What if there was a health food that cleansed your blood, detoxified your liver, made your body more alkaline, built up your red blood cell count, contained 17 amino acids and 80 different enzymes, contained all known minerals, oxygenated your body systems, and provided a good boost of energy? Wouldn’t you want an ounce or two?

Wheatgrass juice, also called “liquid sunshine” is a superfood made up of 70% chlorophyll. It is about as close as you can come to hemoglobin, the compound in your blood that carries oxygen. It’s easy to digest (taking less than 5 minutes), and it can provide a boost of energy much more healthful than downing a can of Red Bull or any other energy drink.

Wheatgrass is unique. It builds and destroys simultaneously. It builds up your immunity and your red blood cell count, while it destroys (or neutralizes) toxins. It purifies and cleanses while strengthening and providing super-charged nutrition.

If you’re ready and raring to go on a wheatgrass juice kick, have at it, but know that you should start slowly. Wheatgrass juice can have an effect on some people almost immediately, so it is recommended that you ease into your new habit of healthy wheatgrass shots. A single ounce is plenty to get you started. Any more than that can cause you to become nauseated or give you a case of the trots (diarrhea). For the stout of heart, you can take two ounces, but work up to over a period of a couple of weeks, at least. Because of the many enzymes it contains, wheatgrass juice goes to work almost immediately, and if your system is the least bit toxic, it may do too good a job in eliminating those toxins.

One of the more noted pioneers of the use of wheatgrass juice was Anne Wigmore. Over a period of about three decades, Ann helped people recover from all types of chronic illnesses, including cancer by concentrating on regimens of raw foods and wheatgrass juice. She founded a health resort in the United States in the year 1968 called the Ann Wigmore Foundation, which was renamed the Hippocrates Health Institute after her death. While living, Ann was given the title of “the mother of living foods.”

One of the popular contemporary theories of disease is based on inflammation. Wheatgrass juice contains P4D1, a “gluco-protein” that acts like an antioxidant, reducing inflammation. There are a myriad of maladies that wheatgrass has been used to treat. Among those diseases and conditions that people have treated with wheatgrass juice are skin disorders, digestive disorders, arthritis, asthma, insomnia, kidney stones, ulcerative colitis, cancer, fatigue, allergies, diabetes, urinary tract infections, and many others.

If you’re ready for some wheatgrass, “the ultimate blood purifier,” you have the option of sprouting some of your own homegrown specimens or buying a swill of it every day at your local health food store. Wheatgrass is one of the more popular seeds for sprouting, and it is quite simple to grow on your own at home.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/IL0URJcZF8w

So easy!

The more I read, watch videos, and listen to testimonials, the more I believe in the power of raw foods. I’m still not convinced that a 100% raw diet is best, but there is no doubt in my mind that an 80-90% raw diet will result in better, if not optimal, health. To that end, I have been experimenting with raw kale salads for the past two weeks.

The first step in making a kale salad is the oil massage. Chop up a bunch of kale, put it in a bowl, and drizzle it with oil. Then dig in with both hands and massage the oil into the kale until the leaves soften. This is actually fun. Messy, yes, but fun.

Each of the following combinations begins with the oil massage, so add other ingredients as the second step.

Salad 1. Add raw beets cut with a spiral slicer. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Salad 2. Add raw beets cut with a spiral slicer. Juice two limes and stir in 2 tablespoons of honey. Drizzle over the kale and mix well.

Salad 3. Add pine nuts and a little bit of crushed garlic and a touch of balsamic vinegar (see image).

Salad 4. Add carrots strips (I used a potato peeler for this), a handful of raisins, and a handful of walnuts. Add balsamic vinegar and a squirt of honey. Mix well.

Salad 5. Add 2 finely chopped apples, a handful of raisins, and a handful of walnuts. Add balsamic vinegar and a squirt of honey. Mix well.

Salad 6. Same as salad 4 but substitute rice vinegar.

Salad 7. Add 2 finely chopped apples, two oranges cut into small pieces, a handful of walnuts, a handful of raisins, balsamic vinegar and a squirt of honey.  Taste. Add more honey!

Warning: The night I made salad number 7, I went back for seconds. I was too late.

Try your own variations, and let us know what you come up with!

In my ten years of eating raw, I can tell you from firsthand experience that desserts are the most difficult raw dishes to prepare. Through a miserable number of trials and errors over the years, I’ve got many raw desserts like cheesecake, brownies, cherry sorbet, and coconut macaroons down to an artful science.  Pumpkin pie, on the other hand, was always a challenge for me. In the times I attempted to prepare this gourd pie, it always came out tasting bland, dry, and unappealing. It wasn’t until my close friend, who is also a raw foodie, recommended I try her recipe that I finally made some headway with my homemade raw pumpkin pie.

