Food and Cancer

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.