Are You "Rawdy" To RUMBLE!!!

How bout that title?  I know.  I try.


Here's my menu for tomorrow and some recipes that might help get you started.  I plan to throw in a little meditation just to get myself in the groove (MEDITATION, I know - total geeksville).  Consider trying it.  You might be surprised.


breakfast:  Green shake
snack:  Raw crackers smothered in cilantro parsley dipping sauce (recipe below) and topped with tomato and cucumber slices
lunch:  Huge green salad with Omar's dressing.
mid-afternoon snack:  Another glass of green shake & a handful of raw almonds
dinner:  Raw tacos (I'll give you the recipe and then you'll want to make out with me - for real).  They are SO incredible.
late snack (because I like foooooood):  Blackberry-orange smoothie (recipe below)




Cilantro Parsley Dipping Sauce


1 1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup parsley
juice and zest of 2 limes
4 Tbs. cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
pinch of sea salt
2-3 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 tsp. raw honey


Wash and dry herbs well.  Roughly chop herbs, garlic, and jalapeno, then put them in a blender with remaining ingredients.  Pour into a serving dish and enjoy.




Asparagus Cream Soup (tried this today and loved it)


6-10 tender asparagus spears
1/4 cup raw cashews
juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt to taste
pepper to taste


Trim asparagus stems.  Cut off tender tips and squeeze lemon juice all over them.  Cut remaining spears and put into blender with cashews.  Cover with water and blend until smooth.  Taste and add sea salt and pepper if desired.  Cut tips into small pieces and stir into soup with remaining lemon juice.




Lettuce, Pomegranate and Pine Nut Salad


3 Tbs. pine nuts
2 handfuls of baby spinach
5 cups green lettuce, torn or chopped
1/2 Tbs. Olive oil
1/2 an avocado, diced
1/4 cups pomegranate seeds
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
salt to taste


Combine lettuce and spinach in a salad bowl.  Drizzle with oil, season with salt, toss to mix.  Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, avocado and lemon juice.  




Blackberry - Orange Smoothie


1 cup blackberries
1 banana, peeled
1 small orange, peeled
2 cups fresh spinach
1 Tbs. hemp seed
4 ounces filtered water
ice


Put all ingredients in blender.




Raw Pine Nut Cheese


1 cup raw pine nuts
1/4 cup water 1 clove garlic, peeled
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or Real Salt


Process all ingredients together in a food processor until smooth.

The Specifics

Rockin' Body Detox Challenge 2012


GOAL:  To remove toxins and other contaminants stored in body fat and cells resulting in improved health, energy, immune system, memory and digestion.  Added bonus?  Weight loss and abs as flat as your coffee table.


THE PLAN:  Eliminate all meat, dairy, eggs, refined sugars, preservatives, dyes...okay wait.  Let's try explaining it this way instead.  For 14 days consume only whole vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds in their natural unaltered state.  BUT (and you knew there would be a but) if you happen to be one of those people who can't tolerate a completely raw diet, do incorporate some cooked vegan meals, still keeping away from flours, sugars, preservatives, and dyes.  Keep it as raw as possible.  When I cleanse I prefer to stay away from grains too but for some people that's not reasonable.  So maybe incorporate some organic brown rice or quinoa (technically a seed anyway).


BEFORE YOU START:  This is crucial.  Chuck ALL your Christmas junk food.  Just do it.  Don't fool yourself with thinking that you're wasting it.  It's much easier to cleanse if you don't have that crap staring you in the face every day.  Throw it away.  All of it.


SOMETHING TO CONSIDER:  If you're having second thoughts, maybe consider this alternative...eat all raw until dinner time and then incorporate some cooked vegan foods.    Sometimes this is a less daunting approach.  Still make sure you're only consuming whole, fresh foods but give yourself permission to add in a few cooked dishes at dinner time.


Tip #1:  Find a detox buddy.  Really.  This whole process is so much more effective if you have some moral support.  Find someone who might be willing to get healthy with you.  There will be some lonely, isolating moments and it's much more bearable if you have someone who understands and will encourage you to stick with it.


