How to Survive a Winter Gone Raw

Although we still have about 3 weeks to go, it’s already starting to feel like winter weather here in West Tennessee.

The high is hovering around 55 degrees and the low is getting into the 30s.

I know it could certainly be colder (and wetter), but it’s still far too chilly for me!

Anyway, I realized the other day that this will be my third winter on a raw food.  While my past attempts at staying raw during the winter have been somewhat less than successful, I do have some useful tips for you that may help out with your own raw food endeavors this winter.

So here ya go…my top 3 rules for surviving a winter gone raw.

Raw Rule #1: Get Creative in the Kitchen

Unless you’re one of those lucky devils who get to live 6 months out of the year in the tropics (Frederic, I’m lookin’ at you!), you know that locating even decent quality fruit and veggies during the winter months can be a bit challenging.

It’s so easy to find perfectly delectable produce when the weather is warm and just mono-meal it all summer.  During the winter, the fruit is not as plentiful or always at its best.

It can be more than frustrating when you are trying to go raw and all you have to eat are bananas that won’t ripen properly, pesticide-ridden grapes, tasteless tomatoes, and wilted romaine lettuce.

The best way to combat this is to get yourself in the kitchen and start making some recipes.  This may seem daunting at first, but it’s actually quite simple.  As long as you choose raw ingredients that you enjoy on their own, you really can’t go wrong!

Inspired by a simple fruit plate my Aunt served for me this Thanksgiving, I’ve discovered a delicious fruity combination of blueberries and pomegranate seeds.  With a little creativity and some frozen fruit (see rule #2), I can now re-create this combo over and over again and in multiple different ways this year.

Here’s one delicious example I came up with…

*Bomegranate Plueberry Blast*

• 3 bananas
• 2 cups of wild blueberries
• 2 cups pomegranate juice

Blend and enjoy.

Lucky for me, I now have someone to do the creating and prep work for me.  My wonderful mother/chef has decided to start playing around with healthy raw food dishes this winter!

And you know I’ve been spurring her on.  I’ve made sure to give her all my best and healthiest raw recipe books and send her the links to all the best raw recipe websites.

There’s certainly some good raw food eatin’ headed my way!

Raw Rule #2: Frozen Foods

I know it sounds weird…

Cold Climate + Frozen Foods = One Freezy, Weezy Raw Foodist!

Here me out on this one.

I’m not telling you to buy frozen foods in order to eat them frozen.  I’m encouraging you to buy frozen because it adds variety to your less than exciting winter fare.

As you know, the variety of produce available during the winter months is rather limited, especially for those of you living in northern climates.  And even the fruit that is available isn’t always the best quality.

That’s where frozen fruit comes in.  Because the fruit is frozen when ripe, little freshness, nutrient, or taste is lost.  That means you get to enjoy scrumptious, vibrant, and nutritious warm weather fruits like strawberries and mangoes in the dead of winter!

So how do you incorporate frozen foods into a raw food diet?

First, don’t eat them frozen.  Not only will this drop your body temperature tremendously, but doing so on a regular basis can potentially affect your intestinal flora (which has a direct affect on vitamin B12 absorption).

You should definitely thaw the fruit in the fridge or on the counter before consuming.

Second, use frozen fruits to liven up your tasty new winter recipes (you did read raw rule number 1, didn’t you?)!  I love adding frozen strawberries and raspberries to my banana smoothies.

The Costco here carries these amazingly delicious frozen bags of wild blueberries.  It’s great because it means I can make my favorite Banana-Blueberry-Orange Blast Smoothie even when it’s 30 degrees outside!

You can also use frozen fruits in delicious fruit puddings, salad dressings, or even tasty raw pies!

Winter Rule #3: Get in Your Greens

Like many low fat raw vegans, I tend to eat very little greens during the summer months.  The non-sweet fruits like tomatoes and cucumber are just so delicious here in the South that I don’t really care for greens too much.

Now that the tomatoes suck and the cucumber is “meh” at best, I’m craving salads like crazy.  When I think of snowy winter weather, I don’t think potato soup and apple cobbler…I think ginormous, hearty salads!

And when I say “ginormous,” I mean the largest salad bowl you have ever seen:

My Salad Bowl & a Weeny Cereal Bowl for Comparison

I fill this baby up with greens (romaine and butter lettuce are my favorites), cherub tomatoes, spiralized cucumber, grated carrots, cilantro, bell pepper, jicama, and maybe some sweet fruit like persimmon, apple, or grapes for extra color and flavor.

Another benefit to eating salads?

They really help to stave off cravings, especially for salt.  Eating fruit all day, even the non-sweet fruits, can leave you wanting something a bit more savory by the time dinner rolls around.  A tasty, hearty, savory, and super nutritious salad can really help to round out a healthy dinner meal.

What if you really don’t like salads?  I highly recommend Roger Haeske’s Savory Veggie Stews.  They are extra filling and tasty and since they are blended, they are extra easy to eat and assimilate.  Plus, they take less time to make than a salad because you can put all the ingredients into the bender instead of having to prep everything.

You can check out the SVS idiot-proof recipe system at the link below:

http://tinyurl.com/ygwwahs

Any Advice?

So there you have it, those are my 3 rules for making this raw winter super tasty, super nutritious, and super fun!

And for all of you “raw-terans” who have survived your own raw winter or two, be sure to leave some tips for the rest of us newbies below!

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze