Karen Knowler * The Raw Food Coach

Kitchen Magic: Labelling Jars, Boxes and More

One of the bugbears of having a snazzy looking raw food kitchen (that works) can often be "how do I store all my nuts, seeds, beans, grains etc. attractively AND know what exactly is in the container and when to eat them by?"

I tried many different approaches over the years... handwriting labels (ugly), printing them off (one bit of moisture and the ink smudges or runs), sticking the best-before labels underneath the jars (they come off too easily and not every packet comes with separate stickers), putting the bag itself inside the jar (ugly AND clumsy)... you get the picture.

Thanks to my organising fairy godmother friend, Debbye Cannon, the big mystery was elegantly and efficiently solved. And the solution came in none other than my new best friend the hand-held labelling machine, which you can see me demonstrate here on my video below.

I hope you find this useful because small things can make a BIG difference!

 

Check out the hand labeller I'm using in the video on Amazon.co.uk - it's only £23.28 - complete bargain, and of course you can use it for a million different things around the home, not just the kitchen.

 

If you shop at Amazon.com, find it here >>> for $18.75!

How To Sprout

Further to my article posted a few days ago, here is the video guide to sprouting beans, seeds and grains... and then, below video #1, how to take that one stage further and grow wheatgrass and indoor greens.

Here's to perfect sprouts every time!

Sprouting: The Why, What and How To Do It Successfully!

From Successfully Raw Issue 92:

One of the most popular modules on my Raw Food For Beginners classes is undoubtedly the sprouting teach-in.

Whether I am lucky, have unrecognised green fingers or what, I do not know, but it seems that many people have struggled and continue to struggle with sprouting seeds, beans, pulses and grains successfully, and after a couple of failed attempts tend to throw in the towel and write the whole idea off.

Nooooo!

Don't do it!

Sprouting absolutely has to be one of the very most important raw food "tools" you need to have in your toolbox if you want to be as lithe, gorgeous and energy-filled as you can possibly be (my already abundant energy probably doubles when I bring sprouts into my daily diet). There's a LOT to be said for these apparently "insignificant" little creatures, and to ignore or exclude them from your diet is, in my humble opinion, one of the biggest mistakes you can possibly make.

So in my bid to have you sprouting successfully all over your kitchen, here follows my fool-proof guide to sprouting using my own personal favourite method, the jar.

What is sprouting?
Sprouting is an alternative term for germinating, although the sprouting process goes a little beyond basic germination and results in a partially grown or young plant. In a raw food kitchen we’re looking specifically at the sprouting of a nut, seed, bean or grain in order to render it edible or more easily digestible. Nuts do not need to be sprouted to make them edible, nor do some seeds but both benefit from soaking and sprouting as they become more easily digestible and juicier as a result. Other seeds, i.e. those that are supposed to be sprouted, plus all beans, pulses and legumes (with the exception of peanuts) need to be sprouted if they are to be eaten raw. Kidney beans should never be eaten raw and should be avoided. Grains should also be soaked and sprouted, although dry oats are an exception and can be milled down and used to make cookies successfully without being sprouted first. The sprouting process begins in water in your very own kitchen.

Why sprout?
When a seed, bean, nut or grain is soaked in water for a period of time, the plant’s enzyme inhibitors are removed. These enzyme inhibitors prevent a plant from germinating unless the right conditions for growth are met, and so once the seed comes into contact with water and the enzyme inhibitors are washed away the germination process begins. This process sets into action a whole chain of reactions enabling the plant to grow at a rapid rate. As it does so the vitamin content increases dramatically, to the point where the sprouted seed can contain hundreds or thousands times more vitamins than it did previously, and the protein, carbohydrates and fats begin to break down into a pre-digested form making for easier and better digestion and assimilation overall. The enzyme content of each seed, been, nut or grain also sky rockets making sprouts one of the most enzyme-rich (i.e. live) foods on the planet.

What do I need to sprout?
You don’t need any fancy equipment to get sprouting, although there are many pieces of equipment available to help you such as jars, trays, bags and even automatic sprouting kits. To get started you’ll need some seeds or beans for sprouting, a container to sprout them in such as a jam jar, and something to drain the water through, like a sieve or some netting or muslin secured around the top of the jar.

