Raw Sacramento News RSN.10.29.03

Our next regular Monthly Raw Potluck will be Next Sunday, November 2 at the home of Diane & Larry Walters in West Sacramento. PLEASE NOTE THE TIME IS 4:30PM!! If you're late, you'll miss the best food there! Also, if you can bring a folding chair, it would be appreciated. Need a recipe? Consider this Raw Pumpkin Pie.

There are 2 raw food prep training opportunities during November. Please see our events calendar.

Our Membership roster is out of date. Would you take a look and email your corrections or additions to our web support team.

Congratulations to the Winners! Christa Bennett won the Excalibur Dehydrator donated by Excalibur. Kim Glassard won a jar of raw olives from Living Tree Community. Thanks to these cottage industries which serve the Raw Community for their support to Raw Sacramento!

Do you need to know where & how to buy coconuts in Sacramento? Check this out!

Raw Sacramento Steering Committee meets next on Tuesday Nov. 4. All Raw Sacramento members are welcome to attend. Full details here.

Raw Restaurants: Are popping up all over! According to Pam Benson, I understand that there are 3 new ones in the Bay Area in the last 6 months. Several new restaurants in California are listed on our Restaurant link page, along with a small number from around the USA.

Raw Food Testimony: Have you eaten exclusively Raw Foods for at least 2 months? Did you experience any health improvements? Would you be willing to write a 'Raw Food Testimony?" We would like to post more of these. If you have concrete documentable health improvements and can write a few paragraphs about your experience, it may influence and help others. Would you please send Mark your Testimony?

Website & Email for Raw Sacramento: Larry Walters is taking over responsibility for Rawsacramento.net. He and Mark are working to make this a seamless transition. All email for Raw Sacramento will now be directed to info@rawsacramento.net.

Nomi Shannon's ('the Raw Gourmet's) most recent Newletter has a lot of good advice for raw food folks. Keep it delicious & simple. She also has some special prices on the K-Tec Blender (Mark's personal favorite) and the new Green Star Juicer (slighter better than Green Power or Green Life). Click Here.

Gravity Table for sale brand new condition. Sold at 'Relax your Back' for $399 plus tax. Get Mark's for only $260. (Can bring to potluck for pickup).

Nomi Shannon's Raw Gourmet Newsletter October 29, 2003

1. I mentioned in my last newsletter that I would be talking about
some more new and interesting products. This information is arriving
soon, once I have worked out some technical aspects. The items I 
will be soon mentioning are not items that I would ship directly,
therefore you can order The Complete Book of Raw Foods, 
The Fresh Produce Guide, the Nutmilk Bags, the new 
Modern Manna Raw Gourmet video, or
the ceramic tea kettle without waiting to put all the items you
want together.

2. Call for the great price I am offering on the K-tec HP3 blender,
or email. 888-316-4611 or rawgourmet@aol.com.
The Green Star juicer is also on special for only $350! Take 
advantage of this great price by calling me at 888-316-4611.

3. And now, an article I wrote that I hope you enjoy.

Two of the most frequently asked questions I receive are: "What
shall I eat?" And, "How do I know I am getting enough protein?" (or
fiber, or fat, or calories)

There are as many ways to eat an all raw or high raw diet as there
are people.
The simplest approach is the Natural Hygiene way. There are no
recipes, or even any machinery. You just eat food as it comes from
nature. There is a lot to be said about this easy to understand
approach, and most of the time it is how I live. How much easier
can it get than to have a large bowl of fruit on the counter
waiting for you and a refrigerator filled with vegetables for you
to grab. Add in some coconuts, nuts, seeds and oil and you have
everything that you need. In a few moments, you can pack up a lunch
in a paper bag of cut up veggies, greens, whatever fruits you can
find depending on the season, and some nuts for protein. For those
times that you want to make recipes add a few items to your pantry
like almond butter, tahini, seasonings like garlic, sea weeds,
basil, sea salt, and go from there. 

It is difficult to describe a 'typical' raw day as there is so much
variation between people, but here are some examples taken from
real life. 
Breakfast:
 A pint of blueberries. 
 A banana, or more. 
 Half an avocado and a banana, blended and topped with berries. 
 A fruit smoothie.

Snack: 
 Several more pieces of fruit during the morning.
 An avocado
 A smoothie

 Lunch: A large salad of assorted greens, sprouts, red pepper,
celery, cabbage with a large handful of soaked almonds or sunflower
seeds. 
 Sunflower pate rolled up in a sheet of Nori and topped with
greens and sprouts. 
 A blended soup consisting of greens, sprouts, avocado, yellow
squash, garlic or ginger. 
 A blended soup of avocado, parsnip, celery. 
 A cabbage leaf with pate rolled up in it 
 A cabbage leaf with cut up veggies and some almonds on the side.
 A bag of green beans, or Peas in the pod. 
 2 avocados 
 Several pieces of celery and carrot dipped in hummus, or almond
butter, or pate.

