The Rawtarian Community
The Rawtarian Community is one of the largest online raw food communities. In addition to this community forum, you can browse and search thousands of community recipes added by over 5000 talented Rawtarian Community members just like you!
Visit The Community
Comments
I recall Patenaude being vocal about myths in the raw food community- he warns you to have common sense and criticizes some of the ideas that are prevalent in the community. I really appreciate voices like that. On the other hand, there are those who find some of his beliefs hard to take! I also have noticed that he is very much into the business end of raw- making money. Not that he doesn’t have a right to, but once people get into the money-making end of things I tend to become wary of their message- after all, they have to promote what they sell in order to pay their bills! You might want to check him out and decide what you think for yourself. He’s interesting, that’s for sure. I know very little about Karen Knowler or her credentials but she seems to be popular in raw food circles.
-RawAllison
http://blog.rawodyssey.com
Alissa Cohen is another raw food coach. I read her book and she had a lot of testimonials of folks whose lives were really transformed by the work she did with them. I think most raw coaches have this type of happy clientelle. Nonetheless, she has a good book “Living FOods” and a support group through her website, where you can journal what you eat, etc. She also works personally with people.
A good idea for myself was to read a lot of different books. I really like Victoria Boutenkos book “12 Steps to Raw Foods”. It presents a 12 step program (kind of like AA) except for ending your dependency on cooked food.
Good luck!
Marysia
I like them both. I really loved reading Frederic’s book and definitely recommend it: The Raw Secrets.
You can log onto his blog at: http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/blog/
Also can sign up for an email from him and Karen Knowler with great info (find that info on their websites).
I think it is always a good idea to get different opinions on topics and find out what works best for you and your lifestyle, plus each person’s personality will click with you differently too.
I strongly recommend Paul Nison’s books, Raw Knowledge and Raw Knowledge II. They are terrific! They have interviews with different raw foodists, so you really get a feel for what others are trying, believe in, what worked for them and why. His first one with interviews is “The Raw Life” which is good too, but I mainly liked the interviews in that book, then bought “Raw Knowledge I and II” which are 100% filled with interviews. He also has a new book out called “Health According To The Scriptures” which is supposed to be good…I haven’t read it yet but do have it here waiting for me to read it :) I have to tell you, that even though the interviews are all different (for example, some love sprouts, some don’t), there were tidbits of info from each person that gave me ideas and inspiration for getting more serious about eating raw foods.
I also like David Wolfe’s CDs. He can be a little more hardcore/extreme, but that can be a good motivator. He touches on so many topics and data that you don’t hear other places—it will provide you with lots of unknown, important info. For example, when you add a small handful of nuts or seeds to your salads, your body will be able to break down greens lightening fast. He was chewing on a mouthful of wild grasses for over 20 minutes, then he threw a few seeds in his mouth and they dissolved in an instant. He mentions why (sorry, don’t have that info here, but believe it is something produced from your pancreas and it gets into your saliva), and it made sense to me, enough to add a handful of sesame seeds to my salads…might not to others, but there again, you have to find what makes sense to you :) You take what makes sense to you and leave what doesn’t.
I think it’s a good idea to read a bit of everyone and find your own personal plan.
After a while it becomes pretty simple and basic, as you might find your diet is based mostly on green smoothies and juices with a few nuts here and there.
Becareful before you dumped a lot of money into something, you might find you don’t need to.
RawAllison- I totally agree with you about those who get too focused on the dollar making. I would like to see being raw is about community health, not greed.
Peace!
I have to say that when I tried to learn more about switching to a raw food lifestyle, the most offensive (to me) sites were those who were into making the money, not sharing the very information that might possibly save someone’s life. I nearly abandoned the whole idea because of so many “secrets” that certain people would sell me for extraordinary amounts of money, Patenaude being the worst of them all, IMHO. Thank God for the boards and forums. I learned more from the people on the various forums than I ever did from the few books I ended up succumbing to. Be careful of whose pocket you line. (I guess that’s the same thing IsisDC said!)
Patenaude is into making money, but I have gotten a lot of free tips from him as well. He is very against “combo-abombo’s”. That’s what he calls the recipes that use a ton of nuts and seeds and attempt to reproduce fake foods. I subscirbe to his newsletter.
