We all get unhealthy food cravings from time to time that are hard to control.  There can be many reasons why we crave certain foods: it could be that we’re just plain hungry, stressed/emotionally upset, or physically addicted to the foods we are craving. Certain foods are more addictive than others such as high fat and high sugar foods, chemically processed foods, and sometimes we can be addicted to the foods we are allergic to.

However, no matter what the reason for our food cravings we are trying to satisfy a need in us, whether emotional or physical. To put it simply, we are trying to make ourselves feel better. Unfortunately, most of the time, if we give into unhealthy food cravings we end up feeling worse! Fortunately, there are other ways to comfort ourselves without food that won’t make us sick or leave us feeling guilty!

Here are ten ways how to control food cravings and comfort yourself without food. Try them next time the craving monster hits!

Next time you get a craving . . .

Tip #1  Try chewing on something instead of eating such as a piece of sugar free gum, a straw, seaweed, licorice root sticks . . .(etc.)

Tip #2  Try stimulating your mind by playing a crossword puzzle or suduko.

Tip #3  When wanting to zone out and eat mindlessly try flipping through a magazine instead, it doesn’t take much mental effort and can have a calming effect.

Tip #4  Try bringing yourself back to present moment by paying attention to you breath and any bodily sensations you are experiencing in the moment. Repeat the statement, “I am here now”.

Tip #5  Try making yourself more comfortable by changing into sweat pants, letting your hair down, finding a comfortable place to sit or lay down, and or snuggling up with your favorite blanket.

Tip #6  When looking for comfort without using food, try using the soothing effect of heat to calm your body such as drinking your favorite cup of herbal tea, or applying warm washcloth over your eyes or forehead.

Tip #7  Try giving yourself a quick self massage on your hands, feet, shoulders, ears, face, and scalp.

Tip #8  Try changing your mood with different scents. Essential oils are great way to experiment; some scents have a calming effect and others have an invigorating effect. You can use an aromatherapy humidifier, lamp or diffuser or simply pour the oil on a cotton ball and sniff anytime you need it!

Tip #9  Try listening to a piece of beautiful relaxing music such as classical or new age type music that has a calming or uplifting effect on your mood. If you need a quick pick me up try dancing for a few minutes to your favorite energizing music.

Tip #10  Try looking at pictures of loved ones that make you smile, and make sure to have these pictures handy next time a craving hits.

This blog post was inspired by the book 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food by Susan Albers, PSY.D, so if you liked these tips, check out the book! (Available on Amazon.)

If you have any other ways you like to comfort yourself without food, please do share!

♥,
C

P.S. If you would like some personal guidance on how to conquer cravings I am also available for a  raw food coaching session.

*Above is a picture of some mineral vegetable broth I made with the left over juice pulp of celery, carrot, and beet juice. It was a beautiful red orange color that I then sprinkled with dulse flakes.

Last November I wrote a post about how to stay warm on the raw food diet and in the post I explained how I make mineral vegetable broth full of essential nutrients and electrolytes. The original post elicited a positive response and a few questions from readers, so now that the weather is cooling down a bit I decided to make a short video about how I make the (now famous!) mineral vegetable broth.

Click here if you can’t see the vegetable broth video above.

I’ve experimented with making mineral broths many different ways and I’ve found that they turn out the best when I make sure the broth has sweet, spicy, and salty elements.

Choose 3 or more from each category:

Sweet Elements

*Carrots
Beets
Sweet potatoes
Tomatoes
Bell peppers
Apples (without core)
Potatoes
Winter  or Summer squash

Spicy Elements

*Onions
Leeks
Ginger
Garlic
Scallions
Spicy Peppers (use sparingly)
Bay leaves
Thyme
Oregano
Rosemary

Salty Elements

*Kombu Seaweed
*Celery
Shitake Mushrooms
Miso Paste (optional)
Chard
Parsley
Cilantro
Kale
Collards
(any greens will do with the exception of dandelion greens which can make the broth too bitter)

You can also add any culinary or medicinal herb as well!

*Essential

Directions:

Rough chop the vegetables and put them in a large pot of water. Add a few sprigs of herbs, a few bay leaves, and at least 2-5 good sized pieces of seaweed. Kombu and Wakame work best, but any seaweed will do. Let the pot come to a boil and then simmer on low for at least 3 hours. You can then strain the broth and add a sprinkle of salt if desired. For a really clear broth you can use a sprout bag to strain it after it has cooled. Sip the warm broth like tea or use it as a base to make cooked vegetable soups and grain dishes. You can also freeze the broth to defrost for later.