Best ways to get sprouting
Sprouting is actually very easy, but some seeds and beans tend to sprout more easily than others. The easiest ones tend to be mung, lentil, fenugreek, chickpea (garbanzo) and quinoa. These are all quick to grow (quinoa takes just 24 hours, the others take 2- 3 days on average) and mastering the sprouting of these will help you get more confident about sprouting other seeds and beans that take longer to grow or are slightly more tricky.

Reader Question: Which Juicer Should I Choose?

Alana wrote: Hi Karen, firstly I would like to thank you for your informative videos they are fantastic. I am in the process of getting my equipment to go raw and am wondering whether I could get your imput... I have been doing abit of research on juicers. I saw on one of your videos that you used a Champion juicer. I have read they work on the masticating system which to some degree still kills some nutrients that if going raw the cold pressed juicers e.g. Greenpower Hippocrates and the like are the best. Do you think there is much of a difference and whether you think the claims are true? I have the option of purchasing a 10 month old Champion Juicer and am not really sure whether to or not? Your imput would greatly be appreciated. Thanks Alana."

From Karen: Hi Alana, thank you for asking the question; it is one that comes up at all of my classes and yet this is the first time I have had the opportunity to respond on my blog.

What follows is an updated version of an article I wrote on this topic 2-3 years ago. Because I no longer run The Fresh Network and therefore no longer retail juicers as I did a few months ago, this may not be completely up-to-date (to all readers: if you have reviews, comments or amendments to make to my info, please go ahead and make them in the comments section, thanks!), but I feel confident that the general gist of it is, and so I hope it is of some use to you...

Chocolate: Superfood or Medicinal Herb?

When I first embraced healthier eating, I gave up chocolate because I was taught that it was harmful to the skin, nervous system, liver, and offered a host of other health challenges. However, in recent years, I started hearing that chocolate, particularly raw chocolate, is loaded with antioxidants, is nutritionally potent and is one of the best foods you can eat. I’ve also heard that chocolate and raw cacao are nutritional superfoods. After denying myself chocolate for so long because I believed it was unhealthy, I jumped on the bandwagon and dove right into chocolate decadence.

Years of experience later, I am writing this article to help those struggling with their relationship to chocolate. I have no vested interest in chocolate itself. Rather, my direct experience has shown there is another side to chocolate usage being ignored by the chocolate cheerleading in the health community.

Emotional & Chemical Alchemy of Chocolate

After many years of experience, research, and conversations with colleagues in the field of health and healing, I have come to the conclusion that chocolate is a medicinal herb. It is not a superfood or nutritional food.

A superfood is a deeply nourishing plant that contains high levels of essential minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. They do no harm and do not contain high levels of strong alkaloids.

Chocolate contains significant levels of theobromine, theophylline, caffeine and phenylethylamine. Any plants that contain alkaloids {chemicals ending with the suffix "ine"} in high amounts are harmful and hurt the body if used habitually.

With frequent usage, these chemicals will burn out the adrenal glands, dry up the fluids in the colon, leach calcium out of the bones, create headaches, irritability, moods swings, anger, anxiety, panic, and throw the body out of balance.

I’ve never met someone who was frenetically addicted to salads, blueberries, milk thistle or ginkgo, which are all high in antioxidants and do not contain high levels of strong alkaloids. When you use chocolate to get your antioxidants and magnesium you are playing the "trade off" game. When you use real foods such as goji berries, leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables for your antioxidants and magnesium, you are not playing a trade off with the systems of your body.

Plants containing high levels of strong alkaloids have traditionally been used as medicine when you need something that is going to move energy in the body NOW. For example... traditional medicine men and women have used chocolate to help dilate the bronchioles when someone was in the throes of an asthma attack, or had severe lung congestion, because caffeine, theophylline and theobromine are excellent bronchodilators that help the body to open up the lungs. Chocolate has also been used as an aphrodisiac and tool for sexual enhancement for both men and women. Like all strong, drug-like compounds, they are helpful for such extreme circumstances, but damaging to the body with habitual use.

