40 Transition Tips
1. Drink more water. Spring water is a good choice, but filtered water is the more ecological option. Those PET bottles add up. Try to drink 1 liter of water before eating or drinking anything else in the morning. Start carrying a water bottle around with you throughout the day. If you are well-hydrated, you should be going to the bathroom once every 1-2 hours. You can spice up your water with minerals, adding sea salt, lemon juice, goji berries, etc.
2. Try eating a lighter for breakfast–fruits or juices or tea only. Sprouted grain bread or cereal with avocado or coconut oil on it is fine too if you need it, but definitely eat only raw foods for breakfast. Starting the day out like this will set a great tone for the rest of the day. Focus on fruits and greens as the morning meal. Try just drinking water or fresh juices until noon if possible. I highly recommend a green smoothie!
3. Cut out all dairy. Cut out eggs, milk, then cheese. Try not consuming ANY dairy for 7 days and see how you feel. Eat some dairy on day 8 and see how you feel days 8, 9, and 10. Check out notmilk.com for lots of powerful information and inspiration.
4. Cut out everything that walks on legs or has a tail. Cut out red meat, then pork, then chicken and then fish if you have to. Replace meat with avocados, young coconuts, olives, nuts and seeds. (Though you’ll be hard-pressed to find coconut in Japan!)
5. Read books like Bragg Healthy Lifestyle or Skinny Bitch for motivation if you need it.
6. Eliminate foods that contain simple carbohydrates: white flour, pasta, white potatoes, white sugar. Substitute with whole grains first, then move on to spouted
7. Eliminate artificial sugars, which are found in most diet foods, which are also highly processed.
8. Make the first bite of every meal raw. Re-educate the 260 taste buds of your tongue to the delicate natural flavors of raw foods.
9. Avoid eating all-cooked meals. Start with a big salad. Don’t eat your cooked food until you’ve eaten your raw salad. Eat a salad with/as your lunch and dinner. Definitely try and eat some greens with every meal. Eat all raw until dinner, or for a day OR for the whole week!
10. Drink at least one green vegetable juice or green smoothie a day. A green smoothie is a blended food drink with 60% fruit and 40% greens. You can add more greens as you become accustom to the taste. A green smoothie is an excellent way to start the day.
11. If you are not accustomed to veggies, make it an adventure and try out one new fruit and vegetable every week. Especially if you are new to Japan, this can be interesting! Examples: daikon (white radish), renkon (lotus root), shiitake mushrooms, okura (okra),etc. Trying out new greens (such as kale, watercress, arugula, parsley, dandelion, collard greens, mustard greens, Swiss chard, butter leaf lettuce, etc.) is a great idea, but in Japan you’re more likely to get different varieties of horenzo (spinach), mizuna (spider mustard leaves), shiso (perilla leaf), hakusai (Chinese cabbage), or komatsuna (mustard spinach).
12. Buy your favorite fruits and vegetables organic and discover how much better they’ll taste. Organic food is grown without pesticides and other dangerous chemicals like chemical fertilizers, sprays, and is not genetically modified. (It is more expensive, but try to think of it in terms of a) looking about your body, b)supporting the organic farmers who work very hard to do this for us. c) making a statement against the over-industrialization of our food.
13. Search “raw food recipes” online and begin to see how many possibilities there are for you. Collect recipes on a word document so when you have a certain ingredient you feel like using that day you can do a search-find for the word on your computer. It’s easier than using the index in a book! Check out Raw Rapture Recipes at http://recipes.rawrapture.com
14. Buy yourself a raw food recipe book (I suggest starting with Raw Foods for Busy People by Jordan Maeran). Browse Raw Rapture’s Amazon store pages for more.
15. Enjoy some raw “gourmet” dishes and/or desserts. Treat yourself to some raw ice cream or cheesecake! Especially if you cannot indulge in a raw food restaurant where you live, again, check out recipes online.
16. Buy yourself a new kitchen gadget or spice each time you go to the grocery store. This could be a new way to reward yourself for your accomplishments.
17. Get a colonic and see what comes out. That’s extremely motivating to eat better! (There are several places in Tokyo which now offer this service. Prices are comparable to the US. I recommend fasting beforehand!)
18. Find before and after photos of those who have “gone raw.” This is motivational!
19. Focus on all the foods you can now have now that you’re not eating all that other stuff!
20. Write down on paper all of your goals for your health (and other areas of your life too).
21. Discover a new hobby, exercise program, or healthy habit that will go will with your new raw food lifestyle (yoga, meditation, drawing, walking, etc.)
22. Read some good articles on raw living foods and/or enzymes if you need further convincing that raw is best.
23. Surf some great websites. Some to check out: www.welikeitraw.com, www.living-foods.com, or www.naturalnews.com
24. Watch some raw food videos on YouTube. Search for Angela Stokes, Shazzie, David Wolfe, Raw Foods, etc.
25. Join the local raw food communities and groups. Join MeetUp.com and find a raw food community in your area. When you attend a MeetUp.com gathering, get some phone numbers of like-minded people to help you stay focused on your goals.
26. Check out the local raw and/or organic restaurants, if any. If not, find some vegan or vegetarian places. It’s easy to feel normal and sane in such places. Check out my page on surviving in Japan.
27. Start shopping with those “better choices” in mind (It is so much easier to do this when you are regularly shopping at natural grocery stores) and take joy in taking more meals into your own hands (i.e. not having to order food from typical restaurants).
28. Enhance your digestive system incredibly with probiotics and digestive enzymes. Learn to make rejuvelack, a natural probiotic.
29. Chew your food well: “Drink your food, chew your juice.” “Chew your food well for your stomach has no teeth.”
30. Plan your meals out ahead of time so 1) you get to making it right away when you get home hungry, 2) you’re excited and looking forward to it, and 3) you don’t get desperate and eat something (anything) else.
31. Try out different vegetables that you’ve eaten cooked, raw (corn, zucchini, sweet potato/yam and butternut squash are very good raw).
32. Spend time making your own raw food snacks and/or desserts! Come up with your own creations.
33. Order a sprouting kit online and begin growing and eating your own food. It’s so easy and gratifying. This saves you lots of money too. I recommend the Sproutman. Easy Sprout from http://www.sproutpeople.com
34. Cut out any foods and condiments that have “Frankenstein ingredients” and make a real habit of reading any and all labels of packaged foods you’re eating. Go through your kitchen and get rid of some of that nasty food. Detox you kitchen by replacing the junk you’re eliminating with raw transition foods. (Leave designated areas for foods family members are not ready to part with.)
35. IF you’re aiming for 75% raw - Eat an all-raw breakfast and make sure that ¾ of your plate is raw for your other meals. Beware cups of tea and coffee or glasses of wine that may knock you off track! (85 to 90% raw may be 6-8 cooked meals a week. 90 to 95% raw may be 3-5 cooked meals a week.) Stay at your goal raw food intake percentage for about a month before you move up.
36. Snack on fresh organic fruit, vegetable sticks, low temperature dried fruits, or a handful of raw organic nuts and seeds.
37. Keep it simple and always go one day at a time! Be loving and kind to yourself! But do try at least two new recipes a week.
38. Visualize yourself in perfect health.
39. Buy yourself a Vitamix blender, Green Star juicer, or Excalibur dehydrator. You’re worth it!
40. Pick a few good “lines” for conversing with others about your new diet/lifestyle and practice feeling comfortable talking about it. Smile and always have the best day you possibly can, but living one day at a time!