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Tips for
a newbie:
(by Gosia)
- Welcome to the raw foods. If your experience is similar to
mine or many
of my raw friends, you will be amazed at the transformation that your
body will go through. You may expect to lose excess weight, improve
your complexion, increase your vitality, look and feel younger, and to
improve your overall health. I certainly do not regret my decision to
try this lifestyle and I decided to stay for longer, encouraged by the
fantastic results. I wish you a great raw journey!
- Do not expect to change your eating habits overnight.
Transition from cooked to raw foods could take some time, although you
will notice some great results within weeks. It may
possibly be 2-3 years, before you experience the full benefits of this
new lifestyle. Remember that this transition is a gradual process. Your
taste and desire for foods will transform. So, do not get stuck in some
particular eating patterns, but be open to change. Your openness to
change is important in this process of transformation. You may want to
eat more nuts, salty foods, dehydrated foods at the beginning, and may
want to eat simple meals later on.
- Accept the fact that you are in the transition and be
loving to yourself. Do not let fear or guilt dictate to you. Instead,
feed your motivation by reading inspirational raw food testimonials and
hanging out with those who have a positive outlook on this lifestyle.
Avoid those who make you feel bad about what you are doing. Make a
mental list of all the positive changes that you experience and reward
yourself for them.
- Do not let this lifestyle become a boring chore, done
solely for the sake of some distant greatnest which you cannot see. You
have the right to have fun. So, allow yourself to enjoy the ride (and
be the driver)! Eat fruit and vegetables that you love.
- Look after yourself. The task of changing from cooked to
raw is not easy, considering that you grew up eating cooked foods,
which is the prevaling norm in our society. So, be easy on yourself and
do not make this task any harder than it already is. You ARE doing
great! Congratulate yourself for the fact that you decided to change
your unhealthy habits.
- Not sure what to eat? Start with things that are familiar
and then expand. Eat a variety and
abundance of foods. When you are hungry, eat. And, eat when you are
hungry! Please, do not
feel offended if I am sounding too obvious. I have met raw foodists who
do not eat enough or eat too much, and it is an important issue. If you
feel hungry after a meal, then most likely, you have not eaten enough.
Foods that are most filling are fatty foods, such as avocadoes, nuts
and seeds, and sweet ripe fruit, such as bananas, grapes, pears, for
example. Many raw foodists initially eat lots of foods of the first
mentioned type, as they are used to eating condensed, fatty foods, and
later progress to a simpler, and higher in fruit diet. I spontaneously
progressed in the same manner as well. I recommend that you do not try
to speed up your transition process, if your body is not ready for
that. Perfectionism is something that I highly recommend
avoiding. I suggest that you exclude the word "guilt" from your
vocabulary, and accept the processes as it is, with all its up and
downs. It is OK not to be perfect, it really is!
- You do not have to use electrical appliances or make
complicated recipes. It is easy enough to eat fruit and there are a lot
of varietes available. Also, making a salad is easy (for example: chop
some greens, broccoli, cucumber, tomato, red bell pepper and marinate
in your favourite dressing). Munching on nuts is easy too. Just do not
overdo them! To me, fruit and greens are the two most important
ingredients of the raw food pyramid. You may want to make up your mind
yourself about this, so I am not pushing. But in my experience, I ate
more nuts at the beginning. Even the salad dressing that I used then
was way too fatty by my current standards. Also, these days, I am
eating more fruit that then. See, my taste has changed!
- You may want to experiment with various recipes. There are
many great recipes on-line and you can also communicate with other raw
foodists, who can help you a lot (check out the links!). If you have a
food processor, try making a soup (try my red soup!) or a smoothie (for
example: sweet ripe bananas, raspberries and water). You could try
juicing. Do not be afraid to try making your own creations. You can
simplify complicated recipes, change dehydrated to un-dehydrated
(example: cookies), substitue fancy expensive ingredients for cheaper
ones (example: pine nuts to walnuts), or just use the idea from the
recipe but your own ingredients. But hey, do not get overwhelmed if you
do not have any electrical appliances. Many raw foodists live without
them. In fact, many move away from using any gadgets and just eat the
fruit and vegies the way they are! Personally, I prefer un-dehydrated
foods and raw flat bread was the last dehydrated food that I ate
regularly, before abandoning dehydrated foods altogether.
- Fighting cooked food addiction? There are two ways I deal
with cooked food cravings, if they ever come. In random order, the
first, like in meditation, I see my thoughts, acknowledge them and let
them go away by not focusing on them. And, I eat something
that is raw, yummy and nutricious, instead. The second, I go for it and
learn from this experience by observing how I feel and making a mental
note about that. The thought of up-coming pimples, tiredness,
constipation or a puffy face can be my saviour in the future. When you
do relapse and eat cooked foods, do not dwell on the fact that you did.
It is quite normal to relapse, I can assure that most if not all raw
foodists have done that. As you go, the desire for cooked foods will
diminish, and you will start craving raw foods, for
example sweet fruit, when hungry, or juicy
fruit, when thirsty.
- As you progress, your body will change, your taste will
change, and you will want to learn about things that will help you
refine your diet, such as food combining, mono-eating, foods that are
optimal and foods that are less-than optimal. Your diet may become
simpler. You may progress from being high-raw to all-raw. In my
opinion, it is better that you allow as much as possible of these
changes to occur spontaneously, and from within. This will ensure your
success and enjoyment from the journey, which really is a one thing.
On a
humorous note:
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The seven commandments
for
raw foodists:
1. Thou
shalt eat raw foods, even when thou
art convinced that this is
unnecessary, lest cooked foods take cruel vengeance upon thee when thou
least expect it.
2. Thou shalt eat raw foods thou
enjoy, for
thy joy is better than creating new impediments.
3. Thou shalt not dissect
everything thou eat
into percentages,
calories or daily requirements, for chaos and madness await thee at its
end.
4. Thou shalt not dwell on thy
relapses, for
the gods shall surely punish thee for that.
5. Thou shalt allow your body to
transition
to raw foods at a
pace it can, for a harsh discipline shall make thy go mad.
6. Thou shalt foreswear,
renounce, and abjure
the vile heresy which claimeth that "Sweet fruit is bad for thee".
7. Thou shalt have no commerce
with this
barbarous belief that thy need
milk for strong bones, meat for protein and junk food for occasional
enjoyment. |
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