Cooked Servings: 99.5% Raw

A raw snack I made for myself a while back.

When people ask, "Are you 100% raw?" I am tempted to say "Yes! I am," but technically, it's more like 99.5% raw. This raises the question, "What is the other .5% consist of?" and "How do you really know it's only half of one percent?"

In the total fifteen weeks that have passed since I "went raw", this is all of the cooked food I've eaten:

[Each of the following was preceded by a raw vegetable smoothie or a large salad, or both. The reason for this is to make sure that I have enzymes in my digestive system from the raw foods to help in the digestion of the cooked food.]

3 Fried Plantains (One a month, fried in olive oil.)

1.5 Bags of Frozen Peas (Roughly a third of a bag at a time, cooked with garlic and with a little added cold-pressed organic olive oil and salt after they were finished. No more than a third of a bag in one week, and not in the same weeks as the plantains.)

1 Bag of Frozen Lima Beans (In two servings on two separate weeks, also not overlapping with the peas or plantains.)

Around ten spoonfuls of Lentil Soup from my husband's bowl when he ordered a soup at Cafe Gratitude. I ordered the raw pizza and greatly enjoyed it. It really did taste like pizza, except perhaps better. This also was during a week where I had nothing else cooked.

A couple of bites of cooked potato from my husband's plate while we were at a restaurant on an outing that was of necessity more than pleasure. Also in a week where I had nothing else cooked.

Pasteurized pistachios. I've had a total of around two cups of them since September 3rd 2010. Each occasion where I had some was a matter of them being offered to me and being hungry and unwilling to refuse my favorite nut. It wasn't as though they had sugar or other poisons added, right? I'm afraid these may have been eaten during weeks where I had something else cooked.

Hot apple cider. I've had a total of two glasses, I believe. I've had three to five small samples of it at Whole Foods, mostly because walking out of the store with something hot in my hands is very pleasant, but also because I love hot apple cider. Of course, it could be made raw and warm if I had something to warm things to 105 or 110 degrees besides my dehydrator. I've also had one full glass at an event, which make my stomach a little upset after, so I won't repeat that. These may have been during the same week as something else cooked, but I'm not really sure.

I've had trace amounts of other cooked things, like a tiny nibble of some humus (which contained cooked chickpeas, but was otherwise organic and poison-free), but the above is the only significant stuff. If I'm missing anything, we're talking about something on the scale of one lone bite in an entire week of raw foods.


Raederle Phoenix, self-photographed with my camera's timer.

I eat four to seven times in a day. During one meal I eat two to eight "servings" of food. Averaging fifteen servings of food in a day, maybe as much as twenty if I'm feeling feastive. Fifteen a day means 105 servings in a week. So one serving, or half of a serving being cooked really does mean roughly 99.5% raw.