Raw Food and Wild Greens

Posted on by Karen

Have you ever considered adding wild greens to your diet? With spring around the corner, it will soon be possible to get tons of these for free just by foraging for them yourself. That’s a romantic idea, to gather your own food isn’t it? So much more personal than going to a store, plus you know it could not be any fresher. How long have those greens been sitting on that shelf, getting sprayed with water every few minutes? It could be many days.

The number one rule before foraging is to make sure you can 100% positively identify a plant as safe before you harvest it! In particular you need to be very careful of mushrooms. There are often local classes offered by nature centers or arboretums in identifying wild greens and other edibles, which is the very best way to learn to do this safely. Of course you can always stick with the ones you already know such as dandelion. Tender spring dandelion leaves – before any sprays have been used – are so delicious in salads and smoothies.

Wild greens are extremely nutritious because their roots go very deep into the soil to extract uncommon levels of minerals that many hybrid plants simply can’t match. Plus you can’t beat the price and satisfaction. Be sure to check farmers markets and co-ops for their offerings as well, if you prefer to go the easier route.

Make plans now to learn more about wild edibles before the season is upon us.

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Raw Food and the Starch Solution

Posted on by Karen

I enjoy reading about all kinds of food and all kinds of diet theories; I recently came across a book published last year titled The Starch Solution by John A. McDougall, M.D. With the heavy marketing clout of all the Atkins, Paleo and Primal diet programs I had actually come to believe their hype, that the proper diet for humans is NO carbohydrates at all. I have a friend who always “goes on Atkins” when she wants to lose weight. So kind of in the back of my mind it had started to seem that maybe was the correct way to eat after all, which is basically all the animal protein and fat you wanted along with some fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds in order to be healthy and maintain a proper body weight and mass. Which honestly never sat right with me but there you have it. It is always fascinating to me to look at all the utterly conflicting information that is available. Turns out what do you know, the basis of those animal protein-based programs is flawed; from a scientific standpoint we actually need complex carbohydrates to live healthfully long-term. I am not going into what I learned about the misinformation and misunderstanding originating from some big name no-carb folks, it is disturbing and I will leave that to you if you are interested. There is a lot of information on Dr. McDougall’s site. But suffice it to say I can continue to feel good about using sprouted grains in our raw-food dishes, and any whole grain cooked foods I choose outside of the raw food arena. Thank God. This fits better with the vegan raw food lifestyle, is far less expensive, and is far easier on the planet as well. Now instead of just veggies I can go back to making good whole-grain side dishes for my husband’s meat-based meals (it’s not the best combo for digestion but it is what he expects and is used to) and just eat the side dish, and make hearty vegetarian meals for both of us at other times, and sprouted grain raw dishes when it’s just me or to keep on hand for snacking or side dishes. This makes me happy!

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Raw Food Diet Staple

Posted on by Karen

I love salads. I almost always have a big green salad daily. It is such an easy way to incorporate raw food in your diet healthfully. Eating a salad takes more time than eating a serving of cooked food; most people eat cooked food too fast. Having a big salad automatically slows you down, requiring thorough chewing. This is beneficial because it ensures more thorough absorption of nutrients since digestion begins in the mouth, especially for carbohydrates.
There is an endless variety of foods that can incorporate a salad. You don’t have to get into a rut. Just take a stroll through the produce aisle or the farmers market in warm weather to spark your imagination. Here is a great recipe for an easy chopped salad that is good enough to serve for a dinner party.

Fennel Apple Salad

  • 1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
  • Table salt
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 medium fennel bulb, halved lengthwise, cored, and diced finely
  • 2 Braeburn, Jonagold, or Red Delicious apples, cored and diced finely
  • 1/2 small red onion, minced
  • 1/4 cup fresh tarragon leaves, coarsely chopped
  • 1 romaine heart, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
  • Ground black pepper
    1. Combine cucumber and ½ teaspoon salt in colander set over bowl and let stand 15 minutes.
    2. Whisk oil and vinegar together in large bowl. Add drained cucumber, fennel, apples, onion, and tarragon; toss and let stand at room temperature 5 minutes to blend flavors.
    3. Add romaine and walnuts; toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
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Raw Food Diet Is Not Extreme

