hello from ontario

HI,

I am glad to find a forum where I can get some guidance on this decision.

I tried to go raw before but I did not succeed (it was eighty percent ) raw and 20 percent or so cooked tho I felt great on it. The reason I didn't succeed was because I didn't have support and didn't really understand how to make recipes that were interesting and variety.

Where do u buy some of these ingredients? agave, what's that. everytime I look @ recipes they look wonderful except I don't understand what some of the ingredients are and where you would buy them.

I hope this isn't a silly question.

I live outside the city of Ottawa but I know thre must be places in the city where I can shop where i can have a good variety of these essentials. also what is cacao.

I have a juicer and have been juicing greens, fruit and making smoothies and salads, fruit salads for a couple weeks and am doing wonderful but I am afraid that down the road I am going to fail for lack of variety.

Thanks for any help towards the steps I am taking.

Ruth

Comments

  • AVLAVL Raw Newbie

    Hi Ruth!

    I'm from Ontario too (just north of Toronto). Agave is a natural sweetener made from a plant. There are many different opinions on whether Agave Nectar is truly raw or not, but it is often used in raw recipes. I found mine at Bulk Barn, but I'm sure you can find it at health food stores too. As for cacao, it is raw chocolate. You can buy it at health food stores, but it is pretty expensive. I'm sure there are health food stores in Ottawa, it's a pretty big city.

    I hope this helps a little :)

  • Thanks AVL,

    How long have you been raw? How did you first implement it, did u find you struggled to find variety or did you have others you knew perhaps who were raw that were able to coach you along?

  • AVLAVL Raw Newbie

    Hi Ruth,

    I've been raw since last May (so almost a year). I had attempted it before but failed because I changed my diet too abruptly, so this time I made the transition a lot slower. I started off by cutting out all animal products and increasing my fruit and vegetable consumption. I was eating more vegan & raw gourmet foods (like vegan cookies, dishes) to mimic what I used to eat. When I felt like I was ready to wean myself off, I cut them out of my diet.

    I think that the hardest part was that I was always hungry because I had cut out all animal protein, so I had to find the right amount of food to eat to keep me satisfied. I think that it took me about 3 months before I finally found a good eating plan.

    I never struggled to find variety (although it's harder in the winter), but I would miss some of the foods I used to eat, like bread, crackers, cheese. And I must admit that sometimes I still have some once in a while, but I feel really bloated after (so it's really not worth it). I find that I do best when I eat mono-meals (only one type of food at a time, like only melon, grapes or apples) and a low fat diet. I like smoothies too because they are easy to make and to digest.

    There is a raw vegan potluck I attend every month, so I get to interact with others who share the same interests as me. Here is a link for a raw potluck meetup in Ottawa:

    http://www.meetup.com/The-Ottawa-Raw-Food-Meetup-Group/

    If you have a chance to go you should definitely give it a try, they are really fun!

    As far as the coaching, I must say that this website is awesome and people are very knowledgeable. So most of the information I get is from people on here. Also, I like to watch youtube videos. I just type in "raw vegan diet", "80/10/10 diet", "fruitarianism", etc.

    :)

  • Thank you so much for your reply. I am so glad that you have been able to work through adjusting and adapting to raw food the way that it has succeeded for you.

    Thanks for sharing those details with me. It is helpful to me . I followed the link you suggested and I think there is a meetup on the 31st of this month so that is encouraging. I will peruse this website as well and gain the valuable insight and help that is available here (what a blessing!) thanks very much AVL and all the best ot you , continued success .

  • Hi

    I too am from Ontario (downtown Toronto) It's funny to see you on here AVL as I follow you on Twitter! As far as produce goes have you ever considered a co-op? Co-ops are great ways to get organic fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, agave, cacao etc. In Toronto there is Karma Co-op where I am a member and love it. I googled co-ops in ottawa and it seems you have the Ottawa Valley Food Co-op

    www.ottawavalleyfood.org

    You might want to check them out!

    I wish you the best of luck!

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