One of the biggest challenges to creating new health-promoting habits is actually having healthful food that you enjoy on hand. How many times have I heard from people that early on in their raw food or plant-based vegan transition that they ran out of food and had to resort to preparing something else that happened to be on hand but wasn’t really what they wanted to make. They were hungry, maybe they just got home from work, or their family was wanting to have a meal soon. They didn’t want to go out shopping for fruits and vegetables, etc. so they just made something in their pantry left over from before they started eating healthier.
Can you relate?
Honestly, I hear similar stories even from people who have been on the path for a while, so if this is similar to your story, no worries. Please know that you’re certainly not alone.
How can this situation be handled? One answer is keeping your fridge and pantry stocked at all times if possible. Implementing this can take practice. Depending on what types of foods you like, whether or not they need refrigeration (like lettuce or other types of leafy greens), or need to be left out to ripen for a period of time (like rock-hard avocados) or can store well in a pantry (like sunflower seeds for sprouting), it may take a while to “get used to” eating this way. And that’s okay.
It took me some time to figure out how much of each type of food to buy and how long these foods would stay fresh versus how much of these foods I would eat and what recipes I would make.
It’s a lot to digest all at once. But in time I figured it out and it became just as second nature as meal planning in the before times. My most helpful strategy was to always have something delicious and easy to prepare on hand at all times. My new ‘staple’ foods which you’ll see in a lot of my recipes.
What kitchen planning success strategies have you developed? What are your favorite staple foods?
Day 6 of my top 30 for 30: Know that your social situations may change, especially when it comes to meals away from home. How do you handle social situations that involve food, such as going to a friend or family member’s house or a restaurant?
Here are some of the strategies that Rick and I have employed in such situations:
For a friend or family member, we have offered to bring a dish to share with everyone, which usually brings a happy sigh of relief from the host. And you may find that your dish is one of the first to disappear with lots of smiles and requests for the recipe!
If you are going to a restaurant with a group of people (such as co-workers or family members), you can suggest a restaurant where you know you can get a healthy dish.
If the group chooses another restaurant that you’re not familiar with, you can call the restaurant ahead of time to see if the menu contains some healthy items, and if not, you can see if the restaurant is open to special requests. During the past 30 years, we have found it to be progressively easier to find dishes we like at most restaurants.
Another useful strategy is filling up on healthy food before going out, so you can be assured that you will not be left with undesirable menu choices and a hungry stomach.
What matters most is what you eat consistently, day in and day out, not what you might consume once a month or a few times a year at various types of social gatherings. So, if you end up eating something that you wouldn’t normally, notice how you feel, without judgment, and get back on track the next day.
By the way, you can find the recipe for this raw pumpkin pie in our holiday recipes eBook that you can receive when you register for our email list.
Day 5 of my top 30 for 30: Know yourself. When I say this, I mean that is helpful to know what approach to dietary transition works for you, or worked for you. Are you the type of person who likes to jump in with both feet and go all out? Did raw food and/or veganism resonate so deeply with you that you transitioned overnight and never looked back? Or are you someone who likes to take your time to transition and give yourself the opportunity to let each step fully sink in and integrate into your daily life? Do you like to know all the facts first, come up with a solid plan, and then start? Or are you somewhere in between? Is your goal to be 100% raw or is it to be high raw or some other percentage?
I ask these questions because over the years, I’ve had many people share their transition experiences with me and a number have expressed that they wish they had done things differently or felt pressure to transition differently than they had.
It’s my thought that there is no one ‘right’ way to transition. One of the common threads I’ve seen in successful and long-maintained dietary transitions is that the person was happy with their experience. They considered the strategy that resonated the most with where they were at the time and started on the path. They minimized the influences painting a picture of what it ‘should’ look like in order to ‘work’.
They were true to themselves. Whether it took a day or a year or more time to transition.
For me, I was really motivated to improve my health with raw food and resonated strongly with the vegan message, so I went full in and figured the out details over time. This was quite a stretch for me given my normal tendency to approach situations more methodically. This being said, I was enthusiastic, ready to learn, open to making changes as needed, and happy with my overall transition experience and health outcome.
What was your transition like?
Welcome to my top 30 for 30! During the month of October, I am counting down the top 30 mindset and practical strategies that have made all the difference in my success for 30 years as a raw food plant-based enthusiast to help you on your path!
Day 4 of my top 30 for 30: When I first got started on my raw path over 30 years ago, there were not the food resources available we have today. I purchased my food at a regular grocery store because that was all that was available to me where I lived in the northeastern US and even though I did not have access to organic food at the time and didn’t have a wide variety of produce options then, my health improved dramatically.
It certainly can be challenging to eat healthy food consistently if it’s hard to find or if it is too costly. Rick and I have listed below several options for purchasing produce other than traditional grocery or health food stores:
1) Farmers Markets
One of the main benefits of farmers markets is that the food is grown locally, and tends to be fresher than food found in a store. At farmers markets in the area where we now live in northern California, organically grown or pesticide-free food is fortunately easy to find. Because the food is local and fresh, one may often find a much greater variety of produce compared to what is available in a store, where shelf life and transportability are major concerns that dictate availability. We look forward to each season to buy the freshest local food. For example, we love peaches and other stone fruit in the summer, and look forward to pomegranates in the fall and persimmons in late fall and early winter.
As you get to know some of the farmers at your local market, you can inquire to see if they would be willing to sell you larger quantities than the average consumer purchases, for a discounted price. Some will and some won’t. We have been fortunate enough to find some good sellers who know that we are raw food enthusiasts and will buy in quantity from them consistently if they offer us a good deal. As there are many other raw food enthusiasts in our area of northern California, many farmers are familiar with the benefits of selling in quantity.
You will tend to get especially good deals on items in season. This seasonal model works out as a double bonus as you get lots of high-quality fresh produce and at a great price. In the summer for example, we often eat a lot of raw zucchini with tomato-based dressing. Dr. Rick has been known to shred up 6-8 zucchini into a large mixing bowl which he tops with his favorite tomato dressing for dinner.
2) Wholesale produce markets
We have visited wholesale markets in both the San Francisco bay area and the New York metro area. We live in the SF bay area, so when we buy from our local wholesale produce market we buy enough food to last the two of us about 2 weeks. Why so much? The food available at wholesale markets is sold in boxes or cases. This works well for us because the produce is so fresh, that it lasts for often weeks at a time in our large-capacity dedicated refrigerator.
On average, we spend about 50% less on produce from the wholesale markets than we would spend on the same amount of food at a natural foods retail market or average farmers market prices. A good example is organically grown Romaine lettuce, which at our local farmers market and in a retail store in our area cost about $2 or more per head. In the summer of 2015, we paid $21 for a 24 head case of very fresh organically grown Romaine lettuce. This price does vary depending on the season. Sometimes cases of romaine may cost $40 or more, but the retail prices at that time are more like $3 per head. In 2020, these prices are similar. It is interesting to note that the romaine lettuce in retail markets are often much smaller than those sold at wholesale, because they are not as fresh and have had several of the outer leaves picked off. We have found that when we buy lettuce at wholesale, the heads are very large, since very few, if any of the outer leaves have been removed.
The wholesale markets we have visited often have a wide variety of produce, since there are many produce vendors who obtain their food from local, domestic, and international farmers. We really enjoy going to the wholesale markets because of the wide variety of food available, especially organic and locally produced. A very large percentage of the food that we eat is organically grown and local. This is one of the benefits for us of living in a major metropolitan area of California where we can access the year-round wholesale produce markets and farmers markets.
Wholesale produce markets are usually further away from home than local retailers, and often are open during overnight hours instead of during the day. While this can present some challenges, we have found it well worth the effort, as for the next two weeks or so we barely have to buy anything in a retail store, have fresher food, and save thousands of dollars per year. On the whole it is also much more convenient to purchase a car-load of food in cases, as opposed to having to run all of that food through a retail cash register. We would often find it a challenge to load up all the produce on the conveyer belt that was not nearly large enough for all of the food, and try to supervise the bagger not to damage any of the produce. At the wholesale produce markets, those issues don’t exist. You either carry the cases yourself, which is great exercise, or if you purchase larger quantities the sellers may bring your order on a pallet right to your car, as we have experienced. Everything is well-packed, protected, and easy to transport.
It is important to mention that wholesale produce sellers are often located in industrial areas with loading docks. It is sometimes very noisy with trucks and pallet loaders zipping around, so while shopping, we have to be constantly aware of our surroundings. We are fine with that, as it is well worth it on the whole to get large quantities of very fresh produce very conveniently at about half the price of retail. We are very fortunate to have Earl’s Organic Produce in San Francisco, where we know most of the people there at this point and have been “regulars” for many years.
We have spoken to some of our students who have considered purchasing food at wholesale markets, but think that cases of produce would provide too much food for them, so they have thought of starting:
3) Produce buying clubs
This strategy allows one to buy fresh produce in quantity with a group of people, who then share the produce. This can help keep produce costs down, while not having to buy individually in such large quantities. Dr. Rick started a produce buying club with a friend while in graduate school. They ordered produce for the group weekly and people would come over to their apartment and pick up their order on specified days. This model worked reasonably well, most of the time. Rick found that the biggest challenge was people in the group not picking up their produce at the specified times, and people would be coming over at times he needed to study. He did have a busy schedule between work and school, so the hours that he was available for pick up were somewhat limited. Also, although there was a minimum order, he had many people in the club who would buy small quantities such as a bag of raisins and a few apples, which meant more small transactions taking up a lot of time. Also, back in the mid 90’s, before the use of personal computers and the internet were widespread, there were a lot of logistics that made things a lot more complicated than they are today.
We think this model would work well for a small group of committed people with pick-up hours amenable to all group members. One could maybe even share the produce pick-up or delivery responsibilities. In the past few years, we have seen many examples of produce buying clubs that work well. We occasionally do some of this informally, such as when we buy a whole case of avocados, which is a lot for us. We’ll typically call some produce-based raw food friends and see if they would like to buy half the case from us. Another example is at times we have split a 20-pound case of dulse with one or more raw food enthusiast friends who live in our area.
4) Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Programs
In this type of program, one “buys in” to the harvest of a local grower or group of growers. Each week when the produce is harvested it is split up among the CSA members who pick up the produce at a specified time and place. This often results in being able to obtain the freshest and most local produce available. We have admittedly not taken advantage of any such programs in our area, as our other methods work well for us.
5) Costco and other wholesale clubs
We are delighted that Costco has been increasing its offerings of organic produce over the past few years. We often use Costco for produce purchases to “fill in” between trips to our organic wholesale supplier. We can buy for example some green and some yellow bananas for staggered ripening so we almost always have ripe bananas available to eat and use in smoothies. Costco also has an excellent selection of organically grown frozen fruit such as mangoes and berries for making smoothies. The prices at Costco are comparable to what we find at wholesale produce markets, often approaching half the price of retail natural food markets. When you don’t need an entire case of something, Costco can come in handy as well.
Other wholesale clubs are following suit so it may be worth checking out those in your area.
6) Mail order
There are times and circumstances that purchasing food through the mail may make sense. For example, buy organically grown sundried tomatoes through the mail from a company that has been around since before our early days of raw food eating. We use the sundried tomatoes in tomato-based salad dressings to add thickness and concentrated flavor. We like the tomatoes more and can get better prices than those that we were previously purchasing from our wholesale organic supplier.
Here is another tip that will interest some of you. Many of you have heard that raw almonds can no longer be sold at retail stores. However, you can buy raw almonds directly from farmers, including mail order. Although almonds are not a staple in our diets, we do occasionally enjoy them, and we have at times purchased a bag through the mail directly from a farmer who sells organically grown raw almonds.
Since we live in northern California, we take advantage of our year-round growing season and have our own:
7) Outdoor garden
We are so thrilled to be able to grow all kinds of food year-round in our own yard! Of course, since we live in northern California somewhat close to the coast, we do have some limitations. We can grow lettuce, tree collard greens, kale, and other leafy greens year-round. In the spring, summer, and fall, we can grow tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, and zucchini, sunflowers, Jerusalem artichokes, basil and other culinary herbs, grapes, and bell peppers, just to name a few. We also have fig, lemon, and lime trees. At some point we plan to plant a persimmon tree and other fruit trees that grow well grow here in this Mediterranean climate. Even though we can grow food year-round, some years we have experienced an occasional frost, so we are prepared with coverings for our most vulnerable plants. From mid-summer to early fall we often skip buying any lettuce, tomatoes, or zucchini as our garden supplies more than enough for us. We rarely ever buy collards as we have a consistent year-round supply in the back yard.
At various times, we have had an:
8) Indoor garden
In the past we have grown wheatgrass and sunflower greens indoors and we regularly sprout lentils and green peas. Admittedly, we go through phases with indoor gardening and our endeavors have been much more off than on, but whenever we grow food indoors we find it to be very rewarding. There are so many foods that can be grown indoors in small spaces. We have visited people who live in large cities and have very little space to grow food, but they have very successful indoor gardens. Indoor gardens can also be aesthetically beautiful while giving a space an ‘aliveness’ that plants can provide.
I (Karin) personally get great satisfaction from gardening, which started in childhood, when my dad involved me in planting and caring for the family backyard garden. From a young age, I had the experience of knowing how plant foods are grown and had a great appreciation for this process. We can only hope that many of you will give yourself and your family the opportunity to grow food, even if it is as simple as growing a culinary herb on a window sill.
9) Other food sources
Of course, there are also the obvious other places to buy whole natural plant foods such as local food co-ops, natural food restaurants, natural food markets, and the organic sections of regular supermarkets. Nowadays, there are so many options available in different areas. Check out the options in your area, or perhaps there will even be opportunities to create some of your own.
Even if you don’t take advantage of the methods above, eating a raw food diet in the modern world is still very feasible and extremely well worth it! For years we each, both before and after we became a couple, purchased most of our food from retail stores and that worked just fine for us. Freshness, greater abundance, and lower cost is great, but even at retail one can still make eating a raw food diet work in the real world. In other words, don’t let anything said here become the limiting factor in your pursuit of health.
Welcome to my top 30 for 30! During the month of October, I am counting down the top 30 mindset and practical strategies that have made all the difference in my success for 30 years as a raw food plant-based enthusiast to help you on your path!
Day 3 of my top 30 for 30: So far, we’ve talked about establishing a strong ‘why’ and getting clear on goals for creating lasting change. Another key I found to be super helpful when I got started on my raw path 30 years ago is organization. For me, this involved taking stock of the contents of my kitchen. I knew that I would need large bowls for vegetable dishes like salads, utensils, mason jars for drinks like smoothies and juices, a cutting board, a blender, a grater, a juicer/homogenizer for juices and banana ice cream (aka nice cream), and other items. Most of these I had already, or should I say that my parents did, since I was in college when I got started and was living with them for part of the year. I did buy some mason jars initially, and used some saved money to buy a popular-at-the-time juicer/homogenizer and some large mixing-sized bowls. I used my parents’ kitchen blender to make smoothies, that a super-enthused raw friend of mine referred to as ‘chunkies’ since the blender didn’t make the mixture completely smooth. This being said, the simple kitchen tools that I had worked just fine for me and didn’t own a dehydrator or a high-power blender until over 10 years later.
In the beginning, I also found that I needed some time to become familiar with the raw plant foods that were available in my area and how to prepare them. At the time, I was living in New England and it was winter. The fruits available were bananas, oranges, apples, pears, grapes, dried papaya spears, raisins, dates, and a few other choices. Available leafy greens included three different types of lettuce, spinach, and other greens that I had never tried, like kale. These and other day-to-day considerations that one needs to address when getting started with raw food became part of my own self-stylized transition that progressed as I became more educated. I made a shopping list of all the foods I wanted to try and thought of the whole experience as an exciting process of discovery. The produce department of my local grocery store was not a place that I had ever spent very much time so this was a completely different world for my 22-year old newly-empowered self.
The bottom line here is that my organization strategy consisted of determining what kitchen items I needed and then learning about and preparing very different foods than I was used to. I know these seem so simple and self-evident now, but back then, for me this was almost like stepping into an alternate universe with brightly colored food, exquisite flavors, and progressively improving health!
What organization strategies did you use when you got started on your raw food journey and how does this compare to what you are doing now?
Welcome to my top 30 for 30! During the month of October, I am counting down the top 30 mindset and practical strategies that have made all the difference in my success for 30 years as a raw food plant-based enthusiast to help you on your path!
Day 2: Yesterday we considered the importance of establishing a strong “why” for making a change, whether that is dietary or some other type of shift. From my experience, really getting clear on the reason or reasons for making a change has been both the strongest initially motivating factor AND the inspiration to continue when challenges arise. If you’ve made changes in your life that you’ve maintained, you know what those challenges can look like. The greatest challenges that I faced when I started adding more fruits and vegetables to my diet included: eating enough, keeping my kitchen stocked with healthy food, and the fulfilling the deep desire to expand my knowledge of nutrition and health. So, in order to address these challenges, I set some goals.
My biggest goal was to overcome the fatigue I was experiencing, which was also the source of my “why”. The rest of my goals supported this larger goal and addressed my challenges directly. The first being, eating enough to feel satiated. I noticed pretty quickly that I had to shift my thinking about portion sizes, which increased appropriately after this realization. Because of this, I found that I had to go shopping more often to keep my kitchen stocked with healthy food. Along with these, and other shifts in ways of thinking and being, I had this insatiable desire to learn more about everything health related, so I found myself reading and researching voraciously which led to more formal education.
I’ll be addressing everything I’ve talked about here and much more over the next few weeks as part of my top 30 countdown, so what I’ve covered here today is just an introduction. The unifying point here is that addressing and finding solutions to these challenges became goals for me. And they all supported the achievement of my initial “why”.
So, while you were reading this did you think of any goals, either official or unofficial, that you have considered for creating positive change that supports your health or otherwise?
During the month of October, I am counting down the top 30 mindset and practical strategies that have made all the difference in my success for 30 years as a raw food plant-based enthusiast to help you on your path!
