The Properly Combined Sandwich

I adore fresh salads and generally rely upon them as my midday meal of choice. But sometimes I get tired of eating salad every afternoon, simply because I want to take a break from using utensils! In such cases, I want my salad to be somehow contained in a neat tidy package, so I can pick it up and just bite in with freedom and abandon. What I really want is... a sandwich!

Of course, sandwiches are usually made with bread, a food item that rarely appears in my dietary repertoire. This is why I love the Veggie Wrap concept. Any salad combo can be rolled into a nori sheet or large green leaf (think cabbage, collard or romaine) to create a satisfying sandwich sub.

Typically when I don't want the salad in a bowl, I wrap it up this way. But there are days when I crave something more substantial to accompany my fresh raw greens, something chewy and grainy...hmmm. What could that be? Bread, perhaps?

We all know that a standard sandwich involves bread plus a protein filling, say peanut butter, cheese or meat. The problem here is that, as explained in an earlier post, eating bread with protein is a no-no. Starches don't combine well with proteins due to the conflicting types of digestive enzyme environments they require (alkaline for starches, acid for proteins). Eating them together overburdens the digestive system, saps your energy for hours to follow and can lead to gas, bloating and weight gain. The best thing to combine with starches (or proteins, for that matter) is vegetables alone. So what's a lunchtime sandwich craver to do?

Enter the Properly Combined Sandwich (PCS). Basically, this is simply a raw vegetable sandwich on whole grain bread with condiments and avocado, if desired. (The veggies are usually raw but you can use cooked veggies as well from time to time.) To my knowledge, the official PCS title was coined by Harvey Diamond, a natural hygiene proponent, in his bestselling 1985 book Fit for Life. You'll see it used by many others as well, because, well, the concept is here to stay!

So. To create a Properly Combined Sandwich, start with the highest quality 100% sprouted grain bread or 100% whole spelt bread (or wraps) available. Perhaps your local natural bakery can be of service here. If not, both the Alvarado Street Bakery and Food for Life companies make tasty sprouted grain breads, bagels and tortillas that may be found in the freezer section of many grocery stores across the country.

Next, consider fillings. While raw veggies like tomato, lettuce, sprouts are famous typical sandwich supporting players, in the Properly Combined Sandwich they earn starring roles. And top billing goes to that most creamy and delectable of starch-friendly vegetable-fruits, the avocado. (I eat avocados every day I can get my hands on them - they are one of my favorite foods...)

Condiments like stone ground or dijon mustard, organic salsa and miso can also be important features in the Properly Combined Sandwich. Spread a little mustard on your sprouted grain bread, add a layer of sliced avocado and pile high with veggies of your choice: spinach, lettuce, mushrooms, tomato, sprouts, grated carrot, chopped garlic, parsley, red onion, cilantro - the sky's the limit.

I recommend eating one or two open faced sandwiches rather than a single two-slice number to maximize your raw veggie intake. Place a flat leaf of lettuce on top if you need something to hold onto. Alternatively, toss a raw salad with your favorite dressing, add avocado and spoon into a sprouted grain tortilla lightly spread with mellow white miso. Roll, wrap and eat - incredible! Or fill a corn tortilla with chopped lettuce, avocado, green onion and salsa to create a soft taco style sandwich.

A Properly Combined Sandwich is fresh, colorful and delicious. Best of all, it digests beautifully, so it won't cause you to bloat up or gain excess weight. In fact, you may even lose weight eating this way. And with so many veggies to use for fillings, the Properly Combined Sandwich never gets boring! Just remember to save any dense protein items (hummus, raw goat cheese, almond butter) for your starch-free green leaf and nori wraps.

Practically Raw in Winter

Hey baby, it’s (still) cold outside! Here in Western Massachusetts, late February marks the beginning of the end of the iciest two months of the year. For me, by this point in time the cold has seeped so far down into my bones it’s hard to really, truly warm up. Often, the only way to dispel the deep chill is to submerge myself in a hot bath or hop on the mini-tramp for a vigorous rebounding session. These methods both work wonders, provided the timing is right. When it isn’t, there’s always soup.

Everybody knows a steaming bowl of hot, savory soup is quintessential warming winter fare…especially when garlic and onions are involved. In fact, the idea of going without basic warming foods like soup has dampened many an earnest health seeker’s desire to consider giving the raw food detox lifestyle a try.

