Raw Vegan is a LIFESTYLE.
Raw food is truly a lifestyle. It is a way of living, not just a diet. If you are just starting out on your journey, I encourage you to start by trying to incorporate one fully raw meal a day and then work your way up from there if you desire. At the core of this way of living, it’s a commitment to consuming more fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds in their most natural and organic state. It’s a very clean way of eating. You begin to fall in love with all of the different varieties of fruits and vegetables, and you might even find that you get to enjoy more varieties of fruits and veggies than you ever have before!
Here are some of the ways to integrate raw foods into your life!
Mono Meals:
The easiest and quickest way to enjoy a meal on a raw food lifestyle is to mono-meal. A mono-meal is simply enjoying a meal of one type of fruit at a time. It doesn’t get much easier than this. Fruit is nature’s candy, and it’s also nature’s fast food! I think people get so wrapped up in thinking they have to make something complicated that they forget it can be THIS simple and THIS easy. I mono-meal all the time, especially when there’s a fruit I love that’s in season. The secret to feeling full is to make sure you’re eating enough of that fruit to get enough calories and to feel satisfied. In the raw food world, fruit is considered a carbohydrate, so think of it as filling up your fuel tank for the day. Fruit gives you energy. If you have a problem with eating lots of fruit or are worried about the sugar content, then simply eat your fruit with greens. I have been enjoying many mango mono-meals lately, and I’m so happy about it.
Fruit Salads:
If you enjoy fruit and eating mono-meals, another simple way to enjoy your meals is to enjoy fruit salads. I typically make juice for my first meal of the day, or I eat a bowl of fruit. Not only is fruit sweet and delicious, it’s hydrating and nourishes your body with essential vitamins and minerals. I like to enjoy whatever fruits are in season at the time, and I allow those fruits to inspire my dishes. Recently I created an abundant fruit salad using watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, mango, peaches, strawberries, and you can also add grapes or kiwi (for example).
I hope you can see from these first two meal ideals that I’ve shared that eating a raw vegan meal can be as simple as eating a mono-meal or a fruit salad bowl. I recommend enjoying these types of meals in the morning so that they can give you energy to get through your day. Also, the goal is to have fun and enjoy what you’re consuming. Eat what you love and also find the blessing in it. I think it’s a gift to be able to enjoy the bounty that nature provides for us.
Smoothie Bowls:
The next easy meals I want to share with you are smoothie bowls and banana nice creams. Smoothie bowls are quick, and you can add whatever ingredients you want to use. I love to add a cup or two of fruit like berries, pitted cherries, mango, or dragonfruit, and I’ll blend it with as many bananas as I’d like. You can also load up on greens in your smoothies too. I do like to add raw vegan protein and superfoods to my smoothies, and I often find that this fills me up even more and leaves me feeling so good and so satiated afterwards. I honestly can’t go a day without my smoothie bowl because it’s where a good chunk of my calories come from in the day, and it leaves me feeling so satisfied.
Banana Nice Cream:
The difference between a smoothie bowl and banana nice cream is simply using frozen ingredients instead of non-frozen ingredients, and less water. If you blend frozen bananas with your favorite frozen fruit of choice, it comes out just like an ice cream consistency, nice and cold, smooth, creamy, and thick. I call it nice cream since there’s no dairy or processed ingredients added, and no animals are harmed in the making of this recipe.
You will need a strong blender like a Vitamix to make it because otherwise a regular blender may burn out. Having a Vitamix opens up the possibilities to make new creations and fun combinations of things in your kitchen without switching up the ingredients too much. I like to make banana mango nice cream and add in some Purium Superfoods for some extra nutrition! I love the dark berry blend protein and Epi-genius family. All I can say is YUM. Nice cream is a staple meal for me.
Rainbow Wraps:
These are easy and delicious! One of the best things about raw foods is that you get to eat the rainbow! There are so many varieties of fruits and vegetables that you can use to create any masterpiece. Sometimes people get bored of salads, so the next best thing is delicious wraps! There are lots of dehydrated raw wraps that you can make or buy, but I prefer to use large leafy greens as my wraps. You can use collard leaves, a large kale leaf, romaine lettuce leaves, or any large edible green leaf you can find. It’s important to consume more greens in your diet – this is where all of your minerals and phytonutrients come from. Greens are life force foods.
