I've been vegetarian for about 6 years, vegan for about 8 months now, and I've recently gotten very interested in the whole Raw/Living Foods philosophy. For those who don't know, the central premise is that cooking or otherwise processing foods causes massive nutrient loss and decomposition, and that food should be eaten in as natural a state as possible. The other major component is that it's a lot easier on the environment as well, since you're not wasting all that energy processing the food.
Natural Hygiene takes it one step further by saying we should only eat food we are biologically adapted to as primates (fruit, leaf vegetables, seeds and nuts. most people add legumes and sprouts to the list) and that especially grains and animal products are totally inaprorpriate for us.
So, I've been experimenting with it for about two months now, but I've found a couple of major obstacles, and I was hoping for some advice:
1. The calorie intake on this sort of diet is low - I struggle to reach 1300 to 1400 calories a day, because the food is so bulky - lots of fibre, high water content etc. I'm never actually hungry, but I find myself occasionally craving salty, high-calorie food, though that might have as much to do with the low salt level.
2. Variety. There are only so many ways you can make a salad. And while I loooove salad, I do get bored with the same set-menu of six or seven dishes. I went through the same kinda thing when I became vegan - until I started exploring Indian, Chinese etc. and found many great dishes, but there just aren't that many paths of exploration for Raw Foodists. You've got your salads, your dips, your blended soups, and...
3. I worry about the high potassium levels. Even cutting out bananas and stuff, my potassium intake is still quite high according to this nifty little nutrition tracker I use (CRON-ometer, built for the Calorie Restriction crowd, but very useful) What to do?
4. And finally, what do you do to keep from giving in to those cravings for cooked foods and stuff? How do you prevent yourself from backsliding?
Any ideas folks? Non raw-foodists, feel free to shoot it down - all criticism is constructive, I always say.
