What Is The Raw Food Diet?
Raw Food Diets can include...
 
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Fruits, leaves and vegetables… crunchy juicy apples, pears, thirst-quenching sweet melons, lemons and limes, strawberries, blackberries, goji berries, dates, avocados, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumber, young spinach, rocket, lettuce, watercress and hundreds more. As they are, or in delicious juices and smoothies. Some fruits are particularly valuable for their raw fats. Avocados and olives are certainly a mainstay in my raw food diet (and I can tell you where to buy delicious truly raw olives…) |
  
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Nuts and seeds… many of the shelled nuts in supermarkets and health food shops have been steamed (eg cashews, macadamias) or boiled (eg brazils) so are not raw; pre-shelled nuts that are often available raw are hazel-nuts, walnuts, almonds and pine-nuts (seeds). Raw cashews are available on-line. The very best way to eat nuts is fresh from the tree; the next best is to buy nuts in shells only, eg walnuts, and brazils at certain times of the year. Nuts can be eaten alone or mixed with other ingredients to make ‘milks’, ‘butters’ and ‘cheeses’. Seeds such as sesame and flax can be sprouted, grown long for salads, or sprouted just a little for various raw food recipes, such as breads and crackers. |
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Grains… Although some'Natural Hygienists' (natural health advocates) believe that no grains should be consumed, raw or cooked, Dr Herbert W Shelton, a renowned natural hygienist, felt raw, sprouted grains have their place in the raw food diet, particularly for those in cooler climes, and I believe that raw, sprouted organic wheat is a good food for us. Many people with intolerances to cooked grains are fine with raw, sprouted, and for more information on why raw, sprouted wheat should not be blamed for the failings of its cooked counterpart, see my Blog article here |
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Pulses… beautiful salads can be made with pulses, and, as with grains, these should always be soaked and sprouted. Most pulses can be sprouted (with the exception of kidney beans, which are toxic eaten raw - and, by the way, if a food can't be eaten raw then it shouldn't be eaten at all.) |
AND...
Dehydrated food
Some raw fooders eat a little dehydrated food. For example, bread and crackers can be made by soaking/sprouting grains and seeds, pressing into dough, then placing in a ‘dehydrator’. This is a machine that dries food, mimicking the effects of a hot sun (when not available!). As the research from Arthur Baker et al suggests that it is at 118 F that nutrients in our food start to become damaged or destroyed, the dehydrator dial should be kept significantly lower than this. I recommend keeping the dial between 95 and 105 F, ie keeping the food around body temperature.
Wine...?
Wine, although fermented, is technically raw as it is not heated. Beer and spirits aren't raw.
Some raw food diets include raw dairy
Some raw fooders include raw (unpasteurised) dairy in their diet. I have at times and have switched between raw vegetarian and raw vegan.
A small minority of raw food diets include raw eggs and/or meat/fish
The RawforLife stance is that animals should not be killed for our food. If raw dairy is included in the diet, then please endeavour to find sources that are not linked to the meat industry.
(Raw vegan food is served at all RawforLife events, so that everyone attending, whether raw omnivore, raw vegetarian or raw vegan, can feel comfortable with the food!)
Raw food diet and children
Please note that if you are considering bringing children up on a raw vegan (rather than raw vegetarian) diet you must research thoroughly.
Whilst many raw foodists believe that children can thrive on a raw vegan diet, others disagree. There is some evidence of children failing to thrive on a raw vegan diet, although of course there is also plenty of evidence of children failing to thrive on standard cooked diets!
Feelings run high on which course to take, and I lack the direct experience (ie of bring up a child raw vegan from babyhood) to advise here, other than to say that when considering your children’s diet, please seek out those who have raised healthy raw vegan children (not just for a few months or years, but to teens at least) for information/support, and read extensively. In particular research Vitamin B12, and essential fatty acids. Then make your own decision as to whether you will bring your child up raw vegan unsupplemented, raw vegan supplemented, or implement a raw vegetarian diet.
‘But isn’t it boring – just eating raw food?’
Our culture encourages us to demand a complex menu, full of variety, with meals made out of all sorts of ingredients.
At times, I am quite happy munching from a pile of spinach, and my digestion feels happiest, and energy at its highest, after simple salad meals. I believe the ultimate aim of the raw fooder should be to transition to a simpler way of eating and many long-term raw fooders are well-nourished on a simple diet of a surprisingly small number of foods (but then each food is whole, with everything in it intact).
However, the ‘ultimate’ raw diet is a big leap, at the beginning, for many people, and many of us like to prepare food for non-raw people, who may be less ‘receptive’ to raw food if handed a bag of spinach…The good news is that the raw food diet can include what are often called ‘transition foods’; these are dishes that remind us a little of cooked food, but nourish our bodies, and taste so much better!
BUT... 'transition foods' should nevertheless be made from RAW ingredients. The following are NOT 'transitional foods': maple syrup, soy sauces (eg nama shoyu), nutritional yeast, etc. Although you may see them in some 'raw food' recipes, they are cooked/made from cooked foods (0% raw), and will make things much harder for anyone wishing to go raw. This is because they mask the taste of the pure food, perverting the taste buds, which will have the effect of making unadulterated raw food taste bland, thereby keeping the 'transitioner' well and truly hooked on cooked food. For this reason I recommend never using these substances; if you do see them in raw food recipes, omit or make substitutes.
