RawFoodBlog

Here are a few things you can do so you’re not just eating fruits and vegetables:

-Make a huge fruit salad so you can pick at it while you’re deciding what to eat
-Make a pine nut yogurt/ sweet dressing to dip your fruits in (soak pine nuts for one day, let them dry/sprout for one day, blend them until creamy with a cup of water, let it sit out with a paper towel over it for 5-8 hours and it’s done! Add anything you want to it – honey, berries, nuts)

-Get ALOT of greens to make a greens shake everyday. Including cucumbers and celery – those are greens, too

-Some dried fruits are nice to have around

-Dates rolled in coconut – spread them with raw almond butter! Same for figs

-Soak and sprout some nuts. Then dehydrate them with sweet and saltiness! Yum!
Or just get some raw nuts and dip them in honey, one by one. Esp. pecans!

-Buy/make some raw crackers, kale chips or scones

-Have a warm chocolate tea drink every day – cacao powder, honey, add the tea (like decaf chai india spice! or ginger!). Add some stevia flavors and some almond milk. Whoa-ho-ho! I do this, like 5 times a week.

-Get some raw food bars?

-Make some raw granola to have with tea, apple juice or raw nut/seed milk
You might want to decide ahead of time if there are a few things not raw, which you can have – like store-bought almond/hemp milk, rice crackers, hot tea, etc. Then you won’t be cheating if you add them in right now.

You are awesome!

RAW FOOD DIET: THE MOST ELECTRIFYING DIET POSSIBLE!
From: liferegenerator | July 03, 2010 | 14,151 views

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrDavnadams?email=subscription_create

Make for yourself :
– a huge salad. Plan to put avocado and sprinkle a few raw nuts on top.
– your salad dressing
– a huge fruit salad. Put it in the fridge. You can always have the rest the next day, or blend it into a smoothie!
– the makings for a great banana smoothie.
– a raw food bar or raw chocolate or raw “hot” chocolate
– 2 qts. of water
– plenty of tea
– any extras you may think you need for snacking : raw veges and dip, (guacomole and salsa?), dried fruit, goji or other berries, a banana with almond butter, celery with cashew butter, raw kale chips or crackers, raw yogurt, nut/seed milk

Did You Overeat Over The Holidays?

Natasha: Raw Radiant Health ✆
info@rawradianthealth.com

The American Thanksgiving Holiday weekend is officially over and I know many of you
may have overindulged in all the holiday foods and aren’t feeling so great!

So here are my Top 3 Tips to Getting Back On Track To Your Health & Happiness:

1. STOP!
Thanksgiving was only one day or one weekend, don’t allow it to continue on for the rest
of the year!! Many people have an ‘all or nothing’ personality. One night of overindulging
can result in completely giving up and going back to your old ways. Don’t let that happen.
So you had a little too much, no problem, move forward. Whatever you do, let go of the
idea that if you had the chocolate cake one night, you might as well have pie the next. It
will only make you suffer, it will only make you feel guilty. Instead, tell yourself it was
great that you had that cake or that huge meal, you enjoyed it, but now you are ready to
get back to your diet to start feeling great again!

2. Eat lightly.
After eating a huge 4 course Thanksgiving Meal, the best thing to do is to eat lightly the
following day or two. Many times people eat two days worth of food in one holiday
meal!! So the days after the festivities it’s best to get back to eating light, water-rich,
fiber-rich foods. Load up on the fruits and vegetables to help move the holiday food out of
your body. You can even do a day or two of just eating fruits & salads, or have a day of
just smoothies. Whatever you do, keep it simple and concentrate on eating those foods
that will re-hydrate you and clean you out! This too will help to bring your appetite back
down and within no time you’ll forget you even overate during the holidays!

3. Exercise
Whatever you do, don’t just sit around and feel bloated and bad. Move around! Many
times people eat all sorts of food they normally don’t eat and they get all sorts of stomach
and digestive issues. The last thing you want to do is just lie around. This is the time to get
moving and rev-up your metabolism. Not only will you physically feel much better, but it
will increase your self confidence and eliminate some of the pressures and stresses you
may have felt over the holiday.

There is no better time than now to be taking care of yourself– You deserve it!!!!

Thinking of you!!

