HOW RAW ARE YOU, AND HOW MUCH DOES IT MATTER?

POST #928
If you have read the previous post, which I caught on google+ from a website I like, you might wonder where I stand.

I *am* 100% raw and have been for a  long time. Still, I like to say that I am 95% raw, because I am a human, and I don’t ever know if or when I might slip, or choose to eat something that is not raw, or eat something that isn’t raw by accident (I was at a raw meet-up the other night, and I happily ate something that was put out, but a friend suggested to me that it might not actually be raw since there were beans in it — okay, so I cannot claim to be 100% raw, at least not for that night. I like to say 95% raw because, then, if I do slip, nobody will be pointing fingers at me.

Most of the self-proclaimed “raw gurus” have been outed, at one time or another, as enjoying non-raw foods, while they continue to solicit your massive payments for their raw programs.

Folks who become enamored of a “raw food guru”, often find that they cannot follow the program easily, simply because it doesn’t really work as it has been put forth. Then, if they find that their “guru” of choice has begun advocating eating some cooked food, they become confused.

Recently, I have seen that many of the folks who have been loudly advocating raw vegan diets are “softening up”, or saying that it isn’t necessary to follow a 100% raw diet. Of course, it has never been necessary to follow a 100% raw diet – you only do that if you want the maximum benefit in the least amount of time.  Otherwise, you just simply incorporate more raw food in your diet. The AMA has urged us to incorporate more raw fruit and vegetables in our diet.  More is better than none.

Since I don’t follow any raw gurus (some of them may not have even been born when I first went raw), I really don’t care what they do, unless it hurts me, but, fortunately, I don’t care what they say, for the most part, either.

I have my own take on a raw vegan diet, which has worked for me for a long time,and keeps me healthy, happy, and craving free. People who come to me are usually worried about slipping, about cravings, which are things my approach addresses.I also work with people want to simply incorporate more raw foods into their diet. I also work with people who are interested in including more raw foods in their diet, or who are interested in going totally raw.

As a nutritionist, I would rather help someone find a healthier way to eat for where they are at, than to blow them off because they do not want to go 100% raw this very evening.

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KALE – I love Kale!
(got this from rawforbeauty.com)

DRINKING WATER AT THE CORRECT TIME – who knew there were rules?

POST #905
Now, this is interesting. Who knew there were times to drink water. I thought it was just all about drinking water. Who knew there were rules?

TOP GMO FOODS

POST #904

ANNIVERSARY MONTH: It was 10 years ago this month that I knew I had taken off 100 lbs. They are still off!

POST #833
Ten years ago, on October 2, my birthday, I realized that my clothes were rather loose.  I ultimately took off @100lbs.

So, now, it has been 10 years that  I have kept the weight off.  I hope you will understand if I reach around and pat myself on the back.  Yeah, I’m proud.  Today, instead of wearing a size 22, I am wearing a size 2.

 

Ani Phyo’s 15 DAY FAT BLAST

Well, I did finish Ani’s 15-day Fat Blast… I guess we can see that I am not the person to give you day-by-day updates.  I liked it well enough… As I have previously mentioned, I did email Ani Phyo to ask her if I had to do the varied diet, or if I could stick with one thing, i.e., one breakfast smoothie, or one evening soup, etc.  I never received an answer from Ani Phyo (which fact has made me like her much less – always, before, when I have approached a raw vegan book author with questions about the recipes In the book I have bought, they have been very helpful.

Anyway, I just pretty much stayed with the blueberry shake throughout the whole 15 days.  Sometimes I did do a banana shake, and, in the last days, I did a banana-blueberry shake, based on both shakes.

I ate spinach salad until the spinach I’d bought started to wilt. Then I made a big spinach/sauerkraut salad.

I liked the tomato soup, the coconut tomato soup, and the red bell pepper soup, so I stuck with those.

When I was finishing up, I went back and read what Ani Phyo  included after the diet info.  There, I found a lot of the usual – eat what you want to when you want to. Ha!  This seems to me like a disclaimer. You eat what you want to, and you will not get the results promised in the title.

By the middle of the Fat Blast, I found I needed to add a laxative tea at night.  Things just weren’t moving through. I was eating things which were suggested, and I was using a blender, as opposed to a juicer, but needed some additional help to perform my morning ablutions.

I am happy to tell you that I came down  to suing two or three of the shakes pretty much exclusively. 1    I found that the blueberry shake, and the banana shake worked well for me throughout the diet. A big reason there was finances.I just really didn’t have enough money to add in all of those lovely ideas that are suggested in the program.

Regardless, I did stick with the *idea* of the program, and I did lose at least one size (I don’t have a scale, so I can’t tell you what the 9weight equivalent was – I just got into my jeans and did not have to hold my breath to close them. I was able to put on a couple of dresses and not look like I was selling something.  In one case, I was able to wear a dress I’d received as a gift, for the first time. Whoopee!

Since I am a veteran Master Cleanser, the whole time I was going through this Fat Blast, I felt a strong desire to do the salt cleanse.  I think that was why I finally went to the laxative tea in the last days. I avoided using laxatives or the salt cleanse during the first part of the diet because I wanted to know how the diet worked.  My experience, in the end, was that I needed a little more excitement to move me, so I finally resorted  to the laxative tea.

Should you do this diet?  I’d say yes. If you have enough money to eat all the things on the diet, it will be fun (all of the recipes are easy to prepare).  If you adhere even moderately strictly to this diet, you will lose at least 15 pounds.

NUT NUTRIENTS

Many of us like to use nuts in our raw food preparations, and restaurants and many raw food videos make heavy use of nuts, but do we actually know what nutrients those nuts add to our diet?  Many folks are interested in how to follow a raw low carb diet, some want to ensure they get enough protein, others are concerned with fat content, and still others are concerned about the vitamin and mineral content of their food.

I’ve just put up a page of nutrient information for the most nutritious nuts that we can use in raw food preparation. When we look at all of the nutrients of an individual nut, and understand how it can contribute to our nutritional needs, especially in combination with other foods, we can eat more responsibly and more confidently, and be more in control of our food intake.

 

BONE LOSS PREVENTIOIN

Okay, I like to watch Dr. Oz. (I did not think I would, especially after my Turkish students kept telling me “Oh, he is Turkish”, but I finally watched his show, just to make sure I did not like him, and I found out that he is pretty likeable.  He is American (okay, his parents came here from Turkey, and they named him a Turkish name, but Dr. Oz comes across as about as American as they come, and that is a plus in my book.  His audiences are mostly women, and he knows how to talk to American women, i.e., he is an American guy.)

So, anyway, today, while I was working on THE NEXT BOOK,  I tuned in to Dr. Oz, and, lo and behold, he was talking about something I want to know more about – bone density and bone loss.

Being a normal human, I heard what I want to hear:

CALCIUM SUPPLEMENTS: yes, you should take them, but you should get calcium supplements that are combined with Vitamin D (actually, in my ND training, I learned that you should take a combo calcium/vitamin D/magnesium supplement)

VITAMIN K2 helps prevent bone loss…. Now here is the kicker!  It is found in fermented foods (awwww! Dr. Oz, you could not have found a better way to endear yourself to me)  We all know that I am so into fermented nut cheeses, and sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables.  I am putting Vitamin K2 on my list of things I must eat (so I don’t have to add anything… I am addicted to sauerkraut and I love my raw vegan seed cheeses….  !!!)