Raw Apologetics

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

{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

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

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?

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

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

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

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!