It's disturbing to see how much products are being sold with a "healthy" image. Probably the most popular are the fat-free yogurts that are stuffed with sugar. One bad tackled, one bad (worse) replacing. Today I was in the city and bought some "healthy" snacks from a supermarket. For the first time I bent down to see the inci-list of the yogurt covered stuff. Yogurt covered pineapple - how guilty does that sound? Not much.
But the truth is, that the only yogurt you can find from the list, is a flavoring! And the main ingredient is sugar. Along with various E-codes. I'm not saying these are bad bad monsters that will destroy your health, hehe, no. Just pointing out, that don't be blind on what marketers try to make us believe. Keep your eyes open, read the inci-lists and make your own judgements.
Two weeks accomplished. Now give me that green curry, soya"meat"balls and rice porridge!!! :)
Seriously speaking, what's up next? I'm thinking about keeping one huge salad on my menu at least once a day. Also, the green smoothies and raw porridges will certainly be often on my breakfast menu. I still have the same no-no's: meat, coffein, getting drunk :) They make me feel instantly bad and/or are a risk to my health. Also trying to keep the intake of white flour and sugar reasonable. I mean, saying "no" to a warm cinnamon bun would be just stupid. With all the sweets in general, I'll probably be doing more raw than baked in the future. It's a small change you can easily do, that benefits your health.
Today's "farewell dinner" was amazing! It must be partly habituation to the raw, but the cheese sauce on this pasta tasted do cheesy, you cannot imagine! Although the raw two weeks are now ending, I know this is going to be my lunch tomorrow.
And yes, a big portion of smashed potatoes, soyaballs and lingonberry jam in the evening :)
Pasta with cheese sauce
Pasta:
Slice zucchini into thin slices (cheese slicer is a good help)
blend with one tablespoon of coconut flour
Cheese sauce:
1 dl cashews (soak for 1-2 hrs)
quality salt
black pepper
1 tbsp soya sauce / tamari
1 tbsp lemon juice
(1 tsp lemon zest)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
(thyme)
water (not the soaking water of cashews)
Blend it into the most delicious pasta sauce! I didn't have lemon, so I used half a lime instead. Worked just fine!
Last, but not least, a big thank you to Katja of Moments-blog, for handing out all these recipes!
You know those days when you are feeling tired, the darkness is bringing you down and you just instinctually turn to something good to eat. And there's nothing wrong with that (occasionally)! Turns out, even on a raw diet, with a little bit of imagination, you can satisfy your sweet tooth easily with raw chocolate, dried plums and like.. mixing apple, maple syrup and peanut butter. Way too good. So, not the healthiest day, but at least better than a pizza and a bowl of Ben&Jerry's! This being said in all respect and love to BJ.
Ok, pretty much NOT interesting information. Actually, I just wanted to come here to say thank you for all you kind people, who have been reading this blog and commenting to me on these topics. It feels so great to deliver some ideas and inspiration! I will not be posting on daily basis from this challenge forward, but I certainly hope to keep you reading :)
Today's dinner was stuffed mushrooms with salad. It's a small portion - the lines above explain pretty good why I wasn't too hungry :) The recipe was fantastic, however.
Recipes from Raw Food for Dummies by Katja/Moments-blog
spinach
papaya
avocado
coconut flakes
salt
black pepper
dressing:
peanut butter
sesame oil
chili
lime juice
olive oil
I think this will rate quite high on my list of lunch salads. So simple and so tasty! Two weeks have almost passed and I'm having bit of a mixed feelings. Mixed, but positive. This two week challenge has definitely done good to my digestion, since it's working better than in years. I've also found some new food favorites, that will definitely be on the menu in the future.
Also, I've noticed, that it is possible, that a smaller amount of a sweet thing is enough. One evening, I ate about 1/4 of a chocolate bar which I assumed to be 200g, but no, it was actually only 100g! So I ate like 25g and was totally satisfied. Weird. Also today, we went into this cutest cafe with my boyfriend and I had two bites of his cinnamon bun. Normally, two bites would have gotten me only to order a bun of my own, but not this time. Totally happy with two bites. How odd! For sure this'll change pretty soon, haha.
Then again, I haven't been so punctual following the plan (as you probably already figured out from the previous paragraph..), so for sure I did not get the full effect. But little's better than nothing :) Two more days to go!
I have a confession to make. Well, it's not really a confession, since this was never meant to be a torture diet and I feel I'm doing the right thing listening to my body. I've had some troubles sleeping three nights in a row (very unusual) and last night, literally in the middle of the night, I sat down with a bowl of natural yogurt with peanut butter and cherry jam. It was all lovely and helped me to fall asleep.
