Hello everybody,

I have been subscribed to this list for a few weeks now, but thought I'd
lurk for a bit before posting. Anyway, here I am. I'm a 21-year-old
married doctoral student (mathematical biology) and I'm trying to move
over to a mainly-raw-food diet.

I do not think I would like instincto, mainly because I am a vegan for
moral reasons and will not eat animals.  Also I don't understand how you
would make sure that you actually had access to the food that your
instinct told you to eat. Plus what to do if you bought a huge heap of say
apples, got them home then got your stop before you'd eaten them all, then
watched them all going off because your instincts told you that you didn't
want them? Surely at some point your waste-not-want-not instinct ;-) would
tell you to eat them?

That is just curiosity. Now here's what I have done so far.

For breakfast, I soak overnight some oats, flax seed, sunflower seed,
sesame seed and dried fruit with some soya milk (for calcium) and water.
In the morning I add wheatgerm and fresh fruit, usually apple.

The oats are not really raw, they're the 4-minute porridge stuff, but I
had a huge bag to use up and my husband doesn't like them. I would like
suggestions on how I can make sure that the next bag I buy is raw and
whole. Also if I will find them edible done in this way!

What are the opinions on dried fruit? And wheatgerm? Is the wheatgerm
giving me any nutrients that I am unlikely to get otherwise?

For lunch I have a mixed salad including things like courgette, broccoli,
mushroom, tomatoes, turnip (surprisingly delicious raw), watercress,
lettuce, maybe some avocado or more seeds. All raw of course. And
sometimes some cooked brown rice because I tend to get hungry before I go
home otherwise. I will make a dressing with lemon juice (from a lemon not
a bottle) and perhaps some vinegar and/or soy sauce.

Supper is usually cooked as my husband likes it that way and I don't want
us to be eating different things. It's always vegan, usually based on
beans/lentils and rice or bread, and we roughly take turns to make it. I
usually miss out the bread because I don't have much time to bake and I
can't buy a decent loaf anywhere in Oxford. (I live in a city and I can't
find nice bread!) Although sometimes he will eat a salad if I provide
boiled potatoes as well.

I would like to try and get Rob (hubby) round to having one rawish supper
a week (raw for me with additions for him). The other nights will have to
stay cooked, as if I am having something that he really doesn't want then
he will buy meat and eat that (against my moral principles; I want to
discourage his meat-eating).

So what I'd like from you is some comments on the above, plus some
suggestions for making raw meals appeal to someone who is basically into
lots of substantial, strongly-flavoured, cooked food. And some suggestions
for me not getting bored of my packed lunches. (I don't think I'll ever
get bored with my muesli ;-) )

Sorry this is such a long post and that I am such a beginner. I hope some
of you will find time to reply, privately or on the list.

Thanks,

Kate