Saturday, March 21, 2009

Raw Treats

Alicia's birthday was this month, and I made a few special raw treats for her on that special day. I made some almond mylk, which we don't make that often, either because it is messy, or because we don't have enough almonds in the house. The made some sweet milk (almond milk + agave nector) and chocolate smoothies, which were wonderful. I didn't take any pictures of the chocolate, because I think we drank 'em up too fast. That is SO good! But I did take a picture of some of the leftover almond mylk:

Almond Mylk

Now when one makes almond mylk, one doesn't want to throw away the leftover pulp, because raw unpasteurized almonds are a bit expensive. So one tries to find things to make out of this pulp. I decided to make some dehydrated almond cookies. They were pretty good, but I will make them better next time. The problem was they were too thin. That is, when I put them in the Excalibur to dehydrate, they broke apart when I pulled them out the next morning. I drizzled some agave on them, and I think we added some big slices of banana to eat with them to moisten them up. I gave the big one to Alicia. This was pre-dehydrate, and that is them sitting on the dehydrator tray:

Almond Cookies

I also made some banana chips. They were perfect--much better than my last batch a few months ago, which were cut too thin and stuck to the tray when dried!

Banana Chips
See how thick they are cut? That is the key.

So the chocolate mylk was the favorite treat, but I must say--drinking some sweet mylk with the dry cookies and some banana was VERY satisfying.

I am not a raw chef every day, but when I am I really enjoy it. And I treat my ladies right!

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Raw Lunch

Welcome to Lunch!

This weekend is going wonderfully! March Madness from noon to midnight every day, and enough fresh raw food to be satisfied the whole time. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of our BEAUTIFUL lunch that we had today and sharing them with you. The colors were so wonderful. Angelina (have you seen her adorable new hairstyle yet?) and I were talking about how it is neat that fruits and vegetables love to be picked, eaten, and shared, and it is true! They project themselves in such bright and vibrant colors, and they taste so good in their natural, unmutated form. They want to nurture us!

Alicia is watching a set of DVD's featuring Dr. Graham and Dr. Rozalind Gruben in which they talk about some of these things. Something that Alicia picked up on that I didn't really hear when I listened to the DVD's earlier this month was that we shouldn't shun our sweet tooth. The fact that fruits are sweet and we tend to like sweet is not a coincidence! This relationship began in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve lived as fruitarians. It is not an addiction like it is with some other foods. These foods are the best that we can eat, and they grow in abundance for us. I hope to one day live in a place that is more tropical so that I can have access to an even larger variety of fruit than is already available to me and my family.

The connection that we can have with our food is simply awesome.

Darius' Plate

Our lunch was a big salad. I learned from Dr. Graham that it is good to combine avocado and any citrus or high-acid fruit to make a salad dressing. So I imitated a recent recipe made by my mother and made a grapefruit juice and avocado dressing. We drizzled it over greens, tomatoes, green onions, and then topped it with a few orange slices and some previously-made Parmesan cheeze.

I must say, it was VERY good. I recommend that dressing to anyone, raw vegan or not. Angelina said that it was her favorite meal ever and asked if we could have it on her birthday. I am not sure if that means she no longer wants blueberry pancakes, but I think she does because I think she is aiming towards 3 specific special meals that day. Two down, one to go! This next picture was taken by her:

Angelina's Plate

By the way, that drink in the cup in the first picture is freshly-squeezed juice from a freshly-PICKED grapefruit (it is one of the only things we seem to know how to grow right year-in and year-out).

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patrick's Day!


A funny thing happened to me this morning when I was getting ready for work. I was trying to decide between two shirts that Alicia had bought for me last week. One was grey and the other was this green shirt. Well, I didn't even realize today was St. Patrick's Day, but I thought the green matched better with the dark tan khakis that I had selected, so I picked it, and Alicia agreed. When I got to work, I overheard some co-workers discussing wether or not today was really St. Patrick's Day. I shot a quick look at my Dilbert day calander and saw that indeed, it was! Wa-hoo! No pinches for me today!
Another funny thing was that even before I heard them talking, I saw my boss wearing a lime-green shirt and thought, "Wow. That is a really hideous shirt. What was he thinking?"

