Raw - Vegan

Halloween Macaroons

Ingredients:

1 cup of walnuts

1 cup shredded coconut

2 tsp agave

1/2 vanilla bean...optional but worth it :) yum.
1 tsp temon juice...again this is optional if you like lemon..most of my fam likes it without the lemon

Mix all the ingredients in a vita mix, it should all clump together. Take it out add a handful of shredded coconut so that you have larger chunks, and put it on the teflon dehydrator tray...this is when you can either make it into balls, or attempt to use a cookie cutter like i did to make something that looks like..maybe a pumpkin or a ghost???? haha. it was my first attempt, and it was hard because they kept falling apart, id suggest just rolling them into bite size balls. Dehydrate at 104 degrees for about 8 hours, or longer if you like them extra crunchy!

Happy Halloween <3

Raw - Vegan
Pizza
Crust Ingredients:
1 cup ground flaxseed
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1 clove of garlic
¼ cup black sesame seeds or white sesame seeds
½ cup or so of water

Mix ingredients all together, adding water in last. Spread onto dehydrator Teflon sheet, spreading evenly and thinly to create an oval shape. Dehydrate at 104 degrees for 4 hours, flip over then dehydrate another hour.

Cheeze Ingredients:
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 tsp lemon
1 clove of garlic
¼ of a pepper
Handful of spinach
¼ of a carrot
¼ cup of water

You can start this at the same time as your prepping your crust. Put all ingredients into the vita-mix and blend until creamy. Ta-dum, finished. Add a little more salt or pepper to taste if you find it needs more flavour.

Pizza Ingredients:
Add whatever you want on top, I used sundried tomatoes, spinach, olives.


When the bread is done, load on the cheeze and spread out evenly, then add the pizza ingredients. Cut it like a pizza, and enjoy!

Raw - Vegan
Chunky Chocolate
Ingredients:

¾ cup walnuts

½ cup coconut
3 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp agave
2 tbsp cacao

3 tbsp sunflower butter

Mix all together. You can add another tbsp of cacao powder if you like it really chocolatey! Place in the bottom of a dish by squishing in down ontop of parchment paper. Put in fridge for storage. Eat after chilled. :)

Afterwards I added a little bit of coconut and some extra walnut peices on top just for decoration. Everyone seemed to really love these, they were gone within a day....so make a few batches if youve got a lot of people around, they go fast!!

Unfortunately sometimes school gets the best of me...homework, presentations...etc..work...etc. BUT, what I did find in my homework this week was that here in Canada we are unable to see the definition of what ORGANIC means, along with the list of substances that goes into our organic food...unless we pay 30$ per document...this was my presentation from yesterday. What concerns me here, is what are they trying to hide? Why cant the average person see this content? WHY WHY WHY WHY?!?! This left me with so many questions and concerns...it scares me, it leaves me feeling insecure with my purchases, is organic really better? And so I was off to search through article after article...and it left me to find that no one to this date has proved that organic is actually better for you nutritionally....URGH. Obviously its better environmentally, and politically...but over everything, I care about what goes into my body. I care about my health, and my families health. So why am I paying more for organic food, when the government here in Canada can not even prove to me that organic is truly better for my body?

http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/cgsb/on_the_net/organic/index-e.html
This is the website the CFIA sends you to to find the organic information, yet it leads you to a dead end. How are we letting them get away with this in Canada.


Can anyone help me out here?

Raw Pudding

Raw - Vegan

Pudding

This makes a great dessert, or bedtime snack!

Ingredients:
1 avocado
1 banana
½ vanilla bean

Throw it in the vita-mix and blend until smooth...

You can leave it there or....you can change it up!

Add ins:
For chocolate pudding: ½ tbsp cacao
For blueberry pudding: ½ cup of fresh blueberries
For strawberry pudding: ½ cup of chopped up strawberries

Be creative! Add in things like chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds, shredded coconut or whatever else you can think of :)

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast Cancer Prevention: Use a Holistic Approach

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by: Allison Biggar, citizen journalist

(NaturalNews.com) You may see a little more pink in the windows of department stores this month as the "pink ribbon" usually becomes the must-have accessory for October. That's because it's breast cancer awareness month- a month where fashionistas and survivors come together to show their support for the cause. But besides donning a yourself out in pink, you can also educate yourself and others about essential breast cancer prevention methods.

Balancing a healthy lifestyle with healthy choices is key in all cancer prevention. According to the American Cancer Society, a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer every three minutes. There are many things you can do to prevent yourself from becoming a statistic.

