A Whole New Raw World

Lentil and Parsley Soup

2010-08-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

Very similar to my lentil pate recipe, this one is watered down and made in a blender

Generous amount of sprouted lentils (puy, brown or green)
1/2 a courgette
1 or 2 sticks celery
1/4 of an onion
small handful of kale or spinach (optional)
generous handful of parsley
filtered water as required

You can also add lemon juice and Braggs/Tamari if desired.

Blend carefully until smooth in a blender, adding water slowly to get it moving.

Or use a handblender and have it as a version of lentil pate with more courgette and herbs.

I love having this first thing for breakfast, mid morning a couple of hours after green juice, or for lunch.

Anti-candida diet

2010-08-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

I have been on an anti-candida diet for some time (the one with no sugar including fruit!) now and without much success ... I recently started to seriously consider the argument that it is an excess of fat in your diet, rather than an excess of sugar, that is the problem. The ideas came mostly from Doug Graham and his 'The 80/10/10 Diet' - he has loads of videos on YouTube about it. I cut down my fat significantly and noticed a real difference. I have not yet tried re-introducing fruit but when I reintroduced fats I'd previously cut out (sunflower seeds, flaxseed and avocado) the symptoms came back! I particularly felt that unsoaked sunflower seeds were the worst culprit. (Got into a habit of eating them this way during a time of disorganization and eating the fastest and easiest things to hand, and I di struggle with willpower on that one!! I need to find a good ethical reason not to eat them and it would be a lot easier!)

I have to say I have thrived on a high carb low fat, high in wholefoods diet before, although it included animal products. I have reintroduced a lot of rice and eat a lot of cooked quinoa (raw sprouted quinoa is horribe in my opinion, although you can probably disguise it in things!)

My aim now is to eat more sprouted legumes which are delicious and very filling. I have a new amazing sprouted lentil soup recipe which I adore. (See post 'Lentil Soup' under recipes, August 2010) Another favourite is mung bean and pea salad which I love to have for breakfast (see Mung Bean, Pea and Chive Salad)

All these recipes are extremely basic - the way my taste buds have gone since going raw. But I think things like chives, parsley, apple cider vinegar are all the condiments I need : )

Saturday 25th September - FESTIVAL OF LIFE - London

2010-08-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

I am so excited because I have just realised the Festival Of Life is on in London on 25th Sept!! I wanted to go last year but did not organise getting the day off work!

http://www.festivaloflife.net/about.htm

So much there for a bargain price of something like £12 - would be mad to miss it this year!! It's been ages since I've been to an event like this, and I always enjoy networking loads! :) :) :) :) :)

Blog re-vamp!

2010-07-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the newly designed, interactive, informative blog! It will continue to document 'my raw journey', (and there is lots of catch up on) as well as my progress on running on a high raw, vegan diet. I will also be writing about the anti-candida diet I have recently embarked upon. Be prepared for more links to a wider range of subjects as I branch out into the wider world of vegan nutrition, including cooked food, and eating to treat specific conditions. Your comments are always welcomed!!

Food, communication and relationships.

2010-05-18T14:28:00.001-07:00

During reading week back in March I think it was, I did have a bit of break from work and spent quite a lot of time watching David Wolfe videos on youtube! There are so many of them you could actually watch all day. I remember being more than happy doing some therapeutic cleaning of my kitchen and just listening to him talk! (Actually David Wolfe is coming to London in October and I've bought a ticket to his lecture!! I just couldn't not. I am extremely excited!) There was one video in particular I found really interesting which I just found again on youtube.

3 Keys to Good Health:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHcTJ6uwzjc&feature=related

These things are food, communication and relationships. It makes perfect sense to me. I have done a joint literature / language and communication degree and find human communication fascinating. I've said for ages now, I don't know the meaning of life, but I know that life would be meaningless without other people, because without being able to relate to them through communication we would have no idea how to make sense of our own existence. I am not attempting to sound as knowledgeable of David Wolfe of course!! But the amazing thing about so much of all this wisdom is that it is like stuff all humans know anyway, like innate knowledge we are born with. It just seems hectic materialistic societies create the perfect conditions for forgetting it all.

I also went to the Farmers' market and bought a bag of mixed leaves which I thought looked really pretty.

And I added some sliced pepper which looked a bit like hearts : )

I have more loads more to tell and will blog more tomorrow!

Portugal

2010-05-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

I have been taking pictures of things since February, they just haven't made it on to the blog, so I have some catching up to do ...

I think I mentioned in some earlier posts about going abroad with my family to the Algarve for 4 days - we were very lucky to be taken away by my Dad to celebrate his 65th Birthday. Well, I made some dehydrated food to take with me: lentil burgers (based on a recipe by Chris he made on the retreat in the Gower last August) - I can't even remember what quantities I used - just hoped for the best with sprouted green lentils, walnuts, tamari, mushrooms and onions. I think that's all. I liked Chris's drier, bite size ones; the ones I made were too big, fairly moist and well, too much like real burgers for my liking. It was the onions and the saltiness that did it.

They travelled ok, but not as well as the buckwheat bread I made. I ate basically the same thing every day - the hotel and restaurants we went too were really kind and accomodating and always made me a salad with lettuce, grated carrot, onion, garlic if I asked for it, sliced tomato and cucumber. I usually had loads of fruit for breakfast with cucumber. I supplemented with avocados I had brought with me (carefully selected so they would ripen one after the other!) and did some sprouting in the room and ate these and the dehydrated food in between meals. By the end I was pretty sick of all this and had bad stomach ache most of the time, as I had had for a few weeks before we left.

I felt rude asking the Brazilian restaurant to serve me a raw salad, (to which I added my own avocado, just to add insult to injury) and by this point I was pretty sick of grated carrot, sliced tomato and cucumber. So I ate some of the big pot of bean stew and rice on the table... only to be told it contained tiny bits of sausage. It was embarrassing for me and for the chef, who felt bad for not telling me, as I had only asked about whether something else on the menu was vegan (banana - which was fried in egg). I felt awful. Learned my lesson there.

However to end on a more positive note, I found loads of carob pods in the grounds of where we stayed!! And was able to bring a load home with me. I saw them as I was running round the running track with my sister. It was really nice to be able to get away and spend some time with my family.

A Return to the New

2010-05-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

I have not written on my blog since February because my teaching course was consuming me, leaving me with no love to give to it. I was beginning to feel I had no love left for anything. I had not been getting enough sleep and I was not eating properly. I left the course over 3 weeks ago, after what I called a complete melt-down. There were a lot of tears and a lot of feelings of emptiness. My first happy thought after I finally allowed myself to stop was raw food. However, I did not return to food creation and blogging immediately, even though I stuck to the raw vegan diet throughout the ordeal. I have been wondered why this might be, but now I understand. A book called ‘The Joy of Burnout’ by Dina Glouberman, which I just finished about half an hour ago, has helped clarify this.

I have always been a great believer in books as providers of knowledge. With no-one who seemed to understand what was happening to me, including myself, it seemed natural to turn to them again. I went to the library to look for a self-help book. This one was there and something about the word ‘burnout’ seemed to resonate with me. The book explains that ‘burnout’ results from a failure to honour ourself, when we don’t listen to the voice of our inner truth. It recommends stopping, resting and letting go of all our expectations of the past and of our hopes for the future. If we invest all our energies in to hopes of becoming something or someone in the future, like a teacher, we lose our ability to honour our real selves in the present.

I was thinking of trying to pursue a career in raw food before I started my teacher training course. This is why the idea of returning to creating new recipes following my crash out of the course did not grab me straight away. Beginning the book, I knew there would be a reason for this and that I would return to it, but only when I was ready. I now realise that the idea of a career in raw is just another hope for the future that could endanger my ability to just be myself, right now.

The book explains how we think that our emotional selves, our hearts, will catch up, ‘once we are there’, but really they are already far ahead of us, calling to us to catch up and get in line with them. I thought I would have time to return to my food passions once I was qualified, but began to increasingly realise that teaching is the kind of career in which it is not easy to maintain a healthy-work life balance, particularly when combined with my kind of personality. And raw food or not, my heart was just not in teaching children.

The first experience I have had with connecting to an inner truth is through raw food, which later came together with veganism. The author describes burnout: “We became unable to continue in the old structures and needed to find another way of going forward by going deep into our true selves.” (p.246) Last March I felt I was no longer able to continue in the old structures of eating meat and dairy. I felt this represented a structure, rather than simply a meal, because I believe what we eat affects our consciousness, which affects our societies. It was in seeing the alternative that I saw the errors of the old way. My blog introduction: ‘this (raw food) is my life, and I have never been any more certain of anything in my life’ suggests how fundamental to my very being this new-found lifestyle felt, and still feels now.

“Eventually, if we are patient enough, we start to get a sense that some more basic energy is coming back that is asking to be harnessed to our creativity. It is only at that point that we should consider having visions of the future, and wondering how to get there.” (p. 245) I am not completely at this point yet, and so am comfortable to just lead a simple, less career-driven life for now, and wait for this time to come. I can not even be sure it ever will, but that is ok too. What I need to do now is keep creating and blogging with no expectation, and learn to remember the positive energy that this generated, and generated simply for its own sake, before things started to go wrong.

Ultimately the answers (if they can be called that) have to come from myself, and not from a book, but this book has been an enormous help in setting that process in motion. Actually, I think it was when I found raw food that I began to listen to my inner self, and this book has reminded me of that.

I have questioned whether 100% raw is the ideal diet, and I am not sure that it necessarily is. I think a very high raw diet is best but that it may not suit everyone. I am in no doubt that veganism is the best lifestyle, although I have eaten honey and bee pollen since calling myself a vegan! I have made a new friend who is a vegan and he explained to me this week the view why eating honey and bee pollen is unacceptable and I now agree. I was not sure of the story of bees, and rather than wait to find out I ate honey and bee pollen (not much of it, but still) in the mean time. I am not sure why I did this. It feels strange now to think that this means I have not been a true vegan… I think I read somewhere it was a grey area so that it was somehow acceptable. So it all comes back to what you believe in rather than what criteria fit under certain labels.

He is a member of vegan runners and asked me to run a 10K race with him and I decided to become a member too. I am feeling really stoked at the idea of running to raise awareness of veganism, and that vegans can be fit and healthy too – that they can’t be seems to be a common misconception! I am really happy to have made this new friend (and hope he will read this and feel the same!)

So I am now ready to start sharing more openly what I believe in with the world, and this includes more blog entries. I feel very excited…

Spagetti bolognaise

2010-02-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

I just am marvelling at my recent piece of culinary genius, if I do say so myself. I am so proud of myself because I did not follow a recipe for this one! Here's what I did. You'll need a spiralizer for this one. If you dont you can grate the courgette but unfortunately I don't think it will be as good this way!

Serves One:

Ingredients

Noodles
2 1/2 medium courgettes
1 tsp salt

Sauce
3 or 4 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
3 small tomatoes
1 tbsp coconut butter

Pesto
Handful of cashews (soaked for a couple of hours)
Sprinkle of dried or finely chopped basil
1 tsp nutritional yeast

First spiralize the courgette. Place in a bowl and sprinkle evenly with the salt. This will soften it. You can peel the courgette first for aesthetics but I felt this was a waste of chlorophyll!

To make the pesto, grind up the cashews in a coffe grinder or food processor. Add the basil and nutritional yeast.

Melt the coconut butter in a bowl inside a bigger bowl with hot but not boiling water in it.

While that is melting, scoop the out insides of the tomatoes and put to one side. Process gently in a food processor so they are roughly chopped. Add the mushrooms, then add to the coconut butter when it is melted. You can add some of the tomato seeds back in if you like.

Rinse the courgette with warm water. Drain well. Arrange on a place, add the sauce in the middle and sprinkle with pesto.

The Carrot Cake!

2010-02-16T06:10:00.001-08:00

My Valentine's Day gift to myself. Have been meaning to make it for ages. The recipe is from Winter 2007 Get Fresh! by Alissa Cohen:

Cake
7 carrots
1 cup walnuts
1 cup dates, pitted and soaked
3/4 cup raisins, soaked for at least 1 hour
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Frosting
3 tbsp honey (I used agave syrup)
3 tbsp orange juice
1 cup cashews, soaked

Food process separately carrots, then walnuts, then dates together with spices. The blend all three together in the food processor. Stir in the raisins.

Put all frosting ingredients in the blender (I found hand blender easier as there wasn't quite enough to get the blender moving) Spread over cake and sprinkle with cinnamon.

I lined a cake tin with baking paper and just it slid off easily when set. You don't need to bother with anything to stick the paper to the inside of the tin either - if you pour the mixture in carefully it will hold it in place.

It is definitely better if made the night before and left in the fridge for all the flavours to meld together. It is beautifully moist, but if I was to do a review it would say that it could be slightly more stodgy with more dates, more orange juice and possibly including sprouted wheat grain...

Lovely Layla's lovely bowl

2010-02-16T05:53:00.000-08:00

I love eating from this bowl - it belongs to my housemate! Gives a completely different feel to a gleaming white one.

Coleslaw I had for lunch today

Loved this combination last night: Kate's 'Egg Mayonaise (Raw Living) with a tomato, pepper, cuc and celery salad with some nori sprinkle.

Sprout salad: mund beans, alfalfa, pak choi, grated courgette, tomato and red onion with lemon and garlic dressing. The more it looks like a school project insect managery, the better (without cruelly cooping up any insects, of course)

Update

2010-02-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

Before I upload my photos of some awesome food I have made recently I will just fill in some details of how I've been getting on since my last post which was well over 2 weeks ago now!!

To begin with, I seem to be eating loads! I was hoping the weight from December would have come off by now but it hasn't. However, I have come to terms with this, I think. I am still running 3 times a week and did some sit ups, or curl ups as their better called, yesterday for the first time in about 6 months so will try and do this more often. My tummy is still looking pretty ugly. Anyway I am obsessing less about it now so that's good. I also discovered a super-cheap aerobics class (£1 for an hour!) at uni so am doing that now too.

This morning I thought about doing another 3 day juice fast but then thought, nah, I'll just cut down my portions and I have a feeling that I ought to eat fewers sprouted seeds and legumes too... they seem to be slightly bloating if I eat too many... (actually I think the Fresh Network have organized a lecture in London with 'The Sproutman' (whose name I can't remember) in March..? am probably going to go to that) Cutting down portions is proving hard though. Must try harder. I have not been juicing recently at all - I think if I start this again it will help me to eat less as it really makes me feel nourished and so less inclined to scoff.

Anyway, enough about that. I am pretty contented and chilled out at the moment! On Valentine's Day I made a carrot cake (recipe by Alissa Cohen from the Winter 2007 issue of Get Fresh! mag. It was not as good as I hoped and I thought of some ways to alter the recipe to make it better. However, on the second day it had improved massively after chilling overnight in the fridge. I decided it was actually pretty subtle, light and really very nice. I could eat lots without feeling sick (a virtue of pretty much all raw food I think) and know when to stop (and then go back a few hours later for more of course)

I am giving up fruit and dried fruit for lent. I am still considering the rules for this though. Lemons, avocados and tomatoes will not count. I may limit it to fruit not contained within a recipe. i.e. not eating dates and raisins straight from the packet when I am bored. I can't seem to buy any raisins or dates without eating the lot within 2 days. Really I don't eat any other fruit apart from oranges on their own and bananas in chocolate avocado pudding. This way I can still experiment with alterations to the carrot cake recipe... hhmm. So really is is dried fruit that is the vice...