Dinner:
 Spiralized yams or sweet potatoes topped with lemon and oil. 
 Spiralized zucchini with pesto sauce (pine nuts, basil, garlic,
olive oil, parsley) and tomato sauce (pureed tomatoes with spices
or herbs that you like). 
 Raw corn chowder with sprouts and greens. 
 Yam soup or beet borscht.

While there are no set rules to follow, if often works out best if
you eat some protein at lunch as it takes longer than other foods
to digest, and complex carbohydrates at night so you can wind down,
relax, and prepare for your nights rest without a lot of digestive
activity.

As for protein, many people still have the misconception that they
need far more protein than they really do. If you think about
mother's milk, which only contains 2 1/2-3 12 % protein perhaps you
can relax a bit about your protein consumption. Growing children
and athletes need the most protein. Tahini, almond butter, almonds
and sunflower seeds are all quick and easy sources of protein. 

If you eat large salads and fruit every day you are probably
getting enough fiber. There aren't any raw fooders that have
constipation problems. Your high raw or all raw diet should be
resulting in 2-3 healthy bowel movements a day. Constipation,
hemorrhoids and less than daily bowel movements are most likely an
indication that you need more fiber. 

Healthy fats react in your body far differently than cooked,
processed, rancid unhealthy fats. All  cooked oils-(french fries,
doughnuts) and fats are very bad for you. When you are consuming
avocados, nuts, seeds, nut butters, flax seed oil, olive oil, hemp
oil, coconuts all in the raw state they are good for you. Most
likely you need some of these fats to keep your weight up also.
Great problems in health and well-being occur in the absence of the
Omega 3's and 6's-the essential fatty acids that are obtainable
only through food. Flax seeds and salmon both contain high amounts
of the Omega 3's, followed by sunflower seeds. I prefer my Omega
3's in the form of flax seeds or oil, as I have a personal aversion
to consuming mercury that is found in one level or another in all
fish. 

I have found that most beginners and even more experienced raw
fooders are afraid to consume fats. Just today I received a note
from someone who wants to try raw food, but wants to keep their
fats to 10% and to be sure to have 'enough protein'. What they are
trying to do is follow their cooked food approach (in this case the
Dr. Dean Ornish program) while doing raw. Well, many people have
much improved health while following the cooked food Dr. Dean
Ornish program-and it is pretty obvious why-if cooked fat kills,
then only 10% harms less. There's lower calories in the program,
smaller portions. But it is just about impossible to take any
current program and apply it to a raw program. Everything changes
when you take the raw food approach. What used to harm is now good
for you in the uncooked state. So, don't fear the fat! Just keep
all your fat consumption the healthy kind-if you eat any cooked
food, be sure it is not cooked fat. Isn't that simple?

As for calories-if you are too thin, you aren't getting enough. If
two salads a day don't provide enough calories for you, then
condense your food into a soup or a smoothie, adding in tahini or
other high calorie yummies. You athletes out there already know how
to make Vanilla Bliss out of water, frozen banana and tahini-up to
four tablespoons in a shake, to keep the calories up. You can make
avocado or tahini based soups, or drink almond milk-there's many
ways to meet your calorie needs consistently with an all raw diet. 

Before I move on to a fun cracker recipe, there's one more
important item I want to mention. You need variety in your diet.
Making the same thing every day out of habit or convenience is a
very unhealthy habit. Think of the rainbow when you make your
foods, be sure that on a daily basis you are eating from many of
the colors of the rainbow: purple, red, orange, green and yellow.
Each food contains its own gift for you, packaged by the Creator in
just the right way to be sure you are taking in all the necessary
nutrients. It's hard to go wrong if you choose from a very wide
assortment of foods.

Following is a recipe that will help to round out your meals and
snacks.
If you own a dehydrator or have enough warm sun here is a tasty
flax seed cracker recipe. I like these crackers because they travel
well and also because of the great crunch they provide. Flax seeds
provide wonderful fiber and important Omega 3 oils. Soak 5 or 6
cups of organic brown or golden flax seeds in 5 or 6 cups of water
for about 4-5 hours. This will turn into a solid mass. Puree any or
all of the following in a blender: 6 or 7 tomatoes, one or two
onions, garlic, 2-6 tablespoons lemon juice, sea salt, soaked sun
dried tomatoes, spices and herbs that you like. Fill the blender to
the top-about 7-8 cups. Mix the blended mixture into the flax seed
mixture.(Do not blend you want to leave the flax seeds whole)
 Add caraway seeds or fennel seeds or dried onion bits if
you like. Pour onto the liners in your dehydrator trays, and spread
with your hand until even, this will be about 1/4 inch thick.
Dehydrate, turning over when dry on top, and remove the liners when
you can. Score the crackers (cut almost all the way through) when
almost dehydrated on both sides. Or allow to completely dehydrate
then break into bite size crackers. Store in a tightly closed jar
or cookie tin. These will keep indefinitely. Makes about 100
crackers. Each time you make them experiment with the flavors until
you find your personal favorite. Be generous with your seasoning as
the flax seeds make everything very bland. Besides just having on
hand for munching and to add some texture and fun to your meals,
you can break up one or two and toss in your salad as croutons, or
you can top a cracker with slices of cucumber, tomato, onion bits
for a tasty meal or snack.

