tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80783684009866858932024-03-20T01:00:20.729-07:00A Raw Foodist's Journal<p>A journal dedicated to the raw vegan lifestyle - the unprocessed, plant-based food <b>choice</b> - and its profoundly positive influence on all life and Mother Earth. Hoping to inspire you for a transformation with knowledge base & recipes, this magazine is uniquely chronicled by my own experience with this food philosophy.</p>
<p>Much like our lives, this journal is evolving too... Follow @RawFoodistsJour on Twitter for the minutiae. </p>Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-13646760811880569272016-11-13T19:32:00.000-08:002016-11-13T19:33:05.669-08:00Bay Area Soda Tax Win: An Evidence of the Undeniable Effectiveness of Grassroots Organizing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A quadrupled number of women of color in the Senate isn't the only encouraging news coming out of Election 2016. Oakland, San Francisco, and Albany are now among the first 6 cities in the country to levy a <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Sugar-tax-measure-results-10593882.php" target="_blank">tax on soda and other sweetened beverages</a>. Next only to Berkeley (first ever!) in 2014 and Philly in June 2016. Boulder also joined us from Colorado.<br />
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As a quick primer, this measure levies a tax of 1 to 2 cents (depending on the city) on every ounce of these beverages sold by a <b>distributor</b>. The distributor often passes on the increased cost to the seller, who, then, typically raises the price of the product to make up for it. This makes the drinks more expensive to buy, thereby driving down consumption and preventing the ongoing public health crises of diabetes and obesity from worsening, particularly <a href="http://postnewsgroup.com/blog/2016/09/29/op-ed-sugary-drinks-social-justice-issue/" target="_blank">among children</a>.<br />
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The fight wasn't easy. Not when the soda corps have practically unlimited resources to pour into these campaigns: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/07/upshot/a-bay-area-soda-tax-fight-is-drawing-big-bucks.html" target="_blank">$50 million in all 3 cities combined</a>! It took no moral hesitation for them to mis-characterize this move as "grocery tax" and flood the residents with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCru7uzYj4fvKkANYqO5yKNA" target="_blank">false media ads</a> and mailbox flyers. There's no way any city can beat a campaign of this proportion on a shoestring budget. But despite that, we, the residents, prevailed. Even in the <a href="http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2016/09/02/big-soda-loses-in-court-to-oakland" target="_blank">court of law</a>.<br />
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How?<br />
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Well, by deploying ground troops. Quite literally. <b>Grassroots organizing in the communities</b>, that is. In Oakland, for example, <a href="http://tramutola.com/" target="_blank">Tramutola</a> and <a href="http://www.tolacademy.org/" target="_blank">TOLA</a> led the effort. Besides getting <a href="http://www.oaklandvsbigsoda.com/endorsements" target="_blank">endorsements</a> from nearly every significant health and social justice organization in the city and many prominent elected officials, what really got the measure passed was an <b>aware and educated voter base</b>.<br />
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But how to educate the voters with right information when nearly every flyer in their mailbox tells them to vote No on Grocery Tax? The media ads portrayed vulnerable immigrants making a plea in heavy accent that the additional tax would take away their livelihood. Big Soda even listed Bernie Sanders as their supporter until he explicitly <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/bernie-sanders-big-soda-230119" target="_blank">asked</a> them not to.<br />
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By reaching out to the residents in-person for a one-on-one conversation. Going on precinct walks, knocking on their doors. Calling them on phone in the evenings and on the weekends. By attracting a formidable army of <b>volunteers</b> who <i>believed in this effort</i>. Training those volunteers before dispatching them. Debriefing after field runs. And then watching the volunteer base itself hit a critical mass such that folks bring along their friends and acquaintances to join the effort, even if it's only for one evening. And then feeding the volunteers while they spend long, tiring hours at it =).<br />
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In the many hours that I personally volunteered for this campaign, it wasn't easy. Precinct walks of 4+ hours were quite tiring. Many people weren't home. Some were rude for no reason. One person even escorted me out of their property. But then, I'm a pachyderm when it comes to advocating for social justice issues =). And every positive response was motivating. I learned about this effort rather late, so, to stay encouraged, I had before me committed folks who had been at it the entire election season.<br />
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While phone banking, a lot of people wouldn't take the call if they don't recognize the caller ID. Many would hang up on me immediately as soon as they realized I was a stranger. Long sequences of no meaningful conversations were quite discouraging, actually. Further, about 25% of the voters simply could not be convinced. People argued about leaving it to personal choice, parents' responsibility, anorexia, malnutrition, etc., without relating their own financial burdens of sky-rocketing insurance premiums and healthcare costs to this issue of excessive sugar consumption.<br />
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Despite these setbacks, there were so many persistent volunteers that we ran out of registered voters to call via Call Fire and resorted to hand dialing to maximize our outreach one evening. Even high schoolers from Oakland Tech volunteered. That's some serious grit for teenagers to display. A character-building experience for me, personally. Certainly in retrospect, given the outcome now.<br />
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The science between excessive sugar consumption and health risks is undeniable; public awareness is fast catching up to it. The tax in Berkeley led to a <a href="http://news.berkeley.edu/2016/08/23/sodadrinking/" target="_blank">decrease in soda consumption by 21%</a> and brought in an <a href="http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SF-soda-tax-changes-flavor-from-2014-10098368.php" target="_blank">additional revenue of $2 million</a> that went towards cooking, gardening, and nutrition programs. An advisory committee oversees the usage of the funds. Chicago's home county quickly followed the Bay Area to make soda pricier for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cook-county-soda-tax_us_58250427e4b0c4b63b0c0fe4" target="_blank">5 million more Americans</a> on 11/10/16. In fact, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-who-soda-tax-20161011-snap-story.html" target="_blank">this fight is global now</a>.<br />
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But, hey, why is this so significant?<br />
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All too often, we rely on our elected officials to make the right decisions for us. But in an age where most politicians have been bought out by deep-pocketed corporations and lobby groups, making any progress is nearly impossible. Outrageously, the processed food companies, Big Meat, Big Milk, Big Eggs, Big Pharma, Big Coal, Big Oil, Big you name it are in the business of what they do not for our well-being but for their own profits.<br />
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If we don't educate and organize ourselves now, they will plunder our health and this planet's non-renewable resources from underneath us until there is no new drug to be invented, no more trees to be fallen, no more coal and oil to be dug up, and <i>no more money to be made</i>. Now that we have a leader of the Free World who doesn't believe in climate change, grassroots movements are more essential than ever before.<br />
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Gregory Mankiw communicates this urgency in the same vein in <a href="https://www.beforetheflood.com/" target="_blank">Before the Flood</a>:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke: rgb(50, 51, 51); font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">POLITICIANS, WHETHER WE CALL THEM ELECTED LEADERS, ARE REALLY ELECTED FOLLOWERS. THEY DO WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT THEM TO DO…. WE NEED TO PREACH TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. ONCE THE PEOPLE ARE CONVINCED, THE POLITICIANS WILL FALL IN LINE."</span><br />
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It is the American people that we had to preach to today to pass the soda tax. It's the people that the Native Americans are speaking to to protest the Dakota Pipeline. It's the people that are finding plant-based alternatives to meat, dairy, poultry, and fish to make our diets more sustainable today and for 10 billion of us in 2050. It's an ordinary doctor like <a href="http://www.pcrm.org/media/experts/neal-barnard" target="_blank">Neal Barnard</a> who has taken it upon himself to influence health policy making in Washington and <a href="https://drgreger.org/" target="_blank">Michael Greger</a> to educate the people about the <a href="http://nutritionfacts.org/" target="_blank">completeness of plant-based nutrition</a>. No organization could be relied upon to do these things for us.<br />
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Any pursuit of mankind becomes a movement only when the common people join. A movement is what we need today to turn the tide in favor of a healthy and prolonged human civilization on this planet.<br />
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Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-17216086685086774042015-08-31T22:25:00.002-07:002015-11-10T05:01:19.482-08:00Almonds, Avocados to Eggs, Cheese, and Beef: The Water Footprint of Our Food Choices<div class="p1">
If you’ve ever listened to KQED (the local NPR channel) in the Bay Area, you can probably regurgitate these lines in your sleep: “Support for KQED comes from the Almond Board of California. The water needs of almond trees are not unique among trees, and almond growers are committed to innovation and water efficiency. More at almondsustainability.org." This defense is fueled by mounting pressure on almond growers about how much water almonds take up in the drought-ridden California, the producer of 80% of the world's almonds, over half of which are exported abroad. </div>
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Almond farmers aren't the only ones feeling the heat of the scorching Sun, literally and metaphorically. There's an official drought State of Emergency -- mandatory water restrictions imposed on residents, businesses, and farms for the first time ever to reduce usage by 25%. Ban on watering of ornamental grass on public street medians. Drought-tolerant landscaping of lawns to conserve water. Scientific innovation. Frenzy among residents for two-minute showers. Pleas to God, praying for rain. Believing in America’s greatness in overcoming just about anything...</div>
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State officials say the 25% cut in usage amounts to roughly <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/01/us/california-water-restrictions-drought/" target="_blank">1.5 million acre-feet of water</a> (an acre foot of water equals about 325,000 gallons) over the next nine months. That amounts to <b>saving 487.5 billion gallons of water over 9 months</b>. Let's commit this number to memory for now.</div>
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<span class="s1">Wherever we hear of water in relation to food production, it all comes down to drip irrigation over sprinklers over the traditional flood irrigation. Avocados, almonds, and asparagus are usually the bad guys over everything else. At the face value, this perception is <i>not</i> incorrect. Seeing is believing. Crop agriculture consumes water <b>overtly</b>. We see it. We measure it. We blame it. That's where we instinctually look to conserve it. But by conserving water in irrigation alone, <i>we would be saving a few drops from what is already a trickle</i> in our <a href="http://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/what-is-water-footprint/" target="_blank">water footprint</a>!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #45818e;">A water footprint measures the volume of water consumed, evaporated, and polluted to produce a product from its raw ingredients. The Water Footprint Network calculates water footprint as a sum total of three categories of water: <u>blue</u> (the amount of surface and ground water used directly or evaporated), <u>green</u> (the amount of rainwater used directly or evaporated), and <u>grey</u> (the amount of freshwater required to mix and dilute pollutants enough to maintain a certain standard of water quality, e.g. the US Clean Water Act).</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><a href="https://iamahoneybee.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/ng-hidden_water.jpg" target="_blank">This infographic</a> published by National Geographic a few years ago reveals that</span> animal products take up the lion’s share of water in food production. The particular order of most to least thirsty foods is beef (1800+ gallons for 1 pound!), sausage (1,382), pork (756), processed cheese (589), chicken (469), eggs (400), fresh cheese (371), followed by most other fruits and vegetables, including avocados (154 gal/lb). <b>1 pound of almonds does take up 2000 gallons of water but while 4 hamburgers (a total of 1 pound of beef) will feed a family of 4 for just one meal, that family won't consume 1 pound of almonds in one sitting.</b> And certainly not in meal after meal. Woah.</div>
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Here is a more detailed insight into the <a href="http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/embedded-water/" target="_blank">amount of H2O embedded in our everyday life</a>. Several other reputed sources have their own insights -- <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/from-lettuce-to-beef-whats-the-water-footprint-of-your-food.html" target="_blank">TreeHugger</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/food-water-footprint_n_5952862.html" target="_blank">HuffPo</a>, <a href="http://graphics.latimes.com/food-water-footprint/" target="_blank">LATimes</a>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, Water Footprint Network's <a href="http://waterfootprint.org/en/resources/interactive-tools/product-gallery/" target="_blank">product gallery</a> -- and they unanimously illustrate just how water-intensive meat, dairy, and poultry production is. With <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/what-the-world-eats/" target="_blank">meat-consumption ever increasing</a>, per What the World Eats, the global water crises doesn't seem to be getting any significant respite anytime soon.</div>
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<span class="s1">But why would animal agriculture be an insatiable water hog? Well, let’s try to rationalize with logic and science. The animals that we raise for food are living beings just like us. They drink water, eat food, pee and poop, breathe and fart and do everything else. (They <i>feel</i> as well, just like our pet dogs and cats, but that’s a story for another time.) Out in the Nature, they bathe and have sex too. But cattle and poultry is typically denied those primal needs. In contrast to plants that only 'drink' water and make up for it by inhaling carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen, these animals consume way more water and exhale CO2 and methane (more on that in a follow-up post) instead of oxygen.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A male steer is typically raised for 2 years before being slaughtered for the various meats. For those two years, it has to be fed grain or grass (that uses water to be cultivated, irrigated, harvested, transported), drinks hundreds of gallons of water, and takes up hundreds more for its waste to be cleaned up. Add all that up and that number is north of 1,800 gallons of water for one pound of beef. For one hamburger, it's 450 gallons. <b>That's an equivalent of showering for 45 days!</b> And we think we'd conserve water by taking 2 minute showers but never looking at our plates to determine just how much worse we are making the drought with every meal we eat.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Unfortunately, there's even more hidden water in animal agriculture. Think of the power needed to keep the giant cattle ranches and animal farms operational. They are not solar powered, in case you were wondering =). The coal and gas needed to generate electricity for these facilities uses water to be dug up or fracked from the earth and converted to energy from the crude materials. Given the current demand for meat, all factory farms have to be entirely mechanized for them to be profitable. That machinery is power hungry too. It also needs to be washed and treated periodically to get rid of all the blood, skin, flesh, and filth. So, more meat production equals more avenues for water usage.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The filth from these farms and the animal carcasses themselves are transported to faraway landfills to be disposed off, requiring more fuel and infrastructure. The massive amounts of urine and fecal matter need appropriate disposal too -- in the US alone, <b>7 million pounds of animal excrement is produced from the factory farms every minute</b>. Did your jaw drop yet? Checkout the <a href="http://www.cowspiracy.com/infographic" target="_blank">infographic</a> by Cowspiracy to come face to face with the real gruesomeness behind our meat-loving culture. And there would be still more to be enlightened about.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">No wonder the entire factory farming practice is extremely prone to disease and infection, given the nature of the work and the crowded and dingy conditions in which the animals are bred and kept for the business to be profitable. The entire ecosystem is propped up by massive doses of antibiotics that are added to animal feeds. Manufacturing these bacteria decimators takes up resources too, water being the foremost of them. Then, the waste water generated from these farms has to be ridded, once again, of these same antibiotics before it can be reused. Waste water treatment is incredibly energy-hungry.</span></div>
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So this raises the impending, yet much-dreaded, question -- how much water would we save by switching to a plant-based diet? Turns out we would be saving 1,100 gallons of water per day. The meat and dairy industries use one-third of the earth's fresh water resources. Domestic use of water is 5%; animal agriculture takes up 55%. <i>It only takes some wisdom and resolve to replace one hamburger with a veggie burger but what would we replace 450 gallons of fresh water with? Without water, life itself would not exist.</i></div>
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<b>With the 38.8 million people of California eating vegan <u>just 1 day a week</u>, we'd be saving 38.8 million x 1,100 gallons = 42.68 billion gallons of water a week. Over nine months, that is 42.68 x 4 x 9 = 1,536.5 billion gallons of water. That is more than one-third of the 487.5 billion gallons the state hopes to save with its extreme drought management measures. Again, this is the saving from choosing to eat plants over animal products <u>just 1 out of 7 days a week</u>. This choice, by the way, is healthy too. Even if praying to God has been your way of helping the drought so far, well, God <u>only</u> helps those who help themselves...</b></div>
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Further, even if drought and sustainability aren't your primary concerns, it's worth looking at how our food choices fit in the socio-economic model of today's world. Per <a href="http://www.unwater.org/water-cooperation-2013/water-cooperation/facts-and-figures/en/" target="_blank">UN Water</a>, 85% of the world's population lives in the driest half of the planet and 783 million people do not have access to clean water. On the contrary, an average American lifestyle is kept afloat by 2,000 gallons of H2O a day -- twice the global average. Sounds like being in denial of the consequences of our obsession with meat and cheese is bearing a heavy burden on our core ethics and responsibility as a global citizen beyond any reasonable doubt. </div>
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Finally, on the topic of veganism, or even vegetarianism, many people simply shrug and state "eating meat is my personal choice" or simply proclaim themselves as "proud meat eaters." Knowing what you know now, is it really a 'personal' choice? And are you still 'proud' of it? =)</div>
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May we be wiser and virtuous.</div>
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-Shine</div>
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Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-22594854272107244962015-05-30T16:32:00.002-07:002015-05-30T23:57:50.554-07:00Three Years and Counting...Three years ago around this time, my most burning desire was to be in shape, be fit and physically strong, and have that envious endurance I had seen in my dad and some athletic friends while growing up. Being in top physical form seemed to be the gateway to all other long-cherished dreams and aspirations. Does that resonate with you?<br />
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In my case however, it wasn't a capricious pursuit. It had etched its way deeper and deeper ever since I turned into the tumultuous teen years realizing that being heavier than other girls had been an integral part of my identity all along. The sports field was <i>the</i> arena where other kids effortlessly outshone my lackluster talent.<br />
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For nearly <b>two decades</b>, my BMI ranged from 24.9 to 26. There was an intrinsic resistance to most physical activities, including walking more than a few blocks. The thought of breaking a sweat was unpleasant and required much self-negotiation, leave alone any vigorous activity that might test my physical limits. Any adventurous sport was beyond consideration.<br />
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As a result, most social situations centered around fitness intimidated me to the extent that <i>I subconsciously precluded my involvement.</i> Many shopping trips ended in disappointment when that pretty dress wasn't available in my size or didn't look flattering. The shape I saw in the mirror wasn't what I wanted to see. <i>Loving myself took a lot of effort, at times.</i><br />
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Amid the gamut of things that each one of us inevitably gets to 'deal with', these were the skeletons in my closet.<br />
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My normal vegetarian diet -- and packaged boxes of 'healthy' foods -- didn't help. Phases of unwillingly exercising for several weeks didn't tip the scale by an ounce =(. A visit to a nutritionist found me reading calories labels on every food item I bought, but that wouldn't make the cut either. Needless to say, 20 years of being overweight witnessed numerous failed attempts at getting leaner and stronger.<br />
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Fast forward to today, my BMI has been ~21.7 for more than 2 years now (that's exactly midway in the normal range)! I am two dress sizes smaller. Forget walking; when I am in the running wave, I run a couple of miles 2-3 times a week. Breaking a sweat makes me feel lighter both physically and<i> mentally</i>. In fact, not sweating every couple of days feels itchy and yucky.<br />
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As I lost weight, the desire to get stronger quickly followed. With the help of a personal trainer in the last 18 months, I can now do 3 sets of 15 squats with a 35 pound kettle weight! I'm on my way to bike ~100 miles this month, including pedaling the uphills in my neighborhood. Those biceps, triceps, abs are beginning to peek from underneath layers of fat =). They need more work though.<br />
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But where do I stand in the statistics of endurance? About three weeks ago, I dropped in to a core power yoga class -- read fast paced yoga set to music and done with weights. <b>Only 3 out of 8 folks made it to the end of the hour without any major breaks. I was one of them! </b><i>The other two were omnivores!</i> To my astonishment, I saw the most muscular, regularly working out men take breaks from exhaustion while I kept up with the class. Then I biked back home 4 miles with a 15" laptop strapped to my back...<br />
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In those moments, my mind inevitably cycled through those mental images with my childhood classmates when the playgrounds had been ruthless to me. Triumph is too insignificant a word in describing this journey of personal transformation.<br />
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Quantifiable accomplishments might feed to conceit; immeasurable ones only bring humility and gratitude.<br />
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Beyond the obvious gains in physical health, there have been many others. In the last 3 years, I have fallen sick exactly twice -- ironically both times when I ate something bad. Quite a leap in immunity levels; fingers crossed. I have written about several other <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/search/label/benefits" target="_blank">benefits</a> throughout this blog.<br />
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What would a similar transformation in your life look like? =)<br />
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So what was the catalyst that brought about my metamorphosis?<br />
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<b>I changed the way the ate.</b><br />
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I transitioned from eating vegetarian meals and buying boxes of 'healthy' snack to no-animal-product, <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/why-eat-raw-food.html" target="_blank">minimal-to-zero processed</a> food. Who knew this would be much more than a <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/my-stumble-into-raw-food-world.html" target="_blank">random stumble into the raw vegan world</a>.<br />
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Instead of spending my time at the grocery store deciphering 'nutrition' content on boxes of packaged foods, I run around filling my cart with naturally nutritious whole fruits and veggies and nuts and seeds. The time I save at the grocery store is now used towards peeling, chopping, blending, and juicing.<br />
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Here's my typical organic purchase from a local grocery store and farmer's market about every 3 weeks. Oils and condiments less frequently, of course.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJeumiwS4G-qA4Jv8KSt9rQ4-OqEyjNxxlWBeervLoCMuCg2wmGOByxomrea3CJU9nYr0N1x7VUiJ1qEsm6ftGr9j4WM6Wippr9MZmR3qFYUPsf31R3FUyvMbp2fAJYiGsTNo3-8fUsLs/s1600/20140527_171456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJeumiwS4G-qA4Jv8KSt9rQ4-OqEyjNxxlWBeervLoCMuCg2wmGOByxomrea3CJU9nYr0N1x7VUiJ1qEsm6ftGr9j4WM6Wippr9MZmR3qFYUPsf31R3FUyvMbp2fAJYiGsTNo3-8fUsLs/s640/20140527_171456.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grocery cart</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSmwsXup3qDLL0YtGwZvo1lLvbJtB55JTemQhfbJHYLnkxC8s0XZoqlBBBYF5hFZHMyhRNnRnVwo0fQjWjJgB8EXFTux5zck3pV7koZ7bXi5wWacvkQfGW7u61f4ek3Dw0c0AD6_bG7U/s1600/20140301_180156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSmwsXup3qDLL0YtGwZvo1lLvbJtB55JTemQhfbJHYLnkxC8s0XZoqlBBBYF5hFZHMyhRNnRnVwo0fQjWjJgB8EXFTux5zck3pV7koZ7bXi5wWacvkQfGW7u61f4ek3Dw0c0AD6_bG7U/s640/20140301_180156.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">$25-ish worth of organic produce from the farmers market.</td></tr>
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That nutritionist <i>did</i> her best to guide me; sadly, she didn't <i>know</i> the potential of whole foods plant-based eating. Unfortunately, most folks in the medical and health and fitness realms today don't! That's why educating ourselves is inevitable. This is the cultural change this blog intends to facilitate.<br />
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The more I incorporated organic, fresh fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds in my diet, the more my body <b>and taste buds</b> rejected the pervasive highly processed foods -- breakfast cereal, dairy milk, off the shelf juices, butter, cheese, jam, protein bars, cliff bars, microwaveable foods, pre-made salad dressings, yogurt, chips, pizza, pasta, cup noodles, chocolate, muffins, cakes, ice cream, you name it.<br />
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Yes, the list of what I have nearly eliminated from my food repertoire is rather exhaustive. To most people, this way of eating probably sounds like a perfect recipe for starvation, emotional erosion, tremendous sacrifice, and an invitation to unnecessary hassle and restriction in their lives. Simply put, it probably sounds undoable. And, perhaps even insane!<br />
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The truth is sometimes I can't believe it myself! =) Just a few months before I started eating the raw and vegan way, if someone had told me that I would be eating mostly uncooked, plant foods and would keep at it for 3 years, I would've educated them of my 'healthy' food choices and then pondered the conversation from a safe distance :p. Instead, today, some of my closest friends are those who eat this way! Yes, it's not undoable and we are not insane.<br />
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This petite woman who lasted that yoga sculpt class is in an equally sound mental health ;)<br />
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Yet, amid a culture drowned in processed foods and in the shimmer of their plastic packaging, commitment to eating natural foods can sound more overwhelming than a second full time job. So why keep doing it and go to great lengths to find that intricate choreography in my daily routine to balance this pursuit among all others?<br />
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<b>Because feeling good in one's own mind and body trumps all other considerations of convenience, superficial emotional fulfillment, and social fitting in. It is a gateway to all other long-cherished dreams and aspirations, remember?</b><br />
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Of what use is convenience when that sugary snack bar only provides you with empty calories? Can you be a good sport in social situations when you're tired and feeling crappy because you ate something your body doesn't approve of? When you have some time at hand, aren't you naturally drawn to work on projects from your bucket list? But what does it feel like when you don't have the energy or motivation for them?<br />
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This is what has been fueling my commitment for 3 years.<br />
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* * *<br />
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Now, let's talk about some <b>minutiae</b> of this lifestyle. One of the big differences since last year has been in the way I portion and space my meals. Up until around two years ago, I still ate mostly 3 square meals a day -- breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a mid afternoon snack.<br />
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But now, my meals are usually smaller in portion and more frequent -- at 3 to 4 hours. This way, I don't overstuff myself in one meal and don't get starving hungry by the time for next meal.<br />
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One of the time proven ways of sustained healthy and mindful eating is not waiting to eat until you're starving. When we are starving, the urge to satisfy the pangs of hunger with the first thing that we can lay our hands on is hard to curb.<br />
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On the other hand, when we grab a meal while being reasonably hungry -- but not starving -- we have the time and energy to make a more informed and healthy choice. Overtime, this can make a day and night difference between wishfully aiming to eat healthy and actually eating healthy.<br />
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Another big change for me has been around re-weighing the different meals in a day. Overtime, lunch has become my biggest meal of the day and dinner, the smallest. When you think about it, we're most active during the day, so a major concentration of calories ought be to taken during day time.<br />
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Further, since cooked food is generally richer in carbs and fats, it's easier to eat a cooked meal at lunch time with coworkers and partake in the social experience at the same time.<br />
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Dinner is meant to conclude a long day and provide the body with just enough energy to rest and rebuild for the night until next morning hits and it's time for a break the 8-10 hour long fast.<br />
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* * *<br />
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<b>Introducing the green juice dinner</b><br />
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In my <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2014/05/two-years-of-being-high-raw-vegan.html" target="_blank">second anniversary post</a>, I wrote extensively about the benefits of green juices. Little did I know that green juices would become my elixir for life. Last fall, I began to break up my lunch into two parts and replaced an early dinner with a late green juice.<br />
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That is, half of the lunch around 12:30 pm, remaining around 4 pm and a 32-40 oz fresh, homemade green juice around 8pm. Boy, did I sleep well? =) I slept like a baby and woke up with unprecedented freshness and clarity of mind the next morning.<br />
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Some of the other changes include bringing seasonal fruits to work and snacking on them throughout the day. Keeping a jar of mixed raw nuts and seeds at my desk is another way of avoiding those roasted, salted cashews and pistachios.<br />
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<b>Fruit and herb infused water</b> is another way of sipping small amounts of natural sugars and nutrients all day and feeling satiated. Lemon water is quite cleansing as well, actually.<br />
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All in all, as you've probably concluded from my <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/search/label/anniversary" target="_blank">yearly posts</a>, it takes time and patience for old habits to be unlearned. Big changes are best initiated in small steps. As new routines begin to set their roots, finer adjustments play an integral role in sustaining a major lifestyle change such as this one.<br />
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* * *<br />
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<b>The rise of the activist in me</b><br />
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When I first went raw and vegan, I was vegan by the way of being raw. About a year and half into this lifestyle, I stumbled upon the heinous practices employed by the poultry and dairy industries to maximize their profit to cost ratio while meeting the tremendous demand for animal foods. Not to mention the strain this puts on the environment and our health care system.<br />
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I will refrain from making this port graphic by providing links to these practices. But being unable to condone them gave birth to the vegan activist in me.<br />
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If you've been following me on Facebook, you probably know how some of this activism has manifested itself in spreading awareness about the multi-faceted consequences of an omnivorous diet. Today, I'm proud to say that I am raw and vegan in equal parts and I eat vegan even when I don't eat raw. =)<br />
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Make <i>every single calorie</i> you eat count towards nutrition, satiety, and strength, and you will thrive on a plant-based diet. Recently, I customized <a href="http://www.choosingraw.com/raw-vegan-bircher-muesli-superfood-inspired/" target="_blank">this recipe</a> for a yet new breakfast option.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2QdIJnTUzCjaEGZv9Dw8apbE2vITuzjFLRYUhZ2K70qAVtreli3UdLleEP53RnFh4zcQA3D5mlgvBXQ2b10QRtaz9jbM4QcChwF9pskX39roK-NV2yFGRVTZfL8YnYuaCzLOqGONm9fs/s1600/10524704_10153268606522200_6460352544861187674_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2QdIJnTUzCjaEGZv9Dw8apbE2vITuzjFLRYUhZ2K70qAVtreli3UdLleEP53RnFh4zcQA3D5mlgvBXQ2b10QRtaz9jbM4QcChwF9pskX39roK-NV2yFGRVTZfL8YnYuaCzLOqGONm9fs/s640/10524704_10153268606522200_6460352544861187674_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raw vegan muesli.</td></tr>
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<u>Key ingredients</u>: rolled oats, pumpkin, sunflower, and chia seeds, coconut shreds, goji, mul-, and golden berries, almonds, walnuts, and chopped dates, all soaked and refrigerated overnight in homemade raw almond milk.<br />
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<u>Taste test?</u> Creamy, sweet, rich, delicious, and colorful. Find me a brand that can beat this breakfast in nutrition or flavor or calorie density. Too bad, no brand would sell this to us because it's perishable and can't be manufactured in a factory hundreds of miles away.<br />
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* * *<br />
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I hope this write-up inspires you to give a serious thought to what you've been eating and start out with making very small changes.<br />
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Think of it this way, if your body doesn't feel and perform at its best, where will your heart and brain reside? We first live in our bodies before living in a house in a community somewhere on this Earth.<br />
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Treat your body like you would treat your God's temple. If you are a non-believer, well, this body still carries your heart, brain, and mind. Where would you go if this vessel of yours began to rust and leak sooner than it ought to?<br />
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Wishing you a lifetime of radiant health and spiritual awareness.<br />
-Shine<br />
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Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-14509771593308678882015-02-28T23:52:00.001-08:002015-05-23T23:09:18.096-07:00Taming your Sweet (or Salty) ToothDoes the mere anticipation of cake, muffin, ice cream, or any other dessert give your brain a rush and keep your attention from other tasks attenuated until you eat them? What if you're not hungry or even if you <i>just ate a meal</i>? Doesn't matter, right? =)<br />
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Likewise for all those salty chips, pretzels, and roasted nuts. That coworker next to your desk at work didn't have time for lunch, so he substituted his with these. You just came back from lunch -- overstuffed -- but the anticipation of crackling chips in your mouth overpowered all resolves of self-control, didn't it?<br />
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And no one can eat just one of those, so it's got to be the whole packet. Only 120 calories, right? =)<br />
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I have been there too, and seldom catch myself off guard even now. But how did it reduce from an everyday thing to, maybe, a once a month occurrence? The trick lies in understanding the patterns and effects of our salt and sugar consumption and <b>reducing one to combat cravings for the other</b>.<br />
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Processed foods are laden with abnormally high amounts of salt and/or sugar. Why, may you ask. There are primarily three components that make food items tasty -- fat, salt, and sugar. F-a-t makes us F-A-T; everyone knows that. So how to make something taste good without fat? Add lots of salt. Or lots of sugar. Or both (aka soda and other carbonated drinks). It's that simple.<br />
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What is worse is when a lot of sugar is used to hide a lot of salt, our <i>tongue</i> can't tell how much salt we just had. But <a href="http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/your-brain-on-sugar" target="_blank">our <i>brain</i> does get hooked to sugar</a> like it would to alcohol or narcotics -- it lights up in the same regions -- and the reward chemical, dopamine, spikes and reinforces desire for more. This is why the mere anticipation of a dessert gives us a rush and keeps our lips smacking.<br />
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When that happens to not just you and me but a whole generation around America and the world, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM" target="_blank">Sugar: the Bitter Truth</a> makes big headlines. Other conscious folks post <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdMjKEncojQ" target="_blank">abridged versions</a>. Dire <a href="http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/sugar-and-salt/" target="_blank">public health warnings</a> are issued. Mere mortals like me try to do their bit in explaining how our existing eating habits keep reinforcing themselves, thereby determining our health long-term.<br />
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Now, what do you feel like eating after you've had something overwhelmingly sweet? Something salty, right? And what about after eating something very salty? Something sweet, obviously. When gone unchecked, our increased consumption of salt and sugar only reinforces the desire for more of each until the balance of these two spirals out of control and body can't take it anymore without signaling symptoms like high blood pressure (caused by salt) and diabetes (from sugar).<br />
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Clearly, salt and sugar -- in the forms we know them today -- are not needed in such large quantities by our body to function properly and thrive in the first place. For, if they were needed, they would be available in Nature in a ready-to-consume form, like all other vitamins, minerals, and nutrients are.<br />
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When you pause to think about it, both salt and sugar are either manufactured directly or are by-products of other industrial processes! If only our culture had learned to listen to our bodies, we would be able to avoid falling into this tailspin much before it gets so late. But sadly, so far, we only respond to the very basic needs -- to urinate, defecate, sleep, have sex, and resist physical pain.<br />
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So, then, how to form eating habits that naturally minimize ones intake of salt and processed, artificial sugars? After all, even a home-cooked meal has more salt than the body needs because it is the salt that makes that lentil or meat tender. After that meal comes the homemade dessert to balance out that salt... followed by salted hash browns the next morning. =)<br />
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Turns out that minimally processed plant foods -- in their raw, naturally available form -- contain just the right amount of salt and sugar to provide our body with everything it needs to function, look radiant, and thrive.<br />
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How much salt can you add to a salad before it gets bitter and mushy? Do you feel the need to sprinkle sugar on ripe bananas, peaches, cherries, and grapes. Do you feel the urge to eat something salty after eating fruits or something sugary after a salad or raw soup? Most likely, no.<br />
