I love eating out and especially if what I’m eating is going to contribute to great health! If you’re ever in LA, check out Planet Raw in Santa Monica—one of the best known raw vegan restaurants around. I’ve reviewed it to whet your appetite…
A NATURAL STATE If you hadn’t heard of raw food aficionado Juliano and happened to stumble upon his restaurant in LA’s famed seaside suburb of Santa Monica, you’d be forgiven for wondering where the grills and ovens are. Here, words such as bake, boil, steam and barbeque are left at the door of the nearest fast food joint. At Planet Raw, it’s all about food preparation that keeps nature’s (organic) food in its natural state, with life-giving enzymes kept fully in tact to give you a boost that, quite simply, no other form of food preparation could. Yet, it’s important to know that carrots and beans on a plate it’s not. Food here is prepared with loving care, with many ingredients spending long, lazy hours in food dehydrators before being whipped up into gourmet works of art at the instruction of the “guru” himself, Juliano.
GOOD TIMES While optimal health through good eating is obviously important at Planet Raw, this is one must-visit restaurant that also knows how to have a good time. From organic espressos to the wine and elixir bar, a night (or day) out with Juliano is guaranteed to put a spring in your step.
MENU FAVORITES Whatever your pre-conceived ideas are about raw food, be prepared to leave them at the door. The Planet Raw menu is packed with incredible flavors in a menu that literally has a dish for every taste—from the “bacon” western double burger, with its side of more-ish zucchini fries to the green curry pasta (made from zucchini) dripping with a Thai nut curry kream and topped off with coco-noodles. Dessert (which Juliano suggests you eat at the beginning of your meal for your health’s sake) is also an experience to behold. I say go for the chocolate parfait or the “best ever cheeze cake”.
THE LITTLE EXTRAS Planet Raw is more than just a restaurant with great food and friendly service. Here, you can sign up for Juliano’s raw food classes, his seven-day detox program and stock up on all sorts of healthy goodies from kombucha
(a cold Chinese tea packed with probiotics and natural vitamins) to the God of all food processors, the Vita-Mix
TIP For those who are serious about raw food, inquire about Juliano’s certified raw chef program, which is said to be one of the world’s best.
609 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90405, U.S.A
Phone (310) 576-3180
www.planetraw.net
Juliano’s butternut squash soup pic courtesy: Swellvegan.net
Obtaining optimal health, eating living foods and detoxifying isn’t as difficult as it may seem, says New York-based clinical nutritionist and yoga instructor to the stars, Kimberly Snyder. It’s all about knowing how and having fun with it. The result—radiant beauty that glows from within—is well worth the effort.
I was fortunate to meet with Kimberly while she was in LA last year. During our chat (and snack of delish homemade raw cacao balls she brought with her) Kimberly shared all sorts of great tips about veganism and the raw food lifestyle.
Below are some of her top tips for staying young and healthy. For more fabulous vegan and living food insights head to Kimberly’s blog at www.kimberlysnyder.net. Enjoy!
1. Max out on raw greens. Uncooked greens and vegetables are a powerful beauty secret. The living enzymes in uncooked greens and vegetables contribute to skin health by acting as catalysts that assist body processes like digestion, detoxification, and rebuilding. For example, by assisting the body’s energy-intensive digestive process, enzymes free up energy for other tasks, like repairing and rebuilding the skin- the largest organ of all. Unfortunately, the valuable enzymes, proteins and vitamins found in plants are heat sensitive and can be damaged or destroyed by normal cooking temperatures. In fact, cooking can easily destroy a food’s entire enzyme reserve. So pack as many completely raw greens, salads, veggies, sprouts and fresh herbs into your diet as you can! An easy way to get a large amount of easily digestible greens is from a green smoothie. The simple recipe is available online at www.kimberlysnyder.net.
2. Add açai to your diet. Açai is loaded with beneficial nutrients and antioxidants, including Omega 3 fatty acids, amino acids, minerals, key vitamins and fiber. The Omega 3 fatty acids found in Açai maintain the structure and fluidity of cell membranes, facilitating the inflow of nutrients and the outflow of waste products, promoting youthful, smooth and radiant skin by keeping skin cells hydrated and strong. Acai is a key component of The Solution, as it is also extremely beneficial when applied topically.
4. Drink detox tea. Our bodies are constantly exposed to toxins from the environment, our diet and chemicals from products we put on ourselves. Over time, these toxins promote illness and can accelerate skin aging. The liver is the blood’s filtering system, and when it becomes overloaded, the liver stops effectively filtering and neutralizing the toxins that enter the body. These excess toxins continue circulating and are deposited in fatty tissue, building up over time. The long-term effects of toxic overload are manifested externally in the form of wrinkles and spotted, leathery skin. One of the easiest and tastiest ways to promote healthy liver function is to drink detox tea 2-3 times per week. The recipe is available online.
3. Switch to Celtic sea salt. Celtic sea salt is unique among salts because it is a sun-dried – a process that allows 70 minerals and trace elements, enzymes and even marine microorganisms to remain intact. Other sea salts are kiln-dried, which causes valuable magnesium and most other minerals to evaporate. Normal table salt is the worst of all, being irradiated and denatured sodium chloride. It not only has no nutritional benefit, it depletes the skin’s natural hydration. So make the switch to Celtic sea salt!
5. Eat more onions. This everyday food has a considerable amount of sulfur, which helps cleanse the skin and liver and rebuild connective tissues like collagen. Onions are also an exceptional source of usable quercetin, which works to eliminate free radicals, protects and regenerates crucial Vitamin E and decreases capillary fragility.
6. Add sea vegetables to your diet. Sea vegetables are about 12 times richer in minerals than average vegetables. They are an especially good source of iodine, which regulates the metabolism by feeding the thyroid, iron, B6, B12, and magnesium, which opens over 300 different detoxification pathways in the body. You can throw sea vegetables such as dulse, hijiki and arame in salads or make nori wraps stuffed with salad. All are available at any health store.
7. Sprout your seeds and nuts. A raw, dry nut is dense in calories and encased in inhibitor enzymes, which keep it from sprouting before it is in a safe environment. The sprouting process changes the constitution of the nut, making it more like a plant. The nutritional benefit is that the proteins in sprouted nuts are more easily assimilated by the body. Here is a simple method for spouting almonds: Cover almonds in filtered water in a bowl and place in your refrigerator for 24 hours. Rinse well several times. You should peel off the outer coating of the almond before eating. A handful is a wonderfully nutritional, filling snack. Throw a few in a bag and take them to work!
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Eating raw, live foods enliven cells and contribute to a better functioning body. As more people awaken to the incredible benefits of this natural way of eating, the global ecology also begins to flourish. But besides grabbing an apple, how can eating raw become convenient to keep up with a busy lifestyle?
While mastering dishes such as sun-baked pizzas, mock salmon sushi or gourmet tacos (such as the delish one above, from Gourmet Vegan Chef) can undoubtedly take a little time, there are high quality options for raw foodies on the run.
Registered nurse and natural foods chef Alice Benedetto turned her passion into an organic raw-food product that gets my seal of approval (I’m addicted, actually). Raw Revolution Organic Live Food Bars
“When I made raw snacks for my son as an alternative to high sugar processed snacks, friends also loved the taste and suggested selling them. That seemed impossible. As a single mother of an active two year-old, working full time, how would I start a business?” Alice says on her website www.rawindulgence.com.
“I found time to develop the Brownie, tested them out and got great response. Even the average person, not just a health food nut, loved the taste.”
Raspberry & Chocolate and Spirulina & Cashew are a must try, as much for the superb taste as for the health-boosting enzymes that are very much left in tact in this generous-sized bar.
Some of my other faves include:
Pure Bar 
LÄRABAR — is simply fruit and nuts. Each bar has no more than seven ingredients. There’s no added sugar, is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegan and kosher. Available internationally at natural, conventional and specialty grocers.
