Raw+Simple

When I first delved into the raw diet I really noticed and appreciated the immediate effect that green smoothies have on the functions of the gastrointestinal tract. Wow, it really helps the intestines when you eat plant matter that speeds itself through versus protein heavy foods (dairy and meats) that tend to dessicate the intestines and can lead to unnecessary constipation, especially if you do not drink enough water!

After a few days though, I noticed another result of eating a raw diet in the middle of our snowy really cold New England winter – raw foods are not thermogenic like cereals and meats are. I quickly found myself unable to maintain body temperature (and I have lots of padding, let me assure you). No amount of sweaters and huddling under several blankets and high heat output from the wood boiler would warm me up!

This quickly lead me to pretty much fear a day starting out with a delicious green smoothie because it meant I would be rendered frozen the rest of the day! I do not use ice in any of my smoothies, ever. I am fine with the cool temps I get from the fruits and greens, do not need it to be a frozen drink. So, its not an icy smoothie that was causing this problem.

With regret, I introduced cereals back into my diet and after one sitting, I was able to maintain body temperature and emerge from the blankets. As you might imagine, this posed a problem for me because I am not moving my family to Costa Rica just so I can eat a raw food diet! Nor does this mean that a thermogenic diet that keeps me warm in the brutal cold of New England is necessarily good for my body, it just means I have a challenge that will take some time to approach.

What it means for now, I think, is that my diet will need to be more seasonal. With the coming warmer days (they are not here yet, it still dips into the low 30s here at night), raw foods will become a larger part of my diet and then I hope, in the summer, become the dominant part of it.

We are starting to plant the brassicas out in our raised beds. You can learn all about our homestead at my Humble Garden blog. The photos below show you the raised beds we built two years ago. I intend to feed myself raw veggies from my garden even more, beyond the usual mesclun lettuces, with kales, etc.

I think the main take home message with anything about life and diet is to listen to your body (I know cliche but actually true) and then give yourself a break, dont get rigid in your thinking but rather see it as a continuum of responses to a complex world.