Transitioning to raw vegan--for khriperz

[Guest guest]

Hi,

 

There are various ways to transition to raw vegan, and also to the

type of raw vegan dietary that one chooses. Not all raw vegans eat

the same thing, and my diet is very simple, so I may not be the best

person to speak to you about transitioning, but then again I may be

after all

 

I had been a vegetarian for 22 years at the time I became vegan, and

I became raw a few months after that. I began with a regimen of two

fruit meals, plus one salad meal, per day. Now, 13-1/2 years later,

my diet is pretty much the same. It's simple to prepare, and I feel

it is optimally healthy. I try to make sure these meals are full and

satisfying, and try to eat them between noon and 8 pm, and I eat

nothing else, no snacking. I eat only raw fruits, nuts, and leafy

greens. I eat the fruits in whatever combination or form (whole,

chopped, or blended) appeals to me. I usually eat the nuts with my

salad, either as nut butter, or else I simply eat a meal of nuts.

The only thing I generally drink are my all-fruit smoothies, or

freshly squeezed orange juice. Sometimes I blend up watermelon,

which liquefies to the consistency of juice. My diet is one that is

called a fruitarian diet.

 

You may not want a diet like the above, or else you may not be ready

for it, you will have to evaluate and decide for yourself what you

would like to do. You may want to go to a fruitarian diet right off

the bat, or you may want a transitional time to take it more

gradually. There is no right or wrong way, and I believe you will

intuit what feels right for you. You seem to be coming from a SAD

diet, and normally people feel that the " learning curve is too

steep " to go right to a fruitarian diet. However, you indicate that

you ate nothing but strawberries, banana's, mango's, pistachio nuts

and bread for a week, and felt great, so you may in fact be very

ready to go right to a fruitarian diet. If you can eat a fruitarian

diet as per Natural Hygiene (more on that later), as I described

above, you may fall off from time to time--that's okay, you just

pick up again when you're ready, eventually you will stop

backsliding. If you do a whole transition in one step, such as I

describe above, you may experience dramatic detox. Many people fear

such a thing, but if you understand it, you will realize there is no

danger in it, despite the possibly intense symptoms which accompany

the body rushing out the toxins.

 

Another option is to transition gradually, by going vegan first,

which it sounds like you are definitely very ready to do. If you

don't want to bite off more than you can chew (inadvertent pun) all

at once, then you can simply get yourself used to not eating animals

or animal products as a first, and most important, step. If you feel

more comfortable with the format of traditional meals, use an

analogue made of tofu, or nut, or TVP, there are so many meat

substitutes on the market these days. And then use the sides of

potatoes and other veggie. And eat lots of salads, trying to keep

all ingredients raw. You can substitute a traditional breakfast with

just fruit, then make another meal a salad meal, while having a

vegan version of a traditional meal. When ready, you can substitute

a gourmet raw version of a traditional meal. There are many choices

available.

 

Probably others on this list will be better able to give you 7 day

meal plans involving more elaborate meals than I can. Actually, I

wouldn't make a meal plan--eat what your body desires, when it

desires it. We don't know a week ahead of time what we will desire

each moment of each day, so just go with your body's desires. A good

site for ideas is Victoria Boutenko's http://www.rawfamily.com. Her

books also have recipes, and although I have not seen her newest

book, it is described as being full of recipes from top raw chefs.

There are also raw vegan recipes and possibly meal plans you can

find on the internet, among them at:

http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/

http://www.exerciseyourwillpower.com/recipes.html

http://www.vegparadise.com/recipeindex.html#Raw

http://www.rawtimes.com/recipes.html

http://www.rawveganrecipes.com/index.php?display=new

 

I live according to Natural Hygiene. There are many books which

explain what Natural Hygiene is, I feel the best ones are the modern

classics by Dr. Herbert Shelton. There are a couple of books

covering the subject of food written by Dr. Shelton that you can

read for free on-line. These are not recipe books, but they will

give you a great idea of the optimal diet, which is very simple, as

well as of health in general:

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020126shelton.orthotrop

hy/020126.toc.html

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020125shelton.pristine/

020125toc.htm

 

Regarding not losing weight when transitioning, I also was very

slender most of my life. I began to gain weight, then I went vegan

and lost weight, then gained it again, and lost it when going raw.