A few examples of ‘transition foods’
(raw meals that look and remind us a little of cooked foods)
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The pictures show: a casserole reminiscent of a cooked ratatouille (but not soggy like the cooked, and bursting with flavour!)using marinated vegetables, a yellow pepper soup made with almond milk, tacos (delicious, although this 'raw gourmet' dish does require two days prep) flax crackers (excellent for those missing bread/biscuits), pate, and a tzatsiki that non-raw people can’t believe contains no dairy (it’s made with truly raw cashews). Delicious pizzas, puddings and pies can all be made with all-raw ingredients.
In my first year of raw, I ate lots of the ‘transition’ foods described above, and still do sometimes, as I love to increase the RawforLife raw food recipe bank (and my family loves them!). pates, 'cheeses', shakes, raw food main meals and desserts are typical of the food served at my traditional 'raw food prep' class - the RawforLife Experience class.
What should you eat? Just eat RAW!
There are ALL SORTS of raw food diet, and ALL of them can transform!
Although my own diet now has moved towards a simpler diet including lots of fruit and leaves, let me stress that people have transformed their lives on all sorts of raw food diets. The diet that excited me when I came to raw and cured all sorts of health ailments that I'd (incorrectly) accepted as 'normal' was full of 'transition foods', and quite high fat in the form of nuts and seeds. This worked beautifully for me in the first year - the only reason I eat a little differently now is that the longer I've been raw the more I've come to love that delicious...fruit, and 'high fruit' doesn't mix with 'high fat' (as explained below)! So, if you also love to eat lots of fruit, keep the raw fat down.
BUT the key thing is to kick out the baddies, the damaged food and move the raw food IN. You can then fine-tune your raw food diet in line with your individual preferences.
Be a Raw Food 'Independent'.
It's tempting to think that one person or group in the raw food movement has found all the answers and anchor ourselves with them. But having to fall in with foods 'prohibited' by certain groups, and finding one's own experience runs counter to others can cause confusion and frustration. Put more simply, if, once having made the life-transforming and positive decision to 'go raw', if you then start fretting about what you're eating within your raw food diet, it may well drive you mad. So, please, listen to the various 'gurus' by all means, but, ultimately, please... sail free!
So what do I eat each day?
As many people have asked 'What do you eat each day?', here it is - a 'typical' day - very roughly...
- 6-am ish - juice (often a green juice), and sometimes fruit (BUT do bear in mind this is after 18 months of raw food - when I first went raw I did cling to my trad non-raw breakfast for a while - I don't expect everyone to feel happy with so little when starting raw. Fruit is an ideal raw food breakfast, but for those who like the idea of something heavier, at my RawforLife class I feature a raw 'porridge').
- Mid-morning - banana-date smoothie (well - 2-3 usually!)
- Lunch - leaves (lots!) with fruit, or I might make a wrap (eg green leaves filled with tomato, guacamole, sprouted pulses etc).
- Evening - leaves (lots!) with fruit (sweet and/or non-sweet fruit, such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers)and fat (eg nuts, seeds, olives, avocado). I occasionally have vegetables (eg spiralised courgette), or sprouted pulses, or Essene bread. In general, my evening eating is more varied than daytime -one reason being that the raw dishes I make in the evening are often designed to please the non-100% raw people in my family as well as myself. I sometimes make a raw food main meal from my raw food recipe bank, or recreate a meal I've enjoyed at a raw food restaurants. And I sometimes invent my own; I have quite a repertoire of RawforLife original raw food recipes now.
Although I am pretty much in tune with the 'Natural Hygiene' and Dr Doug Graham approach to raw food (high fruit - see the 80/10/10 diet from www.foodnsport.com), I don't subscribe to everything these schools of thought say, and...take me to a raw food potluck and I'll probably eat everything in sight!
Enough about me. What do I recommend YOU eat? Answer - JUST EAT RAW!
As I've said previously, and cannot stress enough, the most important thing is to EAT RAW. Eat raw vegan, or raw vegetarian. As a rough rule of thumb, just make sure you're eating, each day, some
- FRUIT
- LEAVES (any leaves - and lots - equivalent of at least two heads of lettuce is GOOD!)
- FAT
But - it is a good idea, in general, to try to keep your raw fat (especially if its in the form of nuts and seeds) for the evening meal, as high-fat foods take longer to digest than other foods, ie the night ahead will give your body a chance to digest-and-rest before more food piles in!
‘A few examples of ‘Fruit & Leaves’-style raw food
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The pictures show: courgette from my garden, spiralised (with raw olives), mango-raspberry salad, green juice (I also enjoy ‘green smoothies’), stuffed peppers, fruit kebabs and mango-tomato soup (courtesy of Dr Doug Graham). And even these are amongst my more complex meals nowadays. I often ‘mono-eat’ fruit alone, and love rolls of lettuce filled with fruit, eg ripe banana – delicious! The meals above, together with very simple meals, are typical of the food served at my new RawforLife ‘Fruit & Leaves’ class.
