Raw Almond Milk, French Press Style

For years I've shied away from making my own almond milk. For one thing, I'm not much of a milk (of any kind) user, but it's the straining step in particular that always seemed like too much trouble.

Okay, full disclosure. The "nut mylk bag" thing really turns me off. You know what I'm talking about: the reusable fine mesh bag, made of nylon or hemp cloth, that you have to suspend over some type of receptacle, pour your blended almonds into, and squeeze with your hands, again and again?

Not that I mind milking things. I've milked a few cows and goats in my time, for instance, and quite enjoyed it. But the cumbersomeness of the nut mylk bag, the slimy factor, the questionable hygiene, the clean up? No thanks. I do own a nut mylk bag. But truth be told, I've never used it. Not even once!

I've always loved the idea of making my own fresh almond milk, though. And lately I've been dreaming of an almond milk green smoothie, say, with bananas, dates, and comfrey added - yum! I know I could use boxed almond milk, but that doesn't really appeal to me either: too dead and processed.

So, it was with great excitement that I learned, from fabulous N.Y.C. Food Coach Dana James, of a new, bag-free option for homemade almond milk production: the French Press method.

Mais oui - but of course! Why didn't I think of that?

Using a French Press instead of a nut mylk bag to strain the pulp from your blended almonds-and-water mixture is as straightforward and easy as it sounds. I tried it for the first time last night, and I'm sold. You will be, too. Here's the basic recipe:

Raw Almond Milk, French Press Style

1/2 cup raw, organic almonds
water to soak
3 cups fresh, cold water
pinch of sea salt
1 teaspoon honey, maple syrup or agave

Soak almonds eight hours or overnight. Drain and rinse, then add to high speed blender with 3 cups water, sea salt and sweetener. Blend on high for one to two minutes. Pour into French Press, cover and depress plunger verrry slowly. This will take some effort and patience, but go slowly; liquid may gush out if you plunge too hard or fast. Pour fully-pressed almond milk into a clean glass jar and try to use within a few days for maximum freshness: this is a raw and living food!*

All mixed up and ready to go - love that foam!

Post-plunging. Observe strained almond pulp at base:

Serving Suggestion (I had this for dessert, but could be breakfast, too):

Hail Merry Grawnola, Holy Crap Cereal and Jungle Peanuts topped with Fresh-Pressed Almond Milk

* The Sad Truth About "Raw" Almonds
It's been a challenge to find really raw almonds since the almond pasteurization laws went into effect in 2007. Almost all storebought organic almonds are now "pasteurized" with steam, while non-organic raw almonds may be treated with surface chemicals or radiation (scary). It is still possible to purchase unpasteurized, truly raw almonds, however. Californians can buy direct from farmer in quantities of less than 100 pounds, and some online vendors carry them, but the cost is often high. I offer economically priced, really raw almonds through my Community Superfoods shop. Local readers, please email me if you're interested and I'll hook you up!

Brazil Nut Parmesan Spread with Cucumber Chips

When I was a little girl, my parents sometimes would host cocktail parties where, along with tinkly drinks, hors d'oeuvres would be served. In our house circa 1972, hors d'oeuvres meant yummy treats like Pigs in a Blanket (frozen miniature hot dogs wrapped in puffy dough that you'd heat in the oven, stab with toothpicks and dip in Gulden's Spicy Brown mustard), carrot and celery sticks, and assorted boxed crackers and cheeses served on a plate.

Once I was old enough, my mother put me in charge of arranging the raw veggie and cracker plates, and I used to really enjoy making an artistic display with all the different shapes and colors. Fast forward a few decades and things haven't changed much. Except now I'm the adult, the crackers are made of thinly sliced raw cucumbers, and the cheese is made of nuts!

I brought this platter of Cucumber Chips with Brazil Nut Parmesan Spread to my friend Emily's annual summer garden party extravaganza, and was pleased to see it greeted with as much delight as my Triscuit and Port Salud creations of yore. The whole spiral of tasty bites disappeared in minutes (the kids loved them, too!), and a good time was had by all.

Brazil Nut Parmesan Spread can be made in advance - it keeps beautifully for up to a week in the refrigerator. If serving with cucumber chips, it's best to slice the cukes at the last possible minute, though, to retain freshness and nutritional value.

I made this spread with freshly dried oregano from my herb garden. It would also be delicious with thyme, basil or any Italian Herb blend.

Brazil Nut Parmesan Spread
1 cup raw Brazil nuts
1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced
4 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 Tablespoon dried oregano (plus 1 tsp for garnish, optional)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
4 Tablespoons cold water

Add the first five ingredients to a food processor fitted with the S-blade, and pulse process into a crumbly meal.

Add lemon juice and water and pulse until the cheese spread comes together in a ball. For a creamier spread, add more water.