In order to keep my weight up I ate plenty of the most fattening raw

foods--avocados, nuts, seeds. Lots of sweet fruits (fresh, not

dried) can help also. Dr. Graham is a runner and trainer, and burns

tons of calories, but he eats lots of bananas each day, and so he is

slender but well built. However, at some point in the early years of

being raw vegan, weight loss may become inevitable, as the body must

eliminate the toxins which are stored in the non-essential fat and

muscle reserves. The weight loss is temporary, and in fact when the

cleansing is completed, the body has revitalized its ability to

assimilate--poor assimilation is prevalent as a reason people can't

gain weight. Once the body fixes it, assimilation becomes very

efficient.

 

Re a recipe for almond milk, I believe there is at least one on the

links above. I have only made almond milk a few times, and it was

many years ago, when I first began my raw life. We made it by

soaking almonds overnight in distilled water, then pouring off the

water and rinsing the almonds, then blending the almonds up with new

water, and straining out the liquid (the almond meal can be used in

recipes). To make the almond milk rich, creamy, and sweeter, we

blended in one banana, and sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on top.

 

As for what foods are likely to kill you or harm you if eaten raw,

the only things I've eaten that scared me were beans. Beans and peas

are botanically fruits when they are young. When they become old,

they harden and become botanically legumes. Normally people cook

them for hours, and even then they are a disaster to digest,

famously resulting in lots of flatulence, since they are a

combination of protein, fats, and carbs, which don't mix well all

together. I once soaked beans, I don't recall which kind, but I just

changed the water several times, and after a couple of days they

seemed soft enough to be edible. I got very sick from them, and I

would therefore advise avoiding eating raw legumes.

 

I would also advise against using pulp from juiced veggies in

recipes, especially if the juicer extracts the liquid very

efficiently. I also got very sick from inadvertently eating such

pulp as parts of the ingredients of meals at raw events, as did

other guests and companion animals of the hosts who also ate these--

we all brought it back up. There is simply not enough liquid left in

the pulp for the body to process it.

 

I frankly no longer soak anything, nor ferment, nor sprout, nor

juice anything but oranges, and my experiences with these processes

was limited, just experimentation with recipes out of curiosity. If

I'm at a raw vegan event, I will cautiously try the various

delicacies, but I keep my usual diet very simple. I go to the

produce department or the farmer's market, and buy what appeals to

me (and what I can afford!), and so I have plenty of food at home to

choose from. Then I prepare or just grab whatever my body desires. I

generally just eat my fruitarian diet, and that's what I would

recommend most highly.

 

Enjoy, and be healthy!

 

Zsuzsa

[Guest guest]

Thank You soooo much for actually responding to my entry. I am

having a rather hard time adjusting, but I know I'll be fine. Thanks

for supplying me with links also(nice touch). I'm going to check

those out as soon as I finish this thank you. You're actually right

about me being ready to transition. I know that because I get

nauseous and reluctant when it's time to eat a meal because it has

meat in it somewhere, now the smell of it disturbs me when it once

used provide enjoyment.

 

So it's official, I'm going to transition into a vegan, but I know

that as of right now I am not going to give up all cooked foods. So

I'm going to try to eat more raw foods than cooked, like a 10:4

ratio, but the meat is a done deal. I've noticed that it's much

easier to eat raw foods than cooked anyways. The lack of interest

isn't so prevalent.

 

I think I could do the fruitarian thing as well because I looove

fruits and though I'm not even a vegetarian yet, I'm always sucking

down a lot, and I mean a lot of fruit daily. That was actually the

method that I wanted to use I just didn't think that it would be

healthy to only eat fruits and plus reading a lot of the raw vegans

entries on this sight made me think that fruit was just for

smoothies and that I had to figure out ways to soak beans and nuts

and things for the actual raw vegan meals.

 

Sorry I'm writing a bio again, but I'm just a little excited, I

can't wait until tomorrow when I go to the grocers!

 

Thanks again,

Bye

[Guest guest]

Transitioning to raw (whole-food) vegan There are more than the 101 reason that

Pamala Rice wrote.101 Reasons

http://www.garynull.com/Documents/VivaVine/ReasonsNotIn101Reasons.htm

there is 101 reasons why not milk.

www.vegfamily.com/babies-and-toddlers/101-reasons.htm - 16k 10. There will be

more reasons why you get to the ekaya to be beautiful but out fun, not drugs

like hosptals, why ache, why wait why weight gogogo

here is a one reason form an expert:

 

 

---Hi,

 

There are various ways to transition to raw vegan, and also to the

type of raw vegan dietary that one chooses. Not all raw vegans eat

the same thing, and my diet is very simple, so I may not be the best

person to speak to you about transitioning, but then again I may be

after all

 