I love Karen Knowler. She too is in business but it’s less in your face than Patenaude and her tips have been very helpful. She has a number of excellent how-to videos on You Tube as well. I subscribe to her newsletter.
I subscribe to Raw Divas newsletter as well. They, too, are clearly in business, but there’s free info and recipes as well. They promote recipes high in fruits & veggies and generally without nuts & seeds. There’s a great deal of promotions which you just have to ignore.
If you are just getting started, I would highly recommend Natalia Rose’s books. She has you transition into raw, which I think must be so much better than how I did it – I jumped straight in to 100% raw. It’s a wonder I stuck to it. Warning: she’s really big on colonics and enemas and has a chapter just on the merits of it. I have to say she makes a good case for them, but I have not taken that step yet.
I am pretty much of the same opinion as Young@Heart. I too subscribe to Patenaude’s, Knowler’s, and the Diva’s newsletter. Funny, I just finished reading Natalia Rose’s books as well. She definately has a very good approach to transition, with or without the colonics and enemas…
Most of all, as many has suggested, you need to read as many blogs, and raw information that is out there to make your own decision about the transitioning to raw foods. Good luck!
I am not familiar with Patenaude, but I do subscribe to Karen Knowler’s newsletter. I have found her insights inspiring. She seems to put people’s feelings and emotions first, I like that approach to raw. Her newsletter features a recipe each week and a paragraph or two about what is happening in her life….things that are going good or bad. She very personable. I have not read her book, but I think it might be an interesting read. I would also encourage you to read a variety of materials. You will gain a tremendous amount of knowledge. And, you will be able to dissect the various methods, make choices that benefit your diet/lifestyle/goals the best. Raw food has many opportunities, it really depends on the person. (Some people have short-term goals, where others make it a lifestyle.) That’s what I love about it… everyone can be involved and inspired by it.
The Boutenkos are great: http://www.rawfamily.com Their books are amazing.
Shazzie wrote an amazing 7 year raw food journal, it is funny, interesting, addictive and amazing, and her book Detox Your World is brilliant: http://www.shazzie.com
Rhio also wrote a brilliant book called Hooked on Raw, she runs a lot of campaigns and supports the raw community in many ways, including her own radio show: http://www.rawfoodinfo.com
Another great resource is this: http://www.rawfoods.com/
I also loved David Wolfe’s book Sunfood Success System, and Nature’s First Law the Raw Food Diet, although the latter is not truly his original work it is great all the same ;)
Alot of people love Gabriel Cousens, I got a bit bored of his books and couldn’t really get into them, but that could well just be me and my fickle grasshopper brain ;)
Juliano is great, there are dozens of youtube videos he has done which are really good fun and informative. He just looks so healthy and vibrant, he is a great advertisement for raw food.
I also like Angela Stokes http://www.rawreform.com and Matt Monarch http://www.rawspirit.org/
Karen Knowler is English like me, she used to run The Fresh Network, who put out Get Fresh magazine – the monthly raw food glossy mag. She left the Fresh Network to focus on her own personal business, and over the last couple of years she has done herself a new website, started a blog and a newsletter, e books, raw coaching courses etc. I have very little personal experience of her, and I haven’t read anything of hers, or been on her courses so I don’t really know what she’s like. I signed up to the other guy’s website who you mention and had to unsubscribe, he is a really hard worker isn’t he?? All those emails!!
i bought frederic patanaude’s ‘Raw Secrets’ book and he repeatedly pointed to this website ‘www.rawsecretsbook.com’, which does not exist. i did not receive his e-newsletters which he promised either, with the purchase of his books. feel terribly shortchanged.
I have bought some books from Frederic and really regretted doing so. Cost a bomb (I live in Asia, so the shipping charges are really high). The book ‘Instant Raw Sensations’ is obscenely overpriced, with many recipes that should never be considered recipes. This one takes the cake ‘Tahin-Gin’ – Spread tahini on 1 leaf of lettuce and eat as sandwich. Another is ‘The Best Ever’ – Blend papayas and mangoes together to make a smoothie. Incidentally, the book is simply ring bound and appears to be black & white xeroxed copy. The lay out seems to be done from MS-Word. Gosh, what a rip-off.