Righteously Raw Maca Bar — Vegans everywhere, rejoice. This decadent, raw, organic food bar has no sugar, no dairy, and isn’t pasteurised or homogenised. With ingredients such as cacao butter, cacao powder, khadrawi dates, lucuma, coconut oil, agave nectar, vanilla bean and Himalayan pink alt, it’s little wonder The Health Ranger named it his favourite too.
Main photo courtesy Geoff Peters 604
I was a little shocked to hear one of my favourite raw vegan restaurants in LA shut its doors this month. Leaf Organics wasn’t a five-star dining experience, no doubt. The service got better the more you visited and the interior had worn over time. But the food was always great and of course über healthy. Some of their smoothies were incredible, as were the burgers and wraps (loved the Flying Felafel).
As I Googled to find out the goss behind Leaf’s closure, I read a lot of comments from those who had visited Leaf at least once. Reviews were definitely mixed, but that’s bound to happen, especially when a restaurant is vegan and raw. It’s more than likely that some of the general public just don’t get it and that’s completely understandable. If someone had asked me to eat a mostly raw vegan diet just two years ago, I would have thought they were a touch on the crazy side. My, how things change.
What surprised me the most about some of the comments that referred to Leaf, was the belief that a raw vegan diet is extreme. Now as a mostly raw foodist (although this is only a label I give myself for the purpose of this entry), I’d of course have to beg to differ. But it did get me to wonder how many people out there think of the raw vegan lifestyle as off-the-scale extreme, and what part of raw veganism do they see as extreme? Inquiring minds are keen to know.
If you have any thoughts on, or questions about, the raw vegan diet, feel free to leave them in the comments. Or have your say in the poll below…
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Leaf Organics Culver City store
Main photo by: sweetonveg
I’m often asked why I choose to live on a mostly raw diet. When I began to understand that life creates life, it made the raw transition an easy one. Enzymes, which are present in live vegan foods, fuel the human body with nutrients that are almost completely devoid in cooked foods.
Since eating a roughly 80 per cent raw diet I have loads of energy, my skin has much better tone, my thinking is clear and I simply feel great.
Here’s are some basics:
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While I’m on the subject of healthy skin, I thought I’d include a post about my aversion to sunscreens. I don’t wear them and never will.
I stopped using sunblock the moment I stopped being a beauty editor a few years ago. A combination of gut feeling and research told me what I was being told to “protect” my skin with was little more than a poison (and poisonous it is).
You see, the sun is a life-giver. Without it, we’d be on our way out. The amount of sun we can tolerate depends on various factors from skin type to foods we include in our diet. But somewhere along the way, we’ve been told to fear the sun. Cover up and slather up the marketing hype tells us, and we’ll be doing a great job of protecting ourselves from that nasty cancer-causing ball or fire in the sky.
So why, was my question, had the skin cancer rates skyrocketed? Why were we being told to suddenly be scared of the very thing that gives life to the planet and everything on it? Dollars of course. Scare the masses and they’ll buy the product.
Here’s an excerpt from Natural News:
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When it’s just too much effort to make it into the kitchen to spend time with my food dehydrator, I turn to one of my favourite recipe blogs, The Raw Chef. From there, I daydream about all the goodies I plan to make, as I flick through the delectable delights whipped up by raw food chef Russell James.
If you think pizza is unhealthy, Russell gives you good cause to think again with this masterpiece…
Pesto & Caramelised Onion Pizza
For the base
500g (approx 3c) buckwheat, sprouted for a few days until it has a small ‘tail’
2 avocados or 1/2c almond butter
1/4c olive oil
1/4c fresh basil
3T Italian seasoning
1/2c sun-dried tomatoes
3T lemon juice
1/2t salt
3 medium tomatoes
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As Christmas day nears, I’ve been thinking about jolly ol’ Santa and his love for milk and cookies … how his turning vegan could be the biggest gift to vegan activists everywhere.
Imagine the influence he’d have. Children worldwide would be begging their parents for freshly-made almond milk with a side of raw vegan truffle balls, forget the cows, thank you very much.
