crazyrawlife
life, raw: unprepared or imperfectly prepared for use… not in a polished, finished, or processed form. global adventures.nourishing practices xx
vitamin B12 deficiency
I’ve said before that I really want to stay away from too much ‘health education’ stuff in relation to being a raw vegan and I will, but found a loophole when I figured that a little ditty about my B12 deficiency is more experiential than educational ;)
Funnily enough, I had diagnosed myself with a B12 deficiency late last year when I started noticing a lot of random things going on: I was feeling tired a lot despite the raw food which had, until then given me a lot of energy; I was a bit depressed/moody and wasn’t sleeping well; I was bruising more easily (although I am prone to bump into things!); I was having digestion issues; I had an itchy tongue and the weirdest tingling in my ring finger. I was doing a lot of reading on these things independently and had multiple trips to a GI specialist about my digestion but nothing was making sense. Then I read about B12 deficiency and suddenly everything made sense!
chunky chili brownies
raw vegan avocado ‘skins’
I first had Alissa Cohen’s avocado skins at her raw restaurant in Boston, Grezzo. I fell in love with them and so did my omnivore boyfriend, so I was really excited when she released her latest recipe book Raw Food For Everyone, especially since it closely followed the closing of Grezzo so I had no choice but to make my own! Read More
strawberry (nut)milkshake
I’ve been dancing around the kitchen to Rave On Buddy Holly (a new release cover album) since early this morning preparing food in advance of the Fourth of July long weekend. I’ve been tasting everything as I go so wasn’t super hungry for breakfast but knew I should eat something, lemon water won’t carry you through lunch time!
I made some almond milk on Thursday for my corn chowder (that didn’t work out so well), but had some left over, and I had some strawberries from my strawberry picking adventure last weekend that needed using… voilà, strawberry milkshake!! Read More
lemon water is my fav. start to the day!
I arrived home late last night from a week vacation in London. While I had the most bestest time ever, I also missed my kitchen. However, this morning I realized that the thing I missed most about my kitchen was starting my day with fresh lemon juice in warm water! Ahhh, the simple things in life :)
My mother got me on to this years ago, and while she has done it religiously for over 10 years, I was a bit hit and miss until I went (high) raw vegan last year and started making more of an effort to have a morning routine, which now looks a lot like mum’s – lemon juice, shower, fresh vegetable juice…
superfood trail mix
I have eaten a whole mason jar full to the brim of trail mix this week! It’s sooo good, and so good for me. I mixed a whole bunch of random stuff together and it totally works!
Ingredients:
- Sunflower seeds
- Pepitas
- Cashew pieces
- Pistachios
- Dried cranberries, chopped
- Dried currants
- Raw cacao nibs
- Goji berries
Perfectly simple!
xx
whole foods plant-based diet good, but not as good as raw…
I haven’t been a very good raw foodie since I saw Forks over Knives the weekend before last… A combination of feeling good about the health benefits of a whole food plant based diet and the eight straight days of Boston rain resulted in me being quite happy to return to a (largely) cooked vegan diet. I didn’t feel guilty about it, which used to happen when I ‘indulged’ in cooked food, but interestingly, it has left me feeling uninspired. I thought I going to ‘rediscover’ the joys of cous cous and stir-frys and steaming hot vegetables in all kinds of delish tomato sauces…
karyn’s green meal shake
I have made the Green Meal Shake from Karyn Calabrese’s Soak Your Nuts detox book many times since I got it but have never had it first thing in the morning as she suggests… It changed my entire day! I usually eat a lot of food throughout the day. Probably not a lot of calories per se, but a lot of food, or at least I’m grazing constantly (which doesn’t really work when you have Invisalign and are not supposed to take them out all the time!) I may not look like one, but I feel like a bottomless pit. Today however, after having the shake at 730am in place of my morning vegetable juice, I didn’t feel the need to eat all day and when I did, I needed less… woop woop! My teeth are saved :)
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raw vegan spicy green lime cilantro soup
I’m quite upset that it’s taken me so long to make this {delish!} soup. My dear raw foodie friend Brooke has been making this so regularly over the last 12 months that I feel like she’s cracking open coconuts every time I speak to her! And that’s exactly why I have been procrastinating… damn coconuts. Once you get the hang of cracking them open though, the world of opportunity to make something wonderful opens up like… well, something that opens up very wide… Read More
raw vegan vs. whole food plant based diets
I finally saw Forks Over Knives this afternoon and it was as good as I expected it / wanted it to be! It provides a good balance of scientific research and clinical evidence, statistics and human experience, fact and practical advice that illustrate the benefits of a whole foods plant-based (WFPB) diet. I don’t want to give a complete synopsis as it has been reviewed to death, as has it’s source book, The China Study, but needless to say I’m feeling extra good about the health benefits of my high-raw vegan diet right now, particularly in the wake of my aunt recently being diagnosed breast cancer and this bringing cancer one generation closer to yours truly… more to follow on this.
“Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.” They discuss the linkages between the animal protein casein and the development of cancer cells (and the surprisingly small percentage of cancer that is actually hereditary – most is environmental); the impact of animal-based foods on heart disease (and impotence, men!); and show that changing to a WFPB diet actually reverses many diseases and ailments including diabetes, heart disease and obesity while improving energy levels, mood and overall well being.
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