Raw Tele-Seminar

Today I woke up specifically for the Raw Gourmet, Nomi Shannon's, tele-seminar. It was mostly a question and answer re: a lot of health issues and how diet, supplements and lifestyle plays a role. I took three pages of typed notes.

And most of them say the same thing! Greens, greens, greens. But according to the seminar greens aren't enough if absorption is an issue. They also talked about the need to balance our PH. And interestingly, though not too surprisingly, the colon and adrenals were identified as roots for many of the illnesses.

While I am convinced that a raw diet is the BEST, absolute BEST, place to begin a healthy lifestyle, health issues can still arise due to stress, environment and absorption. My husband and I are committed to doing a colon cleanse as a result. And I will be looking more into B vitamin supplements, also.

She also briefly addressed the coconut oil/agave craze that has become increasingly trendy in many raw recipes. While I use them in many dessert recipes, I do feel that the best raw diet is just raw veggies and some fruit. I think that's why I have very few raw recipes posted here.

My best advice to maintain a healthy raw diet is to go to your local farmer's market. Select at least one of each vegetable you see there and go home and eat it. Really! That's how I got started and that's continually what I lean on. Please make sure you're doing your best to get organic or pesticide-free--anything else contains toxins that will tax your system and harm your body.

Now there are lots of fun ways to eat these veggies aside from biting into them--which may be a little hard to do if you've purchased something like kohlrabi or a sweet potato. But start with the basics, the green leafy veggies and other familiar goodies like tomatoes, celery, carrots, etc. and just start chopping. Throw it all in a big bowl, add vinegar, olive or flax oil, spices and herbs (Celtic sea or Himalayan salt, pepper, basil, oregano, garlic, thyme, etc.) and eat. You will be amazed at how filling this is. I once read an article about a star athlete who called this his favorite meal. He said it would take a good portion of time to finish it off, but he loved it. Plus it is a great way to cleanse that colon and give you energy.

I would also incorporate sea veggies as I've mentioned before. Dulse was mentioned today in the seminar as a premier way to get the necessary iodine mineral. Snack on them or throw them in the veggie bowl meal, aka entree of greens.

For breakfast, juicing is the best (you can also do smoothies which are very popular). Carrot base is ideal for almost any veggie juice--again, whatever you find at the farmer's market buy a little extra of and juice it. Some typical combos: carrot, celery, spinach, kale; carrot, beet, lemon, spinach; carrot, celery, tomato, ginger. These are not V8 imitations, btw. These are real living juices that you need to drink immediately after juicing. Anything you purchase in a store has been heated, destroying all enzymes.

Don't be afraid as you begin or re-energize your journey. Look at nature and listen to your body. For some great tips, check out Nomi's book Raw Gourmet. Regardless of the food you eat, if absorption is a problem, then look into cleansing. If you aren't absorbing the nutrients, you are headed for trouble. I'll keep you posted on our journey.