On a recent trip back home to Southern California, I took a long-awaited  sojourn to Mother’s Market. Mother’s is one of my favorite grocery and health food stores. The store has a casual energy and an extensive selection of raw food products and ingredients. There’s always something new and delicious on the shelves.

This time I discovered energy bars from a company based in Austin, Texas. Bearded Brothers calls itself “a wholesome snackfood company.” [Side note: These guys raised over $5000 in start-up costs using Kickstarter, which is pretty awesome.]

I tried two different Bearded Brothers handmade energy bars. The Fabulous Ginger Peach and Mighty Maca Chocolate are both described on their labels as “100% natural, raw, vegan friendly, gluten free.” I’m not a huge chocolate fan, but the rich flavor of Mighty Maca Chocolate had me at first bite. If you’re looking for a grab-and-go raw food snack or meal, you should give these bars a try.

 What I Love about Bearded Brothers Energy Bars

• Unlike some bars, they each have their own unique flavor, not just different flavor names.
• The few non-raw ingredients are clearly identified as non-raw on the ingredient list.
• Add a piece of fruit, and these bars are substantial enough to make a meal.
• When sweeteners are used, the Brothers choose coconut palm nectar, rather than the controversial agave syrup.
• The bars aren’t overly sweet, which is a plus for those of us who don’t want every meal to taste like dessert.
• Most of the ingredients are organic.
• Each bar comes in a resealable package—perfect when you just need a nibble to get you through.

  What I Don’t Love about Bearded Brothers Energy Bars

•  I don’t have a place to buy them in my neighborhood. Serious sad face.

I’m not sure what stores are carrying Bearded Brothers at the time of this review, but you can order the bars on their website. A variety pack of 4 bars is about $14, plus shipping. Definitely worth trying.

 Live the difference!

I love red pepper soup, but bell peppers can get pricey.  Tomatoes are generally more affordable, especially as we get closer to summer, so I I save money by combining the two.

You’ll get lots of nutritional goodies in this soup, and the coconut oil provides healthy fat. Your body can quickly convert it to energy, and it helps make the other nutrients easier to assimilate.

Creamy Raw Red Pepper & Tomato Soup

Makes: 4 to 5 cups

Prep time: 10 minutes (plus a few minutes to soak sun-dried tomatoes)

WHAT YOU NEED

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes

1 cup pure water

1 large red bell pepper or 2 medium red bell peppers, cored

4 roma or 2 medium tomatoes

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup diced sweet yellow onion

2 medjool dates, pitted

1-1/2 tablespoons liquid coconut oil (or substitute extra-virgin olive oil)

Sea salt to taste

Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Optional toppings: diced red bell pepper, diced tomato, diced sun-dried tomato, avocado slices, pumpkin seeds, crushed kale chips, raw cracker crumbles

WHAT TO DO

If your sun-dried tomatoes are oil-packed, drain them on a paper towel. If they’re completely dry, soak them in the 1 cup of water until soft.

Add the water  and sun-dried tomatoes to the blender.

Roughly chop the red pepper and tomatoes and toss them in the blender. If you don’t have a high-speed blender, you may need to chopped the veggies in smaller pieces.

Add the garlic,  onion, dates, coconut oil,  sea salt, and black pepper. Blend on high until smooth.

Warming this soup brings out more of the flavors.  To warm it, blend on high in a high-speed blender for a few minutes, or warm in a sauce-pot on low heat. To keep it raw, stay below 115-degrees F, not too hot to touch.

Serve the soup topped with fresh black pepper and any optional toppings you like.

Enjoy!

Live the difference!

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There’s so much misinformation about the raw food diet, and most of it makes people think this eating-style is too extreme or too complicated for the average person.

It’s not!

A high raw food diet is completely doable,  and it doesn’t mean you sit at dinner parties and nibble on a plate of carrot sticks while everyone else enjoys the real meal.

Check out 7 Things You Should Know about the Raw Food Diet, an article written by moi for one of my favorite websites, Pick the Brain. Leave your comments, if you can. I’d really appreciate your feedback.

Live the difference!

P.S. Many thanks to the beautiful Simple Humble for introducing me to Pick the Brain!

Most raw food treats use nuts in abundance, but as a group seeds actually have even more nutrients than nuts. And they’re cheaper. Besides, my youngest daughter, Ray, is allergic to tree nuts. Since she’s started school outside of our home (sad face),  I’ve been scrambling to make treats she can take with her so she won’t be tempted to hit the vending machines.

This super easy raw food recipe is kid-approved. And one or two little spheres of seed goodness should be enough to satisfy your chocolate cravings. Ray suggests doubling the recipe though. Her idea of a serving is more like three or four spheres.

