RAW REFINED

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RAW REFINED

 

 

By LISA SOKOLOWSKI lsokolowski

 

Diets, ever popular at the dawn of a new year, don't always guarantee

healthy eating. Like people looking for a get-rich-quick scheme,

dieters often try to find the one plan that guarantees they will lose

the most weight in the shortest amount of time.

 

Near-starvation and surgery can do the trick, too, but the body can

pay a severe price.

 

Enter a raw-foods diet.

 

And meet Toby Landon, a raw-foods chef from Kingston, who says she

lost 60 pounds in five months by following the once-optionless diet.

 

A salad for dinner was varied only when it had sprouts. Fruit wasn't

a side with her lunch; it was lunch.

 

But Landon, a six-year " flexitarian, " (a word that usually describes

a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat but in this case means Landon

sometimes consumes cooked food) has found a way to make raw foods

more exciting.

 

Raw foods include fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouted

grains. The food is not heated above a certain temperature, which

depends on the particular diet.

 

At a recent class on raw foods that Landon taught at Arts YOUniverse

in Wilkes-Barre, one student couldn't get over the fact that she

wouldn't use the stove.

 

" Just turn the heat in the house on really high and leave the food

out, " Landon's husband, Jim, also a flexitarian, suggested.

 

" He kind of had to do it with me, " Landon said. " I was making the

food. "

 

Landon's Arts YOUniverse program was themed " Italian Night. " She made

angel-hair pasta with marinara and pesto sauces, lasagna, ravioli and

fettuccini Alfredo – all sans dairy or meat products.

 

The " noodles " were either zucchini or summer squash. The " cheese " was

a multitude of nuts and liquids that form a crunchy paste that takes

some getting-used-to. The ravioli themselves were sliced turnips. And

it was all raw.

 

" When you cook, you break down what you need, like whole natural

enzymes, " Landon told the class.

 

Followers of the diet believe raw food has enzymes that aid in their

digestion, leaving the body's enzymes to do other things. Cooking the

food, and losing these enzymes, leaves more work for the body.

 

After a sample of the " pasta " and marinara sauce (made using organic

ingredients found at Wegmans), the class seemed impressed.

 

" You're masticating more often, " Landon explained. " The more you

chew, you break down the cells and more is assimilated through the

small intestines. "

 

Because you're giving your body what it needs in a usable form,

Landon explained, a raw-food diet is healthier, and some believe it

may help cure diseases such as diabetes.

 

It also might help that most followers adopt a " white-ain't-right "

philosophy and nix white products such as rice, sugar and flour.

 

Landon also has an answer for when you crave sweets. She said it's

really your body craving calcium, which neutralizes the acids in the

body.

 

She offered other nuggets of advice: Sesame milk (water and

pulverized sesame seeds) is believed to fight gray hair; fruits are

cleansers and should be eaten between 4 a.m. and noon; vegetables are

nutrients and should be consumed in the afternoons and evenings. They

shouldn't be eaten together because when you add water, as in fruits,

you digest differently and your body gets drained because of the

assimilation.

 

She also advised using sea salt, saying it is hydrated and a better

collector of nutrients.

 

" Raw food is all about everything that's fresh, " Landon

said. " Organic food has no pesticides or toxins. "

 

Brocolli Soup

This may well become one of your favorites.

 

Broccoli is a powerful anti-cancer food. Avocado is rich in vitamins,

minerals and oil and helps lower LDL (bad cholesterol) and heal

peptic ulcers or inflammation of the digestive system. Raw honey aids

stomach and digestion, is good for allergies and burns and has anti-

cancer properties. It also has antiseptic, antibiotic, antifungal and

antibacterial properties.

 

Ingredients: 3 cups water; 1 cup almonds; 1 tsp. honey; 2 cups

broccoli; 1 avocado; 1/2 garlic clove; 1 tbsp. olive oil; 1 tsp.

onion, chopped; 1 tsp. sea salt; 1/2 tsp. cumin; 1/8 tsp. black

pepper

 

Directions:

 

1) In a food processor, blend water, almonds and honey until smooth.

 

2) Add the remaining ingredients and blend until creamy.

 

Blissed be, Annie

BodyByBliss.com