I've had that nasty nauseous feeling three evenings in a row. It might be just the toxins in my body starting to move, but on the other hand, as I already said, this was never meant to be a torture diet. So, this morning I had a bowl of nice warm oatmeal porridge with my green smoothie and I'm feeling a lot more balanced now. I'm thinking I'll adapt the rest of the challenge a bit more suitable to my body. Going pretty much day by day - listening to my body.
This amazing salad was today's lunch. It's not very filling, but that was just fine since the breakie oatmeal bowl was not the smallest :)
Happy independence day to all my Finnish readers!
ps. all the recipes from Raw Food for Dummies by Katja/Moments
I've been feeling a bit nauseous and cold today. Not sure if it's because of the food or because of the lack of sleep last night. It is interesting, they say that feeling nauseous in the beginning of a raw diet is just because all the toxins in your body are starting to move and exit - then again, you can wonder if it's just that your body is lacking something it needs. The body is truly amazing and it can adapt to SO many different diets, so quite naturally it will also get used to changes. So is the feeling better a symptom of the toxins being gone, or is it just habituation?
Have I noticed any significant changes so far? Well, at least my food digestion is working a lot better than usually. And I don't have such a sugar cravings in the afternoon and evening. It's also quite liberating not to have to think about what you are going to eat. And funny to be so excited about getting to mix a BANANA in your smoothie! Well, it just makes such a difference to the taste :) Also, I had some natural organic yogurt yesterday evening, because I felt like something milky. And has a bowl of yogurt ever tasted so amazing!? Gosh :)
Coming back to body adapting to different diets - one thing that I definitely notice, is that I'm getting used to the real flavors and pure, clean food. If I now think about what I'd like to have, if I could eat anything, it's not the usual risotto/pasta/Ben&Jerry's/mudcake - I feel more like having a warm oatmeal! Or rye bread with butter!
Ok, there were some thoughts, here is the picture of my dinner salad. Have a lovely evening!
So far I've had the best and the worst taste experiences with this challenge. I kinda ruined the melon smoothie the other day and yesterday's papaya smoothie.. let's not even go there. Then again, some foods have been out of this world delicious, like todays breakfast porridge. That was more like a dessert and I enjoyed every single bit of it! Afternoon snack was raw chocolate mousse, and you can never go wrong with that :) Also the "sushi" that I had as a dinner was yummy.
Soak everything except blueberries and banana overnight. Don't use the soaking water of buckwheat, do use the needed amount of soaking water of the fruit. Blend everything and add some cuties on top. I used almond flakes, coconut flakes and raisins.
Chocolate mousse:
1 avocado
3 soaked dates (use the water)
3 tbsp raw cocoa powder
honey
vanilla
Blend and enjoy! I added some mulberries and cashews on top.
Recipes from Raw Food for Dummies by Katja/Moments
Thinking about having "just a green smoothie" for breakfast doesn't sound that tempting. Nor filling. But just take a wild guess how this was, yes, both tasty and very filling (yes, the portion is also huge). Think of it as a combined bread with veggies and a fruit salad :) Just that it is all pure, natural and in a form that is easy for your body to digest and to absorb all the nutrients. You know, that after a night of "fasting", the body is like a dry sponge. It is happily looking forward to efficiently use all the things you give it in the morning. So while a french breakfast with white bread and nutella might sound awesome, it's not the best choice. At least not every morning :)
You also must know people that skip breakfast in an attempt to lose some weight. Or maybe it's just a habit not to eat. Or maybe your body just does not take in anything (or it feels like it). But the truth is, that you should eat something within the first 1-2 hours you are awake. This sends the body a message, that it is time to wake up, start to burn the fuel that it is given and to function in all the magnificient ways it does. Not having breakfast tells something more like "Gosh, dude, it seems we are NOT having any fuel today! It's not yet for certain, BUT we better now start to hold on to the fats, just in case. And let's also start to slow down all the preparing work; inflammation curing, diseace protection and cell renewal."
So if you happen to be one of those breakie-skipping-folks, maybe you could start tomorrow by having a glass of juice. Or blend a small smoothie with juice, yogurt and fruits/berries. Think about that you are doing your body a huge favor.
