Getting Started RAW

I know it can be a little bit daunting to transition to a raw diet for a few reasons.  Here are some thoughts that may cross your mind.

1.  I have all this food in the pantry that doesn't fit into the diet, what do I do with it?
2.  What do I shop for?  What should my grocery list look like?  Will eating raw break the bank?
3.  Can I start if I don't have the tools yet, and I'm not ready to invest?
4.  Will I be able to eat out any more?
5.  Will I be getting all of my protein?
6.  How can I be successful at it?  How do I find recipes?  It seems like a lot of work.

and lastly...

7.  What will my friends and family think?!!


1.  I HAVE FOOD IN THE PANTRY THAT DOESN'T FIT INTO THE DIET.

The simplest thing to do is give away the perishables that you know you want to eliminate, along with anything that you might consider a temptation or things you have decided that you just don't want to eat any more.  Depending on how raw you want to go, will determine how much you think you should clear out.  A minimum of 75% raw is recommended to maintain a consistently healthy lifestyle, but increasing raw fruits and veggies is good no matter what, so go at your own pace.  I would recommend trying to set a high, but realistic goal so that you're inspired to stick with it.

Hopefully, your mountain isn't this tall. 

I gave food away to friends and shelters, and cooked up beans, rice, potatoes and cheese into different dishes and gave them to neighbors.  I kept corn tortillas, goat yoghurt, brown rice, some canned and raw beans, granola, and all of my flours, just in case.  The rest I decided to give away.  Since I have been vegetarian and have logged my nutrition for a while, I had already eliminated MSG, partially-hydrogenated and fully hydrogenated soy bean oils, most canned goods, and anything that wasn't all natural.  It was an easier transition for me that it might be for some.

It is expensive to give away and re-supply, so another option is to do your best to eat better, slowly eat the food in your pantry, and start when you feel you're ready.  Again, set a goal so you will stick to it.  Don't keep putting it off, it's your body!

2.  WHAT DO I SHOP FOR?  WHAT SHOULD MY GROCERY LIST LOOK LIKE?  WILL EATING RAW BREAK THE BANK?

It will definitely be expensive the first time you supply up on your non-perishables, but once you are all stocked up, you will find yourself only buying fruits and veggies once or twice a week (preferably organic, local and in-season). When I'm only restocking perishables, I spend about 65 USD/week to feed a family of three, purchasing all organics. I'm sure it can be done even cheaper. You will want to decide what flavour staples you enjoy.  Most likely you will have a lot of herbs, spices and oils that you enjoy already, but some may need to be replaced with a healthier option.

How I get my food.

Oils:  Coconut oil is probably all you really need to get started.  Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and sunflower seed oil are also seen in a lot of recipes. I use grape seed oil, black truffle oil, and coconut oil because I enjoy those flavours.  Remember, oils can go rancid, so you might want to refrigerate if you don't think you can go through a bottle within 3-4 months time.

Dried Fruits:  Stock up on dates and raisins (they're used in a lot of recipes) and whatever other dried fruit you like.  I keep dried plums and dried apricots around as a quick sweet snack.

Nuts & seeds:  Almonds are really the best thing to have around.  They're very versatile and very healthy.  The downside is that they aren't very oil rich, so making almond butter can be difficult.  To remedy this without adding oil, you can use another nut that is more rich in oils, like macadamias or cashews.  I like to keep walnuts around for salads and pesto.  I keep pine nuts sometimes, but at $32/pound in the bulk section, I typically pass.  When I lived in Flagstaff, AZ, where pinion trees grow locally, I could forage for pine nuts for free, so that's an option if you live in the south-west! Cashews are called for in a lot of recipes, so they're good to have around, but not the healthiest nut for you.  Since nuts are high in oils, they too can go rancid.  I prefer to soak my nuts overnight, and then put them in the fridge so I have nuts at all times. I usually use them within 1-2 weeks time, so going rancid is not an issue for me, but in the fridge, they will last easily 4-6 months.

For seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds and sunflower seeds are easy to find and good for you. I would suggest going through recipes, and seeing what your favourites call for, and stock up on those.  Remember :  you can substitute if you don't have the nut and another one will work.  Soaking your nuts and seeds before using in any way is best for the tummy, so it's good to get in the habit.

Beans:  Lentils, adzuki, and garbanzo beans (chick peas) are the only beans that can/should be eaten raw.  On average, you soak overnight, rinse and drain, and allow 36 hours to sprout (or until the tails are twice the length of the bean).

Spices:  Fresh spices are great and I highly encourage a good stockpile, but they run out fast and are perishable, so make sure you have dried stuff around too.  Asian food gives the most natural raw recipes, because they are not far off the real thing, so I prefer to keep around lots of Asian spices like Nori seaweed, Thai chili flakes, raw sesame seeds, etc.

Here's my fresh herbs drawer. I always have a stock of parsley, cilantro, green onion.  This week we've added dill and basil. 

