5 Simple Strategies for Avoiding Food Ruts with Gluten Free Raw Foods

When you decide to start eating a gluten free, allergy avoidance  or raw foods diet for healthy weight,  strength and stamina, and to help your body heal from chronic health challenges, it can seem overwhelming.  There are new foods to experiment with, comfort foods you’re not really happy about letting go of and all new ways of preparing and timing your meals to get all the nutrients you need and avoid the toxins that are making you ill.

Stay tuned over the next few days for several blog posts and the announcement of a free teleseminar to offer give you lots of strategies about how to eat, what to eat and how to deal with cravings for the foods you’ve created an emotional attachment to.

For today, I’d like to address strategies to keep you from getting into a rut around your food choices.

It’s so easy to become overwhelmed when making diet changes. You may feel that there’s nothing familiar left to eat, start eating lots of fruits and salads or packaged foods that claim to be nutritious, and then start to feel frustrated and unfulfilled.  I know how it is…I’ve been there.

Over the years of working on my own eating habits and counseling thousands of patients and students on optimizing their own health, I’ve developed strategies that have helped a lot.  SO I thought today I would share 5 of them with you.

1- Everytime you go shopping, choose at least one food you’ve never made or tasted before.  Then check your recipe
books or do a web search and and choose a recipe you’ve never made before that features the new ingredient.

If you do this a couple of times a week, you’ll soon develop a repertoire of satisfying recipes that you can make quickly and easily.  I have several good recipe books in the shopping area of my website if you need inspiration.

2- Make friends with herbs and spices.  You can capture the essence of a particular type of ethnic cuisine my liberally sprinkling your food with seasoning blends.  I like to purchase pre-made mixtures for convenience to use when I am short of time and create my own when I’m less busy.  I’ve made my own seasoning blends using tried and true combinations of ethnic seasonings and added extra punch and nutrition by grinding kelp powder and adding hemp seeds.

3- Purchase a dehydrator and learn to make your favorite comfort foods in healthy new ways.  You can still eat bread, cheese and crackers, cookies and chips on a health supporting diet.  You just need to learn new techniques and have a selection of tried and true recipes to follow.  A dehydrator allows you to make delicious comfort foods from vegetables, herbs spices, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains and fruits.

I’ve spent the last year putting together two amazing products that teach you just how to do this step by step.  There’s an e-book with over 250 pages of detailed instruction plus over 160 recipes and a DVD set with recipe guide and laminated charts that shows you every step of the way.

You can get on the early notification list by going to www.DriedandGoneToHeaven.com

4- Experiment with food combinations you wouldn’t ordinarily think about doing.  I recently discovered that I love mango with avocado and a pinch of cayenne.  It couldn’t be easier to fix and it tastes divine.  Just yesterday, I blended some coconut butter (whole organic coconut flesh blended into a cream) with vanilla and poured over frozen cherries.  The coconut hardened on the cherries and it was like eating candy.

5- Attend food preparation classes regularly to get new ideas and learn new techniques.  It’s helpful to find classes taught by people with lots of experience.  You’ll benefit from their vast years or even decades of experimentation and perfecting their technique.  If you can’t be there in person, attend online.

About a month ago I discovered that there’s is a huge demand for high quality food preparation classes. We had over 100 attendees worldwide attend our Bread Making class last month…and it was announced within only 2 weeks of the start date.  We’re expecting even more participants for our upcoming series.

We’ll announce the entire lineup of classes tomorrow when the website is completed.  In the meantime, check out
our “Thai Food Goes Raw” class and learn to make delicious, nutritious recipes that are so satisfying and aromatic,
you’ll be making them all the time.

http://www.drritamarie.com/videoclasses/thaigoesraw

The class will be held in Austin Texas and broadcast over the internet.  As a participant in either the in person class or the online broadcast, you’ll get access to the high quality videos after the event is over and a pdf format e-book of the recipes, complete with a photo of each recipe.

The price of the videos will go up as soon as the class is over, so even if you can’t make the live call, you’ll be able to watch the videos and get started making the recipes right away.

It’s so exciting to teach these classes, and I’m priveleged to have on my team two amazing chefs, Karen Osborne, a graduate of Living Light Culinary Institute and Pamela Weems, trained by me as a certified Alisa Cohen Living on Live Foods chef and instructor.

The Thai Raw Food menu is amazing!  check it out at http://www.drritamarie.com/videoclasses/thaigoesraw

In my over two decades of coaching and consulting patients and training people in the art of whole fresh foods for optimal health, I’ve found the the most profound changes to health come from the power of your fork.  What you put in becomes the building blocks for your fit, trim, comfortable and joyfully present body, mind and spirit.