 NOTE: I used soaked and dehydrated pumpkin and sunflower seeds, but if you don’t have a dehydrator, plain raw seeds will probably work, too.

NOTE: I used raw cacao, cuz that’s what I have in the pantry. But there’s an argument to be made that the benefits of cacao are more available when it’s roasted. Use what you think is best.

SPICY CHOCOLATE SEED SPHERES | EASY (NUT-FREE) RAW FOOD RECIPE

Feel free to adjust or leave out the spices, depending on your taste. We like it spicy.

Makes: About 16 Seed Spheres

Prep Time: 10 to 15 minutes

WHAT YOU NEED:

3/4 cup soaked and dehydrated pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup soaked and dehydrated sunflower seeds

1/2 packed cup pitted medjool dates

1/4 raw cacao powder (or cocoa powder)

3 to 4 tablespoons raw sweetener, such as coconut nectar, agave, or honey

1 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

2 to 3 tablespoons chia seeds (optional)

WHAT TO DO:

In a food processor with the s-blade, grind the pumpkin and sunflower seeds until they become a fairly fine flour. It may take a minute or two. Just check it periodically.

Add the dates, cacao, sweetener, vanilla, cayenne, and cinnamon. Process just until well blended. The ingredients may form a dough ball in the processor.

Scoop 1 tablespoon at a time of the mixture and form it into ball shapes. If the dough sticks to your spoon, you can use a little coconut oil to make the dough release more easily. Roll each ball in the chia seeds, if you’re using them. The spheres can be slightly sticky without it, but no big deal either way.

Store in the refrigerator. The seed spheres travel just fine in a sturdy food container. They go great with a plate of fresh fruit.

Live the difference!

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Some people eat 100% raw all the time. Fantastic, if that works for you. But for most people it can be difficult to pull off for every single meal. Not to worry.

These foods are nutrient-rich and/or contain unique health-promoting properties. (Yes, you still lose some of the nutrients. The trade off: some other nutrients are made available through the cooking process.)

9 COOKED FOODS TO EAT ON A HIGH RAW DIET

1. Sweet Potatoes and Yams: Garnet, Jewel, and Beauregard “yams;” Japanese and Okinawan sweet potatoes; white, purple, and yellow yams . . .

2. Cruciferous Leafy Greens: kale, collards, mustards, and turnip greens . . .

3. Homemade Vegetable Soup: tons of veggies lightly cooked in a low-sodium veggie broth and/or fresh carrot/tomato juice

4. Other Cruciferous Veggies: cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, broccolini, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, bok choy . . .

5. Tomato Sauce: Make your own or buy a sauce with no salt or sugar added, preferably in a glass jar. Pour it on raw or cooked veggies.

6. Beans: kidney, black, azuki, kidney, cannellini, white northern . . .

7. Onions: yellow, white, red, shallots, leeks, green, vidalia . . . (For those who can’t tolerate raw onions, sauteed onions can be a good alternative.)

8. Mushrooms: portobello, chanterelle, oyster, shiitake, cremini . . .  (White button are the least nutritious.)

9. Quinoa: a protein-rich seed/grain, high in antioxidants, with anti-inflammatory properties

Note: If you’re choosing an oil to cook with, nothing beats coconut oil. Your body will easily burn it as fuel. It also has a higher smoke point than most oils. Save the olive oil to drizzle on your salad, and try coconut oil for cooking.

Also, be aware that browning foods causes the formation of acrylamide, a cancer-causing chemical. It’s not clear how much acrylamide you’d have to consume before it became a problem, but it’s something to keep in mind when roasting or sauteing vegetables.

Live the difference!

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Are you ever tempted to find a popular guru and just do whatever he or she says?  I’ve done it myself, without even realizing it. But following any expert without question is a bad idea.

In this case, I’m thinking of Dr. Oz and Dr. Chopra, two of America’s favorite healthy lifestyle experts. They share a lot of good information, but they’re completely wrong about the raw food diet.

Recently, Deepak Chopra came on Dr. Oz’s show to promote his new book, Super Brain, which I plan to read and review later. The information he introduced was mostly new to me–all about preventing memory loss, dementia, and Alzheimer’s Disease as we age. Good stuff for sure.

The doctors also used a segment of the show to answer viewer questions. The viewer who caught my attention, of course, was an obese woman considering a raw food diet. There was no discussion of what a healthy raw food diet should look like. What if she’s planning to live off of a diet of raw fish? Maybe eat nothing but lettuce and cucumbers for the rest of her life? Probably not good plans. What if she plans to enjoy green smoothies and green juices along with a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds–adding in cooked vegetables and beans to make the transition easier? Sounds great!