This is why it’s so important to understand that “being raw” is not the goal of cleansing! The goal is to enjoy the highest states of physical health and alert, energized awareness. Such states can only be achieved when we cleanse and nourish the body with the highest quality, high vibration foods.

Eating heavy, dense foods (animal flesh, cooked beans, nuts, etc.) requires a lot of work, sometimes for several days, on the part of the entire digestive system – from gut to liver to colon. This work slows us down, interferes with the natural flow of energy in our bodies and creates waste that must be eliminated or stored. Conversely, eating light, water-rich plant foods cause no such interference, supports the release of old stored waste from body cells and tissues and enables us to vibrate at our naturally high energetic level.

In other words, a cleansing diet based on fresh, whole raw foods can help us to clear out the food waste and toxins stored in cells and tissues over a lifetime, opening up our bio-electric channels to the free flow of life force energy. Raw foods are critical in this pursuit, but for most of us, especially those new to cleansing, it is equally important to consume high quality cooked foods.

When too many toxins are released into the system due to the overzealous consumption of raw foods, the body can become overwhelmed with poisons. Without giving the body sufficient time and opportunity to eliminate these wastes from the organism, “cleansing” can turn into “autointoxication” and become counterproductive.

Eating cooked vegetables (and fruits) helps to slow down the cleansing stimulated by raw foods without adding to the overall body burden. This allows the eliminative pathways to remove the wastes that are released into the bloodstream as a result of dietary cleansing.

Remember, the cleanest and most detox-stimulating foods are raw fruits, raw veggies and their freshly pressed juices. The next cleanest foods are whole, simply cooked vegetables – prepared by steaming, braising or baking. Rather than a stimulating effect, simply cooked vegetables have a somewhat neutral effect on the body. They pass through the digestive tract quickly and leave no waste behind, providing comfort, satisfaction and nourishment while allowing the body to attend to other needs such as assimilation, repair and elimination of wastes.

When it comes to a long-term cleansing lifestyle, clean food is more important than raw food. With this in mind, let’s talk about warming winter fare. Humans would not have ventured into cold climates without the accompaniment of fire and cooking. Today we live in heated homes with refrigerators and have grocery systems that allow us to enjoy fresh raw food year-round. But that doesn’t mean we want to eat nothing but cold salads all winter, nor should we force ourselves to do so.

If you love soup in winter, take heart! Get comfortable with being practically raw and you can have your soup and eat it too.


Practically Raw Miso Soup

This quick and flexible recipe can be made with whatever you have on hand for veggies. Because the vegetables are added to hot broth and essentially warmed through rather than cooked for any length of time (hence Practically Raw), their high nutrient and enzyme content is maintained. Just be sure to slice everything thinly so that veggies will warm through enough to soften when added to the hot broth.

NOTE: One of my favorite hobbies is to visit Asian food markets and pick up unusual (to me) ingredients: jars of curry pastes and seasonings, packages of seaweeds, fresh young coconuts and other exotic items. On one such visit I was fortunate to find a Thai seasoning called “Instant Seafoods Clear Soup Paste.” This secret ingredient contains chili, lemon grass, lemon juice, shallot, sweet basil leaves, sugar, salt and citric acid and adds a complex and intriguing taste to any soup – no seafood required!

Makes 2 gigantic or 4 average sized bowls of delicious, savory soup.

½ large onion, diced
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
1 celery rib, thinly sliced
½ package of baby bella (or other) mushrooms, chopped
1 medium zucchini, spiralized into noodles
½ red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
½ inch ginger, peeled and grated (optional)
1 Tablespoon miso (barley is nice)
1 teaspoon powdered vegetable broth
1 teaspoon “Instant Seafoods Clear Soup Paste” (optional)
black pepper or cayenne pepper to taste, if more hotness desired

Simmer onion in 2 cups of water for about 15 minutes. While the onion is simmering, prepare vegetables and set aside in a large bowl. (It’s a good idea to start with room temperature veggies if possible, since this is meant to be a warming meal from the prep to the eating.) If you don’t have a spiral slicer for the zucchini, you can use a vegetable peeler to make fettuccini-like strands or simply slice into long thin strips.

