Simple, quick and easy raw food recipes with Paul Nison

Preparing raw food is not difficult. You don't need to cook, bake or do other difficult things. With some creativity, you can come up with the most delicious dishes.

Here Paul Nison shows you how to make a very simple, basic raw food recipe. Quick and easy to make. He calls it blended salad. Some call it energy soup or a blended smoothie.

Basic ingredients:
1 avocado
1/2 cucumber
1 stalk of celery
1 tomato
handful of greens or several handfuls of greens, like spinach
1 clove of garlic
seasalt to taste

You can also add lemon, orange juice, edible flowers, fennel or sea vegetables for a change. Experiment with sea vegetables, they are very healthy.

Preparing raw food is the fastest and easiest way to prepare food!

Broccoli with tahini dip sauce, a great raw food snack

This snack is great, if you sit down in the afternoon or evening and want to eat something healthy, that is easy to make. You can also serve it on parties.

Serves two

Ingredients:
½ - 1 small head of broccoli

For the dip sauce:
4 tablespoons raw tahini
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon lemon
½ teaspoon salt

Cut the broccoli into florets.
Mix all the ingredients for the dip sauce with a spoon.

Sit down, relax and enjoy your broccoli and tahini snack.
You can also add radishes, carrot-, cucumber- and bell pepper sticks.

If you add some dehydrated crackers or sprouted Essene bread, you have a whole meal.

Raw food kids Blake Clement and Tom Watkins about their lifestyle

Last Wednesday Esmé and I, from Raw Food Europe, interviewed Blake Clement (10) and Tom Watkins (11). Blake is the youngest son of Anna Maria and Brian Clement. He has always lived on a raw living food diet. Tom is a Dutch boy, with an English father, who eats raw food since 5 years. This week there was a documentary on Dutch television about Tom's life, called "Rauw". The other boy is Julan (8), a friend of Tom. He is Dutch and can't express himself so well in English.

We asked the boys about their life. What they eat during the day. What they do, when they go to friends. If their friends eat at their house. What food they like best. What they think of the raw food diet.

It's great to see, how these energetic and intelligent boys react. Just like any other kid. They hardly seem to realize that they live differently. Blake tells that other children think "he is cool" and want to be like him. I can imagine, he is happy, healthy, energetic and travels all over the world with his parents. That is pretty "cool" for a boys his age.

Watch these raw food kids, as they tell the raw food story from a kids perspective.

Anna Maria Clement: living food diet for cancer, diabetes, obesity

Last Wednesday Anna Maria PhD, NMD and Brian Clement PhD, NMD were in the Netherlands for a lecture and interview with Raw Food Europe. This video is the first part of the lecture, in which Anna Maria explains why and how the raw living food diet works.

Together with her husband Brian Clement, she runs the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida. Brian and Anna Maria have over 35 years experience in health and nutrition and coach very sick people from all over the world. They have good results with cancer, diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Together with leading universities in the US, Brian and Anna Maria Clement do research on diet and health. They contribute highly to modern scientific insights about nutrition. A plant based diet (preferably 80% raw) turns out the be the best diet for health and longevity.

Brian and Anna Maria Clement on fruits, sprouts and weeds

Last wednesday Esmé and I interviewed Brian Clement and Anna Maria Clement in Amsterdam.
We asked: "What is the best food to eat, if you don't want to eat 100% raw".
Brian’s answer (from a scientific background) is remarkable.
It is very important not to eat too much fruit. Many people eat massive amounts of fruit and fruit sugars in their raw food diet. There are different reasons, why to avoid this.
Sprouts, greens and weeds are much healthier.
If you do want to add other foods to these sprouts, greens and weeds, it is best to add some cooked vegetables or grains like millet, quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth (up to 20% of your diet, when you are healthy).

Raw Food Carving: how to make a radish rat

Great to garnish your dishes, especially for kids.

Rawfood teacher David Wolfe went to Chinese restaurants

Last September Esmé and I, from Raw Food Europe, interviewed David Wolfe in Antwerpen. On this video David Wolfe confesses his greatest sin: he went to Chinese restaurants in the middle of the night. Why? Watch this new video and enjoy the greatest confession ever!

Beautiful Carrot-Orange-Dill "Gentle Touch" Smoothie

© RawFoodSuccess.com, all rights reserved

This beautiful orange smoothie has a very gentle taste. The combination is surprising.
You need a juicer to make carrot-orange juice. This juice is the basis for your smoothie.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 large carrots
2 oranges, peeled
1 avocado
handful fresh dill
2 teaspoons lemon

Wash or peel the carrots. I prefer peeling, because they taste better this way.
Juice the carrots and oranges and pour this juice into your blender.
Add the avocado, dill and lemon juice.
Blend until smooth and creamy.
Garnish with some lemon and dill.

This smoothie has a mild dreamy taste. It’s great as an aperitif.

Oat and almond sprout milk, recipes for delicious sprout milks

Thomas E. Billings

Oat Sprout Milk - Special Version
The following makes around 3 cups of delicious oat and almond milk.

Start with: a little more than 1/4 cup dry sprouting oats, and, optionally, 1/8 cup Lundberg Farms Wehani rice. Soak 12 hours, then sprout for 1.5 days. Separately, soak 15-20 almonds for 12 hours, then sprout for 1.0 days (should be ready about same time as oat sprouts).

