The Effects of Nature on Your Brain

I thought this would be a fitting post after coming back from a vacation out in nature.  A few months back I was at my dentist's office for a cleaning when I saw a copy of the December, 2011, issue of Outdoors magazine.  I'm not particularly drawn to male publications.  I'm really not interested in seeing Grizzly Adams like men trekking the Arctic Tundra.  But there was a title that grabbed my interest, "This Is Your Brain On Nature."   I loved what I read and thought I would share it with you.

This information was compiled by Madison Kahn:

1. Increased attention span.  A 2008 study by University of Michigan psychologists found that walking outside or even just looking at pictures of natural settings improves directed attention, the ability to concentrate on a task.  Put another way: nature restores our ability to focus.

2. Better Memory.  The same study supported previous experiments showing that being in nature improves memory - by 20 percent when it came to recalling a series of numbers.

3. Reduced Stress.  Office workers with views of trees and flowers reported lower stress levels, higher job satisfaction, and fewer ailments than colleagues with views of buildings, according to a 1989 study by the University of Michigan.

4. Improved Mood. In a 1991 study by Texas A&M psychologists, subjects who viewed scenes of water or trees reported a much quicker return to a positive mood after a stressful event than those who viewed urban scenes.

5. Greater Creativity.  In a pilot study this March, psychologists found that students in an Outward Bound course showed a 40 percent boost in frontal lobe activity - after four days in the back country.

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I can't help but think about the book, The Secret Garden by Burnett, a story I have read to my children.  Colin Craven was a wealthy, sickly, paralytic boy raised by nannies and was locked up in his palatial bedroom with the curtains drawn closed.  He forgot that he was even sick or couldn't walk when he ventured to the great outdoors and spent time in a garden with his friends.  This fictional story illustrates that mood is intrinsically linked to the health of our bodies.  If we neglect the care of our emotional state of being our health will suffer.

Nothing improves my mood like running in the trails that are close to my home.  I hate running!  But just being out in the woods (I never run alone, by the way!)  turns what would be a drudgery into a pleasurable experience.  If you are fighting sickness, improve your diet and lifestyle - and spend time in natural settings! 

On another note:  The new cookbook by Forks Over Knives is out!  Check it out here.

Enjoy the Journey!

My Favorite Raw Recipe Books

I have been asked what my favorite raw prep books are.  I never know what to call them.  They aren't cook books.  So what on earth do you call them?  Raw prep books?  Raw recipe books? Anyhow, I have purchased several books and a few stand out to me.  I have chosen these based on ease of preparation.  This is especially important if you are starting out.  The second criteria is taste.  It would be very miserable to eat food that just doesn't taste good.  Your taste buds can and will adjust and you will find that you no longer need so much sweetness, or whatever tastes and flavors you are addicted to.  You must allow at least two weeks to begin to appreciate new flavors.  I have found however, that people who aren't accustomed to raw foods, still like the recipes in the books I will be listing.   

Raw Energy by Stephanie Tourles:
I love this book because it has very simple kid friendly recipes with easy to find ingredients.  The emphasis of this book  is on preparing snack foods.  The first third of this book is dedicated to the whys and wherefores of eating raw foods.  The last two thirds are for the recipes.  She has a section on nut milks, smoothies and frozen fruit creams.  Another sections on energy bars, balls, and trail mix recipes.  She includes breakfast foods, parfaits, chips, dips, and spreads.  Lastly she has sweet indulgences.  My mouth is watering!

Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet:
The thought of going raw or mostly raw is daunting enough for most people.  Throw in a complicated raw preparation book and the task becomes an impossibility.  I love it when all I see are maybe five ingredients and they all look easy to find.  This book has many very good recipes!  My favorite is the chocolate mousse.  I can float ten feet off the ground with that one!

Live Raw by Mimi Kirk:
If you remember, Mimi Kirk was voted the sexiest vegetarian over 50 at age 70!  These recipes are very flavorful and delicious.  Some require harder to find ingredients.  But honestly, it is only as hard as ordering from Amazon.   Don't you just love Amazon?  The Prime membership is fantastic!  Mimi has put together a great collection of recipes.  Some absolutely scrumptious!

Living Raw Food by Sarma Melngailis:
Sarma Melngailis is the very beautiful chef and owner of Pure Food and Wine in Manhattan, New York.  This book is more involved but why not have a more involved book in your collection?  This would be a perfect book for special occasions and for a more gourmet presentation of raw foods.  It is also better for entertaining larger groups of people.  However, she does have very simple recipes in this book.  I have loved everything that I have tried.  Her desserts look decadently out of this world.  I choose one day out of the week for sweets.  I love indulging in delectable raw desserts and knowing that I'm not harming my body.  Bypass the dairy, bleached flours, butter, sugar and eggs for amazing flavors that rival any dessert you can imagine.  Yes, even non vegetarian people loves these desserts!

