Raw Love

Can Raw Foodies Love Cooked-Food "Infidels"?

This is a really important consideration when it comes to raw food. If you begin your path to raw food on your own and experience the breakthrough point of boundless energy, clarity, and wellness, the idea of dating someone that might take that "raw food high" away from you can be very influential when looking for a mate.

I hear stories about women (usually) who take on raw food with considerable opposition from their male partners. My heart really goes out to these poor souls. Their men want to eat what they were trained to eat, and to change their diet to "rabbit food" is a direct assault to their manhood. I honestly don't know how or even if they could truly succeed with making the transition, especially living with other family members who are still stuck in the cooked-food matrix.

For me, it was more about veganism at first. How could I truly love someone that would consciously eat the dead flesh of a drugged, stressed, tortured, and murdered animal? An animal that did no harm to anyone...an animal that had feelings and could feel pain. I couldn't give my unconditional love to someone that could support that. Despite this SERIOUSLY limiting the available field of potential mates, I really didn't mind. I felt that solitude was better than the former option. Now...this is just MY OPINION in regards to a LIFE PARTNER. Not friends or anything more casual like that. LIFE PARTNER. Can two different viewpoints on eating animals exist in the long terms between partners?

I don't want any of my cooked food friends to assume that I'm totally judging them and instantly incriminating them for their eating habits. I was there too. I was eating whatever was appealing, and whatever I was trained to eat throughout my youth. The body was an amusement park, not a temple. I wasn't asking the real question yet...which is..."Why do I believe the things that I believe?" "Why do I eat and crave the things that I do?"

Was I "fed" the truth from someone else? I hadn't started thinking for myself until after I left the distractions of business school and solid work. Some could call it "waking up", but it was simply giving myself the mental calmness to ask some of the harder questions. Whether is was food, religion, or general lifestyle habits.

So...back to Raw Love. Luckily for me, my girlfriend is vegan, and usually she is 95%-100% raw. She's lucky though...living in Hong Kong where coconuts are fresh and cost 40 cents, fresh durians, mangoes, and other tropical asian fruits are everywhere, and you can get organic greens delivered to your door from the countryside for 1/2 the price of here in the states. By the way, her skin is absolutely beautiful since going raw, and she is in the best shape of her life.

If you are a vegan/raw foodist, could you still marry someone who ate meat? Someone who kills their food through cooking and wonders why they get sick all the time? Would this become annoying to a raw foodist? Could you respect that person enough to become their life partner?

I think this leads to raw-foodies looking for love in more friendly spots. Yoga centers, farmer's markets, raw food restaurants, and raw meetup groups....you get the idea. Especially for the social aspect, being raw is HARD. I was invited to a comedy club last night, but with a two drink/appetizer minimum, I'm surely not going to waste my money to poison myself. I'll rent something on netflix or read a book instead. Or better yet, go somewhere more friendly and enjoy myself there.

You don't truly realize how pervasive the slow-motion-suicide habits of the masses are until you step away from them. I would say that almost every single social outing involves the eating or drinking of gluey, acidic poisons that strip our connection away from our pure raw food feelings.

This all may sound extremely militant, but if you go raw for 2-3 weeks and make the breakthough, then you have a right to make an opinion. After the breakthrough, you feel so alive and so happy that the idea of losing it is simply not an option anymore. I had lost the feeling because I went back and forth for a long time, and getting back to where I was became my prime concern. It takes you away from those old experiences you had with friends and family like sitting around an extra-large pizza and eating buffalo wings, or eating birthday cake that's washed down with soda for your little sister's birthday. But is it worth it? Go raw and answer the question for yourself. For me, I think we should have reached the level in our consciousness where we dont have to murder defenseless animals, especially when we know that its not meant for us as food.

So when finding a mate, you have to ask yourself what is really important in that potential someone...can you fully admire and respect them for the way they live their life, or would you prefer to be alone for a little while longer while searching for someone more in line with your lifestyle? And eating together as a couple is a big deal...how would you cope?

We are lucky though, there are such good networks to bring us together. Many of them didn't even exist a year ago. We should all have little patches on our sleeves to weed out those that still prefer to eat animal carcasses. It would save quite a lot of time, frustration, and money as well.

Oh yes...and about the rabbit food? Its gorilla food. Get it right.

Green Ninjas UNITE!!!!

Its About that Time...

Saving the World at the Last Possible Moment in the Greatest Story EVER

We have to see ourselves as the leaders of the Green Revolution. The ones that are turned on to what is really going on...what a mess we are in, what we need to do about it,and how to have the best time ever while doing so. The greener my lifestyle becomes, the better my life becomes.

