Raw Food Diet Now

“I don’t have a juicer. Can I use my blender?”

Martha, a 7 day raw food diet starter course participant, asks this question:

“I have a question about juicing. I don’t have one of those juicing machines. Can I use my blender then strain?”

Guess what, Martha?  I don’t have a juicer either!  And here’s why.

First, good juicers are somewhat expensive.  Cheap ones usually don’t last very long.  Some types even end up heating the juice from the friction — definitely not what a raw foodie wants.

Most importantly, juicers tend to separate the juice from the fiber.  (Guess that’s why they’re called juicers!)  Our goal is fresh, whole fruits and vegetables — that fiber is good for you and your digestive system.

There’s a lot you can do with a blender.  Peel an orange, remove the seeds, and put the whole thing in the blender for orange juice!  Or add an orange to your next smoothie.  It’ll have a bit more roughage than you’re used to for orange juice, but it’s very tasty and you’re getting everything that nature provides.

By now you’ve probably guessed what I’m going to say about straining your juices — please don’t do it!  Imagine you’re a cave woman or cave man from 100,000 years ago, before the modern miracles of juicers, refrigerated trucking, and Safeway.  You walk out of your comfy cave, go up to a fruit tree, pull one down, and eat it right there with little fanfare.  This is the ideal.  The biology of our bodies evolved to use such natural whole foods as fuel and nourishment.

Now if you absolutely cannot tolerate the fiber — if it means the difference between your getting fresh fruits and vegetables or not — then go ahead and strain.  But I don’t recommend this.  Whole foods were meant to be consumed as a complete package, ensuring you receive the natural balance of nutrients.

Of course there are some kinds of juice a blender won’t be able to make, like carrot juice.  But if you have a powerful blender, you can experiment with adding some liquid.  Chop a carrot into 1-inch or so sections, and add some liquid or a juicy fruit like an orange.  You may find a combination you like.

Finally, be sure to drink your juice as soon as possible after making it.  It starts to oxidize as soon as it’s exposed to air, which isn’t harmful but means the longer it goes unconsumed, the more nutritional benefit you’ll miss out on.

Raw Green Smoothie – Meals 11/16/2008

Watch for the little “blooper” at the end. Oops!

The smoothie was made with spinach, lettuce, and some other green leafy things blended together with 1 banana, a splash of orange juice, and some raw walnuts. The fruit sweetens it up and masks the taste of the greens, so it’s really a painless and tasty way to get more fresh fruits and veggies in!

Strawberry Banana Smoothie – Raw Food Meals 10/22/2008

Includes:

• Strawberries
• Bananas
• Orange juice
• Almond milk
• Flax seed meal

It’s been pretty hectic lately. I don’t remember what I had for lunch. Ah yes, I had lunch out because of a business meeting. It was a garden burger. Ugh, I got really sleepy afterwards and had trouble concentrating the rest of the afternoon. It’s probably full of high glycemic load carbs.

But for dinner I had Raw Spaghetti. I didn’t get a chance to snap a video of it tonight, but you can see it in tomorrow’s post (click on the Raw Spaghetti link) where I had leftovers for lunch.

Meals 9/21/2008

Breakfast

Here’s what’s on the table…

Lightly fried tempeh, yellow bell peppers, eggplant, and cucumber.  Orange juice.

For dessert:

Cantaloupe for breakfast.

So, there’s a couple things to note:

• The tempeh dish isn’t exactly raw, but I’m a work in progress. 
• I’ve heard you’re supposed to eat fresh fruit first on an empty stomach, but honestly I haven’t researched this enough yet to say one way or the other.
• All dishes were made from fresh ingredients, which were bought organic when available.
• I’m still drinking orange juice from concentrate, which is pasteurized, and so not raw.
• I ate until I was full.

One challenge is that in my household, the division of labor is such that my wife is the primary meal preparer.  Although she is sympathetic to the raw food diet, we’re all still adjusting.  I probably average about 50-70% raw at this point.

Lunch

We went to the farmer’s market to buy some groceries.  Generally I prefer to stick to fresh fruit & veggie ingredients and make things from scratch, so that we know for sure what goes into things and can control the quality.  But we did pick up some snacks while there, and though they weren’t raw, they were vegan.

• 1 vegan samosa with jalepeno chutney sauce.
• 1 vegan spinach-stuffed Indian bread.
• 1 small bowl of mixed fresh organic berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries) from the farmer’s market.
• 1 glass of almond milk.

The Indian snacks were not ideal.  The samosas were deep fried, and the bread was tasty but made from refined flour.  I did feel a bit ill in the stomach for a couple hours afterwards.

Dinner

For dinner, I had a sprouted bean “burger” patty with some fried veggies — broccoli, carrots, etc.  That was followed by a peach, which was perfectly ripe and oh so tasty!  The sprouted patty was something I picked up at the farmer’s market to try.  The directions said to fry it, so I didn’t feel comfortable trying to eat it raw without knowing more about how it was made.

That’s the dilemma with prepared foods — you don’t really know what you’re getting.  With fresh fruits & veggies it’s pretty straightforward though.  I would really like to reduce the prepared foods in my life, even if they’re “healthy” or “raw.”  Either eat fresh ingredients as-is (i.e., a salad) or prepare them at our household.

Later in the evening, I had a glass of chardonnay.  I’m not sure how wine fits into the raw food scheme — I’m pretty sure it’s not raw! — but that and a nice hot bath are great for relaxing at the end of a day.

Well there you have it.  I have laid it bare here for all to see.  Today wasn’t particularly a triumph in raw food.  You can see I’m not perfect, and have some work to do!

One day at a time.