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One might still ask how fruits, being predominantly sugary, don't lead to the same diabetic conditions as from processed foods? To answer that, not all fruits we eat have to be sweet, and likewise, <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/news-blog/not-all-sugars-are-created-equal-2009-04-20/" target="_blank">not all sugars are created equal</a>.<br />
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Our body processes fructose from fruits very differently from the high fructose corn syrup used as sweetener in most processed foods and the glucose found in bread and pasta. In knowing that difference lies the key to eat plenty of sugar that provides real, clean energy to our body and sustain its peak performance without sending our brain down the whirlpool of insatiable desire for salt and sugar.<br />
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So I hope the next time you find yourself reaching out for that cake or packet of chips, you will pause for a second to take stock of what you've been eating recently and make a different, less processed choice. It only takes one moment of awareness to begin altering our deepest etched habits.<br />
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Your (un)sweet blogger,<br />
Shine<br />
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-24655581912912257432014-10-18T11:20:00.000-07:002014-10-18T11:26:35.161-07:00Healthy Eating -- Sacrifice or Investment?<title>Healthy Eating -- Sacrifice or Investment?</title>
We all invest our earnings to secure our financial future. We invest time and energy in our closest relationships to make sure we’re covered emotionally. We invest in education to make sure we have the necessary skills to sustain a living. The wiser among us also ‘invest’ time and effort in exercising regularly to keep the physical body healthy, albeit the motivation is often rather short-sighted—staying fit and looking good. But what about ‘investing' in the food that powers our body and mind and, thereby, our very existence in this lifetime?!<br />
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No, choosing rice crispies over raisin bran, diet soda over regular, chicken over beef and pork, and 100-calorie ice cream over another dessert is not the kind of investment I’m alluding to; they’re all essentially the same processed trash--completely unnatural to our physiology. In fact, most leaner foods have more devastating effects on health than their plumper cousins. Think about it, how does a preparation get to have lower calories than its ingredients? Calories don’t vanish in thin air; the ingredients themselves are engineered.<br />
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<b>Eating foods in their naturally available form and without hurting other sentient beings is the path Man has to lead to ensure prolonged sustainability of the entire Ecosystem.</b> Very unfortunately though, we live in a culture where choosing a salad is seen as ‘sacrificing' ‘tastier’ foods, passing on processed snacks as being 'finicky', and being vegan often invites cautiously sympathetic comments like ‘oh poor you, there’s nothing for you to eat!’ from 'normal' folks who walk around devouring on dead animals and charred veggies... =(<br />
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<i>But is it really a sacrifice? Or could eating wisely be a very prudent investment?! </i><br />
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<b><u>Let's start with the self.</u></b> Usually energetic in the initial decades, we take good health for granted. The simple, yet profound, realization that vitality simply cannot co-exist with an ailing physical body doesn't dawn upon most people until their late 50's or 60's! One might argue that quadriplegics live fulfilling lives too. But that's only when their general health cooperates, not when life is an endless drag of waiting at doctors' offices, popping pills, and getting bypass procedures and implants...<br />
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That this body is ephemeral, fragile, and needs a continous investment is a realization that usually only dawns with the ambulance siren. <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/18/bill.clinton.diet.vegan/" target="_blank">Bill Clinton went vegan at 64</a> after two coronary implants; million others change their eating habits at a similar age. It is possible to start saving only from this paycheck but one cannot get back the money already spent. Likewise for health. Past negligence to our body simply cannot be undone with medical intervention and prescriptions at a later age.<br />
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<i>Only a healthy body can be home to a healthy mind; only a healthy mind brings vitality and exuberance. All our hopes, aspirations, and dreams originate in the mind and are executed via the physical body. It is the individual dreams and aspirations that builds a society, nation, world, and eventually, shapes the future of humanity.</i><br />
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<b><u>Moving on to world and humanity</u></b>, we strive to invest money to send our kids to college and in research to find cures for the deadliest diseases known today. But these measures are both myopic and deceptive considering the rate at which our soil, water, and air are being polluted with toxic industrial by-products. Any guess on the single largest contributor to global warming, drought, and poisoning of our environment? It's the <b><a href="http://cowspiracy.com/#the-facts" target="_blank">meat industry</a></b> and the <b>processed food industry</b>! The time to be in denial was 50 years back...<br />
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Today, ironically--and naively--while we work day and night to 'save' enough for our kids and dream of them getting married and popping out grand kids for us, we continue to squander and deplete the very ecosystem that is quintessential to support them! <a href="http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/embedded-water/" target="_blank">It takes 1,799 gallons of water to make 1 pound beef</a> and only 80 and 60 gallons each for 1 pound apples and oranges. Checkout out the excellent <a href="http://iamahoneybee.com/2010/04/22/thinking-about-water/" target="_blank">hidden water info-graphic</a> published by National Geographic.<br />
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Further, think about the resources spent in packaging, transporting, and storing processed foods around the world. How many single-use plastic take out containers, spoons, forks, (non-biodegradable) packets of chips, soda cans, ZiCo bottles... does each person toss in trash every week?! How often do we take the time to sort these in appropriate compost. recycle and landfill bins? Ever wondered where this trash goes and who will excavate it from land and seas alike? Our grand and great-grand kids. =(<br />
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Alas, today's culture sees the environment and Nature as distant, indestructible, eternal elements instead of delicate threads that weave and sustain the fabric of all Life on Earth. Invest in that fabric and Life will flourish. Or sacrifice our grand dreams for the future of humanity.<br />
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-6262527532240075182014-10-11T10:20:00.001-07:002014-10-15T05:52:37.441-07:00So What Really is 'Processed' Food?<title>So What Really is 'Processed' Food?</title>
<meta name="description" content=“Processed foods are so pervasive that they have almost completely replaced naturally available foods. Read about chemically and mechanically processed foods and advice on where to draw the line between eating processed vs. unprocessed. Ironically, we strive to live a 'simple' and 'spontaneous' life powered by 'complex' chemicals and 'preservatives'. We want to be 'alive' on 'dead' food!">
'Processed food' is the term we have all heard of--whether in the context of daily food choices or as an expletive used by grandma and health experts. In fact, the two most common questions I have been repeatedly asked in my high raw vegan lifestyle are 'What is processed food?' and 'Where to draw the line between processed and unprocessed foods?' So let's address them in this post.<br />
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<i>Any food that has been altered from its natural form before consumption is processed food.</i><br />
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Note that this definition is broader than the conventional one we normally hear--any food that comes in a box is processed--in that it allows for varying degrees of processing applied to the different food items.<br />
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So how processed are the most pervasive food items? Sadly, most foods we eat from breakfast to supper in today's culture are anywhere between somewhat to highly processed; this also means that there's almost nothing we eat today that is completely unprocessed, or <i>natural</i>.<br />
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<b>Highly processed</b>: cereal, bread, milk, cheese, confectionery, all meats, burger patties (even veggie), pasta, oils and butters, all energy bars, snacks and packaged drinks, chocolate, all desserts, and most other 'edible' items. Highly processed foods often contain one or more of <b>preservatives</b>, <b>colorants</b>, <b>flavor</b>, and/or <b>texturants</b>.<br />
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<b>Somewhat processed</b>: all grains including rice and quinoa, legumes, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables, even pre-washed and pre-cut ones available at the supermarket(!)... you get the idea.<br />
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Wow! I do find it amusing that we like to be out in Nature to recharge ourselves but when it comes to the substance that powers our lives--food--we're content with eating it from packaged boxes with 'natural' slapped on them. We strive to live a 'simple' and 'spontaneous' life powered by 'complex' chemicals and 'preservatives'. <b>Simply put, we want to be 'alive' on 'dead' food!</b><br />
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So why is processed food 'dead'?<br />
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<a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.in/2012/11/why-eat-raw-food.html" target="_blank">This</a> blog post of mine describes in detail how high temperature kills vital nutrients from food. Not only that, most processed foods contain by-products from other industries as their main ingredients to reduce cost of production and increase shelf life. For example, high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar and engineered flavors instead of actual fruit. These foods are also usually low in fiber, high in trans fats, and contain chemicals that hijack the biochemistry of the brain. The different brands of packaged food are all about coming up with that irresistible flavor that consumers eventually develop a dependency on.<br />
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But where to draw the line?<br />
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Well, there's no parallel to eating all unprocessed. But how far is that practical? It helps to distinguish between <b>chemically and mechanically processed foods</b>. While I'd avoid the former at all costs, mechanically processed foods might be unavoidable at times, unless you want to resort to pressing your own olives into oil, shell walnuts and pistachios on your own, grow and harvest your own quinoa, and ferment your own soybean paste into miso! :)<br />
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I'd be wary of cans of tomatoes and vegetables lined up on the supermarket shelf outside of the refrigerated isles but I have resorted to pre-washed and pre-cut veggies when time is short. Prepackaged frozen fruit isn't my recommendation; buying fresh, organic fruit and freezing it myself for longer, off-season storage is just as easy. And brings me peace of mind.<br />
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Buying food from the local farmer's market ensures minimal processing to a large extent--that food is not mass-produced or transported long distance, it sells fast, and is consumed quickly. Simply put, the need to use chemicals is largely eliminated.<br />
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Another important guideline I have come to use is to <b>listen to my body</b>. Did it feel the same when I fed it canned vegetables vs. fresh veggies I washed and cut myself just before consuming? Once you start living the unprocessed lifestyle, you start tuning-in to the signals sent by your body. That, perhaps, is the best guideline anyone would ever share with you...<br />
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-31963534645273259622014-05-30T14:10:00.001-07:002015-05-30T16:33:58.671-07:00Two Years of being High Raw Vegan...<title>Two Years of being High Raw Vegan</title>
It doesn't seem like a long time since I wrote about<a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-one-year-being-70-percent-raw-vegan.html" target="_blank"> concluding one year on my high raw vegan lifestyle</a>. But, indeed, another year has gone by, and it's time to write another report card =).<br />
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I will begin with emphasizing the <b>gratifying life-experience</b> that comes with increased immunity, energy, vitality, mental focus, and spiritual upliftment. When you have the mental clarity to sort out who you really are, what you stand for, and what you would like to do or become for this world, AND you have the drive and energy to work towards that, you are on the path to a new and better you. That 99% perspiration in life doesn't happen when one is always tired, listless, and conscientiously unaware.<br />
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Now, to the minutiae =). How has my eating changed in the last year? As mentioned in the <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/12/understanding-and-taming-cravings.html" target="_blank">article on cravings</a>, I find myself reaching out for <b>more green juices</b> than ever. Replacing green smoothies, very often. Smoothies, teeming with fiber, are filling, like a meal; juices, sans fiber, are a burst of energy, like a shot of espresso, if you will. In the raw food think tank, there has also been some <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_krc4Z-FCo" target="_blank">dichotomy</a> over how <a href="http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/faq-questions-answers/qa-does-blending-green-smoothies-destroy-90-of-nutrients/" target="_blank">blending can change the composition of foods</a> and render them 'less effective'.<br />
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Juices, particularly green, make the micronutrients from green leafy vegetables instantly available for absorption by the body. Drinking a green juice is like <b>absorbing energy directly from the Sun</b> -- green leafies don't even have peels to shield them! Think about it, this entire planet has been powered by the Sun for 4.6 billion years, and will continue to be for as long, if a meteorite doesn't hit us, that is. To put time in perspective, it takes only about 5 minutes to clean a juicer, and you get better with practice =).<br />
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While we are talking of liquids, it's worth mentioning that raw foods have a much higher water content than their cooked / processed counterparts (obviously!). Prolonged consumption of foods, in their most natural form, keeps your body well hydrated, which is very desired. Conversely, when I eat a highly processed meal or drink alcohol (even very rarely), my body feels rather dry and dehydrated. One glass of wine has to be offset by 5 of water. Who knew, eating raw foods would also alter your <b>relationship with alcohol</b>!<br />
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High water content in food also 'cools us down' -- most raw meals have a cooling effect on the body. The ingredients, themselves, are also at a lower temperature -- often refrigerated to last longer and <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/why-eat-raw-food.html" target="_blank">heated only up to 105F</a>. With this kicks in a <b>lower body temperature</b>, over all. That jacket that I much loathed to carry, is now my constant companion, and tucking under a throw is rather cozy -- a small price to pay for all the benefits. Or I could attribute my being colder to getting older and exculpate the raw food lifestyle altogether :p.<br />
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Moving on to solid foods, without doubt, there is an <b>increased gluten sensitivity </b>in my body. Having grown up eating whole wheat bread for both meals on most days, this startled me! I wouldn't go so far as to say I've developed celiac disease, but consuming large amounts of gluten in a single meal bloats me significantly -- adding 3 to 4 lbs for up to a week! Goodbye, gluten. It's remarkable how my weight has been fairly constant since the 22 lb loss; increased weight has no respect on my scale.<br />
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That brings us to other forms of physical 'healing' that come about with eating nutritious food. Turns out all those new hair on my scalp weren't just my imagination or inflated ego. I checked in with my last hair-dresser a couple of weeks back (I rarely go back to the same person) and she inevitably mentioned how my hair felt stronger and looked denser to her! She even has a new hairstyle planned for me when I visit her next, in about six months. Until then, I'll bask in all compliments on this one =), and pass them to her.<br />
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That would be it for 2 years. I hear many reasons people give to continue to eat the way they have been. The most common ones are "processed food is 'tasty'" and "eating this way is 'normal'". Well, if raw food preparations weren't 'tasty', would my 'sacrifice' really last for 730 days?! As for resistance to change, if a better quality and/or more efficient fuel came along for your car, would you still let it wear out faster on the old type of fuel?<br />
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What about the fuel that powers you?<br />
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-4797022320571800582014-05-26T21:50:00.000-07:002014-05-26T21:50:36.228-07:00The Burned HouseplantYes, blogging has been on hold for a while. It's been hijacked by that beautiful phenomenon called 'Life' =).<br />
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As part of that, a profound experience came my way today morning and where else would I write about it? After all, this blog is dedicated to celebrating the natural, non-violent, compassionate lifestyle...<br />
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Tending a sun-burned houseplant today gave me the experiential realization of something I had only intellectually rationalized so far.</div>
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As I clipped the burned leaves of the Lipstick Plant in my living room, I noticed something remarkable -- new, fresh, soft, lush green leaves had begun to grow on the ends of long branches of burned out, wrinkled, bone dried, discolored leaves! </div>
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[See the new leaves at the end of the 'standing' branch (top right corner in the picture below, I removed the burned leaves in the middle). Also notice the three flower buds on the 'front' branch (bottom right). Look closely, it has several leaves missing from the midsection as well.]</div>
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This display of the <i>elemental, innate </i>desire to survive -- and thrive -- by a life form was quite humbling, for the lack of a better verb.</div>
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When an immobile, speechless plant, potted in a few ounces of soil, placed in limited water and light conditions has the genetic code for the <b>relentless desire to survive</b>, how about those chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, goats, cows that we torture and slaughter for our food? They are sentient, can move and 'speak', and have personalities, too. They, too, <i>just</i>want to live. And deserve to!</div>
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<i>Who gave us the right to butcher them?</i></div>
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Is it really necessary to eat that fried chicken and bacon and veal? Must we wear those fur coats and leather boots? Must our car seats be made of leather and electronic toys that come in leather cases? Must we 'beautify' ourselves with all kinds of chemicals tested on animals?</div>
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I fail to wrap my head around this callousness and ignorance of ours...</div>
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Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-19021986552205219202013-12-19T22:59:00.001-08:002014-05-28T17:06:33.390-07:00Cravings: Explained and Tamed<title>Understanding and Taming Cravings</title>
<meta name="description" content=“Cravings reside in our taste buds, for the most part. But taste buds are adaptable. Learn how eating green leafy vegetables raw can help modify our taste preferences to our advantage.">
Cravings need no introduction. We've all experienced them, <i>suffered</i> from them, and often, given in.<br />
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No matter if we stash that bag of chips in the topmost shelf of that cabinet, or bury that dark chocolate deep in the fridge or promise ourselves not to buy "comfort food" in the next grocery trip or shut off our senses when passing by that steakhouse or pizza place, we inevitably end up using that step stool, ravaging the fridge, sneaking in trips to the <i>corner store</i> =), or indulging in the deep fried goodness on Friday evenings. Cravings are relentless.<br />
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The Internet is littered with tips on how to handle cravings. So is your nutritionists's office, personal trainer's studio, and, of course, the local supermarket with "low calorie," "low sugar," "low sodium" snacks to 'satisfy' your cravings. The latter thrive on the satisfaction we derive as we sink in our chair, having chowed down their snack; the former aim to latch on the guilt that accompanies afterwards. None, however, addresses the <b>root cause</b> of cravings.<br />
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The biggest part of our cravings resides in our <b>taste buds</b>. Other factors like smell or sight of food, happy memories, ongoing stress, and genetics play smaller roles to varying degrees from person to person.<br />
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The good news is, <b>taste buds are adaptable!</b><br />
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If you find that hard to believe, consider this: do you feel like eating a mildly-spiced, cooling salad right after a salty, hot snack? Likewise, are fritters as tempting right after a healthful morning smoothie? These may be temporary changes in preferences, but a spicy food lover will usually find mildly spiced food 'bland'; a fried food lover, sautéed food 'less tasty'; a donut person, fruits 'less sweet'.<br />
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Point à noter: <b>our taste buds adapt to -- and ask for -- the food we feed them over a long period of time</b>.<br />
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So what can we do to "reboot" our taste preferences? If we can (re-)train our taste buds on finer, <i>truly</i> naturally-occurring flavors, before you know, they will stop asking for foods that accompany restraint and guilt. You might still have cravings but they will be of the joyful, healthful kind, not the suffering one. <b>Healthy eating IS highly addictive too!</b> Just that no one is telling us that.<br />
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Of all the naturally occurring foods, <b>green leafy vegetables</b> are the most rich and diversified in taste (and micronutrient value). <i>When eaten raw, without significant amounts of processed additives like oil, salt, pepper, sugar, etc., they grow on our taste buds. Even a relatively short-term, but consistent, consumption of leafy greens changes our taste preferences. Three to four weeks is all they ask for!</i><br />
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How do I start incorporating more raw greens in my food, without throwing up, might you ask. For me, <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/search/label/green%20smoothie" target="_blank">green smoothies</a> paved the way for a high raw-vegan lifestyle that I would live on for two years. The first year of smoothies would lead to more green juices in the second year. The first juices with more fruit to mask the flavor of greens would make way for purely green juices. I'm still working on the latter, though =).<br />
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If a high raw-vegan lifestyle were merely a diet for me (and countless others walking the planet), I (and we) would've fallen off long ago. Two years is not a very long time, but you know eating this way is 'home' for your body and mind when, after eating 8-10 slices of pizza on a crazy, 17-hour day at work, you find yourself making a quick green juice before heading out the next morning!<br />
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Would you rather spend the rest of your life suffering and slapping down individual cravings or would you take a month to work on redefining what <i>your</i> body and mind crave for?<br />
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If doctors, nutritionists, personal trainers, and food companies and advertisers told you to eat natural, plant-based foods, they would mostly go out of business as the general population would be <b>much healthier</b>. So would the pharmaceutical industry. Would you rather wait for them to tell you what to do or be judicious, take charge, and transform your life before it hits the hospital run?<br />
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-60282378847271204012013-10-31T23:45:00.001-07:002013-11-23T13:12:06.487-08:00The Blueprint of Our Food Choices for LifeHave you ever wondered what shapes our food preferences? We <i>develop</i> tastes for different cuisines as we travel around the world or emigrate. But quite often, what really satiates most of us is still what we <i>grew up eating</i>? So what is it that makes it so hard to act truly Roman in Rome when it comes to food? Who created this almost indelible blueprint and when?<br />
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<i>"Flavors in mother's milk begin to shape a baby's later food preferences." These preferences become imprinted during what is called the "sensitive period" or "critical period" -- a period that lasts for two to three months after an infant is weaned off of mother's milk. What the baby is fed during this sensitive period and what it sees others eating is practically immune to erasure!*</i><br />
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Wow. So scientific research reveals that our food preferences are implanted in us <i>long before</i> we can choose what we put in our mouth. Thinking about it, this is Nature's way of making us extinction-proof. Who, other than one's own mother, knows how to best ensure an infant's survival? After all, what to eat (and how to get it) is the most vital information an offspring inherits from its parent - <i>across all species</i>.<br />
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Eureka! Now we understand our downward spiral into a heavily meat, dairy, and processed-food-dependent generation over the last 50 or so years, ever since America was sold to corporations and 'canned' and 'convenience' foods flooded the supermarkets. Our mothers, having eaten these 'foods' all their lives, are progressively passing on these taste preferences to us despite having our best interests in their minds and hearts!<br />
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I cannot say about you, but this fact <b>startled</b> me. I wondered if this imprinting was universal in human infants? For me it was. At times I still craved my 'native food' even as I had been raw vegan for a few months before I read this piece. Then a vegetarian coworker casually mentioned her two year old almost spit when she ate an egg (yes, egg is NOT vegetarian). Then more examples emerged, as I looked for them...<br />
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So how does this increased understanding help us? For one, it has helped me to be kinder to myself whenever I crave my native food -- now I know my body just wants me to survive =). But more importantly, it has helped me to be compassionate to folks around me who, earlier, had simply appeared to be slaves to their unconscientious, eco-destructive, and detrimental-to-health food choices. Human will power against Nature's hardwiring isn't a fair game.<br />
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But this is exactly where <i>wisdom</i> comes in. We cannot use an imprinting passed on to us by Nature as an excuse to produce a sicker and ephemeral progeny. We cannot continue to submit to what is engineered to be delicious and craved for but wrecks 360-degree havoc. We have to step out of this guise to regain what we've lost in the last half century -- our health and environment. Being the highest evolved form of life known so far, this is our time to be socially - and morally - responsible.</div>
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*Deeply indebted to Victoria Boutenko for her masterpiece -- "12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Foods." This book is where I first read about the blueprinting of our food choices.<br />
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-43903201871409765712013-09-30T23:45:00.001-07:002015-05-30T16:37:54.201-07:00So Why NOT Eat a 100% Raw?So. If eating raw has so many <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/search/label/benefits" target="_blank">benefits</a>, why not go a 100% raw? Why eat only a percentage of your food raw as opposed to eating ALL food raw ALL the time? Most people that I meet in my local raw food community eat raw in variable percentages - 30-80% being the most common bracket. I, too, eat an average of 70-75% raw (and vegan) (average taken over a week, though my daily intake of raw food is about the same as well on most days).<br />
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Well, first of all, being a 100% raw IS possible - and sustainable - both physically and biologically. <a href="http://www.rawfamily.com/" target="_blank">Victoria Boutenko</a>, who I have mentioned several times in this blog, and family, is 100% raw vegan and an inspiring example for today's health science research (and <i>very</i> embarrassing for the pharmaceutical industry!). <a href="http://www.fullyraw.com/" target="_blank">Kristina Carillo-Bucaram</a> also has been a 100% raw vegan for about 7 years now and is quite a success in restoring her health and running a local, organic food co-op movement in Houston, TX. Annette Larkins, dubbed as the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6oJA_xhTa8" target="_blank">Ageless Woman</a> - boy, she looks fabulous at 70!<br />
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Besides, several M.D.s openly advocate the live foods nutritional regimen - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Cousens" target="_blank">Dr. Gabriel Cousens</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Ornish" target="_blank">Dr. Dean Ornish</a>, <a href="http://www.ecopolitan.com/doctor-t" target="_blank">Dr. T.</a>, etc. Cherie Soria, who I <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/04/cherie-soria-at-a-meetup.html" target="_blank">wrote about before</a>, has a <a href="http://rawfoodeducation.com/" target="_blank">Science of Raw Food Nutrition program</a> taught at her Living Light Institute that draws from the contemporary scientific research and studies on nutrition. There are notable <a href="http://veganbodybuilding.com/" target="_blank">vegan bodybuilders</a> who are also raw to variable degrees. Venus Williams recently went raw vegan to <a href="http://venuswilliams.com/sjogrens-and-bear-it/" target="_blank">cure her Sjogrens syndrome</a>. However, 15 months into this lifestyle, so far I've chosen to relinquish some of these benefits to eat about 30% of my food cooked. Here are my reasons -<br />
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Being raw & vegan is easy and convenient as food preparation is usually fast and cleanup is easy. But it is also hard as the prepared dished don't have much of a <b>shelf-life</b>! Raw juices begin to disintegrate right away and must be consumed almost instantaneously. Green smoothies, when frozen, can last for up to a day, but don't taste quite the same - yuck! Salads become soggy when different ingredients are tossed together, even <i>sans</i> dressing. Raw soups are no longer yummy. Even raw ice cream, stored in the deep freeze, is not quite the same (from personal experience). This 'ephemerality' means that we need bursts of time available at hand right around when we're ready to eat. At times, that can be too much to ask for. And that's exactly when cooked food comes in handy.<br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">Thinking about it, the short shelf-life of raw preparations makes complete sense - there are more enzymes and nutrients, so there is increased 'chemical' activity in the prepared dish! Cook the ingredients and they have lost most of their nutrition anyway - there's little left to spoil the food. Add preservatives, and voila, you have the isles after isles of ready-to-eat foods at the local supermarket. Use genetically-engineered ingredients and you have the 30-day survival kit for the <a href="http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/doomsday-preppers/" target="_blank">Doomsday Preppers</a> =). While we may not be in for an apocalypse yet, we're still doomed, albeit at a slower pace, if we continue to eat the way we do...</span><br />
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Raw food is nutritionally-dense. But <b>not calorie-dense</b>. Two bananas or a mango or a few peaches (the more calorie-dense fruits), won't fill us the same way as a large, baked potato. But we can't feel hungry all day, everyday, no matter the nutritional density of our food. Today, I simply can't eat the same <i>amount</i> of cooked food as I could before. However, even with my regulated portions, I do feel hungry earlier in the afternoon when I have had a salad for lunch, as opposed to a lean veggie sandwich - with bread. I get past this by keeping around more fruit and raw snack to munch on. But it can be a liability at times. It's unfortunate - just how easy it is to keep non-perishable, junk food around. The bacteria won't eat it, but we do, and expect the bacteria in our gut to just play along!<br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">It's worth noting - a large baked potato, in turn, won't fill us the same way as one greased with oil, and loaded with cheese and salt. That, in turn, won't be the same as a plate full of deep fried chicken wings. In other words, getting enough nutrition and feeling full are two <i>very different</i> things. Lifelong social conditioning plays a subtle but significant role when it comes to feeling full. What can one do if deep fried chicken wings <i>feel</i> more <i>satiating</i> than heck, two avocados (which is too much of fat for one serving, BTW)?! We've all had moms shove three slices of bread down our throats when we really wanted to eat only two. In fact, these are exactly the food fads that our society needs to get rid of.</span><br />
<span style="color: #45818e;"><br /></span><span style="color: #45818e;">Further, most raw food dishes can be made more calorie-dense by adding avocados, nuts and seeds, coconut meat, olive oil, and more fruits. </span><br />
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Certain fruits and veggies are <b>best eaten cooked</b>. For example, squash varieties, particularly, acorn. Beans, such as fava, kidney, soy. For others, <b>heating releases nutrients</b> from the cells they're bound to. For example, cooking a tomato releases lycopene, an important cancer-fighting antioxidant. Heating <i>carotenoid</i> vegetables, like bell peppers and carrots increases the bioavailability of their nutrients. Cooking mushrooms can dissipate some of their toxins. So why be headstrong and lose out on the added nutrition by cooking our food occasionally?<br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">Did you know - bell peppers are one of the richest sources of vitamin C. Yes, way more than oranges! Red bell peppers also have a sweet, fruity flavor and taste great in salads and soups. They're the most ripe form of peppers - progressively after green, yellow, and orange. That explains their rich nutritional profile (and high price) in the family. </span><br />
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Another aspect that swings the balance in favor of cooked foods is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda" target="_blank">Ayurveda</a>, the system of ancient medicine from the Indian subcontinent. It might be rather surprising to learn that Ayurveda doesn't quite recommend eating a <i>large percentage</i> of raw foods! Particularly for <i>vata</i> and <i>pitta</i> <i>dosha</i> people. <i>Kapha </i>or <i>kapha</i>-dominant folks are the most suited to raw and vegan eating, according to it. Here's an <a href="http://doshaquiz.chopra.com/" target="_blank">online quiz</a>, off of Deepak Chopra's website, that you can take to find out your <i>dosha</i> and exercise your judgement if a <i>predominant</i> raw food diet doesn't feel right to your body. For the sake of completeness, I must mention here that I am predominantly <i>kapha</i>. Good to know Ayurveda has my back covered ;).<br />
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Next, let's candidly address our selfishness and personal weaknesses - it's just too much of a sensory deprivation to give up <i>all</i> cooked food for the rest of our lives =). Being healthy, living eco-friendly, and riding the crest of the fountain of youth are all very desirable. But so are the joy and pleasure that come from doing (or in this case, eating) what we <i>want</i>, not <i>merely need</i>. For me, I have my favorite cooked vegetarian 'delicacies' that I am not ready to relinquish <i>completely</i> - yet. Maybe raw food will take their place in the upcoming times, or maybe it won't. I don't know. Until then, I will eat everything vegan in the remaining 30% of my diet. No animals will be hurt in the meantime.<br />
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Last but not the least, simply put, cooked food is much more accessible. That's what most of the restaurants serve. That's what we're (implicitly) expected to eat in social situations. Even when raw food is available in the form of salads and juices, at most places it's a fixer-upper menu item. No, Jamba Juice is no exception either! This makes eating 100% raw simply too socially restricting! To extend that, no matter how cleanly we eat, we're still exposed to a ton of pollutants and toxins in all walks of life. Do we really want to make our digestive system so sensitive that it can't take anything cooked, greasy, deep fried, even when feeding oneself supersedes everything else? Probably not.<br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">This last argument comes from several personal experiences in the last 15 months. Most recently, while traveling to the western United States, I was appalled by the lack of fresh, organic produce at the local supermarkets. Particularly dismal was the (availability of!) limp, pale, green leafy vegetables. So fruit smoothies replaced my morning green smoothies. Rest of the day was all cooked food =/. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">Before that, I spent most of July 2012 eating 100% raw. Then one day, milk and cereal expected replaced the morning smoothie and yikes, I felt inflamed, heavy, and 'sick' all day. The message from my body was loud and clear - it did not like diesel in place of high octane gas =). There was my lesson - I could not rely on having raw food at hand at all times for the next 50 years of my life; I had to keep my body attuned to cooked and processed foods as well to survive optimally...</span><br />
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So as we end the celebrating cooked foods in this post, I'll leave you with this picture of acorn squash that I baked a couple of weeks back.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Cut the squash vertically into two pieces. Be sure to use a sturdy knife. </li>
<li>Scoop away the seeds to roast them later. </li>
<li>Sprinkle salt and lay the pieces face down on the baking tray. </li>
<li>Preheat oven to 400F, bake for 40 minutes, turn the squash pieces over and bake for another 20 minutes. </li>
<li>Bring it out, sprinkle with honey/agave/maple syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, and possibly more salt. </li>
<li>Scoop and relish.</li>
<li>Note that most recipes call for butter and brown sugar, but hey, don't we know better as raw foodists?! =)</li>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBSA8PlVwzBoujBJgTnF1tglD1hepErcXZSyWxdbYDpJScCEgf94fT7U975J_Z9j1xFDoOEh4K33Yixf0ZUGUZilID2Z4OW0KgqUVT7YMjrR67WbVFzsaKc7FeeZJoX7lvK26KJyICa-U/s1600/1240620_10151838887892200_1381935086_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBSA8PlVwzBoujBJgTnF1tglD1hepErcXZSyWxdbYDpJScCEgf94fT7U975J_Z9j1xFDoOEh4K33Yixf0ZUGUZilID2Z4OW0KgqUVT7YMjrR67WbVFzsaKc7FeeZJoX7lvK26KJyICa-U/s640/1240620_10151838887892200_1381935086_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baked acorn squash with wild huckleberry honey and spices</td></tr>
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-44746826198414519732013-08-14T22:42:00.000-07:002015-05-30T16:34:18.882-07:00Concluding One Year on the Raw Vegan Lifestyle!It's unbelievable - I recently completed one full year being ~70% raw and vegan! =) Okay, a little more than a year - 14 months, to be very precise. There is contentment that it wasn't a health condition that compelled me to overhaul my dietary preferences; there is gratitude for having stumbled on a path that brought such positive changes to my whole being; there is hope that this lifestyle will steer me clear of all major health problems of the day as time passes.<br />
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Talking about the passing time, there have been many 'Aha!' moments in the last 14 months - as and when I realized how small things had shifted and made big differences in the grand scheme of my life. I wrote about <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/03/my-personal-benefits-from-green-smoothies.html" target="_blank">several benefits I reaped from green smoothies alone</a> in March this year. Some of them were near-immediate effects, like increased energy, focus, and vitality and others were longer term like the shedding of ~22 pounds. It's time to talk more about the still longer term benefits in this post.<br />
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Without doubt, my body has <b>increased immunity.</b> As I moved out after spending close to three and a half years in an oceanic climate to a Mediterranean one in Fall 2011, I found myself catching cold very often! As the temperatures varied largely between day and night and from day to day, by Spring 2012, I had 'fallen sick' almost 4 to 5 times, once every couple of months on an average. Very atypical of me to fall sick, I began loathing that moment when I needed a jacket but didn't have one on hand...<br />
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Guess what, I still haven't quite gotten into the habit of keeping that jacket on hand :p. Yet I haven't caught a cold since end of Spring '12, pretty much ever since I started eating raw. My revised food preferences took care of my cold. It's like all the warmth that the fruits and veggies absorb from the Sun keeps me warm (and immunized against germs and bacteria) ;). In case you didn't know, sunlight is a very powerful disinfectant; that's why ancient cultures still prefer to dry clothes and blankets in the Sun. Add to this the fact that food has the most nutrient density when it's in its natural form. Immunizers are nutrients too.<br />
