Raw food

Photo courtesy Utopian Kitchen

Wow, I've been away so long this is almost a mupdate! (monthly update) This is partly because I stupidly started another blog... (which I am rethinking...), partly because work has been HECTIC and partly because my nutrition has been a little off. I hate to admit it but it's been less than stellar, in between social commitments and on and off bouts of fasting! Ugh. I think I need some consistency back and chuck the fasting out for now. My social life makes it too difficult to maintain and I keep cheating and restarting over and over. Wagon? Well there was one around here somewhere... I think it drove off about two hours ago!

Fasting is great for cleaning you out after a naughty weekend, but it is much to easy to use that as an excuse to eat badly. "I'll just have one glass of champagne and I'll detox on Monday with a juice fast." NOT a good pattern. I want to break the habit of reward and punishment and stop treating food as an emotional crutch. Easier said than done, right?

1. My first step is to start eating regular meals again. (No more fasting to fall back on!) I'm aiming to consistently eat nutritionally dense foods.
   
   
2. Restart my walking program. Nothing complicated, just 45 minutes every morning.
   
   
3. Cut out coffee again. Yes it has snuck up on me again, these days I'm having a cup a day!
   
   
4. Try eating a higher percentage of raw foods. Fresh fruits, vegetables, soaked nuts, raw milk and cheeses.
   
   
5. Save alcohol for once a week only - weekend or special occasion. I'll work up to stopping this habit, it's lovely to have a drink, but all my willpower goes out the window and I mysteriously find a chippie or pastry in my hands with NO IDEA how it got there!
   

I've stumbled upon a few interesting raw food sites (check here for a goodie) and am thinking of giving it a go! I'm against a totally vegan diet (I spoke about this here) but I'd be having my raw milk and cheeses and sometimes some raw eggs. There's another raw food diet called the Primal diet, but I'm not sure I could EVER eat raw meat (I'm a vegetarian). I like the idea of natural hygiene, preventing the causes of disease through nutrition and regular exercise. There is something very appealing about feeling and looking great even as you age.

So if anyone has any interesting raw food recipes they'd like to share, please do! I found an awesome (rawsome hehe) chocolate pie recipe....

Chocolate Avocado Pie by Anand

Serves 12, takes 15 min

Crust
1 cup pitted dates – soaked for 20 min
2 cups desiccated coconut

Filling
2-3 avocados
3 Tbsp of Agave syrup optional
½ cup of coconut butter
10 Tbsp of raw cacao powder
2 cups dates (pitted)
1 Tbsp zest of an orange (optional)
2 Tbsp raw cacao butter (optional)
1 Tbsp desiccated coconut (optional)

Directions
Process the crust ingredients until a sticky dough is achieved. Press the dough firmly into a 9 inch pie dish. Put in the fridge to set. For the filling, melt, dehydrate at 45°C, or double boil the cacao butter. Process thoroughly the remaining ingredients into a smooth creamy, unctuous mousse. Add the cacao butter. Spread onto pie crust and eat right then or place in the fridge for later. Decorate with desiccated coconut and orange zest.

I'm going to get some avocados from the markets to try it out this week!