Zucchini Pasta on a Bed of Greens
A Quick Update...
I still have been drinking about 48oz of green juice every day, but Ive also been making apple-lemon-cucumber smoothies. I dont know if it was a moment of weakness or what, but I really just felt like having some. And I had SO much fruit in the apartment..it was really hard to be around it and not have some. Very strange...it used to be like that with ice cream, and at the moment because of my juice fast intentions, its the same with apples and lemons and cukes. Too funny. You know youre on the right track when fruit is your pleasure food.
The Senna Leaf Tea is working it's magic every morning, and I've been doing #1 like crazy. DETAILS!!! Too much info! Well, wait until tomorrow! Haha...
I miss my bike. Ahh..how i forgot the hellish slow pace of the subway. Walking up the stairs, dozens and dozens of people all around me. I feel way too sheepish, and I really don't care to sit around and wait for trains all day. That bike...it just gave me that total feeling of freedom. I was separated from the crowd...covering ground so fast. Not bound to the rules of the street like cars and trucks. And forget about the bus...unless you are going later at night, youre better off walking. SOOOO slow.
I've decided to throw in ONE question and answer for each post that I do. This way its not such a huge chunk. Those previous posts were monsters. Here is the question of the day:
Hi Anthony,
I am just starting out with the raw diet and I found your weblog through google. I have learned so much just reading in the last couple of days! You are such an inspiration. Okay, you may have addressed this question so sorry if its a repeat. Do you have a recommendation for a blender? And also can you list some beginner essentials that I will need for my kitchen? I am so excited to start this new lifestyle.
Thanks again for all the posts. I will continue reading.
Beth
Hi Beth....
I always have been a frugal guy. I dont mean that I wouldnt spend money, I just wouldnt spend much on regular day to day things that most people do. Id hold my earnings and spend a bunch on a vacation or a snowboard package when I was a teenager. I ended up getting an Oster Blender, which I thought was really strong at the time. This is what it looks like -
I was making one green smoothie a day, but it would take me at least 10 minutes, because I would have to turn it off, get a spoon to move things around in there, and turn it back on. Even when it was blending, it took FOREVER. But it was better than the first one I had.
So what I did, was work a little extra during the week...a few extra bartending shifts, and I bought a Vita-Mix. It cost me $400 because I bought the Vita-Prep (variable speeds) and I'm telling you...it was the best thing I ever could have done to stay with raw foods. My smoothies and puddings are SOOO creamy and SMOOTH! No more bits and chunks!
I gave the Oster to my mom, and actually used it two weeks ago when I was back in Minnesota. I was blown away by how crappy it was. There is no going back...
The Vita-Mix just plows through everything, and saves you so much time. You dont have to stop it and stick something in there to get things moving, because it already has the tamper which is just PERFECT. It is my sincere recommendation that you bite the bullet and get one. Trust me...Im a frugal guy, but if you are going to do something, its worth doing right. And it will further you along so much easier. You wont regret it, I promise.
The other items which I would deem totally essential for raw food success would be a food processor (doesnt have to be really expensive, remember) and a good knife and cutting board. I have an Exalibur Dehydrator (the small 4 shelf one) and I do make stuff with it, but I think Im just going to send it to Minnesota so my mom can experiment with it so she stays on track. I'm pretty much over making all those transitional foods (raw pies, crackers, cookies, etc) and am completely content with smoothies, salads, and fresh fruit.
Juicing? I still do it but Ive reached the raw food high with just smoothies too. Juliano, Victoria Boutenko, Ann Wigmore, and many other influential raw-foodists have strayed away from juices (except wheatgrass and watermelon). This is worth looking into. I still juice because I have a good barter system with a friend at an organic health food store. I make him copies of good documentaries, he hooks me up with more greens than I can handle. Otherwise, I would spend $2.50 for each bunch of greens, and would buy two for my green smoothies. I think that would be perfect. One other item that might interest you is the Spiral Slicer so you can make the pasta like the one pictured up top.
