Snack on this...

Today I was craving some serious junk food. So I invented a raw type of cookie dough....

1 organic banana

15 pecans

1/4 cup of oats

dash of vanilla

YUM!!!!

Guilt Free Chummus- oh it's possible!

Okay have you seen the movie Don't Mess With The Zohan? Remember is chummus toothpaste? That obsession with chummus describes me perfectly. But it is so fattening ugh! Which is why I searched for a guilt free alternative... raw zucchini!

For this recipe you will need a food processor.

2 cups of zucchini

1 clove of garlic

4 tablespoons of tahina

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

2 tablespoons of olive oil

parsley and paprika to garnish!

Add everything to the food processor and get it nice and smooth! Then garnish and eat!

Store this in your fridge for a healthy snack. 

HEALTH TIP: When you are procrastinating from homework, instead of sitting on facebook waiting for a notification, go wash and cut up tons of vegetables and keep them in containers in the fridge. Then when you get hungry you will go straight for the healthy food because it is already prepared! Snack while cutting and you will have to brain-food to continue your homework!

Welcome back from spring break!

xoxo

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Spring Cleaning

Passover brings upon us spring cleaning season, yet Jews fill them selves up meal after meal with meats, matzoh and sugary, potato starchy, processed mock foods. 

So in honor of Passover this year I partook in a 10 day detox to clean out my system, shed some extra fluff and continue my raw vegan path. If you are looking into doing a detox similar to mine read up on it somewhere else first since there is a lot more information than what I am providing for you... also you can do this for 3-10 days!

I followed aspects of the master-cleanse detox with some added twists:

Each day I had 6 cups of "lemonade"

The ingredients in my version of the cleanse (I would make 2 cups at a time so this ingredient list is for 2 cups worth):

2 Cups of filtered water- I used bottled water because I don't have a filter... sorry plastic :(

4 tablespoons of lemon juice (It is about half a nice sized lemon)

4 tablespoons of Agave Nectar (or Grade B maple syrup- I switched it up from time to time for new flavoring)

1 teaspoon of chia seed (Lots of nutrients in the seeds and also they expand to make you feel full- so you are not going into starvation mode!)

1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Mix and drink!

Drink lots of water through out the day (if you are ever looking to lose weight the most important thing I can tell you is to drink at least eight cups of water a day!)

Some evenings and some morning I had herbal laxative tea- completely natural no chemicals or anything in it- just to help the cooking process ;)

This is my second time doing the master-cleanse and I really feel that it was a success! On the forums I have read to find out how other people did on the cleanse I read that people lost a lot of muscle as well as fat- I lifted weights and worked out regularly while on my detox so luckily this did not happen to me.

I really felt energized during the cleanse but I did run into some problems.

1. I got sick of the lemonade on some occasions and really wanted food, at those times I listened to my body... on night seven I was out late with friends so I ate a raw energy bar and on night eight I found myself eating an apple for an extra boost of energy (the best apple of my life!)

2. My friends thought I was going anorexic and I was crazy because they do not understand the health benefits in a detox.

3. There is a lot of extra time where you would normally be eating- and you can't help but think of all the delicious foods you are missing out on. Ugh boredom.

4. It is hard not to be able to really go out and socialize with your friends because most socializing happens over food or drinks.

5. DATING SUCKS WHILE DETOXING! (Maybe in my case dating always sucks! If you are reading this and you recently asked me out... I apologize, can't wait for our date!)

I broke the cleanse with the first day consuming organic fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and the second day I had melon for breakfast, a smoothie with melon, apple and mango for lunch, and a sprout salad (with the sprouts I grew myself for dinner) AND WOW I LOVE FOOD!  

Okay now some results...
I started at 158 lbs = 71.6 kilo (which is weird because I've weighed 155= 70.5 a few days before the detox)
After the detox I now weigh 147 lbs = 66.6 kilo
Side note: Some of the weight will likely come back, because detoxes are not meant to keep weight off they are meant to rid the body of toxins.
But since I used to weigh 200 lbs = 90.7 Kilo and I lost so much over the past two years I am not afraid of gaining the weight back now- because I know I will reach my goal of 123 lbs = 56 kilo in due time :)

Before

After

So my friends I must tell you that I feel great and have had so much energy! Detoxing is a great way to begin a lifestyle change such as raw veganism, or to quite smoking, drinking and other addictive behavior. Many of my friends were worrying that I was becoming anorexic- but I must inform everyone that after losing so much weight the healthy way and it staying off I am not looking for a quick fix... just a spring cleaning :)
Much love,
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Sprouting :)

Tomorrow I am finishing a 10-day detox (I will post more about it in the future.)
But after cleaning out the toxins from my body (and life) I have decided to take up something that I have been planning to start for a while... SPROUTING!
I am uber excited about my sprouts!
I went to like the 5nis (1 dollar) store and bought some glass jars, and got a nut milk bag for cheap too. Tonight I started sprouting: Mung Beans, Buckwheat, Lentils, and Sunflower seeds.