One of the common misconceptions about raw desserts is that they don’t taste good. On the contrary, cooking raw is delicious. All you have to do is use high-quality ingredients, stick to the accurate measurements, and taste as you go.  If something doesn’t taste quite right, trust your gut and tweak it. If you think your dessert needs an additional ingredient, go ahead and add it! Like an artist’s painting, raw food desserts are supposed to be unique to each artisan.

For those of you who are raw foodies or are trying to incorporate more raw foods into your lives, Thanksgiving can be a tough holiday to endure. Everything from the savory turkey, warm yeast rolls, and sweet pecan pie can derail all your efforts to eat raw. With this delicious raw pumpkin pie recipe, however, you’ll be all set for your Thanksgiving dessert. Not only is it filling, it’s insanely delish! Try this pumpkin pie out during the holiday or any ol’ time you have a craving for this classic dessert.

Raw Pie Crust Recipe

2 ½ cups pecan flour ¾ cup coconut oil, cold
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Okay let’s start with the crust! Start by placing the flour, salt, and sugar in an electric mixer bowl and mix on high for 30 seconds. Next, add the coconut oil and mix until the crust forms a solid, cohesive mixture. Don’t worry if you see a few crumbles though. If necessary, add a little more oil or water to solidify the crust.

Dust a clean surface with a pinch of flour and place the crust on the dusted surface. Using your hands, knead the crust into two flat ball shapes, (keep in mind: this pie makes enough for two crusts) wrap in plastic wrap, and place them freezer until you’ll ready to use them. When you’re putting your pie together, pull out one of the crusts, and using a rolling pin, flatten it out into the shape of a large circle (aka pie crust). Have flour on hand to prevent the crust from sticking to the surface. Gently lift the crust and place it in the pie pan. Press the crust until it adheres to the pan.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

• 3 cups shredded pumpkin
• 1 cup cashews, soaked for four hours, drained, and then mashed
• ¼ cup almond milk
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 3 teaspoons vanilla bean extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• pinch cloves

Combine all the ingredients in an electric mixing bowl. Mix for 3 minutes on high speed. Spread into one of the prepared pie crusts. Refrigerate for at least three hours. Eat and enjoy!

Eating raw is not easy during the holidays, but the health benefits of doing so are definitely worthwhile.

Saturday mornings, I have a standard food-acquiring routine pretty much down.  The farmer’s market is perused through for all of the basics.  Spring water is collected.  If needed, specialty stores are stopped by…and ‘Whole Foods Market’ meets the tail end of the stretch with its add-ins of anything that I couldn’t amass from the other locales.  I’m purposeful at each stop.  I know exactly what I want and where to find it.  My overall ‘game plan’ is to stock up on the freshest, most nutritionally dense foods and still square it all up within our weekly budget.  I go heavy on the greens, non-sweet fruits, and all varieties of veggies that will later meet with a transformation into some variety of smoothie, salad, steamed medley, or soup.  It’s all very satisfactory, yet repetitive…so when something extraordinary catches my attention, it tends to push my delight above and beyond the average.  This week, the extraordinary catch was one size-able container of freshly picked, ruby-red raspberries.

The first time that I recall eating freshly picked strawberries left the type of impression that almost demands that I still think about it from time to time several years later.  I questioned whether they were even strawberries.  They were incredibly juicy and flavorful– entirely different from the less intense store-bought berries that I was up until then familiar with.  Since then, I’ve developed a special interest in and appreciation for fruit that’s been separated from the plant for only hours, as compared to days or weeks.

These particular raspberries paralleled the strawberry incident of ’99 nicely. 🙂 There were plenty savored alone, and there were handfuls more that melded into various edible blends throughout the weekend. The following is our favorite flavor……a concoction that highlights the current seasonal flux– intertwining one of the last offerings of summer with a treasured fall staple. Enjoy!

(I don’t enjoy measuring, so I won’t be listing exact amounts– it’s a simple brew, however, and will likely turn out well if you adjust all amounts according to taste…)

Bottom (or top) crumble layer ingredients

• spoonful of coconut oil or ghee
• vanilla stevia (10-15 drops) (or unprocessed stevia powder and raw vanilla powder)
• coconut or almond flour (enough to make a creamy paste)
• sprouted flax, chia or hemp seed powder (mix in until crumble-like consistency)

Pumpkin blend

• pureed fresh pumpkin, or organic canned pumpkin
• cultured coconut (fermented at home, or store bought (I like So Delicious brand, unsweetened)
• vanilla stevia, to taste
• sea salt

Instructions

1. mix pumpkin blend well.
2. spoon out onto crumble mixture, or into bowl, adding crumble mixture over top.
3. sprinkle with raspberries.