With these items, and great online recipes, the transition will be pure pleasure. Forget the pain, it went out the window with the microwave. Your'e a lucky person to be transitioning now, because there is so much info and support out there for you. Good times! Best of luck and thanks for checking out the site.
-Anthony
One more thing, I talked a friend into doing raw food for two weeks, and he said that he has never been so lean. The only thing he complained about was the price of it. You have to be smart about this. Buy your apples and graperfruits in 3lb bags. Go to the greenmarkets if they are available and spend $5 a day on your greens. Spend $2 on an avocado, or eat your daily serving of hemp seed which would cost about $3. I often buy in large quanties (5lbs of Goji Berries, Maca, and Cacao Nibs) so I have to only do it once, and the price is much lower. Eatraw.com has good bulk pricing. You can do this with all your nuts and dried fruit if you look around enough. And if you compare it to the price of going out to lunch, self-made raw food wins every time. I think I could get by on raw food for $10-12 a day including superfoods. I buy water too, and I still buy gallons of Poland Spring because I feel guilty about draining the islands of Fiji, even though that water is SO good.
Here is something to think about. In Hong Kong, Poland Spring is a hot item because it comes from the "Pure Mountains of Maine". Its foreign...just like imported beer. So maybe Poland Spring isnt all that bad. Stay away from Dasani and Aquafina though...don't support Coke or Pepsi.
Sorry about the lack of videos too...I'll be making a few really soon.
Full report tomorrow...won't be graphic, I promise. Oh yes, and I had dinner on Sunday night with Dhru from We Like It Raw, his friend and Business Partner Mihir, and his sister at Pure Food and Wine, and it was the most energizing and inspiring time Ive had in a long while. Keep your eyes on these guys...big things ahead. They will be bringing raw food to India in no time. Energy is highly contagious, so remember that when choosing the people you spend your time with. No room for negativity. And the meal? It gets better every time I go. I had a red bell pepper stuffed with pine nut cheese and topped with an Ancho Chili Paste, and I almost freaked out while eating it. There is simply no room for cooked food anymore. We are taking over!
I still have been drinking about 48oz of green juice every day, but Ive also been making apple-lemon-cucumber smoothies. I dont know if it was a moment of weakness or what, but I really just felt like having some. And I had SO much fruit in the apartment..it was really hard to be around it and not have some. Very strange...it used to be like that with ice cream, and at the moment because of my juice fast intentions, its the same with apples and lemons and cukes. Too funny. You know youre on the right track when fruit is your pleasure food.
The Senna Leaf Tea is working it's magic every morning, and I've been doing #1 like crazy. DETAILS!!! Too much info! Well, wait until tomorrow! Haha...
I miss my bike. Ahh..how i forgot the hellish slow pace of the subway. Walking up the stairs, dozens and dozens of people all around me. I feel way too sheepish, and I really don't care to sit around and wait for trains all day. That bike...it just gave me that total feeling of freedom. I was separated from the crowd...covering ground so fast. Not bound to the rules of the street like cars and trucks. And forget about the bus...unless you are going later at night, youre better off walking. SOOOO slow.
I've decided to throw in ONE question and answer for each post that I do. This way its not such a huge chunk. Those previous posts were monsters. Here is the question of the day:
Hi Anthony,
I am just starting out with the raw diet and I found your weblog through google. I have learned so much just reading in the last couple of days! You are such an inspiration. Okay, you may have addressed this question so sorry if its a repeat. Do you have a recommendation for a blender? And also can you list some beginner essentials that I will need for my kitchen? I am so excited to start this new lifestyle.
Thanks again for all the posts. I will continue reading.
Beth
Hi Beth....
