Newby has questions!

[Axelrod29]

hey everyone! i have always considered my eating habits really healthy. I eat only whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, chicken, turkey, and sometimes soups. Im 17, so all my friends eat Mcdonalds and pizza and chips. Im disgusted by that. I exercise everyday and feel like my friends are poisoning their bodies. I just found out about this raw diet and i went to the store and got some products. Besides fruits and vegetables, i got some questionable items.

1-organic almond milk..is this living? maybe not
2-organic almond butter..i figure if i cant eat chicken, ill have almond butter sandwhiches(sprouted ofcourse)
3-organic rice crackers(the only ingredient is rice)

are these items ok??
are they living?

[So New to Raw]

Dear Axelrod29:

I am a raw newbie myself. May I suggest a good book? It is Living Cuisine by Renee Underkoffler. You can get the book out of the library.

I must say that unfortunately, most of the rawist I have encountered have taken courses those a raw certification and everyone is selling their stuff. If you want information and don't want to buy, they have sort of a slight attitude.

Don't get discourage. Get an education. I have been researching this lifestyle for a while now and there is a lot of good info on the Internet.

Try's Renee's book. It got some really good reviews on Amazon and I rely on reviews before I make a purchase.

I guess we will be learning together. Welcome.

So New to Raw

[nothinkingbehind]

Hi Axelrod,

Welcome to the forum. There is a difference between raw foods nad living foods. I think there was a discussion about it a few weeks back if you want to go check it out. Raw is anything that has not been heated above 115 (with a couple of degree difference depending on who you talk to) but living food is anything that would grow if you tried to sprout it or grow it in some way. Greenbunny probably has a lot more information on this than I do.... I'm only about 2 months into this.

Almond milk that you make at home is raw, the stuff you get in a package at the store is not. Neither item is living. Sunflower seeds are a good example of living food. You could sprout it and grow it into a plant.

That's not to say that you have to be 100% raw all the time, it depends on what your goals are and where you are in your life right now. I think you have a great advantage over your peers! It sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders ( I wish I had had half as much sense at your age!) and so SoNewToRaw has a good suggestion, you should do some reading. There is a not of new info on raw and living foods all the time.

There is lots of info on this stie as well as other places on the internet. Do some google searches and start reading.

Welcome again, and feel free to jump in to the discussions here!

Melissa

[greenbunny]

Welcome to the site!

It's fabulous that you are getting going with this so young. I wasn't all that much older than you when I started and really wished that I had had someone who knew anything about it to talk it over with -but I was the only person around doing this back then that I could find. I read one book and off I went.

Melissa was a just a little mistaken with her definition of raw vs. live as far as I can make out. I believe that Raw is anything that hasn't been heated over 115 degrees or so like she said. That would include raw nuts. But raw nuts are not live food. Their life force is held in that seed, where as a sprouted seed is a living food. So a sunflower seed is raw and a sunflower seed that has been soaked or sprouted is alive. At least this is my understanding. This differentiation and wording is a relatively new concept and therefore I don't know all that much about it. I'm not very hip with this stuff. I'm still working basically off of concepts that are way over 20 years old (from back when I started).

If I were to go back in time and give myself advice I would say to myself:

"You don't have to do it all at once, fast, do strange things or make such a big deal out of this!"

I would tell myself to change just one thing every three months in order for it to become a long term habit. I just wanted it all changed so fast that I ended screwing myself up and going so much slower. This is a long term dietary change that you want yourself to also be doing when you are 30, 50 and 80 years old. All the fasting and false starts and rollercoastering around set me back. All I had to do was go slow and I would have gone much much faster.

It took me 15 years to figure that out. (Not any great genius am I!)

I also have known people that can make the transition instantaneously and relatively permanently - so it is possible - but just in case you want to go slower, I'll be the elder that tells you that it's ok.