Finally, the Brighton Vegan Fayre 2010 is going to be in March! Can't believe it is a year since the last one! Not long til my 1 year anniversary of being vegan!!

Will I ever get bored of salads?

2010-01-30T06:15:00.001-08:00

I have salad everyday. I can't remember the last time day I didn't have one, apart from when I was on my 3 day juice fast.

Last night, my housemate asked me: 'Don't you ever get bored of salad?' This is when I really realised that the answer is 'Well... no.'

Especially when they look like this

I don't often put thin slices of red onion and red pepper in it. It looks so pretty. If it had sweetcorn in it it would have all the colours of the rainbow. Wow, I love taking time to appreciate my food!! I realised I have not being doing this enough recently. That is why I love raw food - it is not just about the physical health, but the well-being that comes from so much appreciation and gratitude of having found this amazing way of eating!!!!! It just fills me up with happiness!!!!!

Creamy lemon-sesame dressing

2010-01-30T05:38:00.000-08:00

This is just like a carrot salad dressing my mum makes in the summer with mayonaise, olive oil, salt and pepper. You can add pepper to this if you want.

3 tbsp ground sesame seed*
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp tamari
add water slowly to reach desired consistency (about 4 tbsps)

*must be well processed in a coffee grinder until the oil starts to separate

Serve with grated carrot

Variety?

2010-01-30T00:27:00.000-08:00

Having become aware of some things I seemed to have for one reason or another fallen out of the habit of eating (coconut oil, spirulina, garlic, mung beans) and some things I only eat seldomly (sesame seeds, brazil nuts) I thought it would be interesting to list all the different foods I ate yesterday: some of these I have eaten more than once and of course some fall in more than one category

Vegetables and Fruit
Romaine lettuce
Cucumber
Celery
Carrot
Red Onion
Garlic
Orange

Fats
Olive oil
Avocado
Flax oil
Brazil nuts
Virgin cocounut oil

Seeds
Sesame seeds
Sprouted sunflower seeds
Sprouted buckwheat
Flaxseed

Dehydrated food
flaxseed, onion, courgette, tomato, lemon juice, olive oil (contained in buckwheat bread)
NAKD coco loco snack bar

Supplements/Superfoods
Spirulina
Cacao powder

Dark leafy greens are noticeably absent after the whole goitrogen thing. I thought it might be best to give my body a break from them until it got the iodine back on track. I was kindly pointed to advice by 'Bitt' from bittspog.blogspot.com that criticizes that claim that links kale and spinach (cruciferous vegetables) to under active thyroid, http://bittsblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/do-certain-raw-foods-affect-thyroid.html Thank you Bitt! In any case I should still include these foods in moderation and can choose other greens, so will have some spinach today.

Very little fruit (although lots of sugar in snack bar)

Legumes also absent (green lentils and mung beans are soaking as I write - I can only get green lentils in one place now and can't get brown ones anywhere!)

Also interesting is that there is a lot of fat there! I have always believed that all these good fats do not contribute to weight gain and recently read that sugar with a high GI is what makes you change your food into fat, but maybe the fats are still one to watch...

Salad dressing experimentation ...

2010-01-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

I am in experimentation with an a new salad dressing using sesame seeds ground up in a coffee grinder (which I bought specially for this kind of thing by the way!) Whole unsoaked sesame seeds ground up and mixed with oil seem to make a pretty good resemblance to tahini ... mix with lemon juice, garlic and spirulina to make a dip, water down for a thick creamy dressing!! Am going to experiment more with this over the weekend.

I really enjoyed my reflexology with my mum last night. She handed me a couple of nutrition and well-being books for women and we discussed some of the things it said. Was really interesting and nice to spend time with my mum and talk about something we are both interested in.

My run didn't happen as it started to rain just when I wanted to go... it stopped but then I was motivated to actually do some reading! My concentration and motivation seems to be improving ... I managed 2 and a half hours solid work! I also went out and got myself a printer to make life easier for myself, which I see as a sign of motivation!

What else has happened.... well, I am trying to lose weight but can't seem to stop eating!! I am thinking maybe it's just because it's winter and my body is naturally fattening up! Here's hoping I'll lose the weight in the spring!

I also made a batch of buckwheat bread - spread with brown rice miso it is just like marmite on toast - awesome : ) The concern about hypothyroidism also flagged up selenium - brazil nuts being a good source. I have a bag of shell-on ones from Christmas which I haven't eaten. Am now enjoying them very much : ) Probably not helping with the weight loss though haha

Follow-up

2010-01-29T11:35:00.000-08:00

I just signed in to find a comment from Steve in Chicago - please make sure you read it! It is in response to my cousin and immunosuppression. The reasons for not risking any raw food are completely understandable. Steve, if you are reading this, thank you so much for your post - I don't seem to be able to comment on my own blog for some reason. It is so interesting that you ate raw food just one week after your transplant. I really would like to encourage my cousin to read into it.

Here is a link to Steve's page. It is a beautifully told story and makes me realise the power of gratitude...

http://www.climbingforkari.org/

I also forgot to say that another local restaurant made me a gorgeous raw meal on Monday night. They gave me a beautifully presented guacacmole decorated with shredded cucumber, and a mixed salad. All my family seemed very impressed. Also, at the Chinese restaurant I mentioned, the lady asked me about my diet and asked if I had been to The Malt House, as the guy from there had come in and they must have got talking as he had told her he had catered for a raw vegan the weekend before! I told her that raw vegan was me! So that is 3 restaurants in Bognor open to it! Even though it is a small town the thought that the idea of raw veganism could spread around town is really quite exciting!

100% cooked?

2010-01-28T05:44:00.000-08:00

At the weekend I ate out with my family twice as there was a big family gathering due to death in the family, unfortunately.

On Saturday night it was a Chinese restaurant and I brought my own food, under the advice of my granny who goes there regularly. To be honest I don't know much about Chinese food and wasn't sure if they would be able to provide anything. I rang them and asked if it was OK. The were very nice about it and said yes. I gave them my box of salad on the way in and they brought it out on a plate to me. My German relatives were intrigued. 'You must do it under the advice of your doctor' said one. Fair enough. 'It's fine for a while, but of course, not for ever', said another. I said of course it will be forever! She said that one day I would realise it was the wrong thing.

Since I am feeling a bit unhealthy at the moment, this made me begin to have doubts about the diet and it was a horrible feeling. I also felt really embarrassed when the lady handed me back my plastic container when I was still sitting at the table with everyone.

Then the next night I took some coleslaw round for a buffet at my granny's house. Everyone loved it and I was showered with compliments and requests for the recipe. This made me feel a whole lot better.

I also spoke to my cousin and her husband who asked me why I changed to this diet. It was hard to explain as I was trying to talk in German and so did not get all of my reasons across. He said, but surely when you cut plants they become dead too, like the animals. True, I said. But no diet will be perfect. They agreed. It was interesting because he has was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and has been extremely ill for the past 2 years. He also have a lung transplant, which his body wants to reject, so his immune system is being kept deliberately low with drugs so his body will stop trying to reject the lung. So he has been told that everything has to be as sterile as possible so he does not get ill. This means that he can not eat ANY raw food! EVERYTHING must be throroughly, thoroughly cooked. And they acknowledged that raw food is good for your immune system which is even more reason not to have it. So they could sympathise with eating out in public with special dietary requirements and how it was so time-consuming getting used to a new way of eating.

I find this hard to get my head around...

Doctors

2010-01-28T05:35:00.000-08:00

My blood tests came back normal. Doctor was not convinced by the zinc theory. He also cautioned me about not properly qualified nutritionists, which was a fair comment. He also said if it was fluid in my abdomen it would not be fluid retention, as this usually accumulates round your ankles, but would be just free flowing fluid (the term for which I can't remember). So I feel a bit like back to square one. Will have to see what happens with the running, reflexology, etc. and see if things sort themselves out and the 'weight' comes back off. Might try sit-ups too : )

More photos

2010-01-27T14:05:00.000-08:00

I had this mung bean, pea and mange tout salad at lunch time, with buckwheat bread spread with raw mixed seed butter on the side. I can not get enough peas in salads at the moment : )

My first raw vegetable crisps! Sweet potato, parsnip and carrots. Used the mandolin I got for xmas. They weren't quite as thin as I wanted but were still lovely and sweet.

A beautiful buzzy breakfast (containing bee pollen)

Hypothyroidism

2010-01-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

I went to the doctors about my stomach being bloated. He said it was not an abnormal shape and felt like it was just weight. I have certainly put on weight, and I said it had happened very rapidly. I said it didn't feel like just this. He asked about my mood and my energy levels, suggesting an underactive thyroid which would explain rapid weight gain and 'fatigue'. I am hardly fatigued, but my energy levels are not where I want them to be. They are no worse than when I was on a cooked diet I hasten to add. Better in face. Anyway I had a blood test for underactive thyroid and also for low haemoglobin. I get the results back tomorrow, when I will tell the doctor that I think it is water retention and see what he says. I am not sure whether to tell him I am a raw vegan. I suppose I don't have to act upon it, so getting his opinion can't be a bad thing. It might give me some more things to think about.

The next day it just so happened that Cherie Sorie (Living Light Institute) accepted me as a friend on facebook, and someone had posted a comment about too much raw kale and spinach on a raw fan page which was linked to Cherie's page. Before I new it I was reading about bloating and water retention is also a symptom of hypothyroidism, the cause of which is often lack of zinc. Too much raw spinach and kale, (more than 4 cups a week apparently), amongst other things, contains goitrogens which inhibit your absorption of zinc, which is vital for thyroid function. I have about 4 cups of this a day in my green juice! On top of this, it has become clear that, for some reason, I have cut down on iodine rich foods including garlic, seaweed (because it is so expensive) and bananas. Sesame seeds is another source which I don't tend to have much of. So I have decided to have kale in juice only once a week and am now eating loads of garlic! Coconut oil is also good, and I have just read that selenium is also important for your thyroid - only vegan source I know of is brazil nuts, so I will include more of these too.

I am a bit gutted because I thought my green juices were the best thing ever. It doesn't seem the same having juice with only cucumber and celery and they are not as dark green and not so rich in vitamins and minerals. So I haven't bothered with juice all week. It has saved me a lot of time in the mornings actually!

The upshot of all this is that I have sat up and thought that this diet might need more attention to make sure I am getting optimum nutrition - after all, that is what it is all about, and if I wasn't that bothered about it then I would still be eating a cooked omnivorous diet. I am preparing to make a few changes however and possible include cooked items if recommended. Strangely, I am even thinking that I don't feel as bad at the idea of eating fish, provided it is locally caught. As it is a food of the sea and not bred and manipulated specifically for human consumption. (Most veg I eat is probably mass produced for human consumption too, which is not ideal - one day I will live off my own vegetable garden - but it is not cruel because I don't believe plants have the same feelings and awareness as animals)

My mum is also giving me a reflexology treatment tomorrow afternoon to try and help the situation. I am really looking forward to this!

Blah

2010-01-19T09:49:00.000-08:00

I had an early night last night and went to bed with my Angel Meditation CD on my ipod. I got it for my birthday back in October and have never listened to it, so I decided tonight was the night. It lasted an hour but I must have fell asleep not long into it (it will be interesting if any of it sounds familiar when I listen to it again whilst fully conscious). So anyway I went to bed all peaceful and woke up the same. The day started well - green juice - wanted breakfast earlier than usual so had that, then ate too much at lunch and as it was late I couldn't go for a run before it got dark. I have been sitting in front of my laptop all day working on a presentation for uni and now at only 6.55pm I feel tired and hungry and a bit headachy and am also craving sugar. All this I find rather annoying. I think it is because I have not drunk enough today. I need to get away from the screen and do something else but I get into that lazy mode where I have stopped being productive but am still sat here attempting to carry on with it... should go down and get a drink. Will make sweet potato crisps overnight tonight too so that is something different : ) Right, I'm off for a change of scenery.

Raw restaurant in Bognor!

2010-01-18T11:46:00.001-08:00

On Saturday night I went to a restaurant with my family to celebrate my dad's birthday. We went to a small local restaurant which my parents really like. When my dad booked a table he told them I was a raw vegan and they said for me to ring them to discuss requirements and they would see what they could do. I rang them and asked for a salad, said anything with raw salad/veg and avocado would be nice. They were very friendly and said 'leave it to us.' I was imagining a fairly simple plate of green salad with lots of nice bits and pieces in, mushrooms, etc.

Here is a photo of the starter!

I got there and they had made me a starter (which I hadn't even thought of) of avocado, and avocado ice cream!! They had frozen mashed avocado and it was served in thin strips with a fanned avocado and salad garnish. Main was a 'wild mushroom medley' served in a bowl and decorated on the plate with long fine shreds of carrot. It contained all sorts of things (I have to say I wasn't quite sure of a lot of it) including cauliflower florets sliced thinly (I had never thought of serving cauliflower this way!) and shredded cucumber. I was so impressed! The dressing was extremely vinegary and peppery and I think there was a bit of chilli in there as well - it was very overpowering which was a bit of a shame so I couldn't really taste the salad. But this didn't really matter at all as I was delighted with the effort they had gone to! They told me they enjoyed trying out new things and had looked for raw vegan ideas on the internet! I couldn't thank them enough. Raw most definitely does not have to ruin your social life - (and even if they had given me boring green salad, I still would not have missed out on eating out with my family!)

So my sisters and brother-in-laws were down at the weekend and I made a big jug of green juice for breakfast which they tried and one of them liked, red onion/chilli flax crackers also went down well and many wanted some of my big green salad to supplement their dinner on Sunday night! So I was happy to be able to share my food a bit more - usually I find I can only manage to feed myself on these occasions as it can be difficult when I'm away from home as well. The juicer usually goes with me to my parents and it can be hard always carting bags of vegetables to and fro but I am getting the hang of judging how much I will need for 1/2/3 days away and Mum usually has some bits and pieces I can use too, such as avocados, white cabbage.

Since the juice fast I am also feeling less inclined to just eat for the sake of it, and I haven't had porridge for 5 days now!! Woop. Feeling much more focused as it's the start of the new semester and I'm ready to get back down to work, and this is how I intend things to stay!

Next weekend will be another challenge as I have a funeral and some catering to help with, so I need to have a think what I can do that I can have and that will supplement other people's food well. I would like to have a go at some sweet potato crisps - I haven't even used my mandolin since I got it for Christmas! I am usually slow to start using/trying new things but I always know it will happen when the time is right so I don't need to worry. (If only I was better at thinking this way about the rest of my life!)