I always have been a frugal guy. I dont mean that I wouldnt spend money, I just wouldnt spend much on regular day to day things that most people do. Id hold my earnings and spend a bunch on a vacation or a snowboard package when I was a teenager. I ended up getting an Oster Blender, which I thought was really strong at the time. This is what it looks like -
I was making one green smoothie a day, but it would take me at least 10 minutes, because I would have to turn it off, get a spoon to move things around in there, and turn it back on. Even when it was blending, it took FOREVER. But it was better than the first one I had.So what I did, was work a little extra during the week...a few extra bartending shifts, and I bought a Vita-Mix. It cost me $400 because I bought the Vita-Prep (variable speeds) and I'm telling you...it was the best thing I ever could have done to stay with raw foods. My smoothies and puddings are SOOO creamy and SMOOTH! No more bits and chunks!
I gave the Oster to my mom, and actually used it two weeks ago when I was back in Minnesota. I was blown away by how crappy it was. There is no going back...
The Vita-Mix just plows through everything, and saves you so much time. You dont have to stop it and stick something in there to get things moving, because it already has the tamper which is just PERFECT. It is my sincere recommendation that you bite the bullet and get one. Trust me...Im a frugal guy, but if you are going to do something, its worth doing right. And it will further you along so much easier. You wont regret it, I promise.
The other items which I would deem totally essential for raw food success would be a food processor (doesnt have to be really expensive, remember) and a good knife and cutting board. I have an Exalibur Dehydrator (the small 4 shelf one) and I do make stuff with it, but I think Im just going to send it to Minnesota so my mom can experiment with it so she stays on track. I'm pretty much over making all those transitional foods (raw pies, crackers, cookies, etc) and am completely content with smoothies, salads, and fresh fruit.
Juicing? I still do it but Ive reached the raw food high with just smoothies too. Juliano, Victoria Boutenko, Ann Wigmore, and many other influential raw-foodists have strayed away from juices (except wheatgrass and watermelon). This is worth looking into. I still juice because I have a good barter system with a friend at an organic health food store. I make him copies of good documentaries, he hooks me up with more greens than I can handle. Otherwise, I would spend $2.50 for each bunch of greens, and would buy two for my green smoothies. I think that would be perfect. One other item that might interest you is the Spiral Slicer so you can make the pasta like the one pictured up top.
With these items, and great online recipes, the transition will be pure pleasure. Forget the pain, it went out the window with the microwave. Your'e a lucky person to be transitioning now, because there is so much info and support out there for you. Good times! Best of luck and thanks for checking out the site.-Anthony
One more thing, I talked a friend into doing raw food for two weeks, and he said that he has never been so lean. The only thing he complained about was the price of it. You have to be smart about this. Buy your apples and graperfruits in 3lb bags. Go to the greenmarkets if they are available and spend $5 a day on your greens. Spend $2 on an avocado, or eat your daily serving of hemp seed which would cost about $3. I often buy in large quanties (5lbs of Goji Berries, Maca, and Cacao Nibs) so I have to only do it once, and the price is much lower. Eatraw.com has good bulk pricing. You can do this with all your nuts and dried fruit if you look around enough. And if you compare it to the price of going out to lunch, self-made raw food wins every time. I think I could get by on raw food for $10-12 a day including superfoods. I buy water too, and I still buy gallons of Poland Spring because I feel guilty about draining the islands of Fiji, even though that water is SO good.
Here is something to think about. In Hong Kong, Poland Spring is a hot item because it comes from the "Pure Mountains of Maine". Its foreign...just like imported beer. So maybe Poland Spring isnt all that bad. Stay away from Dasani and Aquafina though...don't support Coke or Pepsi.
Sorry about the lack of videos too...I'll be making a few really soon.
Full report tomorrow...won't be graphic, I promise. Oh yes, and I had dinner on Sunday night with Dhru from We Like It Raw, his friend and Business Partner Mihir, and his sister at Pure Food and Wine, and it was the most energizing and inspiring time Ive had in a long while. Keep your eyes on these guys...big things ahead. They will be bringing raw food to India in no time. Energy is highly contagious, so remember that when choosing the people you spend your time with. No room for negativity. And the meal? It gets better every time I go. I had a red bell pepper stuffed with pine nut cheese and topped with an Ancho Chili Paste, and I almost freaked out while eating it. There is simply no room for cooked food anymore. We are taking over!
