Raw No Caffeine: Day 11 take 2

Let's try this again lol So, besides two little pieces of Danish candy last night, 100% raw for 11 days. This week I have been starting my day off with a bok choy lemonade juice:

20oz bok choy juice

1 lemon-juiced

Bok choy is my new best green friend. It is so crisp, juicy, nutrient dense, and delicious! I have been removing the greens from the tops and juicing the white stalks. This is the best way to get our water; through mother natures filter. Forget a $20,000 Klingon water filter...just eat more fruits, veggies, and drink spring water! Anyway, I juice the stalks and then use the greens for my lunchtime green smoothie. Organic bok choy is only $1.29/lb at Whole Foods. So for $2.00 a get my morning juice and my green smoothie! As a comparison, a lb of kale is about $9.00 and nowhere near as juicy as the choy! So save the choy greens and the kale for the smoothies and juice the Bok!

After I drink the lemonade, say some prayers, meditate, and digest the juice, I drink my brAVO-Carotenoid Smoothie. This has been modified to:

10 carrots juiced

1/2 an apple juiced

1 lemon juiced

then blend the above with 

1 avocado

This has become my all-time favorite tasting smoothie creation! It is amazing! 

After 1-2 hours, I make my green smoothie:

40oz water

1 avocado

2 Tbsp flax seeds

1 Tbsp bee pollen

Blend until consistent then add

2 large handfulls leafy greens

3 frozen bananas

Blend and drink up!

this makes 64oz and you may need to add more water. I drink half, then bottle the other half for work. I have beeb packing little superfood snacks for work:

1 handful raw cacao nibs

1 handfull bee pollen

1 handful walnuts

1 tip of the jar of raw unfiltered unstrained wildflower organic honey

I mix this up and munch it in the afternoon. It's energizing and very satisfying!

I didn't make this today though. Today for a snack I had spicy raw flax crackers, 18oz fresh organic pineapple, and then a spinach salad and a large bag of dried mangos for dinner.

Everyday I have been making another bok choy lemonade for a midnight snack, but tonight I just munched:

coconut butter(whole ground coconut)

cacao nibs

raw honey 

bee pollen

Today was different. I had, in this order:

9:30am:

Green Smoothie

Raw homemade sprouted hummus

12pm:

Bok choy lemonade

brAVO Carotenoid Smoothie

5pm

Fresh Organic Pineapple 

Spicy Flax Crackers

9:30pm

Spinach salad

large bag dried mangos

12am:

Coconut butter/cacao/pollen/honey mix

1 fuji apple

I'm writing all this because people always ask me what I eat and to show that you can be raw and eat very well. I have learned this time around that I need more protein, fats, and acidic foods while eating raw. The lack of grounding some report when only eating raw food may be from an extreme alkaline high. I am so nourished and mentally balanced between the raw oil-free food and the no-caffeine that this time around, the raw path is without speed bumps and is immensely more rewarding. 

Raw No Caffeine: Day 11

Also, of course, totally oil-free. When I say oil-free, I mean no added oils. As in the extracted, packaged, pure fat, low nutrient, no fiber, no protein, added oils. This includes the oils: olive, coconut, flax, hemp, canola, etc. Some people claim that oil is good for us, but facts are facts...it isn't. I have heard many people cite the Mediterranean diet as an excuse to continue pouring oil onto their salads and into there frying pans...so here is an article with the truth about olive oil:

http://www.thevegetariansite.com/health_oliveoil.htm

Another truth about oil is your food tastes so much better without it! I stopped using oil in all of my cooking and raw food creations since January and I have consumed less than a half cup of oil since then. I used to eat a half cup of coconut oil in one salad. I would eat it and need a nap immediately after. Now I skip the middle man and go right to the source, using fresh avocado, nuts, seeds, coconuts, oilves, and so on. In other words: HEALTHY FATS!!! When we use these types of fats for cooking, salad dressing, ice cream, chocolate mousse, we actually taste our food the way it was intended to be eaten: fresh, whole, and in it's natural state. We get the fiber, the protein, the flavor!

But the proof is in the avocado pudding...that I feel soooo good after eating a salad without oil, or a no-oil stir fry, or a cashew mint chocolate chip ice cream. I feel light, nourished, and beautiful on the inside! I know I wrote about all this in a previous post, but it's something that needs to be repeated. I feel more of a difference after giving up oil than after giving up dairy. So the oil-free path is healthier, tastes better, you'll feel better, and your skin will look better! These are the facts. I will be leading a group on an oil-free plant-based 28 day challenge at the end of January with a weekly cooking/educational class. All are welcome and encouraged to join. It will be free and open to the public.

