Rediscover Raw Food

New Shoes, New Workout, New Blog

2010-09-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

Check out my new running shoes. . .

After reading Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall, and doing some online research, I'm convinced of the benefits of barefoot running. I went out and got these awesome Vibram Five Fingers--designed to be a close approximation to running barefoot. (The Lovely Boyfriend calls these my monkey feet! He's just sipping on that hater-ade, since he's still running in old school sneaks.) I'm looking forward to doing some shoeless running, too.

Running and basic workouts are easier and more enjoyable since my juice feast and return to a high raw-vegan diet. I'm still sloooooow, but I run a lot of hills, and some weekends I go for 7-8 mile runs. Quite an awesome feeling. I usually follow those runs with a helping of chia pudding or a green juice.

I haven't written here in a while, since I've decided to phase out this blog. Check out my new one, The Raw Difference. I felt like starting something fresh. The new blog is about a raw food lifestyle--even for those of us who don't want to do 100% raw--with some emphasis on weight loss. See you there!

What to Eat?

2010-07-03T17:54:00.001-07:00

I'll soon be winding down my juice feast. The big question everyone's asking is what's the first food I'll want to eat when I've transitioned. There's no particular food that stands out, but I wouldn't turn down an heirloom tomato salad. What else? A nice green salad. Mango. Mango ice cream. I'm sure more ideas will flood in once I start eating, but it's hot outside and juice is more than satisfying these days.

High Raw Salad

2010-06-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

In our house, most of the family meals are high raw. Here's a typical salad: spinach, tomato, carrot, avocado, and black beans, topped with a balsamic vinaigrette. Those of us who want to go all raw will replace the beans with nuts or seeds.

We try to limit our consumption of processed oil (in this case, olive oil) to no more than 1 tablespoon per day. It's not an attempt to go low-fat. We get plenty of healthy fats from avocado, nuts, and seeds. That way the fat comes with fiber and nutrients you can't get in the oil, and it's easier to insure that the health benefits of the fat hasn't been destroyed by processing.

Day 60 - When will my juice feast end?

What Other People Feed Your Kids

2010-06-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

Every summer my daughters go to visit my parents and extended family in Virginia. My mom has 8 brothers and sisters, and my dad has 3 brothers, and most of them have kids and grandkids. I'm blessed enough to still have both of my grandmothers and many great-aunts and uncles alive and well. My parents live out in the country and the girls can run to a cousin's house, an aunt's house, or a great-grandparents house without crossing a road. Blackberries grow in the backyards, and some of the old folks still have gardens. It's a little piece of heaven, except for the heat.

This year my older daughter is off working in a research program, so my Little Ray of Sunshine is going on her own. And what do you think has me worried? Not the solo plane flight, not the climbing of trees, or the inevitable arguments with her boy cousins.

I'm worried about the food! Ray literally gets ill if she eats too far away from our normal diet. My parents recognize her food allergies, but they're still likely to give in to a grandchild's pleas for junk. And even though my mom, step-dad, and step-mom are all diabetic, there's always plenty of junk to be had. Even their "healthy" meals are a far cry from what we eat in our home.

Ray's in love with lots of delicious things that are actually good for her: green juices, green smoothies, marinated kale, fresh saldas with her own secret-ingredient dressing, coconut water and meat, and much more. In Virginia, she won't have access to most of these things.

It's only 9 days. I'll send my sister to the grocery store with a short list of real foods to have on hand. I'll make some specific requests of things to limit and things to encourage, but that's about as much as I can do. I have to let her go enjoy her family and a bit of country living. But I don't have to like this part of it.

Day 56 on Juice --Juicy Weight Loss

Raw in the Family - Weight Loss & Clear Skin

2010-06-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

My cousin, who's staying with us as she makes a move to Atlanta, just completed a 15-day juice feast. She's never been very overweight, but wasn't at her healthiest. Prior to her feast, she had dabbled in raw foods, but was really eating a pretty typical Standard American Diet.

During the 15 days, she took no supplements, went for short walks , and had at least 1 green juice each day. She lost 8 pounds and described her skin as "clearer than it's been in a long time."

She enjoyed the feast (possibly because I did most of the juicing), and even though she had some cravings for crummy fast foods and other not-so-good-for-ya stuff, she didn't find herself tempted to act on those cravings.

Today she starts her transition back to real food. She had a juice for breakfast, and she's planning to keep to a high raw, high vegan eating-style from this point onward. I'm sure she's sick of my warnings: if you go back to your old way of eating, you'll gain back the weight you lost AND MORE . .. MORE . . . MORE!!!

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but I think it's good to know what you're getting into and what the long-term consequences could be.

As for me, I'm still juicing!

Raw Food Highlighted in Natural Health Magazine

2010-06-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

As I was leaving Whole Foods yesterday, a copy of Natural Health magazine caught my eye. I rarely buy any magazines these days. It seems like a waste of paper when I read most of them in less than an hour, and then they gather dust. I think it was the headline "New help for addictions: Holistic approaches that work," that caught my eye.

I treated myself to the magazine on a whim, but I was thrilled to find it includes an article entitled, "The Raw Deal." It starts with a reference to Brigitte Mars. I was bummed that they don't include a photo of her, though they say her looks are, "her own best advertisement for her book." (See for yourself in the picture to the left.) I think it helps when conventional eaters get a look at a healthy face of raw food. Matt Amsden of Rawvolution fame is also quoted.

The article goes on to describe ways of adding significant amounts of raw food to your diet, and ends with a few high raw recipes, most of which look appealing.

An Ayurveda expert offers some cautions about going 100% raw, but overall the article is quite positive--a good read, especially for the raw curious.

It's Day 49 on my juice feast, and the juicy buzz has taken hold!

Raw Apologetics

2010-06-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months, I've noticed a lot of bloggers coming out with the fact that they now eat raw dairy, or now eat some cooked items. Some (NOT ALL) of them almost seem apologetic, as if they're letting someone down.

Folks who are new to raw foods often encounter the 100% raw gurus. Some (NOT ALL) of these experts proclaim that the highest goal is 100% raw.

But there's little or no significant scientific evidence that 100% raw is the secret to excellent health and increased longevity. Some of the longest-lived cultures in the world eat a high raw and high vegan diet, but they aren't striving for that 100% mark. And let's face it, a plate of lightly steamed kale could be more nutrient-rich than a raw dessert.

For me and lots of other people, raw food is about abundance--abundant health, abundant life, and abundant pleasure--as well as a way to tread more gently on the planet. Some people feel better, look better, and function better at or close to 100% raw, and that's great for them. But there's no reason for others to have to defend or apologize for making a different choice.

The Fruits of Summer

2010-06-14T02:59:00.001-07:00

I feel tremendously blessed to be able to enjoy the fruits of summer. We've stocked up on so many fruits and veggies, we've run out of room. The cases of grapefruits and oranges are stored in the basement. Greens fill the refrigerator, and the produce drawers are filled to bursting. I love it!

We do spend more than the average American family does on groceries, (especially while I'm juicing) but I'd guess we spend much less on health care, including doctor's visits, health insurance, prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines, and missed work due to illness.

In my juicing world, things are starting to get contagious.

Hot Raw Chef!

2010-06-09T05:04:00.001-07:00

Hot Raw Chef. If that title describes you, check out the Hot Chefs, Cool Kitchen contest being run by Living Light Culinary Arts Institute. The contest is open to both pros and amateurs, and video entries must be in by June 30th. They're awarding almost $2000 in prizes, so if you've got a video camera and an original recipe, it may be worth a shot.

Read about my reaction to chlorella on my juice feasting blog. I'm on Day 40!

The Beauty of the Avocado

2010-05-29T18:22:00.001-07:00

We had some friends over and fell into a discussion of all the fruit we have on our kitchen counter. They confessed that they've only recently discovered a love of avocado. The lightning bolt struck while they dined in a Mexican restaurant. A gentleman prepared table-side guacamole for them, and it was love at first bite.

Everyone in our house adores avocado. We put it on salads, in soups or dips, on onion bread, in veggie bowls, or just eat it out of the shell. I was caught up in the food discussion, but I should've shared some information about the benefits of avocados.

As I move away from using a lot of processed fats in the forms of oil, avocados rise up the ranks on my ingredient lists. They pack a good serving of monounsaturated fat in the nature's original package, which means that fat comes with a generous serving of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other phytonutrients.

I know that some people choose to avoid avos (as well as nuts and seeds) because they subscribe to a low-fat way of eating. I've done my research, and for me healthy fats in reasonable amounts are the way to go.

Juice Feast - Day 29. Check it out!

What I Miss While I Juice Feast

2010-05-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

I really miss being able to experiment in the kitchen. Sure I can make lots of different juice combinations, but that's not as much fun as really getting involved in creating a new recipe. I still prepare my family's meals--sometimes three meals a day--but I can't sample the food, so I stick pretty closely to the tried and true dishes I know they'll like.

I'm on Day 28 of my juice feast, and though I miss playing in the kitchen, I'm quite content on my feast. Everyone around me is eating, including some of my favorite dishes, but for now I don't feel drawn to the food. Surprisingly, I'm not tired of juice either. I'm always glad for a break from the process of making juice, but unless I'm feeling rushed, the prep is a fairly peaceful routine.

I have dozens of recipe ideas written down, as well as recipes from other blogs. Can't wait to try them. I may have to start posting the things I'm making for the fam.

Pesticides Linked to ADHD

2010-05-25T15:04:00.001-07:00

Organic produce costs more than conventional, and sometimes it's easy to forget why we pay that extra money. Pesticides and fungicides have been linked to several negative effects, especially in children.

One of the latest links is between the use of pesticides on crops and ADHD in children. (See the bottom of the post for footnotes that link to more sources of information.)

Other negative effects linked to the junk that's regularly sprayed on produce:

deficits in memory and motor skills
behavioral problems
childhood leukemia
other cancers
unhealthy weight gain

Remember the Dirty Dozen are the common fruits and vegetables that are most often heavily contaminated with chemicals, and make it a priority to purchase organic options for those on the dirty list.

Visit my juice feast blog, Candice on Juice, for a discussion of Managing Emotions and how food and juice play into that.

Eating for Excellence

2010-05-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

As you peruse raw food blogs and websites, it's easy to forget that this way of eating isn't all about gourmet meals and fancy desserts, both of which I truly enjoy. Any conscious eating-style should be about eating for excellence, while minimizing the amount of harm or suffering brought to people, animals, and the earth. The recent lecture I attended by Dr. Joel Fuhrman reminded me of some things that make a high raw diet a diet for excellent health, longevity, beauty, and vitality.

An excellent diet should:

be vegetable-based
be built on a foundation of leafy greens
include high amounts of raw fruits
include raw nuts, seeds, and avocados for healthy fats in their natural states
minimize animal products (no more than a couple of servings/week)
focus on organics as much as possible
minimize cooked grains
minimize sodium
minimize processed foods, including oils of all types, (yes, even olive oil)

The last 2 points are often neglected in the raw food world. Personally, I hadn't emphasized them enough in my own diet until I was reminded by Dr. Fuhrman's lecture. If you're not sure why reducing sodium and oil consumption matter in a raw food diet, please follow the links for more information. As always, the best way to decide is by doing your own research.

While Dr. Fuhrman doesn't advocate a raw food diet, the plan he advocates can easily be tailored to a high raw eating-style. The man is telling people to eat a pound a day of raw vegetables, in addition to high amounts of raw fruits, and a healthy portion of raw nuts and seeds each day! The main difference is that he also encourages high consumption of cooked beans and legumes. Soups and stews are also big in his diet plan as a means to help people consume enough calories from high nutrient vegetables. Dr. Fuhrman argues that this balance of raw and cooked vegetables allows one to benefit from a wider variety of nutrients, as some nutrients are destroyed by cooking and others are made more available.

Dr. Fuhrman's new two book set, Eat for Health, is well worth reading. Book 2 includes many raw recipes,--smoothies, juices, salads, and dressings--and other recipes that can be converted to raw, or included in whatever percentage of cooked food you choose to eat. Book 1 is a primer in nutrition-based health, and even if you know a lot about nutrition, I'd be willing to bet you'd discover something new among those pages.

A Season for Juicing

2010-05-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

I don't think I would've been so enamored of a winter juice feast. Watermelon and canteloupe juice have made my feast more fun than it might otherwise be. Watermelon is my current favorite fruit juice! This is my 20th day. Visit Candice on Juice to see how it's going.

Giving Up (Sort of)

2010-05-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

Melina, my oldest, arrived home from college a little over a week ago. While she's a veggie, dorm life has affected her eating habits. It saddened me to hear her talk about how she missed certain foods and food products that are clearly detrimental to her health. It was harder still to listen to what she ate when she met a friend for dinner. Let's just say deep frying was involved.

While raising Melina, my idea of good nutrition evolved from a low-fat version of the Standard American Diet to a High Raw, High Vegan pursuit of excellent health. For the last few years, it's made her happy to know meat won't be served in our meals, and she's embraced everything from green smoothies, to wheatgrass shots, to marinated veggies on big salads with homemade dressings. Still, she may have forgotten how different our eating-style really is.

The second day she complained to her sister. "I can't eat only fruit. I feel sick from all this healthy food." I told her that was a little thing called detox and reminded her that she'd consumed lots of healthy foods that weren't fruits. I spent hours trying to figure out how to get her all the way back to my end of the eating spectrum before she leaves at the end of the month to complete her summer research internship.

