Raw Food Diet Now

Meals 10/2/2008

I forgot to mention that the soup is at room temperature. I generally don’t warm my raw soups.

Meals 9/21/2008

Breakfast

Here’s what’s on the table…

Lightly fried tempeh, yellow bell peppers, eggplant, and cucumber.  Orange juice.

For dessert:

Cantaloupe for breakfast.

So, there’s a couple things to note:

• The tempeh dish isn’t exactly raw, but I’m a work in progress. 
• I’ve heard you’re supposed to eat fresh fruit first on an empty stomach, but honestly I haven’t researched this enough yet to say one way or the other.
• All dishes were made from fresh ingredients, which were bought organic when available.
• I’m still drinking orange juice from concentrate, which is pasteurized, and so not raw.
• I ate until I was full.

One challenge is that in my household, the division of labor is such that my wife is the primary meal preparer.  Although she is sympathetic to the raw food diet, we’re all still adjusting.  I probably average about 50-70% raw at this point.

Lunch

We went to the farmer’s market to buy some groceries.  Generally I prefer to stick to fresh fruit & veggie ingredients and make things from scratch, so that we know for sure what goes into things and can control the quality.  But we did pick up some snacks while there, and though they weren’t raw, they were vegan.

• 1 vegan samosa with jalepeno chutney sauce.
• 1 vegan spinach-stuffed Indian bread.
• 1 small bowl of mixed fresh organic berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries) from the farmer’s market.
• 1 glass of almond milk.

The Indian snacks were not ideal.  The samosas were deep fried, and the bread was tasty but made from refined flour.  I did feel a bit ill in the stomach for a couple hours afterwards.

Dinner

For dinner, I had a sprouted bean “burger” patty with some fried veggies — broccoli, carrots, etc.  That was followed by a peach, which was perfectly ripe and oh so tasty!  The sprouted patty was something I picked up at the farmer’s market to try.  The directions said to fry it, so I didn’t feel comfortable trying to eat it raw without knowing more about how it was made.

That’s the dilemma with prepared foods — you don’t really know what you’re getting.  With fresh fruits & veggies it’s pretty straightforward though.  I would really like to reduce the prepared foods in my life, even if they’re “healthy” or “raw.”  Either eat fresh ingredients as-is (i.e., a salad) or prepare them at our household.

Later in the evening, I had a glass of chardonnay.  I’m not sure how wine fits into the raw food scheme — I’m pretty sure it’s not raw! — but that and a nice hot bath are great for relaxing at the end of a day.

Well there you have it.  I have laid it bare here for all to see.  Today wasn’t particularly a triumph in raw food.  You can see I’m not perfect, and have some work to do!

One day at a time.