Summer Is the Perfect Time to Go Raw Vegan

When I went shopping several days ago, I couldn’t help myself but to spring on some extra fruits. These treats for myself—my body and mind as well as my health and whole life—got me thinking again that summer is the absolute ultimate time to go raw vegan!

Bananas, oranges, watermelon, grapes, mangos, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries—I got them all! And what a feast it’s been so far! I put together an incredible berry salad with a sweet dressing, enjoying a recipe from my Main Courses, Salads and Soups book, and relished red grape after red grape—a 3-plus-pound monomeal! My eyes widen as I view my selection on my large fruit shelf. This is simply prime time for raw fooders!

Many have echoed this sentiment, even when I meet folks and they learn that I enjoy an all-raw food diet. They tell me, “I could never be raw in the winter, but in summer, it must be nice.”

Oh, how nice it is!

In the spring in Greater Philadelphia, we get some warm, sunny days but also more than a few chilly, overcast and even rainy days. The weather usually doesn’t break until early May. But once Memorial Day weekend—the unofficial start to summer—comes around, the days are long, warm and gorgeous for four months.

Well, warm for those eating mostly fruit for their caloric and nutrient needs. To others, the complaints about the heat begin once the thermometer edges into the early to mid-80s!

Watermelon, anyone? How about some succulent mangos? Who can resist sweet, luscious fruits on a sultry June, July or August afternoon? How could cooked foods possibly trump water-rich, sticky-sweet fruit?

I kicked off my raw food journey on January 1, 2011. I picked a nice clean date that coincided with my natural progression in diet as well as a New Year’s resolution, but to begin in summer—oh my!

If you’re wanting to eat more healthfully or are curious about a raw food diet, now is the time to pick up some of nature’s finest foods and enjoy the way they taste and make you feel. These foods supply you with top-flight fuel and digest like a breeze, freeing up your body’s energy so you can do more and be more, unlocking your potential and opening your mind.

All these benefits—as if the fruits aren’t satisfying enough!

You can get your feet wet on a raw food diet or dive in headfirst—I’ve got you covered! For the former, check out my A Taste of Raw Food: 7 Days of Smoothies ‘n’ Salads. For the latter, Alive! will help you shine!

It’s here. It’s now. It’s yours for the taking! Reach, reach, reach for our natural, species-specific foods and make this summer the most magical yet of your entire life!