Strange title, right? But stay with me – it’ll come together…

 

It all started when Elena and I went over to our friend Lisa’s house to visit. We were talking and laughing and enjoying ourselves when Lisa pulled out a blender of raw cucumber soup to share. She blended it up and served it with a pretty little tomato-basil garnish. I was flipping through a raw recipe book on her counter when she told me how she uses a raw food diet especially when she’s sick for healing and energy. As we sat there eating, I remembered that I made this before and it was a wonderful summer soup, cool and delicious. I’d been feeling tired and run ragged with all the end of the year activities, so I started playing with the idea of doing a few days of raw food to boost my energy levels.

I immediately dismissed the idea.

Why? I’d done a raw food diet in the past for about a week, so it wasn’t as though I didn’t know how to get started. There began the internal argument. If I do raw for any length of time, I’m going to have to go to the store and buy a bunch of veggies. There’s all that prep work that goes into eating raw, and I would have more limited eating out option. And what about my wine? Well, that was a bogus excuse not to go raw. Actually, they all were just excuses. I started thinking about why I’d want to try raw food again. The last time I went raw, by the end of the week I had so much energy that I was only sleeping 5-6 hours a night. Now, I’m a 7 solid hour-a-night girl, so this was odd. Sleeping 5 hours and feeling alert and light was attractive. Also, I have all the kitchen equipment that makes a raw food diet easier. A raw veggie cleanse might get me out of this junk food loop I’d fallen into lately. I was going to be near a Whole Foods the next day when I went to do surgery, so I could get stocked up. No more excuses – I decided to go for it and see how I felt eating raw. Since I also have Amazon in my arsenal, I ordered the raw food recipe book and made my grocery list.

 

Sweet spicy Thai salad with zucchini noodles

 

I started with the cucumber soup. Easy, peasy. While I was enjoying my soup, the small people started coming around to taste and they liked it too. I knew I had a winner when my husband came upstairs from his office cave to taste and ended up licking the bowl!

 

Raw cucumber gazpacho

 

The first thing I noticed was that I had to think ahead. Everything to eat in my house isn’t raw, so I had to prepare each meal for myself with a little more forethought than, “Gee, I wonder what’s in this frig that could be dinner today”. I searched the internet for ideas and pulled out my food processor and Vitamix.  Quite a few recipes needed some nuts or seeds soaked before the food could be prepared, so I had little bowls of ingredients lined up sitting in water on my counter. I figured this was going to turn out to be too much work with everything else I have to do, so I’d probably give up after a day or two.

 

But I didn’t. Partly because I’m hard headed, but also it was because I learned something else. When I put thought and energy into my food, I started to feel differently toward myself. By the middle of the week, I was feeling cared for and nourished, like I was important to consider amongst the other needs in the house. As a mom, I’m always looking to the needs of the family, so when there’s a time crunch, the first thing to get eliminated tends to be my needs. I’m absolutely positive that I’m not the only one doing that! Having fresh, delicious, colorful food to eat that I made for me said I was important too. The nice part is, I didn’t have to hope/ask/beg for someone to help me make it happen. i just needed to take a few extra minutes to put it together!

 

Raw vegan tacos (the filling was sunflower and pumpkin seeds with lots of spices)

 

The next thing I realized is that unless your family is joining you on the raw food journey, most of the recipes out there are too big for one. I had containers all over the refrigerator with leftovers that I needed to finish up. That presented a problem for several reasons: One, I don’t like to waste food, especially expensive Whole Foods prices food. Two, raw food doesn’t store for long before it spoils. Raw food is alive, with all the enzymes and beneficial bacteria that help you digest it, so it’s going to break down if you let it sit in the frig. The last problem surprised me: I thought I’d be hungry all the time eating this way, but I wasn’t. Maybe it was the nuts and seeds that filled me up, but probably not since I didn’t have those in all the meals.  I think it was also that eating this clean took away my taste and cravings for junky food. I just didn’t want it.

 

Raw corn chowder with an avocado scramble topped with marinated mushrooms, spinach and tomato

 

It’s been a week, and I’m back to sleeping 5-6 hours a night. I felt light and loose on my walk yesterday morning, and I’m going to get my garden planted early this morning as soon as the sun comes up. When will I go back to cooked food? I don’t know – I may stay with this for awhile. I just bought some kelp noodles that look really good, and I want to try some recipes with those. The kids and I made some raw mexican hot chocolate dessert balls, so I have my chocolate fix. I’m not feeing rigid about this raw food plan. When my coworker offered me some of her fried mushrooms yesterday, I ate some (and they were delicious!). And sometimes I miss warm food, so we shall see. Right now, I feel good in my body and my spirit eating this way. That’s the best reason I can think of the keep going!

 

Ice cream made from frozen bananas and blue spirulina algae (ok, that’s a rare ingredient!)

 

Have you ever tried a raw foods diet? Would you like to see some recipes to try out at home? Please share in the comments below!