First and Foremost: Thank you to everyone who reached out in support of my family. I was touched from all of the wonderful emails I received. It was kind of surprising (yet, kind of not) to hear from so many people who went through similar experiences. A number of people also asked about the future for Kristen’s Raw. Well, as you might have noticed from the new header, I plan on sharing a wide spectrum of foods from raw to vegan to paleo and to what is commonly called “nourishing” or “real” foods. Since I find my food choices including recipes from all of these, I no longer label myself, which is nice. I just eat real foods, almost exclusively home made. My raw and vegan recipes of the past still have a place in my life, but we’re also eating a lot of other things. Just because we’re not exclusively vegan anymore doesn’t mean we don’t still eat raw or vegan recipes.

So, let’s get to it! Come with me into omnivore land.

Step 1: Organic Pastured Eggs – Poached, Scrambled, Baked, Slow Cooked, and Sous Vide.

Our gateway food into omnivore land was eating organic, pasture raised eggs. If you remember from my last post, I had been dreaming of eggs for awhile so I was pretty excited about it. For us, eggs meant getting animal sourced retinol, choline, among many other important nutrients including cholesterol. Have I come a long way… I now want to eat cholesterol rich foods.

I quickly learned that the best eggs would be organic pasture raised eggs (local, if possible) because not only do pastured eggs have the most nutrition, but the birds are out and about doing their natural thing… eating bugs, grubs, etc.

My slow stroll through Whole Foods showed me a company, Vital Farms, that offers organic and pasture raised eggs out of Texas. Not exactly local, but I’m relieved that I can buy high quality eggs that are pasture raised. I recommend checking out their website for more information. When we’re not eating Vital Farms eggs, I source them locally from our farmers market. The problem is that we eat a lot of eggs now and they have a limit on how many we can buy. Therefore, our eggs tend to come from a couple of different sources, which I kind of like.

The local farmer’s market. Cute!

But, even with eating pastured organic eggs, it doesn’t tell the whole picture. As someone who would like to avoid soy, I’ve learned that soy is common in supplemental feed for egg layers. Ack. Oh well, not everything is perfect and that’s ok. Part of being healthy is not stressing so I try my best to source the best and that’s that.

Preparing Our Organic Pastured Eggs

At first I was concerned about cooking the eggs too much and destroying some nutrients, so I decided to poach the eggs figuring that this was a pretty gentle way to cook them. I googled for ways to poach eggs and dove in. It included heating water to a simmer, creating a vortex with the water, dropping the egg in, and cooking for a set amount of time (about 3 to 4 minutes). It was an intimidating process and although I was pretty successful with my first attempt, it wasn’t easy to replicate. So, back to google (and amazon) to look for help in poaching eggs.

After reading rave reviews, I bought this groovy stainless steel egg poacher (it was the only one I could find that was stainless steel and not non-stick). I used organic coconut oil to grease the cups. It worked!

Vital Farms Eggs and Stainless Steel Egg Poacher

To back up a moment, how was it eating eggs after having avoided them like the plague for about a decade? It was weird. I had a like/dislike experience, but it was definitely more on the “like” side. After having them a few times, I was so over any “dislike” and now I look forward to them every day, but in the process I had/have fun making them all kinds of different ways.

As a busy mama, I wanted to find a way to have cooked eggs on hand in the fridge (grab-n-go) so I found some ways to do so without having to watch a pot boil for hard boiled eggs.

Baked in the oven like hard boiled eggs. Who knew?!

I started googling for ways to make hard boiled eggs and found that you can make them in your oven. I just don’t feel like watching a pot boil. This is great way to get hard boiled baked eggs that is easy as can be.

Using a silicone muffin pan, just put one egg in each and bake. You might need to fuss with times a bit to get the texture of egg you like, but that’s the story with making any hard “cooked” egg, eh? Tweaking the time to make them just the way you want will take a couple of tries. Basically, it’s about 325 degrees F for about 30 minutes – give or take a few minutes. When they’re done baking, place them in ice water for about 10 minutes to cool.

A great thing about having hard cooked eggs on hand is that they last, in the shell, for about a week in the refrigerator. They’re great for taking on the go or for busy parents in the morning who need to spend time getting coffee ready instead of eggs. ;)

Silicone Muffin Pan to hard-bake my pasture raised organic eggs

Slow cooked in a slow cooker – Hard Boiled Slow Cooked.

Let me take a moment to honor the slow cooker. Can I just say that I can’t believe I didn’t know how awesome slow cookers were until now. Why didn’t my mother ever tell me? I am now the proud owner of 4 slow cookers and indeed I use them all (I actually own five but I keep one at mom’s house). Sometime I use three at once. Here are the ones I have: 6 quart, 7 quart, 8 quart, and a mini. I love them all for different reasons, but if I had to choose one, I’d go for the 7 quart for its versatility (more on slow cookers in future posts – I have much to say for how I use all of these different sized beauties), but for this post’s purposes, you can use your slow cooker to cook “hard boiled” style eggs.

There are two ways to do this:

1. Put as many eggs in your slow  cooker as you want or can fit, add enough water to cover and cook on “low” for about 2-3 hours.
2. Or, the version without water… simply put the eggs in your slow cooker and turn on “high” for about 1.5 hours.

