Soup is so versatile – it can be thin (as in a Consommé or stock) to thick, like a gumbo; consumed cold or warm – heated to a warm temperature or ‘heated’ with warming spices (such as chili, red pepper, etc). Keep your soup smooth or serve it ‘chunky’ style. Soup can be served as a snack, a course, or the entre’ itself. Dress up your soup dish with garnishes (e.g. croutons, bread, crackers, veggies, or greens) or not. Soup is a great ‘take out’ meal as well, just pour it into a cup or a thermos and you’re ‘good to go’.

If you’re looking for a way to drop the calories, lose excess weight, and gain bounds of energy while still consuming a nutritiously dense meal, SOUP is your answer. Soup is classified as a ‘liquid’ food or ‘blended’ meal and is typically made with a variety of veggies. Easy to digest, soups can easily supply you with nutrients you may be missing. By not heating soup over 118 degrees, all the nutrients and enzymes remain intact. You get more ‘bang for your buck’ with every nutritious sip of soup! Also because of its high water content, soups prevent dehydration which is not only aging but can cause low energy among other things (e.g. dizziness, feeling hungry, blood sugar disorders, cramping, etc)

Soup is a GREAT way to keep you from ‘over-eating’, something we are all guilty of. Consuming soup before a meal will give you a full feeling due to its high water and fiber content and nutritional concentration (assuming the soup is vegetarian/vegan). Starting your biggest meal of the day with a cup of soup is a ‘sure fire’ way of lowering your calories while boosting your immune system. It also ‘fires up’ the digestive enzymes in your mouth allowing for easier digestion of the food to follow.

On the raw food diet, preparing soup is extremely easy. There are several ways to make it. You can blend all the ingredients in a high powered blender at once, or you can blend the ‘stock’ until warm then pour over veggies in a bowl; or you can prepare the ‘stock’ (using warm to hot water is the fastest and easiest way) then ‘top’ with garnish or veggies. Adding sprouted beans, peas, lentils, and grains makes for a more condensed, thicker soup.

Even being a raw food consumer, warming soup is easy. If you warm your soup in a pan on the stove keep a careful eye on it to see the soup doesn’t heat over 118 degrees – a thermometer is a handy tool or you can check the temperature with your clean finger to see it is not getting too hot. You can also warm your bowl of soup in the dehydrator 1-2 hours at 135 degrees (the safest method), or in a high speed blender. Yes, the Vita-Mix blender and those other high speed blenders can ‘boil’ water if left on for a length of time. I personally find it faster and easier to warm the soup on the stove while maintaining a watchful eye on the temperature, use a double boiler if you’re not confident you can remove the pot when the soup starts to warm.

If heating a soup that has an avocado in it, bring the soup up to the temperature you desire and then blend in the avocado last. Remember to make preparing warm soup easier, bring your veggies to room temperature helps simplify preparation and warming time.

Warming spices and seasonings will give you a ‘warm’ feeling when the temperature outside drops. Hot peppers, Cayenne pepper, ginger, wasabi, horseradish, black and white pepper, coriander, and turmeric are all considered warm, energy enhancing spices and/or seasonings that make great additions to your soup dish.

So lets not forget the power of SOUP and just how easy and versatile this dish is! Experience just how energizing, healing and delicious soup is.

Bon A Petite
Beth Wilke, Raw Food Chef

If you’re like me, you wake and bless the Almighty for being alive and feeling alive with new energy pushing you out of bed. If you’ve been eating the raw food diet, you discover you don’t require as much sleep as you did when you were eating the standard American diet. With fewer toxins to clean from your system and with a more efficient system your body enjoys a higher level of energy and well-being!

I’m fully awake now, but still feeling the chill of the fall season and crave a warm breakfast! Most people think that when you eat raw that you can’t eat anything heated, they’re quite surprised to discover they’re wrong. A food is still considered ‘raw’ if it isn’t heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit; all the nutrients and enzymes remain intact. Eating heated foods is highly desirable when the temperatures drop!

