Food

Nearly 26 months ago, I made a massive change in my life. Overnight, I went from eating a Standard American Diet (the acronym is fittingly, SAD) - meat, dairy, grains, fats, fruits, veggies... to a vegan diet. This involved cutting out all meat and dairy. Oddly enough, I didn't have many detox symptoms, and at the same time, I took up rowing on my rowing machine (I avg 10 kms a day), and between both of these changes (regular exercise & a healthier diet), I lost ~50 lbs. As time went on, I had to purge my closet of my larger clothes and now have a predominantly organic cotton wardrobe, in things that are mostly the right size.

Some of my vegan culinary creations:
Buddha Bowl: cooked brown rice, marinated and baked tofu, warm 'buddha' sauce - a nice peanutty sauce, mung bean sprouts, red pepper, cucumber, and cilantro & some spices.

And another brown rice bowl with tamari, spices, alfalfa sprouts, avocado, roasted red pepper and yam, and sundried tomatoes. DEEEEEEEE-licious.

7 weeks ago, I took another plunge and decided to go raw. Raw food is about eating things that are, essentially, uncooked - have not been heated to more than ~120F. [Think: vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains] The rationale behind this is that when we cook our food (and many raw foodists have pointed out, what other animal on Earth needs to cook their food before they eat it?!), it loses its enzymes that will aid in its digestion. So then what happens, as I understand it, is that when we eat cooked food, enzymes we have inside need to leave the tasks they're already working on (like cleaning the liver, or kidneys) to go and digest this cooked food, which now lacks its own enzymes. So basically, if you eat a raw apple, you'll get more out of it than if you eat applesauce. Oh, and those enzymes within us that go to help digest the cooked food? They end up going out in our waste. So we end up depleting our natural enzymes by eating cooked food. Then there are living foods. The difference between raw and living is that living foods are things like sprouts that are still growing. Raw foods can be harvested foods, things that are not going to grow further, and also things that have been dehydrated at temperatures below 120F.


So yes, in this moment, I'm a raw vegan. I've lost about 15 or maybe close to 20 lbs so far, and I've kept a daily food log. No, I'm not feeling deprived or hungry, and once past the 4 week mark, my food intake dropped by about 25%. There are days when I figure I'm eating about 10-15 servings of food, but I'd say on average I'm closer to 15-20, which is just fine.

Basically, I try to get at least 3L of water into me, usually I'll have an avocado & mango together at some point, another thing I definitely try to get in is a green smoothie (sometimes I'll add blue-green algae or wheatgrass). Apart from that, maybe a salad or some veggie sticks, usually a couple pieces of fruit, some nuts or nut mix or something with nuts....

Here are a couple raw vegan creations as of late:
First, a raw burger & fries. The burger bun is portobello mushrooms, the burger itself is a dehydrated almond burger patty, with an assortment of veggies. The ketchup was made from sundried tomatoes, and the 'fries' are actually jicama sticks with seasonings. The recipes were from the book "Fresh" by Sergei & Valya Boutenko.


Second, a tropical fruit tart (thanks to Jennifer Cornbleet's book: Raw Food for 1 or 2 people). The crust was coconut, ground nuts, and raisins (basically), the pudding was a brilliant sunshine yellow mango pudding, and the top is fresh fruit. Fat free, cholesterol free, delicious! Eating raw can be pleasing for both eye & stomach!