I'm loving the challenge of this new workshop. To be honest, winter is the hardest time of the year for me in general, and particularly when it comes to sticking to the raw lifestyle i know and love the rest of the year. I have been doing some soul searching.....asking myself questions such as
'is it necessary to stay raw in winter?'
'what is the best diet for me in winter?'
'do i want to stay raw/ high raw this winter?'
'if i am going to include more cooked food, what cooked food will i include? What cooked foods will i avoid?
Whilst asking myself these questions, and reflecting on my experience of previous winters on raw/ high-raw/ semi-raw, I had a revelation.
In the one winter when i stayed pretty much 100% raw, i really felt the best out of all my winters since starting out on my raw food journey. Raw Food= Good Mood!
Yet there has only been one winter out of four when i really stuck to high raw consistently. So then i got to thinking about why it is so difficult to stay raw in winter. I remember how difficult it was, particularly the first couple of winters, trying to stay healthy while all around me people were indulging in all kinds of festive treats laden with sugar, wheat and dairy........I'm grateful for the experience tho', because it led me to experiment endlessly in the kitchen, and i've come up with many a delicious dish that i feel good about eating, and doesn't bring me down from my raw food good mood! :)
You see, i started eating Raw Foods exclusively in the autumn of 2004 for spiritual reasons, which really means i felt attracted to the raw food path so that i could feel closer to nature and the divinity in all things....which is another way of saying that i wanted to feel alive, that my life had meaning and purpose, that i was connected to the web of life that courses through all things.......
Yes I am passionate in the pursuit of health, well-being, healing & spiritual connection, &&& I also believe that food can be fun, delicious, and comforting, if that's what makes you feel good!!
So for the next couple of weeks it is my challenge to create recipes that fulfil that need for comfort, taste & fun. Recipes that 'hit the spot'.....the 'spot' that becomes harder to reach with the usual raw fare as winter draws nearer!!
I'd love to open this up for discussion. Tell me of your experiences with raw/high-raw/semi-raw in winter. We have so much to learn from each other!
With love & warmth, Shell xxx
p.s. to everyone waiting for the amazing cracker recipe: it will be in your inbox in the next couple of days :)
Sunday, 21 September 2008
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3 comments:
Hi Shell***Love your blogs.... Winter is a challenging season indeed. I think I have been super lucky for the past three years to escape half of the British winter. Living in a caravan year round on high raw isn't always fun. Especially when one doesn't drive, cabin fever sets in! But the Indian Summer seems to have arrived and it feels good to be experimenting in the kitchen with winter warming raw food delights for workshops ahead. Have fun and see you at the weekend? Lot of autumnal wishes and love, Emma x x x
I love organic miso soup in the winter. It's "living" and not raw, but full goodies for digestion and it's so warming! After only a couple of sips, my body seriously starts warming up immediately :)
Cheers,
Kristen
Living in Minnesota in the US it gets cold in winter. Having been partially raw for a large percentage of the time over the last two years, and completely raw since mid-summer, I've been considering this question. Warming spices come to mind, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, any kind of pepper, these are good to have on hand and help warm the body. Tea, even though its not really raw, comes into the mix as well. For local food, not a lot comes to mind, not a lot grows in Minnesota, LoL, but apples are in season and will be for a while, and we have kale in abundance until the first hard frost. I'll be looking at this question more closely as we move toward the colder months, but I have the general idea that I'll have to come up with a plan that involves items that will keep such as nuts and other things that work well for seasonal storage.
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