I had been a vegetarian for 22 years at the time I became vegan, and

I became raw a few months after that. I began with a regimen of two

fruit meals, plus one salad meal, per day. Now, 13-1/2 years later,

my diet is pretty much the same. It's simple to prepare, and I feel

it is optimally healthy. I try to make sure these meals are full and

satisfying, and try to eat them between noon and 8 pm, and I eat

nothing else, no snacking. I eat only raw fruits, nuts, and leafy

greens. I eat the fruits in whatever combination or form (whole,

chopped, or blended) appeals to me. I usually eat the nuts with my

salad, either as nut butter, or else I simply eat a meal of nuts.

The only thing I generally drink are my all-fruit smoothies, or

freshly squeezed orange juice. Sometimes I blend up watermelon,

which liquefies to the consistency of juice. My diet is one that is

called a fruitarian diet.

 

You may not want a diet like the above, or else you may not be ready

for it, you will have to evaluate and decide for yourself what you

would like to do. You may want to go to a fruitarian diet right off

the bat, or you may want a transitional time to take it more

gradually. There is no right or wrong way, and I believe you will

intuit what feels right for you. You seem to be coming from a SAD

diet, and normally people feel that the " learning curve is too

steep " to go right to a fruitarian diet. However, you indicate that

you ate nothing but strawberries, banana's, mango's, pistachio nuts

and bread for a week, and felt great, so you may in fact be very

ready to go right to a fruitarian diet. If you can eat a fruitarian

diet as per Natural Hygiene (more on that later), as I described

above, you may fall off from time to time--that's okay, you just

pick up again when you're ready, eventually you will stop

backsliding. If you do a whole transition in one step, such as I

describe above, you may experience dramatic detox. Many people fear

such a thing, but if you understand it, you will realize there is no

danger in it, despite the possibly intense symptoms which accompany

the body rushing out the toxins.

 

Another option is to transition gradually, by going vegan first,

which it sounds like you are definitely very ready to do. If you

don't want to bite off more than you can chew (inadvertent pun) all

at once, then you can simply get yourself used to not eating animals

or animal products as a first, and most important, step. If you feel

more comfortable with the format of traditional meals, use an

analogue made of tofu, or nut, or TVP, there are so many meat

substitutes on the market these days. And then use the sides of

potatoes and other veggie. And eat lots of salads, trying to keep

all ingredients raw. You can substitute a traditional breakfast with

just fruit, then make another meal a salad meal, while having a

vegan version of a traditional meal. When ready, you can substitute

a gourmet raw version of a traditional meal. There are many choices

available.

 

Probably others on this list will be better able to give you 7 day

meal plans involving more elaborate meals than I can. Actually, I

wouldn't make a meal plan--eat what your body desires, when it

desires it. We don't know a week ahead of time what we will desire

each moment of each day, so just go with your body's desires. A good

site for ideas is Victoria Boutenko's http://www.rawfamily.com. Her

books also have recipes, and although I have not seen her newest

book, it is described as being full of recipes from top raw chefs.

There are also raw vegan recipes and possibly meal plans you can

find on the internet, among them at:

http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/

http://www.exerciseyourwillpower.com/recipes.html

http://www.vegparadise.com/recipeindex.html#Raw

http://www.rawtimes.com/recipes.html

http://www.rawveganrecipes.com/index.php?display=new

 

I live according to Natural Hygiene. There are many books which

explain what Natural Hygiene is, I feel the best ones are the modern

classics by Dr. Herbert Shelton. There are a couple of books

covering the subject of food written by Dr. Shelton that you can

read for free on-line. These are not recipe books, but they will

give you a great idea of the optimal diet, which is very simple, as

well as of health in general:

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020126shelton.orthotrop

hy/020126.toc.html

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020125shelton.pristine/

020125toc.htm

 

Regarding not losing weight when transitioning, I also was very

slender most of my life. I began to gain weight, then I went vegan

and lost weight, then gained it again, and lost it when going raw.

In order to keep my weight up I ate plenty of the most fattening raw

foods--avocados, nuts, seeds. Lots of sweet fruits (fresh, not

dried) can help also. Dr. Graham is a runner and trainer, and burns

tons of calories, but he eats lots of bananas each day, and so he is

slender but well built. However, at some point in the early years of

being raw vegan, weight loss may become inevitable, as the body must

eliminate the toxins which are stored in the non-essential fat and

muscle reserves. The weight loss is temporary, and in fact when the

cleansing is completed, the body has revitalized its ability to

assimilate--poor assimilation is prevalent as a reason people can't

gain weight. Once the body fixes it, assimilation becomes very

efficient.