Tip #2:  Shop only in increments of 3-4 days.  If you try to shop any farther ahead than that you'll waste a LOT of food.  I promise.  You want to leave room for the menu to change according to your cravings and your schedule.  No matter how you swing it you're going to be headed to the grocery store more than a few times over the next two weeks anyway so just trust me on this one.


Tip #3:  Keep exercising but keep it light.  I'm a total endorphin junky so it's hard for me to commit to not exercise.  I know lots of people who cut exercise out completely while they're detoxing but I just can't do it.  I do, however, try to lighten my workouts so I'm not battling muscle soreness or injury while trying to clean out my system.


Tip #4:  Plan your menu.  Meals AND snacks.  Plan it, shop for it, and then try your best to stick to it.


Tip #5:  Keep a journal.  Detoxing, if done correctly, will bring out some unexpected emotional baggage so be ready.  It will make you feel better to write it down and you'll have it to refer to if you decided to do another cleanse in the future.  Keep.  Tissues.  Handy.


Tip #6:  Stay away from restaurants and parties.  Period.  It's just not worth it.


Tip #7:  Mix up your meals with dips, dressings, and spreads.  Things might seem flavorless for a while so keep it exciting with different recipes.  I'll provide you with several.


Tip #8:  Be prepared for the HELL you'll most likely go through on day 3.  I don't know what it is but the third day is always the hardest.  Like, HARD hard.  Like, want to throw in the towel hard.  It happens to me every single time and I've finally learned to expect it.  I plan that day out down to the second and I stick to it like glue. 


Tip #9:  If you live in the Salt Lake valley or anywhere relatively near it, GO TO OMAR'S RAW CUISINE RESTAURANT at least once in the next two weeks!  It's a little pricey but so so so worth it in every way.  I wish I could tell you that I get some sort of commission for touting his restaurant.  I don't.  I'm suggesting it because it's out of this world delicious and completely raw.  It's the one place that you'll be able to literally order anything you want.


Tip #10:  This is a big one.  Be ready for people you love to tell you you're crazy/stupid/extreme or all of those things.  Have your responses ready and then decide here and now that you won't let the things people say bother you.  Thicken your skin and stick to your guns.  If there's one thing I've learned, it's that the best way to get a message across to someone is through being an example.  Don't judge them and don't worry about it if they judge you.  Live your convictions.


Tip #11:  Stay away from negativity.  I didn't learn this until recently but it's SO important.  During a detox, you're not just cleansing your body.  You're cleansing your mind and your spirit too.  Negativity is like a cancer that grows and takes hold of many different parts of you.  Avoid people and situations that you know will bring negative effects into your life.  You can deal with them later but for the next two weeks, steer clear.


Tip #12:  Tell yourself you can do it, because you totally can.  So much of cleansing is mental.  Remind yourself every day or even several times a day that you can do it.  One of the things I love about cleansing is the pride I feel about having committed to and stuck to a goal.  It's worth it.


Oh my gosh I'm so ready for this.  Lez do it!

Rockin' Raw Food Detox

I feel crappy, which began, as it so often does, with me giving myself permission to consume whatever I wanted over the past few weeks.  More specifically, I've become addicted to sugar and/or anything involving chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or chocolate sprinkles (SPRINKLES - my standards have sunk to a shockingly low level).  I'm going to cut right to the chase here.  It's time to cleanse.  Oh my, is it ever.  I don't think I've indulged over the holidays to the extent that I have this year.  It was awesome and fun and definitely tasty but holy crap my belly is pissed off at me and it's time to give it some love.  


After a period of over-indulgence I think it's important to steer clear of letting yourself feel guilty about it.  Feeling guilty is useless.  It's better to keep things positive and be thankful that you are in tune with your body enough to realize that it's sending you messages.  Messages like breakouts, mood swings, headaches, water retention, sluggishness, and bloating.  Sound familiar?  If not, consider yourself one of the lucky few.  Also, I plan to stalk you so I can learn your secrets.  But for the rest of you, I have an idea, a proposal if you will.


I've rallied together a few of my homies to participate in something I'm calling, The Rockin' Body Raw Food Challenge.  Because it's time to get things rockin' again.  Not in terms of trying to achieve abs like Jessica Biel's.  More along the lines of flushing out your system so that those chocolate truffles you've been eating won't take root in your arteries and bring forth seedlings (you're welcome for the visual).  I'm inviting you all to join me and my palls in this endeavor.  I'll be posting daily recipes, tips, shopping lists, video diary clips from other participants, and much much more.  