So, without further adieu, here is my letter to Santa this year—10 reasons he should go vegan. I just hope he gets it on time…
1. Your cholesterol levels, Santa, would be back to normal. No more need for those pesky GP visits and poisonous pharmaceuticals;
2. Your energy levels would skyrocket, especially if you adopt a mostly raw diet. Raw, live foods are packed with enzymes, which are the givers of life. Kids everywhere want to see you around for a long time to come. Eating raw and vegan is healthy for you, animals and the planet.
3. Santa, I know you love animals. What bigger gift could you give to them than not eating or wearing them?
4. I don’t mean to be rude, Santa, but being overweight is a serious risk to your health. Did you know tummy fat raises your risk for high blood cholesterol by about 50 percent? A healthy vegan diet will have you at your optimal weight in no time.
5. Most cookies are laden with butter and processed sugar. Many of the mass-produced kind are even worse, with ingredients made up of numbers and boasting names impossible to pronounce. Santa, do you know where your cookies came from?
6. Drinking cows milk has been linked to all sorts of dis-eases, including asthma, osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes and more. Making milk from nuts is a cinch and doesn’t require harming animals or using massive amounts of the earth’s energy.
7. I hate to be the one to break it to you Santa, but that big fur collar that keeps you warm as you deliver your presents once belonged to real, live animals — defenseless creatures who were tortured and skinned without a second thought. I’ve also been told that fur has formaldehyde in it, which has been known to cause cancers. I don’t want you getting sick, Santa.
8. I know eating on the run must be tempting to a busy man like you, Santa. But I think you should know that fast food meats have thousands of additives that are addictive and fattening. Much of the meat on menus today are also full of pesticides and hormones.
9. Bacon and pork may be tempting, but did you know that pigs are more intelligent than dogs? Word has it they are intelligent as a three year old. I know you’d never eat a three year old, would you, Santa?
10. Those fancy leather seats in your sleigh may be comfy Santa, but did you know how many cows died to make them? If you compare your ride to the average Mercedes Benz, my guess is around seven.
So Santa, if you’re reading this, I urge you to take the pledge. Go vegan in 2010. Imagine the energy you’d have delivering presents next year. Those rosy cheeks would have a truly healthy glow, Mrs Claus could learn new culinary skills, whipping up raw vegan recipes to share with the elves. I’m certain Rudolph would be grateful too, knowing for certain he won’t be re-named venison when it’s time for retirement.
And to PETA, I think I’m onto something. I’ll let you take it from here.
I love my local library. You just never know what treasures you can to find. For a not-so-vegan-friendly community where I live (that is, it’s hard to find a restaurant that doesn’t use animal products in every dish), I’ve been surprised to discover quite a few books on vegan topics.
The latest find is RAW from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein — two celebrated US chefs who actively promote sustainable living and showcase it through their incredible culinary pursuits. Many of which are featured in RAW.
With recipes such as Mediterranean Cheese Salad with Dragon Crackers and Indian Red Peaches with Vanilla Ice Cream and Pecan Praline, this talented duo show just how diverse and satisfying a raw diet can be (although they do include not-so-veganesque raw honey in some recipes, which I’d suggest switching up with raw agave nectar).
Plus with gorgeous pics from photographer Tim Turner you’ll want to un-cook every recipe in the book. I’m starting with the sweet stuff: banana chocolate tart with caramel and chocolate sauces, minus the honey of course.
If we vegans get tired of talking protein, we can always switch the subject to iron. One of my favourite ways to ensure I get a good amount of iron is by drinking blackstrap molasses (stir a teaspoon or two into a cup of warm water).
This by-product of sugar cane processing is also packed full of other nutrients that are beneficial, no matter your diet of choice.
Check out some of these health-boosting benefits:
• As many a meat eater may tell you, animal meat is loaded with iron. What they likely won’t mention is that blackstrap molasses provides more iron for less calories and is totally fat-free.