I know that Im not part of the problem like I used to be. That feels good. I love riding my bike. Im in the best shape of my life, and Im keeping the air clean and not supporting oil companies or governments that fund terrorism through oil revenues. And I feel more CONNECTED to everything when Im on my bike. Im not blocked off by my windshield like when I used to drive my car. I'm a part of what Im riding through. That feels different, and I love it.

Here's another example: I eat raw, organic, LIVING plant food. I LOVE this. Its an absolute joy to eat a fresh apple right off the tree, or a big salad with hempseeds and sundried tomatoes. And because of this, I'm supporting organic farmers that enrich our soil and don't contribute to the toxification of our earth. I'm not using gas or other fossil fuels to cook my food either. And all my trash now goes into the compost bin back at the Union Sq Greenmarket. Being a part of something truly good does wonders for the self-esteem.

So...What's good for me, is good for Mother Earth.

Im going to develop a sustainable home and organic garden. Im going to drastically reduce the energy use in my home, and what I do use will come from solar and wind. I'm not going to have any electric bills after that. So whats good for me, is also good for Mother Earth AND my pocket book. This relates to bicycles and food as well.

Raw Organic food might seem more expensive up front, but think of this. I havent had even a cold in 2.5 years. I take no medicines...no aspirins, nothing. I dont have to use moisturizers anymore because my food is so juicy and alive that it makes the skin glow all by itself. Think of the savings for a family of five over the course of ten years!!! And think of the REAL cost of cheap mass-processed food. The energy used to make it, the energy used to ship it, the tax dollars used to subsidize all the water it consumes. And how its poisoning our bodies and our Earth. Talk about truly expensive....

Want another example?

Im now growing most of my own greens. This, I REALLY love. I love taking care of them, and sitting outside with them. It calms my soul and puts a smile on my face. This is good for me.
It's good for the Earth because it takes NO fuel whatsoever to get these greens to my plate after they are harvested. No 18-Wheelers from California, and no processing plant to wash them and put them in plastic, which then of course ends up buried underground.
It's good for my pocketbook because I paid 50 cents for each seedling. After some tender love and care, each one become a fully mineralized salad. Thats a CHEAP organic salad. Sure, I had to buy the soil and the wood, but I spend that much on my internet connection every month, so let's be reasonable. And now that I bought it, Ill never have to do it again.
Good for my mind and body, good for Mother Earth, good for my pocketbook. Get it???

Green is cool, green is smart, green is life and will be our only chance. This 10,000 year experiment in domesticated human development has run its course. The time is now for those who are awake to start living fully, and spreading nothing but joy and positivity to all that we come into contact with.

Support green business...think about yourself as a part of nature again...and do what is good for you. Because as David Wolfe says, "You are Mother Earth". We all come from the same source, and we will go back to that source when we are through with this particular life. What is truly good for us, is good for the planet.

We may think that driving a hummer around is good for us. However, in reality, we attract superficial people into our lives, we pollute the atmosphere with pollutants and possibly run over innocent animals, and we are going broke spending money on car, insurance, and gas payments. BAD BAD BAD. See?

We are the Green Ninjas. So lets recruit by subtle example. No proselytizing (nagging people about converting to our way of life...somehow I spelled that word correctly the first time). We cannot count on the authorities to save us...because they are obviously the ones who got us into this mess. We are a part of the solution. You are reading this for a reason. You are a beautiful, intelligent, caring being...and we deserve nothing but the best from one another. Let us live the example. The green life is the good life. Enough said.

Colonics and Raw Restaurants

Thoughts About Colonics from Someone Who Has Never Had One

Colonics always seemed like the answer to everything when I started reading about raw food. Everyone was so obsessed with their colons. It did make perfect sense to me though...all the buildup...all the disease coming from stored toxins down there. And who the hell wants to carry a colostomy bag around with them for the rest of their lives? YIKES....

That being said though, I've never gone through with one. I always tried to clean my colon from the top-down. A high fiber diet and some other products have really made things move for me in the past couple of years. But was everything out? It's like this paranoia...am I fully CLEAN yet???

Ann Wigmore advocated them. So does the Optimum Health Institute in San Diego and Austin, Texas. David Wolfe as well. I'm actually surprised that I never went through with it.

I felt that since I was only 23 at the time, and probably didnt have so much buildup, I didnt need one. I stopped red meat mostly by my late teens, and with all the green smoothies I started to consume, I felt like I was fine.