Posted on by Karen

I happened on a blog for low carb diets today. The author had great success meeting her weight goals with such a diet. Reading comments I noticed one from a man who insisted she was harming her health eating meat, dairy and oils, and he referenced a couple of doctors who espouse a starch-based diet. I can hardly imagine two more opposite ends of the extreme when it comes to diet than starch-based versus low carb. Experts will argue for both types as being the only diet that is healthful for humans. It makes no sense that both can be true.
People tend to think of raw food as an extreme diet, but the fact is that the one thing almost any diet concept has in common is fruits and vegetables. True, not usually just raw, but everyone does seem to grasp that plant foods are healthful. That’s not really controversial.
My advice is to learn some great raw food dishes you can turn to again and again. Be 100% raw or close to it for as long as you want, because you will see great benefits. Then if you find yourself eating other types of diets again you have great tools to incorporate the vital living food along with whatever else you are consuming. You’ll know the extra enzymes are doing great things for your digestion and well-being. And, I just really really like the raw food dishes I make.
There is no judgment here. Don’t let anyone tell you how to eat. Including me. Do what feels right. Everything in moderation just seems like common sense. With the contradictions about various diets out there I can’t help but wonder if our belief about our diet is what controls our results. Eat what you really want but eat slowly and consciously, and maybe you’ll feel better about what you just ate, automatically eat less, and get exactly the results you are looking for if you are consistent.

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My Raw Lime Pudding

Posted on by Karen

Whenever I buy a lot of limes and can’t get them used up before they get too hard to cut, I juice them all and either freeze the juice in ice cube trays or keep it in a glass jar in the fridge and make up batches of this yummy lime pudding. You also need a couple ripe avocados, which I always have on hand because they are so versatile.

Ingredients

2 ripe avocados

1/4-1/2 cup coconut butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract or seeds scooped from 1 vanilla bean

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

pinch Celtic sea salt

Process avocados in food processor until very smooth, scraping sides as needed. Add remaining ingredients and process until well mixed and smooth. Adjust sweetening or lime juice to taste. Keeps in covered container in fridge several days.

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Another Reason To Go Raw

Posted on by Karen

If you saw 20/20 on November 16, 2012 you were treated to some disturbing finds about the state of restaurant and food manufacturer cleanliness and integrity. Topics they covered ranged from the germiest areas of a restaurant (hint don’t ask for lemon wedges), to poor employee hygiene practices, unappetizing or potentially harmful food handling (another hint don’t eat the bread), using a cheap fish called escolar (also known as the laxative fish) and calling it white tuna, and other dirty secrets.

This isn’t to say a raw-food restaurant could not also engage in problematic practices however….raw food devotees go out to restaurants far less often in the first place because doing so causes some added difficulty by having to ask for special treatment. And one of the tips from the 20/20 expose was not to anger the chef. You might be waiting an extra long time for your food, or worse.

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Raw Food Recipe – Kale Salad

Posted on by Karen


Who loves nutritional yeast in raw food diet prep? I just adapted a recipe from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw which uses nutritional yeast in a kale salad. The flavor profile I would say is similar to the “umami” savoriness. What a combination with the nama shoyu as well!

Here is the recipe that I prepared adapted from the book’s Sesame-Kale Salad:

3 cups curly kale, de-stemmed and thinly sliced
2 T. olive oil or flax oil
2 cups assorted vegetables such as carrot, cucumber, red cabbage, etc. (I grated a carrot)
2 T. fresh herbs such as basil, cilantro, etc. minced
1 T. nama shoyu
1 T. nutritional yeast
1 T. freshly squeezed lime juice

Massage kale with oil and salt to taste. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Eat immediately or allow kale to soften in the refrigerator a couple hours.

I also threw in some pumpkin seeds. What a great way to kick off a raw food recommitment! I absolutely adore kale salads that are softened with oil or avocado. In fact I am going to add kale to my next grocery list while I am thinking about it. Kale is also great for my daily vegetable juice, with vitamin K, C, A, iron, fiber of course, and many important trace elements. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw also says it is in season and sweeter from mid-winter through early spring, making it the perfect winter raw-food staple.

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Recommitting to Raw Food

Posted on by Karen

I’m back from vacation. One HOUR after arriving at our destination of the island of St. John, I slipped on steep wet pavement, fell down hard and hurt my foot. It was decided after 24 hours not to pursue medical attention there, but rather to stay the whole week and take care of it stateside. There are no X-ray facilities on the island and my friends warned me of dire consequences to the medical care on St. Thomas, as long as my injury was not life-threatening. And so I hobbled about, foregoing the hikes and skipping the sand walks on the beach, instead icing the foot and lounging by the pool. Fortunately the injury did not hamper my favorite vacation activity in the least!

