Peanut Butter & Jelly

It's quite amazing how the Universe works. I was feeling kind of down about my blog yesterday. After I posted the blog, I felt people may interpret where I was coming from in a way that wasn't intended. I was kind of losing the drive to go on AND... The next day I got a mass of unexpected emails from what seemed to be people reading my mind and responding. I now see where Angela gets her drive to continue like this and I am BACK BABY!

Look what Jerry wrote, WOW!:

[He almost died after being convinced by a friend to do 16oz of food.]

i almost died just reading about it ! !

thx for the blog -- good idea : when a book or a speech is over, it is over -- but having the chance to follow "a real" raw-ster gives an apt dimension -- it makes a nice rhyme with what we already have experiences and read you about and provides answers in our new territory to questions we haven't even thought to ask

a good sort of concordance through the days -- it's nice of you to put some yourself in the blogs by telling your own thoughts

i hope you keep it simple enough that it doesn't become a burden or a repetitive drain -- to me, it will be nice to hear from you on the blog and nice to know that it's not bogging you down doing it

keep good

Thanks so much Jerry! You have taken all burden off of my shoulders.

January 28th I ate:

11 AM Green Vegetable Juice
(It was soooooo nice to drink green juice again!)
1:30 PM - Meal 1:
1/4 avocado
3 tablespoons of Tahini
2 teaspoons of cut up green onions
1 handful of Mung Bean Sprouts
1.5 ounce of alfalfa sprouts
2 handfuls of cut up small tomatoes
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl
Romaine lettuce leaves to wrap the above in and EAT
(Oh, it felt soooo good to eat my staple once again!)
4:30 PM Green Vegetable Juice
5:30 PM Meal 2:
2 green sapote
8:00 PM
Watermelon

Selene wrote:

Could you please list the ingredients in your favorite Green juice (the one you believe to be the most beneficial and hopefully delicious) and also the ingredients of "Tahini" for those of us who don't know exactly what this is (the stuff you mash with a fork along with your other ingredients listed). Do you suggest we make it ourselves or buy it, or both.

I believe the most nourishing green drink is Carrot Spinach juice. It is great to strenghten parastalsis and for the entire digestive tract as a whole Many of you know that I am into Dr. Norman Walker's work. Carrot Spinach juice is the number one juice he drank the most. When I am at home, I get the best spinach and carrots from the California Farmer's Market. I literally drank that carrot spinach juice every day for years as my first veggie juice of the day... and when I am back in the states, I am going to drink it everyday again. My favorite tasting juice is to make the base carrot and romaine lettuce. As crazy as it sounds, it tastes like chocolate milk. Do an entire head of romaine lettuce with SWEET carrots and add a bit of spinach to make it creamy. You can even add a stalk of celery to give it a salty taste and a really SMALL BIT of fennel to give it a chocolate twist.

Dr. Norman Walker's book, Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices has a mass of the vegetable juice combinations he says is the most nourishing to the body. I choose many of my combinations based off that book. All his books actually reference to these juices and of course colon cleansing. Become Younger, by Dr. Norman Walker is the book that got me to jump into a 100% Raw Food Diet overnight.

As for the tahini, I just buy an organic source in a bottle from the local health food store. More power to you if you can make it yourself. We carry Artisana’s Tahini which is excellent. I use that when I am in the US.

My Tahini desire is brand new. It reminds me of Peanut Butter & Jelly from my past. When I was growing up all I ate was PB & J. I was repulsed by meat. My family always tried to get me to eat it as a young kid but I wouldn't so my mom would put HEAPS of Peanut Butter on my sandwich to make sure that I got enough protein. I wasn't on a special diet or anything, I just couldn't stand it. Then highschool came around. I was hitting puberty late. When I look back on it, I think that everyone was just hitting puberty early. I feel that it was the food they were eating which includes hormones from meat that accelerated their puberty. I went to the hospital to see if something was wrong with me and they offered me some sort of cow's hormone to speed up my puberty. Thankfully, my mom and I rejected the treatment and we just waited it out. We later found out that people that took these hormones were running into problems and that some were even dying. In high school I started introducing "Subway Sandwiches" into my diet. Then I went to college. Now I really wanted to fit in so I ended up working out massively at least 3 days a week... and... I was eating anywhere between 2 – 6 Double Double Hamburgers from In-N-Out Burger a day. Now I am 100% Raw with some slight injuries that will come and go for the rest of my life due to lifting heavy weights like that. This little skinny body of mine was benching over 300 pounds! It’s so crazy what we do to ourselves.

