Green Juice

I have been asked dozens of times lately to do a post on Green Juice.  I am so excited about the powers of Green Juice that I talk about it a lot.  It has been fairly life-changing for my family.

Green Juice is PACKED with micro-nutrients and enzymes.  It gives your body a tremendous health boost.  Think about a cutting board piled high with dark green leafys, green vegetables, root vegetables, ginger, limes, garlic....you could never eat that much.  But you can JUICE that much, and by juicing, you get all the micro-nutrients from the produce without any of the fiber, making it incredibly easy for your body to absorb and put to good use.

Most disease is started by cellular inflammation.  Cellular inflammation can be caused by some of the food we eat, by toxins in our environment, by stress, and many other factors.  Flooding your body with enzymes and micro-nutrients reduces inflammation, allowing your body to stay healthy, or fight disease if you already have it.

One of the keys to Green Juice is VARIETY.  This is for several reasons:

1) Every vegetable has different qualities, vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.  By varying what you put in your juice every day you give your body more of the good stuff, more often.

2) You want to make sure that you don't eat brassica vegetables every day.  The brassica family can, if you have any trouble with your thyroid, give your body too many goitrogens and throw off your thyroid function.  The brassica family includes kale, broccoli, cabbage, etc.  Goitrogens also inhibit cancer growth, so don't eliminate them completely! Just skip it every few days.

I have been making a huge batch of juice every morning for about 5 months now.  I have the Raw Food Institute and Lisa Wilson to thank for really making this a daily ritual.  I make enough so that Garth, my mom and I all get some.  (I can't quite get the kids to drink it yet....someday!) I always say "I can feel it in my finger tips!" and I really can.  My mom is healthier than ever.  I am convinced it has fended off chemo for 5 months now.  It is truly amazing stuff.

There is no "recipe" for Green Juice since you really should vary the ingredients every day.  However, the base of mine usually includes:

1-2 cucumbers

4-5 pieces celery

1 head romaine lettuce

1 lime or lemon

1 inch of ginger

a big pile of sprouts of some kind (pea shoots, wheat grass, alfalfa sprouts)

sometimes a half or whole clove of garlic

a BIG pile of some greens (chard, kale, spinach, collards, mustard greens, parsley...)

Today, a beet was in there. Yesterday, a few carrots.

Would you be interested in a Green Juice workshop? If so, please comment (click on blue "comments" below!)

Move that body!

Exercise! It is arguably the most important thing you can do to stay healthy and keep your cells active, strong, and full of oxygen. Every medical study I have read on cancer shows that exercise reduces your risk of cancer and increases your likelihood of fighting cancer if you already have it.

I got so excited about the notion of exercise, and how powerful it is, that I decided to immediately create a new block print of a bird that I thought best expressed this sentiment. Sanderlings came to mind right away.  They are the most lovely, graceful, and spritely shore birds that I grew up chasing amidst the spindrift along the Atlantic ocean with my grandparents chasing after me. Talk about exercise.

We've all been told at our annual physical, "you need to exercise at least three times per week for 30 minutes."  The truth is, however, that ANY exercise you can get is worthwhile. Don't skip a walk or run just because you only have 20 minutes.  Studies show that any exercise is great for you. If you only have time for jumping jacks in your kitchen for 5 minutes, you will be healthier for it. Try to fit something in every day. A walk, a burst of dancing, a run, a trip to the gym.  Simply move your body and bring oxygen to those cells of yours!

If you are recovering from surgery or don't have the energy for lots of exertion, one of my favorite things to recommend is the Urban Rebounder. Bouncing on this lightly even 3-4 times a day for 3 minutes will drain your lymphatic system, releasing toxins and allowing your body to be more vigorous in fighting disease.

Another easy thing you can do in bad weather, from home, in a chair, is workout with Joel Harper, who is a fitness instructor in my nutrition program.  He has free downloaded workouts, all 10-20 minutes, here: Joel Harper.

Oxygen in the cells gives cancer less chance to survive.  It increases red blood cells and normalizes healthy tissue cell growth.  It also breaks down toxic carbon dioxide, which causes the free radicals that help form cancer.   So cancer really doesn't like oxygen.  Add it to your repertoire, in the form of exercise, wheatgrass (filled with chlorophyll!), and raw, enzyme-packed foods.

Bringing us back to raw foods, once again...One of the beauties of raw foods is that they, too, bring oxygen to our cells.  Try out this delicious appetizer before dinner instead of your crackers & cheese. It's amazingly filling, and so energizing.  Whenever I eat it, it's as if someone just took a foggy lens out from in front of my eyes.  This version is adapted from a Raw Foods Institute recipe.

 Pretty Cabbage Wraps with Almond-Ginger Dip

(makes 8 small wraps)

2 collard leaves
1/4 of a red cabbage, thinly sliced
1/4 of a green cabbage, thinly sliced
come carrot gratings (optional)

-Cut the collard greens into quarters, slicing out the thick stem in the middle
-Slice the cabbage and grate the carrot, and mix together
-Place the cabbage/carrot mixture in the middle of each collard quarter, and roll up

Almond-Ginger Dip

3 Tbsp. Tamari (or regular soy sauce)
3 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
about 2-3 inches of sliced ginger, chopped
4 Tbsp. almond butter
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt

-Blend together in a blender until creamy & smooth
-Store extra in refrigerator
-Dip wraps in almond-ginger dip and enjoy!

Raw food Heals

Since I continue to be so excited about raw foods and its benefits for ALL people, but especially anyone living with or wanting to prevent cancer, I think I will be touching on this topic more often.  There are some fantastic cookbooks out there.  I just have bought:

-Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo
-RAWvolution by Matt Amsden
-Superfoods by David Wolfe

The Raw Foods Institute recommends dozens of titles, but these were the three I was most excited about.

