Can you believe this mouth-watering dessert is not only vegan, but RAW? And what does that mean? Oh yeah, it’s healthy! This is Ecopolitan’s Berry Parfait. It’s coconut date cream topped with seasonal berries, whipped frozen banana, pecans and raisins. It’s as cold and creamy as ice cream and the crunchy brown stuff underneath is like a graham-cracker crust. Yum yum.

Ecopolitan has a wide variety of dishes, all of which sound heavenly. And all incredibly good for you. You can’t lose. Even if the whole raw thing freaks you out and sounds horrible, you should check it out. You’ll be amazed by the orgasmic potential raw food can have when prepared by experts.

And if the food’s not tempting enough, they also have an infared sauna, oxygen bar, eco-art gallery, eco-shop, and eco-clinic. Find out more on their website: http://ecopolitan.com/ And it all takes place in a cute vintage house. We had a great time when we went and the wait staff was incredibly friendly. We showed up for a late dinner and the place was still hopping. My sister brought her baby along and they mashed up bananas for him (his first time trying bananas), which he absolutely loved!

Ecopolitan
2409 Lyndale Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55405
(612)-874-7336

I’m so fortunate to have a Whole Foods a block away from where I live now. I can wander over there at any time (which is actually kind of dangerous because it’s certainly not the cheapest place to get groceries). I’ll be honest. I have not been true to the raw food lifestyle. But I still highly respect it and think it’s a wonderfully healthy way to live. On that note, I found a lovely drink at Whole Foods called Synergy. It’s an organic raw beverage containing Kombucha Tea, which is:

a handmade Chinese tea that is delicately cultured for 30 days. During this time, essential nutrients form like: Active Enzymes, Viable Probiotics, Amino Acids, Antioxidants, and Polyphenols. All of these combine to create an elixir that immediately works with the body to restore balance and vitality.

It comes in a variety of flavors and the few that I’ve tried I really enjoyed. Pretty low in calories, too. Oh, but don’t shake the bottle before you open it. You’ll see natural culture strands sitting at the bottom and be tempted to shake the heck out of it, but it is a carbonated beverage and you will be sorry. Anyway, I find it to be quite refreshing. It’s not a very strong flavor, but it’s nice. It is an acquired taste and apparently some people really don’t like it. Tina Fey actually talked about it on the David Letterman show and said that it smells horrible and tastes horrible but she loves the energy she gets from it. And since it’s fermented, it can contain small amounts of alcohol. I have yet to get tispy off of it, personally.

It’s an easy way to do something positive for your health. And Kombucha is believed to support digestion, metabolism, your immune system, control your appetite, control your weight, support liver function, body alkalinity, anti-aging, cell integrity, and help give you healthy skin and hair. Pretty impressive! But it’s never a bad idea to do some unbiased research. Click here to learn more about Kombucha.

photo by Ryan McD

I love me some veggie sushi. A little rice, some avocado, carrots, cucumbers, throw in some tofu tempurah… so decadent… and of course, seaweed!

A co-worker of mine had been ill-informed about seaweed, hearing it had little to no health benefits. I assure you this is a very wrong assessment. In fact seaweed is incredibly good for you. According to Seibin and Teruko Arasaki, authors of Vegetables from the Sea, “All of the minerals required by human beings, including calcium, sodium, magnesium, potassium, iodine, iron, and zinc are present in sufficient amounts. In addition, there are many trace elements in seaweeds.”

Seaweed also cleanses your body by binding to heavy metals and eliminating them from the body and is even thought to be an effective cancer treatment. In addition, it’s really good for your hair. Other health benefits, according to Carlson Wade’s book Health Secrets from the Orient, include regulating the hormones, enriching the bloodstream, assisting in metabolism, promoting a youthful skin color, and helping to warm the body to promote mental youthfulness. Oh and did I mention it’s one of the best sources of vegetable protein and B-12? Yup, yup.

According to an ezine article :

Seaweed has been confirmed as one of Nature’s “all- round pharmaceutical miracles” with claims that it can accomplish everything from warding off and treating several types of cancer, lower cholesterol and blood pressure, thin the blood, prevent ulcers, kill bacteria and even cure constipation.