The thing is that she's enjoyed every one of the three meals a day I've made since she came home. And she'd happily indulged in smoothies blended up by her little sis. I'm juice feasting, which has it's own challenges, so I decided to give up the teen diet fight. I didn't give up on setting an example, or providing the best possible foods, or teaching her about why we eat the way we do. I gave up on the idea of control.

I've given her as much knowledge as I could. She enjoys the best foods on earth, and she knows how to prepare many of them to make a tasty and healthy meal. Her mind is open to new things, and she recognizes the connection between food and health. When she's away from me, she'll eat a slightly better version of the diet eaten by lots of college kids. That's the way it is. I'm trusting that as she matures and grows she'll let go of the junk and come home to real food.

Sick of Spinach

2010-05-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

When I first transitioned to raw foods, I relied heavily on spinach as the green in my diet, especially for green smoothies and juices. I took some time to acclimate to the taste of stronger greens, like kale and collards, but as I ate more of them, I found myself craving them more and more. Greens are now the foundation of our diet, and rotating our greens allows us to get a wider variety of nutrients. I'm not really sick of spinach, but I do like to include other things.

If you've had your fill of spinach, try some of these in your juices, smoothies, and yep, even salads, though some of the tougher greens would need to be massaged and/or marinated for salad purposes.

Mache (or Lamb's Lettuce)

Swiss Chard

Rainbow Chard

Kale

Red Leaf Lettuce

Green Leaf Lettuce

Romaine

Collards

Turnip Greens

Mustard Greens

Endive

Escarole

Watercress

Bok Choy

Arugula

Parsley

Beet Greens

Cabbage

Dandelion Greens

Basil, Cilantro, and other Herbs

Search your local produce section or farmer's market and see what greens you can find to mix it up a bit.

Enjoy!

BTW- My 11 year old daughter and I went to the doctor together today, and the nurse was surprised to find that our blood pressure measurements were within a few points of each other. Thank you, raw food!

Giving Thanks

2010-05-06T18:02:00.001-07:00

So grateful for my health, my wholeness, my life, my place as a friend, partner and mother. Thank you for my daughters, healthy and hale, the Lovely Boyfriend Avery, and every friend I've made, past and present, near and far. Thank you for the depth and breadth and strength of my family. Thank you for a new chance to do better and be better each day, for the large leaf magnolia I discovered this afternoon, and for every passing dog, small child, teenager, or elderly couple that made me smile in the park. For the joyful wedding rehearsal under the gazebo and the opportunity to witness it, thank you. Thank you for your goodness, your mercy, and your grace.

A pick-up truck rear-ending you on the freeway . . . not good, but not so bad when you walk away and still have all of the above.

Luck on My Side

2010-05-05T05:20:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday I opened my mailbox to discover a package from Philip at Loving Raw. I won a jar of Better Than Roasted Almond Butter from his recent give-away. Thanks, Philip!

Some things I love to do with raw almond butter:

spread it on Breakfast Crusts and top with fresh fruit
blend 1-2 Tbsp with 1 cup water and a couple of dates for a quick almond milk
make a thai-inspired sauce for pad thai (with kelp noodles, these days)
create dips and dressings
sneak a spoonful

I'd love to save this little jar of deliciousness for after my juice feast, but my daughter, Melina, comes home from college this weekend, and I doubt the almond butter will survive her first week in the house.

If you're not familiar with Philip's story, you should know he lost over 215 pounds after going raw, and has maintained a healthy weight for some years now. He's also done a 100 day juice feast. And his girlfriend, Heather, posts some of the best looking raw food on the web. Check them out.

Four Course Dinner in the Raw

2010-05-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was the eve of my juice feast. (I'm getting a separate blog organized to document that.) As luck would have it, we also had our friend, Germaine, visiting from L.A., and she's dabbling in raw food these days. The Lovely Boyfriend and I decided we should go all out to provide her a delicious meal on the road, and to kick off my feast.

We set the table on the deck, brought out the organic wines, and spent the evening under the stars. (Apologies to any neighbors we kept up with our late night talk and laughter.) It was such a great meal!

What better to start with than red pepper soup? With the cost of organic peppers, we haven't been able to indulge very often, so we were happy to share this simple blend of raw red peppers with seeds, miso, olive oil, sea salt and white pepper.

No meal is complete without something leafy and green. We made our version of this raw Ranch dressing, and topped the mix of veggies with raw eggplant bacon.

Most folks who are sort of new to raw foods tend to go for things with familiar names and flavors, so we chose the raw lasagna from Matt Amsden's Rawvolution. Never content with what's on the page, we tripled or quadrupled the amount of mushrooms and played with the seasonings. So good!

Avery was kind enough to whip up the dessert while I went to hear Dr. Joel Fuhrman speak at a free lecture on Friday afternoon. He chose Sarma's Strawberry Tarts, from Carol Alt's second raw food book, The Raw 50. We hadn't tried them before, but we'll absolutely be having them again! So good! I could only watch Ave have a leftover tart for breakfast the next morning while I drank my juice. No sympathy--he sat right next to me and devoured it! (No worries, Ave.)

Much to our delight, Germaine enjoyed the meal from start to finish. I was thrilled to learn that she's signed up for a raw food delivery service, and will be receiving weekly prepared meals. Go, Germaine!

This was the kind of meal we could serve to our friends who have no concept of raw. You know the ones. They call us the tofu-eaters, but they would love all of this. No tofu involved.

P.S. Day 4, and I'm loving my juice feast!

Monster for Kids

2010-05-02T18:06:00.001-07:00

{DEEP SIGH}

My eleven year old and I went to a local festival, sort of a pre-Cinco de Mayo celebration in downtown Atlanta. The live band was cool, but we were a little disappointed with the other offerings. There were only a few activities for the kids. The whole event seemed to be about the corporate sponsors giving away cheap trinkets, or the opportunity to win cheap trinkets, in exchange for names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

We did a quick perusal of the grounds and noticed a long line forming. There were people of every age waiting patiently for something we thought must be good. We walked the length of over 100 people to check it out.

Monster. The energy drink. That's what people stood in line for on a hot humid day. We watched kids as young as 5 and 6 years old walking away from the stand with their little hands wrapped around sweaty cans of that brew. They and their parents sipped happily.

Here's what's in the can:

Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Glucose, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors, Taurine, Sodium Citrate, Color Added, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, L-Carnitine, Caffeine, Sorbic Acid, Benzoic Acid, Niacinamide, Sodium Chloride, Glucuronolactone, Inositol, Guarana Seed Extract, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Sucralose, Riboflavin, Maltodextrin, Cyanocobalamin.

Bummer.

This is How I Eat

2010-04-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

Back in Cali, there was a group of families in our neighborhood that hung out together a lot. Our kids played kickball on the cul-de-sac, and the grown-ups partied whenever we had an excuse. We got together for birthdays, Oscar parties, potlucks, and baby showers. Always at the center was the food. When I announced that my family would be moving away, my incredibly gorgeous and big-hearted bestie threw me a going away party. She went all out with a catered taco bar and lots of wine and goodies. (I miss that girl!)

One of the guests was another beautiful friend. Let's call her Michelle. She's known for being a great mom, but also for wearing beautiful designer clothes, and most impressively for those of us who hadn't yet mastered this art, she was known for staying consistently thin. In the ten years I've known her, her weight has never visibly fluctuated. While most folks attacked the taco bar, Michelle walked around with a small plate of food. I couldn't tell you what was on it, but our hostess asked her if that was all she was eating.

Michelle responded: This is how I eat.

She didn't get defensive. She didn't go into long explanations or try to justify why it was important to her to make healthy choices. Our hostess is Italian-American, and like the Italian grandmas you see on tv, she shows her love with food. She tried to cajole Michelle into trying a little of this or a little of that. But Michelle would not be moved. We all partied on (The karaoke will not be discussed!), and nothing bad befell either Michelle or our generous hostess.

Five powerful little words: This. Is. How. I. Eat.

High raw, lots of greens, plenty of smoothies and juices. This is how I choose to eat, and how you eat is your choice. When you're under social pressure to eat a little of this or that, just a spoonful, just one bite, just a taste, and you don't want to, it really can be that simple. Stand there. Smile. Explain as little or as much as you feel is appropriate. It's your temple, and you decide what to put into it.

This is how I eat. Say it like you mean it.

Composting Without the Worms

2010-04-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

We've been doing a lot of juicing around here, and I expect we'll be doing more as the weather grows warmer. The grown-ups have been having wonderful juices for dinner, and as summer approaches, I'm planning a juice feast. What to do with all that leftover pulp? I thought of home composting, but the idea of one more project . . .well . . .no.

Our city doesn't offer compost pick-up, like some places. Heck, most of our neighbors don't even use their recycle bins. Fortunately, a quick internet search turned up several local places where I can schlep my compostables every week. If you've wanted to reduce your waste without doing your own compost, search online for a drop-off in your area. Specialty grocery stores and farmer's markets are a good place to start.

Even though those food scraps are biodegradable, once they're sealed in a plastic bag and buried in a landfill, they're not so easily broken down. Who needs the guilt? ;-)

Juice Feasting - What's the Deal?

2010-04-22T07:08:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week there was an interesting discussion on Raw Food Rehab about juice feasting. A rehabber was concerned that her feast would result in a slowed metabolism and extra weight gain once it was over. If you're primarily doing a feast for weight loss, nothing is scarier than the idea of regaining all those pounds you saw melt away.

Matt Monarch has a clear explanation of how juice feasting resets the metabolism in this article. The bottom line, from his perspective, is that it can slow the metabolism, and that's a good thing because it means your body can run more efficiently, requiring less food, though this is a reality some people aren't prepared to handle. He recommends intense exercise as a means to kick start the metabolism. He also suggests that as we come out on the other side of a feast, we expect to consume fewer calories than we did before juice feasting.

As a culture, the goal has been to figure out how to consume more calories without increasing our waist size. (Loosening your belt under the table is acceptable though!) It challenges our thinking to consider purposely reseting the body to need less food to function optimally.

It's clear our bodies can be easily reset to require less food. The more important thing is to reset our minds and emotions to go along with the program.

Jogging & Raw Food Today

2010-04-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

Lately jogging has meant some combination of walking, skipping, galloping and running with my daughter, Ray. Today, she took her bike, so for the first time in a long time, I was able to jog the whole 3 miles. It was relatively easy, but when I approached a gentle hill just before our neighborhood, I settled into a walk.

Ray stopped on her bike and turned around to yell, "Hey! Dig deep! Get that ponytail swinging, before I swing it for you!"

I've got to stop recording The Biggest Loser for her.

Breakfast: Huge salad of lamb's lettuce, apple, dried cranberries, raisins, and chopped nuts, topped with olive oil/vinegar dressing

3 cups white tea

Snack: 1/2 piece onion bread topped with sauerkraut, chopped onions, and a bit of mustard

After eating this yesterday, my ears were itching like crazy. I'm sure it was something in the mustard, so I'm switching to a different one today.

Lunch: juice of carrots, Boston lettuce, celery, ginger, and lemon

Carrot juice isn't my fave, but I needed to use up some produce.

Snack: 5 slices dried mango

1/2 bottle kombucha (Not raw, but a treat I enjoy once in a while)

Preservative-free, sulfur-free, no-sugar-added dried mango is so delicious I feel like I'm cheating!

Dinner: More of the above juice, with apple thrown in

To my old mind (good friends with my ego), 3 miles isn't enough. I used to run 5 miles a day, no matter what, and 7 to 10 miles on weekends. I used to believe that if I didn't meet that standard, I might as well stay inside. 3 miles is enough . . . but I'm looking forward to doing more.

Collard Greens - Show 'em Some Love

2010-04-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

About 10 years ago, I moved into a new house in Southern California, and shortly thereafter thought it would be great to host our neighbors. We'd all moved into our homes within months of each other and were quickly becoming friends. I poured over recipes and carefully selected things I thought would be special, things everyone would enjoy. One of the dishes I chose was collard greens.

I can't remember what else I made. Well, I think there was a butternut squash soup, but the collards are what stand out in my mind, because no one ate them. I had four or five couples come over, and I may have convinced one person to sample the greens. She only took a polite taste or two. Deeeepressing.

If your family's roots aren't planted in the South, you may not think of Raw collards as anything more than convenient wraps for your veggies and pates. However you eat them, you're getting a good source of Protein, Thiamin, Niacin, and Potassium, and a very good source of Fiber, Vitamins A, C, E, K, &B6, Folate, Calcium, and Manganese. These greens also contain organosulfur compounds, which trigger detoxifying enzymes in the liver, and are believed to provide protection from various cancers.

Marinate and enjoy!

Raw Food Today

2010-04-20T18:06:00.001-07:00

Today was incredibly busy, in a really good way. Even though I dread it, sorting and organizing my seemingly ever-growing stacks of files and papers is always productive. Obviously I haven't done it often enough, since it took about 4 hours of the day. Didn't leave much time to focus on food.

The salad is one Ray made for her dinner after karate class. She had lamb's lettuce (mache), chopped eggplant bacon, cucumbers, avocado, onion and lime. Her dressing was olive oil, tamari, and a bit of agave. Poor denounced agave! We used to use it a lot more, but it's gotten a bad reputation lately.

Breakfast: Blender soup

I won't even tell you what was in it. Suffice to say it was green, but not in a yummy way.

Lunch: 1 piece onion bread, topped with sauerkraut and a bit of mustard

3 cups white tea

Over the next month, I'm choosing some herbal teas and transitioning to those. White tea has a lot of benefits, and much less caffeine than other choices, but I'd like to get away from regular caffeine consumption.