Day 1: When I got started on my raw food and plant-based journey 30 years ago, I was looking for an answer to the progressively increasing fatigue that I had been experiencing for the previous couple of years. At that time, it wasn’t unusual for me to sleep more than 10 or more hours per night and still wake up feeling like I needed more sleep to feel good. The healthcare providers that I saw didn’t have an answer, so I was going to have to find a solution myself if I wanted to get better.
I started reading and researching different healing systems, which led me to a whole food plant-based dietary approach, which helped improve my fatigue. But when I learned about and implemented a raw food diet my energy soared far beyond the impressive improvements that I experienced by eating a largely cooked whole food plant-based. Long story short, my fatigue vanished along with a variety of other symptoms I had for years and I had more energy than I knew what to do with. I could not remember a time when I felt better! I started to look healthier and slept better. I enjoyed exercising and my digestion improved.
The natural skepticism that I had about raw food and changing my diet to an approach that seemed “extreme” to me at the time started to melt away as my health improved. Making the switch to a plant-based diet was easy, but moving to raw food was much more of a paradigm shift for me.
But I made the change because I really wanted to see if my health would improve. I was motivated. I was committed. I had a strong enough “why”.
I’ve found from this experience and many more that commitment and having a strong “why” is one of the biggest factors for success with anything in life, including dietary change.
It’s certainly not news that there’s been a lot of conversation in the health community for some time about the importance of probiotics, prebiotics, and microbiome health. In fact, we have been teaching about these topics for more than a decade in our Science of Raw Food Nutrition series of classes and our Mastering Raw Food Nutrition online and interactive program. We also created a webinar (see below for the video replay of it) to share with you our latest findings on this topic.
So, what exactly are probiotics? Simply stated, they are microorganisms with studied health benefits that can live in our digestive tract and compose our intestinal microbiome.
The most well-known probiotics include the bacteria lactobacillus acidophilus, bifidobacterium bifidum, and many more that have been studied and have become popular recently. Probiotics start to populate our digestive tract upon birth and establish a mutually beneficial relationship with us.
It’s important to understand the health benefits of probiotics, but there is one piece of the microbiome puzzle that is often omitted from these health conversations, which has to do with how to keep these important organisms viable in our GI tract.
How do these probiotics stay alive?
One important consideration is food. But what type of food is consumed by probiotics?
Do probiotics prefer the same types of foods that humans do?
The answer to this question, is partially yes. Because the preferred food of probiotics is certain types of fiber, which we as humans don’t digest or use as a food source. But many of the plant foods we consume contain these certain types of fiber preferred by probiotics.
Fiber that can provide nourishment for probiotics is referred to as prebiotic fiber or prebiotics.
Probiotics prefer certain types of fiber, but not all types. The one of the most plentiful types of fiber we find in whole plant food is called cellulose. Cellulose is composed of glucose molecules hooked together by bonds that cannot be broken down by our digestive system. In other words, the glucose in this fiber is not digestible or usable by us as humans because it is bound in the fiber complex, so it passes through our digestive tract largely undigested.
Here’s what cellulose looks like:
As you can see, cellulose is composed of a series of glucose molecules hooked together by bonds that are not digestible by humans.
By contrast, the fiber preferred by probiotic bacteria is composed of fructose molecules instead of glucose. We can’t digest this type of fiber either, but probiotic bacteria can digest it and it is their preferred food.
Here is an example of a fructose-based type of fiber:
Instead of glucose molecules hooked together by bonds, prebiotic fiber is composed of fructose molecules hooked together by bonds.
This type of fructose-based fiber would include both fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and inulin. There are others too, but we’ll focus on FOS and inulin in this article. These are two of the main types of prebiotic fiber found in plant foods.
Now, what exactly are FOS and inulin? They are each composed of fructose molecules and the difference between them is in the number of fructose molecules they each contain. FOS are composed of 2 to 10 fructose molecules. Some sources say 2 to 9. If we look at the term ‘fructooligosaccharide’ we see the fructo- which means ‘fructose’, oligo- which means ‘few’, and saccharide- which means ‘sugar’. So essentially, FOS are a type of fiber or undigestible sugar composed of few fructose molecules hooked together by bonds.
By contrast, inulin is composed of over 9 or 10 fructose molecules linked together by bonds.
Probiotics break down FOS and inulin into fructose and free fatty acids. The probiotics can then use the fructose as a food source. Because these prebiotics are probiotics’ favorite food, this creates a microbiome profile in favor of the probiotics. Additionally, the abundance of probiotics helps to keep the less desirable organisms in check.
What happens to the free fatty acids the probiotics produce?
They form into short chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
There are 3 short chain fatty acids, butyrate, propionate, and acetate, each of which has beneficial properties.
Butyrate, also referred to as butyric acid, is used by the cells of our large intestine (colon cells). Propionate or propionic acid can be used by the cells in our liver. Acetate or acetic acid can go to fuel peripheral tissues, such as our muscles.
Now that we’ve laid the foundation, here is the big question: where do we get the prebiotics FOS and inulin?
The good news is that FOS and inulin are found in more than 36,000 plant species.
Some examples of rich sources of FOS and inulin include: artichokes, leeks, shallots, jicama, dandelion greens, bananas, and many more. Even popular raw plant foods such as carrots, lettuce, raspberries, watermelon, and oranges as well as many others also contain prebiotics in smaller amounts as we’ll see shortly.
Is there an official recommended amount of prebiotics to consume daily? Because this is such a newly emerging field of study, there are no set US DRIs (Dietary Reference Intakes) for prebiotics. Researchers have been studying varying amounts for general health and therapeutic benefits. The research on prebiotics is an exciting work in progress and I’m looking forward to more in the coming years contributing to and clarifying what is currently known.
Even though we do not have a daily value for prebiotic fiber, we do have established DRIs (specifically Adequate Intakes – AIs) for total fiber:
25 g for women (21 g over 50 years of age)
38 g for men (30 g over 50 years of age)
To put these numbers in perspective, most Americans get around 15 g of total fiber per day. Standard western diets tend to be lower in fruits, vegetables, and whole plant foods in general so this number is not surprising. People on ketogenic and other types of low carbohydrate diets, which usually end up being low fiber diets, are likely not consuming this level of prebiotics either. Self-evaluation of one’s dietary approach would help determine where one stands on prebiotic intake.
Getting back to our conversation about prebiotics specifically, here are some foods that are especially rich in prebiotics: bananas, dandelion greens, and Jerusalem artichokes (also known as sunchokes).
Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) from our garden
Here is the FOS content of certain foods. There are a number of foods that have been measured for prebiotic content, but many more that have yet to be measured. Hopefully more will be known in years to come.
It’s interesting to see the FOS and inulin content of individual foods, but what does the prebiotic content look like on a raw or plant-based meal plan. Here is an example of a couple of meals (not everything) that I ate on one particular day a couple of summers ago. On this particular day, I went for a long run, so that’s why I had a large fruit smoothie:
3 oranges ¼ cup blackberries ¼ cup raspberries 1 cup mango slices 3 cups kale 2 bananas
And here is the salad I had on that day. On many days it can be even larger than this:
2 cups dandelion greens 10 cups lettuce 1 cup carrots 1 cup cucumber 1 green onion 3 tomatoes 1 date 1 tablespoon chia seeds 1 tablespoon tahini Juice of one lemon
The prebiotic content of these foods is at least 4.6 grams. The reason I say at least is because many of these foods have yet to be measured for prebiotic content, so given what has been measured, we can expect to find at least 4.6 grams of FOS and inulin in these foods and most likely more. However, the 2 cups of dandelion greens and 2 bananas were not included in the original calculation of the 4.6 grams, so when we add in the bananas and dandelion greens we actually see a total of at least 21.1 g of FOS and inulin! That’s amazing! This shows us that plant foods can provide a notable amount of prebiotic fiber and that certain plant foods like dandelion greens and bananas are extra-rich sources of these prebiotics.
As we can see, whole natural plant foods provide these and other beneficial types of fiber, which is just one of the many health benefits derived from eating whole natural plant foods.
What about the total fiber content of these foods?
Total fiber content is 61.1 g from these foods alone!! This is much higher than the average American intake of 15 grams of total fiber per day and the DRIs for total fiber.
For some added perspective, I usually eat more than this in a day so my total fiber intake is even higher than this.
And the information in this article is just the tip of the iceberg on probiotics, prebiotics, and raw food and plant-based nutrition!
The video of our webinar on this topic has additional information and explanations (see below). The information on prebiotics starts at around 16 minutes and 35 seconds and ends around the 30 minute mark. You can also learn more about us and our class Mastering Raw Food Nutrition by watching before and after these points.:
References and Research:
Brownawell AM, Caers W, Gibson GR, et al. Prebiotics and the health benefits of fiber: current regulatory status, future research, and goals. J Nutr. 2012;142(5):962-974.
Campbell J, Bauer L, Fahey G, Hogarth A, Wolf B, Hunter D. Selected Fructooligosaccharide (1-Kestose, Nystose, and 1F-β-Fructofuranosylnystose) Composition of Foods and Feeds. J. Agric. Food Chem. 1997;45(8):3076–3082.
Davani-Davari D, Negahdaripour M, Karimzadeh I, et al. Prebiotics: Definition, Types, Sources, Mechanisms, and Clinical Applications. Foods. 2019;8(3):92.