Pineapple Spinach Smoothie
3 handfuls of spinach
1 dl hamp seeds
1/2 dl coconut flakes
a big chunk of pineapple
an orange
water
Katja threw a challenge in her blog last spring about eating raw food for two weeks. Personally, I think it's pretty extreme to go from a meat - white flour - sugar -including diet into 100% raw. So, careful if you think about trying this. I even don't think 100% raw diet suits everybody. For me, I think the good ratio is about 50-50. Now, however, I'm so tempted to try this challenge out of curiosity. I want to see, how my body feels about this chance to inhale so much nutrients and less "useless" stuff. Any piece of additional energy (+ reduced stress levels) this dark time of the year is welcome. My main goal is NOT to stick to the food plan like a stupid monkey - I just try to listen to my body and give it what it needs. I'm pretty sure at the end of the first days, I hear a strong request for milk and muesli. If that's the case, so then be it. A bowl of muesli with milk coming right up :)
I went shopping yesterday/today and was kind of terrified with the costs of all these veggies and stuff. And (I'm afraid to admit) not even all of them are organic! Well, this is an experiment and in the future, I'm sure I'll reduce the amount of raw - and try to increase the amount of organic. But I have to admit that I love the way my kitchen table and fridge look right now.
Tomorrow is the first raw day. I'll let you know how it goes :)
I found this comparison when cleaning my computer desk top. Remember when I posted the raw rum raisin ice cream? Well, if you had to choose the traditional rum raisin ice cream or the raw version by the ingredients list - which would it be?
Rum raisin ice cream (Valio)
Non fat milk Cream Sugar Water Raisin (5%) Milk protein Lactose Glucose Non fat powdered milk emulsifier E471 Thickener E401 Thickener E412 Thickener E410 Thickener E1422 Rum (0,7%) Vanilla aroma Vanillin aroma Caramelized sugar syrup Acidity E331
Raw rum raisin ice cream
Cashew
Banana
Rum
Raisin
Honey
Eating is making choices. You vote for the food production, you can make change on what you see in the shelves of a supermarket and most importantly - you make the choises for your own body and health. Here are some of my choises. Writing this blog, I just feel a need to share this.
Why no meat?
I have been lacto-ovo-fish-vegetarist for seven years now. This period of time included short period when I ate white meat (chicken and turkey) and also some accidents when living in Germany, when I thought kebab was made of turkey. Hehe, I know it now!! But since over a year I have gone back to my path, which is vegetarian food + milk products (lacto), eggs (ovo) and fish (fish). Yeah, fish-lacto-ovo-vegetarist is probably not a real term, but it's way better than what I started with in year 2005 "lacto-ovo-lasagne-vegetarist" :)
My reasons not to eat meat are threefold. First, I've never really liked meat, it was only minced meat I liked growing up (and I think we all know by now what's in it). Secondly, our bodies do not need meat to be healthy. For instance, soya "meat" balls have five times the amount of protein of regular meat balls. The third, biggest, reason is that the way production animals are treated, is just horrible. It's come so far from the happy-go-lucky farms that we still see in the kids' books. The production animals do not eat what they naturally would eat and they are pumped up with antibiotics and hormones. And you think this has no traces in the meat sold nicely packed in the supermarkets?
I recommend everybody to watch Food INC -movie and after that, I feel everyone can make their own decisions. I do not judge, I just feel that everyone should make concious decisions.
Why whole food?
Ever taken a look in the INCI-list of the products you buy from the supermarket? And compared it with the ingredients list that you had imagined. Quite a difference, most of the times. Food coloring, preservatives, sweeteners, stabilizers... When ever you have the chance, the time, the energy and the money - try to cook your own meals. And choose organic.
Why raw food?
Raw food is food, that is not heated over 45 degrees, therefore preserving all important enzymes and nutrients. When food is cooked, most of its enzymes, beneficial bacteria and heat sensitive vitamines are destroyed. Also the carbohydrates, proteins and fats have changed their structure when heated. They cannot maintain the body's functions in the same way, than the original forms.
Raw food is also un- (or very little) processed. The corner stones of raw diet are berries, fruits, vegetables, root vegetables, sea weeds, seeds, nuts, peas, beans, and un-heated oils. Some also include eggs and milk into their raw diets. In raw food the leaf green plays a major role. I already have talked about it here.
There are amazing stories, how raw diet has healed diabetes or even MS-disease. Everyone can decide themselves if this can be true or not. But I do believe, that body (and mind) has amazing abilities to cure and heal itself, when given the fuel it needs. And letting go of the non-food, that is just putting stress on it.
Why not to enjoy life?
Do I eat only vegetarian whole raw food? No :) No no no. Even the thought makes me claustrophobic :D And this is also a decision I have made for myself. Everyone makes their own decisions. I love to eat out, I want to enjoy serious double chocolate cheesecake and sometimes grap a ready made lunch. I even have found myself putting some artificial sweetener in my tea in a boring meeting. And if I'd some day grave a burger from McDonalds, there is absolutely nothing holding me back. Just that I know myself, and.. I might go to a nice restaurant for a veggie burger instead :) The whole point is, that you are aware of what you are doing and how your actions affect your body, mind and wellbeing.
Be brave to challenge yourself, try new things and figure out the best path for you.
