How to Start to Eat Raw Foods: Find Tips to Transition into the Raw Food Diet
Decide Your Main Reason for Going Raw
It is a good idea to determine the main reason for starting a raw food diet before beginning. Possible reasons include weight loss, health, detox and environmental convictions. Keeping your goal in mind as you start to eat raw foods exclusively will help you stay true to your chosen diet plan.
Transition
Instead of going cold turkey, the best way to start to eat raw food is to transition from your current lifestyle gradually into 75 to 100 percent live, nutritionally dense foods. Start with one raw meal a day, or choose a specific food group to switch to raw. Another way to transition into a raw food diet is to try a step down approach. For example if you normally eat white flour products, start eating whole grains and then move into sprouted bread products and finally into raw almond or coconut flour. Conventional eggs can be replaced with organic free range eggs and then move into using egg replacers such as flax seed or psyllium fiber.
Start Juicing
Many people when learning how to start to eat raw food begin with juicing. Fresh fruit and vegetable juices boost energy and immune function. Taking in high volumes of nutrients will support your body through the transition and can help you feel full and refreshed. Your body absorbs the enzymes, minerals, vitamins, anti-oxidants and phytonutrients within 20 minutes of consumption. This energizing boost can make starting to eat raw foods easier.
Include a Variety of Foods
Switching to a raw food diet does not mean having to limit your choices to apples, carrots and lettuce. While raw food does include those basics, venture out into the wide variety of nutritious options available to you. Fresh fruits of all kinds are allowed on a raw food diet. Make it a point to try a fruit that is new to you each week to expand your food plan. If you do the same thing with vegetables, you will learn which fruits and vegetables appeal to you. Another category of raw foods include sprouted seeds, nuts, edible flowers, spices, sea vegetables, superfoods and even natural sweeteners like agave nectar and stevia. Rather than feeling deprived, a raw food diet can actually expand your culinary horizons. Be sure to check out raw food cookbooks to discover new raw recipes and combinations of foods that may not have occurred to you. Recipes for burgers, pizzas, soups, ice-cream, smoothies, dips and wraps can make a raw food diet not only healthy for you, but a delicious adventure.
Hydrate
Improve your progress on the raw food diet path by drinking a lot of pure water. Water will help flush toxins out of your system faster and improve your sense of well-being. Along the same lines, mainly choose food with a high water content. While nuts can be a good raw choice, they are dense and fatty and may slow down your progress if you are starting a raw food diet in order to lose weight or detoxify your system.