To make Cucumber Chips, thinly slice 3 or 4 small cucumbers with a mandolin or very sharp knife.

Spread each cucumber chip with Brazil Nut Parmesan Spread and arrange on a plate, with additional oregano sprinkled over the top.

Bon appetit!

Solar Return Energy Smoothie

I made myself the most delicious green smoothie this morning for my solar return (i.e. birthday) breakfast! It's packed with fresh ingredients and superfoods, including organic banana, grapefruit, wild dandelion greens (aka "weeds"), maca, spirulina, chia, ginger-burdock tea and more. YUM!

One of the things I love best about drinking green smoothies is the instant energy boost they give me - brain and body both. One sip and my eyes just widen right up. Seriously! Talk about a wake up call.

Even the cats are interested. Here's Clyde, ever the smooth operator (pardon the pun), moving in to investigate the situation.

I confess, a cupboard full of superfoods and a Vita-Mix bring out the nutritional alchemist in me, hence, as you'll see from the recipe below, I ended up adding about a dozen synergistic health and energy-boosting ingredients to this drink... but please don't let that deter you! Following this recipe to the letter is hardly required. Just use it as a launching pad, as my friend Melissa likes to say, for making your own amazing, health-empowering green smoothie creations!

See my quick-reference glossary of superfoods and nutritional ingredients below the recipe to learn about their benefits, and become your own kitchen alchemist. ❤ Diana Banana & Co.

Ten-Day Vipassana Retreat: a Taste of Burma

I celebrated summer solstice quietly this year, entering a 10-Day silent meditation course at the Vipassana Meditation Center in Shelburne Falls, MA, on solstice night itself. I’ve been going to VMC to sit and serve since 1985, and have participated in many courses over the years. The daily program and technique remain the same at every 10-Day Course, but each time I go, the experience has its own unique characteristics and flavor, depending on the various changing factors of the time—both outside and inside my mind.

This year’s solstice course was unique in a very particular way. It was a bilingual course, conducted in English and Burmese. More than half the students were Burmese, the assistant teachers were Burmese, audio instructions and discourses were given in both Burmese and English and, as a very special treat, the food was bilingual, too!

Typically, VMC serves very tasty, high quality, vegan and lacto-vegetarian food (i.e. yes milk, no eggs). Dairy products are offered primarily as an option—containers of organic yogurt set out at breakfast, for example, or butter alongside of Earth Balance at the toast station, 2% milk as well as organic rice and soy milk for cereal/tea, and grated cheese at the salad bar. But the majority of the food is strictly plant-based, consisting of fresh and dried fruits, raw and cooked vegetables, whole grains (quinoa, brown rice, sprouted Ezekiel and gluten-free breads), beans (including tofu & tempeh), nuts/seeds, and natural condiments (South River miso, wheat-free tamari, nutritional yeast, tahini, etc). There’s usually an Indian day and a Mexican day, but I'd yet to see a Burmese day, let alone ten in a row!

So it was, I must admit, quite quietly exciting to be introduced to Burmese cuisine on this retreat, during our twice-daily mealtimes. To clarify, only two meals a day are served during a 10-Day Course: breakfast and lunch. This is in accordance with the dietary rules followed by Buddhist monks and nuns, who are required to abstain from taking food after twelve noon. In lieu of dinner, a light tea is served at five o’clock, at which time new students may also have fruit and milk (dairy or non). Old students (such as yours truly) take only clear liquids—tea or lemon water—at five PM.

Eating in silence in a room full of silent people tends to make one quite attentive to one’s food, and this is intentional. Vipassana meditation involves developing a keen awareness of one’s actions at the physical and mental level. Hence at silent mealtimes, we are well-supported to eat with mindful awareness—fully conscious of the food on our plate, our fork, our lips, our teeth, our tongue...bite by bite. Conscious, mindful eating is a meditation in itself, one which we are given regular opportunity to practice during ten days of retreat.

So, practice I did. And what food with which to practice on this English-Burmese course! At breakfast, alongside of the usual oatmeal and stewed prunes with cinnamon and oranges (delicious! trust me) there was always a Burmese breakfast dish. Most often this was white rice studded with soft, roasted peanuts, but one day, a kind of rice noodle salad was given. Personally, I eat very little at breakfast to begin with, and I never eat white rice, so I skipped the noodles and only tried one tablespoon of the peanut rice, just to see how it tasted (answer: yummy), after following the lead of my Burmese co-meditators and sprinkling my portion with fried chili peanuts, a red hot Burmese condiment. A crock of these fried chili peanuts was set out each day at breakfast and lunch, along with other unusual and tasty Burmese condiments such as mango pickles, homemade ginger soy sauce, and spicy potato chips.