Raw Food..Hold the Caffeine: Day 2

I'm back on a 100% raw foods...Day 2. Every time I do this it gets easier and easier and the food gets better and better. The huge, earth-shattering difference between this and my other raw-ventures is that I have given up caffeine. No YERBA MATE!!!  I was drinking a LOT of mate...enough to kill a small chihuahua. The equivalent of at least 4 cups of coffee first thing after opening my eyes...then whatever after shock satellite mates would ensue. So, to substitute the mate rush is....LEAFY GREEN JUICE! LOL I was eating two full heads of greens everyday and today I munched 3 bunches and then juiced 2 bunches. I was given a juicer by my amazing boss yesterday and lit up tonight with quite possibly the best drink I've ever made. I turned the juicer on, tuned in, and let my body dictate the ingredients:


brAVO-Carotenoid Smoothie

1 decent size garnet yam or sweet potato
6 thin carrots
1 lemon
juice these things then blend with:
1 avocado and maybe a little ice

It was soooooooo freaking delicious! At first I made a bok choy, collard green, broccoli juice. It was awesome and I got a buzz from it, but it didn't tickle my sweet tooth. The garnet yam is loaded with carotenoids and vitamin A and so are carrots, giving them their orange hues. As I've mentioned everyday!!!and in previous posts...Avocados are the best thing to pair with a carotenoid. This drink gets:
double high five and five stars
energy spent: 4 due to cleaning the juicer

Cruciferous Salad

This is the best oil-free vegan salad EVAH! 

Cruciferous Salad

1/2 bunch fresh kale-ripped to peices

1/4 red or green cabbage-chopped

1/2 cup fresh dill-chopped

1 avocado

1/2 lemon squeezed

1 tsp fresh garlic-crushed

curry powder

liquid aminos to taste

Get your hands in there, mash it all up,

and feel the energy!

Then add: 2 Tbsp hemp seeds and

1 cup alfalfa sprouts.

Seed Nibbling, Cabbage Munching and Alligator Pears

Toasted Curry Flax Seeds

1 cup gold or brown flax seeds

sea salt and curry powder to taste

In a frying pan toast seeds until they begin to jump out of the pan.

Add salt and curry.

Great for movie night!!!

I have been feeling like I need more omegas and more cabbage in my life these days. I started nibbling on flax seeds a few weeks ago and I haven't stopped. At first I was munching the seeds raw and then I started toasting them in a frying pan with sea salt and curry powder. This method is a much tastier snack and easier to munch. Toast the seeds until they start jumping, then they're done. Around this same time I started mashing up avocado, cabbage, and kale. I prefer red cabbage, but green is good too. Cabbage is super sweet and last night, in bed, I munched a quarter of one like an apple. The monounsaturated fat, oleic acid(omega-9), in the avocado makes this fruit the best thing in the world to eat with kale and cabbage or any other super greens. These omega 9's are a carotenoid's best friend. The absorption of the other nutrients in the greens is increased 200-400% when an avocado is added. I may have already written about this magical food relationship, but this is exciting news!

Nori Rawrap

Nori Rawrap

1 sheet raw nori
1/4 avocado sliced
4 thinly sliced cucumber slices
2 sliced shiitake mushrooms
small handful of sprouts(alfalfa, clover, sunflower greens) or romaine lettuce

Roll it, dip it, and enjoy

          

Sunflower Green Rawrap with Carrawt Ginger Dressing

Rawrap Figgy Dipping Sauce

1 cup dried figs
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 1/2 cup coconut or filtered water
1 small chipolte pepper
1/4 lemon lemon squeezed
1/4 tsp rock salt

Blend and use as dip or salad dressing

 Sprout Rawrap with Figgy Dressing

Ginger Carrawt Dressing

1 cup carrot cut into pieces
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup water
1 lemon peeled and de-seeded
1 inch fresh ginger root
Liquid aminos to taste

Blend ingredients and use as a dip or salad dressing

Carrawt Ginger Dressing

The idea for the Rawrap was introduced by a beautiful Danish girl. It's beauty is in it's simplicity. I took it and ran with it...but not too far. The great thing about a raw dish like this is that it's so incredibly healthy and super easy to make. It is filling and you feel like you can float away after the meal. The nori seaweed wrapper is so good that you will start to crave it after a few times. Avocado is in my top two most important foods...after leafy greens of course. Sprouts are in my top five and shrooms are growing on me. lol Mushrooms are an underrated nutrient powerhouse... shiitakes are an excellent source of vitamin B-2(riboflavin), B-3(niacin), B-5, B-6 as well as potassium, zinc, and selenium. Mushrooms and sunflower greens are also plant sources of vitamin D. I take complete responsibility for the raw Figgy Dressing. I wanted something sweet with a little heat for this set of Rawraps. The flavor of the figs goes amazing with the smokey heat of the chipolte pepper. The Ginger Carrawt Dressing is something I just made up an hour ago and it is out of this world good! This is way better than any oil-spill ginger dressing at a Japanese restaurant. Both these dressings are top-notch and would fly equally as high on a salad or anything that needs a little kick. I've eaten a Rawrap every night this week and with unlimited dipping sauce possibilities this will be a staple food for a while :)
Flavor rating: 5 stars. Energy spent rating: 1 star (1=least energy 5=most energy)

Evolving Through Food

I was thinking that there is hope for mankind. Even though we are destroying our planet and constantly at war, there is an awakening taking place. I see it every day. People are beginning to change their ways and their ideas about food. This is the most important aspect of the health of our species and we are in the midst of an awakening. Those who see the truth and eat the good food will evolve, while those who continue to eat the bad food will die off. Natural selection will take it's course. It sounds harsh and clinical but it is the truth. In this food awakening I have found hope for our species survival.