Once veggies are chopped and broth is done simmering, remove pan from heat. In a small dish, make a paste with miso, “Instant Seafoods Clear Soup Paste” (if using) and a little warm broth. Add paste back into pot of broth along with bouillon powder and stir to combine. To this seasoned broth, add all the sliced veggies and pepper if using. Stir to mix and allow to sit for a minute or two while veggies warm up and absorb flavors of broth. Taste, adjust seasonings if needed, ladle soup into bowls and enjoy!

Practically Raw! Nutrition Talk Tidbits

Last Wednesday night I had the honor of speaking at Green Fields Market (my local food coop) on the topic of Practically Raw nutrition. We had a terrific turnout (24 enthusiastic, light-filled attendees) and it was so much fun to be together and talk about living the high raw lifestyle.

Following are a selection of Practically Raw ideas we covered in the talk. Try any that sound workable for you!

To begin, let's consider the phrase "Practically Raw!" As you may have guessed, it's intended as a triple entendre:
1) a diet that is made up in large part, but not necessarily entirely, of raw, living foods;
2) a practical approach to eating raw, living foods throughout the day; and
3) slightly cooked food (i.e. lightly steamed broccoli, which may retain a higher nutrient profile than boiled broccoli, as well as some live enzyme activity)

General Suggestions
• Consider eating "light to heavy" throughout the day, with the lightest food in the morning and the largest meal at dinner time. (Helps maintain energy and mental clarity during productive daylight hours; allows for relaxation and release later when needed. For most people, big breakfasts weigh you down!)
• Consider eating "raw till dinner" and have your soothing, cooked "comfort" foods at end of day (when you may need them most)
• Listen to your body! The goal of eating living foods is to optimize health, not get caught up in a food trip. Always be kind and non-judgmental with yourself (and others) around dietary choices.

Practically Raw Breakfast Ideas
• Make breakfast a living liquid meal: ginger-fruit smoothie, green smoothie or freshly pressed vegetable or veggie-fruit blend juice. (please email me for smoothie recipes!)
• During colder weather, eat an ounce or two or raw nuts with bananas and/or dried fruit in the AM to help warm and fulfill the body-mind-spirit complex (may enjoy this 30 minutes or more after juice)

Practically Raw Lunch Ideas
• Enjoy a large raw salad, topped with creamy avocado or a rich seed-based or nut-based cheese, paté or dressing.
• Have a large raw salad with EITHER a cooked protein (such as beans, hard-boiled eggs or sardines) or a cooked starch (such as brown rice or baked potato), or a yummy soup (raw blended veggie soup or cooked lentil, tomato-basil, pureed veggie, miso, etc.)
• Learn to make a great raw dressing using a base of approximately 3 parts extra virgin olive oil to 1 part lemon juice or Bragg's apple cider vinegar. Add garlic, herbs/spices, kelp powder, sea salt or miso, minced red onion, mustard powder, whatever you fancy!

Practically Raw Snack Ideas
• World's Healthiest Snack: raw veggies! Think baby carrots (great for the car and at work), celery, snow peas, etc. May sprinkle with Spike or Old Bay seasoning, or for a treat, enjoy with raw goat cheese.
• Sweet Treat: a piece or fresh fruit OR a few pieces of dried fruit with a handful raw nuts OR a handful of raw nuts with a cup of herbal tea (Suggestion: eat fresh fruit half hour before meals or several hours after, on an empty stomach.)
• Savory Snack: raw flaxseed crackers (like those from Foods Alive!, which were sampled at the talk - many delicious flavors to choose from) or make your own in the dehydrator. (Once you have a dehydrator, this becomes a very easy and practical thing to make.) May spread with raw nut butter or tahini.

