How to Start a Raw Food Diet

Over the past few days, I got many questions on how to start a raw food diet. Many people hear about raw food, want to give it a try, but don’t know where to start or what to do.

I get questions like: “Do you eat just salads”. I’m hungry all the time, what can I do?
To make things clear, I’ll explain some things first.
A raw food diet is a diet, consisting of food, not heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit. And there are many ways of preparation, except for cooking, that you can do under this temperature. Take a look at the recipes on the blog and you will get an idea.
The raw food diet consists of natural organic fresh plant based food. Many people’s first reaction is “Salads!”, but there are many more things you can eat raw. Think about fruits, nuts, seeds, seaweeds, beans, grains, and not to forget superfoods. Superfoods are also plant based natural foods, the ones with a high nutrient density. Usually they have a long history as a natural medicine or as a longevity food. Examples are: raw cacao, maca, goji berries, spirulina, chlorella, bee pollen, noni, ginger, garlic and ginseng.

If you start with raw food, take your time. Your body is used to certain foods and it causes a lot of stress to change everything overnight. Yes, if you have a strong will power or if you are very sick, you can change right away. In most cases I don’t recommend this. Your body starts to detox fast, which makes it more difficult. By taking your time, the detoxing happens more naturally overtime.
By taking your time, you raw food adventure will turn into a big success.

Seven Steps to Raw Food Success:
1 Drink enough good quality water in between meals.
2 Add a lot of fruits to your diet, best before or as a breakfast and in between meals.
3 Add a salad to your lunch and dinner, best at the beginning. Eat normal afterwards. The food you chose to eat after your salad will change by itself overtime, don’t worry,
4 Buy some superfoods and start to experiment. Take one superfood smoothie a day (the recipe is on the blog). This is a great way, to add extra nutrients to your diet.
5 Stop eating sugar. Take fruits combined with nuts instead. By taking them together, the sugar of the fruits is more slowly absorbed by your body.
6 Stop to eat packaged, canned and fast food with artificial and chemical colorings, flavorings, preservatives and bad quality fats.
7 Keep studying diet. Buy good books or look for good information on the internet. Continuous learning will make it much easier overtime.

I don’t add addictions like coffee, smoking, alcohol and drugs to this list. Of course they need to be addressed, to get really healthy. Starting to eat raw food will also help to quit these additions. I will write another article about this later.

You can also use the approach mentioned, if you want to lose weight. Focus on superfoods, fresh vegetables, fruits, seaweeds and some nuts and seeds. I put superfoods in the first place here on purpose. Many people have cravings, because of deficiencies. By adding superfoods, you solve these deficiencies naturally overtime. This way staying on your raw food diet becomes much easier and great fun.

Once you are getting used to your new diet, don’t forget to add soaked nuts and seeds. They are a very important source of essential fatty acids and energy.

To Your Raw Food Success!