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More Learnings from Dr. Graham




Well, I started reading "The 80/10/10 Diet" again (doesn't the cover make you just want to grab a couple of peaches?), and I think the edition that I bought at his lecture that we attended last month in Miami has some additional sections added compared with the edition that I read last year. This one has two extra appendices: one is a section full of testimonials, and the other is an FAQ. I started browsing through them, and learned all kinds of new things that I don't remember reading before. The questions in the FAQ were very simple, and very chronological in the sense that if someone wanted to start living this lifestyle, these are the questions they might have, and in this order. Like one of the first ones is "Can I really eat all this fruit?", followed by "What about dried fruit?", "What about vinegar?", etc.

So as I read, I realized that I agreed with some of these teachings, and I disagreed to a certain extent with others. I want to make changes in my lifestyle and adjust according to what I was learning and feeling, so I started making two lists to help me "move in that direction," as Dr. Graham is so fond of suggesting. He says that if you don't make this transition overnight, the best that you can do is "move in that direction."

Here are my lists:

Foods that I want to start eliminating from my diet:

  • Dehydrated foods, including dried fruits (they are not a whole food if they don't have the water that originally came with them!)
  • Vinegar (I think I'm actually already there, but I didn't really know why. This is actually a poison! In chemistry class, they mix vinegar and water together to make acetic acid. Yeah. That is one of the ones that has the skull and crossbones on the outside. Vinegar is just dilluted even more, but a poison is still a poison.)
  • Sea Salt (Not that foods like celery that have sodium are bad, but EXTRACTED salt)
  • Condiments. Think of it this way: anything that can’t be eaten by itself as a meal shouldn’t be eaten at all. Time will tell how I can handle this one. I have always liked salts, spices, and things to make the food taste “better,” but I think I just need to start thinking of WHOLE FOODS that can create the same effect. Example: jalapeño instead of chili powder.

Foods that I want to eat very sparingly, or at least acknowledge when I do eat them that they are not the best things for me to eat. If I eat foods from this list, I want to start thinking of it as a compromise for me:

  • Seaweed and algae. Dr. Graham says that these should not be considered vegan since they contain creatures. He also says that we are only meant to eat things that appeal to us in their natural state, and you would gag if you were to eat seaweed or saltwater right out of the ocean.
  • Frozen Foods. I learned from a lecturer named Tanya Zavasta at a recent raw meet-up that when a food is frozen, the cells expand (which we all already know). For foods, this expansion causes the cell walls inside the foods to burst, and we don’t have a lot of research to tell us what this does to the nutrition provided by the food. Dr. Graham says they should not be eliminated (since this is one of the best food-preservation methods available), but that we should be aware that it is a potential compromise with the value that the food is providing us.

One thing that I am still pondering, particularly when it comes to Dr. Graham’s reasoning on consuming things like vinegar and sea salt: yes, these things will kill you in their concentrated form, but it is actually true that ANY substance is toxic at a certain concentration, even water! So the idea that these things are diluted poisons has got me thinking, but not necessarily in total agreement. One point, however, that does resonate with me is how something shouldn’t be considered a food unless you can make a meal out of it by itself. If you can’t do that then it should not be considerred a food that can be eaten at all.

I am enjoying reading the book again, and I highly recommend that it be read by you. I am also enjoying listening to his DVD series “Making Friends With Your Food,” with Professor Rozalind Gruben also lecturing.

This ain't no commercial, but for more information on Dr. Graham's program, including how to get a copy of "The 80/10/10 Diet," please visit http://foodnsport.com/. You can also get it on amazon.com. I think it is fascinating what Dr. Graham is able to do with athletes on a raw food diet. As he said in the lecture that we attended last month, if someone needs more fuel (calories) for an athletic lifestyle, it doesn't mean they need different kinds of calories, it just means they need more of them.