note: start your dehydrator at 120 or 125, turn it down to 115 once
 you feel the crackers are getting warm. The food never reaches
the temperature the thermostat is set at, it is dangerous to 
dehydrate food at too low a temperature, like 90, it takes too long
allowing mold to form in the food.

Several requests have come in for dinner party ideas. While it is a
terrific notion to WOW your raw and non-raw friends alike with a
fabulous all-out gourmet meal, what you select to prepare could
either win over the skeptics among us or turn them off. I would
like to caution you that while dazzling people with an array of
tastes, sights and smells they have never encountered before in
their lifetime; it won't do at all for them to develop a huge belly
ache as a result of eating your lovingly prepared gustatory
extravagance. (Or to suffer from wind and cramps for the next day
or two.) One tried and true way to get around overabundance while
still entertaining on a grand scale is to sneakily use the same
foods cloaked differently for each course. For example, a first
course of a simple salad of greens with a light dressing, perhaps a
'surprise' ingredient to amp up the visual-two of my favorites
would be a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds, or edible flowers (use
one or the other, not both!) Even a few randomly placed tiny
perfect cubes of red pepper will do the trick. Next, a salad size
plate with an attractive stack of zucchini pasta that has been
tossed in pesto sauce and topped with marinara sauce. Finally, a
perfectly cut square of raw lasagne. Two hours later, serve
dessert. While this is a great deal of food, here is what you are
actually eating: salad greens, zucchini, tomatoes, pate (as the
'cheese' in the lasagne) along with a few pine nuts, olive oil,
basil, garlic, and a few other spices. 

There is a tendency, especially among those who are used to
entertaining with cooked foods to 'go wild' with lots of different
type of nuts and seeds in the same meal, or several difficult to
digest combinations within the same meal. Protein and carbohydrate
together are difficult enough to digest, let alone several
different combinations within the same meal. What good does it do
to make a person's taste buds sing, if it is followed by malaise a
short while later? Often the effects of a poorly designed meal on a
guest who is used to a lot of cooked food are too subtle for them
to identify. So the cause of their tiredness or discomfort is
attributed to the fact that it was raw food itself that affected
them, not realizing it was because they ate 3/4 of a pound of nuts
along with 1/2 a cup of oil and assorted other fancies.

Sometimes an enthusiastic reader will call me to describe the great
meal they just served their friends and family. The description
alone is sometimes enough to make me feel a bit queasy. An almond,
carrot and onion nut loaf, with walnut pate stuffed peppers, three
types of veggies with different sauces, followed immediately by my
lemon-cashew pudding! That's a lot of nuts and seeds all at once,
not to mention the assorted other ingredients. It's enough to make
an iron-cast digestive system rebel.

It is better to create variety with vegetables than with nuts and
seeds. Let one type of nut or seed prevail as the 'star' of your
meal. Both your budget and your digestive tract will appreciate the
forethought. On page 206 of my book (The Raw Gourmet) there are
five special occasion menu suggestions. They will give you an idea
of different ways to plan a festive menu without bogging your
guests down. Here is an example of one of the meals mentioned on
this page:

Nori Roll Delight

Summer tomato-Basil Soup
Wild Greens Salad with Tamari Dressing
Sunny Roll-Ups (Exotic Sunflower Pate and assorted
     Condiments nestled in a Nori Roll)
Zucchini Zalad
Mango-Lime Parfait

When someone stops by to visit me, I invariably will create a soup
right in front of them, pull out some crackers and that is the
meal. The speed with which the meal is made, and the tastiness has
won over many a cooked food addict. The moral of this story is:
sometimes less is more. If your purpose is to make converts, the
simplest approach often works best.

God Bless You
Nomi Shannon
The Raw Gourmet
rawgourmet@aol.com
888-316-4611

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Raw Sacramento sends about 3 emails per month. Raw Sacramento currently has 190 individuals on our email notification list (September 2003).

If you would like to join this list, please send me an email. Thanks, Mark Blackburn.