Q: Lori, I’d love to see a sample of your food menu (breakfast, lunch, dinner) for a week! I am really trying to eat raw food but have the hardest time finding new (and somewhat easy) things to make.

A: As the months become colder I find it less appealing to drink cold smoothies. Instead, I find veggie juices easier to drink since they aren’t cold. I also do not eat 100% raw in the cooler months, but I am still eating lots of veggies and fruits. Sometimes, it will be as simple to eat just fresh fruit like bananas, steamed veggies or even veggie soup for breakfast. I am also known to drink lots of hot herbal tea throughout the day to stay warm. However, just to give you an idea of what I am eating around this time of year here is a sample for the cooler months. I keep it pretty simple since I don’t care to spend my day in the kitchen. Every now & then I get a culinary itch, but for the most part my cooler months are looking like this:

Day 1
1- Coconut water, 4 bananas
2- 2 steamed yams w/ sea salt, cinnamon, & coconut oil
3- 2 apples
4- Homemade Veggie Soup: carrot, celery, onion, tomatoes, potato, Swiss chard, peas, corn, zucchini, etc
5- 2 bananas

Day 2
1- 3 apples + coconut water
2- 3 cups of steamed peas w/ coconut oil & sea salt
3- 3 pears
4- steamed butternut squash w/ coconut oil & sea salt
5 – 2 bananas

Day 3
1- 24 oz veggie juice- celery, spinach, cucumber
2 – steel cut oats w/ cinnamon, dates/honey, sea salt, bit of coconut oil
3- celery, cucumber, red bell pepper, & baby carrots w/ red pepper zucchini hummus
4- trail mix- raisins, walnuts, cranberries, cashews, pistachios, almonds, currants

Day 4
1- 24 oz green smoothie (pineapple, strawberries, kale, banana). Check out this video of our first green smoothie.
2- 2 bananas w/ almond butter, coconut water
3- sautéed kale, mushrooms, onion w/ coconut oil & sea salt
4- steamed spaghetti squash w/ raw marinara

Day 5
1- 24 oz romaine, celery, cucumber juice
2- pineapple chunks, coconut water
3- sauteed kale, Swiss Chard, Collards, & spinach w/ onions, coconut oil & sea salt
4- homemade veggie soup, 2 bananas

I recently bought some black rice to add to soups, or to make w/ peas, carrots, mushrooms, celery & onion. I even thought I would blend the meat of a thai coconut and make a creamy mushroom sauce for a richer meal.

Day 6
24 hour fast
Sometimes I will drink water, herbal tea plain, veggie juice or coconut water, other times I just drink water.

Day 7
1- Fresh fruit like bananas for breakfast (if any)
2- Splurge on a raw restaurant -for example if I go to:
Au Lac-I like the Song Salad & Raw Taco
Juliano’s Planet Raw– I have something diferent everytime, last time I had raw lasagna & some pumpkin dessert
I normally won’t eat anything for the rest of the day since I feel pretty heavy afterwards.

My Goal
Drink veggie juice everyday

I eat very simply and stick mostly to what is in season. The fruit and veggies vary on the time of year. I know that since I am not eating 100% raw at this time I need to kick the greens and veggie juice into high gear. However, on warmer days I find myself eating 100% raw like veggies w/ zucchini hummus, green smoothies, fresh fruit, trail mix, and simple garden salad w/a diluted guacamole as a dressing.

When I am on the go I pack the following:
zucchini hummus or guacamole w/ veggies (tomatoes, celery, carrots, mushrooms, cucumber, red bell pepper, etc)
Fresh fruit: apples, bananas, pears
Trail mix
Water