Kelly G. Inulin-type prebiotics--a review: part 1. Altern Med Rev. 2008 Dec;13(4):315-29.
Lloyd-Price J, Abu-Ali G, Huttenhower C. The healthy human microbiome. Genome Med. 2016;8(1):51.
Markowiak-Kopeć P, Śliżewska K. The Effect of Probiotics on the Production of Short-Chain Fatty Acids by Human Intestinal Microbiome. Nutrients. 2020;12(4):1107.
Moshfegh AJ, Friday JE, Goldman JP, Ahuja JK. Presence of inulin and oligofructose in the diets of Americans. J Nutr. 1999;129(7 Suppl):1407S-11S.
Niness K. Inulin and oligofructose: what are they? J Nutr 1999; 129 (7 Suppl): 1402S – 1406S.
Slavin J. Fiber and prebiotics: mechanisms and health benefits. Nutrients. 2013;5(4):1417-1435.
Van Loo J, Coussement P, de Leenheer L, Hoebregs H, Smits G. On the presence of inulin and oligofructose as natural ingredients in the western diet. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 1995;35(6):525-52.
Vyas U, Ranganathan N. Probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics: gut and beyond. Gastroenterol Res Pract. 2012; 2012: 872716.
We get a lot of questions about what we eat, given that we have been on this raw food focused plant-based path for decades each, which is one of the many reasons why we share some of our raw creations here on our blog, on Instagram, in our free recipe eBooks, and elsewhere.
In fact, this week is my 30 year raw-anniversary, so in celebration I made one of my favorite recipes: raw tacos with salsa. Interestingly enough, we rarely create complicated recipes since after 30 years on this path each, we tend to enjoy simpler combinations of whole natural plant foods.
But finding some heirloom tomatoes in late January, which for us is a rare find at this time of year, inspired us to create heirloom tomato salsa.
Here are the ingredients in our Heirloom Tomato Salsa recipe:
Equal amounts of Cherokee purple and a non-specified variety of red heirloom tomatoes (about 2 of each)
Several chopped sprigs of cilantro (amount added to taste)
1 – 2 chopped green onions (optional)
Fresh squeezed lime juice added to taste
Avocado chunks added to taste
Our raw tacos are made with lettuce for the wraps, zucchini, sun dried tomatoes, walnuts, medjool dates, and paprika to taste. Sometimes we add some chickpea miso to taste as well.
Given how busy we are, it’s easy to make salads, dressings, smoothies, soups, etc. But once in a while, it’s fun to make more celebratory recipes like these tacos. If you sign up for our email list, you can receive our free Holiday (and everyday) Raw Recipe eBook for more recipe inspiration from us.
We love this time of year for so many reasons! The air is
cool and crisp, the leaves on trees are starting to change to beautiful golden
yellow and orange hues, the autumn light casts longer shadows as the days grow
shorter, and our garden is in full harvest mode.
In celebration of autumn, here is a fall harvest salad for
you!
This one has:
3 cups of dandelion greens grown in our backyard
¼ cup of basil grown in our garden (so aromatic!)
3 cups of heirloom tomatoes also grown in our garden
3 figs grown in our yard
2 cups of carrots
3 cups of cucumber
8 cups of Romaine lettuce.
Enjoy with the whole food raw plant-based dressing of your
choice!
And for those of you who love to know the nutrient breakdown (like I do!):
Salad
Adult DRIs
B1
0.72
1.1 – 1.2 mg
B2
0.73
1.1 – 1.3 mg
B3
5.26
14 – 16 mg
B5
2.40
5 mg
B6
1.10
1.3 – 1.7 mg
Folate
492
400 mcg
B12
0
2.4 mcg
C
137
75 – 90 mg
D
0
5 – 15 mcg
E
5.50
15 mg
K1
1041
90 – 120 mcg
Beta-carotene (mcg)
36,603
Vitamin A - RAE
3363
700 mcg
Lutein and zeaxanthin (mcg)
18,564
Not established
Calcium
439
1,000 – 1,200 mg
Iron
7.9
8 – 18 mg
Magnesium
180
310 – 420 mg
Potassium
2816
4,700 mg
Zinc
2.6
8 – 11 mg
One might say that this salad is nutrient dense, given its nutrient content per calorie. Vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, folate, C, E, and K1 are very plentiful, as is beta carotene, and lutein + zeaxanthin. This salad provides 43% of the DRI for calcium, almost 100% of the iron DRI for men and postmenopausal women, 44% of the iron DRI for premenopausal women, 58% of the magnesium DRI for women and 42% for men, 60% of the potassium DRI, and 32% of the zinc DRI for women and 24% for men.
Impressive numbers considering that this salad contains only 351 calories! For those of you who are curious, without the figs, this salad contains 240 calories.
It’s no secret that fruits and vegetables can play an instrumental role in the proliferation of beneficial bacterial species living in our intestinal microbiome. Our microbiome is the community of bacteria and other microbes living within our bodies.
A large percentage of the bacteria living in our gut microbiome are from
two major classifications known as Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes
(Jandhyala et al., Henning et al.).
Does diet have an effect on the
balance of these two types of bacteria?
The general
trend in the scientific literature shows that Firmicutes prevalence in our
microbiome is associated with a standard western diet (Henning et al.,
Glick-Bauer et al.), while Bacteroidetes has been linked to a more whole food-focused
diet.
So, what about plant-based or vegan
diets?
A member of
the Bacteroidetes classification known as Prevotella was found to be linked to
a whole plant food-containing diet (Losasso et al., Hollister et al.) such as a
whole food vegan diet (Franco-de-Morales et al.). An increase in beneficial
bacterial species in the microbiomes of plant-based diet enthusiasts has been
observed (Kumar et al.) and high fiber diets tend to increase the abundance of
Bacteroidetes and decrease the abundance of Firmicutes.
To
summarize, one can expect to find a prevalence of Firmicutes in the microbiomes
of standard western diet eaters, while one tends to find a prevalence of
Bacteroidetes in the microbiomes of people who eat more whole foods, including those
who eat plant-based or vegan diets.
How does the prevalence of certain bacterial
types in our microbiome relate to our health?
Prevalence
of Bacteroides and Prevotella are “associated with human health” and “may serve
as key indicators of GI microbiome wellness” (Hollister et al.).
But what about fruit and vegetable juices?
Since whole plant
foods and the fiber they contain tend to be associated with an increase in
Bacteroidetes, specifically Prevotella, and a decrease in Firmicutes, then what
would happen to the bacterial composition of one’s microbiome if they drank
fruit or vegetable juice? And what
would the bacterial species in their microbiome look like after a few days on
juice?
A group of
researchers (Henning et al.) enrolled 20 adults to consume fresh vegetable and
fruit juices only for 4 days. On day 4 of the juicing plan, the abundance of
Firmicutes was significantly decreased, while Bacteroidetes was significantly
increased in comparison to baseline. Bacteroides, a type of bacteria that is a
member of the Bacteroidetes classification, is known to degrade plant fibers
from fruits and vegetables. In this study, 8 Bacteroides species were
significantly increased after 4 days on the juice-only diet.
It would be
very interesting to have a side by side comparison between the effects of consuming
juice only versus a whole food plant-based diet on our microbiome. But as we
can see here, even a short-term fruit and vegetable juicing program, despite
being lower in fiber than whole food, can have a beneficial effect on the
bacterial composition of our microbiome!
People often
think of fruit and vegetable juices as being completely devoid of fiber, but
anyone who has made their own fresh juice knows that some of the fiber from the
ingredients makes it into the juice. After a little while of sitting, you can
easily see that the fiber has separated from the liquid. The fiber that we can
see is known as insoluble fiber. Another type of fiber that can be found in
fruit and vegetable juices is known as soluble fiber.
Of course,
there are other nutrient considerations with juicing versus eating whole foods.
Nonetheless it was really interesting to see the beneficial shift in microbiome
composition from fruit and vegetable juices in such a short period of time!
Franco-de-Moraes AC, de Almeida-Pititto
B, da Rocha Fernandes G, Gomes EP, da Costa Pereira A, Ferreira SRG. Worse
inflammatory profile in omnivores than in vegetarians associates with the gut
microbiota composition. Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2017;9:62.
Glick-Bauer M, Yeh M. The health
advantage of a vegan diet: exploring the gut microbiota connection. Nutrients.
2014 Oct 31;6(11):4822-38.
Henning
SM, Yang J, Shao P, et al. Health benefit of vegetable/fruit juice-based diet:
Role of microbiome. Sci Rep. 2017;7(1):2167.
Hollister EB, Gao
C, Versalovic J. Compositional and functional features of the gastrointestinal
microbiome and their effects on human health. Gastroenterology. 2014 May;
146(6):1449-58.
Jandhyala
SM, Talukdar R, Subramanyam C, Vuyyuru H, Sasikala M, Nageshwar Reddy D. Role
of the normal gut microbiota. World J Gastroenterol. 2015 Aug
7;21(29):8787-803.
Kumar M, Babaei P, Ji B, Nielsen J. Human gut microbiota and healthy
aging: Recent developments and future prospective. Nutr Healthy Aging. 2016 Oct
27;4(1):3-16.
