Posts Tagged ‘raw diet’

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Eating for Energy Recipe of the Week: Alkalizing Cucumber Soup

May 26th, 2010

Hello beautiful people! This week’s Eating for Energy recipe of the week is Alkalizing Cucumber Soup. I decided to start with a soup recipe because I’ve never tried a raw soup before. I’ve always suspected that I wouldn’t like them, and I finally had a reason to test that theory. Plus, I had all the ingredients on hand, and it looked pretty easy.

Ingredients:

  • Avocado
  • Cucumber, peeled and chopped
  • Chopped fresh dill
  • Lemon juice
  • Dulse flakes

(For recommended amounts see Eating for Energy page 234. Sorry, but I can’t divulge all of Yuri’s secrets!)

Makes two servings.

The directions say to throw everything into a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. I had my doubts about how well avocado would do in my blender, but I figured I’d just follow the directions to start with and adjust if needed. So, I threw everything into the blender and turned it on low. Sure enough, the blades created a vertical tunnel. All the ingredients got pushed to the sides and just sat there.

So, I transferred everything to my mini food processor. This worked better, but not great. It took longer than expected and left the cucumbers chunky.

Using the amounts of ingredients recommended in the book, I ended up with a goo closer to the consistency of a dip than a soup, so I added more lemon juice, altogether about twice as much lemon juice as recommended.

The end result was a delightful minty green colored soup with dark purple flecks. Very pretty. (I would have taken a picture, but that’s not my forte, and it probably would have done more harm than good.)

Taste Test

Now, comes the most important part: the taste test!

In a word: pleasant.

I didn’t have very high hopes for this recipe after it took so much longer to make than I expected. I thought it would take about 10 minutes to just throw it all into a blender and blend it up, but it took more like 50 minutes. I originally thought it would be not great but good enough to make when I needed something quick, and since it wasn’t so quick …

However, I was pleasantly surprised. It has a very light, refreshing taste and goes down easy. I thought the dill would overpower the cucumber, but no. My daughter Ali liked it even more than I did, which is surprising since she doesn’t like cucumbers. The aftertaste is the best part. After I got done with it, I didn’t drink any water for quite some time because I didn’t want to wash the lingering taste away.

My 8-year-old son Michael said, “Yuck! … but it goes away quickly.” Meaning, he didn’t like it, but that was easy to deal with because it didn’t stick around in his mouth for a long time.

Lessons Learned

Changes I will make next time:

  • Use a mini food processor, not a blender.
  • Mash avocado up by hand.
  • Process cucumber by itself first. Then, add all other ingredients.
  • Use more dulse flakes to make it a little saltier.
  • Maybe add a bit of water to thin it out just a little more.

Conclusions

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I will definitely make this again, and with these changes, I expect it will take only 10 minutes to make.

Next week, Blueberry Morning. See you next week!

– Terri

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Posted in Client Journeys, Raw Food Recipes

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Can I Meat on a Raw Food Diet?

May 25th, 2010

Is meat okay to eat on a raw food diet?

That’s the question I’m answering for you today. As I’ve said before, I’m not a hardcore raw foodist. I believe in moderation and listening to what works best for your body.

So when it comes to eating meat while trying to maintain a raw diet, I have a different point of view than many raw food advocates.

Watch the video to see what I mean:

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think about this “controversial” topic.

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Cancer and the Raw Food Diet

May 10th, 2010

The very mention of cancer in an article about a high energy diet can be somewhat controversial. There are those within the raw foods community who would be so bold as to make somewhat overzealous claims about the cancer-fighting properties of an all raw diet, to the point of unsubstantiated exaggeration. While there is nothing wrong with believing that your chosen way of eating might help you to stay healthy, the last thing we want to do is go so far as to make promises that could never be kept.

Unfortunately, we do not know everything we need to know about cancers, how they start or how to fight back against them. What we do know is that eating for energy with a raw diet has the potential to help our bodies in these battles. There are no magic cure-alls in the raw foods on your plate, but there is a way to find a healthier life through healthier eating.

Those who eat for energy with a raw diet are consuming far fewer known carcinogens that those who consume cooked foods, particularly when it comes to foods that are prepared over any variety of direct flame. The charring process that many meats and vegetables are subjected to, be it on a barbecue or over another heat source, can leave behind deposits that, according to some studies, can contain carcinogenic properties. That is not to say that cooked meat causes cancer, or that raw meats like cold smoked salmon will keep you safe. But consuming fewer charred items might make a difference in the long run.

Of course, a raw diet is filled with wonderful raw produce, and many of the food items found here have been shown to have some positive effects when it comes to combating cancer in some form or another. Carrots in particular have been shown to have a great impact on the body in recent cancer research studies. The antioxidants contained in carrots, like beta carotene, help to produce and process vitamin A within the body, which keeps your cells at optimal health and allows them to strongly resist the invasions of cancer cells.

