Raw Foods Summer Recipes and Raw Vegan Wedding Food

This weekend was a raw foods eating extravaganza.   It started on Saturday with a raw foods vegan wedding and ended with my monthly raw foods potluck on Sunday.

Have you ever attended a raw foods wedding?  I hadn’t before yesterday.  It was wonderful.

Not only was the ceremony a beautiful expression of love and commitment in a breath-taking setting overlooking the lake, the food was an amazing spread of delicious and beautiful delicacies.

We started with light appetizers before the ceremony.  The center attraction was the “jalapeño poppers”, tiny jalapeno peppers stuffed with a cashed cream and “breading” of crushed nuts.  Our beverage was delicious cucumber-lime water. They were delicious.

Along with the stuffed peppers was an array of veggies with delicious southwest dip.

The bouquets included lacinato kale and rosemary along with the flowers.

For dinner we enjoyed spring rolls, stuffed with romaine lettuce, carrots, jicama sprouts and a delicious sauce, along with stuffed pesto mushrooms and zucchini pasta.

The desserts were over the top.  2 multi layered chocolate cakes, with raspberry filling, fudge balls stuffed with cherries, key lime pie, chocolate covered strawberries and brownies.  I decided to go for it and try a piece of each.  I haven’t felt that stuffed in a long time.

The potluck this evening was a blend of swimming and relaxing, delicious light summer food and an inspiring and informational health talk.

Those that arrived early soaked and swam, or sat around the pool chatting.

The food was extraordinarily elaborate and delicious.  We had a variety of cole-slaw like creations, sauerkraut, spring rolls, and all sorts of salads.  Dessert was over the top.  I made peach pie, and banana coconut cream pie.  I can’t believe I forgot to take pictures of them.

The talented Karen Osborne, raw foods chef and instructor,  who made the raw desserts for yesterday’s wedding brought one of the chocolate layer cakes minus one piece.  Someone made brownies that were the talk of the evening and another made 2 beautifully decorated date nut torte.  3 OR 4 fruit bowls rounded out the dessert counter.

After dinner, we gathered in my living room and I lead a health talk.  Our topics ranged from traveling, eating in restaurants, setting goals, and strategies for sticking to the diet and lifestyle habits that support health.  We also talked about thyroid issues, gluten free diets, smoothies, fasting and detoxification.

We were honored to host a group of deaf raw food enthusiasts, who brought their own interpreter.  The interpreter said she loves coming to out potlucks because she learns so much!

Here are my pie recipes.

Crust:

• 2 cups almonds, soaked for 6 hours or overnight
• 1 cup pecans soaked for 4 hours
• ½ cup pitted dates
• 1 cup dried coconut

Process all in food processor until it holds together.

Press crust mixture into glass pie dishes.  This made one 7 inch and 1 9 inch pie.

Peach Mango Pie

• 6 large peaches
• 3 mangoes
• 4 dates
• 1 tablespoon psyllium powder (optional)

Directions

• Cut peaches into bite sized pieces and place in a bowl.
• Peel and pit mangoes and put flesh in blender with dates and psyllium.  Blend well until creamy.  Add a little water if needed.
• Add blended mango mixture to peaches and stir well.
• Pour mango mixture over peaches and stir well to combine.
• Place peach mango mixture in crust.  Sprinkle top with finely ground dried coconut. And decorate with sliced peaches.

Banana Coconut Cream Pie

• 4 bananas
• ½ cup coconut butter (Artisana)
• ½ cup water
• 4 pitted dates
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

• Slice 3 bananas and place in a bowl.
• Put 1 banana, coconut butter, dates, water and vanilla in blender and blend until creamy smooth.  Add extra water if needed.
• Pour mixture over bananas and stir well.
• Place banana coconut filling in 7 inch pie crust.
• Sprinkle top with coconut and vanilla, and decorate as desired.

Do you have a favorite summer recipe to share?  Please post it below in the comments box.

