raw hope

Recently a friend who’s new to the whole raw food thing expressed interest in the raw food lifestyle, but wanted to know what the best way to get started is.   It can definitely seem daunting to embark upon a raw food diet, and there is certainly a lot of conflicting advice floating about.  Reading as much as you can is a good place to start, but I would also recommend making small changes, and paying close attention to how they make you feel.  You are your own best barometer of what is working for you. 

This is the advice I would offer to anyone who is ‘raw curious’, but not necessarily ready to plunge in with both feet. 

• 1) Start slow. Make gradual, incremental changes. Don’t try to dive in and be 100% raw overnight. You may be able to maintain it for awhile, but for most people that kind of willpower is hard to keep up. Remember, you are attempting to make permanent adjustments to your lifestyle, not trying to adhere to a temporary diet. Small changes are easier to adapt to over time. They are less jarring to you both physically and mentally, and will help you to go raw without enduring harsh detox symptoms. 

• 2) Thrive, don’t deprive. You are giving yourself a tremendous gift by eating fresh, raw organic foods. You are not on a diet. You are taking care of yourself and nurturing yourself, and helping yourself be healthy. Don’t stop eating the things you love. Not just yet, anyway. Start off by adding more raw fruits and greens to your diet each day. Have a banana or two for breakfast. Eat an apple for snack midmorning. Try to eat a piece of fruit or a big salad before each meal. You’ll probably wind up eating less of your usual fare. And don’t forget to make yourself big fruit salads for dessert. 

•  3) Eat what you enjoy. Don’t force yourself to eat something just because it’s raw. You are treating yourself. You should look forward to that pineapple for dessert or that mango sitting on your desk. If you can’t stand pears, don’t eat them. If you hate iceberg lettuce, walk on past it at the market. Try some new things too. Never had a cherimoya or a sapote? Be adventurous. You might just discover some new favorites.

• 4) Befriend a farmer. If you are fortunate enough to have access to a farmer’s market or an organic produce cooperative, take advantage of the opportunity to get fresh, locally grown, organic produce. You can usually get much better deals and you can buy in volume. You can also experience a greater appreciation of how the food gets from the earth to your mouth. If you don’t have access to a farmer’s market, try being your own farmer. No matter how limited your space is there’s something you can try, such as container gardening, a windowsill herb garden, sprouting jars or even countertop hydroponic setups. Of course, if you have some garden space, get digging and start yourself a victory garden. In this financial climate, every little bit helps, and growing some of your own food can be a very economical way to supplement your diet with healthy nutrition.

• 5) Skip the fancy raw restaurants. Raw restaurants are nice for an occasional treat, and they can be a great place to take non-raw friends to show them that there’s more to a raw diet than just rabbit food. But they tend to be pricey and serve items that are not practical to make for yourself on a daily basis. Most of the dishes are very high in fat and sodium, which is something you will want to gradually start tapering down in your daily intake. You don’t have to become a gourmet chef or buy tons of expensive equipment to be a raw foodist. Most raw foodists eat fancier gourmet meals as they are transitioning to a raw diet, but they gradually start appreciating and focusing on more simple meals as they progress.

• 6) Learn a few basic standbys. If you learn a few simple, enjoyable recipes that are easy and relatively quick to make, you can rotate them in your menu and then occasionally add a new one to prevent boredom. There are plenty of websites, blogs and videos that offer free raw recipes. Look for recipes that don’t require too many ingredients or too many exotic items. The ones that are easiest and don’t take up too much of your time or require too much cleanup will be the ones you find yourself returning to over and over.

• 7) Get a good blender. The one and only piece of equipment that I feel is a good investment for a raw foodist is a high speed blender. I use mine multiple times daily. You don’t have to pay for an expensive high speed blender right off the bat. Any decent blender will do. But if you can save up for a high speed one, you will definitely appreciate the professional quality of the green smoothies, raw ice creams and pates that you can make. Most of the good high speed blenders offer very good warrantees to protect your investment.

• 8 ) You are trying to be healthy, not joining a cult. There’s a lot of dogmatism and rigid philosophical bents swirling around in the raw food movement. Just do the best you can, and forgive yourself if you are not ‘perfect’. Adopting a raw food lifestyle can be very rewarding, but it isn’t always easy, and there’s a definite learning curve. Never lose sight of the reasons why you wanted to go raw in the first place. Most likely you wanted to improve the overall quality of your life, not to box yourself into a life of asceticism. Being constantly stressed out about your diet is just as unhealthy as eating junk food. If you are miserable, then it just isn’t worth it.  Love yourself and be kind to yourself.  

Those are the main pieces of advice that I would impart to any raw newbie.  There’s always plenty of other tips and tricks that you will pick up along the way, but hopefully these will be a helpful starting point and make the whole journey seem a little less overwhelming.  

I will also be covering various raw topics in my upcoming website and with my youtube videos.  So stay tuned…..