As part of my peace focus this year, I signed up with The Rawtarian to do a low-fat raw cleanse. I had originally decided to follow the cleanse for 7 days, but ended up doing it for 10 full days. It was that good and so easy to follow. It didn't feel like a cleanse at all!
First, I need to let you know how helpful The Rawtarian website is!
Once you sign up for the membership, all the e-books, recipes, podcasts and courses are available to you. There is so much to choose from!
I explored the Raw Dehydrating 101 course, the Raw Food Diet Plan Course, and the Raw Baby Steps Program. I also downloaded a few e-books and listened to a couple of podcasts. The podcasts and many of the videos are available to everyone from what I could tell. Laura-Jane's blog is full of inspiring posts as well.
If you are new to raw, this page is a great place to start, and it is accessible to everyone.
Many recipes are available to everyone, even without signing up so if you are interested in making something yummy and raw, you should go visit here. The raw lemon bars recipe is a must try, in my opinion!
The Member Community is another great part of the website. Personally, I really enjoyed using the personalized journal section to record my progress and thoughts. Laura-Jane, the Rawtarian, pops in regularly and leaves comments and support to all members which is wonderful.
My history with the raw food lifestyle
I had dabbled into the raw food way when Celeste was a baby, so about ten years ago! A friend had introduced me to raw foods, juicing, and dehydrating. She also had taught me how to make almond milk from scratch. My husband and I had loved the experience. At the time, we had invested in the equipment necessary to follow a raw food lifestyle, mainly a food processor (Cuisinart Pro-Classic), a good dehydrator (this Excalibur Dehydrator ), and a juicer (this Omega Juicer).
The dehydrator and juicer are great tools, but I didn't need either for this cleanse. A really strong powerful blender is the one tool we don't have, so a Vitamix is on my wish list. For this cleanse, I used my food processor a lot!
Over the years, I have continued using juicing and dehydrating. It is not something I do every week, and sometimes months go by even. I do miss including raw foods in my regular routine, and so this year, I wanted to start the year with a raw food boost!
My experience with The Rawtarian Raw Cleanse
The raw cleanse was very well organized. I loved how steps were separated by modules, making it less overwhelming. It felt like the Rawtarian was with me every step of the way. Her instructions are very helpful and clear. A weekly menu, as well as detailed shopping lists and all the recipes were included. Some recipes also came with videos where Laura-Jane showed exactly how to make the raw food dishes.
I appreciated that there were no "weird" hard to find ingredients and the recipes were simple to make.
Besides the very first morning of the cleanse, I was never hungry during the ten days. I had to adjust the breakfast meal by adding protein with hemp hearts to the fruits. My body needed that. In the photos above, you can see my breakfast. I added hemp hearts and some unsweetened coconut at times too.
My favourite meal was lunch. I never thought I would say it, but I love baby spinach salads with celery! The spreads that the Rawtarian uses in salads are tasty and add nutrition. The simple dressing of apple cider vinegar was perfect too. Here is an example, from the free recipes area: raw salmon salad pate. My favourite by far was the celery spread, in top left photo below, recipe only available to members.
The raw "egg" salad was really tasty too! It's the second one from the top left in my mosaic below.
While lunch was my favourite, I also really did very well with eating three meals a day and two snacks. My body obviously needs this routine. I tend to skip lunch too often, and I rarely eat snacks. I have always had a small appetite and get so busy with life that I forget to eat.
During the cleanse, I felt great, had energy, and mentally felt very clear too. I didn't have "mood swings" or any PMS symptoms like I usually do...sorry if this is too much info but the timing was perfect to test this! I usually suffer from bad PMS and I am often very weak and fatigued during and after my periods, but not this time. I felt wonderful. I have been doing daily yoga since the start of the year too, so this very likely helps too. Still, the food has been fueling my yoga practice very well.
The two desserts from the cleanse were yummy too! The raw lemon bars (in the 3 photos below) were so tasty, especially with the coconut. The first week's dessert were raw brownies, these were super tasty on top of fruits (recipe for members only).
What I have learned from this cleanse, besides being able to make delicious raw meals and snacks!
♥ My body needs three meals and two snacks every day.