Make as many wraps as you would like. Once you have your green leaves, you want to assemble as many colorful fruits and veggies onto them as you can. You can use things like shredded zucchini, cucumber, carrots, beets, chopped cherry tomatoes, bell peppers of any color, minced parsley or cilantro, avocado, or whatever you love! You can tailor them to your own tastebuds and create them in so many different ways.
You can use any dressing you like on these wraps! For example, you can make a simple dressing by blending ½ cup of tahini, 1 red bell pepper, 2-3 cloves of garlic, 2 limes juiced, and a teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt. Blend until smooth and then add into a glass jar to use throughout the next few days!
These rainbow wraps are mouthwatering, easy, and filled with so much life!
Rainbow Salads:
Eating a salad is such a huge part of a raw vegan lifestyle. Consuming abundant types of dark leafy greens is so important. A lot of people don’t like to eat greens because they find it too tough to chew, digest, or how much time it takes to eat them. A lot of the time it’s because they don’t know what type of dressing to use to make salad enjoyable!
Eating salads doesn’t have to be boring! Let me show you how to make a wonderful rainbow salad!
Once you get used to consuming greens on a daily basis, you will begin to CRAVE your salads. I love to eat my large salads for dinner, they are very satiating and filling. There is a lot of protein in greens, and I enjoy eating more savory meals at night. There are so many flavors and textures involved in this salad – let’s get started! You can’t go wrong with this recipe!
Grab a large bowl and fill it with as many types of greens as you desire. On top, add things like purple cabbage, rainbow bell peppers, shredded carrots and cucumber, chopped tomatoes, and sliced avocado! All you really need to do is chop some veggies and put them in a bowl of greens – this can be crafted to whatever tastes you have!
For a dressing, blend together 2-3 juiced limes or lemons, 3 cloves of garlic, ½ cup of raw hemp seeds, 1 cup of soaked raw pumpkin seeds (or pumpkin seed butter), 2 cups of water, and a teaspoon of pink salt. You can adjust these amounts to your preferences! When blended and creamy, pour into a glass jar to store for a few days and use every day for your salad. Preparing in advance makes it easy to enjoy salad every night!
This is no ordinary salad! It is full of life force, guilt-free, shame-free, cruelty-free, and all about nourishing your body. I believe we can feel more connection when we eat foods that come right from the earth.
Freshly Pressed Juices:
I’ve taught you about mono-meals, fruit salads, smoothie bowls, banana nice cream, rainbow wraps, and rainbow salads, and there’s one last thing I’d like to share with you, although it requires one more appliance in your kitchen, and I do consider it to be a little more advanced…and that’s JUICING. I can’t talk about raw vegan recipes or simple meals and not mention juicing. I’m a huge advocate of drinking freshly pressed juices. I enjoy 32-64 ounces of fresh fruit juices every morning, and they are a staple for me every day. I have many videos on juicing on my Youtube channel, and I invite you to check them out and watch a few. When made properly, the right juice can be an easy meal replacement for you. You can always tailor these combinations to meet your needs.
You will need a juicer to make fresh juices, so check out the link below on how I batch juice and all my juicing recommendations. Please check it out. Juicing doesn’t have to be a part of your raw food journey, but it’s a huge part of mine, and it’s been a major game changer for me. I love juicing.
My fave recipe is 1 pineapple, 4 apples, 2 cups of grapes, 1 mango, 1 chunk of ginger and some mint.
Summary:
I believe that food is medicine. Consuming more fruits and vegetables has the ability to heal us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
- MONO MEALS! Fruit is nature’s fast food.
- FRUIT SALADS give you so much energy throughout the day, and they never get old.
- SMOOTHIE BOWLS are quick to make and so satisfying. I can’t go a day without my smoothie bowl.
- NICE CREAMS are too good to be true. It’s like eating soft-serve ice cream. It’s cruelty-free and made with only a few simple ingredients.
- RAINBOW WRAPS are a great way to consume more greens.
- RAINBOW SALADS are not only savory, filling, and colorful, but also provide your body with the necessary vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients it needs to thrive.
- JUICING is an amazing way to hydrate & infuse your body with nutrients.
