I've been curious to see if there are any others who are eating mostly raw vegan. I started it a little over two weeks ago and so far am loving it. What's been wonderful about it so far is NO MORE Headaches!! I can't believe I was having headaches daily and always reaching for tylenol or ibuprofin all the time for them. I really don't want to live like that for the rest of my life.

I do get bouts of wanting to cave and eat what others are eating (like pizza)
but I just grab more fruit and so far its been helping with me wanting to cave.
PIzza is in the back of my mind often.lol

I'm really looking forward to the warmer weather and eating like this, especially through the summer. I'm a big fruit eater during the summer and can eat watermelon and cherries all day long.lol

Well, just wanted to see if I am the only one here eating this way.. If so, that's okay and if not, its good to not be alone!

I am slowly eating more raw but I don't plan on going 100% raw. I try to eat 1 raw meal a day and try to have raw snacks.

Hello there! I have chronic daily headaches/migraines. I was wondering, do you think it was the dairy that was causing your headaches? Did you ever try to go dairy free before you went raw or did you go straight to raw? Congrats to you! I might try to do the same thing, even though I'm such an addict. Also, can you describe (if you don't mind) what a typical day looks like in terms of food?

Thanks....even if you don't have a chance to respond...thanks for the great idea!

Hi, thanks for the replies!

Funsize~ That's pretty good that you are going for atleast one raw meal and the raw snacks. If I could get the rest of my family to atleast do that, I bet they'd feel pretty good!

Luckymommy~ Well, I had already cut out most dairy except when I'd cave for pizza delivery.lol I'd rarely consume any kind of dairy, so I don't think it was the cause of my headaches? Right now, I haven't a clue as to what else could have been causing them. Although I was eating pretty horribly at times with junk food.

As for how I've been eating, I'm definately consuming lots of fruit! My first meal is all fruit til I feel pretty full. Sometimes its a big bowl of bananas and strawberries, even though I've heard those two shouldn't be mixed. For some reason I love the combination of those two in the morning. If I don't have that, I'll eat lots of melon or several bananas.
Then maybe a few hours later, I'll have another big serving of fruit. It varies on whatever I feel like.

A few after that, is when I make a huge green smoothie. The smoothie has been either romaine or spinach for my greens and then some bananas and pineapple or I'll do my greens with bananas, grapes and a little bit of apple. I tried bananas and blue berries but that was way too sweet for me. It was probably due to mixing it with the spinach since that green seems to be pretty mild.
Later for dinner I'll have a Huge salad with tomatoes, cucumber, red bellpepper and whichever greens I feel like. That salad is gigantic!
Then sometimes if I'm hungry later, I'll have some oranges or grapes or bananas.

I haven't added in any nuts or seeds yet and so far am keeping it pretty simple. I'm not completely raw though either because I do still use commercial light or fat free salad dressing. I can't seem to find any raw dressings that I like yet and if my yummy salad dressing keeps me coming to my big salad, I don't think it will hurt much that it's commercial.

Good for you remee!

I ate all raw last year for 24 days, but have kept the green smoothie in my diet ever since. I'm actually going to start again tomorrow. I'm looking forward to feeling better and not being congested anymore from the dairy. I'll probably be eating mostly fruit and big salads, going to try some savory green smoothies this time. I'll probably eat nuts that aren't raw so it won't be 100% but close enough for me.

Hi Bigknitter! Congrats on starting again. HOw's it going raw now that you are trying it again? I did have a day or so recently where I felt like my weight was stalled and it kind of led me to caving on a couple little things. I always tend to do that to myself, so it's always been hard to get to my final goal. I snapped out of it though before I let myself get out of control and realize that I am feeling better now. It kind of reaffirmed that this is for me.

I too am doing green smoothies. I feel better when I get one in each day!
Oh, and even if you eat nuts that aren't raw, I think with all you are doing, it's still pretty awesome!

