10 Days of Raw Meals

{Radish Salad: radishes, tomatoes, parsley, and black olives tossed in a honey apple cider vinaigrette, and topped with avocado.}

Readers, it’s been raw food all the time recently at 5thjoy, and I promise we’ll get back to interiors, travel, beauty and fashion before long.

But before we do, many of you requested a look at what a raw foodist (yep, that’s official term) eats on a daily basis. So here’s a peek at 10 days in my diet.

Tracking meals was a labor of love for you all; the beauty of eating this way is you don’t have to record or monitor a thing. Your body tells you what it wants to eat and how much. Because of the water and fiber content in fresh produce, overeating is almost a physical impossibility. I’ve thrown calorie-counting to the wind, and it’s gloriously liberating.

At the time of recording the meals I was not eating completely raw. You’ll notice a few slices of toast and even cooked food here and there. The toast cravings eased up and I’m no longer having it.

As for cooked food, I’m going to have some once in a while. Eating isn’t just about nutrition. There will be times when it makes sense to eat cooked food: on holidays, as a guest in someone’s house, and while traveling. It’s my hunch that eating non-raw 5% of the time will help me stay raw the other 95%.

All right, enough blather. Ready to get on the avocado and olive oil train?

Day 1: Thursday

Tall green juice
Lara bar
1 cup blueberries
Arugula salad, tomatoes & avocado
1 cup strawberries & blackberries
1 avocado
1 red pepper
Arugula and mixed greens
Dressing: olive oil, raw honey, lemon juice, salt and pepper

Day 2: Friday

2 large green juices
10 am: 1 Lara bar
12:30 pm: 1 cup blueberries
Handful of cheesy kale chips
2 zucchinis, sliced into noodles, tossed with 2 tbsp garlic scape pesto and 1 cup grape tomatoes
2 cups cherries
Green Herb Dip with red peppers
Jicama and carrot salad
4-5 spring rolls with soy dipping sauce (wrapper & sauce not raw)
Lots more cheesy kale chips

Day 3: Saturday

2 pieces Ezekiel bread (not raw)
1 tbsp raw almond butter
2 tomatoes
1/2 avocado
1 cup kale with lemon dressing & raw cashews
1 cup cherries
2 green juices
Sunflax raw focaccia “bread”
Large Greekish salad: spinach, sunflower sprouts, 1/2 large cucumber, 1 tomato, several salad radishes, 10 Greek olives, pine nuts (not raw), dressing (olive oil, lemon juice, raw honey, s&p)
Red pepper scoops (3/4 large pepper) and radish quarters, guacamole (equivalent of 1 avocado)
1 square dark chocolate, 1 fig, 1/3 cup blueberries.

Day 4: Sunday

8 am: 1 green juice
11 am: Chopped broccoli florets tossed with garlic scape pesto, tomatoes, carrots, 1 small avocado
2 champagne mangoes
2 pm: 1 slice Sunflax focacia bread
4 pm: Another small bowl of broccoli salad
2 cups tabbouleh (not raw)
Large green salad
Handful dried fruit
3 raw macaroons
10 black olives

Day 5: Monday

Lara bar
2 coconut waters
Huge salad: 3 cups greens, 1 cucumber, 1 cup grape tomatoes, 10 black olives, 1 small avocado, dressing w/ 1 tsp raw honey, 2 tbsp olive oil, lemon, apple cider vinegar
1 cup blueberries
1 red pepper
1 bowl mango corn gazpacho
A LOT of guacamole
Bites of raw hummus (as I made it)
Bites of beet salad (as I made it)
Green salad with raspberries

Day 6: Tuesday

2 green juices
Large green salad with 2 cups shredded beets, carrots, 1/2 avocado, 6 black olives
1/2 cup raw hummus with 4 celery sticks
Broccoli pesto bowl with 1 cup cherry tomatoes
2 figs
1/2 cup raw hummus with 4 celery sticks
3 raw macaroons

Day 7: Wednesday

2 green juices
Medium salad with red onion, tomatoes, cucumber, mixed greens, 1/2 avocado
Lots of raw hummus with sunflower flax chips
Mini Lara bar
Large green salad
Raw vegan lemon tart (also sold locally at The Common Crow in Gloucester)

Day 8: Thursday

2 green juices
Big green salad with cucumbers, tomato and 10 black olives
1 cup shredded beet salad
1 cup sugar snap peas
Small green salad
1.5 avocado with mandarin orange vinaigrette
2 tomatoes with 3 tbsp garlic scape pesto
1 cup shredded beet salad with citrus vinaigrette
Raw vegan lemon tart

Day 9: Friday

2 green juices
Lara bar
1 cup kale with raw cashews in lemon dressing
1 medium spinach salad
2 cups shredded beet salad with citrus vinaigrette
1 avocado
1 cereal bowl of cherries
1 handful cheesy kale chips
small green salad with 1 cup fresh peas
1.5 cups sugar snap peas
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cup raw hummus
2 large handfuls cheesy kale chips
1 square dark chocolate

Day 10: Saturday

2 green juices
2 summer squashes sliced into noodles, tossed with 3-4 tbsp basil & garlic scape pesto made with raw pine nut butter
2.5 tomatoes
1.5 cups red grapes
Handful flax seed crackers
Large green salad