Losasso C, Eckert EM, Mastrorilli E, et al. Assessing the
Influence of Vegan, Vegetarian and Omnivore Oriented Westernized Dietary Styles
on Human Gut Microbiota: A Cross Sectional Study. Front Microbiol.
2018;9:317.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and
educational purposes only. It is not
intended to be used as medical advice and should not be used to diagnose or
treat any medical condition or as a substitute for individual health care. This
information is given with the understanding that the presenters and authors are
not liable for misconception, misuse, or adverse effects resulting from its
use. Any type of dietary change, juicing program, or nutritional therapy should
always be undertaken with the supervision of a qualified health care
practitioner.
Spring is around the corner and citrus season is in full swing here in northern California! Our lemons are out in full force along with the many other varieties of citrus grown by neighbors throughout our neighborhood. Last night Rick brought home some blood oranges, which if you have not had the opportunity to experience yet, have a red to orange outer rind and pink to red flesh on the inside.
Their flavor is much different than your standard Valencia or
navel orange. Blood oranges to me taste like a cross between pink grapefruit
and raspberries – both of which I love! Even though I enjoy eating sweet-tasting
fruits, I have a special place in my heart for savory/astringent/tart/bitter
flavors, so as of last night, these blood oranges have become one of my
favorite fruits next to pomegranates. Speaking of which, the juice I made with these
blood oranges had a very similar deep red color to my homemade pomegranate
juice.
That deep red coloring of blood oranges gives us a clue as
to what important nutrient we can find in them. Generally, when fruit has a
blue, purple, or deep red coloring, the antioxidant anthocyanin is present.
This is the case with blood oranges along with blueberries, blackberries,
raspberries, and other fruits of similar color.
Not surprisingly, blood oranges have important nutrients
that one finds in other citrus fruits like vitamin C and calcium. What is
surprising is the similarity in carbohydrate content between blood oranges and
their more popular counterpart, navel oranges.
Here’s a comparison of carbohydrates and other nutrients per
100 g of blood and navel oranges:
Blood oranges
Navel oranges
Calories
50
49
Total carbohydrate
11.4 g
12.5 g
Sugars (non-specified)
8.6 g
8.5 g
Vitamin C
51 mg
59 mg
Calcium
43 mg
43 mg
So, even though blood oranges have a flavor that is more on
the tart than sweet side, the carbohydrate content is similar to the sweeter navel
orange. I would be interested to see how the simple carbohydrate content of each
compares, such as the amount of fructose, glucose, and sucrose in each variety
and look forward to a time when this information is available.
On another note, I found a recent interesting study done on the effect of orange juice consumption on gut microbiota. This study was not done using blood oranges, but with more common sweeter varieties. It was a small study with 10 women, who consumed orange juice for 2 months. The researchers found after those two months that consumption of the orange juice was associated with an increase in the population of Bifidobacterium species and Lactobacillus species, both probiotics, in their respective microbiomes, along with a reduction in ammonia production by gut flora and an increase in gut flora production of short chain fatty acids. All of these changes are positive indicators of microbiome health improvement. The study also found positive changes in blood biochemical parameters including increased insulin sensitivity!
You can read more about this study by searching for the study information shown below. It’s important to note that this study was done using pasteurized orange juice, so naturally I would love to see what the results would look like using fresh squeezed unpasteurized orange juice! Nonetheless, I thought you might find this information to be interesting as I did. I’ve seen many studies that show improvement in microbiome health with the addition of fruits and vegetables, so the outcome of this study is not surprising. It’s just another testament to the many health benefits of whole natural plant foods!
Lima ACD, Cecatti C, Fidélix MP, Adorno MAT, Sakamoto IK,
Cesar TB, Sivieri K. Effect of Daily Consumption of Orange Juice on the Levels
of Blood Glucose, Lipids, and Gut Microbiota Metabolites: Controlled Clinical
Trials. J Med Food. 2019 Feb;22(2):202-210.
Nutrition information on navel and blood oranges: nutritiondata.self.com
When one thinks of good raw plant sources of minerals such as calcium and iron, certain leafy greens, nuts, and seeds generally come to mind. It’s rare that one would think of fruit as being a good source of minerals. In fact, often in conversations, people ask questions like “but isn’t fruit deficient in minerals?” or “isn’t fruit high in carbs but not much else besides antioxidants?” After repeatedly hearing questions like this, I put together some tables with the calcium and iron content of a variety of fruits along with a video and a talk I presented at the Woodstock Fruit Festival a few years ago.
Seeing the actual numbers can help us make more informed food choices and increase confidence in our dietary approach:
Food
Amount
Calcium content
Figs
5 fresh
100 mg
Valencia Oranges
2 medium
97 mg
Deglet noor dates
1 cup
57 mg
Mulberries
1 cup fresh
55 mg
Kiwifruit
2 peeled
52 mg
Blackberries
1 cup fresh
42 mg
Mamey sapote
1 cup
32 mg
Raspberries
1 cup
31 mg
Medjool dates
2 pitted
31 mg
Papaya
1 cup pieces
29 mg
Strawberries
1 cup sliced
27 mg
Apricots
1 cup fresh
21 mg
As we can see, some fruits can actually be considered good sources of calcium, especially figs.
For comparison, the adult daily values for calcium are 1000 mg up to 50 years and 1200 mg for 51+ years.
Regarding iron, certain types of berries are quite rich in this important mineral, especially when compared to the adult RDAs for iron of 8 mg for men and post-menopausal women and 18 mg for premenopausal women:
Food
Amount
Iron content
Mulberries
1 cup
2.59 mg
Dates, deglet noor
1 cup
1.50 mg
Durian
1 cup, diced
1.04 mg
Blackberries
1 cup
0.89 mg
Raspberries
1 cup
0.85 mg
Persimmons
1 fruit
0.62 mg
Strawberries
1 cup halves
0.62 mg
Apricots
1 cup halves
0.60 mg
Bananas
1 cup, sliced
0.58 mg
Grapes
1 cup
0.54 mg
Now, I know that not everyone is going to eat these amounts of fruit, however some raw food enthusiasts will eat even more fruit than this, so one would need to adjust the iron content based on the serving size they choose to estimate how much of each mineral is in their food. These numbers are helpful to know, however, it’s important to consider that certain leafy greens are much better sources of these minerals. So, for comparison, let’s take a look at the calcium and iron content of certain leafy greens:
Leafy Green
Calcium content
Iron content
Romaine lettuce, one head (626 g)
207 mg
6.0 mg
Dandelion greens, 4 cups (220 g)
411 mg
7.0 mg
Kale, 4 cups (268 g)
362 mg
4.6 mg
Arugula, 4 cups (80 g)
128 mg
1.2 mg
Frisée greens, 4 cups (200 g)
104 mg
1.7 mg
Escarole, 4 cups (200 g)
104 mg
1.7 mg
‘Spring mix’ (200 g)
190 mg
1.2 mg
There are lots of other leafy greens that are also good sources of these important minerals. But it’s also important to know that certain leafy greens are not good sources of these minerals because they contain significant amounts of oxalic acid (oxalate content). Those would include: spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens, parsley, purslane, and others. Oxalate binds to iron and calcium in these foods making these minerals less usable by the human body. These foods are not ‘bad’ foods, they are just not great sources of these minerals, especially when they are raw. If you would like to learn more about oxalate, we encourage you to watch our recent webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUGt9_Xx4rU
I have to say that I absolutely LOVE pomegranates. I always look forward to the month of November in anticipation of making and enjoying fresh pomegranate juice, which has a flavor unlike any other fruit I’ve tried before, along with its deep red color calling attention to its rich antioxidant content.
I wasn’t always this enthusiastic about pomegranates; it wasn’t until years into my raw food journey that I came to truly appreciate them. After all, pomegranates cannot be easily peeled and eaten or bitten into like so many of the more common fruits we enjoy. Some of you may know this from experience. The good news is that there are many ways to enjoy pomegranates, the first being juice.
Before we get started, let’s take a closer look at what a pomegranate actually is.
When you open a pomegranate, you will see tough fiber interspersed with pockets of individual seeds each surrounded by a dark red fluid-filled pouch. These are called arils. When one juices a pomegranate, they are releasing the dark red fluid from these arils. Please know that using a nice bamboo cutting board for pomegranate preparation may lead to stains. I learned this the hard way, and now I use a cutting surface that doesn’t stain.
There are many techniques and juicers that can be used to make pomegranate juice, with our favorite method being the use of our manual citrus press.
We find that using a press does not break down the white pomegranate seeds, but rather, separates the juice from the seeds and fiber, resulting in a dark red colored juice, which we love. We have found that the use of some electrical juicers breaks down the white pomegranate seeds, yielding a lighter tasting pink juice which is a combination of red pomegranate juice and broken down white pomegranate seeds. Our taste preference is the dark red juice.
