Basically, raw foodists eat only unprocessed vegan foods and do not heat any foods above 115 degrees F in order to not destroy enzymes and lose nutritional value (dehydrators are very popular).

Raw foodists rave about the health benefits of this lifestyle.  My daughter was raw for years:  she started because of a serious health issue and she will swear by the diet.  That said, when she became pregnant, she started craving cooked foods and has continued now for four years as a vegan.

I had been a vegan for about a year while my daughter was raw.   She was so in love with the raw lifestyle that I decided to try it.  I lasted two whole weeks!

It’s not easy to be a raw foodist in Cleveland, Ohio.   My daughter lives in NYC where raw food restaurants are easy to find.  Even though nothing could be easier than grabbing fresh raw fruit and vegetables out of the refrigerator, creating unique dishes (as in non-raw-diets) takes time and if you’re in the mood for “apple pie with ice cream,” not so easy to run out & pick it up.

And speaking of “apple pie and ice cream,” I had it for dessert at Pure Food & Drink in NYC and it was heavenly — the best pie I’ve ever had in my life!  I don’t remember all the ingredients but I recall the pie had chopped nuts in the crust and the “ice cream” was made from coconut.  Amazing.  My son had “scallops” and could not believe they were not actually fish (whoops, I mean mollusk)!

So this is my take on the raw food diet:

• Great idea!  
• Challenging to stick with 
• If you take the plunge, be sure to research raw food eating and make sure you are getting enough healthy fats and  omega 3’s
• No matter what, it’s great to incorporate lots of raw foods into our diets
• And, like anything, flexibility is a good thing.  90% raw is also good.  So is 80%.  Plant-strong, whether raw or cooked, is the way t’go!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ellen

With the panoply of delicious, local produce available to us right now, I wanted to post a quick and easy recipe that is healthy and nutritious!  Most of the ingredients are in season and available at your local farmer’s stand or at your local Whole Foods Market.  Right now, most of our local produce is arriving from Green Field Farms.  GFF is a local Amish-run co-op in Ohio that grows certified organic produce. 

This recipe is great because it can be made in the crock pot.  You can enjoy the late summer harvest without the heat!  It is fabulous on its own or served on pasta or rice.  Once done, you can sprinkle on fresh parmesan or basil pesto for a special treat.

Local Ratatouille

1 large onion, chopped

1 large green pepper, seeded and chopped

3 cloves garlic, sliced

2 large heirloom tomatoes, diced (remove seeds if you wish, I don’t)

1 small eggplant, cubed (remove skin if you wish, I don’t)

2 medium yellow straight neck squash, cubed

2 medium zucchini, cubed

2 tablespoons dry sherry wine

1 tablespoon dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in 5.5-6 quart crock pot, cover and cook on low.  Check at 4 hours.  When eggplants are soft and lightly browned, ratatoille is done!  Can be left to cook in crock pot for up to 6 hours.

Serve with fresh baked bread. 

Serves 6-8

I remember my mother-in-law complaining about a certain restaurant that my father-in-law loved to regularly frequent.  Her oft repeated complaint was, “The portions are too big.”

This was about forty years ago (wait, oh no, how could ANYTHING be forty years ago???!!!???). 

Anyway, I remember being bewildered by her comments.  My mother-in-law was a truly wonderful woman – very kind and loving and soft spoken.  Though I would have challenged someone else on this statement, I never would have considered telling her my take on the subject which was:

It is so clear that if the portions are too big, the obvious action is to take home a doggy bag.  Simple!!!

Forty years later, I have a totally different take on this and now completely understand what my mother-in-law was talking about.  Having developed into a serious food-a-holic (that’s a whole other story!), I am a meal-finisher.  If I’m served a large plate of food, I will inevitably win the clean-plate-star-on-the-forehead award.  With that in mind, I steer very clear of buffets.  I avoid restaurants that serve huge portions.  I truly love restaurants that serve good, clean food in moderately sized portions.  (OK, the other extreme is a Japanese restaurant I ate at in New York City that is extraordinarily expensive and though the plates are works of art, they are TINY and after we left the restaurant, I was dying to go out to EAT!)

So along the lines of this subject, I am posting a link to an article from the Orlando Sentinal about the link between eating in restaurants and obesity.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/os-restaurants-obesity-20110704,0,7133186.story

And another frightening article about obesity in kids from the Daily Telegraph:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/generation-fat-victorias-obesity-crisis/story-e6freuzr-1226096499745 

But back to the subject of restaurants . . . and my mother-in-law’s dilemma . . . I do understand now and try to stay away from restaurants that serve oversized portions.  I thought I had solved the over-indulging problem at all restaurants by intending on asking for a “to-go” box at the beginning of the meal (even at restaurants with regularly-sized portions).   But . . . you know what they say about intentions!  That has not happened yet!

I do believe I’ve just come up with the ultimate solution:  healthy, plant-strong home-cooked meals! 

Have a great weekend!

ellen

KALE, KALE, KALE!!!

Full disclosure:  I had never tasted kale in my life (well, at least that I was aware of!) before attending the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in 2006 to become a healthy eating coach.