We just got to NZ and my body is begging for a break from Air Planes.

Today, January 29th I ate:

11 AM - Meal 1:
1/4 avocado
3 tablespoons of Tahini
3 sprigs of parsley
1 handful of Mung Bean Sprouts
1 handful of alfalfa sprouts
1/2 cucumber diced without the skin
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl
Green outside part of the cucumbers to dip the above in and EAT
4:30 PM Meal 2:
1 pound of cherries
6:30 PM Meal 3:
3 tablespoons of chia seeds soaked in water
1 handful of goji berries
1 small handful of dried mulberries
1 – 2 Tablespoons of Tahini

Anonymous wrote:

isnt that extreme. like your taking the joy out of raw food by eating strict amounts of food. no longer is it about quality, your questioning the quantity of your food. sounds anorexic to me. Have you heard of orthorexia. its when the obsession with eating cleaner and cleaner takes over. you plan your meals and get upset when you 'slip up'. matt i think your great but your taking it too far. you call it 'inspiration' to get back on track. but things like 12oz. meal once a day..thats getting crazy! it sounds like anorexia to me. enjoy raw food..graze. by limiting yourself and planning ur meal sizes ur setting yourself up for a binge. thats an eating disorder my friend. i think you need to sit back and observe ur obsession. i care for you. Angela dosent go that far/ she just enjoys her food...without strict habits. Raw food is going too far nowaday. its sounding like an eating disorder rather than a happy lifestyle. I was anorexic before and I had the same habits. Isnt life about no boundaries than restrictions. Ask yourself, are you more free and happy? I would think not. Just think about it okay.

Thank you for your comment, your concern, and for sharing your viewpoint. From my perspective, for where I am at, two Raw Food Meals a day like this is not a restriction but feels more than adequate. I am stabilized out at a different diet than most. Eating any more than these typical amounts leaves me sluggish and I generally have no desire to eat more than that. I don’t feel any sense of limitation in my being and I am grateful for that. Additionally, I am happy to say that there isn’t any remorse from eating figs on that day. It was my intention to share this experience in a fun and animated way, through this blog.
Yes, I am aware of the condition known as Orthorexia. I don’t consider myself to be experiencing Anorexia or Orthorexia. However, there does seem to be an occasional OVEReating disorder that I am currently examining and that is where you are my inspiration. I will say, dipping those wet honey syrupy figs in tahini brought me back to that PB & J Sandwich as a kid. The fig filling tasted just like the jelly and the tahini like the Peanut butter. YUM!!!

In the next Post I will respond to Elaine. I love you much too Elaine!

Elaine wrote:

Not too long ago, you mentioned about giving up all salt. The attached email is from
Dr. Robert O. Young, who has been educating me about the function of acid/alkaline
as it relates to health and disease. Dr. Young is very strong in his belief/knowledge
about salt. He believes that the non use of salt is a huge miss in the health system.
I am just trying to find the truth about this issue. I am using Dr. Young's product of
ph-salts, and measuring for the resulting ph of the urine.
It seems that my raw eating habits, about 90%, is helped by using the salts Dr. Young
recommends to stay alkaline. Would you please think about this information, and maybe even consult with Dr. Fred Bisci and Dr. Young and post something either to
your blog or to me personally. Love you much.

My Precious Figs...

As you have seen from previous posts, many of my meals recently have been fresh picked figs. I have been eating a pound or less each time because that is how much has become available from the tree on a daily basis. Then we went to the Farmer's Market and guess what was there! Yep... You guessed it! Fresh PERFECTLY RIPENED wet Figs dripping with honey desire. And yes... available in mass quantities!

Before I go on, let me tell you a little story about my previous relationship with my favorite fruit; The Fresh Fig. A few years ago, a previous partner of mine used to get jealous of figs when they came into season due to how much I cared for them. She observed my body getting possesed as I hoarded the figs at any farmer's market or grocer while I lost all perception of every living being surrounding me.