If we can start here, with our  own bodies, in our own temples we can go out and spread love elsewhere. But we must start here first and then we will be mentally and spiritually fit to address the global issues that are ripping our planet and civilization to pieces.

When we are conscious of what we are putting in our bodies, we are showing ourselves love. When we eat an organic vegetarian diet, we are showing our planet love. When we make this food for friends and family, we are showing others love. This simple act of respecting ourselves can have an unlimited impact on us and those we come in contact with. Everything we put in our bodies becomes a part of us. We are what we eat.

At this point the humans are in a period of devolution. We are living shorter lives than our parents and our quality of health is the worst it's ever been. Heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are all at epidemic proportions. The good news is these are all food-related diseases. The better news is these are also food reversible diseases.

We have an opportunity to heal our planet with the good food instead of killing it with the bad food. We can choose to devolve or we can choose to evolve. The answer is: evolve and eat more plants!

From Raw to Cooked & the Zombie Kitchen

I ate cooked food for the first time in 28 days yesterday and I felt ok. Then today I made sprouted Whole Grain Pasta and I felt like I had the flu. I had cold sweats, light head, queasy stomach, and indigestion. It was rough. I now know that a proper raw food diet is the healthiest food path for me. I will continue my raw ways except for when I do my cooking classes. haha Sounds insane right? A raw food chef who cooks. Luckily I am able to come up with accurate recipes on the fly and do not require much recipe development. I love cooking and I love raw foods! So, I was thinking that it makes sense to combine these two elements into a hybrid 1/2 cooked 1/2 raw recipe series. If I make pasta sauce I will put it hot over raw zucchini. Or if I make a delicious raw Asian sauce I will put it over lightly steamed bok choy and shiitake shrooms. This way my meals will be half alive and half dead...like the Zombie Kitchen!!! This is much better than all the way cooked and a little easier for people to 'stomach' than straight raw foods. I can always end the meal with one of my 5 star raw desserts too :)

Day 28: Raw

So, after 28 days of eating 100% raw food I decided to break the streak today. I ate 2 whole wheat spinach empenadas.They were so freaking good! I felt great when I was raw and eating enough food. But the days that I didn't have copious amounts of fresh fruit, or lettuce for a salad, or kale for a green smoothie...raw food life was physically draining. Observations from my experience raw:
1. More balanced mood/calmer at all times
2. Sleep was more efficient/less hours with better rest
3. Raw culinary vision heightened
4. Ate about 1/3 the food as before
5. Spent a lot of $$$ on food
6. Frequently hungry
7. Lost 5 pounds
8. Missed cooking

Raw food makes the most sense most of the time for me...however, I will go back to where I was pre-raw to part-raw. I will make my green smoothie everyday, salad for lunch, quinoa/brown rice with nuts and beans, and fruit in between. I was on this journey with a beautiful friend of mine who made this a memorable and inspiring experience. I highly recommend doing any fast-like activities with a friend or a group for support. I will be teaching my raw food series at the store twice a month and this is a great place to meet raw foodies and health conscious friends. It is also in my job description to cook healthy food, so I am excited to reunite with my hot plate! I will continue posting raw and cooked oil-free healthy recipes on here until I am ready to write my book :)

Persimmon Pudding(raw)

I taught a raw food class yesterday and made Cream of Sweet Potato Soup, Kalocado Salad, and Persimmon Pudding. The soup is amazing, the salad is delicious, and the pudding is uniquely flavorful.

Our produce department had a some persimmons that were on there way out, so I rescued them and cut out the goodness. Persimmons are one of the sweetest fruits in the world when they are ripe. There are two main varieties; Hachiya and Fuya.

I prefer the acorn shaped Hachiya against the tomato shaped Fuya. If you eat a persimmon before it is ripe(when totally mushy) it will have an awful chalky affect and leave your mouth feeling like you just bit into a pile of powdered drywall.

The variety we had at the store was Fuya, so that's what went into the pudding. This is the first time I ever made this and I made the recipe up as I went along. Adjust spices to taste:



Persimmon Pudding.

8 ripe persimmons de-seeded and peeled
3/4 cup raisins
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp ginger

 Blend ingredients and serve chilled. Garnish with a mint leaf and ground cardamom.

I use dates to sweeten everything, so I found an opportunity to use raisins and it worked perfectly! The chia seeds are there to add the jello like consistency to this pudding. They really work!

I was going to add cinnamon and nutmeg and turn this into a Christmas style dessert, but then I realized that this flavor is played out, so I got Slum Dog Millionaire on it and turned into an Indian delight! These flavors complement the sweet complexity of the persimmon and raisins.