To say, “I fell in love” is an understatement.  In the years since discovering this amazingly healthy dark leafy green, I have prepared it in many, many ways – and every one of them was delicious.

There are endless possibilities (raw, sautéed, steamed, in soups or stews, etc . . . even in smoothies!) (just do a “kale” search on Google) and as much as I love them all, I must admit that my two faves are GREEN SMOOTHIES & ROASTED KALE CHIPS!!!

Five years ago, when my granddaughter was seven years old, she was spending the afternoon with me for one of our “art days.”   I had made kale chips and offered her some. Her instant reaction was typical of a seven-year-old: “Yukkkkk!”  “I’ll make you a deal,” said I, “just try one and if you don’t like it, I’ll never ask you again to try it.”  Amazingly, she agreed.  She tasted one kale chip and proceeded to finish the entire bowl.

So if you’re having trouble getting your kids (or yourself!!!)  to eat greens, here are my two secret weapons:

• Kale chips
• Green smoothies 

Kale Chips:

Ingredients

• 1 bunch kale
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F.   
2. Strip the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces.
3. Wash and thoroughly dry kale.
4. Very lightly rub each piece of kale with olive oil and place on cookie sheet. (typically requires 3 cookie sheets)
5. Lightly sprinkle with seasoning salt.
6. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

Below are two Green Smoothie Recipes from the Vitamix website:  (but you don’t need a Vitamix to make your smoothies – a good blender will do (see bottom recipe).  Get creative, get brave, try all kinds of combinations—the possibilities are endless (celery, apple, berries, bananas . . . )

From zoey’s kitchen:

Kale Green Smoothies

Ingredients:

4-6 leaves of fresh kale
1 cup frozen blueberries (although in Zoey’s dad’s instructions he told me to say that he adds 1 cup plus 4-5 berries)
1 1/2 cups of vanilla light soymilk
1/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 banana

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to the blender and blend. The longer that you blend the happier you will be, these aren’t quite as good if you underblend and end up with little bits of kale in your teeth.

This recipe makes 2 glasses of green smoothie drink. 

———————-

Have another wonderful, kale-strong week of summer!

ellen

Ahhhh, the Mediterranean Diet.  Most of us have heard of it.  The reports have been capitalized on via the diet book craze for several years. 

But it’s a sad, sad thing when we take something good and pick out and act on only what we want to hear. 

After studying the diet of healthy, long-living people in the Mediterranean, it was discovered they were so healthy because they ate lots of vegetables, small portions of fish and meat, walked a lot, drank red wine, had long leisurely meals and used olive oil.

But what seems to have been brought back to the U.S. is:

• Drink red wine
• Use lots of olive oil

. . . forgetting about eating lots of vegetables, making the meat or the fish the condiment, walking a  lot and having long, stress-free meals with family and  friends. 

And now, even those in the Mediterranean countries are adapting more of a western diet and the results are not good.  Please check out the link:

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/14/137823222/mediterraneans-abandon-their-famous-diet 

——————————

Here is a wonderful and very inspirational post by David Murdock the 88-year-old Chairman and Owner of Dole Foods:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-h-murdock/food-knowledge-is-health-_b_910676.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=072711&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief

And this is the link to his first blog post titled “A Recipe for Longetivity:  33 of the Healthiest Foods on Earth”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-h-murdock/a-recipe-for-longevity_b_205355.html

Have a wonderful, plant-strong week!

ellen

I’m just going to say this up front:  I LOVE WATERMELON.  I just love it – everything about it – well, almost everything:  what ever happened to the old fashioned, traditional watermelon?  The real watermelon?  That big ol’ red watermelon of my youth – the one with seeds???   

I haven’t seen one this year that wasn’t seedless.  I don’t recall seeing one last year either.  They may be lurking somewhere, along country back roads. . . in small towns with gazebos in their town squares, town squares where people gather for band performances.  I’m getting very nostalgic here – not for a small town with a gazebo since I never lived in a small town with a gazebo, but for my own sitting-on-the-front-porch-spitting-watermelon-seeds memories.

Anyway . . .  I’ve had to accept that I can’t find watermelon with seeds and so I just enjoy the seedless watermelons I buy regularly from Whole Foods.  I don’t buy slices – I buy entire watermelons and very often will eat entire halves of those whole watermelons for dinner.  Seriously!  Every time I’ll start with a quarter watermelon, cover the other half and the other quarter and put them in the refrigerator.  Who am I kidding?  I KNOW I’m going back in the refrigerator for the other quarter before the night is over.  Which, as you may guess, is not the wisest thing to do if one likes sleeping through the night.

Besides being delicious and refreshing, watermelon is super nutritious.  The notes below are from mothering.com and there’s a link to planetgreen.com below that. 

Have a great week!

Ellen

p.s.  I adore cherries as well!!!

6 healthy reasons to eat watermelon

Big or small, seedless or not, red or yellow, nothing says summer like
a big, juicy watermelon (or a seed-spitting contest off the deck). But
there is a lot more to this melon than water. Turns out it’s packed
with phytonutrients, vitamins A, C, and a good hit of potassium, plus
some B6 and thiamine — everything except fat, sodium and calories.
Cool.