Yes, that’s right: spicy potato chips! My “official weakness” was offered twice a day during this course. What a golden opportunity to burn through a food addiction! And burn I did. Not at breakfast, mind you—I am a nutritionist, after all, and not so far gone to be eating chips at 6:30 AM! But at lunch, on several of the days, I did put a few spicy potato chips on my plate. I enjoyed them slowly and mindfully, as part of my meal. I also observed how their particular taste and texture automatically stimulates craving in me, the moment this food item comes in contact with my mouth (if not my eye). And I remained equanimous with the changing sensations I experienced. This is Vipassana!

Vipassana meditation, whose ultimate goal is total liberation from suffering, uses awareness and equanimity as tools for eradicating craving, attachment and misery. For the technique to work, it is very important that awareness is focused on the right objects, and that understanding takes place at the experiential level.

The “right objects” in this teaching are sensation—both physical and mental—and respiration. Why? Because sensation and respiration are two objects that directly and continuously link our conscious mind with our unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is where the roots of our reaction patterns (those pesky, self-perpetuating causes and effects of endless misery) are buried. By providing a means to connect our conscious to our unconscious mind, via respiration and sensation, Vipassana allows us to pull out these roots which bind our suffering. The method, when properly taught and practiced, is brilliant in its simplicity, and dramatically effective. Leave it to Buddha to come up with something like that! What a genius, lol!

Gotama the Buddha lived and taught in Northern India circa 500 BC, but after some centuries, his valuable discovery of Vipassana meditation was lost in its country of origin. Burma was the only place on the planet where Vipassana was maintained in its pure form... until the mid-20th century, when it begin to spread around the world thanks to the efforts of my beloved teacher, S.N. Goenka, and a handful of others.

I feel so grateful to have been given the opportunity to learn and practice this wonderful technique in this lifetime.

“But what about the food, Diana!” I hear you asking. Ah, yes. Vegetarian Burmese cuisine—what is it like? Well, it’s incredibly delicious, to begin. It’s full of heat, color and texture. There are plenty of peanuts, plenty of rich savory flavors, and lots of crispy bits, too.

Two dishes I particularly enjoyed, and hope to recreate, were Steamed Eggplant, served in a brown sauce fragrant with sweet fried onions and garlic, and Pickled Tea Leaf Salad, made from a base of shredded cabbage and chopped tomato, to which pickled tea leaves (who knew?), peanuts, sesame seeds, green chili, lemon juice and a surprising assortment of hitherto unheard of, crunchy fried ingredients (i.e. split peas, green beans, sweet potato, crispy rice) are added.

Other Burmese culinary delights served on the course included Shredded Ginger Salad (quite similar to the Tea Leaf Salad, but loaded with shredded ginger), creamy Steamed Beans (made with small white beans and mild spices), and a thick, flavorful Spicy Tomato Sauce unlike any I had ever tasted before.

I naturally became curious about all these new foods, ingredients, and how to make them. But with work to do, I focused on my practice and set these thoughts aside until Day Ten, when silence is broken in the morning, following the teaching of Metta (loving-kindness). For the rest of Day Ten, except during group meditation hours, students are permitted to speak freely with each other and the volunteer staff who run and manage the courses.

When this day came, as it always does too soon, and after adjusting to talking again, I gathered my courage and asked Aye Aye, our wonderful Burmese cook, if she would be so kind as to share some recipes with me. These she sweetly did, and I now have two in hand. However, because the portions are for 150-175 people (think 70 pounds of Chinese eggplant!) I’m going to have to modify before I begin, a task I will attempt with the help of my dear friend and gifted chef, the Burmese Mermaid. Stay tuned to see the results of our efforts in future posts.

In the meantime, if you have the desire or the inclination, please do consider taking a 10-Day Course as soon as time allows. Vipassana has been such a gift and blessing in my life, as it is for the many thousands of human beings fortunate enough to come in contact with this wonderful technique. I feel so honored to share it with you today, and hope that you may also benefit from its ageless wisdom.

May All Beings Be Well-Fed, Well-Loved, and Happy!

Raw Butternut Fettucini with Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo

I was born exactly 9 years to the day before the first moon walk, on which date the lunar surface was discovered to be covered with...rocks. Before that, people really had no idea what the moon was made of. Really. I remember one theory, quite popular when I was a child, that the moon was made of green cheese. Yes, people used to actually say this; I have no idea why. Not that I ever believed it, but in honor of tonight's new moon and annular eclipse of the sun, I felt inspired to make some Green Cheese of my own.

I had organic cilantro in the fridge, and a loose recipe for Cashew-Cilantro Paté swiped from an old vegan boyfriend of mine, but only a handful of raw cashews remaining in the nut jar. So, I improvised on the cheese, as I am wont to do. And then, inspiration struck! I remembered that I had a nice, big, smooth butternut squash in the pantry...and Raw Butternut Fettucini with Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo was born.

