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New to Raw!?

kandacekandace Raw Newbie

Welcome to our newest forum section, new to raw. This is a place to ask questions about your new journey and talk about your experience of bringing raw, vegan foods into your life.

There are many questions about what foods are raw and which are not. Gone Raw members Chris and Zoe have excellent articles that will help with getting know raw foods.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be adding more resources here.

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Comments

  • RawKarateGirlRawKarateGirl Raw Newbie

    this is great!! Thanks!!

  • Thank GOD!!!!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

  • Thanks for adding this—very much needed:)

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    I love the list of raw ingredients – how neat!

  • Girlfridae1Girlfridae1 Raw Newbie

    Kandace—thank you, thank you, thank you! The link is excellent and has so many resources:)

    Thanks- Girlfridae

  • Yes, kandace, what a great idea!

  • Kandace, thank you for adding this to the site! So many of us are newly transitioning that this was a great idea. I hope some of the experienced raw people will check this and help those of us who are new and have questions.

  • I am very interested in becoming raw, only thing is I feel like I can’t get enough to eat, then I go and binge on cooked food and ruin my day. Any suggestions on what could fill me up?

    I also don’t have a food processor, but I have a blender and a food dehydrator…I plan on buying one soon though..

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    missbettie, In the beginning i tell my newbie friends to keep food with them at ALL times. Raw nuts in the car, small easy fruits, like clementines, bananas, grapes. Make sure you get in a good smoothie with your fruit and greens in the am. Stock Larabars in the beginning, make flax seed crackers to snack on. Anything in the nut/seed/avocado family will fill you up for hours. Then you’ll come into a more simple raw. The body is much less hungry. You end up getting all you need from a big smoothie and a large salad, couple of fruits and that’s it. Listen to your body. After 5 days it will tell you what it needs. if it needs chocolate, whip up some raw cacao, coconut oil and dates in the blender, Refrigerate and you have a chocolate bar. My first major investment early on was the Vitamix. It’s going 5-6 x/day and has more than paid for itself. I broke 2 regular blenders in my first week raw.

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    missbettie- i felt this way too… and a little embarrassed at how MUCH i could eat without feeling full. don’t feel guilty for emptying your produce drawer. =) it won’t last long! bananas are great fillers, also making some nut/seed crackers with lots of zucchini mixed it is great to keep on hand. mousses are fabulous as well, for dessert. i have one that tastes like apple pie if you click on my profile.

    good luck!

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    Hi missbettie, Eat as much fruit as possible. Snack on carrots and other chopped veggies. What works for me: eat every 2 hours. For example, green smoothie for breakfast, apple snack, 4 fruits or 3 cups veggies for lunch, pear snack, gourmet raw recipe from this site with lettuce for dinner, fruit snack.

  • Hello everyone ^ My name is Allan, Im 19 and Im from Venezuela (Sorry for my bad english) Lately Ive been feeling that eating cooked food is not good for me, I feel my stomach full but my body tells me that there is something missing. Since today I want to follow a raw food diet… but I want to do it in a healthy way. Im already skinny so I dont want to look mooooore skinny hehehe Due to the fact I live in Venezuela and I cant buy any raw food books, can anyone recommend me some websites with information? Thanks for taking the time to read! ^ P.S. Oh! And Im already a vegan =) Allan.

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    first off, your english is perfect. secondly, wow… three cheers venezuelan vegans. i doubt that’s a very popular life choice there. =)

    ani phyo has some great youtube recipe videos: http://youtube.com/watch?v=6gvrEj2H36w. they don’t require a dehydrator. this website has great recipes and we try to add labels to make them searchable. so, if you type “easy” a lot of simple recipes will come up.

    this gets brought up a lot on this site, but your weight will no doubt drop before it goes up… though this may not be the case if you are super healthy right now. your body will first clean out, then rebuild. so don’t take a little weight drop as a sign that the diet isn’t working. make sure to consume some healthy fats (avocados, cold-pressed olive or seed oils, young coconuts, etc…) and lots of greens. that will help you keep the weight on.

    best of luck to you.

  • Hey Pianissima =) Well, you are right, in here I dont know other vegans (exept for my best friend). Everyone in here thinks eating red meat is quite healthy and they say Im going to die… so everytime someone ask me what do I eat I just tell them Im a vegan and that they should look on the internet =) Im aware that my weight might drop a bit, but Im more on the raw side than in the cooked side right now =) I wanted to know a bit about quantities of food intake because I tend to eat small portions of food… and only eat twice a day =P Do I need a breakfast? Thank you very much for your help =D

    Have a nice day.

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    well, i’m not an expert on anyone else’s body, so perhaps some others will chime in here, but i’d say breakfast is a good time to eat light or nothing at all (water?). a fresh juice or some fruit maybe. do what you are used to.

    i found i needed quite a bit more quantity on raw. last summer when i found i ate an entire platter of heirloom tomatoes i thought “oh my gosh, i’m ridiculous!” then i imagined how many tomatoes would go into a tomato sauce. cooking makes food look a lot “thinner” than it would normally. so, had i had pasta with sauce, i probably would have been eating that many tomatoes… anyway, just a thought. another consideration is that raw foods are more nutrient dense, so from a nutritional standpoint you need less food. but from a calorie standpoint you’ll need more bulk (at least at first).

    i’d say eat when you’re hungry. don’t make it too intellectual. =)

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    missbettie and Allantgy – Bananas have all the essential amino acids so they are a complete protein source and are filling. Nuts, seeds and avocados are also good examples of filling/high-calorie foods to keep you going and keep weight & energy at good levels.

    Allantgy – Where in Venezuela are you from? My brother was there as a missionary several years ago.

