What’s All This Talk About Raw Foods?

Let’s face it, most of us enjoy eating, often planning gatherings and get- togethers with family and friends around meals. Since eating is necessary to sustain the body, why not consider making choices that you can feel good about?

Many people are discovering an increase in their energy level and well being by changing what they eat and how it is prepared. Enter the world of raw or living foods.

The term “raw food” can conjure up all sorts of images from apples to sushi. In this case, it generally relates to a diet consisting mainly of uncooked, unprocessed vegan offerings; that is, no animal products are consumed.

Raw is considered a lifestyle as opposed to a fad diet. Some of the many reasons why people choose to eat this way include:

Nutritional value: High temperatures associated with cooking diminish the integrity of the nutrients present in food in its natural state.

Socially responsible: Ingredients are often sourced locally from organic farms. Some of the benefits here include support for sustainable farming practices, contribution to helping local rural communities thrive, freshness, and decreased impact on the environment.

Taste: Fresh, local, unprocessed food tastes great.

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with spirituality. When you consider the dense quality of much of what is consumed as food in these hurried times, it seems prudent to consider whether your dietary choices are nurturing and supportive of the divine being that you truly are. Your spirit is alive and vital, so doesn’t it make sense to nourish your body temple with food that is also alive and full of vitality?

When seeking to make any lifestyle change, it can be challenging to make sense of all of the information and choices available. Un-cooking, as I like to call it, is fast becoming an art form with a language all its own, although does utilize ingredients and equipment that you may already have on hand. For example, a really good blender, food processor and a food dehydrator are indispensable tools of the trade.

In these days of skyrocketing health care costs, it makes sense to nourish your body with foods that support health and vitality. Whole living foods are nutrient-rich and do just that. I recommend to clients that they begin slowly, perhaps at first substituting one raw snack in place of a cooked one.

Fruit and veggies are very convenient and contain much more nutrition than that cookie you’ve got your eye on. Spread some almond butter on a banana and watch your kids scarf it down. Or add nut butter to some cut-up celery sticks, sprinkle raisins on top and, viola, you’ve got ‘ants on a log’!

If you’re feeling really confident and want to dive right in, consider creating a meal with primarily raw ingredients. Offer your body a great big salad for lunch instead of reaching for that sandwich, and it will thank you. Or try making your own nut milks from almonds or hemp seeds. They’re really simple and cost-effective to prepare, requiring nuts or seeds that have been soaked, blended with a 4:1 ratio of water and strained. You can also add a bit of sweetener like maple syrup, dates, or agave if you like. Fresh homemade nut milks taste great, especially when chilled and poured over homemade granola made from fresh nuts and seeds and topped with fruit. Yum.

Remember, there’s no reason to be dogmatic. Go slowly and be gentle and loving with yourself. You don’t have to be a raw vegan to include more healthy choices in your diet. Experiment with the ingredients you’ve got on hand and delight in your creations. Most of all, have fun.

A certified raw food instructor, Madeline has been passionate about food all of her life. Drawing on an Italian background of ‘food as love,’ she has happily traded in her meatballs for living cuisine. She delights in creating delicious culinary feasts and inspiring others about the benefits of including more living foods in their diet.

Reprinted from New Spirit Journal, October 2010