Don't forget the raw food blogs!  I have a few listed in my blog list but there are more online.  Be sure to search those as well.

Enjoy the Journey!

My Daily Menu and a Post by Kimberly Snyder

I have become successful at eating a mostly raw diet because I have made an effort to keep it simple.  My first raw prep book, although incredibly delicious, was far too time consuming.  I would never recommend it because of the endless hard to find ingredients list and time required to prepare a meal.  I am not a fan of the dehydrator.  Some like the dehydrator because it helps them prepare foods that are reminiscent of  cooked foods.  (If that's your thing, try Alissa Cohen's Living on Live Food)   I'm sure I'll make zucchini or sweet potato chips at some point but I can't stand how noisy it is or how long it takes to complete a meal.  I want it fast, quick and easy.  

First thing when I wake up I drink a tall glass of water with lemon juice.    During the sleep hours your body does not stop working.  It goes into repair mode.  Part of the labor involved during sleep is detoxifying.  The liver needs a good flush of water with lemon to help clear out the toxins.

Before I head off to the gym, I have Dr. Richard Schulze's Superfood.   The debate rages on.  To supplement or not to supplement.  I hear both sides of the argument.  If you have a good, clean diet with plenty of variety, you don't need to worry about supplementing.  But then again, even good wholesome organic produce sits on the truck en route to the grocery store depreciating in nutritional value with each day that passes.  I lean on the side of supplementing.  But not just any supplement.   I love Dr. Schulze's philosophy on creating powerful health,  and his amazing zest for living.  It has been his mission to produce the most nutrient dense supplement on the market.  (No, I'm not his employee, just a satisfied customer.)  Read here why Superfood is a superior supplement. I love Superfood because of how it is prepared. There hasn't been any major alteration to the ingredients.  They are plants that have been cut down to a small particle size and dehydrated at a low temperature to preserve the live enzymes.  B12 is a nutrient that vegetarians have a hard time getting.  Superfood is loaded with it.  Here is the ingredients list.  Click on Superfood plus- more info to access ingredients list.

When I come home after my morning workout at the gym, I prepare a breakfast with either oat groats  or buckwheat that have soaked overnight. I start the night before and soak ½  cup of oat groats in water.  In the morning I drain the water out and blend the oat groats with 1 cup of milk (almond, rice or coconut milk).  I add one large apple, a dash of salt, a dash of nutmeg and ½ tbsp or less of almond or vanilla extract.  Experiment with this basic recipe.  Instead of apples try adding pineapple with coconut milk for a pina collada flavor or  strawberries and banana.  Another breakfast idea is to have sprouted buckwheat that has barely sprouted (soak buckwheat overnight and rinse in the morning). I eat it straight with almond milk and frozen blueberries.  For those new to raw food, I would recommend having it with a fruit salad and a cashew cream sauce.  For the cream sauce soak about 1 cup of cashews for a couple of  hours, drain it and blend it with enough non-dairy milk for it to be creamy.  Add dates and a dash of salt to taste. Drizzle the fruit salad, buckwheat, and cream sauce with agave nectar.  Yum! I also make a green smoothie.  Click here for a how-to.

For lunch I make a pate from Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet.  I love all her pates and spreads.  I also search online for quick, easy spreads.  I'll wrap it in a kale, collard or chard leaf with cucumber, tomato, sprouts and some lime juice or soy sauce.  (If you really want to be totally raw, use nama shoyu instead of soy sauce.)  I try to vary the greens, the pates and the sprouts that I add.

For dinner, I cook a vegan meal for my family and make a huge organic salad.  I eat the salad only.  Again, I try to vary the ingredients as much as possible. 

I snack on avocados with sea salt, crudites with a variety of  dips, raw nuts and fruit with raw nut butters.  This is the basic blueprint for my meals.  I like trying new recipes and expanding my repertoire, but I still follow this basic routine.  Many times I don't get to every meal.  I just don't get hungry for it.  My beverage of choice is water.  I also juice about once a week.  My favorite juiced drink is carrots with grapefruit and orange.  Delicious!  You don't have to follow what I do exactly but this eating plan can be a start for someone who is clueless as to what to eat when you want to eat raw.  If you desire cooked food, eat the raw food first and then move onto the cooked food. 

Drop dead gorgeous celebrity nutritionist Kimberly Snyder has an excellent post about what is wrong with the Standard American Diet, please take the time to read it here!  Kimberly has so much good information on her blog and book.  Well worth the time to read. 

This information may seem like so much to take in at first.  I recommend taking a step per week.  Try adding a green smoothie one week.  The following week try filling up on a green salad before you move onto your cooked meal. Keep reading as much as you can about plant based diets to keep your focus. Don't be hard on yourself, but continue to make small incremental steps toward healthier living.  Best wishes for a healthier life!

