After years of suffering from a chronic illness that traditional medicine and therapies were unable to help, Amanda Brocket turned to a simple raw food diet. Within weeks, her energy levels increased and her illness symptoms began clearing up. Inspired by her healthy transformation, Amanda wrote The Raw Food Kitchen Book and founded The Raw Food Kitchen. Here, Amanda shares her tips to get more raw foods into your life…
1. Start Small: Start with what you can manage, both mentally, physically and financially. “Swap out a few pantry staples such as vegetable oil for extra virgin cold pressed coconut oil, or standard vinegar for apple cider vinegar, and go from there,” suggests Amanda.
2. Go Green: “Begin with a few green smoothies or raw food meals each week, and gradually increase.”
3. Get The Creative Juices Flowing: “Find raw recipes you love and perfect them,” suggests Amanda. “Get jiggy with it by making it fun and adding your own creative flourish to the dish. Like any new recipe, preparation time will get easier and quicker as you continue to perfect your recipe.”
4. Be Picky: “Choose just a few superfoods to try to start with – you can add these into your smoothies or raw desserts. Cacao is a brilliant one to start with as everyone loves chocolate. Yum, yum.”
5. Switch Your Thinking: “Think of ways you can continue to add extra vegetables and nutrients into your diet daily,” Amanda says. “Make it a game! We cover more of this in my Online and Live Workshops.”
6. Plug It In: “Place your blender out on your bench top and make it pride of place in the kitchen. This will make it easy to whip up delicious health giving smoothies, soups or other treats!”
7. Invite the Neighbours: “Get your friends and family involved and excited and as enthused as you are to start your own raw food revolution at home! Try out a few of your favourite raw food dishes on them.”
8. Get Fancy: “Invest in a mandoline or vege’ spiraliser,” Amanda says. “This will make creating amazing raw dishes easy and make them look Masterchef quality.”
9. Get Organised: “Have a weekly shopping list and plan your meals a week in advance. Pre-prep, so when the working week arrives, you can easily throw together an amazing meal.”
10. Be Kind To Yourself: “The most important tip of all! Embrace and enjoy the raw food journey and supercharged health. Its a wonderful gift.”