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Several months into eating raw, I also realized that <b>skin and hair care</b> lies in the food that grows in the 'dirty' soil, not in the 'natural herbs' handled with gloved hands, packed in bottles neatly laid out on the supermarket shelves. All my soaps and face washes and shampoos still being the same, how should I explain the significantly clearer skin and texture? Folks that haven't seen me in a while can't help but mention the 'glow'. I tell them it's NOT Olay :p. I am not sure what else explains the growth of new hair on my scalp either! I very much need those new hair, BTW ;).<br />
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There is also a <b>reduced need for taking rest and sleeping</b>. For several years on my standard cooked food diet, I needed more than eight hours of sleep a day or an afternoon nap for a few hours every other weekend to complete my sleep quota and recharge batteries. It was quite an Aha! moment when a friend pointed out I hadn't been sleeping extra for several weekends in a row. I don't anymore. Sure, when the digestive system does not need extra energy to completely digest what we have ingested, the spare energy stays with the brain to keep it wide awake and alert. The body gladly follows the signals sent by the brain... <br />
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On a more abstract level, there has been a kind of <b>spiritual upliftment</b>. There is more contentment about life in general, the thoughts are happier, there is kindness, acceptance, and love for people around me. There is a pursuit of peace and harmony and bliss for the world, even when certain outcomes in my own life are not quite as desired. Feeding oneself with exactly what Nature provides without harming other living beings who share this Mother Earth with us has a whole new perspective of gratitude and co-existence attached to it. It plays out in the day-to-day life very subtly, yet very profoundly!<br />
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No, I won't exaggerate and say I was sold on going raw and vegan right as I took notes in the <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/my-stumble-into-raw-food-world.html" target="_blank">introductory un-cooking class</a>. It grew up on me - from my first green smoothie to my first raw vegan dessert. It is still carving its niche´; one lifetime isn't enough to make and taste every dish that can possibly be prepared. The choice here is as diverse as Nature itself, simply because it comes directly from Nature. It's with Nature's help that our species has been thriving for millennia; not by man-made machines - or food.<br />
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-86458327565619028032013-07-31T23:47:00.004-07:002015-05-30T16:37:04.682-07:00Raw Vegan Desserts! :)<title>Raw Vegan Dessert Recipes and Ideas</title>
Alright, we've covered the raw vegan options for <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/03/green-smoothie-diet-benefits-recipes.html" target="_blank">breakfast</a>, <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/05/eating-raw-for-lunch-and-dinner.html" target="_blank">lunch and dinner</a>, and <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/06/raw-snack-options.html" target="_blank">snacks</a> by now. So it's time to move on to desserts - something we all absolutely love! =) Wouldn't it be quite nice to eat a dessert guilt-free and not feel weighed-down by the sugar and heavy cream and flour afterward? <br />
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Why choose raw desserts over cooked and baked ones? Well, first of all, they don't usually contain any processed sugar - white or brown! Yes, we just avoided the number #1 killer food - <i>even while eating a dessert.</i> Secondly, since the ingredients are not cooked, they are still nutritionally very dense (see this old post about the <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/why-eat-raw-food.html" target="_blank">benefits of eating raw foods</a>). Imagine trading all the empty calories for some real ones even when you are on a dessert binge. Third, they're WAY simpler (and, in most cases, quicker) to prepare than traditional desserts - no pre-heating the oven, baking for several minutes to hours, and scrubbing the bakeware thereafter. Fourth, if you happen to be vegan, you also get to avoid all the heavy cream that later weighs us down. Concocting a raw sweet, yet healthy, treat in a jiffy is super simple!<br />
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So what are the usual ingredients in a raw dessert? Typically, <b>dates</b> are the primary <b>sweetener</b>. If the dessert involves fruit, <b>ripe fruit</b> is the best form of natural sugar. <b>Honey</b> and <b>stevia</b> are other viable, minimally processed sweeteners. Sometimes, organic, high quality agave syrup / nectar or Grade A maple syrup are used, though overuse of these is discouraged as they're processed too. The major source of <b>fat and creaminess</b> in raw desserts is <b>coconut meat</b> or <b>avocado</b> (believe it or not). For <b>chocolate</b>, organic <b>raw cacao powder</b> is used. Imagine eating chocolate, sans sugar, in desserts and still maintaining your weight! Yes, raw cacao powder is a great aide in weight loss - check out the <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-superfood-catalog-deep-dive-into-nutrition.html" target="_blank">superfood catalog</a>. <b>Pie and</b> <b>tart crusts</b>, <b>cookies</b>, <b>cake mixes</b>, etc are typically made with <b>nuts and seeds</b> or <b>shredded and dried coconut</b> - compare that to white flour tossed with dollops of butter or margarine in conventional desserts!<br />
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Equipment-wise, raw desserts are typically done in a food processor. That takes care of crusts, mixes, etc. A blender is used in preparing, for example, cream cheeze (the 'z' in cheeze indicates it's a vegan "cheese", made of cashews, almonds, etc.), frosting, filling, ice cream, etc. Funkier raw desserts, such as fruit lather, cinnamon rolls, and tart, cookies, etc. are done in a dehydrator - agreed that a dehydrator does take longer that an oven but we still bypass the soaking and scrubbing chore ;). Of course, tart and pie pans are used where needed. An ice cream maker is quite useful to make <i>real</i> raw ice creams. <br />
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Finally to the fun part - recipes with pictures. I must say I don't have a whole lot of personal pictures of raw desserts but I shall add what I have. In other cases, I'll pull something from the Internet and say so.<br />
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<b>Raw vegan chocolate mylk</b> - 2 cups homemade almond milk, half cup water as thinner, half banana, and 1-2 tbsp raw cacao power to taste. High speed blend. My personal favorite =) (and a copyright recipe :p). I swear, you'll never feel the same about any branded chocolate milk.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxwI164c3efy59oGprbLhKZhLtL8vt0OvJfUSUkWQ_n-K6-t4uq8JtAtU7-iOzMcSRHXopOisoa6IJimFiEGJPwwZm5db5b9PvcspGUc-uaOoswaKD3LQCsu59VZwtS4QuCBOcNgP1aJ0/s1600/778793_10151357355332200_1068168073_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxwI164c3efy59oGprbLhKZhLtL8vt0OvJfUSUkWQ_n-K6-t4uq8JtAtU7-iOzMcSRHXopOisoa6IJimFiEGJPwwZm5db5b9PvcspGUc-uaOoswaKD3LQCsu59VZwtS4QuCBOcNgP1aJ0/s640/778793_10151357355332200_1068168073_o.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raw vegan chocolate mylk</td></tr>
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<b>Fudge brownie topped with fresh berries</b> - Followed <a href="http://www.vegetariantimes.com/blog/day-6-organic-chef-ani-phyos-bulk-friendly-fudge-brownies/" target="_blank">this recipe</a> by Ani Phyo<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSjNr_LmDHOu-vGuIStbQcDtR1Ryjoeh-as1jgz-oXeuM9Tye7bKQgRN_eENCT80xt1-xC9XN5yMZAeKTKAxe2bMJhJLKRbiS1HotfaFG23A_QNI2Ri3bvz6yJq0GGonrvQvzWUCCYOs/s1600/471098_10151049467447200_903324418_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSjNr_LmDHOu-vGuIStbQcDtR1Ryjoeh-as1jgz-oXeuM9Tye7bKQgRN_eENCT80xt1-xC9XN5yMZAeKTKAxe2bMJhJLKRbiS1HotfaFG23A_QNI2Ri3bvz6yJq0GGonrvQvzWUCCYOs/s640/471098_10151049467447200_903324418_o.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brownie with fresh berries</td></tr>
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<b>Raw banana ice cream</b> - Followed <a href="http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/icecream/r/rawbananicecream.htm" target="_blank">this recipe</a> with my own tweaks: 1.5 raw banana if large or two smaller bananas, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder, and 1 tbsp agave. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raw vegan banana ice cream</td></tr>
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<b>Trail mix cookies</b> - <a href="http://nothingbutgoodstuff.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/ani-phyos-15-day-fat-blast-review-phase-3-day-7-wow/" target="_blank">recipe</a> courtesy Ani Phyo, again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguv2ks_lNsDbCFsNGXDtvVQTTXNvZPM6uRFMB7OtAWCni-WIa3O_IWTPor9OTh3l_gUgPcubA5RpPqZst5dCoPuzrQ33ed76bkSGFy1wriDNOB25CkM02By7Fe1amZ9yfh1W7UZA5Ujqs/s1600/Trail+Mix+Cookies.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguv2ks_lNsDbCFsNGXDtvVQTTXNvZPM6uRFMB7OtAWCni-WIa3O_IWTPor9OTh3l_gUgPcubA5RpPqZst5dCoPuzrQ33ed76bkSGFy1wriDNOB25CkM02By7Fe1amZ9yfh1W7UZA5Ujqs/s640/Trail+Mix+Cookies.png" width="448" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trail mix cookies</td></tr>
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<b>Peach crumble</b> - Crust made of pecans, medjool dates, virgin coconut oil and pinch sea salt. Filling made of peaches and pinch vanilla powder.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-B4jA7tqfNoETnoIcp6JkvrMiOlDdM7vnZ74fwq7LRdECDDYfI5Do2D-wj8vFtnhzC1g0thqXI0NKRVM-59MCdr2YgR_j8K87J-1g2iNLzzRmFgRTCmqJmNEF8O0LzPSmIgMSVIbo-yE/s1600/283690_10151049467637200_2044278247_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-B4jA7tqfNoETnoIcp6JkvrMiOlDdM7vnZ74fwq7LRdECDDYfI5Do2D-wj8vFtnhzC1g0thqXI0NKRVM-59MCdr2YgR_j8K87J-1g2iNLzzRmFgRTCmqJmNEF8O0LzPSmIgMSVIbo-yE/s640/283690_10151049467637200_2044278247_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raw peach crumble</td></tr>
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<b>Carrot cupcakes with raw cashew cream cheeze</b> - <a href="http://www.choosingraw.com/raw-vegan-carrot-cake-cupcakes/" target="_blank">Here</a> is the recipe. The picture here is not as beautiful as one on that link but mine has a candle on it, to mark my birthday! =)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSw1eH_ba9Wq_aVl7aZv5MgH4UZgx1KHf-0to1K8pd5mpGMyUIif_OPrCeX-5TSTXMNf480MUEfWZwJmKlYLg7KojYFIqxDPb467eDL6CTxczCVuOpxv6BK2TxlKY4zApt56G-B5PKvKs/s1600/553960_10151247674102200_2141709884_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSw1eH_ba9Wq_aVl7aZv5MgH4UZgx1KHf-0to1K8pd5mpGMyUIif_OPrCeX-5TSTXMNf480MUEfWZwJmKlYLg7KojYFIqxDPb467eDL6CTxczCVuOpxv6BK2TxlKY4zApt56G-B5PKvKs/s640/553960_10151247674102200_2141709884_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carrot cupcake with cashew cream cheeze</td></tr>
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<b>Raw vegan chocolate fondue</b> - 1/2 cup dates, 1/2 cup agave nectar or maple syrup, 1/4 tsp vanilla powder, 3/4 cup cacao powder, organic, raw, 3 avocados, mashed, 1 cup water or to desired consistency. Add the first three to a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add cacao powder and avocados and run until blended. May need to scrape the sides from time to time. Drizzle water gradually while running to get desired consistency. It gets thicker and sweeter when let sit for a while. Adjust ingredients accordingly. Recipe courtesy Heather Haxo Phillips.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/chocolate-fondue.jpg?ea6e46" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/chocolate-fondue.jpg?ea6e46" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chocolate fondue from simplyrecipes.com. Compare their recipe with the raw one and hail raw vegan desserts =).</td></tr>
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<b>Raw vegan mango lassi</b> - 1 cup homemade almond milk, 1-2 mangoes to taste, and ice. High speed blend. Add a couple of dates if the natural sweetness of mango and almond milk is not enough. Concocted it very recently while experimenting with homemade almond milk and fresh fruit. I'd like to believe that I invented it!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raw vegan mango lassi</td></tr>
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I will leave you here, making you want to appreciate and adopt healthier eating options. This post also concludes the series on the various food options in the raw vegan lifestyle. Click the 'What do I eat?' label in the word cloud on the right to check out all posts in this series.</div>
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This also happens to mark my first year with this lifestyle - I started eating raw vegan in late May 2012. So, in my next post, I'll talk about the <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-one-year-being-70-percent-raw-vegan.html">enormous benefits I reaped</a>. Then there are some more matured topics planned for this blog - optimal body weight, <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/10/what-determines-our-food-preferences.html">blueprint of our food choices</a>, deep dive into green leafy vegetables, and much more. Thank you for reading. Stay tuned for all the exciting stuff!</div>
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Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-83722103278867103582013-06-30T23:45:00.001-07:002015-05-30T16:37:15.910-07:00Snacking on Raw<title>Raw Vegan Snack Recipes and Ideas</title>
Snack time is probably the hardest for a healthy eater. It's hard not to reach out for our favorite chips, soda, chex-mix, roasted nuts, etc. when plastic packaging is being ripped open all around you, chips ruffling, soda cans popping and bubbling, and roasted pistachios cracked open. Oh, so tempting...! A year into this lifestyle, and planning <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/05/eating-raw-for-lunch-and-dinner.html" target="_blank">my raw vegan lunch and dinner</a> fairly well, I still struggle with morning and afternoon snack times at work when I hear Hawaiian chips crackling in the next cube.<br />
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So how much worse are we if we eat fairly healthy breakfast and meals but lax on snacks? Well, do you really want to eat a 500 calorie snack laden with several grams of sugar, carbs, and engineered chemicals (or <b>toxins</b>, as I call them), when you're replacing olive oil with the healthier fat in avocado and white sugar with dates in your meals? Why would one want to go backwards with greasy and salty chips and sugary soda to compensate for the salt after a green smoothie and hearty lunch added a spring to their step?<br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">But how about the low-calorie, low-sodium, zero-sugar snacks? They're healthy, aren't they? Think about it - how does a food item get to have lesser calories than its labelled ingredients?! Do the calories magically disappear <i>or are the ingredients artificial</i>? How does our body know how to breakdown these engineered foods and, possibly, even 'release energy and nutrients' out of thin air?! If you're skeptical of my claims, read for yourself - <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/039970_cancer_junk_food_carcinogens.html" target="_blank">top 10 cancer foods</a>, <a href="http://authoritynutrition.com/why-is-diet-soda-bad-for-you/" target="_blank">truth about diet soda</a>, and the list goes on. The problem is we're not eating food anymore, we're eating food-like products!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">Unfortunately, these food-like products are not only unhealthy for us, they're also an <i>environmental hazard</i> - if you didn't realize already! Just imagine how much waste we're adding in the form of plastic wrappers, non-recyclable lids, industrial byproducts, etc. to the already teeming landfills. Sure, soda cans are recyclable, but setting up the recycling infrastructure in itself is an industrial process, with its own environmental issues and byproducts. And how often do we care to separate recycle from trash in the first place? So much just for snacks! Thanks to the food <i>industry</i> for making us such slaves to them!</span><br />
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We need to continue springing forward, eating nutritious, natural snacks that will want us to take an evening swim, instead of throwing us on the couch after work. These shall be grown locally, transported short distance, bio-degradable, and should generate minimal artificial byproducts. Above all, these shall be delicious and addictive, and yet need minimal preparation. What would these be? Read on for some ideas.<br />
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Well, <b>fruits are an amazing finger-food</b>! Reach for a banana or a couple of juicy, navel oranges, a mango, slices of pineapple or watermelon (esp. during summer). Pack a bowl of some washed red and green grapes alongside cherries or other berries to work, keep it at your desk, munch all day - you'll be too full for chips and soda and gain a glowing skin in no time. As a bonus, colleagues walking by your desk will notice and grab some fruits themselves - leading by example is extremely effective! Partner with a colleague, take turns to bring different fruits to work to share and double the fun. I bet, more folks will want to join your clique =).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhvcxBtW8tkIfereZVQThWcUL7e1oVWKhhkNMpCu-_h8x_KGYGuk6Ce8_Nfl2G7oB5aK5PytWhnd8JbUUEG8Rlpfb_HUi1AwdUmbXtTiVf9uD5hYgfDl-EadC1IvIPJuyesMS9dTobBYE/s1600/886664_10151494399807200_1864139163_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhvcxBtW8tkIfereZVQThWcUL7e1oVWKhhkNMpCu-_h8x_KGYGuk6Ce8_Nfl2G7oB5aK5PytWhnd8JbUUEG8Rlpfb_HUi1AwdUmbXtTiVf9uD5hYgfDl-EadC1IvIPJuyesMS9dTobBYE/s640/886664_10151494399807200_1864139163_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My fruit plate at work one afternoon.</td></tr>
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How about something more interesting? Throw together some blueberries, pomegranate seeds, and raw cacao nibs and toss them in flax meal (recipe courtesy Ani Phyo). You'll be amazed how well the flavorless blueberries fit with crunchy, sweet-sour pomegranate seeds and chocolaty cacao nibs! Make sure you grind flax seeds fresh as flax meal goes rancid in no time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQN4JuwiUGV_6h1W6LLWl3xLp3eyFUZ_XfT85W0PdgQmeKlqb97eaW2KMJzdn8oxX-XSoUnGr3ZnyY-EmQtP44NsvcVwDdUSca2OGw7o8YxxPwZgXMF_yhCSwBDKJkL8Yv9o-zytKgXPQ/s1600/621001_10151049534742200_2112481937_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQN4JuwiUGV_6h1W6LLWl3xLp3eyFUZ_XfT85W0PdgQmeKlqb97eaW2KMJzdn8oxX-XSoUnGr3ZnyY-EmQtP44NsvcVwDdUSca2OGw7o8YxxPwZgXMF_yhCSwBDKJkL8Yv9o-zytKgXPQ/s640/621001_10151049534742200_2112481937_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blueberries, pomegranate seeds, cacao nibs in flax meal</td></tr>
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Nuts and fruits together make a delectable and filling combination. Here's a snack with apple pieces topped with cinnamon and crushed pecans. Remember, some nuts, like almonds and walnuts, are better consumed soaked to activate the enzyme inhibitors (more on this in a different post).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwY3KuCl0Fnp_cQ1HVgNEtVLtpySTg8FDTHMF7hj14d7NK9LUxCyckupOLMP1RahD-yg_YDQuYfvdSRFZXGSFHiiaebGzCDKAPQpOmpx1QmRYHHrV4j3VVLgRtedffJn81mVQK_qqtur4/s1600/329454_10151049466462200_47774779_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwY3KuCl0Fnp_cQ1HVgNEtVLtpySTg8FDTHMF7hj14d7NK9LUxCyckupOLMP1RahD-yg_YDQuYfvdSRFZXGSFHiiaebGzCDKAPQpOmpx1QmRYHHrV4j3VVLgRtedffJn81mVQK_qqtur4/s640/329454_10151049466462200_47774779_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apple and crushed pecans, topped with cinnamon.</td></tr>
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Feeling queasy after a greasy lunch and want something cleansing and citrusy?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBx6V2fm2trKHQxi9kG2azAtgSYisUuygCniEDwGBQyyWXaSay9kFFLk2jsUTXnEpfEepoL5UDRaWlzFG-Tzjcl1LpsoQ6QUsgK46YwSWAd8IhRuhWEhl19uDm2sk4pu2infNIb0UqyMY/s1600/334196_10151049534512200_1550766790_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBx6V2fm2trKHQxi9kG2azAtgSYisUuygCniEDwGBQyyWXaSay9kFFLk2jsUTXnEpfEepoL5UDRaWlzFG-Tzjcl1LpsoQ6QUsgK46YwSWAd8IhRuhWEhl19uDm2sk4pu2infNIb0UqyMY/s640/334196_10151049534512200_1550766790_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grapefruit wedges sprinkled with cinnamon and grated ginger</td></tr>
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Here's something even more interesting - <a href="http://www.veganpeace.com/recipe_pages/recipes/CashewCarrotPate.htm" target="_blank">cashew carrot pate</a> and <a href="http://www.nourishingmeals.com/2010/01/collard-wraps-with-raw-sunflower-pate.html" target="_blank">sunflower pate</a> served with celery and carrot sticks. This is almost a mini-meal. Love hummus? Here is a no-bean <a href="http://www.rawbayarea.com/raw-resources/recipes/#zuchinnihummous" target="_blank">zucchini hummus recipe</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGgQRTy6f7woOV3mfKrbzYoTKpwzBlYcoVOb8vbpvYR1yydhJFs7Ip-Jqeu_AmhPt6IIGJpT5g-jw-m1EI3K2x6BrEUFQunrp3AmsAyynvjS03mkR5VF7S0aHlfodD-qTD6OV6ond5WXI/s1600/893127_10151479283552200_1238129214_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGgQRTy6f7woOV3mfKrbzYoTKpwzBlYcoVOb8vbpvYR1yydhJFs7Ip-Jqeu_AmhPt6IIGJpT5g-jw-m1EI3K2x6BrEUFQunrp3AmsAyynvjS03mkR5VF7S0aHlfodD-qTD6OV6ond5WXI/s640/893127_10151479283552200_1238129214_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Cookies are possible too! No white flour, no sugar or preservatives, no baking and later scrubbing the bakeware. These <a href="http://madetocreateblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/raw-trail-mix-cookies.html" target="_blank">trail-mix cookies</a> keep for up to three weeks in an airtight container.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDB061E4mNXuXTOudWr8MUraUmX0v0i9GAmdvUEGZci-4nj7JiYOAY2kz3Oc3qXGeyxleZ1J-_BHnVdLaPXwomBe3tWK3oCrw8K66Kftm_Gze0nhk4GeDO1Rs3SLo-LSqL3jWkgeD4xzA/s1600/Cookies.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDB061E4mNXuXTOudWr8MUraUmX0v0i9GAmdvUEGZci-4nj7JiYOAY2kz3Oc3qXGeyxleZ1J-_BHnVdLaPXwomBe3tWK3oCrw8K66Kftm_Gze0nhk4GeDO1Rs3SLo-LSqL3jWkgeD4xzA/s640/Cookies.png" width="456" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raw vegan trial mix cookies</td></tr>
