Transition to Raw

10 Tips for Your Transition Back to a Raw Food Diet

When you realise you want or need to transition back to raw, in some ways it can seem harder than the first time. The first time you discover the raw food diet you’re filled with excitement and fresh enthusiasm. You’re motivated by exploring the newness of everything. Down the track it can feel more like you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Here are some tips that will make your transition to a raw food diet easier.

It’s true that although eating raw feels great and becomes self-sustaining, it takes a bucketload of determination and effort to get there. Cycling through different levels of rawness is completely normal. Reasons for this vary; seasonal, personal changes, what’s going on in your social life or avoiding a too rapid detox.

In a way, having experienced eating high raw or 100% raw can provide you with self-defeating knowledge as you struggle to transition back to a raw food diet. You know that:
a) you felt fabulous eating raw but also
b) it didn’t take that long for major positive benefits to kick in.

Therefore you can assure yourself that you’ll start eating raw again tomorrow and that is soon enough. You know you’ll be back to fabulous in no time! But that reasoning also permits you to postpone your renewal until next week, next month, next Spring etc.

Time to really get started.

10 Tips for Your Transition Back to Raw

• Revisit your “why”. Remember what you loved about eating raw previously and reflect on what’s drawing you back.


• Resupply yourself with good quality oils, salts, herbs and spices. Check your stock of favourite staples such as agave nectar and cacao. Fill up the fridge and fruit bowl with fresh produce and make sure you have your favourite salad dressing ingredients handy.


• Plan to meet your addictions. By now you know what lured you away from the raw levels you were previously enjoying. It may have surprised you to discover where your food weaknesses lie. Whether it’s coffee , bread, alcohol or chocolate, start working on phasing them out of your current diet. Introduce substitutes that are healthy and raw but still comforting and satisfying e.g. cacao, fresh vegetable juices, raw loaves and dehydrated crackers.


• Get re-inspired. Revisit the resources that have worked particularly well for you in the past. Starting with something bright and encouraging from the Raw Food Coach will get you excited about eating raw every time. Look through your favourite raw recipe books and mark out old favourites or new recipes that appeal.


• Keep it simple. Getting tied up preparing gourmet raw dishes can wear out your resolve fast. The prep time for complex recipes can be better spent, and in the hungry wait you’re just as likely to succumb to the temptation of more convenient foods that aren’t on your menu. Once you get sucked back up into the raw lifestyle you will have the energy and bonus time to get creative in the kitchen. Just give yourself a few weeks to get there first.


• Make the most of raw transition foods. Foods that are higher in healthy fats such as avocado, coconut and olives can help keep you feeling full and satisfied. They can add creaminess and flavour to simple raw salads and smoothies . Berries and bananas are great snacks to have at hand because they can gently boost your blood sugar when you start feeling a bit low. Some people swear by nut butter as a spread or dip for getting them through their transition to raw.


• Eat raw first. If you have a craving for a cooked food, consume the raw part of the meal first. By filling up on your salads and smoothies first, then asking yourself again whether the craving is a genuine physical need, you have a better chance of sticking to raw foods. There may be a raw option that satisfies you just as nicely.


• Choose your weather. Waiting for sunshine may not be an option, but in the right season fresh food is cheaper, more widely available and easier to grow for yourself. Sunny days also help keep you cheerful during your transition.


• Make an announcement – or don’t! Either let your supporters know you’re working towards a raw food diet again so that they can back you, or don’t tell them and see how long it takes them to notice. There’s a certain satisfaction in being quietly determined. Positive, unsolicited feedback from other people provides evidence that your return to raw is reaping genuine benefits.


• Journal it. Keeping a reflective diary doesn’t work for everyone, but if it works for you then don’t miss the opportunity to back yourself up. A ‘Back to Raw’ journal can also have a more practical focus, tracking recipes and shopping lists. Rather than write out recipes that have inspired you, feel free to simply note a reference to the website and url or recipe book and page number. Note any ingredients that you don’t regularly have on standby so that you can pick them up next time you shop. By all means make notes about your progress too if you feel like it. A journal helps you recall recipes that tingled your imagination and helps you get more organised.

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