STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Here's one thread from last year -
http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=44784&p=3&topicID=15310954

We're not eating as much raw as we were then (though ironically we had lunch at a raw place today). We're a little busier and it's a lower priority lately.

If you have a good blender I would start the day with a green smoothie - basically fruit and some green leafy veggies like romaine, spinach, or kale. Don't put in SO much greens you want to gag, but you can work up to more. Romaine is really mild taste-wise, and frozen pineapple is great with it. A little agave syrup or honey (if you eat honey, I don't) helps too. A green smoothie is a magical breakfast.

Raisins and nuts are good to have around as snacks. This time of year there's so much great fruit, too.

On that other thread I suggested goneraw.com - great site for recipes. Also google Kristen's Raw or Kristen Suzanne - everything I've ever made on her site is fantastic.

Lately I've met a lot of people who do "raw 'til dinner" - smoothie or fruit in the morning, salad for lunch, raw snacks, and then a cooked vegan dinner. If you do this you're still getting a lot of benefits of raw foods but can have something more substantial at night, like with a cooked grain or breads. People find this a lot easier to stick with. It's hard to try to be 100% anything.

If you're really serious about it you might want to start a food journal so you can keep track of any reactions you have. There's also very likely to be a "detox" process that's unpleasant, depending on how clean your diet was before. Don't be surprised if your skin freaks out after a week, or you find yourself in the bathroom a lot at first - it's your body's attempts to heal itself and get rid of whatever junk it's stored up. Some people also experience "emotional detox" when things from the past come up again, seemingly for no reason, or even the extreme opposite, you feel euphoric for no reason.

Have fun with it, though, and see what happens!

I do have a dehydrator now, but I didn't for a long, long time. Mainly I use it for fancy dishes like raw "crepes," eggplant bacon, kale or corn chips, raw crackers and breads. It's a luxury, not a necessity. Soups, salads, pates, veg sushi, pasta with zucchini noodles - there's lots you can make without a dehydrator.

I did raw one a week for a while when I was vegan. It was a fun break, but I didn't get into it enough to really make a lot of different types of things. There aren't raw places where I leve to make it any easier or get ideas from. In the end it was too much work and I gave it up, but in principle I love the idea. Good luck and share your favorite recipes!