This is an excellent dessert to enjoy with a cup of warm almond milk or your favorite tea. Taste rating : 4 stars. Energy spent rating: 2

day 21: Raw

Wow! I ate a handful of raw cacao treats at like 12am and I feel like I just drank a pot of coffee. This is the ONLY problem with being uber detoxed. Anyway I have to be up in three hours for Mango Fest and I'm not tired at all. I always seem to pick the worst times to eat cacao at night. The great thing about being a raw oil-free vegan is I can totally function on three or four hours of sleep. It's when I hit the 2 hour zone when my body is like 'sorry not long enough' and I start forgetting where I parked my car....where did I park my car? Anyway, Day 21 and I am feeling great! I figured as opposed to taking my T.V apart again, I would just write in my blog here. Oh I forgot, I have cherries I can eat...sweet! Cherries are supposed to help calm the body. Any excuse to eat more fruit! 

peace be with you earthlings!

Chocolate Cheesecake(raw)

I made this today for my chocolate class on National Chocolate Day. It was a huge hit!

Chocolate Cheesecake filling

1.5 cups raw cashews

1 cup coconut water

1/2 cup raw cacao

15 dates

Blend ingredients in a high powered blender or food processor and serve chilled in a raw pie crust. Top with fresh fruit and cacao nibs.

Raw pie crust

1 cup raw walnuts

3 dates

Blend in a high powered blender or food processor.

Vanilla Cashew Ice Cream

2 cups raw cashews

1 whole vanilla bean

3/4 cup rolled oats

2 cups almond milk

15 dates

blend all ingredients and then add 32oz ice and blend briefly until the ice is blended

I made this ice cream for the first time today and put it on the cake. It was amazing! I came up with the cheesecake recipe three months ago. This is the easiest base for a healthy cheesecake: cashews, coconut water, and dates. Anything after this is just unnecessary. I have done a pumpkin, key lime, sweet potato, carrot, pineapple, and chocolate version of this. They are all amazing! 

Got Sprouts?

I was speaking with a friend last night about...well mangos...and I was thinking about a seed. A seed has almost an unlimited potential energy. Basically one mango seed has the potential to cover the tropical regions of earth with mangos trees. From one mango seed can grow a mango tree with a lifetime of mangos with seeds and so on.

This is true with any seed. I am still amazed that all we need is a seed, sunlight, and water and we are given fruits, veggies, and oxygen! I <3 plants! I also <3 eating seeds with my plants. Especially sprouted seeds or beans. When a seed(this includes nuts and beans) is sprouted the protein content, fiber, and all other nutrients are enhanced. Sprouts give you easily digestible protein and provide an amazing energy burst! This is because the sprout is ALIVE when we eat them! 

All that potential energy is activated and brought into the NOW! Of course if you cook it, you kill it. So S.O.S.! Save Our Sprouts! Sprouts are full of life, enzymes, nutrients, protein, and water. I usually stick to mung beans and lentils, because these taste the best. But as you can see, I have sprouted every bean in the market.

Here is a basic, simple way any body can sprout:

1. Rinse one cup of dried beans

2. Add filtered water at: 2-3 cups water to 1 cup of dried beans

3. Let soak in a large salad bowl for 6-8 hours. 

4. Rinse beans and change water every 6-8 hours

5. After 24 hours of soaking drain the water, rinse beans, and transfer to a colander and cover with a 

    wet white paper towel. 

6. Rinse beans and change paper towel every 6-8 hours 

7. After you see a little white tail growing out of the bean, usually another 24 hours, transfer the beans to 

    a bowl and keep in refrigerator. 

The reason for the seemingly obsessive rinsing is because there is a chance for bacteria to grow if you let the water stagnate or don't rinse the beans. So, clean your beans! I use a white paper towel because I prefer not having ink and dye from a stupid paper towel design running into my precious little sproutlings. 

So, the whole process takes 48 hours. This is a great way for those of us without garden space to grow our own. Any one can do this as long as you have a bowl, water, and beans. At one point three years ago I was making a 'Sproothie'. This had seaweed, a whole bunch of fresh greens, and like 2 full cups of sprouts! lol I was actually considering opening up the universe's first sproothie shack...right near tha beach! 

Good thing that never happened, because these things were disgusting! lol I loved them because, you will feel absolutely amazing after drinking one, but it is a difficult flavor to mask. It kind of tasted like freshly cut grass and top soil mixed with salt water. 

Speaking of seeds, this was right before I was seriously considering opening up a fresh raw local coconut water business. This would have been great! However,  it turns out that there aren't many coconut groves in Florida and we couldn't nail down a consistent supply. Coconuts are the largest seeds in the world. Imagine sprouting a coconut!!! Any way, GO SPROUT!

Nilla No-Milk Shake

After I made my Chococado Shake, I was asked to break loose a healthy eating milk shake line; chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. This is my delicious Nilla No-Milk Shake. The essence of the vanilla is captured in the vanilla bean, but that old school vanilla ice cream grittiness is achieved with the rolled oats. Cashews are key in making any healthy non-dairy recipe taste creamy. Using dates for sweetness is the best! Dates bring forth a new dimension to the sweet world. They add body, smoothness, and a caramel candy flavor to any recipe. Huge date fan...right here. This shake can be done raw with homemade almond milk.