Another thing I forgot to mention is my weight. I was a bit worried about my belly being so bloated before Christmas which seemed unrelated to the weight although I knew I had put it on. I feel as if I have lost a few pounds after the juice fast, and my tummy has got flatter at times (like first thing in the morning) so that seems more normal and proportionate. Am keeping an eye on it anyway as I am still not entirely convinced there isn't something else going on with it.

To end on a more positive note - next thing I am going to try is 'rice crispie cakes' in my dehydrator - buckwheat with cacao powder and agave. Should be dead simple and easy yet awesome - just like all the best things I make : )

3-Day Juice Feast - DAY THREE

2010-01-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

Today I felt more hungry than not. And I felt tired (7 hours sleep last night) I decided to break the fast tonight and had a romaine, cucumber and green pea salad with avocado, hemp seeds and a drizzle of flax oil and apple cider vinegar. I very much enjoyed it!! I was really conscious of the temptation to over-eat, and so have not done so, eating the salad in two portions, with a short break in between. So it has been 3 whole days minus 4 hours since I last ate solid food. I am quite proud of myself for doing it but found it to be easier than I thought it was be. I probably could have carried on til tomorrow as well but made the conscious decision to eat again tonight.

I have just found some more information on juice-feasting and the difference between this and juice-fasting.

http://fresh-network.typepad.com/fresh_network_blog/2008/01/have-you-discov.html

It now appears that I have been juice fasting, as the former involves drinking 4-5 litres a day of juice! I was not having more than 2, and it didn't really feel like enough either. Juice FEASTING is apparently easting everything you need but in liquid form, so would include things like supplements and superfoods including powdered greens. Last time I was in Infinity Foods I nearly bought some hemp protein powder. I definitely will get some and include it in my next juice feast.

Overall I am pleased with how it went. I have had a few headaches and sensations in my back which I am suspicious is my kidneys. Next time I think I need to drink far more water in between juices too.

I have not done a 'before and after' weight check, but I hope I have lost a few pounds. (This was not the reason I did the feast/fast by the way) I can't wait to start running again too now the snow and ice has fiiiinally melted!! Hopefully this will help me keep a bit of the weight on so I don't look quite so thin, but I will just look like I can hold it better, (rather than it all sitting on the top of my jeans)

I feel like having something more to eat now. It will NOT be cooked porridge! But what? I think I am thirsty actually so may have a glass of water and see how I feel then. I have a mango which is tempting... hhm. Right now I feel a bit fuzzy headed too. Maybe today was when the detoxing was really starting to kick in so I should have stuck with it. The way I am going to think of it is that next time I do it, it will be easier, as I will eliminate the porridge and dried fruit from now on (and nuts as much as possible) so will be generally 'cleaner' next time.

So there you have it! 3 days with no solid food. Anything is possible hey. : )

3-Day Juice Feast - DAY TWO (ii)

2010-01-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

I felt so so hungry last night and almost decided to eat, but made myself about 750ml of juice instead, including kale, spinach, celery, carrot, beetroot, ginger and lemon and waited to see if I would feel better. I did, but not completely satisfied. I am glad I stuck with it though.

3-Day Juice Feast - DAY TWO (i)

2010-01-14T03:05:00.000-08:00

I started the day off with half a litre of water with the juice of half a lemon. Then had my usual half litre of kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, ginger and lemon. Now on second glass of water with lemon. It is now 11.11am and I feel a bit hungry. I didn't feel hungry when I woke up although I went to bed hungry. I think I will up the juice intake today and have 4 instead of 3. Upping the kale content may help. (Organic kale is currently 50% extra free in my local supermarket - could it be a sign?!) It is strange though as I feel a bit hungry but not really like I am craving food. And the hunger comes in short spells; it is not constant. Overall it is going well I think :)

3-day Juice Feast - DAY ONE

2010-01-13T06:23:00.000-08:00

2.29pm. Feel hungry. Otherwise fine. Had just over a half a litre this morning about 2 and a half hours ago with kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, lemon. Tasty :)

Had another of the same about 4pm with added romaine lettuce, and a lighter juice without the kale about 9pm. Not ideal timing perhaps but it just fitted with what I was doing yesterday. They say that is the liberating thing about juicing - you don't have to eat! It only takes about half an hour to juice, including washing the juicer components after.

Stomach did start rumbling about 10.30pm but this was the first time that had happened all day.

Photos

2010-01-13T02:40:00.000-08:00

Home-made red onion flax crackers with spirulina-guacamole

Lentil and Spinach Curry (my latest invention and current favourite dinner)

Blueberry and coconut breakfast

Seaweed, courgette and avocado salad

Procrastination --> Green juice feast!!!

2010-01-13T02:18:00.001-08:00

I have had the last 4 weeks 'off' uni (always reluctant to use the word off as student holidays always involve studying for at least some of it) and I feel like have wasted so much time! I have been working on a presentation, and have spent loads of time with friends and family which has been really important to me. For the rest of it, I have done so much faffing!! Have had a general feeling of boredom and lack of energy. I have been meaning to book myself a colonic irrigation for ages and have just been putting it off. Not even because I am reluctant to have one! I really want to go for it. I know what the problem is: porridge. Worse than that - porridge at 11pm.

Last night I had a bowl of it before bed. I have noticed that when I do this I actually wake up feeling hung over. Eating porridge after dinner is something I was doing every day from November to Christmas. (Over Christmas I didn't but only because I was filled up with nuts and dried fruit in the evenings instead.) Now it is happening again. It has got to stop.

Last night I also lay awake for a while thinking about the 3 day juice feast I have been meaning to go do for ages. This morning I googled it. I found Angela Stokes almost instantly and downloaded her report from

http://store.rawreform.com/rawreform2.php

What did it say? "The two most damaging food groups are the refined sugars and the processed starches. THAT IS THE SECRET!" It also says it is only when we remove these foods COMPLETELY that was can reach ultimate health. I read in an anti-candida diet cookbook that if there is a food you are addicted to, it is probably the one that is causing you damage.

My packet of porridge oats is goiing straight in the bin and I am starting a 3-day juice feast. Right now! (Wednesday morning) It works out perfectly as I am just going to be at home for the next 3 days reading for uni, and I can break it on Saturday when we are going out for a family meal for my dad's birthday. Need to ring the place in advance and ask if they can do me a vegan salad. If they can't do it, so much the better, I will just not eat!

Will be updating my blog regularly with how I am feeling. Right I am off to stock up my fridge on green veg. I feel really excited!!!!

Xmas recipes

2010-01-13T02:16:00.000-08:00

Here are the Christmas recipes I particularly liked - didn't make a note of the link to the website where I found them I'm afraid.

Cranberry Sauce by RoseLee Calabro
2 C fresh cranberries
1 orange
1 apple
1 C dates
water for consistency

Process cranberries, orange, apple and dates in a blender and serve.

Parsnip-Avocado Soup
This cold and creamy dish is a lot like gazpacho but made with parsnips and avocados which are both a very healthy substitutes for the traditional holiday meal.
1 large parsnip, grated (unless using a K-tec or Vitamix then you can just cut it up)
1/2 water or celery juice
1 large stalk peeled celery, cut up
1/4 avocado
2 teaspoons flaxseed oil
squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (optional)

In a blender blend parsnip and liquid until smooth. Add remaining ingredients, blend until smooth.

Stuffing

From the Sprout Café in Atlanta, this tastes just like traditional turkey stuffing to me. I top this with marinara sauce to give it a bit more moisture.

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 Tablespoons fresh sage
2 Tablespoons rosemary
2 Tablespoons fresh thyme
2 cups walnuts, soaked 12 hours and drained
2 cups almonds, soaked 12 hours and drained
1 Tablespoon organic unpasteurized white miso
1 large onion, chopped very fine
6 stalks celery, chopped fine
1 cup parsley sprigs (as garnish)
1 cup cranberries (as garnish)

1. Place garlic in a food processor and process well.
2. Add sage, rosemary, and thyme, processing well.
3. Add walnuts, almonds, and miso, one at a time and process well.
4. Remove to a bowl and stir in onion and celery.
5. Place on a sheet of Teflex and form into an oval loaf shape. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 6 hours.
6. Remove and turn loaf over, removing the Teflex sheet from the bottom. Dehydrate for 4 to 6 hours more.
7. Garnish with parsley and cranberries
- by Alissa Cohen

My first raw Christmas

2010-01-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

The thought of having a 'raw Christmas' did not phase me in the slightest. This was my first Christmas as a raw vegan. Last year, I had a plate of turkey with all the omnivorous trimmings (well, it was put in front of me but I barely touched it, being dosed up on anti-biotics and pain-killers for a nasty bladder infection.)

This year that has all changed. This is probably one of the most stressful run-ups to Christmas I've had in a long time, and I have not been ill with anything this winter. (I was ill over Christmas 2006 but not 2007) I can't prove it, but I'd say it was down to raw food.

I will put my Christmas recipes in a separate post. I found them all on the internet and liked the look of them. The sweet potato dish and the 'mock turkey' were, unfortunately, not very nice. I didn't expect avocado, almonds and parsley to make anything like turkey, but hoped it would be nicer than it turned out. Never mind. As my first raw Christmas, I was pretty pleased. The stuffing was amazing. It would have been better straight out of the dehydrator after about 4 hours on each side, but I went out and overdehydrated it, and it was made 2 days in advance so not as great on the day. Will do that again next year for sure and time it better. Cranberry sauce, Kate Magic's Hi-Cake (from 'Raw Magic') goji-fudge (another of Kate's), Christmas Puddings and Cashew Sauce (again, Kate's, from 'Eat Smart Eat Raw') were all outstanding.

Here are some photos. (I didn't take any of the Christmas puds and sauce, or my jar of cranberry sauce! I am out of the habit! New Year's resolution is to get back into it of course.)

Hi-Cake. It was awesome

My dehydrator taking pride of place on the hob. My housemates all went home for the holidays and I had the kitchen to myself. I spread my food prep over 3 days! It took some careful forward planning, (more than a 'normal' Christmas dinner I don't know, but I expect so)

href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-LNs_YPPMLU/S0OO9sJYfmI/AAAAAAAAASY/f4b0jhrqQLg/s1600-h/DSC00695.JPG">

The sage and onion stuffing, with celery and walnuts. Not the best picture, but you can see where I have been nibbling from the edges!!

I went to my sister's on Boxing Day for a few days. Being organized to take food over was a pain - I ended up taking far too much! Was better than not having enough. I usually like to do a batch of buckwheat bread (an adaptation of Russel James's recipe) to take with me when I travel as it is very convenient to make sandwiches and they are a good filling supplement to any veg or salad items you might be able to get your hands on when travelling. The cake also came. Majority liked it.

My Christmas presents were a spiralizer, a mandolin, a salad spinner and two raw food hampers very thoughtfully put together by my mum and sister! I was very spoiled. I have got pretty much all the gadgets now (apart from a vita-mix - I will get one one day). Makes me think how far I've come since I discovered raw food a year and a half ago. I feel I got there properly with it after about 9 months but I still feel the journey is continuing...

Here is a picture of the food hampers!!

A long overdue post

2009-12-31T10:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I have a lot to update!

I think the fact that I haven't written on here for so long speaks for itself! My school placement was crazy. I got really quite stressed out about it whilst being unmotivated to try and improve the situation at the same time. My food situation was an early breakfast of sunflower seeds, avocado, hemp seeds, etc. a salad of some kind for lunch, and more salad for dinner, followed by porridge. Did not feel I was eating properly at all. Towards the end I was having porridge as a filler when I got in from school before dinner as well as I was pretty hungry by this time. Happily this situation has now changed - I will explain more later.

I treated myself to a Raw Dinner Party with Kate Magic at Manna the end of November, which was awesome. Met some really nice people - it was so good to share experiences, tips, ideas, etc. with other people - the food was FANTASTIC - by far some of the best raw food I've ever had (perhaps not surprising since I have not had much 'gourmet' raw food in my time as a raw vegan! Nevertheless, the selection of curry dishes were amazing and just like the familiar sag aloo, the sag with cauliflower dish, and a tomatoey one I think, only sooo much nicer!) And of course the talk with Kate afterwards warmed my heart and reminded me again of all the reasons I love being raw. Kate has this ability to make you feel so incredibly lucky to be alive.

That is all for now - I will post about my first raw Christmas very soon!!

Concentration and alertness

2009-11-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

I feel like my concentration is not good at the moment. Maybe I am being too hard on myself as there is so much to try and take in/remember/do on teaching placement. But I do feel I am not as on the ball as I once was and I don't like it! Started on the B12 supplements a few weeks ago but don't always remember to take them. Need to increase water intake as well. Oh, and get some more sleep too.

Nothing much to report

2009-11-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

I had the rest of the soup for lunch with some more hemp seeds sprinkled on top and it really is more filling than it seems once you've let it go down! A lot of people were curious what it was but again no negative comments or questions which lead me to talk about my diet, which is so refreshing. Not that I expect this but I am usually on guard. Anyway, still no time for green juicing! I am literally working until late at night every night and so can't bring myself to get out of bed any earlier in the morning to make it!! I need to get into school even earlier tomorrow as well. So not much to report really, am just trying to keep in the habit of blogging!!

Really need to start thinking about Christmas menus though! My dad said we would talk about it and make sure there was something I could eat. And he volunteered this suggesting as well which I was really pleased about. I don't even realise it half the time but I do always expect to have to 'make do' when really it would not be unreasonable for people to try and include me. We are also going to Marracech in January and my Dad has rang them and told them I am a vegetarian and is now worried that he needs to call back and tell them I am in fact a vegan. I said I really didn't envisage any problems, as I am more than happy to just go with it and I always manage to find something, but did voice a concern that when you say 'vegetarian' this is usually taken as a cue to roll out the cheese!! So almost better to say nothing and then you might at least get some unadulterated vegetables.
Anyway I am sure it will be fine!

Kate's green soup

2009-11-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

I got out Kate Magic's 'Raw Magic' book for the first time in ages the other night. I decided that tonight I would make this soup as a starter. (It was pretty filling too) Something I've never made before and it was very nice. It is called 'Jonny's luminous soup' in the book. My housemates said it was an awesome colour and looked really tasty. I also had 'cheeky chilli' last night (also in Raw Magic) which is one of my favourites.

Incidently, I am going to Manna in Brighton on Saturday 28th November to a 'dinner party' event with Kate Magic!! I am really looking forward to it as it has been ages since I've gone to any raw event. Will be great to connect with some raw people again! Anyone who is reading this and is coming along - be sure and look out for me! Can't wait to get some of Kate's wonderful life-loving vibes in my direction!!

Tired....

2009-11-11T10:57:00.001-08:00

I am so tired this week. Haven't had time for green juice any morning this week and am feeling the difference. (So tonight I decided to make one when I got instead!) I'm also starting to think the dark and the cold are beginning to affect me too. School is such hard work because there is so much to take in!! I am just starting to get my head around it all but am really nervous about teaching my first lesson to the whole class on my own. I need something to really boost my confidence.