Dr. Chopra explained that he just doesn’t think a raw food eating-style is a good idea. Why not? Well,  certain nutrients are more available in certain vegetables if those vegetables are cooked. The doctors then pointed out that the lycopene in tomatoes and the beta carotene in carrots are more available in cooked form. They also suggested eating certain foods like garlic and asparagus raw, since the health-promoting allicin (in garlic) and folic acid (in asparagus) are reduced or destroyed in the cooking process. Here’s what I would’ve told their guest.

Three Important Reasons Deepak Chopra and Dr. Oz Are Wrong About Raw Food

1. Their whole discussion is based on the assumption that a raw food diet can ONLY include raw fruits and vegetables. Where’s that rule written? Most raw food educators gave up pushing a 100% raw food diet years ago. 100% raw works for some people some of the time, but  a variety of cooked  vegetables can supplement a raw food diet quite nicely. Even so, there are people who’ve lived healthy lives for years on 100% raw food. They’ve educated themselves about nutrition, and they eat consciously, as we all should regardless of what eating-style we choose.  

2. They emphasized the idea that some nutrients are more available in cooked form than raw. So what?

The go-to example of cooked winning over raw is usually lycopene, which is much more available in cooked tomatoes than it is in raw tomatoes. But studies have demonstrated that sun-dried tomatoes have as much lycopene as cooked tomatoes. If they’re truly sun-dried, or dehydrated at low temperatures, they’re still raw foods. Blend them in a raw soup or salad dressing, throw them on a salad or in a wrap. You’re golden. And if you prefer cooked tomatoes, pour on the tomato sauce or roast some tomatoes in the oven. You can do that on a raw food diet, you rebel. See point #1.

(I couldn’t find any info on how blending tomatoes affects the lycopene availability, but I’d be curious to know. Since cooking makes the lycopene more available by breaking down the cell walls, blending might have a similar effect.)

The doctors are right about one thing: when you cook vegetables, their nutritient profiles do change. You lose a lot of the nutrients, but in some cases specific nutrients are also made more available. You can also make more nutrients available in your veggies by juicing them or blending them in green smoothies. As much as Dr. Oz likes to promote those two options, neither was mentioned in their brief dismissal of a raw food diet.

3. Nobody mentioned the importance of choosing good cooking techniques. Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat for Health, recommends cooking lots of vegetables in soups, so any nutrients lost to the water are still eaten in the final dish. Water sauteing, with minimal water, also works well. When you boil or steam vegetables you pour a lot of the nutrients down the drain with the cooking liquid. Any discussion of raw versus cooked has to address how the food is being prepared.

So . . .

I’m assuming the good doctors brought their best arguments to the table, but their brief analysis came across as a superficial look at something they consider trendy and unimportant. It would’ve been nice to see them examine the subject more seriously and include input from one of the many doctors who endorse a high raw food diet. Healthy debate is always welcome.

I don’t pretend to have more scientific knowledge than these two medical doctors. Not by a long shot. But they’ve both held themselves up as gurus, experts, people their audiences can trust.  They can, and should, do better.

But, hey. Nobody’s perfect.

Live the difference!

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Will you gain weight for the holidays?

I’m guessing you’d prefer not to pack on the extra pounds over the holiday season.

Even if you’ve been sneaking bite-size candy bars since Halloween, it’s not too late to hit the brakes and avoid gaining weight over the holidays.

According to a 2010 study, the average American will “only” gain 1  to 2  pounds during the holidays. (Overweight people gain around  5 pounds.) 1  or 2 measly pounds. That’s not so bad. Right?

Except for 2 things:

1. That’s the average, and some people will gain more than the average.
2. Many people will never get rid of what they gain. That holiday poundage will accumulate year after year, for as long as you have the good fortune to remain above ground.

How to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

1. Decide your health is a priority. If it’s not a priority, you can just skip the rest of this list and accept the consequences that come with six weeks of eating whatever, whenever.  Look, you know as well as I do that the holidays come with lots of extra demands on your time. If your health isn’t a priority, those other things will supplant your efforts to keep your weight in check.

2. Keep a clean kitchen. I don’t care if your counter-tops are sticky, but you must minimize the danger lurking in the pantry. All the cookies, cakes, candies, and pies that make their annual appearance around this time are fun to pick at and snack on, and it adds up fast. Minimize the temptation, so your home is a safe space. And while you’re at it, go easy on the tasting when you’re making the big meals.

3. Weigh daily. I know. I know. It can be an unpleasant experience. But it makes sense to be aware of any upward trend, so you can nip it in the bud right away.