To create this dish, start by making a batch of Vegan Green Cheese as a base for the Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of any combination of the following raw nuts and seeds: cashews, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts or brazil nuts. You can see I used about 2/3 raw pumpkin seeds, and 1/3 mixed cashews and macadamias.

Put your nut/seed combination in a bowl, cover by about an inch or two of fresh water, and soak for one hour. When time's up, drain soaked nuts/seeds and place in a food processor fitted with the S-blade. Add 2 Tbs virgin raw coconut oil and 1/4 tsp sea salt (I love the Himalayan pink salt, as you know, but any good quality sea salt will do).

Then pulse and process until contents attain the consistency of a coarse meal.

To this coarse meal, add the juice of 2 or 3 lemons; 1 tsp your choice coconut aminos, Bragg's liquid aminos or tamari; 2 Tbs nutritional yeast; 4 Tbs of water; and 2 large cloves garlic, minced. Process this all together for a while, until things start to get creamy (it may be necessary to add a bit more water to facilitate creaming). When the cheese has balled up and come together nicely, add 1/2 cup (packed) chopped cilantro,

and pulse that in. This is your Vegan Green Cheese.

Put Green Cheese into an airtight container and refrigerate while you make your noodles.

Butternut fettucini noodles are ridiculously easy to make. Start by cutting off the long neck of a good-sized butternut squash, and set the seed-filled bulbous portion aside. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer skin from the neck of the squash,

and then continue peeling off long, orange strips until you have enough for your dinner (and/or you get tired of peeling).

Your squash neck will turn into a beautiful sculpture, by the way,

which can be refrigerated and used another day in, for instance, a tasty squash curry, a creamy butternut soup, or even Raw Pumpkin Pie (butternut squash stands in beautifully for pumpkin in this recipe).

To "cook" the fettucini, it is necessary to marinate the butternut strips in a little oil to which has been added salt and an acid, just like we do for Massaged Kale. For today's marinade, I used 2 Tbs olive oil, 2 Tbs white balsamic vinegar, 1/4 tsp each of Himalayan pink salt and ground black pepper, and the last of some dried Thai basil I had kicking around, just to add a little extra flavor. I also added a teaspoon of Mirin (Japanese white cooking wine), just because I could, but that's totally optional. If you don't have white balsamic, use lemon juice and a splash of agave instead.

Stir marinade ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, then add the raw butternut noodles, and toss. Allow noodles to sit for at least half an hour in order to soften up, tossing from time to time to keep them all evenly coated.

When the noodles are done (al dente, naturally), it's time to assemble the Fettucini Nutfredo. Measure out about 3 Tbs of Vegan Green Cheese per serving, and place this in a medium sized bowl. Heat up some water on the stove; then little by little, use a fork to blend warm water into the cheese, gradually thinning and transforming it into a thick, creamy sauce of your preferred consistency. Voila! Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo!

Spoon Nutfredo sauce onto the marinated butternut fettucini. Toss gently and thoroughly until all your noodles are well coated with delectabe, saucy goodness.

Transfer to plate(s), and garnish with a sprinkle of any chopped green herb you prefer (I used fresh chives from my garden, along with their pretty purple flowers, but more cilantro would be lovely, too, as would parsley).

This meal takes far less time to prepare than the finished masterpiece would suggest, with plenty of leftover Vegan Green Cheese as a bonus. This will last for up to one week in the fridge, and can be used as a spread, a dip, a filling (for celery ribs, nori rolls, romaine wraps) - sky's the limit. Which reminds me. There's a Ring of Fire annular eclipse happening tonight. The oracle says this brings great opportunity for self-knowing and transformation. May it be so with you, and all your relations.

Black Moon Dal, Sweet Potato Sun

This past weekend, skywatchers all over planet Earth were treated to a special event: the largest full moon, or Supermoon, of 2012. As astronomers and terrestrial beings marveled at the bright beauty, astrologers were aware that this was more than just an average supermoon - it was a Black Moon in Scorpio, aspecting the Lilith point, as the sun in Taurus was being conjuncted by magnifying Jupiter. The intensity of these combined energies offered an opportunity to courageously face our shadow selves, an extended encounter which many of us experienced in the days leading up to Saturday night's culminating event as "a controlled dive" into the darkness of our unconscious/subconscious beings.

Meanwhile, a body still has to eat! Which brings us to today's post: Black Moon Dal, Sweet Potato Sun. This rich, coconut dal was made with mung beans, not moonbeams, but even so, it sure looked pretty in the middle of those fat orange rays, all sprinkled with green. I arranged these colorful dinner plates for myself and my son Zack, and we relished them thoroughly before climbing out on the roof to watch the Black Moon rise.

