The difference between vegetarian, vegan, and raw

I believe I mentioned in an earlier blog that I became a vegetarian for a short time before going raw. My doctors recommended the vegetarian diet due to some kidney issues. I think being vegetarian made it easier to transition to a raw food diet because I was already past the cravings for red meat, chicken, fish, and eggs. When I decided to try a raw food diet I also cut out milk and milk products. That made me a vegan. Additionally, I cut out all processed foods (yes, that means I don't eat rice, bread, pasta, etc). Many processed foods contain animal products anyway, so many vegans eat this way as well. However, raw foodists don't heat their food above 104 degrees. If you think about it, that is not really hard since I am not eating meat of any kind, dairy products of any kind, or processed foods. Fruits and veggies taste best in their natural state. I do sometimes warm my food in the Vitamix, just not above 104 degrees. I warm only soups that I make, and not all of them. Usually I don't get anywhere near 104 degrees either.

Yesterday I gave a shout out to my friend Liz. Today she emailed me regarding her daughter, "She loves the food and says that she "notices" her food more. She also said that she has

more energy and her "mood seems more level." Your readers should know that she has been vegetarian since she was about 10 years old (and she is 33 now)...so raw is even making a difference with her!"

I am so happy to hear that other people are experiencing some of the same benefits I have experienced.

Garlic Lover's "Pasta"

Wayne is out of town this week so I figured what the heck, I am going to eat all of the onions and garlic I want! LOL! Dinner tonight was so easy and so good! It also shows you that you do not need a million dollar kitchen to prepare raw meals. Here is what I did:

I peeled a zucchini squash and then used my julienne tool to make long spaghetti noodles. My julienne tool came from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and was about $4. I topped that with some fresh diced heirloom tomatoes and some fresh basil. Next I used my magic bullet to whip up a sauce to go on top of the "noodles." It had 4 TBSP fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 cup EV olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp Himalayan salt and a couple of grinds of pepper, Italian seasoning to taste (I used dry seasoning, but fresh would also be good), and 1 pitted medjool date. I pulsed it in the bullet until it was creamy -- about 10 seconds. I dabbed it over the "noodles," tomatoes, and basil. It smelled delicious! I have been eating raw long enough to not care if it looks like real noodles, but this dish looked and smelled like the cooked version.

When I first started eating raw I was scared to venture off of a recipe page, afraid I would mess something up. The Boutenko's numerous books gave me the courage to experiment a little. They talk about the five flavors and different things you can add to any dish to make it taste sweeter, more sour, bitter, etc. I highly recommend reading all of the Boutenko books because they have helped me so much! I checked a couple of them out from the library -- you can't get any cheaper than that.

The other thing that strikes me as I write this recipe now is that I would never have had medjool dates in my house before I started eating raw. Now medjool dates are always in my house -- a true staple. I have a tendency to throw one in a smoothie every now and then and they make great brownies, cookies, and crusts. My grocery shopping habits have definitely changed.

My old staples used to be cereal, milk, eggs, turkey (deli meat), lean ground beef, boneless skinless chicken breasts, and bread. My new staples (I am talking things I buy or make sure I have EVERY time I go to the grocery) are medjool dates, almonds, a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables (this is the bulk of my food), lemons, dried fruit, and olive oil. That is a big shift from four months ago! If you calculate the cost of what I was eating and compare it to what I eat now the are almost equal. Yet, I look and feel so much better!

I hope you enjoy the recipe. It was DELICIOUS!

What my food looks like

Let me be the first to say, I am NOT a chef. I am a regular person preparing raw foods in my home for my family. Oftentimes, dinner preparation in my house involves Emma peeling carrots, Jake chopping onions (he is the only one who doesn't cry) and me chopping other vegetables, using the Vitamix, or the food processor. Phillip is usually chasing the dogs through the kitchen with his hot wheels. It gets crowded and sometimes tempers flare if Phillip accidentally rams the car into someone's toe or one of the dogs gets too excited and jumps on someone. There may even be tears and/or yelling in my kitchen during meal preparation.

That being said, I am always surprised how most of what we prepare turns out beautifully! My ordinary, everyday kitchen, with mail piled on the countertop and trash that desperately needs to be taken out can still produce some of the most colorful, tasty, and healthy food that I have ever put in my mouth! I love the way our food looks and smells.