Snack: 1 banana, 2 small oranges

Later Snack: 1 piece onion bread topped with honey butter (coconut oil mixed with Raw honey and a dash of sea salt)

Pre-workout: 2 tsp Vitamineral Green

Dinner: Huge goblet of green juice (rainbow chard, apple, cucumber, ginger)

I was so excited about this, cuz I didn't have to make it! The Lovely Boyfriend was kind enough to do it while I grabbed a quick shower.

Hoping everyone is well!

Raw Food Today

2010-04-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Marinated Collard Greens topped with avocado, onion, pecans (non-raw), and dried cranberries

Waaaaaay too much white tea

I have a habit of sipping tea while I write or read, and this was a day for writing and reading.

Lunch: 2 pieces garlic-onion bread topped with sauerkraut and mustard

I didn't have raw mustard, so I used my organic, gluten-free version. This is soooo tasty! I haven't had a hot dog in so many years, but this combination is like getting all the flavors in a healthy package. Thanks to whoever recommended it on Raw Food Rehab!

Dinner: Beet/beet greens/apple/spinach/ginger/lemon juice

Super-delish! The lovely boyfriend did the farmer's market run without me for the very first time. I created a list, and we stayed in touch by phone, but he did a fabulous job of filling our fridge with organic greens, fruits, and veggies. Thank you, LB! We hadn't bought red beets for a while, so I was glad to see he got these. We both loved this juice, and it was cool to have this blood red concoction, since we're usually sipping something grassy-green. I'm thrilled Avery's falling in love with juices, much more so than he ever has with the blended soups.

Before bed: 1 cup chamomile tea (planned for later)

Usually I would have a few pieces of fruit as snacks on a day like this, but even though I worked out, I wasn't hungry for more food. Warm weather, lots of flavor, and plenty of nutrients can do that for a girl.

Loving life and giving thanks!

Raw Collard Greens - Not Just for Country Girls

2010-04-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

I grew up in Virginia, in the country, in a family that's completely comfortable with a lack of citification. My mother's famous refrain: Born in the country, gonna die in the country. This from a woman with a law degree and a taste for designer clothes. For us, country is something that has nothing to do with your education, your attire, or--as I'm finding as I relocate from state to state to state--with your address. It has a lot to do with your accent and choice of colloquialisms, what you call your Mumma and Daddy, where you spend Sunday mornings, how your treat your neighbors, and what you eat.

In the food arena, my mother (the Home Economics major), was much less country than some of our relatives. Don't mistake me. We ate plenty of fried chicken, pork sausage, and macaroni and cheese, and drank syrupy iced tea. It's just that certain items never made her menu: chitlins or other internal organs, pigs' feet or other easily recognized animal body parts, and mustard, collard, or turnip greens.

The menu was more or less fine with me. As a picky kid, I had a list of about 20 foods I would eat, not including junk foods which seemed limitless in their appeal. As I grew up and moved out on my own, I was excited to try an array of foods, which I'd not been exposed to growing up. I felt like I'd been downright robbed when I first had collard greens. For the first 18 years of my life, my mother had deprived me of my birthright as a moderately Southern, completely country girl--the delicious taste of collards. She still won't eat them, but I fell in love at first bite.

It's cool. I forgive you, Mumma, since I've got my Raw collard greens now. Here's a recipe. And here's another.

Marinated Collards

2 bunches collard greens (about 1-1/2 to 2 pounds)

2 T olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon (Can sub Raw apple-cider vinegar)

sea salt

2 T Raw sweetener (optional)

Toppings:

2/3 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts* (preferably, soaked and dehydrated)

AND/OR

1 avocado, diced

1/2 medium onion, finely diced

Clean the collards and strip the leaves from the stems. (The stems can be saved for juicing.) Roll the leaves and slice them into strips. Slice the strips again into pieces about an inch by an inch. Traditionally, I learned to hand tear collards for cooking, but that was just too time consuming.

Toss the leaves in olive oil, lemon juice, and a few dashes of sea salt. Massage the leaves until they wilt and take on a cooked texture. I like to let them marinate overnight in the fridge.

Add toppings and enjoy.

I definitely add the sweetener for my kids. While I like all the toppings, they don't do the fruit and nuts. They prefer avocado and diced onion, so agave works for them. Sometimes the collards are more bitter, and then I add sweetener for myself.

*My local store was out of Raw walnuts, so I used "raw" pecans--not really Raw because they're heated in the shelling process.

Raw Food Today

2010-04-15T15:15:00.001-07:00

Breakfast: Blender Soup (mixed lettuces, avocado, tomato, onion, celery, green onion, cayenne, and sea salt)

Snack: 6 clementines

Lunch: salad (spinach, celery, onion, green onion, and cucumber), with pepper dressing

Snack: 2 clementines, 1 grapefruit,1 banana

2 heaping teaspoons Vitamineral Green

Dinner: Green juice! (spinach, celery, apples, lemon)

Yikes! Does this sound like a super boring food day? It really wasn't! Everything was really fresh and juicy, and I had my share of greens. Shooting for a pound a day, in one form of another.

Older Kids and Raw Foods

2010-04-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

If you were lucky enough to be clued in about Real & Raw foods when your kids were young, then you introduced them to healthy eating early in life, and they've probably grown up enjoying it. Though they'd always eaten lots of fruits and veggies, my kids were around 8 and 15 years old when I got serious about Raw. Some foods went over better than others.

Here are some things I learned about getting older kids to eat more Raw foods:

1. Fruit smoothies are big with the teenagers these days. Go into any smoothie chain, and you'll likely find high schoolers slurping up drinks. Give older kids smoothies made with their favorite fruits. You can add the greens later.

2. Enlist their help. Just like younger kids, the older ones can get creative in the kitchen with a little guidance. Turn on some music, and make it fun! If they see the process and know what went into a dish, they're more likely to eat it.

3. Do it for them. I know. This one can be annoying, since they're perfectly capable of doing it themselves. For a while, I found that my teenager was much more likely to eat something healthy if I made it for her. If I sent her into the kitchen to make it herself, she might just wait until she went out to eat.

4. Appeal to their vanity. Talk openly with them about the benefits of Raw foods, especially healthy weight maintenance and clear skin. Acne and skinny jeans can have a bigger impact than future heart disease.

5. If you're going to a Raw food class, take them along. The hands-on classes can be a lot of fun, and tend to focus on foods you might not make every day.

6. Serve a Raw dessert for breakfast. Apple pie in the morning can seem like a real treat, while getting in a lot more nutrition than conventional cereal or frozen waffles.

7. Make Raw snacks, including fruits and veggies easier to access than junk food. While it may take some time to transition all of the junk food out of your house, you can slowly forget to pick it up at the store, while miraculously remembering to buy, wash and chop veggies and fruit.

8. The secret's in the sauce. Keep sauces and dressings on hand for dipping veggies, fruits, and Raw crackers. The Standard American Diet dulls our taste buds, so kids may not appreciate the flavor of fresh foods on their own. A lot of kids who won't touch celery will indulge if it's topped with nut butter or dipped in Raw ranch dressing.

9. Be the Raw food role model. It wouldn't do me much good to warn my daughters against the dangers of smoking, and sit out on the deck with a cigarette in my mouth after dinner. Even if your kids don't pick up the Raw habit before they leave home, you'll have left a lasting impression with your eating-style and the results it gets. And since you're already preparing your own Raw dishes, you can set the expectation that they eat something Raw at every meal.

10. College students love care packages. Some campuses have amazing dining options, but I'd venture to guess that many still don't. When I create care packages for my daughter, it's healthy all the way. Raw bars, coconut water (not Raw, but way better than energy drinks), Raw sweeteners, herbal teas, Raw granola, and other goodies are always a welcome surprise.

Detox Menu Planning

2010-04-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

I know it's a good idea, and I suggest it to other people, but I don't usually plan out our meals for the whole week. I shop with a general idea of the things I want to make, and since I like to play in the kitchen, it usually works out.

Today, I'm sketching out a 7-day detox diet. I'll do the shopping tonight or early in the morning, so we can start tomorrow. My Lovely Boyfriend, Avery, has been traveling for the last few weeks. He spent some time in the Dominican Republic, came home for a few days, and was off to Chicago. Hoping it would motivate him to make good food choices, I emailed him my daily food intake. Don't think it worked though. I asked a few times about what he was eating, but never got a straight answer. That can't be good!

He gets in tonight, and I'll have a nice Raw dinner waiting--onion wraps with lots of veggies, avocado, and a new dressing recipe I'm trying. But starting tomorrow, we'll take our food to a much cleaner, simpler level, and stick to that for a week. With the warmer weather we've been experiencing, I'm looking forward to it.

I have massive amounts of work on my desk, and he usually has more than I do, so I'm planning this one out in detail. If I document it well enough, he should be able to take on some of the food prep. Now that would become exciting! (Okay. He really does help in the kitchen. He hasn't mastered the Raw basics yet, but he can happily follow directions.)

We'll see how it goes.

Food Prep Day

2010-04-13T07:18:00.001-07:00

This is supposed to be a prep day, but it's hard for me to come inside. After ten years of living in Southern California, an East Coast winter was pretty tough on me. Yes, even in Georgia. We had snow here!

With the warm weather I like to have breakfast on the deck, and though our backyard is smaller than I would like, and the neighbors a bit closer than I care for, I have to tear myself away from the glorious Spring day. Sitting at the patio table, I hear five or six different types of bird call to each other. Brilliantly colored, they fly through the trees, and squirrels are chasing each other up and over the fence. I haven't seen a cardinal or a blue jay up close like this since I was a kid. The construction noise in the distance, and the neighbors' houses all fade away. Alas, there's work to be done.

My trusty Junior Chef, Ray (AKA Wonder Girl), is suited up and ready to get to work. (She's striking her "What should I make?" pose.) Today we're doing garlic onion bread, and eggplant bacon. We may throw together another bread or cracker, depending on what I find in the fridge.

If you have the chance, get outside today!

Raw Food Today

2010-04-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Sliced apple, raisins, and homemade Raw cereal topped with pumpkin seed milk

Snack: 3/4 cantaloupe

Lunch: Blender soup (mixed lettuce, tomato, onion, garlic, jalapeno, and cayenne)

Snack: Apple/celery juice

I haven't been doing many juices lately, but the weather has been so bright and warm, the day seemed to demand a fresh juice. This was so refreshing, I can see I'll need to stock up on my favorite juice ingredients as we go into summer. I blended the apple, celery and 1/2 cup water in my Vita-mix, and strained it all through a nutmilk bag. I dehydrated the pulp--can't stand the thought of wasting it.

Dinner: Celery, carrots, and broccoli dipped in fresh guac

Simple, quick, and delicious!

Cinnamon Toast Crust (Nut-Free Breakfast)

2010-04-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

Cinnamon Toast Crust Crumbles
Chopped Apples
Raisins
Pumpkin Seed Milk

(Dehydrated foods are great, but I always like the fresh Raw foods to outweigh the dehydrated.)

I love experimenting in the kitchen. Some efforts work out better than others, and the Cinnamon Toast Crust was a success! Well, at least to me it was, I'll have to see what the rest of the family thinks. If they like it, I'll put together the recipe. One great thing: it's a nut-free Raw cereal--perfect for my daughter, who's allergic to tree nuts. The Crust dehydrates as a sheet, so you can use it as crackers instead of crumbling it.

Pumpkin Seed Milk
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (*soaked for an hour and rinsed well)

1 cup filtered water

2 dates, pits removed

1/2 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla

1 dash sea salt (optional)

Throw it all in the blender and blend on high until well blended. Strain through a nutmilk bag. I like to double or triple the batch and save the seed pulp to use in other recipes. I dehydrate it and store it in a jar in the fridge.

*I soak and dehydrate a full jar of pumpkin seeds when I bring them home. That way they're always ready to go for a recipe like this, or to sprinkle on a simple salad, soup, or chia seed pudding.

Blacks Folks Going Vegan!

2010-04-10T05:46:00.000-07:00

Why am I so excited about this? If you're in the Raw community, you know people of all stripes who eat a plant-based diet. But African-Americans lead the country in rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and all the consequences that come along with those health issues. We also have the highest rates of colon cancer, and black women are more likely than any other group to die from the disease. Our diet is largely to blame, and a move toward a plant-based diet could totally change these statistics.

So when I see Ruben Studdard, a young, black man who gained fame as an American Idol contestant, taking the opportunity to explain to a black woman and her mainstream tv audience how he lost over 100 pounds by transitioning from SAD to vegetarian to vegan, I do a little happy dance in my chair. I can't even remember if the dude won or came in 2nd on Idol. It's not really my show, but he and his family are winning a much more important prize by switching to a plant-based diet.

Who knows? Maybe High Raw will be the next phase in his journey.

After discussing diet and exercise, he goes on to highlight the important role forgiveness has played in his life. I'm loving it!

Food and Cancer

2010-04-09T04:08:00.000-07:00

In the last three months, our family has lost three people to cancer. Two of them crossed over in the last week. Each of them--two women and one man--was in a different decade of life. Each suffered a different form of cancer. They weren't at all related to each other, and they fit into various ethnic classifications. There was no genetic connection between them. They lived in three different cities, in two different countries, and none of them made their home in an environment that was any more polluted than most places. They didn't work with toxic chemicals, or smoke cigarettes, and only one of them consumed alcohol.

What they had in common was a lifetime consumption of a Standard Western Diet.

Of course, correlation does not equal causality, and I'm not saying the food they ate caused their cancer. What I'm saying is I wish all three of them were still here. I'm saying that if they'd known early in life about the many underreported studies that link a Standard Western Diet with increased cancer risks, one or more of them might still be. If we as a culture and a leading nation made it a point to expose people to truth of the many scientific studies that link a plant-based diet with decreased risk for breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and others, more of us would have the knowledge to make an educated choice about what we put in our bodies.