Another big plus for raw foods are the living enzymes that you are able to consume when you skip the cooking process. These living enzymes help to break down, digest and dispose of the food you eat, allowing your body to not have to call upon its own stores of enzymes to do the dirty work for the cooked, dead food enzymes. Using the life force of your food in this way means that your body is able to use its internal energies for other purposes besides digestion and absorption – like fighting to keep you healthier in general.

These are just some of the benefits of a raw food diet, but that is not evidence that a raw foods diet can beat cancer. But when it comes to maintaining your good health, every little advantage you can give your body will help if you should ever have to face this terrible affliction.

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Does Eating for Energy Live Up to Its Claims?

May 6th, 2010

Hello beautiful people! My name is Terri. I’m 33, and I’m really excited to be one of Yuri’s new contributors to his blog. I suppose I should start by telling you a little about myself.

I was raised on a SAD (Standard American Diet). I spent the majority of my 20s with very low energy. I started having migraines around age 26. I suffered from hay fever, which I had developed when I was 17. I was congested and tired all the time. I never felt like doing anything and just wanted to sit on the couch all the time. That’s all I had energy for. No doctor ever gave me a reason for this. According to the doctors, I was in good health.

In January 2008, I finally got sick of things. My mom had suggested several times that part of my congestion problem came from a sensitivity to dairy, so I thought I’d try a cooked vegan diet. At that point I had heard of the raw food diet but thought it was a little extreme. The vegan diet definitely decreased my congestion and improved my energy, but I quickly got bored with it. A lot of the recipes revolve around tofu, and I don’t do tofu.

While I was experimenting with the vegan diet, though, I continued to read and learn more about nutrition and how eating the right foods can affect your health and energy levels. In February of 2009 I decided I was ready to try the raw food diet and purchased Yuri’s Eating for Energy book. The information in Eating for Energy really seemed to make sense to me, and I started putting it into practice.

Now, I eat raw all day until dinner time. For dinner I usually eat whatever the rest of the family is eating but sometimes not. So I am mostly raw but not 100%.

I live in a household of SAD eaters but am trying to change that. My husband is really quite opposed to drastic changes to his diet, so the same unhealthy foods are still in the house. That is slowly changing, though. About a year ago when a raw food recipe book I had purchased off of amazon.com arrived in the mail, my husband said, “I’m not eating any of that crap!” Now, he’s talking about doing a cleanse this summer!

I have to say that my energy is definitely much higher these days. I can really feel it when I get lazy with my diet, especially my ability to exercise is noticeably affected. My allergies (hay fever, dairy, and gluten) are practically non-existent. In fact, I keep hearing that this is one of the worst allergy seasons in recent history here, but I wouldn’t know it if I hadn’t heard it on the news because I’ve had so little trouble with my allergies this spring! Also, when I do eat conventional dairy and wheat products, I don’t have hardly any reaction to them anymore.

So I would give that a big YES! Eating for Energy definitely does live up to its claims!

See you next time!

Terri

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Who Can Benefit From Eating Raw Foods

May 4th, 2010

You might be wondering who all of this information is for. Raw food diets might sound like a great idea – for someone else. After all, it is pretty complicated and requires a lot of dedication and will power. So should you be starting a raw food diet? Only if you fit into one of the following categories.

Are you an athlete? If you are, you could benefit greatly from eating a raw foods diet. Many athletic people – be they professional sportsman and women or weekend warriors – are coming to the realization that the myths about a “balanced” diet could actually be hurting their performance. Heavy, glutinous cooked wheat and pastas have been touted as the perfect pre-game meal for ages. But athletes are in tune with their bodies, perhaps more than anyone else on the planet. And for many, one pre-game raw meal is all it took to convince them. Eating raw before a big expenditure of energy meant they went into battle on a full stomach, but not a heavy one. They went in with more energy, more alertness, and were able to go higher, faster and stronger for much longer. Once these athletes learned how to eat a raw diet, they learned to fuel their machines better.

Are you concerned about your health? You might benefit from some raw food help. Cooked foods often have lower levels of vitamins and minerals than what might be listed in a food guide, due to the leaching power of the killing heat of the cooking process. As a result, you might not be getting the essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs to stay healthy and ward off illness. Dedicating your diet to a higher quotient of raw foods will mean that when you intent to eat your daily recommended amount of vitamin C, you will know exactly how to do it by squeezing your own orange juice. If you are low in iron, you can make yourself a salad with leafy greens and raisins to raise the iron levels in your blood. For every health concern, there is a raw alternative that is easy to measure, and better for your health.

Are you often tired? Eating raw can mean eating for more energy. Rather than suffer the eternal damnation of the ups and downs of sugar spikes, hunger pangs and caffeine addiction, you can provide your body with a more constant and reliable fuel that will have you on an even keel throughout the day.

So, what about the rest of us? You know, those of us who don’t want to get out there and get more exercise; those who aren’t concerned about their good health; and those of us who never suffer from a lack of energy? Well, if you fall into that group, there is still one great reason to switch to a raw diet – the taste. The flavors of raw foods don’t get watered down, cooked off or overpowered by sugar and salt. They are bright and bold, the way nature intended them to be.

Isn’t that reason enough to go raw?

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Posted in Food For Thought, Raw Foods

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