Perplexed she would say, "I can’t believe how much attention you give to your beloved figs," as she witnessed me arranging the figs in an orderly fashion in the refrigerator caring for them as if they were my children. In short, my relationship with figs was a bit obsessive. I have grown leaps and bounds since then, yet I am not perfect.

Back to the Farmer's Market story... Fresh PERFECTLY RIPENED wet Figs dripping with honey desire. And yes... available in mass quantities for the first time this year! As soon as they came into my vision, a possesion took place. In a MAD-RUSH I took every last ripe fig in vision which equated to 4 kilos (8.8 POUNDS!) My first, and I ASPIRE to be the last, slip-up.

January 25th I ate:

9:00 PM - Meal 1:
3.5 Pounds of Fresh PERFECTLY RIPENED wet Figs dripping with honey desire
4:00 PM - Meal 2:
1.5 Pounds of Fresh PERFECTLY RIPENED wet Figs dripping with honey desire
DIPPED INTO TAHINI! YUM!!! I needed some fat for the day.
7:00 PM
Spirulina
7:30 PM - Meal 3:
2.5 Pounds of Fresh PERFECTLY RIPENED wet Figs dripping with honey desire

Before I went 100% Raw, I never ate a fig in my entire life. I didn't even know what one was. After becoming raw in NYC, I came across dried calimyrna figs. OMG! I found heaven on earth! I ate them every single night. One of the reasons why I loved dried figs so much was because when I was little I used to ALWAYS eat Fig Newtons and this totally reminded me of them. Thereafter, I soon realized that fresh figs existed. I waited with ANTICIPATED DESIRE for months, for them to come into season. I intuitively knew that Fresh Figs were going to be my favorite fruit.

I have been feeling so CLEAN, balanced with an ongoing "HIGH" since eating very consistently lately. I believe feeling this good is the way it is supposed to be. Being out of consistent balance from constant plane flights and stress, alongside with "Matt Monarch Fig Krpytonite", created an eating emotionally situation. From past experience, one slip-up on food can knock me out of consistent balance completely. My stomach would stretch, keeping me lingering for more food the next day while taking on bodily discomfort such as a headache, extra mucus, and gas.

The cleaner a person's diet is AND the longer a person is adhering to a "TRUE consistent diet", the harsher the effects will be during a slip up. In Raw Success, I mention how Hilton Hotema talks about a man who ate one 12 oz meal a day for many, many decades. He almost died after being convinced by a friend to do 16oz of food.

Inspired by you... I am back on track!

January 26th I ate:

11:00 AM
Prepared salad from friend with very little fat
(Mainly veggies with an olive or two and sprouted sunflower seeds)
4:00 PM
2 teaspoons of Green Food with water
5:00 PM
2 green sapote fruits
8:30
watermelon

Today, January 27th I ate:

2:15 PM
6 Soaked Dried Turkish Figs with water
1/4 Pound of Canistel Fruit
3 Tablespoons Tahini
(All crushed with a wood plunger)
6:30 PM
2 Tablespoons of Macadamia Nut Butter
2 Tablespoons of Tahini
1 Small handful of alfalfa and sunflower sprouts
1/2 Teaspoon of cut up garlic
1 Tablespoon of wild greens
4 medium diced up "red" Tomatoes
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl
Nori and Wild Sorrel to wrap the above in and EAT

I have learned so much in just a few months from a new website I came across. Ted.com consists of a bunch of 18 minute (on average) free presentations from various experts in each field. It seems that the main focus is always based on how we can improve our planet with science, technology, coming together, and much more, all in a sustainable way. The caption of the website is; "Inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers." Everytime I have lunch, I just pop on an 18 minute video and I learn leaps and bounds.

Happily Defined!

As I stated in a previous post, I have lowered my avocado intake and increased the amounts of Nuts & Seeds I eat. I have began to notice my body becoming more muscularly defined!!! How exciting! I haven’t increased my exercise routine at all. Actually, it has decreased because I am in the process of travelling and doing lectures. This inspires me to do more resistance exercising to see what happens.

