A raw food diet consists of at least 50 percent raw food, every day. Many raw food enthusiasts aim for a diet that is 95 percent raw. Transitioning to a raw food diet will likely require a major shift in how you think about food and meals. Until you form new habits, you may need to carefully plan and outline meals, menus and shopping lists. Raw foods include vegetables, fruit, dried fruit, avocado, sprouted beans, sprouted grains, nuts, seeds, coconut, unpasteurized fermented foods, olive oil, olives, raw vinegars and raw sweeteners. Some raw foodists also include sushi, seared meat and raw dairy products.
Basics
Step 1
Identify the raw foods you already eat. Identify also the cooked foods you eat that could be eaten raw. These might include vegetables, roasted nuts and beans. Identifying these foods can help you build on habits already ingrained, which is easier than rebuilding your diet from scratch.
Step 2
Decide what percentage of your diet you would like to devote to raw foods. If you currently eat mostly cooked foods, you may want to try eating half-raw until you firmly develop new eating habits.
Step 3
Use raw recipe books or websites to make a list of substitutions for common cooked foods such as bread, rice and noodles. Knowing what these are and having them on hand can help you quickly make meals familiar to you.
Step 4
Identify substitutions for meals you already eat. If, for example, you already enjoy breakfast smoothies, learn to make one that uses raw ingredients such as raw nut milk or coconut meat. If you typically eat a sandwich at lunch, look for raw sandwich fillings and consider making raw "sandwiches" or wraps with big leafy greens--such as collards or napa cabbage--instead of bread.
Step 5
Each week, choose several new recipes to try, and make a shopping list of fresh vegetables and fruits based on those recipes. The idea is to develop a new repertoire of go-to recipes to replace the cooked ones familiar to you. Shopping according to ingredients in recipes will help you narrow your focus as you learn to prepare new meals. It will also help you reduce food waste.
Step 6
Instead of thinking about what you can't have, focus on all the new foods you will be adding to your diet. Look for foods you've never tried before such as fennel, jicama, seaweed, coconut butter or bean sprouts. This will help prevent feelings of deprivation.
Step 7
Learn to sprout. Bean sprouts are a versatile raw food staple. Eat them right out the jar for a quick snack or use them to make a hearty salad or to add texture to a raw blended soup.
Tips and Warnings
- Raw food enthusiast, Carol Alt, recommends choosing a few exceptions when planning a raw food diet. Doing this can help you enjoy these treats guilt-free, which should help you stick to the rest of your raw food plan. Choosing a realistic goal, such as 60 percent raw instead of 100 percent raw, may also help you successfully transition to a mostly raw diet. If you don't already have one, invest in a food processor. Many raw food recipes require one. Other equipment you may wish to own include a dehydrator, a high-speed blender and a spiral slicer to make raw noodles.
Things You'll Need
- Food processor (optional)
- High-speed blender (optional)
- Dehydrator (optional)
- Spiral slicer (optional)
References
- Eating in the Raw; Carol Alt; 2004
- Ani's Raw Food Kitchen; Ani Phyo; 2007
- Courier Press: Dietician Extols Virtues of an Uncooked Diet
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