Hello Appetite - Brownies or Green Juice?
What’s the Raw Food Movement all about? Enzymes in food are destroyed at 117 degrees F. and our bodies only have limited enzymes in reserve. So it’s much healthier to eat less cooked food and more raw.
I want to share my friend’s Raw Brownie recipe because it’s so good and you wouldn’t even know it’s not cooked. Raw Brownie recipe:
Bottom: 3 c. walnut, 2 c. dates, ½ cup raisins, 1 cup cacao powder, with salt, vanilla and agave to taste. Blend well in a food processor until clumped together, then spread out in dish. Topping: 1 avocado, ¼ cup agave , ¼ cup cacao powder, 2 tbsp. coconut oil, salt and vanilla to taste. Blend ingredients, spread over bottom and chill before cutting. Yum!
I consider myself to be really healthy. But last winter, I viewed the film Fat Sick and Nearly Dead at the Raw Vegan Edmonton potluck gathering. To help support a friend’s willpower, I joined in on the juicing challenge in the film, and began juicing greens daily each morning, usually eating either raw vegan or vegetarian the rest of the day. And I am still hooked!
Here’s the Green Juice Recipe from Fat Sick and Nearly Dead:
2 cups Kale
2 cups Spinach
1/2 Cucumber
4 stalks Celery
2 Green Apples
1” Ginger root
If you don’t have a juicer you can use a Vitamix blender and squeeze the pulp out with a nut bag, which is actually faster than a juicer. My standard juice recipe is cucumber, celery, apples (red or green), kale, a citrus fruit, and sometimes a clove of garlic. Ginger is as beneficial as garlic but it is very warming and can sometimes throw the body out of balance if consumed in excess.
Seriously, in the seven months that I have changed my eating habits, I’ve noticed an incredible difference. I was about three months into it and one evening I had a strong craving for cucumber, which I thought must be the first I ever had. It’s really true that when you consistently drink fresh raw juice, especially green juice, as well as eating lots of vegetables and fruits, it changes your whole internal environment of your body.
It’s truly amazing the difference our diet can make not only with our health but also with longevity. The documentary Eat, Fast and Live Longer stresses the importance of eating foods rich in nutrition, not calories, and recommends alternative fast days. A fast day would be 500 or 600 calories a day for two or more days a week. Apparently, hunger not only makes us live longer but also stimulates our brain.
In the meantime, I hope you indulge in my friend’s Raw Brownies!
Janice Zubin, RMT, is a certified health consultant. Appointments can be made at (780) 686-6883 for her Little Italy office.