How to Choose the Best Raw Food Diet for You

I've designated this topic as moderately challenging, although for some lucky people out there, it seems to be pretty easy! :) Anyway, the main types of raw food diets out there are the high fruit or 80/10/10 and high fat/ gourmet. Of course, there are also raw diets that focus on superfoods, and the various forms of juice feasting and cleansing. I'll focus on the main two and talk about some issues to think about when choosing a diet to follow and how to transition.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Books/ articles/ audio/ videos
• Desire and determination
• An ability to listen to your intuition/ your body
• Support from others

1. 
    

   First establish what your relationship is with food right now. If you're used to heavy foods and tend to crave protein or fat, you may want to start on raw food with the gourmet version of the diet. This includes recipes like lasagne, burgers, pizza, breads, cereals, and great desserts! All these recipes are a major step up from their conventional counterparts. They use whole, fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds. They're filling, flavorful, and will help you heal from disease. If you've been overeating and have weight to lose, it can come off easily even eating high fat raw foods like these. Check out recipe books Living on Live Foods, Rawvolution, and Raw Food Real World for meal ideas.
   
   If you enjoy lighter foods already or tend to crave sugars, try a low fat fruit and vegetable based diet. These foods are the easiest to digest, the most cleansing, and the freshest. Check out the book The 80/10/10 Diet.

2. You may want to take your metabolism or blood type into account when choosing a diet. Those with higher metabolisms will probably thrive on a higher fat, higher calorie diet, and those with low metabolism can keep the weight from piling on with a low fat, fruit based diet.
   
   People with Type O blood tend to need more fatty, filling foods, and should also make sure to get enough leafy green vegetables for iron, calcium and protein.
   People who have Type A blood thrive on vegan diets, and are probably better off with the high fruit diet.

3. 
    

   You can read everything out there on the raw food diet, or try to get in touch with your intuition, or both. A lot of the information out there can be confusing and conflicting (though all of it says a raw food diet will eliminate diseases!) while your intuition can guide you down the right path. Make sure not to confuse your intuition or your body's true needs with physical or psychological addictions.

4. Decide whether you want to aim for a 100% raw food diet or keep some cooked food in your diet. Keeping some cooked food can make the social issues easier, especially if you have dinner parties or dine out a lot. However, if you want the benefits of eating 100% raw, it's fairly easy to find something you can eat at most restaurants.

5. 
    

   Decide whether you want to transition to raw foods slowly or quickly. The faster you do it, the faster you will cleanse, so be prepared! Several people have gone 100% raw overnight, healed an illness, and never looked back. This isn't for everyone though.
   
   If you want to take it slow, you can use food addition and/or subtraction. For addition, make a list of foods or meals to start adding regularly. For example, start eating at least 3 servings of raw fruits a day, then add a few servings of vegetables, etc. For subtraction, make a list of all the foods you'd like to get rid of. Choose one each week or month and just give it up. Start with the foods that you believe are the most damaging to you. There are differing opinions on this, but obviously the more refined, processed, or chemically laden ones can be near the top.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't guilt trip yourself if you slip up when trying to eat all raw. Your body is amazing and can do pretty well with just about anything. This is just about giving it the optimum nutrition so you can function at your best. If you're in a life and death situation (i.e. cancer), consider checking into an institute where you can stay on a raw food and recover:
• www.optimumhealth.org, www.creativehealthinstitute.com, www.hippocratesinst.com
• Don't be pulled in by raw food leaders who try to get their message across through fear. They may have helpful information, but going into a raw food diet out of a fear of cooked food or anything else can throw your life out of balance. Go into it with love for your body and the desire to have more energy and a higher state of health.

Resources

• Raw Food Info
• Living on Live Food
• 80/10/10 Diet
• Rawvolution
• Raw Food Real World

[Alisiane]

on 10/9/2008 This is a well balanced, well thought out and informative article. I like your comments about the right and wrong motivations.

[Alisiane]

on 10/9/2008 This is a well balanced, well thought out and informative article. I like your comments about the right and wrong motivations.

[heatherschulte]

on 8/1/2008 Good information.