Raw Food Recipes for Gluten Free Diet and Healthy Holidays

Eating a gluten free diet and making raw foods recipes during the holidays need not be difficult.  You especially need not feel deprived.

Here’s one of my favorite  raw food recipes for gluten free gingerbread cookies, taken from my book Healthy Holiday Traditions.  Before I switched to a gluten free diet, high raw foods and greens, I would bake gingerbread cookies and have lots of fun shaping them into people of various sizes and shapes.

This recipe results in raw vegan gluten free cookies that taste even better than the baked kinds.

I’ve given you two versions to try.  If you have a food dehydrator, I recommend you try the first recipe.  They come out warm and fragrant.  If you don’t have a dehydrator yet, the freezer cookies are great too. I’ve even included a recipe for a creamy frosting to top the cookies with and decorate as you choose.

Additional gluten free raw foods recipes for healthy holidays are in our new book “Dessert:  Making it Rich Without Oil”, Sweets for the Holidays online videos and Healthy Holiday Traditions e-book.  All are available for immediate download.

Enjoy and have a happy, healthy  holiday.

Gingerbread Cookies – Dehydrated

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almonds, soaked overnight and rinsed
• 1 cup walnuts, soaked overnight and rinsed
• 1/4 cup raw date paste (see recipe below)
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 2/3 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/3 teaspoons cloves
• Pinch sea salt
• 1/2 – 1 cup shredded coconut

Directions:

1. Combine almonds, walnuts,  and date paste with salt and spices in food processor until well combined.
2. Knead the coconut a little at a time into dough. Use between ½ and 1 cup – as much as it takes to result in a rollable dough.
3. Roll or press dough onto paraflex sheets and use cookie cutters to make into desired sizes of gingerbread people.
4. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for a few hours until the cookies are firm enough to remove to mesh sheets.
5. Flip onto mesh sheets and dehydrate for another 8 hours or to desired texture.
6. Make a variety of colored frostings and apply using pastry bag and various tips.
7. You can also decorate cookies with dried fruits, nuts, seeds, or coconut.

Variations:

• Eliminate spices and use raw cacao powder to make chocolate cookies.
• Use a variety of cookie cutter sizes and shapes.
• Form cookies into rounds instead of using cookie cutters.
• Shape cookies by putting dough into a cookie press.

Creamy Cookie Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cashews or macadamia nuts (or half and half)
• 1/3  cup water, or coconut water
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup date paste
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth and creamy.
2. If  too thick, add just a tad more liquid
3. Use dehydrated fruit powders and spirulina to pigment the frosting.

Date Paste

Many recipes that use liquid sweetener can be made with date paste instead.  It’s easy to make and keeps in the refrigerator for at least a week, if not longer.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dates, pitted
• ½ cup water

Directions:

Blend ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth.

Alternative:

Soak the dates in water for 20 minutes.  Then blend the dates and the soak water in a food processor until smooth.  You may need to add a little more water.

Holiday Indulgence Without the Guilt

Whenever I break out of my sheltered world of health conscious people who eat organic whole foods and use natural products to clean their clothes, homes and bodies, I am reminded of just how much work is left to do to educate the masses about the importance of diet and environment on our health. As a nation we’re obese, sick and for the most part unconscious. We’re fueled by sugar, caffeine and artificially flavored and colored manufactured consumables that don’t deserve to be labeled food. In spite of a seemingly raised awareness of the role of our daily choices on the state of our health, there are still huge segments of the population that hasn’t a clue.

As a part of some seminars I’ve been investing in to improve my ability to more fully service my tribe of health seekers, I was asked to identify my mission in life. My mission was described as the far reaching and BIG impact that I yearn to have on the world. I was told that it needs to be big enough that it is unlikely to be reached in my lifetime, yet throughout my life, my day to day actions contribute to the its fruition.

I spent a lot of contemplative time exploring my inner crevices to determine what my mission is. After some deep soul searching, here’s what I came up with.

“My mission is to end needless pain and suffering from lifestyle related diseases. These include “The BIG Three”, cancer, heart disease and diabetes” as well as so many others.”

As the flight attendant came around and asked if I wanted to purchase a meal and described the choices, I realized that another mission, a step if you will on the path to the big mission, is to facilitate the creation of a world where whole, fresh organic food is the ONLY choice on airplanes, fast food restaurants, private homes and all other places where food is available.

Imagine a world where EVERYONE returned to eating only real whole food. Imagine no temptations, no pressure to eat processed food from well meaning yet misguided friends and family members. In such a world, there would be vibrant health, compassion, joy and true peace.

As we head into the holiday season, I’d like to offer a suggestion to you IF you’d like to enjoy vibrant health, powerful energy and joyful interactions throughout this season of celebration. Do this exercise only if you’d like to wake up on January 1 in a body that you love – a comfortable, energetic body that is at or on the way to your ideal body weight.