Those of us know are obligated to share. Don't you think?

A More Raw Raw Bar

2010-04-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

When I first went Raw, I relied on Larabars to get me through tough spots. I always had one or two in my purse, and stocked up on them for travel. I still think they're one of the healthiest snacks widely available in conventional markets, but their Raw quotient varies from one flavor to another, and I want something more reliable. Still in need of a Raw convenience food I can slip in my purse, I went looking for an alternative.

Gopal's Healthfoods had me with their tagline: Raw is Good - Raw & Sprouted is Best! I ordered the brazil nut and macadamia Sprout Bars from VegSource. One of them reminded me of the coconut candy I used to eat when I was a kid, but I'm not sure which it was. I guess you could say I enjoyed them both. I had planned to share them with the Lovely Boyfriend, but I looked down and they were finished!

Four raw, organic ingredients made up each of these delicious bars. The nuts used in the bars are germinated, which is awesome! Soaking the nuts so they can germinate gets rid of the enzyme inhibitors, making the enzymes available to aid in digestion. It also reduces the phytates, compounds which bind with minerals and prevent them from being absorbed. The only slight downside for me is that the bars are made with agave, which I've drastically reduced in my diet. That's not a huge deal for me though, just something to keep in mind.

Both bars I tried were delicious, and I'll be ordering more for my emergency snacks-to-go stash. If you've got a favorite Raw bar, leave me a comment so I can check it out!

Food Heroes

2010-04-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

I want to recognize a couple of food heroes--one famous, one not. They give me hope!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution records his efforts to make a change in a West Virginia city that's been rated as the most overweight in our nation of overweight cities. His strategy for converting people to Real Foodists is to start with the schools, and though he meets great resistance, he's changing people's lives. If he only touches those teenagers he's recruited to help him, he'll have made a huge difference to some deserving kids. To hear these young people talk about how food has negatively affected their lives is a real tearjerker, but it's great to see them learning how to use food as a tool for positive change. Check it out.

Thianda Manzara, AKA The Garden Lady, rocks out loud! This hero started the nonprofit Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids. She works with almost a dozen schools, establishing vegetable gardens and turning the responsibility of working them over to the students. She's provided a means for over 3000 kids to get their hands dirty growing food for their schools' menus. How awesome is that?

Food heroes . . . we need more of them!

Deciding for Ourselves

2010-04-06T06:25:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I read an article that claimed a Raw food diet is a healthy alternative, but is not advised for children, or pregnant or nursing mothers. Huh?!?! That's the second time in a few days that I've read such a statement from an "expert" or nutritionist.

I understand and appreciate specific advice about most things, including Raw food. Consider B-12 or calcium supplements. Make sure to include a wide variety of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and seeds. Avoid white potatoes and yucca in their Raw form. I even appreciate opinions that suggest you include Raw dairy, or plenty of Raw fats, or not too much Raw fats, eat mainly fruits or minimize them, avoid nuts and avocados, or embrace them. I may not agree with some those suggestions, but they at least suggest the author has done some amount of thoughtful analysis of the topic.

If a Raw, plant-based diet is dangerous for children, then why the heck would it be healthy for adults? And what's the specific danger? And how is it more dangerous than the typical American way of eating? Is the expert assuming all cooked foods are excluded from a Raw diet?

Seems it would make more sense to advise people as to how they can address any specific concerns, rather than ruling out the way of eating as a whole. I'm just saying.

Food Budget Blown!

2010-04-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

So our Easter dinner for 10 grew into a party for 17. My daughter called at the last minute to ask if she could bring more college friends. Who could say no to hungry college students? Later we found out some friends were spending the day in a restaurant, so we invited them to join us. It wasn't a Raw vegan dinner, though we had Raw foods, too.

After several trips to three stores, this months's budget was blown. We'll have to skip the food luxuries for the rest of April, but it was worth it. We all had a lot of fun, and it reminded me to entertain more. For the next event, I'll plan a totally Raw vegan menu to give our Atlanta friends an idea of what our daily meals are like. (Our friend, Fernando, was surprised that our dinner didn't consist of tofu options. He hasn't caught on that tofu isn't Raw yet!)

In the meantime, I'll be spending a bit of time perusing Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!). Blogger and artist, Lisa, is proving wrong those who think a Raw vegan eating-style is always expensive. She posts daily menus with costs, photos, and recipes. She even has an all chocolate day, for those who love the stuff. Check out her blog for reasonably priced, appealing Raw food ideas.

A Busy Day

2010-04-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up at 5:30. I was so excited to get some work done in a still and quiet house, I grabbed my current project, headed downstairs, and settled in on the couch. After my early morning water, I headed to the kitchen to put on some tea. It was 4:45 am! Apparently my fancy schmancy satellite-updated alarm clock thought it was Daylights Savings Time today. Go figure. I stayed up for another hour or so and went back to bed.

The last week has been incredibly busy, and we're having about 10 people over for Easter dinner tomorrow, so the rush continues for a while. It's the good kind of rush, but I'll look forward to the normal calm of my life again. Melina brought her friend, Blaire, home from college for a few hours today. They wanted coconut-banana smoothies, but I was out of open coconuts and not up for cracking more, so they had wheatgrass shots instead. It was Blaire's first. Here's to the green!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Raw Pasta a Kid Can Make

2010-04-02T06:08:00.001-07:00

I enjoy food preparation, but I really love having company in the kitchen, especially when it's one of my daughters. Ray (AKA Wonder Girl) did much of the work in this celery root pasta. She made the dressing, spiralized the celery root, and tossed everything together. Kids are more likely to eat healthy foods if they helped prepare them, but I haven't been able to sell her on celery root yet. I'm not giving up though. This inexpensive veggie provides lots of fiber, and nutrients including Vitamin C, Vitamin K, potassium, and more.

If you don't like celery root, substitute the veggie of your choice.

Spring Celery Root Pasta

2 celery roots, peeled

1 large tomato, diced

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, diced

1/2 medium onion, diced

a big handful of spinach, sliced in thin strips

Dressing

4 tablespoons olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 clove garlic, crushed or minced

sea salt

other seasonings as desired

Spiralize the celery root.If you don't have a spiral slicer, you can just make ribbons with a veggie peeler, though I really love the noodle shapes. Throw the noodles into a bowl and add the other veggies.

Mix all your dressing ingredients, and pour over the pasta and veggies. Toss well and let it all marinate for a few hours. Toss well again before serving.

Sooooo easy, and sooooo good!

Sharing the Raw Love

2010-04-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my cousin, Monica, came down from Virginia to visit us here in Atlanta. We've been close friends all our lives, but haven't had much chance to spend time together over the last few years. She got to hang out with my girls, and I got to hang out with her super-cool cocker spaniel, Baxter. It was an all-girls weekend (except for Baxter).

For the last few years, Monica and I have talked about Raw food as the basis for a healthy diet, and I've shared how it's positively affected my health. But she's a country girl, like me. We grew up eating ham, fried chicken, meatloaf, and pork chops. Even though we also spent a lot of time getting our hands dirty in backyard vegetable gardens, and picking blackberries from thorny bushes, a plant-based diet of any sort was a big stretch for her.

My older daughter and I took her to Lov'n it Live for her birthday. She really enjoyed the Nori rolls, the stuffed avocado, and the sage burger. By the end of the afternoon, she was asking a lot of questions about Raw food. She spent a lot of time browsing through books at my house, like The China Study, Eat This and Live, and Carol Alt's Eating in the Raw. I took her to Life Grocery and walked around explaining some of the Raw products and supplements.

She went home yesterday with a stack of Raw food recipes and a Raw food book she picked up at Life! Yippee! She's shopping today to stock her kitchen for a 60 day all Raw diet. It will be interesting to see how she finds it.

This experience was the reason for yesterday's post about looking at what you personally need to stay Raw and sharing it with someone else. Explaining things to someone new provided an avenue for me to better understand why we eat and live the way we do, and it grounded me more deeply in my choices. It's not about recruiting new members to a cult of 100% Raw, just sharing with people who are open to it, and letting them decide how it fits in their lives.

Now, if I can just get Monica to start blogging about her 60 days . . .

How to Stay Raw for Life - Part 2

2010-03-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

This is a two-step process to add to your arsenal for staying Raw.

STEP ONE: Make a list of what you need to stay Raw. Write down everything that comes to mind. Perhaps it will include one or more of the following:

new recipes
a list of resources for Raw products
a new Raw recipe book
a cheerleader encouraging you on a regular basis
an honest and trustworthy accountability partner
someone to help organize your Raw-friendly kitchen
a few crucial Raw utensils from a peeler or grater to a high-speed blender
items you can grab to stay Raw on-the-go

STEP TWO: Look over your list, however long or short it turns out to be. Now find an opportunity to do, give, or be the things you need for someone else. With a glad heart, work your way through each item on the list.

If you haven't completed your own Raw kitchen, you can still buy a lemon juicer for someone else. If you don't know many recipes, share with someone your favorite smoothie recipe, no matter how simple. If no one in your world is going Raw, get online and be a cheerleader for someone with a Raw blog, or in one of the Raw communities, like Gone Raw, Give it to Me Raw, or Raw Food Rehab. Create a blog to share the resources you discover.

It may not arrive in the package you expect, but every time you extend yourself, in ways big or small, to help someone else on their journey towards greater energy, health, and joyful living, the gift will come back to you. Guaranteed.

High Green Raw Food Today

2010-03-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: 3 cups green tea

Green Blender Soup (avocado, spinach, mixed baby lettuce, tomato, onion & cayenne pepper)

Snack: 1 serving Vitamineral Green

Lunch: Green Blender Soup (same as breakfast)

Post-workout Snack: 1 young Thai coconut

1 Raw bar

Dinner: Salad (baby romaine lettuce, avocado, onion, and marinated mushrooms

A very busy day, but great things happened. More of my family daring to try Raw! More on that later.

Doing Shots (of Wheatgrass)

2010-03-29T06:51:00.001-07:00

At my local health food store, which doesn't offer a huge variety of fresh juices, wheatgrass is $3 per shot. I don't think that's unreasonable, but I already spend way too much time in farmer's markets and health food stores, and when I'm in the store I'm likely to spend more than 3 bucks. How can I resist another pack of Raw coconut wraps?

Green powders are great, but sometimes I want something that hasn't gone through that powdered state. My juicer is a simple one, that won't do kale, much less wheatgrass. I contemplated growing my own, but I'm planning to start a small garden, and that's probably enough added responsibility for now. I'm not sure how I stumbled on Evergreen frozen wheatgrass, (did someone blog about it?) but it was a great find.

According to the Evergreen website, their freezing method retains all the nutritional benefits of the wheatgrass, including the live chlorophyll. They also make a good argument for knowing how the wheatgrass your juice came from was grown. I paid about $16 for 10 servings, which is almost half as much as the cost I pay for the fresh shots I get down the street. The shots are frozen in cubes that separate, so you can defrost one shot at a time. The wheatgrass is mixed with rye grass, which has a very similar nutritional profile, but results in a milder taste. Best of all I can pull it out of the freezer and have a shot ready in just a few minutes.

My cousin, Monica, is visiting from Virgina, and I gave her the Evergreen as her first taste of wheatgrass. "Not bad," she said, "but I'm glad the glass is tiny!" There's hope for her yet.

Nutritional Excellence with Raw Veggies

2010-03-27T07:29:00.001-07:00

This clip is called What You Ate as a Kid Can Give You Cancer, but it's really about how switching to a raw vegetable based eating-style in adulthood can protect us against cancer. Dr. Joel Fuhrman is promoting diet for disease prevention, and he's doing so convincingly. Not a bad video to share with friends and family.

Vegsource is a great resource for articles and videos about health and nutrition.

Raw Food Today

2010-03-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Chia pudding with chopped nuts, apples, and raisins

2 cups green/white tea

1 serving Vitamineral Green

Lunch: Nori bites topped with cucumber, mango, avocado and lamb's lettuce

My daughter asked for raw nori rolls for lunch, and I didn't feel like rolling. Next time, I'll cut the nori into smaller pieces.

(I apologize to whomever published this idea on their blog, website, or in their newsletter. I'd like to give you credit, but I can't remember where I saw it. It was earlier this week, so if anyone reading this saw it somewhere, please leave me a comment with the proper credit. Thanks!)

Snack: 1 serving Vitamineral Green

Blender soup with lots of spinach, avocado, tomato, onion, and green onion, topped with sun-dried tomato and more green onion

This soup is so good. Funny thing, I was really turned off by cold soups when I first went Raw. I guess I'd had a bad experience with gazpacho in the past. My how things have changed! I can't get enough of these soups. Now, if I can just convince the Lovely Boyfriend to not just eat it, but enjoy it!

Post-workout Snack: a handful of kale chips, 1 young Thai coconut

Dinner: More blender soup

Dessert: dried cantaloupe

Romaine Salad with Raw Chips

2010-03-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

Chopped romaine topped with tomato, onion, Raw Ranch dressing, zucchini and squash chips, and sun-dried tomatoes. So simple and so delicious.

Chips: Thinly slice squash and zukes. A mandoline is handy but not necessary. Coat with a thin layer of olive oil. Sprinkle on salt and seasonings of your choice. Dehydrate at 105-degrees until crispy. It's hard for me to have these around long enough for a meal. My kids keep reaching in to eat them warm. (So do I.)