4. Eat raw until dinner, and fill at least half of your dinner plate with veggies (no, that doesn’t mean candied yams or mashed potatoes). For breakfast and lunch, enjoy chia pudding, salads, collard wraps, raw soups and crackers, seed/nut pates, green smoothies, and the like.  Supplement with cooked (non-starchy) veggies, as needed. Have a conventional dinner, but let the veggies crowd out some of the less nutritious, waist-expanding dishes.

5. Minimize leftovers. Obviously you can have all the leftover broccoli and zucchini and green beans you want. But make or order just enough of that other stuff to enjoy for one meal. Don’t be pressured in to taking home extra potato salad from your grandma’s house. Don’t be the sucker that takes home the leftover bread and home-spun honey butter. Just don’t.

6. Decide which items are worth the splurge. I like corn pudding just fine, but it’s not something I’m willing to indulge in. On the other hand, I’ll probably have a small serving of Laurann’s Famous Dressing. Some things are worth having once or twice a year. Other dishes taste fine, but just don’t seem to provide enough pleasure to merit the downsides.

7. Avoid snowball foods. You know what these are. When you eat these foods, you find yourself going back to the kitchen looking for just a bit more. These foods make you want more of them and more of all the other things you shouldn’t be having. These foods inspire massive cravings. A little snowball will turn in to an avalanche. Just say no.

8. Enjoy super-yummy healthy dishes. Raw butternut squash soup, raw cobbler, quinoa and corn salad, mixed bean salad, oven roasted veg, raw cheesecake, raw garlic bread, marinated kale salad with fantastic toppings—there are limitless options for foods that taste great and offer a healthy (or healthier) alternative to the usual holiday fare. If you’re stuck in a corner sucking on iceberg lettuce while everyone else is raving over their meal, things will not end well.

9. Get some exercise almost every day. Who has time  for exercise during the holidays? Uhm, you do. If you make it a priority. You don’t have to do marathon sessions at the gym. But you do need to stay (or get) in the habit of regular exercise. If life overwhelms you, carve out 15 minutes a day to do some old school calisthenics or an online yoga video. Trust me. You’ll feel amazing when you can start the New Year without resolving to get back on the exercise wagon.

10. Make time for yourself.  Stress hormones encourage weight gain, but holidays only become stressful if you let them. Create space to take care of yourself every single day. As a great man (Homer Simpson) once said, “Can’t somebody else do it?”  Get over the idea that you have to do it all to make the holidays special for everyone else. It’s okay to celebrate with less than Hollywood-style perfection, especially if it means you end December with your sanity intact and your weight under control.

What are you doing to avoid holiday weight gain?

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I mean well. Really I do.

The people who know me best will tell you that while my heart is usually in the right place, I have a wicked sense of humor and a knack for telling hard truths. A dangerous combination, don’t you think? Strangers don’t always get me.

Last week, I had the pleasure and luxury of spending a couple of hours getting my hair done by a young stylist who doesn’t even realize how talented she is. Not only is she talented, but she’s also beautiful, and smart, and business-minded, and a great mom . . . and fat.

I can say this because we talk about weight loss every time I come in to see her. She gained weight when she was pregnant with her daughter, and with the stresses of motherhood, running her own business, and trying to actually have a wee bit of a social life, she hasn’t managed to take off all the extra pounds.

I can also call her “fat,” because I don’t see it as a loaded word. It’s not a reflection on her character, just a description of her current physical state. It’s a word I use to describe my own prior state (though obese is more accurate). She’s cool with it, because she knows she needs to make some changes. She’s in the process of doing so,  and she’s lost ten or fifteen pounds so far.

So. We’re in the salon. My head is in the shampoo bowl, and another client starts talking about how black women are lucky they can carry their weight so well.

I don’t know this lady, so I keep quiet.

“We have a lot of muscle,” she says. “So even when we’re overweight, we still look good in our clothes. We can get away with it.”

She goes along in this same vein for what feels like half an hour, but is probably only three minutes.

Finally, head still in bowl, I interrupt her. “When I was fat, I was just fat,” I say, laughing.  ”I had a full body scan, and yeah I had great bone density and a lot of muscle, but I was still lard-covered. I was on my way to diabetes and all that good stuff, if I didn’t drop the weight.”

She and the stylist go back and forth on the subject for a few minutes. The client insists we can carry the extra weight no problem. The stylist clarifies how important it is to her to reach a healthy number. She’s only in her mid-twenties. She wants to feel good about her looks. She wants to be healthy for herself and for her little girl.