I did the master cleanse at the beginning of 2005 and took Yogi Tea's "Get Regular" tea every morning for 10 days. That right there was pretty good for me. I also took Oxy-Powder the following summer, and the results were...well...explosive?

Sarma Melngailis mentioned in her book "Raw Food, Real World" that her colonic experience was a big let-down...nothing much coming out and perhaps it seemed that the hydrotherapist was more focused on selling her a 10 session package to make sure everything was out. However, I just read a very entertaining post of hers where she mentions that she still does them once in a while. So...who knows?

Another thing was the cost. I felt super-clean by the time I even started looking into colonics. When I found out the price, I figured I was clean enough. Usually around $100, but maybe less if you look around.

Many say that its completely unnatural to perform colonics and that we are better off working from the top down with a clean diet of high-fiber, high-water fruits, and veggies. Colonics are a big shortcut though, and if I was older and had been eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) for 3-4 decades, I would gladly go in for a cleaning.

There are NUMEROUS blogs about this. People seem to love to take pictures of their "accomplishments" and post them on the web. Just google colon cleansing and prepare to feel your eyes pop out of your head. Strange as it sounds, I would LOVE to see that mucoid plaque come out of me, but maybe its best that it was never there in the first place.

The best advice I can give is to talk to people that have had them done, and find good reputable people that perform these therapies. Ive never had one, and I reached the raw food high without it before, so i dont know how needed it is. Its surely faster than gulping down green smoothies for two weeks.

On A Tastier Note....

Here is a wonderful dish I made while back in Minnesota this summer.
I made the noodles from zucchini and the Spiral Slicer.
I bought my slicer at Live-Live in NY, but many stores sell them online now. For the money, its one of the BEST ways to make the transition if you are a pasta lover.
The sauce was fresh tomatoes from the garden, some sundried tomatoes for extra flavor, oregano, basil, olive oil, lemon, some pumpkin seeds, and a little agave for sweetness. And some sea salt as well if you need it.

I enjoy going to raw restaurants, but I am convinced that when it comes to full enjoyment and satisfaction, nothing compares to making a dish yourself with loved ones and enjoying it at home. I eat out once a month now maybe. And when I do I just go to Pure Food and Wine. Their quality is unparalleled and Id rather go out once a month to a REALLY nice place, then twice a month to two half-assed places. Do you know who is making your food when you go out? Are they making it with love? Did they wash their hands?

Don't get me wrong, we need to support these places though, because of course regular restaurants are selling us stuff from cans and packages, made from highly inferior ingredients that are processed beyond belief. You get what you pay for. I want raw food to become mainstream because it will bring the best out of everyone involved. Raw food should become the natural choice when going out to eat.

Here is a tip...when you go to a raw restaurant, get something complicated. Something you cant make at home without the right equipment and lots of ingredients. I used to go to Caravan of Dreams here in NY, but I realized that paying $19 for a salad that I could easily make at home just didnt make sense anymore. Get the complex items. That's why Pure is truly the best.

That dish pictured above would cost probably $30-35 because it served about 3 people. Think about it. They have to pay the rent though, but still...I am a big advocate of DIY (Do It Yourself), so this is pretty natural for me.

Website for the day: GLIVING! Such a great site and their greenchefs section is beautiful. AMAZING recipes!

Until next time...

(And thanks for all the comments)

Questions and Answers

Some Wild Mini Apples I picked in the Hudson Valley of NY

Luckily, I've been getting a good amount of feedback and questions these days, and Im more than happy to reply and chat...so please feel free. I spend enough time on the internet as it is, so why not?

Here are some questions Ive been getting lately, Ill leave out the emails addys of course.


1.....

Hi,

I wanted to say that I admire your healthy ways. When did you realize you had to eat raw and green? And how do you detox your body? Does cayenne and lemon really work? Did you ever hear of the mastercleanse?

-Laura S

Hi Laura...thanks so much for saying hello...

I came across the raw food diet in November 2004. I made friends with a produce manager at an organic health food store, and he started giving me all the unsellable produce that they were going to get rid of. They get shipments every couple of days, and they have to keep the freshest stuff on the shelf, so usually really good stuff is thrown out. So wasteful...but I took advantage of it. Minor cosmetic damages like a little dimple in an apple..etc.

So I started making LOTS of green smoothies. I wanted to feel full but still get more lean. After two weeks of about 64oz a day of green smoothies, I was feeling so alert and alive...I couldnt believe it. And then I found this old raw food book in some thrift store. It was like I was supposed to find it. So I played around with it for a while...90% usually, maybe more.

