More Raw

I have been high-raw, i.e., eating over 80 percent raw food, most days 100 percent raw vegan, (but who knows if the nuts are really raw?) for over 40 days.  I have not had coffee for 45 days.  It has been (prepare yourself for a cliche phrase) life changing.  I am surprised at how much I like it and how easy it is.  The greatest challenge, thus far, is social dining.  Despite this, the rewards are great.

My sleep has improved.  Cuts heal faster.  My mood is more upbeat.  I get going in the morning without the two-plus cups of coffee I used to require.  No coffee to grind.  No coffee maker to clean.  No coffee to buy.  I drink a quart of water in the morning (it is dry here in the Southwest Desert) and add juice of a half lemon or lime.  Then I juice a quart of vegetable juice.  I drink one or two pints, whatever I desire.  If I only drink one pint, I save the other in the fridge for later.  If I am still hungry I have some fruit or a salad.  Yes, a salad for breakfast -- or lunch.  And I mean a vegetable salad, although sometimes I add a bit of apple, peach, or nectarine. If the salad is not sufficient, I have some nuts or seeds afterwards.  Be careful not to go nuts with the nuts.  Unless you are breaking them out of their shells, they are too easy to eat.

I generally save my smoothie for lunch or afternoon.  I have been making my smoothies with frozen fruit and greens -- green smoothie.  I freeze fresh fruit, peeled if necessary and cut into pieces, when it is sweet and on sale.  The frozen fruit makes the smoothie almost like a sherbert and I eat it with a spoon.  It is cooling, tasty, thick, convenient, fast, easy, and healthy.  No added sugar.  No added fat. No animals, animal parts, or animal by-products in the blender. Trust me, I never wanted a green smoothie until I tried one during the 7 Day Raw Food Challenge.  Look for my previous posts Is Your Drink Green?, Got Greens?, and other posts from late July for my green smoothie recipes, thoughts, and observations during my raw genesis.  Also link to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1383344 for a FREE easy juice and smoothie recipe e-Book, other easy raw recipes, videos, and info about the 7 Day Raw Food Challenge I completed.

Let me give you a secret ingredient I add to my banana spinach smoothie --- cinnamon.  It adds a new taste and the health giving properties of cinnamon.  I also add 4 to 6 ice cubes because my blender can grind them.  Note that I do not have one of those super-duper  $400 blenders.  Just something better than the old, bottom-of-the-line $15 model I used to have, for years, until the plastic handle broke off the (what is it called?) blender pitcher (?).  To recap:  the secret ingredients are cinnamon and ice cubes.  ;-)

I go to a naturopathic doctor.  After I stopped coffee for several weeks, a noon time slump in energy that would have been boosted by caffeine became pronounced.  The doctor found that my pineal gland was weak.  This has been corrected and my energy is quite sufficient to get through the day and evening.  Had it not been for quitting coffee, I would never have known that my pineal, a master gland, was weak.
I was advised it is OK for me to take vitamin B12.  The naturopath I go to has been a vegetarian since the 1960s!  He takes some B12.  He works long days, sometimes over 12 hours, and goes to the gym to work out during lunch.  We need more role models who practice what they preach and don't do too much preaching.  Also, it is good to have a practitioner you trust who can intelligently support you when you change your diet.  You want to be sure you are getting all your nutritional needs met.

In a previous post I promised to print some quotes from a book I read, Blatant Raw Foodist Propaganda! or Sell Your Stove to the Junkman and Feel Great!  Here it is:
    Most people live on an omnivorous diet -- that is, anything that is possible to chew up and swallow      and live long enough to tell about it, they will eat.  But, for one reason or another, many people decide to adopt some restrictions...The great value of the raw food diet is its transformative value. To a great extent, when you take up the raw food diet, you become a new and different and better person.  You don't just stay the same old person, only a little healthier.  You become, to a great extent, a new being, with new interests, a new philosophy and outlook on life, new goals and desires...Such transformations of course are impossible to imagine before you have experienced them.  The raw foods diet doesn't so much "improve you" as "replace you" with somebody better!  -- Joe Alexander c.1990

Wow.  Lofty words Joe.  I could stand to be replaced with somebody better.

I am new and improved, or replaced...,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011






 

 

High Raw?

I have heard the term "high-raw vegan" bandied about.  I assumed these folks were raw foods vegans who were stoned high hippies or just on a natural high from all their raw vegan foods.  I have recently been told that the term high-raw vegan refers to folks who are vegans eating mostly raw food.  The term "mostly" is somewhat subjective.  A number of supposedly 100 percent raw vegans eat honey.  Honey, as I understand it, is not a vegan food.  It is made by the labor of bees.  Yet, honey can be raw.  Also, a food can be raw and not vegan or even vegetarian (think sashimi sushi).

It is a challenge to be 100 raw vegan.  There is too much thinking you have to do.  Is the product I purchased really raw as the label states?  Is it 100 percent raw, or is the word "raw" just a marketing tool to move high priced goods off the shelf and increase profit margins?  Has my raw food been kept at low enough temperatures during transport to still qualify as raw?  Does a supermarket scanner render it un-raw?  (I don't think so, as the seeds still sprout after being scanned.)

sprouted seeds grown in a jar

To simplify matters you could eat food you grow or harvest yourself.  Then, you know it is raw.  Barring that, you could eat only raw fruits and vegetables, and seeds and nuts that sprout.  If they are heated excessively, or  irradiated, they will not sprout.  Thus, if they sprout, they are alive and raw seeds.

You better get expert advice if you plan on being a long-term 100 percent raw vegan.  There may be hazards to your health.  One of the main hazards, assuming your sprouts are fresh and clean, is that the vegan (and sometimes vegetarian) diet may be woefully low in vitamin B12.  This can have serious health consequences.  I will give you a video link that explains it in more detail.  Personally, I take a good quality sublingual B12.
http://www.rawradianthealth.com/blog/?s=b12+
There is a lot of good information on this site, how to sprout, make almond nut milk (I just soak the almonds for 12 hours or more, drain the soak water and add 3 cups of fresh water, add 3 dates, blend all in a good standard blender, and strain through a fine strainer over a bowl; it tastes great in coffee, which I haven't had for 7 days!), other good, easy recipes, and interesting health related information.  Get the free e-Book of juice and smoothie recipes http://www.rawradianthealth.com/and stroll around the site for excellent free videos, easy raw recipes (save energy, use the stove less!) and info on the very well thought out, planned, and doable 7 Day Raw Food Challenge.


I have come to realize I AM (to coin a phrase) a high-raw omnivore.  The simple raw foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and raw oil have been good for me.  This week I AM a 100 percent raw vegan.  However, I cannot say that I will never spend time with Ben and Jerry again in my life.  They just aren't looking as attractive as they used to. 


Stay cool.  Have a nice salad, add few pieces of  apple, peach, nectarine, or orange and some walnuts. Add a few ice cubes to your smoothie.  It's easy.


I AM high-raw
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011