Fit For Life

So I'm re-reading a book called Fit For Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond which I read about 13 years ago. It was originally recommended to me by a room mate while I was living in Miami Beach, FL. I think at the time some of it made sense but I just wasn't willing to make the life-style changes needed to eat the way modeled in the book.

It feels really interesting to read this book now, after I've done so much research on raw foods and so much of that has really resonated with me. Now to throw food combining on top of that makes things feel a bit restrictive. Though there's certainly a toss-up here. Fit For Life allows eating cooked foods, just in the proper combinations.

And that's a hang up for me - this book claims I can detox while including cooked foods in my diet, which, if true sounds wonderful! I think I want to give it a shot. The book includes a 30 day menu plan to teach readers how to successfully combine food and eat the right stuff at the right time. I guess I've got 30 days to give it a try. Why not? I don't think I could make it 30 days 100% raw at this point so why not shoot for 70% and see if Harv and Mar are full of hooey or if they really do know their stuff! Here's a really condensed run down of what this will look like:

• Eat only fresh, raw fruits (and up to 14 oz fresh juice) every day until noon
• From noon to approx 8:00 p.m. eat correctly combined meals
• Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes daily (this will be the hard part for me!)

What does correctly combined mean? Essentially, there are two types of food: high-water content foods and concentrated foods. Fruits and veggies are high-water and everything else is concentrated. The claim is that the human stomach is not designed to eat more than one concentrated food at a time. Therefore, protein can not be combined with another type of protein, or carbohydrates (whole grain bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc.) Concentrated foods can be combined with veggies only as fruits should always be consumed alone and never following a meal. Here's a chart:

How long to wait after eating other food before you can again eat fruit

Food Time to Wait

Salad or raw veggies 2 hours

Properly combined meal, no flesh 3 hours

Prperly combined meal, with flesh 4 hours

Any improperly combined meal 8 hours

Energy Ladder

a.m.

Fresh fruit & fruit juices

Fresh vegetable juice & salads

Steamed vegetables, raw nuts & seeds

Grains, breads, potatoes, legumes

Meat, chicken, fish, dairy (if any;)

p.m.

Now that's a lot of info. If you want to give this a try I highly recommend getting this book and realding the details for yourself. There are additional concepts that I haven't even touched on here that are really important. I think the read is worth it even if you have no intention of trying it out. So I suppose I will keep all posted.

Genesis

I feel so compelled to find evidence of God's desire for us to be stewards of this earth He has entrusted to us and in searching the Bible I find wonderful verses that solidify my conviction to be a vegetarian (and maybe some day a vegan).

Genesis 1:29-30
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

Notice that God didn't say, "And all the beasts of the earth all the birds of the air I give you for food" He gave us seed-bearing plants and fruit with seed in it! Is this how God intended for us to eat from the very beginning?

Tabbouleh

From goneraw.com

Ingredients
1 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
½ cup fresh cloves or green onion, finely chopped
1 cup quinoa, sprouted (makes ~2 cups)
2 tomatoes, chopped into small squares
juice from 1-2 lemons
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or less
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt, grounded finely
½ teaspoon ground black pepper and/or some fresh jalapeno
1 head romaine lettuce, (or other wrappy greens)

Preparation
Quinoa sprouts in a few hours in water - some choose to rinse and let it sprout further some people choose to grind cauliflower, or other soaked nuts and seeds instead. I like using quinoa in this recipe because I don’t use it enough (up until now) and I like to diversify my diet as much as possible. Mix all ingredients except wrappy greens and serve with the greens on the side.

Corn Chips

From goneraw.com

Makes a bunch
My husband was craving chips and salsa like there’s no tomorrow, and I really felt guilty giving him dirty looks… So I finally made him some that were good enough to substitute!

Ingredients
4 ears of corn, shaved
1 cup flax meal
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
dash cayenne, to taste
1 teaspoon sea salt

Preparation
Pretty simple… 1.Put all ingredients in food processor and process until pretty well mixed, no chunks.
2.Spread on dehydrator sheets. I usually make small-ish circles, but if I’m lazy I’ll just spread it all over.
3. Dehydrate for about 8-12 hours or until fully dry. No real need to flip them, but it can’t hurt if you’re impatient.
4. Break into pieces. If they’re in circles, you can break them into quarters and get lovely nacho-like triangles. If you were lazy, just break into anything small enough to fit in your mouth or salsa bowl.

That’s it! You can season it to your liking of course, I tried adding a lot of dill and some lemon juice and got a pretty convincing dill-pickle. I’m sure anything works though.

Grawnola

From goneraw.com

A really easy, really customizable granola that packs well for camping, the office, or is a yummy breakfast with almond milk!