Yesterday January 21st I ate:

1:30 PM - Meal 1:
1/4 Avocado
3 Tablespoon of Tahini
2 teaspoons of cut up green onions
1 Small Handful of lentil sprouts
1 Tablespoon of mixed sprouts
4 medium diced up “Black Russian” and “red” Tomatoes
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl
cabbage to wrap the above in and EAT
4:30 PM Green Vegetable Juice
5:30 PM - Meal 2: YUM!!!
2 small bananas
4 tablespoons of ground flax
1 tablespoon of tahini
1 handful of mulberries
All Mushed and mixed with a fork

Since we have been travelling, my consistent amounts and times of eating are all out of WHACK! I am continually on the go and don’t always have food. These next few days of meals, you will see me eating about 3 meals a day. As you see, they are mainly a small amount of fruit which is not nearly as satiating as my standard meals. Fruit is pretty much solid sugar water. (hmmm?) I have actually been going to bed hungry. It is amazing how it is so easy for me to go to bed hungry these days compared to when I first started. I used to freak out, thinking I couldn’t go on or make it until the next day. I was envoloped in FEAR! Now I don’t even thing twice and it is fun and exciting. 8 years baby!

January 22nd I ate:

11:45 AM less then a pound of RIPE Fresh figs Straight from the TREE!
1:30 PM
Green Smoothie
4:00 PM
1/4 Avocado
3 Tablespoon of Tahini
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl
Butter Lettuce to wrap the above in and EAT
8:00 PM
1/2 Honeydue Melon (after Lecture)

Janyary 23rd I ate:

11:45 AM Green Juice
1:00 AM 1 pound of RIPE Fresh figs Straight from a TREE!
4:00 PM - Meal 2:
1/4 Avocado
3 Tablespoon of Tahini
1 teaspoon of powdered kelp
5 medium diced up “red” Tomatoes
2 teaspoons of green onions
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl
Butter Lettuce to wrap the above in and EAT
7:00 PM
250 grams of blueberries

Today, January 24th I ate:

9:00 AM
1 pound of figs & Nectarines
2:45 PM
1/4 Avocado
1 handful of sprouts
3 Tablespoon of Tahini & Pumpkin Seed Butter
1 tablespoon of Dulse flakes
4 medium diced up redTomatoes
Teaspoon of all natural pesto mixture from place we are staying
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl
Butter Lettuce to wrap the above in and EAT
7:30
2 bananas
3 – 4 tablespoons of ground up almonds, flax, and pumpkin seeds
1 small handful of goji berries
1 cut up dried fig
All mushed with a fork

And now... What you have all been waiting for... THE PIZZA RECIPE:

Base:
1 cup of buckwheat
1/2 - 1 cup of coconut powder
1 teaspoon of celtic sea salt
Soak the buckwheat for a few hours. Put it in the food processor and add the salt and coconut powder until you have a dough consistency. Spread the dough on a pizza pan.

Top:
1 large avacado
1 - 1 1/2 packets of alive hummus - sun dried tomato flavor (or whatever else you fancy)
4 medium tomatoes diced
1 medium tomatoe sliced thinly
1/4 packet of sun dried tomatoes
Coconut powder
Other Misc. toppings - ex, onions, bell pepper, etc Mush the avocado with the Alive Hummus. Add the diced tomatoes in and mix thoroughly. Spread this mixture on top of the pizza crust. Sprinkle coconut powder all over the top of it to absorb the moisture on top. Add the thinly sliced tomatos, dried tomatoes and other toppings to the pizza and ENJOY!!

Drooling Desire

Today I was minding my own business and the MAILMAN came to the door!!! This ten pound package was filled with “Raw Food Goodies” from, Awesome Foods. Nori Bites, Cashew Cheese Sticks, Olive Bread, Onion Bread, Vegetable Tempura, and Grawnola bars were just a few of the items sent to us to taste test for our websites. As you may recall, I gave up spices, cacao, and other “gourmet” ingredients.

As I opened the box saliva started trickling off of my tongue. The smell… The sight... every last pour of my addicted meager will-powered being became a slave to these dehydrated foods. And then…

I thought of you! My readers. This overwhelming power came from up above and that was it. Additionally, I read Angela’s new book Raw Emotions. Automatically, one of her techniques came into me which empowered me tremendously. Different techniques that I learned from her book continually come into me at different times when they are needed. I almost feel like a new powerhouse after reading her book. Afterall, her physical transformation was just a small slice of her “Transformation Pie”.

