A Raw Food Training On Where To Shop For All Your Raw Living Food Recipes...

Natural Health Food Stores

(Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Co-op's, Erewon, Henry's etc.)

* One of the best places for Dried Herbs (why pay shipping?)
* Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
* Raw Coconut Oil in glass (raw food training tip: order this online if your store only carries it in plastic)
* Unpasteurized Miso
* Raw Unpasteurized Sauerkraut (refrigerated)
* Raw Kombucha Teas
* Raw Nut and Seed Butters (often refrigerated)
* Local , in season organic produce and fruits (recommended)
* Non-local organic produce and fruits
* Green Superfood Powders
* Some Sea Vegetables (dulse, kelp, agar-agar, kombu) (most other seaweed are more of a speciality item and need to be ordered online)
* Braggs Liquid Aminos
* Goji Berries
* Frozen Acai Berry in the freezer section
* Xylitol
* Un-processed Stevia
* Sprouts of all kinds
* Fresh Herbs
* Soy Lethicin Granules
* Hemp Protein Powder
* Absorbic Acid Powder for soaking
* Ohsawa® Organic Kosher Nama Shoyu® (most health food stores do not carry this and it either needs to be special ordered or just get it online; this is the only "raw," living soy sauce on the planet)
* Speciality Raw Food Bars and Packaged Meals and Desserts
* Some stores carry pink crystal salt from the himalayas, usually the Himalayan brand

Raw Food Training Tips

-I don't really recommend purchasing just any brand of raw cacao becuase you cannot trust the souce. I tell people that the only raw cacao products I trust are essential living foods, anything David Wolfe sells, and finally that sold by Elements for Life. So if you can't find these at your health food store or ask them to start carrying it, then I highly recommend ordering from any of the above sources. That is unless you are just fermenting whole cacao beans, then it doesn't matter as much where you get them because any molds would be destroyed by the fermentation process.

-Whole Foods now all carry the young Thai Baby Coconuts as far as I know, and these can be O.K. as a transition food, but I don't reccemend consuming long term, they are not really a LifeFood, being hybridized, non-organic, too hight in sugar, and iradiated.It is best to special order a case of the smaller, round, organic, non-hybridized coconuts right to your doorstep.

-Don't be afraid to ask your favorite health food store to start carrying items you consistently purchase, also raw food items are a lot more popular now then they used to be.

Trader Joe's

* Papayas
* Avocados
* Organic Olive Oil and Non-Organic (best priced olive oil anywhere; hopefully they don't sneak part canola oil into each bottle without listing it like many olive oil companies do to save money!)
* They periodically have selctions of the following organic produce: green beans, cucumbers, red bell peppers, zuchini, and other organic fruits. (All of which you are better off getting at a farmers market if you can, but if you need something fast and at a good price, this might be a good option. Just be aware that it is probably not local and they always use packaging, although I think a lot of their packaging is biodegradable now, but then there is still the plastic wrap they wrap over everything.)
* Lemons and Limes (these are not organic so unless you are just in a hurry, get them locally at a farmer's market instead, or buy your own citrus trees!)
*Organic Frozen Bluberries

Raw Food Training Tip

-I do NOT recommend their dried fruit (always has added sugar or is poor quality), nuts and seeds (moldy and/or I don't trust their quality), nor their bagged produce (produce sealed in plastic causes increased bacerial and mold growth and I don't trust where it comes from).

Online

(Of course you can order just about anything online today, but I limited this list to the items you may have trouble finding locally.)

* Pink Crystal Salt
* Ra Salt
* (remember salt is a natural antibiotic so take it easy!) Sunfood Nutrition's Raw Cacao (chocolate) products
* High quality Nuts, Seeds, and Dried Fruit straight from the farm
* Silky Sea Palm Seaweed
* Raw Nori Sheets
* Artisana® Raw Coconut Butter
* Raw Coconut Oil in glass
* Organic Coconuts
* Raw Vegan Sun Warrior Protein from fermented rice
* Raw Vegan Sun Warrior Activated Barley Protein
* Rice Bran Solubles
* Mesquite Pod Meal
* Lecuma Fruit Powder (GREAT maple sugar replacement!!!)
* Raw Organic Maca Powder
* Camu Camu Berries Dried Powder
* Goji Berry Extract Powder
* Noni Powder
* Spirulina Powder with lethicin granules
* Blue Green Algae (powder or liquid)
* Green Superfood Powder (there are many on the market today but my absolute favorite is Sun Is Shining).
* Acai Berry Powder
* Raw Agave
* The best WholeFood Supplements and Vitamins
* Ohsawa® Organic Kosher Nama Shoyu®
(I don't recommend using Nama Shoyu all the time or long term, however, I understand how difficult transitioning to raw can be, and this is a strong flavorful item that people seem to really enjoy at first.)

-The only health food store that I have seen carry these kinds of items is Erewon in Los Angeles.

Farmers Markets, Farms, and Food Co-op's

Absolutely the best place for local, organic produce, including even sometimes raw olives if you are lucky. We get raw olives from our local farmer's market every week! You can find all sorts of vegetables, herbs, and fruits you've never seen before and taste them and try them! Also your best bet for rare, hard to find wild items like wild carrots and wild fruit, and speciality vegetables like Chinese Broccoli and Parslane. Californian's are very lucky with our farmer's markets, but in your community you can look for co-op's, communal farms, community gardens, or start your own!

Your Own Garden

* Start your own Herb Garden
* If you have more space start growing more!
* Purchase a sprout growing kit for your home and save tons of money on sprouts, and even make money if you want by selling them to our local health food store.

Return from this "Raw Food Training" to The Raw Kitchen diet plan...