28 July, 2007
A Day Learning The Basics
Your success on a raw food diet, whatever percentage you eat, will largely depend on your ability to create simple meals day in, day out. For that you’ll need some knowledge of the basics, and as it happens, a friend of mine and fantastic raw chef Amy Levin is holding a class on exactly that.
I can recommend Amy as she’s helped me at events several times, and has shown a great passion for helping people coupled with a great flair for making even the simplest dishes taste fantastic.
Here’s the info…
Raw Food: The BasicsThis event will be held August 18th from 10am - 4pm at Blacklands Farm in Henfield, East Sussex. The class will take place in a marquee out in the lovely sunshine! Cost of this event is £80 per person. Group discounts are available for 3 people or more.
This is the first in a series of raw food classes we will be offering; to follow are intermediate and advanced levels. Our goal is to help people get from little or no understanding of raw food nutrition and preparations to the ability to create an array of raw dishes and develop gourmet recipes.
“The Basics” will cover many topics including;
• How a raw food lifestyle is sustainable for the planet
• Why raw food increases your optimum health
• Transitioning to raw foods with ease
• The difference between transitioning and detoxing
• Creating recipes at home with limited equipment
• Fruit and vegetable juicing for optimum healthAnd let’s not forget the incredible meals you’ll learn to prepare! All food will be prepared in front of you in a class setting, but there will also be opportunities for you to participate if you wish.
Menu
Breakfast
Nut milk
Superfood smoothiesLunch
Caesar salad
Classic kale salad
Trio of sweet cabbage salad*accompanied by live crackers and a selection of spiced nuts and seeds*
Dessert
Chocolate brownie topped with vanilla bean ice cream,
raw chocolate sauce and seasonal berriesPlease be sure to come hungry; there will be plenty of food to enjoy all day!
*Recipes from the day will be included in an information pack given out at the event.
Call: 01273 677821 for more info and to book a space.
Popularity: 7% [?]
SW wrote,
I’ve noticed something; I read plenty of raw foodist blogs, which are well written, entertaining and full of information, like yours. However, I think many of these same bloggers, who list what they eat on a daily basis, eat far too much fruit. It seems as if 80% to 90% of what they eat is fruit, which completely overloads their system with sugar and artifically elavates their blood sugar; thereby ensuring a physical and emotional crash later on and stressing the pancreas out. I think we should take heed and remember to eat our raw food in balance with a equal amount of veggies and fruit, or, better yet, 80% raw veggies and 20% raw fruit during the day. SW
sw on / 7 August, 2007
Hi sw,
You make an interesting point. The ‘how much fruit?’ question is one that will always be around, I suspect.
I’m not a nutritionist so I just offer information about my personal experiences with fruit…
I’m very sensitive to sugar. I notice very quickly if I eat too much sugar because I get very shaky and, as you say, notice a psychological crash.
However, I recently embarked on a training program in an effort to build muscle, general strength, endurance, balance and flexibility. There is no way I would be able to get the amount of calories I need from eating 80% veg and 20% fruit. That is of course, unless I were to get more calories from fat, which leaves me feeling tired.
This calorie issue, and the issue of too much weight loss, is prevalent amongst males who get into raw food. I believe it is a major reason more men don’t get into the lifestyle.
Now I’m not saying that to be skinny is to be unhealthy. I know there is a lot of info to suggest that being skinny is actually healthier.
But for me, again going back to personal experience, I want to feel strong and be able to effortlessly move through the day.
It’s only now that I’m putting weight on (my bodyfat has stayed around 11% whereas my muscle mass has increased by 6 kg steadily over the last 8 months since training) having now increased my fruit intake.
At the start I mentioned that I am very sensitive to sugar. The reason I mentioned that is because as long as I don’t ‘over do it’ on fat, I can eat most of my calories from fruit during the day without even coming close to crashing, as long as I eat it separate from fat. I can then enjoy whatever quantity of nuts, seeds, avocados etc that I would like at my evening meal. This gives my body time to process it before eating more fruit the next morning.
Whoa! I should have made that a full blog post.
Hope that helps, it’s just what I’ve personally found and I know that many people have found things to be different for them. What a privilege it is to be able to find your own answers though, don’t you think?
Russell James on / 11 August, 2007