Nilla No-Milk Shake


32oz unsweetened almond milk
.5 cup cashews
.5 cup oats
15 dates
1 vanilla bean
18 oz ice

Blend all ingredients and then add the ice. Taste rating: 4 stars. energy spent rating: 2

Raw: Day 14

Today I woke up at 10:00 after going out till 4:30am and getting to bed at 6am. I drank a kale smoothie at work and then ate a salad for lunch. I've only eaten fruit(plums, nectarines, mangos, and apples) since then. I have been eating less food and sleeping less than before I went raw. My food intake is at least half of what is was before, but I have maintained my ideal weight of 165. This is due to my body maximizing nutrient absorption and operating at optimal efficiency. I feel this in the quality of sleep that I am getting and my mellow mood. I am doing a healthy smoothies class this Tuesday and then a chocolate class Thursday for National Chocolate Day. I will definitely be making this recipe for one of these classes:

Chococado Shake 


Makes 64oz serves 8(adjust recipe to blender size)

1 avocado
2oz or 1/2 cup raw cacao powder
32-40oz unsweetened almond milk or homemade raw almond milk
15 dates
18-24oz ice
Blend and serve

Raw Cacao(Chocolate)

I came up with this recipe when I was working in Boca. I did a green smoothie class and right before the class came up with the prototype for this. I remembered hearing about avocados in Japanese smoothies and thought it might taste good with raw chocolate. It does. This smoothie is amazing! It really tastes like a chocolate milk shake. But according to the masses...It's way better! Not only are we avoiding the poison that comes along with dairy(ice cream), but this is actually very nutritious! Raw cacao(unprocessed chocolate bean) is the highest antioxidant and very high in magnesium and iron. Watch what David Wolfe has to say about cacao! This is a high healthy fat, calorie and nutrient dense smoothie!  Taste rating: 5 stars. Energy spent rating: 2 (if you are making almond milk-1 part almonds to 2 parts water)

The Mango Mothership

Basically I've been living off my two favorite foods; salad and fresh fruit. Yesterday I made my weekly pilgrimage to the Mango Mothership!!! My boy Cecil in Boynton Beach grows 36 varieties of the most amazing mangoes In the world! That's right...36 varieties of mangos in his back yard! lol This guy has mangoes, lychees, three varieties avocados, mamey, and other fruit trees. Definitely The Richest Man In Babylon! Not sure what I would do if I had all those mangos, but I think it would end in a diabetic coma.
Here is a glimpse of the 300+ mangos I ate in the last month:

This mango munching mayhem is culminating into the tropical fruit eaters Mecca aka 'Mango Festival' at Fairchild Gardens. This fruit eating frenzy is going down next weekend July 9 & 10 and is sure to be an amazing display of the 'Mangos of Hawaii'. I'm so freaking excited and I requested the whole weekend off :) 

Thai Rawlmond Noodles

I must say, this dish is amazing! I love making oil-free recipes that taste like they have oil or raw oil-free recipes that taste like they are cooked with oil. A co-worker brought me in a cooked peanut sauce recipe that included: oil, curry paste, peanut butter, canned coconut milk, sugar, and salt. None of these ingredients are raw and half of them are unhealthy, but she requested a healthy spin on it. So I bought some ingredients, went home, and came up with this:

Thai Rawlmond Noodles

8oz raw almond butter
2 cups fresh raw coconut milk
1.5 T (table spoon) curry powder
.5 T turmeric
.5 t (teaspoon) all spice
1 medium clove garlic
1 medium clove shallot
.5-.25 inch small jalapeno(depending on heat of pepper)
2 dates
2 T apple cider vinegar
salt to taste (liquid aminos or rock salt)
2 spiraled zucchini

Garnished with spiraled yams and pineapple

I made the coconut milk fresh with two cups dried coconut flakes and two cups of coconut water from a young thai coconut. I blended both and then strained out the milk through a nut milk bag...lol The first time I heard the word 'nut milk bag' I cracked up. Just sounds funny. You may want to make extra of this extremely rich delicious milk or it might not make it into the sauce. I checked the ingredients in curry paste and just substituted fresh items instead. Play with the spice measurements in this recipe. The first time I made it, I was creating it without measuring spoons and the second time was at my raw food class. I always recommend making food to your taste. Raw zucchini noodles are perfect under this sauce, but  it works as a salad dressing too! There was someone eating a piece of plain chicken in the cafe and I topped his bird with the sauce...he said it was amazing!
Taste rating: 5 stars. Energy spent rating: 3(due to fresh coconut milk)

Day 8: It's an Energy Thing

Raw food is more alive than cooked food. What does this mean? Most people will reference enzyme activity in raw food when asked this question. An enzyme is a substance that acts as a catalyst for bodily function. Without these we would die. The closer the food is to the plant the more enzyme activity it will exhibit. When we heat our food over 115 degrees, the enzymes start to breakdown and the food dies. These enzymes are necessary for digestion as well.

Raw food is full of live-giving enzymes. Cooked food, if heated above 212deg, is devoid of enzymes. When we eat raw food, our bodies do not need to create as many digestive enzymes to breakdown that green smoothie into energy. When we eat cooked food, we need to make more enzymes to make up for those lacking in the cheese pizza. We give our system a break when we eat raw food. We are making it easier for our bodies to do the most important bodily function: digestion.

