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Sustainability and Raw diets

Does anyone know of any info, links, articles or know of previous posts that address the sustainability of raw foods diets? “Off season” raw diets seem impossible to sustain. During summer I can get loads of raw food from my CSA and local farm markets, but how do you continue through the winter? For example, many California almonds are grown in monocultures with imported bees for pollination, fruits and veggies out of season have to be picked early and travel long distances using many natural resources. Is it possible to be raw and eat within a hundred miles of where you live?

Comments

  • troublesjustabubbletroublesjustabubble Raw Newbie

    Not in my climate for sure. It’s pretty cold and icy in the winter. I think I’m willing to get the imported veggies and fruits just to feel better than when I eat cooked food.

  • Balancing the place you get your food with the health of the planet is pretty important to me. Eating Raw in many places could be potentially worse for the environment than living a WalMart lifestyle of consumerism. Food that travels so far to get to you uses a ton of natural resources. Help me understand.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    Eating raw gives me energy & health that I can one day use to help people grow food biodynamically. I am already doing it for myself, which makes me able to get more fresh local organically grown food (from my garden), and I drink young coconut water occasionally to give me what I need after being in the hot sun. If I don’t eat raw, I don’t feel good, and if I don’t feel good, I can’t get nearly as much good done in the world. Not everyone is the same, though, and you have a good point. Thanks for posting. I’m planning to get an almond tree, too. Woohoo!

  • troublesjustabubbletroublesjustabubble Raw Newbie

    I’m exactly the same way angie. I can’t go back to cooked. I had so many issues that stunted my life in every way. I now can garden and further my knowledge in agriculture. I’m currently experimenting with avocado seeds to see if I can grow them all year round. And of course, to save a buck or two. Avocados are outrageous here in KC, MO.

  • KelleySKelleyS Raw Newbie

    Speaking of sustainability, I found local organic figs at my co-op today! What a treasure. It completely made my day.

  • What would be the difference of eating food that is cooked and processed verses raw food in the winter? With our food system most all of it is shipped long distances. I started eating all raw in the winter when pickens were pretty slim and I sure am enjoying the abundance of summer now shopping at farmers market. I feel better and am now doing container gardening and am making plans and ordering seed to put in my fall crops. It has been a wonderful jouney so far and it has been much nicer for the planet. I have also found some free and almost free containers on freecycle and craigslist that all I need to do is paint with light colored terra cotta like paint. They will look pleasing and they will not draw too much heat because of their black color. This is one way of keeping them out of the landfill and helping myself too. If there is anybody doing landscaping or lots of gardening in your area this may be an option.

  • troublesjustabubbletroublesjustabubble Raw Newbie

    rosehebrew-that is a really really good point. What makes raw food in the winter worse than processed food? They take the same amount of resources to reach your supermarket. Believe me, you’ll feel better with raw even if it was picked before it was ripe.

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    local and raw would not be impossible if you planned ahead. store apples up over the winter. freeze berries and other fruits. many greens grow all winter and also you could have cold frames. We try to do as much local as we can, besides the avocados and mangoes.

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    To add to bitt’s comment, there’s an organic farm here in VT that is doing so well they’re starting year round production in green houses. We also use lots of frozen berries in the winter, many of which are local. And there are many winter vegetables that people don’t realize can be eaten raw like winter squashes and pumpkins, the recipes are here on the site.

  • rosehebrew, I think we are all enjoying the summer’s abundance, and I know the Native Americans were able to eat over the winter (albiet some of whom made pemmican with meat) but in our more recent history people turned to canning which isn’t possible without boiling. My main point is we will not continue to have the luxury of shipping food long distances which will limit raw food choices in our winter seasons. bitt, I like the idea of freezing although texture is compromised, but I do plant crops year round, but with 1/10th of an acre, growing all I can still limits my ability to eat raw and organic. If only there were year round farmers markets where I live (I think one is starting this year) – god knows we get enough rain here in Portland.

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    hmm there is a year-round farmer’s market here in seattle, none in portland?

  • I live in a place with a harsh, long winter. I live in the mountains. I am looking into getting a grow dome so that I can have year-round fresh, local produce. Most of our produce comes from Mexico, of course, which is just six hours south. I am working toward a sustainable lifestyle, but I think it’s just plain tough for most Americans. We’ll get there.

  • anngoingrawanngoingraw Raw Newbie

    There are things that can be grown indoors anytime anywhere, such as sprouts and small greens. Perhaps we can’t live on those but they can be a good base for both eating 100% raw and eating as much raw as you can in winter (or other circumstances that make difficult to find fresh-local food).

  • elizabethhelizabethh Raw Newbie

    i agree with anngoingraw. i eat cooked local starchy veggies in soups and so forth in the winter. i find i spend a whole less money and eat so much more local when i eat according to season. it’s all personal though, just depends where your priorities lie. where i live, there is a very long winter.

  • what about natural fermentation of foods? fermented foods have tons of probiotics in them and fermenting is an ancient practice of preserving. Why not ferment fresh veggies in the summer and crack open the bottles in the winter which are full of life sustaining bacteria!!!!!

  • i have the same suggestions as others… i’ve given up growing wheatgrass over summer as there is an over abundance of juiceable leafy greens in our garden right now. but come winter and snow our kitchen will be full of wheatgrass… and sprouts like alfalfa, clover, mustard, lentils, fenugreek… and micro greens like sunflower and buckwheat… all grow inside with just a little sunlight. and like elizabeth cooked local veges for me in winter with big helpings of raw fermented foods made with the summer/fall harvest bounty… i feel its the most gentle to both myself and the planet. as an interesting note, raw fermented foods help with the digestion of cooked stuff and the strong life force of the sprouts counteract the static-ness of the cooked veg (to paraphrase gabriel cousens) and in a climate with such a harsh winter (I’m in canada right now) I dont feel that raw is right year round(from a chinese medicine perspective, that is…) living in the tropics is a different story

  • chriscarltonchriscarlton Raw Newbie

    Hey Surly Mc,

    If you want to be in tune with the earth, then why don’t you move to an area that supports a good variety of plant growth year round? Maybe our dear Earth Mother provides food growth only in the areas that she wants us to live and we are going against nature by living in these other climates. This is what I believe.

    For me right now, I am living in the UK. I can think of about 3 things I have purchased since I’ve lived here the last four years that were grown within’ a hundred miles of me. As an American from Florida, I get asked by nearly everyone I meet… Why are you here? Are you crazy? They hate living here in the UK, but yet they don’t leave.

    I’m heading for Virginia next for a year or so. I will need to have a large greenhouse to sustain me through the winter. Then it’s on to Mt Shasta, where I will also need to create a fake climate to grow my food through the winter. My goal is to move to a rainforest or tropical island within the next few years. You are welcome to come along…

    Lovebows, Chris

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