Natasha St. Michael
Raw Radiant Health

http://www.rawradianthealth.com

Someone recently asked if I would list the staples in my kitchen, so here goes!
H I’ve gathered them little by little and replace when I’m out. These things I use consistently!
All raw:
-nuts: almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, macadamias, spanish peanuts and jungle peanuts, almond butter and almond milk made consistently (not cashews or hazelnuts anymore, acc. to the Eat for your Blood Type Bk),
-seeds: sesame, chia, sunflower, flax, poppy, alfalfa for sprouting (not clover anymore acc. to the book)
-supplements: nutritional yeast, bee pollen/royal jelly, blue-green algae, MSM, aloe vera juice, rejuvelac, kombucha, wheatgrass, ginseng
-sweeteners: honey, agave, lucuma, mesquite, stevia, raw sugar for the kombucha, vanilla powder, carob
-faux grains – buckwheat groats, oats, quinoa
-fruits – fresh apples, berries of all kinds, some frozen, frozen pineapple, dates , pears, cucumbers (no more tomatoes, anything from the nightshade family like mangoes, papayas, no more bananas or oranges from the Blood Type Book) etc…
-coconut oil and almond oil for skin care, olive oil, cacao butter
-essential oils – lemon, eucalyptus, rosemary, lavender, rose
-vegetables/greens – wheatgrass, mixed greens : different lettuces, spinach, celery, kale, wakame (seaweed), carrots, beets, onions, squashes (not peppers anymore)
spring wheatberries for rejuvelac
- hard red winter wheatberries for wheatgrass
-all kinds of herbs, herb teas and garlic, ginger root
***********************************************
Staples for M’s Raw Food Kitchen:

ALL RAW where possible

Supplements: aloe vera gel/juice, ground flax seed, maca powder, vitamin c powder, blue green algae capsules (replacing these though with something Type A’s can consume), MSM capsules, magnesium, B12 spray, vitamin D3 capusles, nutritional yeast (for kale chips)

Teas: ginseng, white tea, peppermint, valerian/mint

Fruits: What’s in season. Trying to leave out bananas for Type A. Currently apples, pears, raisins, frozen raspberries, frozen strawberries

Vegies: Kale, lettuce, carrots, zucchin, celery, cucumbers, butternut squash (prechopped or forget it), Boxes of snack size Whollly Guacamole to go with my work salads or for snacking with carrot sticks or crackers (comes with 6 individual packets of guacamole which are single serving, 8 grams of fat, 100 calories)

Grains: Oat groats, lentils

Seeds/Nuts: Sesame seeds, almonds, pine nuts when available reasonably, almond butter, raw flax seed (Bob’s Red Mill)

Sweeteners: Chocolate stevia drops, vanilla creme stevia drops, lemon drop stevia, raw honey, cacao powder, cacao nibs, cacao bliss when Dorothy gifts me, peppermint extract, vanilla extract

Other: Coconut oil and cacao butter for skin cream, vegetable glycerin and baking soda for toothpaste, coconut water for once in a while

I think that covers the basics. Ifyou are near Trader Joe’s, mine is now stocking at the very best price anywhere: raw almond butter, raw almonds and other raw nuts, occasionally pine nuts, raisins, peppermint tea, coconut water. They also have raw honey but not as cheap as Vitacost.

Someone asked this week what they could eat, as a novice rawfoodist. There are days/weeks where we kept journals of our daily foods. That might be helpful. You could type in “What does a raw-foodist eat,” or “D’s Journal,” or “M’s Journal,” I think.
And it’s about time I did that again, so I think I’ll write on there for a week, the things I’m gonna eat during the day.
Like today, I’m gonna have, with probably a few variations,
Mon. :
1 qt. water
4 ou. kombucha
shot wheatgrass
some ginseng royal jelly, MSM powder in my water, blue-green algae
a green juice – half a cucumber juiced with pineapple and strawberries, ginger root, with aloe vera leaf juice and rejuvelac added to it
some ground raw oats with sprouted buckwheat cereal, with almond milk “horchata”
cranberry apple juice
some hot ginseng tea
another quart of water
celery with almond butter and raisins, also on brown rice crackers (nr)
a raw food bar or raw chocolate from my freezer
more tea

I hope that helps! I definitely learned that you have to plan ahead, or else I’ll eat the regular stuff that’s around the house that my family eats!
Have fun! And don’t worry if you eat some things that aren’t raw. No one cares. Just try to add in a little something raw every day!
Dorothy

M’s Monday:
My menu for the day is:

- 3 chocolate truffles
- guacamole on oatmeal sesame crackers (dehydrated until light and crispy)
- green smoothie (cucumber, banana, maca, ground flax seed, aloe vera gel, seaweed, goji berries, Amazing Grass powder, water)
- mixed salad with lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, basil, garlic greens, sprouted chickpeas, sprouted lentils
- BBQ chips (dehyrdated – soaked flax, tomatoes, spinach, hot spices, sun dried tomatoes, raisins)
- Kale chips (kale marinated in a tahini sauce and dehydrated till crispy)
- Banana
- Clementines

Yes, I do eat all day long.
Mary

Tues:
1 qt. water
4 ou. kombucha
shot wheatgrass
1 qt. water
some ginseng royal jelly, MSM powder in my water, blue-green algae
a green juice – spinach pineapple, orange juice with aloe vera leaf juice, and Vitamin D and rejuvelac added to it
mug of red ginseng tea
mixed melon bowl
1 qt. water
some ground raw oats with sprouted buckwheat cereal, with almond milk “horchata”
almond butter on date rolls
“pizza” – onions,mushrooms, artichoke hearts (nr)with marinara sauce on flax crackers
mug of chamomile tea

