How to Set-Up a Winning Raw Food Routine

Want to know one of the most critical things you need to establish to help you go and stay raw? It’s a RAW FOOD ROUTINE – a way of doing things that brings order to your world and fully supports you in eating the way you want to eat with as little fuss and hassle as possible. With increasingly busy lives, creating a winning routine that ticks all the boxes becomes more critical than ever – we’re all more than well aware that “eating on the run”, especially when out and about, can all too easily look like a quick sandwich or snack bar if we’re not careful – or prepared, and having a routine in place that automatically takes care of things is what’s going to make your life more easy, enjoyable, healthy and so much more. Some of the things that sometimes prevent people from taking the time to really think about what they’re doing is that they believe that it’s going to be boring, take too long or be too complicated. WRONG! Quite the opposite is true. This whole exercise from start to finish should take really no more than an hour – and that hour can literally save you hundreds if not thousands of hours in the future not to mention stress, frustration, irritation and all the negativity that inevitably creeps in when you deviate from what you truly want. (Ever had that?!) The bottom line is: When you have a routine on paper that makes sense and works, you’re done! Then it’s just a case of repeating the cycle, and you’ll always have what you want. Are you ready to make life simpler, more enjoyable and to actually eat the way you want to eat? Yes? Great! So what should a raw food routine look like and where do we start? I’m glad you asked! This is what I’m about to share with you, so standby by for the step-by-step you’ve been waiting for…. 1. Know what you want Ask yourself: How much of my diet do I want to be raw? What health/energy/weight (etc.) goals, specifically, do I want to reach? What does my diet need to look like, specifically, to make that happen? 2. Create a menu plan that supports your goals Using the answers to the questions above create a 7-day menu plan that matches the criteria you’ve set for yourself. The criteria you look at should include the foods that work for your body, foods that you love and those that fit to your budget and any other circumstances unique to you and your lifestyle. When you feel confident that it’s a perfect match then you can move on to creating a routine that supports it. 3. Write a list With your menu plan in one hand and a pen and paper in the other, list out everything that you need to do to make your menu plan become a reality. For example: The things you need to buy, the things you need to order in by mail order, anything you need to sprout, recipes you need to make (that take more than 5 or 10 minutes and/or those that store well), anything that needs dehydrating – and any other anomalies that apply to you. When you have that list and it’s sorted into sub-sections like those above, then you know exactly what you have to take care of as part of your routine. That’s actually the hardest part done – congratulations! 4. Create a first draft Even with the best will in the world, it pays to know that ordinarily there will always be a first draft version of this project. That’s because the first time you create your plan there’s going to be a certain amount of guesswork involved, especially if a lot of what you’re planning to do is new to you, so do your best but know that at the end of the first week you’ll probably need to revisit your plan to adjust anything that didn’t work out the way you expected. So to get going (and this part should only take 10 minutes) take your menu plan and checklist and above each day of the week list the thing/s you need to do that day, making sure that every single thing you wrote on the original list is transferred to the plan and in the most appropriate day – the one that’s going to work best for you. Naturally it makes sense to group things together of a similar ilk, so all the fresh food shopping should be done on the same day/s, any sprouting should be started on the same day, and all recipes that take more than 5 or 10 minutes and that will keep well for a few days or more should be made on one night of the week or during a one or two hour window during the weekend, or any other 1-2 hour time slot that would work well for you on a weekly or fortnightly basis. Note that prepping foods in advance for future away-days, meals or travel really takes no time at all (what’s an hour or two in your week? You gain an extra 14+ hours just through eating raw!) This is an extremely valid point by the way - so many people turn the idea of food prepping into something akin to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro! The reality is that so long as you are clear what you want to make and have everything you need in less than an hour you can easily make at least three raw recipes that are going to see you through the rest of the week, and even beyond. (And if you really go for it - it can be as many as four or five recipes!) This can be so much easier and quicker than you think. All it takes is a little bit of focus. 5. Follow the plan Your next step when everything is in place is to actually follow your plan to the letter. At all times make sure you have your plan with you and that you always have a pen to hand to mark down notes associated with either what you are eating or any of the tasks on your list. Why is this important? Because if you don’t note things down at the time you’ll forget PLUS there’s going to be “aha” moments and realizations as you go which may surprise you. Ones to expect might be that you’ve made too much or too little food. Another might be that you’ve bought too much food in for the menu you’ve created – i.e. you’ve misjudged quantities. Another might be that after three mornings of green smoothies you realized that you really craved something else. Basically, until you follow your plan to the letter you’re just not going to know how it will all pan out in reality – but when you do, you have the all-important information that will put you on the final stretch to success! 6. Tweak your plan The final stage is to take what you learned in the first week and revise your plan to suit. Yes, it may mean that a few key things need to change, but hey, once that’s done, it’s done. Not only will you be learning more about your real eating habits and physical needs, chances are you’ll also be learning a lot more about yourself in a whole bunch of other ways as you go. This could be most illuminating! 7. Taking it further To get to your final perfect plan, repeat the above steps as many times as you need until you learn what needs to be true for you. Recognize that sometimes life will have other plans for you, or that your dietary needs will change, especially with the seasons, so know that this plan will carry you for so long but you’ll also need to start brainstorming other common life situations that are outside of the norm e to have a routine specially created for those. (For example, I travel to the USA anything from 3-6 times per year so I have a different plan in place for the weeks that I fly). Once you have the hang of this you’ll realize that not only will you gain the 14+ hours from eating raw every day of the week but you’ll also gain at least another four hours that ordinarily would have been spent staring dazed and confused into the fridge, going shopping for supplies because you ran out, having to go to bed early because you ate foods that drained you and writing in your journal about how you messed up with your food habits again! Yes, all of this can and will be history when you spend just one hour of your life creating a plan that puts you on the path to raw success in a way that is easy, simple and delicious. Try it, you’ll like it! Raspberry Passion Pudding This is one of my favorite recipes of all-time. Inspiration came to me one hot sunny day: I wanted something that tasted like ice-cream but was raw and vegan and wasn’t laden with fat. As you’ll see, the perfect replacement was born – and with it taking just a couple of minutes to make, I hope you’ll be inspired to try it on your own kitchen. You certainly won’t regret it! Equipment: Tabletop blender/hand blender/food processor Ingredients: • 3 cups frozen raspberries
• 2 passion fruit
• Optional: 1 mango
• Optional: 1 banana
• Optional: 2 Medjool dates Directions: • Place the washed, peeled and chopped fresh fruits into your blender first, then add the frozen raspberries on top.
• Blend thoroughly until there are no lumps.
• Serve in a beautiful sundae dish or wine glass and top with fresh mint and/or passion fruit seeds.