Lifestyle factors such as regular exercise, increasing vitamin D intake, and eating a low-fat diet can help reduce your risk of getting breast cancer. All the prevention methods listed here can all help you live a well-balanced life - one full of energy and vitality:

Alkalize your blood. A healthy pH balance - the ratio of alkalinity to acidity in the body - is crucial to being cancer-free. Cancer thrives in acidic environments but is unable to survive in alkaline ones. Edgar Cayce, typically referred to as the "father of holistic medicine," consistently emphasized the importance of maintaining a proper acid/alkaline balance in the body. Cayce said that "a normal diet is about twenty percent acid to eighty percent alkaline-producing." Make sure your diet is rich in alkalizing foods such as green vegetables, beans, spices, herbs, seeds and nuts. Limit your consumption of alcohol, coffee, meat, fish, poultry and eggs. You can measure your pH levels with litmus strips to be sure your body is more alkaline than acidic.

Go braless! Or at least limit how many hours a day you wear a bra. Bras restrict the flow of lymph within breast tissue which hinders the breast's natural cleansing process. Multiple studies done on bras have shown some astounding results. Women in Figi who don't wear bras have almost no incidence of breast cancer. In a Harvard study researchers found that women who wore their bras 24 hours per day had a 3 out of 4 chance of developing breast cancer compared to women who wore their bras less than 12 hours per day and had a 1 out of 152 risk.

Eat your veggies. Cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli may protect against breast cancer because they lower levels of estrogen which is a hormone that plays a role in tumor growth. Additionally isothiocyanates- the anti-cancer compounds found in broccoli- can help in the detoxification of your liver and can rid your body of carcinogens.

Get some sun! Vitamin D is a hormone that your body naturally produces when your skin is exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D is essential to your body but as many as 36% of us are deficient in Vitamin D. According to Science Daily, Vitamin D protects us from breast cancer by stimulating a protein that prevents breast cancer cells from growing. Fair-skinned individuals need just 15 minutes of sun a day while 20 to 30 minutes is needed for darker skinned people. In the winter months make sure to get your Vitamin D from fish oil, mushrooms and Vitamin D supplements.

Get regular exercise: The Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina has done multiple studies showing that moderate exercise can reduce the risk of breast cancer. Exercising promotes the circulation of oxygen in the blood and floods cells with enough oxygen to get rid of cancer. Cancer cannot survive in an oxygen-rich environment. Try to exercise for at least 30 minutes 5-6 times a week.

Drink green tea. According to a study published in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry the EGCG in green tea aids in preventing breast cancer. The polyphenols-powerful antioxidants found in green tea- can prevent cancer cells from growing. Drink 1-3 cups of caffeine-free green tea per day.

Eat a low-fat diet. A diet high in fat significantly increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute concluded that women with high-fat diets had a 32 percent higher risk of getting breast cancer than those who followed a low-fat diet.

Try Black Cohosh. This is an herb used typically to treat the side effects associated with menopause. A recent study showed that extracts from Black Cohosh may stop breast cancer cells from forming.

The true cause of cancer can depend on a number of factors. Diet, environmental factors, and genetics all play a role. By making healthy lifestyle choices you can dramatically tip the odds in your favor and enjoy a vibrant, healthy, cancer-free life.

Some Yummy Breads :)

Raw - Vegan
Apple Cinnamon Flatbread

Ingredients:
2 cups group flax seeds (ground it first then measure it)
2/3 cup whole flax seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup water
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
2/3 cup black sesame seeds
1 apple very finely chopped into tiny pieces

Instructions:

Put all ingredients into a large bowl, and put water in last to blend together (other recipes I've seen always use a lot more water, but I find it dehydrates a lot better if you use about a cup for this mixture, you can add a little more if you find it does not spread well).

Next your going to spread it on your dehydrator teflon sheets, you'll probably need two trays. Also, you might find it spreads a little difficulty, as there are chuncks of apple in it, hense why you should be slicing and dicing the apple very finely! Turn your dehydrator on to about 110 degrees.

After 4 hours flip and cut the bread into as big or as little of pieces that you'd like. Then dehydrate another hour and EAT! Yummm.

Raw - Vegan
Banana Pumpkin Flaxbread

Ingredients:
2 cups group flax seeds (ground it first then measure it)
2/3 cup whole flax seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup water
2/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
2/3 cup hemp seeds
1/2 a banana finely chopped into thin thin slices

Instructions:
Put all ingredients into a large bowl, and put water in last to blend together (other recipes I've seen always use a lot more water, but I find it dehydrates a lot better if you use about a cup for this mixture, you can add a little more if you find it does not spread well). Next your going to spread it on your dehydrator teflon sheets, you'll probably need two trays. Turn your dehydrator onto about 110 degrees.

After 4 hours flip and cut the bread into as big or as little of pieces that you'd like. Then dehydrate another hour! FINI!