Really the list goes on and on as far as how great seaweed is for you. Check out the articles listed below for more info. If you don’t get much sushi in your diet, I recommend you to start adding more. And if you can’t stand sushi, I encourage you to explore other seaweed-laden recipes. Your body with thank you! And if you’re a raw foodie, don’t worry, seaweed can be eaten raw as well!

sources:
http://health.learninginfo.org/seaweed-benefits.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?Seaweed—Mother-Natures-Health-Miracle-&id=344321

You don’t have to be a raw foodist to sprout your own seeds, but if you are eating just raw foods, spouted seeds are an essential part of your diet. I’ve mentioned the wonders of wheatgrass previously. It’s got so many health benefits and is a great natural medicine. Normally I just buy my wheatgrass already grown at Wild Oats/ Whole Foods. $5 for a bed that lasts about a 5 days. A little longer if you keep watering it and trimming the grass. But it is nice to know how to sprout your own seeds. There are many seeds you can sprout besides wheatberries such as garbanzo beans, broccoli seeds, sunflower seeds, basil etc. I tried reading about sprouting, but it’s really not an ideal way to learn. The best way to learn is by watching someone else do it. Karen Knowler, a raw food coach, has a variety of how-to videos on YouTube. A couple of short videos I encourage you to watch if you’re at all interested in sprouting, are “Sprouting” and “Wheatgrass and Indoor Greens” which you can find here on her YouTube page: http://youtube.com/user/karenknowler

I finally got a colonic. Yup. Spring cleaning, if you will. It’s not so bad. Not so bad at all. It was less stressful than a typical doctor’s appointment. All I had to do was lay back and relax. And I chatted with the colon hydrotherapist, and before I knew it, it was over. I had it done shortly after my raw diet had ended so I really didn’t have a whole lot to get rid of since raw food is a great way to cleanse yourself. But it still felt great and my skin looks healthier now and my stomach aches are much less frequent. The first few days right after the colonic there was some cramping- but apparently that’s normal. Just my body adjusting to having been flushed out.

I think it’s a great idea to get one every now and again just to give your body a fresh start. There may be something hanging out in there that shouldn’t be. And some people flat out need to have them done because there’s so much blockage. And the longer waste stays in your system, the harder it becomes and the more difficult it is to remove. And before you know it you’re very ill due to all the toxins in your system. And it is possible to be so blocked up you can no longer excrete waste. Yup. Scary thought.

Your colon is essentially your body’s sewer system. All the stuff your body plans on getting rid of goes into the colon and then hopefully out of your body. But sometimes you need a little help with the last part. And chemical laxatives like Ex-Lax are not the way to go. Chemical laxatives, as I learned at my appointment, irritate your colon and dehydrate your body, when, in actuality, you need to add more water to flush out your system. Colonics are a very natural way of “cleaning house” without irritating your body or depleting it of its much needed water supply.

I also particularly liked this session because we talked about any issues I might be having- acid reflux, for example- and how I could improve such conditions naturally. Which I loved because I’d much rather take natural approaches to getting healthy versus taking medication. If you live in or near Salt Lake- I recommend getting your colonic at InnerLight Massage and Colon Hydrotherapy. The owner, Chad, made the session very comfortable and relaxing.

In summation: go see your colon hydrotherapist today!

Hoorah! 46 days as a raw foodist! Done! Though I must admit there were a few moments of weakness when I broke the 100% raw thing and had a cooked meal, or a bite of a cooked meal. Towards the end my stomach was having a rough time with the raw food so I cheated a little to keep my stomach from collapsing altogether. But I’d say I had at least 35 days of being 100% raw and the cheat days I was about 80% raw or more. Overall, I’m really glad I did it. It was a relief to do an extreme detox. It was a nice break from my usual caffeine, artificial sweeteners, processed food and alcohol that I consumed on a regular basis. The hardest part was on cold days when I couldn’t have a nice hot drink to warm me up. If I wanted anything hot, I drank hot water. And there were definitely times where I was so sick of raw food, slaved over a raw meal and ended up hating it, and became desperate for something new and tasty. But it was all a learning process, and I still have plenty to learn.

Since going back to cooked food I’m trying to be gradual. My body is no longer used to cooked food so I’m really putting my stomach through the ringer right now. Raw food is too rough and cooked food is unfamiliar. I had a big bean burrito for lunch yesterday, and though it tasted amazing, I was in agony afterwards. My stomach hurt so bad and my acid reflux was in full effect. Oy!

But I guess that’s good in a way. I don’t want to go crazy and start packing on the pounds by eating too much processed food. My body won’t let me. So I’m going to continue making my green drink in the morning, and probably eat mostly raw food during the day and maybe a cook up a nice dinner. I want to continue the raw thing but I’m not ready to be 100%. From what I’ve heard, many raw foodists say it took them a couple of years before going all raw. I can see why. Diving into it is not very realistic. It takes a lot of research and planning, learning how to make plenty of delicious raw meals so you don’t get bored or malnourished, etc. and it’s easier on your body if you gradually adjust your diet.

