raw foods: Why? Are you vegan? How do you feel? Do you have more energy? Is it easy to go out to restaurants to eat? Please explain to me, I want to learn. Thanks!|||I try to eat mostly raw foods, it's really hard... I am vegan, I've been vegan for a few years. I feel great, but constantly hungry when I only eat raw foods. I never run out of energy though. No it's not easy to go out to eat, unless maybe if you live in NYC or San Francisco. There are salads everywhere, but salads get really boring when that's all you eat. I don't think you should feel like you only have to eat raw foods - you can just decide to eat a higher percent of raw foods. If you go to a large bookstore, you'll find raw food books in the cooking (oh the irony) and the health sections. I recommend you take a look. You'll probably be inspired by what the authors have to say about how great it is. And maybe you'll be discouraged by all of the foreign things you'll need for the recipes. I can really feel the difference in my body when I only eat raw foods, but like I said, it's hard! Especially when everyone you spend time with eats cooked food.... Good luck!|||I don't, but my physically fit fanatical brother has gone through that stage and found that he lost energy. He's a physical trainer and recommends the balance and forget about all the diet fads. This is after he's spent 30 years keeping himself in the best shape possible.|||No. I like to cook. I have few teeth. A cooked carrot is edible, for me, a raw carrot is not. Cooking food is not the problem. Commercially prepared food is a problem (you get so much more than the food). A wise person once said that it is not what you put into your mouth which defiles you. It is what comes out of your mouth. Food restrictions are a very personal choices. Some may go overboard in the zealous effort to cleanse their body or mind. Giving thanks for the greasy hamburger served by a host may be more important than being a royal pain in the butt looking for organically grown veggies and fruit which might have even been tended and harvested by slave (or nearly slave) labor.|||not me|||Heck No, I want my food warm.|||OOPS! I misread your question, I read the details only adn jumped the gun with my answer! Sorry! The following answer is about veganism only, there might be a few things you could gain from it though, so I'll leave it. I do know a couple of people on raw food diets that say they feel better than they ever have. Good luck! I'm vegan. I do have more energy. I think it was the dairy that bogged me down the most. I usually avoid most restaurants, it's much easier to just stay at home and cook. I just hate to annoy the waiter/waitress with all of my questions, but that's just me. There are tons of vegan websites out there that really go into detail on how to go about becoming vegan. I could type all day on this subject, but it would be much easier for you to jusrt research it. Just search for the word vegan. The best advice that I could give to anyone looking to go vegan is learn to cook. The more you know about cooking, the more rich your diet will be. A lot of new vegans tend to eat just pasta, peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches, vegetables and rice, and other simple things like that. There are TONS of great things to eat if you know how to cook them. My favorite recipe site is The Post Punk Kitchen. http://www.theppk.com/ LOTS of really good stuff there. Good luck!