After first learning the concept of raw and living foods, one of two things happen to people. Either they want to go 100% raw today, or they decide that they just want to introduce more raw foods into their diet.

Photo by Thomas Hawk

A lot of health experts argue for and against all kinds of different foods: between eggs, soy, protein, and fish we have enough contradicting information to fill a New York City studio to the ceiling with paperwork.

One thing health experts never argue about, is that including more fruits and vegetables into your diet is a good thing.

Nice to Have Requests

I’m going to use the analogy of software “requirements” and “nice to have” features, because if you’re reading this I know that you know how to use a computer.

The requirements for your email client are that it be able to deliver and receive email, and that it not crash on you. A nice to have feature would be that it can filter your email into different folders and detect spam.

Eating 100% raw is a “nice to have”. None of us wants spam to get through the filter (okay, some people might be looking to grow certain parts of their body – but I digress), so we aim to eliminate spam with our email software.

Some people might wish to be able to just go raw overnight, eliminate all of the unhealthy foods they’re currently eating, and just live blissfully in the land of health foods forever.

Of course it’s not that easy to just go 100% raw overnight. So we keep this idea of being 100% raw as a “nice to have” goal for ourselves. Just like software developers have a hard time to build systems that catch all spam and filter it properly.

Must-Have Requirements

At the other end of the spectrum, everyone has a must-have requirement of eating more fruits and vegetables. In most countries governments recommend that we eat 5-10 fruits and vegetables per day.

Compare your daily intake of fruits and vegetables and see if you meet these recommendations. Didn’t think so. Well, I’m sorry to say but before software developers can release their email programs, they have to make sure that the software can send and receive emails without crashing.

The same goes for you, you need to include more fruits and vegetables into your diet. That’s a must-have requirement! Of course, no one is going to yell at you if you don’t, and I recommend you to be gentle on yourself if you fall short.

Simply becoming aware that you need to include more fruits and vegetables into your diet is the first step in the right direction.

How Close To “You 2.0″ Are You?

Just like software developers, you’re never done. Once a software release is complete, developers need to maintain the product, and get to work on the next version.

Usually requests that didn’t make it into the first version are included in the next version of a software application. If you’re not ready to go all raw, you can leave that to your next version.

How close are you to releasing your current habits and embracing the new you? It’s up to you, and as long as you’ve got an estimate and schedule for your lifestyle changes, you’ll be well on your way to increased health and vitality!

In this post I’m going to explore how contagious raw food can be. Not necessarily as easily “catchable” as the common cold, but it’s definitely catching on.

Here are some of the random occurrences of meeting people who were into raw foods.

Photo by Amy Vuong

The Checkout Girl

The other day I went to the grocery store to stock up on Larabars for myself and my dad. (The fact that my relatively small town carries Larabars is enough of an indication that raw foods are becoming more mainstream, but I disgress.)

We decided to take one of each different kind of Larabar, just to keep things fun.

When we got to the cash register, the sales clerk scanned the Larabars and then stopped to talk to us. She said she loved the Cashew Cookies bar, and that she had just tried the pistachio variety recently.

I told her that cashew cookie was one of my favorites too. She was surprised to see them on sale, since they were $.30 cheaper than the last time she bought one.

I told her that the prices had gone down, permanently. She was surprised and excited.

I don’t know about you, but when a chocolate bar gets cheaper, that usually means it’s because the product isn’t selling well or something. That’s not the case for Larabars though.

The smiling sales clerk was very excited, and said she would stock up on Larabars now.

She continued to check out the rest of the food that we were buying, which consisted mainly of green and leafy veggies. She seemed to have a bounce in her step, and she was very enthusiastic about how many Larabars we were buying.

I was happy that to find out that someone other than me buys Larabars! The higher the turnover, the more indication that raw food is taking the world by storm!

Photo by Celeste RC

The Librarian

A few days later, while I was at the library stocking up on books, I ran into a librarian who I have known for years.

She asked me what I was up to these days, and I mentioned that I was starting a website about raw food to help people go raw.

“Raw food?” She asked.

“Yeah, it’s all about uncooked fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds,” I replied.

“Oh I know all about raw foods! I ate raw for many many years. I read books by Victoria Boutenko and her children,” She said with a big smile.

Now I wasn’t surprised, because this woman had been a vegetarian ever since I could remember. Of course being vegetarian in these parts of Canada is considered a little bit weird, so image how far out vegan or raw foodists might be.

In any case we discussed quite a few ideas and even a few simple recipes together. She told me that the only reason she stopped eating raw, is because everybody else around her was not eating raw.

She enthusiastically mentioned that she had the most energy while she was eating raw.

I thanked her for the books and for the nice chat, and I skipped all the way home like a happy bunny.

These are just some of my feel-good “raw food going mainstream” examples from the last week.

** Have you ever experienced any fun raw food moments that made you think “Yes, raw food can and will go mainstream!”? If so share below in the comments!