A few things I haven't mentioned. A while ago I took my blog address and personal information about being a raw vegan off my facebook page. Why? Because I began to wonder whether people would judge me as being a bit strange. When I think back to my old perceptions of what a vegan was, it was someone a bit fanatical about animal rights. I wonder if it would put men off me as well. How will they take me to dinner at their parent's house? What about going out for dinner? At the moment I have no way of telling whether this would be the case but it has occured to me. Some teachers in the staff room today said how lovely my food looked and asked if I was a vegetarian. I said yes. I didn't say I was a vegan in case they thought this was a bad thing, or in case they judge me on it. Vegetarianism seems to be 'ok' somehow!

The good news is I am going to a dinner party/talk with Kate Magic in Brighton in a few weeks time.

Can't wait for the weekend to have a break. Off to do some lesson planning...

comment

2009-11-11T10:53:00.000-08:00

Hi Bo, thanks for getting in touch! and thanks for your lovely message : ) I don't seem to be able to put comments on my own blog so am having to write an entry in reply. I wrote down everyone's email addresses before we left but unfortunately couldn't find them when i got back home, which is why I haven't been in touch with anyone! Would you put your address in another comment for me? Anyway hope you're well! Amy x

Observations on healing

2009-11-08T02:17:00.000-08:00

On signing in to write this entry I found a comment on last night's entry from a new follower, so was very happy about that! This has motivated me to keep the blogging up! : )

Just wanted to note down a little observation before I forget - two weeks ago I got a massive bruise on my leg from hitting it on the corner of a desk - I have been amazed at how quickly and neatly it is healing! It has not once gone that nasty yellow colour but it is just shrinking, presumably around the actual point of impact, leaving nice new coloured skin around it. Wow! Could it be the power of all these green juices I have been having (up to two a day last week) and all that chlorophyll being so similar to something in your blood... need to read up more about this!

Also, I don't know whether anyone has noticed but that is a microwave and a george foreman grill in the background on the picture of my new blender! I have moved out now and so no longer use 'my raw kitchen' from my parents' house. Will have to do a post on my new kitchen soon. Even though I am sharing a kitchen with one cooked vegetarian and three cooked omnivores (sounds so funny calling them that) the arrangement is just as good for me as it was before! I have never believed my diet would cause me any serious practical difficulties in living in a cooked food world, and this continues to be the case. In fact I am sure that this belief is the reason I have no problems!

Woke up really late today (Sunday) so I obviously did need more sleep. Off to make a green juice now : )

Orange chocolate avocado pudding

2009-11-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

Might seem like an obvious combination but I have never put orange in my choco-aco pudding before. I just did. Magic.

1 avocado
1 medium banana
cacao powder
carob powder
desert spoon agave
fresh orange juice

2009-11-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

I love my salad dressing of:
Umeboshe plum paste
Ginger
Garlic
Lemon juice
tiny bit of olive oil

Had it tonight on green beans, brocoli (chopped very small), sliced mushrooms and grated courgette. Mushrooms soften a very crunchy salad like this and grated courgette is also lovely and soft and very filling too.

I got a new hand-held grater today and used it on the ginger, but unfortunately a lot of the ginger got stuck on the grater! I also got some new mixing bowls!!

Realising the importance of getting enough sleep today. Raw is great for energy and I have needed less sleep since going raw, but sleep is still necessary!

I have been thinking about what I will make for my first raw Christmas. Last year I was ill with a water infection and for the first time in my life I took one look at my dinner and just didn't want it! Perhaps not the best memory of my last conventional Christmas dinner... U have spotted some whole raw cranberries in the supermarket today but they are so expensive! They have also got whole shell-on nuts now so I bought a mixed bag plus a nut cracker today. So I am starting to think Christmas will be a great time for raw food!

Right I'm off to make a chocolate avocado pudding for desert!

The last month in pictures

2009-11-06T14:26:00.000-08:00

Lillies and 'ornamental cabbages' from my sister for my birthday!!; the gourmet raw dish my mum went to much trouble to make for my birthday - it meant the world - ; banana, pineapple and strawberry smoothies made with my new blender; the new blender/food processor I got for my birthday! It is fantastic - I was a very lucky girl!

Return to the blog

2009-11-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

So much has been going on with me and raw food and I just haven't been blogging! It has made me realise how much of my life is based on habit - I have got out of the habit of writing entries and I really want to get back into it!! So here goes.

Last time I wrote, I said that I was being tempted back towards cooked food. My intake of it has certainly increased, but in a way I am comfortable with. Typical day now is large green juice followed by a bowl of sunflower seeds, avocado and hemp seeds, salad of some description for lunch, quite often have a bowl of porridge with cacao powder in it in the afternoon, raw veg meal in the evening usually with avocado, followed by a large bowl of porridge with banana or cacao powder before bed. I do find the oats very comforting before bed and they don't make me feel sluggish in the afternoon either. Am eating far fewer sprouts now too and hardly any fruit and no raisins. This way I don't get any symptoms, even when I have acidic food including tamari, miso, apple cider vinegar and tomatoes. It is definitely the fruit that is the problem.

I have been thinking about the reasons why I want cooked food. One is for comfort and warmth - I tend to eat porridge when I am already feeling sleepy, (and it tends to keep me in this state.) Another reason is to feel fuller, as I have been eating far fewer sprouted seeds and legumes. I have also had rice and vegan dahl at my parents' house a few times recently. This is definitely an emotional desire to share dinner with my family. I haven't found that cooked food has stifled my emotions as is so frequently written about on the raw scene; rather, this return to more cooked has coincided with being more aware of my emotions now than ever. I am so much happier now than I used to be and like to express this too, telling people, especially those who have helped me get to where I am. I am pretty high on gratitude at the moment and it feels fantastic!! Am also grateful to the people who told me moving out would be a bad idea, using my diet as part of the reason, saying I was so well set up as I was and it wouldn't work in shared kitchen with cooked meat eaters! On the contrary, in the new house it is not a problem at all. I am grateful to these people because it has increased my trust in my own convictions.

I have noticed that my concentration and focus hasn't been great recently and I wonder if this is part of the cumulative effect of raw food on my consciousness. (I have been getting the angel card 'focus' frequently too.) I am not so worried about how things turn out anymore, and increasingly want to just live in the moment. I have started taking B12 supplements in case this has anything to do with it.

Not come up with any more recipes recently but my favourite thing to whip up is still lentil pate! Sprouted lentils, half an avocado (optional) lemon juice, garlic (optional) half a red or white onion, olive oil and tamari, small tomato (optional). Magic with carrot sticks.

So all in all pretty positive still! It's like raw food is such a normal part of my life now that I can put the extra energy and love it gives me back into other areas of my life, rather than purely back into raw food as an end in itself. (I am absolutely loving my teaching course and can't wait to start my first placement on Monday!!) In sum, this is probably why I haven't been blogging so much. Now I have made this realisation, I realise I would like to blog again so I can continue documenting my journey in the hope that it will inspire others!!

Observations

2009-10-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

A few things I forgot to mention on Saturday:

1.Working really hard and having lots of late nights, etc. doesn't make me as tired as it used to! I seem to be able to just keep going and going.

2.I have realised I am so much calmer about everything generally and much less inclined to let things get to me or wind me up. I can let things go much more easily (this is especially true since I have moved house)

As I said, I have been feeling quite hungry and feeling like I'm probably not eating enough ... I bought some brown rice, some rye bread with quinoa and amaranth in (random additions I know) and some sweet potatoes for roasting yesterday. I thought if I am eating porridge I might as well have this in the evenings too/instead.

Today, the new issue of 'Get Fresh' arrived!! Do you think this is a sign..?! (Of course I have no time to read it, but may work my way through a paragraph at a time if I am lucky.)

Tonight when I came in from work I had some raw food instead of porridge, then had porridge purely out of habit, although after the raw food, it really was not what I wanted. I think I just need some raw stodge instead. Have got my raw oat groats out - why have these been sitting at the back of my cupboard for ages? Don't see why I can't make raw porridge and have it slightly warmed. And I am all set to make bread tomorrow (wheatberries already sprouting, buckwheat and flax seeds at the ready), and some lentil, mushroom and walnut burgers, (both Chris's recipes!).

I really don't want to turn back to rice and potatoes!!! I am a raw vegan!!!!

2009-10-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

I don't need to say it's been way too long since my last entry! I feel like I have started a completely new life which has taken up all my time, but I am still raw!! A lot has changed in my life and it is all for the better. They say that raw makes you realise your needs, what you can't tolerate, etc. and I have definitely experienced this. Whether it is entirely down to eating raw, who can say, but it has happened and I am so thankful.

Unfortunately with being so busy with uni and slowly settling into my new home I have not been feeding myself as well as I was, green juice and jogging have both gone out the window, and cooked porridge and raisins have been a daily feature of my diet, due to feeling still hungry after not having made myself a decent dinner. Looking back at photos from The Gower and Vienna, I look very skinny as well which I don't like. I can't see it in the mirror, only in photos, which is strange.

So that is an update of where I am at. Here is a photo of a decent curry dinner I made myself tonight to mark the beginning of eating more calories!

It is a red pepper, courgette, mushroom, red onion and lentil curry.

Here are a few other photos I have taken and not got round to loading on...!

I was in awe of sunflower seeds which go green and purple when sprouted - the best colours in the world. Second is the first lentil pate I made with my new hand blender ... oh yeh the hand blender - I got a bargain one and it is fantastic!

Avocado baby!

2009-09-10T08:56:00.000-07:00

I was reading some children's books in the library for my uni course and found one called 'Avocado Baby' by John Burningham. It was about a new baby born to a 'weak' family, who hoped it would be strong not weak like them! It refused all food apart from avocados, and then it was really strong and able to fend off his siblings' bullies!! Thought this was quite thought provoking considering children are brought up to believe babies must have (cows) milk! Eating avocados does not make you violent though!

I forgot to say I also made an awesome lentil and onion pate the other day using puy lentils, brown lentils, 1/2 a red onion, lemon juice and hemp oil! Colour was amazing and you could call it hot in taste as well from the onion. hmhmhmhmh .....

Keeping It Simple

2009-09-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

well, not much to report at the moment... I am back at uni now and haven't had much time for experimenting in the kitchen : (

It came out at lunch time in conversation with my new uni friends today that I was a raw vegan. They were all interested and said they bet I had loads of energy! This is true of course, only I still keep going to bed too late so have been a bit tired this week. Induction week at uni is surprisingly tiring as well: even though we don't seem to be doing much yet, it is all the new information to take in and getting used to the campus, etc. It will be easier next week when we are settled and ready for the work to really start.

I am going to increase my focus on two things:

One: start increasing the focus of my own diet to how to keep it quick and simple (while remaining tasty and nutritious of course!)

Two: to try and get more of these yummy raw simplicities slipped into my family's diet and see what happens... the first thing I will do is start putting out some raw nibbles for them before dinner (they are quite partial to crisps, dip, nuts etc.) starting with sprouted sunflower seeds and perhaps some raw humous if I want to spoil them. It is time to stop thinking about myself so much and start thinking of others!! They do genuinely enjoy some of it in snack form so hopefully I can get some loved-up raw goodness inside them!

Raw Vegan in Vienna - Days 4 and 5 and reflection on the trip

2009-09-07T13:57:00.001-07:00

Well, I am back home now and this is my first chance to blog - basically it was much more of the same on day 4 and for the day of the journey home: green salad, parsley, avocado, sprouts, sweetcorn on the cob and bananas! Living off sprouts, veg and avocados is pretty cheap and speedy as well, both of which I am going to need now I am a full-time student again!!

It is amazing just how many bakery places there are in Vienna! Like our Greggs in Britain, but many more companies. You can't get very far without running into one, especially on the underground. It is the same in Frankfurt from what I remember when I was there a few years ago. I don't understand how people can live off bread as a staple part of their diet! Not to mention all the ham and cheese.

I was organized going out there but it did not occur to me until I was at the airport that I didn't have much in the fridge for when I got home last night! But there was enough to rustle up a coleslaw ... yum. (However no greens so still no juice this morning!! Tomorrow I will definitely have one!!) I was hardly tired when I got home either even after getting to bed at 2am on Sunday morning. I have noted consistent energy before and the more I stick with raw the better this gets - it is amazing. Again, now my uni course has started I am going to need the ability to have an hour or so less sleep when necessary!

My dad asked me today whether I was weighing myself because I look "very thin' apparently! I don't see this as a problem: my energy levels are fantastic and I am no more hungry than I used to get between meals, in fact less so. Also, I thought today before lunch that I can't remember the last time I had that very embarrassing growling stomach I always used to get before lunch, even after a mid-morning snack. I can't remember if I used to feel this hunger last time I got this thin living off cooked veg, white rice and chicken. Probably. Anyway, I would like to put some weight on, but remain feeling as light and energetic as I do now. Clothes are a bit of a problem at the moment as many are too big now but I don't want to buy loads of stuff I am going to put weight on. I also think that the weight of raw vegans can't really be compared to that of cooked foodies; the BMI thing just doesn't apply as this is based on a conventional diet. I don't believe in BMI even for cooked foodies actually, especially for women, because of their boobs! If you are tall and thin with small boobs it will say you are underweight, and if you are short and thin with big boobs it will probably say you are overweight!! I think counting calories is also flawed but I won't go into that now!

All in all I am very happy to be back in my kitchen after best part of a fortnight away - makes me realise how lucky I am to have it!

Right I gotta go and flip my bread in the dehydrator and go to bed!

Photos from Seren Retreat

2009-09-05T00:59:00.000-07:00

My first wheat grass juice and hemp milk; me washing up; picking rocket from the garden; picking blackberries; the mud!!

Raw Vegan in Vienna - Day Three

2009-09-05T00:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I saw some more of the City's sights that I didn't see on my last visit, including going up the Danube Tower. Also watched My Sister's Keeper in German at the cinema (with a little help from my friend to fill me in when I didn't understand!)The weather wasn't so good yesterday but looks much better today for my final day.

On the food front ... salad for breakfast, followed by usual breakfast with banana, salad for lunch with avocado, and I picked up some garlic and lemons whilst out and had carrot sticks with a lentil humous/pate, using a few tsps of avocado instead of oil - again another benefit of being out here is that I have no oil and fats in their natural form are arguably better than concentrated in the oil.

My friend has also introduced me to raw sweetcorn! I didn't know you could eat it straight from the cob and it came off really easily - I was expecting it to be really hard like dried sweetcorn for some reason! So I enjoyed some of that last night.

I have been eating much more fruit out here, including grapes, watermelon and I had 2 bananas yesterday and a few blueberries. I am feeling OK on this though. In the supermarket yesterday I didn't buy any cooked porridge oats either, yay. So only cooked thing I have had is a few raisins my friend has lying around - damn, I just can't resist those when I get a craving for them.

Raw Vegan in Vienna - Day Two

2009-09-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

Had a great day today - it is so hot here! We took our bikinis and beach towels to a beautiful town called Podersdorf a few hours away where there is a lake, which is a bit like a beach. Just in one afternoon it was like the summer holiday I never had this year!

