Great Recipes

I have been experimenting a bit more and trying to come up with some good recipes. The best one I have so far is my Orange-Sesame-Tahini dressing.
2 tbsp raw organic tahini
juice from 1/2 - 1 Valencia Orange

Mix the ingredients in a blend, and serve on a salad. I have not tried it on fruit, but it is likely pretty good. This recipe is a spin off of Doug Grahams Lemon Tahini dressing from, "The High Energy Diet".

A favorite recipe, of mine, out of Doug's book is the red pepper, celery and tomato soup.
1.5 cups red pepper (I like a little bit more for a stronger flavor)
1.5 cubs celery
1 cup chopped tomatoes

Blend the pepper, and celery in a blender to make the soup base. Then dump the tomato chunks in and enjoy!!!! This is a fantastic recipe. There are many variations of it as well.

Organic vs. Conventional

Many people ask me what the big deal is about organic. There are various issues with conventional produce (non-organic). The first issue people think of is the pesticides on the fruit, and insist you can just wash your fruit/veggies. Unfortunately, washing does not remove the pesticides. The chemicals absorb into the produce and get into your body when you eat them. However, washing does remove some residue from the surface.

Think about it this way. If you took a can of RAID and sprayed your fruit, would you eat it? That is exactly what happens on commercial farms. The only difference is that it is sprayed more than once. Think about what these chemicals are doing to the environment, and our drinking water.

Probably the bigger issue with conventional farming is that these chemicals kill the soil. This is a major problem for us humans who then eat the fruit. Plants absorb their nutrients via their roots, which in turn is used for nutrients for humans. When all the nutrients (good bacteria) do not exist in the soil, the plants are malnourished. Thus, we are malnourished as a result of eating food that is lacking in essential vitamins, minerals, and beneficial bacteria.

As a result of these toxic cocktails being sprayed on the soil, there are some known vitamins and minerals that are missing from conventional produce, such as, B12. There are probably millions of others we feeble minded humans are not even aware of. So what else is destroyed when the soil is destroyed???????

B12 is a very well discussed topic and I leave it to you to do your own research on this. Doug Graham does a great job covering this topic in, "The 80/10/10 Diet".

My advice is to grow some of your own food in your own garden, and buy organic when you can.

I buy as much organic as I can every week.

Where do you get your protein?

Since this is the number one question people ask me about my diet, I figured I would address it here.

Dr. Douglas Graham, the author of, "The 80/10/10 Diet", recommends asking the following questions to individuals who ask, "where do you get your protein?".

1) How much protein do you think you need?
2) How much protein do you think you currently eat?
3) What exactly is the function of protein?
4) Have you ever met anyone with a protein deficiency?

I found it quite interesting to learn that the uses of protein, for the human body, are as follows:
Growth (adults are done growing so their bodies use less protein than children's bodies)
Replacement of damaged, or dead cells
Injury recovery

If you do a little homework you will soon learn that you only need 6% protein (dv) in your diet.

It isn't even necessary to increase this amount when you are an athlete; according to the Institute of Medicine/Food and Nutrition Board.

If bodybuilders supplement more simple carbs (fruits and veggies), their protein needs decrease and their muscle growth/energy increases, as stated by Dr. Doug Graham in, "The 80/10/10 Diet".

You can get all the protein you need by eating plenty of fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds. Also, it is best to keep your daily protein intake at 10% (dv), or less.

High Energy Diet

I have finally found a recipe book worth buying. It is not full of high fat recipes, and spicy, salty unhealthy junk. It is titled, "The High Energy Diet Recipe Guide" by Doug Graham.

I have not tried a single recipe I did not like. The soups in this book are great. There is a great one, which combines mango, and cucumber. It is simply wonderful. There are dozens more wonderful recipes. I highly recommend this book for any serious low fat raw foodist.

I also started reading my copy of the 80/10/10 diet. So far it is the best nutrition book I have ever read.

Salad Mania

Well, I have been working extensively to improve my salad making skills. Everyone keeps telling me they look like a work of art, so I figured I would post a photo above.

Recently I have been continuing with my research in nutrition. I have also been working on making ideal meals for low-fat (10%) raw vegan backpackers. It is much more difficult than I realized. I will post some results when I have some. I may also post more info in my backpacking blog.

Whole banana's turn out well on a dehydrator at 105*F for a few days. They turn out much better than banana chips. Also, they are mighty tasty. I am going to experiment with banana chips and coconut oil because the lemon juice doesn't work very well.

Raw Food Recipe Books

I have grown quite frustrated with my search for a reasonable raw food recipe book. A while ago I purchased several raw recipe books, and am not pleased with the recipes in them.

One issue I have is that the majority of the meal recipes are very high in fat (nuts, seeds, avocado's, oil's etc...). Second, most of the recipes contain excitotoxins, such as, sea salt, and a variety of spices. This garbage is toxic to the human body. Though sea salt is better than regular refined table salt, it still is not healthy to consume.

In fact, there is a large number of vegans who are eating a higher-fat-diet than people eating a Standard American Diet (SAD). This is not healthy at all and gives a bad name to what could be a healthy nutritious diet. High fat diets are not healthy. For example, a high fat diet thickens your blood and prevents the insulin/pancreas from doing it's job effectively, which is to remove sugar from the blood. Thus, high fat diets contribute to type-II diabetes, amongst other serious illnesses.

Mono-eating

I have altered my eating patterns once again. I have started mono-eating all my meals. The idea behind mono-eating is to focus on one food type at a time. This enables the body to better absorb the vitamins, and minerals. It is also better for digestion. There is tons of info on the web about mono-eating, just do a search and find out for yourself.