Ingredients
2 cups buckwheat, sprouted
1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked (optional)
1 cup dried fruit
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons agave or honey (or both!)
2 tablespoons shredded dried coconut
1 cup nuts of your choice

Preparation
Grind nuts of your choice (I used walnuts and almonds) in a food processor with sunflower seeds. Add in fruit (I used goji berries), pulse the food processor. Then add in cinnamon, agave, honey. Mix into bowl with buckwheat and coconut until thoroughly blended.

Spread onto Paraflex sheets, and dehydrate for about 8-10 hours at 110/115.
The great thing about this granola is that you can add more nuts or less, more fruit, and spices of your choice. It’s really easy and makes the whole house smell AMAZING.

Nutty Fruity Chewy Snack Balls

From goneraw.com

Yields 20-30 balls, depending on the size.
Nutty, fruity and chewy-moist, light snack balls coated with shredded coconut. They are perfect as snacks but also for a late breakfast or as an addition to a fruit plate. They could be eaten right away or stored in the refrigerator for three days, or in the freezer.
Adapted from Standard Fruit Pie Crust (raw) from The American Vegetarian Cookbook by Marilyn Diamond.

Ingredients
⅓ cup sunflower seeds (1/3 cups)
¼ cup pine kernels (1/4 cup)
½ cup walnuts (1/2 cup)
⅓ cup almonds (1/3 cup)
½ cup dried, unsweetened, shredded coconut (1/2 cup)
1 cup raisins
1 cup soaked (30-60 minutes) dried figs

Coating:
1 cup dried, unsweetened, shredded coconut
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder

Preparation
1. Grind the seeds, nuts, and coconut to a fine meal in a food processor.
2. With the food processor still running, add the soaked dried figs, and the raisins (on that order). The mixture should form a ball. If it does not, add more raisins and a few tablespoons of water, apple juice, almond milk or the water used to soak the dried figs. The mixture should not be wet, instead chewy, like a paste, still rough.
3. On a plate, pour about 1 cup of dried, unsweetened, shredded coconut (about one cup).
4. Wet your hands a bit, not too wet.
5. Form balls with your hands.
6. Roll the balls on the shredded coconut.
7. Place the coated balls on a plate and dust with cinnamon powder.

Pineapple Papaya Pie

From goneraw.com

This recipe yields 4 medium-large pieces or 6 small pieces if an 6-inch spring form is used.
This is my own version of a non-bake pie inspired by the non-bake pie recipe’s of The American Vegetarian Cookbook by Marilyn Diamond. The technique for this kind of pie is from the author of this book. Although made of fruit, seeds, nuts and dried fruit, it is a light food to be eaten. It could be eaten at breakfast, lunch or dinner or as a dessert. It could be eaten along or as a dessert after a light salad. It could be a side dish to a fruit salad too.

Ingredients
Crust:
You will need half of the ingredients of Nutty-Fruity Chewy Snack Balls recipe for a 6-inch spring form pie.
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Filling:
1 mini papaya, pealed, seeded and lenght wise thin cut
¼ cup cup dried, unsweetened, shredded coconut
½ cup medium pineapple, cored and peeled
1 tablespoon tablespoon raw honey or raw agave syrup
2 tablespoons tablespoons agar-agar
⅓ cup cup water

Topping:
2 small fresh strawberries
1 large ripe green kiwifruit
1 teaspoon teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup shredded coconut (optional).

Preparation

Crust
1. Prepare crust mixture according to the instructions of Nutty-Fruity Chewy Snack Balls recipe using half of the ingredients.
2. Line a 6-inches spring form with baking paper to avoid the crust from sticking to the bottom.
3. Press crust mixture into the 6-inch spring form. The crust will be nearly 1/4-inch thick.
4. Dust the crust mixture with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
5. Set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. I place it in the freezer for at least 45 minutes.

Filling:
1. Place coconut, pineapple and raw honey or agave syrup in a blender. Blend until smooth.
2. Heat agar-agar with 1/3 water in a small pan over low heat. Keep stirring mixture frequently until it becomes bubbly and gelatinous. It will take about 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Add agar-agar mixture to the pineapple mixture in the blender immediately. Blend for about 20 seconds.
4. Remove crust from the fridge or freezer.
5. Layer papayas pieces over the crust.
6. Pour pineapple mixture over the papaya (crust).
7. Place pie in the fridge or freezer and allow it to cool for about 15 minutes. Allow it to set.

Topping:
1. Peel kiwifruit, cut in half lengthwise, and slice. Place slices with flat side adjacent to crust in a scallop fashion.
2. Cut strawberries in half lengthwise. Place the four strawberry pieces on the center of the pie forming a cross.
3. Dust with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and shredded coconut (coconut is optional).
4. Chill for at least one hour, or 30 minutes in the freezer before consumption.