the raw food meal plan

it is always challenging when starting out on raw and live food to work out how to eat. changing the way you eat, or preparing interesting and varied meals for the whole family can be a challenge until one gets into the swing of it. my main tips are:

1. eat seasonally
2. eat locally

Most often we are not tuned in to the seasons and the enormous variety of fresh vegetables and fruit that are available in season in our local area. Buying in season means you are also spending less. Buying locally means you are getting the food fresher and in it's most live state. It hasn't had to travel so far.


This means that when preparing a meal plan for eating raw, there is no one plan that will work. It will depend on the time of year, the stage of eating raw that you're at, and your personal type. For example, a meal plan that includes a lot of stone fruit and berries during the winter time is not necessarily optimal eating.


General guidelines to make meal preparation easy and interesting is to keep it simple and be consistent. Matt Monarch recommends consistency as the key. I tend to follow that approach too. Even though it may seem boring at first, sticking to a consistent pattern of eating (with small variations) is better healthwise in the long term. So his example meal plan consists of a couple of apples with a couple of tablespoons of nut butter, with a SMALL handful of dried fruit as lunch each day. Salad later in the day is generally 1/2 an avocado, but of nut butter with a certain amount of vegetables.

We all eat differently and a long-time raw foodist such as Matt is likely to be eating a LOT less quantity of food than most people who are maybe still high raw or eating a transitional diet.


This article, by Esme Stevens is a great place to start for pointers on putting together a raw food meal plan.
My own personal meal plan loosely follows this pattern: start in the morning with lemon juice and warm water. Then, a green juice. I then don't usually eat anything until about 11am at which point i might have something like chia, goji and bee pollen with fruit (whatever is in season). I will then have a main meal at about 2pm comprising a mixed green salad. Usually an avocado dressing (this is where i get my oils/fats) or just lemon juice. then i'll usually have a light snack around 6pm, either another green juice or small salad.

Buy Local :: Farmers' Markets In Victoria

In Victoria we are blessed with one of the best networks of farmers' markets in the country. And in the past 12 months i have watched the number of organic growers . . . grow. So many more stalls with organic and biodynamic produce. It's a veritable feast. And i am talking fresh fruit and vegetables, including some heirloom and little known varieties. One of my favourites has to be the "Grandpa's Tomato". This is a local variety grown in the family for three generations. Not listed in a catalogue anywhere, it has quite a unique flavour and texture. Somewhere between a beefsteak and a roma in shape and texture.

And if you want to know when and where the farmers' markets are, this is the most comprehensive listing i have found online. It includes inner city and regional farmers markets. You'll also find more detail about the inner city markets on this site. And this is the home of the regional farmers markets for Victoria.