Controversy in the Raw World

I've been meeting people enthusiastic about raw food for two years now. Most of them look really healthy and have a glow. but some of them don't. Its not just about what you eat. The one's who don't have the glow tend to smoke and though they do yoga and acroyoga and other fun physical things, they most likely don't gravitate towards cardio like biking, running, or short bursts of springs and tree climbing.

But the difference goes beyond just that! They ate a nut-based raw food diet. As a new raw foodist, i also ate a lot of nuts, and based a lot of my dishes off of almond and cashews, soaked, dehydrated, blended, chopped. I love nuts!

My first month on raw food was wonderful. I ate a lot of Elf Mud Balls which was:

Cashew Butter
Raw cacao
Flax Oil
Maca
Lucuma
Vanilla
Cinammon
Cardamom
Clove
Chichuhuasi

All of these ingredients in powder form, mixed together in a giant crystal bowl while singing to it and thinking good thoughts. Then make little balls like the ones i pictured, and roll them in some coconut shavings. Or some raw cacao powder mixed with some form of granulated sugar and cinammon? I've never tried that, but it might be delicious. ;) Although less nutritious.

I was riding So. High. I was in such an amazing mood, and i was on the highest, broadest frequency ever. But its no surprise, with all that luxurious goodness. I don't think anyone can really afford to eat that well. The only reason i could was because i was being enchanted by a wealthy raw chef! I was flying up the hills of san francisco, and nothing could stop me.

But recently, on my own now, I have been eating a lot of nuts to fill my calories throughout the day, and lo-and-behold I have very little energy. No Maca, No Lucuma, No Superfood powder blends. Just the base of the Elf Mud Balls, which is Cashews. Apparantly, according to BrianOnHealth and Frederic Patenaude, Nuts have about 70% fat in them. That really bogs the body down. So thanks to a few sources, i learned to up my fruit intake. So i just had two bananas blended with water for my breakfast and i feel energized and fully satisfied.

I'm going to go on this kick for a while. Last night I had two peaches after my raw spaghetti. A tip i picked up from frederic patenaude was to eat fruit before dinner, followed by a vegetable soup, and if i'm still hungry then, to eat whatever i feel like.

Living with, and cooking with my mom, will make this a little bit of a social difficulty. She always says "don't be so extreme." But that is something we will figure out. She wants to also be healthy, but she misses the hamburgers she used to make. If she made them, i would have to eat them. Not out of guilt, but because they're delicious, and curse me if i'm too extreme!!! But hopefully she doesn't make them anytime soon.

So in conclusion, I am upping my fruit intake. I had been feeling sugar depleted anyway, and had occasionally taken a scoop of ice cream impulsively, so I'm certainly not afraid of all the sugar. Which, by the way, is a myth (that it will raise your blood sugar level.)

Well, thats it for now. I'm going to go follow my banana milk with some peaches! I don't miss the nuts yet, at all.

Transitioning and Replacing

When it comes to replacing our old comfort foods with new ones, there are a few factors that come into play. If you're craving something, its best to find out if you miss the Process of making a food like lasagna, if you miss the nutritional benefit of eating a carb loaded dish like spaghetti, or if you're missing oils that cheese seems to provide, or if you want to crunch on something like a potato chip.

I enjoy making raw spaghetti, because Sauce + Noodles = Awesome.

In a spiralizer or a peeler with ridges, cut up some zucchini or dig out some spaghetti squash.

To make the sauce, in a food processor, pulse some:
Olives,
Sundried Tomatoes,
Red Bell Peppers,
1 garlic clove
1 small tomato or a few grape tomatoes for liquid taste

and add black pepper and salt to taste

I sauteed some mushrooms and onions to put on top in this picture, because i like the taste of sauteed onions in spaghetti sauce and haven't figured a good way to replace the caramelized onion flavor.

Why Go Raw-er?

Because it feels great.

Granted, emotional issues may come up when you can't suppress them with comfort foods, but dealing with that residual emotional energy is ALSO good for you, despite being difficult. Joseph campbell says, in The Power of Myth, that we can live a hero's journey, battling dragons, even when sometimes those dragons are our Selves.

The fact that there exists for our bodies an optimal diet is very aspiring. Truth: Some foods are good for us, some foods are detrimental to our health. My mission is to weed out the bad foods, and replace them with good foods. The challenge is comfort, convenience, knowledge/education, and transforming daily habits and rituals.

Part of my recent daily ritual that replaced (most days) eating granola, yogurt, raisins, and nuts has been making juice. The preparation takes about the same time, but the nutritional value is much higher.

In a magic bullet i put
1 Banana
3 strawberries
3 dates
bunch of raisins
kale and/or carrot greens
A little bit of whatever liquid you have on hand. Today i juiced some oranges. Yesterday i put some Almond Milk in. The day before that i put in some Coconut water. A fact that surprised me: Cucumbers have enough liquid to become a living water source in your blended drinks.

You can add yogurt for some probiotic addition as well :) But i enjoy eating yogurt as a snack so i don't do that.


It can be chewy, but i'm not opposed to chewing my juice as long as it tastes good. If your pregnant, a Date and Tahini shake is high in iron and unconventionally delicious as well.