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!!!