Love, Health and Joy to You,

Dr. Ritamarie

Detoxification and Health: Overcoming Chronic Disease by Unburdening your Body

What would the world be like if we all felt good… all the time?

Its a wonderful fantasy.

War…gone

theft…gone

poverty…gone

We’d be left with joy, generosity, love, caring, beauty…..

If everyone felt good, there would be no need to hurt others, feel less than or engage in activities that are self destructive, other destructive or planet destructive. Everyone would be too busy enjoying life to bother with hurtful activities.

When was the last time you felt really good? I mean REALLY good…as in jumping for joy, full of energy, bursting with love?

It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of the moment and lose track of whats really important.

The Cancer Toxicity Connection

A recent guest on my Blog Talk Radio Show was Dr. Brian Clement of Hippocrates Health Institute. We talked about cancer, and the primary cause of cancer, namely a breakdown of the immune system as a result of exposure to toxic elements in food, water, environment and emotions. If you missed the show, you can listen in here: http://www.drritamarie.com/go/ClementInterview

Less than half an hour later, I was interviewed by Tera Warner of the Raw Divas on the subject of detoxification. The calls tied in so well together.

All effective cancer management needs to include detoxification. According to oncologist Thomas Lodi in Arizona, the first step in cancer management needs to be “Stop Making Cancer” by stopping the activities, foods, exposures and thoughts that cause cancer to get out of control. The next step is “killing” the cancer cells.

Western medicine has a distorted approach. The therapies that are aimed at killing the cancer with no attention to building up your body’s natural defenses are doomed to failure. It’s like a race to see if they can destroy the cancer before the treatment destroys you.

Regular detoxification is a great way to cleanse and restore immune function and thus can help prevent cancer. In addition, regular cleansing programs lead to more energy and overall health improvement.

Most health complaints that I come across in clinical practice result from a body out of balance. Your inborn detoxification systems are designed to handle the “normal” toxic exposure – from your metabolic processes and a few environmental things that sneak in. Our modern world has become so overwhelmed with toxic exposure. The food supply is poisened with pesticides and fungicides and other toxins that are damaging to your immune and nervous systems. Drinking water is treated with chlorine. The air is filled with car exhaust, factory fumes, and outgassing from the myriad of plastics and chemicals used in paints, cleaning products and a long list of other “modern conveniences”

With all the exposures, your natural detoxification mecahnisms become overloaded, and the chemicals that should be neutralized and eliminated get caught in the backlog and are recycled and stored in your precious cells. The result? You don’t feel so good!

Symptoms of Toxicity

Symptoms of body toxicity include skin rashes, depression, difficulty focusing, digestive problems, sinus congestion, headaches, “brain fog”, hormone imbalances, autoimmune disease and persistant weight gain that doesn’t seem to respond to calorie restriction.

When I was in my 20′s I suffered from many of these symptoms. You can read my full story at www.sixweekdetox.com

After my first cleanse, I was on cloud nine. Symptoms I’d experienced for decades began to melt away and I became more clear headed and energetic than I’d ever dreamed possible.

To learn more about the benefits of detox, listen in on my interview with Tera Warner .

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If you’d like to experience the profound changes that detox can bring, join us for the next 6 week detox program. You’ll be guided step by step through the process of reduciing toxic exposure, restoringn and rebuilding digestive function, and enhancing your liver’s ability to neutralize and eliminate stored toxins. The result? You’ll feel lighter, more energetic and emotionally balanced than you ever thought possible. We’re startign the preparatory phase of our 6-Week Deep Tissue Detox on Monday!

http://www.sixweekdetox.com

As a special bonus for new members

4 audio recordings and e-book transcripts

1- Candida and Leaky Gut

2- Unlocking the Gut-Brain Connection Behind Brain Fog, ADHD, Autism, Depression and more

3- Hormones, Thyroid Imbalances, Weight Gain & Water Retention

4- Understanding Environmental Sensitivities & Allergies

The special bonuses we’re offering on this call are for new registrations only. After May 17th, they will no longer be offered again for fr.ee.

