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I find myself really in an eating mood today, and not in much of a working one. It’s still a little unpleasantly cold outide, though the greenery continues to flourish.
Today I had:
strawberries
mango and spinach smoothie
tomato, avocado, ruccula leaves, and Dukkah spice salad with balsamic vinegar.
dates
natto
frozen banana, date and cocoa ice cream
melon
Dukkah, by the way, is one of my favorite spice blends. It’s originally an Egyptian concoction with a long tradition in the Middle East, where it was prepared to transform bread into a satisfying meal for camel drivers at the end of a long journey traveling across the desert. Men would gather around a fire to roast spices, nuts, and seeds, and then crush them into a coarse powder. They’d then dip chunks of bread first into olive oil and then into the Dukkah. There are tons of recipees, mostly containing cumin, coriander, salt, hazelnuts, and sesame seeds. Unfortunately, the stuff I used this time around was a commercial blend, so the salt was table salt and the seeds were likely roasted. Big no-no. I’ll have to learn to make my own, ’cause I adour it! The cocoa powder I used today in my banana mush was 100% pure but said nothing about 100% raw. I’m still waiting for my raw food order to come in….Gees, that cocoa banana mush was amazing though!
I finished reading the 80/10/10 Diet by Dr. Douglas Graham. I have read a few live foods books now, but this is one is a goodie. The main things I learned:
1) Most raw foodies (self included) eat way too much fat and not nearly enough fruits and greens.
2) Dr. Graham claims that humans were designed to each FRUIT, though we can supplement with some greens and nuts if fats and proteins fall short. But forget gorging on starchy veggies (this means carrots!), nuts, and seeds for the most part. (not easy to digest and too much fat). Most fruits and leafy greens have invert (inherent) fats and proteins that make up 10% each, on average, the optimal percentage. The bulk of out calories (80%) should be from carbs (which is probably 99.9% of the VOLUME of food we should eat)
2) Many people, including raw foodists, shun fruit as it’s so high in sugar and therefore not good for diabetics, etc. What Dr. Graham points out, however, is that the culprit is fat, not sugar. If too much fat (which is over a measly 10% according to Graham) is consumed, regardless of fat quality, it will coat blood vessels and cover the insulin receptors located on vessel walls. These receptors are responsible for receiving glucose from the insulin that comes through the blood stream when glucose presence is perceived, as well as delivering the glucose to the body as nutrition. Insulin cannot reach these poor receptors drowning under a layer of fat and therefore the body does not get nourished, and insulin levels go haywire.
3) Following #2, if there is not too much fat on the vessel walls, candida is perfectly under control to feed off of excess glucose in the bloodstream, as most of it get delivered as nutrition thanks to the hard work of insulin receptors. However, when glucose does not get absorbed, a lot of glucose hangs around, so the candida multiply and have a royal feast (candida feeds off sugars).
4) The best way to eat is to keep it simple- forget dehydrating and stuff like that. Just eat as many raw fruits and leafy veggies as you want each day, and keep over fats to the bare minimum.
Well, everything Dr. Graham says makes perfect sense and it is my ideal, but the reality of the diet is that it is a tad extreme, if not also a tad boring…. But if I can make his standard my daily ritual for most days, then perhaps I’ll be sorted.
