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Another hopeful raw foodist having problems

I just wanted to say that I was so frustrated by raw food today that I gave up and got pizza.

It seems like everything just taste horrible. In the last couple of days I have made a broccoli mash with mushroom gravy, tasted horrible. I made portobella mushroom steaks to go along with it, horrible. I made a Mexican scramble, horrible and very very very plain. I made some cheeze, waaaaay too strong. It was like eating the Mac and Cheese powder by itself. Ick. I made some flax seed pancakes, and for some reason flax seeds kinda taste like dirt to me, and I've tried different flax seeds and different stores. All of these recipes took a lot of time and energy from me , and .....well...I'm just very very frustrated at the moment. I'm not sure what's going on. I'm putting in all this effort to prepare meals that I can barely choke down. :$ What to do?

Comments

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    i would just try to find some simple things to be the "staples" of your raw diet, such as a good salad and dressing you like, smoothie you like, and maybe a treat to go with. i tend to not like raw broccoli and a lot of the recipes can turn out odd unless they are tried and true. don't eat flax seeds if they taste gross to you! and you don't have to spend so much time on it either, it's ok to fill up on fruit if that's what works for you.

  • zinfandelzinfandel Raw Newbie

    you be better off goign ot your grocery store and just stocking up on delicious fruit fromt he produce section.

  • Finding some staples would be a good idea. I did have a staple juice I Iiked ...but I just had to throw my juicer out. :(

    All the recipes are from published books...and I've tried so many so many of them.It almost feels like there is something wrong with me. Oh that reminds me. I also made a lemon fennel soup that was very bitter and icky. As well as a grapefruit and fennel salad that was icky. lol I really really really really do love fruit and could eat tasty fruit all day long...but I worry that wouldn't be too good for me. You're right ...raw broccoli is..mmm....not so good. lol

    I feel an obligation to eat foods, such as flax seeds, because they are good for me and my health is bad enough to where I REALLY need all the nutrients I can get. The only thing really to do is to keep trying. :) I am just feeling a little lost.

    Thank you both

  • ddigiacomoddigiacomo Raw Newbie

    Tunacupcakes I completely understand your dilemma. A lot of recipes from books I tried did not come out so fabulous either. The only ones that really came great were the ones in raw food real world but they are super expensive to make. I also understand that it is very time consuming because I have the same problem. Generally I make a smoothie in my vitamix in the am. Lunch usually consists of a salad. I throw everything I can find in my salads and it makes them filling. Dinner is usually something quick. One example would be cauliflower. I throw it into the food processor and make either "sticky rice" that I will use in nori rolls or I will make mash potatoes basically keep processing until it is whipped and add olive oil and salt or you can add onions poultry seasoning and some spices and make a "fried rice" if your going to use it in nori rolls I dry it out on paper towels. Also, squeeze it out in your hand before putting it on the nori roll, when its too wet it gets soggy. I also make a lot of soups in my vitamix and eat a lot of avocado. I am 100% raw and I have been for a year but believe me I am still looking for more convenience. You will find things that work for you. I make more elaborate things when I have time which is usually less then once a week. Good luck!

  • Hmmm, I do like the taste of raw cauliflower. I could make a mash of sorts with that. About the nori rolls, I can't do nori because it makes me swell up. lol

    This is also very hard on an emotional level because my boyfriend is very much a SAD eater. Pizza, sonic, etc. I REALLY want him to venture into veganism and raw foodism and he has absolutely NO belief in raw food at all. It has already caused problems between us. He basically is waiting for me to fail and to admit that raw food isn't all it's cracked up to be, and he refuses to eat raw because as he said "it all taste icky!" So I'm having a hard time telling him that it doesn't all taste bad while I'm barely choking down my food. :) and then I'm also "scared" of making new food recipies, which is ridiculous. Mmmm I'm probably just feeling a little down after 3 days of icky food.

  • ddigiacomoddigiacomo Raw Newbie

    I feel you. I live with a SAD eater myself and I constantly go out to eat with him and all our SAD friends. It is a little tempting sometimes but generally I am happy with a salad and make myself something before or after. Also I make coleslaw a lot. Get cabbage green red or both and chop in a food processor or with a knife. Add some raw ACV and I make my kind of mayo out of either young coconuts or cashews. I add lemon juice and garlic and salt. I am not sure of the measurements because I do it by taste and texture. I also add some cayenne pepper. I usually use about one head of each red and green cabbage. I like to wrap it in a collard leaf with avocado.