This morning we went to get some vegetables - I got a huge bunch of parsley, 3 huge lettuces for 2 euros and some tomatoes from a market stand in town and a few other bits from a supermarket. I am so glad I found the parsley, it is great. So I had a huge salad for brunch using one of the avocados I brought with me, followed by a bit of buckwheat and sunflower seeds. I took more of this with some hemp seeds and a banana to the beach and a few carrot sticks. I was a bit hungry at times but it passed and by the time we got home I was ready to eat another huge green salad with my mung beans, (which sprouted today) but wasn't starving at all.

I also had something I haven't had before for dinner: courgette, very finey grated with a cheese grater, with an avocado and tomato sauce hand blended together - inspired by the "spagetti bolognaise" we had on the retreat. I might have some oats, buckwheat and more banana later. Also got some herbal tea which makes you feel fuller.

I have been craving green veg juice for the last couple of days as I haven't been able to have any since last Wednesday I think! With the salads I have effectively been having the green juice I normally have but with all the fibre! It is not the same though.

Tips so far for raw vegan travellers:

- bring some ripe avocadoes with you as if you are able to buy any they are unlikely to be ripe yet. I have bought two huge ones, one of which will hopefully be ripe tomorrow.

- bring dried beans and seeds with you. If you can get hold of avocadoes then this with sprouts makes a complete protein, so I have been told.

So another problem free day for food in a city. It is good for me to eat really simply as well after a weekend of quite a lot of treats like cake with loads of dried fruits and nuts, and dehydrated food.

I just hope I don't run out of beans/seeds... I am thinking of getting some porridge oats to be able to cook as a back up but resisted buying them this morning - maybe tomorrow I will but will see what mood I am in! I want to see if I can get through the whole holiday with no cooked food!

Right now I think I will eat those oat groats and have a cup of tea. Am craving a bowl of something warm and stodgy (like cooked porridge!) which is a bit annoying. I will kick this craving eventually!! Will write more tomorrow.

Raw Vegan in Vienna - Day One

2009-09-03T01:09:00.000-07:00

Normal breakfast before the flight. You can take food on aeroplanes now so I had a salad. I arrived and was greeted with a big plate of watermelon by my friend which was just what I needed! Then I had some avocado, greens and buckwheat salad which I'd brought with me for dinner as we couldn't be bothered to go shopping for veg! Then I soaked all my beans, etc. I have brought with me for the 4 days and it was off to Starbucks for a lovely mineral water. So Day One was a success.

Seren Retreat on The Gower

2009-09-03T00:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, where do I start with all that happened at the weekend?! I didn't get a chance to blog all weekend as there was so much work to do! And when I got back it was a super quick turn around before I flew to Vienna, which is where I am now.

In summary it was a great experience for me to see how much planning and hard work needs to go into leading this sort of retreat!

The location was fantastic - a yoga retreat in The Gower - and the energy in the place was so calming. There was a huge vegetable garden where we got fresh vegetables for our juicing session and lettuce for the salads. We also had a long walk down to the beach through beautiful woodland with a stream until we got to the stunning Three Cliffs Bay where we paddled in the water - it was very very cold but worth it! You can see some pictures of the retreat and the bay on the website below. I also took part in some Kundalini Yoga classes which were great. I would love to find out more about this.

http://www.serenretreat.com/

I will put a few of my own photos on when I can. I am also going to try and do daily entries of being a raw vegan in Vienna and how I get on!

Alfalfa Juicing and digital radio!

2009-08-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

This is an entry about alfalfa and how great it is in juice. I have got alfalfa growing down now whereas I used to get quite a few failed attempts! I think my mum keeping an eye on it whilst I am at work helps! She has a nack with making things grow. I am also managing to time the next batch to be ready for when the previous one runs out. All these habits and routines take time to really start to work smoothly but they always do if you persevere!!

I usually use at least half a tray in my juice, sometimes a whole tray.

I love juicing in the morning and when I am singing and dancing around to my dad's digital radio it is even more fun :)

Raw Vegan 'Tuna' and Sweetcorn Salad

2009-08-26T14:43:00.001-07:00

This is the same as the Sunshine Salad but without the red pepper. The sunflower seeds in it reminded me of tuna and of course the sweetcorn reminds me of, well, sweetcorn!

Salad:

4 tbsp peas
8 tbsp sweetcorn
8 tbsp sprouted sunflower seeds
3-4 handfuls of shredded round lettuce.

For the dressing, hand blend together:
1/4 avocado
1/2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 medium tomato
pinch of himalayan crystal salt

Mix well together. Serves 1.

You could also leave out the lettuce and have this as a sandwich filling on buckwheat bread. Now that would be awesome.

Raw desert idea

2009-08-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

I am currently formulating ideas for a raw banofee pie and was going to try it tonight but didn't have a lot of time. So I came up with this really easy desert instead with some of the ingredients I plan to use. Try chopping up a banana and mixing it with a few tablespoons of raw sprouted buckwheat and a tablespoon of Carley's Rainbow Nut butter. Mash together a bit with a fork, add a bit of agave syrup if you have a really sweet tooth. Topping with a few cacao nibs is also good.

Wales on Thursday!!

2009-08-25T23:42:00.001-07:00

Chris has asked me to do a green juice demo at the retreat this weekend! I am a bit nervous but I can do it. Can't believe I am going tomorrow!!

Yesterday was my last day in full time work at the supermarket and when I left I felt a bit emotional, not because I was sad to leave but because of the uncertainty of what will happen after my 2 week holiday when I come back part time whilst I am doing my teaching course. It just hasn't all sunk in ... I am not feeling excited about going back to uni at the moment. It is like an emotional blockage. I want to move to Brighton and find work work in raw food and invite opportunities to me, but can't bring myself to do it as I can't seem to make a decision not to do teaching. One of my best friend last night said I am lacking direction and I think he is right in part - I do have some direction but am lacking in focus. I feel like I need to focus on teaching or raw food, and if I choose teaching, raw food will lose my attention. I know I will continue to eat this way - it is so normal for me now it's not even a question - I am just worried I won't experiment or blog so much. I think I need to make a decision to do teaching and make time for raw experiments. A good friend has said he will help me keep focussed. And I have started to get the feeling things will become clearer on the retreat...

Anyway, I am going to Brighton again today (funnily enough) to meet a friend and while I am there I think I should get some more raw chocolate ... !! Everything truly did feel right in the world when I ate it!!

Sunshine Salad

2009-08-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

I made this last night. I got the idea of peas and sweetcorn from some salads I had in Brighton (the sweetcorn from Manna of Brighton)I am into my salads at the moment with thick creamy dressings ... hhhm

Salad:
Round lettuce shredded
Handful sweetcorn
Handful peas
Half a red pepper cut into small pieces
Sunflower seeds

Dressing: blend with a hand blender:
1/2 avocado
1 tbsp tahini
1/2 tomato
2 tbsp lemon juice
very small pinch of salt

Mix enough dressing with the salad to cover well. A serving spoon is enough for one bowl of salad. I had some left over which will make a great dip if I mix some onion in. If you're not a fan of tahini (it can be a bit clawing on your throat) use less and use more avocado.

Experiments

2009-08-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I spent an hour (or two!) working on some new recipes. I made the base ingredients in separate bowls and experimented mixing them together.

The green stuff is:

100g spinach
1/2 avocado
1 tbsp almond butter
1-2 tbsp lemon juice

Put all in the food processor and pulse slowly. It was so so creamy and delicious and lovely on it's own as a side. I think mixed with cauliflower and buckwheat and it will make a super filling salad or accompaniment. A lot of things I've been making recently seem to work better as accompaniments than eating loads of it for a main meal.

I tried the same thing again with 150g spinach and adding garlic, but then you could taste the bitter edge on the spinach which I didn't want and the garlic just made it too different... but it could be a good base for the Sag Paneer if I add onion too... So anyway lots of ideas which I won't bore you with til I have the final recipes. (Recording them more for my own benefit than anyone elses!)

Plus I had some photography fun

Plus I am going to Wales on Thursday for the raw retreat! I am getting really excited now. I really need some new ideas as well because I feel like I'm a bit stuck with all the same ingredients at the moment ...

Also I didn't go running tonight ... the excuse was I felt exhausted still from a night out on Saturday, and the head ache, and the wanting to have time to experiment in the kitchen and not get to bed late... excuses excuses...

2009-08-24T10:18:00.001-07:00

Am still beaming at the thought of my Brighton+raw cacao day on Saturday. By the way, the Sag Paneer is still a work in progress ... I tried it again with ground cashews but think they would work better whole. The Russian Salad is also a work in progress which I am going to do a little bit of work on tonight! But first I have to go running ... I haven't been for about a week for one reason and another and I still can't be bothered tonight! I have a headache but hopefully the run will help that. I had a couple of glasses of wine on Friday night and enjoyed them but I think the detoxing is only just happening now, as I only really started drinking lots of water on Sunday. Anyway enough procrastinating I am going running.

Brighton!

2009-08-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

I had such a great day in Brighton yesterday! Decided to go shopping there for some general Brighton feel-good factor, then found out Kate Magic was doing a talk on Cacao so signed up for that. My friend also came to event and we went to Manna after - my first trip there and it was great. The food was wonderful. I had some 'Be the Change' chocolate on the way home and felt so happy.

So I got well dosed up on cacao yesterday and felt the effects well into today - I just lay in the sun all afternoon and listened to some of my favourite music and felt completely happy about everything and it felt really good. I also had an urge to get some felt tips out and write some of my favourite things in fancy colourful writing which was very therapeutic! Like being back at school doing my art homework.

Had a huge green juice this morning with perhaps a bit too much kale and it was really really dark green!!

I made one of my fairly new salads tonight - all the salad dressing is half an avocado, one tsp of almond butter and 2 tbsp lemon juice, blended up with the hand blender. Use round lettuce and use the leaves when they are washed and drained but not bone dry and mix the dressing in well. It is a really creamy dressing and very filling. I also made some more homous - I really can't get enough of homous and carrot sticks at the moment!!!

I really want to move to Brighton and get into the raw food movement!!!!!!

2009-08-20T15:16:00.001-07:00

I had to do the last two as separate posts because they are both so amazing in their own right!! I had the carrots and homous for a starter and the pudding for desert tonight - the main course was a long tasting session of some ingredients I was messing around with - I ended up with something that was getting pretty close to a raw Sag Paneer!! Will experiment more tomorrow and post the recipe!!

Carrots and homous

2009-08-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

For me, it is the raw simplicities that are to die for. This is one of them. Whole, fat carrots dipped in Kate Magic's homous from Eat Smart Eat Raw. I could eat it all day...

Heaven in a little pink bowl

2009-08-20T14:30:00.001-07:00

Something different for a change

2009-08-18T14:43:00.001-07:00

Don't get me wrong I was quite happy eating much the same every day, but it was in the back of my mind to try some new things and then suddenly I had a whole dinner with loads of things I haven't had for ages, plus one new thing - Pak Choi! (Pak Choi Salad recipe is a separate post under Recipes) I have never tried Umeboshi paste before (I will check the spelling tomorrow!) although I have had a jar in the cupboard for ages. It is amazing. Very strong tasting and you only need a little bit. So very pleased with this. I thought mushrooms could be incorporated well in to Chinese theme but I am not feeling overly inclined to eat these at the moment... found out from some produce department info from work (a benefit of working in a supermarket) that they need horse manure to grow... is that vegan, out of interest? I'm not ethically against the use of horse manure, but still don't fancy it...

Anyway, I was very pleased with this salad for a completely new invention! And my sister liked it too : )

So I had that for supper, and I also had loads of homous with carrot sticks (which tastes sooo so good) followed by some sneaky teaspoons of almond butter and buckwheat.

I am eating quite a lot of 'heavy' stuff at the moment (if you click on the 'Brian and Anna Maria Clement' link you will know what I mean) but I am feeling really good on it and I don't think it is suppressing my emotions or anything like that - right now things seem clear and I know what I want and how I feel about certain things, like boredom, frustration, impatience, anticipation, excitement, etc. I feel like I've put on weight and running is still going steadily. So I think I will stick with this diet for the time being. I still love my very filling breakfast and like to finish the day with something similarly filling, but knowing what to have for lunch is difficult - as I am usually not hungry I have a salad but I don't always feel that great afterwards, almost like it would be better not to eat at all. I did say I wouldn't eat when not hungry!! Maybe I will try not having lunch and see what happens...

Check out the tomatoes! They are just a bit bigger than cherry tomatoes but looking good

Pak Choi Salad

2009-08-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

I bought some Pak Choi with a vague idea for a Chinese inspired salad using ginger, and this is what I came up with:

Serves 2:

4 little Pak Choi (chopped to medium sized pieces)
handful of green beans (medium chopped)
lots of corriander

Optional
sprinkle of mung bean sprouts
round lettuce (the kind with soft leaves, not crispy like Romaine)

Dressing
1/2 tsp Umeboshe (?!) paste
1cm cubed Ginger (use the garlic press)
1/4 clove Garlic (use the garlic press)
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp lemon juice

whisk together using a mini beater and mix well with the salad veg.

This morning's juice

2009-08-17T04:44:00.000-07:00

Here is what was in this morning's juice. (Didn't use all the ginger or all the alfalfa pictured!) Actually I ended up leaving the courgette out as I had loads. It was super tasty today but kind of subtle too which was surprising.

One of my tomatoes has started to go red which is exciting! Might start to see a return on my investment soon then!!! I also have a pepper plant now which I can't remember if I've mentioned? Will put a photo on next time.

My order of tahini, nut butters, dulse, nori sprinkle, coconut chips, sunflower seeds arrived this morning!!! I love it when I get stuff delivered. It made me think would've been cool to video unpacking it - maybe I'll look into how to put videos on here. Probably videos of me making food might be more interesting though! I started sprouting some chick peas the other day so now I can make homous with the tahini, haven't had that for ages. Yum. And I can't wait for bananas with rainforest nut butter...... heaven. And my mum gave me another reflexology treatment this morning too, I am such a lucky girl.

I started making a raw scrap book yesterday. It was fun cutting and sticking but I wanted to be in the sun at the same time, but it was a bit windy!! So a little tricky.

Beside raw food, (I do do some other stuff lol) I went to Bognor Rox music festival at the weekend - saw a band called Hakuna Pesa (I think?) who, strangely, I have randomly seen before at an open mic night in Chichester - didn't know who they were then. Not sure how to describe them, probably ska/sca? but with a reggae kind of think going on as well. Really really good.

Also still working on the Russian salad. Tried it without the almond butter but it definitely needs it with.

