This was the last day of my raw eating challenge.

Breakfast was just a bowl of fruit  – apple, banana and kiwi – with some cinnamon on top. I didn’t know what else to make and I didn’t want oatmeal or a smoothie again. This didn’t keep me full as long as I wanted, so I had an orange a little later.

Lunch was a mexican zucchini salad, with shredded zucchini and my leftovers from last night’s taco dinner (https://lindsayscookingadventures.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/day-4-peanut-butter-oatmeal-edamame-salad-cauliflower-taco-lettuce-wraps-and-pickled-cucumbers/). I also added a little more seasoning and more black beans to make it filling. I added a little too much cayenne pepper so it was quite spicy but still really good.

Dinner was a shredded carrot, black bean and cauliflower salad with a tahini based dressing. It had lemon juice, honey, oil, salt, pepper, parsley and a touch of cayenne. It was really good.

I also made a snack, they’re kinda like cookies. I mashed up a banana and added oats, coconut, peanut butter and cinnamon. I kept adding oats until it was kind of holding together. I just made little mounds on parchment paper and put them in the freezer. It took about 45 minutes for them to be sufficiently hardened. They were a nice snack and super guilt-free. You could eat that mixture for breakfast if you wanted too, obviously just don’t freeze it.My two cents: raw diets are not the worst thing ever but there are some things that I do miss, like pasta and other grains (ones that can’t be eaten raw). I honestly didn’t even miss having meat (I may even cut down the amount I eat from now on), but I just felt limited by my selection. I also want more protein options than just beans. Overall, it was a good challenge for me and I was surprisingly full after my meals. So it wasn’t a bad week, but again, I need more variety. Also, you actually get more nutrients from some vegetables after cooking them, so that’s one downside of eating them raw.

So if you are thinking about going raw, you have to make sure you are eating enough vegetables of different colours (green and orange are the best). Also need to have enough protein (beans, soy) and fats (nuts, seeds, avocado).