raw foods: Someone else mentioned raw food in relation to another question earlier and I just wondered what people on a diet like that eat? Obviously raw food, but what sorts of meals do they have? Is it filling? I think I'd struggle on a diet when I didn't cook anything.|||Hello, I have "teetered" with raw vegan food for about 3 years now and here's what I know so far. Raw foods will include: - Raw fruits and veggies that are in season and/or organic. - Nuts and legumes. Both will need to be soaked overnight for easier digestion. - Plenty of leafy greens. You can juice these (i know, yuck! but greens are so good for you!!!) and incorporate these in salads. - You can make milk using raw nuts such as almonds and sesame seeds by soaking these overnight and blending them. - Some raw foodists will eat mono meals. Meaning for the entire day, one will eat all meals of bananas, or greens..etc.. Sometimes, its easy to eat like this, like just pick up a piece of fruit and eat. No more wondering if your food has preservatives and additives. Most times its hard. I guess it depends on what are your intentions for wanting to make raw foods your lifestyle? Also many struggle with this if they live in an area or state where there's not much great produce. Also, what about the cold weather??? We all want hot foods and warm drinks.. If you are very curious, I would suggest you look up a few authors on raw foods such as Alissa Cohen, Jeremy Saffron, Shazzie and Roe Gallo just to name a few. Most of their websites will tell of the good and bad of eating raw foods. Enjoy!|||just eat fruits & veggies constantly you won't get hungry.|||http://www.thegardendiet.com/ http://www.rawfamily.com/ I suggest you start out slow..adding cooked brown rice & such if you feel the need. I use the idea in the summer when I don't need so much cooked food I do mostly if not all raw, when it is cold I use more cooked food. http://www.hacres.com/home/home.asp|||you either eat all raw food or stick with your cooked foods that you are eating now. It is not wise to eat a raw food diet and then add a few cooked foods. It does not work because acid is then produced in the stomach, and it is bad for raw food. Acid and raw food create indigestion. As long as you eat a lof of different fruits, nuts veggies and such...you can get all your vitamins or take a supplement. A lot of concern comes with the pesticides that are put in the produce, you might want to grow your own garden ot buy organic.|||Raw food diets are what is in on the West Coast - they even have high end restaurants. Basically you can eat anything plant based (no raw meat, eggs, or milk) that hasn't been cooked over 108 degrees. They make pasta out of spaghetti squash, noodles out of spiral cutting cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, and other root vegetables, and sauce is fresh pureed tomatoes with fresh herbs. Alot of sauces are pureed vegetables with herbs, and it can be over other vegetables or the so called pasta above, or they do dehydrate grain/seed/nut combinations. Flaxseed biscuits are all the rage right now. Basically they are like dried crackers. And alot of stuffed vegetables with soaked or sprouted grains and seeds, with a spinkling of nuts over the top. Yum. Filling isn't a word in the raw food diet. You get the nutrients you need to keep your body at optimal health. Filling is an adjective for a person who wants to feel stuffed for hours after they have eaten or has food in their intestines for hours (even days) making them feel filled. Once you start to eat healthy, that filling feeling becames not wanted. I like to feel light, probably just like when you first wake up in the morning and have a flat stomache and feel light inside - unless you had too many stimulants the night before, then you have another issue to deal with first. From the Wikipedia on why a raw food diet: * Raw foods contain enzymes which act as catalysts to regulate the digestive process in the body. Heating food degrades or destroys these enzymes in food. * Eating food without enzymes makes digestion more difficult; deprives the body of enzymes; and leads to toxicity in the body, to excess consumption of food, and therefore to obesity and chronic disease. * Raw foods contain bacteria and other micro-organisms that stimulate the immune system and enhance digestion by populating the digestive tract with beneficial flora. * Living and raw foods have higher nutrient values than foods which have been cooked. (Wikipedia also includes dairy and meat in its raw food category) I eat about 75 % raw food during the summer, when fresh fruit, vegetables, and getting the kitchen hotter with a stove and oven seems ridiculous in 90+ degree weather!|||salads, its alright to have quiche and soups, toasted sandwiches, pasta with raw veggies in it n same with rice|||Raw food...that's not vegan however...|||salad? sushi?