Black Moon Dal

1 1/2 cups mung beans, rinsed
3 cups water or vegetable stock
1/2 - 1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp coconut oil
1/2 large onion, diced
1 Tbs minced ginger
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 Tbs Patak's mild curry paste
1/2 can organic coconut milk
cayenne pepper to taste
fresh chopped cilantro (garnish)

Bring mung beans, water or stock, and sea salt to a boil, then simmer for about one hour or until soft, adding more liquid if needed. In a small frying pan, cook onions and ginger in coconut oil until fragrant, then stir in cumin and turmeric and cook another minute to release volatiles from spices. Add onion-ginger mix to dal, stir in curry paste, coconut milk and cayenne pepper, and heat through. Taste for seasonings and adjust as desired.


Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges

2 large garnet yams
1 Tbs olive oil
sea salt

Cut sweet potatos into thick wedges and place in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil until well coated. Sprinkle with sea salt and toss again. Place the wedges in one layer on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes, turning with a spatula mid-way. Test for doneness, and continue roasting as needed, until wedges are satisfactorily soft and golden.


Presentation

Arrange sweet potato wedges around plate in a sunburst pattern. Fill center with dal, and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.

Curried Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Did you know how easy it is to make delicious, satisfying cream of vegetable soup? All you need is THREE basic ingredients: 1) vegetables, 2) seasonings, and 3) broth or water. Oh - and a blender, of course.

You may have noticed from the above list that what you don't need is cream. As long as you have a good blender and get your proportions and seasonings right, there is absolutely no need to add any dairy or dairy substitutes in order to create a rich, creamy soup.

The best vegetables for cream-of soups are those which are either starchy (think carrots, parsnips, green peas) or "meaty" (think zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms).

Cauliflower fits the bill most perfectly because it cooks quickly, has a beautiful texture when pureed, and provides an inherently mild canvas of color and flavor that offers extreme versatility. In its classic pairing with curry, a cauliflower base yields gorgeous, warm orange-gold tones and deep earthy spice. Love it!

One of the nicest things about making your own cream of vegetable soups is how quickly you'll be eating them. Truthfully, it doesn't take much longer to prepare this soup than it does to open a can of something that was made in a factory. Canned soups have their place in my pantry, and I will use them from time to time, but in terms of freshness and life force, there's no comparison.

To prepare this soup, begin by braising two cups of chopped cauliflower (half a medium sized head) in a cup of vegetable stock. Don't worry about making homemade stock - an organic packaged stock, such as the one from Imagine Foods, pictured above, works beautifully. (Alternatively, stir a teaspoon of powdered veggie broth or a bouillon cube into a cup of hot water).

Braising means, quite simply, "steaming in broth." It is one of my favorite, low-fat cooking techniques for both speed and yum factors. The only trick is to have all your pieces touching the liquid—no stacking!

Use a wide enough saucepan to allow for this arrangement, bring liquid to a boil and add the cauliflower. When the steam is rising again, cover the pan and reduce heat to low.

After braising for five minutes, the cauliflower will have reached its peak nutritional value and be soft enough to blend, so remove from heat and transfer to blender, liquid and all. (Research suggests that the anti-cancer compounds in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower become the most bioavailable to the human body following five minutes of steaming, after which values start to decrease.)

You might want to let the cauliflower-stock mixture cool down slightly before you begin blending, to avoid sputtering, but basically, the soup is ready to be prepped now. Just add a teaspoon of mild curry paste, and use a low to medium blender setting to achieve the desired level of creaminess. If the soup seems too thick, or you are having trouble getting the blending started, add more stock, straight from the box.

Once you have a suitable puree, taste soup and adjust seasonings as needed. You might like a pinch of salt, a pinch of cayenne or more curry paste. A squeeze of fresh lime or lemon juice will brighten everything up, so feel free to add that, too, if you have it.

Pour soup directly from the blender into your serving bowl, or reheat gently first. Top with chopped green onions or cilantro for a touch of green, and enjoy!

Pesto-Veggie Wraps with Vegan Hemp Seed Pesto

I’m so excited to be sharing a CSA share this year with my good neighbor Emily! Every Tuesday after work, I drive to the Kitchen Garden Farm in Sunderland and pick up a big green cardboard box pre-packed with beautiful, fresh-picked vegetables. Emily and I decided on a Deluxe Share which means we also get fruit, from a neighboring farm. The first week, our fruit consisted of two quarts of the sweetest organic strawberries we’d ever tasted. The next it was currants, then blackberries. Today we are getting gooseberries!


Even though I am splitting this CSA share, it's still a challenge to eat everything up in time for the next installment of bounty. So on Monday nights, it's time to make room for the incoming haul. For instance, say I was left with a generous portion of salad greens, radicchio and basil. Sounds like the perfect ingredients with which to make Pesto Veggie Wraps! If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, try this. Trust me, you'll be glad you did!


