Common Sense Eating – Raw and Beyond

There’s a new book out making waves in the raw food world – Raw and Beyond. Three well known raw food advocates – Victoria Boutenko, Elaina Love, and Chad Sarno all came to similar conclusions after 16 years of eating and making raw food and being viewed as gurus in their field.

What each one found was that after years of only eating raw living foods, they felt they were missing something from their diet. What they discovered was that initially a raw food diet is very cleansing, especially if it respects the core foundation of eating living foods – that is lots of dark leafy greens, other vegetables, and fruit, with a limited consumption of nuts, seeds, and oils. They still all believe that if one has a health opportunity, a raw living foods diet is optimum for cleansing and healing.

However, what each one fell trap to, and it is what all of us do initially, was to consume a large percentage of living foods from nuts, seeds, and oils in order to simulate the cooked foods they were craving when shifting their diet. In doing so, they realized that they were becoming deficient in Omega-3s and overdoing Omega-6s. Almonds, for example, have 2,011 times more Omega-6s than 3s. And they are not singling out those who eat raw food only as the only ones deficient in Omega-3s. Our grain and oil heavy diet is resulting in all North Americans consuming too many Omega-6s and not enough Omega-3s.

Since our diets are often too high in Omega-6s — foods such as corn oil, soy oil, safflower oil, and sunflower oil — many people can end up with an Omega-3 deficiency. The symptoms are:

• Fatigue
• Poor memory
• Immune weakness
• Dry skin, eczema, or hair loss
• Heart problems
• Reproductive problems
• Mood swings or depression
• Poor circulation

Aside from preventing Omega-3 deficiency, getting enough Omega-3s can also reduce inflammation, decrease joint pain, fight obesity, reduce exercise-induced asthma, and lower blood pressure.

So what do these raw food advocates recommend? They definitely are cutting WAY back on nuts, seeds, and oils and increasing the use of flax seed and oil, hemp seed and oil, walnuts, and chia seeds – all high in Omega-3. Many of their recipes are focussing more on using fresh greens and light sauces and dressings with lemon and spices and perhaps some hemp seed in place of oil. And what really seems to have many raw food purists up in arms, they are advocating eating some cooked food.

There is a proviso about what they will eat that is cooked and why. The why comes from paying attention to what you start snacking on because you are hungry – e.g. dried fruit and nuts. Rather than doing that, your body may be requiring something more substantial. They stress whole plant-based foods only. Not foods that have been processed or are packaged or animal-based. And if cooking foods, they suggest lightly steamed root vegetables, perhaps some beans, and quinoa.

They all now say they eat 80% raw living foods and 20% lightly cooked whole plant-based foods and they all feel better because of it. However, they are not placing judgement on anyone nor do they expect others to follow suit. Other than to pay attention to the quantity of nuts, seeds and, oils one is consuming. They acknowledge that what one eats is based on personal choice and that what works for one person may not work for another. And they still stress that the best sources for most of the nutrients required to sustain a healthy and vibrant life, comes from fresh organic living dark leafy greens, other vegetables, and whole fruits (rather than dried).

Not terribly revolutionary nor controversial. Just good common sense.

I decided to include a few recipes of mine with substitutions I picked up from Raw and Beyond with thanks to Elaina Love for some inspiration. I wouldn’t necessarily have all these dishes for one meal. This is just to show you what a creamy and healthy Omega-3 option hemp seeds can make to dishes that in the past I would have often used cashews.

Hemp Seed Mac and Cheeze

• 2 cups hemp seeds
• 1 Lemon – juiced
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ¼-1/2 tsp Tumeric
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp wheat free Tamari
• 4 Tbsp Nutrition Yeast (optional)
• Sprinkle of pepper to taste
• ¼ to ½ cup water
• 2 medium zucchini (1 per person) or 1 bag of Kelp Noodles

First Step:
Put all ingredients into a blender until pureed. If you prefer a thinner sauce add more water.

Second Step:
Peel and prepare zucchini in a Spiral Slicer to look like angel hair pasta. Or rinse Kelp Noodles and drain. You can use the sauce as a dressing or toss onto ‘noodles’.

Serve with green salad and top salad with creamy hemp dressing.

Creamy Hemp Salad Dressing

Use a blender. Put all ingredients in then slowly blend until smooth.
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 cup hemp seeds
• 1 tomato
• ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp cayenne or less if too hot
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp dried dill

Add more or different spices/salt/cayenne to taste, if too bland.
Can add some water if too thick and creamy.
Store in jar in fridge for up to 5 days.

Hemp Seed Cacao Chia Pudding
Yield: 2 cups

• 2 cups hemp seeds
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 Medjool dates, pitted and soaked for 30 minutes
• Water, reserved from soaked dates
• 4 tablespoons Chia seeds
• ¼ cup raw cacao
• 1 cup fresh berries (can use frozen)

Drain dates and reserve the liquid. Place dates in blender.
Add hemp seeds, vanilla and slowly add date water until smooth (about the consistency of whipped cream).
Add cacao powder and blend again.
Add more water to thin if too thick.
Stir in Chia seeds until mixed.
Top with berries (blueberries are high in anti-oxidants and hold up well) either fresh or frozen.

Chill for at least 30-60 minutes before serving.
Chia seeds are high in Omega-3, antioxidants, fiber, protein, and calcium. They soften as they sit in liquid and almost take on a texture like ‘tapioca’.
*To soak dates: Place dates in water to cover, plus a good inch or so. Let soak 30 minutes to 1 hour.