Grains:  Wheat berries and oats are the main grains that you will see in recipes.  Wheat needs to be sprouted before use, and the oats need to be raw and flaked because rolled and steel cut are both steamed in processing.  If you don't have a dehydrator, the wheat berries won't come in very handy, and raw flaked oats are expensive and can usually be found only on-line.  I use fitness bread every now and then to satisfy if I want a sandwich.  The bread is good, but really a secondary flavour.  I also use Ezekiel cereal for breakfast, until I come up with a good home made recipe for a quick breakfast.

3.  I DON'T HAVE ALL OF THE TOOLS YET.

I started without purchasing any equipment other than what I had in my kitchen.  Here's what came in handy and was perfectly acceptable for creating delicious raw food :  a [sharp!] knife and cutting board, potato peeler, cheese grater, zester, blender, strainer, a few large bowls, and salad mixing hands.

You will be making lots of salads and tossing dry ingredients with sauces daily, so having lots of large bowls around is a good thing.  The blender is important for making healthy smoothies, but they can get very expensive.  Ours is a fairly cheap one that works for now, but we hope to get a Vita-mix or Blendtec at some point.  With a $400 price tag though, it probably won't be for a while. We get around buying a pricey one by filling the blender with the frozen fruits and smoothie ingredients overnight.  Once you go to make it in the morning, the fruit has thawed, and the smoothing is easier on the blender. Our good mesh strainer came in handy for draining and soaking nuts and beans, and the standard pasta strainer is good for rinsing greens. I also utilize my tea kettle and toaster oven for light heating sometimes, in conjunction with a thermometer.

This mesh strainer with a towel over it is great for soaking beans without investing in a whole new jar collection, or if you have jars you can rubberband a piece of cheese cloth over it instead.  You can see the little tails starting! 

Grating carrots by hand can be laborious, and I did want to start experimenting with making dips, sauces, and butters, so we purchased a Cuisinart food processor.  It can be pricey, but it makes life a lot easier.  We got ours from Amazon for 149 USD.  It's been great for making cauliflower rice, "rice" creams and sorbets, marinara sauces, etc.  I figured I'd also save money by making my own almond butter, but you really break even, or maybe save a dollar or two.  It's easier to just buy it, but if you make it, you get the benefit of customization AND soaking the nuts, so I opted for the home made version.  You do save money on making nut flours though, and other nuts are easier to butter.

I saw instances where I would want flax seeds or small amounts of spices or nuts ground up, so I invested in a small Black and Decker coffee grinder for 17 USD.  It's not mandatory, and you can get around it by buying bags of ground flax seed, but we opted for the added convenience.

We considered getting a mandonline, but figured between our sharp knife and the slicing plates on the Cuisinart, that we would skip it for now.  They are very affordable, ranging from 10-30 USD, and do come in handy for making vegetable raviolis.

Lots of recipes show you beautiful pasta recipes.  The device used to make  these veggie noodles is called a spiralizer and ranges in price from 20-50 USD.  They usually come with 3 different blades :  to make spaghetti, flat noodles, and curly cues.  Making noodles really adds aesthetic and texture.  We use ours at least 2 times a week.

And then there is the dehydrator.  These are also expensive, and I didn't want to invest in it all at once.  Further down the line, I will be happy to dehydrate lots of fresh herbs and fruits, but for now, my toaster oven from freshman year in college (ahem...12 years ago?!) does the trick for lightly heating dishes I prefer warm.  The temperature gauge is marked to 150 degrees in the middle; the other side isn't marked, but the dial turns another 50% lower so I'm able to leave my thermometer inside the toaster oven along with my raw falafel balls (or what have you) for a warm treat.  The key is keeping an eye on it.  It looks pretty funny, but we only use it once a week, or so.

My ghetto, yet effective heating set-up.

The next items I will probably get will be a nut milk bag - so as not to use cheese cloth since it won't hold up as well over multiple uses, and a salad spinner - to remove excess moisture from the veggies so you don't end up with soggy salad.

4.  WILL I BE ABLE TO EAT OUT ANY MORE?

Short answer, not really.  Unless you're eating at a raw restaurant, you will have to be a little lenient if you chose to go out.  Asian restaurants will be the best option to not diverge too much from the raw diet, but most likely there will still be rice based elements and food that is cooked.  Asian food offers raw items like sushi, and lots of veggies options which are quick stir fried (less than 5 minutes) so they retain a lot of the nutrients you are so accustomed to experiencing in raw food.

5.  WILL I BE GETTING ALL OF MY PROTEIN?

Relax, you don't need to eat your young to get protein!

Protein?  Definitely.  People don't realize how much protein is actually in vegetables.  By adding the sprouted beans, you probably exceed the daily protein of a meat eater.  If you really want to pack a protein punch, aglae is an incredible source.  Algae added to a smoothie in the morning, and you have all the protein you need for the day, before most people have even had a cup of coffee.

Vitamins, nutrients, minerals?  Veggies are packed with these guys, but let's look at the biggies for women.  Folic acid (a spoonful of flax seeds a day), iron (spinach packs an iron punch). Vitamins A, B, C, E, K, Ca, Cu, Mn, Mg, etc, all of these necessary items come mostly from plants, so eat up!