 

Re a recipe for almond milk, I believe there is at least one on the

links above. I have only made almond milk a few times, and it was

many years ago, when I first began my raw life. We made it by

soaking almonds overnight in distilled water, then pouring off the

water and rinsing the almonds, then blending the almonds up with new

water, and straining out the liquid (the almond meal can be used in

recipes). To make the almond milk rich, creamy, and sweeter, we

blended in one banana, and sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on top.

 

As for what foods are likely to kill you or harm you if eaten raw,

the only things I've eaten that scared me were beans. Beans and peas

are botanically fruits when they are young. When they become old,

they harden and become botanically legumes. Normally people cook

them for hours, and even then they are a disaster to digest,

famously resulting in lots of flatulence, since they are a

combination of protein, fats, and carbs, which don't mix well all

together. I once soaked beans, I don't recall which kind, but I just

changed the water several times, and after a couple of days they

seemed soft enough to be edible. I got very sick from them, and I

would therefore advise avoiding eating raw legumes.

 

I would also advise against using pulp from juiced veggies in

recipes, especially if the juicer extracts the liquid very

efficiently. I also got very sick from inadvertently eating such

pulp as parts of the ingredients of meals at raw events, as did

other guests and companion animals of the hosts who also ate these--

we all brought it back up. There is simply not enough liquid left in

the pulp for the body to process it.

 

I frankly no longer soak anything, nor ferment, nor sprout, nor

juice anything but oranges, and my experiences with these processes

was limited, just experimentation with recipes out of curiosity. If

I'm at a raw vegan event, I will cautiously try the various

delicacies, but I keep my usual diet very simple. I go to the

produce department or the farmer's market, and buy what appeals to

me (and what I can afford!), and so I have plenty of food at home to

choose from. Then I prepare or just grab whatever my body desires. I

generally just eat my fruitarian diet, and that's what I would

recommend most highly.

 

Enjoy, and be healthy!

This recipe, and several others, can be found at:

http://www.living-foods.com/sflife/december2000.html

 

I've not tried this recipe, as I usually eat very simply. But every

once in a while I get a hankering... This recipe looks do-able to

me, since it's not very complicated, doesn't require a sophisticated

food processor, soaking, sprouting, etc. I don't have a dehydrator

either, but it's summer, and the sun will do her magic when I just

leave the crust mixture outside.

 

I also like the fact that this does not use grains, but just seeds.

Perhaps other types of seeds such as sunflower would work also, or

perhaps in combination with the flax. Flax seeds become sticky when

wet, so they cohere the crust in an unusual manner. I've made

dehydrated flax crackers, in my own way, a couple of times, blending

with tomatoes, but I didn't grind the seeds first, so they retained

that distinctive taste. Another recipe I saw for flax seed crackers

suggested adding lemon.

 

I bought some flax seeds the other day and resolved to try a recipe

after first grinding. I don't often use recipes, and when I do, I

change it around to suit me. I will probably leave out things in the

recipe below, such as the yeast, which is probably in there to give

a cheesy taste, which I can do without. But I'm anxious to try one

of Victoria Boutenko's recipes, she's a well known raw chef and

writer.

 

Live Pizza

 

Crust

2 cups flax seed, ground

 

1 cup water

 

1 large onion, chopped

 

3 stalks celery, chopped

 

4 cloves medium garlic

 

1 tsp. Celtic salt

 

Mix ground flax seed in blended mix by hand. Spread on dehydrated

sheets. Divide into desired size. Dehydrate until dry, not crispy.

 

Topping

1 pound nuts

 

½ cup sun-dried tomatoes

 

¼ cup raisins

 

juice of 1 lemon

 

2 Tbl. Olive oil

 

1 Tbl. Dry basil

 

Blend ingredients with as little water as possible.

 

Pour into a bowl.

 

1 Tbl. Dry onion

 

1 Tbl. Dry garlic

 

2-3 Tbl. Nutritional yeast

 

1 Tbl. Miso

 

Add these ingredients to topping bowl.

 

Spread topping on crust squares. Decorate with grated vegetables –

mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, and parsley. Makes nine servings.

 

 

 

 

 

___________

Learn about the power of raw foods at ---> http://www.rawfoods.com