I’m craving warm apples, apple cobbler, apple pie, caramel apples, apples….apples…..apples! Apples are in season now and everywhere I look their bright colors beckon and memories of childhood favorite apple dishes surface. Did you know that there are over 7500 varieties of cooking and dessert apples? They range from very tart (crab apple) to deliciously sweet! You can eat them out of hand, prepared in a raw dish or a heated one. If you’re like me, you want lots of options particularly when you’re transitioning to a high raw food diet. As a Recipe Club Member I share my favorite apple recipes with you – recipes I know will satisfy and delight you for both how tasty they are and with how easy they are to prepare.

Learn more about this wonderful healthy fruit on my website: www.sensationalrawfooddiet.com.

The sun is peaking through the clouds now, and I’m off to get breakfast. I wonder, “Why would anyone wish to eat a boxed cereal with milk when there are warm sweet apples beaconing?”

Have a terrific day!

Bon A Petite
Beth Wilke

The first time I entered a kidney dialysis unit with my husband, an ‘uncontrolled’ diabetic, I was shocked by the number of people in the waiting room and in the numerous beds and chairs tightly packed in the unit, each one hooked up to a dialysis machine. There were elderly people, children, teens, and people of almost every ethnicity I knew. I was appalled at the ‘sign of the times,’ and I shook my head in disbelief, aghast that the “the numbers are increasing!”

Statistics indicate the number of people (between the ages of 30 and 39) with diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate, as high as 70% over the recent 10 years! Currently over 20 million people in the United Sates alone have diabetes. Are you diabetic? Have you been checked? Many diabetics don’t even know they’re diabetic – yet. Diabetes often has no symptoms or warning signs, but the symptoms include: feeling tired, feeling irritable, urinating more than normal, being very thirsty and/or hungry, unexplained weight loss, and/or blurred vision.

My husband like so many other diabetic patients believed a ‘miracle drug’ or ‘miracle procedure’ would be developed that would cure his condition; he paid little attention to dietary guidelines or the need for physical exercise. Then neuropathy (a condition where the blood no longer circulates to the extremities or other organs, including the stomach) set in and his pain level in his hands and feet worsened with each passing year. Before his passing, he often held his hands up away from his body to protect them from being hit, any pressure on his fingers was excruciating. He could no longer eat most foods because his stomach no longer functioned properly and the muscles to move his food lay dormant – the toxins were killing him. His kidneys didn’t work. His will to live ended when he no longer could pet his dogs, hold his wife, or hold cards in his favorite game of Sequence. His vision was blurred to the point that reading was impossible and watching TV was his only outlet.

You ask me, ”How did diabetes change MY life?” I took care of this man I love and watched his decline and suffering. I urged him to try the aggressive raw food diet as explained in the SIMPLY RAW: REVERSING DIABETES IN 30 DAYS video, a ‘proven’ method of reversing diabetes. Though he started eating more raw food his love for eating animal products, fast food, and all time favorite junk/processed food continued. He doggedly believed a ‘cure’ would come soon. It didn’t, not the cure he was looking for. It is not in a pill, it is not a surgical procedure.

The miracle my husband was looking for was right there in front of him, it was in the raw foods. The healing power of whole fresh foods in their natural state has been proven to cure or control most diseases, and Dr. Gabrielle has proven it can reverse diabetes. For those people seeking to be free of this disease, this is the ONLY proven program that works. Yes it requires discipline, yes it requires changes……………yes change is uncomfortable………….but not nearly as uncomfortable as neuropathy I assure you.

No, I didn’t suffer from diabetes, I suffered through it………….through my husband. He’s now dead and yes, my life is changed. After 32 years of sharing my life with this man, a part of me died that day too. I think of all the families of all those people in the dialysis unit and shed tears for every one of them, and those who have yet to be diagnosed.

I urge you to view the video, no other program has proven to reverse diabetes. Dr. Gabriel has proven the raw food diet program can.

If you keep doing the same thing but expect different results, you’re fooling yourself. There are no ‘miracle’ breakthroughs in the medical community. You have to take the initiative – the raw food diet works. Please don’t become a statistic.

