Raw Diet for Humans

The raw food diet is a diet in which you don't eat anything that has been cooked above 112 degrees. Most of the food eaten on a raw food diet is completely uncooked, although many dishes use dehydrators to gently heat food to under 112 degrees. Raw food has many good qualities. Since it eliminates all processed foods and a great many fats, it helps people to lose weight and create meals made totally of fresh vegetables, nuts and fruits. Most raw foodists are vegan, although there are some types of raw foodists who consume raw meat and dairy.

Set Up Your Kitchen

Buy more kitchen appliances. If you want to embark upon a raw food diet, you are probably going to need to buy a few new machines. (See Reference 1.) Many recipes call for stronger-than-usual blenders, as they are often needed to blend hard foods like nuts. You will also more than likely need a food processor for vegetables and nuts, and a dehydrator. Many raw food recipes also call for juicers. If you want to make raw food noodles out of zucchini or squash, you will need to buy a spiral slicer as well.

Smoothies

Blend fruit and greens to ensure you get enough vitamins in your diet. Green smoothies, while not mandatory, are enormously popular parts of the raw food diet. The idea is to blend high-vitamin greens like spinach, kale, turnip greens or collards with pure water and fruit in order to make the greens more palatable and to encourage you to get more in your diet. There are thousands of green smoothie recipes, and, since you only need some water, greens and fruit to make them, are easy to prepare in almost any kind of blender. Some of the most popular are pear and spinach, spinach and mango, and apple and kale.

Fruit

Eat more fruit. Fruit is easy to eat raw, tastes delicious and can be found in any grocery store or farmer's market. Fruit can help keep away sugar cravings and the need for processed desserts like cake and doughnuts. Everyone likes some kind of fruit, and if you get bored you can always try new fruits to expand your variety. Available fruits will often change with the season so don't be afraid to experiment!

Learn

Learn more recipes. Embarking on a raw food diet means learning to prepare foods in different ways than you are used to. Eating nothing but salads is boring and a sure way to fall off the raw food diet. The good news is there are many websites with thousands of raw food recipes available for free. There are also many raw foods cookbooks. If you have the appliances, you can learn to make raw burgers, cakes, cookies, milks, chips, pies, nut butters, pasta, shakes, breads, crackers, pizzas, dressings, soups and more. (See Reference 2.)