STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

Any Raw Foodists Here?

Teresa · Kate Spade

i did a cleansing type thing one summer and ate only raw foods. I felt phenominal and my acne cleared up completely.
eta: oh yeah, and I lost about 10 pounds, which was all my body had to lose otherwise im sure i would have lost more

-- Edited by collegegirl5858 at 21:35, 2008-02-04

Suasoria · Chanel

DH has been mostly raw for a couple of months. He initially did 40 days raw, then started slowly adding cooked foods. When we make dinner at home it's usually raw, so I guess I'm now partly raw (rare?).

DH has never felt better in his life, he's lost 20+ pounds, stomach problems are gone, migraines way reduced in frequency and painfulness...etc.

I go back and forth on how I feel about it. Intuitively it makes a great deal of sense. However, I have met a lot of raw foodists through work and personal circles, and read/heard a lot of interviews with raw food advocates, and some of these people I would describe as having borderline eating disorders. Others I wouldn't.

Some people in the "raw community" seem to think that food's only value is nutrition/health. I myself get more out of food than just fuel...I also get sensual enjoyment, comfort, social enjoyment from making and eating a meal with a friend, etc. Raw cuisine can certainly be all those things, it's just that some raw foodists are very fixated on "superfoods" and "superherbs" and supplements, and aren't interested in learning how to prepare delicious, beautiful, fragrant, satisfying food!

There's a lot of supportive and informational websites out there, books, cookbooks, and even some DVDs. I really like Angela Stokes (www.rawreform.com) both personally and nutritionally, meaning I mostly trust the information she provides. Brendan Brazier is a triathlete who is really well known, so if you're athletic or worried about performance or stamina, he's a good resource (www.brendanbrazier.com). Dr. Gabriel Cousens is a medical doctor who has done incredible research on raw foods and disease. If I had money to burn I'd go to his retreat in AZ (www.treeoflife.nu).

And www.goneraw.com is a fun recipe site.

We're having fun with it though for him it makes some things more complicated, like he has to bring along his own food/snacks at times. Luckily there are several raw restaurants in L.A. and some vegan places that have raw options so we can still eat out when DH doesn't want cooked food.

Would you like me to ask him for some more specific thoughts?

Suasoria · Chanel

Just saw this clip from the Tyra Banks show and thought I'd share. Alissa Cohen coaches two overweight women on a raw food diet for three months - pretty astonishing results. You gotta love the fact that one of them says she didn't work out that much. (I've always thought exercise is overrated!)

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=cCz7zhrWnxg]

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

Thanks for postin gthat Sausoria. I have stuck with the vegan diet now for a little over a month and haven't had as much trouble as I thought. I haven't gone raw, but I have dedicated one day a week to eating raw, and now that I am learning more about it I may add in another day. If you have any favorite and simple recipies that you think would be good for "beginners" I'd love to hear about them.

Suasoria · Chanel

We really like making sushi and raw pastas.

For sushi, we use dried but UNtoasted nori, but there's no need to be so extreme. We cut up a bunch of veggies, roll, and slice. My favorite combo is avocado, portobello, and cucumber, but we also make some "edgier" rolls like avocado, tomato and basil.

If you have a food processor, I love this mock salmon paté from Juliano - pulse it all together, smear it on nori, add some avocado or sprouts or even baby lettuce.

1 1/4 c soaked walnuts (just soak in a bowl of water for a few hours)

2 c deep orange squash or pumpkin

1/4 c red onion, diced small

2 TBS fresh dill, de-stemmed and minced

2 TBS parsley, de-stemmed and minced

14 c lemon juice (or so)

2 TBS Nama Shoyu/soy sauce

1/2 tsp salt

For raw pastas, it's helpful to have a gadget that will make pretty noodles out of zucchini or daikon or other firm vegetable, but you can also just use a potato peeler and shave off fettucine-sized noodles. Two small zucchini, some cherry tomatoes or diced tomatoes, basil, pine nuts, diced garlic, bell pepper, mushrooms...anything, really. Throw in some olive oil, salt & pepper, and let it sit for a half hour or so before eating.

Oh, and when tomatoes are good again, we LOVE this soup:

http://kristensraw.blogspot.com/2007/08/moroccan-gazpachoyou-have-to-try-this.html

And if you have a really good blender, this "cheese" sauce made from cashews is frigging amazing.

http://goneraw.com/recipes/281-Rich-Cheddar-Sauce

Use it over the pasta above, or just as a dip, or with raw crackers. It's. So. Good.

Edited because 12 teaspoons of salt should have been 1/2 tsp and 14 cups of onion should have been 1/4. BIG difference...

-- Edited by Suasoria at 14:59, 2008-03-11

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

Thanks, those all sound so good!

I love making California rolls, but never though of using portabello in them. I may make those this afternoon. My current favorite is avocado, red bell pepper and green onion. Not too original, but yummy and summery tasting.

I can't want to try the cheese sauce from cashews.

Not raw, but I have sauteed bean sprouts before to replace noodles in spaghetti, DH loved it.

Suasoria · Chanel

This just in!

The mock salmon spread can be made with carrots instead of squash, which sounds a heck of a lot faster than peeling and de-seeding a big ol' squash. Try two cups chunked-up carrots. A friend of mine tried this over the weekend and said the substitution worked out fine.

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

Sausoria, have you used avocado for a butter substitite? One of my husbands clients recently made cookies with very ripe avocado instead of butter. She brought in a cookie for him to try and he couldn't taste the avocade, it was tinted a bit greenish, he said.

Suasoria · Chanel

No, but Artisana makes a raw coconut spread that's good as a butter substitute:

I've used avocado in desserts, though, like chocolate pudding, to get the creamy "whipped" texture. It works well. Ooh, I also have an avocado mayo recipe that's kind of awesome - though it doesn't remind us exactly of mayonnaise, it's a good spread or salad dressing. Blenderize until blended:

1 cup pine nuts
1 large avocado
1 tbs. lemon juice
2 tbs. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. salt
6 medium pitted dates (3 packed tbs.)
1/2 clove garlic

I wonder if the cookie recipe was from the cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld with recipes for sneaking veggies into kids' foods?