So today... I went through a short “mourning” of the “gourmet” Raw Foods that I don’t partake in anymore. This wasn’t as harsh as the “mourning” when I gave up cooked foods. I remember having NIGHTMARES about cooked food buffet’s and waking up as if they were real. I also remember going to our traditional “Mother’s Day” brunch. There was some sort of Frank Sinatra song playing in the background. He was mourning for a woman that he had lost. In the song I was changing all the words around for the crab salad, bagels, lox, and cream cheese. I literally felt the song all throughout my being. Don’t worry, after many years those cooked food episodes are completely gone now.;)

Yesterday January 20th I ate:

11:15 AM Beet Cabbage Apple Juice

1:30 PM - Meal 1:

1/4 Avocado

3 Tablespoon of Tahini

2 teaspoons of cut up green onions

1 Small Handful of lentil sprouts
1 Tablespoon of mixed sprouts

1 ounce of cut up cilantro

4 medium diced up “Black Russian” and “red” Tomatoes

**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl

Spinach Tree leaves & cabbage to wrap the above in and EAT

4:30 PM Green Vegetable Juice
5:30 PM - Meal 2:

7 oz dried mulberries

(soaked overnight with just enough water to top them)
Blended water and mulberries

Swirled in:
3 tablespoons of tahini1 small handful of goji berries

Oh! I have to mention what Sylvia had wrote me after our last blog:

Another improvement for nightime eating is to have a glass of green vegetable juice. It digests quickly.

That would be the ultimate physical improvement of eating less at night if you can handle it emotionally. Thanks Sylvia!

Today January 21st I ate:

11:15 AM Green Vegetable Juice
1:30 PM - Meal 1:

1/4 Avocado3 Tablespoon of Tahini

2 teaspoons of cut up green onions

1 Small Handful of lentil sprouts
1 Tablespoon of mixed sprouts

4 medium diced up “Black Russian” and “red” Tomatoes

**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl

Cabbage leaves to wrap the above in and EAT

4:30 PM Green Vegetable Juice
5:30 PM - Meal 2: 7 oz dried mulberries

(soaked overnight with just enough water to top them)
Blended water and mulberries

Swirled in:
3 tablespoons of tahini

1 small handful of goji berries

I have been Raw for about 2750 days now. Out of all those days, I bet there is only about 20 – 25 of them to where I didn’t eat Avocado. In the early days it was 3 large avocados a day. As the years went by, the portion went down. Recently I have cut it down to about 1/4 of an avocado. Ironically, I notice that I function better when I replaced 3/4 of the avocado with 2 – 3 tablespoons of nut butter. It took me a couple of days to get use to, but now I love it. Maybe I am allergic to the avocado because I have eaten it every day... Maybe excessive fats isn’t the easiest to process since I have become much cleaner. Whatever it is, I have more energy with a more satisfied empty feeling inside. Additionally, since giving up the "gourmet" foods, I feel a higher vibration within my being. Love it!

Selene asked me:

How is it that you are eating so little? I work out 5 days a week anywhere between 30min-1hr. I run, spin and once a week I'll do a strength training class or yoga. I need the calories for energy....how do you have energy on so little food? I see that I eat less than most athletes because I care more about being lean than performance but again, I find myself going into a starvation state (my brain feels like it shuts down and as far as energy, I feel as though I walking with bricks on my feet). How do you do it, what do you recommend? I am aprox. 5 '8 and wanting to be around 126-130 pds.

Since you do work out, you will require more food then if you didn't work out. The longer you eat a 100% Raw Food diet, the less food you will need. You can accomplish the same endurance with less food because when the body is clean, it is more efficient and requires less fuel for energy.

It seems to me this “starvation” state is detoxification. To get over that "starvation" detoxification state, my secret is to cleanse the colon on a periodic basis. It pulls it right out.

I have gotten at least 10 requests for the Raw Pizza Recipe that I made about a month back. I think that will go in the next post ;)

Watermelon Goodness!

Wow! Over 300 people signed up to this blog in 2 days! The spotlight is shining on me bright and loud. I Love it!

