Firstly, I’d like to thank my readers for all the questions and feedback I receive on a daily basis.

I am overwhelmed with joy that I am able to help and inspire so many folks with my message and improve so many lives. I am always conscious of the job I do and I take it seriously.

At the same time, I’d like to apologise to some of you for those emails that I have not answered as quickly as I wish I could.

Writing some of my books has been incredibly time consuming over the past couple of years and I often don’t have as much time to do all the things I hope to.

In this new series of weekly emails, I would like to answer as many questions and concerns from my readers as I possibly can.

One of readers sent me this message:

“Hi Ariel,

 I started with your raw food dinners and love how simple they were. Some were a hit with the family as well. 

 My question is, how can I follow a raw food diet without adding pasta, potatoes, rice, or quinoa. I didn’t quite like the taste of raw quinoa but raw sweet potatoes are ok. 

 I’m an endurance triathlete, who is in training 15-20 hours for a full Ironman. 

 Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my query.” 

I would say that you could start eating a raw food diet and still eat pasta, rice, and other cooked starches. You see, I don’t recommend people switching to 100% raw overnight.

When I started my journey into my raw food diet, the first thing I did was to buy a steamer. A steamer you may ask? That’s cooked food, right?

Precisely, that is because I realised earlier on during my studies that in order to get healthy and doing it in the right way, you need to start by replacing the wrong cooked food by eating healthier cooked food alternatives – especially at dinner time.

You can do this by substituting hard-core indigestible junk cooked food, such as those containing animal products, by eating steamed vegetables and other plant based recipes – including some pasta, rice, and potatoes, if you like.

Of course, you add raw food onto your diet at the same time by eating mainly fresh fruit during the day and then using the steamer at dinnertime. That worked wonders for me.

Even after only a couple of months into my high raw diet and not being fully raw yet, my skin cleared up considerably. I remember my friends in London telling me how fresh I looked, and this comment has followed me over the years.

You’ll notice the change in your skin texture rapidly on a raw diet if you do it correctly and stop consuming toxins.

The issue here is the fat. You need to eat low fat meals, ideally. So, if you want to eat pasta, don’t use oils or cheese as condiments and make sure the sauce (if you use any) is not too complex in terms of digestion.

As part of my training on Natural Hygiene I also studied food combination rules, and this has served me well.

For instance, if you are going to eat cooked starches, like potatoes or rice, make sure to eat fruit beforehand and not afterwards.

Some people may be thinking, but Ariel, you can still eat ‘pasta’ style raw recipes, such as those made using zucchini and other vegetables instead of grains?

Well, yes, you could. But bear in mind that raw zucchini ‘pasta’ recipes will taste great, if you have been eating raw food for a while.  However, I believe those recipes won’t satiate people accustomed to eating pasta made from ‘grains’ so easily.

Remember that zucchini is a vegetable, not a grain; most people are addicted to grains.

I am not going to cover the issue of food addiction in this post because it would be too long, but I will do so in the future .

After you have acclimated to eating raw food, you’ll find that quitting cooked starches won’t be as difficult as it was before, and at the same time your health will have improved considerable as a result, which means you’ll be more motivated to keep eating raw!

I hope my answer satisfies some of your concerns regarding eating cooked starches on a mostly raw diet, and I look forward to answer the next set of Q&A coming next week.

Eat Better, Feel Better

Looking for easy ways to boost the nutrition power of your meals? Check out the real-world-tested recipes in  The Raw Dinner Recipes eBook.

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