I'm the same with celery. I still haven't added that to my menu! :) When I do it will probably be the same as you, via juicing to start with. I still eat too much normally to add a green juice to the mix but when I finally do reach a healthy weight a regular green juice- or raw greens if I am happy to eat them raw by then- will certainly be part of my diet.
I haven't bought unripe fruit for a long time, I'm even wary of buying 'nearly ripe' fruit because as you say it doesn't always ripen properly. Tomatoes are usually a good bet but there aren't many others I really trust. I remember trying hard avocadoes many years ago and sitting around for a week with them in a paper bag with ripe bananas waiting in vain for them to ripen! lol I will stand there and check every one now and not buy them if they're all hard.
Eating raw will often encourage us to fast, it satisfies us more than cooked and processed foods so we naturally feel less hungry after eating it for a while, less needy! :)