Now, as far as getting this thing figured out... It's really simple: Fresh fruits, vegetables and soaked or sprouted seeds (things that if you planted them in the gound would grow (like nuts, beans, grains, legumes etc.) make up the raw food diet. Couldn't be simpler. If it's been heated over 115 - 118 degrees it's no longer up for grabs. All those crackers, prepared foods, almond milks and butters are out of the picture unless they specifically say raw and if there are seeds in it has to specifically say that the seeds were soaked. So, it's easy. Eat fruit and salads and soak some seeds to put on your salads. All the rest is extra. There are so many great recipes for all sorts of complicated stuff that you will need gadets to make - but that's for entertainment and taste value. If you are in school, which I imagine you are, eat salads and fruit and soak some raw seeds over night and rinse them the next day and put them on your salad. Walla! you are then a raw foodist and a live foodist.

Yes, Melissa is right, people are trying to make all sorts of money out of this thing. It makes me kinda sick. It goes against my grain. It used to be that raw food had a certain culture of generosity, sharing, freedom and openness. Some of that is being lost because of greed.... but not here!!!!!

Ask anything and I will explain it to you as will the others on this great site. I know that I know more than 99% of the books out there because I've been out there living and experimenting with it for so long. There is no charge at all to pick my (and the other experienced people here) brains. It's here for anyone who wants it. Just ask.

Greenbunny

[nothinkingbehind]

I knew greenbunny would say it better than I did

Yes, what she said about raw versus live is what I was trying to say. So soaked sunflower seeds are live, but if you take them and grind them with some water for sunflower seed "milk", then that milk is still raw, but not live. Right, GB? Or am I still a little off on this?

She also gave you a good basis for transitioning to raw. Going slow has worked well for me. You will know what works best for you if you listen to your body carefully.

Oh, and it wasn't me that mentioned people who
are trying to make money from raw. And although I am all for using your skills to make a living, many times that is not the case. We are a supportive and free forum here. Great discussions and lots of information.

I'm actually doing a great deal of experimenting with foods this weekend.... I'll post anything that comes out well!

Melissa

[greenbunny]

Hey Melissa,

Sorry if I accused to of some weird thing. I didn't even mean to accuse anyone really. There is nothing wrong with making money selling raw products or books. What bugs me is that often the new products aren't even raw and they are labeled raw out of greed and expediency and some of the books I've looked at in recent years seem to be written by people who aren't even all raw themselves or haven't been more than a couple of minutes and send people in very strange directions. I also took offense at Whole Foods refusing to share any recipes with customers because they were afraid of them just making the stuff for themselves. Well, most people know how to make tuna salad yet still tuna salad is sold at every deli across the nation. I mean, one of the great tenants of raw foods years ago was sharing. If they would share with the raw food community then the community would share back. Instead, most of their foods I can't even eat and they don't seem to want to hear about it. There isn't sharing in either direction. And, if you are going to promote food as raw, then make sure that it is! And if you are going to write a book about something that another person is putting out their money to buy, make sure it's correct, you know what you're talking about, walking the walk and it has value. I'm certainly not saying that even most books are poor, I've just run into some. I wrote to one author asking how they came up with some of the things they delineated in their book as I couldn't imagine how they were true (famous author) and could not get a response. People believe this stuff that they read. They believe scientists and doctors that claim they know. Just because someone was able to get a book published doesn't mean that everything they write is gospel or that they really are an expert. It's worrisome but bound to happen as this way of eating gets more popular. Making money in an honest and worthy way is great. There are some companies and authors out there that are real blessings.

But here, we are all chatting away and not claiming to be doctors or experts, just people that have done it, are trying to do it and who want to share with each other. I love that. I really really love that.

Oh, and live vs. raw.... I don't know! I find it all semantic actually. I just eat things that have enzymes still in them. That's my criteria and if they are called live or raw doesn't matter much to me. I tend to call everything raw because usually if it's live then it's raw but not necessarily the other way around. I've had to change what I call myself. I've gone from saying that I eat live food to I eat raw food because of these new definitions. Sorry I can't help more. It's confusing to me too.

Greenbunny