The Raw Food Diet: What’s In a Name?
The raw food world does this really interesting thing to make the raw food diet appeal to the greater masses and the tentative novice: it gives everything names that evoke cooked food versions of itself. Exhibit A: Not Tuna Salad. Exhibit B: Rawmesan Cheese, Exhibit C… I could go through the alphabet. But I’ll stop myself. All these things sound more than vaguely familiar, right? But are they? I think not. Have you ever had raw pizza? I rest my case. Now, on some dimension, I understand this trickery. Because on the base level what we are all trying to do is fool ourselves into not feeling cheated out of…
Meditation in an Un-Meditative World
Meditation is a quandary in this world. Trying to find tranquility is anything but tranquil. We are all about competition, ambition and speed – none of which exactly inspire peace. Hell, my own home seems to be defined by its own brand of insanity, bred of the sheer volume of people who reside within these walls; personalities virtually colliding into one another with meteoric force. Peace and calm are hard to come by. What happened to the simple life? Where did that go? Simplicity seems to be something we have to retreat back into, something that we may have had long ago but strayed from in the quest for More.…
- No Dehydrator, Raw food recipes, Raw Vegan Condiments and Toppings, Raw Vegan Lunch, Raw Vegan Recipes
Arugula Macadamia Pesto
Arugula is taking over our garden this year so it’s making an appearance in many meals. Even so, we can’t eat it fast enough and there’s so much that’s bolting already, getting ready to make many more leafy green babies! We just can’t keep up. But making pesto is a great start, at the very least. Arugula is best eaten raw because, not only does it retain it’s significant nutritional content, but cooking makes it lose its flavor! In our garden the arugula is so spicy, it’s like a radish! That’s not always the case when purchased at the grocery store when it can be more bitter than ‘biting’! But…
Washing Produce and the War on ‘Beasties’
When we set out to incorporate as much raw food into our diets as possible, we solidify a commitment to evolved eating. We’re stepping up our game, so to speak. Trying to keep our food as much in its natural state as possible. Keeping the junk and processed stuff to a minimum. And we’re all about ‘organic’. Should we be washing produce too? When you’re eating a lot of raw foods, everything just looks so good! It’s easy to forget that even the innocent apple or peach, even the green head of lettuce, harbors its own evil secrets. Hidden Dangers Unless you grew it yourself, the produce that enters your…
Papaya Noodles In Mustard Sauce
Papaya meat is my favorite color in the whole world, so it’s certainly no surprise that I’m a big fan of this fabulous fruit! In this recipe, currants soaked in apple cider vinegar give bite to this elegant, orange dish. Add dehydrated green beans and the meal is so lush and freshly colored, it’s almost too pretty to eat. No doubt, this would be a great meal to serve when you have guests – although I’ve noticed that there are a number of people out there who don’t particularly warm to the bright papaya. It’s crazy; I think they’re incredible! I have to admit that there’s many a morning that…
Zucchini Hummus: Full Power
Zucchini is often thought of as a vegetable but, in actuality, it qualifies as a fruit: the ripened ovary of a flowering plant, complete with seeds (there’s a bit of trivia for you)! Zucchini is antioxidant rich and is 95% water – so it’s one of those raw foods that ranks high when it comes to keeping your body hydrated and ‘flushed’! This, in combination with Vitamin C and riboflavin, makes this fruit an excellent aid in the production of collagen, promoting healthier, younger looking skin – something we all want no matter how old we are! You can put zucchini slices on your eyes to prevent puffiness too! It’s…
In The Raw Kitchen: Gadgets and Knives
Embracing any kind of a raw food diet poses some new questions in the kitchen: is there anything special required to truly reap all the benefits that the raw food diet has to bestow? What does a raw kitchen need? This subject is near and dear to my heart because the ‘Raw Food Equipment’ class was the first I ever taught with my first Partner in Raw, Alisa. It was baptism by fire. My whole kitchen had been transformed into what I then dubbed ‘Alisa’s Chamber of Torture’. Everything looked impressive and imposing but mostly it just looked like ALOT! In this version of the Raw Kitchen there was not…
Digestion is A Bitch: Light to Heavy Eating
My father, who recently passed away at the ripe old age of 92, grew up in Germany. Over there they ate a hot meal in the afternoon and at night everyone had sandwiches – which, not for nothing, could be a pretty big deal as well, what with the endless array of cold cuts and fresh breads and potato salads. Dinner is called Abendbrot which, literally translated, means ‘evening bread’ and that pretty much says it all. I don’t think anyone ever thought about ease of digestion and I know for a fact that Alka Seltzer and Pepto Bismal were constants in my fathers medicine chest. As a kid, it…
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I thought myself into raw. For me, it was my first big experiment in ‘manifesting’. I started identifying myself as raw long before I really was. You might think, “Wow, that was bold! What a fake!”. But let me tell you… it wasn’t really. I wanted it so badly. And I was ready for it. I figured that if I told people, it would encourage me to further solidify what I claimed to be – if only out of sheer pride and mortification of embarrassment. And it did, too. They say that you dress for the job you want, not the job you have. And if you can imagine something…
Enzymes? The Raw Vegan Booster
I don’t know about your mom but mine was always harping on me to eat my fruits and vegetables. Naturally, she didn’t have a clue about enzymes, but she was, definitely, on the right track. Adopting a diet that’s high in raw vegan foods supports digestive enzyme activity better than any other. Basically, it’s one of the great raw vegan claims to fame. And, undeniably, enzymes are necessary. We need them in the same way that Frankenstein’s monster needed that electrical charge. They give us life. Enzymes are micro-proteins, largely composed of amino acids. They trigger all chemical reactions that go on in our bodies. From digestion , metabolism, detoxification, brain…
