We Like It Raw - Raw Food Goodness

The other green movement

The raw food movement has been producing a lot of green recently, and I'm not talking about kale and cucumbers.

As the term raw food has gone mainstream most of the major players in the industry, such as Nature's First Law and Larabar, have seen tremendous growth. So its no wonder that major food companies are starting to take notice.

Take a look at this $1440 report whipped together by Business Insights and In-Food Consultancy, (link courtesy of Sarma):

Raw/live Food Revolution: The next generation in health food products

Consumers have grown weary of diets like Atkins and South Beach and are beginning to see natural options like ‘live food’ and ‘Ayurvedic’ diets as sustainable, long-term choices for maintaining health and weight. The growing demand for both allergen-free and less processed foods is also driving consumers towards this new health regimen. Raw/live food revolution is a new management report published by Business Insights in association with In-Food that analyzes the fast growing raw and live food market. This report provides analysis of raw and living products found in health food stores and forward-thinking supermarkets in the US, Canada, Australia, France and the UK. It details the leading products and manufacturers in the market and the key issues and trends that will shape its future. The raw and live food market is yet to be dominated by major players and provides profit opportunities for all food and drink manufacturers and retailers. This new report will help you identify, understand and exploit the new product development potential of the raw and live food market. Full PDF Summary

It is clear that the growth of the raw food movement is going to attract its fair share of vultures and value-adders. Although there is the potential for a conglomerate to swoop in and try to mass-market and dilute the integrity of the raw food movement, I think anyone who tries to do that is in for a surprise.

The raw food community is one of the most educated and viral group of "consumers" in almost any industry. That's one of the main reasons that raw food has grown so quickly! We have opinions and aren't afraid to tell our friends because we've seen first hand the results that are possible.

So in this green movement know that you also play an important role. Keep both the established companies and the newcomers on their toes by constantly questioning and researching their standards. Push for transparency and reward the companies that do with your dollars.

p.s. $1440 is quite a bit for a report, but I'm sure worth it if you need to get raw strategic with your company. If anyone ends up buying it please do send us your review.

Dietary Agendas & Authenticity

While surfing the blogosphere today I stumbled upon Allison's Raw Odyssey Blog and her most recent journal entry about her challenges eating exclusively raw:

It's sad to see my food addiction rear its ugly head, but I'm grateful for my ability to really see what food (or non-food, as the case may truly be) does to me, and how much better for me raw food really is. I think that I will try to keep things more loose as far as "how raw" I am, allowing myself to eat cooked veggies and other whole foods on occasion. Ausjulie commented about Buddha, which reminds me of his comments about maintaining a Middle Pat- neither too extreme one way, nor too extreme in the other. Although I still can't figure out how people know they are a particular percentage raw, I can see what they are talking about- they allow themselves some leeway. I'm not ready to name some percentage, but I'm going to start thinking of myself as being majority raw, and over time I'll probably define it a bit more clearly. More.

First off I'd like to commend Allison for posting so authentically. It takes a lot of guts to publicly reexamine any area of life, especially something like going 100% raw.

Many folks who attempt to eat raw food exclusively don't talk about their challenges sticking to it publicly, (usually their ego is too caught up in looking good). So they binge on the side until one day they get tired from all the weight of trying to be healthy and they end up taking a few steps backwards on the health path.

From my experience, I would say most of the problem relates to identity. The majority of people in the raw food circle have been sold a very rosey picture of what it means to be an enlightened rawfoodist who is above and beyond all food cravings and temptations. This image is a tough one to live up to and very few gurus talk about the honest challenges that even they face trying to live up to this image on a daily basis. When individuals can't live up to this identity, it leads them to thinking something is wrong with them and their lack of discipline.

I'll tell you what though... I've never met a person who I've considered to be a health role model, who hasn't gone through multiple evolutions and revolutions in their diet. In fact, almost every single one of my health mentors and role models stopped eating exclusively raw for a period of time before they took it back on. And of some of them even found that eating exclusively raw wasn't for them, which is cool too. The consistent theme though, was that they did what worked for them and didn't worry about living up to some version of what health was suppose to be.

That goes for me too. The biggest health goal I feel that I have achieved is dropping the agenda of how things needed to be.

If you are going through constant yo-yo'ing or binging, you really want to ask yourself if you're trying to live out an out-dated mental image of what it means to be healthy. One of the best ways to go about it to take your private affair and open it up to someone close to you who will hear you out. Nothing like a dose of authenticity to get you present to what you really want and need.

MySpace Buddies & Raw Foodies

MySpace has proven to be a great gatherer of like minded individuals. Here's a short list of some of the cool people WLIR has befriended. If you have MySpace you may consider befriending them too!

And don't forget to add us to your entourage!

• Shazzie
• Gabriel Cousens
• Alissa Cohen
• Matt Monarch
• Sarma
• Bob Rawsome
• Raw Vegan Radio (Steve)
• Vinit
• Jess - Raw Coach
• Eat4Beauty Group
• Deepen
• Nickolas
• Angela
• DBoost Entourage
• Leaf Cuisine
• Camille
• Nirav
• Christa
• Joey & Butterthief
• Mihir
• Raw Support Group
• Cilantro Live
• Running on Raw
• Raw Chef Dan
  
• Victoras

Have a MySpace account? Feel free to post it in the comments section.

