question of the day

One thought about a raw diet: Many people think it is an "extreme" way of eating. But answer me this, how is a diet consisting of nature's bounty in its purest most nutritious form; a diet that is arguably the best diet for the planet, more extreme than a diet that is based on slaughtering animals, ingesting hormones, and food created in a factory?

Raw day 7

I officially made it through Raw Week 2010. I feel really good, my waist is trimmer (4 pounds trimmer), I don't get 3pm sleepy's, and my face is looking clearer . I think I will try and keep it up, maybe for a month, but to be honest, Thai food is sounding really delicious.

breakfast: nada
lunch: Avocado, mustard, and sauerkraut sandwich on my freshly dehydrated bread
dinner: large salad with garlic tahini dressing
dessert: chocolate brownie bites (raw blondie recipe with cocoa powder)
snacked: raw blondies

Raw day 6

breakfast: skipped
lunch: large Taco Salad, and an orange
dinner: zucchinni pasta in a cashew lemon cream sauce
snack: beet, carrot, and "extras" juice, raw blondies

A raw diet obviously uses a lot of produce, and as such will generate a lot of discarded parts i.e. the tops to zucchini, the greens of a carrot, the peel and inside of a lemon, the stems of chard. I have been saving these 'extras' in a container in my fridge so I could throw them in to my next juice. Waste not want not!
After I drank my juice, I mixed the pulp with ground flax, whole flax, and chia to make crackers

dehydrate overnight.
Recipe

Pasta in a Lemon Cream Sauce
Ingredients
2 zucchini
1 c. of hemp sour cream (left over from taco salad)
1/2 c. cashews (soaked)
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c. basil
sea salt and fresh pepper
water (add slowly until you reach desired consistency)

make pasta from zucchini, blend all other ingredients in blender. Mix and serve.

Raw day 5

This may be the longest I have ever been 100% raw. I feel great and it really hasn't been much of a challenge. In the evening of day 3 I started to get a bad headache (detoxing). I didn't want to take Advil, so I tried to sleep it off, but around 4 am I couldn't sleep it was pounding so hard, so I gave in and medicated. The next morning I woke up feeling great and haven't felt poorly ever since.

Food Diary
breakfast: A tall glass of "nature's gatorade" aka coconut water.
fun fact: Coconut water is packed with electrolytes.

be sure to save the meat!

lunch: Taco Salad, comprised of Raw Taco Meat, Hemp Sour Cream, avocado, cabbage, tomato, and bell pepper. With a side of Corn Chips
dinner: Salad with Raw Garlic Tahini dressing
dessert: Chocolate Coconut Mousse (from my local market)

Recipes
Hemp Sour Cream, recipe found here, the video gives a great tutorial and demonstrates how to open a coconut
Taco 'Meat'
Ingredients
1.5 c. Walnuts, soaked in water for 1-4 hours and drained
2 tbsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Chili Powder
2 garlic cloves
juice of 1 Lime
sea salt

Corn Chips
2 c. corn
pinch of cayenne
sea salt

blend together in food processor. press flat onto teflex dehydrator sheet or use wax paper, and dehydrate overnight for about 10-12 hours, or until crunchy.

raw day 4

breakfast: slept in!
lunch: freshly dehydrated asian pears
dinner: Zucchini Pesto Pasta
dessert: Raw blondies



Zucchini Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
1 large zucchini
a handful of cherry tomatoes
Raw pine nuts
walnut oil
basil
sea salt
fresh pepper


Process
Make pasta from zucchini. You can do this with an awesome spiralizer. If you don't have one, you can use a vegetable peeler to make long long pasta like strands. Chop tomatoes and add to pasta.

Blend remaining ingredients in blender. Mix with pasta.

Raw Blondies
I don't have exact measurements because I just mixed according to taste and consistency.
Ingredients
raw walnuts
dates
honey
cinnamon
pinch of sea salt

Process
Mix everything in a food processor. Shape into small squares and refrigerate.

...and a picture of the Chocolate Blueberry Banana Chia Pudding

day 3

Day 3
breakfast: Chilled Blueberry and Banana Chia Pudding
lunch: handful of almonds, Collard Wrap
dinner: large cabbage and greens salad w/ Braggs and Hummus
dessert: banana soft serve

snacked on: manna bread with almond butter and honey


Chilled Chocolate, Blueberry and Banana Chia Pudding
This tastes almost like dessert, but is very nutritious. Chia is high in protein and calcium, the fruit gives a natural sweetener, and you get the benefit of chocolate minus the sugar. You can learn more about chia benefits here.

