Less than 100%

I’m often asked whether I’m only eating raw food.

Up until late my answer was “yes, in the past few months”.

However last time I was asked I had to answer – “not 100%...”

“Going raw” for me was never about something “I had to do” or that I felt very strongly about. It was more about exploring and seeing how I feel. And it feels great! As I mentioned before, since I changed my diet to a raw food diet, my digestion has improved to levels I have never experienced before (I used to suffer from really bad digestion – well, not anymore!) and I experienced clarity of  thought most of the time – as opposed to reoccurring moments of mental fogginess and tiredness before going raw.

Recently I started to feel that something is missing and that I want to expand my raw diet.

And so in the past few weeks I’m slowly re-integrating some more variety to my daily diet, and it feels GREAT. My diet now is mainly raw, probably more than 90% raw (if you have to know the numbers!) and some days are still purely raw.

A few weeks ago I started fermenting some vegetables – I LOVE it!Fermenting Veggies

My first batch included: pumpkin, cabbage, cauliflower, sweet potato, zucchini, fennel, onion, celery, carrots – all infused in brine and a few garlic cloves, ginger slices, dill and one red chilli pepper. It was SOOOOOO yum, I ate it all by myself in no-time!

Another thing I added was some lightly steamed veggies. Those veggies that are sometimes hard to digest when they’re raw – cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, corn. I steam them for no more than a minute just to get them a tad softer than their raw texture. And that feels great to eat, too!

The next step was to eat bread. After realizing all of a sudden that I really truly want that complex-carbs taste, the taste and texture of non-sweet, satisfying, lightly crusted toast … HMMM. I chose buckwheat (meaning, I don’t want to add gluten to my diet as of YET) and it was also sourdough which means no baker’s yeast. Two small slices on my first go were really delicious – although I have to admit the feeling in the stomach was very odd to start with. I guess 10 months of being 100% raw made my stomach wonder what the HEAVEN it was that I put in it ;)

Nonetheless, the experiment went well – my digestion was still very good the following days.

Oh and I mustn’t forget I started eating chocolate – my favourite chocolate, which is the Lindt dark 85% cocoa solids – and I’m surprised to find that I eat a lot less of it than I thought I would…

Semi-Raw Tomato Sauce

Today I went further and created this semi raw Tomato Sauce. I ate it with some Cos lettuce leaves – and I’m sure you can eat it with pasta, raw or cooked – whichever you prefer. For the recipe scroll down to the bottom of this blog post.

Conclusion?

Raw food for me is very important. I see its benefits and I believe it will be a major part of my diet, probably for the rest of my life. I love eating raw food. However I’m not committed to only eating raw food. I am committed to eat food that I LOVE and ENJOY eating.

Oh and BTW I am committed to serve only the best-est RAW FOOD at the café at Taste Organic, so no worries – the café is still 100% RAW!!!

Tomato Sauce Recipe:

1 onion – thinly diced

3 garlic cloves – pressed

10 fresh medium sized tomatoes, cubed

1 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked in cold water for about 1 hour, then thinly cut

1/2 carrot, grated

A few basil leaves, cut to desired size

1/2 teaspoon Italian dried herbs mix (marjoram, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil)

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

Salt to tatste

In a saucepan, heat about 1 tablespoon of coconut oil until melted. The temperature shouldn’t be too high;

Add the onion and fry until they appear translucent;

Add the pressed garlic and continue to fry – no more than 30 seconds (you don’t want to burn anything);

Now add about half of the tomatoes to the saucepan and leave for about 15 minutes on low heat, stirring every now and then.

Turn off the heat, add the basil leaves and leave the saucepan to cool down.

It’s a good idea to soak the sundried tomatoes now.

Once the sauce has cooled down, put the rest of the tomatoes, half of the sundried tomatoes and the herbs in a blender. Pulse a few times but leave quite chunky.

Add the cooked sauce to the blender and pulse a bit further.

I like to leave the sauce quite chunky however you can keep going until it’s smooth if you prefer.

Once the texture is to your liking, add the rest of the sundried tomatoes and the carrot and serve on top of pasta/lettuce leaves/whatever you feel like. And eat!

 

Comments

[tam]

Hey beautiful, sounds yum, except for fermented veggies. Still something that doesn't tickle my fancy!
Im juicing at the moment, so almost any food is making my tummy grumble, hehe, however, Im loving my green juice for the first time in a looong time. Glad you enjoying your subtle changes :) love and miss you x

[arlene]

Thank you for posting this. It is important to honour our own journey and listen to your body.

That jar of vegies looks beautiful. We add some red cabbage Sauerkraut to our daily salad.

[Joe]

I believe what my Nana says that food produce (grown) or made (prepared or cooked) with passion are the best tasting food. That tomato sauce on lettuce looks wonderful. I bet they are tasty too. Thanks for sharing.