Last but not least, Life-Force Foods retreat in Wales is coming up very soon, so I am really looking forward to that now. (Can't believe I only have 1 week and half a day left of full-time employment!!) Then I am going to Vienna to visit my best friend from uni!!!!!!!!!!!!! So so so excited. So I will be blogging my raw tales from Austria of course : )

Ups and downs

2009-08-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

A whole week and only 2 posts? Not sure what happened there. Anyway, I should be in bed but just had to get some things down - I had a great couple of days of no sugar (plus an early night) and I really noticed a difference - don't know it if it is a coincidence but today running felt great and when I got home after 20 minutes I set off again to go once more round the block! I had dahl for supper and everything was great, but then about 10.30pm I felt starving!! So I was really disappointed. Determined not to have cooked porridge, I settled for raw stodge of buckwheat and raw brazil nut butter, followed by a cup of peppermint tea to try and make my stomach feel content. It has kind of worked. Just hope I can sleep now, as I think late night eating (which tends to be bananas and/or raisins) doesn't help!! This is something I really want to work on as I feel that really will be a new corner turned for me with raw, if I give up sugar binges in the evenings. Plus the raisins I have aren't even raw. I swing between a week of not doing it followed by a week of doing it it frequently. I am trying not to let this niggle overtake the positives, and I really don't want to obsess about it, I just thought today that the difference is so worth resiting the cravings for!! I will write more about the positives soon - I have an update on the 'Russian' salad recipe after experimenting by adding beetroot...

gratitude : )

2009-08-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

Those 'nakd' bars are bad news as I can't seem to eat less than 3 at a time!! Banana Bread and Coco Loco flavours are my favourite.

Anyway, I just had a really long chat on the phone with a friend and want to put it on here because I always come away from speaking to him feeling 100% better than before we spoke! I've been feeling bored and impatient and he has made me see what there is to be grateful for. Gratitude is so important, I have been forgetting this recently!!

Regards the boredom, I need something new in my life!! I have the day off tomorrow and want to do something creative which is not necessarily making a new recipe. I had a brain wave to make some changes to my bedroom which always makes things feel a bit different somehow (and I might even go clothes shopping hehe) sounds materialistic but I want to spend some money on some new things!! Me and my dad are also going blackberry picking (need some blue/purple food in my life) and my mum is going to give me another reflexology treatment. I had one on Sunday too. I am so lucky, just got to stop moaning and being impatient!!!!!

".... Salad"

2009-08-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

Well I seem to be eating the same thing all the time so I decided it was time to try something different. I came up with a new salad - ok it still has much the same ingredients as I keep eating, but it is still different!! At least it is another way to get my broccoli in me. The quantities aren't very accurate yet, most of my recipes start out that way, but I am working on it. (It doesn't have a name yet either, but I am working on that too!)

In the food processor, carefully process into quite small but not too small pieces:
Broccoli
Spinach
1 large tomato

Then process a small onion separately and add that in

Fro the dressing, with a hand blender, blend
1 tbsp almond butter
1/2 tsp brown rice miso
1 whole tomato
lemon juice
a tiny bit of agave if desired

Mix together with a bit of buckwheat. The appearance and mouth feel reminds me a bit of that russian salad with egg and beetroot ... I think the buckwheat gives it the density you would get from the egg. Hhmm will try it with beetroot next time (not egg obviously)

Nut butters

2009-08-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

I have about 3 jars of raw nut butters in the fridge, which I have done nothing with but eat with a teaspoon since I got them at the Fresh Network event with the Clements ... I really need to think of how to incorporate them into a meal! I did have a banana with rainbow nut butter (macadamias, cashews and brazils I believe) spread on it the other day - it was magic. I tried adding a tablespoon of brazil nut butter to some dahl mixture in an attempt to make it into a dip, but it wasn't that great - would rather have eaten the butter just as it is! Will have to keep thinking.

Cauliflower curry

2009-08-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

Another variation on a theme:

1 and a half avocadoes
1 tbsp coconut oil
5 tomatoes
1 tsp dried corriander
Blend all in a blender

2 deseeded tomatoes
1 very small onion (about the size of a golf ball)
handful of spinach
Food process all into small pieces

Mix contents of blender and food processor together.

Chop up small bits of cauliflower and half some cherry tomatoes and add to the sauce. Serve with sprouted buckwheat.

Sandwiches for tea

2009-08-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

I gave up sandwiches a long time before I had even heard of the raw diet - I went on a wheat-free diet and when I reverted back I always felt so gross and sick in the afternoon after a sandwich for lunch that I couldn't eat them. Now I am loving them again!!! They are so fun to make.
So I set myself up a little raw deli - guacamole, salad and a random lentil dip - made with left over dahl and thickened up a bit with more lentils and added garlic - it was a bit too runny for the sandwich but ok.
Then I had a wrap with my flax tortillas I made by just blending up soaked flax seed with onion, tomato and lemon juice.

I had come home from work feeling really like I just wanted someone to make dinner for me, and the sandwiches seemed like a quick option, which they were, but I still ended up enjoying myself, messing about taking photos, etc.! I couldn't ask for a better hobby, as I've got to eat, and I've always prepared all my meals pretty much from scratch ever since I went to uni, so if food wasn't my hobby I probably wouldn't have time for one!

I've got to get more sleep tonight as I woke up for an hour and a half last night and couldn't get back to sleep. Have realised I seem to be in a pattern of going to bed too late and am generally not feeling my best a lot of the time. I also need to drink more water!! My head feels a bit thick a lot of the time - I keep thinking back to the time when I was at uni and was consciously drinking 2 litres a day and I felt great. Don't know why I am not doing this at the moment - I am blocking myself from doing it somehow and want this to change!

The interesting thing is that I am feeling less and less inclined to eat cooked food; I really feel I have turned a corner with it as I can really notice the difference when I do eat it.

By the way, I bottled out of giving blood tonight. I let my mum talk me out of it - she was worried I might feel faint all of a sudden when driving home so I agreed. I was also worried they might try and force feed me tea and biscuits afterwards as I've heard they tend to do ... somewhere in the back of my mind I do seem to be a bit worried at the moment that I am going to eat something non-vegan ... maybe it's something to do with the Lee and Perins episode ...

Banana-flavoured Rice Pudding

2009-08-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

This took literally 5 minutes to make, including washing up. That's my kind of pudding.

Recipe, for a modest portion for one.

1/2 banana
3 tbsp liquid coconut butter (coconut oil)
3 tbsp sprouted buckwheat

Blend the banana and coconut oil together with a hand blender. Add one tablespoon of buckwheat and blend thoroughly again. Then add the remaining buckwheat and pulse with handblender only a little bit more, so it stays fairly lumpy.

100% raw, another desert creation and a dream about cheese!

2009-08-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

I had no cooked food whatsoever yesterday and this morning I felt great just with my green juice then breakfast about 10.30 again. I am truly starting to notice real differences in for when I sneak in cooked food - it really doesn't make me feel good at all. I also had an early night and slept really well last night. Will go to bed early again tonight as I don't start work til 9am tomorrow, so extra time in bed, yay.

Ran out of lemons today so juice tasted quite different, but good, with lots of alfalfa, celery, cucumber, a few beetrop tops and spinach. I had chilli and flax crackers for lunch, then dahl, (for which I used tomatoes as I ran out of lemons!) courgette, celery, and the last of the chilli for supper. So no cooked food again today either, yay!

I am doing really well avoiding acidic food - but - tonight I had the time so I just had to give my raw rice pudding idea a go!! Therefore I ate a banana. (I have put the recipe in a separate post under Recipes.) It turned out even better than I imagined, as I had a brain-wave whilst making it. I decided to use blended buckwheat to thicken it rather than more banana, which would have overpowered the taste and been too sticky. The texture was amazing!

I think next time I will make more so I can use a proper blender, and it will probably taste really good after thickening in the fridge and serving cold as well. I want to experiment by leaving out the banana and still trying to get the right thickness and sweetness, and I'll try vanilla flavouring too. Can't wait to try it again. Better sprout some more buckwheat. I can't seem to get enough of it at the moment! I now serve it with my tomato and coconut curry and with chilli as if it was rice - it just seems to complete the meal. I wonder if you can eat too much of it... It does take loads of rinsing which is not so great for the water usage. Eating all these sprouted beans and donated veg is saving me a fortune, so I am waiting for the next miracle which will mean saving on water too!!

I went for a jog this evening before supper and it was hard work! I think it was because of the heat. But I did it. I really tried hard tonight to use it as a time to 'just be' and let thoughts come to me, and also spent some of the time trying to focus on and visualize some of the things I would like.

I had a dream last night about eating macaroni cheese in a kind of self-service cafe. There was nothing much else to eat and I was feeling slightly under peer pressure - it's all a bit hazy now and I can't remember if I ate it or not. I think I had a mouthful or two and then stopped - like I did in real life at work last week with some white rice from the staff canteen. It had hard uncooked bits in which was gross, which was lucky as it stopped me from eating it. So I went down to the shopfloor and got an avocaco and banana and mashed them together with a fork. Everyone thought I was mad. Until I showed them photos on my phone of apple crumble and raw sandwiches and they were pretty impressed!! And I think it mades them begin to think that maybe I am feeding yourself properly after all.

Back to the dream though - I think I am developing a repulsion for dairy products. Maybe because cow's milk is the non-vegan cooked food I've read the most about. Even the thoughts of eating fish, eggs and even chicken don't seem to have the same effect (although beef and pork do). I was never a fan of cream or milk, (although I had milk on cereal for years), I have always eaten cheese in moderation, and I used to eat loads of yoghurts as a child. As I was tidying up the yoghurt aisle at work today, the thought of eating one made me feel very strange. I always wanted to like Muller Rice but never did - now I have my own recipe - have just thought now, I can add other fruit flavours too! Woop!

2009-08-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

The reason I was up so late last night is because of bad timings with the dehydrator... I imagine it will get easier now I have a few staple things I'd like to start making more regularly. I'm not too fussy and nothing will come out of it that doesn't taste good, but it can be a bit tricky to make things really good, like the bread.

I felt starving this morning even for a while after my breakfasy which wasn't nice but it settled down and I was happily ready to eat at lunch time and at dinner time. I am not sure why sometimes I am hungry in the morning and sometimes not. Probably to do with late night eating...

Anyway, the good news is I now have a variation on The Raw Chef's buckwheat bread, some flax crackers and tomato tortillas. I must write down recipes with quantities as none of these were as good as the last time I made them, in taste or texture. Had a tortilla tonight filled one with a variation on Kate's chilli, with a green salad. Wrapped it into a little triangle a bit like a samosa, and it was great to eat something in a different way, and, of course, very tasty.

I had a lovely surprise from my sister who has given me a recipe book where you fill in the recipes yourself! It is lovely, with dividers, spaces to slot things and pictures of tomatoes on the front! I don't think she knew I have been meaning to put together a recipe book with my recipes in, and this is just the thing!

...I have ideas forming for a 'rice' pudding made using buckwheat instead. Buckwheat is the best thing ever, the possibilities for it seem endless!

I have been tired today so will go to bed in a minute. In fact I have felt tired quite a lot recently because I just can't seem to stop staying up late! Contemplating a 6.15am run tomorrow morning... hmm, not sure, will have to sleep on that decision.

2009-08-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

No, it's all going wrong!

However I think I can identify some problems - eating when not hungry! Green juice, savoury breakfast, all good. Then I thought I'd better have some 'lunch' before work as I'd had a fairly early breakfast this morning. So I ate when not hungry, then felt that hungry-ish feeling in the afternoon (the feeling I have recently renamed as ILL) and then I had a not very decent supper, some ready salted crisps, then came home from work and started scoffing all sorts of things (including cooked porridge again :( ) about 10.30pm!! Not good. I am putting a stop to this. When I (used to) have what I call my 'unexplained tummy pains' I used to eat porridge, which always felt soothing in a way, but also brought about this ILL feeling which just made me want to eat more and more porridge. I don't know the answer to the pain, but it is not cooked food.

I WILL NOT EAT WHEN NOT HUNGRY. And then if I get hungry and it's not possible to eat, too bad! I will live! Eating when not hungry does not stop the desire for food for any longer than if you didn't eat. It actually makes it worse!!

I love to blog!!!

2009-08-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

Another day over and it's been great - had a second green juice in the evening as I have so many greens at the moment - carrot top greens and ginger go really well together! Then made Kate's chilli for supper as I have so much beetroot, carrot and mung beans sprouts at the moment. Got an extra portion for tomorrow, yay.

Am all set to make flax crackers, tortilla wraps and buckwheat bread tomorrow, so I will have loads of food to hand for next week! It's funny how sometimes I feel I have nothing to make a decent meal out of when other times there is so much stuff and it doesn't even feel like an effort to get it all organized! I love it when the latter is the case!!

I have also been really drawn to my angel cards again the last couple of days - the relevance of the cards I've been drawing is astounding. I've had one though which I get quite frequnetly and which always applies: FOCUS - "focus on what you want, not what you don't want." I often find this takes work to do, but once I do it I notice the difference straight away.

And I've said before, blogging helps me focus! I am so glad I am back in the swing. Thank you Google for making it so easy!!

p.s. I have added some more photos and tweaked some of my recent entries so have another look!

Apple crumble: Day 2

2009-08-02T05:29:00.000-07:00

The apple crumble was even better on the second day. The topping went a bit softer in the fridge, and I had a little bit of room temperature coconut butter on the side. I think if this was blended with vanilla it could possibly be even better. I also think the top could look a bit more golden and appealing. But all in all I was very proud of myself last night!!

The crumble topping that didn't get bashed up with a wooden spoon was quite like like an oaty biscuit, a bit like HobNobs in fact! I also experimented with a buckwheat and date mixture (which went a bit wrong in the dehydrator after I decided not to bother with the paraflex sheet... never mind, the little broken up bits still tasted nice!) I wanted to start getting into making biscuits/flapjacks, etc. a while ago but never did. Maybe this will happen soon as the ideas are really flowing at the moment, which is exciting! I used to have such a weakness for biscuits.

So now here I am eating my Best Ever Savoury Breakfast (I have now added a photo of it to that post by the way) and blogging. Had fun taking different shots of it this morning, after a run and a green juice. It's nice to take things slow on your day off (in fact it's now lunchtime!) This was my first morning run and I think I'll go earlier next time. I ran along the sea front and it was quite busy at 10.30am, not surprising really as it is a Sunday. My next goal is to get into the habit of going really early before work rather than before supper, then I might start going to bed earlier! I know I can make this happen.

I ate loads of sugary things yesterday, including some Nakd and TREK bars which were on special offer! Today I've got off to a good start with no sugar, so will try and keep it up and eat really well for the rest of the week. I would like to give blood on Thursday, so that can be my incentive - to have my blood as alkaline and as good quality as possible. I have never given blood before, as I have a bit of a phobia about blood, injections, etc. but have got better over the last couple of years. In fact I had no interest in anything sciencey before going raw, but now I find the idea of acid/alkaline blood and cells and things quite interesting!! Anyway, hopefully I'll be ok on Thursday...

Simple salads

2009-07-31T14:44:00.000-07:00

My mum is famous for her carrot salad, finely grated using the right blade in the food processor, with a jar-shaken mayonaise and olive-oil dressing. (One day I will try and re-create a raw vegan version of this dressing.) Last night she used beetroot and a little bit of corriander. I tried adding arame seaweed and it looked like this

To go with it, I made a new, really filling green salad with romaine lettuce and sprouted sunflower seeds. For the dressing, I used 1/2 an avocado, 1 tsp almond butter, the water and seeds from the inside of 1 tomato, and a bit of hemp oil, all thoroughly mixed with one of those mini egg beater things.