- Beth Wilke, Raw Food Chef

Dulse is just one of the numerous edible sea vegetables that is easy to come by and is packed with very rich nutrients, phytochemicals, chlorophyll, fiber and minerals (e.g. sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, iodine and many other trace minerals).  Dulse, like all sea vegetation, is low in fat, and has a significant amount of omega-3 fatty acids.  Omega 3 fatty acids help lower cholesterol and raise HDL levels.

Other benefits of Dulse and other sea vegetables include their ability to help prevent aging and chronic disease, solve mineral deficiencies, help detoxify your body (from heavy metals, environmental pollutants and carcinogens), help control growth of viruses, bacteria and Candida, balance the thyroid function and fight constipation.

One third cup of Dulse provides up to 30% of RDA for iron, which is four times the amount in a serving of spinach.  It is packed with approximately 22% protein – higher than chickpeas, almonds or sesame seeds.  One handful of dried Dulse provides more than 100% of the recommended daily intake of B6, iron and fluoride and 66% of the recommended daily intake of B12.

Add to salads, pate’s, and roll-ups Dulse (as most other sea vegetables) are an easy, cost-effective, way to add those much needed, often missed minerals to your diet.

Dulse is available in whole stringy leaves or powdered (as a condiment).  Dulse, reddish brown seaweed, does not need to be soaked as some seaweeds do; it can be eaten directly from the package.    It has a rich taste, a slightly chewy texture and is a little salty which easily provides an excellent substitute for regular salt and satisfies the person craving salty foods. 

Sea vegetables do not need to be refrigerated and can easily be stored in your cupboard or desk at work.

Start to develop a taste for these nutrient dense, alkaline, whole foods and see and feel the difference in your body!  Your skin, hair, nails and internal organs will THRIVE!

Bon A Petite’

Beth Wilke, Raw Food Chef

The raw food diet is not an ‘all or nothing’ diet.  Without question, the more raw fruits and vegetables you eat the healthier you’ll be as all plant based foods are extremely high in easily assimilated nutrients that feed the body at a cellular level.  “Fruits provide the highest percentage of vitamins per calories consumed with vegetables coming in second.  Vegetables provide the highest percentage of minerals per calories consumed with fruits coming in second.”* With a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds to choose from in the raw diet, nutrients such as bone-strengthening calcium, protein, iron, vitamins C, D, E, and B’s to name a few can easily be obtained.  “Almost every vegetable that can be eaten whole, fresh and raw contains all eight of the essential amino acids and therefore provides us with complete, usable, easily assimilated protein.”*  Processing nutrients from whole foods to sell as supplements is the most costly way to improve your nutritional balance.  Most nutrients are known to interact symbiotically with at least eight other nutrients, WHOLE fruits and vegetables provide a superior complete source of vitamins and minerals.

Fiber found in plant-based foods is lacking in a meat-based diet; fiber is important to keep the digestive tract clean of waste products which can lead to disease. 

Plant-based foods are alkaline in nature, as apposed to animal products and grains which are acid forming.  A highly acidic bloodstream pulls minerals from our muscles and bones to neutralize the acid content.  

Most animal products have been treated with antibiotics, steroids, coloring agents, flavor enhancers, growth hormones and other chemicals that humans ingest when eating these foods.  How healthy is it to eat THAT?  Whole fresh organic fruits and vegetables are free of any of these treatments. 

Cooking foods changes its atomic structure, creating a toxic food where up to 80% of the nutrients can lost in the cooking process.  Cooking foods at high heat (such as steaming, boiling, and grilling) creates carcinogens that can lead to cancer and auto-immune diseases.  The body’s first line of defense is the white blood cells; research has proven the white blood cell count increases almost 300% after consuming cooked foods.  The body perceives cooked food as toxic and rushes to its defense.  Cooking is a process of destruction, not of ‘construction’.  If you placed your hand on a hot burner, within seconds the skin would reflect how destructive ‘cooking’ is.  It matters little if it is ‘slightly’ cooked or blackened………..the result is the same. 