There are a few nutrients that are difficult to come by depending on where you live.  Vitamin D is one of them.  Make sure to get a minimum of 15-30 minutes of sun a day.  If you live in cold, overcast climates, or have very dark skin, you may need to supplement.  Vitamin B-12 is also difficult to come by, but bee pollen does have a large abundance.  Add bee pollen to your algae smoothie and you'll have a well balanced breakfast.

Edible flowers can give you added nutrients from the pollen and from the diversity of colours they provide.

Really, it's like anything else.  Use common sense, and pay attention to your body.  Variety is important, specifically variety of colour because those colours signify different nutrients.  Always keep leafy greens around to encourage daily salads and smoothies, mushrooms for a healthy dose of minerals, and a variety of colourful fruits and veggies.  Purple = antioxidants, orange/yellow = carotonoids, red/blue = flavonoids, etc.  The more diverse your intake of plants, the more diverse your nutrient intake will be as well.  Personally, as a vegetarian/pescatarian who eats fish every now and then and goat milk/cheese products, I have never shown any deficiencies over the last 19 years.  My blood results usually are above and beyond the typical american omnivore, and this is not an issue I have ever had to address.

Also, it is worth noting that though it was not my intent to lose weight, I did lose 4 pounds within the first 3 days, and have maintained that weight for over a month of eating raw.  I feel more lean and energetic.  Just remember to eat whenever you are hungry, your body will adjust accordingly with the good food.  Your goal is to pack your body with healthy nutrients, not deprive yourself of food.

6.  HOW CAN I BE SUCCESSFUL AT IT?  HOW WILL I FIND RECIPES?  IT SEEMS LIKE A LOT OF WORK.

Set a realistic goal for yourself.  We started out by saying - we will try 80-100% raw for one month.  We enjoyed the benefits so much that we've changed our lifestyle.  Not only are the health benefits great, but once you know how to cook raw, everything becomes easier.  Grocery shopping is just a quick stop through the produce isle, and possibly a stop at in the bulk section.  With the routine of soaking nuts and sprouting beans, you always have some belly friendly ingredients that can be a quick snack, or prepared into a dip, flour or butter in 5 minutes or less with the food processor. Most meals take around 15 minutes (not including soaking/sprouting procedures) with the majority of time being spent on chopping up veggies.  Once you have organized your kitchen, fridge and pantry to be raw friendly, your food preparation will feel quick and easy.

A favourite of mine and 100% raw - mushroom/pistachio falafel with cauliflower tabouli and raw hummus.  All this in under 20 minutes as long as the pistachios are pre-soaked.

If you are hungry on this diet, you will not stick with it.  There are lots of filling, delicious ingredients, but if you don't use them, or you get bored by eating the same thing over and over again, it will be easy to divert back to convenient, unhealthy snack foods.  I find myself getting peckish every couple of hours.  We have a full breakfast, lunch and dinner, but if 2-3 hours pass and one of those meals hasn't come up yet, I like to reach for a good snack, so make sure they are available to you, and carry some on your person if you don't know how long you will be out (because it will be nearly impossible for you to find a place that will accommodate your diet).  Apples are a very satisfying snack for me, and do the job.  I also enjoy celery with almond butter or a handful of dried plums.  It's also important to have snacks available with more flavour complexity, which is where the dips come in.  Always keep raw hummus, "bean" dip, kimchi, guacamole, energy bars, or other food that will last 3-5 days in the fridge so you have a variety of options and flavours for your in-between meal snacks.  Create your own healthy snack foods, and you will be successful.

The other side to it is having good recipes, which means finding good recipes and creating some of your own once you learn how the flavours and textures go together.  I will offer a variety of recipes which reflect my diet, style and flavour preference, but there are lots of recipes available online, most of which you will need to modify slightly for your own needs.  In my diet, I chose to have the option to use raw goat milk/cheeses, freshly caught fish, pan-seared or raw, eggs over-easy, and soy products every now and then like soy milk and extra firm tofu.  These are items that I enjoy the flavour of, that benefits my body, and that I consume 1-2 times per month, depending on if I have a raw, local, organic source available to me.

This little recipe box and card holder has been great for quick access to raw recipes.

and lastly...

7.  WHAT WILL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY THINK?!
This one is a toughy, depending on who your friends and family are, but most likely, if you're considering raw, they already call you a 'hippie' or you are lucky enough to have friends with similar health views.  I have a very large and eclectic group of friends and family, so some care and some don't.  Some are inspired by my lifelong pursuit of a healthy lifestyle and inquire (which was the impetus for this blog), and others stop inviting me to go out with them because of my 'special' diet.  For the most part, for me, the scrutiny is minimal, and the praise abundant.

My family is just as (ahem) eclectic as I am.

It is important to feel supported in this endeavour.  I am fortunate that my husband and daughter support me whole heartedly, because the in-home support is necessary and that much more fulfilling.