Eating wholesome nutritious foods does not have to be boring.  Get out of your food rut and enjoy the foods that are rebuilding your body into an amazing vessel of love, health and joy!

Love, Health and Joy to YOU,

Dr. Ritamarie

My Raw Food Diet: A Hot Date with Myself on a Thursday Night

I’m at a conference in Boston for the weekend and stuck at the airport hotel without a decent raw vegan meal in sight.  Of course I have my staples…seeds, fruits, dehydrated crackers and green powder.  I even have a few celery and carrot sticks and a refrigerator to store it all in.  But as I looked at the 3 days ahead and the dwindling food stash, I decided to venture out and see what’s hot in the Boston raw food scene.

Unfortunately the two restaurants I managed to find were a $50 cab ride or 2 trains, a bus and a shuttle away so I moved to plan B…I rented a car for the evening!  I found a $23 economy car and off I went.

I took myself to an incredibly charming place called Prana Cafe, In Newton, a couple of towns away  just west of Boston.

My meal was delicious, the staff was charming and super friendly, and I met a very nice couple who had just discovered raw food in April and were enjoying a date.

I’ll let my photos speak for themselves.

I started with a Creamy Blueberry smoothie made with fresh  coconut and dates.  I had them add kale!

Next I had a red pepper soup, deliciously seasoned and loaded with sprouts.

For an appetizer, I had nori rolls.  The “rice” filling was turnip and coocnut and they were filled with fermented wax beans, avocado and watercress.

My entree was a buckwheat crust pizza, topped with pesto, cashew ricotta, mushrooms and a variety of veggies.  It came with a house salad with a light vinegrette dressing.

Finally, I splurged and tried a sundae with vanilla and cinnamon pecan “ice-cream” .  The “ice-cream” was made with cashew and coconut, sweetened with dates and used irish moss as a thickener…which also cut down on the fat and added the nutritional benefits of sea vegetables.

Woops…i got so excited about eating the sundae that I forgot to take a picture.  Take my word for it…it was beautiful.

There was far too much food for me to eat, so I took some back for lunch.

I stocked up from their take-out area and my refrigerator is now filled with yummy meals.

My hot date with raw foods  was an event to remember

Love , health and joy to you,

Dr. Ritamarie

Adrenal Fatigue: Tips to Restoring Your Energy and Your Health

Do you ever wake in in the morning, even after a long night of sleep, only to feel sluggish and wishing you had another few hours to rest?

This is one of many signs of adrenal fatigue.

Adrenal fatigue is a common condition in our fast paced, stressed out society.

Your adrenal glands are your body’s mechanism for responding to stressful situations.  In the olden days, this meant getting chased by a tiger or dealing with severe cold without shelter or proper clothing.

Fortunately for us, tigers and lack of clothing are not problems we deal with on a regular basis.

Unfortunately we have our own modern day tigers, and they chase some of us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Modern Day Tigers that Stress Your Adrenals

• Deadlines at work?
• Juggling kids schedules with your own?
• Worry about the economy?
• A sick parent or child?
• An unreasonable boss?

Whatever it is, the response is similar to a real tiger chasing you.  Your adrenal glands step into action and do what they do best…shift you into what is often called “fight/flight mode”, and in scientific terms, “sympathetic nervous system dominance”.

In hyper vigilant adrenal state, your heart rate increases, your respiration quickens and the blood supply to your brain and vital organs decreases and is sent to your extremities…so you can run away or fight.

In addition, your digestive track activity decreases and the sphincters– the valves between sections of the digestive tract– tighten.  This is to protect you from needing to use the bathroom in the middle of running away from or fighting a tiger.

Translate this into modern life.  If you find yourself stressed out and worried quite a bit of the time, you increase your risk of indigestion, constipation, gas and bloating as well as heart and circulation problems due to prolonged increased heart rate.

Oh, and I forgot to mention.  In fight flight mode, your sex drive goes away, too.

Doesn’t help to be having lustful thoughts when you’re trying to get away from that tiger.  On a biochemical level, the same chemical molecules that make the adrenal hormone cortisol, which gets elevated under stress, are also needed to make estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, all needed for libido and reproductive function.

Another problem with cortisol is that in excess it can cause damage to your mitochondria, the energy producing mechanisms in each of your cells.  Cortisol also damages your hippocampus, the part of your brain that helps with short term memory.  Ever walk into a room, only to forget what you went there for?  That’s likely because your hippocampus has been impeded by the cortisol you produced when you were stressed out.

Yikes!  SO if this is you, what can you do to fix things?