Rinse oat (/rice) sprouts, put in blender with 2 cups good quality water, blend. Best to add 1 cup water, blend on medium for 30 seconds or so, then add second cup of water and blend on high for another 30-45 seconds. Now strain the blended liquid through a steel mesh strainer and/or cheesecloth (or similar). Discard hull pulp, rinse blender clean, put base milk back in blender. **

Peel the sprouted almonds (might blanch first with warm water), rinse, put almonds in blender. Add 1 tablespoon of raw honey (or other sweetener, optional) to blender. Now add flavoring, one of: vanilla bean (about 1/2 inch or so), cardamom seed (decorticated or powder, 1/4 tsp), or cinnamon (1 rounded tsp). Run blender on medium speed for a few seconds to mix/grind, then turn down to low speed and let blender run for 5+ minutes to homogenize. (The almonds are not strained out but retained in the milk for full flavor and nutrition.)

Note that the recipe up to ** is the basic milk recipe; can use recipe, substituting other types of grains, seeds, or nuts for the rice, to yield other types of oat sprout milk. Sprouting/soaking details will vary with grain, seed, or nut used in place of the rice.

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

Stop malnutrition with spirulina "the food of the future"

The bluegreen algae spirulina is an ancient food, that people have always eaten all over the world. Spirulina was the main source of protein in Pre-Columbian Mexico for thousands of years. It contains 60% protein.
Spirulina can play a very important role in solving malnutrition, especially under children.
It is cheap to produce and grows best in warm climates, where you find most malnutrition. Spirulina is considered "the food of the future".

The superfood chlorella for energy, weight loss and longevity

Chlorella is a single cell algae. It contains all the nutrients you need, has strong detoxification properties and stimulates the friendly bacteria in your body. Chlorella is a whole food, not an extract or concentrate. In Japan people eat more chlorella, than people in the West vitamin C. Chlorella builds energy, helps with weight loss and is considered to be a longevity food.
The algae was discovered back in 1898. Now it is grown in big ponds filled with purified water.

Raw food lessons for kids: put a little sunshine in your mouth

Put a little sunshine in your mouth.



I like to eat spples and bananas.

A new episode in the series Raw Food Lessons for Kids.
Adults, you can skip this or ... enjoy it!

Happy and Healthy Easter!

David Wolfe and Tim Van Orden: protein sources in the raw vegan diet

How do you get your protein, if you eat a raw vegan diet? This is a question, we raw get all the time. In these video's, you get the answers of two raw food experts.

David Wolfe gives an overview of some foods in the raw food diet that are rich in protein: spirulina, seaweeds in general, seeds, nuts, bee pollen and vegetables. The protein in the raw food diet is highly absorbable, so you don't need as much protein as western nutritionists tell you.

Tim Van Orden has a somewhat different approach, which I think is very interesting.
You don't need protein, you need amino acids. Raw food is filled with amino acids in the
form of enzymes. Enzymes are nothing else than complex chains of animo acids.
Although Tim doesn't get enough protein according to western theory, he is 15 pounds overweight as an athlete, all muscle tissue. How is that possible? Watch these interesting videos.

Raw Art Video - Beautiful Food - Watermelon Carving

Watching the beautiful video is like watching a mandala being made.
It is a meditation by itself. So beautiful and inspiring.
I feel like making one myself right away.
Isn't this the best raw food dish, you could serve on a party?

Here are some more videos to get going yourself!

Raw Video Fun: How to charge your iPod with a lemon or onion

It is Friday again. Time for raw video fun!
Did you ever wonder, what to do, if you landed on an uninhabited island with your iPod. Here is the solution: make a lemon or onion battery and have a the best time ever!
Whether is really works? I don't know ....

Watch the videos and try it ;-)

BD Freeman makes collard green sandwich wraps, called raw burritos

This is a great episode of Jenna's Healthy Kitchen.
BD Freeman learns how to make his first collard green sandwich wraps or so called raw burritos.
These wraps are very nourishing and a good dish to serve your family and friends (also if they are not used to eating raw).
You can easily take them with you to work, when you are travelling or go out for a picnic.

Once you have made them, you don't want to live without anymore.
Watch this video and enjoy your healthy sandwiches!

Jasmuheen on Franciscus of Assisi and the vegetarian diet

Listen to this great story from Jasmuheen about Franciscus of Assisi. Fransiscus taught her how to attract all the animals from the forest. Radiate love, tell them they are safe, and all the animals (and people ;-)) will come to you.

There is no need to kill anything in this world, especially not for food. The vegetarian diet is healthier for you and better for the resources. It takes 20 times the resources to put meat on the table compared to vegetables.

Great video about famous vegetarians and vegans

I love this video. You are in good company, if you are a vegetarian or vegan,
or decide now to become one ;-)

Mixed vegetable soup: raw food recipe for instant energy

This soup is great, if you come home after a long day and want something salty.
It has all the minerals and salt from the vegetables, combined with spices and nourishing greens.
Instant energy for the rest of your day.

Ingredients:
1 big carrot
2 stalks celery
1/2 red beet (for the color)
1 dried tomato and soaking water
1 tomato
handful parsley
little piece of hot pepper
½ clove garlic

Juice the carrot, celery and beet.
Pour the juice into your blender and add the other ingredients.
Blend and enjoy.
You are ready to go again!

How to eat raw in social situations? Our interview with David Wolfe

This inspiring video is part of the interview Esmé Stevens and I had with David Wolfe in Antwerp, September 30, 2007. We asked David how to deal with social situations.
What do you do, when your friends or family ask you out for dinner or prepare a delicious cooked meal for you.

The answer is simple. It doesn't happen anymore if everybody knows, you eat raw food. David eats raw food for 13 years now and everybody sees him as the raw food guru.
So what is our advice? Be a raw food guru yourself! Even if you know very little, it is usually more than the others know.

And if it does happen, that you are in a situation without raw food, you could decide to fast or ask for a glass of water. If you keep eating a raw food diet, there will be a moment at which cooked food is no longer appealing to you. You don't think about it as food anymore. This will happen effortless.

The origin and health benefits of the avocado, a superfood full of nutrients

Avocado tree (picture Wikipedia.org)

Avocado’s have been cultivated for thousands of years. The name avocado came from the Spanish explorers, who couldn’t pronounce the Aztec name. The Spanish called it ahuacate, leading to the name we know it as today. The English, living in Jamaica during the 15th century, called the avocado an alligator pear. It is believed, because they compare the skin of the fruit to that of an alligator.

Avocado’s were first grown in America in the mid 18 hundreds, in California and Florida. They are now widely grown all over the world, but flourish in warm climates, such as the Mediterranean and South America. Today Mexico is the world’s largest producer.

Monounsaturated fat in the avocado is one of its greatest nutritional values. The olive is the only other fruit, with a comparable amount of this healthy fat, which is thought to lower cholesterol. Avocado’s have the highest protein content of any fruit and provide protein, fat and carbohydrate all in one superfood. In addition they contain vitamin E and fiber, which are good for clear skin and healthy digestion. They are also a good source of the anti-oxidant beta-carotene, helping to protect against heart disease and cancers. The pulp in avocado has both anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, which help boost resistance to disease. It also contains fluorine, which is said to be vital for maintaining a strong immune system.

Dieters tend to shun away from avocado’s as they are highly calorific, but at just 150 calories for one half it contains more nutrients and protein content than any other fruit with the same calorific amount.

Store avocado’s in a cool, dry place until they are ripe. It is possible to tell this by the flesh feeling firm, yet yielding when gently squeezed. To speed up the ripening process, place them in a brown paper bag with an apple overnight. With several varieties to chose from, the avocado is a superfood, that can be found all year round.

Sliced avocado with mozzarella (in the raw food diet, we prefer something else ;-)) and tomato makes a delicious tricolore salad.

Note from Annet: I use avocado in salads, on dehydrated crackers or in smoothies. Especially in smoothies they are a great substitute for milk and yoghurt.

The Kidz, adventures of the raw vegan Talifero kids in nature

Raven, Jome, Shale and Adagio, 4 kids from Jinjee and Storm Talifero (number 5 is still too young ;-)) go out in nature for a new episode of Raven's magazine Seagreen Ezine. They sail to the Santa Barbara Channel Islands to photograph Elephant Seals! Watch how these 4 home schooled kids learn. I think every child would love to live a life like this.

Go on Raven, Jome, Shale, Adagio, little Jarrow, Jinjee and Storm with this lifestyle and education. You are inspiring everybody, by doing things most people only dare to dream of.

Unique Ann Wigmore video on protein, seed cheese and almond milk

In this unique video, that I found at chidiet.com/blog, Ann Wigmore explains how to get your
protein living on a raw live food diet. She shows how to make sunflower seed cheese, almond
seed loaf and almond milk with rejuvelac.

It is great to see Ann Wigmore on video. So far, there was nothing available. I’m very happy
chidiet.com published this great material of an energetic and very special woman, who was
one of the founders of our modern raw live food diet.

I met Ann 25 years ago and am still grateful for having had this opportunity.

Yes! Ann Wigmore sprouting video: how to sprout the different seeds

This is a fantastic and rare video. I found it at chidiet.com/blog (good job guys!).
It is made from an old fashioned video. Turn your speakers loud and put the video on full screen.

Ann Wigmore was one of our first modern raw foodists. I met her in 1983 at the Hippocrates Institute in Boston, where we had a great time. Sprouts all over the place! She is one of the best examples of a very dedicated and driven woman, spreading the importance the raw live food diet into this world. Thank you Ann!

Ann healed herself and many others from cancer with this diet.
For many years Ann worked together with dr. Flora, who is still very active nowadays spreading the message of a raw vegan diet.
Every now and then Flora and I have email contact, which is always very inspiring.

The Hippocrates Institute, that Ann started is led by Brian and Anna Maria Clement nowadays. It moved to Florida. In 10 days I will meet Brian and Anna Maria in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and hopefully do a video interview with them. More about this soon.

Time for raw food fun with bizarre vegetables. Don't miss this one!

It's friday again. Time to laugh with raw food fun!
Here is another fantastic video.
I love the radishes in the melon bus ......

For more, watch the label " C3 video fun".
You can find it at the right side of the blog.

Raw food inspiration: beautiful animals from fruits and vegetables!

Get inspired by these beautiful videos.
As you see, fruits and vegetables can bring love, harmony and inspiration to our planet.

Raw food lessons for kids, the vegetable and fruit ABC

A new episode in the series Raw Food Lessons for Kids:
The vegetable and fruit ABC.
Adults, you can skip this or ... enjoy it!

Learn to test what diet is best for you with applied kinesiology

What is your ideal diet?

Do you wonder, what diet is the best for you?
You can study every diet and listen to all the diet guru’s. And you will learn a lot.
But …. everybody is different. What is good for one person, isn’t for another.
How do you find out, what diet is ideal for you?
You can experiment, try, find out, experiment again and overtime you will get a feeling for it.
You can also take a shortcut: try applied kinesiology.

My experience with applied kinesiology

I started with applied kinesiology 30 years ago. Later on I used many different systems like bio-resonance, vega testing and electro acupuncture, but applied kinesiology always stayed my favorite testing method. It’s a very easy and accurate method, that everybody can use without special equipment.

How does applied kinesiology work?

This is still a miracle to me after all those years ;-) But is does work.
The principle behind applied kinesiology is, that everybody has a certain energy field around him- or herself. This energy field can be influenced by all kind of things; emotions, people, objects, thoughts and diet.
By testing certain muscles you can find out, whether a person is strong or weak. You can even find out, which energy systems in the body are strong and which are weak, and if there is a lack of certain nutrients.

Now comes the miraculous part ...

If you keep a food near the body - you don’t even have to eat it - your body reacts already. Your body and muscles will become stronger or weaker. If you test a food that is good for you, your muscle will stay strong. If the food is bad for you, the muscle will become weak.
This way you can find out which food is best for you at a certain moment. And this can change during the day.

What can you do with applied kinesiology in daily life?

Can you imagine what happens to your body when you take food that makes you weak?
You become weak.
And if you take food that makes you strong?
You become strong.

Applied kinesiology is a very easy way to check if you are doing the right thing.
Suppose you want to take fruit juice for breakfast.
You do the test first and find out, that this juice makes you weaker.
Now you take wheatgrass. And what happens? This really makes you strong.
Now if you take the wheatgrass, you will feel great. If you had taken the fruit juice, you would have felt bad, although it is a raw food.
This is just an example. It could just as well have been the other way around, that juice would have been good and wheatgrass bad.

Allergies and applied kinesiology

Applied kinesiology is also a great way to find out, if you are allergic to certain foods or if you have food intolerances. It you keep the food or substance, you are allergic to or you can’t tolerate near the body, it becomes weak immediately. Then you know, that you should avoid that food or substance for the time being.

Did you know, that you can even be “allergic” to people? Just mention their name and see what happens ;-)

Who can do applied kinesiology?

Applied kinesiology is an easy technique to learn. Everybody can do it.
In an hour you can learn the basics. In a weekend, you will know a whole lot.
Of course you can go to a practitioner, like I am, if you want help with very specific things.
But in general, I think it’s great to learn it yourself.
Even kids love to do it. It’s that easy and so valuable!

By the way, you can also test babies and toddlers with applied kinesiology, while they sit with their parents, by testing the parents. Yes, it like magic ….

Do you want to have a great time? Visit Raw Food Comics

Do you want to laugh? Frederic Patenaude has a new fun raw food website rawfoodcomics at

http://tinyurl.com/2jahv8

This is one of the 15 unique comic strips. Take a look and enjoy!

How to transition to a raw food diet and how to control your cravings

Kevin Gianni made a great video on how to transition to a raw food diet without stress.

Do you wonder how to transition to a healthy raw food diet? Do you have a problem to control your cravings? Do you wonder how others can be 100% raw. Do you start all over every time, but without success?

Watch Kevin’s video. I totally agree with him. Start with having the mindset for success. By the way, now you understand, how I came up with the name for this blog: raw food success. Your mindset is the most important. Everything starts there.

And … if you have the urge to eat something bad, don’t judge. Eat it or don’t. Don’t force something on yourself, you might not yet be ready for. Your body needs time. If you eat something “bad” and feel the consequences, maybe next time, you will make another choice.

I think the Chinese dietary system is great in this respect. Every food has its own unique qualities, there is no bad or wrong. It’s the same with Buddhism.
Ultimately, after eating healthier for some time, you and your body will change and the cravings will disappear by itself. Without realizing, you will find yourself eating 100% raw one day.

Have a fantastic day!

Knife skills in Jenna's healthy kitchen, "slicing the citrus fruits lemon and lime"

Chef Adriel Martinelli shows us, how to slice the citrus fruits lemon and lime.

I found this episode of Jenna's healthy kitchen on the website 30daysraw.com.
Chef Adriel shows us the knife skills to slice lemon and lime.
It's a very useful video. My smoothies and juices look much nicer all of a sudden ;-)

Raw food lessons for kids, "what kind of vegetable is this"

Raw food lessons for kids is a series of great video's about vegetables, fruits and raw food, to make (your) kids aware of the food they eat. And it works, they become really enthusiastic ;-)

Adults you can skip these video's .... or enjoy them!

Raw gourmet dinner with kamut couscous, broccoli and tomato sauce

This dinner was so great, sorry guys I finished it all …. just an empty plate left.

This is a great dish, consisting of kamut couscous, broccoli and a raw tomato sauce.

Serves 1

Ingredients tomato sauce:
1 soaked dried tomato and a little soaking water
1 fresh tomato
5 raw olives
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ spring onion
fresh basil
pinch of cayenne

Mix all the ingredients except for the spring onion and the basil with a handhold blender.
Mince the basil and spring onion and add the later.

Kamut couscous:
½ cup kamut couscous
1 cup water

Pour boiling water on the kamut couscous and let it sit for a few minutes.
This couscous is still considered raw.

Put a nice green leaf on your plate. I used Romaine lettuce.
Make 1 inch pieces of raw broccoli and put them on the lettuce leaf.
Pour your tomato sauce over the broccoli.
Add the kamut couscous and garnish with tomato, basil, olives and spring onion.

Enjoy your dinner!

Raw food recipe for a delicious salad with red beets and apple

This delicious raw food salad from red beets and apples looks great on your plate, especially if you put it on a leaf of green (Romaine) salad. Red beet contains a lot of iron and is a traditional folk medicine against anemia.

Ingredients:
1 big red beet or 2 small ones
4 apples
1 tablespoon lemon
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon ground caraway
fresh basil pepper and salt to taste

Wash the beet or peel it. If you peel the beet, it tastes less earthy.
Grate the beet and the apple.

For the dressing mix the lemon, honey, pepper, salt and caraway.

Pour the dressing over the grated beet and apple and add the basil.
Mix all the ingredients en enjoy your salad!

Shazzie: How to make raw cacao bars and feel high forever ;-)

Do you want do feel sustainable high without hangovers and side effects? Try raw cacao.

Raw cacao tastes great like normal chocolate, but contains many more healthy nutrients, because it hasn’t been cooked. Raw cacao is considered one of the best superfoods. It makes you feel ecstatic and blissful, and is also a great food for women with PMS (it contains a lot of magnesium). Once you get a taste of it, you don’t want to miss it anymore.
As Shazzie says it: Cacao gives an ecstatic feeling and makes you into the person you are destined to be.

To make raw cacao bars, you need raw cacao, raw cacao butter, agave nectar and if you want some other superfoods, nuts or vanilla. Melt the cacao butter at low temperature, mix everything in and let it cool down in a nice shape. Sounds easy, doesn't it?
I’ll give it a try today and will let you know, how things go!

Watch this great video and see how these men instantly fall in love with Shazzie and her raw cacao ....

A Brief Overview on How to Sprout, Part 6, Sprouts to Avoid?

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

by Thomas E. Billings

What are hard seeds?
Seeds that are hard, like rocks, and they stay that way during soaking and sprouting. Hard seeds are a sort of natural insurance in the sense that if planted in soil they will eventually sprout - late in the season or next season. Hard seeds may be a threat to certain types of dental work, esp. porcelain crowns (porcelain on gold crowns are stronger and hard seeds are less risk; metal crowns are stronger than natural enamel). To minimize hard seeds, suggest you soak seeds as in the cloth method: in shallow water, in a large container with a flat bottom. Then at the end of the soak stage, you can visually inspect the soaked seeds and remove those that are still hard. This technique is not 100% foolproof, but if done carefully, will substantially reduce the number of hard seeds. The method will work with any seed, but fenugreek seeds are so small that picking out the hard ones is quite difficult.

Anything wrong with sprouted legumes?
If you can digest them without the production of a lot of gas (flatulence), there's nothing wrong with them. Legumes are very high in protein, hard to digest, and cause gas for many people. Gabriel Cousens (Conscious Eating, pgs. 70, 372, 490) recommends that consumption of sprouted legumes (except alfalfa, next question) be minimized. Ann Wigmore (Rebuild Your Health, pg. 73) tells us that flatulence gas is toxic and harms your entire system. From an Ayurvedic viewpoint, legumes aggravate the vata dosha; individuals with vata body type or a vata disorder should minimize legumes. Ayurveda suggests eating turmeric or ginger with proteins (legume sprouts) as a digestive aid. A number of other herbs/spices can serve as digestive aids and/or counteract the vata effect of legumes. Among legumes, mung and adzuki beans are considered easiest to digest.

What about toxins in alfalfa sprouts?
Alfalfa sprouts contain saponins, a class of alkaloids (7.93% on dry weight basis, sprouts from commercial sources) and L-canavanine sulfate, an amino acid analog. Saponin levels are at their maximum when sprouts are 6-8 days old (most common time for eating); L-canavanine sulfate is present in the seed and decreases as the sprout grows. The issue of whether these factors are significant is subject to debate.
o Livingston et al. (Nutritional and Toxicological Aspects of Food Safety, pgs. 253-268), citing research by Malinow, report negative health effects in animals and humans from consumption of alfalfa sprouts. They believe that consuming large amounts of alfalfa sprouts is risky.
o Cousens (Conscious Eating, pg. 372) , citing relevant client cases, reports no harmful effects from consumption of moderate amounts of raw alfalfa sprouts.
o Readers are encouraged to check the above references and decide for themselves on this issue. An alternate, experimental approach is to hold your diet constant for a few days, then add alfalfa sprouts to your diet, and observe the effects (if any) of the alfalfa - that is, listen to your body.

Don't Sprout: Sorghum (potentially toxic levels of cyanide in seed coat)

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

Dr. Jonny Bowden Talks about Popular Diets, like Atkins, Ornish and Zone

Dr. Jonny Bowden talks about popular diets, like the Atkins Diet by Dr. Robert C. Atkins, the Ornish Diet by Dean Ornish MD, and The Zone Diet by Dr. Barry Sears.

There is a huge difference between these diets, but let’s look at what all diets have in common. The common ground is “get the sugar out and eat real food”. Eat as many vegetables as you can get down your plate. The more vegetables you can eat, the better. Eat whole foods, get the sugar out and control you hormones.

Western medicine looks at the disease. Eastern medicine looks at the person.
What does this person really need? What is the best match between the diet and this person?
Find the strategy that suits you!

Kevin Gianni makes a Real Quick and Easy Raw Apple-Mango Sauce

Kevin Gianni (RenegadeHealth.com) makes a real quick and easy raw apple-mango sauce.
Ingredients: apple, mango, lemon, cinnamon and water.
It takes less than 3 minutes to prepare this raw food dish.
This raw apple sauce is great for kids and adults.

Good Breathing is as Important as a Good Diet: The Buteyko Method

Do you know the Buteyko Method? My oldest son and I are doing it at the moment. It's a great breathing technique from Russia, good for everybody, but especially for people with asthma and allergies. Doing Buteyko and eating a raw food diet are a great combination for good health.

I was surprised to hear, that most people breath too much. Buteyko found out, that breathing less is better for your health. Many people lose too much carbon dioxide through habitual over-breathing or hyperventilation. This may have been brought on by an infection, allergy, prolonged exercising or habitual mouth breathing.

"When we lose too much carbon dioxide, certain chemical changes take place in our body, which are perceived as negative changes, and the body’s defense mechanisms are then trying to stop further loss of carbon dioxide by, for instance, narrowing the airways, producing mucus or pausing your breathing every so often as you sleep."

"If you correct a person’s poor breathing habits and give additional advice about diet, posture, exercise and the use of certain medicines, then you can normalize the levels of carbon dioxide and stop those symptoms from happening."

Buteyko works great for asthma patients, people with blocked sinuses, allergies, snoring, sleep apneu and recurrent respiratory infections. But also for everybody else. Good breathing is essential for good health. I think everybody should know the basics of Buteyko.

We have always learned, that we need as much oxygen as possible. Some people are even exercising with extra oxygen, while in fact most people first need to build up their carbon dioxide levels to be able to use this oxygen.

Eating a raw food diet and practicing Buteyko go very well together. Their effects are very similar. They both make the body healthier and more alkaline. A greater awareness of the food we eat goes hand in hand with a greater awareness of the air we breathe.

This video comes from MindBodySoul.tv.

Absolutely The Best Raw Food Video's Ever! Have Fun!

These are absolutely the best raw food video's, I can offer you for the weekend. I hope you like them as much as I do. Have the best weekend ever!

How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Grapefruit with Tanja Andrews

I love this video by Tanja Andrews from Freshtopia.net. It is so honest. Did you ever try to make a new (raw food) recipe with all kinds of expensive and fantastic ingredients and it came out really bad? I was laughing. It happened to me so often, especially when I first started with raw food. I mixed all kinds of great ingredients with a cup of, for instance, dandelion and my dish was ruined. I usually still ate it, because I didn’t want to throw it all away. Great to see, that I’m not the only one.

There is hope. Now most of my dishes come out great. Failure leads to success. After spoiling ten smoothies, you will finally find the perfect one and keep making it. Everybody loves it.

Keep experimenting, be creative and have fun. This is the way to success!

Deepak Chopra: Spiritual Exaltation Heals the Body

Deepak Chopra describes the effect of a deep spiritual experience.

According to the ancient wisdom traditions of India, when you get in touch with your spirit, in Western terms when you get a peak experience, you experience:
- love, you feel connected to everything, you feel the intoxication of love
- knowingness/intuition/insight/creativity, knowing what your need to know
- happiness, bliss

In physical terms, this means that your body produces:
- serotonin and dopamine, the happy hormones
- oxytocin, the pleasure hormone
- opiates, which provide a feeling of intoxication (high) and help regulate the immune system

This explains, why spiritual practices are so important for a good health.

Gratitude Meditation with Deepak Chopra

Experiencing gratitude is one of the most effective ways of getting in touch with your soul. You will feel connected to everything in the universe. Your ego goes out of the way.

Meditation with Deepak Chopra:
Close your eyes, bring your energy to your heart and think of everything, you could be grateful for. Sit there quietly. Come up with as many things, you can think of, to be grateful for. Experience the warmth, the love, the compassion, the understanding, the creativity and the sense of connection, that gratitude brings into your heart.
Slowly come back to the present and open your eyes.

This meditation makes me think of Masaru Emoto and “Messages from Water”. Words and emotions have a huge influence on the structure of frozen water molecules. The most beautiful molecules being created by the words love and gratitude, the word gratitude having twice as much impact as the word love.
If water already reacts so strongly to gratitude, guess what is does for us. We are mainly water.

Experiencing more love and gratitude can change this world.

I am grateful, among others, to have this blog to express myself and to have you, as a reader ;-)

A Brief Overview on How to Sprout, Part 5, Mixtures & Soaking

This is the fifth in a series of six articles on sprouting.
by Thomas E. Billings

Some Sprouting Seed Mixtures of Interest:
- mung/adzuki, fenugreek
- mung/adzuki, urid, dill seed
- lentils, blackeye peas, alfalfa, radish
- sunflower seed, moth, fenugreek
- alfalfa/clover, radish/mustard (for greens)
Experiment and develop your own favorite mixtures!

Soak Instead of Sprouting:
- Herb seeds: fennel, celery, caraway, cardamom, poppy, etc.
- Filberts: soak 12 hours; makes crisper, improves flavor.
- Pecans: soak 8 hours; long soaks can make mushy.
- Walnuts: soak 12 hours; flavor changes - you might like or dislike. - High fat nuts (brazil nuts, macadamias) may benefit some from soaking, but difference (soaked vs. unsoaked) is small.

Staple Foods for Sprouting:
- (first tier) wheat, almonds, sunflower, sesame, mung/adzuki, rye
- (2nd tier, obstacles) oats, barley, buckwheat, rice, lentils*, other legumes*
- (flavoring) fenugreek, mustard, radish, kale, cabbage * see question on legumes below

Easy for Beginners:
wheat, sunflower, almonds, lentil, mung

Indoor Gardening (grown indoors, in soil):
• Grasses: wheat, barley, oats, rye, kamut, spelt, triticale, and others.
• Vegetables: amaranth, mustard/mizuna, fennel, kale, cabbage, etc.
• Legumes: peas, snow peas
• Other greens: buckwheat, sunflower

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

Yes, I Ate My First Raw Stinging Nettle Today. This is Fun!

Yes, I gave it a try today: to eat raw stinging nettles without preparation! And …. it is really possible without burning your hands, throat, stomach and all the rest. Thanks to David Wolfe, I learned something fantastic about a fresh raw superfood direct from nature .... ;-)
Watch David’s video elsewhere on the blog for the details.

Then we made the most delicious Green Mango-Stinging Nettle Smoothie.
Very easy and full of life force.

Ingredients:
1 ripe mango
½ blender stinging nettle
some lemon
1 cup water

Blend and enjoy.
It tastes really good. The nettle has a very mild taste.
This is the best and healthiest spring smoothie, you can think of.

To Your Health and Success!

Raw Food News: Kevin Gianni Starts Renegate Health Show

Kevin Gianni starts the Renegate Health Show. This show will be broadcast EVERY day Monday-Friday anywhere between 6-8:00 PM Eastern.

The purpose of this show is foremost to have fun. Health is a serious issue, but Kevin (and I) definitely think we can have fun and address serious issues at the same time. The second reason of the show is to educate you. To give you information that is relevant to your own health. “The Renegade Health Show” is here to give you real world health advice for real world situations.

For more information visit RenegadeHealth.com. Watch, learn, laugh and get back to your day/evening. Each episode will be on average 7-10 minutes.

The idea of Kevin with his show is very similar to mine with this blog. I hope we can reach many people by brining out the information in a fun and entertaining way.

Kevin, to your success!

How to Thrive: Secret Raw Ingredients for Health and Strength

Tim's Training at the Gym

Yesterday I added Tim VanOrden’s YouTube video, in which he says that diet and exercise don’t make you stronger. I didn’t see the rest of this video, but want to take this great subject one step further here.

I think Tim is right: we stress exercise and eating too much. Most western people are always stressed out and keep running around, while in fact the only thing they need is rest. Rest from work, rest from social obligations, rest from physical activities, rest from sports, rest from heavy meals, and rest from our own emotions and thoughts. Tim’s video makes this very clear.

But … I don’t totally agree with Tim. You don’t get stronger just by rest. What you need is training and rest. You need both. Training without rest doesn’t work and rest without training doesn’t work either. It’s like yin and yang, positive and negative, light and dark. One doesn’t exist without the other. You get really healthy and strong by both training and rest, challenging your body and giving it time to recover.

The same is true for diet. We need to get both, the nutrients from our foods and rest to heal and get stronger. I agree with Tim that a raw vegan diet is the ideal diet for this. If you eat heavy foods, your body needs a lot of energy to digest them and usually these heavy foods don’t even contain the nutrients you need. The best foods are foods high in nutrients and easy to digest. A great example of these foods are superfoods. And I’m sure Tim will agree with this, if I see his post-workout smoothie, loaded with superfoods.

So to really thrive, you need a balanced amount of exercise and rest, together with easy to digest nutritious foods, like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, seaweeds, herbs and superfoods.
This is the way to thrive.

For more inspiration and information about Tim VanOrden and his Running Raw Project,

visit RunningRaw.com

Running Raw: Exercise and Diet don't Make You Stronger

Tim VanOrden, a raw vegan athlete and runner talks about exercise and diet.
Exercise does not make you stronger or faster. It makes you weaker and more tired.
Rest and recovery make you stronger.

Diet is the same way. If you eat stressful foods, your body doesn’t have time to heal itself. Anything that has been processed or refined, anything that has been cooked or is an animal product, or especially cooked animal products, is a stressful food. Yes the body can survive on these foods. But we want to thrive, not just survive.

By eating stressful foods seven days a week, your body has no time to heal. Did you know that your body needs three days to breakdown one cheeseburger? In the meantime it has no time to do something else.

If you eat a raw food diet, best organic, you don’t stress the body. The food does its job and goes out of the way. Now the body has free time to heal itself. This is why a raw food diet can heal you and make you stronger.

Edible Wild Plants: How to Eat Stinging Nettle with David Wolfe

This is a fantastic video. David Wolfe shows you how to eat stinging nettles straight from nature.

How do you pick a stinging nettle? The younger leaves are the easiest. The older one sting more. You come from underneath, pull and grab the leaf, like a taco. If you do it wrong, you will feel the nettles sting in your fingers for a few hours. In your mouth they might sting, but it doesn't last longer than 30 seconds.

Stinging nettle is one of the most powerful wild foods, full with iron, magnesium and silicon. The real nutrition in nature is in stinging nettles and grasses. You can juice nettle, add it to smoothies or salads.

The juicing and blending take away the stinging. I used to put them in hot water for a few seconds and afterwards in cold water. You can do this for a salad. For a smoothie or juice, this is not necessary. Nettle is one of the strongest wild foods with a very mild taste. You can keep adding it.

Nettle is a great food to eat in springtime to build up your blood and energy. The root of stinging nettle is good for the prostate.

Chocolate Club, Raw Food Dinners and Parties in Amsterdam

“Hip to be Healthy, Cool to be Conscious”

This Saturday, I went to the Chocolate Club in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with my camera. And ... had a great evening.

The Chocolate Club is an intitiative of Mastercare, the Netherlands.
Every first saturday of the month, you can enjoy a delicious 3-course raw food dinner,
prepared with love.

Rawfood chef Jeramaya van Sterren serves his main course, consisting of, amongst others, courgette filled with the most delicious raw mushroom-nut pâté.

After enjoying your raw food dinner, you can choose whether to go to an energetic and fun dance party, with DJ and live show, or to stay in the café and relax.
In the café you can get natural superfood drinks, like alchemic raw chocolate, E3 live, goji juice, fresh wheatgrass juice, kombucha champagne or young Thai coconuts.
There are also raw food products for sale.

Or you can have a great chair massage with Clyde ....

The idea of the Chcolate Club is unique in the world. The slogan “Hip to be Healthy, Cool to be Conscious” is very original. Rawfood brings life, lots of energy, consciousness and more love in this world. It is wonderfull to see, how everybody participates in his or her own way, and share experiences with others.

Yes, raw food gives great energy. This is very clear at the Chocolate Club.

For reservations and information: contact@chocolateclub.nl.
Dance Street: http://www.dancestreet.net/, 1st Rozendwarsstraat 10, in the Jordaan, Amsterdam Centre, the Netherlands
Mastercare (internet) shop, raw food cafe: http://www.mastercare.nl/.
Chocolate Club Hyve: chocolateclub.hyves.n

The Seaweeds Nori and Dulse are Great Snacks for Kids

Watch this fun video. Toddler Calvin loves dulse. My friend Esme's toddler Julian loves nori. Seaweed is a great source of nutrients for kids and adults. It is especially rich in minerals and glyconutrients. And seaweed is a natural wild plant, full with life energy.

Another great food for kids and adults, related to seaweeds, is marine phytoplankton.

For more information on marine phytoplankton, look at:
http://rawfoodsuccess.blogspot.com/2008/02/david-wolfe-on-marine-phytoplankton-and.html

For more information on seaweeds, look at: http://rawfoodsuccess.blogspot.com/2008/01/david-wolfe-seaweeds-glyconutrients-in.html

A Brief Overview on How to Sprout, Part 4, Sprouting Legumes

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

by Thomas E. Billings

Alfalfa, Clover: For greens: soak 4-6 hours, sprout 6-8 days. Method: tray or jar.For use when short: soak 4-14 hours, sprout 1-1.5 days. Method: jar or cloth.Alfalfa and clover are most commonly grown as greens. A good non-traditional use for them is as flavoring additive in mixtures, for ex: lentil, alfalfa, radish is nice (alfalfa counteracts "heat" of radish). Alkaloid levels can be very high in alfalfa. Need alfalfa seed with very high germination rate (over 90%) to successfully grow greens in jar - else unsprouted seeds will decay and spoil greens.

Garbanzo group:
- Garbanzos, standard: Soak 12-18 hours, sprout 1.5+ days. Method: cloth or jar.
- Kala channa: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.5 days. Method: cloth or jar.
- Green channa: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.0 day. Method: cloth or jar. Garbanzos, also know as chick peas or ceci, are common in commercial mixtures. They sprout easily but they also spoil easily (bacteria or mold). Kala channa is a miniature garbanzo, sold in (East) Indian food stores, that sprouts reliably - try sprouting it instead of standard garbanzos. Green channa is similar, naturally green, and sprouts very quickly. Green channa has stronger flavor; best to eat with turmeric or ginger.

Large beans: Anasazi, Black, Fava, Kidney, Lima, Navy, Pinto, Soy, etc. Except for soy, these are irrelevant to the sprouter - raw flavor is truly horrible. Also, serious toxicity/allergy/digestibility issues with these raw beans. Except for soy (edible raw if grown long enough), these beans must be cooked to be digestible, hence are not of interest to the raw-fooder.

Lentils, brown/green and red. Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.0 day. Method: cloth or jar. The brown/green lentils come in a variety of sizes; the smallest sizes generally sprout faster than the larger. Red lentils are usually sold in split "dahl" form; for sprouting you must buy whole red lentils. Red lentils are red inside and brown outside; their Hindi name is masoor (brown masoor). Lentil sprouts have a spicy flavor and are very popular. Might find hard seeds in lentils from India.

Mung bean group:
- Mung beans: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 18 hrs - 1 day. Method: cloth or jar.
- Urid/urad: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 18 hrs - 1 day. Method: cloth or jar.
- Adzuki beans: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.0 day. Method: cloth or jar.
- Moth beans: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 12 -18 hrs. Method: cloth or jar. Urid (also spelled urad) is a black shelled mung bean, available in Indian stores. Stronger flavor than regular mung. Hard seeds common in mung and urid. Moth is a brownish bean, similar to mung, available in Indian stores. Very fast, reliable sprouter, with mild flavor - similar to mung. Discard "floaters" when sprouting moth. P.S. there is a mung bean that is yellow inside, in Indian stores, but so far have only found split (dahl) form.

Peanuts: Soak 12-14 hours, sprout 1.5 days. Method: cloth or jar. Must use unblanched peanuts; recommend removing skins to improve digestibility. Spanish variety peanuts have loose skin, can remove most before soaking. Other peanuts - soak 1-2 hours then peel off skins, return to soaking in new, clean water. With peanut peeled you will probably observe high incidence of (bright) yellow mold - possible aflatoxin.

Peas, Blackeye: Soak 12-14 hours, sprout 1 day. Method: cloth or jar. Flavor is too strong to be eaten alone. Makes good flavoring additive for mixtures, if used sparingly.

Peas, (Field): Soak 12-14 hours, sprout 1.5 days. Method: cloth or jar. Be sure to buy whole peas, not split peas (split won't sprout). Yellow peas are slower to sprout, and have stronger flavor than green peas. Flavor too strong when raw for many people. Insect problems common with peas in storage (beetle infestation); store in bug-proof containers. Can be grown as greens also.

Note: if purchasing kala channa, green channa, urid/urad, red lentils, etc. from Indian store, be sure to obtain the whole seeds, and not the split (dahl) or oiled form of the seeds.

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

Healthy Raw Recipe for a Salad with Pineapple, Tomato and Walnut

Do you want to make a special raw food dish?
Try this delicious salad with pineapple, tomato and walnut.
Together with dehydrated crackers, you have a complete meal.

Ingredients:
1 pineapple, cut into cubes
4 big tomatoes, cut into cubes
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
12 black olives, in small pieces
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 tablespoons chives, minced

Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil, extra virgin
1 tablespoon mustard
2 tablespoons lemon
1 tablespoon agave nectar
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the salad ingredients in a big bowl.
Prepare the dressing and add it. Mix the salad.

Bon appétit!

Green Smoothie from Kale, Mustard Greens and Tropical Fruits

Another green smoothie with kale, mustard greens and lots of tropical fruits. As you can see, it is real easy to make green smoothies. It takes hardly any time, is healthy, and the smoothies taste good!

Raw Food Recipe for a Mango Green Breakfast Smoothie

This mango green breakfast smoothie is great to start your day with. It is nice and sweet from the mango, contains fruit sugar for energy, and a lot of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, amino acids and enzymes to nourish your body.
The combination of fruit sugar and oils helps to take up the sugar slower, which gives a more stable blood sugar. Coconut oil and flax oil form a good combination for essential fatty acids.
You can also give this mango green smoothie to (your) children and see if they like it. Mine do.

Ingredients for one smoothie:
1 mango
1/2 cup parsley
1/2 cup romain lettuce
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon flaxseed oil

Blend and enjoy!