EATING PLAN FOR MABON

  Hello raw food!
  After cooking quite a bit during Lughnasadh, I´m happy to give all it up and try some non-cooking for a change.

  I have always been fascinated by the idea of eating completely raw, uncooked, food. It just sounds so natural, and I wonder why we ever wandered off that path anyway...

  I´ll give it a try for the next six weeks. Like this:

7-9am Breakfast: Fruity porridge (fruit/berries blended with some greens into a thick smoothie, then sprinkled with a seasoning like ginger or cinnamon)

Apple, pear, and celery porridge with cinnamon.

11.30am -12.30pm Lunch: A large salad consisting of greens and veggies, tossed with a dressing that includes good oils, nuts, seeds, and/or avocado.

Random mixed greens and veggies, fermented cucumber, and seaweed tossed with a rich pinenut based dressing. Amazing!

3-4pm Dinner: An actual meal that requires some uncooking, like soup, zucchini "pasta" with a sauce, paté, couscous, etc. (Experimenting with recipes from books and online.)

Parsnip and rucola couscous with pear and pumpkin seeds for dinner.

6-8pm Supper: A raw dessert, like chocolate pudding, apple pie, citrus mousse, etc.

Chocolate cake for supper. I have a strong sweet tooth, and I eat a dessert every evening.

  Three years ago I attended a raw living foods hands-on course. I hated it. The foods we made there were terrible, and I sealed my hatred towards sauerkraut. Never, ever, again! But the course taught me that living foods were not my path. I can´t do fermenting, dehydrating, or sprouting all the time. Too hard core for me. I´m a simple gal, and I want my food to be that way too. Eating is important, we are made of the stuff we eat, but there are other things in life too. Food should not take up too much of our attention or time.

  Two years ago, when pregnant with my second child, I craved raw food like nothing else. I went for two weeks on raw food only. After the third month of expecting, the crazy craving subsided, but I still ate raw foods occasionally.

  Now it´s been a while since I last got a kick from raw food.  I´m optimistic now, because I have found an amazing instructional book, which keeps food prep easy and quick. No gimmicks, nasty sauerkraut making, running the food-dehydrator for days, or sprouting my brain out. Peel, chop, and eat is more like it.
  Usually I don´t like to advertise anything, but this Raw Food book by Erica Palmcrantz Aziz is great. This Mabon I will consider it my Bible. There are listed different cleanses, from 1 day to three weeks of duration, of which I go for the longest one. I´m not looking for a quick fix, I like to do sustainable changes. And I hate dieting!

  To find raw recipes you can try this, this, or this. But the web is full of other places too.

P.S. I do not expect to make it through without some cooked grain, like rice or whole grain bread. I allow myself to have some in the evenings if I really crave it. But the goal is as listed above, and I´m hopeful that the cravings will subside gradually as time goes on... I need to remember to be gentle with myself, and keep enjoying life. It is not about restriction, it´s about loving myself!