The following Jan I did the master cleanse with my mom and again, I felt SOOOO good. You have to do it. But remember, only fresh lemons. No bottled lemon juice...it has to be cooked to stay on the shelf, so it is DEAD. The magic isnt there. Ive done a master cleanse with bottled juice before and it was totally disappointing. The last time I did the master cleanse was last october. I did it for 11 days with green juice as well. By day 4 I was completely back to where I wanted to be. Feeling so light and alive and awake. Getting up so quickly out of bed...such a great feeling. The first few days are hard, but just keep going online to read about it and get support. Alot of people make youtube videos of each day of their cleanse. I would HIGHLY recommend this. And instead of maple syrup, I would go with agave nectar now. The author who created the master cleanse wrote the book long before agave nectar was popular, so he advised to use grade b maple syrup. I had great results with it, but it was better later on with the agave. You really start to love the flavor, and I still drink the master cleanse mixture every day before breakfast and before bed. Cayenne is highly alkaline and lemons are absolutely amazing. They are so alkaline and mucus dissolving that its just ridiculous. The best ways to detox is to get lots of fiber to move out the junk, and highly alkaline green juices and green smoothies to cancel out the acid condition present in the toxic body. Disease needs acidity to thrive...if you are alkaline, youre likely not going to suffer from much.

Good luck and please stay in touch!

2.....

Anthony -


First, good for you to be making such efforts and publishing them to influence others to go better.
BUT, maybe think things out before you post. You say about the fashion industry that we can support the designers without having to buy more of their product ("My girlfriend is in the fashion-design industry, and I do respect the artistry and the unfathomable level of skill that is required to create these pieces. I'm more about questioning the non-stop buying of it. We can support those artists and still not have to purchase many more pieces of clothing at this point.") ? OK, how? How you propose to support your fashion desinger girlfriend if no one buys the clothes? And it is obvioulsy a conflict of interest for a FASHION MODEL who can make $25, 000 for a Ralph Lauren advert to suggest that consumers stopobuying clothing. You are making your living selling clothing and junk made in CHINA from Target. You should quit maybe and work for a non-profit?

Hey Mish, thanks for saying hi and asking the hard questions.

At this point, we should treat new clothing made by real artists like paintings or sculptures. We should be buying pieces directly from the designer, and maybe buying one or new pieces every year. There is already so much made out there already, am I wrong?

My hope is that I can use modeling to gain credibility in the Raw Food/Green Industry. At first. my whole goal was to make enough to set up my sustainable living project and start traveling. I started doing it all 3 years ago for the freedom and the traveling.

OBVIOUSLY its a conflict of interest. I know so many people in this industry who really love what they are doing. Many are very talented artists. Designers, Photographers, etc. The industry provides many, many jobs. The only question Im asking is: "Is there something more beneficial that we could all be doing for Humankind and this planet instead of creating advertising and selling stuff? I think this applies to 99% of the work-force out there now. Is there something we all could be doing instead? Something more enjoyable and beneficial to all? True, we have to "Pay the Bills" but who said we cant do away with that either?

And besides, most of the other male models I know would blow their earnings on cars, booze, or women, while Im developing a sustainable way of life and using it to free myself from work so I can teach others how to do the same. Should I work in an office instead for the next 20 years and pay taxes that fund bombs and evil empires? Would that be more beneficial for everyone?

Of course I make myself a very easy target when I, as a male model, speak critically about the fashion industry. If I was in banking, retail, service, or just about any other line of work, I could practically say the same things anyways.

But I am a citizen of this planet first, and that is where my logic is. Is your job sustainable or beneficial to humankind? Does my job really negate my viewpoints?

And Im developing a non-profit at the moment called "One Hundred Million Trees".
It will be online soon at www.onehundredmilliontrees.org. If I had a regular job I don't think I would have the time or energy to work on these other projects.

OK?

Anthony

3....


I came across your blog via "Raw Food, Right Now" and I must say, It makes me happy to see once again that I am not the only crazy person drawn to this lifestyle of, living green and traveling. Kudos! Keep it up...it's a great inspiration!

Ian
site// backpacktheplanet.com
blog// ian.backpacktheplanet.com


Thanks Ian, youre site is the best, and youre a big inspiration for me to get out and start living 100% again. Hopefully we will cross paths one day.

Anthony

4....