Raw Against Cancer - Please Help

2010-03-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hey Health Warriors and Raw Foodies,

We'd love your help. The beautiful woman in the photo is our friend Shannon. She's a vibrant, smart and funny mother of 3 young children, and she's fighting breast cancer.

Conventional treatment was incredibly hard on her, and failed to bring the desired results. With the help of a homeopathic doctor, she's using raw organic foods, along with juices, supplements and spiritual work, to help her body find a way to heal itself. We all know that an organic, Raw diet can get expensive, especially when it's restricted to only the most healing foods.

Please visit http://weloveshannon.com/Our_Fight.html to read more about our friend's story. At the same website, please donate whatever you can, as soon as you can, to help Shannon's family continue to provide her with fresh, raw, organic fruits, vegetables and supplements. Any amount you can give will make a difference and be greatly appreciated.

And please keep Shannon and her family in your prayers and your highest, most positive thoughts.

Thank you for any help you can give.

Candice

Raw Veggie Burger

2010-03-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

Everyone in the family loved this all Raw meal! The Raw veggie burger immediately appealed to me, because it's veggie based. Most raw burger recipes seem to be nut-based, and since my 11 year old daughter is allergic to nuts, those are pretty much out.

Raw bacon is always a favorite around here. You've never seen an eggplant (or two) disappear so fast. We eat a lot of salads, so it's always nice to find dressing alternatives. Ranch dressing definitely fit the bill. This one is nicely tangy. I'm prone to experimentation, so I rarely follow recipes exactly. The recipe is nut-based, but I had some sunflower cheese left over from yesterday, so I used that as the base instead.

Yummy deliciousness ensued!

We also made it to the Dekalb Farmer's Market today. This is only part of our haul. Some things, including 10 young thai coconuts, are already in the fridge. If you're in the Atlanta area, this farmer's market is a great place to check out, especially when the open-air markets are closed for the winter.

Another Raw Onion Bread Recipe

2010-03-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

When I ate a standard cooked diet, I was a sandwich master. There seemed to be an endless variety of bread options available, and don't get me started on the best cheese/veggie/condiment combinations. I never thought sandwiches got enough respect. A well-rounded meal you can hold in one hand--what more could you ask for?

Bread is still one of my favorite things. Wheat makes my face break out and my ears itch, so cooked bread no longer tempts me, but I love experimenting with Raw breads, crackers, and crepes. A piece of toast on the side of my salad, a Raw burger, or a veggie sandwich is one of my greatest pleasures. The options are still limitless.

This time, I started with my version of Matt Amsden's classic onion bread recipe, and used Julie's technique for caramelized onions. I threw in my own twist, and the result was delicious. (I also like to add in other veggies, like zucchini or finely chopped spinach when I have them on hand.) I'm a big fan of taste-as-you-go food creating, so I didn't measure or write things down. This is how it generally went.

Garam Masala Onion Bread

2 medium yellow onions

1 medium red onion

sea salt

1 tablespoon agave

1 cup flax seed, soaked in 1 cup water for 30+ minutes

3/4 cup sunflower seed, soaked and drained (Mine were already dehydrated.)

1/4 cup wheat-free, reduced-sodium tamari

1/8 cup agave

1/8 cup olive oil

garam masala seasonings

water as needed

sea salt to taste

(My onions were crazy strong in flavor and odor, so I used Julie's method of caramelizing them. They actually can go in without that step.)

Slice onions thin. I used a mandoline for this, but I cut my finger! Sprinkle generously with sea salt and let sit for an hour or two. Pour off the excess liquid. If they still seem stronger than you like, rinse them in running water.

Toss the onions with 1 tablespoon agave and a bit of salt. Let dehydrate overnight, or until they reach the desired consistency.

In a high-speed blender, process the soaked flaxseeds with enough water to get the job done. It can get very sticky in there if you don't add enough water, and it would definitely shut down a regular blender. If you don't have a high-speed blender, you're better off grinding dry flaxseeds in a coffee grinder.

Grind the sunflower seeds. Mine were soaked and dehydrated, so I used the coffee grinder.

Add the seeds and all other ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Add water until you get your desired consistency. More water will result in a thinner bread.

Dehydrate on teflex sheets at 105-degrees, or until you can easily flip the sheets and lift them off. Dehydrate overnight, or until the bread is as crispy as you like.

This is great for sandwiches or topped with Raw honey butter (coconut oil mixed with honey and a dash of salt.) Enjoy!

Raw Food Restaurant - Atlanta

2010-03-22T06:09:00.001-07:00

After reading about Lov'n it Live on Raw Food Passion, Lovely Boyfriend and I decided to give it a try. We had three hours to kill, and we haven't been to a Raw food restaurant since we relocated. We also went back two days later for a takeout meal. Because we really enjoyed our food and the experience, I'm not going to say much about the service. I don't want to discourage anyone from trying this place, so I'll just say the service was . . . odd--odd enough that we had a long and humorous conversation with another patron about it.

Everything was presented nicely. We started with the nori rolls, filled with greens, tomatoes, and nut meat, and we both enjoyed this simple and delicious dish.

LB had the sage burgers topped with greens, tomato, and pine nut cheese, served on kamut bread. We shared our entrees, and I was really glad he order this. It was one of the best Raw burgers I've had, and I've had them in several different Raw restaurants in Cali. I think this was lentil and seed based, rather than made from nuts, resulting in a lighter burger. I'll try to replicate this at home.

I ordered the tostado. I'm afraid we may have annoyed the other patrons with our oohing and aahing over how delicious this was. (We also may have annoyed them with our singing along to the old school classics coming through the restaurant speakers.) A flax shell topped with field greens, avocado, pine nut cheese, and sage patty crumbles, the menu claims this is their most popular dish, and I can see why. It's worth a trip to Lov'n it Live just to have the tostado.

The brownies looked appealing, and we ordered one to go. It was big enough to share, but I found the taste a bit off-putting. I think I'm not a fan of carob. LB found it a little chalky but passable.

I'm looking forward to returning to Lov'n it Live soon. I'll probably take my house guest this weekend. If you're not in the Atlanta area, not to worry. Take a look at their menu for ideas you can whip up in your own kitchen.

The Tomato Myth

2010-03-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

Any time I see a listing for a show about health or nutrition, I flip to it. I watch The Biggest Loser, PBS telethon presentations like Diet Free, and some episodes of Dr. Oz. I watch You Are What You Eat on BBC America, a fricking hilarious show, during which a Holistic Nutritionist switches her subjects over to a plant-based diet (usually including fish) after checking the lines on their tongue and nails, and analyzing a sample of their poo. Good times. (The only problem is that they're always talking about how many stones someone weighs, or how many stones someone lost. I can never remember: 1 stone = 14 pounds. I always have to look it up and do a quick American calculation.)

At any rate, I'm all for any media that coaxes more people towards a plant-based diet--good for the people, good for the planet. But they all seem to promote the same tomato myth.

MYTH: Cooked tomatoes are the best source of lycopene, an antioxidant shown to reduce the risks of prostate cancer and heart disease.

TRUTH: Sun-dried tomatoes are the best source of lycopene. They make available almost twice the amount of this antioxidant found in cooked tomatoes. And if you look at the total antioxidant activity, fresh tomatoes come out on top.

I'm not obsessed with individual nutrients, since I eat a widely varied diet. But not everyone we love does, so here's to sharing this information.

This makes me wonder exactly how other foods change their nutritional value on the scale from raw to sun-dried/low-temp dehydrated to cooked (beyond the destruction of enzymes). At any rate, the next time someone tells me I have to cook my tomato sauce (blended tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, water, olive oil, fresh basil, oregano, garlic, onion and dates) to get all the benefits, I'll point them to this study.

In the meantime, I'll send my meat-and-potatoes eating daddy a huge package of sun-dried tomatoes when Father's Day rolls around. Eat up, Pops!

My Raw St.Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Penni's plethora of green Raw options, I decided to have something green at every meal today.

Breakfast: 1 green powder drink, 3 cups green tea

Lunch: Apple-cinnamon-spinach smoothie

Post-workout: 1 green powder drink

Snack: Soup (Avocado, cucumber, spinach and tomato, topped with sun-dried tomatoes & olive oil)

Dinner: I was going to have something green. Really, I was. But last night I made these super-delish apple crepes and I couldn't resist having one as a dinner treat. So . . . Raw Apple Crepes, filled with apples and topped with caramel sauce. Recipe to come soon.

Work it Out

2010-03-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

Recently my Cousin Mike, an athlete and physical therapist, asked what I'm doing for exercise these days. After hemming and hawing and making some excuses, I realized I hadn't really found my workout groove since moving to Georgia.

In California, I had the foothills in my backyard and the beach a few minutes away. Hiking was a no-brainer, and though I could only watch the back of Mike's head when we hiked together, I always knew I could lace up my shoes and hit a trail. Easy.

Not so much here in Atlanta. And I refuse to join a gym. Nothing against them, but I can just see the monthly fees hitting my checking account while my gym bag gathers dust. Most days I take my 11 year old to the park or for a 3 mile walk/skip/gallop/jog/sprint, but those are more for her than for me.

What's for me? Body weight resistance training, and shaking my bootay to dance cardio videos. That's right. I watched 2 a.m. infomercials and while I was tempted by Brazilian Butt Lift, (who wouldn't be?) I ordered Zumba. And darnit, I like it! It's so much freaking fun. If you see me at the club hitting my salsa or reggaeton moves, now you know why. Seriously, they break the steps down to such a basic level, even I can do them. That means anyone can. The heart rate goes up, I break a sweat, and my daughter gets a good laugh. What else could I want from a workout?

Raw Food Today

2010-03-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: 3 cups green tea, chia pudding with chopped apples, dried bananas, raisins, and pecans

Lunch: Raw bar with 1 apple

Pre-workout Snack: Green drink

Dinner: Chopped collards (marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, Raw apple cider vinegar, crushed garlic and ginger, and sea salt; dehydrated for 6 hours at 105-degrees F) topped with tomatoes, avocado, onions, and sesame seed

Raw Food Today

2010-03-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Chia pudding with chopped nuts, diced apples, and raisins (Shocking, I know.)

3 cups green tea

Lunch: 2 apples, a handful of banana chips

Early dinner: huge salad of chopped spinach, marinated mushrooms (olive oil, salt, Raw apple cider vinegar, a bit of agave), and a handful of zucchini and squash chips (dressing: olive oil, crushed garlic and lemon juice)

Raw Pasta & Asparagus

2010-03-12T18:06:00.001-08:00

Celery root noodles tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and topped with marinated asparagus, avocado and onion. Super-delish!

Raw Sparrow-Grass

2010-03-12T09:52:00.000-08:00

Raw asparagus, anyone? It's a good source of lots of yummy goodness. Anti-carcinogens, fiber, calcium, iron, Vitamin A, folate, zinc, potassium, Vitamin B6 and more.

In the 1600's, asparagus was referred to as sparrow-grass. (I just discovered this fact today while reading a book completely unrelated to food.) I'm in love with the name, not surprising given my affection for archaic terms.

Asparagus is a family fave around here, but it wasn't always that way. My first sampling of the green stuff was a soggy, mushy mess. Repulsive. It may have been frozen, or come from a can, or simply have been boiled to death. Whatever the case, I didn't dig the stuff until I had it grilled and the roasted. After that, I couldn't understand my friends who turned their noses up at it. If I could eat it every single day, I would.

Once I decided to go Raw, I thought sparrow-grass would be one of my cooked hold outs. I never saw it on the menus as Raw food restaurants, and assumed it was one of those veggies that required cooking to be enjoyed. Oh silly cooked foodie.

Marinated sparrow-grass is one of my all time favorite foods. (It's not in season here, but when my Lovely Boyfriend makes a rare grocery trip, I don't turn my nose up at anything in the bag.)

I love the skinny stalks. I chop them on a bias and marinate them in a combination of olive oil, garlic, lemon juice (or vinegar), and salt. If the stalks are thick, I use a peeler to create ribbons, but I don't like to do the extra work. They don't need to be dehydrated, but I like to throw them in a pyrex, cover with foil and leave them in the D overnight, at say 105-degrees F. The longer they marinate, the better. Just don't let them dry out.

Try it!

Happy Birthday to my Dada!

2010-03-10T17:33:00.000-08:00

THE BEST DADDY IN THE WORLD!!!

Raw Food Today

2010-03-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

Pre-workout green powder drink

Breakfast: chia pudding with chopped apples, pecans and raisins (This is sooo easy and delicious!)

3 cups green/roobios tea

Snack: smoothie (pineapple, strawberry, coconut water and green powder)

Lunch: a chopped plate of avocado, tomato, and sweet onion, topped with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Snack: 1 cup of coffee (This can be dangerous for me. I've had coffee 2x this week, and I don't want to go back to needing it daily.) 1/2 banana

Dinner: Bed of spinach topped with shredded squash and zucchini marinated in olive oil, tamari and spices and dehydrated for a few hours

Dessert: Sliced pear dipped in Raw chocolate? If I'm hungry, that's what I'll have.

Raw Food Today

2010-03-08T07:46:00.001-08:00

Breakfast: 1 and 1/2 chopped apples, topped with raisins, chopped walnuts and chia pudding (soaked chia seeds) 3 cups* green/roobios tea

Snack: 1/2 apple, 8 oz. green drink, 1 Raw bar

Lunch: salad of shaved fennel and apples, with olive oil, * balsamic vinegar, sea salt, and a dash of agave

Snack: 1 cup *coffee

Dinner: Cheezy Squash with Spicy Tomato Sauce (all Raw, except a bit of Nutritional Yeast)

Lots of water. I start every day with about 32 ounces of pure water and keep knocking it down throughout the day.