It was very rich, but I thought it was good and I ended up with a pretty good looking supper.

Home-grown vegetables

2009-07-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

We have got more veg from friends. Look at the size of these onions, carrots and beetroot.

My parents saw them being pulled from the ground, a sight I have yet to see. It is weird that we don't know where our food comes from, meat or vegetables. Cutting the greens off and washing all the mud off them though makes a packet of organic carrots from the supermarket seem like a ready meal! But it is so worth the effort. And you get to juice the carrot and beetroot tops.
And how cool do these tomatoes look

Finally one of my courgettes has grown to a good size!

Apple Crumble

2009-07-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

I am so excited. I made a *raw* apple crumble. Made it up all by myself. It was awesome. Remind me why cooking exists again??

I used soaked raw oat groats, sprouted sunflower seeds, buckwheat and agave for the topping, and apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, raisins and agave for the bottom.

I have put a picture on of the apple before I put all the topping on so you can see. Looks and smells exactly like the cooked version. I served this one chilled as I made it yesterday. The texture and mouth-feel of the apple was good but the top was a bit too crunchy as I left it in the dehydrator too long. I have ideas for how to make it more gooey, and serve it warm too. Tomorrow night will experiment with a custard sauce to go with the (small) bit I managed to save.

Avocado and Wakame Salad

2009-07-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

I ate a version of this for lunch every single day when I started going raw last summer, and continued with it into winter, until I fell off the wagon a bit in about November when I was in hospital with a water infection. However, the habit of green salad was ingrained by this point and I always come back to it. I used to just put all my new found raw superfoods on there - spirulina, maca, purple corn, hemp seed, flax seed - everything. Now I prefer it a bit simpler.

1/3 head of romaine lettuce, cut into medium sized pieces.
4 strips of wakame seaweed, soaked for 15-20 minutes and roughly sliced.
3 inches of cucumber, sliced not too thickly and cubed.
1/2 an avocado, cubed
sprinkle of purple corn
sprinkle of hemp seeds

For the dressing, you could use hemp-miso-lemon-agave dressing. If you use this you might want to leave out the avocado. Or for a lighter option use olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Lighter still use just vinegar or lemon juice.

Raw Dahl (2)

2009-07-30T07:36:00.001-07:00

Dahl is fast becoming one of my favourite recipes. It is so easy to make and tastes amazing with broccoli, celery and tomato. I'm not a huge fan of raw broccoli but dip it in this and it is de-lish.

I made an adaptation of Kate Magic's version a few months ago and have made it many times since. I can throw estimated quantities of the ingredients below into the blender and it always comes out great. The new version contains green lentils which are softer than puy lentils, it does not contain sesame seeds, and there are a few substitutions of oil and seasoning.

250g sprouted green lentils
1 small white onion
2 tbsp hemp oil
1 tbsp tamari (or Bragg's liquid aminos if you don't want fermented food)
1/2 tsp cumin
juice of half a lemon
garlic optional - the idea is that the kick comes from the onion.

Blend all ingredients in the blender. Add water just until it moves easily, but no more. You want a medium consistency. Don't over-blend. Add more Bragg's/lemon juice to taste.

Alkalizing Daily Menu Plan

2009-07-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here is an example alkalising menu plan, using recipes already on my blog.

First thing: Green Juice with cucumber, celery, alfalfa, spinach/kale, lemon juice

Breakfast: The Best Savoury Breakfast Ever

Lunch: Mung Bean Salad

Dinner: Tomato and Coconut curry with extra spinach, courgette/mange tout/cauliflower.

Drink lots of water with lemon in between meals.

These are all my favourite recipes at the moment because they are alkalizing, very easy to make, delicious, filling and contain loads of sprouts. I am really happy if I manage to make this my menu for the day (and try not to feel too guilty if I sneak half a banana in my breakfast!)

The Best Savoury Breakfast Ever

2009-07-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

This recipe is inspired by the The pH Miracle, as an attempt to not always have a sweet breakfast. At the moment I think it is the best thing ever!! Really filling without weighing you down.

sprouted buckwheat
rolled oats, soaked for twenty minutes, drained and rinsed
sunflower seeds, sprouted or at least soaked overnight
1 tbsp hemp seeds
1 desert spoon of hemp oil
1/2 an avocado

Mix seeds and oats in a bowl so you have what looks like a good amount to you. Don't forget the avocado will bulk it up quite a bit. Oats and avocado are the most filling things so to make it lighter have the least of these. Cut avocado in half and spoon out the flesh of one half straight into the bowl. Roughly chop and mix in with the spoon. Pour over the hemp oil and mix well.

You could add chopped fresh tomato to add something juicy and fruity. Raw coconut chips are also really nice in this.

I usually have a large portion of this about 10.30am after having had a green juice first thing. I usually take it to work with me in a container and everyone always says it looks really nice. That's coz it is!!

Time to re-focus again

2009-07-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

I had a tomato juice last week and one at the wedding, with Lee and Perins. It turns out this contains anchovies. Oh dear. And since those potatoes I have been craving more. Jacket potato at work, some of my family's roashed smashed potatoes the other night. Jogging yesterday evening, I felt like I had put on about half a stone. Ate chips from the chip shop last night at 2.30am. And I was sober. Came home with them and discovered (before I ate it this time) that the brand of tomato ketchup in the fridge contains lactose. WHY??!

Today I couldn't be bothered to make green juice, ate loads of raisins, and am developing a tendency to just nibbling on random raw stuff in the fridge, and then thinking I am feeling hungry, and wanting to eat more. Really, I am feeling ILL, not hungry, and am just craving sugar. Looking back, I used to feel exactly the same with cooked food when I did not eat proper meals, but also between cooked meals as well. It is also boredom. Or tiredness.

And it is also discontentedness. I have been feeling a bit unhappy this week. Why do we always eat the food we know we would rather not eat when we are feeling unhappy? Because then you feel worse, and eat more. I am putting a stop to it now. Food has the power to change your mood, and your mood has the power to change your food. I have loads of great recipes ideas which I am spending the day trying out. Will keep you posted.

The Wedding

2009-07-30T05:31:00.000-07:00

What can I say, the wedding was perfect in every way! My sister looked beautiful and I am so so happy for her and the groom!!

On the food front, I had brought with me a lovely red cool bag full of my goodies which I snacked on frequently over the three days. As I said, I took the buckwheat bread. Just mashed up avocado and a piece of tomato on one piece folded in half was sooooooo good.

In the hotel the night before the big day, I was going to have artichoke ravioli and was assured it did not contain cheese, but seconds before it was put down in front of me, the restaurant supervisor told me it did contain cheese. She apologised profusely, and made me a salad, which, I reassured her, was perfectly fine by me! It was pretty good with peas and broad beans in it - something I've not eaten since going raw.

Lunch at the wedding was a cooked vegan option of a little stack of roasted veg, tomato sauce and pine nuts, more veg and ... boiled potatoes. It was very enjoyable. I also had a glass of ... white wine ... followed by a glass of ... champagne. Two white wine spritzers later and it was on to the evening buffet. There were loads of vegetable sticks - what more could I have asked for - but no, the spicy potato wedges were too tempting. So were the ... vegetable spring rolls and various dipping sauces for them ... not knowing what was in them, what was I thinking?? By this time I looked, and felt, like I had a basketball in my stomach and found myself in quite a bad mood!

However, I would like to say that I did enjoy being a bit merry and the potatoes were great. A little more thought on speed of consumption and food combination and I would have been fine. And I felt ok the next day too. So there you have it. All in all a fantastic weekend!!

Friends, jogging and sprouts

2009-07-24T03:17:00.000-07:00

Since I have not been blogging so much over the last couple of weeks, this has led me to think about what my blog is really about. I have decided it's about recording my raw food journey and whatever I feel about raw food at the time! This can change at any time so really not having 'an agenda' for the blog seems the most natural thing. It's about so many things: getting down thoughts, ideas, noting trends in my raw food habits; it is a way of recording any new recipes, but most of all, whatever the content is, just by writing it is what keeps me positively focussed and feeling good about what I am doing! And that is the most important thing, because it allows me to keep sharing.

I have taken up jogging and spent a lot of time with friends over the last couple of weeks, both of which I have wanted to do for a long time, so I'm really glad it is happening now! I went jogging last night and was really please with how I did!! Am still working my way through 'The pH Miracle' and am managing to mostly stick to it which is good. Still having a green juice every morning - it is part of my routine now. All the above shows that I can make time to do all the things I want, which is really good to know.

I made Russell's buckwheat bread this week which is amazing. Had some sandwiches which made a really nice change! He is dead right about the tactile aspect of it making eating it more enjoyable. I also made some homous last night to put in sandwiches and open topped sandwiches - yum.

I will be taking the rest of the bread away with me this weekend as I'll be away for three days for my sister's wedding so dehydrated provisions always come in handy!

I am eating a lot of sprouts at the moment, including:
Chick peas in homous,

Lentils in dahl - green ones are my fave as they seem so much more creamy somehow.

Mung beans - always have on hand to make a salad with cucumber, celery, tomato, avocado, basil and spring onions or shallots if you have them, olive oil and lemon juice (instant meal!)

Alfalfa sprouts in my juice (am not enjoying them in salads at the mo)

Buckwheat - so versatile mixed with oats, banana, avocado, oats, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut chips, in any combination.

Tomatoes and lemons - these are going in everything!! According to The pH Miracle, these are actually alkalizing to your body, although they are acidic outside of it. I can go along with that!

So I'm eating a lot of the same at the moment and keeping it really quick and simple, giving me time to eat well and do other things. Am loving it because it is also a lot cheaper. So if you are not already, get sprouting!!

Oh one last thing - I finally brought some olive oil which is organic, unfiltered, cold-pressed and extracted soley-by-mechanical-means! (phew!)

Hello I'm back!

2009-07-19T13:38:00.001-07:00

Hello, I'm back, so sorry I haven't done a post for so long!

As it's been a whole week I'll do an e-zine type summary:

Things I've made this week:
Almond milk - my first! Flavoured with cacao and fresh mint. Not too much added and no sweetener - was very refreshing.

Ice cream - I made the mixture last week using almond pulp from the almond milk I made, and added it to Kate Magic's 'Kate's Chocolate Cinnamon Bread' recipe. (I didn't dehydrate it into bread because I realised it probably wasn't a good idea to put it in the dehydrator with savoury tomato flax crackers and curry flavour crackers) so I froze it and made ice cream by pushing the frozen mixture through the juicer. It tasted ok but needed to be more sweet. I added raisins as the cinnamon gave me the idea of a rum and raisin ice cream. So an interesting experiment.

Tahini Dip - using avocado, tahini, onion, lemon juice and the tomato and cucumber pulp from the juicer.

Tomato crackers - which turned out to be good texture for wraps. Soaked flax, tomatoes and onion, blended.

Curry crackers - Kate Magic's 'Fire Wizard' crackers with curry powder, purple corn and using soaked whole flax seed.

Vegetable juice using any variety of greens I have in. My fave remains that which includes tomato and parsley.

Favourite ingredients at the moment are:
onion - use to give a lift to many savoury things - for example my tomato and coconut curry. I think it tastes way better than to layer curry powder and spices on top of the raw ingredients.
lemon juice - also gives a lift to any savoury dish and any green juice. Getting through about two a day at the moment.

Tips
Identify your favourite easy, satisfying recipes which you find yourself making a lot. Make sure you always have their ingredients. Chances are you usually do have them if it's something you make frequently. I have am building up a good collection of easy peasy dishes which are really satisfying, quick to make, and incidently cheap and alkalizing too! Will do a separate post on my favourites soon.
Use pulp from the juicer in dips.

Other things
Jogging! Got some running shoes last Sunday which are brilliant.

Went to farmers' market Friday - they have now got a vacuum packer so I could buy a bigger order this time. I decided to get mostly groats this time. Got some info from another stall about making compost. Will see if I my dad will let me have a composting bin. By the way, he has applied for an allotment!! It's a two year waiting list apparently, but still, I was thrilled! He kept that one quiet!

I also visited Just Organics in Arundel today and stocked up on dried pulses. You can refill your own containers which is great. And they had some raw organic buckwheat which I hadn't seen before. I plan to sprout both oats groats and buckwheat to make some snack bars and possibly a crumble topping ...

The vegetable garden also going well. Can see my first tomatoes!! And am having the chard in morning juice. The courgettes don't seem to be getting very big before they start to shrivel ...

I am more aware now, since reading The pH Miracle, of acidity and alkalinity. Veg juice in the morning sets me up so well for the day, and I have cut down on habitual (acid) sugar intake, mostly at breakfast. However I still have sugar binges, such as fruit salad the other night and a load of raisins tonight! Hmm.

Photos
Here are some photos of things from the week:

Tomato wraps in the dehydrator; My first tomatoes; Flower on courgette plant; Mum's fruit salad;

Tomato and coconut curry (2)

2009-07-10T13:57:00.001-07:00

Everything was good today. Things at work went well; the day flew by as I was so busy. Visited my Grannie after work and she was so pleased to see me. I really must take her some good food. Will certainly take her some raw chocolate at the weekend. Got home from hers and went jogging again. Ran about the same as last time. It was great listening to my ipod at the same time. I did feel tired when I got home though, but in a calm way which was good. Then I made a new recipe, a variation on my tomato and coconut curry. And I still had time to write on my blog (actually I haven't washed up yet - oh well - this isn't going to spoil the perfection of my day!)

Here is the recipe: it is sweet and creamy and very filling. Try it and see what you think.

For the sauce, blend:
1 avocado
1 desert spoon coconut butter
2 tomatoes
1/4 onion
1 clove garlic

Food process:
handful for spinach
1 deseeded tomato

Mix the two together in a bowl.

Then add:
1 tomato chopped into small pieces
Small handful of spinach roughly chopped
Small handful of mange tout, cut in half

The slight bitterness of the greens really balance the sweetness of the combined tomato and coconut oil.

I think next time I'll use less avocado, a bit more onion and experiment with spices.

Things that have made me feel good today:
- listening to music whilst driving to work
- making my Grannie happy by visiting her
- succeeding at jogging
- creating a new dish (and eating the new dish)
- eating raw chocolate afterwards

I have a really nice notebook I was given as a present once and I have been saving it for something. I recently decided to use it as a book to write down good things - what I like about myself, as recommended by Brian Clement, but also what I have to be grateful for, things I have appreciated and enjoyed that day, and so on. It takes a while to get into but once you get going you end up finding more and more good things you want to write down. I really think with practice it is possible to think this way all the time.

One thing I am appreciating more than anything at the moment is Michael Jackson, music and dancing. Dangerous was the first CD album I ever owned. I am only now fully appreciating how completely gorgeous he was, I was obviously too young to realise this at the time! Listening to my favourite music whilst making raw food is the ultimate feel-good combination for me.

Raw vegan family meal!

2009-07-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

I made my parents a Russell James (The Raw Chef) dish tonight. A few things I didn't get quite right, even though I have been to the class and seen the dehydrated broccoli done by the professional himself! Was straightforward to make though which was great. It was really good and the parents said it was delicious. My dad said he thought something like this would make a good side dish with - steak and chips was the example he gave! Great. No to be fair to him he didn't miss the point of it by any means, and it was intersting to hear both of their thoughts as cooked fooders on how they felt about eating a whole meal that was raw.

