As some of you may know, at the beginning of this year I made the commitment to go 100% Raw for 30 days. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I felt incredible, had more energy than ever, and felt a certain lightness that I’ve never experienced while eating other diets.
Since then, I’ve modified my eating to about 60-80% raw. Some of the challenges I’ve faced have been:
- How to manage sharing meals with a non-raw eater.
- Finding variety.
- Overcoming cravings for cooked and unhealthy foods.
My biggest challenge has been overcoming the social aspect of eating raw. Since my wife is not a raw eater (she eats a lot of raw food, but has no interest in being 100% raw), this was particularly challenging for me. Part of the way she shows love and affection is by cooking for me. I don’t want to take away that intimacy from our relationship, so I’ve compromised a lot of the time on what I will eat.
The reason I’m telling you this
I’m a firm advocate of having a social network of support whenever you want to make a big lifestyle change. I did this while making the shift to working for myself, and it helped tremendously. I’ve applied a similar approach with many other interests I wanted to pursue, but not with eating raw.
Since I’m trying to change that, I thought it would be cool to get raw expert, Nathalie Lussier, on the phone to answer my and your questions about what it takes to eat raw.
On the call we’ll be talking about:
- What eating raw means, and why it’s such a big deal.
- What to do when your spouse or partner isn’t raw, but you want to be.
- Dealing with social situations while maintaining the raw lifestyle.
- How to overcome unhealthy food cravings for good.
I’m really excited about this chance to talk with Nathalie, and get some of the insights she’s gained through coaching people to become raw.
How to get on the call
When: Wednesday, October 21st at 2pm Pacific, or 5pm Eastern.
How much is it? It’s totally free.
Will it be recorded? Yes, if you can’t make it to the live call, it will be recorded and emailed to you. But you must register in order to get the link to the recording.
Click here to join us, and reserve your spot on the call.
Remember, even if you can’t make it to the live call, it will be recorded. So make sure you register to reserve a spot.
See you Wednesday.
Hey Jonathan,
Are you going to do a follow up post about raw food? Would you be able to put up some sort of… example day of eating? (For a lazy man interested in upping the raw food intake :) )
Cheers,
Andrew
That’s interesting. I tried a raw diet and found it’s pretty easy to do in the summer, but nightmarish in the winter. Some days, when you come in from the freezing, the last thing you want to do is munch on a salad. Looking forward to your follow up post or recording. Please ask him for suggestions for coping with raw diets in very cold winter climates. Thank you.
Very cool stuff Jonathan! – I’m looking forward to reading/hearing more on this. I’ve just made a huge step toward adopting a vegetarian diet, although I’m not sure I could go completely vegan. – I definitely see the advantage of eating raw.
An example day of eating raw would be great. I’m taking baby steps by eliminating meat from my diet and focusing more on fish, veggies, fruit, and whole grains.
LeadTheWayOut.com
What difference does cooking food make in it’s health benefits?
Jonathan –
I truly understand the social aspect. My wife and I love cooking. It’s definitely a hobby for us and something that we enjoy doing together. I can certainly see where it would be tough when one person in the relationship is non-raw.
Very cool that you’re doing the call. I’m definitely interested in hearing more about this.
What an awesome opportunity you’ve opened up for people here. Way to go.
I’ve only eaten a raw diet for a short amount of time. I can understand the benefits but vegan for 6 days a week is going to be my limit :)
During your 30 day trial try and go 100% for a week, the difference between even 90% and 100% is amazing. I tried this same thing little over a year ago and since have been yo-yoing from 40% raw 100%.
The biggest thing I can say about going 100% is that cooked food is not appealing. That’s not to say they don’t smell good or you won’t have cravings, theres just an inner feeling “that’s going to make me feel so heavy”.
Takes about 4-5 days to get to that point while your digestive system clears, for both me and my wife day 2 & 3 were difficult feeling rather lethargic. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned food stays with you. After eating 100% raw for about 4 months I ate a few slices of homemade bread and felt it passing through for the next couple days, with a significant difference overall.
With your wife, understood, one potential idea: get a raw cook book and go through it together. Often when it comes to showing affection it’s about the care that goes into the preparation rather than what is being prepared. Waking up from a nap with a smoothie has been a wonderful treat from my wife on many occasions since beginning this journey.
No need to go buy a bunch of gadgets, and warm water works well to take the chill off things in the winter, either mixed in or left soaking for a few minutes.
For anyone wondering why you would want to eat raw. All food heated above 118 (some say 116) degrees Fahrenheit causes an immune response. This is the same response that an allergy causes, difference is an “allergy” is a stronger immune response. That temperature is also the range where nutrients begin to break down into toxins. If you’d like to know more there’s libraries worth of documentation available in Google, search for raw food nutrition and look for credible articles, lot’s of hype though the science and physiological response is hard to argue with.
Hi Jonathan –
I downloaded the Raw Food call you had with Nathalie Lussier the other day, and it was great! I really enjoyed hearing what you each contributed to the conversation.
The extra-awesome part is that I can listen to it as often as I’d like to help keep me motivated toward my own health and holistic goals!
Thank you!
Hey everyone!
I just wanted to chime in and let you know that I’ll be sharing tons of “weekly menus” in my program, if that’s what is stopping you from trying out raw food.
Thank you to everyone who signed up for the call, called in or listened to the recording! I’m really excited to be sharing this information with all you. :)
Nathalie
Some favorite raw food recipe resources:
Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. (Unfortunately her url aniphyo.com was grabbed by some spammer)
Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook
By Valya Boutenko
The Raw 50: 10 Amazing Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Drinks for …
By Carol Alt, David Roth
Wendi Dee’s PureJeevan.com — she gives away an ebook of delicious recipes if you sign up for her email newletter.
Hey there – just discovered your blog. I’m a vegan of 2 years and veggie of 8 years who very much wants to try raw. At the moment I’m trying to cut back on processed foods as a step towards this goal… and tend towards whole foods.
It awesome to find your blog and also Leo’s. Two positively minded veg bloggers! Now here’s a network I could be part of.
Ali
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself or create too many rules. Your body knows what it needs and in 99% of cases a healthy body will crave the right foods. Our minds get in the way by labeling some foods good and other bad. We’re all made of the same stuff. Abraham Hicks has a great quote on food…I paraphrase “When you condemn a food you suffer the vibrational effects of it without even consuming.” This goes for food and everything.