Starting a Raw Food Diet

Although the health benefits of the raw food diet are many, starting a raw food diet can be challenging. One big problem that people encounter is determining what foods qualify as raw. A second is learning to replace the foods they currently eat with raw foods in such a way that they are not overcome with cravings. It’s easier to begin a raw food diet gradually instead of making the switch cold turkey. People who do it this way tend to be more likely to stick with it in the long run.

Preparing a raw meal

The first step to starting the diet is knowing what is acceptable to eat. The raw food diet strictly forbids any foods that are cooked to more than 115 degrees Fahrenheit. This doesn’t just include cooking when preparing meals but cooking of any ingredient from farm to plate.

This means no cooking things on the range or using the microwave. Instead, raw foodists should make friends with these appliances:

• Juicer – For making gazpacho (cold soup) and fresh fruit and vegetable juices
• Blender – For making spreads, thick smoothies, milk-based soups and desserts
• Food Processor – For dicing vegetables to make coleslaw, bean spreads and salsas
• Dehydrator – For making "unbaked" goods, like crackers, snack bars, crusts and cookies
• Sprouting Jar – For growing various types of bean sprouts and grasses either indoors or out

Note that not all of these appliances are needed right away, especially for the budget conscious. An oven can serve as a dehydrator at a temperature of 70 degrees, and those with adequate elbow grease can hand blend soups with a spoon.

The appliances a person should purchase first relate directly to the recipes he or she would like to use most often. That way the counter isn’t cluttered with rarely used devices. Easy recipes may be the best ones to begin with, such as the ones at the sites below:

• RawGlow.com
• GoneRaw.com
• FromSadtoRaw.com

After checking out a few of the recipes, the next step for the new raw foodist is finding cures for those cravings so he or she does not backslide back to old habits. A good way to do this is to check out the substitutions list on TheBestRawFood.com and purchase some of these items. It’s also important to have some raw snack foods available that don’t require any preparation, such as nuts, seeds, fresh fruit and vegetables and seaweed.

Starting a raw food diet can be a shock to the system, especially for a person that has underlying health problems. Before making the transition to raw foods only, it’s a good idea to speak to a doctor. That way he or she can give advice on any vitamin supplements that can help for maintaining optimal health before a nutrient deficiency occurs. This is especially important for those who plan on following the raw vegan diet.

While many people think that the raw food diet is vegan by nature, this is not the case. Meat can be included in the diet in the form of sushi and other raw seafood dishes and even raw beef. In fact, there is a class of raw foodists known as raw carnivores that believe in eating only raw animal products and nothing else.

Those looking to follow the raw vegan diet specifically need to remember this when looking to buy cook books or purchase packaged foods that claim to be raw. They can’t simply assume that the raw label means that the product is suitable to their particular dietary restrictions.

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