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“I like Healthy Beginnings Magazine because it's a great resource. I love the recipes!”
--Anisha Stephens

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Raw Food STARTER KIT & RECIPES  

Raw Starter Kit: 5 Tips to Living a Raw Lifestyle

By Linda Devers, M.S.

You've heard the buzz-Raw Foodies report boundless energy, immediate weight loss, the clearest eyes, and invincible immune systems!

So you want to join in?

In this Raw Starter Kit we go over 5 tips to help you go raw. The usual questions are where to start? What types of food to eat? And what are the best investments in kitchen tools and equipment?

These questions lead to 5 Basic Tips to Living a Raw Lifestyle

1. Start where you are
2. Get the white out
3. Less is More
4. Soak it!
5. Ask your body

Tip #1: Start Where You Are

So what equipment is really needed for raw food preparation? In researching online and reviewing many raw food "uncook" books, people described blenders and food processors, nut bags, fermenting kits, spiralizers, and it can be overwhelming. Do you need to buy all new kitchen equipment?

The answer is No. You can actually "start where you are."

To start, you will need a very good knife and a cutting board (preferably one that hasn't been used for raw meat), an old-fashioned box grater, a vegetable peeler, and a lemon reamer. Check your kitchen drawers and you probably have tools to start.

The knife and cutting board are essential. You can cut vegetables, herbs, and fruits and easily make all types of dishes. With a grater you can shred and grate raw vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, rutabagas, winter squash, and beets. You can make easy and delicious "slaws" and quick raw vegetable salads.

You may decide to purchase a food processor. They're useful for shredding, for making "breads" from nut meal, and for fine chopping

Starter Kit:

For making nut milks a Nut Milk Bag is essential and costs about $10. The Nut Milk Bag can also be used for straining the nut pulp from the milk and for straining the excess liquid from nut cheeses. This is a very worthwhile purchase.

A blender is also very handy for nut milks, salad dressings, and nut cheeses. If you have a blender, start with that one. If you don't have a blender, find an old Waring blender at a yard sale or online, they're awesome and an inexpensive way to start. Eventually, you'll want to upgrade and buy a Vita-Mix 5200 Basic blender with the wet-blade container. The unit has a variable speed, which provides much better control over the blending operation. They are really worth the money. You can pulverize nuts into fine meal when you're making nut milks. It's also very easy to clean up.

If you decide to adventure into dehydrating food, start with your oven. Most ovens can operate at a low of 145 degrees, so just prop the door open slightly. If the recipe calls for lower temperatures, then turn off your oven for an hour with the door closed. Check the food and if it isn't dry enough then cycle through another hour at 145 and then turn off for an hour. Excalibur Dehydrators are the most used because of the rear fan systems. But wait to purchase when you've tired of the oven method. See Tip #3 about the effects of heat on enzymes.

Note: Most people can get by without a juicer. Instead eat and chew vegetables and fruits rather than drink them. There is more fiber this way, it costs less, and there isn't all the clean up required with a juicer.

Tip #2: Get the White Out

The most important, and often the most challenging, is to "Get the White Out" of your diet. That means eliminating sugar, flour, salt, rice, and dairy.

There are plenty health risks associated with these "white foods."

• Replace Sugar with Agave: The biggest risk to health is refined sugar. There is strong correlation between increased sugar consumption, obesity and Type II diabetes. Agave nectar is a recommended sugar substitute; it has a low-glycemic index (which means it causes a smaller rise in the blood sugar levels) compared to sugar.
• Remove Baked Goods: And why are they called Goods? From a health perspective, they aren't. Refined white flour has empty calories; raw food enthusiasts don't eat baked items. Over time you may explore making "breads" from nuts and seeds, but in the beginning just remove wheat.
• Reduce Salt and Use Himalayan or Celtic Salt: The highly refined and heated, chemical variety of salt is abundant in the American diet. It's 99.5% sodium chloride with anti-caking chemicals and iodine. The DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) study showed that reducing salt intake to 1500 mg a day reduced blood pressure. Most Americans eat much higher amounts, as high as 17,000 mg a day. Just moving from pre-packaged foods to a raw diet will greatly reduce salt intake. Most raw foodies use either Himalayan or Celtic Sea Salt-both of which are live. Himalayan salt is from the Himalayas and is reportedly uncontaminated from toxins. Celtic salt is sun-dried and very high in minerals.
• Eliminate White Rice: White rice has the bran removed so there is less fiber and fewer nutrients such as manganese, magnesium, and zinc. Raw diets do include a few grains that have higher nutritional value-including quinoa, oat groats, millet and hulled buckwheat. Quinoa has very high protein content; 1 cup uncooked has 24g of protein.
• Remove Dairy: It's not vegan, which is an important tenet of raw food consumption. Health wise, it produces excess mucus, increases tendency to weight gain, increases the acidity in our body, and the fat content is associated with clogging arteries. Substitute nut milks that one can either make or buy. You may want to add a supplement that includes calcium with vitamin D.