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Join the Six Week Detox Program:  www.sixweekdetox.com

Love, health and Joy to you,

Dr. Ritamarie

WISH: Detoxification to Support Adrenal Exhaustion, Low Sex Drive and Digestive Issues: Sleep and Fun are Important Components

Detoxification and cleansing programs are in the news, on the health food store shelves and talked about now in casual conversation. They are said to cure everything — adrenal exhaustion and chronic fatigue,  sluggish thyroid, depression, decreased sex drive and even cancer.  Seriously, you’ve probably heard about detoxification over and over…yet do you have a clear understanding of what the process is all about? There are powders and potions, and olive oil liver flushes and lemonade diets that have become popular, yet what really is detox and why is it important?

On my interview for the Women’s International Summit for Health (W.I.S.H.) I discuss the process of detoxification, it’s importance in hormone balance, digestive health, energy, sex drive and every other function your body does for you.  Learn how to support your body’s natural detoxification mechanisms daily and when to engage in a special program.  If you haven’t already listened in, you can sign up at Women’s International Summit for Health (W.I.S.H.).

If you’ve already listened to the call, you know that we decided to do a Women’s 3 day mini green detox program.  It’s short, easy and powerful.  And you don’t need any special equipment or potions to make it happen.  All you need is a blender, some fresh, raw leafy greens and some fresh or frozen fruit.  Are you ready to begin?

To start, download my FREE e-book “Blended Greens for Health and Longevity”.  If you’ve already participated in my powerful 7 day Green Smoothie Cleanse, you can use your Green Cleanse Recipe Guide, with over 50 delicious smoothie and soup recipes.

Here’s what to do:

Preparation for 3 Day Green Cleanse and Detoxification Program

Download “Blended Greens for Health and Longevity” or search the web for green smoothie recipes.

Join in on the Raw Divas 3 day green smoothie mini course for day to day email support.

The essence of the program is to do the following for 3 days

• Drink Green smoothies and green soup all day long, as much as you’d like and as much as you need to keep you satisfied.
• In addition to the green smoothies, you may eat one or two large salads, loaded with greens and rainbow vegetables and fresh whole fruit.
• For Dressing, you can keep it simple by blending cucumber, apple and fresh herbs, or blend tomato,celery and lemon juice, or tomato, mango and lime juice, or red bell pepper, tomato, lemon or lime and herbs.  Or, make up your own simple blend – it’s easy.  You can also get the e-book  70 Healthy Salad Dressings Recipe Book, a collection of  easy, low fat  and tasty salad dressings you can make in less than 2 minutes.  For the 3 day cleanse, choose dressings that contain little or no added fat for best results.

You’ll soon be feeling lighter, cleaner and clear-headed.

If you like how you feel, who knows, you may decide to keep it going a little longer, or may even decide to join on my next green cleanse.

Comment below if you’re joining in.  Make a commitment to yourself and to thousands of women across the globe.

And also join in the ongoing 30 Day Sleep and Fun Challenge.  Every day, we’re posting our commitments to health supporting activities that we’ll do that day.  It helps keep you on track.  Take a look through previous days posts to see the kinds of things people are accomplishing.

So what do fun and sleep have to do with detoxification?  Lots!  Fun changes your chemistry, decreases internally produced stress toxins and frees your liver to more effectively detox.  The WISH call talks more about this.  And sleep is master at helping you to cleanse.  While you sleep, your detox mechanisms are going full steam ahead and cleaning you up from the days debris.  Between the hours of 11 and 1, your liver is especially active at detox, unless you’re still awake.  Then you get hungry because of the increased metabolic fire that’s intended for detox. So sleep, especially before midnight is very important for cleansing

My challenges lately have been not taking enough time for fun and sleep. That’s why I started this challenge.  I’m making progress, but as you’ll see below. I’m not perfect yet.