I also made some raw chocolate for the first time in ages and we had that for desert. I made a bar for the friends who bring us veg, as apparently they are into good quality dark chocolate. I made up the recipe for this one, and included lots of cacao powder and not too many sweetners. I hope they like it.

Others news - went jogging last night and jogged about a mile without stopping! For the second time I've ever attempted to jog I was amazed! The first time was about a year ago - I got to the end of the road and thought I was going to die. It must be the raw food that's made the difference hehe. Will go again tomorrow I think.

Have had green juice every morning this week and am noticing the difference!! Today's had mung bean sprouts and beetroot in it. Thought the froth looked cool so I took a picture before I sieved it out. Am starting work early tomorrow so better go to bed if I want to get up in time to juice tomorrow!

Another awesome weekend, and a terrific Tuesday!

2009-07-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Weekend - sister's hen do Saturday, where one of the ladies suggested I read 'The pH Miracle' by Dr Robert O. Young and Shelly Redford Young. So I tracked it down on Sunday, bought it and spent the afternoon in Inspiral Lounge reading it - it seems to be pretty good. More confirmation that juicing is the next thing for me to do. Then met up with friends briefly in the evening - didn't make it to Saf or Bonningtons as they weren't open but I will experience this one day! I was however priviledged to witness the start of a very exciting raw venture, then chatted to the very uplifting Joe whilst eating olives and drinking ginger and lemon tea until it was time to get the train home!

Monday came and went, and today I had a very successful day food wise. A raw juice for breakfast with alfalfa sprouts, spinach, celery, cucumber, ginger and lemon juice. Unless when I get to the small print ginger and lemon turn out to be not good on the pH Miracle programme, ginger and lemon might turn out to be my new secret weapons for making juices always taste great. Anyway, surprisingly this kept me happy until lunch time! Then I had a salad with more spinach and avocado, and for supper made one of Kate Magic's recipes. I can't think of single little non-raw thing I ate today. I am not fanatical about eating 'not strictly raw' food, but this makes me very happy. I am amazed that the juice sustained me. When I get wheatgrass in it it will be even better. Plus no sugar!! (Apart from a few carrots, but I think I can forgive myself.) This is starting to sound like confessions of a raw fooder now so I'll stop!

Food of the day is raw mange tout straight from my parents' friends' garden. Perfect.

I must order some sunflower seeds and mung beans, and look into growing wheatgrass if I have time. More tomorrow. Am going to include tomato and parsley in the juice tomorrow - can't wait.

p.s. here is a photo of more veg that my parents' friends again kindly gave to us!

My vegetable garden

2009-07-06T01:39:00.001-07:00

Thought this would warrant a post all of its own.

The garden. Herbs at the back, one or two plants in the middle and veg on the near side.

The chard

The tomato plant. Good eh?

I'd like to thank my dad for re-potting these for me and remembering to water them when I don't!! What a star he is.

Chilli photos

2009-07-06T01:35:00.000-07:00

Photos I took of Friday night's chilli. I was feeling a bit arty and of course in awe of the colours.

Sleep on it

2009-07-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

Having reflected a lot in my blog entry last night and then sleeping on it - my current feeling is to drink more green juice, eat more sprouts, eat less sugar, and make The Raw Chef's broccoli recipe in his latest e-zine for a meal for my parents! I will do it when I've got the day off next Thursday. This weekend I'm off to my sister's hen do in London and have been invited to Saf restaurant on Sunday night by a raw friend! It's looking to be an awesome weekend!!!

p.s. Still unable to upload photos which is annoying as I have loads of great new photos I want to share! Watch this space for when I get it sorted!

To my followers

2009-07-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your comments and for becoming followers! For some reason at the moment I am unable to comment back to thank you for each one individually! But it is so good to hear your encouragement and that I am inspiring some of you to look into raw food yourselves - you won't regret it! Love Amy x x x

Focus!

2009-07-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

Once again I have so much to report after a whole week without blogging!

It's been a really emotional week actually and I am glad I am out the other side; it's been quite draining. Looking back on the last year of my life since I finished uni, I've been so far from where I want to be, but it is all becoming clearer now as to where I want to be mentally and circumstantially. The clarity has been incredible actually. It has also brought with it an incredible amount of gratitude and appreciation for all the special people in my life who always support me - you know who you are - thank you.

This gratitude was only the beginning, as looking back on this week so many positives have happened.

This week's diet summary is a good one: following Sunday's green juice I made another one on Monday morning with beetroot leaves, including the purple stalks. The colour and taste was awful and I couldn't drink it all. Better luck next time. On the plus side I have had a sugar-free week, broken only be Kate Magic's Cheeky Chilli tonight with beetroot and carrot, and then 2 bananas and few blueberries after! I have increased my fat intake this week, not so much avocados but nuts, nut butters and oils, which only makes me crave more of this. Haven't felt bad on this by any means, in fact my energy has been good considering I haven't had an early night all week. Have also enjoyed lots of sunflower seeds which are filling and more healthy than nuts. I am happy to eat lots of green living food as well as the tasty things, it doesn't have to be one or the other by any means! I think I lost my creative focus a bit this week, which is the side that really makes me buzz. After spending the evening with the blender and my music in the kitchen tonight, I really enjoyed making and eating the chilli and felt connected again.

I have got in touch with raw food chef Chris Jenkins to volunteer to help at his raw food and yoga retreat in the Gower peninsula in August. I am so glad I did as he is happy to give me some experience and has been very encouraging! Go to

life-force-foods.com

for more information.

More veg has come into my life!! My next door neighbour has given me her two courgette plants! Again my asking for an abundance of good food has been answered!

I also had an email from a friend I made on Russell's raw chef class which cheered me up no end too.

So it's all good!!!!!!!

My first proper green juice!!

2009-06-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

I said I was going to juice so that's what I did. Put all things green I could find in it, including a whole romaine lettuce, a green pepper, a bit of chard from my plant!! a stick of celery, half a cucumber, mung bean and aduki been sprouts and some sunflower seed sprouts!! This made about 600ml, and it tasted much better than I thought it would! In fact, it tasted rather nice and I enjoyed it!!!!! Unfortunately I am having trouble uploading photos today, but you can take my word for it - it looks like pond water, but don't let that put you off!! (TIP - if you refrigerate any remaining juice and come back to it 8 hours later, it does not taste very nice - room temperature surprisingly seems to be best)

So I had that about 10.30am and to be honest with you I was hungry until 3pm when I ate some raw dahl (see the 'recipes' entries) so lots of lovely lentil sprouts there, and a load of celery. So I actually fasted for 24hours apart from this green juice as I didn't eat anything after about 2pm yesterday. I never thought I'd be able to do that, but I can! After that I wasn't really hungry at all but for dinner I had a medium green salad, followed by a decent bowl of oats, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds and cacao nibs, as I don't want my weight to drop. But I haven't had any sugar today, yay!

I have decided to do a 7 day green juice fast at the end of August when I have some time off work. By that time I should have grown some wheatgrass and can do it properly. Right now though it's going to be the week of the sprouts. I have got loads of alfalfa and mung beans on the go. Mung beans sprout so fast which is great.

Finally, my parents friends brought us some vegetables from their garden - loads of beetroot, a huge lettuce, mange tout and shallots!! Amazing. The lettuce was so impressive I took a picture, of course!

Brian and Anna Maria Clement

2009-06-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

I went to the lecture with Brian and Anna Maria Clement today in London. It was very good - they are both very charismatic and fantastic speakers, particularly Brian. I will try and summarize! -

Nutrition/food is not a faith but a fuel to a life that is worth living. We have to achieve this through positive thought and self-value. He advised writing down 7 things we like about outselves every night before we go to bed to help with this. We also make internal realisations - the answers can't be found outside ourselves (i.e. with food) but only within us. If we eat living foods this will allow us to move up out of our physical (I think that was the word he used, or something along those lines) energy centre in our lower abdomen to our emotional and intellectual energy centres in our heart and our head respectively, into a state of consciousness. We need light food in order to do this; eating bad, heavy food keeps us unconscious, if you like, at this base level. It is easier at first to find raw substitutes for the heavy foods we are addicted to from our cooked food days (eg. raw flax bread, raw chocolate) however, this is almost certainly better than old eating habits and is a positive way of transititioning to an optimum raw/living foods diet.

The distinction yet interrelation of food itself and emotional-cognitive function was really thought-provoking and illuminating to me. It is commonly thought amongst raw fooders that raw food will help you think and feel more clearly, and Brian stressed that 'the answer' is not in the food itself. This is worth exploring further. When I remember that I am a raw vegan, and while I am preparing the food, I know that this puts me in vibrational alignment with 'Source energy', a state which allows you to realise your true self. I think it is easy for the distinction to become blurred for me because the person I want to be, how I want to realise 'my truth' is by bringing the gift of raw food to other people. Where potential problems lie is I get pleasure from actually consuming the food for it's own sake. Emotional dependence on food consumption is a complicated topic in itself which many would say (including, funnily enough, an article in the latest edition of Get Fresh I was reading on the train home) needs to be addressed if I find myself searching for happiness through a bite of something tasty. Noting this distinction will hopefully help me move forward.

And kicking my addiction to fatty and sugary foods, (evident in my sweet avocado pudding every night) which Brian pointed out we all have, is one way of doing this. I said yesterday I think a green juice fast may be in order, and I now feel even more certain of this. I want to really simplify things to give myself the best possible nutrition and allow my body to realise what it really does and doesn’t need. I think it will also uncover more about my preferences, desires and needs in my emotional-cognitive life. I am a little apprehensive about what could be dug up, but I think it will be worth it.

So it's time to get sprouting, as I'm going to need a lot to make 50% of two 16oz servings of green juice per day!! Anna Maria’s recommendation is also 2oz of wheatgrass twice a day, and to include pea shoots, so I'll have to look at getting some of those. Mung beans, aduki beans and alfalfa I can do. Good thing I bought that chard plant last week too as that will save me a fortune! (It is doing well actually, and my tomato plant has started to flower!)

It has taken me ages to write this! But it’s been a very worthwhile exercise because it is now clearer than ever. I am aware that raw fooders can be very persuasive, but having gone away and examined what they’ve said, it is clear that I already knew all this on some level. My only confusion now is to where this leaves me with all the wonderful gourmet recipes I learned last weekend with Russell James – I guess I just have to go with it and not worry if things change. And of course I’ll be keeping the blog updated with these changes!

Reflection on another eventful week

2009-06-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

Now I've got down that Blueberry Yoghurt recipe, I can go on to say this week has flown by and I have not even made a single blog entry, even though I have loads to report.

People at work are very interested in my diet, some positive and some less so. One lady said this week, 'but Amy, you're not exactly (she paused for a moment while she chose her word carefully) hearty are you?' Presumably meaning I was thin. I just stared at her trying to formulate an answer that would reveal and reject the implication that in order to be healthy you need to be a bit fleshy, all in one short and succint sentence. Of course I failed and said nothing.

After receiving a complaint letter from a customer saying that they'd had food poisoning for a week after eating some kipper fillets bought from the supermarket where I work, I jokingly said to my boss that, of course, you don't get food poisoning from vegetables. He, quick as a flash, answered 'No, you just die from malnutrition.' Why I can't I be so sharp as that! This time I consciously decided it best not to enter into discussion, gave a polite titter but said nothing.

On the whole though I think most people are genuinely intrigued - there are two colleagues who always bring up veganism whenever they talk to me, and they obviously give quite a lot of thought to it and seem to understand where I'm coming from, even if they don't completely agree. Happily, the one lady who has been rude to me ('Are you eating real food today or grass?') is out working in another store for the forseeable future.

Moving on - this week I have spent much less time preparing meals and neither my stomach nor tastebuds have suffered for it. One thing that is great to throw together is small cauliflower florets, cashews, flax oil and nutrional yeast. I had the idea from the ingredients of cashew 'cheese' sauces, and my (then) boyfriend told me he'd done something similar which brought it all together. They say nutrional yeast creates this kind of 'cheesy' flavour.

I have also mastered making a salad I used to spend ages grating up by hand by just putting all the ingredients in the food processor, and have re-discovered the hand-blender, which saves so much time spent jiggling the blender trying to get the mixture moving, then taking it apart and washing it all after ... hand-blenders are the way forward.

The day before last, I took my breakfast to work and ate nothing til 11am, which is the time I always get hungry, whether I've eaten before I've left the house or not. Then I skipped lunch and ate when I got home. I made my breaky more filling using an extra large banana and mesquite, which according to Shazzie holds your hunger for up to 6 hours! This seemed to work for me. Today I did the same but had green juice before I left the house, and had a raw snack bar at lunch time. Both days I ate when I got home and felt satisfied. I have been reading Tonya Zavasta and am trying not to eat too early in the morning or too late at night to give my digestive system a rest. I feel a juice fast may be on the horizon; however, I think I have been able to go longer between meals the last couple of days as they have all contained nuts, avocado and seeds... fats which won't be contained in a juice fast! So we'll have to see what happens!

Finally, I am going to London for a lecture tomorrow - 'The insider secrets to success on a living foods diet' with Brian and Anna Maria Clement (from the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida.) Will tell all when I get back. For now better get to bed!

Blueberry 'Yoghurt'

2009-06-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

I made this up the other day. It is similar in taste and mouth-feel to one of those expensive luxury yoghurt-type deserts - similar because with no dairy and no added sugar it is way better!!! I used to eat loads of yoghurts when I was growing up, but ate fewer as I got older, and was only eating plain joghurt very occasionally by the time I went vegan. This pudding makes you wonder why on earth you would ever need to buy the sugary-dairy version ever again. All it is (to serve 1) is

1/2 avocado
1/2 banana
handful of frozen blueberries, depending how sweet you want it.

(This version in the photo also contains cacao nibs which can be added for texture. I actually prefer it without though)

Just put in a suitable container and blend with a hand blender (tip - use a hand blender for this kind of thing wherever possible - it is far easier than getting the blender out)

You can make it really smooth or leave it so there are still little bits of blueberry left. If you add just thawing blueberries to room temperature avocado and banana, the temperature is perfectly cool and you can really taste all the flavours. Or refrigerate and serve chilled. I like to leave it not perfectly mixed so you can see tiny swirls of green still in it. Green and purple are the perfect colour combination in my opinion. There is so much to say about this simple combination, so many variants without even changing the ingredients. I remember my first ever exposure to raw food at one of Kate Magic's demonstrations last summer - she said with raw food, making even little changes to texture could change the whole eating experience and you could never get bored with it. It is so true. The possibilities are endless, and it makes me so happy it is almost ridiculous!!!!!!! I'm sure many passionate raw fooders out there would agree with me! Look how carried away I've got.

This desert has also been tried and tested on my parents, who loved it. I have just made them some and put it in the fridge for their desert this evening. They have also volunteered to do tasting panels for me whenever I like!