How to make the best raw hummus ever!

I wasn’t crazy about raw hummus when I first tried it, I thought the uncooked garbanzo beans gave it a bitter aftertaste. I decided to do my own recipe, and after some experimenting, I am convinced that this is the best raw hummus recipe out there! In fact, I have grown to like this better than any cooked hummus I’ve had.

Ingredients

• 3 cups dry garbanzo beans (soaked, sprouted, and rinsed)
• 4 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 carrot, chopped or shredded
• 1/2 cup oil (olive oil, flax seed oil, and coconut oil blend, equal parts)
•  teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper or ground papaya seed
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 tablespoons cilantro finely chopped
• jalapeño pepper, ground cayenne pepper, or other spice (or hot sauce) to taste

Instructions

Soak garbanzo beans for 24 hours (drain, rinse, and change water 4 times within the 24-hour period). You may need to soak them longer. The need to be just starting to sprout before you use them. Beans should be barely sprouted. Rinse beans well before using. In a food processor combine all ingredients except oil, and mix well. Add oil slowly until the desired texture is achieved (may need more or less oil than specified).

All ingredients are to taste, so play around and see what you like best. Coconut oil may be a little strange in this recipe to some, but I don’t taste it when it’s mixed with the flaxseed and olive oil. And the health benefits of coconut oil are why I add it. The flaxseed oil not only has excellent health benefits, it also introduces an additional, distinct nutty flavor to the dish that works well.

If you would like a thinner consistency, or you want to reduce the oil, you can add water.

You can garnish the dish with some cilantro and paprika on top.

Serve with your favorite vegetables and/or chips (raw blue corn kale chips is a recipe I am working on and I’ll bet it’ll be amazing with this), but make sure you throw in some pear slices! I know what you’re thinking, “Pears with hummus? Really?” Yes. I promise you, pears with hummus are simply amazing. You must try it.

Make your own vitamin C at home, and make it better than any store-bought vitamin C

Vitamin C Recipe

So you may not know that almost all of the vitamin C supplement manufacturers are making their vitamin C from genetically engineered corn. What! You exclaim. How am I supposed to get enough vitamin C into my family if I don’t buy store bought supplements? Answer: You make your own! What you are about to read is something that the giant pharmaceutical companies don’t want you to see.

Even the health food stores don’t want you to know about this secret. You can make your very own vitamin C supplement that is ten times better than anything you could buy in a store at NO EXTRA COST TO YOU!

Does it have a 1,000 mg of vitamin C per dosage? Nope. Does it have the USRDA amount per dosage? Not at all. Has it been approved by the FDA?  Absolutely not!

What homemade vitamin C does have is live enzymes that allow the vitamin C to be 100% assimilated into your body.  It has its own natural source of rutin, hesperidin, and bioflavonoids. It’s easily acquired, easy to make, and even tastes good, too. It’s just orange & lemon peels.

It’s that easy. Any organic orange or lemon peels left over from the fruit you  buy will do the trick.  Save all of your peels after you eat the inside of the fruit and cut them into thin strips. Place them on a plate on your dining room table and let them dry at room temperature for a couple of days until dry and crisp. You can also dehydrate the peels with a food dehydrator and then store them for about a year in a dry container. For consumption, one idea is to break up peels into smaller pieces and mix them with your favorite tea. This makes the tea taste great, but the downside to this approach is that heat destroys the enzymes. A better option is to place the peel strips into your coffee grinder and grind them into a powder (which won’t hurt the enzymes) and use to mix with your early morning smoothie. One rounded teaspoon will supply you with more organic vitamin C complex, rutin, hesperidin, and bioflavonoids than your body needs for the day, regardless of your size. And this homemade citrus peel powder mixed in your blender with some fresh organic apple juice tastes good too.

Check out these articles if you are looking for tips to boost your immune system, or heal from chemotherapy. Also, be sure to read up on Leaky Guts and Autoimmune Diseases.

Recommended Supplements:

• Total Nutrition Formula

Further Reading:

• Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula
• Homemade Calcium and Magnesium
• Things You Should Know About Garlic – DIY, Recipes, Other Tips

Medicago Sativa, Pea family

Some folks would say “alfalfa is only fit for livestock,” but you might be surprised to discover that alfalfa was cultivated for medicinal purposes long before it was grown for fodder. Alfalfa has been used for centuries to treat jaundice, arthritis, muscle problems, and kidney disorders.

