Why Raw?
What are raw foods and what they can do for you?
Raw foods are simply whole fresh foods such as greens, veggies, sprouts, mushrooms, fruits, berries, nuts, seeds, and some grains that have not been cooked (or heated above 115F in their preparation). Another raw-goody is raw honey, which tastes amazing and is loaded with enzymes, but if you’re goin’ for 100% vegan then raw agave nectar is a great alternative. The majority of raw foodies are vegan but, some also consume raw animal products like dairy, eggs and meat (I don’t consume these things myself but if you choose to, make sure you do your homework on the safety of eating raw animal products! Not knockin’ it, I just want to make sure people eat healthy and safe! ). I’m considered a raw “bee-gan” because my diet contains no animal products, other than those made by bees.
When I first heard of raw foods, visions of carrot sticks and salad danced in my head, and being a foodie at heart I thought, “No freakin’ way!” but, after having my first taste of raw tacos at Loving Life Café my gourd was blown! With no (or low) heat food preparation methods, such as blending, food processing and dehydrating (amongst some other clever and cool tricks) you can create amazing and tasty dishes that are great stand-ins for (and often times way tastier than) their cooked counterparts! Another awesome thing is that the prep and clean-up is often way easier than with cooked meals (i.e. no greasy pots to scrub or stoves to baby-sit for hours on end!).
Why raw?? Here’s a quick break-down of the benefits of eating your foods closer to their natural unprocessed state!
Raw-foods are whole-foods! Whole foods contain loads of awesome readily available vitamins and minerals along with their counterparts (co-factors) that allow for easy absorption of these healthy goodies! Adding more raw foods into your diet can help correct many conditions that are caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies!
Your body can recognize what it’s eating! Not to slander cooked foods too much (especially because I wasn’t always a raw-foodist!) but, when we cook foods we change its’ structure, denature many of the vitamins, minerals and proteins in it, and lose a lot of the inherent water content of it. All this leads to food that is not pre-coded for the body to deal with, that is rough on the digestion, and we’re missing out on a lot of the good stuff that was there before we toasted it! I’m not preaching or recommending that you just drop your cooked foods cold turkey (there’s a pun there I just know it), but rather consider adding more raw-unprocessed foods into your diet and seeing how it makes you feel!
Get alkalized! When our bodies become acidic due to stress, hard work or acidifying eats, we can have a lot of issues from it, such as soreness, aches and pains, candida, and weight retention (our body actually often stores fat in an effort to buffer us against the acidic foods we consume!) Keeping our bodies closer to the neutral side of the pH scale can help prevent (or even reverse) many of these ailments and promote weight loss! Many raw foods (especially greens, watermelons, and lemons) are alkalizing to our body (compared to cooked foods, which are mostly acid forming).
More useable proteins! The amino acids in raw foods haven’t been denatured by cooking and are super easy for your body to absorb and put to good work! As in the case of meat, up to 50% of its’ original protein content is left denatured and not absorbable after cooking. For those with protein concerns rest assured there is an abundance of them in raw plant foods, especially greens!
Because raw foods are so easy to digest your body will have more energy, enzymes, vitamins, minerals and water that it needs to work to its full potential (which can be pleasantly surprising!). Adding more raw foods to can do a LOT for your life as it’s done for me such as…
*Weight-loss (I’ve shed 90lbs since gettin’ raw!),
*LOTS of extra energy (trust me you’ll find plenty of fun stuff to do with it!),
*Reduction or elimination of annoying aches and pains (including headaches!),
*Less instances of getting sick (because your immune system will be free to do what it does best!),
*Clear skin (including reduction and possibly disappearance of scars)
*Stronger teeth and nails (thanks to more minerals!),
*Working out becomes fun with less tiredness/soreness afterwards (I find that I can do lots of resistance and muscle building exercises without feeling super stiff and achy! This reduced recovery time has made it more enjoyable and easy for me to stick with it and get faster results!)
*Improvements in eyesight (I haven’t needed stronger eyeglasses since I went raw!)
And waaaay too many other awesome benefits to list! There are so many inspirational and touching testimonials by people that have undergone major improvements to their lives by simply adding more raw foods to their plates! Join some of the many online raw-food communities such as Raw Food Rehab and Give it to me Raw to connect with others that are giving this lifestyle a go and feeling the difference!
Many fun and healthy wishes to you! ~ Rory :0)
you look amazing rawdawg! i just got an eye checkup an my eyes are better too!
June 28, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Hey Aimee! Many thanks for the compliments on my transformation!! Very cool to hear that raw is doin’ good for your eyes as well! Best wishes~ Rory :0)
July 3, 2009 at 3:03 am
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wow! is all i can say. Maybe it’s time i look into learning how to eat raw
July 9, 2009 at 10:11 am
Thanks so much Jenny! Check into it, the benefits are amazing! :0)
July 18, 2009 at 1:17 am
Hey Rawdawg! What a change you have made! Amazing! and Inspirational! Love the “Lovemore T!