Sit down in a comfortable place with pencil and paper and make a list of all the foods that you associate with your enjoyment of the holidays. Rate each on a scale of -5 to +5. Foods that are negative have a negative impact on your health, positively numbered foods have a positive impact on your health. The larger the number the more positive,. The more negative the number the more harmful the food. An example of a -5 food is anything containing hydrogenated o heated oil, such as margarine or many commercial pie crusts and snack foods. Foods that qualify as +5 are foods that are very nutrient dense, like green juice and sprouts. Make a commitment to yourself to only eat foods with positive numbers.

It’s quite possible that you can find or make variations of your favorite negatively rated foods that would rate as positive.

We’ve created a class called “Healthy Holiday Feasts: Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Living Foods versions of Traditional Holiday Favorites” to provide you with the tools you need to create delicious and satisfying versions of traditional holiday favorite that you can enjoy without guilt and with the assurance that this year you’ll sail through the holidays with your waistline in tact and wake up on New Year’s Day feeling energetic, strona anf on your way to a phenomenal year, without the need for soon to be broken New Year’s resolutions.

We’re excited to offer the class as a webcast as well as a live and in person one, and to make the high quality videos available afterward. These videos will nicely round out your holiday recipe collection.

In a few short hours, you could be learning recipes like eggless egg-nog, turkeyless turkey loaf, potatoless mashed potatoes, cranberry relish, pumpkin pie and more. The pumpkin pie is a new lighter, lower fat version of the one in my book “Thanksiving Feasts” book and it tastes just as delicious.

Whether you’d like to create a complete Thanksgiving feast or simply replace some of your old favorites with healthier gluten-free, vegan living foods versions, you’ll learn lots of tips at the class. And you’ll be giving yourself the best gift of all this holiday season – the gift of health!

Learn more and sign-up at

http://www.drritamarie.com/videoclasses/holidayfeasts2010-11

On the web, in person or on video afterward, this class is a winner.

In love and gratitude,

Dr. Ritamarie

Holiday Feasts cover

Sugar, Freedom of Choice and Whole Foods

A recent comment to my blog post “Whole Foods is Promoting Junk Halloween Treats” http://drritamarie.com/blog/2008/10/31/whole-foods-is-promoting-junkhalloween-treats/#comment-27 prompted me to clarify my stand on the Whole Foods  and sugar issue.  I shop at WF all the time, and they do carry lots of quality foods, especially at the raw bar downtown.  It’s the most convenient place to get organic produce,  and while I’d prefer to go to the Farmer’s market for all my food, it is not an option.  However, to clarify, the sugar they use is not necessarily organic, and certainly no better than any other sugar.  The sugar in the cookies today was not organic.  Neither was the flour.  It was unbleached, but still refined, meaning NO NUTRITION.

What I object to is that they sell these products to unsuspecting consumers who believe that they are healthy BECAUSE they are at Whole Foods.  They may be new to the health front, and have no experience reading labels.  They TRUST Whole Foods to bring them only health supporting foods.

I’ve known for years that these products were there.  The bakery at whole foods is almost all refined flour products.  I think there may be one bread that is 100% whole grain.  I’m not sure what prompted me to speak up today, but a voice inside said “enough already.”

Someone commented that if Whole Foods took a stand and stopped carrying products with sugar in them that they’d lose customers.  While I find this hard to believe, it could very well be true.  I’m not asking that they stop carrying them.  If they want to satisfy a small segment of the population that expects to be able to buy sugar and refined flour at whole foods, it’s fine for them to carry these products, as long as they are labeled as such.  Perhaps a “transitional foods” aisle, with a disclaimer “These foods contain ingredients that have been shown to have health risks associated with them.   Please read the labels and make an informed choice”

I’m tired of watching people be deceived at the expense of their health.  The Halloween products were not just sitting on a shelf, they were being actively promoted to people who may not have even noticed them had the display not been there.

Maybe I’m naive, but I believe that if enough of us take a stand and let our voices be heard, we can facilitate change.  Thanks for listening to my rants.

If you’d like to be notified whenever I post to the blog, please subscribe by using the links in the far right column.

Love and health,

Dr. Ritamarie

Learn to make healthier Halloween choices:  http://www.FreshnFunLiving.com/Halloween

Transform your health with the magic of green foods.  Get my FREE ebook at http://www.GreenFoodMagic.com

Whole Foods is Promoting Junk Halloween Treats

Whole Foods Halloween Madness

I just got back from Whole Foods and I’m fired up.  There was a lady at a display right at the front of the store with plates of pretty Halloween cookies on display.  She was offering samples.  As I walked past, she offered me one.  Normally I just say no thanks and walk on, but I was compelled to stop and read the ingredients.  After all, I’ve spent the better part of this week writing and talking to people to educate them about the dangers of the Halloween treats that are being pushed on us this week.

White flour, sugar, butter, eggs and other colors and flavorings were being pushed by a health food store called Whole Foods.  Whole foods …let’s see.  Last time I read the definition of whole foods there was something about nutrients intact, as nature created the food.  These treats are total junk.  Yet, the unsuspecting consumer, shopping at whole foods and paying the higher prices, is expecting to get value and health PROMOTING food.  Most of them don’t read the labels.  They just assume that the product is healthy because Whole Foods is selling it.  WRONG!