Switching to a raw food diet, high in low calorie nutrient dense fruits and vegetables increases your energy and unwanted pounds melt away as you are no longer consuming food that is made up of processed sugar, processed flours and grains, and cooked foods – all foods that put on the weight and drain you of energy.  With there being over 150 varieties of available fruits and vegetables to choose from, meals are seldom boring.  Couple this with learning HOW to prepare these fruits and vegetables into great tasting familiar recipes (e.g. pasta, desserts, ice cream etc) you’ll soon be experiencing a higher level of health and energy, beyond anything you dreamed possible.

It is interesting that people think little about the quantities and health quality of prescription drugs, supplements, or processed foods they consume and yet shy away from eating whole fresh fruits and vegetables as being ‘radical’ and ‘difficult’.  It couldn’t be any simpler.  Sometimes we’re looking so hard for the dietary cure-all, we don’t see the bright colored jewels in our produce markets beckoning us to ‘just try me!’   

Is the raw food diet a healthy diet?  It is all that and then some!  It is a diet/lifestyle that fits everyone, whether you’re consuming 20% more fruits and vegetables or 100% more, with every bite you’re improving your health.  Who can argue the benefits of THAT!

Bon A Petite’

Beth

 ——————————————————————————————————————————————-

*Dr Douglas N Graham, On Nutrition and Physical Performace: A Handbook for Athletes and Fitness Enthusiasts

Question:

What is the best way to get calcium in a raw diet? I’m at risk of osteoporosis.

My answer…

CALCIUM:

Most people believe osteoporosis is caused by a lack of calcium and by increasing the intake of calcium (including direct supplementation) osteoporosis will be avoided.  This does little to reduce the incidence of osteoporosis or to counteract the effects of a predominantly acid forming diet and lifestyle. 

The actual cause of osteoporosis is typically due to excessive calcium loss from an overly acid bloodstream.  Animal proteins, tobacco inhalation, caffeine and drugs contribute to an acid bloodstream.  The body maintains a blood pH that is slightly alkaline and when the blood is too acidic, the body brings it back to a more alkaline state by leaching calcium (an alkaline mineral) from the bones and boron from muscle. Boron helps prevent calcium loss and is found in raw fruits and vegetables, milk has little, meat and eggs have none. 

Studies have shown a direct correlation between eating animal proteins (e.g. meat, eggs and dairy) and calcium loss.  Fruits and vegetables are alkaline foods which help maintain your blood at the correct pH.  Easy to assimilate calcium (and boron) is found in abundance in most leafy greens (e.g. romaine lettuce, spinach, dandelion greens etc), in seaweeds (e.g. Nori, Arame, Dulse) and in sesame seeds (1 oz. has 276 mg).   By eating large, green leafy salads with dressings made from Tahini (ground sesame seeds), you’ll get more than enough calcium (along with all the other elements your bones and muscles need) to satisfy the body’s need. 

Most raw fooders eat mostly fruit and vegetables and have no bone weakness.

Beth

If you’re like most of us this morning, you’ve got your running/walking shoes on, you’re on your way to the gym, and you’re feeling GREAT about getting to your ‘workout’ today!!!  Are you with me?

No!?  Infortunately, I’m the ‘extraordinary’ exception and not the rule. 

“If you want average results, do what average people do.  But if you want extraordinary results…”

I eat a raw food diet and I WANT to workout, I FEEL GREAT!  I have ENERGY to burn!  Want to learn how to get most from your workout – spending less time in the gym and getting healthier and fitter more efficiently?  Check out the fitness section of my website……….

http://www.sensationalrawfooddiet.com/exercise.html

The raw food diet is your ticket – not only will you FEEL more ENERGY but you’ll maximize the benefits of whatever exercise program you embark on.  It’s all in the FUEL we put in our bodies, and the QUALITY of that fuel. 