  • zinfandelzinfandel Raw Newbie

    go ask the people on 30bananasaday.com if eating a ton of fruit is bad for you...

    stop worrying and start eating fruit.

    seriously. no need to suffer.

  • Hey Tunacupcakes,

    I was in your boat a month ago, making recipes and being so disappointed with several in a row. I was depressed that these didn't taste good to me even though I love veggies, especially when other people/the books raved about how delicious the recipes were. I think part of the problem is making to many "mock" meals, for me anyways. I've learnt that when a book or someone claims "it tastes just like the real/SAD version!" 9/10 times it doesn't. I've stopped trying to make mock foods and keep it simple most of the time instead.

    Try eating more fruit. If it doesn't make you feel well, you can always back off. And I know some people don't like the idea of smoothies but they have always turned out well for me and cheer me up. Maybe you can get a used blender if nothing else?

    I hope you find some meals/foods that simple satisfy!

  • sv3sv3 Raw Newbie

    Hiya, I agree with formosa. When I started to eat raw I believed all the mock dishes would taste just like the sad equivilant - and it was quite a shock when they didnt.

    Now, I don't tend to make that much mock stuff. I have found a couple of good staples like Zoe's spring onion cheese (everyone seems to love this!) and a sun dried tom pate which I always have with my salads. They are also good to have with other stuff too. How about trying the carrot bread recipe on here - it's amazingly tasty!

    Nothing wrong with lots of fruit either, smoothies are a life saver to me.

    Keep at it and try to keep an open mind when creating new dishes. I've had lots of 'failed' attempts and I guess it's because everyone's tastes are so different, so even those dishes people rave about - sometimes they're just not for me. Good luck! :-)

  • superfood2superfood2 Raw Newbie

    I don't understand how spinach or other greens and grapefruit or fennel can be "bad." What on earth are you putting on your salads? If you're putting dressing, stop! And just eat the greens. GO SIMPLE!

    And eat fruit.

    And if your taste buds are used to pizza with cooked crust, refined flour, tomato sauce that was cooked and probably oversalted, cow milk cheese.....it's understandable that your mind might be thinking "broccoli, gross!"

  • FeeFee Raw Master

    WHen you made the flax pancakes did you use the dark flax seeds or the golden ones? I find the dark ones far to strong in flavour but the golden ones have much less taste and were nice in the pancakes. Are you making things which contain ingredients that you used to enjoy cooked? Cooked brocolli and raw brocolli are completely different and so may give a different flavour than you were expecting. Try Zoe's spring onion chese from here - its very simple and tastes wonderful. Id suggest keeping to simple things most of the time and trying one or two new recipes a week. Then your boyfriend will see you enjoying your food most of the time and if a recipe doesnt turn out as you expect it will be less noticible to him. Look on the recipes here and find which ones lots and lots of people have tried and enjoyed and maybe make these some of the next recipes you wish to try.

    Good luck and keep trying and don't beat yourself up for ending up with pizza. (I did the same on Friday!)

  • CarnapCarnap Raw Newbie

    Well to be honest, the recipes you are trying sound gross to me, too.

    Green salads. Follow them up with avocado/date chocolate mousse, or some dessert.

  • Salads and fruit are a great way to go. When I introduced my boyfriend to raw I started him out on raw desserts!! they're sweet and yummy and good for you. Then I started adding more meal items and less sweets. He loves raw food now. (at least most of the time, lol) Even cooked food recipes don't always turn out and it takes a while to gather recipes that you like and make them a part of your staples. When you first learned to 'cook' food you probably made things that you thought turned out 'icky'. You will get past this and start really enjoying your foods. I find that I have to test taste everything and change it for our taste. Good luck.

  • SuasoriaSuasoria Raw Newbie

    LOL Carnap, and, me too. Also I agree with Superfood2 - it's hard to please a SAD palate at first.

    I don't eat anything that doesn't taste good, so I can imagine how frustrating this is for you. What did you cook/eat before? You like fruits, so do you also like sweets? Have you tried desserts, fruit smoothies, chocolate shakes, the cinnamon rolls everyone raves about?

    Are there any raw restaurants in your area you like whose menu you could study?