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Thursday, March 05, 2009

Badfish

I already posted about this in my online Journal (see http://trunkybeat.livejournal.com/3590.html), but I had to put it here for people that don't read there. Badfish is coming to Jacksonville! Badfish is a Sublime tribute band, and we all know that Sublime is the best mellow band out there, right? If you want to go let me know, and we can carpool there! It starts at 8:00 next Wednesday, March 11 at the Freebird Live at Jacksonville Beach. You can buy tickets by calling (800) 594-8499. Oh, and Scotty Don't will also be there. Can't wait!



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Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Cancer is NOT a mystery

Ever since I was a kid, I was wondering how millions of dollars of research could supposedly be spent on cancer every year. "What are they spending the money on?", I would think to myself. And why isn't the answer being reached? If it is not being reached, why do they keep thinking more money will solve the problem?

Well, now that I have educated myself thouroughly (and as a cancer survivor myself, some of that education was painful, believe me!), I understand a little bit more about what the money is being spent on, but I know it is a waste. Cancer is NOT a mystery. The cure is already out there, as well as the prevention! PLEASE stop spending the money the way it is currently being spent! One day soon, I hope to launch the DT Foundation. Will it be a fundraiser for cancer research? YES! My family and I also hope to educate those that need it--those that want it. My family has always been big on education, and we want this information to get out there.

This post was inspired by an article that I just found recently:
http://www.detoxtheworld.com/blog-detail.php?ID=63


It is kind of a long read, but it is worth it. Over the last two years, I have been having some of the same thoughts that are presented there. I hope you will make the effort to decide for yourself if healthy living is worth it. I know that you will find out for yourself some surprising benefits. Do we live this way just to be healthy? Do we do this just to lose weight and look good? Is that the only reason for going raw, getting back to nature, and educating our family on the benefits of living this way? For me, the answers are no, no, and no!

I started living this way BECAUSE I was diagnosed with cancer. I'm not sure that I personally would have made this decision without that happening first. As unfortunate as that is, I suspect it is the same way with many of you. A life-or-death situation would have to happen before you decide to take the plunge. Well I am here to tell you that it does not have to be that way. You CAN do this! If you come up with excuses of why you cannot, then you really do not WANT to do it. I have been very blessed to receive this knowledge, and I know that my life is so much better than before I ever found out I had cancer. I know that my knowledge is not complete! I am always looking for new things to learn about my body and life in general. I know that my body and my spirit are much more in tune now, and that they will know if something new that I hear or implement is right or wrong. It is important that we keep searching for the truths that will make us happy and concious.

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Monday, March 02, 2009

Low-fat Lunch

I just have to share a picture of the colorful lunch that I had at work today. The best part? It was tasty AND low-fat, which supports the direction my family and I are trying to go in keeping with the theory of the 80/10/10 diet (see "80-10-10" tag below).



The lunch consisted of some spring mix, apple slices, orange wedges, raisins, and sliced banana. No dressing needed!

Now of course I like raw salad dressings. I got to try a new type of guacamole this weekend--one that conisted simply of mushed-up avocado and grapefruit juice. It was so wonderful. And I absolutely love the ranch dressings that we've come up with, especially the caesar ranch!

Fruit dressings are great too though. They give you tons of energy and don't bog you down like some of the nut-based dressings that can make your diet more like 10/10/80 (80% or more fat), if you catch my drift. With this "fruit salad dressing," as I like to call it, no nuts are needed!

In case you are interested in the caloronutrient distribution, the meal was // calories from carbs/fat/protein. Here are the details:

Total calories: 578
% Calories from carbs/fat/protein: 92/3/5

The lettuce is about 12-13% calories from fat, but it is a low amount of calories in the overall meal (19!).

I got my information from http://www.nutridiary.com, which is a great place to keep a log of your meals and calories, or if you just want to look at the calorie distribution. It is really cool--you can create an account and save meals that you enter so that you don't have to enter them all over again later. If you have any questions, just ask!

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