Guest guest Posted January 19, 2003 Report Share Posted January 19, 2003 Thanks, Attila, that's very true & insightful. Each of us has a different experience. I've been asked this question many times, so I looked up one of the responses that I wrote recently to someone who emailed me. I've been told by other raw fooders that this is similar to their experiences, so I'll paste it below, Monte, in hopes it will prove helpful. Nora Let me give you a typical day, say 0-5 months into being raw: Morning, 8-9 a.m. (tried to put off eating longer, but still haven't conquered that one): a large smoothie consisting of frozen bananas, dates, almond milk. Mid-day, 11:00-11:30 (had to have a big meal before heading out for my day's work): either a large salad with greens, tomatoes, avocados, sunflower seeds or pine nuts and seed/nut-based dressing (lots), or sunflower seed pate (recipe in Raw Gourmet by Nomi Shannon) with carrots, cucumbers, celery and radishes for dipping. Afternoon: I drive about 4 hours each day, so I'd have bananas or dates and almonds, or raisins and almonds (yikes, bad combos) while driving, or in the beginning I'd always have flax crackers on hand or dried almonds that had been marinated in nama shoyu (addictive, be warned). Evening: Usually, around 5 or so I'd have strawberry/macadamia/date "cream" (resembled yogurt) with apples for dipping, or almond butter spread thickly on apple slices, or sometimes I'd have green juice (kale or lettuce, celery, tomatoes, apples) and/or flax crackers (recipe in Raw Power). If I got hungry later on, I'd have more of any of the above. What I did basically was try lots of different recipes in the beginning and settle on a half dozen or so that I really loved. I ate them whenever I wanted, and in whatever quantities necessary to satisfy. I also ate things that had been favorites for years like salads and smoothies, as when I ate those things I could forget about going raw and feel normal again! Most importantly, I didn't limit myself. I wanted to enjoy that feeling of being able to eat till I was full without guilt, and I knew I would weaken if I tried to just endure the hunger. Eating my fill without guilt was my compensation for feelings of deprivation for having to live without without cooked food! After about a year of being raw, I was still eating things like almond milk and bananas together, or apples and almond butter. But ultimately I had to give this up, as my body became stronger and had the renewed vitality to inform me that it was the wrong thing to do (nuts and fruits are not friends, digestively speaking). When this happened I just switched from making smoothies with almond milk to coconut water. Eventually I found that I no longer wanted smoothies at all. I think I've had one smoothie in the last year, which is really remarkable considering they had been a staple of my diet for 13 years or so. This is just one example of how leaving unhealthy things behind seems to be almost effortless, even though you imagine you'll never be able to give them up. At least that's been my experience. I also found that eating nuts and other concentrated foods (like dried fruit and avocados) drained me of energy if I ate them during the day, so I eventually had to start eating only fruit and greens until evening. Now I eat much more simply. I usually have juicy fruit in the morning (melon in summer, citrus in winter), more fruit at lunch time (right now I'm eating lots of persimmons), but I also eat whatever's in season or have blended coconuts (water and meat blended in a Vitamix) or durian (also blended so I can eat it while driving, yes, I'm bad). When I get home in the afternoon I have green juice or more fruit, then I have either greens and nuts in the evening or a salad. Lately I've slipped a bit as I invented a new salad dressing, which I had given up previously. As combinations go, it's not bad, and I find that it leaves me feeling less sluggish the next day compared to when I eat nuts. Sunflower Seed dressing/pate 1 cup sunflower seeds 1/2 cup lemon juice 1/2-1 cup arugula, to taste 6 radishes 1/4 cup cilantro or sorrel Blend in Vitamix. Make thickly to use as a dip for celery sticks, add water for a dressing over salad greens. attila madaras wrote: > So what does everyone eat on a typical day? Does it > vary a lot, or > more routine? How often do you eat (on average)? > > > everyone starts with a various, complicated sense of creativity ... but that gets simpler as one "matures" into the new lifestyle ... that is "typical" to each and every one according to one's typical physical , genetical, historical habitual, seasonal, geografical,spiritual constitution... yes, it varies a lot in the beginning, and then it gets more unimportant what one eats, how many times one eats, ie. it becomes a routine, just like anything else in life similar in character ... this takes someone six month to arrive at, while others need six years ... people with a well structured , better grounded, more stable , more reality oriented input with a strong,healthy selfesteem integrate easier the new idea and act on it more naturally ... others with a more "troubled" background will have more things to deal with at the same time , like multiple addictions , shortrange kind of thinking method, overemotio- nalism in their approach to reality and facts ... many, many factors ... and this is why it is almost impossible to give you an "average", a "cross-section" , or a typical recipe ...however one should be clear about why one is doing it ... how important it is in one's life ie. where does a radical change in lifestyle such as this fit in the scale of one's value system ... because this is not a change in diet, this is an overall change in lifestyle, very radical, very different, very worth the effort to experience it, regardless of the outcome ... there is a whole lot to learn... and a fantastic and funny way of growing...attila Mail Plus - Powerful. 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