Face Plant!

No, I didn’t just fall down. I was just thinking about my evening face mask. Sexy huh? I know you’re expecting me to tell you all about my Raw Food day, what I ate, how I planned the family meals, etc., but all I can think about is what I want on my face tonight.

If you don’t already know it, you will soon. RAW IS SEXY! Think about it…You are a living being, You were born perfect, You were born beautiful, You were born pure and ecstatic, full of life. Raw food, aka whole food, aka living food is what your living body needs. A ripe, red, plump apple grown on a tree in soil that is rich and untreated that you just picked from the tree. You wipe it off and take a bite…now that’s sexy! Or…

You drive to the market, push your cart down the dairy aisle to get your processed cheese slices wrapped in petroleum-based plastic for your sandwich on processed bread that has been “enriched” because the process of making the bread removed its original nutrients…need I say more? There is Nothing sexy about processed food. Not only is it not sexy, but it makes me fat, tired and miserable along with millions of other people.

Raw Food is food in its most natural, pure state grown with the warmth of the sun allowing it to mature naturally then consumed while it still has its life force in tact is simply amazing.

We are fast approaching a time of necessity for change in our thinking. No longer should we ask “how will it taste?” But rather “how will it heal?” We are all in need of healing. It may be physical, mental or emotional but we all need it. Face it, life is tough sometimes and we live in a fairly toxic world, but the healing power of food in its blissful living state can help us ward off some of the environmental damage.

This leads me to my weekly routine of the Face Plant. I’ve been not only drinking greens for some time, but I find that sometimes my body craves a soaking through my skin as well. Yes, I know that sounds bizarre, but I have seen improvement in my joint pain from soaking my feet in greens. It usually gives me a boost of energy as well.

Since our skin is our largest organ and absorbs whatever is placed on it, I use it to my advantage. It may be coconut oil on my legs and arms, greens on my feet, turmeric on a sore spot, but my favorite is my face. This is where I really get to play. Since I look at my face everyday, I can try different foods to see what my skin likes.

I know cacao is supposed to be amazing, but I haven’t tried it yet. I like to eat my cacao. What I do love on my face is a blend of aloe vera, acai and raw honey. They each have anti-inflamatory, antioxidant and medicinal properties.

I love the skin healing power of aloe and I’m hoping to fight off fine lines in the process. The acai pulp causes the skin to tighten and the raw honey has bacteria fighting power to keep blemishes away.

Slice an aloe leaf and blend the gel along with acai and raw honey. Smear it all over your face and leave it for at least 15 minutes.

You are beautiful!

 

15 Green Smoothies

Here’s why I love the Boutenko’s. It couldn’t be an easier than this to get your greens in.

 

RAW CHOCOLATE CHERRY TART

 

COCONUT KEFIR

 

Raw Menu Plans

These are hard to find and hard to make up as well. When you have transitioned from SAD to RAW, it can be very challenging to know what your body needs. Yes, you will get more vitamins and minerals by primarily eating raw veggies, fruit, nuts and seeds but is this everything you need? As you begin to feel the effects of the dietary change, you will begin to question your body and add, or subtract some of what you are eating until it feels right.

It is also a good idea to consult with a nutritionist for your individual needs.

A good foundation to start with is to follow along with David Wolfe’s Sunfood Diet Success System. Below is a sample from his book.

The All-Raw Diet Weekly Menu (Fall/Winter):

Day 1: Monday Morning: 2 young coconuts, with coconut meat and water blended together in a cream. If young coconuts cannot be found, blend 2 avocados with mature coconut water.

Afternoon: 5 oranges. 2 avocados. Spinach leaves.

Snack: 3 oranges.

Evening: One large spinach salad containing cucumber, tomato, and green onion salad with 1 avocado and fresh-squeezed lemon.

Day 2: Tuesday Morning: One large papaya eaten whole or blended with orange or lime juice.

Afternoon: 4 oranges. One small green-leafed vegetable salad (containing kale or spinach) with 10-20 almonds and fresh-squeezed lemon.

Snack: 2 oranges.

Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables, 2 avocados, cayenne pepper, and an orange squeezed as dressing. 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly made vegetable juice containing at least 60% green vegetables, 40% other vegetables or fruits (i.e. squash, peppers, okra, etc.).

