Hi All!

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Permalink Reply by Wendeeeeee on February 7, 2009 at 7:27pm

He Shandra...I am new as well. I haven't actually gone raw yet...I am still in the research and info gathering stage right now. I would also welcome any advice as well!!

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Permalink Reply by Shandra on February 8, 2009 at 3:29pm

You got it sister! I'm not 100% raw yet, either. I started dabbling in some green smoothies and I made this awesome cauliflower dish. Have you read the book, "12 Steps to raw food"? I read it twice while I was on vacation. It's pretty much what convinced me to go raw. You should read it, it's helpful to know what mind set you need to be in and how to overcome temptations for our addiction to cooked food. :)

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Permalink Reply by rawpomona on February 8, 2009 at 3:52pm

Hi Shandra -- I'm pretty new too; I've been mostly raw for about a month. Love Victoria Boutenko's books too: you should check out Green for Life and Raw Family too.

Stay the course! You're worth it!

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Permalink Reply by Shandra on February 8, 2009 at 5:23pm

Thanks! I will definitely do that. I was actually going to head over to barnes and noble today and look for more books on raw food so I'll look for those.

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Permalink Reply by jodykwik on February 8, 2009 at 6:21pm

hey Shandra...yeah, i spent about 18 months transitioning, and one of the reasons was my fear of going through the cold without the 'warming' enegy of cooked food...which I found ultimately to be a construct of my mind more than of my body. I just have to say how excellent it is to read of your journey when you live in Alaska! All the best with the transition and the knowledge gathering--there's such great info out there. peace.

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Permalink Reply by Shandra on February 8, 2009 at 8:35pm

There is! I'm so glad I found this website, too. Everyone is so supportive. Thanks Paul!

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Permalink Reply by Stefanie Masters on February 16, 2009 at 9:59am

HI there Shandra! My name is Stefanie and I grew up in Alaska!! :) I moved down to WI to be with my best friend (my husband now), about 3 years ago. My mom and dad are still up there, and we are planning a trip this year to see them.

I too am transitioning along with my husband Dave. We started at the end of January, and we are learning alot, but it is difficult. I read all I could for over a month before we actually went raw, and we are not yet 100%. That is our goal.

The thing that has been MOST helpful for me is having a vitamix.... I have just learned that you can make soup out of ANYTHING....just throw it in the vitamix, and the trick is to add crunchy stuff to the soup base.... You can't go wrong :)

Other than that we have gotton into the habit of eating the same thing every morning....and a habit is good, that way I don't even think about it, I just do it. So for example, we have a orange juice/bananna smoothie for breakfast, then I have 2 apples for a snack, then a big salad for lunch. I change up the ingredients to what ever I have in the fridge, or change the dressing.

Now I am still VERY NEW, and emotionally I am having a hard time around dinner. I teach very late classes in the evening and upon arriving home, really want cooked food. So I am trying to work on the emotional response and keep some fruit in my purse so that I am not starving when I get home. Dinner is usually a zuchinni cut up like noodles and we make a sauce out of tomatoes and nuts.

I don't know if this will help, but I wanted to jump in here and make a connection.

In Dance - Stefanie

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Permalink Reply by Shandra on February 17, 2009 at 12:22pm

Thanks Stefanie! That's awesome you're from up here! Where abouts? You sound like you're right about where I am with the raw-ism :P I started around the end of January. I usually drink green lemonade for breakfast with some fresh fruit midway through the day and then a salad for lunch as well. I just made the BEST dressing last night. I found it in that Raw Food Detox Diet book...it's Carrot-GInger and it's AMAZING! I could eat it all by itself. Thanks for your support. When are you planning your trip up here?

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Permalink Reply by Plethora on March 16, 2009 at 2:50pm

Hi Shandra. I live on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska with my husband and 3 kids. We've been raw since Nov '08. I'm really looking forward to summer and the Saturday markets! Bring on the locally grown kale! : )

We didn't really transition to raw but our eating prior to going raw was already very different because we didn't eat gluten. In looking for GF crackers I could make for the kids I learned about live dehydrated crackers and breakfast cereal. So I'd been making those for about 6 months and the thought, "ALL raw would be even better" kept popping up. I bought all the raw books the Homer bookstore had to offer, then ordered more. I kept reading, kept thinking it was the way to go.

For several weeks my goal was just, "Increase the amount of raw we eat." 100% raw seemed so far away and I didn't really see myself reaching it. And more often then not I failed at "more raw" though almost always breakfast was raw. Then I got sick and just didn't have the time to be sick! : ) So I vowed to eat only raw the next day. I just knew my body would heal faster. My husband said he'd join me.

By the end of the next day I felt great! No coughing and I had energy. My husband was pain free (joints). So there we were comparing how good we felt at the end of the day, and neither one of us wanted to eat cooked food. More days went by and we knew we weren't going back.

How is it going for you now?

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Permalink Reply by Shandra on March 19, 2009 at 2:22am

Plethora, I hear ya on the Saturday markets! I can't wait for summer. Thanks for sharing your story! Things aren't going quite as planned for me. I seem to psych myself out too much by telling myself I can't have this or I can't have that and then I want this and that soooo much more! I need to find an alternative to my cravings. I keep wanting nuts and I know it can't be good to eat a whole bag of almonds!

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Permalink Reply by Rob Hoover on May 5, 2009 at 5:12pm

Hi,
I have been mostly raw vegan for three months and am always hungry until I got extra virgin coconut oil and started taking it. Now I fell really full and not like I am starving. I highly recommend this for transitioning!
Rob

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Permalink Reply by Shandra on May 6, 2009 at 1:49am

Thanks for the tip Rob, I just bought some raw coconut oil. I will give that a try for sure!

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