Back in the states I was relieved to learn the foot is sprained and nothing is broken. However I am in a walking boot for a few weeks to enable the proper healing. So, with exercise out of the question I find myself in serious need of the best diet possible and that is raw food. I am ready to focus on health and losing the extra pounds I have put on in the last few years.

I spoke about the Primal Blueprint recently. It’s a good complement for anyone who doesn’t feel the need to have a 100% raw food lifestyle. The plan is sound and well-researched, the recipes are easy and delicious. It is as big a change from the SAD as raw food is, which means you need to be prepared to put some time into shopping and food prep. What I especially love about Mark Sisson’s plan is the great simple approach to exercise. I was so looking forward to putting that into practice. Take a look at his program for yourself and see if it might be for you or a loved one. Here is the link: The Primal Blueprint

Now that I’m a bit out of commission for a while I’m going to go back to nearly 100% raw food that has worked so beautifully for me before. Injuring my foot may be the best thing that could have happened.

 

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Juice Pulp in Raw Food Dishes?

Posted on by Karen

On my raw food diet journey I have used nut milk pulp to make dehydrated cookies in the past; but never considered anything for the vegetable juice pulp I create nearly every day. I found the idea on www.ChoosingRaw.com to make pates from the pulp. The pictures certainly look good. I tried one version – see below – but couldn’t finish it. Maybe it’s because discarding it up to now makes me subconsciously think of it as inedible. Or it may be that my very efficient juicer removes so much juice that the pulp is pretty bone-dry. Let me know if your experience is different, but it just doesn’t seem like removing juice from the fiber and then adding liquid back in order to make it palatable is the best thing to do. For my veggie pates I will stick with finely diced veggies, food-processed veggies, or run them through the juicer with a blank screen to crush them into small pieces. And for the record the nut milk pulp cookies were pretty dry too.

Carrot Pulp Pate

1 cup carrot, celery, cucumber pulp
1 avocado
squeeze lemon
tablespoon nama shoyu

Process all ingredients in food processor until relatively smooth.

What do you think, do you like it?

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Raw Food and Primal Blueprint?

Posted on by Karen

Recently I learned about the Primal Blueprint from a radio show where the host was raving about its effectiveness in bringing about her weight loss. She was interviewing the founder, Mark Sisson, and I was intrigued enough to check it out. The information on his website, www.primalblueprint.com, was compelling enough for me to decide I wanted to give it a try.
For comparison you might look at Atkins, or the paleo diet. The basic idea is to get grains and legumes out of the diet altogether, much like our cave dwelling ancestors diet must have been, and focus on high-quality protein sources, fruits, vegetables, some nuts and seeds. Granted you might consider this to be the polar opposite of the raw food diet, with its relatively high proportion of meat and other animal protein. However, the more I looked at it the more I thought of it as a natural complement to raw food. Mark even uses the same term to refer to what most Americans eat, SAD or Standard American Diet. Think about it, thousands of years ago if there wasn’t meat from a kill available, and if the right season, humans would eat a lot of fresh fruit and greens and probably nothing besides that.
Here is what he says about primal blueprint: “Ramp Up Your Fat Metabolism by eliminating processed carbohydrates from your diet to minimize your body’s insulin production. This means eliminating not only sugars and sweets but grain products.” Basically you change your body from being a sugar-burner to being a fat-burner. There are pretty amazing success stories on the site and it’s pretty evident that Mark has done his homework over a number of years.
I chose to adopt this way of eating when I’m not eating raw, such as at restaurants or others’ homes. It’s quite easy to do. Mark has a whole new streamlined approach to fitness as well. After a few weeks of the dietary change I can honestly say I am seeing results and feeling very healthy. I am about to begin his 21-day body transformation program and incorporate more of the fitness aspect, and I expect to see incredible results soon.
I think this adds to my theory of why people see results on the raw food diet by the way, because they are forced to give up grains (at least unsprouted, processed grains) and pre-packaged highly processed foods. Anyone would benefit on that basis alone.
I’ll keep you posted on the Primal results.

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