These pictures are from my dinner tonight. I made "raw family green soup" from Victoria Boutenko's book, Green Smoothie Revolution. It has chard, celery, parsley, lemon juice, water and avocado in it. As she suggested, I topped it with some grated carrots, dulse leaves, and sprouts. I attached pictures of the soup before blending and after I put it in the bowl. Believe me, if I can do this, ANYONE can do this. It is so easy! Victoria's books have been a life line for me!

I also made the kids a smoothie out of butter lettuce, pears, blueberries, water and ice. I didn't think they would like it, but they drank it all without complaint. I did not include a picture of it because it was gone before I could snap a picture. I adapted this smoothie from the same book. Boutenko users miner's lettuce, but I did not have any (nor do I know where I can find any around here).

I was also having a major craving for some chocolate. I think I mentioned in a previous blog that I have a sweet tooth, so I made some raw brownies to LIVE for! The recipe was from the book Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People by Jennifer Cornbleet. I think they took about 10 minutes max from the time I opened the recipe page until I put a brownie in my mouth. If you are just starting to enjoy raw foods I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed this book! They are so good! Jake and Emma LOVE them! There is a picture of what remains of the brownies.

Transitioning from a SAD diet to a RAW diet

A few of you have asked me how to transition from a SAD (Standard American Diet) to a RAW one. I went from a SAD diet to a vegetarian diet overnight. It took me about 2 weeks to become a vegan and about one more week to start eating raw. It was not hard for me at all, but I also had some serious medical risks that really didn't leave me much room for transitioning on the sliding scale.

Wayne, on the other hand, took the transition much more slowly. He started by eating meat about 2 times a week. Then he went down to once a week. His next phase was eating only fish (as a meat source) and transitioning the dairy products out of his diet. Once he actually tried the almond milk, he really liked it! The hard part was getting over the idea of drinking almond milk.

The easiest meal to change for both of us was breakfast. Smoothies are an easy and delicious way to transition. We started with mostly fruit smoothies at first (banana, orange, mango and blueberry, almond milk, with ice were some of our favorites).

One thing I have found is that you can eat raw as simply or as complicated as you would like. I transitioned simply, eating mostly salads. I loaded them up with all kinds of veggies -- purple onion, red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, cucumber, zucchini, summer squash, and there are many wonderful raw food salad dressing recipes. I looked online for "raw food recipes" and came up with dozens! I also at a lot of trail mix. I found some raw food cereal at Whole Foods and ate that as well. I have a major sweet tooth so I knew I would need some sweets to get me through the transition. Thank God there are so many raw food cookie recipes online! Raw almond and Not Peanut Butter cookies convinced me that I wasn't having to "give up" anything! These cookies have become a staple in our house. I always have some in the refrigerator or freezer. If you know that you definitely want to change to a raw food diet or are pretty sure, I highly recommend 12 Steps to Raw Food by Victoria Boutenko.

Wayne transitioned with more complicated foods. Granted, eating raw was not his idea or something he ever thought he would do. When he saw how good I was doing and mentioned that he might try eating raw I wanted to make him things I knew he would love. That is when I started trying things like Raw Tacos, Raw Thai food, Spring Rolls, and vegetable Sushi. None of the things are very hard to make, they just take more ingredients (ones we weren't used to buying). Wayne is eating about 80% raw these days and he feels so good. I am very proud of him for opening his mind to trying new things! Now Wayne enjoys simple raw foods like salads and a piece of fruit, but he needed the fancy things to help him cross over.

Most people think eating raw is expensive, but once we stopped buying all of the other things we normally ate and stopped eating out the price was about the same. You can start with any blender you have on hand and then later, if you decide this diet is for you, you can invest in a Vitamix. I LOVE mine! It is the most used appliance in our entire house.

If you are interested in transitioning to a RAW diet, the most important thing to remember is to listen to your own body. You can make the move as quickly or as slowly as you would like. You will know when you are ready better than anyone else. My view is that any amount of raw you can add to your diet is probably better than what you were eating on the SAD diet. Some people never reach a 100% raw diet and don't really feel the need to pursue that as a goal. That is fine. Honor yourself. In my experience, the more intention and love you put into your body, the more you will get out. GOOD LUCK! Please keep me posted on your transitions.