Chocolate can lead to addiction because you get a rush from the stimulants {theobromine, theophylline and caffeine} and the antidepressant effects of the "feel good" chemical phenylethylamine, which mimics the chemistry of being in love. The chemistry of this herb goes hand-in-hand to plug holes in the emotional body that can only be nourished by feeling. These chemicals mimic what we experience when we feel energetic, mentally stimulated, passion, aliveness, and love. They induce feelings and states of being that we tend to look upon as higher, more positive and loving. We are usually in such a hurry to get to feeling good and happy while we may be angry and hurting inside. This leads me to ask you an important question:

Why would you be using chocolate every day in the first place?

I know from experience that it is possible to have these things in life for real by listening to your body and following your heart and passions. You can create balanced body chemistry through whole food nutrition, supplementation, and herbal medicine, without strong foods to numb down your pain and uncomfortable emotions. When you take care of yourself and find love inside, there is seldom a need for chocolate or other drugs. Sometimes we forget that what we are looking for outside ourselves is within us.

Fresh chocolate pod containing the raw cacao beans.

Is Raw Chocolate Better Than Processed Chocolate?

I personally have gotten addicted to chocolate, both raw and cooked. It did not make a difference for me whether it was raw or not. Although most people know that conventional chocolate is filled with harmful fillers such as milk and sugar, they don’t realize that raw chocolate poses its own unique risk.

While working at a raw food warehouse in California, I stocked raw cacao beans and raw cacao butter. I saw entire shipments contaminated with fungus and parasites in the blocks of cacao butter. The management even had the audacity to try to find ways to sell this contaminated butter to their clients.

When chocolate is cooked in the conventional forms, it kills these pathogens, so they are not a big factor. It also reduces the potency of the medicinal alkaloids. Because they can handle it due to the decrease in potency, many people eat chocolate in the cooked forms more habitually. It makes it feel less like a drug.

Have you ever wondered why chocolate can cause death in dogs and also how it often makes small children sick? I can tell by the bitter taste of chocolate in its raw, unprocessed, and unsweetened form that it is not a nutritional food. Anything that is overtly bitter or very strong tasting is nature's way of telling us that this is a medicinal herb.

Unprocessed cacao beans from the chocolate pod.

Does chocolate have a place in a healthy diet?

Indigenous people know and continue to teach us that we need to respect these type of plants. It is called the "food of the gods" for a reason. A Native American man once told me that "raw cacao is a very powerful plant and has been honored traditionally and used with respect in ceremony. It’s no joke, and I am now seeing people all jacked up on and addicted to raw chocolate. When we eat chocolate, it is not the meal, it is always after the meal or ceremony and is used with great honor and respect."

I encourage you to look at the bigger picture and make your choices about chocolate from balanced education and how it affects your body. Be honest with yourself. If you dig past the hype on the surface being promoted by raw food gurus and chocolate manufacturers, you will find that only minimal, medicinal, or no use of chocolate in cultures that enjoy health and longevity. Modern nations are eating plenty of chocolate and degenerative disease is not decreasing. If you look into people like the Hunzas, Vilacabambas or Okinawans, you will find that chocolate is not part of their daily diet.

This article was updated February 29, 2012

Copyright Brian Self, CNH, MH, CCI

541-292-7965

How To Set Up Your Own Super-Smoothie Bar

As many of you know, I LOVE smoothies and I'm also pretty good at creating and making them (even if I do say so myself!), so this issue I thought I'd share with you my guide to creating a smoothie bar in your own home that's good to go at any time of day and is quick and easy to use.

Why smoothies? Because they're fast, quick, fun, delicious and they are great at any time of day and can often deliver a hefty dose of nutrition in a tasty and beautiful package!

My kitchen sees a lot of smoothie action, whether it be green smoothies for lunch or nut milk-based smoothies for supper... and I hope that with the help of this issue, yours will soon too!

Step 1: Tool Yourself Up. The only piece of equipment you need to make a great smoothie is, of course, a blender (but if you want to make nut milks using whole nuts you’ll want a nut milk bag too – more about that next issue.) Now, as may or may not know, all blenders are not equal! Certainly you can get away with a High Street blender costing around £20-£30 for a fair amount of time if you treat it kindly, but if you’ve got the money and the passion then the best place you could invest your money for the long haul is without doubt in the very “hardcore” blender that is the Vita-Mix TNC (pictured). Yes, they are pricey (especially here in Europe), but they are soo worth it. I am fortunate enough to own one myself and like many others who are also proud owners of these beautiful machines I really do think it’s one of the best investments in my health I have ever made. I use it every day and it’s my favourite piece of equipment in my entire kitchen. All that said, if budget does not permit you to spend nigh on £400 on this particular piece of kit, then all is not lost, just spend the most you can on something that’s got good reviews on Amazon or similar and when you’ve got that part sorted, you’re ready to go!

