Raw Food 101
My Personal Background in regard to Raw Food
Switching to a raw diet was the very first step I took in my attempt for a healthier living. In April 2016 I considerably increased the amount of raw food in my diet. I never went 100%, but for the first eight months straight, I ate about 95% raw. I was even eating meat and eggs raw. In addition to eat uncooked food, I also quit dairy products, cereals, processed sugars and alcohol. After the initial eight month period, I started to occasionally consume dairy products, and cooked food, but with alcohol, I haven’t consume any since then. I would not recommend to quit everything at once the way I did, but rather approach change progressively. Today (Nov 2017) I am eating for about 75% raw. I think having a diet made of higher percentage of raw food is probably the main pillar of the sustainable change I was able to make.
Why do I think it’s better to introduce change progressively?
I made my biggest mistake on the road for a healthier living right on day one. In addition to switching my diet to 95% raw, I quit dairy products, cereals (including all types of bread), alcohol, salt, and processed sugars, all at the same time. I think it was a mistake. It could have been too much for my metabolism to handle such a radical change. The second reason why I think it was mistake, relies in the fact that I introduced more than one change at a time. This situation kept me from observing possible correlations between specific changes, and the resulting effects on my body and mind. I just know that the overall change has been beneficial for me, but I don’t know what are the specific benefits of quitting white processed sugars to give an example. If I was in the same position today, I would introduce change rather progressively into my life, and observe closely how my body and mind react to each specific change in diet.
The Effects of Change in Diet on the Mind
I believe, it is very important to not overlook the mental aspect of things when it comes to a change in diet. I think food is more than just putting gas in to the tank of a car. It plays an important role in boosting our morale. Although I believe, having a high percentage of raw food in a diet will have great benefits, not eating comforting cooked food can also be a bit depressing at times, especially at the beginning. The same way with quitting alcohol, processed sugars, and bread which are all products that have an effect on our psyche. With the knowledge I have today, when I look back at the change I have made, I think I was unconscious to the fact that my approach to change was an extreme one. Luckily It seems like my body still had enough nervous energy capital to respond to such change, and nothing bad happened to me. That said, when I revisit moments from memory of my early days to switching to raw food, I remember instances when my morale was very low. I blamed it back then on the fact that I was unemployed, and I wasn’t producing much music, but I did not question the change in diet being directly responsible for my morale to be low.
Raw is delicious!
My greatest concern to incorporate more of a raw food in my life, was to fear of missing out on existing cooked culinary culture.
How was going to live a life without eating Turkish dishes, and Swiss fondue again? How was I going to be able to socialize? How was I going to handle to get less pleasure from eating?
Luckily I was able to answer all these questions, and find solutions for myself, and slowly define my own personal approach to change. This whole exercise of having concerns and finding solutions, helped me to position myself within the spectrum of different approaches that already exist in order to reach a healthier life-style. I did not want to flow any existing movements, but rather get inspired by the existing approaches to diet and health to create my own. Something that was custom designed for me. What mattered to me the most, was to have fun in the process. I knew that if I could turn this whole pursuit to a healthier living in a fun adventure, I’ll have more chances to be successful at it.
In order to make things fun, I forbid myself to forbid. If one day I craved a burger or a kebab, I was just going to have a burger or a kebab. Or even better, a kebab followed by a burger for dessert. I thought not having strict rules could help me to be more relaxed, and stay in the raw-food wagon for the long run. I also think that eating cooked food once in a while can help the experimentation aspect of things. I believe, feeling in our flesh the after effects of consuming certain type of food, is probably the best way to learn and find the most adequate balance for ourselves.
After few weeks of eating raw, I realized that I started getting a tremendous amount of pleasure eating raw fruits and vegetables. I would get the same amount of pleasure from eating an organic avocado, as I would from eating a juicy rare cooked steak. It was obvious to me that once my body got used to the change, my taste in food started to change as well. Not using salt or sugar allowed me to enjoy the true taste of what nature gives us to feed ourselves. I know this last sentence sounds very new age in style, but this is also one of the things that happened to me by increasing the amount of raw in my diet, and stop putting make-up ingredients on my food. By consuming food in its purest form, I I started to value it differently. It became an interface between me and Mother Earth. Here you go, an other sentence that could be qualified as new-age in style..