In my over two decades of clinical practice, I’ve seem many cases of adrenal burnout and the damages caused by chronic stress.

Fortunately there are actions you can take reverse the damage and repair your adrenal glands.  But if you keep getting stressed out, you’ll be a lot like a hamster on a wheel….working hard but never getting anywhere. Repairing your adrenals and transforming your response to stress take some time and retraining, and the transformations you experience when you do can be miraculous.

3 Tips for Combating Adrenal Fatigue

1- Learn stress management and stress transformation techniques. One of my favorites is called Heart Math, and uses a combination of deep breathing, focusing on your heart and feeling appreciation.  It completely changed my life.  I did a 90 minute stress transformation teleseminar a couple of years ago that guided the participants through the process and the response was dramatic.

2- Nourish your adrenals. Did you know that 80% of the vitamin C used in your body is used by your adrenal glands?  Excessive stress depletes your vitamin C stores and can lead to allergies, poor wound healing, easy bruising and increased susceptibility for colds, flu and other infectious disease?  Your adrenals also use lots of B vitamins, especially pantothenic acid and B6.  That’s why a lot of B complex formulas are called Stress formulas.  Eating a whole foods, high raw, high green diet will ensure you have adequate intake of nutrients to maintain your adrenals when they are brought back to normal;however, when you’re in the mode of recovery, supplementation is often needed.

3- Support your body’s detoxification systems by periodic cleansing. Face it, eating on the run, making even occasional poor food choices and being stressed out impair your liver’s ability to do it’s job of cleansing.  One of my favorite ways to cleanse my body is with green  smoothies. Even though I eat really healthfully, exercise on a regular basis, and do my Heart Math exercises daily, I’m not perfect.  I still get stressed out sometimes, I’m exposed to toxins and I eat on the run more often than I’d like.

I personally do a Green Cleanse at least quarterly by taking a week off eating and just drinking green smoothies or juices for 7 days.  I am always amazed at how much more energy I have when I do this.  That’s why every 3 months, I lead a group green smoothie cleanse.  I have hundreds of success stories from people who feel they got their life back after a green cleanse.  This time around I’ve added a new component – daily interactive journals.  The details about the cleanse, go to my Green Smoothie Cleanse Website.

If you’ve already done a green cleanse or a short cleanse and are ready to take it to the next level, I suggest you do a deep tissue detox like my Six Week Deep Tissue Detox or something similar.

Bedtime and Wake-up Rituals for Adrenal Fatigue Support

One last tip for rebuilding your adrenals – create supportive bedtime and morning rituals that re-establishes
your circadian rhythm. Here’s a starting set that I recommend to my adrenal fatigue patients:

1. Shut off all electronics within an hour of bedtime.
2. Eat your last meal within 3 hours of bedtime.
3. Fill a 16 ounce glass with pure water and the juice of 1 lemon and put it by your bedside.
4. Find 3 things to appreciate before you fall asleep.
5. Find 3 things to appreciate before you get out of bed.
6. Drink the water as soon as you get up.
7. As soon as you get up, go outside and get 5 – 15 minutes of sun, even if the sun is not out.  Face in the direction of the sun and sip your water.

Get going on these habits, cleanse regularly and master the Heart Math techniques and you’ll soon be bouncing out of
bed in the morning with vim, vigor and enthusiasm for life.

I hope to meet you soon on a green smoothie cleanse.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

A Quick And Easy Raw Food Living Green Meal- A Great Boost for Adrenal Fatigue

I’m often asked, “How do I eat more greens? ” and told  ” Raw foods recipes are so time consuming to prepare.”   Take a look at my latest video and see just how easy it is to get a nutrient dense green raw living food recipe made in under 3 minutes…and with no cleanup!

What’s your favorite healthy fast food?  comment below.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

Green Smoothies vs Green Juice, Fruit Friend or Foe, and Other Controversial Topics

Green Smoothies have been my friend for close to 25 years now.  My daily smoothie habit is a part of my life, just like brushing my teeth.  When Dr. Brian Clement spoke here in Austin earlier this month, he brought up a very controversial issue…Green Smoothies vs Green Juices.  He flat out said that green smoothies were “a step above soft drinks” because 90% or nutrients are lost through oxidation  when the fruits and vegetables are blended.

I personally have a hard time with this.   Nutrient destruction can occur as a result of damage by heat, light and air.   The amount of damage is a function of severity and  It is generally accepted that nutrients begin to be damages when heated above 118 degrees F.   I have not found any studies that confirm this.  In fact there is quite a bit of evidence that refutes this.

First of all we need to define what we mean by nutrients.

