What could be more Valentines-ish than home made chcolate for the loved ones in your life? Never made any raw chocolate dishes before? Have no fear! Chef Jana Adjani, from GreenChefs.TV, is here to save the day.
This healthy treat is very versatile with different ingredients and measurements. Play around with it. You may prefer to try other butters with it like cashew or macadamia nut. Or leave out the coconut if you don't like the subtle coconut flavor. However I find the addition of the coconut butter to make it far lighter and creamier.
In 2000 Jerrod’s doctors delivered the gut-wrenching news that he had stage IV melanoma.
“They told me that I had about a five percent chance of living 10 years," Jerrod says. They told him his treatment options were chemotherapy, radiation, interferon or simple ‘monitoring’. "They said that these treatments or combinations of them would improve my odds up to 15 percent or so,” Jerrod said.
Doctors also warned him that the chemical treatments and radiation made it unlikely that he and his wife would be able to have children.
However Jerrod wasn't planning on settling for that:
Following a period of intense research, discernment, and prayer, Jerrod and his young wife Nikki decided against traditional treatments and opted for radically changing Sessler’s diet.
It took them weeks and month to do an “extreme makeover” of their diet to revamp their habits and their pantry. The result was what they still follow today: a strict vegan diet, mostly raw foods that haven’t been processed, with no dairy or meat.
In the end it all paid off!
Today all Sessler family members are healthy and thriving, including three new additions to the family; two boys and a girl whose ages range from eight months to four years old.
Jerrod is thrilled to have defeated his cancer and happy to continue racing cars, a lifelong passion that started at age four when he announced that he wanted to be a race car driver. He raced go-karts as a boy and raced stock cars professionally in l998.
I (Sandeep) was an Economics major. I understand Supply & Demand. Raw food products are in short supply, so the demand? High.
But, when I am looking at my Whole Foods receipt for the flax seed oil, coconuts, almond butter, kombucha, organic vegetables, and other foods that bring me strange looks at the checkout counter, there is a part of me that screams
Yo! You didn't even have to COOK it! Why are you charging me $30 for a cracker?
Spare me the Mastercard commercial references. This shit is expensive!
My question of the day: Short of growing your own produce (my thumbs are brown), how do you eat raw on the cheap?
Beliefnet has an interesting article on the growing trend of unifying spirituality and style.
Riding the Metrospiritual Wave The growing ranks of the hip and holistic are seeking their inner bliss with serious style.
Gwyneth Paltrow is one. So are Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio. Chances are your bikram yoga teacher has the major characteristics and so does the guy who makes your fruit smoothie at Jamba Juice. Donna Karan is totally in on it. The salesperson who helps you find the right Botanical Kinetics moisturizer at Aveda is probably one, along with your eco-tourism guide at Costa Rican surf camp. Richard Gere may be the proto-one and Uma Thurman was pretty much born into it. What is influencing Hollywood stars and Wal-Mart shoppers, fashionistas and Filene’s basement-dwellers alike? It’s called metrospirituality, and chances are you already know or even lead the life of a metrospiritual.
Our thoughts:Spirituality and style are labels. They don't actually
mean anything, they just point in the direction of what one person or a
group of people agree is spiritual and what is stylish, (which could
be said about everything). I know some guys that get excited over the
fact that they get called metrosexuls, (aka pretty boys). In that same
sense, I'm sure there are people out there that love being know as
"metrospiritual" in the eyes of others. Its great and brings out a certain sense of awareness to alternative lifestyles, but when it comes down to it, the only question
that matters is, "Does this work for me?" Obviously no one can answer that for you.
Raw Eggs Update: Dr. Mercola, the famous internet health guru and advocate of a 75% raw food diet has an update on eating raw eggs
Angelica's Kitchen Review: We ate the raw food options at this restaurant about 1 year ago and weren't too impressed. Raw Food is my flying carpet blog has an official review.
Raw Revolution Bars: Raw Indulgence, the company that brought you the Heavenly Whole Food Brownie, has just announced a new line of raw food bars. Flavors include: Chocolate & Cashew, Chocolate & Coconut, Cashew & Agave Nectar, Raspberry & Chocolate. Hmmmm, can anyone say chocolate?
"I find that people eat too much sugar, too much fat, too much
protein and too little green food," says Paul. "Then they switch to a
vegetarian diet, but keep doing the same thing, and keep running into
the same problems. Then they switch to a raw diet, but continue to eat
too much sugar and too much fat and too little green food, and they run
into the same health problems."
Donna Karan is on point:
Apparently Donna Karan has been into eating a some sort of raw diet for
the last three years. Not only that, but she uses yoga and meditation
as inspiration. (more here, and here).
I (Dhru) took this photo while hanging out with half of the WLIR Squad in San Fran this past weekend. It is pretty much an accurate portrait of an average WLIR dinner.
Un-toasted Nori: used to make nori wraps filled with fresh vegetables and salad
Guacamole: used to add some heartiness to the nori wrap
Wine: Now you know why Deepa, (Sandeep's Wife & Dhruva's Mom), is so happy! Most of the WLIR Squad can't have wine on a regular basis because it doesn't work with our system, but we have been known to bust out the alcohol occasionally. And yes we know alcohol is the product of decay.
Raw Food Crackers: Not sure which crackers we had that evening, but we typically use something like Rosemary Crackers to add the crunchy texture that a lot of raw foodist feel they miss.
Heirloom Tomato & Avocado Melody: A nice vegetable mix to back inside of a nori wrap
Banging Kale Salad: Our all time favorite salad. Contains kale marinated with scallions, sea salt, flax oil, lemon juice.
