Who eats raw in Alabama?

Nobody, is the answer. So after a short break from eating raw, I'm back to it. The other night I made a delicious Pineapple- Cucumber Gazpacho. It's more of a summer food, but I enjoyed eating it with my slippers on in front of the fire. My friend Ginger gave me a great raw recipe book, Raw Food Real World, and this one's from that...

4 cups chopped peeled cucmber

4 cups chopped pineapple

1 cup fresh pineapple juice (I didn't do this)

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

1 green onion, white and 1 inch of green, chopped

1 Tablespoon lime juice (I used lemon)

1 handful cilantro leaves, plus a few for garnish

3 Tablespoons avocado, macadamia or olive oil (I used olive)

1 handful finely shopped raw macadamia nuts (I used almonds)

In a blender, add 3 cups each of the cucumber and pineapple, the pineapple juice, jalapeno, green onion, lime juice, and salt. Blend until smooth. Add the remaining 1 cup pineapple and 1 cup cucumber, the handful of cilantro, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil. Pulse the blender quickly a few times - it should remain chunky. Taste for seasoning. Can chill or serve immediately.

Before serving, add the nuts to the gazpacho and stir to distribute evenly. Drizzle with remaining oil. Garnish with cilantro.

still raw

yes, I am still eating all raw. I have occasional "cheats" but they are rare. I have said to some of you my joints feel 90% better and the rest of my body feels 100% better. Recently we've had a few cold days (now it's hot again) and during the cold weather my joints we're bothering me more again. But much less than they used to in the cold. So I'd have to say my joints 75% better and the rest of me feels 95% better. Im hoping that more time on raw will continue to heal my body, and that even the cold will have little affect on my joints at some point.



i do like living this way. It's becoming normal, and I don't have to think about every meal before I eat anymore. There are times when the inconvenience of it bothers me, but the benefits completely outweigh the negatives. Due to digestive issues, I eat only fruit until lunchtime, and then no more the rest of the day. I thought this would be really hard, but it's been great. As long as I have a banana first thing, I have plenty of energy. (I always thought I needed some protein in the morning, but I have more energy with the fruit.)

I've become much more in-tune with my body, and am realizing I need less food than I used to consume. I never considered myself an emotional eater, but I was/am! It was masked by the fact that I would turn to food when I felt "off". So it seemed like a positive understanding of my food-body relationship. But I was just turning to food to make me feel better, instead of exploring other options. This is still my first response, but I'm learning to try other things first (exercise, water, sleep, talking to a friend,etc.). Im realizing that I usually don't need to eat more when I feel bad. My body is probably still digesting what I ate last, and adding to that process will just make me feel worse.



a typical day's "diet" for me consists of...
*banana, orange, apple, figs, avocado, other fruits until noon. warm tea.
*loaded salad with spinach, cucumber, broccoli, sunflower seeds, sprouts, peppers, other veggies for lunch.
*soaked almonds or raw crackers with green olive spread, or veg juice, or raw granola, or coconut smoothie for snack
*nori rolls (like eating sushi w/o the fish), or raw soup, or raw "spaghetti" for dinner
*carob coconut balls, raw ice cream for dessert (raw desserts are great, and guilt free)

this is just off the top of my head. There is more. I'm still learning, and there are some things I can't make until I have a dehydrator. If you're interested in some great and fairly simple recipes check out the book Rawvolution by Matt Amsden.

Raw Date

Caleb and I got to go on a date last Friday. Grams came over to watch the kids, and since she spent the night, we got to stay out as late as we wanted. We fought through our yawns, and stayed out until 11:00pm. Can you believe how crazy we are?! Caleb came home from work with flowers for me. Awwhhhh.



We ate at Cilantro Live for dinner. We dined at the one in Carlsbad (there are 4 of them in San Diego county). We ordered a sampler plate, a "margarita", and carrot cake for dessert. It was all really good and surprisingly filling. The sampler plate included 2 Nori Rolls, 1 Spring Roll, 1 Buenos Vida Wrap, 2 Raw-violis, 2 Mini -Pizzaza and a small House Salad. The margarita was crazy but yummy. It had green apple, lime, ginger and a pinch of ground cinnamon. The ginger gave it a serious kick. I've tried to reproduce the carrot cake, but I need to keep working on my recipe. Theirs was tasty.