My report card from yesterday:

1- bed by midnight - I had so much to do with the WISH summit, Balance My Body Program and private client follow-up that I missed my deadline and made it to bed by 1:30am.  Still, a lot earlier that I’d been doing before this challenge started.  Progress, not perfection is my motto.  The important thing is my awareness is there and I am not unconsciously staying up too late.  Plus I feel so energetic at midnight.

2- running in the sun - it rained here so running up and down stairs was the best I could do

3- 15 minute fun break - my fun was creating a kelp noodle lunch!

4- 2 quarts green smoothie - this is easy for me by now.  I love my green smoothies

My commitments for today

1- get out for a run in the sun (its sunny again)

2- finish writing a chapter in my new book

3- bed by 12:30 – I am being realistic here…knowing what needs to be completed

4- Green smoothies only ’til dinner

Are you joining the 3 day green detox challenge?  What are your goals?  What are you committed to today?  Comment below and be sure to sign up here to be notified whenever I post a new article here so you don’t miss anything.

Subscribe to Dr. Ritamarie’s Creating Vibrant Health Blog

Love, health, joy and happy green detox to you.

(how appropriate that we begin on Saint Patrick’s Day, the day of the green.)

Dr. Ritamarie

Walking Meditation: Alternative Support for Adrenal Fatigue

I work a lot with women who are burned out, stressed out and bummed out.  Their adrenals are exhausted from over-stress.  Their thyroids are underactive, their bowels are hyperactive and they can barely make it through the day without their coffee fix.  For these busy women, adding an hour a day of meditation and a yoga class 3 times a week to manage stress was just not realistic.  As a result, I’ve had to seek out alternative methods of keeping my patients stress levels down.  One of the most intriguing methods I’ve come across is walking meditation and labyrinths.

Dr. Liz Alexander, the author of The Magic of Labyrinths: Following Your Path, Finding Your Center is an expert in labyrinths. She’s shared with us a wonderful introduction to the benefits of walking meditation and the power of labyrinths.

An Alternative Means of Meditating:  The Magic of Labyrinths

by Dr. Liz Alexander

You’re probably already aware of the many health benefits associated with meditation, a practice that has become increasingly popular as more yoga studios and spas have helped to promote its physiological, psychological and spiritual effects. From reducing anxiety, depression and stress to alleviating insomnia and pain, from enhancing concentration and self-confidence to boosting the immune system, there appear to be few health issues that regular meditation cannot influence in some positive way. But what if, like me, you find it difficult to sit still? This is where finding—or even building—a labyrinth can be invaluable.

With its history buried in the mists of time and mythology, the labyrinth symbol is found in cultures throughout the ages as a representation of life’s journey. Unlike mazes which were built as challenging puzzles that are hard to navigate successfully, labyrinths have a single pathway that winds in various patterns to the center. From the mouth of the labyrinth, all you have to do is follow the path–the same route that takes you both in and out.

As the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh explains:

“Walking meditation is meditation while walking. We walk slowly, in a relaxed way, keeping a tight smile on our lips. When we practice this way, we feel deeply at ease, and our steps are those of the most secure person on earth. All our sorrows and anxieties drop away, and peace and inner joy fill our hearts. Anyone can do it. It only takes a little time, a little mindfulness, and the wish to be happy.”

In many ways walking a labyrinth, engaging in ritual and going on a secular pilgrimage are one and the same. Many people find that their meditative journey walking a labyrinth provides them with the same calming, reflective, health-boosting benefits as sitting or lying down to meditate. That is undoubtedly why many hospitals, churches, and spas have included labyrinths in their grounds. The beauty of labyrinths is that, unlike more passive forms of meditation, they can inspire you to be totally authentic.