So I just youtubed how to sprout and it's pretty simple.
1. Rinse seeds
2. Soak in water that covers seeds and like 2 inches above the seeds
3. Mung beans, lentils, and sunflower seeds let soak over night 8-12
4. Rinse every 4 hours for mung beans and sunflower seeds, lentil I did in a nut milk bag think and rinse every 12 hours the video says (I am sure there are tons of techniques.
5. They will be sprouted
6. You probably should just youtube this all!
7. Buckwheats different but I am too lazy to blog about it! So check out Youtube my friends!

Yum healthy food! I have no idea what I am going to use my sprouts for but I have sometime to decide.
But I still have tomorrow of detoxing so no food recipes to share :(
Also Sproutpeople.org is a good site for information, go check it out!

I can't believe it not couscous!

So last week I went to lunch at my friends house and he told me to bring one of my healthy vegan things. I told my friend I would bring cauliflower. So made "couscous"... I decided to try an experiment on the ten people who I was eating with... I put the "couscous" on the table and just let people believe it was "couscous" and I when I saw that everyone had tried some I wanted to see if people realized what it actually was so I asked if someone could please pass me the cauliflower, of course the response was "there is no cauliflower" MISSION COMPLETE! 

I explained the the table that I am a raw vegan and the food I brought was actually made of raw vegetables- not processed flour, so the "couscous" was actually made of cauliflower!

Of course the girls loved it and since they couldn't taste the difference between this and real couscous they guzzled down the carbless goodness.

Ingredients:

2 cups of cauliflower

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of cumin

1 Tomato (cubed)

1 cucumber (cubed)

Put the cauliflower in the food processor (or if you don't have one use a knife and fork to chip the shiz out of it) and it is ready when it looks like small piece of couscous.... add the rest of the ingredients- mix and serve!

By the way I love middle eastern food so more recipes to come!

Stay healthy,

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Carob Cake Amazingness

I have been home all day studying and I decided I needed some "junk" food so I took a little break and whipped up some raw vegan energy to get me through the rest of my studying...
This cake is the yummiest thing I have ever tasted, I can't decide whether to call it a cake, or a pie or a piece of awesomeness...

For the crust/cake/cookie type part:
2 cups of walnuts
1 cup of shredded coconut
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of agave nectar

Put all the ingredients in a food processor. (If you don't have a food processor put the nuts in a bag and hit it with a cup till its mashed up like I did in all the other recipes and then mix everything together! If you have other creative ways to destruct things with out a machine post it in the comments!)
Then put all the ingredients in a pan and shape it into a cake!

For the Frosting/Filling thing:

3 majooled dates (soak for an hour to get it soft)

1 ripe Avocado

1/2 cup of carob powder

Put all the ingredients in a food processor for an easy mixing or do what I did: put the dates and avocado in a bowl and mash it till it's super mixed then add the carob powder and mix until it looks all yum and chocolaty! 

Frost your cake and enjoy! 

Keep it refrigerated.

Back to cramming with Jon...

xoxo REL

Minute-Meal Nutritious style!

Ugh I am always busy... most students let their health become their last priority when life gets hectic- but for me my schedule just means I need creative ways to keep my nutrients coming.

The other day I knew I was going to be out of the house the entire day- and I had about thirty minutes to get dressed eat breakfast and prepare my food for the day... so with the 3 minutes I saved for food prep (...it takes me a while to get ready and I like to take my time while eating ;)....) I quickly made this yummy awesome vegan (not 100% raw but can be made 100% raw) goodness!!!

Then while I was sitting with my friend when she was getting an IV at the hospital I took out my pre-packed meal and my camera and took a picture of my creation for my blog- lets just say not only does she think I am the biggest loser but she was pretty embarrassed. Um still a win of my life!

So what you will need to make this awesomeness!
-Tempeh (BUY ORGANIC!!!! Tempeh is fermented soybeans for all you vegan newbies)
-Ketchup (The reason this dish isn't raw- Ketchups like my all time favorite food- actually 2nd fav because tomato sauce is number one in my life!!!! But because I am so into ketchup I will figure out a raw ketchup recipe and get back to you soon...)
-Sprouts (any kind you like- I used alfalfa. or you can use lettuce- I mix lettuce in sometimes when I am not too lazy to spend hours washing it.)
-salt, pepper, /whatever other spices you put into things.
I didn't take measurements really it is based on your taste buds- you can do wrong....

You mix all the ingredients and get this weird looking concoction- I know it looks nasty to some people (my friend refused to try it) but it really tastes awesome- it is one of my new favorite meals.
I think if you add mung bean-sprouts and cook it- it might be a yum veggie burger for non rawists- I never tried but just thought of it now- if you attempt this let me know. Also you can add spices to make it suitable for any dish- wow I love tempeh!

Stay healthy
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