30 Day Raw Food Challenge Day 1

My inspiration for this challenge came from my mother-in-law, Renee, who has supplied me with a lot of the knowledge I've aquired about raw foods and the recipes to get me started :).

My goal is to complete 30 days of eating between 50%-75% raw. The term "raw defines any food that is in it's original state of exsistance. Foods that have not been heated to a certain temperature so as to kill alot of the good qualities of the food (baked, boiled, fried, etc) and have all of their living qualities still intact are considered "raw".

Fact: Eating "raw" is NOT cheap!
Fact: It's proven that eating foods that are in their "raw" state increases your quality of life, reduces your risk of sickness and disease and (if pregnant or nursing) delivers all the necessary vitamins and minerals to your body and your baby's body to prepare for a healthy baby and safe delivery.
Fact: Experimenting with "raw" foods can be....trial and error.

I realized early this morning that today was probably not the best day to begin this kind of endeavor, but as they always say "there's no time like the present."

I have decided to keep a diary of what I eat throughout the day, the ingredients that make these meals "raw" and the meals that I also eat that are not considered raw and why.

I started out day one with a bowl of *Ga's Granola* cereal and diced bananas in raw cow's milk.

Cow's milk that is found in the grocery stores is both homogenized and pasteurized.
*Homogenization is the process of combining the milk and the cream together sto that it is no longer separated as it is found in it's natural state.
*Pasteurization is the process of heating the milk to such a high temperature that it kills certain bacteria in the milk.
*Ultra pasteurization heats the milk to even higher temperatures so as to kill all bacteria.
There are both pro’s and con’s to both of these processes. With homogenized and pasteurized milk there is less fat content and less risk of getting any kind of bacteria through the milk. This is usually only harmful for children, but rarely affects adults. However, with completely natural milk you have all the benefits of the good bacteria that’s found naturally in the milk, and you can be confident that the milk you’re drinking is free of any unwanted hormones or antibiotics.

Yesterday evening I made a grocery store run to buy ingredients to prepare some of my food for the next day. And then I remembered that I had planned to visit a friend and prepare lunch for us. Well….not everyone enjoys eating "raw" and certainly doesn’t want to be the guinea pig for first time taste tests. So I agreed that lunch would be my “off” meal for the day. However, not completely raw, still healthy and yummy :).

For lunch I prepared *Pomegranate Walnut Chicken Salad* on croissants, a spinach leaf salad with *Pomegranate Vinaigrette* dressing, ***Berry Medley Sorbet***, and ***Key Lime Kream Kookies***.

Fact: I have an awesome friend who was willing to try my “raw” goodies and liked them (or at least pretended to like them :)

Tonight was leftover night so we ate up what was left of the chicken salad and the hubby was brave enough to try one of my ***Key Lime Kream Kookies***….lets just say he’s not as enthusiastic about eating raw as I am :)

I would love any feedback that any of you readers might have about raw food and raw food benefits that you yourself have experienced. Also if you have some yummy recipes that you would like to share I will be sure to add them tothe recipe section :).