Raw Diets

Raw diet isn't the healthiest option out there. If you are already eating lots of veggies, you should be fine. And there is now questionable data on the healthfulness of agave syrup. (can have mold, may be no better than HFCS).

I bought a handful of the raw diet "cook" books, and I combine that with small amounts of gluten free pastas and breads. It works better for me in putting together healthy meals than the more common start in this country of focusing on what meat to fix and then slapping on some side dishes. It changes my focus to the raw food material, and I can add in very small amounts of cooked organic meats and beans and things.

Personally, while I love the recipes and think most of us need to eat closer to that, I think they take it just a little too far. Balance includes very small amounts of grains and meats too. Our problem is that as a culture we have gone mostly wheat and meat, with small sides of veggies. We need to go mostly veggies with SMALL sides of meat and grains.

Raw foods are extremely healthy – for some bodies. I've known a few people who can handle raw foods during warm months, but not during the winter. (Chinese medicine actually acknowledges this ebb and flow by balancing food, exercise and medicine for their "yin" and yang" qualities.)

There are probably no one-size-fits-all diets, so whatever you end up feeding your daughter, pay attention to how she handles it. I do great on lots of raw veggies, for example, but a girlfriend of mine gets violent gastric distress if she eats anything at all that isn't very well cooked (looks like mush to me!).

I make a green smoothie everyday. I always add a fleshy fruit like peaches or mango's. The protein powder I use has a vanilla base and it taste great!
Good Luck!

Be careful with all raw or all vegan diets.
Raw is very yin, damp, and cooling.
This can imbalance the system.
I'm winter you may not stay warm.
And a woman can eventually stop menstruating.

If your family are already eating raw fruits and vegetables, then you are doing fine. You could also add fruit juice. Why bother with smoothies? Yogurt is also good. Whole grains are also important. My grandchildren don't like whole wheat bread so I buy the Sara Lee white whole grain.
V.

I am trying to follow a mostly raw diet as well but am having a hard time getting my husband and children on the bandwaggon with me. For my kids, if they eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, raw nuts and dehydrated fruit, that's fine. There are some things like my green juice that they just won't touch but maybe when they are older, they'll become more adventurous. For now, just give them a lot of green leafy vegetables to eat in their natural state (lettuce, watercress, spinach) and that she be good enough for now to give them those enzymes and nutrients.

Miichelle,

You are lucky that she eats the raw fruits and veggies.....it seems like most kids eat a diet of chicken nuggets and hotdogs witth their veggie/ fruit being ketchup. I'm not suree if I would push the green smoothies on her. I personally would gag if I had to drink them. Also, I think a way of eating should be up to each individual unless it's nothing but junk, otherwise, she may end up rebelling against a raw diet.

For example, we eat meat, not a lot but we still eat it. My son doesn't care for it so instead of getting upset like my husband does, I make other things that compare nutrient wise. He always tries to push it on our son, but since he is not here but a few hours on the weekend then I get to cook what I want...:-)

If you blend beets in the juice it should turn it pink....maybe she will like the juice then :-)

My suggestion is to not become a fanatic. Remember that people have lived on non exclusively raw diets from the dawn of time. Be moderate and don't set your kids up to have social issues or future eating issues. It's fine to try things (raw diet), but if you tell your toddler that cooked food is bad for you today, then he will believe it and in three years when you tell him that cooked food is okay, he's going to wonder what to believe, right?

Good luck!

When I did the raw diet I added a little peanut butter and yogurt. It was great for smoothies.

Just to let you know so you are aware- some people cannot process a raw diet at all. I have a sister who cannot eat raw foods- she has a birth defect with her kidneys and the raw food causes very painful kidney stones- just be aware and know that although it might seem the healthiest way to eat, for some it is not. My parents are on a raw diet and it is fine for them