  • Hi! I am new to raw food diet. I am really just beginning to learn about it. I’ve been vegan for four years and have found that it has helped my health and overall well-being. I’ve just recently started learning about a raw food diet and am excited to get started.Thanks to all of the recipes and blogs online it looks very realistic to me. I feel like this is the next step.The only thing I’m worried about now is being able to pay for and find all the ingredients to make all these delicious looking recipes.

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    hey kat! that is a concern, as the more gourmet recipes call for expensive ingredients. but i think once you are a veteran to raw eating you se the WHOLE picture and where you can eliminate unnecessary expenditures. also, gradually your appetite decreases and so you are spending less.

    i’m constantly amazed at how simple things can get: i just tried skyprincess’ halva recipe. wow! 4 ingredients and it could be so many things: pie crust, rolled into balls and refrigerated as cookies, mixed with dehydrated fruit as energy bars… and sesame seeds are very inexpensive.

    good luck on your journey =)

  • I’m going raw for a couple weeks and my dehydrator came in yesterday. Today is raw day one!

  • newcomer to raw foods and this site as well. silly questionis tap water okay for raw food diet or do i need to buy specific type or brand of water? any info will be appreciated. thank you.

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    Hi there Anuradha, Its not a silly question! Tap water really isn’t OK…I heard David Wolfe saying that it has particles of toilet paper in it ugh!!! Aswell as fluoride and chemicals. It really is dead water. Some people filter their. Other people use bottles mineral water. When I was in the USA I found it hard to get real mineral water there seem to be lots of bottled tap waters on sale pretending to be mineral water. I think that’s why so many USA rawies use filtration rather than bottled water. Lots of people don’ like to use the bottled water because it is not eco friendly – plastic bottles. I do. We use bottled water for drinking, soaking and un cooking. Although we normally use cucumber juice as a base for soups and other recipes that require water.It tastes amazing and is full of nutrients.

    If you have to use tap water, put a squeeze of lemon or other juice in it to bring it to life a bit. Bless it, pray over it, tell it is healthy, pure and vibrant ;)

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    If you do buy water in the USA, Crystal Geyser spring water is the only bottled water I have found that feels like it has life/energyi in it :)

  • Hi…I am new but very enthusiastic about eating this way.

    I have been doing some researching about equipment. Right now, I own a “cheaper” dehydrator. It doesn’t have a temperature control and teflex sheets. Before I venture into buying a new one (such as, the Excalibur), I would like to try this one. I have two questions…

    First: what would be a safe drying time for any recipes posted here. How can I safely find that the temperature does not exceed 110 degrees? Secondly, can I use parchment paper for now for drying?

    Also, I am considering a juicer or blender. Which is more appropriate? I believe the Blendtec and Omega 8005, for example, both juice and grind. I know that each has its own specific functions but I can only afford one right now (especially if I get the dehydrator right now, too)

    Which does everyone here prefer? I plan on making smoothies but I also want to make nut butters, frozen banana cream, etc.

    Please help…TIA

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    I like the Omega 8005, but it is kinda slow, & it doesn’t replace a blender. If you get a strong blender, you can blend your fruits & veggies & then strain through a nutmilk bag to get just the juice. I like my mom’s vitamix for making nutbutters and a ton of other things, but if you can’t afford a vitamix, I would get the juicer first and then save for a blender.

    Dehydrators heat way above 110 degrees, unless they are specifically made with a temperature control.

  • Angie..Thanks so much! I probably will get the Omega 8005 (Although the blender sounds wonderful). You have been so helpful!

  • Hi everyone, I am new to gone raw and new to trying a raw lifestyle in general. Its kind of a transition for me I try to only have one cooked meal a day and keep the rest raw. I am still very new to this. Today is my third day trying this raw detox and I feel GREAT, tons of energy. I am trying to keep it simple with a smoothie in the morning and a salad for lunch. If anyone has any advice for a newbie I’d appreciate it! thanks!

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    danzinraw – sounds like you’re doing great – my advice: keep it up (doing what works). That will likely change regularly – just go with it & enjoy the journey! :)

  • i’ve been on an 100% raw diet for 2 weeks but i was away from home and just got back. now my mom isn’t convinced being 100% raw is healthy for me but i really want to me..but she’s making me eat 1 non-raw meal a day like pasta. will i still get all the benefits from a raw diet if i only do it 2/3 of the time?

  • Hello everyone! I am kind of new to raw food. I am loving it so far, however I have a hard time doing everything and resisting to cooked food because I live with my boyfriend and he doesn’t care about it. When I make flaxseed crackers he goes and eats it all, but I don’t really have his support to be 100% raw, and that makes it harder. Also, I recently moved to Brazil, where no one knows about this kind of diet, everywhere you go has cooked food and they just don’t understand the point! If I say I am on a special diet people say “but you are not fat! You don’t need do loose wheight” ... I just wish I had someone to share this experience with, someone to help when I am in the kitchen all excited about a new recipe that worked out… Does anyone have any advice to make this big transition a little easier? Thanks..

  • springleafspringleaf Raw Newbie

    Hi carlamartins, I also live with my boy friend who doesn’t care about raw food. I have a plan though, which I will share with you as it may help. We eat breakfast seperatly, so everyday I have a smoothie for breakfast, then for lunch I make us both a salad (which he doesn’t mind too much -mainly because I make it for him!) I put more salad leaves and nuts in mine and his may have a bit of cheese, just to keep him happy. Then for snacks I eat fruit, dates, handfull of nuts etc. For dinner at the moment we both have the same cooked meal or sometimes salad. This way I get to be about 60/70% raw without him even knowing. I shall try over time to introduce raw gourmet meals a dinner once in a while and see if I can sneek them in without him minding. Good luck with the diet, I have heard that the brazilians love meat so you need a lot of support from people like us! hang in there!!

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