Raw food diet

[Deleted User]

I am just making strawberry treats. Processed strawberries, a couple of dates and dessicated coconut. Am now drying on low in the dehydrator for a few hours. Smells lovely

Re fad diets, couldn`t agree more. Best to incorporate good foods into your every day lifestyle. I eat meat and fish and get an organic meat box every four weeks. The animals are raised on their own farm

In general the foods to be avoided are re heated oils, hydrogenated fats, GM soya,

We are what we eat and at 64 I am very healthy and not on any medication at all but then I have eaten mostly organic since my 20s, starting on joining a suma wholefood co-operative. You just do what you can when you can and let things evolve

Angel_Jenny

kittie wrote: »

I explored eating raw in the 80s but being fully raw was just a step too far, however I still have the (expensive) green life juicer and that is when I got my first dehydrator. I now have all the needed equipment ie a masticating juicer, a fast speed liquidiser and an excalibur dehydrator and I am back to some raw foods.

Start by making nut milks, they are easy. Soak nuts, seeds and grains overnight before you eat them and get some books from the library. Ani Phyo is one I am reading just now. Sprout some alfalfa seeds
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/134746
enjoy them in sandwiches, with salads etc

Important thing is to change one step at a time. I used to take tahini and alfalfa sandwiches to work so was no hardship

I don't have any fancy equipment but I do have a knife!

I have seen a couple of Ani Phyo books on Amazon - the desserts one looks really interesting!

Baby steps might make it easier at work -the downside to being in an office full of women that any change in eating habits is noticed and commented on. I am sure my mum has a thing for sprouting seeds somewhere.

I don't know much about nut milks. Would the ones in a carton (almond etc) count as raw?

Angel_Jenny

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

It's an area with vast quantities of pseudoscience, ie, 'Chest pain? Radiating down your left arm with difficulty breathing? That's you detoxifying that filth you've been shovelling down your throat for 30 years', 'Osteoporosis? No chance, it doesn't exist unless you eat mouldy mammary secretions and animal flesh. The universe provides everything you need on trees'. :mad:


And people exhibiting evidence of competitive eating disorders 'I eat less than YOU, you still eat THAT muck' or 'feel ill? Of course you do, stop being so greedy and eat less food'/'the xxxxx tribe in Darkest xxxxx live a joyous life in communion with the planet and feed solely on the bounty that gently falls off the branches of a magical tree once a year on a Blue Moon in August. They never get fat or have cancer. The fact that they also eat goats, Macdonalds and anything else they can find and only live to about 38 years old if they are one of the few to make it through the first five years and aren't female (as they will most likely die in childbirth) is something we don't mention'.


Having said that, there is no reason why you can't cut down on processed foods or those with lots of calories - courgette ribbons made with a peeler, wilted in a pan or steamed briefly and then tossed with pesto or some form of light dressing are nicer than tagliatelle, for example.

And a grated carrot, beetroot and cucumber salad, dressed in a little vinaigrette and sprinkled with some slow cooked mushrooms and sesame seeds is much nicer than a luke warm cheese and onion pasty.

I looked on the 30 bananas a day forum and it was insane! Very competitive - not good.

I don't really like cooked vegetables but I like some of them raw. I have a million or so courgettes as they are the only thing that I can grow .... courgette ribbons sound interesting.

I am finally realising that when I eat rubbish I feel rubbish! It has only taken 26 years!!

Fruball

Have you thought about just incorporating some raw food into your existing diet?

ie some sprouted legumes/seeds with a meal instead of peas or carrots?

Grated carrot on your plate rather than cooked?

HM coleslaw with freshly squeezed lemon juice rather than mayo?

I can see how eating more fresh raw food would be beneficial, but to shift entirely to it - well, you wouldn't get me doing it

Angel_Jenny

I tend to be an all or nothing sort of person!

I have tried to add fruit and vegetables in today - managed 19 of my 5 a day! - and feel like Tigger!

Holland and Barrett have a buy 1 get 1 half price offer on sprouting seeds as well as various powders like barley grass.

SpottedLeopard_2

Like the idea of incorporating some raw foods, but as already mentioned, the human digestive system isn't designed to process large quantities of raw foods!

Another Paleo fan here - less a fad diet and more way of thinking. It's advocating eating as much protein (lean meat/fish) and fresh vegetables, with some fruit as possible. At the same time, also reducing/eliminating starchy products, refined sugar and grains (bread, flour, rice, pasta etc). Eating the way humans were designed to eat (think hunter-gatherer). I've tried it and feel more energetic the more protein and veg I eat (no 3pm slump!), but question how practical it is to fully implement as recommended, since meat is so costly compared to grains (which is partly why humans have ended up eating grain in the first place!).

Get the book out of the library, have a read and make of it what you will.... Cordain L (2011) The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons Inc. (revised ed.)

Justamum

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

Are we not designed to drink cow milk?

Of course we're not - the clue is in the name "cow's milk". It's food for infant cows, just like human breast milk is food for infant humans. Yet most adults would say 'yuck' if anyone suggested putting human milk in their tea or on their cornflakes!

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

I like raw potato but apparently they are poisonous!

They're not poisonous, just indigestible.

Being vegan is easy, but a raw food diet really doesn't appeal - mind you all that chewing would make your jaws so tired you wouldn't be able to eat much so you'd lose weight! (but you could end up with a jawline like Desperate Dan :rotfl:)

Justamum

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

I am finally realising that when I eat rubbish I feel rubbish! It has only taken 26 years!!

You will feel rubbish if you eat a lot of junk. But going the other extreme will be difficult/impossible to keep up. The best way is the 80/20 way - 80% healthy, 20% what you really fancy. That way you won't be constantly craving rubbish.

gien

I have the 80/20 diet cookbook by Teresa Cutter - there's some really delicious healthy recipes in it. I beleibe it's now an e-book too.

Angel_Jenny

Amazingly there was a raw food diet book in the library!!

A lot of the recipes seem to be trying to recreate cooked food like sushi and burgers and pizza. Not sure I have the time to faff like that!

I used to love eating raw potatoes.

I have never tried being vegan but it does appeal plus I don't like cooked vegetables much so tend to avoid them. Much more likely to eat raw carrot or cabbage than cooked!