1. Macronutrients: nutrients consumed in large amounts , ie protein, carbohydrates and fats.
2. Micronutrients: nutrients consumed in small mounts , ie vitamins, minerals, enzymes

Not all are similarly sensitive to oxidation.  Take minerals for example.  You can leach them out with prolonged heat, but its hard to destroy calcium by blending.  In fact, calcium becomes more available after blending because ti’s released form the cell walls, a feat ordinarily accomplished by stomach acid – which becomes deficient as we age and abuse our bodies.

The smoothie vs juice debate is a hot topic these days.  Her’s an excerpt from an excellent article written by Kevin Gianni of Renegade Health.  Kevin gave me permission to reprint it .  Thanks Kevin.  You saved me some precious time.

There are 5 important issues to address when discussing the Green Smoothie vs Green Juice debate, according to Kevin.

1. Oxidation
2. Fiber
3. Sugar Content
4. Available Nutrients
5. Ease of Making them.

Number 1: Oxidation

It’s said that high speed blenders can oxidize your nutrients so that when you drink a smoothie you won’t get the health benefit of it.

This is why you should drink juices instead.

This is false.

Victoria Boutenko did a study using potatoes in a blender and in a juicer and found that the potatoes in a blender oxidized much more SLOWLY than the potato juice.

• Fiber actually protects the smoothie from oxidizing quickly.
• Juices should be consumed right after you make them for the highest nutrient profile.
• Twin gear juicers like the Tribest are best for slowing the oxidizing process when you juice.  (Sold  in the Renegade Health store)

So the bottom line is this…

Smoothies oxidize slower, which means you will be able to preserve more nutrients for longer.

For oxidation, we like smoothies best.

Number 2: Fiber

Don’t we need fiber to prevent heart disease?

Why would we take the fiber out when we make a juice?

These are good questions.

First off, we do need fiber… but if we’re eating a high raw diet we’re getting plenty of fiber.  Your body won’t miss the fiber from the juice.

Why take the fiber out of the juice?

For fast absorption (and maximum) of the nutrients.

A juice to me is like a power-packed supplement to your regular healthy diet.

For fiber, the smoothie has more, but the juice has a different purpose.

Number 3: Sugar Content

For sugar content, if you’re using fruits and sweet vegetables for your juices and smoothies you’re going to get sugar.  Most people can deal with moderate amounts of sugar in their diet for an extended period of
time.  (Higher sugar for shorter periods)

Because there is fiber in your smoothie, your body will absorb the sugar slower.  This is good for your pancreas. When you juice fruit, you take away the fiber and this can cause your pancreas to struggle to regulate your blood sugar.

For this reason, I recommend smoothies with sweet fruits and veggies and juices with greens and low  glycemic fruits like lemons and limes.  This way you can enjoy your fruits without blood sugar spikes and enjoy a nice, clean green juice!

Just to recap, smoothies contain more fiber, don’t oxidize as fast, and allow for slower nutrient absorption.

Juices have less fiber, oxidize quicker and allow for quick absorption.

Now again, this doesn’t mean that juices are bad, they just have  their place.  We use them as we would a supplement.  Drinking an organic vegetable juice is an opportunity to get great nutrients and minerals straight into your system.

4. Available Nutrients

When you juice a veggie, you strip away all the fiber.  This makes  the nutrients extremely available for your system to absorb. When you blend a veggie, you break down the fiber making the nutrients easier to absorb, but you still have a bunch of fiber that will slow absorption in your intestines.

For sugary foods this is ideal.  For greens it’s good too, but not as good as a green juice.  When it comes to readily available nutrients, juices take the lead.

5. Ease of Making Them

Smoothies hands down on this.  Put your ingredients into a blender  and turn it on.  Cleaning with a blender is simple too. Rinse it out a bit, add some water and soap, then put it back on the base.  Turn it on for a few seconds, then use a sponge to clean out what’s left.

Juicers are harder to clean because they have more moving parts.

To get the best of both worlds, you can use your blender to make juices.

Add your juice ingredients to the blender, add some water, and blend.  When you’re done, strain everything through a nut milk bag and you have your juice ready to go.

http://www.renegadehealth.com/smoothieweek

Check out Kevin’s Smoothie Wee Specials…1/2 off Kevin’s  “Smoothies for Optimal Health” book, and discounts on Kev’s Super Smoothie Powder.

For the second topic, Fruit friend or foe,  we’ll continue tomorrow.

Bottom line:  enjoy your smoothies and have juice too, for a powerful nutritional boost.

For a super powerful nutrition and energy boost, check out our Green Smoothie Cleanse as part of our  “Drink Green Stay Lean”  Coaching Program.

Love, Health and Joy to You,

Dr. Ritamarie