In order to get as much juice as possible out of our pomegranates, we cut the pomegranates into quarters. Cutting the pomegranates in half also works, but we have found that we get more juice if we cut the fruit in quarters. If you do not have a manual citrus press, a hand-held citrus juicer will work as well. Although, you may not get as much juice out of the pomegranates that you would with a citrus press. Before we got our citrus press, we used a hand-held citrus juicer and had good results. Be aware that juicing with either press method may lead to the red juice spraying onto surrounding counter tops, walls, and clothing. I wish I had known this the first time I juiced pomegranates.
We have found that juicing ripe pomegranates produces juice with notably less astringency than ripe pomegranates. How can you tell when a pomegranate is ripe? When the skin is cracked. We’ve rarely seen pomegranates with cracked skin for sale in stores; we’ve mostly seen them growing on trees in yards or at farmers markets. Does this deter us from purchasing pomegranates without cracked skins? No. We just realize that such pomegranates may have some astringency to their taste.
The flavor of pomegranates can be strong regardless if fully ripe or not, so we often enjoy the combination of pomegranate juice with fresh squeezed orange juice. The orange juice counters the astringency of the pomegranate juice with some sweetness and makes for a nice base juice for our smoothies.
Here is a basic recipe for orange pomegranate juice:
Three medium Valencia oranges
One medium pomegranate
We like to make smoothies with this juice recipe. Here is one of our favorites:
1 cup orange-pomegranate juice
2 cups chopped dandelion greens
1 cups dark cherries
3 bananas
½ cup mangoes
I personally really enjoy this recipe with orange pomegranate juice, but I like straight pomegranate juice even more, especially in my morning smoothies. One of my favorite smoothies is my Ultra-Antioxidant Supercharged Energy smoothie that I enjoy a couple hours before I go on a run at this time of year. I even recently achieved two personal running records after eating this smoothie:
½ cup pomegranate juice
2 cups chopped dandelion greens
½ cup blackberries
½ cup blueberries
3 bananas
Here are some nutrient highlights of the ingredients used to create this smoothie:
Menu
Adult DRI
Vitamin B1
0.55
1.1 – 1.2 mg
Vitamin B2
0.74
1.1 – 1.3 mg
Vitamin B3
4.84
14 – 16 mg
Folate
230
400 mcg
Vitamin C
120
75 – 90 mg
Vitamin E
7
15 mg
Calcium
277
1000 – 1200 mg
Iron
6
8 – 18 mg
Magnesium
188
310 – 420 mg
Potassium
2543
4700 mg
Zinc
2.5
8 – 11 mg
Given that the number of calories in this smoothie is 672, this nutrient profile is impressive!
In addition to pomegranate juice, there are so many additional ways to enjoy pomegranates around the holidays. I was recently asked how to remove the seeds from pomegranates to use in recipes. So, here are the steps I use:
First, I change into clothing that I am not concerned with if I get stained, then I score the middle of the pomegranate:
Then, I separate the two halves of the pomegranate by essentially tearing the two halves apart over a bowl to catch any juice that comes out in the process. Inserting a spoon into the score can assist with separating the two halves.
To get the fluid-filled seeds (arils) out of the halves, I turn the halves inside out.
And then I remove the arils by hand over a bowl filled with water. The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the pith will float.
I then remove the floating pith pieces and drain off the water from the arils. Here is a photo of the drained arils:
Now, what do we do with these pomegranate arils? We love them in salads.
Many people ask us how much salad we eat regularly and are surprised when they see the actual amount. Over my almost 28 years of being on this raw food path, my salads seem to get bigger every year. When I first started, I thought for sure that I would be hungry on raw food because my vegetable intake reference point was a small dinner-sized salad with about a cup or two of lettuce, half of a tomato, and a slice of onion drenched in some type of dressing. After shifting to a more raw plant-based diet, my salads obligatorily grew significantly in size. Now my salads look more like this:
Here are the ingredients in the salad:
5 cups shredded cucumber
3 cups shredded carrots
10 cups chopped or torn romaine lettuce
3 cups chopped or torn dandelion greens
½ cup pomegranate arils (when available)
I love dandelion greens, but I know their taste is not for everyone. Nutrient-wise they are a powerhouse, but there certainly are other leafy green choices that do not have as much of an ‘acquired’ taste, such as frisée greens, escarole, kale, and others.
Here is the nutrient content of the ingredients of the salad:
Menu
Adult DRI
Vitamin B1
1.2
1.1 – 1.2 mg
Vitamin B2
1.3
1.1 – 1.3 mg
Vitamin B3
7.4
14 – 16 mg
Folate
890
400 mcg
Vitamin C
233
75 – 90 mg
Vitamin E
10
15 mg
Calcium
684
1000 – 1200 mg
Iron
13
8 – 18 mg
Magnesium
266
310 – 420 mg
Potassium
4302
4700 mg
Zinc
5
8 – 11 mg
Given that this salad has 602 calories, this nutrient profile is impressive with the DRI being achieved or exceeded for a number of the nutrients!
There are many types of dressings you can add to this salad; we’ve found sweet dressings to balance out the bitterness of the dandelion greens. One of our favorites is tomato, sundried tomato, chia seeds, and dates. Here is a link to a dressing that we enjoy on this salad.
Nutrient-wise, pomegranates are rich in folate, potassium, and are appreciated for their notable anthocyanin content and the polyphenol ellagic acid, which has been studied for its antioxidant and antiproliferative properties.
How do you enjoy pomegranates? Please post in the comment section below.
We wish you all a joy-filled and healthy holiday season!
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It’s a cold December night here in Connecticut (just outside of New York City) with rain and ice particles tapping against my window. I’m warm inside with the heat on which is certainly a stark contrast to the temperature outside. Even where Rick and I live in northern California, winter weather can be cold at times, especially at night. We’ve even had a couple of frosts there in recent years, but we know that many of you live in much colder places, so….
It’s not surprising that one of the many questions Rick and I are asked is how to stay raw or mostly raw in the winter time, especially in a cold or very cold climate. This question is especially pertinent and the answer is one I know from my own personal experience. I started my raw food journey in February of 1990 here in the northeastern United States. Snow was on the ground, temperatures were below freezing on most days, and good quality produce was scarce. I found out rather quickly that I would need to be creative in my raw food approach, given that many of the available raw food books at the time extolled the virtues of beautiful tropical fruits that I had never heard of and the benefits of moving to a warm climate. Neither was my reality at the time, so here are some tips that made that winter of 1990 a success with raw food along with some other strategies and thoughts I have learned since then:
Keep it simple – My first winter on raw, I focused on produce that was available in my local grocery store. There weren’t any “health food” stores that sold produce in the area where I lived so I made the best with what was available to me. Availability of raw fruits and vegetables that winter back in 1990 was much more limited than today. Fruit choices included bananas, oranges, apples, pears, grapes, dried papaya, raisins, and some others. Leafy green choices included three different types of lettuce, spinach, and other greens that I had never tried, like kale. I was so excited with how good I felt on raw that the limited variety of produce in my area did not really phase me much at all. Instead I enjoyed my adventure exploring foods that were new to me and along with different raw food preparation methods.
Make warm dressings for salad – Back in 1990, I made dressings in my low powered blender and found that they would get somewhat warm during the process. Years later, when Rick and I purchased a high-power blender, we found that our dressings and sauces could get quite warm.
Use of warming spices can be an option – Back in 1990, I did not use warming spices mostly because I was not yet familiar with them. Now, many of our students speak about their use of ginger, cumin, curry, turmeric, and others in their recipes.
Warm soups in the dehydrator – I did not have a dehydrator back in 1990, but in recent years I have used our dehydrator to warm various raw soups.
Exercise! – I think this is one of the most underutilized strategies for people trying to stay warm in cold climates. I can understand why, especially if one has to go outside to exercise in cold or extremely cold temperatures. Since I have been running regularly for several years now, winter temperatures do not seem as cold to me. I find that my hands and feet are warm throughout the winter, which makes sense, given that one of the many benefits of exercise is increased peripheral circulation.
Check on the availability of seasonal fruits and vegetables – Seasonal fruits for late fall and early winter include some of my favorites including persimmons and pomegranates. Many varieties of leafy greens grow in California during the winter and can be found at many markets throughout the winter here in the US. Back in the winter of 1990, I had much more slim pickings in the produce department, but with growing demand for quality produce in recent decades, it is likely much easier to find better-stocked produce departments in cold climates.
Freeze fruits gathered in summer for winter – Another strategy for having a wider variety of produce available in the winter would be gathering and freezing seasonal berries in the summer. If gathering is impractical for you or if you live in an urban area, stores like Costco and Trader Joe’s have some varieties of organic frozen fruit available year ‘round. I know that freezing may not be optimal, but this may be better than the alternatives if there is little produce availability. These frozen fruits can then be used to make smoothies or defrosted to for use in fruit salads or other recipes. In the winter, when I make a smoothie with frozen ingredients, I find myself allowing the smoothie to warm for several minutes at room temperature so it won’t be as cold when I eat it.
Raw food does not have to be cold – When I take vegetables out of the fridge to make salad for Rick and I, by the time the salad is finished the vegetables are close to room temperature. Adding a warm blended dressing on top of the salad makes for an even warmer meal.
