Soda Vie...

We are CLOSE.... So Close... to releasing a truly Raw, Real Food Soda.

It is brewed. It is NOT Kombucha, nor is it Kefir. It uses only food, not any manufactured flavorings or man made ingredients. It is not alocoholic, and it IS potentially good for you.

We have some wonderful flavors, from sweet and classic, to dry and herbal. Perfect for pairing with foods like you might with a good Wine, Champagne, or Beer.

In partnership with GetReal Food Company, we are going to market handmade Raw Soda to our local area on a direct basis through delivery, as well as via the classic Farmers Market type scenario. Soon we will have some tastings as well as events for you to come try it.

But dont look for this at your local store. We arent interested in mass market, boring, 3rd party, anonymous, corporate paradigms... We make real food, and we want to have a connection with our customers.

More to come soon....

Food Hacking

http://foodhacking.blogspot.com/

Going to go deeper into the whys and hows of making food.

More Raw....

So far, 2009 has been a good start for me personally. I have slowly converted to a far more Raw, Plant Based diet, but in a sustainable way that works well for the long term. Im not "on a diet", I have changed my eating habits, which will eventually make long term gains in health and well being.

But the reality is, unless I am making intentional choices to increase my health, I end up sliding back into patterns 39 years of compulsive eating helped create. I can feel the slide starting, and need to take action. Here are some things I have observed:

1. My desire for fried foods has increased since I let up on my EFA intake (Essential Fatty Acids). We ran low on AimMega, our preferred supplement for this. I require an unusual amount due to my brain chemistry, and just dont get enough yet in foods, so I supplement. When I take less, my cravings for fats goes up considerably, as well as cooked food.
2. My behavior, as well as overall brain function, is not as clear as I like it. This is due to my strong tendency to ADHD symptoms, and the less EFA intake, the more I get stuck, obsessive, hyper, aggressive, etc... It goes down NOTICEABLY when Im eating right.
3. Im gaining weight. Some of it is water, some is constipation, some is more fat. Im eating foods that lack enzymes, with higher sugar contents, and lower nutrition. My body is responding.
4. My blood pressure isnt continuing to go down. I am on 1/2 of 1 med, and while my BP is slightly high, Im trying to push through that. Eating more cooked food isnt where I have been successful in lowering my BP.

So while Im happy with my progress, and confident Im on a lifestyle change that is sustainable, and long term, I need to engage more for a time to bring the overall level of health up. I imagine this is a necessary periodic technique to overcome the resistance to changing.

We are going to go Raw for 30 days from 9/8/09-10/8/09. We are considering a cooked meal with the family once a week, but even then it will be vegan, with loads of veggies. Historically, this has resulted in some good momentum to click into the "next gear". We will be doing weekly food demos to keep us engaged, and connect with all the people who want to find ways to incorporate more Raw Food without turning their lives into an eating disorder!

This Weeks PracticallyRaw Food Trade

Each week (or more often if we can) we will give you an idea of foods you can make, how to make them, and how to trade them for the more cooked products in your current diet.

This week: Guacamole

This is a classic favorite, and it works great as a replacement for Mayonnaise, as well as a handy dip for Raw Veggies. It is a great food for babies as well as anyone needing lots of good fats in their diet.

The thing to remember is that even though it is a recipe, all these products are variable. One time you use some avocados, they are more watery, or less. The limes are more sour, or less. So it is more a guideline than a recipe…. It is like colors, they are richer or lighter and it changes the way you use them.

Guacamole Basic: Avocados are primarily a Fat. They are rich, and need salt and an acid to make the creamy fats brighter and savory. We are getting lots of GOOD fats here, along with fiber, and lots of nutrition.

2 Avocados with a little give to them. If it feels like there re air gaps under the skin, or they are extremely soft, don’t use them, or at least avoid the obvious brown or yuck parts. The fats can become rancid, and then they are no long good tasting, or good for you.

1 Large Lime

½ to 1 tablespoon Ground Cumin

¼ to ½ teaspoon Garlic powder

Salt to taste.

Scoop it out and mix it up! I like to cut cross cuts in the Avocado before I scoop it out with a spoon, and mix it in with an already mixed avocado to combine the textures.

Advanced: Add any or all of the following

Chopped Cilantro

Chopped Onion

Chopped Cucumber

Salsa

It is really this simple....

God Made Food = Raw Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts, and Seeds. You can eat Raw Meat if you want, but I wouldn't unless I ever had a true hunger fr it, knew the source, and knew how it was processed.

A word about Dairy...

Raw Dairy, especially cultured Dairy is popular too, but it is not as optimal as the other foods. Take some simple investigation into dairy practice, and it will soon be clear it is not in the Creators design to keep taking milk away from young animals, nor forcing animals to continue producing Milk after the cycle of weaning is complete. It wears out the animals, as well as deprives the young ones of essential nutrition.

1. Eat more God Made Food.
2. Eliminate Man Made Food.

I know, it sounds over simplified, but it is this simple. Want some examples?

1. Eat your first meal of the day made up exclusively of Raw Fruits.
2. Eat as much green salad as you want, and use God Made Oils and such for dressings.
3. Eat a handful of raw nuts as snack.
4. Eat Guacamole. Use it as a Mayonnaise.
5. Use nutritional supplements tat are food based, Raw, and Organic. We reccommend AIM products. Read here for Danielles take on this.


