This time of year more than any other is just downright tough for most Raw Foodists. Even long time Raw Food enthusiasts get a bit chilly around this time of year.
For those of you who have no problems with fruit and greens 4 seasons of the year, then more power to you!
For the rest of you, however, we thought it might be helpful to let you know where we stand on the subject of cooked food compromises.
After 3 years of working personally with clients, I am convinced that ultimatums are a dead end road. As soon as we put a big “Forbidden Foods” list in front of our faces, we end up with bingeing, guilt trips and food obsessions!
It is more harmful to continually put your body through a raw food roller coaster, cold foodthan to find a happy medium and stick to it. I’ve said in the past, I would prefer that 80% of the population be 60% raw than 4% of the population be 100%.
The goal, remember, is not putting a “Raw Foodist” stamp on your forehead at the end of the day. We’re engaged in the pursuit of health, high energy living and ideally we’re doing this in a way that takes environmental impact of our choices into consideration as well.
So, if you’re not willing to have a hard-core Christmas, then here’s what I recommend you take into consideration. When restrictions are removed the urgency to indulge, or overeat on “forbidden foods” vanishes.
One of the ways I like to approach nutrition and eating is sensibly. I don’t believe that it requires an ability to decipher enzymatic, anti-oxidant and amino acid vocabulary to be able to thrive. If that was the case, we’d all be in trouble.
Whatever you’re considering eating, just look at your body, look at the food on your plate and ask yourself:
“Does this make sense?”
Is the food something you could find easily in nature?
You may be able to find wheat, for example, in nature, but in its natural state it is very indigestible to humans.
Would it taste good if you just added heat?
If you are going to eat cooked foods, then I highly recommend sticking to the foods that make sense. A slice of grilled fish, a baked potato and steamed broccoli makes a lot of sense to me. More sense than a “raw pie” loaded with dates, avocado and almonds.
I’ve felt much, much worse eaing complicated raw food recipes than I have eating healthy, simple cooked food like steamed greens or a sweet potato.
If you need to add a bunch of spices and sauces for your food to be attractive and digestible, then I would say leave it aside. Also, the extra sauces and spices are in large part responsible for the desire to overeat. These are the mechanisms of stimulation-addiction and the kinds of things that send the floodgates open. There’s only so much baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli a person can eat. But start smothering them in butter and cheese sauces and you have yourself a whole other story.
Keep your cooked foods simple and sauce free. This will help you hold in line your own limits and leave you feeling relatively well, even if it is a meal of cooked food.
Avoiding the sauces and spices will also help you to choose better foods. Beans, legumes, pasta and most grains taste rather boring without salt and sauces, so best avoid them.
Chances are you’ll aslo find that it’s much easier to control your cooked food consumption when you’ve removed your restrictions about it. When the food is no longer “forbidden” obsession moves aside. You don’t have that lingering ultimatum telling you that “THIS, will be the LAST time you EVER eat cooked food!”
So, summing up, then stick to these:
Vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and peas taste perfectly scrumptious without doctoring them up with spices and sauces. In fact, I find most vegetables tast quite nice steamed lightly. Sweet potatoes, pumpkins and squashes of all kinds are super tasty, too! Also, a simple piece of grilled fish or meat usually doesn’t require anything for it to be appetizing to most people. Just think of the foods you could find in nature. Then, if you can add fire and keep the flavor without having to add a bunch of sauces, I think you’ve hit a winner.
So, there it is.
If ultimatums are not on your plate, then these are my top recommendations for what to put there instead. Remember that the joys of being with good people, celebrating life and all her sparkly pleasures is REALLY good for your health. Make that your priority and the rest will fall in place I’m sure of it.