Nourishing Body, Mind, and Career

Natural Wellness Academy

Month: January 2012

Thai Coconut Soup

A Raw Vegan Recipe with Shortcuts

You can buy both young coconuts and frozen kefir leaves at Asian markets, but you can also find the young coconuts at many health food stores.  Young coconuts have a delicious jelly-like meat inside, along with some of water which is super-high in electrolytes and nutrients.  These are a staple food to many raw foodists.  The only drawback is that the seemingly impenetrable husk takes some practice in learning how to open, but I provide a shortcut so that you can enjoy this soup often:

Asian markets also usually carry frozen shredded young coconut meat in their frozen food section.  They are slightly preserved and do contain sugar, so while defrosting I open the package and place the frozen coconut meat in a colander so that the sugared water will run off. Then run fresh water over the meat for several minutes to remove the rest.  You can also buy some preservative-free coconut water to blend with the defrosted young coconut.

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Peanut Butter Joy Bites

Raw Fusion, Vegan, Gluten-Free

If you are someone who has loved many a candy bar, yet looking for healthier solutions, you are destined to adore this recipe!  Kind of cross between a Reese’s peanut butter cup, Almond Joy and those little Mister Goodbar squares that come in Hershey’s chocolate  Halloween assortment bars, these sinfully satisfying little bites are an unexpected taste sensation.  Especially considering how easy they are to make and how good they are for you compared to the processed and high-sugared alternatives.

Best of all, these nuggets of wonderfulness require no baking, have no flour or grains, no preservatives or processed sugar and are gluten free.  If you have a sensitivity to chocolate or caffeine, try making the ganache coating with carob powder.

This is a raw fusion dessert because peanut butter and roasted peanuts are not raw ingredients.  For the most part I have eliminated peanut butter from my diet but it’s something that I crave from time to time.  From a raw fusion perspective, we support fulfilling a craving occasionally (providing you are not allergic or seriously ill) so that feelings of deprivation don’t sabotage your good intentions to eat a mostly healthy, balanced diet.  Once I have my peanut butter fix every few months, I am more than happy to stick with my wonderful staple of raw almond butter, which is much less acidic to the body and not prone to the kinds of molds that peanut butters have (even the freshest, most organic ones are susceptible to the aflatoxin mold).

Watch me make these on eHow:

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Green Juice Fast

Greetings!  It’s always a good idea to start out a new year with some kind of cleanse.  Not only are you backing up your healthy intentions for the new year, you are also detoxing the inevitable excesses of the end-of-year holidays.

In my article about the movie “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” I quoted the experts that 10 days of green juice fasting is enough to do a “re-set”.  Ten days is probably a lot to commit to if you are relatively new to fasting.

ALERT: Before starting a fast, make sure to check with a medical professional to gauge whether you are in good physical condition and/or to supervise your fast. Also, it’s vital to have someone checking in with you several times a day to monitor your progress. If you feel light-headed or extremely weak or nauseated, do not continue your fast! Furthermore, coming off a fast should be done slowly and according to recommended procedures.

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