Are you finding a raw diet too expensive to manage? Are you depressed because you have been raw for only a short time, but have seen your food bill increase twofold?
Maybe you are hesitant in actually going raw because you have heard all the horror stories of people having to mortgage their house just to keep up their raw lifestyle.
Just kidding…
But many people do in fact find it financially difficult to stay raw. It’s just too expensive!
Well, it certainly doesn’t have to be. Here are 3 ways that many people waste money on a raw food diet.
#1: Buying Supplements and Superfoods
If you are new to the raw food diet, you might not know that many raw food “gurus” promote the use of supplements and superfoods. They believe that a raw diet is incomplete in terms of nutrition. Supplementation and the consumption of superfoods helps to fill in the gaps.
Some common supplements used within the raw food movement are spirulina, hemp powder, Vitamin D and Vitamin B12, and various powders made from greens and fruits. And these products are *very* expensive. A pound of spirulina powder costs over $12!
Superfoods, so-called because of their supposed superior nutritional qualities, are also very popular within the raw food movement. These include wheatgrass, goji berries, maca, raw cacao, acai, even bee pollen!
And just like supplements, these foods are very expensive. An 8-ounce bag of dried goji berries costs over $10.
I can buy an entire day’s worth of food for less than that…and I often do!
It really gets my goat when people complain about how expensive the raw food diet is. Of course it is, when you are throwing handfuls of cash at unnecessary supplements and superfoods!
The people advocating the use of these “foods” are simply affirming the stigma that the raw food diet is extreme and difficult to do. I will not name names, but many of the raw food “experts” that promote the use of these products also sell them at very high prices.
It certainly makes you wonder…
If you are eating a healthy raw food diet based on lots of sweet fruit, moderate greens and non-sweet fruits, and low amounts of fat, then you will not need to supplement.
Of course, there are individual circumstances in which supplementation of some form is necessary. This diet is not about dogmatism. If you need to supplement, do it and don’t think twice about it. But in most cases, healthy living is all you need.
#2: Buying foods you don’t like
Do you waste money on produce that you don’t like just because you think it’s good for you? Let me guess, you buy the produce and then it just sits on your counter or in the fridge. A week later, you open up your vegetable drawer to find a rotten, moldy mess.
What’s that sound? Oh right. It’s your hard-earned cash headed straight down the drain.
Here’s a tip: if you don’t like a food, do *not* buy it! Seriously, the chances of you actually eating it are close to nil. Plus, it just takes up space in your kitchen. AND rotting food only makes everything around it turn much quicker!
And are these foods *really* so good for you? Take kale, for instance. Many raw foodists tout this food as being one of the best foods you can eat because of the high level of certain nutrients.
However, kale is much harder to digest than other greens like romaine and bib lettuce. Your body cannot break down the food and so much of it is just eliminated. So in the end, you aren’t even capable of utilizing those so-called “better” nutrients!
More importantly, just because a food has more of something does not make it better for you.
The appropriateness of a food in one’s diet depends upon how close the nutritional composition of the food is to the consumer.
Foods that are hard to digest tell us that the make-up of these foods is not as close to our own make-up and so is not optimal.
So stop listening to the raw “gurus” and stick to the foods that you truly enjoy. Your wallet, and your palate, will thank you.
#3: Buying exclusively from health food stores
When I first went raw, I bought all my produce exclusively from health food stores. I figured that since their prices were higher, their produce *must* be higher quality, right?
Wrong. In fact, I eventually discovered that the majority of the produce offered at these high-end stores was the same quality as my local grocery store. Many times it was even the same brand!
The only difference, besides the pricing, was that there was a higher selection of organic produce. However, this produce was usually *horrible* quality and *outrageously* overpriced, even compared to the conventional produce offered.
Instead of buying everything at health stores, try your local supermarket or Walmart. Many stores today sell a wide variety of good produce at decent prices. They even sell decent organic foods, especially greens and peppers.
Fortunately for me, I discovered an even *better* place to buy great produce. But I’ll save that for a later article…
Until then, throw out those expensive and unnecessary supplements, discard the not-so-super superfoods, and go eat some fruit!
For more information on the best raw vegan diet, be sure to visit Fit On Raw and subscribe to Swayze?s newsletter Peachy Keen Ezine. By subscribing, you will also receive the free report The 4 Principles of a Healthy Raw Diet as well as the 5-week mini-course The Fool Proof Transition to Raw.
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VIDEO #4 of my weekly chats with my friend Dave the raw food trucker! ❤
VIDEO #3 of my weekly chats with my friend Dave the raw food truck driver!
