Raw

Well, it is summertime again, which for me means going raw! I am totally excited. And this summer, I have my trusty Vita-Mix blender and Excalibur dehydrator to make the whole process that much easier - and fun. I have already made dehydrated chips and pinapple, raw brownies, and blended pudding, my favorite raw salad dressing, and raw "mashed potatoes." How did I ever survive last summer?

Anyways, for any of you who don't know, going raw means that in addition to all of the food that I don't eat, I will now exclude anything cooked or processed (as in store-bought processed, anything I blend, chop, or dehydrate myself is fine). Technically I can't heat things to above like, 115 degrees F or something like that. The theory is that if you don't heat foods above that temperature, you will not damage the vitamins and minerals and blah blah blah so it's healthier. Personally, I think it's more the lack of corn syrup, sugar, gluten, and just general nastiness that is in ALL processed foods, along with the extra vitamins and minerals from eating only fruits, veggies, and nuts that makes you feel better. But last summer when I tried it, I lost a bunch of weight, felt really good, had tons of energy, and it was just generally awesome. Now I don't know how much of this was attributed to the raw diet and how much was because of my regular sleep schedule, but I know that the rawness helped. Perhaps at the end of the summer I'll post before and after pics or something. Until then, I will only providing you all with raw vegan recipes. Until next time, happy summer, and go raw!