Tip #3: Less is More

Switching to a raw diet requires adjustment in the food amounts that you need to consume. It's really a volume change, take a bag of spinach-when it's raw it's a quart bowl size; after cooking, you're left with about a cup. Take beets, normally one would eat 2-3 baked beets at dinner. If you shred that same amount into a "beet slaw" there is enough slaw to eat for a week.

So start by preparing smaller amounts of raw food. Take 2-3 chard leaves and make a salad. Use 1 beetroot and shred for beet slaw. Many people report feeling full much more quickly on raw food. There is more nutrition in raw food because it's not been altered from the cooking process. 50% of protein is lost during the cooking process and cooking vegetables increases their carbohydrate content.

Like the traditional pyramid, the majority of your raw food intake should come from the bottom of the pyramid. Here is a list of some starter raw food to stock and buy:

• Green Vegetables: Eat plenty of green vegetables and include calcium rich vegetables like kale, broccoli, and collard greens. Make salads using simple dressings from lemon and cold-pressed olive oil.
• Other Color Vegetables: Add a variety of vegetables of different colors such as carrots, beets, tomatoes, avocados, cucumbers, and squash. Try to include a full rainbow of colors in your diet.
• Fruit: Consume local, fresh in season fruit. Focus on low-glycemic fruit such as strawberries, cherries, lemon, limes, grapefruit, and cranberries. Consume smaller amounts of apples, peaches, and pears, which have moderate-glycemic levels. Only eat small amounts dried fruit, because they have higher glycemic index; the drying process concentrates the sugars. And if choosing between a raw dessert and fruit, eat fruit.
• Sea Vegetables & Algae: Experiment with sea vegetables such as nori, sea palm fronds, wakame, kelp, hijiki and dulse. Start out with nori sheets, which are used in sushi. They are great as a wrap around a salad or other sliced vegetables. Sea palm fronds are crunchy and are a wonderful snack right out of the bag. Overtime experiment with soaking sea vegetables, slicing, and adding to salads. An easy way to add algae in the forms of spirulina, chlorella and blue-green algae is through supplements.
• Fermented Foods: Apple cider vinegar, raw sauerkraut and kim chee are excellent to add to a raw diet. They're rich in lactic acid bacteria and help convert sugars and starches and create a healthy colon. There are sauerkraut kits available online, there are some that are as small as 1 gallon.
• Nuts and Seeds: It's important to buy organic, raw nuts and seeds. Start with hazel nuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and flax seed meal. See Tip #4 on how to use nuts and seeds by soaking them.
• Oils: Consume oils that are cold-pressed; many are labeled "raw." Use olive oil, flax seed oil, and coconut oil. Avocados are a great addition to the diet and satisfy the body's need for oils.
• Grains: Grains are used occasionally in a raw diet. Quinoa is a good first grain to try. You can sprout it and let it cool and then add raw vegetables on the top and make a grain bowl dinner.

Enzymes, protein complexes, activate biological processes in the body and are present in all raw foods. They activate the digestive process of that food. Research shows that temperatures higher than 118 degree F applied for ½ hour will destroy food enzymes; while at 145 degrees F for ½ hour 80-95% of enzymes are destroyed. That means cooked food is devoid of enzymes. And dehydrating food reduces its energy; so minimize the use of dehydrated foods. Many raw foodies include for variety in the diet and as a way to store fresh foods.

Tip #4: Soak It Up!

Water is an important addition to a raw diet. Eating vegetables and fruits will naturally add water to your diet. It's also an important soaking medium.

Consuming nuts and seeds requires planning ahead because they have to be soaked between 6-12 hours. The soaking process starts the sprouting process and removes enzyme inhibitors. These enzyme inhibitors prevent our ability to digest without side effects of flatulence. Good new, there are two nuts that can be eaten without soaking: Brazil nuts and hazelnuts--these don't have the enzyme inhibitors.

To soak nuts and seeds, cover with ample amounts of fresh water and soak according to the times listed in the table. Then, rinse until the water is clear.