At what temperature do we comfortably eat cooked food, anyway? How many times have you experienced a burning sensation on the inside of your mouth eating food that was too hot? Before I became interested in raw food, I found myself blowing on hot food in an attempt to cool it to a temperature that was comfortable to eat. Through many searches of the scientific literature over the years I’ve found that certain vitamins, phytonutrients, and enzymes start to degrade at around 104°F (40°C) and find that food warmed in a dehydrator to 104°F is comfortably warm for me. When I haven’t had access to a dehydrator, I have warmed food on the stove to 104°F on a couple of occasions. My point here is that we often find it uncomfortable to consume hot foods, so does food really have to be cooked first in order to be warming to our body? Just some food for thought 🙂 …..
One of the best ways to keep in touch with us is to join our email list. You’ll receive a free copy of Our Top 12 Strategies for Long Term Success on A Raw Plant-Based Diet eBook along with regular information about raw food and plant-based diets and periodic promotions for our classes, events, and other offerings!
In recent years, vitamin D has become one of the most discussed nutrients in the health community. It is also one of the most complicated and controversial of the nutrients, especially when it comes to supplementation and plant-based diets.
There are two supplemental forms of vitamin D: vitamin D2 and vitamin D3. Vitamin D2, also known as ergocalciferol, has historically been thought of as the vegan form of vitamin D. On the other hand, vitamin D3, also known as cholecalciferol, has historically been considered a non-vegan form of vitamin D. Vitamin D2 supplements have traditionally been made from mushrooms. Exposure of ergosterol in these fungi to UVB light rays (ultraviolet B spectrum rays of the sun) leads to the production of vitamin D2. Conversely, vitamin D3 supplements have been made from lanolin found in sheep’s wool. Exposure of 7-dehydrocholesterol in lanolin to UVB rays leads to the formation of vitamin D3, similar to how vitamin D3 is produced in our skin.
Research is mixed on which supplement is more reliably effective at raising our vitamin D levels. Much of this research has indicated that the D3 form of vitamin D is more effective at raising blood levels of vitamin D than D2, however some indicates the two can be equivalent. Many vegans have expressed concern to us about this, since they have found their vitamin D2 supplements are not giving them the results they are seeking. Consequently, some have considered using a D3 supplement to raise their vitamin D to desired levels. Where does this leave someone who wants to stay true to their vegan lifestyle and ethics? Fortunately in recent years, several supplement companies have formulated supplements with vitamin D3 sourced from lichen. What is lichen? It is an organism composed of some type of fungus and algae, or cyanobacteria in some cases, living together symbiotically. Lichen is often found growing on tree branches and rocks and can have a pale green to gray or mushroom color, as well as others. Does this mean that we should eat lichen to get our vitamin D? No, many species of lichen are not edible, so it would be best to stick with a supplement. But the good news is that a vegan vitamin D3 supplement does now exist and various supplement companies are offering it as an alternative to lanolin-sourced D3!
Interested in taking your knowledge to the next level? We cover this topic and so much more in our online Mastering Raw Food Nutrition and Educator Course. For more class details, click here.
One of the best ways to keep in touch with us is to join our email list. You’ll receive a free copy of Our Top 12 Strategies for Long Term Success on A Raw Plant-Based Diet eBook along with regular information about raw food and plant-based diets and periodic promotions for our classes, events, and other offerings!
We hope your summer has been going well! We’ve been doing quite a bit of research lately on a variety of raw food nutrition related topics in preparation for our Mastering Raw Food Nutrition and Educator Course beginning in early September.
One thing we really enjoy doing in our classes is dispelling nutritional myths. Here’s a great example. You’ve probably heard that cold water fish and fish oil contain an omega 3 fat called DHA. Numerous educators, authors, and doctors have said that fish, or fish oil, are the sole sources of DHA.
What many people don’t realize is that DHA is produced much lower on the cold water aquatic food chain by certain types of algae. Fish and other marine animals obtain their DHA when they eat this DHA containing algae. This is how DHA progresses up the aquatic food chain.
DHA plays many important roles in the human body, including brain function. It is a super-unsaturated fat that contains 6 double bonds. These double bonds on the one hand allow DHA to conduct the electrical activity needed for brain function, while on the other hand these same 6 double bonds make DHA very susceptible to oxidation. Oxidation is another name for free radical damage.
DHA therefore is generally only made by organisms when they need it, or when metabolic conditions are favorable. The 6 double bonds in DHA make it very fluid and flexible and confers to it protection from freezing. This is why we see DHA in cold water aquatic organisms, such as salmon, krill, and certain types of cold water algae, but not in warm water aquatic organisms who do not need protection from freezing.
The human body makes DHA rather easily when nutritional and metabolic conditions are favorable. We know omega 3 conversion is a controversial topic, yet is one of our favorites. We love discussing our research and clinical experience with vegans and raw vegans regarding DHA, and so much else.
If you're interested in taking your knowledge to the next level.........
We cover this topic and so much more in our online Mastering Raw Food Nutrition and Educator Course. For more class details, click here.
One of the best ways to keep in touch with us is to join our email list. You’ll receive a free copy of Our Top 12 Strategies for Long Term Success on A Raw Plant-Based Diet eBook along with regular information about raw food and plant-based diets and periodic promotions for our classes, events, and other offerings!
Over the years, people have asked me about the differences between the available supplemental forms of vitamin B12. What are they? Do they occur in nature or are they made in a laboratory? Do some forms work “better” than others?
The scientific name for vitamin B12, cobalamin, is derived from the element cobalt found at the center of the vitamin B12 molecule. There are several different forms of vitamin B12, each named for the chemical group attached to cobalt, including hydroxocobalamin, methylcobalamin, cyanocobalamin, and adenosylcobalamin. I have seen these forms of B12 available as individual supplements or in multivitamin formulas.
Hydroxocobalamin
Hydroxocobalamin is a naturally-occurring form of vitamin B12, as it is made by certain bacteria including some strains that live in soil. Not all types of bacteria make vitamin B12 and not all soil contains B12 producing bacteria. Yeast, mushrooms and other types of fungus do not produce vitamin B12, neither do animals nor plants.
Hydroxocobalamin is NOT active in the human body; it requires conversion to a human bioactive form. Hydroxocobalamin has an –OH (hydroxy) group attached to cobalt in the center of the vitamin B12 molecule. To activate this form of B12, the human body removes the –OH group and replaces it with, for example, a methyl (–CH3) group to create the human bioactive form of vitamin B12, methylcobalamin.
Methylcobalamin
Methylcobalamin is a form of vitamin B12 that is involved in methylation reactions in the human body. Another of my videos covers the importance of methylation and the role played by this form of vitamin B12, so I would encourage you to view it for further explanation. Dr. Rick and I have used methylcobalamin for many years and find it to be a reliable form of B12 for our needs. We especially like this form of vitamin B12 because it is a human bioactive form and does not require conversion.
Cyanocobalamin
Cyanocobalamin is a synthetic form of B12 made exclusively in a laboratory. It is not a human bioactive form of vitamin B12 and is not made by bacteria in nature. Cyanocobalamin has a –CN (cyano) group attached to cobalt in the center of the vitamin B12 molecule. Many people have expressed concern about this cyano group as being problematic or toxic, but I have yet to see research or clinical data indicating the use of cyanocobalamin as being associated with these types of issues. When one expresses concern to me, I suggest the use of another supplemental form. As mentioned earlier, I have been using methylcobalamin for many years with good results. If someone is not getting the results they want from their vitamin B12 supplement, clinically or otherwise, I suggest that they contact a qualified healthcare provider to help them find the solution that works best for them.
Despite this controversy, cyanocobalamin is one of the most popular supplemental forms of vitamin B12 because of its stability and shelf-life. For example, cyanocobalamin has a longer shelf-life than methylcobalamin, so supplement manufacturers like to produce and sell it. Since cyanocobalamin is not human bioactive, our body must convert it to one of the human bioactive forms. In which case, the body must remove the –CN group and replace it with either a methyl group or an adenosyl group.
Adenosylcobalamin
Like methylcobalamin, adenosylcobalamin is one of the human bioactive forms of vitamin B12. This is the form of vitamin B12 that can be stored by our body, specifically in our liver. All previously discussed forms of B12 can be converted into adenosylcabalamin for storage, when our body has more vitamin B12 than is needed for body function.
Adenosylcobalamin is also very important for energy-producing reactions in the human body, as are various other B vitamins. Additionally, adenosylcobalamin is responsible for keeping methylmalonic acid levels appropriately low in the human body. I have a recent video and article describing the significance of methylmalonic acid and its conversion by adenosylcobalamin in the human body, and would encourage you to view it for more information.
Interested in taking your vitamin B12 and nutrition knowledge to the next level? We cover this topic and so much more in our online Mastering Raw Food Nutrition and Educator Course. For more class details, click here.
Additionally, our book The Raw Food Nutrition Handbook: An Essential Guide to Understanding Raw Food Diets addresses many hot topics in raw food nutrition such as vitamin D, essential fats, protein, nutrient content of raw food diets, food combining, enzymes, hydration, vitamins, minerals, and many more. We value education on these important topics and are happy to finally bring this book to you. The book is available on Amazon and other online booksellers.