How to Stay Raw for Life

2010-03-08T06:55:00.001-08:00

I subscribed to more Raw food blogs than you can shake a stick at. Even after avoiding those that conflicted with my personal choices in lifestyle and philosophy, there were 40+ popping up in my reader every morning. Recipes, links, books, health news, calls to action, challenges, and social networks--I enjoyed it all, but couldn't keep up. Unless Raw food was to become my full-time job, I'd have to cut back.

Being a woman of extremes, I didn't just cut back, I cut out. I stopped opening my reader and popping into goneraw or giveittomeraw to see what was going on in the online Raw community. With the move from Southern California to Atlanta, Georgia, I lost real world access to Raw folks as well. (Yes, I'm sure there are some here in the city, but certainly not as much as there was back in the land of sunshine.) Not long after I isolated myself from the Raw world, I drifted away from Raw foods. It happened slowly at first, and gradually my reliance on real foods in their natural state decreased.

I never stopped eating Raw foods. I love them, and I want to feed my family what's best for them, but I went from eating mostly Raw all the time, to eating some Raw some of the time. Consequences, not surprisingly, quickly followed--weight gain, my face breaking out in response to wheat being added back into my diet, overall diminished energy and reduced productivity. Bummer!

So putting aside my usual excuses (not enough money, not enough time), I returned to Raw. Rawfoodrehab has been my support system, and I'm back to visiting a few blogs and thumbing through my Raw food cookbooks. The excess weight is dropping away and other problems are resolving themselves.

How do you stay Raw for Life? Don't try to do it by yourself. While Raw isn't a religion, it is a lifestyle, and any lifestyle is easier to maintain when you surround yourself with people who support it.

Nutritional Excellence with Raw Veggies

2010-03-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Check out this video from Vegsource. The title of the clip is What You Ate as a Kid Can Give You Cancer, but it's really a positive, hopeful look at how the eating-style we take on in adulthood can prevent cancer. Here, Dr. Joel Fuhrman promotes a raw vegetable-based, vegan diet. In this clip, his focus is not so much on what harm we may have done to ourselves by eating a typical western diet as kids, but rather on what we can do about it now. Good stuff.

Vegsource.com is a great resource for articles and videos about nutrition.

Recital Madness

2009-06-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

What Can You Give?

2008-11-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

As I tighten my belt, my Raw food meals have become increasingly simple. I don't miss the prepared foods or superfoods as much as I thought I would. Truthfully, we could afford to keep eating as we always have, but it would be foolish. The economic future can't be predicted, and we want to be prepared for whatever comes. That means cutting back where we can, paying off debt, investing wisely, and saving.

But what of those for whom the economic crisis has already been a life-changing event? Imagine choosing between paying for your home or buying food for your family. Not a nice choice to have to make.

Recently our church did a huge food drive to help stock local food banks. (What I love about my church is the ACTION it takes.) They even encouraged young children to bring in boxes of their favorite cereal to be donated.

Since then, Wonder Girl and I have been picking up a few extra things each week when we grocery shop. No, we can't just donate Raw food. We recognize that it would be ideal to give the healthiest food available, but that's not practical. Our goal right now is simply to make sure one less child misses a meal. So we buy the best quality cereal and canned goods we can find. We buy extra boxes of quinoa and lentils, and canned veggies. After a few more weeks, we'll donate it all.

What can you give? Every box, can, or bottle makes a difference. Look for sale items and buy what you can afford to donate. Skip a meal out, and use what you save to help someone else eat. Let's make sure no one goes hungry in this country. We voted for change, and our president-elect called for sacrifice. Filling plates and stomachs is a great place to begin.

A Seat at the Table

2008-11-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

I, Too, Sing America

by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

Happy Election Day! (I hope)

2008-11-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

If you're reading this, and you're a United States citizen 18 or older (sorry, Fierce Teenager), I gotta believe you're voting today. Make history, people!

I'm leaving now to head to my local voting location, where I'll turn in LB's ballot and cast my own vote. California has a lengthy ballot, as always, but there are some truly important issues being addressed, so I don't mind. Wonder Girl 's going with me to the polls, and she's psyched for our election party tonight.

Happy Election Day, yall!

Having "The Talk"

2008-10-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Recently an acquaintance was visiting while I was in the kitchen making a Raw salad dressing for the night's dinner. This young lady is getting married in less than a month, and she still didn't have a dress. The problem: she was desperate to get down a size first.

Finally, she got around to asking me, "So how'd you lose all that weight?"

I hesitated. I was really busy, and not in the mood to explain all the theory behind Raw food, so I just said, "To tell you the truth, I mostly eat fruits and vegetables."

Note that I didn't even use the word Raw, and I didn't say I only eat fruits and vegetables.

"You mostly eat fruits and vegetables?" Yes. "And you don't get sick?" Huh?!?

Seriously, I didn't see that one coming. I might've expected the Protein Question, or a question about whether or not I get bored with my food, but not a question about getting sick.

If I thought she was really interested, I would've sent her to a few of the wonderful Raw websites, but not this time. I gave her a couple of recipes, advised her to give up soda and coffee drinks, and closed the conversation.

I know. It was, perhaps, a bit selfish, but I was busy, man! Do we owe it to everyone to have "The Talk" every time we get the chance?

A Nice Place to Visit

2008-09-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

The Internet can consume so much of our time. Online news, blogs, email, and social networks can encourage you to plant your butt in a chair for hours at a time. But sometimes its worth it.

Have you visited Green Bean Dreams? Hers isn't a Raw food blog, but it fits well with the Raw lifestyle. She writes intelligently and accessibly about living a sustainable life, lessening our impact on our environment, and being a responsible citizen of the world (and enjoying the pleasures of fruits and veggies along the way).

Right now GBD is calling on us to recognize how affluent we all are from a global perspective, and calling on us to wield that power consciously. Check her out. She's good peeps.

Raw Spirit Festival

2008-09-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

I won't be in Sedona this weekend, but I'm wishing safe travels and a fabulous Raw time to those who are going!

Looking forward to reading all the blogs, and seeing the pix and videos from the lucky attendees. Have fun!

Family Reunion

2008-09-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend! Yesterday, Lovely Boyfriend and I got to have lunch in Little Ethiopia with a friend he hasn't seen in about 20 years. Algernon and his wife Kim, own the best burger joint in Jackson, Mississippi, Cool Al's. Pretty interesting line of work for a couple of vegetarians raising 2 kids who've never eaten meat! I hear they serve a mean veggie burger and delectable sweet potato fries.

We went to Rosalind's Ethiopian Cuisine, for a meal which was vegan, but not Raw. It was delicious, though I did pay a small price with an upset tummy last night--no biggie, just a little hard to handle a big serving of cooked when I'm staying High Raw. I love the huge communal plates and the fact that we all eat with our fingers. On the front of the menu, there was a full explanation of how to properly eat with one's fingers. The Enjera pancake replaced utensils. Finger -licking was highly discouraged!

We enjoyed split-pea Alicha (peas steamed with onions & seasoned with garlic and ginger), vegetable alicha, collard greens, lentils and other yummy dishes.

I'm definitely inspired to convert some of the dishes we enjoyed into Raw versions. I'll start with those greens!

To slide back into Raw, LB and I had that simple tomato/avocado salad for dinner last night, and Earth Cafe's Raw peach cobbler with lots of fruit for breakfast this morning. This will be my first day back to our local church without my Fierce-as-in-Fabulous teenager. I miss her! We usually whisper during the sermon and crack each other up. (I know. I'm a bad influence.)

Get out and try some cuisine you've never had before. I hadn't had Ethiopian in years, and I'd forgotten what a nice experience it could be. Even if you're staying all Raw, lots of ethnic places can come up with salad combinations you've not thought of.

And, call an old friend!

More Mango Slaw

2008-09-04T21:27:00.000-07:00

A quick treat on my way to a barbecue. This kept me on track, and was easy to prepare.

1/2 bag shredded cole slaw mix

1/4 small yellow onion

about 1 tbsp olive oil

1 mango chopped

1 jalapeño diced

Celtic sea salt

You can up the flavor with chopped cilantro, sliced red peppers, or added spices. What I love about this, is that it takes about 5 minutes to throw together and it travels rather well. It actually tastes better after a couple of hours. Both of my daughters love the sweet and spicy balance of the mango and jalapeño.

Okay, I know the plastic bowl wasn't the best. Let's pretend we didn't see that, shall we?

P.S. Sorry for the awkward formatting--Blogger!

Simply Delicious Salad

2008-09-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

Lovely Boyfriend went to a local farmer's market on Sunday, with the goal of getting peaches for breakfast. He came back with lots of delicious fruits and vegetables, including heirloom tomatoes, and Reed avocados. If you haven't tried Reed avocados, you're missing a creamy treat.

This salad is a simple combination of heirloom tomatoes sprinkled with avocado oil, Celtic sea salt and pepper, topped with thinly sliced red onions, and the most amazing avocado. Nothing fancy, right? I know, but it was one of the dishes that's so delicious you just want to savor it. It must've taken me 15 minutes to eat that small plate.

Try it. You'll love it!

Life is Good!

2008-08-30T18:33:00.001-07:00

Good times, but I've missed the Raw food world terribly! The summer has been incredibly busy for me and the fam, as I'm sure it's been for many of you. I haven't even had time to drop in on Bunny Berry's 100 Day Raw Food Challenge forums. I read the emails, but I know I've been missing out on the fun. (Sorry for the fuzzy pic above, but blogger doesn't want to let me delete it. )

Fierce-as-in Fabulous Teenager is safely off at college. We spent a lot time talking about how she'll survive in the dining hall. She's a veggie, but not Raw. They have a pitiful salad bar, but usually have vegetarian stir-fry options, and a bit of fruit available at breakfast. The bummer is that they can't have a fridge in their dorm room, so I couldn't leave her with lots of fresh fruits and veggies. She'll make it work though. Leaving her 3000 miles away from her mommy was tough!

My baby in her 1st dorm room!

Travelling while remaining High Raw turned out to be easier than I expected. We ate out a lot, so I typically ordered salads, hold all meats, cheeses, bread-like products and dressing. If it had lots of juicy fruit (sweet or savory), or yummy avocado, it usually didn't need dressing. I kept a small bottle of really good olive oil in my purse just in case! I did find myself eating quite a bit of steamed asparagus. For some reason, I just couldn't get enough of it.

While we were traveling, I was also working really hard to take my business online. I've set the initial web page up for Every Kid Fit . Check it out, and tell me what you think. It's still a bit rough, but Lovely Boyfriend is helping me get it going. I'm really hoping to do some good on a broader scale. Little kids deserve to run and play! It's fun!

I've missed reading all the Raw blogs. I haven't even been over to giveittomeraw or goneraw lately! I know I'm leaving out some wonderful Raw foodies, but I just want to say hey to some folks. Shout-outs to:

April (Rated R for potty mouth, and sinful desserts!)

TheWriterStuff (Raw is not required, and I hope you're doing well!)

Penni

Bunny Berry

There are lots of other Raw blogs that I've missed as well! I hope everyone is having the bestest summer!

Are You Ready?

2008-07-31T11:47:00.001-07:00

If you haven't gotten over to Raw Fu to sign up for Bunny Berry's 100 Day Raw Food Challenge yet, then get your butt over there! Registration closes tonight.

You do NOT have to commit to 100% Raw. You set your own goals. It can be as simple as commiting to starting each day with a green smoothie, or having a salad for lunch every day. She has lots of fun mini-challenges, give-aways and contests. What better way to kick up your Raw food consumption than with the support of 100's of people who are doing the same?

I'm still waffling as to what my actual goals will be, but I'll know by tomorrow!

At a Crossroads

2008-07-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

For the last several months, LB and I have been seriously thinking of the idea of relocation. This had been our original plan, to downsize and move closer to Los Angeles once my Fierce-as-in-Fabulous Teenager graduated from high school. Well, she's done her part, but we've had a tough time making a decision. I've lived here with the girls for about 8 years. This is home to both of them.

The for sale/lease sign is in the front yard. We've looked at homes that we loved, but haven't found the right compromise on price and location. It seems no matter what we choose, either Lovely Boyfriend or The Amazing Wonder Girl will have to make sacrifices. I feel torn.

In the meantime, the stress (along with the rest of life) has thrown me off-course. I'm behind on my novel draft. I've been less consistent with my workouts and susceptible to eating things I wouldn't usually consider.

Because we'll be traveling to visit family and take FT to college in a few weeks, I have to get myself in a strong and good place right now. Traveling can take its toll any time, but particularly when one isn't eating well. So I'm back to being very aware of what I consume and checking my workout record for balance. I'm prepping for Bunny Berry's 100 Day Raw Food Challenge, and no you don't have to commit to being 100% Raw for 100 Days, unless you want to! Check it out.

One Hundred Percent

2008-07-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of talk in the Raw blog world about whether people want to, need to or should strive for 100% Raw.

Debbie makes it plain that she's never going back to SAD. She will be a Raw Vegan for the rest of her life.

Michelle J isn't sure she wants to strive for 100%. She's happy with her results and wonders if it has to be an all or nothing effort in the future.

Kristen is quite happy with High Raw, All Vegan. It works well for her.

Yardsnacker is 100% Raw Vegan, but I don't think HiHoRosie has taken that plunge yet. High Raw seems to be her current goal.

Sara seems to be 100% Raw, low-fat Fruitarian.

Bunny Berry has been striving for all Raw during her 100 Day Raw Food Challenge, and she'll start another challenge on August 1st. So far, she's had marvelous results at 100%, but the rest of her family isn't Raw, so what's to come when the challenges are over?