You are my Inspiration! Many of my food choices throughout the day are effected by you. Since I will be rambling off many “healthy tips” throughout the life of this blog, I better start off with the traditional disclaimer:

The following information is for education only and is not meant to diagnose, prescribe, or treat illness. It is valuable to seek the advice of an alternative health care professional before making any changes.

Yesterday January 18th I ate:

1:30 PM - Meal 1:

1/4 Avocado

3 Tablespoon of Tahini

2 teaspoons of cut up green onions

1 Small Handful of lentil sprouts

1 ounce of cut up cilantro

2 tablespoons of mung bean sprouts

4 medium diced up “Black Russian” and “red” Tomatoes

**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl

Romaine lettuce leaves & cabbage to wrap the above in and EAT

4:30 PM Green Vegetable Juice at Indian Market

6:00 PM - Meal 2:

7 oz dried mulberries

(soaked overnight with just enough water to top them)
Blended water and mulberries

Swirled in:
2 - 3 tablespoons of tahini

1 small handful of goji berries swirled in
1 oz of dried mulberries
1 Tablespoon of Cedar Nuts (Similar to Pine Nuts)

Knowing how much Angela and I love these dried mulberries, one of her blog readers from Australia dropped Angela an email on where we could get them. They happen to be in a random Indian store over an hour away. Lovely Miss Stokes surprised me by having us stop by there on our way to get a Vitamix Blender. You’ll be noticing this delicacy in my menu for the next few days. Oh yeah... and it was it AMAZING!

Today January 19th I ate:

11 AM Green Vegetable Juice
Celery, beets, zucchini, orange
1:30 PM - Meal 1:7 oz dried mulberries

(soaked overnight with just enough water to top them)
Blended water and mulberries

Swirled in:
2 - 3 tablespoons of tahini

1 small handful of goji berries swirled in
1 oz of dried mulberries
1 Tablespoon of Cedar Nuts (Similar to Pine Nuts)

4:30 PM STRAIGHT Green Vegetable Juice

5:30 PM - Meal 2: 1 Green Sapote (Mammey Fruit)

Generally, my first meal of the day is that typical avocado nut butter vegetable wrap meals. It is wild how my diet rarely fluctuates day to day. I didn’t each much today and that does happen. I rarely eat solid food more then twice a day unless it is some fruit. For example, a few days ago I walked 10 miles in the morning and ate watermelon as my third meal at about 9pm in the evening.

It isn’t a good idea to eat late at night. A great way to help in your weight loss is to not eat late at night and taking enzymes in the middle of the night; maybe if you have to get up and urinate. Here is an excerpt from my book Raw Spirit:

Our most crucial time to regenerate is during sleep. Going to bed on an empty stomach means less work for your body, which equals more time spent on regeneration.

Our eyes have an optic nerve that senses when the sun goes down. As soon as that happens our body goes into dialysis, the cleaning of the kidneys. If our stomachs are full, our body’s ability to cleanse and regenerate itself is limited. The Indians instinctively knew this. After sundown, they would not eat again until the next day.

Don’t get fanatical like I used to be. Years ago I used to watch the sun and get crazy about it all. The goal is to do less then the consistent amount you are currently doing in the evening now. For example, if you are eating a 10 oz bowl of quinoa at llpm, you can change it to a 5 oz bowl at the same time and that is an improvement. Or you can eat the 10oz bowl a half hour earlier and that is an improvement. The goal is to keep making improvements. Every permanent improvement you make for a great amount of time, your body will demand it and it will get easier for you. Another way to improve is to replace the evening meal with a less-dense portion. The less concentrated it is on the system, the easier and quicker it will digest, and the happier your body will be at night. For example, if you were to replace that 10oz bowl of quinoa for 10 oz bowl of berries, that would be an improvement.

A lot of people complain that they are starving at night when they improve their diet. It takes a good amount of time to get used to an improved diet. Here is my “Tip of the Day”. If I am ever really hungry at night and I can’t cope, I pig out on watermelon. It is practically water! Solid water that is. It digests quicker then any other solid food, you can eat a lot of it, and it may help you get through the night. You may be left with a managable “good feeling of hunger” before you go to bed which is GREAT. All this talk is making me want to break a watermelon open right now. Angela is the sweetest thing. She is uneffected that I eat the best part - the center of both halves of the melon - and then leave the rest. ;)

Raw Success

Are you curious to see what a 100% Raw Food Eater eats on a daily basis? This blog documents everything I eat each and every day. Additionally, I will be giving my up to date ponderings and discoveries about health and the Raw Diet.