As I kept preparing my own raw food, I came to realize that the possibilities for creativity were endless. It calmed down my fear of missing out on the outstanding culinary culture present around the world, that I have tremendous respect for. Going raw was like discovering the Americas for the first time. I saw a huge potential. I thought, if enough creative people would put their efforts in creating raw dishes, this could result in the creation of a great new culinary culture equal to other great culinary cultures. What separates raw cuisine from renowned world cuisines, is just that not enough human effort has been put into it yet. I think it’s just a matter of time. Eating raw, sugar and cereal free, is a bit like how we used to eat as humans before civilization came around. Now with everything positive that civilization has brought us, we can put our efforts in developing raw dishes, which won’t be any lesser in taste and sophistication than cooked food of established world cuisines.
How to increase the amount of raw food in our diet?
I think juicing can help the transition greatly. The idea is not to change anything to our current diet, but just add some freshly squeezed juices before meals. If you are interested in juicing fruits and vegetables, feel free to check out out my post on how to get started with juicing.
Spring or summer could be ideal seasons to introduce more raw food into our diets as well. I believe most of us already do it naturally anyway. Since we rely less on the warmth and the comforting aspect of food during these seasons, it could be an excellent idea to take advantage of the warm weather to increase the percentage of raw ingredients in our food intake.
Once we have introduced some considerable percentage of raw food into our diet, we could then try a three week challenge of going for 95% or more raw. After that period is over, lets have a period of eating absolutely what we want to eat. It would then be interesting to observe the percentage of our raw food intake, and see how much raw food we consume without making any conscious efforts. It would also be a good idea to observe how we feel the next day after eating cooked meals.
What are the benefits of eating raw?
From what I understand, eating our food raw, keeps its nutritional values from being harmed by the process of cooking. Cooking does not seem to add anything in terms of nutritional value to our food. In most cases though, it tend to transform it, and this results in the lost of nutritional value of our food. With oils, cooking seems to transform them, making them less adequate for our body to process them.
Eating more raw fruits and vegetable seem to have an alkalizing effect on our lymphatic system. Whereas eating red meat, cereals, and dairy products seem to acidify our organism. When our lymphatic liquid is more alkaline than the waste material produced by our cells, this promotes their evacuation from the cell to the lymphatic circuit. Later on, the waste material can be eliminated from our system to the outside world, if the rest of the elimination chain is properly functioning. If the lymphatic liquid is higher in acidity, the waste material of our cells, will have a hard time passing through the cell’s membrane and be able to leave the cell. This creates a situation where toxic waste material starts being accumulated inside the cell.
In short, eating raw allows us to get more nutrients from the food we consume, and eating more raw fruits and vegetables seem to promote cleansing of our cells. If we consider the fact that as humans we are fully made of cells, being able to evacuate waste material from our cells is of high importance for our well-being, and longevity. Imagine your how your kitchen would look and smell like, if you don’t throw out the trash for a couple of months.
Conclusion
Having a higher percentage of raw food in my diet has helped me tremendously in my attempt to a healthier living. I strongly believe that, combined with dry-fasting and juicing, it can prepare the perfect base for a real change in someone’s life. At one point I am planning on sharing the raw recipes I came up with, without even trying to be creative. My recipes emerged by themselves, as I was trying to respond to what my body was requesting me in terms of food intake. Today, I truly enjoy eating my raw dishes. I haven’t had the opportunity to share them with anyone yet, maybe sharing pictures and the actual recipes on this blog can be start.
If you are planning to introduce more raw food into your diet, please be responsible and adapt the change to you your own reality. It is always safer to introduce any change progressively.
AM NOT A HEALTH PROFESSIONAL. I would like to make it very clear that I am only sharing my own experience on this website, and have no intention to give any specific advice on health. Please read the disclaimer section for more information.