♥ Planning ahead, making sure I always have fresh fruits, baby spinach, and nuts, is very important and crucial for eating well for me.
♥ Always carry water and a simple quick snack like almonds with me (top right photo in the mosaic above)
♥ Eating raw lunches is a quick and easy way to make sure I do eat lunch.
My plan now is to continue eating vegan, aiming for raw lunches, especially green salads since I am still not tired of eating those. Breakfast will be a rotating routine of raw and cooked foods like granola and warm porridge.
Snacks can be quick and delicious. My favourite right now is two apples and a banana cut with some hemp hearts and unsweetened coconut sprinkled on.
During my raw cleanse, I still had to make dinners for my family. Making two or three dinners, because we have 3 meat eaters and 1 vegetarian in our family, was my least favourite part. At least, most of my raw dinners were prepared in advance and separated in portions for a few days. This made it a bit easier as I only had to put my meal together at dinner. For some dinners, my husband took over cooking, which helped a lot. Still, this is not something I could keep doing for dinners, which is why I am choosing to eat raw for breakfast/lunch instead.
Overall, doing the raw cleanse with the Rawtarian's help and support was truly a wonderful experience. If you are curious about raw foods, I would strongly recommend visiting her website.
My experience was the perfect boost to kickstart the new year and get in the habit of including a lot more fresh raw vegetables, greens, and fruits to my daily meals. It also reinforced my belief that I do a lot better staying vegan.
This review is based on my own personal experience. I did not receive a membership to the Rawtarian website or any compensation for this review post. I truly loved the experience so much that I wanted to share my thoughts with you.
First, I need to let you know how helpful The Rawtarian website is!
Once you sign up for the membership, all the e-books, recipes, podcasts and courses are available to you. There is so much to choose from!
I explored the Raw Dehydrating 101 course, the Raw Food Diet Plan Course, and the Raw Baby Steps Program. I also downloaded a few e-books and listened to a couple of podcasts. The podcasts and many of the videos are available to everyone from what I could tell. Laura-Jane's blog is full of inspiring posts as well.
If you are new to raw, this page is a great place to start, and it is accessible to everyone.
Many recipes are available to everyone, even without signing up so if you are interested in making something yummy and raw, you should go visit here. The raw lemon bars recipe is a must try, in my opinion!
The Member Community is another great part of the website. Personally, I really enjoyed using the personalized journal section to record my progress and thoughts. Laura-Jane, the Rawtarian, pops in regularly and leaves comments and support to all members which is wonderful.
My history with the raw food lifestyle
I had dabbled into the raw food way when Celeste was a baby, so about ten years ago! A friend had introduced me to raw foods, juicing, and dehydrating. She also had taught me how to make almond milk from scratch. My husband and I had loved the experience. At the time, we had invested in the equipment necessary to follow a raw food lifestyle, mainly a food processor (Cuisinart Pro-Classic), a good dehydrator (this Excalibur Dehydrator ), and a juicer (this Omega Juicer).
The dehydrator and juicer are great tools, but I didn't need either for this cleanse. A really strong powerful blender is the one tool we don't have, so a Vitamix is on my wish list. For this cleanse, I used my food processor a lot!
Over the years, I have continued using juicing and dehydrating. It is not something I do every week, and sometimes months go by even. I do miss including raw foods in my regular routine, and so this year, I wanted to start the year with a raw food boost!
My experience with The Rawtarian Raw Cleanse
The raw cleanse was very well organized. I loved how steps were separated by modules, making it less overwhelming. It felt like the Rawtarian was with me every step of the way. Her instructions are very helpful and clear. A weekly menu, as well as detailed shopping lists and all the recipes were included. Some recipes also came with videos where Laura-Jane showed exactly how to make the raw food dishes.
I appreciated that there were no "weird" hard to find ingredients and the recipes were simple to make.
Besides the very first morning of the cleanse, I was never hungry during the ten days. I had to adjust the breakfast meal by adding protein with hemp hearts to the fruits. My body needed that. In the photos above, you can see my breakfast. I added hemp hearts and some unsweetened coconut at times too.
My favourite meal was lunch. I never thought I would say it, but I love baby spinach salads with celery! The spreads that the Rawtarian uses in salads are tasty and add nutrition. The simple dressing of apple cider vinegar was perfect too. Here is an example, from the free recipes area: raw salmon salad pate. My favourite by far was the celery spread, in top left photo below, recipe only available to members.
