New Title Maybe?

I'm beginning to think instead of RAW To Feel Better, I need to call it Almost-Raw To feel better because RAW and winter are not going to be advocates of each other. I'm already feeling it, that cooler weather pull to hunker down, dress warmer, nest, bake, drink warm liquids...

Today was in the low fifties (F) and I have no idea how cold it actually got outside but the themometer inside read 60*F and I know that doesn't sound cold ... but brrr... I went straight from bed to wearing a turtleneck and corduroy pants. Then the tea kettle went on. And then a pan for brown rice...

The rice was cooking before I even remembered ... "Oh yeah, I'm raw now."
Some habits are just too hard to break and my macro-biotic upbringing are the hardest...

Not that I want to break all the rules I learned growing up. I still chew every bite 50-75x. I don't drink with meals (or very rarely a sip or two of water). I am prayerful and filled with gratitude as I prepare meals. And I try to eat local whenever possible, but that is getting harder every year with fewer farmer's markets nearby.

And that is one area macrobiotic and raw philosophies clash. There is no place in Ohio that has a single fruit or vegetable crop available from November to June. On the raw diet I would be subsisting on fruits and vegetables coming from thousands of miles away (and yes I do eat bananas, citrus crops and mangoes year round anyway) but it definitely argues a philosophy. And forget lowering my carbon footprint at that point.

Normal falls and winters include lots of cabbage and sauerkraut... which I could still do raw... but it just won't be the same as fresh out from under the broiler surrounded by other root crops (potatoes, carrots, yams, turnips) ...

I'm not sure I can survive a whole winter without Root Soup!!

I haven't given up... I'm just resigned that 80-90% raw may be my max...

On a brighter note. I did find an "Almost Raw" Pumplin Pie recipe that is all raw, except for prebaking the whole pumpkin first... and I philosophically and scientifically agree with doing that. Heating orange fleshed vegetables and roots releases more betacartene. So baking pumpkins, yams, and carrots makes as much sense to me because even more than wanting to fit a profile of someone's definition of 100% raw... I want to be a hundred percent healthy.