I pipe up again. “I was close to 200 pounds. I’m only 5’4″. Even if I did look good, in or out of my clothes, which I can tell you I did not, I was killing myself. A lot of us try to focus on looking good, try to make  the fat look good,  rather than worrying about what that fat is doing to our health. It’s just a distraction tactic.”

The stylist asks, “Well, how did you lose the weight, Candice?”

I don’t want to scare her with tales of raw food, so I talk about making fruits and vegetables take up at least half the plate at every meal, eliminating processed foods, drinking green smoothies, and the like. She seems interested, so I make a note to bring her a copy of The Raw Food Difference at my next appointment.

My hair is clean and conditioned, and I’m told to move to the dryer. As I cross the floor, I get my first look at the other client. I should say, I get my first good look. I’d seen her sitting in the chair, covered by the shampoo cape, when I came in.

Now as she stands, I see that she’s four or five inches taller than I am. And she must weigh-in somewhere north of 250-pounds.

The look on her face says she wishes she’d left her hair looking crazy and avoided this trip to the salon–that she’d avoided running into a big mouth like me.

And I don’t blame her. I shut up, close my eyes, and nod for a bit in the warmth of the dryer.

I wish I could bring her a green smoothie and a great salad and a copy of The Raw Food Difference, but I’ll probably never see her again. Shoot. She’d probably head the other way if she saw me first.

What I wish I’d said: Everyone deserves to look and feel their best, no matter what their current size is. My goal is to inspire and help more people live the healthiest lifestyle they can, and that includes avoiding or reversing obesity, so they can avoid or reverse the diseases that come with it. I did it. And so can anyone else.

Maybe next time I’ll get it right. Maybe you will, too.

Live the difference!

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I admit it.  I’m the worst.

We do a ton of juicing  for our family of five, but I have a bad habit of throwing away the juice pulp. I know I should use it in a recipe, or at least for compost, but I’ve just been, well, lazy. I’ve got some dehydrated pulp in the fridge, and some frozen pulp in the freezer. All of it has been in there way too long. Aside from a few batches of juice pulp crackers, I haven’t made much use of the stuff.

But the times they are a-changin’. Thanks to Nancy, who was kind enough to leave her juice pulp cookie recipe in the comments of a previous post. The recipe below is  based on hers, with some additions and measurement tweaking from me. But the measurements aren’t written in stone, so work with what you’ve got.

NOTE: The more you mix in other stuff with varied textures, the more recognizable (cooked like) the cookie texture will be.  My kids decided I need to add more than I include in the recipe below, so I listed some optional add-ins. Those of you who are used to the fact that raw food is just different will probably be fine with the recipe as is.

Nancy G’s Zesty Raw Carrot & Fruit Cookies

Nancy uses a combination of carrot, pineapple, and apple pulp for her cookies. I usually juice those with greens, but this time I juiced the greens last, and kept that pulp separate from the rest. (Mine also included ginger.) If you don’t have enough pulp on hand, just adjust the recipe down.

With pulp you want to add in some flavor and modify the woody texture. A simple combo of pulp and dates would probably be flavorful enough, but the coconut and/or nuts make for a more enjoyable texture.

Makes about: 2 dehydrator sheets of cookies

WHAT YOU NEED

1 1/2-cups dates, pitted and covered in water to soak until soft (retain water)

3 cups pineapple/carrot/apple pulp

3/4 cup shredded coconut (more or less to taste)

3/4 cup chopped almonds, walnuts, or pecans (optional)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon alcohol-free vanilla

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

zest of 1 medium lemon

Optional: raw sweetener (agave, honey, coconut nectar, etc.) for a sweeter cookie, sesame seeds, golden raisins, dried currants, or whatever add-ins you like

WHAT TO DO

In a personal blender or mini-food processor, blend the dates with just enough soak water to blend smoothly.

In a large bowl, mix the date paste with the pulp. (You can do this in a full-size food processor, but you may need to add more water. Or you can just use your hands.) Mix in the coconut and or nuts. Blend in the coconut oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and lemon zest, making sure it’s all well incorporated.

Measure rounded tablespoons of the batter onto a Paraflexx-covered dehydrator sheet and flatten each one with the back of a spoon. Dehydrate at 105-degrees F for about 8 hours or overnight. Flip the cookies and ditch the Paraflexx sheets. Dehydrate for 2 to 3 more hours, or until they reach the desired consistency. We like them best when they’re still chewy. Don’t worry if yours dehydrate too long. You can always spritz them with a bit of water and try again.

Store in an air-tight container.

Thanks so much, Nancy!

Live the difference!