Raw - Vegan
Onion Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups group flax seeds (ground it first then measure it)
2/3 cup whole flax seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup water
4 tablespoons of onion, i personally like the spanish onion and you can cut them as big or small as you'd like them, I like the look of when they are longer slices.
1 garlic clove minced
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup black or yellow sesame seeds

Instructions:
Put all ingredients into a large bowl, and put water in last to blend together (other recipes I've seen always use a lot more water, but I find it dehydrates a lot better if you use about a cup for this mixture, you can add a little more if you find it does not spread well). Next your going to spread it on your dehydrator teflon sheets, you'll probably need two trays. Turn your dehydrator onto about 110 degrees.

After 4 hours flip and cut the bread into as big or as little of pieces that you'd like. Then dehydrate another hour!

Raw - Vegan
Apple Pie Recipe:
Derived from Ani Phyo’s recipe

Crust:
2 cups finely chopped almonds
2 cups pitted dates
1 teaspoon sea salt

Syrup:
½ cup pitted dates
1 peeled orange
¼ cup water

Filling:
6 apples peeled and very thinly sliced (I used 3 granny smith and 3 red apples)
1 cup mixed dried cranberries and walnuts
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Instructions:
Again, I started this pie a day in advance. I started with the crust, blending the dates, almonds and sea salt together with my hands (or you could use a food processor). Before I put the mixture into the pie plate I spread out some very finely chopped almonds so that the dates wouldn’t get stuck to the bottom of the plate. Then I flattened the mixture into the shape of the plate before I placed it into the plate so that I wouldn’t mess up the almonds. Then I pinched all around the edge of the pie crust just to make it look nice!

The syrup is very easy, I put the peeled orange into the vita-mix with the dates on top and then the water. I found that I didn’t used all of the syrup on my pie though, there was a lot left over. Don’t add this mixture till last!

The filling, I put the apples into a dish filled with water and lemon juice and let it sit for a few hours to soften them a little. Drain the apples, then mix some of the syrup mixture with the apples cranberries and cinnamon.

Finally, pile the apple mixture into the pie crust, and arrange them nicely.

Enjoy :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Raw - Vegan
Pumpkin Pie

Crust:
2 cups shredded coconut
½ cup mixed nuts... (I used raw pumpkin seeds and walnuts mixed to make a half a cup)
¼ cup agave
A handful or two of sunflower seeds (added after the mixture is blended together)

Filling:
2 cups pie pumpkin peeled and chopped
1 avocado
1/3 cup coconut milk
½ cup pitted dates
2 tablespoons pumpkin spice
1 table spoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons agave
½ cups almonds

Topping (optional):
A handful of almonds chopped
A handful of coconut
A pinch of cinnamon

Instructions:
I personally started a day before I wanted this pie to be made. I started with the crust, putting the coconut, mixed nuts, and agave into the blender. Blend until smooth, then put into a 9 inch pie pan and spread out evenly into the shape of a crust. At first it will be a little soft, but that’s why I make it a day ahead of time so that I can put it in the fridge overnight to harden it up.

So the next day, start off by peeling the pumpkin. When I first heard this it confused me, but you literally peel a pie pumpkin like you would an apple. Pie pumpkins you can find at a local farm..usually around thanksgiving (they’re supposed to be a little bit more sweet). So, in this order, put the ingredients into the vita-mix (I would have put the pumpkin in a food processor first but I don’t have one): coconut milk, pumpkin, avocado, almonds, dates, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, honey, and agave. The blender will get stuck a few times so as you go you might want to throw in a little less than 1/3 more of coconut milk and use the tamper to mix it together. After its all blended, put the mixture right into the pie crust. Then you can decorate it, like I did mine!

Raw - Vegan
Chocolate Milk Shake Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup almonds (preferably soaked first)
1/4 cup pitted dates
1/2 vanilla bean
1 heaping tbsp cacao powder
2 cups ice cubes
1 cup water

Instructions:
Put all ingredients into the vita-mix (putting the dates in last so they do not stick to the blades), and blend for about a minute. If you blend it too long it will not be as thick, and will be more watery....and that is not my aim!!

It looks, tastes, and is thick as a real milkshake...except theres no milk :) mmmmm...so good.

So the first thing that I will let you know about is my shampoo and conditioning routine. To begin with, I must let you know that I used to be a bleachblonde-aholic. I would dye my hair every month, killing and frying my hair, along with completely exposing myself to a long list of chemicals. So right now, I am on the mission to reverse about 4 years of serious damage.

As for hair products, I used to use the normal salon products, until one day it hit me...there are probably a lot of chemicals in these products. And to no surprise, after researching, I found that there were so many irritants and multiple disease causing chemicals added to SO many of my products that I had at home. This feeling is a scary one, especially knowing that I had been using these products all of my life....so I was on a new mission, to become au naturel with my hair.