• When you’re pregnant or menstruating your need for iron increases. Two teaspoons a day gives about 15 per cent of the daily recommended iron intake. Add raw green to your diet to really pump up your iron.
• Blackstrap molasses is a great source of calcium. Calcium is essential to life (and doesn’t come from cows milk as the marketing hype suggests). I recently heard that, besides strengthening bones, calcium binds and removes toxins from the colon and helps with prevention of migraine attacks.
• It’s also an excellent source of copper and manganese and a great source of potassium and magnesium.
My blackstrap molasses of choice is from Wholesome Sweeteners. It’s fair trade, organic and of course, vegan.
If drinking molasses isn’t your thing, check out these delish-looking gingerbread cakes from fab recipe site Vegan Yum Yum, just in time for Christmas. When I make my batch, I’m going to substitute crushed flax instead of the egg replacer. I’m also not into margarine, so will check out some more natural vegan alternatives.
Gingerbread Cakes
Makes 9 small layer cakes
2 Cups Flour
2 tsp Ginger
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Molasses (unsulphured, like Grandma’s brand)
2/3 Cup Hot Water
1/2 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Ener-g Egg, optional
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
1 lb Confectioner’s Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Zest from 1 Lemon
Preheat oven to 350º F.
Mix the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl until well combined.
Prepare two 8×8 baking pans as follows: grease the pans with margarine. Lay a square of parchment paper down in the inside of the pans, cut to fit the bottoms. Grease the paper as well. Use some of the try mixture you just made to flour the pans, shaking/tapping out any extra.
Whisk molasses and hot water together.
Cream the margarine and sugar. Whip the mixture with the optional Ener-g egg until light and fluffy.
I’ll admit I’ve been guilty of thinking certain celebrities know everything. As if they’re born with an inner knowing of the best way to do things; carrying with them buckets of life-enhancing advice, pouring it out to star-struck interviewers who pass on their golden words to beguiled fans.
But as I was watching Top Chef the other night, I was jolted out of my celebutastic faze when guest judge, vegetarian Natalie Portman, stared at a plate full of vegetables and remarked something along the lines of: “Where’s the protein? As a vegetarian I find it hard to get my protein and this dish doesn’t supply it.”
Say wha? Does the widely adored once-vegan not know that vegetables, especially the raw variety, are packed with enzymes, which are amino acids that contain protein? And that you can actually have too much of the stuff? That it’s just a big ol’ myth that those on a vege-based diet will never be golden protein children like our meat-eating pals? That man made protein powders are über bad for you? That protein is a word that has been over-hyped and over-sold by companies trying to make big bucks from us unsuspecting plant people? Apparently not.
While I still think Nat is a great role model for those considering a plant-based diet, I know that my favourite celebs, vegan, vegetarian or otherwise, aren’t always armed with the right or best info. It’s up to me to do my research, and not whip out to the shops to pick up the latest vegan-tastic product, that’s guaranteed to make me live longer and stronger, just because a movie star told me to.
Natalie searches for her protein
As I was pondering what to write about today, I received an email from San Francisco’s Cafe Gratitude, a wonderful little eatery in the city’s Mission District, where being grateful—and expressing it—is as common as their communal tables.
With menu items such as “I am Beautiful”, “I am Eternally Blessed” and “I am Berry Awesome” (with the waiter yelling across the room to you: “Vegan Girl, You are Beautiful” when serving up your order), it’s little wonder this place has become a must-visit, and sanctuary, for raw food vegans and the curious alike.
But just when I thought the cafe’s mission, service and food couldn’t get any better. I just learned it can. Each year, for the past five years, Cafe Gratitude hosts a FREE Thanksgiving dinner for vegans (between 11am and 3pm), with ingredients supplied by local vendors.
It made me think about what I’m doing to give back and how I can do more to brighten someone’s day, even just once a week. So now I’m off to research some volunteer opportunities, and grateful to Cafe Gratitude for giving me the nudge.
