Eating raw or plant based diet limiting?

Is eating raw or plant-based too limiting?

A common hesitation that I hear about eating more raw vegan, or plant-based food, is the lack of food choices and variety available. Many say it is too limiting.

It’s actually quite easy to send people running in the other direction if you tell them they’d have to eat a diet without meat, dairy, processed sugar or processed foods (luckily I like to take the gradual route with newbies!).

But what about our diets today? As is? (i.e. before raw of plant-based diet). Did we or do we eat a massive range of different foods on a daily basis? Tasting the most delicious sauces and seasonings three times daily?

Likely not.

While many of us feel we have a range of options to eat from on a daily basis, the truth is, we really eat the same things over and over.

I, in fact, remember that when I ate more mainstream foods, I would often complain to myself that I was just “tired of food.”

Have you ever felt this way?

When we consider this – that we really eat the same things day in and day out (keep a food journal for a week if you don’t believe me!) – the real issue is that we are dealing with an attachment to our personal comfort foods.

And to stop eating these comfort foods mean we suffer a temporary withdrawal.

Of course, humans like other animals, get really attached to the things we love. We LOVE our coffee. We LOVE our croissants. We LOVE our _______ (fill in the blank), so much so that we can’t imagine a world without them.

But when we make the conscious decision to do so (for various reasons), know that, in time, you can easily become attached to new foods.

The truth is, there are loads – and I mean loads – of food options on a raw vegan diet.

If you allow yourself a little bit of cooked vegan food, than even more food options are available, like some cooked grains, curries, vegan stews, stir-frys and more.

Raw vegan meals range from raw chilis, to pates, to lasagna, to alfredo sauce (yes, this can really taste amazing), ULIMITED numbers of desserts (you will never feel deprived in that department) to salads with kelp noodles (which perfectly mimic the consistency of real noodles), to pasta with marinara sauce, to crackers and hummus, to various and wide-ranging soups (that you will also never be deprived in) and to endless salad variations. And I’ve only named a small portion of all the options!

There are so many options you can really go crazy.

That is why buying new cookbooks and going to classes, is a really great way to keep learning (I’m constantly doing it!).

This will keep you on the cutting edge too so you always know the newest ingredients and the freshest tastes to hit the raw and vegan world. If you’re tired of all the raw or vegan cookbooks, I sometimes find the greatest salad gems in more traditional cookbooks as well.

In time you will love your morning green juice or smoothie green as much as you did your coffee (stranger things have happened!), or you will LOVE that salad dressing that just makes all salads so glorious or you will LOVE the familiar taste of your favourite pate.

This can and will actually happen.

It might not happen quickly and your body may resist at first but give it a try. It is just like with sugar, where your body might kick and scream during the withdrawal but soon you will relish the clarity and alertness you feel after you have stopped relying on sugar for a quick boost in the afternoon.

So the next time someone says this to you, you can say, think again!

Always have an appetite for new recipes and keep searching. There are far too many great raw vegan and cooked vegan recipes to get stuck in a repetitive cycle. Feel like eating out? Then check out my favorite places to eat.

What are your tricks for variety yon a plant-based diet? Leave your comments below – I’d love to hear from you!

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Isabelle - June 3, 2012

This is something that has struck me many times, how much variety there is now in my meals since I’m vegan, and even more so since my incursion in the raw food world. Before, in my meat eating and even vegetarian life, I was relying a lot on bread, eggs, cheese, and ice cream to feel satisfied. Tofu was also a food that I was eating a lot, at least 4-5 times a week. After seeing the movies “Forks over knife” and “Eating”, we became aware, my husband and I, of the importance of eating mostly unprocessed food.
One of my trick to vary my diet is that twice a week I try to sit down with my books and plan the menu for the next 3-4 days. I like to let the chance operate and open a book randomly to determine what we’re going to eat. It’s fun and it guarantees that we’ll eat differently every day. I find that when I take the time to do that, our diet is really varied and healthy. It takes time though, and I can’t always do it. There are great resources on the net also with a myriad of vegan recipes. When I think of my diet when I was a little girl, eating beef or chicken, potatoes and carrots most of the time, the only kind of lettuce was the boring iceberg, I marvel at the choices we have today.