First, put together a nice raw salad with torn red leaf lettuce and radicchio, diced cucumber and dill.



Next, whip up a single-serving portion of Vegan Hemp Seed Pesto with the basil, garlic, olive oil and hemp seeds, plus some Himalayan pink salt (my favorite!). Spread the pesto inside of two cabbage leaves, layer on heaps of salad and add a generous squirt of fresh lemon juice. From there, it's just a matter of rolling… and voila!


In the absence of pesto fixings, I’d consider making Miso-Tahini Veggie Wraps or Salsa-Avocado Veggie Wraps or Honey-Almond Butter Veggie Wraps. The sweet, supple outer leaves of a freshly picked cabbage lend themselves to all manner of fillings.

One of my favorite things about this meal is the no-fork-required aspect. I absolutely LOVE salads, but let's face it, they can be tedious to plow through! Wrapping it up makes salad fun and easy to eat. Not to mention a mouthwatering delight. Enjoy!


Vegan Hemp Seed Pesto

Makes one serving

1 cup basil leaves, washed
1 small clove of garlic, minced
1.5 to 2 Tbs hemp seeds
1 to 2 Tbs olive oil
up to ¼ tsp sea salt, or to taste

In a food processor fitted with the S-blade, add basil, garlic, hemp seeds and sea salt and pulse until basil is finely chopped. Drizzle in olive oil while the processor is running. I use only enough oil to get the pesto to hold together and form a paste, stopping frequently and using a rubber spatula to bring everything down into the base. Taste and adjust seasonings. This would be good with a little crushed red pepper in it, too. Or some sundried tomatoes. Or a squeeze of lime juice. Or…!

Diana Interviews Dr. Mercola for PPNF

I am pleased to announce that my interview with Dr. Joseph Mercola appears in the current journal of the Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation (PPNF). The article is part of an ongoing series called Profiles in Nutritional Healing that I have been working on for PPNF. Previously for the series, I interviewed Annemarie Colbin, PhD – the brilliant author of some of my favorite books on nutrition and health including the classic Food and Healing.

Dr. Mercola was a fun interview subject. His telephone manner matched his online persona to a tee: highly focused and enthusiastic, intensely driven and brimming with facts and information. We spoke for more than one hour and covered a broad range of topics, mostly centered around Dr. Mercola's approach to diagnosis and treatment and his respect for the work of Dr. Weston A. Price, the heroic dentist who traveled the world in the early part of the 20th century documenting the effect of modern diets on the physical and dental health of traditionally-living peoples. The preservation of Dr. Price's archives and the dissemination of his work is the primary mission of PPNF.

Dr. Mercola is both a proponent of high raw food diets and an opponent of veganism – an unusual mix in the raw food world. Dr. Mercola's position reflects Dr. Price's finding that some form of animal food, consumed in large or minute quantity, was a must in the diets of ALL traditionally-living cultures Price examined. This was especially true at certain times of the life cycle, notably pregnancy and lactation, where special preparations of fish eggs or other delicacies were given to the mother-to-be.

Dr. Mercola's anti-vegan stance also reflects his dedication to Nutritional Typing, a diagnostic tool used to determine one's ideal diet. Nutritional Typing states that Protein Type individuals require significant amounts of animal flesh for health. (A Protein Type himself, Dr. Mercola is well-known for enjoying flesh foods all day long, from raw eggs at breakfast to uncooked beef at dinnertime!)

I have yet to form a firm opinion on the compelling theory and subjective method of Nutritional Typing, but I certainly concur that not all people thrive on the same diet. Certain individuals may very well require more protein or animal foods than others. At the same time, it is important to be aware that high protein diets may pose a danger for many people. Excess dietary protein has the potential to stress the kidneys, organs which are needed to eliminate nitrogenous waste (ammonia compounds) from the body. Nitrogenous waste is a natural byproduct of protein metabolism. Excessive protein in the diet may cause the kidneys to become overworked or become damaged. (Dr. Mercola did admit to me that he himself suffers kidney problems; these may or may not be related to his high protein intake.)

Flesh foods are rich in protein, but I feel it is a grave mistake to equate the need for protein with a need for flesh foods. Many plant foods are also excellent sources of protein – think lentils, alfalfa sprouts, spirulina, almonds, sunflower seeds...even spinach, which contains all the amino acids needed for life!

Beyond protein, there are various reasons to include some animal food in the diet (i.e. to provide a natural source of the essential vitamin B-12). This animal food may or may not involve the killing of the animal from which it comes, an important distinction.

