Raw Food - Raw Food Store

Raw Food Store

One difficulty with the raw food diet may be in finding the raw foods so that you can prepare them for yourself. Most food available in grocery stores has been frozen, cooked, or processed in some way.

It’s easy to find certain raw foods at your local grocery store. Almost all grocery stores have fresh produce available, as well as bulk or bagged nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and other foods for you to try.

Some areas will have organic grocery stores, where you can be sure that none of your foods have been treated with pesticides. In other areas, it can be harder to find organic produce, and it may be easier to grow it yourself in your own garden.

Look around your area for a farmer’s market. Buying food directly from the farmer can give you more confidence in the freshness of the food. You could also consider going to different produce stands, as a way to get more variety and new things to try in your raw food journey. If you live in a city with a Chinatown, for example, many different fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts are available.

Raw grains may be harder to find. If you have an alternative food store in your area which caters to raw foods, or a bulk section in your local grocery store, you can often find raw grains. If not, you may need to order them from an online store or hunt farther afield for a grocery store which carries them. Raw oats may be relatively easier to find, as they often come in large bags as cereal.

One advantage you may find with a raw food diet is in price. While prices for organic foods may be higher, you are still saving money by not buying prepackaged foods or processed foods from the freezer aisles. Any diet which cuts out meat is less expensive already than a regular diet.

With the growing popularity of raw food, veganism, and vegetarianism, there is a greater variety of food for you to try, even while on a restrictive diet.
Another option for a raw foodist to easily obtain raw food is to grow their own food. Sunflowers, tomatoes, carrots and strawberries can easily be grown with a minimum of work. Also, many herbs can be grown, and many flowers are actually edible. Edible flowers can be researched in many books and on the internet.

A word of warning about plants and seeds.  Many raw foodists eat seeds and other parts of plants. Be careful while doing this, as it can be dangerous to become experimental about what you eat. Some parts of plants (even plants that are edible) are poisonous and will make you sick. For example, while tomatoes are edible, other parts of the tomato plant may make people sick. Only eat the parts of plants that you know to be edible.