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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookI've been vegan for a few years and really like how much more in tune I am with my body. For the past couple months I have been drinking green smoothies almost every morning, and trying to cut out wheat and processed foods. I haven't eaten a lot of processed foods in general lately anyway, but I'm really buckling down now. I would like to eat more raw foods as well, probably not 100%, but still a lot more than I do now. However, I have a lot of things that seem to be getting in the way:
1) I live in Minnesota. It's REALLY cold here in the winter. I try to buy organic/local as much as possible, and I find that the winter months are not appealing for raw foods to me. Does anyone else live in a cold climate and eat high raw? How do you do it?
2) My partner is not keen on the idea of raw foods. Of course, I should do what I want to do and leave her to make her own decisions, but it's hard for me because I do most of the food prep/cooking and she already has given me a lot of grief for going vegan (she's a vegetarian). I know that a lot of her food choices are poor for her body (coffee, bread and beer are among her favorite items, and she has IBS), though she doesn't eat horribly all the time. But sometimes I give in to the pressure of eating greasy food when we're out, or drinking a couple beers even though it makes me feel awful. Obviously I'm aware of the benefits of eating raw foods and I'm not interested in lecturing my partner about any of it, because that's not the kind of person I am and I don't think it's very effective. This is probably more of a relationship issue than a raw food issue, but I feel like I can't do a lot of things for myself because I need to find some equilibrium between our views of eating. How do you deal with non-raw/non-vegan partners?
3) Time. I find that the raw foods I like best tend to be more elaborate affairs. I ate 100% raw (or as close to that as I could) for a week last summer and loved making and trying different recipes, but by the end of the week it felt like I was completely preoccupied with food preparation and planning. I've always loved food and work as a cook, but I felt like my relationship with food while eating high raw became very unhealthy. I felt very antisocial as well, because I couldn't go out with people to eat. I have a few raw food uncookbooks and of course this lovely site for inspiration food-wise, but does anyone have any tips for planning out food prep over the course of a week? I have a dehydrator, juicer, food processor, and am about to receive a Vita-Mix (which I think is going to make some things a lot more fun!) -- I like more "challenging" recipes beyond mono meals and salads, but I don't want to get burned out. Also, I am a big snack fiend.
Whew, that was a lot of writing! Any ideas would be so, so appreciated. Thanks!
Comments
1. I can somewhat relate, although I'm in L.A. - we buy most of our produce from local farmers' markets and it is still slim pickings here. The things I love to eat like tomatoes and bell peppers are mostly long gone, but there are yummy things to do with winter squashes, greens, apples...but I'm the wrong person to comment on this since I'm not in the right climate.
2. In my house I do most of the meal prep, which means my DH has two choices: take it or leave it. I do not have the energy to make two meals. If your partner is inclined to complain, it's quite simple: she needs to take responsibility for feeding herself. If you're making the food, she eats what you make. I don't mean to oversimplify, but if you make dinner, you're in the position to determine what you both eat. I agree, I don't see the point in you lecturing her, nor would I lecture you about beer or onion rings when you're out. If you can't stop judging her for her eating habits, then you need to consider what's behind that, and see if you can deal with the suffering you're causing yourself over it. And maybe you need to consider if you truly aren't compatible based on eating habits (after you've made her watch "Earthlings" or whatever other vegan education you can offer, non-judgmentally).
3. We're like you - we take food really seriously, and we won't eat it if it isn't delicious. Here's a thread with some daily meal ideas
http://goneraw.com/node/20401
It's kind of boring, but perhaps you can plan out 2-3 days of food at a time - things like soups, hummus or nut pates keep well. You can also slice and dice a lot of veggies at once and then use them throughout the week in salads or nori rolls. Since you have a dehydrator you can do raw breads and have sandwiches a few times a week too. DH is a big snacker so for him it's a lot of nuts, raisins, dried cranberries, grapes, general finger foods.
I'm afraid I painted this picture more negatively than it really is (about my partner). She has expressed interest in learning more about nutrition but is really busy with grad school and can't take a lot of time to read much. I'm hoping I can just add more salads and raw foods to our dinners, which is generally the only meal we consistently eat together. In the past she took a raw shiitake miso soup to work unknowingly and even though she heated it, she thought it was amazing! So I suppose making soups and things like raw crackers and crisps to replace wheat- and greasy potato-based snacks is a good way to go.
Thanks for that link about the meal plans! And your prep schedule suggestion, too -- I really appreciate it!
Oh good, I'm glad the prognosis for the relationship isn't terminal! If I could guess, I'd say she's under a lot of stress, so the IBS is just as likely to be stress-induced as it is dietary. Luckily she has you to nurture her and get some good food into her in addition to all the grab-n-go stuff she probably lives on. But don't YOU stress out over her stressing out, knaameen? That doesn't serve either of you.
All that said, I still think Vegan Education 101 is a class she needs to take!