Recipe suggestions

I have lots of people asking me for recipes lately. Many of you are wondering how I find recipes and what kinds of things I eat besides salad and smoothies. When I first started my raw food diet my primary source of finding recipes was online. I would just google search "raw food recipes." There are so many websites that have free recipes. One of my favorites is welikeitraw.com. I have gotten many yummy things from this site. Here is a link to raw cupcakes http://www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/2007/11/raw-choccie-cup.html

I haven't tried it yet, but they look so good! I can't wait to experiment with them. Other good websites are www.fromsadtoraw.com and www.goneraw.com and www.rawguru.com

There are two books that I own that I highly recommend for someone considering a raw diet. The first is The Raw Food Revolution Diet by Cherie Soria, Brenda Davis, and Vesanto Melina. I like this book because two of the authors are registered dieticians and the first half of the book is extremely informative about getting all of your vitamins and nutrients from raw foods. The second half of the book has wonderful recipes. A couple of my favorites are their "mexican burritos," "vietnamese salad rolls," and "bon bon sauce." The bon bon sauce is affectionately called "goody sauce" in my house because we love it so much!

The second Book I highly recommend is 12 Steps to Raw Foods by Victoria Boutenko. This book gives plenty of inspiration and is a little more hard core raw, but her suggestions and thoughts about food addiction were immensely helpful to me. There are some recipes in the book, but it is mostly information. Her "live garden burgers" with "live fries" and "tomato basil sauce" were to live for!

I hope this gives some of you a place to start. I am excited to know that you have been inspired by my journey.

Dinner success

 Ever since we ate at Bliss I have been craving those tacos again.  This morning I went through all of my cookbooks and found a recipe in Angela Elliott's ALIVE in 5: Raw Gourmet Meals in Five Minutes.  The recipe is called Fiesta Tacos and it recommends serving it with their Dreamy Sour Cream and Sexy Salsa.  I made it all just like the book said -- it took me more like 15 minutes, but it was well worth it!  

Emma was at dance and didn't get to try it, but Jake and Phillip loved it!  I was shocked considering that neither one of them like sour cream or salsa.  Granted, I served their fiesta tacos on corn tortillas, but with all the fixins.  Phillip came to the table with is regular, "I don't like it," attitude, but when he tried it he liked it and told Wayne he was hungry for another bite.  When the inside of the taco fell out,  he ate the rest with a fork and cleaned his plate.  I was saying to myself, "Go Mommy!" and doing my happy dance, especially when Jake asked for seconds.  It wasn't until he was finished eating that I told him he ate salsa AND sour cream!  He was surprised and said, "but I still don't like them on chips!"

Wayne and I ate ours on romaine leaves and I didn't even miss the taco shells -- yes, they were really that good!  He was impressed!  I will definitely make this again.

What's for Dinner?

As you all know, my family has been trying some raw foods (mostly smoothies and desserts, which they all love), but I am also still cooking for them.  Tonight when I made my dinner I made extra.  I put a little bit of their normal cooked food on their plates, and a little bit of my raw food on their plates.  I told them they did not have to like it, but that I did want them to at least try it.

Since I just devoured Victoria Boutenko's book Twelve Steps to Raw Foods, I tried out some of her recipes.  We had Live Garden Burgers, Live Fries, and Tomato Basil Sauce.

Emma helped me make the Live Garden Burgers so she really liked them.  Jake did not care for the texture, but liked the taste, and Phillip ate it all without complaint (I was shocked since he is my pickiest eater).  The Live Fries were a hit for the whole family.  Wayne did not eat any cooked food at all.  He even said that he would not mind having this dinner again.  He said he was surprised because he felt comfortably full and did not feel like he had just eaten "rabbit food" at all.  He also liked the clean feeling and taste of the Live Fries and sauce.

The meal was really good!  In all honesty Jake was right, the texture of the burgers was a little off, but that is my fault - I ground the nuts a little too much.  However, I have made a note of it and next time I will know better.  You should check out Victoria Boutenko's website:  www.rawfamily.com.  You can read about her journey and order her books from the site.

On another note, I am glad it is Friday!  I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend with my family and friends.  A friend of ours, Matt, will be in town and is going to try the raw restaurant with us.  The name of it is Bliss.  Matt is not a raw foodist, but is willing to humor me, so it will be interesting to see what he thinks of it.  We are also going to visit the art museum.  Wayne and I are looking forward to catching up with him.  Fine art, fine food, fine friends and fine family -- what more could I ask for?