starting to get it

Ok, I'm really starting to get it because I'm really starting to research, learn and understand a lot more about the foods I was putting in my body and the foods I'm eating now. As I said before I went to a "raw foods" workshop which really opened my eyes to a completely new way of eating - a simple diet that helps you get the most fiber, calcium, protein and nutrients for your buck - and actually tastes pretty darn good!

My friend Rachael and I went to a "sneak preview tasting" last wednesday at Cafe Green (near Dupont Circle in DC ) which is an Organic, Vegan restaurant that was very swanky with amazing, very upscale vegan food. It was a set menu which we got to choose from and we each got something different so we could taste test each others. Rachael has been a vegan for like forever although she's only 25, so she knows her stuff. We both had the palate cleanser to start with which was a blend of , as the menu read "longevity fruits: Meyer Lemon, Pineapple & Aloe containing naturally occurring trace minerals of magnesium, vitamin C and tons more"...YUM and good for you, we were off to a great start!

We had dried Papaya, Mango and Cashew Cheese, Vegan egg rolls with smoked pablanos, onions, mole and what tasted like "sweet chicken", a Kim Chi soup with wakame broth, and a tasty salad of Nappa Cabbage, wontons, and what tasted like "5 spice" chicken, as the menu expressed, with a mandarin dressing. And finally we had a faux "filet mignon" on creamy shallot mashed potatoes, with sauteed spinach and perfect red wine reduction.

We ended our meal with the absolute best "ice cream" I have ever had which was a super healthy Matcha Green Tea Gelato! Of course we ranted and raved about it so much we got to meet the man behind the ice cream machine who was so friendly and full of amazing info, I'm going to have him do a "raw foods/vegan desserts class" for me and ALL my friends. What really gets me excited is eating yummy food, especially desserts, that are actually good for your body and your waist line!

All was so super good, the only question I had as we were leaving was what was all that amazing non-meat that tasted just like meat but better??

So walking away from Kendall's raw food's class and tasting all the wonderful organic vegan food at Cafe Green and meeting all the wonderful guys behind the scenes as well as reading Joel Fuhrman's "Eat to Live" and watching a video Rachael gave me called "Eating - third edition" about FOOD being the biggest cause of disease, disabilities and death in the U.S. today, I'm starting to get it!

I realize that animal protein (both chicken and red meat equally) causes high cholesterol which in turn causes heart disease. Both red meat and chicken is linked to certain types of cancers while plant proteins reduce cholesterol and help your body build it's immune system to help protect against ALL types of cancer and raw vegetable have the most powerful anti-cancer properties of all foods.

I am learning that the nutrients in beans help ward off reproductive cancers like breast and prostate.

Eating lots of fresh fruits help protect against oral and esophageal, lung, prostate and pancreatic cancer. Fruit (especially blueberries) help prevent aging and deterioration of the brain and more than any other food, eating fruits and vegetables is linked to lowered death rates from ALL types of cancers.

I am learning that the high protein in dairy actually depletes the body of calcium and can cause osteoporosis, and dairy has been linked to lots of other problems ranging from headaches, joint pain, poor immune function to more serious problems such as breast and prostate cancers.

I am also learning that what we think is healthy for us is really just great marketing and advertising from big business and the government who receives huge sums of money from the meat and dairy industry to push their products - with little concern of the harmful effects that meat and diary have on our bodies.

I'm also learning that Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO)s or factory farms use crazy amounts of energy, cause pollution and environmental damage and the large amount of corn, soy and grains needed to feed the 10 billion animals a year that the US is slaughtering for consumption is leading to wide spread destruction of rain forests.

TAKE AWAY

What I have been eating has been completely different now - I've taken ideas from books, cafes, workshops. I bought already shredded cabbage and mixes in raw slivered almonds, sliced (julienne style) onions, carrots, and ginger, cut up fresh orange slices, and squeezed some lime and extra orange juice from the fresh orange as well as mixed in Bragg's Organic Raw Unfiltered Apple Cidar Vinegar (known to heal and energize the body). It was so good! At Trader Joe's I found Organic Broccoli slaw that had carrots in it - (raw broccoli is LOADED with vitamins including A,C, E, folate, fiber and about 7 grams of protein)

I then took a bunch of organic kale and red swiss chard, spinach (these greens are the most nutrient loaded greens out there full of cancer fighting phyto-nutrients, you name it these greens have it, vitamins A, C, K, E, B6 manganese, iron, calcium, protein, fiber, folate...

I chopped up all the greens together, added shredded carrots, tomatoes, onion, squeezed a ton of lemon and lime on it, with salt and pepper, topped with avocado. My sister turned me onto a ready to eat Fully Cooked Sprouted Brown Rice (from Trader Joes) with a seaweed and sesame seed seasoning packet in it - I topped my "raw" salad on the sprouted rice and it was AMAZING and SO healthy!