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How about energy drinks? Well, <a href="http://www.theperfectgrain.com/" target="_blank">mila</a>, a form of chia seeds, is a great source of energy. Hydrated mila, whether in plain water or coconut water or a green smoothie or almond milk makes a great energy drink.<br />
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For chips lovers, as mentioned in the last post about <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/05/eating-raw-for-lunch-and-dinner.html" target="_blank">raw lunch and dinner</a>, a dehydrator can make chips of a variety of veggies like carrot, kale, beets, etc. It can also make raw vegan breads, bread-sticks, fruit lather, roasted nuts, etc. Checkout a pic of onion rings in the making in that post.<br />
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If you don't have a dehydrator, head to the raw food section of Whole Foods; you'll be amazed at the variety and possibility the raw food world offers for snacks. As a word of caution, I'd limit off-the-shelf products even when they're labelled raw. That's simply because they've been mass-produced and have lived on the shelf for a while - not as good as something fresh and homemade.<br />
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I'll conclude this post with another of my all-time-favorite raw vegan snack =). I bet you'll crave coconut water right now! ;)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0A_9RSkW0hPTBNt33qW1MgzLhF7St1OxdyzEUIfzjOTywtcmjp6cf18csI5Tuze6a932lLD9QhyphenhyphenwkDIm8E6gO7fuICe2RqXSKu2KB0UML04AEAGX30Ua_0UeGXpqLftUmx-nZIxFpguI/s1600/CoconutWaterAndMeat.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0A_9RSkW0hPTBNt33qW1MgzLhF7St1OxdyzEUIfzjOTywtcmjp6cf18csI5Tuze6a932lLD9QhyphenhyphenwkDIm8E6gO7fuICe2RqXSKu2KB0UML04AEAGX30Ua_0UeGXpqLftUmx-nZIxFpguI/s640/CoconutWaterAndMeat.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meat and water from a young thai coconut</td></tr>
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Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-3695281701039493262013-05-31T22:15:00.000-07:002015-05-30T16:37:26.848-07:00Eating Raw for Lunch and Dinner<title>Raw Vegan Lunch and Dinner Recipes and Ideas</title>
So I mentioned in a previous post how <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/03/my-personal-benefits-from-green-smoothies.html" target="_blank">green smoothies extensively benefited me</a>. Among other things, most importantly, they paved the way for my ~70% raw vegan lifestyle by essentially resetting my taste buds and getting a handle on the all too well-known cravings we often give in to! In fact, this has been my lifestyle consistently since the 20-day detox in July '12. So what have I been eating for all these months? Certainly not just salads ;). Read on... Be sure to checkout the pictures, too, of my food that I've been clicking over the last several months.<br />
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Raw food is much more diverse than salads! Even when we do eat <strong>salads</strong>, we tend to overload them with highly-processed, preservative-laden dressings to make them "tasty." This essentially negates the benefits of the nutrition-dense, fresh, low-calorie, easy-on-the-body salad. So how about fresh, raw, vegan dressings instead? At the start of every week, I make several servings of one to two salad dressings that I then use during the week. <br />
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Here are a few very simple <strong>salad dressing recipes</strong>. None of them takes more than 10 minutes. All of them taste delicious; uncannily similar to their cooked counterparts!<br />
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<u>Lemon-Avocado Dressing</u>: 1 avocado, 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1 tbsp water, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, dash cayenne pepper, black pepper, pinch salt. Whisk together. Keeps for a couple of days. Makes one to two servings.<br />
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<u>Olive Oil Vinaigrette</u>: Whisk together 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp apple-cider vinegar, dash salt and pepper. Voila!<br />
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<u>Raw Vegan Ranch</u>: Quarter cup cashews (soaked for a couple of hours, ideally), 2 tbsp water, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp dried dill, salt to taste, a couple of dates if you want slight sweetness. 2 servings. Yummy.<br />
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<strong>Raw soups</strong> are great accompaniments to salads, a hearty snack by themselves, and even a complete meal when made consistent and creamy (hail the avocado). No, one does not have to go cold turkey on a raw lifestyle. Let your Vitamix run for an extra 60 seconds on high and you have a lukewarm soup. Let it run for 2 minutes, and you have a steaming one. Over-blending should be avoided, though, to keep the nutrition and desired texture intact.<br />
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Raw soups can also be heated on a stove. Heat them until you can still dip your finger in the soup - that's about 105F. Stir intermittently to heat uniformly and avoid burning/thickening of the contents at the bottom. Another option is to use a food <a href="http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/" target="_blank">dehydrator</a>, if you have one (and space for it on your kitchen counter). I have not used one myself but pouring the soup in a metal bowl and warming in the dehydrator for ~20 minutes works wonders. <br />
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A yet another great thing about soups is that the same ingredients can be used with different spices to vary the flavor and experience the world cuisine! Top your soup with one of the <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-superfood-catalog-deep-dive-into-nutrition.html" target="_blank">several superfoods</a> and you have a home run meal. Here are a couple of my favorite <strong>soup recipes</strong>:<br />
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<u>Red Bell Pepper Soup</u>: 1 red bell pepper, 1 tbsp miso, 1-2 tbsp lemon juice to taste, half to 1 avocado, salt to taste, dash cayenne / black pepper, 1 clove garlic, chipotle or curry powder or turmeric powder to taste. Blend them all. <br />
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<u>Carrot Ginger Soup</u>: 2 cups of carrots blended in 4 cups of water, mixture strained to remove fiber (this step is <em>optional</em> - carrots never blend homogeneously, so straining the fiber away gives the soup a smoother texture). Add 1/2 avocado, 1 tbsp miso, 1-2" ginger depending on taste, 1 tsp curry powder or another spice for desired ethnic flavor and blend again.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIgA0s4KFyc64jINPfThxhBTAoQkY3Qwf4lhw1oCs11BeP6BXIb2CrlU-BuI3cH4MdBJtYIb8op7wNraPmQDNipXClXz6Hh1ycSZLyO6WQHiJzv9Oe5aykFEKVxOCy57LUxWuF5acnscg/s1600/465973_10151551980737200_278596197_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIgA0s4KFyc64jINPfThxhBTAoQkY3Qwf4lhw1oCs11BeP6BXIb2CrlU-BuI3cH4MdBJtYIb8op7wNraPmQDNipXClXz6Hh1ycSZLyO6WQHiJzv9Oe5aykFEKVxOCy57LUxWuF5acnscg/s640/465973_10151551980737200_278596197_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raw vegan carrot ginger soup topped with dried parsley and hemp seeds</td></tr>
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Yes, there's more. Ever imagined a fully raw burrito? How about a <strong>lush green wrap</strong>? Green leafy vegetables with large leaves, such as red-leaf lettuce and collard, are perfect for making wraps! Layer the leaf with sunflower or another seed pate or even simply mashed avocado, top with shredded carrots, beets, red / green cabbage, sliced bell pepper, jalapeno, grated ginger, sprouts, etc., and roll 'em up. Stick a toothpick to hold it together and the funky look will have your friends salivate! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCaBhFW_aqldtIONIj7eqAM_2_ls8EvIGzUhX3q4Cn4PNu5aKKKmA5Eoc_JakfaTQ71AHEq4K-7KhSJ834O_lE6aoMaeEzL9N0MmK9IeqWtfWdbprdgzt4YFyKnMaeiP2UIaDF3LRlPK4/s1600/561036_10151049467517200_2092390218_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCaBhFW_aqldtIONIj7eqAM_2_ls8EvIGzUhX3q4Cn4PNu5aKKKmA5Eoc_JakfaTQ71AHEq4K-7KhSJ834O_lE6aoMaeEzL9N0MmK9IeqWtfWdbprdgzt4YFyKnMaeiP2UIaDF3LRlPK4/s640/561036_10151049467517200_2092390218_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red lettuce wraps with veggies and marinated mushrooms</td></tr>
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When the leaf has a rough texture and is rather tough, like collard, steaming it for 30-60 seconds makes it pliable and gives it a real tortilla-like texture. <strong>Missing meat?</strong> Marinate portabella / crimini / shiitake mushroom in a blend of toasted sesame oil, agave / maple syrup, and soy sauce and they taste exactly like meat. Add ginger / garlic / grapefruit juice to the blend to further enhance the taste of the 'meat'. Stuff them in the wrap!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB6MaC0TROiCNj6vc9gIy_S0SUI8rP8xOsXk3_xuN-har6f9lyIsCpRUJlSHAciPGGtrDqKYoQRVN3U_ZRXNE0LyqfLzV34xM4QfwZdKlXF13ADjmvQyawT9DGGll9LQrCAFQqSunGx60/s1600/903865_10151520292182200_1426767415_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB6MaC0TROiCNj6vc9gIy_S0SUI8rP8xOsXk3_xuN-har6f9lyIsCpRUJlSHAciPGGtrDqKYoQRVN3U_ZRXNE0LyqfLzV34xM4QfwZdKlXF13ADjmvQyawT9DGGll9LQrCAFQqSunGx60/s640/903865_10151520292182200_1426767415_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collard leaf wraps with more pate, veggies, and avocado on the side.</td></tr>
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What about <strong>pasta</strong>? Well, that's possible too. Zucchini, when run through a <a href="http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=spiralizer" target="_blank">spiralizer</a>, tossed in dash salt and let sit for a few minutes, looks and tastes exactly like pasta. Make a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/organic-authoritycom/raw-sundried-tomato-marin_b_1847403.html" target="_blank">raw marinara</a> / <a href="http://www.therawtarian.com/raw-alfredo-sauce-recipe" target="_blank">alfredo</a> / <a href="http://vegetarian.about.com/od/rawfoodsrecipes/r/Raw-Pesto-With-Avocado.htm" target="_blank">pesto</a> sauce and you have your pasta for dinner.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWjoHIFd6QNKEOrSD6yITFeppza5D-aF0HPWXNY6AHG4XcmSr9pAsGfcRwO5_I5is6J5prDyg_M7g0y0vCcVj72bTuH4wFQL3fa59mPMx81AZ0ME17G4FHOjCtNK9_4U5sy_Gau9O2cYc/s1600/411490_10151049466307200_1444656261_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWjoHIFd6QNKEOrSD6yITFeppza5D-aF0HPWXNY6AHG4XcmSr9pAsGfcRwO5_I5is6J5prDyg_M7g0y0vCcVj72bTuH4wFQL3fa59mPMx81AZ0ME17G4FHOjCtNK9_4U5sy_Gau9O2cYc/s640/411490_10151049466307200_1444656261_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zucchini pasta with raw marinara</td></tr>
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Another (r)awesome option for pasta is <a href="http://altmedicine.about.com/od/rawfooddiet/a/Kelp-Noodles.htm" target="_blank">kelp noodles</a>. A sea vegetable rich in iodine and very low in calories, Kelp offers luscious tangles that would satisfy anyone's noodle cravings! Rinse them through cold water 2 to 3 times, let them sit in warm water for 30 to 60 minutes and they are ready to go. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2h9Cn0AnmK40dlVsu2adCQyPewZueIIWwuApoVWZp0q2uIUBfr6_u5SVVUbMTEq2K0CLebyr45BBs7V7qgRXcHWjVX2l9p7AfI1uWflIo3ilTXKiS2MKjeZ8YdjXosa9vE1Px-FMpLn4/s1600/778650_10151357545462200_142661187_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2h9Cn0AnmK40dlVsu2adCQyPewZueIIWwuApoVWZp0q2uIUBfr6_u5SVVUbMTEq2K0CLebyr45BBs7V7qgRXcHWjVX2l9p7AfI1uWflIo3ilTXKiS2MKjeZ8YdjXosa9vE1Px-FMpLn4/s640/778650_10151357545462200_142661187_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kelp noodles tossed in raw marinara, served with raw vegan alfredo sauce and shredded carrots on the side</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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If you have some more time, <strong>sushi</strong> is possible too. Checkout this one I made some time back =). Agreed, my knife skills suck! But still...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihx4n2ZsNcsrHBExsHCd0BaUBiHHUn5HLt87sCExIbXGwPRhplKB82aeANRop1j3KvyAjN0Om67JAkW4tiOd1gvTUCVhZpbtRSAf08So_DOXkr21XeEIMMcVlFzdETEzNqdGmnutG9PxI/s1600/557533_10151049467692200_721679357_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihx4n2ZsNcsrHBExsHCd0BaUBiHHUn5HLt87sCExIbXGwPRhplKB82aeANRop1j3KvyAjN0Om67JAkW4tiOd1gvTUCVhZpbtRSAf08So_DOXkr21XeEIMMcVlFzdETEzNqdGmnutG9PxI/s640/557533_10151049467692200_721679357_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raw vegan sushi =)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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But wait, many food items are still missing from this list! There are raw options to even <b>breads</b>, <b>empanadas</b>, <b>quiche</b>, <b>falafel</b>, <b>fritters</b>, and many other foods. Really. A food <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_dehydrator" target="_blank">dehydrator</a> works by 'drying' foods over several hours using hot air. Dehydrating is fundamentally different from baking in that it is done at a much lower temperature and uses circulating hot air instead of typical convection. It's the lower temperature - only up to 105F - that still keeps the dehydrated food 'alive' or 'living'. See an old post on <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/why-eat-raw-food.html" target="_blank">why we should eat raw</a> for more details on the lower temperature part.<br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">As the name suggests, dehydration reduces the amount of water in the food, thereby, impeding the growth of food spoiling bacteria. Many ancient Asian cultures still make pickles by drying fruits and veggies, marinated in salt and spices, under the Sun. Same goes for many a snack items popular today, like potato and other chips, onion rings, fruit lather, etc. Then the 'fast' and pre-packaged food industry took over and began using chemicals instead of the Sun to achieve the same results but making us addicted, obese, and sick in the process =(.</span><br />
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I don't have any personal pics of dehydrated foods to share - yet - thanks to my small, crammed kitchen. But here is a picture of raw onion rings in the making from a demo at my local raw food meetup group. This tray is ready to be inserted in a dehydrator for about 8-10 hours of dehydration.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOoeYM9V7hr5Kasovjs_0MQyD858roBImFm-jo94Gn2b8HA8uUc71SURC5hwn1TVm4dSJrDFdnnPbHO7XruSbvjeucb2DIvvoxGW09WdwLwIie-7a45m2sNRawKoecig1t9tEh3DYrdY/s1600/901258_10151489553647200_298684851_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOoeYM9V7hr5Kasovjs_0MQyD858roBImFm-jo94Gn2b8HA8uUc71SURC5hwn1TVm4dSJrDFdnnPbHO7XruSbvjeucb2DIvvoxGW09WdwLwIie-7a45m2sNRawKoecig1t9tEh3DYrdY/s640/901258_10151489553647200_298684851_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raw onions cut in rings, tossed in sauce, spread on dehydrator tray</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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So this is how we're well stocked up for eating raw for lunch and dinner. I hope this blog post inspires you to consider this lifestyle with greater credibility and confidence. Stay tuned for much more on this blog. Thank you for reading.<br />
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-67530829791801207622013-04-28T14:00:00.000-07:002014-01-28T21:12:46.634-08:00An Evening with Cherie Soria and Dan Ladermann<title>An Evening with Cherie Soria and Dan Ladermann</title>
<meta name="description" content=“Cherie Soria and Dan Ladermann were at a local meet up group in Berkeley one evening. This Mother of Gourmet Raw Vegan Cuisine has quite a story of her life. Living an extremely active and fit life at an age that few in her family lived to see, her mission is very inspiring, knowledge of nutrition astounding, and culinary prowess impressive. It was great to listen to her talk about everything from her personal introduction to venture into nutrition to recipe demo and friendly chit-chat.">
A few weeks back I got the opportunity of listening to Cherie Soria and and Dan Ladermann at my local raw food meetup group. Cherie's story and mission were inspiring, her knowledge of nutrition astounding, and her culinary prowess impressive. In the end, she allowed ample time for Q&A, signed copies of her books, and let the audience take pictures with her. Read on for a complete account of our evening with her =).<br />
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To start with, Soria is respectfully known as 'The Mother of Gourmet Raw Vegan Cuisine'. She has been teaching this cuisine for 20 years (and vegetarian culinary for 40) now! She became vegetarian at a very young age in a survival fight when diabetes, high cholesterol, and other related health problems claimed the lives of many of her immediate loved ones. In 1992, she turned to veganism and raw foods after a life-changing visit to the <a href="http://www.annwigmore.org/" target="_blank">Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute</a> in Puerto Rico.<br />
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<a href="http://www.hippocratesinst.org/ann-wigmore" target="_blank"><span style="color: #741b47;">Ann Wigmore</span></a><span style="color: #45818e;"> was the founder of the </span><a href="http://www.hippocratesinst.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #741b47;">Hippocrates Health Institute</span></a><span style="color: #45818e;"> - the face of alternative health care movement in the US for over 25 years. This is the place that many "terminally-ill" patients visit, as a last-ditch effort, in a hope to reverse their health. The <strong>raw food regimen</strong> has cured and resuscitated countless lives there! It's a pure coincidence that soon after listening to Cherie Soria, I also got to listen to </span><a href="http://www.hippocratesinst.org/dr-brian-anna-maria-clement" target="_blank"><span style="color: #741b47;">Dr. Brian Clement</span></a><span style="color: #45818e;">, the co-director of the Institute, at another event; stay tuned for an article on that.</span><br />
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Inspired by her visit to the Ann Wigmore Institute, Soria brought the gourmet raw vegan cuisine home. Starting with teaching classes around the country and <a href="http://amzn.com/e/B001JS0MI2" target="_blank">authoring several books</a>, she founded the <a href="http://rawfoodchef.com/" target="_blank">Living Light Culinary Art Institute</a> in Northern California in 1998. This institute has since trained many top chefs around the world and offers a variety of culinary courses and certifications along with an in-depth science of raw food nutrition program. Together with husband Ladermann, she owns 3 other eco-friendly, raw vegan businesses - the <a href="http://livinglightinn.com/" target="_blank">Living Light Inn</a>, <a href="http://rawfoodchef.com/cafe/rawFoodsCafe.html" target="_blank">Cafe</a>, and <a href="http://shop.rawfoodchef.com/" target="_blank">Marketplace</a>. Here is her <a href="http://www.youtube.com/feed/UCrEtbXqKmvqHcq4soZgLXcw" target="_blank">Youtube channel</a>.<br />
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What I found most exhilarating about Soria that evening was her strive to empower <em>every individual</em> by disseminating her knowledge and sharing her personal experience with the raw vegan food philosophy. Her staunch belief that each one of us in her audience had the potential to steer our own small communities towards a healthier lifestyle, and thereby reverse the health crises of our nation, was quite <strong>encouraging</strong>. She put in words my unspoken intentions behind authoring this blog. Still running marathons and practicing skills from her three black belts in karate at the age of more than 60 - that few in her family even lived to see(!) - it was a marvel to listen to the accomplishments, ambitions, and hopes of this petite woman.<br />
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Moving on to healthy eating habits, Cherie started with the general advice from all raw foodists:<br />
<ul>
<li>Avoid cooking foods at very high temperatures as that renders the food essentially dead. See my earlier post on <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/why-eat-raw-food.html" target="_blank">why we should eat our foods raw</a>.</li>
<li>Avoid eating foods devoid of all nutrition (e.g., fried foods or even those that have a lot of oil in them, like roasted nuts, chips, etc., pasta, white flour and other products containing gluten that causes inflammation).</li>
<ul>
<li>Avoid eating late at night as the body tends to disturb sleep while working to digest the food.</li>
</ul>
<li>Filter tap water before drinking as well as cooking as it contains chemicals that kill the essential bacteria in our digestive tract. It was interesting to learn that the Living Light Institute has a full in-house water filteration system at both the Institute and the Inn. They recycle their water and have all eco-friendly rooms - showers, beds and everything.</li>
<li>Get enough fluids in the form of water, green smoothies and juices, soups, fresh produce, etc., to keep the body hydrated. She strongly recommended drinking warm water with a few drops of lemon in it, first thing in the morning. Here I can take partial pride in saying I've been drinking water <em>everyday</em> right after getting out of bed for about 10 years now and stomach problems don't even dare to come anywhere close to me =).</li>
</ul>
