Last night, I had a meeting with an associate at the new Rawlicious restaurant in the Soho district of NYC. Rawlicious is an organic raw vegan restaurant.
It was amazing!
I highly recommend this place, the price was affordable, the atmosphere was great, and the brand new aspiring waitress, who served us, was full of passion about her new job and all that she wanted to learn about eating in this very nutrient-rich healthy way.
Now, I am not a “raw foodist,” but I eat a lot of raw produce foods, upwards of 80%, and even more sometimes. I eat what you would call by definition “high raw,” which is where at least 50-75% of your food intake comes from raw plant foods. But, understand, I do this by choice, not by identity. I find raw produce foods to be very convenient, very tasty, and as I mentioned before, very nutrient rich. That’s why I eat so much of it. And, any eating style that does not include a large amount of raw plant foods, is not going to be very nutrient rich.
Here is a great book on eating High Raw, by Kevin Gianni.
OK, so this got me thinking about 3 secrets you need to know about going to a Raw Food Restaurant.
1) Starting with the most obvious, this is nutrient-rich food, not nutrient-poor food. Most raw food restaurants follow the same format as any other restaurant–drink, appetizer, main course and dessert! But, because this is very nutrient dense food, you had better “get hungry” before you go, which is something we talk about in The Nutrient Rich Healthy Eating Plan; or else, you might not make it past the appetizer. You will get satisfied very fast and can run the risk of overeating.
Eating nutrient-rich food is very different than eating nutrient-poor food–you are not driven by addictive cravings, you are not stimulated to eat more and more (the “potato chip” effect) and you are not left feeling full, but unsatisfied. Instead, you get satisfied very fast when eating this way, and then lose your desire to eat any more.
Even the drink you get when you first get started with your meal may be a green drink of some kind, or other, which is so nutrient rich that if you sit with it for a few minutes, depending on the last time you ate, you could probably call it a meal right there and then! It’s an incredible realization.
2) Raw food restaurants use nut-based cheeses, spreads, dressings, pate’s and more, which are very nutrient dense and calorically rich. When I ordered last night, I forgot one of the most basic elements of nutrient-rich eating, which is that you want nutrient dense foods, but you also need volume, in order to be satisfied. Generally, the salad is always the main dish. I am not saying you can’t get volumes of food at a restaurant like Rawlicious–you can. What I am saying is that you need to be able to eat a large volume of food, without over-consuming calories.
I started off with two appetizers and a two small slices of raw, nutrient-rich pizza (incredible). And, after eating that pizza, I was no longer hungry (nutrient wise), but I was not satisfied (volume wise). So, I ordered a taco salad, after the fact, with raw taco’s and a nut-meat pate–which was off the charts “rawlicious.” But, because I ate tht taco after I ate everything else. I was stuffed upon completion. Had I started with that salad, I probably wouldn’t have eaten much more.
3) Dishes at most raw food restaurants are not nearly the size you are used to eating at standard American restaurants, which sell mostly nutrient-poor, highly-addicting foods, in large quantities. It’s the exact opposite at raw food restaurants. The food is nutrient rich, and desirable, but not addicting, and comes in smaller quantities. You have to be prepared for this. It can be almost disappointing. “That’s it?!!,” you’ll say as you are used to this big wow factor at the size of most dishes from most restaurants
I used to have that experience in a big way, when I first began eating nutrient rich, and still, even to this day, with all my knowledge and experience in eating in this incredibly healthy way, I still sometimes get disappointed, a little bit, because I still like the sight of lots of food. The moral of the story, refer back to #2. It’s always a good idea to have leafy greens, and other vegetables, and higher volumes of them, with great dressings at the start and at the base of your meal.
This is how this eating style works in general; if you don’t want to overeat, and stay lean you want to optimize the way you eat, for nutrient density, volume, variety and great taste, free of addictive substances, so you can eat the right amount of calories for you.
So here it is, 12:34 PM, the next day. I finished eating last night around 9:00 PM, and still I am not hungry. I had a little coconut water with some Living Feast this morning, because I’m not yet ready for a full nutrient-rich meal, and a green drink that was shared with 3 people, made with:
(Note: I don’t often make long recipes, but today we had time and support to do so; so don’t think this is what it takes to eat nutrient rich, which doesn’t even require you make recipes!)
- 2 handfuls of spinach leafs
- A little bit of coriander leaf
- A few mint leafs (for flavor)
- 2 apples
- 2 cucumbers
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 whole orange
- 1 whole lime
- 1 half lemon
That was all blended together.
Mariahna Suzan (look for her picture that is coming soon to the Success Stories on the website), who just lost 40 pounds eating the nutrient-rich way, made this amazing drink for us today, at our office.
I now suspect that I won’t eat again until tonight because my body has been fueled with nutrient-rich foods, and I’m still running on the foods that I ate last night, at the Raw Food Restaurant. So, be prepared after eating at a raw food restaurant, especially if you’ve been eating this way for a while, and already have a nutrient-rich body. And, if you had a full meal, with dessert, like we did, prepare not to be too hungry the next day.
You will want to wait until you are hungry again to eat again!
To learn more about nutrient rich healthy eating, get your copy of the plan.
This is a great new restaurant chain, check it out the next time you go to NYC.