Practically Raw Dinner Ideas
• Feeling adventuresome? Try making a delectable (but still practical!) raw dinner such as beet rawviolis with pine nut ricotta (see Euphoric Organics link at right for recipe). Or wrap anything in a nori sheet for instant sushi! Sea veggies are great for alkalizing your blood and supporting healthy thyroid function, lipid & blood sugar levels and smooth digestion.
• Whip up an easy raw dish such as vegetable spaghetti strands created in the spiralizer from fresh zucchini or sweet potato (this stuff is amazing!). Top with cooked or raw tomato sauce, fresh pesto or a creamy, blended nut-cheese sauce. Raw veggie pasta is a surprisingly easy and quick meal to prepare, and will be different every time depending on the sauce you create and the veggies you use for the pasta.
• Old Standby: Salad + large dish of lightly steamed veggies, topped with flaxseed oil and sea salt, or tomato sauce and raw goat cheese
• Comfort Meal: Baked sweet potatoes (I love Garnet Yams best) with green salad and lightly steamed veggies
• Fish Dinner: enjoy baked or pan-fried wild-caught fish or indoor-farmed fish (e.g. catfish or Australis barramundi) served with large raw salad and/or a generous serving of lightly steamed or roasted veggies, seasoned to taste

Practically Raw Dessert Ideas
• Raw Cacao! Try the whole bean, or make some homemade avocado-cacao pudding or raw chocolate with raw cacao powder + coconut butter + raw honey or agave. You can also purchase real, live raw chocolates (like the amazing hearts from Sacred Chocolate - 19 flavors to choose from!) - a fabulous treat.
• Brown rice cakes or Dr. Krackers (100% spelt crackers) spread with raw nut butter or tahini + raw honey
• 70%+ Dark Chocolate (Divine, Green & Black, etc.). Not raw, but easy enough to come by, and a fine finish to any meal!

Have fun experimenting, and please be in touch with any questions or comments! (P.S. Gourmet chefs: check out http://gliving.tv/greenchefs/recipes/category/raw/ for incredible recipes!)

Yours in health and joyful service,
Diana

Practically Raw!

Many people are attracted to the idea of following a raw food diet, but don't know where or how to begin. One may read a lot of books and study a lot of teachings but hesitate to take the next step of putting ideas into action because the ideals feel so extreme. This is why I am a big proponent of taking small steps when changing your diet. Go slowly and honor your personal needs and transition level by applying Practically Raw principles.

Plunging into a 100% raw lifestyle is not something I generally recommend, though there are some who experience success with this approach, at least for the short term. For most of us, a gentle transition to a high raw diet is a better idea for several reasons.

First of all, what is the purpose of eating raw foods? Is the goal to follow a rigid dogma, to live up to someone else's belief system about what you "should" eat or to be able to label yourself a raw foodist? Or is the goal to be healthy and happy?

For me, the goal of eating raw foods is simply to feel great - awake, alive, confident and productive! I don't want to be slowed down on a daily basis by dense food that takes hours to digest or, worse, knocks me out into a food coma. I want my body to be naturally lean and healthy, my mind to be clear and my energy to be bright – every day! I also want to feel connected to all beings, the natural world around me and the energy of life that permeates the universe – every day! A diet based on raw and living foods helps me to feel this way.

Please note, the words "based on" are very key in that last sentence. Personally, at my transition level I find it useful to eat non-raw foods on a regular basis, usually at dinner time. I am partial, for instance, to such cooked delicacies as velvety baked sweet potatoes with raw butter, and spicy-creamy Thai coconut curry (loaded with colorful chunks of just-tender vegetables and mounds of chopped fresh cilantro). Eating cooked foods like these helps me to feel grounded, connected and satisfied in ways that I deeply value. At other times, those needs are less and I prefer lighter fare. This entry, for example, is being blogged on my final day of a three-day juice fast, making me 100% raw presently, and feeling incredible. Meanwhile, I know at some point I will enjoy Thai coconut curry again.

So it’s all in a flow. In time and season, and depending on your life situation, the percentage of raw/cooked food in your diet may change in either direction. What matters most is finding the balance that works for you.

Physically, raw foods are very light and cleansing - fruits in particular. This is a fantastic thing, but too much cleansing all at once can overwhelm the body's ability to detoxify and eliminate the waste matter that is released. Cooked food helps slow down the cleansing process, protecting and respecting your body's reality in the moment.

Mentally, raw foods help to open and clear the mind, as they are packed with very high energy, solar vibrations that sharpen our thought and vivify our nervous system. But in the extreme, too much raw food can cause us to feel "spaced out" and ungrounded. It's wonderful and amazing to feel high on life, but we don’t want our thoughts to be merging with the cosmos while we are operating a car on the freeway with two kids in the back, right?