For example, Nicholas Halpin, responsible for the 36 feet diameter Chatres-pattern canvas labyrinth at Dundee University in Scotland, discovered that de-stressing can take different forms–all of which can be accommodated by walking the labyrinth. While most people choose to walk slowly, as described by Thich Nhat Hanh, others will skip, dance or even run around a labyrinth. “After all, a meditative state takes lots of different forms, according to different needs,” says Halpin. While slow, deliberate steps may enhance mindfulness and reflection, navigating the labyrinth in a fast way can help kick-start your creativity or give a much-needed boost to your circulatory system. The choice is yours. Now, doesn’t that sound more appealing than sitting still?

You can find a labyrinth near you by accessing the World-Wide Labyrinth locator, a database of labyrinths around the world.

Dr. Liz Alexander is the author of ten nonfiction books, including The Magic of Labyrinths: Following Your Path, Finding Your Center (written under her former name of Liz Simpson), published by HarperCollins in 2002. Also known as The Book Doula, she works with would-be authors to creatively conceive, grow, and birth books that help them leave a legacy and use this promotional tool to boost their business, service, or subject-matter expertise. www.bookdoula.biz.

Taking Care of YOU – Slow Down and Enjoy Each Moment to Protect Yourself from Cancer

It’s been a week to remember and all the messages I’ve received all week were “slow down” and “take care of yourself”.

A couple were obvious…others more subtle.

I don’t consider myself a tired person; quite the contrary.  My energy seems almost without limit.  I sleep very little, am constantly on the move and I get a lot accomplished.  Yet a nagging voice in the back of my mind has been wondering if I may be causing some hidden damage to myself by sleeping so little.

On Wednesday evening I ran into to technical challenges with the teleconference for Week 3 of my Balance My Body Blueprint course.  I had a slide presentation ready to go, and was all set to launch into new territory.  The technical challenges prevented participation on the web, where more than half my students participate.  So I decided to do a question and answer segment.  It was just the right thing to do.  I was able to answer lots of questions, and even helped a few people to determine the probable cause of long standing health challenges.  Wow.  Slow down.  Most people were not ready to jump into what I had planned.  They were perfectly fine with slowing down and getting their questions answered.

On Thursday, I was moving quickly through my kitchen, and caught my slipper on a door stop.  It sent me flying through the air and I landed hard on the tile floor. My left arm hit first, and it hurt so badly that I immediately thought it was broken.    While I had lots of plans for the rest of the day and the next, I spent most of the time in bed, icing my arm and resting.  Slow down.  It took an injury to get me to get a good night’s sleep.  It’s recovering nicely now, as evidenced by the fact that I can type today.  Yesterday I could barely hunt and peck with one hand.

I’m getting small messages, and I’m taking them to heart.  Better listen to the soft calls than to wait for a big one.

Earlier this week I received the sad news that a dear friend had died of cancer.  She was a young woman, in her forties, and she’s survived by her husband and four children.  The children are young.  Her oldest  is about the same age as my youngest.  And now they are without their Mommy, and the world will no longer experience the joy of Anna’s sweet, kind heart and loving and giving nature.

I’ve experienced the loss of a loved to cancer several times over the past 5 years.  And while the importance of diet and detoxification are high on my list of cancer prevention techniques, Anna’s death forces me to really look at the bigger picture.

Anna was a raw food enthusiast. I met her at an Alissa Cohen Teacher training.  She was the founder of Purely Delicious magazine.   She was excited about sharing what she learned about the health benefits of raw and living foods with the world.  Still, she got breast cancer.  Sure, her diet wasn’t perfect, and we can point fingers at her imperfections, and blame them for her cancer.  Yet others, many of my family members included, eat way less “perfectly”  than Anna did, and use toxic home and body care products and drink tap water, and they don’t have cancer…yet.

The sad truth is that almost 50% of us will get cancer. Perhaps not  all will die as a result, yet it’s an alarming statistic nonetheless.

While it may be easy for skeptics and critics of the living foods lifestyle to use Anna’s story as an excuse to just let it all go and eat whatever they want, it’s important to look beyond, and continue to hold the utmost respect for the value of high antioxidant, unrefined, whole fresh plants as a vital element in keeping you healthy.

