Starting a raw food diet can transform your health and your life. Many people have healed themselves from diseases and chronic illness, morbid obesity, and have experienced weight loss, increased energy and overall wellness. If you are here looking for more information about the raw food diet you are in the right place!
The best way to get started is to educate yourself. Read the raw food diet testimonials. And then get ready to try something new! Some people like to dive right in when starting something new. Others like to test the waters a little. However you decide to proceed with starting a raw food diet, you will be benefiting your body.
What can I eat when starting a raw food diet?
Let’s start with breakfast. Instead of the bowl of cereal or toast and peanut butter, try having simple, raw fruit for breakfast. Whatever strikes your fancy or that you have on hand, as long as it is fresh. Not canned. Bananas, oranges, grapes and strawberries are a great way to start your day. Raw fruits will give your body much needed hydration as well as continuing the process of detoxification that occurs naturally as you sleep through the night.
Allowing your body to have a simple start to it’s day allows its energy to be used elsewhere than digestion. Fruit digests very quickly and should be eaten alone. Wait until you feel truly hungry and then eat fresh fruit till noon. This one change to your diet right now will have you feeling lighter and more energetic immediately. If you’re still hungry, eat more fruit. Do this daily for a week and notice the changes.
Transitioning to Raw Foods
Now let’s talk about salads when starting a raw food diet! Not the tiny on the side type of salad. A BIG salad feast! An example would be a head of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, veggies, sprouts, and seeds – maybe some raw nuts or sliced avocado but make it big! A large green salad makes a wonderful lunch or dinner. You would be surprised at how filling and satisfying a truly fantastic salad can be. The more colors you add, the prettier it looks too. Just try to stay away from all the additional fats, oils, spices and condiments that many people ‘grease’ their salads with.
If you haven’t yet tried adding green smoothies to your diet – you have to give them a try! I am a complete green smoothie addict.
If you are now eating a simple fruit breakfast every day and enjoying a huge feast of greens and veggies for either lunch or dinner you are well on your way to better health and I can bet you’ve seen the number on the scale go down already! One of the best things about eating raw fruits and veggies is that you can eat as much as you want! Don’t weigh, don’t measure, just enjoy.
You’ll want to start looking at the cooked food choices you are making and simplify them. Start reading labels. If your food comes out of a can or a box, don’t eat it. Steamed veggies, brown rice and baked potatoes are good choices. As you eat more raw, start eating less white – processed – grains, dairy and meats. You will find that rather quickly your body will start to tell you things about what it likes – IF YOU LISTEN to it. Most of us in our culture eat because others are, because we’re bored, because the clock says to – but rarely because we are truly hungry.
When you start a raw food diet you are re-educating your taste buds. Most cooked foods that we eat need to have sugar, salt, sauces, seasonings, oils and spices added to them. Try to keep things as simple as possible. Toss your salads with natural fruit juices rather than commercial salad dressings. Most importantly start to pay attention to how you feel. Choosing to start a raw food diet may end for some at just adding in some extra raw goodness. Others find that they start feeling so good and their clothes get so loose that they want to continue adding in fresh raw foods, and leaving the processed ones behind.
However you are starting a raw food diet, know that you are becoming more self aware and healthier. Take everything one day at a time.