The Inspiration to start my own blog is based off a personal commitment to eat a consistent balanced PURE wholefood Raw Diet. What this means to me is that there will be no more overeating sessions (Durian, Raw Food Restaurants) in the absence of spices, cacao, Nama Shoyu and many other “gourmet” ingredients... And you though becoming 100% Raw was a social challenge!

My commitment to you is to be honest, upfront while expressing my truth 100%.

This decision happened after I took over Angela’s blog for 3 days while she was gone. I was really inspired by the viewers to eat the best I could. Below are a few snippets from the blog postings I did. You will get a feel for how the blog works and you will also learn more about my inspiration for starting a new blog and what my past eating habits have been like.

Snippet from January, 8th

Today I ate:

11 AM Green Vegetable Juice
1:30 PM - Meal 1:½ avocado
1 tablespoon of pumpkin seed butter
2 teaspoons of cut up green onions
1 Tablespoon of lentil sprouts
1 ounce of alfalfa sprouts
2 tablespoons of fenugreek sprouts
4 medium diced up ‘Black Russian’ Tomatoes
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl
Romaine lettuce leaves to wrap the above in and EAT
4:30 PM Green Vegetable Juice
5:30 PM Meal 2:
6 or 7 large dried Turkish figs
(soaked overnight with just enough water to top them)
3 tablespoons of hemp seeds
**Blended all those ingredients above
1 small handful of goji berries swirled in
8:00 PM Vegetable juice
10 oz of beet juice

I walked over 10 miles yesterday and I was sustained by eating a similar meal plan as above.

Awhile back, Dr. Fred Bisci taught me the fig meal above without the goji berries. I added the goji berries because I like something to chew on. This recipe is so simple! Ladies... it tastes amazing. Men... it is a muscle builder. If you switch up the hemp seeds with sesame seeds, this meal is an awesome source of calcium. I started to play around with this recipe and I started to switch up the dried fruit and seeds. For example, I would soak a couple large handfuls of goji berries overnight and blend them with pine nuts the next day. That was quite interesting. AND THEN!... I soaked 8 oz of dried mulberries overnight and blended that with three or four tablespoons of hemp seeds or tahini. This is a DELICACY!!! Instead of adding goji berries to have a chewing sensation, I just add more dried mulberries. It may be a bit pricey, but I can literally eat that meal every day. It has a much lower glycemic index then the figs and tastes ~!HEAVENLY!~. In fact, I smuggled 20 one pound bags of them in my luggage and ate it with Angela every day for a month here in Australia. I loved it so much I tried to ship more into Australia but they were confiscated at the Agricultural Dept.

Why the beet juice? I do not recommend jumping in and taking this amount of beet juice. One should build up increasing their dosage periodically or it may make you dizzy and nauseous due to the cleansing reaction it has on the liver. Beets contain betaine which have been shown to improve liver function and reduce fatty deposits in the liver. I noticed that whenever I used just a small amount of beets in my vegetable juice, I would get really bad sulfuric gas so I started to avoid it. I thought, what if my liver just needs to be cleaned out. What if I drink massive amounts of beet juice every day until the gas stopped!!! This is my new experiment! The first week of this has been quite an event. Poor poor Angela.


Snippet from January, 9th

Today I ate:
11 AM Beet Apple Juice
16 oz Beet Juice, 4 oz Apple Juice
1:30 PM Meal 1:
½ avocado
1 tablespoon of pumpkin seed butter
1 teaspoon of cut up green onions
1 Tablespoon of lentil sprouts
1 ounce of alfalfa sprouts
1 Tablespoon of cut up cabbage
2 medium diced up ‘Black Russian’ Tomatoes
1 cut up seeded center of large cucumber
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl
Iceberg lettuce leaves to wrap the above in and EAT
4:30 PM Green Vegetable Juice
5:30 PM Meal 2:
1 Banana
1 Black Sapote
4 cut up Turkish figs
1 hand full of goji berries
2 – 3 tablespoons of tahini
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl

It is so fun showing all of you what I eat in a day. It inspires me so much with my food choices that I am tempted to start my own blog. Besides almost passing out today from trying to show off by drinking 16oz of beet juice, this could be a great thing. You inspire me!!!