Replace man made food. Avoid these things:

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, and refined Flours. Minimize these in every way possible while being realistic with your life. However, do have fun and treat yourselves. I LOVE Dark Chcolate, and will eat it occasionaly. I love bread, and will amke it, and I do use some white flours, but I try to minimize it.
2. Trans Fats: NEVER eat them if you can avoid it.
3. Preservatives, and man made flavored products. MSG, Sodium Benzoate, Blah Blah Blah... you will find that when you eat more food you make yourself, you will automatically avoid these. However, most manufactured food must have preservatives in them, and added flavorings to compensate for their processing.

By attempting these things above, you will see dramatic improvements in your diet over time. You will also see changes in your appetites, your taste buds, and our energy levels. Do this Slowly (I mean slowly unless you are sick or dealing with a serious medical condition). It take time. The goal is long term sustainability, not more compulsive changes.

Why is it so hard?

It is REALLY simple, just not easy. The previous posts used a few ideas to lay my case for why it is so simple, and so hard.

1. You are programmed to eat Man Made food.

If there ever was a matrixesque scenario, it is us and food. We have been programmed and marketed by people who make, process, sell, or otherwise profit off of food (including all the cool diets, books, and nutritional products).

The first step in all recovery is to accept Truth, and reject Lies. Find the Truth, and you will see the Lies dissolve. Admit you are programmed, and reject it.

2. You are acclimated to the false flavors, and apparent convenience of Food Babylon.

You are so used to this, you might not have a cue what reality is. When a piece of ripe, fresh well grown fruit doesn't catch your taste buds attention, you can be sure you are so far away from your original design something is clearly out of balance. I still LOVE Pringles potato chips, and have a weakness for french fired potatoes. At times I have to avoid them entirely just to put myself back into line.

You also believe that it is easier to make and eat pre-made food. The perceived convenience is a trick, and is not real. Fresh, Raw, God Made Food is ready to eat. You can always make it more sophisticated, but it isn't needed.

3. You are used to eating way too much, because your body doesn't get enough nutrition from your diet.

This is one of my biggest ideas I try t communicate. Lets take Meat...

100 grams of protein from meat versus 50 grams of protein from Raw Almonds.

I eat the meat, and by the time my body digests it, deal with the effects of digesting it, and processes the amino acids, I might get 20-30% of the protein. Lets say I got 30 grams of amino acids total net gain. I did that at a cost to the rest of my system, and for some people, a cost to the planet and living beings.

I eat the almonds, and by the time my body digests them I have not had to deal with the by products of acid forming products, unhealthy fats, and similar products not found in the plant kingdom. I end up with a net gain of 90% of the protein (a made up a number here), or 45 grams. There are little to no byproducts of strain on my system in general.

Net gain is similar, if not more for the raw food, with less damage. It is far more EFFICIENT. If were to eat the meat constantly, I would not be eating (and more importantly assimilating) protein in as much quantity, and would need more intake, with less output.

These are just some simple ideas that are a part of any struggle to get off Man Made Food and into God Made Food.

Next.... the simple idea....

The FUN in Fundementals of Nutrition...

Mary-Ann Shearer said it best when she came to do a seminar wit us...

"People ask me "Are you Vegan?", "Are you Raw?", "Are you Vegetarian". And I simply say "I listen to my body. I put God made food into my God made body"."

That has got to be the simplest, most distilled statement about health, nutrition, and diet. I'm going to go a step further, and say it this way:

"If I want God Made Health, I will but God Made Food into my God Made Body!"

and conversely

"If I want Man Made Health, I will put Man Made Food into my God Made Body!"

I have my own convictions about Who/What God is, and that's fine if you disagree, but the concept makes a lot of sense. Bear with me if you have a different take on God/Creator etc... and translate for yourself.

1. The Creator made All Life, and made the Food for them.

The relationship between Animals and Food is astonishing. The interactions between something simple like and Orange and a Human being are so tightly coupled it is a miracle.

An Orange has everything in itself to be digested, processed, and incorporated into a human being. It has many micro and macro nutrients, along with its own mechanism for processing itself. It has enzymes, sugars, vitamins, and even the substances required to digest those vitamin, fiber etc...

Yet, if you extract those substances from the Orange, they will not work as well when taken separately. Lets say fructose, a sugar. If you eat it within an Orange, different compounds, as well as fiber slow down the process of conversion to Glucose in your system, and your body is able to take it correctly without releasing massive amounts of insulin and stressing your pancreas, as well as the other systems affected.

If you eat the fructose alone, you are going to create a MASSIVE blood sugar episode. Your body will struggle to balance your blood sugar, and you will end up in the long run with damage as ell as possible disorders.

There are other similar concepts, such as Vitamin A and Carrots. Taking straight Vitamin A (or better yet, Beta Carotene, a precursor to Vitamin A) without a fat, let alone taking a synthetic form, will not integrate itself in your body, and possibly even damage itself. Curiously, Creator put just the right kind, and the right amount of fat in a carrot to extract Vitamin A, a hugely beneficial antioxidant and nutrient.

2. This was a perfect situation, that can never be improved upon.

This one is obvious. It is very difficult to improve upon the Designer of something so complex as living beings. Let alone the fact it is super developed, lets all admit we don't have a comprehensive enough understanding of Life, to even put ourselves it hat position. There are constant revelations and discoveries daily about Life and Living Beings to make the case we simply cannot yet improve on it. I'm betting we never will.

3. The more we stay within the Created Order, the better we will be.

This is a clear principle, and just general common sense. If the origin was superior, and design specifically, any deviation from it is detrimental.

4. The more we stray from the Created Order, the worse we will be.

With me so far?