Check out some of these volunteer organisations near you:
New Zealand
Volunteer Now
Volunteer Service Abroad
Australia
Volunteering Australia
Australian Volunteer Search
UK
USA
Photo courtesy of Taniamarie.com
I just signed up to Alicia Silverstone’s website, The Kind Life. If you thought being vegan meant never eating cheese again, think again. Check out her blog about delicious gourmet vegan cheese from Dr Cow!
This non-dairy, organic cheese is made from 100% raw, organic nuts, with home-made acidophilus and a pinch of royal pink Himalayan salt. There are also zero preservatives, stabilisers, artificial ingredients or additives of any kind. Now that’s my kinda cheese. Oh how I wish it were available outside the States…
While Thanksgiving may be an American tradition, I’m including it on my yearly calendar because I love the idea of expressing gratitude for all of the amazing things that fill my life (and even the not so amazing — because you learn from those, right?). I’m a big believer that anything we give out (whether it be gratitude or even the not-so-nice-stuff) comes right back at’cha.
So, in celebration of this wee American tradition (November 26), I’m sharing a pumpkin cheesecake recipe from Rachel Fracassa, via one of my fave social sites, Welikeitraw.com. Now this is definitely something to give thanks for! YUM.
Oh, and I say skip the Tofurky (yech) and get straight to dessert because this is one sweet snack that is actually good for your health. Bless you, raw food!
Raw Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/2 Cups Pecans
- 1/3 Cup Raisins
- 1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
- Salt
Filling
- 1/2 Cup Soft Dates, pitted and packed
- 1/2 Cup Agave
- 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
- 2 Cups Cashews, soaked 2 hours, drained
- 1/2 Cup Young Coconut Meat
- 1 Tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil, warmed to liquid
- 1/2 Cup Irish Moss Paste
Pumpkin Topping
- 3/4 Cup Pumpkin, chopped
- 1/4 Cup Carrots, peeled and chopped
- 6 Tablespoons Water
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
- 1/4 Cup Dates, soaked
- 1 Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
Directions
- To make the crust: In a food processor, process pecans, raisins, cinnamon, and salt until the mixture begins to stick together. Press the crust mixture evenly in the bottom of an 8-inch spring form pan.
- To make the filling: Process the dates, agave, and lemon juice in a food processor until smooth. Add the pumpkin, cashews and coconut meat and process until completely smooth. Add the coconut oil and irish moss and process until well incorporated. Pour the filling onto the crust.
- To make the topping: Place the pumpkin and carrot along with the water and lemon juice in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the dates and pumpkin pie spice and blend again until smooth. Spread the pumpkin topping evenly on top of the filling.
- Chill at least 3 hours before serving
Servings: 8
Notes
- If you don’t have Irish Moss, don’t fret. You can make the cheesecake without it, but serve it straight from the refrigerator.
- If you have an aversion to eating raw pumpkin, peeled carrots can be substituted for pumpkin at any time.
- To make a pumpkin drizzle instead of topping, replace the dates with 2 tablespoons of Agave.
A lot of big business has benefited from the rise of diseases such as cancer and diabetes (think pharmaceutical companies, multi-billion dollar charities etc). I love (note sarcasm) how some brands of margarine are marketed as having the ability to lower cholesterol. Who regulates this stuff? It’s just another reason why it’s so important to never believe marketing hype on any product. Ever.
Okay, whinge over.
The purpose of my post is to highlight a documentary I highly recommend to anyone who’s suffering from any type of diabetes, or any dis-ease for that matter. Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days is a movie featuring some of my favourite people in-the-know: Woody Harrelson, Tony Robbins, David Wolfe and Dr. Gabriel Cousens.
It’s an independent doco (see trailer below) that chronicles six Americans with diabetes who switch to a diet of vegan, organic, uncooked food to reverse disease without pharmaceutical medication. The six are challenged to give up meat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, soda, junk food, fast food, processed food, packaged food, and cooked food for 30 days. The results are inspiring and undoubtedly would give hope to people who want to be disease-free.