Here are some of the best things that I’ve gotten out of this whole ordeal: I really listen to my body now. I eat to fuel myself. I can sense when my body is craving leafy greens or a banana. And in the last couple of months, pretty much everyone I work with has gotten sick except for me. My immune system is stronger than ever. My stomach has gotten smaller and I get full much faster. I eat more slowly and really appreciate what I eat. I don’t need as much sleep, I am more efficient with getting work done, and I have more endurance when I excersize. And overall, I’ve just been a happier person. I’ve been more confident, have had less anxiety (even though it’s my busiest time of the year at work), and more ambition. I signed up for a pole-dancing class with some friends just for the hell of it. I have a more positive outlook on life. Not that I was a very depressed person, but I just feel like a weight has been lifted off of me and I’m more excited about life. It’s really amazing what a healthy, clean diet can do for your outlook on life.

I didn’t have any dramatic weight loss like I hear happens to many people when they go raw. I was all ready to be a sexy skinny size 2 with radiant blemish free skin and rock-hard abs. Ah well. Maybe if I go to one of those raw resorts for a month and get tons of colonics and wheatgrass enemas and fast on green juices I’ll have better luck. But until I am able to take that much time off of work (taking a whole week off is hard enough!) I guess my transformation to perfection will have to be more gradual.

I challenge you all to add more raw food into your diets. Give yourself a good cleansing. You’ll understand why raw foodists are so devoted to this lifestyle. It really is magical.

Ready for spring? Me, too. This smoothie will make you sing spring. Drink it in…

• 1 banana
• Juice from 2 mandarins
• 1 20 oz. can of pineapple chunks in 100% pineapple juice (no preservatives)
• 6 strawberries

Blend all ingredients together for a bright pink, decadent smoothie! Serves 2

That’s what I said when I heard there was a raw version of Pepsi hitting the streets. How could they possibly take something made of chemicals and convert it to all natural ingredients? On the other hand, I guess they’ve converted plenty of natural foods into chemical flavors, why not go the other direction? I am pleased. I never thought “natural” and “soda” would go together. Perhaps this is a response to the Coke Plus (the chemical soda containing vitamins). We’ll see if Coca-Cola responds to Pepsi Raw by making a Coke Health Shake or something. Such cute competitors they are. But hey, if they’re competing for the healthiest soft drink, I’m in full support. And if this is a hit, just imagine how the energy drink trend could shift. Like Michael Pollan says: Don’t Eat Anything That Doesn’t Rot. Hooray for natural ingredients!

Here are the ingredients in Pepsi Raw:

• apple extract
• plain caramel colouring
• coffee leaf
• tartaric acid from grapes
• gum arabic from acacia trees
• cane sugar
• sparkling water

The word on the street is “It is paler in colour and less fizzy than other cola brands.” Is the soda really made of “raw” ingredients? Nothing heated over 118 degrees? I doubt it. But I sure as heckfire want to try it. I guess it’s currently only being sold in the UK. I really hope it makes it’s way over to the US. It could do a world of good over here where much of the country survives on soda and highly processed foods. This would be a great asset to the rising health trend. Apparently they haven’t made a new Pepsi drink in a decade, so they better be pretty confident that this is a good idea.

Many vegans, health nuts, and raw foodists alike love the green drink. It’s a great way to jumpstart your morning. And if you are trying to follow the 3 Body Cycles, this is the perfect way to begin your day. There’s no one way to make a green drink. Every morning I like to try a new combination of vegetables, maybe with a little fruit added for sweetness. Here’s one I find to be particularly tasty.

• A handful of freshly cut wheatgrass
• A handful of baby carrots or chopped carrots
• A handful of Goji Berries
• Around 1 C water, more as needed to make juice-like

If you have a juicer, use it! If not, you can blend all of these up in a blender (I like to use my cup-size blender) and then strain to remove any chunks or fibers. Use a spoon to stir and push the liquid through the strainer if it’s being stubborn. The result is a deliciously fresh glass of juice. Your body with thank you.

Lately, I’ve been getting pretty bored with the raw food I’ve been making. And the last several recipes I’ve made were not to my liking. I was starting to feel pretty down about raw food. But I had heard there was a raw restaurant nearby, and last night I finally made the trek over there. I am soooo glad I did.

Omar’s Living Cuisine, located in the Sugarhouse district at 2148 South Highland Dr. in Salt Lake City, has the appearance of a “natural” cafe. The unpainted wood furniture and natural colors throughout the restaurant are comforting. Our waitress was very sweet and very dedicated to the raw lifestyle. She said she wasn’t even vegan or vegetarian prior to going raw. She ate meat and dairy and thought she was fairly healthy until she went to a raw seminar and was blown away. It took her about 2 years of gradually incorporating raw food into her diet and now she maintains about a 97% raw lifestyle and says she drinks alcohol occasionally. She also said working at Omar’s helped her with her raw diet because she has learned so much about raw food and they have a constantly changing menu so she gets to try many new recipes. One customer asked her what she recommended (you could tell he was unfamiliar with the raw diet) and she said, honestly, I can’t recommend anything because I love it all.