One of the best ways to keep in touch with us is to join our email list. You’ll receive a free copy of Our Top 12 Strategies for Long Term Success on A Raw Plant-Based Diet eBook along with regular information about raw food and plant-based diets and periodic promotions for our classes, events, and other offerings!
Many people over the years have asked me about why vitamin B12 is so important for our health and what vitamin B12 actually does in the human body. Vitamin B12 is involved in numerous methylation reactions throughout the body and in a vitamin B12 deficiency, these reactions can become compromised.
Vitamin B12 is involved in the production of our genetic code (DNA and RNA), activation of folate, production of red blood cells, keeping homocysteine appropriately low in our body, the production of certain cell membrane components, the production of certain neurotransmitters (including serotonin, melatonin, epinephrine, and dopamine), important reactions involving energy production, and nervous system function. The bottom line is that vitamin B12 is vitally important for a number of life-sustaining activities in our body and should not be overlooked when considering one’s overall health.
Check out this video for more details:
The information in this video builds on a video I did several months ago on the vitamin B12 – folate connection. If you're interested in taking your knowledge to the next level.........
We cover this topic and so much more in our online Mastering Raw Food Nutrition and Educator Course. For more class details, click here.
Additionally, our book The Raw Food Nutrition Handbook: An Essential Guide to Understanding Raw Food Diets addresses many hot topics in raw food nutrition such as essential fats, protein, nutrient content of raw food diets, food combining, enzymes, hydration, vitamins, minerals, and many more. We value education on these important topics and are happy to finally bring this book to you. The book is available on Amazon and other online booksellers.
One of the best ways to keep in touch with us is to join our email list. You’ll receive a free copy of Our Top 12 Strategies for Long Term Success on A Raw Plant-Based Diet eBook along with regular information about raw food and plant-based diets and periodic promotions for our classes, events, and other offerings!
A sampling of my early health book collection circa 1988 to 1990.
2015 is my 25 year raw food anniversary. Back in 1990, when I first learned of raw food, I could not have imagined the impact that it would have on my future life. In the beginning, I was naturally skeptical and thought that eating this way was a little extreme. Nonetheless, out of curiosity, I gave raw food a try and was surprised with the results. As my energy increased and my general health and well-being improved, my skepticism began to melt away. Looking back, I remember how I imagined the potential of raw plant food making a difference in people’s lives. I envisioned a time and place where raw food consciousness was more mainstream and that I would one day teach this valuable information to enthusiastic groups of students. Well, with a lot of work and dedication those dreams did come true and I am just as excited about raw food today as back then, with that early enthusiasm positively tempered by experience, research, and education.
The raw food world was a much smaller place back in 1990 as there weren’t nearly as many raw food resources as there are today. Back then there were a small number of raw food books and teachers, and I only knew a handful of raw food enthusiasts. This term is well-chosen since those that I knew were definitely enthused. The internet was not as we know it today and there was no social media. Finding information on raw food and plant-based diets was a bit of an adventure, and I was always happy to find books on the subject that most people would now consider classics. Given the few resources available, a lot of what I learned in those early days was through experience, and I ‘experienced’ many bumps and potholes along the way. There are so many things that I wish that someone had told me when I started with raw food back then. So here I will share with you the top five pieces of information that had I known, would have made my raw food journey smoother. I am hoping they can be of use to you:
#1: Move at your own pace. When I became interested in raw food, most of the literature I read and my social influences suggested that I had to be 100% raw right away. Transitioning was not really discussed, so I did not really see it as an option at first. Raw food seemed like an all or nothing proposition. But, I was honest with myself about what was achievable at that time. I found that I needed some time to become familiar with foods that were available in my area and how to prepare them. At the time, I was living in New England and it was winter. The fruits available were bananas, oranges, apples, pears, grapes, dried papaya spears, raisins, and a few other choices. Available leafy greens included three different types of lettuce, spinach, and other greens that I had never tried, like kale. I had a low-power blender that I used to make “smoothies” that were more lumpy than smooth. A super-enthused raw friend of mine used to call my smoothies “chunkies”.
These and other day to day considerations that one needs to address when getting started with raw food became part of my own self-stylized transition that progressed as I became more educated. Another fellow raw food enthusiast from those days went 100% raw overnight, saying that she would never eat anything cooked ever again. This lasted three months, and shortly thereafter she lost interest in healthy eating because maintaining 100% raw was too restrictive for her. All too often I see people leave raw food discouraged for this same reason.
Where am I now? Currently, I am somewhere between 90 and 100% raw and this percentage has varied over the years, depending on my situation. Percentages differ per person and I encourage you to find the percentage that works best for you. The most successful long-term raw food enthusiasts understand this idea and tend to be flexible with their approach depending on their personal needs and situation. What dietary approach gives you the results you are looking for and is sustainable right now? What approach will be sustainable long term? I have found that research, experience, and education combined were the best training, and the approach that worked best for me revealed itself in time.
#2: Gather much information from multiple points of view and sources. It is important to consider information from other points of view than your own because you may learn information not acquired if you were only looking for information supporting your current paradigm. Searching for information that supports your current point of view is referred to as confirmation bias. I have been using this term and discussing this idea in our Science of Raw Food Nutrition series of classes for years, because I think that awareness of this tendency is so important. Countless times I have learned valuable information from people with a differing point of view, and that information has made a difference in my health, my thinking, and other aspects of my life.
While we are on the subject of information, when I began my raw food journey 25 years ago, I had so many questions, most of which were not answered in the raw food literature available at the time. I was looking for more concrete answers than these books provided, so I decided that I would one day write a book that answered these questions to make the raw food journey easier for people who came after me. This book is the Raw Food Nutrition Handbook: An Essential Guide to Understanding Raw Food Diets. In this book, Dr. Rick and I cover the “where do you get your” questions, like where do you get your protein, B12, vitamin D, omega 3 fats and more. We provide updated research-based information on classic raw food topics like enzymes, food combining, and raw plant sources of important vitamins and minerals. We also discuss the different approaches to raw food and how raw food diets compare nutritionally to other dietary approaches, and much more.
#3: Know your source. Some raw food enthusiasts tend to follow one particular person’s point of view. I encourage you to educate yourself on a variety of points of view. One of the reasons why is because we all have different experiences and no one person can know everything about a subject. Very often, I have seen raw food educators change their approach as they learn more. The theme here is that we are all learning, even those of us who have been on this path for many years. The more that I learn about nutrition and how the body works, the more I realize how much I have yet to learn. Even after 25 years, I find myself asking questions and seeking answers. When the need arises, I encourage people to consult with a knowledgeable licensed healthcare provider to help with making important health-related decisions.
#4: Use critical thinking, be selectively open-minded, and enjoy the process. Critical thinking involves gathering as much information as possible about a subject, and making a decision based on that information while remaining open-minded to other information that may be learned in the future. As stated earlier, countless times I have discovered information that changed my point of view for the better. I think of researching as an ongoing and enjoyable opportunity to improve the quality of life for people in my life.
#5: Make changes if or when necessary. Here is my classic example: My introduction to raw food in 1990 was the natural hygiene approach. Nowadays, people commonly refer to this approach as various versions of LFRV, HCRV, etc. This approach worked very well for me for a while but as time went on, I refined my approach. The information I learned and the refinements and changes I made ultimately gave me the health results I was seeking.
Bonus #6: Surround yourself with a supportive community. As a long term raw food enthusiast, author, clinician, and educator, I have learned much on this path and sincerely hope this information can be of use to you. There is still much more that I have to share with you, which is why I have this blog, our YouTube channels, our book, and our classes, so I encourage you to check out these resources.
And if you are wondering, the super-enthused raw friend that used to call my smoothies “chunkies” is now my husband, Dr. Rick Dina. Back when we got started with healthy eating, our support system was our group of friends which made all the difference in that we helped each other to stay on track, shared our experiences and research, discussed changes and refinements, challenged raw food dogma, and had a lot of fun! We wish you the best in your journey and invite you to share in ours.
One of the best ways to keep in touch with us is to join our email list. You’ll receive a free copy of Our Top 12 Strategies for Long Term Success on A Raw Plant-Based Diet eBook along with regular information about raw food and plant-based diets and periodic promotions for our classes, events, and other offerings!
Research is mixed on which supplement is more reliably effective at raising our vitamin D levels. Much of this research has indicated that the D3 form of vitamin D is more effective at raising blood levels of vitamin D than D2, however some indicates the two can be equivalent. Many vegans have expressed concern to us about this, since they have found their vitamin D2 supplements are not giving them the results they are seeking. Consequently, some have considered using a D3 supplement to raise their vitamin D to desired levels. Where does this leave someone who wants to stay true to their vegan lifestyle and ethics? Fortunately in recent years, several supplement companies have formulated supplements with vitamin D3 sourced from lichen. What is lichen? It is an organism composed of some type of fungus and algae, or cyanobacteria in some cases, living together symbiotically. Lichen is often found growing on tree branches and rocks and can have a pale green to gray or mushroom color, as well as others. Does this mean that we should eat lichen to get our vitamin D? No, many species of lichen are not edible, so it would be best to stick with a supplement. But the good news is that a vegan vitamin D3 supplement does now exist and various supplement companies are offering it as an alternative to lanolin-sourced D3!