Well I realized that we have a bit of food that we need to use up, like squash and sweet potatoes so we will work on that before going all the way raw. I did do all raw but dinner today and it will be that way for a few more days I think. I didn't have enough food this morning so I was pretty hungry but recovered later lol I went through my raw recipe books too to get some ideas for stuff other than smoothies and salad. When I did the raw last year it was great! I lost weight so quickly and had so much energy and felt fantastic, even my mood overall was so much better. I know I will feel great again once I get back into the swing of it. And this time I'm aiming to do it at least until I reach my goal.

which cook books do you recommend? i don't need pics, just variation.

I have Rawvolution and Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People, and Sweet Gratitude for desserts but I haven't used that one yet. Rawvolution is more artsy but has some great looking ideas. Raw Food Made Easy is more basic, no pictures at all. I've checked out a bunch of others from the library but wasn't impressed enough to buy any of them. And really you could probably find all of the same recipes or variations of them online lol But I love books

Hi again!
Bigknitter~ So, how's it going now? Have you been finishing off the cooked foods and adding in more raw? I tell ya.. It's amazing the difference one feels when eating mostly raw! It's such a great feeling, isn't it?

Jlady~ Hi! I wish I could help out with a cook book but I've been relying on keeping everything super simple. I guess the only thing I've even "made" was a raw spaghetti that I found browsing online. Unfortunately I won't be trying that again though. For some reason, zucchini makes my mouth and throat itch like crazy and then I pay for it the next day with lots of trips to the bathroom.

I did end up going all raw, well pretty much, I'm not cooking food anyway! It's the 5th day now and the first two were rough, as I expected but I'm feeling pretty great today, and I'm already down 3 pounds The Boyfriend is doing it with me too which helps, though he said he almost caved today lol He owns a convenience store and it can be hard resisting all of the junk.

I have to admit I don't really use the cookbooks that much, but I did make some things that I dehydrated like onion bread and veggie burgers. I just know myself and right now I don't want to be bored with food. Last time I just did smoothies and fruit and salads, actually mostly fruit with a lot of green smoothies. It is nice to be able to have some other ideas for meals when I think I can't handle another salad!

Congrats on the weightloss! How cool to see you have someone to do this with! I'd totally love that but I think it can be hard for some people sometimes.

Owning a convenience store would probably make it hard for me too some days. If I'm not eating enough and go into a store, I can be in pretty big trouble.lol

RAWk On Bigknitter!
(Hey, that may make a cute t-shirt. "RAWk On".lol)

I've been playing around with a raw food diet for a few years now. I can tell you that when I stay raw I feel wonderful. I think it's partly because I eliminate caffiene, wheat, soy, dairy, etc., all things that can cause allergies in many people.

Can I post a link here? If so, check out ~
RawFoodTalk.com
GoneRaw.com

Raw Food Talk has a monthly challenge and I'm in for the month of May. Lots of green smoothies, fresh fruit and salads. I have the book by Alissa Cohen, Living on Live Foods, ordered from the website, and although it's a bit pricy, I recommend it to anyone who is serious about making a commitment to eating raw. There are many delicious recipes on the two sites above, so don't think you can't dive in without a "cook book".

You can do a search for raw salad dressing recipes, there are many out there.

My plan for today is as follows ~

*Smoothie with blueberries, banana and romaine lettuce
*Fresh pineapple, a red grapefuit, and apple for snacking
*Coleslaw with raisins, walnuts, carrots and vinaigrette
*Salad with lettuce, tomato, cuke, onion, avacado, mushrooms, red pepper, and apple cider vinager and olive oil dressing

Maybe we can motivate each other to eat more raw

Thanks for the links Catherine! I have to say I already had those sites in my favorites.

I love how I feel when I stay raw as well. If I go ahead and eat something like fries from a fast food place, I notice right away how horrible I already start feeling. I literally get the headaches again. It makes me wonder what it is in those foods that gives me the headaches.

I was eating raw all but dinner for about 2 weeks and saw a huge improvement in my energy and then slipped up mostly due to budgetary issues. I'm going to see if I can make it better in June to where I can stay on budget and eat mostly raw.

I don't know if I could ever go totally raw but I don't mind doing all but dinner raw.