Health 101 - Article - Transitioning to a Raw Diet

Tips For Transitioning to a Healthier Diet

The transition diet initiates the detoxification process and helps to eliminate waste products that accumulated from eating the Standard Western Diet. It also allows the body to gradually shift from a diet of meat, processed foods, sugar, white flour products, etc. to a healthy raw food diet that consists of fruit, green leafy vegetables, and some nuts and seeds.

I. The first phase of the diet consists of eliminating over-the-counter drugs, meat, tobacco, alcohol, white flour, salt, junk food, and coffee. Decreasing unhealthy food and substituting healthy food is an effective way to initiate the transition diet.

II. The second phase of the transition diet is the withdrawal of dairy products and the optional substitution of seed milk and nut cheeses if you absolutely need to (but go easy on these as they can also be unhealthy if consumed in too high a quantity).

III. The third phase of the transition diet is the withdrawal of cooked foods, including: grains, cooked fruits and vegetables, crackers, legumes/beans, bread, pastries, etc. Substituting fresh raw fruit and vegetables, and the occasional nuts and seeds is the goal and the final step toward the progression to a healthy raw food diet.

IV. Some helpful additions to the transition diet include:

1. Include fruit and salads of leafy greens everyday, nuts -- in small quantities -- only occasionally.

2. As an option, implement a one-time colon cleansing administered by a good colon hydrotherapist (make sure the therapist insists on implanting probiotics after the sessions are completed). Avoid things like coffee and wheatgrass enemas as they do more harm than good.

3. Reduce your intake of cooked foods gradually but steadily.

4. Consume raw foods (salad) before and after the ingestion of any cooked foods (but do try and avoid animal products whether raw or cooked), as this can aid digestion.

5. Start out by making breakfast a 100% raw food meal of fruit. Then eventually add lunch as an all-raw meal.

6. Start a meal where cooked foods are planned with fruit and some green leafies first. Then leave some time for them to digest, and then if you still want the cooked food, have some (you'll find that the desire for the cooked food will be much less if you first satisfy your body with some nutritious raw food).

7. Delay drinking water for an hour after a meal, but stay well hydrated.

8. Chew your food slowly and thoroughly, and take your time. Make eating your meal the only thing you do; avoid watching TV, reading, deep thought thinking, or engaging in "heavy" conversations while eating.

9. Learn more about food mis-combining (food separating), and only consume foods that are easy on the digestive system.

10. Be watchful to not overeat. Plan to eat multiple small portions, and ask yourself before going for another portion, "Do I really want more?"

11. And most importantly, knowing not to overeat is of little help if you don't know in what proportions to eat the foods that make up a healthy raw food diet. And by proportions I'm referring to the ratio between carbs, fats, and proteins. If you're eating the right amount of calories for your needs, but those calories are coming from a diet that is way too high in fat vs carbs, it doesn't matter that all the food you're eating is uncooked and just fruits and vegetables; your health will not improve (it may even get worse) nor will you be as healthy as you could be. The two books here and here speak to this issue of proper dietary proportions of carbs, fat, and protein.

"The news isn't that fruits and vegetables are good for you. It's that they are so good for you they could save your life." -- David Bjerklie, TIME Magazine, October 20, 2003