Notice how I eat almost the same thing with just slight variations each day. The kinds and quantities of food I eat each day are CONSISTENT. The variety of fruit and fat changes but there is a cap on the quantity of fat and carbs I eat in a day. I don’t ever get bored of it. My body looks forward to it with drooling desire. No matter what our diet is like, if we eat less then our consistent diet, at some point we will go through detoxification until we stabilize out at the new consistent diet. Here is a snip it from my new book Raw Success.

Stabilizing Out happens when the body gets accustomed to a habitual quantity and a certain quality of food. Biologically, we stabilize out, no matter what our diet is like – whether we are on a cooked diet eating three fast food meals a day, or a Raw Diet eating two small meals a day. If we are consistent, eventually, our body settles into a “normal” food day; this is called “stabilizing out”.

On a side note... Five days ago I gave up my natural salt addiction. It took me over 7 years of being 100% Raw to do that. Not too bad? For the first 7 years, I ate a considerable amount of dulse in my salads. That is how I satisfied my salt craving. Then I arrived in Australia and I didn't have any dulse so I started using Natural Salt (Himalayan or Celtic sea salt). Every romaine wrap I had would get a pinch of salt. If you added up all the pinches, you may have a small test tube generously filled. This natural salt was much more concentrated then the dulse I used to eat which inspired me to release it. Now I can’t even think of putting that much salt into my body just after five days of abstaining from it. The small amounts of onion, garlic and/or ginger gives satisfaction that my taste buds need.

Snippet from January, 10th

Today I ate:

11 AM Beet Cabbage Apple Juice
16 oz Beet Juice, 4 oz Apple Cabbage Juice
1:30 PM Meal 1:
½ avocado
1 tablespoon of pumpkin seed butter
2 teaspoon of cut up green onions
1 Tablespoon of Cilantro & Parsley
4 medium diced up red vined tomatoes
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl
Iceberg lettuce leaves to wrap the above in and EAT
5:00 PM Green Beet Vegetable Juice
6 oz Beet, 10 oz cabbage, tatsoi, apple
5:45 PM Meal 2:
½ Small Mamey Green Sapote
1 Black Sapote
4 cut up turkish figs cut up
1 hand full of goji berries
2 – 3 tablespoons of tahini
**all the above mushed with a fork in a bowl

I haven't been consuming cabbage lately so I juiced some of it today. It is rich in Vitamin K and has significant amounts glutamine, an amino acid.

Many of you are amazed by how little I eat and are curious to know how long it took me to stabilize out at my current diet. The longer you are 100% Raw, the more you evolve into needing less and less food. The quantities of my food have been going down and down as the years go by. Depending on your age, weight, how consistent you are on your desired diet, and a hundred of other factors will determine how long it takes to stabilize out. Additionally, cleansing the colon on a periodic basis is the most powerful tool a health seeker can utilize. It will help you with the cravings and detoxification and expedite the stabilization process ten fold. It can take years balancing out and getting used to a 100% Raw Food Diet.

Notice how my diet above includes pretty much just whole foods without ingredients you would find in a gourmet dish. Every once in awhile, I’ll go to a Raw Food restaurant and pig out. This puts me out of balance, stretches my stomach, and for a short period of time encourages me to overeat and partake in excessive "gourmet" ingredients. This "back and forth" has been an ongoing thing with me for a couple of years now. Before... that was quite different as I was very pure and fanatical on what I put in my body. I discussed this in my Raw Summit interview which is now free to listen to at Raw Spirit on the right hand side.

I feel that I am ready to commit to an ongoing consistent diet. It is a tough social and emotional commitment to make and that is why I am considering doing a blog as it will inspire me. While he does eat a small amount of healthy cooked whole foods, Viktoras Kulvinskas is one of the rare individuals who recently made this monumental vow. All three of his meals contain a certain amount of ounces of food each and every day. If you do something like this, your body will demand it and there will be less margin for error in your food choices. These concepts are talked about in detail in Raw Success.