The raw "egg" salad was really tasty too! It's the second one from the top left in my mosaic below.
While lunch was my favourite, I also really did very well with eating three meals a day and two snacks. My body obviously needs this routine. I tend to skip lunch too often, and I rarely eat snacks. I have always had a small appetite and get so busy with life that I forget to eat.
During the cleanse, I felt great, had energy, and mentally felt very clear too. I didn't have "mood swings" or any PMS symptoms like I usually do...sorry if this is too much info but the timing was perfect to test this! I usually suffer from bad PMS and I am often very weak and fatigued during and after my periods, but not this time. I felt wonderful. I have been doing daily yoga since the start of the year too, so this very likely helps too. Still, the food has been fueling my yoga practice very well.
The two desserts from the cleanse were yummy too! The raw lemon bars (in the 3 photos below) were so tasty, especially with the coconut. The first week's dessert were raw brownies, these were super tasty on top of fruits (recipe for members only).
What I have learned from this cleanse, besides being able to make delicious raw meals and snacks!
♥ My body needs three meals and two snacks every day.
♥ Planning ahead, making sure I always have fresh fruits, baby spinach, and nuts, is very important and crucial for eating well for me.
♥ Always carry water and a simple quick snack like almonds with me (top right photo in the mosaic above)
♥ Eating raw lunches is a quick and easy way to make sure I do eat lunch.
My plan now is to continue eating vegan, aiming for raw lunches, especially green salads since I am still not tired of eating those. Breakfast will be a rotating routine of raw and cooked foods like granola and warm porridge.
Snacks can be quick and delicious. My favourite right now is two apples and a banana cut with some hemp hearts and unsweetened coconut sprinkled on.
During my raw cleanse, I still had to make dinners for my family. Making two or three dinners, because we have 3 meat eaters and 1 vegetarian in our family, was my least favourite part. At least, most of my raw dinners were prepared in advance and separated in portions for a few days. This made it a bit easier as I only had to put my meal together at dinner. For some dinners, my husband took over cooking, which helped a lot. Still, this is not something I could keep doing for dinners, which is why I am choosing to eat raw for breakfast/lunch instead.
Overall, doing the raw cleanse with the Rawtarian's help and support was truly a wonderful experience. If you are curious about raw foods, I would strongly recommend visiting her website.
My experience was the perfect boost to kickstart the new year and get in the habit of including a lot more fresh raw vegetables, greens, and fruits to my daily meals. It also reinforced my belief that I do a lot better staying vegan.
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| Raw 5-minute spaghetti (noodles are raw zucchini) |
This review is based on my own personal experience. I did not receive a membership to the Rawtarian website or any compensation for this review post. I truly loved the experience so much that I wanted to share my thoughts with you.
Great post! I really enjoyed reading your review. I use a lot of The Rawtarian's recipes but have yet to try the raw cleanse. I'm thinking more and more that I should give it a go! :-)
ReplyDeleteYou rocked it, Alexandra! And what a well-thought out and visually appealing summary of your experience. You are awesome.
ReplyDeleteAnd well done having to make two or three dinners!! You did much better than I would with three dinners into the mix. :)
Oh how wonderful for you! I have been eating raw (not 100%) for years now and find that I feel best when I do. My body HATES cooked food but my taste buds love hot hot food. Often times, I give in and make something that we will all eat because it's so much easier - or that most of us will eat. I tend to fall off of the wagon from time to time because of this. I do love my Excalibur (a Christmas gift from my husband years ago) and my Vitamix which I use every day. I don't have a juicer so I will keep the one you noted in mind.
ReplyDeleteI too, find I have more energy and my thought are more focused when I eat raw. As far as periods, you've made me want to go more hard-core into the raw to see if that helps and am fairly certain it would. I did a raw cleanse years ago and should do that too.
MY favourite raw book right now is: Rawlicious at Home, although I tend to mix it up with others - oh, and I couldn't not use Oh She Glows and Cook with Kindness. Those would be a huge sacrifice to turn 100% raw! Haha! :)
Love this post - if you couldn't already tell!