I could quote from all sorts of research right about now, and try to convince you from an intellectual level of the importance of diet in protecting you from cancer, yet I’d rather speak to you from my heart. It’s easy to hear Anna’s story and become fearful, and doubt your choice to lead a healthy life and eat a healthy diet.  The truth is, there’s a big picture here.  And many of its parts are a somewhat mysterious.

Cancer is always caused by exceeding your body’s ability to detoxify and repair. Cancer starts almost daily in just about everyone, and is quickly thwarted by an intact immune system and a working detoxification system.

The choices you make daily effect your ability to detoxify and thwart cancer before it takes over. Those include the quality and quantity of the water you drink, how much sunshine you get on bare skin, your movement, your thoughts, your feelings – fear and judgment create a breeding ground for cancer–how much fun you have, how much deep restful sleep you get, the quality of the air you breathe and of course, your diet.

There are so many  elements that determine your cancer risk…and your ability to be healthy.  Some may appear to be beyond your control:

1. Genetics: some of us were born with genetic variations, called single neucleotide polymorphisms, aka SNPs (pronounced snips), that make it difficult to detoxify our environment without a little extra help.
2. Your Mom’s Emotional State when she was pregnant with you. You may have been born with worn out adrenals and low cellular energy as a result, making you prone to cancer and other illnesses.
3. Your Mom’s nutritional status and toxic exposures while she was pregnant with you. If she was depleted, you were born with nutritional imbalances.
4. Early feeding:Whether you were breast or bottle fed and what your early solid foods were determine the state of your digestive tract and immune system.  Leaky gut and immune system problems can increase your risk of cancer and other illnesses.

Many people embark on a health journey and address a single aspect.   I see many living foods diet followers who don’t exercise, or stay indoors all the time, or push themselves hard and don’t sleep enough (like me).  It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that the good food can compensate for shortcomings in the others, but very often it cannot.

It’s time to look at the big picture.  Sometimes just eating a healthy diet isn’t enough.

As a mother of 4 and editor  and chief cook and bottle washer for a quarterly publication, Anna had no time left for herself. Even after she found out she had breast cancer, she continued to put others first, until she had to slow down.  Unfortunately, it was too late for Anna.  She opted for chemotherapy and radiation out of fear and perhaps desperation.

Most likely one or more of the early factors were at play with Anna.   Yet, in spite of your genetics, early exposures and maternal environment,  you can do what it takes to give yourself the best possible healthy and happy life.  Once you identify the early factors that may be at play, through a combination of  family history and genetic testing, there are steps you can take to correct for the inborn and early deficits.

It’s important to take inventory of your life and self correct where you can.  If you’re not sleeping enough because you’re not going to bed at a reasonable hour (guilty as charged) then make a different choice.  If you’re not sleeping enough because you have difficulty falling or staying asleep, you might have a hormonal imbalance.  Adrenal imbalance and insulin dysfunction are the most likely culprits and they are both correctable.

If you have a lot of stress in your life (who doesn’t)  you owe it to yourself to master techniques for transforming the negative impact on your body to positive.

Enhance your body’s detoxification systems, harness the power of blended greens and drink your greens at least once a day.  Look for the positive and practice appreciation.  Get in touch with really matters to you, and make daily choices that are consistent with your highest good.

Take care of others, but not at the expense of yourself. It’s important to take time for fun and pleasure each day, even for just a few moments.

No one can predict the length of your life – that’s out of your control.  You can effect the quality of your life and decrease the likelihood of suffering as Anna did by making conscious and consistent choices to put your self first. Yes, you need to put yourself first.  It is only by taking care of your needs that you have the energy and ability to take care of others.  And if we all took better care of ourselves, there would be a lot less need to take care of others.

Love yourself. Slow down and have fun daily.   Choose happiness daily and allow good health to follow.

In memory of Anna Tipps, friend, Mom wife, daughter, teacher and kind hearted loving soul.  You will be missed.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie