Raw Food Lessons for Kids: Sesame Street with Healthy Foods and One Banana

A new episode in the series Raw Food Lessons for Kids:
Sesame Street with "Healthy Foods" and "One Banana".
Adults, you can skip this or ... enjoy it!

My Secret: Chinese Five Element Theory in Your Raw Food Diet

In Chinese Medicine there are five elements: earth, metal, water, wood and fire.
Everything in life, also the food we eat, can be categorized in these five elements.
You can make your raw food diet even more exciting, better looking and better tasting, by using this five element theory.

Basics of the Chinese five element theory:

- The wood element corresponds to the color green, spring, the sour taste and the Gallbladder and Liver meridian. Foods belonging to the wood element are lemon, pear, plum, mango, sauerkraut, wheat and barley. Also sprouts, the young plants of spring, belong to this wood element.

- The fire element corresponds to the color red, summer, the bitter taste and the Small Intestine and Heart meridian. Foods belonging to the fire element are hops, radish leaf, romaine lettuce, alfalfa, dandelion, chocolate, corn and many herbs. Also the large leafy plants of summer (often bitter) belong to this fire element.

- The earth element corresponds to the color yellow, late summer, the sweet taste and the Stomach and the Spleen meridian. Foods belonging to the earth element are honey, apple, cherry, banana, corn, carrot, sesame oil, yam and millet (yellow). Also the late summer fruits belong to this earth element.

- The metal element corresponds to the color white, autumn, the pungent taste and the Colon and Lung meridian. Foods belonging to the metal element are onion, chive, coriander, parsley, radish, garlic, ginger, cayenne, peppermint, clove and rice (white). Also the small contracted plants belong to this metal element.

- The water element corresponds to the colors blue or black, winter, the salty taste and the Bladder and Kidney meridian. Foods belonging to the water element are salt, kelp, seaweed, nama shoyu, salty pickles, olives, celery and beans. Also the roots of plants belong to this water element.

To eat a balanced diet, it is necessary to eat all the different tastes regularly. It is best to have them all in each meal.

An example of a balanced meal is:

1 a smoothie with banana (sweet), avocado (sweet), small amount of lemon (sour), raw chocolate (bitter), a celery stalk (salt) and a pinch of cayenne (pungent)

2 a salad with romaine lettuce (bitter), olives (salt), grated carrot (sweet), red onion (pungent), sesame oil (sweet) and lemon (sour)

3 a juice of apple (sweet), lemon (sour), celery (salt), romaine lettuce (bitter) and ginger (pungent)

4 a dehydrated cracker with flaxseed (sweet), tomato (sweet and sour), nama shoyu (salt), chive (pungent) and white pepper (bitter and pungent)

As you can see, it’s not difficult to eat according to the Chinese five elements. If you vary your diet, it happens automatically.
If you want to create special, nice looking, great tasting dishes, keep the five elements, the five colors and the five tastes in mind. Now you have my secret to the best tasting and best looking healthy raw food dishes ;-)

Raw Food Recipe for Raw Almond-Chocolate Spread

This raw almond-chocolate spread tastes great on sweet dehydrated crackers, on sprouted bread, on pieces banana, over pears, or as a dip for strawberries.

Ingredients:
1 cup almond butter
1 heaped tablespoon raw chocolate powder
¼ cup raw honey, maple syrup or agave nectar

Mix with a spoon, fork or knife.
This raw almond-chocolate spread recipe is great for kids and adults ;-)
Enjoy!

Dr. John Green on The Benefits of a Raw Plant Based Diet

Scientific studies have proven, that people who live on a raw food plant based diet live longer than others. The China study demonstrates that those who eat a plant based diet, are much healthier, compared to those who eat a standard western diet.
We need to bring up the nutrients in our body tissues. These are necessary to attack the enemies, like toxins and cancers in their early stages. Raw plant food is most appropriate for this, it’s high in nutrients and energy and low in calories.
When you eat raw plant food, your vitality and clarity of thinking go up. You’ve got to discover this by experimenting. You need the taste of raw food, the feel of it, the smell of it. Once your hart says “Yes I want to try the raw food diet”, you will find the resources you need. Look for the best information available. Over time you can learn to minimize the amount of cooked food you eat.
The two fundamental concepts of optimal health and wellbeing are nourishing in and cleansing out. Raw plant food has these innate nourishing and cleansing properties. Therefore it is the best food for optimal health and wellbeing.

How to Succeed on a 100% Raw Food Diet?

To succeed on a 100% raw food diet, you don’t need a tremendous willpower, like with many other diets. It’s not something difficult, although it might seem so in the beginning.

If you think that eating a raw food diet means eating just greens and vegetables, I agree, this can be difficult. But … this is not the case! Eating a raw food diet is much more than eating just raw vegetables and fruits.

As you can see in the interview with David Wolfe below, (natural plant based) fats are also very important in the raw food diet. As are superfoods, seaweeds and good quality water.

When you learn, how to prepare the most delicious raw dishes from fresh green vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds, superfoods and seaweeds, you will see that this diet is the most rich diet, you can imagine.
It’s not a matter of willpower to succeed, it’s a matter of education!

Study the raw food diet, learn to prepare the dishes, buy raw food books, read articles on the internet, go to lectures, watch YouTube video’s, go out to raw food restaurants, get new raw friends and learn. Then you will see, that this process is effortless. Before you know, you eat a 100% raw food diet.

I can see this process with my kids. They eat almost a hundred percent raw now, without even realizing. It’s all very easy. They love the raw dishes and enjoy to participate in the kitchen.

My youngest daughter all of a sudden realized, that she doesn’t eat cooked food anymore. Today she said: “Mommy, I think I’m born to eat raw”. I explained her, this is normal.

We are all born to eat raw!

David Wolfe on Why and How to Start a Raw Food Diet

Our digestion is like one big muscle. If we don’t use it, we lose it. Cooked food is so mushy, that your digestion becomes weaker. It's like a muscle that is not being used. To change this condition takes time. It's a process of working up to a raw food diet and detoxification.

Everything we need to live, to be in vibrant health and to be totally alive is simple. We need:
1 Green leafy vegetables, that’s where protein is and the minerals are. A cow is a thousand pounds of protein from grass. The green in the grass has all the elements to form the cow. The gorilla, the strongest animal on the planet, eats about 80% vegetation and 20% fruit.
2 Fruit: Fruit is like fuel. It’s the natural sugar we are designed for.
3 Natural fats, like nuts, avocado’s and durian.
Many people think they need protein, when in fact they need fats.
The best source of fats are raw plant fats.

Taking animal foods has a karmic effect, you are killing the animal, and you are getting all the toxins, the animal ate in his life. They are stored in its fat.
Try to include as much as possible: green leafy vegetables, fruits and natural plant based fats.

Recipe for the Ultimate Green Smoothie tested by Annejet

Yesterday my friend Esmé (theBestofRawFood.com), my 6 year old daughter Annejet and I went to our new Dutch Raw Food Café in Amsterdam. We had a delicious raw food lunch, the best raw chocolate milk ever and the best green smoothie ever, all prepared by raw food chefs Jeramaya and Roëll.
Annejet tested the raw chocolate milk and the green smoothie and they passed our test with glory. She loved them and licked her fingers. Today she said: I think I'm born to eat raw food. Isn't that sweet?

The "secret" ingredients of this fantastic green smoothie are:
1 avocado
1 peeled orange
1 ripe banana
1 stalk celery
1/2 apple
1 tablespoon Super Greens Powder

If you live in the Netherlands or visit Amsterdam one day, this café is a great place to go.

The Rawfood Café is open Monday thru Friday from 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM,
Saturdays from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
Address: 1e Rozendwarsstraat 10, 1016 PC, Amsterdam

A Brief Overview on How to Sprout, Part 3, Sprouting Other Seeds

This is the third in a series of six articles on sprouting.

by Thomas E. Billings

Almonds: Soak 10-14 hours, sprout 1.0 day. Method: cloth Use only unblanched almonds. Sprout+storage time should not exceed 2 days or sprouts may turn rancid. Best to peel sprouts before eating (peeled have incredible flavor). Peeling is tedious, reduced by blanching in warm water (15-30 seconds in hot water from faucet). One of the very best sprouts!

Cabbage, Kale: Soak 6-14 hours, sprout 1+ days. Method: cloth or jar. Very strong flavor, best used as flavoring in mixtures. Can also be grown into greens. Seeds relatively expensive.

Fenugreek: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 18 hrs or more. Method: cloth or jar. Slightly bitter, best used as flavoring additive in mixtures. Hindi name: methi. According to "The Yoga of Herbs" by Lad/Frawley, fenugreek sprouts are good digestive aid and good for the liver. Hard seeds are common in fenugreek.

Mucilaginous seeds: flax, psyllium, chia. These can be sprouted as flavoring additive in mixtures (alfalfa, clover, or mustard); to sprout alone requires special clay saucer method. Sprouts are not so good tasting, not worth the trouble for most people.

Mustard: Soak 6-14 hours, sprout 1.0+ days. Method: cloth, jar, or tray. Good flavoring additive for other sprouts. Available in 3 forms: black, brown, yellow. Brown seeds are smaller and harder to handle in mixtures; yellow or black recommended for mixtures. Can grow as greens also.

Pumpkin: Soak 8-14 hours; sprout (if you must) 1.0 day. True sprouting by pumpkin seeds (developing root) is quite rare. Bacterial spoilage and rancidity are problems when you try to sprout them. Best to simply soak them, then eat. Pumpkin seeds as sold in the market are not hulled - the variety grown has no hulls on its seeds.

Radish: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.0+ days. Method: cloth, jar or tray. Very hot flavor! Use sparingly in mixtures as flavoring agent. Can be used for (hot!) greens also.

Sesame: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1-1.5 days. Method: cloth or jar. Must use unhulled sesame seeds for sprouting; hulled seeds can be soaked to improve flavor and digestibility. A black sesame seed (considered superior to white seed in Ayurveda) is available; haven't found it in unhulled form. Sprout+storage time should not exceed 1.5 days; sprouts continue to grow in refrigerator and start to get bitter at 2.0 day mark, and can be very bitter by 2.5 days. A small bowl of sesame sprouts, with a bit of raw honey on them, is very nice.

Sunflower: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 18 hours. Method: cloth or jar. Use hulled sunflower; unhulled are for sunflower greens only. Need to skim off seed skins at end of soak period, when rinsing. If you leave them in, they will spoil and your sprouts will spoil quickly. Has a nice, earthy flavor; very popular.

I found this article at www.chetday.com. It's published on the blog with permission.

Superstars Eat Superfoods, Join the Winning Team!

This fantastic video is made by Mike Adams from NaturalNews.com
The benefits of superfoods are very clear. Let's become champions.
Superstars need superfoods, join the winning team!

Green Banana Smoothie with Stinging Nettle, Who Dares?

Today we picked our first stinging nettles again!
My youngest daughter Annejet (6 years old) and I went picking wild edible plants.
We both took our camera’s and had a great time.

Be careful picking the stinging nettles.
You can use rubber cloves or a plastic bag over your hands.
I picked them without and can still feel it. I don’t mind and teach my kids, it’s a nice feeling.
They don’t mind either.
Pick the young plants, a few inches tall, or the tops of the older plants.

When we came home, we made a delicious stinging nettle banana smoothie.
I still feel my fingers, but my throat is okay ;-))
Keep reading for our magic trick!

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
2 “handful” stinging nettles
1 tablespoon shelled hempseed
1 tablespoon lemon

Wash the nettles.
Cover the nettles five seconds with boiling water, take them out, and put them in ice cold water.
Now they don’t sting anymore.
Put all the ingredients in the blender and make your wild greens smoothie.
The color is brownish-green. This is normal. The taste is great.

Stinging nettle contains a lot of iron, silica, calcium, magnesium and sulfur.
It clears the blood, helps to cure anemia and relieve fatigue.
It’s great to use in spring.

Enjoy your wild greens smoothie and feel the energy of spring!

A Brief Overview on How to Sprout, Part 2, Sprouting Grains

by Thomas E. Billings

This is the second in a series of six articles on sprouting.

Amaranth: Soak 2-4 hours, sprout 1-1.5 days. Method: cloth. Very tiny seeds, likely to flow through screen in jar method; line strainer with sprouting cloth to retain seeds. Sprout can be very bitter. Might be able to grow as greens, if you can get appropriate variety of amaranth.

Barley: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.25-1.5 days. Method: cloth or jar. Use only unhulled barley; "whole" hulled barley and pearled barley won't sprout. Chewy, somewhat bland sprout. Hulls are tough; people with stomach or intestinal ulcers might find hulls irritating. Can be used for grass also.

Buckwheat: Soak 15-20 minutes only; sprout 1-1.5 days. Method: cloth. Use hulled, *raw* buckwheat groats. Kasha is usually toasted, won't sprout. Raw buckwheat is white/green to light brown; toasted buckwheat is medium brown. Unhulled buckwheat (black hulls) are for greens, not general sprouting. Don't soak longer than 20 minutes as it spoils readily. Monitor moistness, rinse or change cloths every 12 hours to avoid spoilage. Good sprout, mild flavor. Sprouts much faster in warm/hot weather.

Corn group:
Field corn: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 2.0+ days. Method: jar or cloth.
Popcorn: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.5+ days. Method: jar or cloth. Blue mold can be a problem, esp. with field corn. Sweet corn seeds (if you can find them) will sprout also. Field corn sprouts, if long enough, are tender but bland/starchy tasting. Popcorn sprouts are very sweet, but the hull doesn't soften much in sprouting - very hard to eat. Not worth the trouble; suggest eating raw sweet corn (including raw corn silk, which is delicious) instead.

Millet: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1-1.5 days. Method: cloth or jar. Hulled millet - most seeds will sprout, but some ferment, producing very sharp taste. Unhulled millet best sprouter, but hull is very crunchy and sprout is rather bland. Best used in recipes.

Oats: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.25-1.5 days. Method: cloth or jar. Must use unhulled oats; so-called "whole oats" or oat groats won't sprout. Good sprout, mild flavor similar to milk. Thick hull makes it difficult to eat; best used in recipes (a recipe for sprout milk will follow). Can grow as grass also.

Quinoa: Soak 2-4 hours, sprout 12 hours. Method: cloth or jar. Very fast sprouter. Must rinse seeds multiple times to get off soapy tasting saponin in seed coat. Very fast sprouter; can grow as greens. Strong flavor that many find unpleasant. Small seed, line strainer with cloth. White and black quinoa are available.

Rice: Soak 12-18 hours, sprout 1.0+ days. Method: cloth or jar. Only brown, unprocessed rice will sprout. White rice, wild rice are dead and won't sprout. Standard long grain rice doesn't sprout. Short, medium grain brown rice, also brown basmati (but not Texmati) rice will sprout. Before root appears, rice can be eaten but difficult: bland, chewy, *very* filling. Once root appears, rice sprout is very bitter. The only rice I suggest sprouting is: Lundberg Farms "Wehani" rice, a specialty rice (sprout 1.5 days). It is least bitter - less bitter than fenugreek - of possible use in recipes.

Wheat/rye group:
Rye: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1-1.5 days. Method: cloth or jar. Nice sprout - good flavor. Rye harvested immature or handled improperly can have strong, unpleasant flavored. If it molds, discard (ergot mold possible).
Triticale is a cross between rye and wheat; used to be available from Arrowhead Mills, but haven't seen it in market for some years.
Wheat, including Kamut and Spelt: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1-1.5 days. Method: cloth or jar. Hard Winter wheat better than soft Spring wheat. Wheat can get excessively sweet at 2+ days of sprouting. Spelt has nice texture, but spelt and kamut are more expensive than ordinary wheat. Wheat, rye, kamut, spelt, triticale can be used for grass also.

I found this article at www.chetday.com. It's published on the blog with permission.

Make This Day Exciting in Less than 30 Seconds!

Crazy Secret Smashes Boredom & Ignites Passion In 30 Seconds…

By Roger Haeske

This method is so powerful it's almost on the verge of being supernatural in nature. This technique takes advantage of something that is already "hard-wired" into the brain of every human on the planet. It's a virtually irresistible way to ignite passion and excitement.

I'm sure you've heard of this before, but you might not have realized its true power. This simple technique will make any day exciting in less than 30-seconds. All you have to do is to remember to use it. And it's so easy any five year old could do it.

But there's something even more powerful behind this simple "mind-shift." If you use this on a daily basis, you start building an incredible track record of success. This builds your self-confidence and belief in yourself like nothing else.

Soon you'll be going from one success to another and you'll wonder why things where so hard for you before.

I'm actually using this magical method right now to write this very article with fire and passion. In fact, it just started with the simple daily goal to write a quick and motivating article.

So, what is the secret?
I just told you the secret. But could you recognize it? I doubt it. I just revealed it. At least partially.

Maybe it seems incredibly mundane and something you already know about. But in actuality this has the power to revolutionize your life instantly. And it will only revolutionize your life when you understand and feel for yourself the motivation and fire it creates in you.

Did you figure it out yet?
I know you probably hate me for doing this. Ok, I'll tell you the secret and spell it out for you.

Set An Inspiring Daily Goal
Goal setting, we've all heard of it and like most people it usually sounds so boring. But this is different and it's not as hard. Just set a small goal for yourself that you want to achieve. Make it a bit challenging but nothing you couldn't achieve if you put your mind to it.

And do it daily. Set the goal first thing in the morning and try to achieve it to start your day if at all possible.

For instance you can set a goal to exercise for 5 minutes doing Lightning Aerobics. Yes I know that sounds like a small goal to some people. But imagine a person who's never really liked exercising. Or someone who's really fat and out of shape.

That five minute exercise goal could be challenging but also doable in his mind. The next day you can increase the goal to exercise for 6 minutes. Or you can set a goal to do 50 reps of the Lightning Speed Exercise for the day or just for the morning hours.

If you wish you can set a goal to do 100 push-ups for the day. Of course, the goal depends on your current level of fitness. It has to be a bit challenging. But if you haven't been doing any push-ups, then doing 25 for the day might make you fee like a million bucks.

How about having a 100% raw food breakfast today. It's not so difficult to accomplish and it gets you excited about the day. You can build off of that success with a new goal for the next day in regards to eating raw.

The key to the power behind this is that we humans get excited about achieving goals. And it gets even more exciting when you take small and consistent actions toward your goals.

Maybe your goal is to write a short post to your raw food blog. This month I've had a goal to post daily to my blog. I haven't quite made it, there's been a day or two I missed. But even with a minor failure, I've had many more successful days.

Each day builds extra confidence. Even today I was going to give up my goal of writing. I just wanted to rest for once. But I said screw it and reset the goal. And man did that get me excited.

So set a daily exciting goal. And watch how your level of enjoyment and enthusiasm for life takes a jump through the roof. How about setting an income goal? Today I'm going to earn $10 or $100 or $1,000.

If you're already earning $200 a day, then obviously you don't want to set a goal of $100 a day. Just set something that's a bit challenging and that you think you can achieve. Even if you don’t immediately achieve your goal, the process of setting the goal and asking yourself how to achieve it will unleash incredible power and magical ideas inside of you.

It automatically engages "The Law of Attraction."

You only get the answers if you ask the question. In order to answer the questions, you need to first set the goal.

If you had a boring and dull day, it's because you had no exciting goal for the day. Set an inspiring daily goal and never be bored again. And be creative, whenever you're bored just find a way to set a goal and see what happens. You can have goals even for the most mundane tasks like washing the dishes.

To Your Radiant Health, Happiness, Fitness and Freedom, Roger Haeske

This article is written by Roger Haeske. You can find Roger Haeskes Blog at www.RogerHaeske.com.

Quinoa, Sacred Grain in a Raw Food Salad with Sprouts

Quinoa is an ancient food. Since at least 5000 years, it has been cultivated in the South American Andes. The Inca’s called it “mother grain” and revered it as sacred.
Quinoa is not a real grain, it is the seed of the Chenopodium or Goosefoot plant.

Quinoa contains a lot of protein, calcium, iron, vitamin E and B vitamins. It’s a complete protein, because it contains all eight essential amino acids. It contains lysine, cystine and methionine, that are typically low in other grains.
Quinoa does not contain gluten.

Sprouting Quinoa
Soak the quinoa for 2 to 4 hours. Sprout the seeds for 12 to 48 hours. You can do this in a sprouting bag, in a glass jar or on a deep plate. Quinoa sprouts fast. Rinse the seeds often to get rid of the soapy tasting saponin in the seed coat. I sprout it on a deep plate and use a strainer to rinse.
Quinoa has a strong taste.

Quinoa Salad with Sprouts
You can make great combinations with sprouted quinoa in mixed salads.
For a recipe, watch this YouTube video.

A Brief Overview on How to Sprout, Part 1, Sprouting Methods

By Thomas E. Billings

This is the first in a series of six articles on sprouting.

Obtain seed for sprouting. Store in bug-proof containers, away from extreme heat/cold. Seed should be viable, and, to extent possible, free of chemicals.
Basic steps in sprouting are:
measure out appropriate amount of seed, visually inspect and remove stones, sticks, weed seed, broken seeds, etc.
rinse seed (if seed is small and clean, can usually skip this rinse)
soak seed in water for appropriate time
rinse soaked seed, put in sprouting environment for appropriate time
service seeds (rinse) in sprouting environment as needed
when ready, rinse seeds. Store in refrigerator, in sprouting environment or in other suitable container until ready to use. If not used within 12 hours, seeds should be serviced (rinsed) every 24 hours in refrigerator. Best to eat as soon as possible, as freshness is what makes sprouts special!
Jars and Cloth: Two Suggested Sprouting Methods
Jars: use wide-mouth, glass canning jars, available at many hardware stores. You will need screen lids - cut pieces of different (plastic) mesh screens, or buy some of the special plastic screen lids designed for sprouting. Sprouting in jars is quite easy: simply put seed in jar, add soak water, put lid on. When soak is over, invert jar and drain water, then rinse again. Then prop jar up at 45 degree angle for water to drain. Keep out of direct sunlight. Rinse seed in jar 2-3 times per day until ready, always keeping it angled for drainage.

Cloth: soak seed in flat-bottom containers, in shallow water. When soak done, empty seed into strainer and rinse. Then take flat-bottom bowl or saucer, line bottom with wet 100% cotton washcloth, spread seed on wet cloth. Then take 2nd wet cloth and put on top of seed, or, if bottom washcloth is big enough, fold over wet seeds. Can add additional water to washcloths 12 hours later by a) sprinkling on top, or b) if very dry, remove seed from cloth, rinse, re-wet cloth, put seed back between wet cloths. Cloths used should be 100% cotton (terrycloth) or linen, used exclusively for sprouting, and of light colors. Cheap cotton washcloths (and cheap plastic bowls) work well and will last a long time.

Comparison: Jar vs. Cloth Methods
Jar method is more versatile; can grow greens in the jar (e.g., 6-8 day old alfalfa greens), and the jar is less likely to mold than cloth for sprouts that require more than 2 days. However, the jar method needs a convenient drainage system (otherwise mold can develop). The cloth method can withstand some direct sunlight (direct sunlight in early stages of sprouting can cook the seed in jars), and needs no drainage system. The methods require roughly the same time, though 2nd service of cloth is very fast. Almonds, buckwheat give better results in cloth.

Other Methods of Sprouting:

Plastic tube - variation on jar method; opens at both ends - easier to remove long sprouts like greens from tube than from jar.
Sprouting bags - cotton or linen; also plastic mesh. Soak seed in bag in water, then hang up inside plastic bag (forms a little greenhouse).
Trays: very good for growing greens. Might need drainage system.
Clay saucer: used for mucilaginous seeds like flax, psyllium, etc.
Commercial sprouters: wide variety available. Often fairly expensive; most don't work as well as cloth/jar methods!
What is the best time/length to eat sprouts?
Ultimately you will answer this question by experimenting - growing sprouts and eating them at different ages/lengths. My preference is to eat sprouts (except almonds, pumpkin seeds) when the growing root is, on average, the length of the soaked seed. Almonds and pumpkin seeds are discussed below.

A note on times: the sprouting times given below are based on cloth and/or jar method, and reflect an average time. The soaking times can be increased or decreased somewhat (except for buckwheat), with little or limited impact on the results. If you are using a different method, especially one of the commercial sprouting units, the times here will not apply and you will have to monitor your sprouts to decide when they are ready.

I found this article at www.chetday.com. It's published on the blog with permission.

Introduction to Ayurveda, the Dosha's Vita, Pitta, Kapha

A very clear explanation of Ayurveda, made by a teenager. Ayurveda is a way of life. There are three types of people, depending on there predominant dosha. These dosha's are vata, pitta and kapha. Every type needs a different approach, as far as health and diet is concerned.

Kumudini Shoba explains the secrets of Ayurveda. She tells about the role of the three dosha's: vata, pitta and kapha. Purpose of the Ayurveda is to get to know your body type and therefore yourself better.

Future Worlds, Future Humans, an Inspiring Video by Jasmuheen

A beautiful video with images by Jasmuheen and space images from Nasa, made to introduce the Universal Harmonization Program of the Embassy of Peace.
Music courtesy of www.inspiritualization.com.

The greatest good you can do for another,
is not just to share you riches,
but to reveal to him his own.
Benjamin Disraeli, British Statesman and author

I decided to be happy,
because it is healthy.
Francois Voltaire, French philosopher and Author

I love this video "Future Worlds, Future Humans", created by Jasmuheen. It radiates love, consciousness and light. I never experienced this so strongly from a video.
I would love to hear your comments.

Dr. Vincent Bellonzi on Caffeine, Stress, Chronic Fatigue and Burnout

Do you need caffeine to get started in the morning or to keep going during the day? Take care, you are in big trouble. Watch this video, in which dr. Vincent Bellonzi talks about the consequences of taking too much caffeine. You are over stimulating yourself from a high stress feeling to exhaustion. At some point the body will give up. This can finally cause chronic fatigue, burnout or various diseases.

Your body needs to metabolize the caffeine, which is a stress to the body. While the body tries to get rid of caffeine, it can't clear itself of other things. This causes disease. If you depend upon caffeine now, you need to find a better solution to come through your day. With caffeine you burn up your energy and nutrients.

There are other ways to get more energy. A good nutrient rich diet and exercise are very important to get back your natural rhythm. Exercise helps to get a better metabolism. The right nutrients help your body to function better.

Look at your sleep and wake cycle. A normal amount of sleep is 7 or 7 1/2 hours. It usually takes about 15 minutes at night to fall asleep. If you hit the pillow and you’re asleep, this means you are overstressed. If you have trouble getting up in the morning, things are off as well.

It is normal, if you are getting enough sleep and have a productive day. If you can’t do that, than you probably already pushed it too far. It’s time to bring your body back into ballance, before is goes into total exhaustion.

Brian Clement: Will Juice Feasting Stop the Craving for Cooked Foods?

Will juice feasting stop the craving for cooked food? We are not sure about that. Juice feasting is a lovely terminology, rather than deprivation, fasting, suffering and all the old terms, that were out there in the field. The new generation has given us some bright light on the subject.

If one is juice feasting on green juices and in particular sprout juices, that are very high in protein, there is a major biochemical component, protein, which will regulate the blood sugar and diminish the desire for food.

At the Hippocrates Institute guests come in and think they are going to starve. By the third day, nobody is hungry anymore, even the big overeaters. They get green sprout juices; wheatgrass juices. These juices are complete protein juices, completely digestible. They go into the blood stream, regulate the blood sugar and are extremely useful in reducing the desire to eat.

How to lose excess belly fat? There is one exercise that people all over the world need to do every day and that is abdominal exercise. You don't need a fancy machine. Brian Clement started over a decade ago. By that time even 20 or 30 times was difficult. Every January first he added 25 abdominal exercises. He is now up to just under 400 every day, seven days a week. If you do not do this, your belly fat will remain and you will not be neat and flat, as we call it, even if you eat a good diet.

The diets that work best are high enzyme diets. The food that has the highest enzyme in it for this belly fat is lipase. You can find it in the root vegetable jicama, onion sprouts and turnips. Also lipase as a supplement can be very helpful. Lipase is a fat-eating and fat-burning supplement. Even for people who are stagnating on fat loss, this can help. This lipase supplement can be taken short term.

Raw Food Recipe for Orange-Sesame Salad Dressing

Here is a delicious raw food recipe for an orange-sesame salad dressing.

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon orange rind
1 teaspoon mustard
2 tablespoons sesame seeds (not roasted)
4 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon or dill, minced
pepper and salt to taste

This dressing tastes great on a mixed salad with baby greens, bell pepper and spring onion or on a mixed salad with chicory, grated carrots and walnuts.

David Wolfe on Marine Phytoplankton and Spirulina

According David Wolfe marine phytoplankton is the number one food on the planet. Marine phytoplankton is the smallest organism on the earth. It's the bases of the entire food chain. It grows in the ocean and produces more oxygen than all the forests combined times three. It's the bases of sulfur. Wales eat it, dolphins eat it. It's food for all animals at all ages. It's a complete protein source. It contains EPA and DHA, 100% pure without contaminants. It's one of the highest mineral and anti-oxidant foods. It contains about 90 minerals. Why not go back to the bases?

The number two micro algae is spirulina. Spirulina has 65% procent protein. It was the basic food eaten in Mexico City for 5000 years. People ate it together with raw cacao and agave nectar. In general people like it better than the other algae. Did you ever thy spirulina with raw cacao and agave?

The quality of this video is not the best ever, but the is information great.

Most Recent Health News on HealthFetch

Kevin Gianni started a new website called HealthFetch. It has the most recent health news and alternative health stories and blog postings from around the web in one place. This makes it easy for you to be able to reference them all and stay up to date on what’s going on in the health world. You can find Mike Adams’s Natural News, Joe Mercola’s site, dr. Mark Hyman's blog, Dr. Andrew Weils'blog, Jon Barron's Blog, We like it Raw blog, CNN Health, The New York Times Health Section, BBc Health News and a whole bunch of others at this site.

The URL is www.HealthFetch.org

I think it's a great initiative. Good job, Kevin!

Dr. Brian Clement on Good Food Combining in the Raw Food Diet

Dr. Brian Clement talks about the importance of good food combining in the raw food diet. Many people in the raw food movement eat more for the taste and the stimulating effect of the food, than for their health (the biochemistry and the nutritional effect).

What about you?

Four Kinds of Eaters: Involved, Lazy, Conservative and Adventurous

The University of Wageningen in the Netherlands did research among 1000 people to find out about their values concerning diet. The researchers found out, that there are four groups of people, very different in their approach to diet. Each group needs different information, if we want to teach them about a healthy diet.

Involved people are interested a safe and healthy diet, that is friendly for the environment and the animals, and that is produced in a fair way.

Lazy people are not very interested in their diet or the origin of their food. They eat, because they have to and preferably as easy as possible.

Conservative people tend to eat, what they are used to and like to eat, what they ate as a child. There are more men than women in this group. Their level of education is lower than average.

Adventurous eaters are mainly interested in the place their food comes from and if it is grown environmentally friendly. They like surprises and enjoy eating. Their level of education is above average.

I think that people who are interested in the raw food diet, are mainly involved and adventurous eaters. If you are not involved, you are not interested in raw food. All the new foods in the raw food diet appeal to the more adventurous people.

Do you recognize yourself?

The Taste and Smell of Durian, The King of Fruits

David Wolfe on Durian, Mangosteen & Jackfruit!



How To Open Durian Fruit



David Wolfe Feeds Durian to Baby Julian



How smelly is the durian?

Did you ever try a durian? This is absolutely something you shouldn't miss. You don't know, what is happening in the beginning. You smell your durian everywhere, you may even get nauseous, your family and friends will run away, and than, all of a sudden, you are in love with ... your durian, the king of fruits.

How to Make Basic Flax Seed Crackers

In this video raw chef Dan shows us how to make basic flax crackers. You can grind the flax to get flax meal or use the whole flax seeds. Dan uses a dehydrator for the flax crackers. I make flax crackers in a normal oven at about 150 degrees Fahrenheit (65 degrees Celcius), with a wooden spoon between the door of the oven and the oven for circulation. I have a simple kitchen thermometer in the oven to monitor the temperature. This works great.

These flax crackers are a great substitute for bread in the raw food diet. You can eat hem with for instance salads, raw soups, raw nutpaté, raw nutbutters, avocado, tahini or honey. These flax crackers are very nourishing.

Enjoy!

Gabriel Cousens on Dairy; Do You Need Milk Products?

Do you wonder, whether you need milk products? Do you think, that by drinking milk, you don't harm animals? Watch this video by Gabriel Cousens.
I couldn't get it on the blog, so click the link, if you are interested. It's a great video with a lot of information.

Perspectives on Dairy

The focus of this article is to clear some of the confusion about the purity, harmlessness, and safety of consuming dairy products. This includes organic and raw un-pasteurized dairy. Dairy products include milk, cheese, cream, butter, yogurt, and whey from lactating animals. Stopping dairy intake is not just about our personal health, but is also associated with the prevention of cruelty to cows and the protection of the ecology & energy of the planet. In this context, going vegan is a call to put our own self-serving or narcissistic needs aside and move toward elevating planetary healing. We can do this by choosing a diet that serves both the healing of the planet and ourselves.

Genetic Engineering or an Organic Raw Food Diet

This video shows you very clearly, what is going on with our food nowadays. No wonder, so many people get sick. Knowing all this, gives us a responsibility for our planet and and all living organisms on it. I hope more and more people start to ask for natural fresh organic food. If we don't want this genetically modified food anymore, there is no use producing it. Let's go back to a natural and healthy raw food diet; the diet of our ancestors.

This documentary exposes a vast conspiracy to contaminate and control the world's food supply through genetic engineering of food crops. Leading scientists and activists present the facts that you need to know about genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The methods used to genetically engineer plants are imprecise and extremely dangerous. Eighty percent of food sold in North America already has ingredients made of GMOs that have not been adequately tested for safety. This program presents all the facts about this alarming controversy and features the most credible bio tech / agriculture authorities in the world today.

Food for Thought: Raw Food for Beauty

Raw Food Recipe for Fennel-Orange Salad with Lemon Dressing

If you want to prepare something special, try this delicious salad recipe.

Ingredients:
3 oranges
3 fennel roots
1 red onion
½ cup black olives, pitted
1 or 2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
pepper and salt to taste

Peel the oranges thicker than usual, so that you also take off the outer white layer.
Slice the oranges, the fennel roots and the onion.
Mix the sliced orange, fennel root, red onion and pitted olives.

For the raw dressing, mix the lemon juice, olive oil, pepper and salt.
Pour the dressing over your salad, mix well, and enjoy!

David Wolfe on Young Wild Coconuts

David Wolfe shows the real young coconuts and how they grow. The liquid of the wild coconut is probably the healthiest liquid we can get. It's very rich in electrolites. In India the word for coconuts means "all that is needed to live".

Weight Loss and other Benefits of the Raw Food Diet

Michelle has a long list of symptoms that disappeared, since she eats a raw food diet. She is raw for one year and two months on this video. During this time she ate raw fruits, vegetables, seeds, occasionally nuts and oils, and sometimes wheatgrass juice and barley powder. And she walked like crazy.

Michelle lost 160 pounds and all these symptoms disappeared:
- She stopped snoring
- Her sleep apnea stopped
- Her reflux laryngitis disappeared
- Severe ankle swelling disappeared
- Severe back pain disappeared
- Acne and oily skin disappeared
- Oily hair disappeared
- Hart flutters disappeared
- Chronic bronchitis and pneumonia disappeared
- Depression disappeared
- Lack of control over food disappeared and binging is gone
- Intense food cravings disappeared

She fits in normal cars and chairs now and can shop in regular clothing shops.
The raw food diet has taken away all her compulsive eating.
She has lost a lot of weight and has an incredible amount of energy now.

Yes, there are a lot of reasons to eat raw. To your Raw Food Success!

Alkaline Foods: Young Coconuts from Thailand

Yes, we have young coconuts from Thailand again. We love them.
You can drink the liquid and make (for instance) porridge from the meat.

Open the coconuts with a butchers knife or axe.
Drink the liquid with a straw.

Scoop the meat out with a spoon or ice spoon.
Put this in the blender with ½ cup warm water and 2 dates or some agave.
You get a fantastic nourishing porridge.
Sprinkle some cinnamon over your porridge and enjoy!

Coconuts are very alkalizing. They are very good for general health.
In Surinam they were used traditionally for asthma.
I heard that a mixture of coconut and wheatgrass juice could even be used as a blood transfusion.
In Chinese Medicine coconut is considered a sweet warming food. It produces fluids, relieves thirst, constipation, sunstroke, fever, vomiting and edema. It is used against diabetes, to destroy intestinal parasites to prevent premature aging.
You can buy young Thai coconuts at Chinese ( wholesale) supermarkets.

Healthy Homemade Orange-Pear-Apple-Ginger Juice

This Orange-Pear-Apple-Ginger Juice is great to start your day with.
For the kids I made it without ginger. Pear gives a sweet taste to it, which children like.

Ingredients for 1 big glass:
1 orange
1 pear
1 apple
a slice of ginger, ½ inch

Juice all ingredients and enjoy.

What can this juice do for you?
In Chinese Medicine ginger is a warming herb. It balances the cold nature of the fruits. Therefore it’s great to add ginger to your diet in winter. Ginger helps against a common cold, vomiting, cough, asthma and diarrhea.
According Chinese medicine orange is good when having thirst, intoxication, urination difficulty and emphysema.
Pear is good when having cough with mucus, constipation, difficulty when swallowing, alcoholism, difficult urination and indigestion.
Apple is good when having indigestion, low blood sugar, morning sickness and chronic enteritis.

By varying the fruits in your diet, you can benefit from the different effects, every fruit has on your body. If you want to correct a specific condition, you can take more of specific fruits, that heal that condition.

Jasmuheen on New Age Raw Food Kids

This video is great. Jasmuheen, who lives on prana and not on real foods, raises the question what is nutrition really is. Is there a source of nourishment that people can tap into, that will eliminate all their hungers; their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual hunger?

And what about the kids being born at this moment. It seems that a new generation is being born, of kids that come to earth to bring love. They don’t need heavy diets, they prefer to have just fruits. Parents and grandparents from all over the world are reporting this. These kids live in a theta brain frequency most of the time, a meditative state, in which you don't need heavy foods.

There is a difference between living on prana and anorexia. Anorexia is a lack of self love or some other or health issue. It’s not a state of perfect health. To live purely on prana, you have to be very healthy on all levels; physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

There are different sources of nourishment; physical food and prana. What doctors say about food is true for people living in beta frequency brainwaves. In this frequency you need real food, otherwise you will die. Once you start meditating and reach alpha and theta frequencies, your physiology changes. Once your brainwaves and lifestyle change into a more or less permanent theta frequency, the physiology of your body starts to operate in a different way.

I'd be interested in your comments. Let me know, if you are experiencing similar things. Do you have kids of this new loving and fruit-eating generation in your environment?

Raw Live Food Diet for Weight Loss, Angela Stokes

If you are interested in weight loss with a raw food diet, watch this video about Angela Stokes. If you would see Angela today (second video), you would not believe it's the same person.

Greens and Raw Food for the Best Acid Alkaline Balance

Interview with Mark Galvin on:
- greens, the importance of greens for the right acid alkaline balance in the body
- what are the benefits of raw food
- enzymes, vitamins and minerals in raw uncooked food
- the dairy conspiracy
- mucoid plaque
- vegan bodybuilding and quality protein

Our diet should be 80% alkaline and 20% acid. The diet of most people is 70% acid and 30% alkaline. Greens make the body alkaline. Barley grass is very good for alkalizing, so is chlorella. On a daily basis eat plenty of greens in your diet. Fresh salads and uncooked food contain a lot more enzymes, vitamins and minerals, than cooked foods. In a warmer climate it's easy to live on a live food diet, in colder climates, you need warmer foods. But always add a lot of salads to your (raw food) diet.
You can also add wild plants. They are great for alkalizing. Examples are stinging nettle, hawthorn and dandelion. Stinging nettle is an anti-inflammatory and it cleans the blood. Hawthorn is great for the hart. Dandelion is a diuretic. Make a soup of them and drink it.
The vegan raw food diet has plenty of good quality protein. This protein is unprocessed and undamaged and the body can use it. There is a vegan world champion bodybuilder at the moment. He is a wonderful example. He eats plenty of everything and it is all vegan.
Dairy products are very mucous forming, fattening and causing heart disease. Pasteurising destroys all the enzymes in dairy. Our dairy products have changed a lot over the past 20 years.

Green Superfoods from Nature, Edible Wild Plants

Wild Plants are Natures Number 1 Superfood.
They don't cost you anything, are very healthy, and full of nutrients and lifeforce. This video shows you different wild edible plants growing in the UK: Primrose, Nettle, Pig Nut, Dandelion, Hawthorn, Pennyworth, Wild Garlic (Ramsoms), Jack-by-the-Hedge (Hedge Garlic), Wall Pennywood (Navel Wood).

Be careful, if you don't know the plants. Ask a friend or other expert to join you on your first trips.

Homemade Larabars, Make Your Own Raw Fruit-Nut Bars

This week I got 2 Larabars from the US. They were fantastic, but gone within minutes. In the Netherlands we can’t buy them, so I read the label and decided to make them myself. I just did and they are delicious. Here is the recipe. It takes a few mintes to make them.

Ingredients for 6 Larabars:
1 cup nuts (I used half almonds, half hazelnuts, any kind is fine)
1 cup medjol or other soft dates
1 teaspoon lemon juice
a pinch of salt

Make the nuts fine in your blender or food processor. Don’t blend to a powder. The bars taste better with tiny pieces of nuts in them.
Press the dates to a paste. I did this by hand in a little bowl. If you do it in your blender or food processor, the dates stick to the knifes. By hand is easier.
Add the nuts, lemon and salt and mix by hand to a dough.
Make 2 long ropes from the dough by rolling it over your cutting board. Make the top and edges flat with a flat wooden spoon. Cut each rope into 3 pieces.
You Lärabars are ready.

It’s easiest, if you wrap the Larabars individually in plastic.
You can keep them in your fridge. This way they get a little harder and are easier to take with you.

Enjoy!
Kids love these bars too. It's a handy snack for school.

For Our Youngest Readers: Raw Food Lessons for Kids

Adults, you can skip this ;-))
These video's are for our youngest readers. Yes we have them. One of my readers, Julian, is 1 year old. This is especially for you Julian, for your sister Daniek, and for our little raw food friends.

Jason Vale Shows How to Juice Fruits and Vegetables

This video is made in the Netherlands. Juice master Jason Vale shows you how to juice fresh fruits and vegetables. He uses a Philips juicer, the same as I use. Yes, it is a handy jucer ;-))

Is a Raw Food Diet without Milk Safe?

Most of us are brought up on milk and milk products. Therefore it’s hard to believe for us, that we can live without.
Our ancestors used just a little bit of milk on special occasions. We drink large quantities and almost every product in the supermarket has milk powder or another product made of milk in it. More and more people are getting overly sensitive to milk and have allergies because of this high milk consumption.
I just read a study, that suggests that children who consume high levels of dairy products, nearly 2 cups a day (not even that much), have a greater risk of developing colorectal cancer in adulthood. Source: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, December 2007, by Dr. Jolieke C. van der Pols and colleagues.
Did you know that the biggest part of the world population uses hardly any milk (products). In Asia people use soy as a staple food, rather than milk. Many eastern people don’t even have the enzymes to digest milk properly.
But what about calcium? Don’t we need milk to get our calcium?
The answer is very simple: no, we don’t need milk for calcium. If that would be true, almost all people in Asia would have a lack of calcium and there would be a high rate of osteoporosis. But this is not the case, they even have very strong bones.
There are many other good sources of calcium: for instance green vegetables, nuts and seeds. This calcium is easier to assimilate than the calcium in milk. Especially sesame seeds, again a staple food in Asia, is rich in good quality calcium.
And did you know, that magnesium and silicon are much more important for our bones than calcium? Almost every western person has a lack of these minerals. Adding them to your diet is far more important than adding more calcium.
Finland and the Netherlands, the countries where people eat the most dairy, have the highest rate of osteoporoses. If milk would be the solution, this could never happen.
But milk seems to do the contrary of what we think. Drinking a lot of commercially produced milk, full of hormones and antibiotics, is forming a lot of acids in your body. What does your body do to get rid of these acids? I uses calcium from the bones , which is very alkaline, to neutralise them. The result of this being a lack of calcium in the bones, caused by the milk. So we don’t need milk to solve osteoporosis, we need to avoid it to solve osteoporosis!
Other very important and often overlooked factors to create and keep strong bones are exercise and direct sunlight (vitamin D). Scientific research has proven, that older people who exercise, have much stronger bones, than people who don’t exercise. Sunlight helps to create strong bones by creating vitamin D. Vitamin D is also essential to build strong bones.
Do you want to be really healthy, have and keep strong bones? Focus on a fresh raw plant food diet, high in natural calcium, magnesium, silicon and other nutrients. Avoid (a lot of) milk. Exercise and make sure to get enough sunlight. You will be stronger than ever before.

Recipe for a Healthy Raw Gazpacho Soup

My friend Esmé has a fantastic recipe for raw gazpacho soup on her website TheBestofRawFood.com. Since readers of the blog were asking for a raw gazpacho soup recipe, I asked her, if I could publish it. Here it is: one of the best soups from the raw food kitchen.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
4 tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1/2 onion, diced
1 glove garlic, peeled and minced
lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste

add before serving:
4 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
1 scallion (green part), finely chopped, for garnish
1 red bell pepper, seeded cored, and diced
1 table spoon raw virgin olive oil
1/4 cup mango, diced in small cubes

or add:
pesto
fresh basil leaves

Place first 5 ingredients a blender and puree. Strain (vegetable press is easiest) to remove any vegetable pieces and pits that are not fully liquefied (like tomato skins or seeds). Alternatively, if you have a juicer, you can also put all ingredients in the juicer, using a coarse screen.
Chill overnight, if time permits. This makes the taste even better!

Before serving, sprinkle with the chopped cilantro, scallion, bell pepper, olive oil, some finely cut mango. You can also add pesto and fresh basil leaves for variation.

To Your Raw Food Success!

Raw Food Diet for Kids, 7 Keys to Success

Suppose you are very enthusiastic about the raw food diet and you have kids.
Okay, you can start to experiment, but what about your kids?

Here are the 7 keys to success, if you want to start a raw food diet with kids:
1 Take your time. You need time to find things out and adjust. Give your kids their time. How much time is needed varies enormously, depending on your former habits, the kid and it’s age.
2 Make up your mind; what do you want to achieve? If your goals are clear, everything becomes easier.
3 Be an example. Children learn more by copying than by what you tell them.
4 Experiment together with your kids.
5 Don’t be strict, especially if you have kids transitioning. Teach them to listen to their own body. This is the only way, you will have success in the end.
6 Try to find other families, experimenting with or living on a raw food diet. The kids can support each other, share experiences and create their own new raw food recipes together. And don’t be surprised, if they come up with better dishes then you do ;-))
7 Have fun! The raw food diet is about life and abundance. Make it a great experience for you and your family.

I have 4 kids myself, age 6, 7, almost 16 and 18. The easiest way to satisfy them all for instance dinner, is to make a raw food meal and to add a few extra’s, like brown rice, boiled eggs or some fish. This way they can chose, whatever they feel like. And I can tell you: it works! More and more often, they ask for salads, smoothies, juices, fruits and nuts and don’t finish the other (cooked) things. The eldest ones eat fresh fries every now and then and afterwards, they often complain “Mama, I don’t feel well.” This is the only way they can find out. Let them experiment.

My motto (a macrobiotic one) is “Non Credo”, don’t believe others, but find things out for yourself. Find out what works and what doesn’t. This is the best way, to filter out all the wrong information and to keep the best. It always helped me.

To Your Raw Food Success!

Raw Lunch Recipe for Nori Roll or Sushi

In this video Karen Knowler shows you how to make a raw nori roll or sushi. I have my nori roll or sushi recipe elsewhere on the blog. It's very similar.
I would start off with the lettuce leaf on top of the nori sheet and add less ingredients, so that the nori roll or sushi doesn't become too thick. Then it's easier to eat it.
You can also use nut pâté inside the nori roll or sushi. This tastes great as well, but takes a little more preparation time.
We eat about two of these nori rolls a person. They are great for lunch or dinner.

Enjoy Your Raw Food Diet!

Recipe for Raw Vegan Herb Butter

Do you miss herb butter in your raw food diet? Don’t worry, you can have it!
Here is the recipe for a great raw vegan herb butter.

Ingredients:
½ cup coconut butter (instead of real butter)
3 tablespoons dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram and chives)
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1/2 - 1 teaspoon sea salt or Himalayan pink salt

Press the garlic in a garlic press.
Mix all ingredients with a small fork or spoon.

Enjoy with dehydrated crackers or on sprouted bread.

How to Start a Raw Food Diet

Over the past few days, I got many questions on how to start a raw food diet. Many people hear about raw food, want to give it a try, but don’t know where to start or what to do.

I get questions like: “Do you eat just salads”. I’m hungry all the time, what can I do?
To make things clear, I’ll explain some things first.
A raw food diet is a diet, consisting of food, not heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit. And there are many ways of preparation, except for cooking, that you can do under this temperature. Take a look at the recipes on the blog and you will get an idea.
The raw food diet consists of natural organic fresh plant based food. Many people’s first reaction is “Salads!”, but there are many more things you can eat raw. Think about fruits, nuts, seeds, seaweeds, beans, grains, and not to forget superfoods. Superfoods are also plant based natural foods, the ones with a high nutrient density. Usually they have a long history as a natural medicine or as a longevity food. Examples are: raw cacao, maca, goji berries, spirulina, chlorella, bee pollen, noni, ginger, garlic and ginseng.

If you start with raw food, take your time. Your body is used to certain foods and it causes a lot of stress to change everything overnight. Yes, if you have a strong will power or if you are very sick, you can change right away. In most cases I don’t recommend this. Your body starts to detox fast, which makes it more difficult. By taking your time, the detoxing happens more naturally overtime.
By taking your time, you raw food adventure will turn into a big success.

Seven Steps to Raw Food Success:
1 Drink enough good quality water in between meals.
2 Add a lot of fruits to your diet, best before or as a breakfast and in between meals.
3 Add a salad to your lunch and dinner, best at the beginning. Eat normal afterwards. The food you chose to eat after your salad will change by itself overtime, don’t worry,
4 Buy some superfoods and start to experiment. Take one superfood smoothie a day (the recipe is on the blog). This is a great way, to add extra nutrients to your diet.
5 Stop eating sugar. Take fruits combined with nuts instead. By taking them together, the sugar of the fruits is more slowly absorbed by your body.
6 Stop to eat packaged, canned and fast food with artificial and chemical colorings, flavorings, preservatives and bad quality fats.
7 Keep studying diet. Buy good books or look for good information on the internet. Continuous learning will make it much easier overtime.

I don’t add addictions like coffee, smoking, alcohol and drugs to this list. Of course they need to be addressed, to get really healthy. Starting to eat raw food will also help to quit these additions. I will write another article about this later.

You can also use the approach mentioned, if you want to lose weight. Focus on superfoods, fresh vegetables, fruits, seaweeds and some nuts and seeds. I put superfoods in the first place here on purpose. Many people have cravings, because of deficiencies. By adding superfoods, you solve these deficiencies naturally overtime. This way staying on your raw food diet becomes much easier and great fun.

Once you are getting used to your new diet, don’t forget to add soaked nuts and seeds. They are a very important source of essential fatty acids and energy.

To Your Raw Food Success!

Raw Food Diet Breakfast Recipe for Muesli

Karen Knowler makes her own muesli, a fantastic raw food diet breakfast recipe.

Dry ingredients (all raw of course):
hazelnuts
almonds
brazil nuts
dried apricots
medjool dates
raisins

Give this a good mix up with your hands.

Fresh ingredients:
1 ripe banana
blueberries
raspberries
1/2 apple

Give it one final mix.
Of course you can use any kind of fruit you like, like mango, kiwi, orange, pear or passion fruit.

Finally add the nut milk (for the recipe, see nutmilks and pâté’s). Add as much as you want.
Top it off with some grated coconut, raspberries and blueberries.
This makes the most amazing breakfast, you may ever have.

Recipe for a Delicious Raw Chocolate Pie

This is a great pie for Valentine's Day. Don't tell your friend it is raw. Ask first if he or she likes it ;-)) You will see the surprise on his/her face, when you tell the pie is raw and ... you will definitely have a new fan for your raw food diet (if you hadn't yet).
By the way, did you know that chocolate stimulates hormones ;-))

Ingredients for the crust:
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/2 cup carob powder
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup agave nectar
¼ cup cacao butter
1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for the filling:
1 cup cacao powder
1 cup carob powder
1 1/2 cup agave nectar
1 cup coconut butter

For decoration:
shredded coconut
optional: 1 banana, goji berries, raisins and a walnut

Make almond flour by blending dry almonds in your blender until fine. Don’t blend to a paste.
Mix all crust ingredients by hand into a dough. Press the dough evenly into your tart pan (preferably in the form of a heart for Valentine's Day). We use a silicon tart pan. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
Blend all the filling ingredients until very smooth by hand or in a blender. Make a second layer on the chilled cake crust.
Garnish with shredded coconut if you like. Press gently so that it doesn’t fall off later.
Place your pie back in the fridge and chill for at least another hour. Remove the tart pan.
Before serving, you can decorate the pie, if you like. We used a banana, goji berries, raisins and a walnut.

Have a fantastic Valentine's Day!

Natural Anti Aging Skin Care: Sesame Oil

Are you looking for natural cosmetics and cheap anti aging skin care? Try sesame oil!

Yes, cold pressed sesame oil is great to use in the kitchen. It’s gives a rich and nutty flavor to your dishes and is very healthy.

But did you know, that you can use it external as well? Traditionally it was used to treat different skin problems, like dry eczema, sore nipples when breastfeeding, burns, and on the skull against hair loss.

In Ayurveda the sesame oil is used warm.
Heat the oil in a saucepan until it feels warm (don’t make it too hot, you can burn yourself). The skin takes up this warm oil more easily. Did you ever have a massage with warm sesame oil? It feels like heaven. Make sure to put old towels underneath. Rinse the skin with lukewarm water afterwards. Don’t use soap. Sesame oil keeps your skin very soft, fresh and young. It’s one of the best natural anti-aging cosmetics and a cheap one!

You can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil(s) to the sesame oil, if you like. Enjoy!

Eat More Apple Pie!

Raw Apple Pie is a very nutrient rich food. It's very healthy.

This video shows the nutrients in a raw apple pie compared to a cooked one. Don't feel quilty about eating apple pie, eat a raw one. You can find two great recipes on this blog.

And compare the nutrients in fruits with those in bread. I think Storm Talifero did a great job, making this video. It's so convincing.

Grow Your Own Bean Sprouts: Lentils

This short video shows exactly how to grow your own bean (lentil) sprouts. Growing sprouts is easy, cheap and healthy. Sprouts are very rich in nutrients.

Make sure to buy organic beans, seeds and grains to sprout. Some commercial beans, seeds and grains are treated, to prevent sprouting.

My children love to grow their own sprouts. This is a great way, to make them eat healthy food.

Vegan Diet for Diabetes and Weight Loss

A vegan diet can help you to cure diabetes, to lose weight and to balance cholesterol. The results of a balanced vegan (referably raw food) diet are very significant. Here are some interesting testimonials of people, who tell about their diabetes being cured, their weight loss and their cholesterol turning normal, without any conventional medicines.

If you have diabetes, make sure to get the proper medical guidance. Don’t experiment on your own, especially if you are on insulin. This may be dangerous. Discuss changes in your diet with your medical doctor or other healthcare professional.

Do you want to know more, read dr. Gabriel Cousens new book “There is a Cure for Diabetes”. You can order it at this website. Dr. Gabriel Cousens has a fantastic program to cure diabetes in both Arizona and Israel.

Are you interested in dr. Gabriel Cousens diabetes program, write an email to info@rawfood.nl.

Breakfast Recipe Milkshake or Porridge

You can drink this nourishing breakfast recipe as a milkshake or eat it as a porridge. Just add more or less water.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup almonds, soaked
10 dried apricots, soaked
soaking water apricots
1 banana
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch of salt

To peel the soaked almonds, first pour boiling water over them and immediately afterwards ice cold water. This way the skins come off easily.
Put all ingredients in the blender. Also the sweet soaking water from the apricots.
Blend and enjoy!

Chocolate Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/2 cup carob powder
1 ripe avocado
1/2 cup (or more, if you like) agave nectar or maple syrup
a few tabespoons water, if needed
1/4 teaspoon sea salt or Himalayan pink salt

Blend and serve on a nice plate or bowl.
You can use an ice scoop for a gourmet look.
Garnish with raspberries, shredded almonds and fresh mint.

Free Vegan Recipes and Tips

Are you looking for free vegan recipes?
All the recipes on this blog are vegan. No animal food is used.
You can use the recipes safely, if you are sensitive to dairy.
Many of these recipes will even be of great help, to make you stronger and lower your sensitivity to milk.
Do you want to lose weight? A raw vegan diet can help you.

TIP: Subscibe to our Free Recipes.
You will receive your free recipes weekly in your mailbox, the first one within minutes.

Easy Recipe for Health Food: Sprouting Seeds

Are you looking for an easy and cheap health food recipe? Consider sprouting seeds!

Many people complain: health food is so expensive. Yes, some health food is very expensive. But did you ever realize, that the best food on earth is often the cheapest? Think about wild herbs and sprouts. They cost hardly anything. They are complete foods, full of lifeforce, but we tend to forget about them.

Sprouts are full of nutrients: vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, amino acids, easy to digest carbohydrates and enzymes. They taste great in salads, smoothies, stuffed vegetables, herb teas or as a garnish.

A wellknown delicious sprout is alfalfa. It has a high mineral content, containing magnesium, calcium, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, sodium, potassium and other minerals.
They are easy to grow yourself. Even in winter in the city.

Take a hand full of seeds. Soak them overnight and throw away the soaking water. Place them on a deep plate in the daylight and rinse them twice a day. They should stay moist all the time, but not wet.
After a day, the alfalfa seeds start sprouting. First you see white ends appearing. After a few days, these turn green. Now they are ready to eat. At this point they taste the best.
You can keep these seeds (covered) in the fridge for a few days.

Do you have kids, who don't want to eat greens?
Let them grow their own sprouts!

Easy Recipe Healthy Sweets for Kids

We just made this easy recipe and almost all our healthy sweets disappeared within minutes ;-))
My 4 kids love them.
Adults as well .... I can tell you.

Ingrediënts:
3 tablespoons raw almond butter
4 tablespoons coconut flakes
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup rainsins
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
a pinch of salt, if your almond butter doesn't contain salt

Mix all ingediënts with a spoon. If the mixture is too dry, you can add a little more agave nectar or almond butter. If it is too wet, add a little more coconut flakes.
Form little balls of about 1 inch by pressing and rolling them between your hands.
This amount is enough for about 15 to 20 sweets.
It is a very easy and fast recipe.

You can make similar sweets for diabetes patients by leaving out agave nectar and raisins and adding stevia and a little more raw almond butter. This also makes great sweets.

Enjoy your healthy sweets!

Raw Olives Marinated with Fresh Herbs

Use fresh raw olives for this recipe. If they are very salty, soak them first for a few hours and throw away the soaking water. Put them in a bowl.

Pour over some olive oil to cover and stir in your favorite fresh herbs or a few shakes of dried Italian herbs. Add 1 or 2 cloves of fresh garlic and some lemon peel.

Marinate in the fridge for 1 or 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Personally I would not eat them with cheese and crackers, but in my salad or as a side dish.

Take a special look at the part about growing your own garlic grass. I'll give it a try!

Recipe for Raw Olive Tapenade

This raw homemade olive tapenade is great with dehydrated crackers, sprouted bread, salads or inside sushi or wraps.

Ingredients:
30 raw olives
1/3 cup pine nuts
1 handful of basil
2 sundried tomatoes, soaked
1 tomato
1 clove of garlic
a little bit of soaking water from the tomatoes
a pinch of cayenne

If the olives are too salty, you can soak them first and throw away the soaking water.
Blend all ingredients with a (handhold) blender or food processor.
Don't blend until smooth. The tapenade should still contain little pieces.

Enjoy this healthy dish!

Organic Raw Maca for Energy and Hormones

Organic raw maca (Lepidium Meyenii) is an ancient superfood, used by the people of South Amerika since 5000 years, for both energy and hormonal balance. Maca is a root vegetable, like radish and grows at 14,500 ft above sealevel in the highlands of Peru. It is handpicked by the local people, which are wellknown for their stamina and fertility.

Maca is often used for problems during menopause, menstrual difficulties, male impotence, osteoporose, chronic fatigue, and depression.

Maca for women
Maca enhances overall energy. It helps with natural hormonal rejuvenation by encouraging human glands to produce estrogen, progesterone and testosterone hormones. Because it balances the hormones it eliminates hot flashes, night sweating and other symptoms during menopauze and it increases general strength and sexual drive.
Having a lot of energy and balancing hormones is very important for women. Many women have energy and hormonal problems nowadays. Because of this or to avoid this, introducing the superfood maca to your diet is always a good idea.

Maca for men
Maca is also used by the men in South America sinces ages. Also for men it enhances general energy and induces testosterone production, which increases libido and boosts sexual drive.
In many of the natural supplements for libido, that we find in the healthfood stores and natural pharmacies nowadays, maca is one of the main ingredients. By adding maca to your diet, viagra with all it's side effects, is no longer necessary in many cases. Maca, often combined with other herbs ad superfoods, can be used as a natural Viagra.

A good way to eat maca is to add it to your smoothies. Just one or two teaspoons will do. Don't add too much in the beginning, because maca has a strong taste. You can add a little more, once you are used to the taste.