Confused by raw food?

What is raw food?

Raw food is eating food in its raw, natural state. unheated, unaltered, no preservatives, chemicals or additives.

What do you eat?

* Fresh fruit, veg and salad leaves
* Dried, unsulphered fruits and berries-can be eaten dried or soaked
* Seeds- soaked, dried and sprouted
* beans and grains- sprouted only
* Nuts- dried or soaked (many 'raw' nuts are infact NOT raw due to having been exposed to high temperatures to get them out of their shell)
* Cold pressed virgin oils


Am i doing it right?

There are many different ways of eating a raw diet and these are just a few i have come across:

* High fruit (2/3 of total calories from fruit)
* Low fruit- High greens (as little as 1 piece of fruit a day)
* Low fat
* High fat
* 80/10/10
* Fruitarian
* Fresh fruit and veg only
* Mono eating and simple food combining
* Gourmet
* So long as its raw- eat it!
* Raw vegan, Raw vegetarian and Raw omnivore
* High raw -75%+

After my stint with raw last winter, and my more successful beginning this time round, i have found myself leaning towards a definite high fruit diet. About 3/4 of my calories come from fruit and 2 out of my 3 meals a day are fruit. I'm not saying that this is right, every one is different, and i certainly don't want to be eating high fruit all the time, but at the moment, it is whats right for me. Its what keeps me excited and raw. In the near future, when i have a blender and food processor, i will try and switch to a more balanced raw diet of at least 50% greens.
We all go though phases of eating more of one type of food than another, this is natural, and if someones body is saying 'eat more fruit' then why not do it? This shall pass as our bodies heal and develop, and also as our knowledge and understanding and need of raw food develops and changes.

How do i know when I'm a 'raw foodist?'

After a month, 6 months, a year?

I call myself a raw foodist. why? because i eat 100% raw food 100% of the time, i believe 100% in what raw food can offer me and i want to be 100% raw for 100% of my life!

I wouldn't feel comfortable calling myself a raw foodist if i wasn't 100% raw. Even though i haven't been eating this way for very long, i can NEVER imagine myself eating the way i did before. raw is my life.
This question reminds me of when i first went vegan. I was a bit apprehensive at first, because i was thinking ' can i call myself a vegan? even though i have only been vegan for a day!?' I knew, even before the day finished, that i would never eat or use animal products EVER again- which made me a vegan. If i was 98% vegan, but very occasionally used bee products or conscientiously bought animal products then to me that is NOT vegan. the same goes for raw food IMO.

Now I'm not talking about the odd slip up and cock up, I'm talking about making a rational decision to eat cooked food A raw foodist IMO, wouldn't chose to eat cooked food over raw in any normal situation.