P.S. I’m not sure how these would work in a low-temp oven, but I’ll try to remember to test it next time.

Click here to leave a comment or ask a question. 

This is the last in a series of 3 posts on how to stick to a raw food diet by changing your beliefs.  You may want to read the The Real Reason You Don’t Stick to a Raw Food Diet and 5 Ways to Change your Beliefs before diving into this one.

Belief Changing Exercise

You’re doing the work, so you might as well do it right. It makes sense to grab a journal or notebook and write down the answers to the questions. It’s much more concrete and impactful than just sitting and thinking . If you really resent having written homework, a great option is to pull out your phone and record a video of yourself verbally working your way through these exercises. It’s okay to talk to yourself. It’s not going up on YouTube.

If you have several beliefs getting in the way of your transition to healthier eating and living, address each, one at a time. The important thing in this exercise is to analyze and revise your beliefs using both logic and emotion. When you’re looking at the costs and benefits, pay special attention to the emotions that come with them.

STEP 1: Decide whether or not you want to change your limiting beliefs. If you don’t really want to, all the exercises in the world won’t convince you. You’re wasting your time. Go read a good book or something instead. If you’re ready, move forward.

STEP 2: Identify the negative beliefs holding you back. How do you do that? Simple. Ask yourself a question, in this case, “Why can’t I stick to a raw food diet?” Don’t try to be logical in your answer. Just answer honestly. Ex: It’s too much deprivation.

STEP 3: Assess the costs of holding onto these beliefs, and how those costs and benefits make you feel. Ask yourself, “What price do I pay for not sticking to a high food diet, even though I know it works for me?” No one’s looking over your shoulder, so tell yourself the truth. Ex: Costs: forty pounds overweight, disappointment in myself, setting a bad example for others I care about, feeling like a failure, depression and sadness . . .  Benefits: I don’t have to make an effort to find affordable raw food treats, learn new raw food recipes, or figure out ways to enjoy raw food. I can just do what everyone else does. Do the benefits outweigh the costs or vice versa?

STEP 4: Establish a new belief that contradicts the limiting belief. Even if you’re not sure about this yet, you can come up with a belief that would support you in your goal of sticking to a high raw diet. Write it down and/or record it. Ex: As long as I’m mostly raw, I can include other foods I might miss and still enjoy the benefits of a high raw diet. OR  There are plenty of raw food treats that taste just as good as conventional treats. OR I can always find raw foods to satisfy my cravings.

STEP 5: Identify how the new beliefs will benefit you and how those benefits will make you feel. There must be some reason(s) you wanted to transition to a high raw diet in the first place. What would you get out of it? Ex: Enjoying a high raw diet allows me to maintain a healthy weight and improve my self-confidence. Sticking to a high raw diet keeps me energized from sun-up to bedtime, setting a great example for my family, and giving me something to be proud of. I’m happier when I look and feel my best, and raw food helps me to do it.

STEP : Reflect on your new belief and share it. Look at your video or read over your answers in your journal at the start of each day and whenever you feel those old beliefs creeping back in to throw you off track. Share your new beliefs with other people. If you can convince someone else, or at least try to convince them, that a raw food diet does can be indulgent and even decadent, for example, then you can convince yourself as well.

So the world isn’t set up to support your healthy eating goals.

That’s a shame, but it’s not an excuse for failing to stick to a high raw diet, assuming you’ve realized it’s the best choice for you. The only things keeping you from sticking to a raw food diet are the negative beliefs you’ve associated to staying raw.  But those beliefs can be replaced by positive beliefs that will support you in your healthy eating choices. Identify the beliefs holding you back, and make a change.

 5 WAYS TO CHANGE YOUR BELIEFS

1. Fake it ’til you make it. Choose the opposite of the limiting belief and pretend you believe it’s true. Testify about it every time you get the chance. Instead of whining that “a raw food diet is too expensive,” tell anyone who’ll listen how a raw food diet can be affordable, if you make the effort.

2. Prove yourself wrong. If you really believe, for instance, that eating raw is too time-consuming, do the research and find as many quick, simple raw food recipes as you can. Try working them into your diet for a week or two. There are 1000′s available for free. Just google.

3. Be a copy cat. Find someone who’s making it work and do what they do. If you think you can’t be raw when your family still eats a Standard American Diet, find some people who are already doing it, preferably someone with a lifestyle similar to your own. Raw food forums are a great place to meet role models, mentors, and like-minded people who’ve gotten just a little farther on their journey than you have.

4. Teach someone else what you’ve learned about your new belief. Start a blog. Post some links on facebook. Tweet about it. The more you preach it, the more you’ll believe it.