I explained to the pleasant looking woman offering the samples that I was disappointed that Whole Foods would be promoting such food.  I read the ingredients to her and explained that this was not good for people and that Whole Foods should not promote foods that contribute to the demise of the immune systems of all who consume it.  She just stood there and nodded her head and smiled at me.  It was infuriating.  She didn’t even engage me in the least.  No…”Wow, I didn’t realize”, or even “Well, at least there’s no hydrogenated oil in them”.  She just stood there patronizingly smiling and nodding her head.  She didn’t want to hear a word I said.

I checked out and paid for my groceries, and a little voice in my head told me to go to customer service and let my opinion be known.  The pleasant customer service representative paged a manager to speak with me.

The manager was a youngish, long haired, very nice looking gentleman, and I thought that I’d have a sympathetic ear.  He listened and told me that all the ingredients met the store’s standards.  We got into a discussion about those standards, and I explained my concern for the health of our kids.  I explained to him that a Nobel Prize was awarded to Otto Warburg linking sugar to cancer. http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/nutrition/sugar.htm .  I talked to him about the immune system, and how sugar and white flour contribute to heart disease, cancer, autoimmune disease, colds, ear infections, ADD and autism.  I explained to him that I could probably talk about the dangers of eating those cookies for 3 hours and not be complete.

He explained that there was nothing he could do, and besides, there are no clear cut nutrition guidelines that all agree on.  He explained that they want to give people choices.  I managed to get him to give me the name of someone higher up in the organization to speak with about my concern.

Let’s do a grass roots effort and let Whole Foods know how we feel.  Call Margaret Wittenberg at 512 477-5566 and tell her how you feel about white flour sugary cookies being sold as healthy Halloween alternatives.  You can also mention the gummy drops they sell, in which the first ingredient is corn syrup.   Stop by your local store and ask them why they are selling immune system enemies masquerading as pretty, healthy Halloween treats.

Inform yourself.  Come up with alternatives for yourself and your families.  In my book, Healthy Halloween Treats I have lots of recipes that are quick and easy to make and taste great.  I also have a list of sources of packaged treats that support health rather than destroy it.

Make your voices known.  I don’t know about you, but to me the incidence of childhood cancer, immune system diseases and brain dysfunction amongst kids these days is alarming.  It’s all preventable.  Let’s do something today.  Offer your kids and yourself healthy Halloween treats and learn Halloween recipes that support vibrant health.

Please let me know your thoughts.  Let’s get a discussion going around this issue.

Love and Health,

Dr. Ritamarie

www.FreshnFunLiving.com/Halloween

Halloween Treats: 3 Simple Strategies For Avoiding The Tricky Health Attack From Halloween Treats

It’s only 2 days away.  The media is hyping it.  The stores have several aisles devoted to displaying the colorfully disguised immune system bullets masquerading as Halloween treats.

Do you have any idea what happens to your immune system when you eat candy?

Sugar suppresses the immune system.  A suppressed immune system is ineffective at killing bacteria and viruses that can potentially harm you.  A suppressed immune system can’t stop the growth of cancer cells.  The equivalent of one 12-ounce can of soda can reduce the ability of white blood cells to kill germs by forty percent and the effect lasts for five hours.

Here’s what’s about to happen in just a couple of days.  Kids across America will don scary costumes and walk the neighborhood begging for candy.  It doesn’t sound so cute when stated that way, does it?  They walk door to door and threaten a trick if the nice person inside doesn’t give them candy.  Have you ever wondered where this odd custom derives from?

By the time they make it home, most kids have eaten more candy than in the 12 ounce coke I mentioned above.  Then they come home, go through their loot and eat some more, along with some hot chocolate or soft drinks.

No wonder why Halloween heralds in the “cold and flu” season.  Illness rises, doctor visits soar and focus plummets during the weeks after Halloween.

There are some awesome visuals that go into more detail about the immune system at www.leavesoflife.org/media/ImmuneSystem.ppt

Here are 3 simple strategies for avoiding the health destroying effects of Halloween treats

1) Don’t give out candy.  Instead, go to the dollar store or the party supply store and buy small toys, cute pencils or scary erasers.  One of my patients said she loves to give away books.

2) Create new fun rituals that don’t revolve around candy.  Learn about the meaning behind Halloween, and take time to honor and celebrate your departed ancestors.  Play games, tell scary stories and take some of the focus off the candy.  Have your kids trade in their candy for prizes.

3) Learn to make or find sources of ready made healthy, whole food treats. There are many such recipes in my new book  “Healthy Halloween Treats: Quick, Healthy and Delicious Recipes and Rituals to Delight Kids of All Ages” .  There is also a list of online sources of a variety of nourishing and delicious treats.

Why not have fun this Halloween, without destroying your immune system?  How much is it worth to you to protect your health and the health of your loved ones?  Is the pleasure of a few seconds on the tongue worth having your immune system paralyzed for hours and days afterward?

Happy Halloween.