Stay healthier
Watermelon has lots of lycopene, a key plant
antioxidant that is famous for fighting heart disease and prostate
cancer. Tomatoes are usually considered the lycopene all-stars, but
you have to cook them in a little oil to release it. Watermelon not
only needs no cooking to unleash its lycopene but, cup for cup, it has
40 percent more than tomatoes.

Get your C
A big slice of watermelon (about two cups) fills almost
half your vitamin C quota.

Fight infection
Two cups of the juicy red melon also supply nearly a
quarter of your daily beta carotene, which your body uses to make
vitamin A. Running low on beta c can leave you vulnerable to viral
infections and vision trouble.

Heal faster
Watermelon (especially yellow-orange varieties) is one of
the rare food sources of citrulline, an amino acid used in wound
healing and cell division. Slurp up the juice but bite down too:
There’s extra citrulline in the white and green part that most people
toss. Pickled rinds anyone?

Sooth stress
Watermelon is a good source of potassium, which helps
control blood pressure — making it the perfect snack for stressful
family reunions.

Quench cravings
There are only 96 calories in two fill-you-up cups of
sweet watermelon, and its high liquid content makes you feel full. So
start your dessert course with a wedge and you’re less likely to go
overboard on Aunt Edith’s brownies.

And check out http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/surprising-health-benefits-of-watermelon.html

Have you heard of the “Dirty Dozen?”  (produce that really should purchased organic)

How ‘bout the “Clean Fifteen?” (the lowest use of pesticides)

Here’s a link to EWG’s (Environmental Working  Group) web site:

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/

I just printed out a copy to carry around to remind me when I’m shopping. 

Recipe  of the Week:

Here’s a recipe  from PCRM. I wanted to try this before I posted but haven’t had a chance yet.   But it sounds yummy!

Fat-Free Oriental Ginger Dressing 

“Bursting with flavor, this dressing will serve to perk up any boring salad. It’s so tasty, you won’t notice it’s fat-free.”

Ingredients

Makes 2 cups

1 tablespoon crushed fresh garlic
2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup apple juice concentrate

Directions:

Combine garlic and vinegar in a lidded container for 10 minutes to take the edge off garlic. Add remaining ingredients and shake well.

Nutrition Information | Per tablespoon

calories: 11; fat: 0 g; saturated fat: 0 g; calories from fat: 1.8%; cholesterol: 0 mg; protein: 0.2 g; carbohydrates: 2.7 g; sugar: 2.2 g; fiber: 0.1 g; sodium: 45 mg; calcium: 2 mg; iron: 0.1 mg; vitamin C: 2 mg; beta-carotene: 1 mcg; vitamin E: 0 mg

Recipe from Food for Life instructor Evelisse Capo

Those grills have been fired up for weeks now.   Have you tried grilling veggies yet?  Or fruit?  Check out this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/magazine/bittman-throws-another-melon-on-the-barbie.html?_r=3&ref=dining

Of course corn on the cob is phenomenal when grilled – pull back the husks, pull off the silk, pull the  husks back over the corn, soak in water (completely cover the corn) for about a half hour and throw on the grill.  Keep an eye on them – even after being soaked in water, they will cook quickly – turn regularly — and remove when the kernels start to turn brown.  SO delicious!!!

The NY Times article didn’t mention pineapple but try it – grilled pineapple is absolutely delicious!

And what about asparagus?  Honestly, I was never an asparagus fan until I had it grilled and then fell instantly in love!

Grilled onions?  Try putting a thick slice of red onion on the grill.  Yummm.

And of course there’s the old fave:  potatoes wrapped in foil and thrown right in the coals.  And then there’s garlic!  And green/red/orange peppers!  And zucchini.  And, and, and  .  .  . the list is never ending.

Enjoy!  Would love to hear how your grilling turns out.  Please post – and add any other ideas you’ve come up with.

Ellen

Hi Everyone,

We just completed our first Whole Foods Chagrin Dr. Barnard 21-Day Kick-start Diet Immersion and celebrated with food, testimonials, sharing those cool, red plant-strong bracelets and very enjoyable socializing!

Congratulations to all those who did the Immersion — to those who were able to attend Thursday and to those who were not.  Congratulations also to our top three winners, based on % of body weight loss.  The most weight lost was 13.4# and the average weight lost was 4.89#.  First place winner received a $50 Whole Foods gift card.  Second and third place winners each received $25 gift cards.

Below is an interesting link from Scientific American.  And there are some interesting comments below the article.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eat-organic-foods-even-on-the-go

We are planning lots of fun mini-workshops and demos in the upcoming months.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, have a beautiful weekend and a wonderful summer (which seems to be flying by way too quickly!).

Ellen

Hi Everyone,

Below is a link to PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine).  This is the organization begun by Dr. Neal Barnard, one of Whole Foods Market’s partners.  This site is loaded with important articles and some great links, and I encourage you to check it out.

http://www.pcrm.org/

Our Fourth of July weekend is upon us.  I send you all wishes for a safe, fun-filled weekend with family, friends and plant-strong food! 

Ellen