5. Use a belief changing exercise. 

Live the difference!

If you’re reading this article, you probably have an idea of what healthy eating looks like.

At a minimum, you know what you shouldn’t be eating. Right? Maybe you’ve toyed with a high raw diet in the past. Maybe it worked well for you, but you keep drifting away from it. Maybe you read a solid, well researched, common sense book, like Eat for Health, and dabbled in that eating-style for a while. You saw results, but slowly slid back to your old eating habits.

So what’s the real reason you don’t stick to it?

You don’t believe you can. Your beliefs determine what you will or won’t do. If you believe an action will be pleasurable, for instance, you’re much more likely to do it. If you believe it will be painful, you’re much more likely to avoid it. If you’re having trouble sticking to a raw food diet, something in your belief system is holding you back. You’re more focused on the perceived pain rather than the potential pleasure.

Some Limiting Beliefs About a Raw Food Diet

• I have to be 100% raw to enjoy the benefits.
• I have to give up all animal products to follow a raw food diet.
• Raw food is weird.
• I”ll be hungry all the time.
• I’ll be deprived of gourmet foods and desserts.
• I won’t be able to eat out.
• It’s too expensive.
• It’s too time-consuming.
• I can’t live without bread.
• I have to eat the same food my family eats.

Notice that all of those beliefs are subjective. Even the ones that sound like hard and fast rules haven’t been proven by anyone to be true.

Do you really have to give up all animal products to to benefit from a high raw diet? Lots of people, like Carol Alt, include raw dairy and, yes, raw or lightly seared meat, because that works for them.

Is a raw food diet really too expensive? There are people on fairly limited income who follow a high raw food diet. And there are lots of ways to do a raw food diet on a budget. You can shop through a CSA, buy in bulk with a friend, grow sprouts and greens and other food at home. Use seeds instead of more expensive nuts in lots of recipes.

All of the “reasons” keeping you from following a raw food diet come back to what you believe about raw food and about yourself. Anything short of a medical reason is likely a belief you’ve created in your own mind. Past experience, other people’s opinions, and your own value system put those beliefs in place. But they can be changed.

In the next article: How to Change the Beliefs Keeping You from Sticking to a Raw Food Diet. 

Hint: It starts with identifying your beliefs.

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Live the difference!

I know. I know. We’re all trying to reduce the amount of plastic in our lives.

I use mason jars for so many things , and I replaced my plastic kitchen storage containers with glass. I don’t buy disposable water bottles and most of my food comes with little or no packaging.

But I must confess, I recently made a plastic purchase that I don’t regret one bit. Plastic Jar Lids.

Seems like a rather unimportant thing, huh? Not when you’re juice feasting. When I did my 65-day juice feast a while back (It was an incredible experience!), I stocked up on jars, but all I had were the metal lids. You know, the two-part lids with the ring and the seal piece. Those are probably great for canning, but I’ve never canned so much as a stewed tomato.

Juicing ain’t canning, and those lids were a pain. We’re juice feasting this week, which means making up to 12 jars of juice each morning. With the new caps, I don’t have to look for the two pieces, the plastic won’t rust, and these lids will last indefinitely. It’s only day one, and I’m already glad I made the purchase.  The Eco gods will just have to forgive me.

(The jars are labeled as BPA-free, but I don’t fill the juice to the top, since I don’t know what other chemicals may be in the plastic.)

Live the difference!

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When I decided to jump into a raw food diet, I was super intimidated by any recipe that called for sprouting.

Soaking nuts and seeds was easy. Once I got a dehydrator, I made it a habit to soak pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds as soon as I got them home. Drained, rinsed well, left to sit, rinsed again, and dehydrated–job done.

But sprouting sounded so . . .  I don’t know . . .  so much like gardening. At which I really suck.

At some point I got tired of paying high prices for raw cereals and bars. I wanted to make them myself. It was finally time to quit being a little scaredy-cat and step up to the sprouting.

And guess what. Sprouting buckwheat for raw food recipes is insanely easy. In fact, it’s no more difficult than soaking and dehydrating the seeds for storage. I still buy some of those cereals and bars, but not very often.  Making my own is better anyway. I can tweak the ingredients to my  family’s liking.

Soaking and sprouting certain nuts, seeds, and grains (including buckwheat) makes them easier to digest and increases the levels of nutrients like protein, enzymes, and minerals. The process also reduces or eliminates anti-nutrients, like enzyme inhibitors.

How to Sprout Buckwheat for Raw Food Recipes

NOTE: This is for minimal sprouting. The buckwheat will look like grains with little tails, not the long skinny sprouts you use in salad. 

