When I’m incorporating a cleansing and detoxification program, I always eat 100 percent raw. Aside from that, 80 percent of my food program is raw consisting of nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables. My cooked food consists of grains, beans, and other plant-based dishes. When I began on my journey of a healthier lifestyle, I became a strict raw vegetarian. I felt limited on foods I could enjoy and my refrigerator was half empty. What I did buy was tasteless but I didn’t care because I was willing to do anything healthy to stay alive.
I was talking to one of my friends about my challenges and she told me about a raw food restaurant in town. I had no idea that this lifestyle even existed let alone a restaurant. I was acquainted with individuals adopting a cooked vegetarian way of living but not of raw foods. After visiting the restaurant, I learned that an abundance of extravagant dishes can be made from plant based foods! This gave me the fervor to prepare my own raw cuisines. So what are some examples of raw vegetarian foods? Salad, guacamole, salsa, and pesto to name a few that you’re probably familiar with.
When preparing raw meals at home, some raw food recipe books can be overwhelming. For starters, not everyone has a Vitamix, dehydrator or juicer. Dehydrating, soaking, germinating, sprouting…that sounds confounding to someone who is oblivious to raw vegetarianism. For those of you who are starting to incorporate more raw foods into your food program, I highly recommend this book:
This book is perfect for beginners! You only need two kitchen appliances:
A blender and a food processor…that’s it.
If you are a visual person, the author sells a DVD but the book is relatively easy to follow. Before ordering, I checked out a few of her instructional videos on her website. The meals looked extremely easy to prepare. I couldn’t wait to make those dishes! My favorite recipe from the book is banana pudding…a dessert of course. Within my circle of friends and family, I was known for making the most delicious banana pudding with vanilla wafers on the planet. When I tried raw banana pudding, it was extremely rich and matched the expectations of my old pudding! With some of the other raw recipes inside the book, you may want to make some modifications according to your liking. For example, I add more lemon juice to the “sour cream”. When making pesto, I use walnuts instead of pine nuts. I had a terrible experience with pine nuts (pine mouth) that was used in the pesto stack I made. Overall, the recipes in the book are incredible and make life easier when you’re trying to include a higher percentage of raw foods!
Once you become confident enough and familiar with raw food preparations, then delve into recipe books that are more advanced. Be sure to try out raw food restaurants in your area. Eat more live food and less dead food. Your body will thank you!