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Coming to <strong>nutrition</strong>, needless to say, Soria is a huge believer in Nature's wisdom in meeting all our nutritional needs. She recommends <strong>eating all the colors of the rainbow</strong> as they have a rich assortment of the plant compounds called phytochecmicals. Usually, the darker the color, the richer the nutrient profile. Go for beets, red cabbage, eggplant, purple kale and many more. Phytochemicals do a great job assisting the anti-oxidants in fighting the free radicals. Additionally, greens are a great source of <em>natural</em> protein, the kind that our bodies know how to breakdown and process. Cherie likes to limit her <strong>avocado</strong> intake to half a fruit a day.<br />
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Like many other nutritionists, she strongly warns us from using <strong>rancid</strong> oils and other food products. Rancid ingredients, when consumed, enable free radicals that do the exact opposite of anti-oxidants! This is why it is recommended that flax seeds be ground to flax meal just before use. Flax is rich in Omega 3s but low in anti-oxidants; flax meal goes rancid pretty quickly. On the other hand, chia seed is rich in both Omega 3s and anti-oxidants. <br />
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In contrast to many, Soria shuns the use of <strong>vinegar</strong> - even apple cider vinegar! According to her, it causes bloating; she recommends using it only for medicinal purposes. It is somewhat baffling to read Ani Phyo refer to apple cider vinegar as a power packed ingredient that is rich in potassium and calcium and fights cholesterol and controls insulin - she uses it quite a bit in her 15-day fat blast plan. I'd love to know what my readers have to say about the edible properties of vinegar. Please write comments below if you have an opinion.<br />
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<strong>Fermented</strong> foods and nut and seed cheeses are great, advocates Soria. Between kombucha and kefir, she's more experienced with kefir. For cheeses, she recommends making them with rejuvelac while admitting that making rejuvelac itself takes 5 days. On that note, Heather Haxo Phillips uses probiotic powder to accelerate fermentation in nut and seed cheeses. These cheeses usually keep in the fridge for upto 3 days and are uncannily similar to dairy cheeses! This comes from sampling a variety of these in one of Heather's classes a few weeks back. Yes, I'm going crazy keeping on top of all these local raw food events!<br />
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Soria also believes in adding <strong>nutritional supplements</strong> to further enrich one's dietary intake. She recommends 2000IU of vitamin B12 once a week and taking vitamins D/D2/D3 from vegan sources. (There is quite a controversy on a possible B12 deficiency in a predominantly plant-based diet. I will write another blog post on that later.) Her favorite brands for supplements are HeathForce and E3. She takes E3 Renew Me and E3Live Frozen Blue-Green Algae. To that end, <a href="http://astore.amazon.com/httpwwwrawbay-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=7" target="_blank">here</a> is Heather's shopping resource on food supplements.<br />
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Before moving to the recipe demo, Cherie touched very briefly upon what it takes to be a good chef and <strong>create new recipes</strong>. There are four primary flavors that we taste and discern - sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. In order to come up with scrumptious recipes, it's important to know how to balance these flavors and play with the ingredients to accentuate or downplay any given flavor. Generally speaking, all greens are bitter and garlic, pepper, ginger, and onion are considered pungent. <br />
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Finally, it was time to impress us with her culinary prowess of 40 years. She demo-ed a raw recipe - <strong>sweet red pepper and zucchini hummus</strong>. The red peppers were peeled for a smoother texture (the thick bell pepper skin does not blend well and leaves tiny red traces in food). Raw tahini from Artisan was optionally used for more smoothness. Cherie made it spicy by adding chipotle powder and used both smoked and regular paprika. Crinkled cucumber slices were then decorated with this hummus, for us to sample it. Using a pastry decorator to give a wafer-like appearance to the <em>icing</em> was exciting; I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.<br />
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-66297489290949953572013-03-31T19:41:00.001-07:002015-05-30T16:39:22.723-07:00How Green Smoothies have Benefited Me<title>How Green Smoothies have Benefited Me</title>
In my <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/03/green-smoothie-diet-benefits-recipes.html" target="_blank">last post</a> I wrote an extensive treatise on why green smoothies are, scientifically, a must-have food, regardless of whether one is living the raw food lifestyle. Before we move on to the many more exciting posts planned for this blog, I want to write a quick journal entry on the benefits I have personally reaped by incorporating green smoothies in my daily diet.<br />
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I first began making green smoothies for breakfast in late May/early June in 2012. Like many people, I was replacing ready-to-eat (and in my case, also freely and readily available at work) cereal and milk with something that I had to make at home. In the beginning this was not simple - I had to spend time on the weekend to plan, <em>additionally</em>, my breakfast for the week ahead, spend money to shop accordingly, and then store the ingredients carefully so the produce didn't perish half way through the week. Then, <em>every</em> morning, I had to wash/cut/blend, bring the smoothie in a jar to work, wash the blender, knife, cutting board, and lastly, wash my jar at work. It seemed to be a lot of additional effort. <br />
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So, 10 months down the line, why/how did I keep doing it?! In fact, the more regularly I drank green smoothies on a daily basis, not only did the whole 'chore' of making them become easier, a green smoothie a day became <strong>a vital need of my body</strong>! Today, I almost have a 'physical dependency' on green smoothies --- in a <em>good</em> way... For many months now, there are days on which I drink more than one green smoothie. In <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/my-stumble-into-raw-food-world.html" target="_blank">my stumble in the raw food world</a>, I talked very briefly about what green smoothies have done for me; it's time to elaborate on that in this article.<br />
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First off, in only a week or two of getting started on this breakfast, I began feeling <strong>refreshed</strong> and <strong>energized</strong>. Even though my stomach was full in the same way as it used to be with cereal and milk, I <strong>felt lighter</strong> than usual. It's almost like I was using a better quality oil to run my machinery. As I felt lighter after breakfast, I could focus better on my work and my productivity increased. I knew I was getting more done than before, and at a faster pace. Days on which I missed a green smoothie, the heavy, clunky feeling that came with going back to drier, processed foods weighed me down. That, in itself, was reason enough to continue with my daily chore... <br />
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A couple of more weeks down the line, I realized green smoothies had actually begun <strong>affecting my food choices for the rest of the day</strong>! Days that I started with a green smoothie were days on which I <em>naturally preferred</em> salads for lunch (I hadn't quite been a salad eater before =)), fruits for snack, and a lighter supper. Anything that was deep fried, or just fried, creamy/cheesy/oily, or sodium- or sugar-laden did not appeal me on those days. Those were 'good' days - I got more work done, I had more spare energy, I was mentally more alert, I ate better, I <i>felt</i> better. On the other days, I was okay eating my usual lunch and snacking on roasted cashews, peanut butter pretzels, wheat thins, etc. Those were the days on which my exhaustion and general dissatisfaction with my routine came back. <br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">Heather did mention that green smoothies had the potential to impact our food choices for the rest of the day in her Introduction to Raw Food Cuisine class. Her statement made me quite cynical; it appeared that she was trying too hard to sell her food philosophy to have people sign up for more of her upcoming classes! But seeing this happen to me for real, amused and struck me and I had a new-found respect for her (she is a great teacher; I have taken many of her classes by now). A detailed account of her class is in an </span><a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/my-stumble-into-raw-food-world.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #45818e;">older post</span></a><span style="color: #45818e;"> of mine. More about her is on her website - </span><a href="http://www.rawbayarea.com/"><span style="color: #45818e;">http://www.rawbayarea.com</span></a>.<br />
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Soon after, I could predictably play around with my food choices every single day by having a green smoothie in the morning - or not. As I chose to continue with this regimen, with more passing weeks, it dawned upon me that I <em>ate better even on days on which I occasionally missed a green smoothie</em>. In other words, there was a <em>shift</em> in what was tasty to me and what wasn't; <strong>my taste buds had begun changing</strong>! What can be a more promising passport to healthier eating and, thereby, better health than all of us <em>actually</em> finding apples, oranges, romaine, and kale more delicious than burgers, pizza, nachos, soda, sundae? Would the processed food advertisements around us continue to be as effective as they are today? Would the Olympics have approved sponsors like McDonald's and Coke? Would we continue to be a nation victimized by obesity and a myriad of health problems that plague us today? Would our children have a shorter life span than us?<br />
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Beginning in July '12, I was taste bud-wise (and mentally) prepared to experiment with a 20-day raw food detox. Since I grew up vegetarian and had generally been a conscious eater (just not a salad eater, though =)), my body did not have much to detox. But that detox triggered my metabolism such that I began losing weight - something I had been aspiring for since my teenage years! What had never happened before happened now - I have lost ~22 pounds since, my BMI has dropped from 24.9 to 21.5!! Post detox, since August, I have been eating ~70% raw vegan and have never had this kind of energy and vitality before. I resumed swimming after 14 years in September and started this blog in November. Life has changed in many more profoundly positive ways... <br />
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What other benefits could I have reaped by making <em>one single change</em> - drinking one green smoothie a day? What else should I have to say to stress enough the importance of green smoothies and raw foods?<br />
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<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-10585680013201081592013-03-03T22:02:00.000-08:002015-05-30T16:37:41.136-07:00First Step towards Eating Raw: Green Smoothies<title>First Step towards Eating Raw: Green Smoothies</title>
Okay, now I do understand that food, <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/why-eat-raw-food.html" target="_blank">when eaten raw</a>, claims to work unparalleled miracles for my mind and body(!) and is also lighter on our planet. I am also aware that there is a <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-superfood-catalog-deep-dive-into-nutrition.html" target="_blank">lot more to the raw food world</a> for variety and nutrition than just the regular produce I see at my local grocery store. But what is the simplest thing I can do to start reaping the benefits of this regimen <em>with minimal effort and time</em>?<br />
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Fortunately, there does exist a "5-minute breakfast" in the raw food world. It is called a <strong>Green Smoothie</strong>. Whether or not this is a new menu item for you, this article discusses, in great details, why it is a key ingredient in our daily food palette. By the end of it, I truly hope to convince you to start your own one-green-smoothie-a-day routine for real. <br />
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To allure you into reading further, here is a picture of my VitaMix jar from one of these mornings.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KLz6iWjWzhj_ZD9AT4eHwKldFPQ2OA42rE0bzI7haSW6lVysLbV1_NIPRTt5D_zPRNOX7I7zoVVSQ3prPunxViA0z8TZ9HntaMm4AQ7BAJJZeGMTmHTh2CD0hYV5SPf8GS3bfzcavTQ/s1600/IMG_0044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KLz6iWjWzhj_ZD9AT4eHwKldFPQ2OA42rE0bzI7haSW6lVysLbV1_NIPRTt5D_zPRNOX7I7zoVVSQ3prPunxViA0z8TZ9HntaMm4AQ7BAJJZeGMTmHTh2CD0hYV5SPf8GS3bfzcavTQ/s1600/IMG_0044.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the jar: apple, purple kale, lemon, and alfa-alfa sprouts.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<strong><u>A "Complete" Meal</u></strong><br />
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What would the nutritional chart of our ideal meal look like? It'd have to be rich in fiber, contain the recommended doses of vitamins, minerals, and proteins, and be low in fat and carbs. All this while keeping sugar low and, most importantly, still <em>tasting delicious</em>.<br />
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We absolutely need to care about getting enough fiber in our diet. Among other things, it helps control blood sugar, keeps bad cholesterol low, regulates bowel movement, keeps us full for a longer time (so we don't pile on empty? calories every hour), and thereby, helps us maintain an optimal body weight. A <strong>fiber rich meal in the morning</strong> keeps us full until lunch but does not weigh us down like many oily and greasy commonly preferred processed breakfast foods. <br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">The best sources of fiber are natural, plant-based foods - vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts. (Animal products are not rich in fiber - bad news for hardcore meat eaters.) It is also worth noting that most fruits are not particularly rich in fiber (berries and a few others being an exception). When we juice an orange or apple, we essentially get concentrated sugar (with a small amount of vitamins/minerals). That's why The Holy OJ and AJ are <strong>not</strong> proving to be good accompaniments to the American breakfast table =).</span><br />
<span style="color: #45818e;"></span><br />
While consuming fruits in their juiced form alone is not healthy, whole fruits offer a wide array of nutritional value. Additionally, they <em>taste great</em>, often beating vegetables that have an equally good nutritional profile. When grown organically, many fruits can be eaten with their peel on; most peels supplement the nutrition that their fruits offers (and reduce prep time). <br />
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<strong><u>Why Add Greens?</u></strong><br />
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If I say "Green is Life" and leave it at that, you'll probably roll your eyes and skip the rest of this article. So here is the elaborated version: <strong>greens are nutritionally very dense</strong>, calorie for calorie. They are rich in almost all essential minerals and vitamins, <em>including</em> proteins. Pull up the nutritional profile of the most common green leafy vegetables - kale, spinach, collard greens, romaine lettuce - using your favorite search engine and take a look yourself. Here's my favorite one - <a href="http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2461/2" target="_blank">kale</a>. The darker the green color, the richer the nourishment.<br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">If you're into the evolution theory, you might be curious to know what primitive man ate all these centuries before the Industrial Revolution came and trampled on our food preferences beyond resemblance with our ancestors. It is interesting to know that chimpanzees, our closest kin, consume 40% greens in their diet. Since their food pyramid has been far less modified than ours, there are reasons to believe that that's how many greens we really need in our diet (I'm looking at you, USDA!). Not sure if this also how we got to the 60 to 40 ratio of fruits to greens for smoothies, as a general rule of thumb.</span><br />
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So, after all this ado,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>Essential Morning Meal => Fruits + Greens</strong></div>
</blockquote>
But where does a smoothie fit into the picture?<br />
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<strong><u>Why Make a Smoothie?</u></strong><br />
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All the nutrients that the greens possess are stored inside the cells of the plants, well, of course. These cells are made of <strong>cellulose</strong>, one of the <em>strongest molecular structures on the planet</em>. (It is this tough material that helps plants to survive outdoors.) For valuable nutrients to be released, these cell walls need to be ruptured. These wall are not ruprured unless we masticate our greens very well. Failing to do so jams our digestive system and makes greens unpalatable for the longer term.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #45818e;">Once again, an evolution-enthusiast reader would agree that our jaw muscles have frailed over past several centuries as we started eating cooked and other heavily processed foods. We biologically evolve to adapt to changes in our environment; we simply no longer need strong enough teeth and jaw muscles to masticate on rough fiber as our next of kin, chimpanzees, do!</span><br />
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So we resort to<strong> blending</strong> to do the "chewing" for us. Thus, is incarnated, a <em>smoothie</em>. <br />
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Another advantage of eating a blended food in the morning is that our digestive system is still waking up and we need to function at full throttle to get through our busy day. A holistic meal like this releases tremendous amounts of nutrients and energy in the body without engaging the digestive system heavily to break it down.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #45818e;">Have you ever juiced a celery and had to clean up the tangled mess of long, <em>strong</em> threads stuck in the juicing auger? That's fiber.</span> <span style="color: #45818e;">It is the pulp left behind by our juicer when we juice fruits and vegetables</span><span style="color: #45818e;">. We saw the benefits of a fiber-rich diet above. In fact, it is the presence of fiber that makes a smoothie a <em>complete</em> meal.</span><br />
<br />
Finally, in a nutshell,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<strong>Fruits + Greens => Blending => Green Smoothie (a holistic meal)</strong></blockquote>
Now let's spend some time on getting started on green smoothies.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Delicious green smoothie recipes</u></strong><br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
These are some of my most favorite green smoothie recipes. (Yes, I'm very partial to kale.) Blend approximately 60% fruits, 40% greens, and water to the desired consistency to enjoy these combinations.<br />
<br />
Apple + lemon + kale <br />
Strawberry + banana + romaine<br />
Pineapple + kale<br />
Pineapple + parsley<br />
Orange + banana + parsley<br />
Kiwi + banana + celery<br />
Banana + kale<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQj9ObKID6sDirzNgXvHpSr4i5Ix3-TawxyvTzBlcye8uIUaFhQQEdwiuwXCQ-WQgZAkct_T6rLaT8eb53-JNlBiIbFoG8sEmyhpYlsoRVfeK-XCPuxPwHeSmyUcPK7X_cUUVxUgK3f1M/s1600/2012-06-09_11-48-08_631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQj9ObKID6sDirzNgXvHpSr4i5Ix3-TawxyvTzBlcye8uIUaFhQQEdwiuwXCQ-WQgZAkct_T6rLaT8eb53-JNlBiIbFoG8sEmyhpYlsoRVfeK-XCPuxPwHeSmyUcPK7X_cUUVxUgK3f1M/s1600/2012-06-09_11-48-08_631.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">orange + banana + parsley green smoothie</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong><u>A Note on Equipment</u></strong><br />
<br />
Buying a VitaMix is not a precursor to making smoothies at home! A personal blender does just fine, in the beginning at least. I had to run my personal blender for much longer to blend the ingredients well. As I started enjoying these smoothies and they became an essential part of my everyday routine, I was motivated to invest in a VitaMix.<br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
<strong><u>Green smoothie resources</u></strong><br />
<br />
<u>Recipes</u><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.rawfamily.com/recipes">http://www.rawfamily.com/recipes</a> - The app didn't work very well on my Android phone but there are recipes as you scroll down on this page</li>
<li><a href="http://www.rawbayarea.com/raw-resources/recipes/#greensmoothie">http://www.rawbayarea.com/raw-resources/recipes/#greensmoothie</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.oatmealinmybowl.com/the-kitchen/30-delicious-green-smoothie-recipes/">http://www.oatmealinmybowl.com/the-kitchen/30-delicious-green-smoothie-recipes/</a></li>
<li>keep looking online, there are more recipes than one can try in a lifetime =).</li>
</ul>
<u>Books</u><br />
<ul>
<li>Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko</li>
<li>Green Smoothie Recolution by Boutenko, again</li>
<li>Countless books on Amazon.com for {green smoothie recipes}</li>
</ul>
<br />
<strong><u>Next Steps</u></strong><br />
<br />
I will be writing a follow up post to revisit green smoothies to talk about many other ingredients that can be added to them for further enrichment, variety, and taste. In a second post, I'll be talking about all the positive changes these have brought in my life. For now, this extensive treatise should suffice to generate some serious interest in this promising breakfast option. To good health for everyone!<br />
