Rawmazing!

Although my journey with chronic pain is still continuing (seriously, how do I get off this bus??!?), I have found a bit of pain relief with the addition of a new medicine lately (can I get a whoop-whoop?).  But unfortunately, we're not any closer to certain or long-term relief.  Since the eight doctors (yes, eight specialists... in three different states as a matter of fact) haven't been able to help all that much, we've decided to make some healthy changes around the Beitler household to help my body help itself :).  And when I say changes, I mean chaaaa-aange!  To be specific, we've gone raw!  Raw?  Yes, raw.  What does that mean?  Well, it means we eat all of our food raw.  Haha... just kiddin'.  Yes, it does mean we eat our food raw, but if you're picturing veggie trays and sliced fruit, think again, my friends!  No one was more shocked than I to find out that eating raw can actually be delicious!

The nitty gritty of a raw food diet is that food cannot be cooked above 118 degrees.  That pretty much means food cannot be cooked at all, although dehydrating food at low temperatures for many, many, many hours is considered ok.  I was very skeptical of this choice and have actually been hauling around a book called, "Rawsome" for the last years without trying a single recipe.  Every time I opened it, I saw the word "dehydrator" and I closed it back up.  I mean, who owns a dehydrator anyway?!?  Not us, that's for sure.  But do you know who does own one?  My parents!  (time for another whoop-whoop, please).  After actually reading through an entire recipe, I was quick to realize that raw food preparation takes less time (and far less dishes) than cooking!  And in the land of motherhood, this is not a minor point!  The biggest difference is a shift in mindset- instead of being able to think about "what's for dinner" 45 minutes before dinnertime, I have to think about it in the morning in case I need to soak something all day.  For me, this shift wasn't that difficult to make and I actually like knowing what I'll be cooking for dinner ahead of time because my mommy brain is preeetttyyy much fried by 4pm :). 

There are so many amazing benefits to going raw but the one that attracting me most to the diet was the digestion factor. Raw foods contain living enzymes that help your body digest food quickly and easily.  These enzymes are destroyed when food is cooked above 118 degrees.  When you eat a big cooked meal, a large amount of energy is required to digest the meal.  This explains why you feel tired and sleepy after a big Thanksgiving dinner (or any large cooked-food meal).  With raw food, digestion is quick and easy (source).  What this also means is that you have more energy because your body isn't spending all of it's energy to digest unhealthy or unnatural food.  And the vitamins and minerals are more easily absorbed.  I'm definitely not a scientist or nutritionist (shocker??  nah, I'm sure that's not that surprising!), but if your interest is peaked, do a quick Google search and you'll be amazed!


After reading through the benefits, I still needed a slight nudge before jumping off Mt. Cooked Food.  For some reason, I read this recipe online and it got me thinking that maybe raw food can be delicious after all!  I found it on fellow Christian artist, Paulette Insall's blog along with this picture (by the way, THANK YOU PAULETTE for the raw inspiration!!!).  
It's a breakfast dish:

• 1/2 small ripe avocado
• 1/2 ripe banana
• small handful chopped cashews
• small handful chopped walnuts
• handful of raisins (unsweetened & no sulfites)
• light drizzle of raw agave

How easy is that recipe?  And trust me, it tastes as good as it looks.  Now, I am not one who can eat the same dish over and over again.  That is one reason why I was reluctant to try raw food- I didn't feel I had the time to learn a bunch of new recipes.  But it turned out I had a gem on my hands in the way of Rawsome.  After "cooking" raw for more than 2 months now, I have only found one or two recipes I wasn't all that fond of- the rest were delicious!     


If that recipe doesn't spur you on as much as it did me, here's another amazing breakfast recipe.  I'll let the picture speak for itself, but you will NOT be disappointed with this recipe! 

Yum, yum, yum!  If you check out the recipe, you'll see how few ingredients are actually needed!  If you choose to try raw food, you'll definitely become more familiar with your local health food store (unless your favorite grocery store carries a large selection of health food), but the results of eating raw are sooooooo worth it!

For now, I'll leave you to mull over these two recipes- I don't want to overwhelm you with too much rawmazing info all at once :).  But there will be more to come!