Then there are of course, the Raw writers, educators and speakers. Matt Monarch, Angela Stokes, and the guys over at WeLikeitRaw, are all 100% Raw Vegans. Carol Alt is very High Raw, but not Vegan.

What about me? The times I've felt the best and had the greatest results in health, energy and fitness have been when I've been either High Raw, all Vegan or as close as I could get to 100% Raw Vegan. (The percentage isn't shared as a comparison to others, nor as a judgement, just as a point of reference.) When I deviated from these, it seemed that everything slowed down: my energy, my physical performance, my weight loss/maintenance, my enthusiasm.

I'll strive for what I know will give me the greatest results. Life is too short to make any other choice.

The Best Laid Plans

2008-07-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we took our house guest to Versailles, a Cuban restaurant chain in Los Angeles. I planned ahead to stay Raw by looking at the menu online. It's a dinerish place, and they only had 3 salad options, but how many did I need?

The waiter took our orders, and I requested the largest salad, only to be told they had no tomatoes. Figuring this was due to the recent salmonella scare, I said no problem. Give me the avocado salad instead. Who wouldn't love an avocado salad? How lucky was I to be in a place that had avocado salad on the menu?

The waiter returned. No hay aguacate. All we have for salad is lettuce.

I suppose I could've had a plate of lettuce, but I cracked and ordered the tostones instead. I was hungry! These were of course deep fried, and after eating about half of the small order, I couldn't get any more down.

Leaving the restaurant, I remembered I had a bag of fruit in the car and I wolfed down a couple of apricots. Next time the fruit goes in my purse. While I don't advise sneaking food into a restaurant, I did make a good faith effort to find something appropriate on their menu. My companions ordered enough food to make us good customers, so while I'd keep it on the DL, I'd bring in my backup in the future.

Do You Eat These?

2008-07-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a NY Times article: The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating. The article explains the benefits of these nutritious but not very popular foods:

Beets
Cabbage
Swiss Chard
Cinnamon
Pomegranate Juice
Dried Plums
Pumpkin Seeds
Sardines
Turmeric
Frozen Blueberries
Canned Pumpkin

As for me, I won't be eating anything from a can any time soon, and sardines won't pass these lips either. I rarely drink pomegranate juice, but I do like to eat the fruit. I don't eat beets, because they taste like dirt to me, and not in a good way! I do juice them though. Orange-Beet-Lemon juice is delicious. I prefer my blueberries fresh, but I won't turn my nose up at frozen. Turmeric hasn't been in my food much, since I left cooking behind, but swiss chard, cinnamon, dried plums, pumpkin seeds and cabbage are all regulars around here. Good stuff!

All Things in Moderation . . .or Not

2008-07-07T10:49:00.001-07:00

The other day I was at the stairs all alone. (I now go up and down 20 times when I'm by myself, for a total of 4600 stairs. I'm always exhausted and sleep well at night after that workout, and it's a great time to pray, meditate, plan or listen to podcasts.) One of my former writing teachers hosts a show called Writers on Writing, and I took the opportunity to listen to one of her podcasts. She was interviewing the female author of a weight loss book. I haven't read the book, so I can't comment on that, except she apparently isn't pushing a particular diet and she encourages people to eat real food rather than processed junk. Kudos to her for both of those things. At the same time, she gave some advice that I had a problem with.

#1. Gyms are basically evil, useless places and walking is all the exercise anyone needs.

Well, lucky her. She lives in New York City, and her lifestyle affords lots of walking, but for many folks in this country, weather and geography make finding a place to walk outdoors something of a challenge. And I'm sorry, but most of us go through each day without lifting anything heavier than our cell phones. If we don't use--and yes, even train--our upper bodies, we will lose muscle strength and mass, as well as bone density over time. So while walking is great exercise, it's not enough, and though I don't belong to a gym, I don't think we should begrudge the man or woman who enjoys running on the treadmill or biking to nowhere while they watch the news on a big screen tv.

#2. Eat whatever you want, as long as it's mostly real food and all things are taken in moderation.

I know from personal experience that this method can work for weight loss and maintenance. The question then, is whether or not we want to make weight the primary reason for our food choices. Don't get me wrong. I was miserable as an obese person, truly miserable, so I understand the obsession with shedding excess fat. As I said, I haven't read the book, but during the podcast interview there was no mention of what foods are truly beneficial to our health, and so should be the foundation of our diet.

Frankly, most Americans could only improve their health and fitness levels by following this woman's plan. It's not a plan for optimal health, but it would make many people healthier. It's not a plan for optimal fitness, but it does seem to encourage people to move their bodies. I wonder then, should we set the bar low? Should we start with the minimum, and if so, should we expect that people will want to or be able to exceed that? Is it enough to just do a little better?

Today's Yummy Healthy Raw Living Food

2008-06-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

After yesterday's food fiasco, I'm focused on enjoying the food that fits my lifestyle. What's done is done, right?

Breakfast: mate vana tea
huge plate of carrots with guacamole, and corn chips from Leaf cuisine
The tortilla chips are tasty, but man, they stick in your teeth!

Pre-workout snack: 1 nectarine

Lunch: salad of spinach and blueberries, tossed with olive oil and garlic

Snack: raw granola (sprouted buckwheat, sprouted flaxseeds, raisins & dates), mixed with more blueberries
Wierd snack for me, but I was having food cravings & this hit the spot.

Dinner: Watermelon (2 huge chunks)
Yummy salad LB made for me as soon as he got home: deer tongue lettuce, mushrooms, and cucumbers

Grrrr!

2008-06-26T20:44:00.001-07:00

Today was incredibly stressful--not in the life-altering sort of the way, but in the nagging, wearing, beat me down sort of way. And how did I respond? By eating crap! Do I feel better? Emotionally, I did for a moment. Physically, I can already feel the consequences. Trust that my skin will look horrible for the next few days, and I'm sure tomorrow's workout will suffer. I'm so ticked at myself! Grrrr!

All The Way Quiet

2008-06-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

An update on my 4 1/2 days of silence. . .

You would think that my daughters would've been thrilled by the prospect of a mother who couldn't fuss at them. You would be wrong. They initially felt frustrated by the brief notes I wrote in response to their questions. Fierce Teenager quickly got over it, but Wonder Girl, who's 9 years old, worried that she'd forget what my voice sounded like. I thought I would have more time for introspection and creative pursuits, but initially I found myself exerting way too much energy in trying to communicate with my children.

Lovely Boyfriend, who supports all my wacky ideas, didn't disappoint. When I wanted to quit, he encouraged me to keep going. Admittedly, he enjoyed the fact that he could share his thoughts and ideas with me, and I would simply sit and smile at him in silence. Bless his heart! Many women complain about partners who don't communicate. He's a writer, and not surprisingly, very verbal, but in a house full of women he doesn't always feel heard.

Some things I learned about myself and my family:

My children are too dependent on me to tell them to do things. (my fault)
I don't listen to anyone nearly enough.
Just eliminating phone conversations for a while can free up a lot of mental energy.
After years of trying, I haven't mastered my temper or my impatience. (a work in progress)
I need times of silence on a consistent basis.

I will have more days of silence in my future. In addition, I'm going to try to add a block of silent time to each day. I think the whole family can benefit from this. One of my mentors once told me that she didn't speak before 9 in the morning. Her husband and kids also accepted that, barring emergencies, they shouldn't speak to her during this time either. One of my friends thought this was incredibly selfish. I immediately wished I could have the same. Well, why can't I?

That being said, a true silent retreat is definitely in my future. It's key that I'm able to experience not just the gift of not speaking, but also the gift of not having to process inputs from others, the television, radio, or computer.

For those of you who've considered trying something similar, I can't recommend it highly enough. I would only say you should decide what you want to get out of it, in order to put your parameters in place, and then let go of all expectations.

Go for it. Be quiet.

Give It to Me Raw SEXY Dinner

2008-06-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

Philip, Disa & Austin at the GITMR SEXY Dinner

Hey, I didn't make that up! That's what dinner last night at Au Lac, a raw and cooked vegan/vegetarian restaurant in Fountain Valley, was called. I had the pleasure of meeting several people from giveittomeraw.com and of dining on the unbelievably creative Raw tasting menu Chef Ito prepared for us.

Although Au Lac is only 25 minutes from my home, I'd never made it over there before last night. I will definitely return again and again. I can't wait to take Lovely Boyfriend, who's always game to try something different. Of all the Raw restaurants we've visited, Au Lac ranks as Number One for most imaginative use of ingredients. Don't believe me? Take a look at the menu from last night.

PASTA DI AMORE

Apertif: THE LOVE JUICE - Sweet grass, screwpine, frankincense, gold, hhut jolokja peppers

First: CHEF'S HAND ROLL
Nori, natto, sprouts, daikon, mustard, shrooms, shiso, cucumber

HUMANESE SOUP
Avo, coconut meat, cilantro, chips and thyme

LOVE SONG SALAD
Watercress, "fried" onions, cherry tomatoes, jicama, carrots, teriyaki

Second: PASTA DI AMORE
Sea tangle, kalamata, "fried" onions, holy basil, parmesan, pesto

SHREDDED "PORK" WITH GINGER ONION RICE
Funguy, oregano, chili peppers

HAWAIIAN LOMI LOMI PIZZA
Pineapple, "grilled" onions, zucchini, red bell pepper, melted mozzarella, marinara

Last: CHOCOLATE CANDY, DONUT HOLES, X-TASY
Macadamia, cacao, blue agave juice, coconut base

Yes, we were served all of the above! And yes, it was as good as it sounds! Wipe your lips with the back of your hand, and look up directions to this amazing place. Normally, I sit around restaurants trying to figure out how to recreate the dishes at home. For several of these, I knew my only chance to experience them again would be to come back and hope they're on the regular menu. My favorites included THE LOVE JUICE, sweet with a spicy finish, the hand roll, soup, salad, pasta and dessert. I ended up bringing much of my meal home.

Alyssa & Chris, our wonderful organizers

The company was as wonderful as the food. Many thanks to Alyssa and Chris, who arranged this get-together for us. Philip from Lovingraw was visiting L.A. and made it down to the O.C. as a guest of honor. Matt Monarch was also in town and joined us. I didn't get a chance to chat with Debbie, from Debbie Does Raw. (Debbie- if you see this, I really enjoy your blog!) Gavin and Erica stopped by our table, too. I don't remember everyone's names, but I had the pleasure of dining with Disa, the Unbaker, and Austin, Dan (a raw curious guest), KarmaFree Kale Chips, Vanilla Bean and Pineapple Head, and another guy with a great sense of humor at my table.

Matt Monarch, author of Raw Spirit, chats with guests

I have many more pictures, most of which I will save for blackmail purposes, since I caught lots of folks chewing, and the light was low, casting scary shadows that make people look older than they do in real life. It was a pleasure to meet in person so many of the supporters of Raw food that I run into online. Can't wait to do it again!

Yesterday's Yummy Food

2008-06-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Breakfast: Raw Strawberry Fields cheesecake from Earth Cafe
5-6 fresh figs (happiness in a box!)
1/2 cup coffee (non-raw)
I'm not doing coffee everyday any more, but I do still have it on occasion. Since I was working in my neighborhood coffee shop, I felt I should buy something. Tea would've been a better choice!

Snack: watermelon

Lunch: Salad of romaine, broccoli, mushrooms and onions; topped with fresh salsa and guacamole

Dinner: more fresh figs, and raw breakfast crusts topped with raw peach preserves (fresh peaches blended with Raw agave and dehydrated) Delish!

It was a great eating day! I had some cooked food while my family was here for FT's graduation--not a lot, but enough to feel the difference. Generally, I avoided cooked while eating out by ordering salads with extra veggies and avocado, or by skipping the meal altogether.

Congratulations!

2008-06-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my Fierce-as-in-Fabulous Teenager on her graduation from high school! We look forward to more great things as you go off to college and choose your own path.

Having survived all that came with that great event, I can now return to the world of blogging and chatting online. I've missed it all.

Silence and Smoothies

2008-05-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

Shannon, at Raw Mom, has also undertaken a speaking fast. It seems she's finding herself in a rush of creativity. Perhaps I'll reach that point if I remain silent longer.

Right now, I'm reaching the point of headache. I homeschool Wonder Girl, and while she works very independently, my written coaching is getting on her nerves. I'm also finding it hard to keep her on track. It normally only takes a word or two, but she's taking advantage of my silence, and trying to debate me on what she should or shouldn't be doing. LB would help me out, but he's working out of the house this week. It probably would've been wise of me to wait for this until he could be here to help me out, but I was tired of waiting for the perfect opportunity.

On the wonderful side, started the day with an extra yummy green smoothie! Spinach, blueberries, and frozen mango, strawberries and papaya. Oh yes, and a bit of ground flax seed. We haven't been doing smoothies much in the colder weather, but now they seem to be finding there way back into our regime. I'm taking the rest of mine out to the backyard, where I'll lie in the hammock and read a book in the sunshine. . . all alone.

Shhhhhhh!

2008-05-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

3 and a half hours into my first day of silence, and already I'm frustrated. Not good!

For a little over a year now, I've wanted to go on a silent retreat. I've even tried to devise ways to get everyone else out of the house, while I made my home into my own silent retreat. I haven't been able to pull any of this off. Recently, Phillip at LovingRaw blogged about going into silence at home. I thought about doing a media fast (no TV, computer, radio, etc), but I share my home with 3 other people, and it seemed too complicated. Finally, I settled on just shutting my mouth. (That's the thing that's most likely to keep me out of trouble anyway.)

