Raw Foods for the Busy Bee. Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz

My friend Sharen asked on FB today: "Is someone willing to share your experiences and tips how a busy single person who practically everyday eat lunches and dinners out (because run everywhere due to a lot of activities) can manage raw vegan diet ? Nearest organic grocery store is MRTs away. No car. Lives alone."

This is truly the modern person's dilemma. We want to be to healthy, sexy, wealthy and loved....but boy there is no time. Often, many of us cut corners in the self-care department and spend more time in social and monetary pursuits.   

We want so much from life, but some things cannot be compromised in living it. Food for example. We know that there is so much crap out there. And as my teacher Dr Kim Le says, you eat the energy of those who prepare the food for you... so as far as possible make your own food. 

I am crazy busy too daily. But as a raw foodist who has worked out a routine and eat very simply, it becomes a little more manageable. 

Try these tips and see if it works for you too:

1) Stock up on seeds and nuts and dehydrate a monthly stash. Make a nut mix with sultanas or other tangy yummy things like cranberries, mulberries or golden berries. Place them everywhere. In your bag, your car, your office... Make nut butters.

2) Do weekly shopping for greens. Wash and spin dry and pack in portions for daily use. Some people freeze their greens. That diminishes the vitamins but they are still superior food choices as compared to any cooked dish out there. 

3) Cut and freeze your fruits for smoothie making. Buy, ripen, chop and freeze. 

4) Stock up and lay out your superfoods that could go into your smoothies. Chia, maca, green powder, lucuma, cacao, miso (no mistake!), kimchi (no kidding!), brewer's yeast, nut powders, flaxseeds etc. Having them at hand makes you a powerful meal in a drink. Not some insipid green liquid. 

5) Have a repertoire of raw food snacks that you can make beforehand - cookies, crackers, breads, ice-creams...go for a class. It is really worth it to learn. 

6) Go mono fruits for lunch sometimes, know it is GOOD for you and easy on the digestion. 

7) Stash up on good quality fats. Coconut oil, walnut oil, avocado oil, flaxseed oil. Add them to all your meals - breakfast in smoothies, in salads, in soups. 

8) Have a really trusty and powerful high speed blender. When you are in a hurry, just blend it. Period. 

9) Have a repertoire of savoury soups too. You can make them warm with hot water for those soothing evenings. And boy are they comforting. Plus a couple of power crackers and you are done. 

10) Stash up on seaweed. They are greens too! And portable and lightweight. Eat them with avocadoes or nut butters and salt. They are great nutritional additions. 

11) When you are out with friends, go buy fruits and eat your dried nuts and seeds with them. 

12) Get a good water system. Many toxins come from the piped water into our homes. Boiling worsens the toxicity. 

13) If you are living in the tropics like me... eat durians for dinner. They really are the perfect food.  If you don't live in the tropics, you've gotta move here.

All in all, the keywords are ROUTINIZE, SIMPLIFY, BE PREPARED, LOVE YOURSELF. You cannot do too much of any of these ;-)

Mulberries - Rich in Resveratrol, Antioxidants, Enzymes to promote Healing

The mulberry plant, also known as Morus alba, has been widely cultivated for the past 5,000 years. The fruit is botanically called a sorosis, because it is formed by the consolidation of many flowers. It is juicy and has a sweet taste with some sourness that is more prominent in the less mature fruits. One of the primary uses of the mulberry plant is for raising silkworms, which utilize the leaves as their main food source. The Chinese term for the mulberry plant is sang, and the fruits are known in China as sanshenzi or simply sangshen. Traditionally, mulberry fruit has been used as a medicinal agent to nourish the yin and blood, benefit the kidneys, and treat weakness, fatigue, anemia, and premature graying of hair. It is also used utilized to treat urinary incontinence, tinnitus, dizziness, and constipation in the elderly and the anemic.

1. Mulberries contain anthocyanin, a powerful antioxidant property. This phytonutrient protects our body from the harmful oxidation of free radicals. Mulberry, like most berries, contains free radical scavengers that protect the body from degeneration.

2. Mulberries contain high amount of resveratrol, which is a compound with anti-cancer properties.

3. The iron content of mulberries will promote blood circulation and prevents plague build-up in the blood vessels. Mulberries have been known to be appropriate for people suffering from anemia and people who have a difficult time sleeping. They are also helpful in reducing blood sugar level.

4. The enzymes in the mulberries speed up the healing process after any surgery, decrease the amount of swelling, aid recovery after childbirth, and help prevent infection.

5. Mulberries are good for our gastrointestinal health as they aid digestion and enhance our appetite. They can help in chronic gastric problems.

6. For people who use their eyes a lot during work, the anthocyanins in mulberries will relieve the effects of eye strain and further strengthens eyesight.

7. Mulberries can promote the metabolism of alcohol, by flushing out alcohol speedily from the liver. They can be effective in curing hangovers.

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From Natural News: http://www.naturalnews.com/025649_berries_mulberries_food.html

Mulberries are rich in anthocyanins (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry), which are the chemicals that give berries their colors. The same chemicals act as powerful antioxidants when consumed. Anthocyanins are thought to be able to increase the quality of our eyesight, fight cancer, slow down the aging process, fight or control diabetes, and generally strengthen the body against disease. The main antioxidant in mulberries is Resveratrol, which is thought to increase endurance, fight neurodegenerative diseases and prevent cancer. Tests have also indicated that Resveratrol may counteract the ill effects of a high fat diet (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resveratrol).

They also have plenty of other nutrients, including quite a large percentage of protein. In this way, a snack of just a handful of mulberries provides you with a well rounded bundle of various vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and protein. The berries are also a very good source of Vitamin C and iron (ref: http://www.therawfoodworld.com/product_info....), which makes them especially good snacks for anyone who feels slightly rundown. Mulberries also have a high amount of potassium, magnesium, and Vitamin K. All in all, with their nice taste and texture, and the ease with which you can carry around the dried version, mulberries make perfect snacks.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/025649_berries_mulberries_food.html#ixzz3HQDGF2ks

Passion Fruit Superfoods Bar

Superfoods are those wondrous foods that are powerhouses of nutrition. You'd want to incorporate them into your daily diet to get dense goodness out of every bite.

I love the heady fragrance of the passion fruit. It is high in phyto-nutrients, pectin and many amazing benefits that are astounding researchers. Read it here: http://www.fruithealthbenefits.com/passion-fruit-nutrition.shtml


In this recipe, though the passion fruit is not the only ingredient, it beautiful fragrance and tangy taste is most dominant note in this mix of "supers".

Ingredients

3 cups of rolled oats
Pulp of 6 ripe passion fruits
1 cup Goji berries
1 cup cranberries
1 cup of pumpkin and sunflower seeds soaked and dehydrated
Half cup golden flaxseed
quarter cup of chia seeds
1 cup of tahini
2 tbs raw honey


With clean hand of an enthusiastic child, squelch all ingredients together into a sticky gooey mass. Spread into a half inch thickness in a square tin, cover with a plastic sheet and place it into the freeze/chiller.Pat the mixture down with a spatula.



After two hours, take out the tin out if the fridge and cut into the required shape. You can eat it moist and soft like this or put it into the dehydrator to dry for about four hours or more to make a more portable bar.