Afterward we saw a (gasp) 9:20pm showing of Bourne Ultimatum. Man it was intense! It has the craziest fighting and chase scenes ever. It was a little over-the-top violent for me. But Caleb really liked it.

I have a great raw recipe to share. I took it to a BBQ and everyone liked it! (Randomly, I got it from the Tyra Banks website.)

The “Raw Food Diet” Recipe for Angel Hair Pasta and Marinara Sauce:

INGREDIENTS:
3 medium to large green zucchinis
4- 6 medium size roma tomatoes
12- 16 sun dried tomatoes, soaked
3 medjule dates, pitted and soaked
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons parsley (dried okay)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (or paprika)

Use your food processor to cut the zucchini into thin strips, reminiscent of angel hair pasta.(I cut these by hand since I don't have a food processor. But it took a while.) For the sauce, you don't need to chop or dice any of the ingredients. Simply combine all ingredients in the processor or a blender and blend. Let the sauce "marinate" the zucchinis for a couple of hours. Then serve!

(Recipe makes 8-11 cups)



Charis has been fascinated by my morning juicing. So she asked if she could make some for herself. I gladly agreed, and she proceeded to make herself cucumber, carrot, apple, celery juice. And she liked it!

Raw Recipe

I'm snacking on raw macadamia nuts as I'm writing this. It's been two weeks since I've gone raw. And I'm still loving it. mostly. My energy level is still higher than before, and my moods seem less extreme. I'm just generally in a better mood. My body seems to like eating this way, and it's been fairly easy. The past few days I've had very minimal joint pain, but Im not sure that's due to the diet. It will take more time to evaluate that.

The negative: it's freakin' expensive to eat this way! I'm trying to learn how to do it more frugally. The raw crackers, cereals and ice creams are super good, but really pricey. If I end up doing this for a long time, I will make a lot of that stuff myself, but I'd need to buy a sprouter and dehydrator. And some of the specialty items I've bought, I didn't like. For instance, the sea vegetables. They literally made me gag. Nothing makes me gag. It was that bad. But overall I love eating this way.

I modified a recipe I found online, and it turned out pretty good. Here it is...

COCONUT ALMOND TREAT
There is a "crust" and then a icy topping. Serves 2-3
Crust:
2 cups germinated raw almonds (germinated=soaked in water for 8-10 hours)
3 Tablespoons coconut oil
1 Tablespoon agave syrup (or raw honey)

mix the almonds and oil together in blender or food processor. Mix in agave syrup and form 2 "pancakes" out of it all.
Place on wax paper and put in freezer aprox. 2 hours.

Sauce:
1 young Thai coconut (has to be carefully opened with a big knife)
1 Tablespoon agave syrup (or raw honey)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Open up the coconut and put the milk and "meat" in a blender. Add the syrup and vanilla and mix.
Place in a container and freeze aprox. 2 hours.

Once they're ready, place the almond "pancake" on a plate and spoon the sauce over the top. It's a refreshing treat.

ALL RAW

I've recently began a raw food journey. It's a way of eating that I've heard of before, but it never appealed to me. Why have I began eating that way? Well, over the last few years I've had a growing problem with my joints. I've seen the doctor three times, and each time they say the same thing. "I don't know what you have." Thankfully the tests for rheumatoid arthritis have come back negative. But I don't fit the profile of osteo-arthritis either. Yet, my symptoms are getting worse.

I recently met a woman who has a chronic pain issue. The doctors put her on steroids as well as some other things, but she was not improving. She was encouraged to go all raw by a friend, and when she did her pain finally vanished. Her story inspired me to look up whether or not others with joint problems have been helped by this. I found that there are! So, I began.



In the raw food diet, you don't eat food that's been heated over 110 degrees. Apparently once the food is heated it looses most of it's nutritional value and all of it's enzymes. Our bodies often heal once we put mostly whole foods (with all their nutritional value intact) in them. There are a lot of testimonies out there of people who have healed through this diet. So, what do I eat? A lot of nuts, seeds, sprouted berries, avocados, coconut and fresh fruits and veggies.

It's been a week since I've started and I've already seen several positive effects. I've felt much more energetic and have been able to go off my coffee addiction. This in itself makes me very happy! I don't have the sluggish feeling I used to have during the day. And I'm no longer bloated. My joints have not seen an improvement yet. I've read that sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. I'm hoping to eat all raw and vegan for at least a month, and evaluate after that.