The Vita-Mix Blender

If I was allowed just one piece of equipment in my kitchen, it would  be the Vita-Mix TNC. Way more powerful than your average blender, the Vita-Mix can handle ice, frozen fruit, nuts and seeds and all manner of other raw ingredients, as well as the more obvious soups, smoothies and dressings.

I've had my machine for several years now. Yes it's expensive (it typically retails in the UK for about £395), but goodness the value I have already got out of that machine is a hundred times over what I paid for it. It really is priceless.

Regular readers of my blog or eZine will know that I am also known as the Smoothie Queen! So having this machine work, live and breathe in my kitchen while other shadows of machines would have run out of steam, withered and died, is a complete blessing and an ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE.

Read on for a review I wrote about this fabulous machine way back when - it's as true today as it was back then, and I am EVEN more of a fan!

And if you do decide to go for it, I promise you won't every regret it and, like me, it may just become your most favourite kitchen buddy EVER!

The Champion Juicer

One of the most common questions I get asked is "What juicer do you recommend?" Well, my juicer of choice is actually the Champion - although it doesn't do wheatgrass and herbs and the pulp comes out a lot wetter than it does through other top-of-the-range juicers, it's handsome, sturdy, easy to clean and juicing takes no time at all!

Does this mean that the other juicers aren't worth looking at? No, not at all. In fact most people will opt for a Samson or Green Star, especially if they're looking to do a lot of green juices, but I just found that realistically I just wasn't making the effort to use those juicers (they run a bit slower, the food has to be cut up smaller and they're often more fiddly to clean), so I thought I'd stick with a juicer that I actually wanted to use!

I'll be writing more about juicers further down the line. It's an important subject to cover and the truth is that there's pros and cons to all of them. To date, although there are some truly great juicers on the market, as of yet the "perfect juicer" does not seem to exist.

So, for now, the squat, white and handsome Champion it is!

The Importance of Environment - Part 2: Your Kitchen

Following on from the last post, this time we're here to address your external environment - and remember - we're aiming for a 10!

In line with the one reason we're all here - a passion for raw and living foods - let's start by looking at the environment that will most support your lifestyle choice - your kitchen. In future posts we'll move on to other rooms of your home, but for now let's start in the food dept. which is where it all begins.

First things first, ask yourself: "How well does my kitchen currently support my desire to choose raw?"

No need to get emotional about it ; ) simply cast your eye around your kitchen for a moment and I'm guessing that quite quickly it will become clear that there's more than a couple of ways that your kitchen could be set up to better serve you and your health goals - and you may very well also discover a number of ways that it might be currently undermining your efforts? (e.g. Disorganised, food laid out in plain sight that you really don't want to eat, a fridge full of 'treats', saucepans on show vs. juicer in cupboard ...need I go on?!).

Introduction to Basic Raw Kitchen Equipment

When people first come to raw food, they usually see the various juicers, blenders, dehydrators and so forth advertised on the internet or in magazines and panic that they won’t be able to eat a raw food diet without them. The opposite is true. In fact you need less equipment to eat raw food than you do to eat cooked food – no cooker, pots and pans, baking trays and the like, just a knife and plate will do! You can make a myriad of delicious meals this way, not to mention simply eating fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds etc. as they are, but after a time, because we are so used to eating foods in complex and taste-bud tantalising ways, we do look for other ways of doing things. At this point the equipment comes in very handy, and even raw foodists of multiple decades standing still use equipment to keep food interesting for them on a regular basis.

Though some of the equipment can seem expensive, the good news is that these more expensive items do last and the benefits to your health and that of your family are ongoing, priceless and immeasurable. That said, getting hold of some basic equipment to start adding variety to your repertoire doesn’t have to break the bank.