Wed. – Today I plan to have:
1 qt. water
4 ou. kombucha
shot wheatgrass
some ginseng royal jelly, MSM powder in my water, blue-green algae
a green juice – spinach juiced with pineapple , ginger root, with aloe vera leaf juice and rejuvelac and Vitamin D added to it
hot peppermint ginger tea with honey
raw food bar
apple salad with hibiscus flowers and almond dressing
1 qt. water
figs with almond butter

The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

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In The Kind Diet, actress, activist, and committed conservationist Alicia Silverstone shares the insights that encouraged her to swear off meat and dairy forever, and outlines the spectacular benefits of adopting a plant-based diet, from effortless weight loss to clear skin, off-the-chart energy, and smooth digestion. She explains how meat, fish, milk, and cheese—the very foods we’ve been taught to regard as the cornerstone of good nutrition—are actually the culprits behind escalating rates of disease and the cause of dire, potentially permanent damage to our ecology.

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http://www.rawfoodlife.com/Raw_Resources/Why_Raw_Food/why_raw_food.htm

CHECKLIST
of major raw food benefits

Whole, live foods carry electrochemical energy and other complex nutritional messages that vibrate with frequencies that energize your body.

Raw, Live fruits and vegetables contain all the original vitamins, minerals and essential enzymes which are easily destroyed by heat.

Eating raw foods builds your immune system making you more resistant to disease and allergies.

Oils, animal fats, nuts and seeds are chemically changed by heating, creating toxic substances harmful to the body.

You have more energy & vitality when you eat raw foods.

You look better & healthier when you eat raw foods.

You can lose weight quickly & easily without counting calories or limiting how much you eat.

Many people heal chronic diseases by eating a raw, living foods – often in addition to fasting, juicing, exercising and meditating.

It just tastes better! Live, raw foods “cleanse the palate” so your toungue actually responds more sensitively and positively to the presence of the nutrition your body needs. Everything tastes so good that you probably won’t even miss cooking!

RawGuru Interviews Courtney Pool from Tree of Life

Courtney Pool

Question #1: A) What are some raw food staples in your current diet?

I have three main staples: greens (including sprouts), spirulina

, and green juice. Fresh greens and sprouts are a daily staple for me: I have a big salad for lunch and sometimes even for breakfast. I feel they’re the basis of a balanced raw food diet. Green juice is another staple which I drink every day. I usually have a non-glycemic juice made from cucumbers, celery, greens, and lemon either in the morning or in the evening, depending how I feel that day.

Almost three years ago, I was on a 60-day Juice Feast and suddenly began feeling magnetically drawn to spirulina

. The odd thing was that I had not really ever had it before, all I can gather is that my body suddenly knew what it needed. After I finished my Juice Feast, I hit the ground running with my spirulina consumption and haven’t stopped since. I eat tons of it.

B) Are you 100% raw?

It depends on the time of year. Most of the months of the year I am, mostly because I feel imbalanced with cooked food when it’s warm or hot outside. In the winter, I sometimes choose to eat steamed quinoa or warm miso soups, but even that is only a couple times a month. I don’t tend to focus on percentages; it can create feelings of control and deprivation that I don’t enjoy, so by not paying attention to the percentage but rather paying attention to my body and energy levels, I keep balanced fairly easily.

C) How did you start?

The very first introduction to anything in regards to natural health or dietary choices was that I saw Supersize Me; simply because it was popular at the time. I was a fast-food-fueled varsity swimmer and water polo player, so it was definitely not an initial interest to me! Over the course of the next year, I learned more about organic foods and natural health through books and the internet, and stumbled upon the book The Food Revolution, by John Robbins. I went vegan immediately; I didn’t even have a vegetarian phase. A few months after that, I discovered Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe and began playing around with raw food and frequenting the only raw food restaurant in Utah, which was in Salt Lake City where I was going to college.

Question #2: How did you get involved with the Tree of Life?

I had known about Gabriel Cousens, M.D

., through his books, for a year before I found out about the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center. I had been feeling drawn to complete immersion in learning about and practicing the diet and lifestyle with many people around me who also had the same passions. Additionally, I had begun to be interested in meditation, yoga and other spiritual practices and was also drawn to community support in that area. I sort of accidentally discovered the Tree of Life online, not previously knowing that Dr. Cousens had a center. I applied to join the team there and was hired. That was a little over three and a half years ago.

Question #3: Can you describe to us what true hunger is? And how does one deal with overeating/binging on raw foods especially dry fruits and fats?

