Raw Transition Time

Around this time of year, I transition to a high raw diet. I eat at least 50% raw year-round, but I really start to crave more in the spring. As an added benefit, I tend to drop some weight when I up the raw content of my diet. I think that's because I don't eat starchy food when I'm eating 80% raw. I hate to admit it, but the bread I love to bake may not be the best thing for me or my waistline.

It has taken me a while to figure out what a raw food day looks like. Looking through raw "cook" books is very misleading. A lot of the dishes are high in fat, with heavy use of nuts and avocados and coconuts. Those dishes are OK once a day or as a small treat, but eating like that all day would not be a healthy choice.


Typical meal plan:

*Green Lemonade (4 kale, 4 celery, 1 lemon, 1 fuji apple, run through the juicer = 12 oz)

*Whole fruit as desired

*salad (spinach, red pepper, zucchini, carrot with sun-dried tomato vinaigrette is the current fave)

*2 raw cookies (homemade in my new-to-me dehydrator from Goodwill)

*bottled green juice as a mid-afternoon snack (I work full-time, so fresh juice is not an easy option)

*dinners are mostly raw, with a few cooked meals for comfort

In the past, I haven't done a lot of raw dinners; the husband was not really on board with it. He has always been willing to try new foods, but has been understandably leery of raw dinners. But, he has really changed his eating habits in the last 6 months. He has a huge salad every day for lunch, and has lost about 20 pounds as a result. So, this is an experiment, for both of us. It's like learning to cook all over again; discovering what we like to eat, what is easy to prepare, what is worth the extra effort. It's fun!