Raw-Vitalize: The Easy, 21-Day Raw Food Recharge

Initially, I thought there was no way these dinners would be filling. I figured I’d just eat both the lunch and dinner portions together at dinner since I don’t always eat in the morning. I went ahead and made just the Day 1 dinner, because I’m not used to chopping and spiralizing so many veggies and I was eager to eat after preparing that one meal.I was blown away by how filling the first dinner meal was! I stayed full all evening (ate 4 hours before bedtime) and stayed full throughout the next morning. This after an intense morning workout too. Prior to starting this raw food adventure, I would typically skip breakfast and have a filling smoothie for “brunch” which would keep me full until dinner. The issue was that many mornings, I would feel nauseous/stomach growling and would have to have my smoothie breakfast earlier… after which I’d eat 2 more meals throughout the day. Given that I likely have some form of insulin resistance, this would make me very hungry at odd times and with odd cravings. It’s been only two days of eating raw (the first day I wasn’t following this recipe book) and I feel “fuller” than ever. I was also able to handle the morning nausea without needing to eat or drink anything.

Good read, bit so many ingredients that if one is on a budget or has limited space, it might be difficult to acquire all ingredients.

I wanted to rate this book a one star, but I realize many people will not read one star reviews. I am hoping this review will get read before anyone else wastes their money on this atrocity. I have been eating about 75% raw for 6 months, so I’m not a complete stranger to the best types of food to eat and the recipes that taste good. Here are the reasons this is the worst diet book I have ever read:1. The recipes are severely flawed, with directions that will lead you to waste very expensive ingredients. In addition, at the very end of many recipes, you will find directions stating you needed to make it the night before so the ingredients can set.2. Each meal, including breakfast, takes an average of 30 to 60 minutes to make and that does not count cleaning up the huge mess remaining after using an average of 10 ingredients, blender, food processor, spiralizer, etc,... I wouldn’t care about any of that though the food at least tasted good!3. The food is extremely expensive. As of February 2022, the first week of groceries for one person cost my sister over $300. My husband and I spent over $500 for the first week. We live in a low - middle cost of living area and purchased many ingredients in bulk to save money.4. Most of the food tastes absolutely horrible. I found rawfoodrecipes.com and was able to adjust the terrible recipes I made good enough that we could at least choke the food down. By the way, the recipes on that website are very good when not being used to try and fix the disgusting recipes in this book.5. You will not believe what you are supposed to eat ... on day two, for dinner, you get to eat a zucchini with oil drizzled on it and a few olives. Day three, you get to eat some mushrooms with pesto sauce for dinner. These are not acceptable dinners to most people. As a side note, raw pesto is usually so incredibly good, and yet the recipe in this book was inedible.6. If you buy this book as an introduction to the amazing benefits of raw foods, this will turn you away for life. If the authors of this book had any decency or care for humanity, they would immediately pull this book from the market. I am deeply saddened to see that not only is this book even for sale, but that it is highly rated. It is going to cost many more people a lot of money. It is going to turn many more people away from good health. I am truly appalled that this crap has hit the shelves. My husband calls this book the campfire book. He asked me to please never make another recipe from it again. It truly will go into the fire. I would never give it to anyone.

I am on week one of this "recharge." They have a grocery list for each week. This would be helpful, right? Only it isn't -- I have gone to make three recipes so far for which I don't have the ingredients on hand, because they were not included in the shopping list. I mean, what?? I'm not talking about a staple or a spice (which honestly should still be in there), but like a papaya or a specific nut or veggie, without which you cannot make your meal. And let me tell you, I am hungry when it is time to eat my next meal or snack; I do NOT want to go to prep it and find I have to head to the store again first.Additionally, many of the recipes require soaking nuts for two hours or leaving something in the fridge overnight (for breakfast). The chia seed pudding (which was tasty and filling!) has to be prepped, left for ten minutes, stirred and left for ten minutes again, and then left in the fridge overnight. This is all fine and good, but the authors state that each recipe should only take 15 minutes to prepare. I find that misleading.The layout of the book is terrible -- all breakfasts in one section, all lunches in another, etc., but the weekly plan and shopping lists are on their own. Small point, but it would be much easier to just flip through each page and there is what you are making next, since the layout is day 1 through 21.There is also a surprising amount of oil and sweetener in these items, although I am certain it is less than I normally eat in a day so I am not terribly concerned about that presently.All of these issues aside, so far, the recipes have been very tasty and reasonably filling. I am normally about 85% plant-based, but have fallen off the wagon during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Thought this would be a good way to restart while working from home. But again, when I have to mask up and run to the store at lunchtime to pick up ONE missing ingredient, it is quite irritating.

I was just looking at the recipes the other day. Very easy to make and understand

Very pleased with product & delivery on time thank you!

Este libro me encanto. Las recetas me gustaron mucho, variadas y fáciles de elaborar. Visualmente es muy bonito también. Lo recomiendo sobre todo para quien quiera introducir mas variedad de platillos crudiveganos a su alimentación.

Great book, tasty recipes

I've been a total carnivore all my life, I got this book as an experiment - why not try 21-days all raw? I thought it will be super hard....now 3 months later - I eat raw food 75% of the time! The recipes in this book exceeded all my expectations, they are DELICIOUS!! They taste so good and they changed my perspective on raw food completely. I wholeheartedly recommend this book!

I'm trying a raw vegan diet and have bounced between recipe books trying to settle on a solid plan. This book is fantastic, especially if you're a beginner to raw foods like me. It gives you a full 21 day plan of breakfast, lunch and dinner, complete with weekly shopping list. I've ended up mixing and matching days, which works fine. No dehydrator is needed but you'll find it a lot easier if you have a food processor. The recipes I've tried so far taste great too! I recommend this book to anyone starting out on a raw vegan diet.