Hope you enjoyed this recipe and stay warm!

♥,
C

I commonly get asked how to make green smoothie recipes that don’t taste, well, green. I can sometimes sense the fear in their voices, as if they are afraid to make a mistake and create a green mushy concoction that tastes like tar!

Okay so maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but there is definitely a little trepidation when it comes to taking the green smoothie plunge! I take a no holds barred anything goes approach to making green smoothie recipes, but there are a few basic guidelines I abide by to make sure that my husband will drink his every morning (i.e. it has to taste good!). To learn my green smoothie basics, so that you can take a tasty walk on the wild (greens) side, watch the video below and let me know what you think:

Click here if you can’t see the green smoothie recipes video above.

If you want to delve a little deeper into the art of green smoothie making consider checking out Cecilia’s Green Smoothie Challenge Recipe Ebook.

Have a Great Day!

♥,
C

Do you like those raw energy bars you can get at the grocery store? I love them, especially when I’m traveling or too busy to prepare something, having one on hand gives me a little energy boost. When I was traveling in Southern California recently, a typical breakfast for me was a non sweet green juice from a local juice bar and a yummy raw bar. Talk about a breakfast on the go:)

Making your own raw energy bars can be just as satisfying as buying them because you get to control exactly what ingredients to include and make them taste exactly how you want!

To make them you’re going to need a food processor and a blender (a high speed blender is best ) or a spice/coffee grinder that will grind seeds.

The basis of a raw bar is dried fruits and nuts or seeds but you can also add your favorite super foods such as spirulina, carob, maca . . . and your favorite spices such as cinnamon and vanilla. You can use one nut or seed or a combination of different nuts and seeds. I like to grind my seeds first in the blender and if I’m using nuts I like to food process them in the food processor with the S blade until they reach a coarse flour like consistency.

Here is a recipe I came up with recently and you can use it as the basis for making your own raw bars.

Lemon Omega Bars

1 well packed cup of soft medjool dates chopped really fine
2 cups raw dehydrated coconut
1/2 cup ground chia seeds*
1/2 cup ground sesame seeds*
2 tablespoons lemon zest (I like mine really “zingy” but you can use less zest if you don’t, I used the zest of about 6 lemons)
10 drops lemon stevia (optional)

First grind the chia seeds and sesame seeds in a blender or a grinder until fine. Then add all the ingredients to the food processor with the S blade on and process them until they are well incoporated. Then press the “dough” firmly into a small glass pan greased with coconut oil (optional), 8 X 8 works well. Cut them into bars or squares and then freeze them in the freezer at least overnight. Pop one out any time you need a boost. Makes 16 squares and 8 bars.

*I used chia and sesame seeds because I wanted to get my omega fatty acids and I find them easier to digest than nuts but for a richer (better tasting) bar I recommend using 1 cup ground almonds or 1 cup ground brazil nuts ground in the food processor with the S blade.

Fun!

This is another one of those everyday recipes I wanted to share with you. Speaking of everyday raw recipes my friend Shea Lynn Baird came up with 2 incredible e-books called, What Raw Chef’s Really Eat.

In the E-books you will find out how 15 raw chef’s eat everyday and their favorite everyday raw recipes. Both e-books contain over 80 everday raw recipes from top raw food chef’s including Matt Samuelson, Melissa Mango, Abeba Wright, Chaya-Ryvka, Cherie Soria, and many more including yours truly:) Click Here to learn more about the What Raw Chef’s Really Eat E-books.

 ♥,
C

Iceblueyes

please e-mail me your shipping address at glowingraw-info@yahoo.com.

Thank you for all who entered I appreciated your answers they were all inspiring!

Here is a short video of how to make crispy raw sweet potato chips:

Click here if you can’t see the video above

Raw Dehydrated Sweet Potato Chips Recipe

1 large sweet potato
Few sprinkles of sea salt
Drizzle of olive oil

 Slice the sweet potato thinly with the adjustable ceramic mandoline on the thin setting (0.5 mm) using the handguard, and put the slices into a large bowl. Drizzle the sweet potato slices with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt until well covered. Dehydrate the chips in the dehydrator on at least 115 degrees for 24 hrs or until crispy. Makes about 2 dehydrator trays of chips. They start to get soggy soon after they are taken out of the dehydrator, so put them in an air tight container and consume them within a few days.