Athletes are always concerned about Protein, and getting enough of it.  Plant based sources of protein are easier for the body to assimilate and less taxing on the liver and kidneys.  Eating high amounts of animal protein is not only taxing to the organs, but is associated with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.  Why protein isolate – an animal food that is highly processed – is highly acid-forming, as is cooked animal foods.  Eating too many acid-forming foods promote inflammation, reduce immune function, and cause calcium to be pulled from the bones resulting in lower bone density.

Plant based proteins are present in all fresh fruits and vegetables.   30% of the calories in spinach come from protein, almost 50% from romaine lettuce.  The best sources of protein are leafy greens, liquid blue-green algae’s, nuts and seeds, sea vegetables and sprouted foods.  A description of some of these protein sources along with additional plant-based food supplements can be found on my website:  www.sensationalrawfooddiet 

Athletes who experiment with plant-based diets consistently report a substantial increase in energy and a dramatic decrease in recovery time.  The advantage of a decreased recovery time is that you can increase the number of your workouts if you choose.  You’ll see quicker and better results!

 I hope you found this information helpful.  There are more diet and fitness tips, suggestions, articles and information on my website along with some excellent recipes I share in my Recipe Membership Program that will maximize your workouts! 

Eating a raw food diet is far from boring, and you’ll see the benefits as your body becomes fitter, stronger, more flexible, and agile; your workouts more effective.  More bodybuilders, dancers, runners, triathletes, and professional athletes are discovering the advantage of the raw food diet.   Join us.  You don’t have to be an Athlete to reap the benefits!

Bon A Petite’

Cow’s milk is meant to grow a 2.5 ton calf!  One of the elements in cow’s milk is casein, a major ingredient in one of the strongest wood glues on the market!  ………..and THIS is meant to make us ‘healthy’?!

The surface of the digestive tract that is designed to absorb the nutrients from the food we eat becomes covered with a mucoid plaque (film) that protects our blood from toxins that would make us severely sick if absorbed.  Our body tries to rid itself of these toxins through whatever outlet it can.  It uses the nose (allergies and sneezing), the lungs (asthma and other bronchial conditions), and the skin (rashes, outbreaks, soreness) as outlets for these toxins. 

Unfortunately this same film doesn’t allow us to absorb any nutrients.   Over the years the mucoid plaque gets thicker and harder and we become under-nourished.  Do you ever question why you feel more tired as you age, and why the need for more vitamin/mineral supplementation escalates?

By eliminating dairy, numerous health conditions (e.g. asthma, allergies, rashes etc.) clear up quickly and completely. 

If we stay on a raw food diet this plaque can dissolve completely and our assimilation of nutrients, minerals and amino acids increases substantially!

Some people do not want to eliminate dairy all together and for those people who fall in this category, exchanging cow’s dairy for raw goat dairy is a healthier choice as goat’s milk is easier to digest and doesn’t have the same make-up as cows dairy – the make-up that makes us toxic.  Unpasteurized, raw goat cheddar style cheese is an excellent exchange for normal cow’s milk cheddar cheese……and a HEALTHIER choice. 

Bon A Petite’

Beth

“Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations.  Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation.”

When purchasing ‘organic’ you are assured the farmers are using methods to protect our soil and to eliminate soil erosion through crop rotation, cover cropping (green manure), and using composted manure.  The plant food we consume is rich in nutrients and do not contain:

Conventional Pesticides – Pesticides were designed to kill living things; pesticides are toxins, toxins cause disease.  The average person consumes 10 different pesticides each day and many of these have been associated with serious health issues – EWG (Environmental Working Group).   Autism, cancer, and infertility (to name a few) have been linked to the pesticides and other chemicals found in/on our food.  Children, because of their low body weight and higher metabolism are more affected by these toxins.  Women too are more susceptible to these toxins.  Additionally, a U.S. Geological Survey found every stream and 90% of the wells sampled contained pesticides – it is estimated 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of sprayed herbicides enter our water system.  Eliminating pesticides where you can will have a huge impact on improving your health.