The plan is to ease into the transition over the next few days and be ready for a 14 day all raw cleanse by Sunday, January 1st, 2012.  I've talked my husband into it but he will be including some cooked food and probably will do 10 days instead of 14 days.  You guys, I've been trying to get him to do this for like FIVE years!  I can't wait for him to see the magic of a detox.  If two weeks seems like too much of a commitment, modify.  Don't set yourself up to fail by creating unrealistic goals for yourself.  Take into consideration your lifestyle, time restraints, and your experience level with detoxing.  Remember, you know yourself and your limits.  


I've had nothing but positive experiences with detoxing.  Using the words detox and cleanse are a bit misleading because really, all you're doing is eating healthfully for 2 full weeks.  It's funny to me that somehow in our chemical infested lives, healthy eating is out of the "normal" spectrum.  We actually trick ourselves into thinking that someone who cuts out processed sugars and additives is extreme.  In reality, a cleanse/detox is an amazing gift you can give yourself in addition to a balanced healthy lifestyle.


I'll be posting a detailed plan in the next day or two but until then, start cleaning up your diet by adding in whole fresh fruits and vegetables each day.  Cut out processed sugars and cut back on the amount of meat and dairy you're consuming.  This will start preparing your body for 2 weeks of cleansing.  


If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to post them in the comments section.  Jenny or I will get right back to you.


     

Top 10 Reasons I love my Blendtec and Honey-Balsamic Vinaigrette

Over the years, many of you have asked what type of blender I use.  The answer is a Blendtec, with the Wildside jar.  If you buy a regular FourSide jar, the blade is 3" long and the jar is smaller.  With the Wildside jar, the blade is 4" long, allowing the ingredients to blend even better, and the jar fills to 64 oz., which is great for a family sized green shake. 

The only blender to which I compare the Blendtec is a Vitamix, which I have previously used, and the Blendtec is better in my opinion.

So here are the top 10 reasons I love my Blendtec:

1). I can keep grains and faux-grains (quinoa, buckwheat) in bulk, and grind them to a flour in the blender.  Flour goes rancid much faster, so I don't like keeping it on hand.  I consistently grind brown rice, amaranth, wheat berries, buckwheat, millet, and quinoa.

2). The Blendtec has settings which allow you to leave the jar if you need to.  If you are making a green shake/smoothie, push the smoothie button.  It goes through a cycle from slow to fast in order to puree the ingredients perfectly, and then shuts off on its own. A Vitamix does not have cycles.  You have to manually operate it.

3) The jar is BPA free.

4). The Blendtec is small enough that it fits under my cabinets.  The Vitamix has a larger base, which makes the blender too tall for under my cabinets.

5).  I almost always bring my Blendtec in my suitcase when traveling.  The base weighs less, and is smaller than, the Vitamix, which allows me to do this.

6).  It makes ice-cream; it has an ice-crushing guarantee.

7). It can blend raw soups so that they warm up without killing their enzymes.

8).  The warranty is awesome: 7 years. After 3 years or so, something happened with my motor.  Since Blendtec is located in Orem, I drove my machine down there.  They gave me a replacement to use while they fixed my machine.  They also looked at my Wildside jar and thought it looked worn out, so they exchanged it for a brand new one at no cost ($99 value)! No questions asked!!  Then they mailed back my fixed machine with a return label for the replacement to be returned.  Of course, the whole process would occur through mail if you don't live close to Orem, at no cost to you.

9). It can take a beating.  I use my jar at LEAST 3 times a day, every day.  Aside from the one time it needed fixed, it has worked like a charm for 5 years.

10).  It doesn't leave chunks in your green shake. 'Nuf said.

Here is a a GREAT recipe that my sister-in-law concocted that I make in my Blendtec:

Honey-Balsamic Vinaigrette

2/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

3-6 Tbs. honey (Her recipe calls for 6 Tbs.  I like to use less)      

2 cloves of garlic

1 Tbs. diced white onion

1/4 tsp. salt

Put all ingredients into blender, putting the honey in last.  Blend.