Enjoy the Journey!

More Programs to Transition to a Plant Based Diet

I don't remember how I got acquainted with the Green Smoothie Girl website and book.  I believe a friend may have introduced me to it.  All I know is that I love Robyn's site and the work she is doing to help people get healthy.  I used her book and how-to info when I first was increasing my raw food intake.  I never looked back after I  began making green smoothies.  Robyn Openshaw also has a great program to help those interested in transitioning to a plant based diet- 12 Steps to Whole Food Eating.  She has recipes and guidelines for a gradual transition over the course of a year.  Her programs includes 550 recipes to help someone achieve a mostly raw diet(60-80%raw).  She does allow for a small percentage of animal based foods, I believe it consists of less than five percent of  the eating plan.  Again, she has testimonials of people who have been written off by their doctors.

Since I have mentioned green smoothies I feel like I should also mention the Boutenko family.  They also have books on green smoothies with how-to videos on youtube and great sources for getting well.

 I want to share an excellent cook book I use to prepare food for my family.  Although my husband and children are eating much more raw food today than when I first started this journey, they still aren't as “raw”as I am.  This book is Ten Talents by Frank and Rosalie Hurd.  I love this book!  It is chock full of useful  nutritional information, instructions on proper food combining, recipes for baby foods, smoothies, non-dairy milk, whole grain bread, healthful entrees, salads and desserts...shall I continue? They also include some raw food recipes and sprouting (one of my favorite topics).  Ten Talents was originally published in the 60's and has had a long successful run.  The Hurds had every intention of hanging up their hats and retiring but requests kept coming in for a new edition to their book, so by popular demand they have published again.  Vegetarian times and North American Vegetarian society both endorse this book  The Library of Congress has requested it to be transcribed into braille.  Not bad for what seemingly was a mom and pop endeavor!  They have produced a fine collection of delicious recipes and have helped many achieve excellent health.

Lastly, I would like to mention Markus Rothkranz and his site.  He also has a lot of information for those wanting to go completely raw.  His trailer is very inspirational but has parts that are...um, let's just say that they are really corny! Shh!  Don't tell him I said so!  View trailer here.

If you are clicking on a youtube link, please  right click and open in a new window.

 Enjoy the journey!

A Program for Transitioning to a Plant Based Diet

I am a book person. I love them, read them when I can, collect them and revel in them. So naturally I am going to refer you to books, lots of them. Please, check them out at the library or bookstore before purchasing them.

I want to introduce you to some programs that have helped people switch to a healthier diet. Is it easy? It probably won't be at first. Taste buds are a curious thing. They can run your life and keep you addicted to foods that in essence are shortening your life span. If you decide however that you will make the effort, you can retrain your taste buds to appreciate foods that you may have shunned to this point. You will be able to achieve sustained weight loss for the long haul. You will be able to prevent or even reverse disease. Eat To Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D. is a fantastic program especially designed for people needing to improve their health quickly. In the process, people experience improvements in many other areas of their health and lives as well. Dr. Fuhrman treats thousands of patients each year and he also has countless testimonials of people who, once crippled by disease, are free and able to enjoy their lives once again. What I appreciate is that this book has the science and studies to back up his claims. Dr. Mehmet Oz, and many other distinguished physicians endorse this book and highly recommend it.

Dr. Fuhrman discusses how the Standard American Diet is killing millions of people each year. Yet, people do not want to change their diet, but would rather take a pill so that they can continue living and eating the way they would like. He states that Americans are overfed and malnourished. Because their diet is so depleted of nutrition, people continue to be hungry and continue to eat their high fat, processed, carcinogenic foods.

He also debunks all the diet fads that are so popular because they cater to the American appetite for animals and animal products (e.g., milk, eggs, cheese, etc.). They don't work for long-term weight loss because they do not solve the problem of malnutrition and if they do cause weight loss, they can double your chances of getting cancer (e.g., Atkins Diet). There is a correlation between meat consumption and developing cancer as well as many other diseases. The higher the consumption of meat, the higher the incidence of disease. Show me one country that consumes high quantities of meat and has zero or low incidence of disease. You won't find it!

The solution? Consume large quantities of phytonutrients: fruits, nuts, vegetables, whole grains, legumes in as close to their natural state as possible. Eat as much raw food as you can. Get rid of processed foods, They aren't good for you.

Dr. Fuhrman has two six week programs with simple recipes in his book. One is a more aggressive program and the other is less so. They both yield phenomenal results. You won't even have to starve yourself; you can eat to your heart's content. Soon, because your body is receiving all the necessary nutrients, you will find that you won't get as hungry for food as you did before. Dr. Fuhrman also has a website, blog, and a clinic which you can check out if you would like to be treated by him.

More programs and cook books to follow!

Enjoy the Journey!