Came a great question from someone a while ago:

…you talk about always staying consistent with raw plant foods. Since I already eat mostly plant-based, I always try to include something fresh and uncooked in every meal. But I feel like maybe I’m not doing enough. What is the ideal balance between raw and cooked foods in a week? Should I eat mostly raw, or just add it in here and there?

My take:

He is making the exact same mistake a lot of people, probably 99% of them, are making. And that is, projecting one’s doubts & conditioning about what’s “normal” to eat to the way their body is designed to function.

Listen up, listen good, and always remember:

Your biology wants clarity.

Your cravings want confusion.

Your habits want to cling to what feels familiar, not what works.

You have to decide which of those you want to create and follow.

If the answer is clarity, then eat for & TO that.

That means, removing the stuff that muddies up the signal.

Of course, that doesn’t mean never eating something cooked. But it does mean at least giving your body the opportunity to know what raw food feels like as a foundation each day. Or, at the very least, choose foods your body knows and uses well.

There is no perfect ratio of raw to cooked.

The art & craft is in seamlessly & naturally building around raw.

The last thing I do when I plan my meals is say:

“All right, I gotta make sure x% of this plate is raw, and y% is cooked…”

Some of my days are 100% raw.

Others are even 100% strategic, raw greens + lightly steamed veggies.

Once in a great while (2 or 3 times per month, probably) I eat something from a restaurant.

But 90%+ of the time it’s a combination, based on the season, digestion, nutrient density, what my body tells me, what I feel it needs, what I want to create, what I want to avoid, and a whole slew of variables that make any kind of perfect ratio of raw and cooked a complete myth, with about as much basis in reality as the idea that all cooked food is toxic or that detox teas undo decades of damage.

That’s my take.

What’s far more important than the mythical raw vs cooked ratio is this:

Consistently choosing nutrient-rich, unprocessed plant foods.

Getting to know how your body responds, and building your meals from that.

And doing it with as little “friction” as possible.

Start with raw nutrition as your foundation.

And design from there.

Enter the raw nutrition lifestyle.

Details here: Raw Food Secrets​

Irina Valeva