Synthetic Fertilizers – Per The Carbon Connection documentary, “Every pound of excess nitrogen applied to the soil by artificial fertilizer destroys 100 pounds of humus.”  (Humus is partially-decomposed organic matter; its own ecosystem, the ‘life force’ of soil.)  Synthetic Fertilizers gets into our waterways causing nutrient loading and oxygen depletion – harmful salts destroys beneficial earthworms and good microorganisms.  

SEWAGE SLUDGE  - A nasty mix of bacteria and virus-laden organic mater, toxic metals, synthetic organic chemicals and settled solids removed from domestic and industrial waste water (over 60,000 toxic substances and chemical compounds) usually spread over farm fields (renamed “biosolids”) as a means of disposal.

Genetically Modified - A method of ‘splicing chemical pesticides into food crops so they don’t need to be sprayed.’ They become a part of the food, and not able to be washed clean.  Six products known to be genetically modified (best to buy ‘organic’) are: corn and corn products, soy and soy products, rice, wheat, canola oil, and cottonseed oil.

Irradiation - The International Atomic Energy Agency developed a process to sterilize, pasteurize, and extend shelf life of food in the 1970’s; since it is not an additive but a process it is not regulated.  Irradiation causes formation of free radicals; it destroys vitamins, and is toxic.

By purchasing “organic” we are ensuring the life of the planet, the life of our children, and our own good health.

Recent studies have also shown that by eating ‘organic’ you consume up to 30% MORE vitamins and minerals then that of its conventional counterpart. 

Yes you pay a little more to buy organic but you are getting:

-     MORE Nutrients

-     Less Toxins

-     Reduced Health Risk

-     Better Health

-     Less Sick Time

-     Less Doctor Visits and Health Care Costs

-     Dollars saved on vitamins, supplements, and prescription drugs.

I also prefer to buy ‘locally’ whenever possible – less diesel fuel is needed to ‘ship’ food.  Its environmental impact is minimized.  The produce is fresher, tastier, and healthier. Buying locally helps to keep alive a thriving local agriculture; and it is a vote for a secure, local food supply.  Many local farmers practice excellent farming procedures but do not carry the ‘organic’ label due to the high cost and lengthy procedure to get certified.  Get to know your local farmer; they’re an excellent resource for good quality produce at lower costs. 

Before you bite into that apple, or red pepper, know what you’re bringing into your body.  It could kill you.

Bon A Petite’

Beth

It takes longer to digest starches, fats and proteins – if you consume fruit (a fast digesting food) while you’re still digesting the heavier fats, starches and proteins, the fruit will start to ferment (fruit uses different stomach acids to digest, and your internal body temperature is typically 98.6 degrees) causing gas, putrification, and toxins which is harmful to your body, to your health.

Properly combined raw foods will ease digestive processes and create the environment for perfect:

Absorption

Assimilation

Digestion

Elimination

The proper way to combine foods is clearly charted on the Food Combination Chart I provide you free to download from my website http://www.sensationalrawfooddiet.com/food-combining-chart.html

Post it on your refrigerator for easy reference.

It is always best to consume fruits on an empty stomach and/or by themselves PRIOR to eating fats, proteins, or starches.  If you wish to slow digestion or maintain a longer balance of energy level, mixing fruit with a fat will achieve this.  Example: a trail mix of dried fruit and nuts will leave you feeling satisfied and you’ll maintain your energy level longer.  Consuming some greens with the trail mix will improve its digestibility as greens have the enzymes to help break down the fat in the nuts.

An exception to this food combining guideline is when you’re blending or juicing drinks. 

The secret to incredible energy, beauty, health and fitness is through efficient digestion and a clean colon.  When you properly combine raw foods you get efficient digestion and a clean colon……..AND……all the benefits described above!

Most people do not know the proper way to combine foods or truly WHY they should be concerned about it.  I hope you found this information helpful.

There are more tips, suggestions, articles and information on my website along with great raw food recipes (see my Recipe Membership Program).

http://www.sensationalrawrecipes.com

My mission is to help you, through my own experience, exceed your own health goals – whether it is eating 100% raw or just eating better!  I hope you’ll join me…………

Bon A Petite’

Beth