Some theories out there suggest that our bodies have a limit to how many enzymes we can make over a lifetime. This theory also suggests that when our enzyme capacity has been reached, we will die. I like raw food because it is closer to being alive, and in the case of sprouts and cultured foods it is still alive!  This life can be tasted in an orange or a mango right off the tree. It explodes with flavor and energy, while fruit that was picked last year...not so much.

Another example is coconut water. If you drink a fresh water coconut it is the best drink in the world! No comparison to the boiled version in the tetra-paks. It's an energy thing. No matter what your thoughts on oil-free or raw foods, I do know for a fact that since I cut out dairy and oil I feel much more efficient and energized! I haven't noticed a huge change since going 100% raw except that I am sleeping better. I think this is because I have been mostly raw for the past 1.5 years.

At one point in my life I was an unhealthy vegetarian; eating Taco Bell and candy everyday. Since I took a hold of my health, my digestion process is near perfect and I have found balance. I also haven't gotten sick in four years. Amazing! We have control over how our bodies function solely with our food choices!

We have 95% control over disease prevention! Well, hold on a minute! What about GENETICS!?! As the good doctors in Naples say,"the strongest genetics passed down are our eating habits from our family". They say that 90-95% of our likelihood for disease is based on our food choices & exercise habits. But mostly our food choices! This means that if you eat McDonalds every day you will come down with a chronic disease. On the flip side, if you follow a plant based, nutrient dense diet you more than likely will not :)

Plant Love

I <3 plants! They have given me everything in this world...from mangos, to oxygen, to food, to my job! I also love eating them too!!! Big up to all my plants out there...you know who you are :) If you're a mango tree, watch out I'm coming for you!!!

Day 7 Raw Thoughts

I am constantly seeking out new ways to improve my diet and try new ways of healthy eating. From vegetarian>vegan>oil-free vegan>raw oil-free vegan>??? Well after raw we have foraging...YES!!! This is my ideal food path...wild edibles!!! This makes the most sense in our over-consuming modern age of nutrient depleted soil and disgusting water. With the foraging(one of my favorite words) path, it's all good!

For starters, if you are picking your produce in the woods, it is all organic. But even better than organic is wild. Wild edible(also a nice word) seeds have not been crossed or altered by man and the food remains as God intended it to. The soil has not been farmed upon, which even in crop rotation soil is stripped of nutrients. 

Also, the water that organic produce is fed is treated with the same garbage as tap water and in most cases worse. In nature the plants drink nitrogen rich cloud filtered rain water. Then we have the best bonus of wild edibles, the fresh factor! It doesn't get any more fresh than picking it and eating it. 

I would love to, one day, be able to make my green smoothies with wild weeds and herbs!!! So, if you live anywhere near a woodland area or if you suspect you have some tasty weeds in your backyard...put a lid on your roundup, check a wild edible guide, and go forage!!!

Day 6 Raw

I woke up today and realized all my mangos were gone. I ate all 28 of my mangos in one day. The good news is, my buddy Bill is bringing me 40 haydens tomorrow. So, today I woke up to a delicious green smoothie and hit the beach for 2 hours...ahhhhhh I love the beach! Then I did some work related errands, grabbed a green juice, and then hit a yoga class at the Green Monkey Tree House....ahhhhhh I love yoga! I'll actually be teaching a raw food class at Green Monkey in July with all proceeds going to a local charity. Yoga and raw foods.... it just makes sense :) Then for dinner, a huge salad with my homemade mango dressing, sprouts, spouted nuts/seeds, hemp seeds, raw yams, sweet onion, grape tomatoes, avocado, and herb mix. It was spot on! Now bedtime and up in the a.m. for a beach cleanup and a peaceful demonstration against oil drilling....Hands Across the Sand :)

Day 4 & 5 Raw

This is mad easy! I DJed an event yesterday and I brought a pint of blueberries, a bag of sprouted nuts and seeds, raw granola, and an apple. That was my lunch along with a surprise green smoothie(thanks to Diane!):

pineapple

spinach

mint

dates

water

Super tasty recipe! By the way, if you noticed I don't use oil or any added sweetener in my recipes. I only sweeten with dates or fruits due to their lower glycemic index and that they have the fiber with the sugar. Breakfast today was:

5 mangos 

lunch:

salad with sprouted nuts/seeds

dinner:

8 mangos

large herb salad with avocado sprouted nuts/seeds tomato with a homemade salad dressing:

Spicy Mexican Mango Dressing

1/2 cup cashews

3 lemons juiced

2 ripe mangos

1/2 bunch cilantro

small pinky finger tip of jalapeno with seeds

1/4-1/2 tsp rock salt

1/2 cup water

Blend the lemon juice & cashews. Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend. 