ohmyraw! - June 3, 2012

Isabelle, How true! Thank you for the wonderful tips. I heard someone once before say that, as a vegan, you can truly have a delicious, interesting new meal on your plate every night of the week from every different type of cuisine. While it can be a learning curve, once you pass the period of uncertainty, I find this new world so fun and way more exciting than before. You (or at least I!) really do tend to put more effort into the real tastes and flavors of the food.

Hugues - June 3, 2012

Excellent blog,filled with wisedom. i truly enjoyed your retreat last weekend. Vegan idiet is very varied but as I traveled 50% of the month, choices are very limited in restaurants.
So I feel very restricted then. It has also some soical consequences too, I less and less talk about it,not to make an issue over it. For me it is important to keep mind why I am vegan.. I feel best when i eat raw greens, when I eat unprocessed foods. I think of our fellow “earthlings” their suffering, then these restrictions are worth it…. Most of the time

ohmyraw! - June 3, 2012

Thanks so much, Hugues. It is so true. Eating out can be tricky. I have a blog post scheduled for next week or two that deals with this exactly.
I too have learned that it is wise to pick your battles in terms of telling people you are vegan or not as it can cause some high emotions and, while sometimes necessary, you don’t always want to be on the battlefield, so to speak.
I appreciate your feedback on the retreat! So glad you enjoyed it!

4 Comments

Isabelle - June 3, 2012

This is something that has struck me many times, how much variety there is now in my meals since I’m vegan, and even more so since my incursion in the raw food world. Before, in my meat eating and even vegetarian life, I was relying a lot on bread, eggs, cheese, and ice cream to feel satisfied. Tofu was also a food that I was eating a lot, at least 4-5 times a week. After seeing the movies “Forks over knife” and “Eating”, we became aware, my husband and I, of the importance of eating mostly unprocessed food.
One of my trick to vary my diet is that twice a week I try to sit down with my books and plan the menu for the next 3-4 days. I like to let the chance operate and open a book randomly to determine what we’re going to eat. It’s fun and it guarantees that we’ll eat differently every day. I find that when I take the time to do that, our diet is really varied and healthy. It takes time though, and I can’t always do it. There are great resources on the net also with a myriad of vegan recipes. When I think of my diet when I was a little girl, eating beef or chicken, potatoes and carrots most of the time, the only kind of lettuce was the boring iceberg, I marvel at the choices we have today.

- ohmyraw! - June 3, 2012
  
  Isabelle, How true! Thank you for the wonderful tips. I heard someone once before say that, as a vegan, you can truly have a delicious, interesting new meal on your plate every night of the week from every different type of cuisine. While it can be a learning curve, once you pass the period of uncertainty, I find this new world so fun and way more exciting than before. You (or at least I!) really do tend to put more effort into the real tastes and flavors of the food.
  
Hugues - June 3, 2012

Excellent blog,filled with wisedom. i truly enjoyed your retreat last weekend. Vegan idiet is very varied but as I traveled 50% of the month, choices are very limited in restaurants.
So I feel very restricted then. It has also some soical consequences too, I less and less talk about it,not to make an issue over it. For me it is important to keep mind why I am vegan.. I feel best when i eat raw greens, when I eat unprocessed foods. I think of our fellow “earthlings” their suffering, then these restrictions are worth it…. Most of the time

ohmyraw! - June 3, 2012

Thanks so much, Hugues. It is so true. Eating out can be tricky. I have a blog post scheduled for next week or two that deals with this exactly.
I too have learned that it is wise to pick your battles in terms of telling people you are vegan or not as it can cause some high emotions and, while sometimes necessary, you don’t always want to be on the battlefield, so to speak.
I appreciate your feedback on the retreat! So glad you enjoyed it!