Day 3: Wednesday Morning: 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly-made orange juice mixed with 1/2 avocado or 3 teaspoons of flax seed oil. (Mixing a fat with a sugar for breakfast will time-release the sugar for more endurance energy).

Afternoon: Cucumber, 10 pitted dates, lettuce mixed salad. Squeeze an orange into the salad as dressing.

Snack: 2 persimmons. Assorted green leaves (lettuce, spinach, endive).

Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables eaten with 1-2 cups of raw nuts, and an orange squeezed as dressing. Add several servings of raw dulse seaweed to the salad. Add 30-40 Sun-ripened olives (if available).

Day 4: Thursday Morning: 2 large pomegranates and 3 oranges cut and juiced on a citrus juicer. Blend with 0.5 ounces (0.015 liters) flax oil if desired.

Afternoon: 8 dried prunes. Silicon salad! (see Appendix C: Sunfood Recipes).

Snack: 2 asian pears. Assorted greens (kale, spinach, baby bok choy).

Evening: Nori rolls! Be creative! (see Appendix C: Sunfood Recipes).

Day 5: Friday Morning: 8 tangerines. 1 avocado.

Afternoon: Cucumber, okra, zucchini, onion mixed salad. Add high-quality extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil as dressing

Snack: 2 tangerines. 1 grapefruit.

Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables, 2 avocados, and an orange squeezed as dressing. 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly made vegetable juice containing at least 60% green vegetables (including 3 ribs of celery), 40% other vegetables or fruits (i.e. asparagus, apple, cucumber, etc.).

Day 6: Saturday Morning: 1 Papaya mixed with lettuce or mixed with 1 avocado.

Afternoon: 1 cup (0.25 liters) of wheatgrass juice blended or juiced with 3-4 apples or 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly-made vegetable juice containing at least 50% celery, 50% apples or pears.

Snack: 2 apples. 10 almonds.

Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables (including kale or spinach), 2 avocados, and high-quality extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil as dressing. Add 8 pitted dates to the salad for added zest.

Day 7: Sunday Morning: No breakfast.

Afternoon: 1 quart (1 liter) of freshly made vegetable juice containing at least 60% green vegetables (including 3 ribs of celery), 40% other vegetables or fruits (i.e. jicama, pumpkin, etc.).

Snack: 2 pears. 1 zucchini.

Evening: Large salad containing 80% green-leafed vegetables, 3 avocados, and a lemon or lime squeezed as dressing.

 

30 Day Raw Challenge Update

Well, this is day 6 of my 30 days at high raw of 100%.

I’m feeling great and my digestion is getting better too. Yesterday I was really tired. That was a combination of lack of sleep and detoxing I’ve been enjoying a wide array of raw dishes and trying new recipies each day.

I can’t wait to test what’s in the dehydrator as I plan my week ahead. There are so many great dishes to make. If you have one you’d like to submit, I will post it on RawMa’s Blog

~RawMa

 

Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Desserts

When I was at Matt & Angela Monarch’s RawUnion I picked up this wonderful Raw Dessert Book at the Raw Food World store. I’d been wanting to get this book since it first published a couple of months ago.

I am so happy to have it. I use it all the time since Desserts are my favorite part of being raw. There’s nothing like natural sweetness and knowing that what I’m putting into my body is fueling me rather than dragging me down and adding weight to my frame because my body can’t process it. Don’t get me wrong – traditional cakes and sweets are a hard habit to break when you’ve been raised on Ding Dongs and Twinkies. I really don’t have a craving for that stuff anymore. I wouldn’t be suprised if I tried it today and spit it right out. It just wouldn’t taste the same as I remember. I believe that eating whole food on a consistent basis changes your taste buds. Thank goodness for that!

Here is one of Ani’s yummy desserts. Chocolate-Cashew Butter Fudge

1 cup cashew butter

1/4 cup cacao powder

2 tablespoons mesquite powder

2 tablespoons agave

2 tablespoons liquid coconut oil

1 tablespoon cacao nibd

Combine the cashew butter, cacao powder, mesquite powder, agave syrup, and coconut oil in a large bowl. Mix well. Scoop into balls and place onto a tray. Top each piece with cacao nibs. Place into the refrigerator for a hour to firm.