Raw Chocolate Milk with Leslie Begga

Leslie is back and still gorgeous as ever!

Check out her latest contribution to gLiving.tv network: Raw Chocolate Vegan Milk

Via gLiving.tv: On todays G Living Live, we have another episode of Green Chefs, DeliciouslyRaw with Leslie Bega. On this show Leslie whips up a fresh glass of Raw Chocolate Vegan Milk, using the left over mix from her Chocolate Pudding Recipe. You will need a few extra baby coconuts for this extended recipe.

This is a 2 part show really, you have to go back and watch the original chocolate mint pudding show to learn how to make the original mix. Don’t worry it’s worth it.

Gabriel Cousens on Food For Spiritual Awakening

I've read Spiritual Nutrition by Dr. Cousens and found the insights to be a little tough to grasp.

Recently though, I stumbled upon this interview with Dr. Cousens and Michael Toms of New Dimesnsions Audio that reviews the insights in Spiritual Nutrition in a digestible manner.

You can here a sample for free, but the download of the interview will cost you $4.95.

Via New Dimensions Radio: Would you like to know six simple dietary changes that will improve your physical and spiritual health? Listen to this conversation with Dr. Gabriel Cousens and find out what those changes are as well as be informed how eating pesticide-laden foods affects your neurological function. Cousens even goes so far as to propose that the way we eat can lead to peace in the world, "Peace of the body becomes peace of the mind . . . Peace of the mind becomes peace with our family. If our blood sugar is steady and our mind is clear, we're certainly going to get along better. From peace with the family we start to talk about peace with the community, peace with all cultures, and peace with the ecology." Is fasting or being vegetarian for you? This far ranging conversation will shed light on such questions and more. 1 hour

Related

• Dr. Gabriel Cousens Audio Interview
• Dr. Cousens says boot the dairy (video)

Growth Is Good & Wast Equals Food (video)

I've seen this speech on Eco-Effectiveness by William McDonough about 100 times and I never get tired of it.

My favorite quote from the lecture is, "Being less isn't being good!"

Related

• William McDonough on TreeHugger

UlimanaMana Chocolate Chai - Very Delicious

I was at Karyn's Fresh Corner this past weekend and I noticed a raw product from a company I've never heard of before. The companies name is UlimanaMana and the product is their Chocolate Chai Mix.

The packaging was a bit ghetto, but the contents and quirky copy convinced me to try it none the less.

Last night I found out that I was going to have to pull an allnighter for a client that was in a bit of a jam, so I decided to bring the Choclate Chai Mix with me to help me stay up. Boy, am I glad I did!

Although the mix has Cacao Powder as a primary ingredient, I was surprised to find that it wasn't overpowering at all. It mixed easily in my water and even was pre-flavored with a bit of honey so I didn't need to bring any sweetener along with me.

When it came time to take a one hour nap this morning, I wasn't too wired to crash for a bit and get back up, (normally after I have cacao Powder I have trouble sleeping).

If you like cacao, but haven't figured out a nice balance that works for you, this could be your product, (if you don't mind the price).

Chocolate Chai Mix: Chai with a luscious spin - raw chocolate.  Our blend of Chai spices will bring you as close to heaven as is possible on the planet.  In keeping with our desire to bring you only the best ingredients we've built a real powerhouse drink with raw & organic ingredients including Honey, Cacao and our  special blend of spices.  Like our Cacaoliente, it has a bit of a spicy note and is perfect when mixed with warm vanilla almond milk. - $18.50 / per jar

Related

• Cacao Powder's dirty little secret
• Cacao Butter - ''Raw White Chocolate''
• Paul Nison's Raw Chocolate Smackdown

Watch Supermodel Carol Alt Make Raw Hummus

Watch Carol Alt represents raw food on VH1's Celebrity Diets.

Note: You'll need Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player to watch the clip.

Related
-  Carol Alt - The Official Site
-  Carol Alt, Cheese and O'Reilly - the video

Ronald McHummer

You can always count on McDonald's to pull some stuff that makes you scratch your head and say, "Are they serious?" Via Seth Godin

This month McDonald's is giving away toy Hummers — 42 million of them, in eight models and colors — with every Happy Meal or Mighty Kids Meal. That's right: The fast-food chain that helped make our kids the fattest on Earth is now selling future car buyers on the fun of driving a supersized, smog-spewing, gas-guzzling SUV originally built for the military. Use the Ronald McHummer Sign-O-Matic™ to tell us what you think of this misguided marriage of two icons of American excess.

RonaldMcHummer.com

Pure Bar Surprise

The picture above is of a Pure Raw Food Bar, (Chocolate Brownie flavor). I was surprised to find it as part of a snack tray outside of our board meeting room at the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort.

I know the head chef knew that our group was vegetarian, but he had not idea that we fancy raw foods.

Score one for the marketing power of raw food!