Hey there, I like your website and really am jealous of the nice little garden you have going.... I've been thinking of making one but my neighbors tend to throw food out of their window above me..... horrible i know..... anyway... just thought i'd say hello, it's so hard being raw without knowing others who are.... I've always been a bit if a health nut and hoped that some of it would just rub off on my friends....but i've now just decided i need to meet more like minded people..... anyway... just thought i'd say hello.... i look forward to swapping some recipes:)

JoniSue

Joni Sue... Do you live above me?

Haha... Anyways, I know what you mean. Each of us is on our own path and we will discover what we need to when the time is right. One idea - David Wolfe often quotes Emerson in his lectures...here it is: "Your Actions speak so loudly that no one will hear a word that you are saying." Live the example. The less you say, and the more you live, the more your loved ones will see it and be attracted to it. I used to preach directly (now I use this :)...) but I noticed that if you live VIBRANTLY and FULLY...people will notice, and thats all there is to it. Pretty soon they will be asking you for tips. Meetup.com is the best way to make direct connections with those already turned on to raw food. Ive gone to two meetups already and Im kicking myself for not doing it years ago. Do you have any other windows that you can put plants nearby? There are also nice little indoor setups that you can get to at least grow fresh herbs as a hobby. The garden on my friend's patio (the one pictured) gets about 6-7 hours a day of sunlight. Not so much, but enough. Thanks for saying hi!

Shaved beet and carrot salad with seeded raisins, cashews, cucumbers, mushrooms and swiss chard. Tons of fiber and SOOOOO good.

The Green Smoothie

Whether You Eat Raw or Not...the Green Smoothie is Essential

1. It has a huge serving of leafy greens, which contain chlorophyll, tons of minerals and enzymes, and all that natural fiber.

2. It has at least two servings of fruit, so you get a great taste and natural sugars which are slowly released into your body for hours and hours because of all the fiber.

3. It is blended smooth, so all the nutrients can be absorbed MUCH more easily. Its like chewing your food for a half hour.

4. All that fiber fills you up. I have one for breakfast and Im not hungry until well after lunch time. Plus, no sugar cravings. It keeps my blood-sugar stable so I don't get out of whack.

Here are three green smoothie recipes that I like to make.

1. Cilantro, Avocado, Orange, Lime, and Honey/Agave Nectar

One full avocado, one full orange and lime, as much cilantro as you can stand, and as much honey or agave nectar you need to make it sweet. I love this one, creamy and full of sweet citrus, plus the cilantro gives it a great added flavor. I used to use a half bunch of cilantro, now I use probably 3 times that. If the cilantro is too strong, add more spinach (its very neutral).

2. Pear, Parsley, Apple

Again, the idea is to get as much greenery in there without it repulsing you. One or two full pears, and keep adding more parsley until you are happy with it. The apples are optional, but Ive found them to add a nice flavor and they go well with pears. Also, a squeeze of lemon seems to help as well.

3. Arugula, Pineapple

Sounds crazy right? Try it! Smooth and spicy, yet sweet and tangy. Probably my favorite one at the moment and really quick. Usually one bunch of arugula goes well with 1/2 a pineapple.

The beauty of raw food is the flexibility. Its really hard to mess up recipes, because you can just add more of something else to balance it out. Another thing to balance is sea salt. I use Celtic gray, and found some great black Hawaiian sea salt at Trader Joes recently that Ive been using. I prefer the Celtic gray though. Just a pinch to balance out the sweetness. So...too bitter? Add fruit. Still too sweet, throw in some more greens and a little pinch of sea salt. You gotta love it...you really cant screw it up.

I would highly recommend watching Victoria Boutenko's DVD called "Greens Can Save Your Life". It covers the green smoothie in depth and she backs up her info with primate studies and nutritional testing. Here is her daughter talking about the family story:

Valya Boutenko 1
Valya Boutenko 2

So even if you're still eating processed foods and meat, if you can get your green smoothie in every day you will increase your vitamins, minerals, and fiber by leaps and bounds. Sorry to use the cliche, but really...LEAPS AND BOUNDS.

When I started out, I had a cheapie blender and was trying to blend cabbage, kale, apples...and whatever else I could get. I didn't have any guidance on it, because I didn't even know that books about raw food really existed. Take advantage of the times....www.youtube.com and the internet in general has a treasure trove of raw food info.

More thoughts on exercise next!
And some permaculture news as well....

Go Raw Now Trailer

I'm not sure who made this, and I think the main blonde guy is a little cheesy, but its a good message. Its worth watching for sure.