This fudge is best enjoyed chilled. This is high in protein, rich in lysine, calcium, iron, zinc and potassium. Enjoy!

 

Hair in the Raw

As I am getting a little older, and a little Rawer, I’ve noticed some changes to my hair along with some other changes that I felt could be age related, not Raw related.

A few months ago I began to notice I was loosing more hair than normal after shampooing. At first I thought it was the amount of stress in my life. I tried various remedies to assist my problem. I washed it less often, massaged my scalp and put coconut butter on it to help rejuvenate the ends for a healthier “look”. Finally, upon a routing doctors visit, I mentioned it since the doc had requested some blood work as I was also experiencing very low energy. This is unusual with raw foods at I was at 75% raw, so I knew something wasn’t right.

In addition to loosing hair, the hair I had was becoming dull and wirey. Even though we strive to have a balanced life, sometimes things happen to wake us up. Just because I was 75% raw doesn’t mean I was making solid balanced nutrient choices. This has been a challenge for me and I tend to go for the raw desserts a bit too much. Even though I was loosing hair, I was still mainly concerned with the quality of the rest of my hair. Doing what most people do…looking at the symptom, not the problem itself.

The results came back and indicated a sluggish thyroid along with an unhealthy low percentage of Vitamin D. Since this was my first visit to our new family doctor, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I selected her as our family doctor specifically because she also practices homeopathic medicine. I was thrilled when she wrote me a prescription for Kelp. I had to laugh because in the past when I went to a medical doctor, it was always some kind of drug they were trying to pawn off on me. 90% of the time I would throw the prescription away and search out a natural remedy.

This was a real treat. I felt like my life relating to health was finally coming to meet me on my terms. I was told that kelp in all forms would improve my thyroid function due to the Iodine and as an added benefit would enhance my hair. It’s been 3 weeks now and my hair is stronger and fuller than it’s been in months. Thankfully, I’m loosing the normal amount of hair now.

I was not previously eating Kelp on my Raw diet and I was concerned about the taste, so I opted for the easily absorbing liquid formula from my local health co-op. This was so interesting to me, but the Vitamin D thing really threw me. Growing up in Southern California, we never had to think about Vitamin D. We just got it every minute of the day, but when we moved to Southern Oregon I didn’t account for how many cloudy days there would be, not to mention getting more raw once we moved. These two things combined put me so low on the Vitamin D reserves, that my new doctor recommended 2000 I.U. per day in a supplement. I found a great Vegan brand that is Lanolin-free called VegLife. Since I’ve been taking them, I feel much better and my outlook has improved as well. Sunshine in a bottle. I also began a detox program and started 2 oz. daily wheatgrass shots again. I just feel sooo good when I do this for myself.

The moral of this story is that all of our bodies are different and therefore need different vitamins and minerals to function at optimum capacity.

I highly recommend getting your blood work done so you know where you stand. Once you know, begin learning about vitamins and minerals from natural sources so you can have the benefits of a COMPLETE LIVING FOOD lifestyle.

If you want to dig right into it, a great book is David Wolfe’s Eating for Beauty. He did a wonderful job breaking it all down. I just finished reading it this weekend. If I had read it sooner, I could have avoided some of these changes I went though.

~RawMa

 

RawUnion

Please join us at RawUnion this Saturday & Sunday visit www.rawunion.wordpress.com for more information.

 Angel’s Organic Farm in Central Point, Oregon, 20 minutes north of Ashland, hosts the first RawUnion Festival, an Eco Dream Fest celebrating divine love and living foods, June 20 and 21. Featuring the wedding of world–renowned raw food advocates Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes on Summer Solstice Sunday, June 21st, the weekend includes musicians from Los Angeles, San Francisco and parts of Oregon. This passionate pair are throwing the doors open to all and have extended their ‘special day’ into a whole weekend festival celebrating raw food, eco–living, permaculture, healing and divine union. The event has been named ‘Raw Union,’ and the young couple will be wed by another prominent raw food speaker, David ‘Avocado’ Wolfe, who is also an Essene Minister.

 

Loving Raw Phillip lost over 200 pounds!