Preparation

Wow, it sure is all about preparation.

Being raw, hungry, and ill-prepared is a bad mix!


Who doesn't want to just 'throw somethin' down there' at the end of the day.

Rootin' through the fridge and seeing only vegetables can be a let-down and a major frustration.

I'm really learning that preparation is key to staying raw, especially in winter.

Like most humans, I've had to learn from my mistakes...which, within the raw context look like cooked soup almost nightly... the kind I have no control over...the kind I didn't personally make. Maybe it's loaded with sugar?? No one at the Capers grocery store gives a flying fart if I'm raw, so I can't trust that... but I have been.

And guess what I've been noticing...? Pudge around the waist. Very slight, but very definite growing 'muffin top' spillage over the jeans. Nice. Well forget it. T'ain't happenin'. Not when it's so easily adjustable. Little tweak on the soups and we're back.

That's the beauty of eating simply...you know where the problem is if one arises... none of this SAD food diet where you don't even know where to start cutting back.

ANYWAY... So preparation.

I recently received Alissa Cohen's 'Living on Live Food' book in the mail. It's been what I've been waiting for, and didn't even know it. In it, there is a soaking/sprouting chart that finally answers to all that confusion.

This goes such a long way. It's been a whole segment of 'raw' that I've just mostly avoided, due to lack of 'the big picture'. For instance, I didn't know that not everything sprouted, but that it all had to be soaked. Who knows that stuff when you're raised on bagged smoked meat and Captain Hiliner fish sticks?


I've taken to sitting with the book and planning what I'm going to need, when.
So this past week, I knew I'd need sprouted lentils for 'chicken fingers', and I knew from the chart that these take 8 hours of soaking and 3 days to sprout...which seems insane *just* to apply it to a recipe, (believe me that is a duelling voice in my head that I'm trying to appease, telling it to "hush, I'm trying something new here...")

What's happening is that the more I do this, the less crazy it becomes as I develop a routine. And the pride and excellent meals that come from this go a long way in staying raw. Plus, in just a short week, my pudge is fading!!


So lesseee..... by soaking and sprouting some lentils on a Wed, we had chicken fingers on Sat. By soaking some nuts overnight on a Thursday, we enjoyed delicious pizza on a Friday. (What the hell do nuts have to do with pizza??) By starting dinner at breakfast in the dehydrator, we were able to feast on carrot-pecan burgers on Thurs. Oh, and by soaking dates for an hour, I've inhaled the best carrot cake ever.


I've never planned my meals, which has maybe contributed to the fact that I ate anything, willy nilly.


It is already getting easier. I'm just assuming that I'll need nuts and seeds and soaked sundried tomatoes and dates, and keep a stock in the fridge. I'm just assuming that pizza will be on the menu again shortly, so I'm freezing some crust that made itself over night in the dehydrator.
It's all starting to make sense, and I'm really enjoying the prep. I feel like the shoe dropped. I feel like I get it now.

There are days where it's going to be all about the simple. Grab a salad (which I grab on the other days too) an extra smoothie, some fruit, a 'sandwich'... but the days I want 'winter food', I no longer feel overwhelmed.

When I used to look at recipes that called for sprouted or soaked anything, I'd roll my eyes and flip the page, and the recipe never saw the light of day. But you know what? That time is going to go by anyway, tomorrow's dinner always comes, and it's a real delight to be prepared for it and make that recipe after all.

Yeehaaa!