What Do I Eat?

I'm often asked this question, in any of several variations. Here's one email:

What I've been missing in your book, Tonya, is a more detailed description of your own actual personal nutrition. The recipes in the book are mainly from your newsletter group, but I am more interested in what YOU are eating day by day―for example, which greens you use for your juices and smoothies and how you deal with B-12 and how many nuts you suggest... some more practical information, please.

My answer...You didn't "miss" that information. It isn't there. Intentionally. I've written my books over some fifteen years. When I was writing a given book, what I was eating at the time is what I wrote about. But by the time you are reading it, I may have already started eating something quite different.

I won't be providing a one-size-fits-all diet plan, but since many have asked, these three dishes Invigorating Morning Juice, Banana Hemp Shake, Radish Greens Salad and a handful of soaked pistachios are pretty much what I've recently been eating every day (click on the title and read the recipe).

Add a couple of pieces of seasonal fruit and you'll have my exact menu for the past week.

Trust your own judgment first and foremost. Never be afraid to change and tweak your food choices and always stay alert to your body's feedback. Reading about someone else's experience is only a start. It's not going to change you, unless you get your own to match it. Go with the flow and accept what comes. Life itself is a journey. Don't keep standing there at the roadside asking for precise directions or trying to buy a better and better map. At one point, you must get on the trail and go for it!

Our New Recipes Really Measure Up!

You can access the recipes by clicking on their photos, and new ones appear several times a week, often daily. You may also look up recipes by ingredient (apples, peppers, flax, etc.) or by recipe type (smoothie, soup, dessert, etc.) For convenience sake, they also come in a printer-friendly version. And please don't forget to rate each recipe after you try it! Each recipe has a star rating system for your convenience. We want to know what you think of these additions to your raw food diet.

If you would like to submit a recipe of your own, please do! Email your submission (with a picture of the recipe) to info@beautifulonraw.com, and if we post your recipe we will give you full credit (including a link to your blog or website if requested). 

Many people ask me if I eat the presented dishes, and some of them I do. Since I have been 100% raw for fifteen years, I usually stick with the basics of juices, smoothies and salads, with the occasional gourmet dish for special occasions. But I did use similar recipes to help me during my transitional phase, which for some may last a number of years.

I don't think I would've made it without such recipes to fill in the strong initial void that cooked food creates in its wake. Our recipes cover a wide variety of personal preferences and levels of transition, so there is sure to be something for everyone.

The recipes that I used during my transition to the raw food lifestyle are presented in my book Beautiful on Raw: UnCooked Creations. I think this excerpt from the book explains well my view about transitional recipes and also helps answer the reader's question above:

"Initially, recipes are very important. Food preparation is such a part of the cooked lifestyle that the simple act of making something highly structured fulfills a basic subliminal need. 

You are going to give up cooked food, which is very heavy. When you begin the transition, the absence of this consistent heaviness is easily mistaken for hunger. It makes you uncomfortable because it is an unfamiliar sensation. Initially you experience the need to feel full again, and that is why good recipes are crucial in determining whether you stick to the lifestyle or not.

As your body becomes smarter and more accustomed to the changes you are introducing, it will direct you toward consuming less food, and that food will be of the very best quality. No matter how incredible it might sound to a beginner, the day will come when you will no longer care for complicated recipes. At first you cannot stand the lightness that consumption of the raw foods produces, but, after several years on this lifestyle it is fullness that becomes insufferable."