Deepa's Pizza: Hey...some like it raw and some like it cooked! At an average meal we typically have people who enjoy both types of foods....no discrimination here. In fact, people who have never tried a raw dish before tend to eat more raw food at their meal if the option is present. Take Deepa for instance, she decided to eat healthy that evening by placing a little bit of Guacamole on her pizza. Go Deepa! ;)
Tahini Dressing: Simple dressings that aren't too thick tend to work best. We are basically saying don't serve up any of that thick green goup that sound raw foodist call dressing. Dressing should taste like...well.....dressing. Here is the recipe for the one we used that evening.
Water: The more fresh raw food you eat the less drinking water you need. That being said, it is always nice to have around.
CNN Money recently featured an article on Seth Godin's new project Squidoo. The site has nothing to do with health or raw food specifically, but is a place for "experts" to feature very focused information on a full range of topics. The only thing I'm an expert on is myself, but I still thought I had some interesting things to say about raw food, so I started a lens titled, I Like It Raw, Do You?
Besides promoting raw food, my Squidoo page was an experiment in what information initiates a response and attracts attention: Here's what I learned as I went up in lens ranking from 15,000 to 5,000 to 350 to 100 to 29 to, presently, 10. Note: I also use these ideas on a daily bases to pimp raw food in one-on-one conversations.
Dhrumil's How to Pimp Raw Food List
Before and afters rock:Telling a story with a picture really brings the concept of raw food to a level that the average person can relate to well. Science and nutritional information is great, but nothing beats the visual of a transformational photo.
Leave out the should's: If you make people feel bad about not eating healthy enough, they'll tune you out. You are just another addition to the long list of people that are using guilt as a motivating factor. No one appreciates when others try to make them feel bad.
Humor builds trust: We're all going to die anyway, so why not use humor as a vehicle to help others relate to your message? Being humors, while providing very focused information, is an excellent way to remind others that you aren't about taking things too seriously. That makes people feel happy and also reminds them not to take life so seriously, while also reminding them that they don't have to accept being sick and tired.
Baby Steps Please: I'm still working on this one, but from what I've seen, there is just way too many people trying to say way too many things.... all at the same time. Most health sites you visit either 1) don't explain things clearly enough or 2) end up bombarding you with too much information. Break things down into manageable chunks of information, communicate what those chunks are, and make it easy for people to navigate those chunks.
Get Real, don't be a salesman: No one wants to be sold. If you are selling product or services, don't come off with some multi-level marketing approach. Get real by building trust and communicating authentically. Once you do that, the foot traffic or web traffic will roll on in, more on this here.
As reported earlier, Microwaves pretty much suck. Although they are often touted for their convenience, little is understood about how much damange they actually cause.
Here are a few more reasons, put together by health educator Deanna Latson, to help you understand why you should kick that nutrient zapping, cancer causing, oh-so-unhealthy machine to the curb.
Just What is Wrong With Your Microwave? I am always advising people to throw out those microwaves, why? Well, here are some concrete reasons why the microwave is dangerous:
A study published in the November 2003 issue of The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that broccoli "zapped" in the microwave with a little water lost up to 97 percent of the beneficial antioxidant chemicals it contained. By comparison, steamed broccoli lost 11 percent or fewer of its antioxidants.
When microwaving, carcinogenic toxins could be leached from your plastic and paper plates or covers and mix with your food.
The temperature of microwaved food can become extremely hot, at temperatures high enough to cause burns or steam buildup that could explode -- this is especially risky with baby bottles. Plus, microwaving can break down the essential disease-fighting ability of breast milk to protect your baby.
A 1991 lawsuit involving a woman who had hip surgery and died because the blood used in her blood transfusion was warmed in a microwave. Blood is routinely warmed before transfusions, but not by microwave. The microwave altered the blood and it killed the woman.
Before you use your microwave again, you might want to consider few other facts:
If you think that government food policy is made with your ultimate health in mind, here is another list of stories to file under the "that's pretty f'd-up list."
From RawStory.com: Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester Crawford, whose sudden resignation last fall after less than three months in office remains a mystery, has joined a lobbying firm that specializes in food and drug issues.
Crawford is listed as "senior counsel" to the firm Policy Directions Inc. Among the companies and organizations listed as clients are Altria Group Inc. (formerly Philip Morris Companies), Merck & Co. Inc., the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA,) the Grocery Manufacturers of America and the American Feed Industry Association. A spokesman for the firm said neither Crawford nor anyone else wished to discuss his appointment.
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester Crawford, whose sudden resignation last fall after less than three months in office remains a mystery, has joined a lobbying firm that specializes in food and drug issues.
Crawford is listed as "senior counsel" to the firm Policy Directions Inc. Among the companies and organizations listed as clients are Altria Group Inc. (formerly Philip Morris Companies), Merck & Co. Inc., the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA,) the Grocery Manufacturers of America and the American Feed Industry Association. A spokesman for the firm said neither Crawford nor anyone else wished to discuss his appointment.
Now we're not conspiracy theorist (reality is crazy enough), communist (we like money) or government haters (go America!), but stuff like this is just funny.
Four members of WLIR are currently in San Fran for 2.5 days doing client work, (yes we do have real jobs....well sorta.) In between meetings though, we've been hitting up the major raw food cafes and we've also been taking photos of us making evening meals. As soon as we have a moment to chill, we'll be sure to post all of our latest happenings.
In the mean time, if you're jonesin' for some great reading material, check out the amazing Mighty Foods Weblog.