•  If the chips are not crispy perhaps you did not use sufficient olive oil or perhaps you did not dehydrate the chips long enough.
• Please do not try to make raw potato chips.  Potatoes are part of the nightshade family and have natural toxins when consumned raw.

 Click here for more info on the adjustable ceramic mandoline slicer

 Click here for more info about dehydrator sheets

Thanks to Carol Bundock for this recipe

 Happy Creating!

♥,
C

Here’s a short video of me making a yummy green juice without a juicer. Juicing without a juicer is easy! If you don’t own a juicer you can still make delicious juices as long as you have a powerful blender such as a Vitamix and a trusty sprout bag.

 My body has been craving juices lately, perhaps it’s wanting to cleanse to get ready for  Spring. I also was inspired by Daniel Vitalis’ talk at Monday Night Live about eating dandelion greens.  Enjoy!

 Click here if you can’t see the video above 

 Click here for more info about juicing with  nylon sprout bags

*Raw Glow Blog Free Nylon Sprout Bag Giveaway*

Raw Glow is giving away one 12 by 12 sturdy nylon sprout bag as shown in the video. To enter all you have to do is answer this question in the comments section and I will choose a winner from the comments entered. The contest ends Mar. 10^th, 2010.

•  Question: What are some of the things you do in your everyday life to stay healthy? (Doesn’t just have to be limited to food)

Look forward to the answers!

Love,
C

A sweet raw treat just in time for Valentine’s Day!

My absolutely favorite raw food treat is actually one of the most simple to make. Take some young coconut meat and dehydrate it in a dehydrator at 115 degrees for 24 to 48 hrs. At 24 hrs it’s still chewy and at 48 hrs it’s nice and crispy, both taste great and fill your house with the sweet aroma of coconuts!

If you can’t see the video below click here

Happy Valentines Day!

 ♥,
C

Disclaimer: this post is for educational purposes only and is about pooping. Read at your own discretion.

As you might know from a recent post my husband just had his appendix removed, and this has lead me to wonder why appendixes get infected in the first place. With a  little research I learned that appendicitis is a disease of the western world and was virtually non existent until the invention of the porcelain sitting toilet 150 years ago. Throughout history human beings have always squatted for bodily functions and 2 thirds of adults in the world continue to use squat toilets all of their lives.

According to Jonathan Isbit from Nature’s Platform when humans don’t squat there can be possible complications caused by fecal stagnation due to incomplete evacuation. He believes a polluted colon can be prone to cancer, diverticulosis, appendicitis, colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome.

I would also assume that a high fiber diet full of lots of fruits and vegetables would also help with elimination and avoiding this problem as well.

Although I would tend to agree that squatting is the healthiest way, living in today’s modern western society makes it a difficult task. The easiest and safest solution I have seen so far is the health step which is a step you can put under your toilet to help mimic the squat position and assist in elimination. It’s discreet, won’t break your toilet seat, and there is no danger of falling or loosing balance like I have seen with some other methods.

Just thought I would put the information out there!

♥,
C

Further Reading:
http://www.healthstep.com/
http://www.naturesplatform.com/

A few weeks ago at my potluck group I talked about my list of top foods that I believe to be super nutrient rich. Stinging Nettles, urtica dioica, were on that list.

The reason I think they are so great is because they are rich in vitamins A, C, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium. According to some sources they are one of the best plant sources of iron. They are 40 % protein which is considered high for a vegetable. Traditionally in folk medicine they were used to build the blood and treat anemia among other conditions. Recently they have been proven helpful to treat hay fever and osteoarthritis. (For more medicinal uses scroll down to the bottom of this post.)

Where to Get Stinging Nettles

To add stinging nettles to your diet, first you need to find them. I am lucky enough to live in Northern California where I can get them at the Marin Farmer’s Market for 6 dollars a pound. If you have a local wild edibles guided tour (please don’t eat any wild edible unless you are sure) you might be lucky to find them in shady spots, in flood plains, woodlands, along streams and river banks in Europe, Asia, North America, and Northern Africa. Or you can simply try to grow them in your own backyard. If you can’t get ahold of fresh nettles you can find dried nettles in the bulk herb section of your natural grocery store, which make a lovely tea.

Ouch!

They are called stinging nettles for a reason, they have stinging hairs which can really irritate your skin. For this reason I do not advise handling them with your bare hands. I personally use tongs, but you could use gloves as well. Some people recommend rolling them like a taco and then eating the leaves. Here is a video of David Wolfe, raw food author and speaker, showing you how to do just that.