Overeating and bingeing commonly happens when people transition to raw foods. This is a topic that many pages could be written about. First off, true hunger is waiting until the body is asking for fuel and replenishment to eat, not because it’s mealtime, a social event is happening, or there is something that looks good. For many, transitioning to a raw diet means transitioning to foods that don’t numb, distract, or damper unfavorable feelings within ourselves or realities in our lives. So, those things come up and often people try to push them back down again with the heaviest foods they can get to, which are fats and dry foods. They’re the most emotionally filling for most people. Physiologically, overeating those foods can be due to a transition from the body’s addiction to processed sugars and fats, and so it’s just a stabilization period. Greens and green juice and alkalizing foods are the best for balancing those cravings, as well as a willingness to examine what is beneath the desire to use food for emotional and compulsive reasons.

Question #4: How is your spiritual life in conjunction with the raw foods lifestyle?

Raw food has given rocket fuel to my spiritual life. Eating a clean and nourishing diet clears the blockages in the body as well as gives it true cell-food so it can run like the incredible bio-computer that it is. When the body is working well, the spiritual energy has clearer channels to circulate through as well. On a more practical level, a raw food diet allows for easier and deeper meditations, as well as more ease in other spiritual practices such as yoga. In the beginning for me, it was all about the food and the body and the health, and it’s turned into being all about developing myself as a person, deepening my conscious awareness and my feeling of connectedness to something bigger… and raw food is just a support for that.

Question #5: How do you come up with a recipe?

The recipe always comes after a bunch of experimentation with simply what I like to eat. My favorite recipes to create are for are superfood, herbal and medicinal based foods and drinks, since my normal ‘eating’ tends to be simple – salads, green juices, etc. I love making recipes that incorporate items like cacao, maca, bee pollen, medicinal mushrooms

like chaga and reishi, and other herbs. I also love creating low-glycemic recipes that don’t taste like they are. After I’ve thrown something together on intuition and taste test several times, I’ll write it down (usually because someone else wants to try it!)

Question #6 Can you share with us a favorite recipe or dish?

I’m loving a ‘coffee’ drink I make sometimes, which consists of equal parts concentrated chaga or reishi mushroom tea and some kind of nut or seed mylk (I like almond, brazil and coconut mylk best). After that’s together, add a sweetener such as honey, xylitol, stevia (or a combo of all). Toppers that I also put in are cacao powder

, cacao butter

, lucuma

, maca, vanilla powder, and if you want to get sassy – cayenne pepper. You can really adapt it to your liking.

Click here to read more…

High in Omega’s Hemp Dressing by Lianna Giovane

SaladServing for two…

3 tbs hemp butter

2 tbs. hemp oil
2 tbs. coconut nectar

Squeeze of lemon juice
Splash of apple cider vinegar
2 squirts of Herbal Hot Sauce Elixir

Bali sea salt

and black pepper to taste

Mix the the above ingredients in a bowl until well combined and add any of your favorite salad greens like romaine lettuce, watercress, radicchio, pea shoots, etc. Enjoy!

Eat A Rainbow, Part 4: Health Benefits Of Blue/Purple Foods

By Heidi Reichenberger McIndoo, MS, RD

The final color of the rainbow is just as powerful as the first 3. You may be thinking “There are no purple foods.” But you’re wrong. Just look at the list below and you’ll see a few yummy ways to include this pretty color in your diet.

Choose natural colored food. In this articles series, we’ve explored the health benefits associated with the colors in foods. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that these benefits only exist when they’re natural. In other words, artificially-colored foods and drinks do not offer the same health benefits found in real, natural fruits and vegetables.

What’s in the blue/purple foods?
Blue/purple fruits and veggies are rich in flavonoids. Flavonoids are the most abundant and powerful of all the phytochemicals contained in the foods we eat. There are many categories of flavonoids. One group of flavonoids helps make our blood vessels healthier. This translates into a healthier cardiovascular system and therefore a lower risk of heart disease. Flavonoids are also very beneficial in reversing the short-term memory loss associated with aging. In addition, they help improve our motor skills, which we rely on to perform large movements like walking and sitting, as well as more delicate movements using our hands, wrists, fingers, and toes.

Flavonoids may play a big role in cancer prevention and in slowing the first stages of cancer development. Moreover, one group of flavonoids called proanthocyanidins helps prevent bacteria from sticking to the lining of the urinary tract. If bacteria can’t stick anywhere it can’t multiply and cause an infection. As a result, eating foods like blueberries and cranberries may be one step in helping to prevent urinary tract infections.

Blue/purple foods to eat
Blackberries
Blueberries
Dried plums/prunes
Raisins
Purple cabbage
Eggplant
Purple potatoes

Ways to boost your blue/purple food intake
(adapted by Dorothy)

Mix frozen blueberries into raw oats.
Put purple fruits in your smoothies.
Sprinkle raisins on top of a salad