19 tips to make your transition to a raw food diet tear-free

Below I compiled 19 tips to make your transition to a raw food diet easier.

You might be familiar with some of them already. That’s what helped and helps me.

Because everyone is different, not all will necessary help you.

Without sugar-coating, if you are jumping from a regular meat-and-potato diet or have a tendency to de-stress yourself with food, discipline is one of your best friends.

On the other hand, a strong wish and faith creates miracles. And being a raw fooder is far from a miracle, so cheer up!

In a future, I will be coming back to some of these tips to take a deeper look.

 

• 1. Read and educate yourself about a raw vegan diet. Knowledge will help you resist harmful foods on the subconscious level. In addition, you will discover novel foods you never tried before

 

• 2. Do a fast for at least 7 days before going on the diet. Not easy but makes you appreciate the taste and aromas of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds

 

• 3. Don’t fight your temptations too much as it would only increase the desire. Remember that forbidden apple is always the sweetest? If you can’t resist something, eat just a little bit tasting every morsel. If possible, make a raw version of your desired cooked meal. Dig through Internet. There are ways and recipes to make raw vegan food taste almost like common cooked meals including meat and bread

 

• 4. If you are just starting, don’t stress too much on the amount of calories you consume and how you combine your foods. In other words, eat as much as you want and what you want as long as it is raw whole foods. However, use common sense and try to avoid eating after 6 pm. Keep in mind, that it is fine only in the first couple months when the body is getting rid of toxins. Then, ideally, you will need to watch your calories, food combining, fat intake

 

• 5. If you are cold, warm yourself up with cayenne pepper, ginger, cinnamon, herbal teas (especially spicy), wool clothes and obviously heater. Or even better, do a short but intense exercise. Myriads to choose from – weights, push ups, high knees, side lunges

 

• 6. During cold months, warm meals up in a dehydrator or “keep warm” mode in a stove. In general, avoid cold foods just taken out of the fridge, unless it is hot outside of course. Warm foods digest better

 

• 7. Prepare beautiful-looking meals — use your fantasy

 

• 8. Eat slowly, taste every bit, chew thoroughly

 

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  Wool keeps you warm even if it is wet

  9. Eat in silence and pay full attention to the process. Ideally, eat alone. This way you will recognize the taste tones better

 

• 10. Use fewer stimulating agents – salt, pepper, onion, garlic, vinegar, mustard. They increase appetite and make you want to come back to those delicious cooked dishes you indulged on in the old days. Plus, they mask the taste of food which you need to avoid in order to start loving plain raw produce

 

• 11. Don’t wait until you are hungry, eat 4-6 times per day. But don’t graze either as it may result in cavities. Teeth on the raw food diet, ironically, may get worse if you don’t follow some strict rules. But this is a whole different topic (bad personal experience)

 

• 12. Always have a high-calorie snack with you to avoid being caught with nothing raw to eat when hunger all of a sudden strikes. Unfortunately, the feeling of hunger is more pronounced on this diet and often it comes randomly. For example, very ripe bananas are good. Sweetened grains and low-fat seeds are also fine. Sun-dried fruits are okay but they stick to teeth and unless you clean your mouth thoroughly, snacking on them regularly results in cavities

 

• 13. To avoid hunger and being lightheaded, eat complex carbohydrates before 12 pm while fat and protein after 12 pm. For instance, fruits and sweetened grains and low-fat seeds in the morning while nuts, seeds and mushrooms in the afternoon

 

• 14. To avoid hunger strikes, eat complex carbohydrates with every meal. For examples of such carbs, go here (I eat these every day on my usual days).

 

• 15. Vegetables/greens would never fill you up; grains, low-fat seeds and fruits should form the bulk of your calories

 

• 16. Don’t prepare meals when you are hungry

 

• 17. To double-cover your back and avoid common deficiencies and therefore cravings, eat organic raw egg yolks. As well as raw butter from grass-fed cows (if you can find it) and raw fermented cod liver oil. These animal foods also help immensely to keep teeth healthy. I came to this knowledge only after a couple years. But at the same time they make you not a real “raw vegan”. You decide. I use the supplement that is a blend of both, raw fermented cod liver oil and butter oil. Made by Green Pasture in Nebraska. It is not cheap. As you can guess, it does taste and smell bad. But the one flavoured with cinnamon hides most of those “aromas” and is quite bearable

 

• 18. To ensure digestion goes well and therefore minimize cravings and hunger, don’t drink liquids while eating

 

• 19. To ensure absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and therefore minimize deficiencies and cravings, eat a small amount of fat with every meal. For example, a half teaspoon of coconut oil is perfect

 

Gradually employ the above tips in your life one by one and see what works for you.

Don’t force yourself to be 90-100% raw in a few months. If it is beneficial for your body and you really want it, you will get there eventually.

Also, because even after several years I still struggle with a few things on this diet, listen to your internal voice and other raw vegans’ experiences and advice.

Until next time. Leave any of your related thinking or questions here.

 

*** A word of caution, you absolutely must soak or sprout all grains, seeds and nuts to reduce the level of tooth-and-bone-leaching phytic acid.