5 comments:
hi,
I just wanted to mention that Poland Springs water is acidic at 5 or so.... NYC tap water is neutral7.5.....
as is FIJI. All bottled waters have different ph.
I use an ionizer so that Im 'off the bottle'.....& drinnking a high alkaline water.
otherwise, alkalizing drops can help...
By the way...your blog is great!
Raw Model and We Like It Raw, changing up the game.
Holla!
I've been in a dilemma about water for so long. There's so much conflicting information about what is the best water to drink. I started out using tap water through a Brita filter, but then found out how it doesn't filter fluroide.
I then started drinking bottled water. Fiji taste's the best, I also really liked the Pure New Zealand Artesian Water from Trader Joe's, but then I started reading about how carcigoenic parts of bottles can leak into the water, and how it's always better to use glass as storage containers! Always! Never use plastic.
I also was worried about all the resources/gas/energy it took to get that water to my area. So I stopped drinking bottled water.
I then found out how distilled water is the most purest water you can drink as everything is taken out of it through the process of distilling. But once again there's a lot of conflicting information about it.
I then started reading about rain water. Many people in third world countries will collect rain water, and use it. But I also read about how you shouldn't collect/drink the first couple of minutes of water from rain storms. You should collect it afterwards because the first part of a rainstorm may have contaminants and other matter the rain is clearing out from the atmosphere.
I remember when I was kid I would play in the rain, and would always open my mouth wide and drink it. I remember feeling so good drinking rain water. It's so abundant in most regions (unless you live in the desert). I think this is the water we should be drinking.
It's so easy to collect and store.
You just need proper containers to store it in. I just put a couple of my Berkey sport bottles (they filter out the bad stuff,whenever theres a rain storm, which is usually weekly. and I have fresh water to drink throughout the week.
It's so simple!
I live in the middle of nowhere, where the air and rain water is so fresh. I doubt I would collect water from a major city due to all the negative energy and pollution that tends to radiate around those parts.
This was long. Maybe I should start my own blog.
-Karen
thank you so much for this blog and for being so down to earth. It's really inspirational. Keep it up.
you guys aren't alone! i also have issues with water...at home i'm lucky to live upstairs from "the water lady", who has this amazing filtration system. i just fill up my three 1-gallon glass jugs over and over again.
it's a bit more tricky at work though. i moved out to san diego from nyc and i don't have a car (not planning on getting one anytime soon either) so lugging around a glass gallon of water wherever i go just isn't feasible. i can drink a gallon a day just being at the office! lately, i've taken to buying plastic containers of crystal geyser alpine spring, which i know is terribly wasteful and bad for the environment because of all the fuel they use to transport the water here and there. not to mention at $2 a bottle, it does add up, like some people's morning coffee fix...plus, all the stories you hear about plastic leaching...i want to start drinking the stuff from the water cooler but i don't know if i can trust it. does anyone know anything about the reliability of oasis filter systems? that's the one they use over here.
anthony, that's hillarious that you mentioned the oster blender caz that's the EXACT one i have in my kitchen right now! i agree that it's nowhere near the same caliber as a vita-mix. right now smoothies are a weekend treat for me because i don't have time to wait around in the morning when i just need to get to work on time. i do 10 hour days and it's easier for me to just throw a bunch of fruits and veggies in a bag and eat them as is. i actually had to send out a polite but firm general email yesterday because one co-worker in particular has a habit of helping herself to everyone else's condiments. i keep a bottle of manitoba harvest hemp oil in the communal fridge and at $30 for the larger size, it's cheap since it lasts quite awhile, but not if she's using it too...by the way thanks for the tip-off regarding nutiva! funnily enough, i had my suspicions before, but once again you confirmed them! i only wish i'd listened to my intuition before i bought a bottle for home use but alas, too late...next time...BLESS!
"use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"
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