To increase the amount of raw and living foods into our diets, to give us more enzymes, micronutrients, and cellular power, we need to make raw foods more interesting. You can't live on salad--it's just not interesting enough.  Soon enough you will be craving something bread-y, something chip-y, something dessert-y, something pasta-y.  These cookbooks provide us for recipes with all of these, to make our food dynamic & healing at the same time.

Because we have a sweet tooth over here, I made a raw dessert the other night: Chocolate Coconut Macaroons.  It was a huge hit.  They assemble in minutes and get eaten just as quickly...and they are actually good for you!

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

Adapted from the Raw Foods Institute

3 cups coconut flakes (I use large and fine flakes, combined)

1/3 cup coconut butter

1/2 cup raw cacao powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup maple syrup

-combine in your Kitchen Aid, or with a mixer in a large bowl.

-form into small, tablespoon sized balls

-chill until firm, 30-60 minutes

-store in the refrigerator to keep firm

DELICIOUS!!!!!

Raw Foods, part 2

I just spent a week at The Raw Food Institute in Washington D.C.  It is run by the fabulous Lisa Wilson, who has designed a 7-day curriculum, immersing you in raw foods preparation, and, of course, the WHY behind raw foods.  During the week you are only eating medicinal raw foods, and therefore fully detoxifying your body the whole time.  There is a tremendous range of doctors, healers, meditation leaders, and of course raw foods chefs to lead & teach you.  I highly recommend the program if you are healthy and want to learn how to prevent chronic disease, are in a "healing crisis," or if you love someone who is!

Raw food can cure chronic disease because they flood your body with enzymes, oxygen, and micronutrients.  When we cook our food, we lose 30% of the nutrients and 100% of the enzymes.  Eating raw vegetables, greens, nuts, seeds, sprouts and juices gives our body needed enzymes to absorb all that healthy food we are eating, and therefore reduces the cellular inflammation that causes disease.  Eating raw heals at a deep cellular level.

We met and heard the stories of a number of people who have healed their illnesses (cancer, type 2 diabetes, heat disease, obesity...) through switching to a raw food diet.  We drank green juices and wheat grass shots throughout the day.  And we ate delicious, real, nutritious food.

In lieu of a recipe today, I will show you pictures of my growing wheatgrass, and of the sprouts which I prepared (it is so easy!)

Mung bean and lentil sprouts, ready to eat! They flood your body with protein and energy.

Sprouted wheatgrass, JUST starting to grow. It will be another week before I can juice them.

Perhaps next time I will tell you how to sprout....or maybe I will share a raw recipe or two.  We'll just have to see.  Until then, au revoir!

Raw Foods

Many nutritionists and food researchers believe that going on a raw foods diet can decrease the size of and even eliminate cancer tumors. This requires a radical shift to your diet, and even way of life.

I am looking forward to participating in a 7-day raw foods workshop in January. At that point, I will weigh in on my thoughts on the topic. In the meantime, however, it is hard for me to imagine that it cannot help to be eating an abundance of raw foods. If raw foods consist of 80% of your diet, it will make a huge difference in both fighting and preventing cancer, not to mention making you feel fresh, energetic, and healthy.

Vegetables in their raw form are rich in antioxidants and other nutrients. Live food also contains enzymes, which both help your body absorb nutrients (instead of turning to your body's enzyme reserve), and are catalysts for detoxification.  Cooking food decreases the nutritional value of most foods, and also has a more depleting effect on the body as it uses the body's existing (and finite) enzyme reserve.

Here are some raw foods that you probably already eat, and can increase in your diet!

-Salads: greens, an abundance of cut vegetables and fruits on top

-Pesto, with basil and raw nuts and olive oil

-Crudité: a platter of cut carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, or peppers with a vinaigrette

-Massaged Kale Salad: Remove kale from stems and chop, massage for a few minutes with olive oil and salt.
-Smoothies!
-Bowl of raw nuts, covered in spices
-Sprouts!
-Add raw veggies as a side to an already healthy dinner

Sliced avocado, garden cherry tomatoes, and basil & almond pesto are tasty raw additions 

to a home-cooked dinner of pasta and roasted acorn squash.

Many dishes and meals can be enhanced by adding raw ingredients, and there are also thousands of recipes out there for preparing purely raw foods. A few great links include Raw Guru and Gone Raw.  Both have recipes, sources for ingredients, and helpful information.

(Almost) Raw Pad Thai
Adapted from "Appetite for Reduction" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
There is no cooking with this! Simply roast the peanuts in your toaster oven. Otherwise, it just involves chopping and your food processor.

First, prepare the easy dressing:

Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
2 Tbsp. chopped shallot
-Pulse in food processor until well chopped

Then add the following, and pulse until smooth (4 minutes; scrape down sides a few times)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp. Agave nectar
2 Tbsp. Tamari (soy sauce)
1 tsp. finely chopped jalapeno or Sriracha pepper

-Add 2 Tbsp more peanuts and pulse until chopped, not finely blended

(dressing can last 5 days in fridge in sealed glass container, if you don't use it for the pad thai.)

Pad Thai Salad
8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
4 cups bean sprouts
1 small red onion, or a green onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
half a bag of Rice Sticks (found in the Asian section of Whole Foods)--Optional
1 recipe Peanut-lime Dragon Dressing
-Soak the Rice Sticks in hot water for 10 minutes (if you choose to use them)
-Combine above ingredients

Serve with:
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
Lime wedges