey and royal jelly are fine, but most shop bought are pasteurised.
You can’t eat just fruit and veg. You need to eat a lot of dark leafy greens, sprouted beans and lentils, nuts, seeds, sprouted seeds, seaweed, coconuts, extra virgin olive oil, avocado every day.
edit – None of that is junk science. Your body DOES need enzymes to digest food, any doctor will tell you that, and will prescribe enzyme tablets for people who have a malfunctioning pancreas, to take with meals. As there are no enzymes at all in cooked food, your body has to use its own, which are manufactured by the pancreas, instead of using them for healing the body.
On cooked food I had a bit of cellulite, I now have none. Lots of people have cured cancer by eating raw diets. Juice fasting is not silly – I completely cured myself of a skin disease, psoriasis, with a 10 week juice fast. Your pantry should be your medicine cabinet "Let food by thy medicine and medicine be thy food".
"The raw foodie community is full of junk science. Enzymes do not necessarily help you digest your food. Don’t OD on phytoestrogen capsules. Cellulite isn’t caused by backed up cooked food rotting in your guts. Eating raw will not cure cancer. "Juice cleanses" are silly. If doctors aren’t prescribing it, it probably isn’t going to be a miracle cure. Eat food, and eat fun. Don’t make your pantry your medicine cabinet."
Aw you spoiled my fun !
You limited it to vegetarian !
Here I had visions of you trapsing out into the pasture to start gnawing on a cow while it was still alive ? swallowing live fish,eating squirming worms, and then getting suspicious stares from your friends–particuarly around dinner-time !
I think a juicer is great to have whether you actually do a raw diet or not. I love mine. When I juice, I feel great. Lots of tasty juices can be made. Remember raw, includes raw nuts. As appealing as it sounds, you may find it is not for you. But, still get the juicer, no matter what. I don’t regret having it or buying it. Even an inexpensive one I got from the flea market worked good. Doing a day of nothing but juices is great. There are plenty of calories in the nuts. I love raw cashews. Milk is not allowed on a vegan diet. It is a diet absence anything to do with an animal or fish, including milk.
On a raw diet, you could probably have it. Especially the health store, unpasturized kind. Or at least the organic kind. Let us know how it goes. Since you already eat a lots of fruits and veggies, you just might like it. Good luck.
Well now you’ve done it. Where are you going to keep the goat? An "easy to clean" juicer sounds like very good advice. What I always try to bear in mind is we modern humans have been around for at least 50,000 years and whatever we were before that for a lot longer. Up until about 6,000 years ago when we invented agriculture, we were hunter-gatherers. Our bodies are evolved for that diet. More recent adaptation has resulted in experts (like Dr. Dean! at health central below) saying your body will be healthiest if you lean toward whatever your ethnic ancestors ate. So if you are Japanese you should eat differently than if you are Italian.
A juicer is good, they take some cleaning though. I think if you are going on such a diet to expect an upset system because your body is not used to eating just fruit and veg. We also need proteins in our diets.
It sounds more like a vegan diet with no milk, what are you going to use as a protein substitute. :)
Practicing Shaman… quantum physics rocks
Congratulations on this decision. I’m positive you will not regret it.
I can probably contribute lots of facts and personal challenges and joys I’ve faced on my own personal journey but this is not about me. Do your research, and definitely go check out the Boutenko family. Devour their books and DVDs and you’ll be on the right track to success. It may be expensive to buy all their educational material in one shot so I recommend buying the 12 Steps to Raw food book (or video) as well as "Green for Life"
First thing I recommend to buy as a tool is a good paring and chopping knife as well as a high speed blender (ie. Vitamix or Blendtec)
Hang tight and don’t let anyone put you down, not even yourself. Guilt is not recommended. There’s a high probability that you will stumble on your journey … don’t feel guilty and think you’ve failed because you’ve stumbled … you’ve definitely failed when you decide to quit.
That’s just it then … it’s a journey. Treat it as that and don’t seek instant perfection … you will do great.
God Bless you
-Frank-
Trinity 2B Healthy