July 12, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Hey Jodi! Thank you very much!! Also thanks for the props on my shirt! I got it from http://www.chooselovemore.com :0)
July 18, 2009 at 1:20 am
I am fairly new to eating raw and am inspired by your journey! I am glad you are sharing it.
August 7, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Thanks to this blog and others I have started a raw food diet. I’m amazed how more energy I have and I sleeping better than I have done for years!
Thanks again!
September 26, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Dear Rory,
This is the first time I have had a chance to view your website. I have been following you since you started on the RawFu site, “rockin’ the Fu” every Friday. I have two questions for you and hope you can answer them both. But first, I am wishing your mother the very best as she courageously takes responsibility to change her life. As a nurse, I all to often sadly see the negative results of an American population becoming alarmingly morbidly obsese, younger and younger.
Now, back to my questions: First, after soaking and rinsing nuts, or washing fresh vegatables, how do you get the excess moisture out? I have found this to be a problem whenever I make a raw receipe–not being able to get the excess water out does affect the outcome of the dish. Second question, is your new receipe e-book also available as a hardcopy? I am not that computer savvy and I don’t know how to use an e-book. Any help you can give me would be great.
Merry Christmas to you and your family,
Lana
December 16, 2009 at 8:20 am
Hey Lana!
Awesome to hear from you on here! I use an OXO brand hand pumped salad spinner to remove the excess water from everything from lettuce mixes to mushrooms to strawberries. You could also use it spin out large nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, brazils etc. Dehydartion is another awesome way to deal with pre-soaked and rinsed nuts and seeds and also allows you to thoroughly dry them to store for later!
My book is currently only available as an ebook. We like the ebook format as it allows us to chock it full of gorgeous food photos without having to charge a fortune for it!
Fortunately there are no tech-savvy skills needed to use the ebook. We send it as an attachment in an email, and you simply click on it and your reader program will open it! If you don’t have a reader program Adobe Acrobat is available for free online! Once your ebook is open you can read it anytime on your computer and print out any and all pages you’d like!
Hope these ideas and info help! Peace, much love and rawness~ Rory :0)
May 3, 2010 at 3:22 am
Hi RDR,
We briefly met at the RSF in MD (August) and this is the first time I have stopped by to check out your site. Great job. I will be by more often! I linked of the Raw Vegan awards page – good luck with your nominations!
Happy Holiday Hugs,
Tina
aka tinainthepink, tinaintheraw
December 22, 2009 at 9:10 am
your story is so awesome. you are a great writer as well.
best
Sarah
January 2, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Thank you very much for your print. Very interesting writing. Eating raw foods, seeds, beans, nuts, vegies, salads i have found truly has given me weight loss, and lots of energy and my hair, skin and teeth look and feel great. Thanks for the Validation that eating Raw is the Only Way to Eat Right..
Very good article… Appreciated.
Glenda
January 12, 2010 at 10:08 pm
hi, you’re really inspiring, where would suggest one start….i wanna be 100% raw, not quite sure on how to transition, any advice would be appreciated. I wanna be healthy and shed about 100lbs as well
January 25, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Hi Katrena,
I am now about 2/3 raw most of the time .. and it has taken a while to get this far. The key point is make the transitions at your own pace – there is no race to win.
I found that breakfast was the easiest transition, I eat a handful of raw almonds on my way to work each morning and that fills me up and sees me through to lunch easily. Almonds are the most alkalizing of nuts so the best to choose for weight-loss. On the weekend I might have some blueberries or strawberries instead.
For lunch either a raw soup (heated up but not cooked) or a salad dressed in good quality olive oil (cold pressed is best as it has not been heated so retains all the goodness) and you are already 2/3 raw!
I try and keep a container of raw seeds available for snacking on mid afternoon if I’m hungry – I mix sunflower, pumpkin and linseed which taste great together.
I’m still working on my evening meal and am starting to rotate and have a salad if I had soup for lunch or vis versa.. I still have cooked meals every other night so this is the final hurdle.
Good luck with your journey.. I hope this may help.
Andy.
February 27, 2010 at 1:30 pm
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Hey Rory, just wondering if your trek across the country will include Hawaii. We’d love to host you guys for a few days if you’d come and get us started on raw foods. My wife and I have been talking about getting started. We have a Vitamix and have recently bought the Hurom slow juicer. Please consider visiting us. We live in the middle of Oahu and the beautiful beaches are not far — have our own pool too. I’m enjoying your positive videos so much. Trying to learn some recipes.
Mark
June 26, 2010 at 11:13 am
Hi Rory, I also live on Oahu (North Shore) and am very concerned about my health and would really like to learn more about raw food.
December 3, 2010 at 11:44 am