1. Toss the raw buckwheat groats in a large bowl.

2. Cover the buckwheat with filtered water.  Use enough water to go an inch or two above the buckwheat, since a lot of the water will be absorbed.

3. Leave the bowl on the kitchen counter for at least an hour. I usually let mine soak overnight.

4. Drain the buckwheat in a colander and rinse it well. The water will be thick and starchy, but keep rinsing until it runs clean.

5. Set the colander in a bowl until all the excess water has been drained. Cover the colander with a paper towel and let the buckwheat sprout for 12 to 24 hours, rinsing well every 12 hours.  Sprouting times can vary depending on factors like the temperature of your home.  ***You can skip steps 5 and 6 if you need to use the buckwheat right away. I do like to give it some sprouting time for the sake of increasing the nutrients, but it isn’t strictly necessary.

6. If you won’t be using the buckwheat right away, or need it dried for a recipe, toss it in the dehydrator and let it dry at 110-degrees F for a few hours, until completely dried. I usually just leave mine in overnight.

This isn’t a very sensitive process, so don’t get uptight about it. Run down to your health food store, grab some raw buckwheat from the bulk bins,  and give it a try.

Live the difference!

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I watched the women whining on Oprah’s couch.

They were fat, they said, because they were emotional eaters.  Oprah nodded her head, and said, yes, she was an emotional eater, too. Boo-freakin’-hoo. At just shy of 5-feet 5-inches, and creeping absurdly close to 200 pounds, I thought their excuses were ridiculous. I was convinced we were all fat because we loved food (as I do) and lacked will power.  Period.

A bit arrogant, you think?

Yes, maintaining a healthy weight and achieving excellent overall health does boil down to some combination of eating better (not necessarily less) and moving more. But I’ve learned over the years that there are usually reasons we don’t follow that formula.

In our current culture, it’s not uncommon to eat because you’re lonely, sad, bored, angry, celebrating, hiding, or lying to yourself. We abuse food when we eat to avoid or manage our emotions.

But just like you can make specific lifestyle changes to eliminate food cravings with physical causes, specific strategies can help you cope with or eliminate mental and emotional food cravings.

Strategies to Prevent (or Manage) Food Cravings

How to Deal with Mental/Emotional Food Cravings

1. Find another source of comfort or stress relief.  There are so many other things you can do besides eat to alleviate stress, boredom , or anger. Here are some strategies that work.

• Exercise. No need to run marathons to relieve stress. Daily 3o- minute walks can make a big difference.
• Journal Morning Pages.
• Journal 3 new things you’re grateful for each day. (See this video from minute 11:00.)
• Meditate, pray, or just sit in silence for a set period of time. Start with 2 minutes.
• Find an engrossing hobby or pursuit. (I can write for hours without thinking of food.)
• Complain less, and seek solutions more.

2. Repeat after me. “They’ll still be making it tomorrow.” Many years ago, when I was really young, I started buying into the idea that I was fat.  (I was really just out of shape.) Since I didn’t yet own a computer, I turned to the library for help. I found a weight loss book that would probably be discounted as hopelessly out of date now, but it taught me one important lesson. When you feel deprived  of some food you’ve removed from your diet for good reason, just tell yourself, “They’ll still be making it next week, or next month, or next year.” Replace the idea that you can’t have something–the idea that you’re being deprived of it–with the idea that you can have it later. Worked surprisingly well.

3. Recognize visual and cultural triggers. Going to Grandma’s house might mean apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Your brain might equate book club with wine and cheese with crackers. Watching football (God forbid!) could be linked with beer and pizza.  Once you recognize these associations, you can replace them with healthier options.

TV commercials and product placement can be more manipulative. (Luckily DVRs make it easy to never see another commercial.) Once you’re conscious of what you’re being sold (wine and elaborate meals = companionship, beer = beautiful people and fun times, cheeseburgers = cheap happiness, etc.), it’s much easier to say “no thanks.”

As for celebrating with food, I’ve found that it’s so culturally ingrained in me that I still enjoy it. I just do it with healthier choices. Raw food cheesecake feels like Christmas to me.

4. Eat plenty of magnesium-rich foods. A magnesium deficiency can leave you vulnerable to feelings of anxiety. A high raw diet should include plenty of magnesium-rich foods, like spinach, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, swiss chard, turnip greens, and collard greens. Dozens of natural foods provide this important micro-nutrient. Page down to the end of this article for a more complete list.

NOTE: This article, like all the articles on this blog, is not intended as medical advice. If you suffer disordered eating, such as unhealthy food restrictions, binge eating and/or purging, please seek medical help from a professional.

Live the difference!

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