Click here if you can’t see the video.

I personally prefer to enjoy them using the methods I describe below:

 The great thing about stinging nettles is that when you cook them, juice them, or blend them they loose their sting!

 My favorite thing is to make a nettle shake. (recipe below)

 Nettle Shake
(Thanks to Novalee for this idea)

2 cups fresh orange juice
1 cup nettles

 Blend for a minute in a high speed blender and enjoy. For a heartier drink you can add 1 banana and half an apple.

 Nettle Green Juice

You can also add nettles into your green juice. Just substitute whatever green you were going to use with nettles and run them through your juicer. I like to juice them with celery and apple.

Make Nettle Tea

Boil a pot of water and add a cup of nettles and let sit for at least 10 minutes. It makes the most beautiful emerald green tea you can imagine. Sweeten and enjoy.

Cooking Nettles

Nettles can be steamed or boiled and are probably one of the most delicious greens out there. They have a mild nutty flavor and can be substituted in any cooked recipe that calls for spinach or kale. They are so good that they can be enjoyed just steamed plain or perhaps with a touch of sea salt. I have also seen recipes where they are boiled with potatoes, leeks, and other ingredients to make a creamy blended soup.

Medicinal Uses

Nettles have been used medicinally in folk medicine for such things as: allergies, water retention, anemia, poor circulation, asthma, wound healing, as a diuretic, to build the blood, and for arthritis and rheumatism. Recently, nettles have been proven effective for treating hay fever and osteoarthritis.

*Now if you are going to use nettles medicinally I would definitely work with a professional for the correct dosage and there are some contraindications and drug interactions you might need to be aware of especially if you are pregnant, have kidney issues, diabetes, or are on blood pressure medication or other medications.

Hope you can enjoy this powerful superfood as a regular addition to your diet!

♥,
C

Sources:

Wikipedia/Stinging Nettles
Rain Tree/Nettles
Web MD/Stinging Nettles

Nettles

Santa was good to me this year and brought my husband and I a new juicer. I think we opened it on the 20^th, as soon as we saw it under the tree, we couldn’t wait!  We already had a centrifugal ejection model, the one that spins around and ejects pulp into a container (that we will probably end up gifting to someone who needs a juicer). It served us well for awhile, but I was always disappointed by the fact that it couldn’t juice leafy greens well and my husband didn’t like the noise or that the pulp could get messy if we juiced a lot. (It would end up on our counter if we weren’t careful!)

I had been aware that Omega (a trusted juice manufacturer) had come out with a juicer that could juice leafy greens such as wheatgrass, hard vegetables like carrots, and soft fruits as well. This was a momentous accomplishment in the juicer world. Up until the upright juicer style was introduced it seemed that most juicers fell short in one area or another. They would be great at leafy greens but perhaps it was a chore to push through carrots or apples, or carrots and apples were a breeze, but it couldn’t juice wheatgrass. I admit I was a little skeptical, but because of all the buzz in my local raw food community and because of the great things that people were saying about the Omega Vert 330, I decided to try it.

When my husband and I first used the Omega Vert 330 we juiced carrots, celery, apples, and Swiss chard. We were amazed at how easily everything was feed into the juicer, the auger just pulled the carrots through, no plunger was necessary. My husband loved how quiet it was and he really liked how the pulp was neatly ejected into the 30 ounce juice cup. He likes that he can easily separate the different pulps. This is important to us, as the carrot pulp goes into the dog’s food, but not the celery pulp for example.

What we have noticed is that we are juicing almost everyday! It just seems more fun with the Vert. Clean up isn’t bad, the screen is a little bigger than most single auger juicers, so there is some scrubbing involved, but if you run water through the Vert at the end it will minimize how much pulp is left in the screen. They also supply a special scrub brush which helps a lot.

My husband likes that the juice is a bit pulpy, I prefer to strain my juice which is easy to do. The Vert does not come with a strainer so you would need to purchase your own. We have a lot around the house for my hubbies tea addiction!

I am always looking for new products that I have fallen in love with to carry on Raw Glow and I believe that the Omega Vert Juicer makes the cut. I now proudly offer it on Raw Glow, Please click here for more info on the Vert.

Here is a video demonstration of the Vert in Action:

If you can’t see the video click here

Here’s a Juice Recipe to Start out the New Year!

If you can’t see the video click here

Happy New Year!!!!!

 ♥,
C

P.S. My 2nd favorite Christmas present was the hat I’m wearing in the video lol:)