A nut or seed pate recipe is helpful to keep in the fridge to supplement your meals. Making nut milks, from soaked almonds, is excellent-it is alkaline which is very good for digestive health. The general rule for making nut milks is to use 1 cup of soaked nuts to 3 cups of water, blend, strain through a nut milk bag and drink!

Tip #5: Ask Your Body

As you begin to detoxify and eliminate many of the unhealthy toxins from your body, many people notice shifts in their hunger patterns. Blood sugar levels are more even and previous hypoglycemic tendencies are reduced.

You will also begin to notice when you are truly hungry. Many report getting in touch with their unique food needs the longer they maintain a raw food lifestyle.

So get started and plunge in and find a balance that works for you.

Good luck!

References:

1. Cousens, Gabriel MD, Conscious Eating. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 2000.
2. Cousens, Gabriel, MD. Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 2003.
3. Engelhard, Terces with Orchid, I Am Grateful Recipes & Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude, North Atlantic Books, 2007
4. Glycemic Index Information: www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm
5. National Institute of Health, DASH Diet Information, www.nhlbi.nih.gov
6. Phyo, Ani, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. Marlowe & Company, New York, 2007.
7. Pitchford, Paul. Healing with Whole Foods, 3rd Edition. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley 2002.
8. The Raw Diet Store: http://store.therawdiet.com/

Linda Devers
Linda@RawIsSimple.com

Sundried Tomato Bread

by Linda Devers

In food processor add sundried tomatoes, chard & stems and parsley and pulse until well combined.

Add remaining ingredients then pulse until well blended.

Spread 1/8" thick on baking sheets for oven. ***

Dry for 2 hours at 145 degrees, turn off oven for 1 hour. Cut into squares and flip over. Repeat until dry.

Store in refrigerator.

*Use leftover almond pulp from making almond milk (see recipe below). Almonds are soaked first.
**Use Barleans Forti-Flax Meal, 100% Organic.
***If using a dehydrator, dry for 2 hours at 145 and then drop temperature and dry for several more hours until dry.

Almond Milk

by Linda Devers

1. Soak the raw almonds in plenty of water for 12 hours. Rinse soaked almonds well, until the water is clear.*
2. In blender, add 3 cups water and add 1 cup almonds, and then blend on high until frothy.
3. Use a large handled bowl to collect the milk. Pour contents of blender through a Nut Milk Bag and then squeeze the Bag to get all the liquid out.
4. Empty bowl into jars or bottles using a funnel.
5. Empty the almond pulp from the Nut Milk Bag and save for other recipes.**
6. Repeat with the remaining almonds.
7. Store in refrigerator.

*The soaked water and rinsed water can be used as gray water to water outdoor plants.
**Use leftover almond pulp for breads, crackers, and nut pates. Store in refrigerator if you plan to use within 2-3 days, else store in freezer.

7-Layer Bar Remix

by Linda Devers

In food processor, add cacao nibs, almond pulp, flax seed meal and cinnamon and pulse to combine.

Add ½ c. coconut, apricots, and pineapple and pulse in food processor until well combined.

Take 8x10x2 glass dish, sprinkle with ¼ c. dried coconut on bottom, add mixture from food processor into pan. Press mixture down firmly using wax paper or parchment paper. Sprinkle with remaining ¼ c. dried coconut.

Cut into squares and serve. Store in refrigerator.

*Use leftover almond pulp from making almond milk. Almonds are soaked first.
**Use Barleans Forti-Flax Meal, 100% Organic.

Raw Fettuccini Alfredo
aka Mac Nut & Not Cheese

Recipes from I Am Grateful by Terces Engelhart

I Am Creamy - Mac Nut & Not Cheese Alfredo Sauce
(Serves 2)

1 cup Macadamia Nuts (do not soak)
? cup Almond or Brazil nut milk
2 TB chopped scallion
? tsp chopped garlic
? tsp salt
? tsp nutmeg
? tsp white pepper

Blend all ingredients for sauce until creamy in a blender. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve this luxurious sauce with Veggie Noodles.

Veggie Noodles
(Makes 3 cups raw, serves 1-2)

10 ounces of the following:
parsnips, zucchini, or diakon

Get your spiralizer and place in the desired blade (the spaghetti and one of the wider blades for fettucini). Place your peeled root vegetables in, and spiral away. Toss the noodles with a pinch of salt and a little olive oil to soften.

Sweet Almond Milk (the classic)
1 cup almonds
3 cups water

Place almonds and water in a blender and blend on high speed until nuts are completely broken and almond milk is created. Strain the almond milk through a fine sieve or nut milk bag into a bowl or jug. Save pulp for a dessert recipe, for dehydrating into almond flour, or compost.