This is an old recipe of mine that I've adapted to my oil-free ways. I used to use a full cup of coconut oil in this recipe. It is amazing how disgusting that sounds now. It makes no sense for me to drench my delicate raw fresh herb or lettuce with oil...a pure extracted fat. I used a half a cup of raw cashews instead and it came out so much better than the previous. It still has the savory taste that the oil contributed without the internal oil-slick. The cashews, in fact give salad dressing a whole new dimension of texture. It is thick yet light with a creaminess that doesn't over take the flavor. It truly tastes amazing! I could make ranch with cashews, a cashew caesar, and a cashew sun-dried chipolte dressing. Also don't forget the plant protein that cashews offer, while oil is just fat. This dressing gets 4.5 stars with an energy spent rating of 1.5. I'm definitely making this at my raw food class next week :)

Abysmal

Abysmal by goldendel

Day 2 & 3 Raw

Day two was cool: mangos for breakfast. By the way I am obsessed with local S. Florida mangos! I ate 100 in 7 days recently. When I bite into a great mango, the first taste gets me high. I get into a mango munching frenzy and then, 7 mangos later, I have to back away from the kitchen like a murder scene. I am by no means a nutritionist and I only give my experience with nutrition, but I would suggest that if you have a sugar issue, DON'T eat 10 mangos per hour. However, if you do not DOOO IT! When I tell people this, they say "whaaaa...thats too much sugar!" Well its fruit and I think I should eat a lot of fruit like my closest animal relative the chimp. I also do not eat refined sugar...white, brown, or corn-derived. So, if thats how you swing, eat yo fruit chimp! So, mangos for breakfast, green smoothie for lunch & salad:
romaine, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, sunflower seeds, apple cider vinegar...for lunch. Then dinner was great! I had my raw friend over and I made the following:

Cream of Carrawt Soup

3 carrots(cut into 1 inch pieces)
1 granny smith apple(quartered)
1 pinky tip ginger
1/4 tsp all spice
rock salt & pepper to taste
blend all ingredients in a high power(hp) blender and separate in a bowl
1 cup cashews
1 cup water
blend into cashew cream and then add carrot mixture and blend until warm
serve with shredded carrot garnish and black pepper

I made a version of this soup for a raw food class I did recently. The first time I used fresh carrot and apple juice. This time i didn't have a juicer on had so I adapted and threw the whole thing in. It came out with an incredible texture and improved the body of the soup.
I give this soup 4.5 stars with an energy spent rating of 2 (5 being the most energy spent)

Next course:

Pesto a la Raw

1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 lemon juiced
8 sun-dried tomato pieces or half a cup
1 cup fresh basil
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup water
Blend ingredients in a food processor and serve over spiraled zucchini or sunflower greens. Garnish with sliced grape tomatoes, sunflower greens, and lemon slices. Top with Raw parmesan cheese. I give this dish 4 stars with an energy spent rating of 3.5.

Raw Parmesan Cheese:

1/2 cup pine nuts
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tsp rock salt

Mash all ingredients in a bowl or blend in a food processor.

For this dinner, I asked my friend to think of a dish she would like done raw and she picked pesto. Basically, raw food creations are easy. There is no heating/cooking element, so the food comes out tasting how I imagine it will. I decided to add sun-dried tomatoes because they add an amazing natural saltiness to any dish and also give the pesto a thicker more savory body. The spiraled raw zucchini is an excellent substitute for pasta and holds the sauce nicely. Sunflower greens(vitamin D source) can be used as an even healthier alternative. The parmesan cheese recipe is great! Excellent topping for any raw pasta dish!

Raw-vocado Chocolate Mousse

2 avocados
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
15 dates

Blend all ingredients in a hp blender. Chill in refrigerator for an hour before serving. Top with fresh berries.

This is one of my favorite desserts in the world! I am a chocolate fiend and I eat an avocado every day. So this makes sense to me. Also this makes sense because chocolate and avocados grow in the same part of the world. So they are flavor neighbors. In addition chocolate is a top anti-oxident food and very high in magnesium. The healthy fat in avocados help the absorption of other nutrients making this a very high calorie nutrient dense delicious dessert! I give this dessert 4 stars with an energy spent rating of 1.

Day One: Raw

Today was day one and the hardest thing about going raw at first is remembering you are raw. lol I found myself with a salad with an oil-free balsamic dressing that was not raw. Oh yeah, I should also explain that I am a very dedicated foodie! If I'm oil-free vegan, I'm oil-free vegan. If I say I'm raw, I'm 100% raw...no exceptions. I understand that a pasteurized salad dressing will not affect me physically, but for me it will not be a 100% authentic experience.

Then again, today someone was sampling out cereal she said "I think that has oil in it". So then when I reached for the ingredients, I remembered again that I am raw. The oil-free vegan and the raw oil-free vegan lifestyles bring an elevated awareness to what I am putting in my body to convert to energy. This awareness is not lost in my vita-mix. It is spread out over my whole being.