I believe that human dietary evolution towards a vegetarian diet is necessary if we are to attain environmental preservation, peace on earth and the survival of our species. (Click here to read more about my views on Nutrition Evolution.) I don't suggest that everyone become a strict vegetarian this instant (I myself am not a strict veg), but I do encourage all of us to move towards ahimsa (harmlessness). To this end, vegetarianism or semi-vegetarianism is an attainable life goal that supports our conscious evolution towards higher states of being, harmony and health.

Therefore, I was very pleased to learn that despite his public penchant for carapaccio and steak tartare, the animal foods Dr. Mercola considers most harmonious and beneficial for humans are raw milk and raw eggs. Both of these are vegetarian (not vegan) sources of animal protein whose consumption does not involve swallowing the flesh of a once-living sentient being. I like that! (Note: Fertilized eggs, as pre-chicks, are a borderline case that may prove the exception to the eggs being vegetarian rule. Fertilized eggs will be labeled as such. All other eggs, including free-range organic and pastured eggs, are, basically, a hen's period, provided by chaste lady birds who do not mingle with roosters.)

Beyond food and nutrition, Dr. Mercola and I discussed cell phone radiation, vaccines, biophotons and the role of emotions as a support or roadblock to healing. All of these subjects and more appear in the article. To receive a copy, request the Winter 2009-2010 Price-Pottenger Journal of Health and Healing from PPNF. Better yet, consider joining PPNF to help support the work of this important organization and receive additional benefits, including the quarterly journal. Visit www.ppnf.org to learn more.

A downloadable pdf of my interview with Dr. Mercola will be posted on the Eat to Evolve™ website in the near future. Click on the link and scroll down to the "articles" section to find the interview. In the meantime, you may like to visit the page to access my previous PPNF Profiles in Nutritional Healing interview, A Conversation with Dr. Annemarie Colbin, as well as additional articles and writings.

Food Combining Part One: An Introduction

Have you ever heard of food combining? Long ago or lately, it’s a seriously sensible idea whose time is always coming, but never yet quite here. Strange, considering the very real, and almost instantaneous results one gets from practicing this age-old art and science.

I first became aware of food combining principles when I was a high school student exploring vegetarianism and raw food nutrition. Today it may seem hard to imagine, but back in the 1970’s, these dietary approaches were considered extremely radical by most people, my loving parents included (“What, give up meat? Preposterous!”), so there wasn’t much in the way of support or information to be found. However, by having the good fortune to come in contact, at age fifteen, with Viktoras Kulvinskas’ extraordinary raw food bible Survival Into the 21st Century and, soon after, Herbert M. Shelton’s 1940 booklet Food Combining Made Easy, I was exposed early on to the nuts and bolts of food combining.

And what kinds of nuts and bolts are these, you ask? (Or nuts and fruits, as the case may be?) Well, there are more than a few, but the basics are pretty simple.

The science of food combining holds that, first of all - and in most cases - fruits are best eaten alone, to help avoid their fermentation in the gut.

Food combining also requires that starches and proteins be eaten at separate meals, due to the different digestive enzyme environments (acidic vs alkaline) that these two macronutrient categories require. (Individually, both starches and proteins combine excellently with salads and low-starch vegetables such as onions, broccoli and kale.)

A third important food combining rule states that after eating a properly combined meal from any given category (i.e. fruit, starch or protein), one should wait a designated amount of time before eating any additional food (i.e. thirty minutes after a fruit meal, three hours after a starch meal and four hours after a protein combo) in order to allow the meal to pass completely out of the stomach - again, in order to prevent fermentation, incomplete digestion, gastric upset and other unwanted results.

As a young student of nutrition, I studied these basic guidelines, along with reams of more esoteric details, and strived to follow all to the letter. This lasted a short period, as I soon grew tired of the effort. (I guess at my age, there understandably were already too many confusing rules and “shoulds” in my life.) However, I did naturally incorporate and maintain some of the broader tenets, such as eating fruit separately from veggies, and generally applied certain other rules, often expressed in catchy slogans such as, “Eat milk alone or let it alone!” and my favorite, “Desert the desserts!”

So, that was my introduction to the art & science of food combining. This concludes Part One of this blog topic, as I must now return to planning my upcoming talk on the subject, to be held next Wednesday, October 15th at Green Fields Market!

Until next time, may you be blessed with radiant health,
Diana

Click here to read Part Two of this article.

Welcome to Eat to Evolve!

Is it possible that the food we eat influences not only our health, but the thoughts we think, the emotions we feel and the spiritual progress of our lives? Absolutely! And what about the health of future generations? Could it be that our personal dietary habits help determine the actual physical biology and genetic viability of our descendants? Without a doubt!

We are, each of us, a work in process - growing, changing and evolving from birth to death. This idea of progressive change can be applied to our diet as well. What we eat is an ever-evolving aspect of our lives - both as individuals, and as a species.