It's important to eat grounding foods while transitioning into a Practically Raw diet to help us function effectively on this earthly plane. My top picks for grounding foods are earthy root vegetables (foods that literally grow IN the ground - think baked sweet potatoes, grated parsnips or steamed turnips), squashes (which grow LOW TO the ground), and lightly cooked low-starch vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, etc). Smaller amounts of cooked/sprouted whole grains (millet, quinoa, brown rice) and beans (if tolerated), and some animal foods (preferably the least dense animal foods, such as raw goat cheese, organic eggs or wild fish) may also be used to help us ground our energy.

Emotionally, we need to be honest with the fact that many of us are literally hooked on processed carbs, processed dairy and dense cooked foods, and going off them cold turkey without any bridging foods (such as sprouted grain bread to replace regular white bread, or raw goat cheese to replace pasteurized cow milk cheese) may backfire.

Socially, we may have systems in our lives that involve shared eating experiences. If we forego cooked food entirely or too suddenly, our inability to participate in these occasions may end up causing personal sorrow or interpersonal tension. It is important to take a stand for your beliefs and be true to yourself, but go easy. As Natalia Rose encourages, let "progress, not perfection," be your guide. Sometimes it is wisest to weigh the trade-offs and just do your best in a given situation.

Many devoted raw fooders guilt trip themselves for eating or craving cooked food, feel shame for caving in to craving, and in some cases even develop eating disorders such as orthorexia or binge-purge disorders all because they are trying to stick to a raw program that doesn't suit the truth of their actual situation, capabilities and needs. The stress this creates is not conducive to health and happiness, and isn’t that our primary goal?

Contrary to what some may preach, cooked food is not necessarily poison! Yes, raw foods are our original foods - there's no doubt about it. Raw foods provide optimum nourishment, life force energy, enzymes and nutrients. But the evidence is strong that humans have spent about 1.9 million years eating cooked foods, too. We are adapted to eating both. (What we are not, and will never be adapted to eating is junk food, processed food, white flour and sugar, artificial colors, synthetic fats, etc.) Furthermore, if we are used to eating lots of cooked food, its sudden absence can turn even the highest quality raw food into "poison" by virtue of its causing too many stored toxins to be liberated from our cells and tissues at once.

So let's be practical! Let's sensibly make it our goal to eat lots of living, raw foods every day, and to honor our own transition level by balancing these foods as required with healthy cooked foods. In this way, the Practically Raw lifestyle can help us meet our physical, mental, social and emotional needs around diet and nutrition with savor, joy and fulfillment.

Yours in the light of radiant health,
Diana

The New Raw Food Diet

Tomorrow night at my local food coop, I'll be giving a free nutrition talk on The New Raw Food Diet.

Upon reading the above title, you may wonder: what possibly could be "new" about raw foods? If so, then you'd have a good point! Considering that ALL diets were exclusively RAW for EVERY species on the planet throughout most of prehistory - and still are today for every creature on earth but humans (and our domesticated animal friends) - I admit it's somewhat of a misnomer to use the descriptor "new" when talking about uncooked foods. At the same time, the concept of, science around and options for raw food lifestyles and cuisine have expanded gastronomically in recent decades, far beyond the wildest dreams of the early Natural Hygienists, I'm sure.

Thanks to a number of truly gifted and inspired chefs, there's LOTS new and delicious about eating raw. Today, wheatgrass, sprouts and rejuvelac are no longer the only items on the menu. Consider such incredibly tasty delicacies as beet rawviolis with pine nut ricotta (thank you Renée Loux for this number one pot luck hit!), herb-enrobed sunflower & cashew cheeses, delectable dehydrated date-nut cookies, spicy flax crackers & grain-free breads, tangy superfood smoothies, rich chocolate pudding cakes and everything in-between.

Equally thrilling is that, thanks to the wise guidance of nutrition experts such as Natalia Rose, an emphasis on transitioning gently rather than racing to 100% raw is increasingly understood and embraced. It's OK to have our raw cake and beets baked, too! (In fact, it's recommended.)

So, I can't wait to meet my group tomorrow night. We will review the dynamic history of the raw food movement, discuss the benefits of consuming plenty of natural foods high in life force energy and share menu options and recipe ideas. Hope you can make it!