The Native Americans used it to promote blood clotting and to increase energy and bone strength. Alfalfa is also a well known remedy for intestinal difficulties and for easing menopause. Alfalfa is high in protein and calcium, as well as other minerals and B vitamins.  Alfalfa also contains vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin K.

Alfalfa Lore

The first mention of alfalfa was found in old text written by the emperor of China in 2939 BC. It’s botanical name ‘Medicago’ appears to derive from ancient Greece, but it was the Arabs who named it alfalfa meaning “father of all foods.” It was also Arabs who first fed it to horses to make them run faster.

Alfalfa Success Story

Chainsaw Roy, a friend of mine who lives down the road, continually tells me how great alfalfa is and how it saved his life. Roy is around seventy, clean shaven with a silver ponytai,l and is of German/Cherokee decent. He is a character who makes a living carving the purple heart cedar with his Sthil Chainsaw.

When Roy was in his late sixties his knees got so bad that he could hardly walk and his doctor told him that they were going to have to put disks and steel pins in his knees. He told the doctor to take a hike because he was sure the doctor had dollar signs in his eyes. On his way home, Roy had a change of heart. After struggling with such severe pain, to the point of not wanting to live anymore, Roy decided he was going to have to fire up his chainsaw and work through the pain to pay the expensive fees for the tests and appointments. He suffered through work for quite awhile, but then the day came when a stray Navajo wandered by and took up a conversation with Roy about alfalfa’s healing powers.  Roy started eating alfalfa and swears that his condition was gone almost immediately.  Years later Roy still carves and walks like his ancestors did, without any pain from what was a serious arthritic condition.

Alfalfa Flowers

Alfalfa flowers are purple and taste good but horse experts say that alfalfa must be cut before the flowers appear because it can create colic in horses.

Prices of Alfalfa Soar

Alfalfa is generally sold by the bale and can be gotten from most feed stores and pet shops, but alfalfa prices recently skyrocketed here in New Mexico.

A bale of premium quality alfalfa generally costs around $7 or $8 dollars but crop failures in Texas caused the alfalfa in NM to cost $22.50 per bale. Horses have to eat and there are lots of horses in Texas so NM alfalfa was in high demand.  My dad, Doc, randomly bought 30 bales for $210, which is odd because we do not have much livestock to speak of -one rabbit. He had me unload this trailer load of hay into the container and suddenly we were sitting on gold.  Only a few months later, Doc’s small investment is worth $675.

Should I Eat Alfalfa by the Bale?

An entire bale is too much for a human to consume. You could eat it, but I don’t recommend it. It’s almost all GMO now. Thank you Monsanto! Scumbags!!!  It’s not good for you. It’s not good medicine.  It’s just crap. It is best to grow your own alfalfa sprouts organically.  Many people don’t know that your typical store-bought container of sprouts for sandwiches and salads are Alfalfa sprouts.

Sprouting Alfalfa

Alfalfa seeds are really easy to come by. Most health food stores sell them in bulk for sprouting. A very cheap way to grow a mess of alfalfa is to buy an ounce or two of these seeds in the Organic Bulk section and scatter them in an area of your yard that has water, maybe where the water runs off a roof or by a garden hose leak. If you live in a place where it rains regularly (daily is best), then just throw them out into your yard or garden, and let nature do the rest.

It’s also easy to grow alfalfa sprouts in a jar as well.

Alfalfa Sprouts Health Benefits

Alfalfa Sprouts are a Good Source of Protein

One serving of alfalfa sprouts provides a gram of easily digestible and easy to assimilate plant-based protein. Remember, it’s not how much protein you eat, it’s how much you properly assimilate that counts.

Alfalfa Sprouts are High in Micronutrients

Alfalfa sprouts are a great source of several micronutrients. Alfalfa sprouts are a good source of vitamin K and B vitamins including riboflavin, niacin, folate, thiamin, pantothenic acid and B6. Alfalfa is also high in vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, calcium, and other minerals.

Alfalfa Sprouts are High in Fiber

Alfalfa sprouts are an excellent source of fiber. A 33-gram serving of alfalfa sprouts provides a gram of fiber, making alfalfa a good food for people suffering from constipation and other digestive issues.

Alfalfa and Weight Loss

At only 8 calories per serving, alfalfa is an ideal choice for people who trying to lose weight. Thanks to the fiber and protein, alfalfa is filling too.