So, after downing about 8 pieces of dark chocolate almond toffee yesterday, I was feeling a bit sluggish. 🙁

I have been wanting to incorporate more raw food into my every day diet, so I started researching tasty raw food meals.  I wanted something pretty tame so that I wouldn’t get frustrated with raw food in the beginning, and give up.

While perusing food.com, I found a Cinnamon Banana Shake recipe composed of only raw food items.

I thought that with bananas, cinnamon, almond milk and sea salt, I simply could not go wrong.

Mixing up my Raw Food Shake

I think the key to the delicious taste of this shake is that there are so many different and rich flavors that complement each other so well.  Also, the recipe calls for frozen bananas, which makes the texture nice and thick, and so, so delicious.

I put three bananas, wrapped in saran wrap, into the freezer the night before.  The next morning, they were perfect for the shake.

Steps to your Healthy Shake:

2 cups almond milk (or any nut milk)

3 cups bananas, sliced and frozen

3T  Agave Nectar

1t  Vanilla

1/2t Ground cinnamon

Pinch of sea salt

Throw all of the ingredients into your blender (I use a Vitamix), and blend until smooth.

SO refreshing and healthy.  I started my day with this shake, and felt great.  The recipe above yields two servings.  Mountain Man wants to try this new creation, so he will have the second serving tonight.

Raw Food Diet Rules

I thought it would be interesting to learn the main guidelines for following a raw food diet.  They are listed below:

Foods Allowed on 100% Raw Diet

1. Uncooked fruits and vegetables

2. Nuts

3. Seeds

4. Sprouted Beans

5. Filtered or Distilled Water – Rawists believe that tap water can contain contaminants which will mitigate the benefits of a raw food diet.

Foods Not Allowed on 100% Raw Diet

1. Refined Sugar

2. Food cooked over 116 degrees Farenheit- Rawists believe that by cooking food over this temperature, you are destroying essential enzymes.  This process makes the food less nutritious and less digestible.

3. Animal Products, including dairy and eggs

This is a short explanation of the components of a raw food diet.  To bake foods like crackers, rawists will use a food dehydrator.

I have read countless testimonials of how followers of the this diet experience a surge of energy, they sleep better at night, and they have glowing skin and hair.  Everything that you consume on this diet is pure and natural, so these benefits would be expected.

I am not even close to being ready to trying a raw food lifestyle, but I am willing to add at least one raw meal per day to my daily routine.  After today, I already feel better after my shake and making sure to eat some freshly cut green and yellow peppers.

I’ll let you know how my raw food journey goes, and, of course, share the recipes that are delicious. 🙂