Ingredients
1/3 c. chia
2 c. of almond milk or water
1 tbs. cocoa powder
1/3 c. frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana

Process
Mix chia, cocoa powder, and milk in a bowl, whisk, then place in refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, the chia should be gelatinous. Put chia in a blender with blueberries and banana, blend until well mixed. Serve.

Banana Soft Serve
Ingredients
2 frozen bananas (freeze with peel off)

Process
blend bananas until smooth and creamy, enjoy.

raw day 2

Breakfast: slice of rye manna bread with almond butter (trader joe's has a raw variety), bananas and raw local honey (that happens to taste like maple syrup!)
Lunch: Collard Wraps (recipe to follow)


Dinner: Manna bread sandwich with tomato, avocado, live sauerkraut, and mustard.

Dessert: Chocolate coconut mousse (from my local market)

Snacked on: Hummus and vegetables, mango slices, fresh figs


Collard Wrap Recipe (adapted from Alissa Cohen's Living on Live Food)
Ingredients
Raw Zucchini Hummus (recipe to follow)
Chanterelle mushroom (you can use any mushroom, we just have a bunch of chanterelles that our friends brought back from mushroom hunting)
Onion
Carrot
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Avocado
Large collard leaves

Process
Marinade Onion and mushroom in Braggs Amino Acid for about 10 minutes. Slice vegetables length wise. Lay collard leaf on plate, spread hummus on one side and add vegetables, including marinated mushroom and onion. Roll! Simple, huh!

Now for the raw Hummus Recipe.

Raw Zucchini Hummus (from Kristen Suzanne)
ingredients
2 zucchini, peeled and chopped
3/4 c. raw tahini
1/3 c. lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
1.5 tsp. cumin
.5 tsp coriander
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 c. fresh basil

blend everything in a blender, with the exception of basil, until smooth and creamy. pulse in fresh basil. that's it!

Some raw business

So some of you may be asking, what's the point of going raw? To put it very simply, and with my little scientific knowledge, here is why many swear by a raw diet:

When food is cooked above a certain temperature (about 110 degrees), the enzymes in the food break down. This means that our bodies have to start using our own limited store of enzymes to aid in digestion. Using up our own store of enzymes causes aging, fatigue, and even decreased brain function. This is why so many people on a raw diet look so young, have lots of energy, and are free from a lot of ailments and diseases.

Also, cooking food depletes the nutrient count, so by consuming foods in their raw state you have more nutrient-dense food, and your body absorbs those nutrients more easily.

Some good FAQ can be found here.
http://www.alissacohen.com/raw_faqs.html
http://www.choosingraw.com/faqs/

there are also a lot of great books out there that go into more detail.

Another thing to note about going raw, is your body will DETOX! Basically, its your body taking out the trash that has been piling up. If you have a lot of trash piled up, your detox will be more severe. If you are already pretty healthy, or even better vegan, it will be more mild. Detox symptoms may include headache and tiredness, but everyone is different. When the body starts to detox is when most people throw in the towel. Don't do this, you will just have a miserable time and your body will still have a pile of trash in its system.

And some tips

• Don't calorie count! don't go hungry. eat if you feel hungry, don't eat if you aren't.
• Always make sure you have food on hand. know what you can eat and be prepared. Too often, you will feel hungry, have no idea what to eat, and give in to cooked food.
• Find a restaurant or two that carries a raw dish, or a hearty salad. That way if you are busy and can't prepare a proper meal, you have a backup plan.
  
• To save money, buy produce that is in season or on sale.
  
• Go Organic! If you can, why go through the trouble of detoxing only to put chemicals and pesticides back into your system? With that said non-organic vegetables is better than no vegetables at all, so if you can't do organic, conventional are fine.
  

raw raw raw

I decided to go raw again. The goal is to be 100 % raw for the next week, and then after that at least 80%. In case you feel like doing the same, I will post a daily food log to help give you some ideas of what to eat on a raw diet.

Day 1
breakfast: apple
lunch: zucchini pasta in a 'cheezy' hemp sauce
dinner: salad w/ veggies and seeds and raw tahini dressing
dessert: raw chocolate coconut mousse
snacked on: cashews, raisins, dates, dried mango.

Current Trader Joe's obsession

Masala Lentil Dip
Very delicious. I plan to try and make something equally similar and delicious, because the little carton never seems to be enough.