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Reader Advice Day: Getting Through Raw Salads during the Cold Winter Months

I’m having a helluva time getting this homemade Vegan yogurt thing to work itself out. I was planning on blogging all about my wonderful adventures in yogurt making but my adventures have, so far, been far from wonderful! I now suspect that the cause of my failures was a defective yogurt machine, but I cannot confirm that until I get a working replacement, so, in the meantime, let’s talk about eating raw food in the cold weather.
I received this e-mail from a reader a few days ago, and I was hoping to get your input to give her some really good tips on how to stay Nutritarian throughout the winter.

“Hi Wendy,

I so appreciate your site. Thank you for all of your helpful tips towards living a nutritarian lifestyle. I’ve been working my way through Super Immunity and have been eating that way for the past 3 weeks, and while I feel strong and healthier than I have in so so long, I’m having problems with my body temperature dropping after I eat salad. This has always been a problem for me and I’ve naturally just said no to salad in winter. Do you have any ideas on how to tolerate colder foods in winter (balance with soup? tea?)? I’m feeling so good I’m not super excited to go against the 50% raw/50% cooked vegetable ration recommended in the book, but being a popsicle for the next couple of months is not a great prospect either. Have a lovely day!

~Elizabeth
emadethis.wordpress.com“

My unscientific advice is as follows:
(1) Are you wearing appropriate clothing? I’d go so far as to wear a warm hat and scarf indoors, no matter how kooky that looks. I do that all winter long and I don’t have a problem with my body temperature. How about wearing long underwear or Cuddleduds underneath your clothing/ That could make a huge difference in your body temperature.
(2) I like your idea of drinking a hot liquid along with eating cold food. Even hot water with lemon is enough to warm me up considerably, and it might be just the thing that makes the difference for you.
(3) Take your salad out of the refrigerator at least 15 minutes before you plan on eating it. Let it come to room temperature before enjoying!
(4) Try eating your raw salad with a warm dressing. It might sound weird, but I actually really like that.
(5) How much are you exercising? Have you tried warm or hot yoga? More exercise might warm you up.
(6) Don’t stress too much over the details. As long as you are eating lots of vegetables with lunch and dinner, even if they are all cooked, you have done yourself a world of good. If there are winter days when you just can’t bear the idea of a big, cold salad, well, have hot soup instead and don’t think about it for one more minute. It won’t matter in the long run. If the plant based lifestyle is going to stick for you, it has to become enjoyable.
What do you think? Are cold foods appealing to you in the winter? If not, what do you do?
Sadly, all blog post comments prior to February 5, 2017 were removed as part of The Healthy Girl's Kitchen website renovation. Thank you for your understanding.

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