Imagine seeing an end to the likes of “World Diabetes Day” (which was yesterday) and products emblazoned with pink ribbons. Enough of big businesses making money from illnesses and multi-gazillion dollar research that only offers a band-aid “solution”. If we all become our own doctors and refuse to put anything into our bodies that’s not as nature intended, the problem, I sincerely believe, will be a problem no more.
Here are some great quotes from the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates.
“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”
“Whenever a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm.”
“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”
“It’s far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has”
“Walking is man’s best medicine”
“Everything in excess is opposed to nature.”
“As to diseases, make a habit of two things – to help, or at least, to do no harm.”
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
Not that long ago, I used to work as a magazine beauty editor. A seemingly glam job to the outside world (particularly to 20-something girls who have a love affair with make-up and mascara). But for me, it was one of the most toxic gigs I could have signed up for—and not just because of the chemical-laden products that landed on my desk daily.
As a beauty editor, you’re part of a well-oiled production line, where publicists schmooze you and hundreds of free beauty products line your bathroom cabinets. It doesn’t really matter if the product, well, sucks. If the packaging suits your page colour theme you’re on a winner.
A lot of these beauty products are loaded with chemicals, and some, perhaps most (depending on whether it’s listed on the label or not), are tested on animals. So it’s a no-win situation for beauty addict or animal.
When I went vegan, I stopped putting chemicals into my body and onto my body. Buh-bye beauty products. So long moisturiser, ta-ta deodorant (regarding the latter, if you’re eating a raw, organic wholefood diet and drinking fresh spring water, the need for covering up smelly pits isn’t needed, because you simply don’t smell anymore. Who knew!).
Besides the fact that what you put into your body reflects on the outside, there are some great beauty tips and tricks that I use, sourced from my very own kitchen cupboard. No animals or beauty buffs harmed in the process. Here’s just a few:
Moisturiser: Mix two parts water, one part olive oil in a spray pump. Shake and spray all over after a bath or shower for a moisture infusion.
Facial scrub: Mix a small amount of baking soda and water together to make a smooth paste. Lightly rub over the face and rinse.
Toner: Add half vinegar, half water to make a pore-tightening toner.
Bath salts: For a great detox, sprinkle a cup of epsom salts in your bath water.
Smoothing dry heels: Cut a lemon in half and apply.
The golden rule I live by? Never put anything on your body that you can’t eat.
Pic courtesy martinhoward, Flickr Creative Commons.
So soy milk is out. What to pour over your oats now? Well, the answer is simple—and so much more delicious and nutritious than any supermarket packaged non-dairy milks that are often laden with preservatives and goodness knows what else.
Making your own almond milk at home takes a small amount of preparation, and not only leaves you with great tasting milk, but also the peace of mind knowing exactly where it came from.
As with any recipe, you can change this around to suit your specific taste. Even add some raw cacao for a chocolate drink like no other. Here is the basic recipe I use to make my very own fresh almond milk. Enjoy!
Raw Almond Milk
1 cup of soaked raw almonds
Spring water for soaking
3 cups of spring water (for actual milk)
3 to 6 pitted dates
• Almonds are best soaked overnight in a refrigerator, but if you’re in a rush, soak for a couple of hours and you’ll still be on your way to making a fabulous milk. Be sure to rinse them before using.
• I usually soak the dates in spring water for half an hour or so, but this isn’t always necessary if you’re using soft dates.
Blend the soaked almonds with the spring water until smooth. Then strain that mix through a strainer or cheesecloth (I find a strainer much easier to use). You can also save the left over pulp to sprinkle over cereal or use in baking recipes. Waste not, want not!
Place the almond milk back into your blender, throw in the dates and blend until smooth.
And, voila, there you have it, fresh almond milk. If you prefer a thinner or thicker milk, simply add or take away water as desired. Your milk will last in the refrigerator for about three days. Be sure to shake before using.
To make vanilla almond milk
Add the seeds from 1 vanilla bean or a natural sweetener such as agave or stevia.
One last tip: You can also add your almond milk to a green smoothie recipe to make it that much more delicious.
Pics courtesy of www.thehealthyeatingsite.com