Individually, once we bring diet into consciousness - whether for health reasons, medical reasons, ethical or spiritual reasons – our diet becomes a work in progress, and an important part of our conscious evolution. So from a personal perspective, eating to evolve is about discovering, learning and understanding what way of eating is best for us - best to help our own individual and unique body-mind-spirit self become and remain healthy, energetic, radiant, satisfied and fulfilled.

From a larger perspective, eating to evolve is about the evolution, health and survival of the human race. Clearly, our bodies are designed to run on the foods that we evolved eating, and have been eating for the longest amount of time - whole, natural foods: plant foods, raw foods, simple cooked foods, and wild animal foods. Animal foods are no longer a must for most of us, but those who choose to eat animal products can do so healthfully by incorporating organically raised flesh foods and raw dairy into a primarily plant-based diet.

Ultimately, I believe, as Albert Einstein suggested, that humans can and must evolve into eating a vegetarian diet; that is, if we wish to survive into the coming millennia. (Earth will endure; our species may not.) The large scale, factory model production of meat animals is neither ecologically sustainable nor health promoting, but it is the only way to feed mass meat to millions. Meaning if we are to survive, mass meat will have to go!

Environmentally, factory farming is a disaster - from destruction of both arable and rainforest ecosystems to tons of toxic sludge and polluting waste matter produced, not to mention the negative fossil fuel imprint created by transportation and processing. Quality-wise, the flesh of diseased, lame, medicated animals raised in filthy, overcrowded conditions and killed in a cold, brutal, terrifying manner that floods tissues with fear chemicals and stress hormones is far inferior to the flesh of naturally raised, grass-fed, free-roaming or wild animals. And finally, if not first, factory farming is ethically indefensible. Our very human capacity for empathy and compassion clearly indicates that causing other sentient beings to languish in darkness, suffer and die for our daily consumption is wrong - especially when human health is not incumbent upon flesh-eating!

A desire to "do no harm" goes hand-in-hand with spiritual evolution. Vegetarian or vegan diets exemplify this principle of ahimsa. But from an eat to evolve perspective, it is not necessary to be a total vegetarian to achieve vibrant health. Instead, we consider simply the obvious: those foods which have been eaten longest by humans are the foods best suited to the optimum functioning of our bodies. This automatically includes all naturally growing and wild foods, and automatically eliminates all processed food, junk food, artificial additives (colors, flavors, preservatives), and bleached/refined sugars and flours.

So what do we eat to evolve? The evolution-appropriate diet includes an abundance of plant foods, mainly vegetables and fruits, along with seeds and nuts. It includes raw honey, and a variety of animal foods (fish, eggs, wild game) if desired. As for the foods of agriculture – whole and sprouted grains and legumes, and raw dairy products (ideally from goat or sheep) - these are the “new foods on the block” for humans from an evolutionary perspective. As such, I believe that physiologically, humans are in the process of evolving to thrive on such fare. Therefore, grains, beans and dairy should be consumed judiciously if at all, not as a replacement for the original, evolution-appropriate foods, but in addition to.

The evolution-appropriate diet includes both raw foods and cooked foods. Humans have been cooking for a quarter to a half a million years - a significant span of time to enable the digestive and other body systems to adapt successfully. Of course, humans (and pre-humans) ate raw foods for far longer – some say at least 4 million years - so raw food diets are certainly evolution-appropriate for those capable of eating at that level.

An intelligent raw food diet can lead to boundless energy, mental clarity and optimum health. I encourage anyone who is interested in exploring this way of eating to approach raw as a mindful transition while paying careful attention to elimination. Raw foods are extremely cleansing, and it is important that the waste matter awakened by these foods leaves the body in a timely and efficient manner. Going raw too suddenly can shock both the physical and the psycho-social-emotional body, causing a new set of unecessary problems. Simply cooked vegetables, such as steamed broccoli or baked yams, are valuable in helping to slow down cleansing, as they are clean foods that add nothing harmful to the body. Remember, it is not necessary to eat a 100% raw diet to be healthy, and evolution does not indicate or require it, but for best results, a significant percentage of the diet should be raw unless otherwise indicated. Raw foods are full of life force energy, fiber, nutrients, enzymes and juicy goodness - don't miss them!

The chronic diseases that plague modern society are a direct result of poor dietary and lifestyle habits. Eating to evolve yourself - and your species - is a way to help bypass this fate. Natural whole foods, pure water, daily vigorous exercise and adequate sleep and relaxation are the keys to radiant health and happiness. May we use them to open the door to a healthy body, an alert mind and an ecstatically vibrant life!

Yours in the light of wellness,

Diana Allen, MS, CNS
Holistic Clinical Nutritionist

To learn more about my services, please visit my website: http://www.eat2evolve.com