The last time I went raw, I was at my peak physical condition. I was spiritually elevated. Emotionally balanced. Musically inclined. By the way, along with optimal health, I am also in love with surfing and music...DJ Golden DeL(like the apple)

http://soundcloud.com/goldendel/sets/abysmal#

I have been obsessed with local mangos this year. Today I ate

breakfast:

5 mangos

green smoothie:

1 avocado

1 pint organic blueberries

1 banana

1 bunch black kale

1 T bee pollen

1 T hemp seeds

water

Lunch:

1 pint organic blueberries

.5 Large salad

.5 cup sprouted mung beans

1/2 cup walnuts(very important to eat nuts, seeds, avocado with leafy greens to optimize nutrient absorption)

Apple cider vinegar for dressing

Snack 

raw white chocolate

spicy flax crackers

Dinner:

6 mangos

.5 Large salad

.5 cup sprouted mung beans

1/2 cup walnuts(very important to eat nuts, seeds, avocado with leafy greens to optimize nutrient absorption)

Apple cider vinegar for dressing

after dinner snack:

7 mangos

31 years, no oil, and a blog

This is my ever evolving experience with food:

i have been a vegetarian since birth; as in i've never eaten chicken, meat, fish, or eggs. In the past, peoples reaction when I "broke" the news about my herbivorous roots was along the lines of; "you've never tried a hot dog?" or "you don't look sick" and my favorite "dude you have no idea what you're missing!!!".

Well over the years, as more of the truth about our food is revealed, the reactions are more along the inquisitive lines of "what do you eat?" or "I've been thinking about going vegetarian" or my favorite, which I am hearing more and more these days "show me how you eat...I want to do this". 

I was raised eating dairy, but stopped drinking cow's milk around age 12 when we made the switch to soy. Then about 4 years ago, I began my battle with the cheese! This was such a laborious and heartbreaking separation. Even after many gut-wrenching relapses, it still "tasted sooooo good!" The last time I ate cheese was about 6 months ago and here is what happened: i had a lot of energy when I ate the cheese. Then I laid down in bed and my heart started racing. Then I felt like I was going to throw up. Then I suddenly passed out and had a horribly restless nights sleep. 

I will not go into why eating animals is no bueno for the human body and our planet. There is copious amounts of scientific information and research out there to validate this. I am only blogging about my personal experience with food.  

So, now after 6 months clean off the cheese I have evolved yet another annoying aspect to my interaction with waiters. Four months ago I stopped eating anything mixed with oil, made with oil, or cooked in oil. What? I know right!  But olive oil & coconut oil IS good for us!!!The reason given to me by a team of four of our nations most reputable and respected Nutritional M.D.'s is that extracted oil is in fact not good for us. They say that oil is a pure fat, very high in calories, and a very low calorie to nutrient ratio. BTW these are the same guys who gave me the science behind a pro-vegan diet. I spent a week in Naples Beach with these gentlemen, eating all vegan, oil-free, fruit-sweetened, nutrient dense, delicious food! When we weren't eating they were feeding us the science behind this path and how we can cure disease and prevent disease from killing us and our families. We can do this, they say through diet and moderate exercise! Real talk. 

The oil-free thing made sense to me, when after a month no oil i ate a small handful of popcorn with coconut oil. It tasted like rancid poison and I felt like someone kicked me in my stomach. But wait, what about fish oil, what about flax seed oil, my GOD where will we get our OMEGAS!?! I get my omegas from the whole food, non-extracted, makes perfect sense sources: hemp seeds, walnuts, and leafy greens! 

So when people ask me if they should stop eating meat, or cheese, or oil…i say, if you hear that something may not be good for you and you know you can live without it, give it up for a month and see how you feel. If you feel better thats awesome! Stop eating it! If you feel the same go back and eat that piece of pizza with extra cheese and dripping with oil and see how you feel. I have found that oil free food taste like the food rather than what it is cooked in and it's much easier to digest. Also recipes with the original whole food sourced healthy fats…nuts, seeds, olives, and avocados are so much better tasting!

So now after my oil slick has dissipated and I have formulated around 40 original oil-free, fruit-sweetened, nutrient-dense, delicious recipes I have evolved yet again back to what makes the most sense to me. Now, as of yesterday i am a raw oil-free fruit-sweetened vegan.  I have dabbled in the raw arts in the past. When I first moved to Miami(btw i live and work on South Beach), I stopped eating anything heated above 120 degrees. I didn't plan on this at all. During my move I tossed most of my food, leaving me with my staple green smoothie ingredients:

Makes 64oz(adjust to blender size)

.5 bunch(beginners) or 1 bunch(masters) of greens(spinach, kale, collards, chard, dandelions, sunflower greens, book choy, watercress)

.5-1 avocado

4 frozen bananas

4 T raw cacao 

1 T hemp seeds

1 T bee pollen

24-32+ OZ water(until desired consistency is reached)

I drank green smoothies for two days and felt amazing! So, I decided to just go totally raw. I did a month of nothing cooked, processed, pasteurized, or otherwise altered by man. I ate all fresh fruit, vegetables, and a ton of leafy greens. It was green smoothies for breakfast into lunch with a raw food snack then a huge salad for dinner with homemade salad dressing. I felt amazing! Crazy energy!Working out and running everyday, only sleeping 5 hours, and I had a greater sense of balance. Then I went home for my mother's amazing vegetarian Thanksgiving spread and ate cooked food for two days. However, after one month raw, I saw results and I felt great!. Now, i recently met a beautiful woman who has inspired me beyond words with her zest for life and her enthusiasm for the raw food lifestyle. 2 weeks raw...maybe a month...maybe longer...here we go! Du er smuk!!!