At first glance, many are scared of the idea of a totally raw diet, envisioning a monotonous rabbit-like life based on lettuce, carrots and celery. But fret not. A well designed raw-based lifestyle can be a more rich and varied cornucopia of foods, flavors, recipes and colors than our more familiar fare.
One major difference between a gourmet raw food diet and the Standard American Diet is that the recipes often require advance preparation. The recipes do not necessarily require more hands-on time (usually less, actually), but they do require more planning. For example, you might need to soak nuts, sprout seeds, ferment or dehydrate something. These steps are generally not difficult or time consuming, but you do have to remember to do them. Because of this extra bit of necessary forethought, your daily schedule and your willingness to plan can make or break you on this diet. Your daily itinerary is therefore just as important as your food selection.
Below are a few ideas to get your imagination gears turning. Note that this menu plan roughly mimics the heaviness of cooked food. As many raw fooders become more experienced with the raw food lifestyle, often they report eating lighter and lighter fare as their bodies adjust to the difference. Feel free to experiment to see what works for you.
Breakfast: Homemade raw granola with almond milk. Raw hot chocolate made from almond milk, 1 tsp raw cacao powder and 1 tbsp maca powder, heated to a low temperature.
Raw Granola Recipe
Lunch: Live sunburgers in romaine leaf wraps served with tomato, dill pickle, and onion. (See I am Grateful recipe book.) Large salad of fresh salad greens, grated carrot, bell pepper and chives with homemade honey mustard dressing.
Snack: Carrot flax crackers with raw cashew cheese. Apple
Dinner: Asian rainbow stir(un)fry – half-plate serving size (See Raw: The Uncook Book for one such stir fry recipe.) Asparagus spears with honey mustard dressing dip (left over from lunch) Marinated kale salad Sauerkraut (Cultured® is one high-quality brand.)
While a balanced raw food diet takes some practice -- it's completely different from the way most people eat -- for me it has proven to be one of the most radically dramatic health-improvement tools out there. When starting a raw food diet, the body will naturally detoxify as the system becomes more alkaline. You also become more hydrated as you eat more high water content foods. The end result is a properly functioning body battery. Translation: ENERGY & VITALITY.
I've experimented with many other types of diets over the years and of all of them, a simple, raw, living foods diet is truly the most miraculous. The biggest downside is that it's Pandora's box: Once you discover this health secret you will always remember it, even if the larger cultural diet sucks you back in from time to time. For me this means being at times hyper aware of the destructiveness of dietary transgressions.
I do believe that most people have never experienced radical health unless they've tried a high-raw diet. By eating a high-raw diet, we can discover our natural state of health and transcendent energy.
While a balanced raw food diet takes some practice -- it's completely different from the way most people eat -- for me it has proven to be one of the most radically dramatic health-improvement tools...
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