Sandro and I first started off going with organic hair products, thinking that it was probably a lot better for us than the regular shampoo and conditioner that I already had. But as time past, our hair was still feeling dry, my hair was still breaking we were getting minor irritations on our skin, and it didn't feel like this shampoo and conditioning idea was going well at all. So I started to research....and I found that although these "organic" shampoos and conditioners were labeled "organic"..they were not necessarily any better for you than our old routine.

This left me researching the "No-Poo" option....that is NO SHAMPOO; we decided to leave the chemicals behind. And of course this makes sense...why would we spend all that money on these products, that were just leaking into our skelp, and our skin and into our bodies? And now you may ask how do you not shampoo your hair without it becoming an oily mess?

First off you must know, that like many things, our body over creates the things that we strip away from it. This includes the oil in our hair. The more that we strip away, the more that it will create to try and compensate for this. So, by starting the NO-POO routine, you may find your hair trying to adjust for the first little bit, but no fear...it will soon adjust. And you will have a well balanced natural head of hair, chemical free.

Step ONE: GET RID OF ALL SHAMPOO....and CONDITIONER. easy.

Step TWO: At this point I believe there are two options...go into your kitchen and get some baking soda..which many people are saying works wonders...or get a castile soap like Dr. Bronners.

OPTION ONE. BAKING SODA SHAMPOO
1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup of warm water.
Work this into your wet hair, and simply rinse.

OR

OPTION TWO. MSM SHAMPOO1 tbsp of MSM, 250 ml of Dr Bronners Castile soap and mix that with about a quarter cup of water.Work this into your wet hair, and rinse.

Or you can do what we do, which is get a brand like Dr. Bronners, and make your own shampoo. The great thing that I've learned about Dr. Bronners is that his castile soaps are all natural and made out of pure oils. It is a natural way to cleanse, that does not leave your hair oily. Here are his ingredients in his Lavendar Classic Liquid Soap: Water, Saponified Organic Coconut Oil*, Saponified Organic Olive Oil*, Organic Glycerin, Organic Cannabis Sativa (Hemp) Seed Oil, Organic Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Organic Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Lavandula Hybrida (Lavandin) Extract, Citric Acid, Tocopherol (Vit. E), (* Certified Fair Trade by IMO).

And you might ask why I put MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) into my shampoo..? In the past I have heard that sulfur is the beauty mineral...it helps to form collagen and connective tissues...apparently is plays a big role in our skin, hair and nails. And so I add it because MSM is an organic source of the compound, therefore it is supposed to help repair hair, promote silkiness, and a manageability and a healthy scalp.

STEP THREE: Do an apple cider vinegar rinse. This step is just to add a little shine, and remove any residue buildup.

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR RINSE
1 part ACV, 1 part water.
Use as little or as much as you want...
Pour over your wet just "No-pooed" hair and rinse out with water. Try not to get your roots, as I heard this may make it a little more oily. although my scalp doesn't mind it.

Now, I recommended washing your hair every couple of days...I like to try every third day. And I do not find my hair getting greasy, and I actually find I have more curls. On top of all of this, I like to add a little bit of coconut oil to coat my hair at night time for a deep conditioning treatment. You can wash it out in the morning, and you will not find any oily residue.


Enjoy :)

Day One <3

I guess I started all of this to help motivate myself, and everyone else out there. I wouldn't consider myself a 100% raw foodist, so I don't label myself as that. Some days I get off track...and this can sometimes happen for weeks. Last summer (2008) I was eating McDonalds at least twice a week, the Big Mac meal was my ultimate favourite. Then earlier this year (2009) I became aware of raw foodism through my boyfriend Sandro who showed me Gabriel Cousens' video Raw for 30 Days. We were both curious of what raw foodism was, and soon found out that it had so many health benefits, and since then we've been experimenting. I am now on a vegetarian diet, but not what I would label a vegetarian because I still believe in eating free run eggs. I guess you could say that I just don't believe in labels, or definitions of yourself. Eckhart Tolle (the author of A New Earth, a must read) said:

"give up defining yourself - to yourself or to others.

you wont die. you will come to life.

and dont be concerned with how others define you. when they define you, they are limiting themselves, so its their problem."

So lately I've been applying this quote to my life on a daily basis. Its a good reminder to stop labeling yourself and those around you...as it truly does limit us. So am I a raw foodist? Not quite...maybe 85% of my daily diet. Am I a vegetarian? Mostly. Am I open to change and new information? Always.

Anyways, I think that this journey I've been on is all a part of being human, its a learning process, two steps forward one step back. I guess you can say that I'm aspiring to become as healthy, natural, happy and intelligent as I can be in this lifetime, and this is where I feel I can take my first steps.

And so here is where you will find
recipes of my creations (of meals, desserts, products and remedies),
my motivations (quotes, books),
my thoughts (sometimes pointless yet surely entertaining),
& my knowledge.



Starting today,
Live - Love - Raw