    I've been trying to impress people in the kitchen for almost 20 years so I probably go overboard on crowd-pleasing flavors like agave, hot peppers, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, etc. However, that's sometimes what it takes to make things palatable to me. I try to balance sweet, spicy, salty, acidic. So, your grapefruit and fennel salad sounds like a good start...but I'd add thinly sliced red cabbage, cilantro sprigs, and black sesame seeds, and a dressing of a little apple cider vinegar, a lot of agave, grated ginger and red pepper flakes.

  • Wow, these are all WONDERFUL comments and suggestions!

    Thank you thank you!

    I do adore sweets. I have quite the sweet tooth and actually have withdrawals if I don't eat sugar. lol

    For the flax seed pancakes, I used dark, and it was horrible. So I tried the golden flax seeds and it's a bit better.

    I did eat the flax seed pancakes for the fourth time and the tasted a bit more tolerable. My mom, a SAD eater, said they were really good and had a nutty flavor. [ hey maybe my mom will go raw with me ;) ]

    I also think some of my problem is I have dull taste buds or something. My favorite foods are very strong pungent ones. I LOVE mustard and dill pickles and olives, blu cheese. I just really love food with a strong flavor.

    I have stopped using salad dressing except for a bit of oil.

    Perhaps I should lay off the raw books for now and surf the recipes here a bit.

    Thank you .

  • eat more fruit, i run about 8-12 miles a day on fresh fruit. i do not get bored because I have come to terms with giving my body what it wants. :)

  • Oh my goodness that is a lot of running. My knees could not take it! lol

    It is so amazing learning about the concept of raw food....as a dietary choice....and finding that even within raw food, there are many different groups and avenues to choose from. I'm strongly leaning towards the mostly fruit idea since I love all fruit....except for durian, which I'm not even sure that is a fruit. Even fruit would give such a ride variety, and there is no mixing and spicing required. :)

  • Blue_EyesBlue_Eyes Raw Master

    I feel for ya! I have always HATED salads and not big on most fruit either. So yea it was rough in the beginning for me also. But good news here, you get a NEW set of taste buds every 10 DAYS and they form around what ever you are eating so if you continue to eat the (raw) things you do like, say for me bananas and peaches and grapes, then your buds will learn to LOVE them and they will learn to like others as well with time. There is a saying that some things are an "acquired taste" and that is what they are talking about you have to train the new buds.

    Good luck and hope you will be friends with good food soon (oh yeah there may still be things that you will just NEVER like)!!!!

  • Wow, cupcakes- that's a lot of really ambitious recipe attempts. I really find that simple things are better... fruits, smoothies with 5 or so ingredients, salad with a simple vinagrette... soaked nuts or sunflower seeds, ground with a little salt and lemon juice. All those books and recipes can really complicate things. I like variety, but a good variety of simple foods satisfies me more than trying something risky and mixing a lot of odd flavors. Wish you the best of luck!

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    I totally understand the taste thing - I HATED all the raw food I tried in the beginning. Then I realized that nothing had salt - blech! Another thing I had a hard time with was that the recipes in the books I bought used little or no fat. I started making my own food, with lots of salt, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, olive oil, nuts, avocados...I make food now that I really like. I have been doing this about 4 years, and I am sucessful at eating healthy because I use plenty of sea salt, lemon, oil, garlic, vinegar, spices, etc. I don't deprive myself AT ALL - I eat raw pie as often as I want it, and I don't worry about how much oil is in the dressing I put on top of my amazing salads...I eat what's good for me, and I find ways to make it taste delicious.

    If you're doing it to prove something to your boyfriend or anyone else, it sounds like you may just be setting yourself up for trouble. Eating healthy/raw isn't a contest, or a pass/fail thing like a school class. It's not a "diet". Just do what works best for you. :)

  • SuasoriaSuasoria Raw Newbie

    Angie, I would like to be invited over for dinner! Sounds like we have a similar palate!

    I also want really strong flavors in my food. Ugh. I can't handle bland food. I'd rather go hungry, seriously.

  • I am interested as to why you feel the need to follow recipes, especially when they involve ingredients you know you don't like! I suggest you make a salad out of veggies you DO like, or sub in veggies you like for the ones you don't like.

    I agree that simple staples are key. Dates and almond butter and apple sandwiches are one of mine. Do you like cereal? Try sprouting some grains such as buckwheat and eating that with a mashed banana, some cinnamon, and raisins. Mmmm.

    Our bodies tell us what they want. You will know when it is time to start eating broccoli!

    Good luck on your journey!

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