<br />
<strong>References</strong>:<br />
<ul>
<li>12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Foods by Victoria Boutenko</li>
<li>Rigorous online reading...</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-87538704452457825502013-01-14T22:51:00.000-08:002014-01-28T19:55:35.995-08:00Deep Dive into Nutrition: The Superfood Catalog<title>Deep Dive into Nutrition: The Superfood Catalog</title>
<meta name="description" content="Superfoods are foods with high nutrient or phytochemical content that have huge health benefits. In this post, we'll talk about plant-based superfoods used in unprocessed form to complete our nutrition profile. Read on for examples from proteins to antioxidants, immunizers, omega 3s, fat blast aids, sea vegetables, and beyond.">
So now that we know <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/why-eat-raw-food.html" target="_blank">why raw foods are good for our body and mind</a>, it is time to explore the nutritional gamut of the raw food world. When I first got acquainted with these superfoods, I was absolutely flabbergasted by the kind of nutrition Nature has provided us with in the herbs growing in the Peruvian Amazonas to China and the sea vegetables in our oceans, seas, and lakes! <br />
<br />
Let's start by talking about <strong>'Superfoods</strong>.' Simply put, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfood#Potential_health_effects" target="_blank">superfoods</a> are foods with high nutrient or phytochemical content that have huge health benefits. Blueberry (for anthocynanins, vitamin C, manganese, dietary fiber, etc.) and fish (for omega-3 fatty acids) are the two most common superfoods from the plant and animal worlds. In the recent years, this term has reduced to a mere (and misleading) marketing tool; but that's a different topic altogether for now...<br />
<br />
In the rest of this journal entry, I will be introducing a large variety of superfoods that we can incorporate in our food rather easily to make it nutritionally dense AND delicious. It is worth noting here that these superfoods are in addition to the already well-known nuts, seeds, sprouts, etc. that are typically consumed raw.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Proteins</u></strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Hemp protein powder</strong>: Great nutrient profile - 45% protein, 43% fiber, 9% beneficial fats.<br />
<br />
<strong>Buckwheat groats</strong>: High quality protein. Acts as a wheat (gluten sounds familiar?) substitute. Sprout and dehydrate to use as crispies to top salads, soups, sprinkle into wraps, etc.<br />
<br />
<strong>Brown rice protein powder</strong>: Substitute for milk proteins. Somewhat chalky texture.<br />
<br />
<div>
<span class="il"><strong>Spirulina</strong></span>: Microscopic blue-green algae. Tastes like seaweed with strong ocean aroma. High amounts of proteins, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.</div>
<div>
Boosts immune system, aids in digestion, makes body environment alkaline. Available as flake powder and pressed tablets.<br />
<br />
<strong>Wheatgrass</strong>: Complete protein with about 30 enzymes, most vitamins and minerals needed for the human body, increases red blood cells, excellent detoxifying power, and the list continues. Best taken as "shots," though powder form can be used in smoothies (watch out for some nasty flavors - coming straight from my personal experience! =))</div>
<br />
<strong>Golden berries</strong>: Originally from the Incan land. 16% protein, high in phosphorous, excellent source for vitamin A, C, B Complex, and bioflavonoids. Sweet and tart, enjoy as any berry or raisins in trail mix, cereals, cookies, salads.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Antioxidants</u></strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Matcha</strong>: Finely milled green tea packed with antioxidants - reported to boost metabolism, enhance mood, lower cholesterol, help balance blood sugar. <em>Easy add to smoothies for anti-aging.</em> In fact, half a teaspoon of matcha is an essential ingredient in my green smoothies every morning.<br />
<br />
<div>
<strong>Goji berries</strong>: Comes from a shrub native to China. Increases longevity, has antioxidants and vitamins for brain health, prevents Alzheimer's. I personally love the flavor these berries add!<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>Alfalfa grass juice powder</strong>: Potential source of antioxidants and phytochemicals. Used in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine to treat poor digestion, arthritis, kidney stones, other digestive issues. Sweet mild flavor. Super alkalizing. Use in smoothies and shakes to boost immune system.</div>
<br />
<strong><u>Immunizers</u></strong><br />
<div>
<br />
<strong>Chlorella</strong>: Fresh water algae. Believed to boost immunity, help detox heavy metals, eliminate constipation, and body odor. Contains mostly protein, vitamins (E, B, C), and minerals (zinc, iron). Snack on tablets. Tastes like seaweed and green tea.<br />
<br />
<strong>Maca</strong>: Peruvian superfood that rebuilds weak immune system and re-mineralizes poorly nourished bodies. Awesome source for increasing energy and building endurance.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Omega 3s</u></strong></div>
<br />
<strong>Hemp Oil</strong>: 3:1 ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acids, rich in amino-acids and vitamin E, helps in hair and nail growth, anti-inflammatory.<br />
<br />
<div>
<strong>Sacha Inchi</strong>: Peruvian plant that grows small nuts rich in oil that is cholesterol free and Omega 3 rich. Tasty source of vitamin A/E. High in protein, rich in nonessential amino acids, strong nutty flavor similar to hemp oil. Can be used as any oil in dressings, sauces, soups. Use sparingly due to strong flavor.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Fat Blast</u></strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Coconut oil</strong>: It has special fats called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) that can break down health fats leading to burning of energy. Also increases HDL and resistance to infection causing viruses and bacteria. It was quite a surprise for me to see coconut oil being abundantly used in detox plans. Stay tuned for a post on detoxing.<br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
<strong>Cacao nibs and powder</strong>: Yes, chocolate, in its purest form, is a great aid to weight-loss. It has certain enzyme inhibitors that dimish appetite too. Also a great source of sulphur and manganese. <br />
<br />
<strong><u>Sea vegetables</u></strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Nori, kelp, hijiki, wakame, kombu, </strong><strong>dulse</strong>: One of the best sources of iodine, health-promoting vitamin K and folate. Nori has also been known to assist in weight-loss. In general, these see vegetables decrease inflammation, decrease LDL, anti-coagulate the blood, help fight cancers, and the thyroid in hormone balance. <br />
<strong><u></u></strong> <br />
<strong><u>Oils</u></strong>:<br />
<br />
<strong>Flax oil</strong>: Low in cholesterol, anti-inflammatory, cancer fighting, etc.<br />
<br />
<strong>Sesame oil</strong>: Helps in diabetes and lowers high blood pressure. Also known to assist in multiple sclerosis and cancer.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>30 times for Vitamin C than oranges and lemons</u></strong>?<br />
<br />
<div>
<strong>Camu Camu</strong>: Plant growing along the rivers and lakes of Peru, Brazil, and Venezuela. 30 times more vitamin C than oranges and lemons. It's a Dry pink powder - add to juices and smoothies for fruity, semi-sweet, acidic flavor.</div>
</div>
<strong><u>22 times more iron that spinach</u></strong>?!<br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
<div>
<strong>Barley grass juice powder</strong>: 22 times more iron than spinach, calcium, protein. Everything from aging to weight-loss, mild sweet flavor for smoothies, shake.</div>
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
<strong>References</strong>:<br />
"Ani's 15-Day Fat Blast" by Ani Phyo<br />
Countless other material that I read in last several months...<br />
<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-74282592479358199282012-11-25T19:09:00.001-08:002013-11-28T22:14:23.557-08:00My Stumble into the Raw Food World<title>A Raw Foodist's Journal - How I Stumbled into the Raw Food World</title>
<meta content="description" content="I stumbled into the raw food world out of pure happenstance - essentially boredom and my quest for new things to cook. After taking a Introduction to Raw Food class, I began experimenting with raw recipes on my own and never looked back. Today I'm 70% raw vegan and enjoy the invaluable returns from my new food habits.">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"May We All Be Bored In Life!"</blockquote>
<br />
By late spring this year, I was bored, awfully bored! The careerist in me wasn't excited about her profession anymore, the artist painted masterpieces only in her imagination, the chef had run out of all ideas for new concoctions, the blogger had been meaning to start her blog for the last five years (!), and the woman in me had lost her glamor.<br />
<br />
But it didn't stop there - food, too, became boring for me!! This might sound very alien to some of my readers. Day after day, I found visiting the same lunch places around work with colleagues boring. Week after week, I went to the groceries and brought almost nothing home because the taste of everything in my mouth felt, well, all too familiar. Stepping out with friends for dinner, all cuisines were the same old Mexican, Thai, Indian, Chinese, American... Clearly, my boredom wasn't sustainable for long.<br />
<br />
So I knew I had to change things; getting interested in food again was critical if I had to continue to exist =). I decided to sign up for a cooking class to get my inner chef's creative juices flowing and add some new flavors to my life. Little did I know, I would move <em>away</em> from cooking. Among many classes, I came across Heather Haxo Phillips' "Forget Cooking! Introduction to RAW Food Cuisine" that sounded intriguing and was logistically feasible. Without knowing most of what I wrote about <a href="http://arawfoodistsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/why-eat-raw-food.html" target="_blank">the benefits of a raw food diet</a> in my last post, I signed up for Heather's class. <br />
<br />
Fast forward to the day of the class, Heather had recipe handouts for all menu items. I flipped through them and thought:<br />
<br />
<strong>Almond Milk</strong> - is it same as what we get at the supermarket?<br />
<strong>Cream of Zucchini Soup</strong> - I had never bought another zucchini in my life after a friend served me an unappetizing curry made of zucchini =/<br />
<strong>Mediterranean Kale Salad</strong> - Oh "kale," that ugly, very dark green colored leaf resembling the skin of a frog! Yikes!<br />
<strong>Not Tuna Pate</strong> - no more pates for me. I had been to lunch with a few colleagues and had carrot pate and didn't like it. Apparently my taste hadn't quite evolved. (I like it now.)<br />
<strong>Zucchini Noodles with Marinara</strong> - ugh, zucchini again!<br />
<strong>Chocolate Mousse</strong> - yum, at last. But wait, with avocado?? I had quit buying avocados as I never managed to eat them in time and they rotted rather quickly.<br />
<br />
Besides the menu items, the recipes called for uncommon (for me) ingredients that had never been a part of my rather well-stocked pantry. Doesn't sound like raw food and I were meant to be together, does it? Being a skeptic, one of my questions to Heather was, "Shouldn't we be <em>always</em> cooking our food to get rid of the germs and bacteria?"<br />
<br />
It was sampling time at the end of the class. To my surprise, the whole plate, except for the kale salad (in my opinion), was actually DELICIOUS and tasted very different and exciting to my bored taste buds. Voila!! Heather also did a great job talking about many of the benefits of including more greens in our diet, shopping at the farmers' market instead of the supermarkets, the "correct" way of consuming nuts and seeds, etc. etc.<br />
<br />
Later that day when I got home, I read a lot more about the raw food regimen and everything I had heard in the class seemed to get confirmed and re-confirmed. <strong>I decided to take my very first raw food step - just a green smoothie in the morning</strong>. In the first few days, I even cheated - I added ~80% fruit and only ~20% greens (60-40 is the suggested proportion). But it made a difference within a matter of days. <br />
<br />
To begin with, somehow, I had more energy. I felt lighter. I felt like doing what the careerist, artist, chef, and woman in me had wanted to do. There was a gradual influx of <em>Qi</em> in me. <em>I was beginning to creep out of the ditch of boredom</em>. In a couple of weeks, I noticed my food choices for the rest of the day had begun changing - I did not long for the same flavors and food items anymore. More startling was the realization that on the days I did not start with a green smoothie, my eating patterns were different - they were the old patterns!<br />
<br />
Over next couple of months, I started shopping at the local farmers' market (and eventually fell in love with it), stocked up my pantry with many new ingredients that had never been a part of my food repertoire (for which the chef in me couldn't be more thankful), switched to 40-50% greens in my smoothies =), and began buying bunches of kale and making variations of kale salads =) =). There is a lot more to be told about how far I have come in the last several months. That will be another journal entry...<br />
<br />
To conclude this introduction to my rendezvous with raw food, the fact that I'm authoring this journal speaks volumes about what my philosophy around food has evolved into. We shall uncover these volumes in the upcoming days. For now, it's time for me to wrap up this long and writing-intensive but extremely rewarding Thanksgiving weekend of 2012.<br />
<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-17279861876036708572012-11-25T14:42:00.000-08:002013-11-28T21:10:40.037-08:00So Why NOT Cook Our Food?<title>A Raw Foodist's Journal - So Why NOT Cook Our Food?</title>
<meta name="description" content="Eating our food raw (uncooked) is better than cooking it. Raw foods are richer in nutrition, easier for the body to digest, and provide more energy and vitality to life than cooked foods. Eating raw is also beneficial to the environment as it cuts down industrial manufacturing, packaging, and transportation of food. Essentially, going raw helps us tread more lightly on our planet.">
Amid all the frenzy for cooked, baked, grilled, deep-fried, stir-fried, BBQ-ed, pasteurized, you-name-it treatments applied to all edible things ever known to man, eating the same ingredients raw sounds like a semi-civilized and, to some extent, even a primitive proposition. <br />
<br />
As we'll see in this post, it's quite the contrary. Eating raw foods is one of the best things we can do to our body and mind and environment! I summarize the benefits of eating raw into two categories - health & vitality and environmental friendliness.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Health & Vitality</u></strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Many beneficial nutrients exist only in fresh produce </strong>(such as fruits, vegetables, green leafy, and nuts and seeds). For the sake of concrete examples, cancer fighting falcarinol in raw carrots, anti-aging resveratrol in grapes, olive oil, etc., thousands of immune system enhancing and inflammation reducing phyto-nutrients found in fresh produce (many of these give the fruits and vegetables their bright colors).
<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>Food heated at temperatures higher than 105 degree F is devoid of most "life."</strong> This startling scientific fact warranties some detailed discussion:<br />
<br />
If we sow a raw almond seed and a roasted one, the raw seed remains dormant and germinates when the conditions are right; the roasted seed rots quickly. When consumed, which is likely to provide us with more nutrients and energy?<br />
<br />
A preliminary understanding of science tells us that heat causes the internal molecular structure of things to change (that's how red-hot iron can be cast into shapes whereas a cold iron rod can't be). <em>The same principle, when applied to food, causes the molecular structures of the naturally available nutrients to change into complex compounds like acrylamide, HCAs, and PAHs.</em> Our body has to work very hard to break these complex compounds again to digest them and release the nutrients. Ever felt as heavy after eating a large salad as an average plate of your most favorite cooked delicacy?<br />
<br />
Additionally, when heated, glucose particularly binds very tightly to proteins to form abnormally tight Advanced Glycoxidation End products (AGEs). <em>This is an irreversible connection.</em> The enzymes that disrupt other protein bonds cannot disrupt those in AGEs. These have been linked to many diseases from cardiovascular disorders to diabetes to stroke. Ironically, it is these AGEs that provide color, flavor, and texture in cooking - the golden brown color to roasted turkey and the darkening of a toast.<br />
<br />
In a nutshell, the complex compounds formed by thermal application to food are foreign to the human body. These are muta-gens and carcinogenic and cause inflammation. Inflammation is the cause of 90% of the diseases we know today.<br />
<br />
<strong>Processed, pre-packaged foods are even worse</strong>. Essentially, these are foods that have been engineered so we crave for them even more (and the manufacturers make more profits). How many of us have turned over the packaging of our most favorite snack and tried to decipher the long ingredient list? How many of them can we pronounce? How many of those grow naturally? Who takes the brunt of breaking down these <strong>engineered toxins</strong> after our <em>external</em> taste-buds have been ephemerally satiated?<br />
<br />
Ever wondered why we feel sleepy after a big meal? Brain and intestines are the two organs in our body that require the most energy to function. After a big meal, the brain diverts most energy (red blood cells) to the intestines to breakdown the food and carry the nutrients to all parts of the body. This causes the brain itself to feel lethargic and want to relax; the rest of the body obediently follows... <br />
<br />
Conversely, how would the functioning of our brain change if we ate simpler, naturally-growing foods? Thinking about it, our ancestors lived on a raw, plant-based diet and evolved into what we are today! (Man's ability to make fire has been conclusively dated back to only 400,000 years.) Nature has genetically programmed our bodies to process these foods over millions of years. Does the opposition to GMO foods sound familiar? <em>Without question, a raw food diet, over just a few days, sky-rockets our energy and vitality levels and gives us unprecedented mental clarity.</em> How can we desire a fulfilling life while we feel listless and can't think clearly? It is the sole ability to think and analyze that places man on the apex of the pyramid of evolution on Earth.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Environmental Friendliness</u></strong><br />
<br />
Besides all the health benefits, eating raw foods is a huge help to the environment. First off, less cooking leads to less energy consumption - the cut in energy demands would be huge if we went raw <em>en mass</em>. A propensity to eat fresh foods also requires less transportation, thereby reducing oil consumption. A shorter transportation time further translates into less packaging, which, in turn, reduces the demand for non-biodegradable packing material and prevents that material from going into landfills afterwards. (A very small percentage of the trash we generate actually gets recycled and recycling takes a lot of resources by itself too; most of us are oblivious to these facts.) <br />
<br />
More raw food consumption would obviously reduce the demands for pre-processed, packaged foods which would directly cap industrial waste and pollution. To take it a step further, by going raw, we'd be introducing less "artificial" material (from preservatives to industry chemicals) into our environment. In a nutshell, going raw helps us tread more lightly on our planet, as another raw foodist put it. There is so much more to be said here that it is going to be another blog post altogether.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>References</strong>:<br />
"12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food" by Victoria Boutenko<br />
"Ani's 15-Day Fat Blast" by Ani Phyo<br />
Countless other material that I read in last several months...<br />
<br />
<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078368400986685893.post-10325178975544375362012-11-24T13:57:00.001-08:002013-11-26T22:56:31.466-08:00A Raw Foodist's Prayer<title>A Raw Foodist's Journal - A Raw Foodist's Prayer</title>
<meta name="description" content="A raw foodist that lives on unprocessed, plant-based food aspires for a healthy, strong, happy, peaceful, compassionate, and grateful world. All life on Earth is precious and man being the most intelligent of all beings, bears the burden to facilitate that.">
May we be healthy and strong<br />
May we be blessed with calm and composed mind<br />
May we be happy and content<br />
May we have wisdom to be good and do only good<br />
<br />
May we learn science and invent<br />
May we eradicate all diseases that cause misery<br />
May we never unweave our gene<br />
May we further a fortunate and grateful posterity<br />
<br />
May we appreciate our existence<br />
May we respect the existence of others around, too<br />
May we be the nuturer of Earth<br />
May we be so kind as to not harm or kill any life<br />
<br />
May we make this world peaceful<br />
May we surrender to the supreme and divine Nature <br />
May we conquer the infinite Mind<br />
May we be invincible eternally in this vast Universe<br />
<br />
<br />Shinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466694202780394477noreply@blogger.com0