5 Reasons Why You Should Try a Raw Food Meet Up!

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting a raw food potluck for the K-W Raw Food Meet Up. It was a success and the turnout was a great. Big thank you to all of the members!



5 Reasons Why You Should Try a Raw Food Meet Up:

1. You get to sample a multitude of raw food dishes. Having access to 15-20 different dishes to choose from is amazing.









2. The company is just as great as the food. You will meet all sorts of people from all walks of life and most of them are passionate about raw food whether they are new to the raw movement or have been in it for a while.


3, Share resources on raw food recipes, books, films and information.



4. You become part of a community. You can do a lot of things together like go see health related movies, have discussions and go to raw food events together.




5. The sweetest part is the SUPPORT. Whatever stage you are in on your raw food/health journey you can get moral support from other's in the group. I think this is one of the most important points. While you start to eat more and more raw food it is nice to have the support of others to help you along the way.



I hope you get out there before summer is over and enjoy some raw food with friends! Big THANK YOU to all my raw foodies for the great day.

If you haven't seen it yet, I would love for you to check out the guest post that I wrote on Crazy Sexy Life on "Raw Food Strategies For Your Family" and leave a comment.

.............Stay tuned for our next contest coming up soon.

Broccoli & Daikon Salad...Yum

The beauty of raw food is that it is good for you and the more you eat the more your body craves it. When your start to incorporate more raw and living foods into your body, lots of things start to happen. You start to have more energy due to increased nutrients from your food. Your body has to work less to digest raw food because the enzymes are intact and the enzymes in the food help partially digest itself. With cooked foods there are no enzymes present and therefore your body has to use a lot of enzymes to digest those heavy grey fried meals. The greatest thing of all is that your body wants this food and you will start to seek it out more and more.

Don't know where to start? You can start to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables. Eat more salads and start juicing and doing smoothies.

Today I felt like peppery arugula again so I made the salad from the last post without the veggie burger. I added in some beautiful organic cherry tomatoes.


Then I made this tasty broccoli and daikon Salad. This rustic looking fellow is not so pretty... but it packs a good nutritional punch and has a lot of health benefits. It can be used in many raw dishes, made into a tea and more.

They can be found at your local store. They have lots of great health benefits and is used for a number of raw dishes. I actually used to use it as tea years ago for PMS.

Ingredients

1 cup broccoli cut into small pieces
1 half a daikon shredded (or less if you just want a mild taste)
Black sesame seeds for finish

Sauce
1-2 tbs Tahini
1 tbs of Tamari ( start slow and add more if needed)
1/2 chopped garlic
water

Add all together and whisk. Pour over daikon and broccoli. The longer you let sit the better. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Note that the water is just help you mix the tahini into a smooth texture.



For the non raw version like I made for my husband. First quickly saute some spinach and chickpeas in a little bit of coconut oil. Then add sauce to the mixture and take off heat. Pour over a bowl of brown rice.



Enjoy being healthy.!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Hope you are all having a special day! I love Valentine's Day. I got engaged 7 years ago today. Here are some beautiful raspberries to celebrate the morning with.



This is a lunch I created the other day. It is so easy to make and it tastes great.



Ingredients
shredded carrot and zucchini
handful of mixed sprouts
onion
cucumber
cubed green apple

Dressing
Olive Oil
Agave
Lemon
turmeric
lots of pepper
pinch of Himalayan salt

I added some mashed avocado and some raw carrot crackers that I bought the other day.



Wishing you all a great Valentine's Day! I am working on sprouting quinoa so we will see how that turns out and what else the day brings.