So for however long seems reasonable (hopefully 3 days), I'm not talking. I communicate via text, email, im, twitter, and scribbled notes, but I can't speak. If I continue through the weekend, I'll have to make an exception for my friend's Open House on Saturday. Her daughter is graduating high school, and a vow of silence might distract everyone from the point of the day. I'll just try to do more listening than talking.

How's the fam handling it? I usually talk to my mother and sister on the phone everyday, so this will probably be both a surprise and a nice break for them. Lovely Boyfriend seems to wonder exactly what the point is, but he's supportive of it, just as he was when I wanted to do the Biggest Loser week, and when I wanted to dive back into Raw foods. He trusts that I'm striving to be better. Fierce Teenager said, "This is going to be annoying." I just shrugged. She basically thinks my love of the stairs (I recently did 12 X 225, a new PR), my passion for Raw food, and my hair are all freakish. Wonder Girls, keeps forgetting she can talk. She writes back to me instead, which is a nice opportunity for her to fall quiet, but makes for really drawn out communications.

In this short time, I've quickly run up against some of my greatest flaws: short temper, impatience, intolerance for whining/complaining, and oh yeah . . . short temper. To deal with some of this, I quickly instituted a no complaining AT ALL rule for the kids, and made up some cards to respond to their typical questions and requests. My favorite is: ASK ME LATER.

What am I hoping to get out of this? I don't know. I have major life changes going on right now: FT graduating from high school and going to the other side of the continent for college, moving out of the home I've lived in for longer than I stayed in any other place in my adult life, trying desperately to complete my first novel, shopping for a home in an unfamiliar city, launching a business, selling off and giving away things I've lived with for a long time. Many of these are wonderful changes, but they still add stress to the day.

Hopefully, being quiet will allow me to better hear my family and friends and to better see what they're going through, so I can be more available to them. Hopefully, I'll be more productive, move my projects forward, and spend more time in prayer. Hopefully, I'll work on some of the above metioned flaws, and gain a greater sense of how to deal with things without non-stop verbal exchange.

Horses for Sale

2008-05-28T14:55:00.001-07:00

Though I rarely eat animal products, I am not 100% vegan. With that fact in evidence, I just finished watching a recent episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, and found myself struggling with the segment on the slaughter of race-weary thoroughbred horses. Apparently owners will sell them to butchers for a few hundred bucks once they feel the horses have outlasted their money-earning utility. They showed footage from the killing process, and several times referred to the fact that the process was designed for cows, not horses. They highlighted individuals and organizations that work to rescue noble steeds from the cow-butchering machine.

Once again, I am not a vegan. Yet, is the hypocrisy here not obvious? What's good for the cow is too cruel for the horses.

Yes, change has to start somewhere, but are we still arguing that horses and cows are so different from each other? In other countries, where most of the horse meat is sold (7 days from stable to table), most people would scoff at us for being so sentimental about an animal that has served its purpose and can serve one more in death. We're not talking about people who have nothing else to eat. We're talking about cultural tastes.

Does a cow, or sheep, or goat, or chicken, or pig deserve a less noble fate than that of a horse that once ran a good race?

While I think Real Sports is one of the best news mags on television, I have had issues with the host over the years. Perhaps that bias is coloring my judgment. I don't think so though. Either its okay to brutally slaughter animals for dinner or its not. Let's not pretend our affection for one species, or the fact that it once had the potential to win buckets of money, somehow earns it better treatment.

Raw Food Tips

2008-05-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

Haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately, though I've continued to enjoy reading Raw food, fitness and political blogs. In an effort to get back in the swing of things, I'll try posting some tips that I've picked up along the way. (Not that I always follow my own advice!) Many thanks to all the Raw foodies out there who've contributed to my knowledge.

Raw Food Tip: Keep it fresh. Dehydrated snacks are great but are best balanced with fresh food. A ration of 3:1 (fresh:dehydrated) or greater works well. Adding a green salad to almost any meal can make it easy to cover 3/4 of your plate in fresh living foods. This actually works great even if you're not going Raw. Imagine how much healthier a SAD plate becomes when most of its covered in living plant food.

Stay Raw, yall!

Salad - Getting Hot in Here

2008-05-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

Lame post title, but it's the best I can do this early! In the cooler weather, I started to crave warm foods, not necessarily anything cooked, just something that felt comforting. While I enjoy soups, I can be quite lazy about pulling out the blender. Here's a great alternative- the dehydrated salad.

Toss ingredients in a bowl, in this case: tomatoes, corn, spinach, chopped mushrooms and onions. Pour a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic and ginger, sea salt, and a bit of agave over it all, and toss well. Spread on dehydrating racks and dehydrate for 3-4 hours. I like to stir occasionally to prevent bits of spinach from crisping up.

The whole family loves these salads. (I added avocado to this one after it finished warming up.) There's a lot of, "can I have a pinch?" and "when will it be ready?" all of which makes me happy. We get more greens in this way too, as they're easier to consume once they've wilted down a bit.

Enjoy!

Staying on (or Reclaiming) the Raw Wagon

2008-05-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

Did you go Raw overnight, twenty-seven years ago? Have you managed to make it more than a decade without consuming so much as a drop of nama shoyu, a piece of questionably dried fruit, or a heat-shelled nut? Congratulations, you've made it into an elite group that most of us will never join.

I first discovered Raw food as dietstyle five or six years ago. I was working my way through some Tony Robbins tapes, and he advocated a very low-fruit, high fat, high greens Raw way of eating. I tried it with great success, but eventually slid back into my old conventional foods. The results I achieved on Raw (weight loss, glowing skin, mad energy and more) impressed everyone around me. Still, no one got it. None of my friends or relatives knew how to support me in my Raw quest, and I had no idea what to ask of them.

The world's a much different place for me now, with Raw restaurants, products, meet-ups, social networks, websites and more. Going Raw came much easier this time. (Thank God for the Internet!) Though I still didn't have a miraculous over-night transformation, I've come across many more tips and tricks to aid me this time around.

If you're facing challenges with Raw transition or maintenance, check out this coaching call. Karen Knowler, the UK's Raw Food Coach, shares some insight with a client. It's 45 minutes long, but worth the investment of time, even if you have to listen to it in pieces. Good stuff to support any of us on this journey.

Walking the Tightrope

2008-05-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Lovely Boyfriend and I spent four days in Los Angeles, celebrating our friend's fortieth . . . I mean twenty-first . . . birthday, and hustling Wonder Girl to her play performances. It was a lot of fun, but a very different schedule than I'm used to following. Part of me wishes I had packed in more events, and part of me is happy to have found some time for more relaxing, self-focused activities, like climbing the sand dune (6 times!). By Sunday night, I was exhausted and ready for some solitude.

This week, I've set major goals for my fiction work, but also have vowed to eat a more simple Raw diet. Wonder Girl's homeschool work still needs my attention, the finances have to be managed to accommodate unexpected expenses (like the $500 deductible on $6000 worth of car accident damage), Fierce Teenager needs to begin organizing for graduation, I must get my workouts in, we're making major decisions about moving to another city, and the household still needs to run.

I'm not complaining about all this. In fact, I'm excited about most of it. It's just that my personality isn't particularly suited to balancing all these things. I don't like living in a world of multi-tasking. Given my way, I could shut myself in a room for six hours each day until I burned out on a project. Unfortunately, life demands that I give each area it's due.

Here are some tools that have helped. I've added a countdown timer to my Google sidebar, forcing myself to quit working on a given project when its allotted time expires. In the kitchen, I just use the oven timer. I've also created a free page on backpackit.com, with lists of all my short-term goals and the immediate steps I need to achieve them. This is now my home page. I've used this system for a couple of weeks, but the weekend of partying threw me off a bit.

Today, I'm back to seeking balance, trying to keep one foot always on the tightrope.

*The photo is from Tees For Change, a socially responsible t-shirt and jewelry company.

Biggest Loser Finale

2008-05-02T14:26:00.001-07:00

Our Biggest Loser week ended on Tuesday. I averaged 4 hours of workouts each day, and I brought intensity to them. On Wednesday, I only worked out 2 hours, and I felt as if something were missing. Alas, real life continues around me--work, writing, chores and errands, kids' activities, church, classes, and the like--so it will be difficult to get those long workouts in on a regular basis.

Some things I learned:

The recommendation to get 30 minutes of activity each day is fairly bogus for healthy people. In the days of hunting and foraging, our bodies would've moved much more, and we still have essentially the same physical design as our forefathers and foremothers. Even when I was obese, I enjoyed working out. It seems my body always knew it should be in motion.

It can be okay for a healthy person to take their workouts to what most people would considered an extreme level. Perhaps I would've run into injuries if I'd continued, but I believe that listening to my body would help me to avoid that.

Prolonged exercise creates feelings of ecstasy. In all likelihood, this had a lot to do with the fact that I stuck with activities that I loved. The positive mental attitude, along with the brain chemistry initiated by exercise, was a winning combination.

Sleep problems can be alleviated by giving the body the level of activity it craves. This may not be true for everyone, but I found that I fell asleep faster, and slept more deeply and consistently during my Biggest Loser week. I woke up refreshed and without the aid of the alarm clock.

There's enough energy to go around. I'm sure that eating a Raw diet, including green superfood smoothies, contributed to my quick recoveries and tolerable levels of soreness. I had plenty of energy left to accomplish other things. I took an occasional nap, but that's nothing new for me. Obviously my body was able to do the workouts and still complete my other tasks. I'm no Superwoman. Though I was a slim teenager, it wasn't because of any effort on my part. I didn't get into running until I was in my 20's, and started weight training after that. I'm not physically superior in anyway to the average woman. If I can do it, most anyone can, given time and planning.

I encourage everyone to push your body and see what it accomplishes. Don't be ridiculous and try to curl 20's when last week you were curling 8's, but do look for ways you can diversify, intensify, and even extend your exercise. Book a few sessions with a trainer, if you don't know how to do it safely.

Our modern culture is so incredibly sedentary. Even if I spend 5 hours working out, I'm spending at least 8 sitting down (driving, teaching, writing, surfing the internet). Going forward, I'll continue to workout about 2 hours each day, but I also plan to include at least one Biggest Loser day each week. Just for the sheer joy of it!

Edible Flowers

2008-04-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

Last week, I lamented that the purple, white and red flowers that arrived in my CSA basket weren't edible. This week, my broccoli had started to bloom! Easy to get those are just tiny flowers.

My Biggest Loser Week

2008-04-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

It's the middle of the week, and I'm having a blast! Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I've averaged 4 hours of serious exercise. This has included the stairs at Laguna Beach, treadmill on the highest incline, the stationary bike, walk/jogs all over my hilly neighborhood, weight training (of course), jumping rope, and calisthenics/body weight exercises. It's been fun to include LB, Wonder Girl and my girlfriends in my workouts. I do need to bring yoga back in though.

One of the interesting discoveries: learning what fuels my body best. Today, I stocked up on Young Thai coconuts. They do my body good! Superfood smoothies, green smoothies, salads of various types--interestingly, my appetite seems to have decreased. Perhaps I'm just too busy to focus on food as much. Most evenings, I'm satisfied with a liquid dinner.

Four days left. I'm going to continue to push and try to get at least one 6-hour exercise day. "What's the point?" you ask. Self-discovery!

Biggest Loser Week - Warm-up Day

2008-04-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

Though our official BL week starts today, since LB worked in L.A. on Monday, I decided to go ahead and get a warm-up day in, so Day One wouldn't be such a shock to my system.

Monday's workout - Treadmill: 7.5 miles at 10.0 incline
Bike: 20 miles at levels 1-4
Abs: 15 minutes of training

Yesterday, Raw Model posted about why Raw Vegans still need to workout, and Terilynn invited us to think about what our bodies are really capable of doing. Timely, no?

"We need a change
Do it today
I can feel my spirit rising
We need a change
So do it today
'Cause I can see a clear horizon

What have you done today to make you feel proud?"
- Biggest Loser theme song

Take It To the Limit!

2008-04-22T07:12:00.001-07:00

For a while now, LB and I have talked about taking some kind of physical vacation, the kind where you take a week to go hiking, take gym classes, get massages, weight train, do yoga and focus primarily on your physical being. I did one years ago at Canyon Ranch, in Arizona, and it was a paradigm-shifting experience. Unfortunately I was so out of shape at the time--considerably overweight, stiff, suffering frequent muscle spasms--I didn't get to fully immerse myself.

Realistically, such a vacation doesn't fit our budget or our time constraints right now. So this week, we've decided to bring the wellness retreat home to us. Granted we'll still have real life to do. The bills, errands, work projects and chores can't be set aside, but we will be streamlining those areas to focus on physical challenges.

My favorite reality show is The Biggest Loser. Even with all the editing and time-condensing, and the occasional drama, it's a show that's about taking control of one's life and health. In the end, every Loser is a winner. I love that! Inspired by the fact that the shows participants work out 4-6 hours each day, and even more than that as the finale draws near, we've decided to take on something similar.

While we won't have their trainers or facilities, we've got more than enough to get in intense workouts. This week will be a good push toward June's Bikini Challenge. (Okay, it's really the Swimsuit Challenge, since the guy's are participating, but I find Bikini more motivating.) It will also be interesting to see how far we can push ourselves.

Because a sudden increase in physical activity can lower the immune system, we'll be eating particularly Raw and well, with lots of greens. I'll continue to use my green superfood powders, probiotics and multivitamin. I'm also throwing in some DHA (an omega-3 supplement from algae), and enzymes. It wouldn't do to get sick during our Biggest Loser week.

I'm excited about this! As the theme song says: What have you done today to make you feel proud?