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From:	Betsy (156.33.112.215)
Subject:	Re: transition to raw vegan diet - how do I do this?
Date:	January 2, 2008 at 9:07 am PST

In Reply to: transition to raw vegan diet - how do I do this? posted by ellie on December 31, 2007 at 7:33 am:

Ellie,

I am transitioning to a raw diet myself.

I'd definitely recommend reading up on it--books by Gabriel Cousens or David Wolfe; websites like this one. Lots of info to be found about raw food and the vitamin/mineral/protein breakdowns. (Long story short about protein--fruits and vegetables do have protein as well as carbs; nuts are high in protein as well.)

You will find that this lifestyle takes planning and advance preparation. This is not to discourage you; my point is that "no cooking" doesn't necessarily equate "no preparation". Everything is from scratch, at least the way I am doing it.

It also takes equipment--a blender, a juicer, a food processor. I haven't gotten a dehydrator yet, but probably will in time. Unless all you eat are raw fruit and salad (and that could get boring real fast), you will need these tools, and some good recipes from books or the web.

I'm at lunch now--I brought a salad (greens, carrots, celery, mushrooms, radishes, soaked almonds) with a vinaigrette dressing; "tuna pate" (soaked sunflower seeds and soaked almonds whizzed in a food processor with water, salt, and lemon juice, then chopped onions, celery and parsley are stirred in); "cream of tomato soup" (tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, water, avocado, cumin and salt whizzed in the blender). It looks really beautiful--bright colors--and everything is very tasty. The book I got these recipes from is "Raw food made easy for 1 or 2 people" by Jennifer Cornbleet. These recipes ARE easy and don't require a dehydrator. I have bought other raw food books with more elaborate recipes, but I'm sticking to Jennifer until I get further along.

I hope I haven't been discouraging--this will take some work on your part. However, I think it is worth it. I'm really enjoying the food, and I feel great.

About 80-10-10--this is a diet by Dr. Douglas Graham. It's vegan and 80% of your calories come from carbohydrates, 10% from fat, and I'm not sure what the other 10% is (protein?)... supposedly it is less labor-intensive than a raw diet. There is another forum on Vegsource that talks about this diet (Raw & Sports--Graham); I'd go there for more info.

Hope this helps.

Betsy

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