Raw Until Dinner (or Raw until 4PM)

"Raw Til' Dinner"

Whenever possible or practical, I like to follow a 95% raw until dinner diet. This means that 95% of the foods I eat until dinner are raw and vegetarian. It also allows for some flexibility with non-raw things like organic vegan salad dressings, nuts, seeds and even multi-vitamins. Heck, I'm even open to the possibility of green tea or organic black coffee in the morning. However, the point is to eat vegetarian, 95% raw  (uncooked) foods until dinner. I'm a firm believer that this will boost the joy of most people who try it.

For those who can't eat raw foods for whatever reason, a whole foods vegan diet is another great option. However, remember that we as humans are the only animal that regularly cooks its food. For most animals, there is only raw food. We as modern humans have been a bit spoiled with the convenience of portable fire and fuel. But, just because it's convenient doesn't mean it's optimal.

One example of a raw until dinner approach is eating fresh fruit, a fruit smoothie and/or raw oatmeal for breakfast and a salad, raw lettuce wrap or raw soup for lunch while enjoying whole foods - raw and/or cooked - for dinner.

In her book titled the Raw Food Detox Diet, nutritionist Natalia Rose talks about the "raw til dinner" diet. "Some of my more advanced clients find that eating only uncooked plant foods until their dinner meal works very well for them. They segregate their day into two parts and know they can have a broad range of choices for a cooked dinner every night after eating a storehouse of enzymes all day. I call this 'raw til dinner'" (p. 45, The Raw Food Detox Diet).

Rose emphasizes the value of eating fresh fruit for breakfast: "Eating only fruit in the morning is the best breakfast for a number of reasons. First, it enables you to eat one purely raw food meal in the day, which means that without much effort you could reach a minimum of 30 percent raw foods... Second, with only twenty to thirty minutes transit time in the stomach, fresh fruit delivers energy to the body without wasting digestive energy" (p. 47, The Raw Food Detox Diet).

Another author named Nathalie Lussier also discusses the "raw til dinner" plan on her website: "One of the simplest ways to add more raw foods into your diet, is to go raw until dinner. The idea is that you eat raw meals for breakfast, and lunch, and your snacks are raw. Then dinner is up to you, you can choose to eat the foods that you always eat, but you’ll notice that soon enough you’ll be attracted to eating more healthful foods even in the evening" (link).

Success Story

Lastly, check out this amazing video of a woman who helped heal her eczema, psoriasis and allergies by eating a "raw til dinner" plant-based diet: