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.