One thing I’ve learned with slow cookers is that they seem to cook faster than what a lot of recipes I’ve tried recommend. So, play around a bit with the times to see what  time you like best.

Four of my slow cookers from smallest to largest

Frittata

One of my favorite ways to enjoy organic pasture raised eggs is in the form of a frittata. By doing this I accomplish a few things:

1. It makes for an easy (and complete) grab-n-go breakfast which every busy parent likes.
2. It puts together protein, fat, and veggies all wrapped up in one nice little delicious package.
3. It’s great for Kamea (babies or toddlers) because you can easily cut it into tiny bite size pieces once it’s cooled.

Yum… warm veggie-filled-frittata fresh from the oven

So, to make my veggie-filled frittatas, here’s what I basically do.

• Large baking dish, greased
• Large mixing bowl
• My favorite egg beater
• 18 eggs (I use 12 whole eggs plus 3 to 6 egg yolks)
• Veggies I have on hand (usually 2-3 big handfuls greens, a shredded large carrot or yam, 1 chopped red bell pepper, 4-8 pressed garlic cloves, dried or fresh herbs… and sometimes I add 1/4 cup organic salsa or a couple tablespoons of organic tomato paste)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of my favorite organic ghee (or high vitamin butter oil)
• Use my new best friend in the kitchen, my Breville Smart Oven (a convection toaster oven).

I whisk the eggs, ghee (or butter oil), and seasoning in the big bowl. Then, I add the veggies, stir, and pour into a greased baking dish. I try to cook it at a low heat, around 275-300 and I’m always tinkering with it depending on my patience, but my goal is usually lower and slower. The process takes around an hour (oftentimes more). My post is getting long enough, so I’ll try to reserve a special post sharing how awesome the Breville Smart Oven is, but suffice it to say, I use it multiple times a week and pretty much never use my regular oven. The beauty of this is that it heats up super fast while not heating up my whole kitchen in the process. Plus, it’s convection.

Pro-Tip: Take your eggs out to get to room temperature before using in the recipe. This prevents the ghee or high vitamin butter oil from hardening, because ghee and high vitamin butter oil are typically kept at room temperature and super soft, ready to use. If you forget to take the eggs out ahead of time, just rinse them for a few minutes (in shell, obviously) under warm water.

Ok.. let’s back up a minute… As you can now see, we also use ghee and high vitamin butter oil as well as eating eggs regularly. Although we started with just adding eggs in our diet (using coconut oil to cook them), it wasn’t long before we added ghee and later high vitamin butter oil. How do I choose which one to use – organic ghee or high vitamin butter oil? Ghee is great for high cooking temperatures… and high vitamin butter oil I like to use for things that aren’t cooked very hot such as slow cooker foods or baking at temps that aren’t really high to keep the nutrients more in tact or just drizzling on hot veggies. I will post more on these later, but in the meantime I want to say that, for the ghee, I only use Ancient Organics ghee – it is truly amazing and different than any other ghee. I buy in large quantities directly from them as it has a great storage life – same with the High Vitamin Butter Oil. Oh, and beauty tip… I love putting the high vitamin butter oil on my face. It does, after all, contain skin beautifying nutrients like vitamin A (retinol), which many people find in anti-aging products. It’s a great night time (or day-time-I’m-staying-home-all-day) moisturizer. And, using ghee as a face or body moisturizer is not uncommon… but bear in mind, your dog might want to lick your legs non-stop.

I usually make my veggie filled frittata once a week and cut it into 6 big squares (that’s 2 whole eggs plus 1 yolk per serving plus veggies). I simply take it out of the refrigerator in the morning and eat it cold. This means we have breakfast ready and made for two mornings (sometimes spreading it out over 3 mornings depending if we eat other things with it). Easy. Yum.

In my effort to cook things at lower temperatures so as many nutrients as possible remain intact, I have made my frittata in my slow cooker, too. This works quite well except for two things.

1. In spite of my greasing up the slow cooker insert with coconut oil, it still sticks a bit.
2. My slow cookers are all oval shaped which makes it kind of difficult to cut out even sized pieces, not to mention it’s just plain not easy cutting frittata out of a slow cooker. Still, it makes a nice frittata at a low temp. Basically follow the same directions I noted above, but pour the egg batter into your greased slow cooker and slow cook on high for about 2 to 3 hours. I like to check for done-ness around the two hour mark. If it’s still wet, I let it go another 30 minutes and then check again.

Sous Vide – OMG… brilliant kitchen equipment

The other day, Greg says to me, “I have an idea for a birthday present for you and I think you’ll either think it’s meh or it’ll be life changing.”

Clearly I was intrigued.

Enter: Sous Vide

I had seen sous vide machines used on some of my favorite cooking shows, and I had read about it briefly in The 4-Hour Chef (a very useful book), but I never considered getting one. I didn’t think I really needed one. But, after the steep learning curve I was experiencing in the kitchen with actually cooking (i.e., heating foods) and wanting to do a kick ass job, Greg took it upon himself to do some research which led him to sous vide cooking.

After I saw some videos, and read the raving reviews online, I put some makeup on and brushed my hair. Then, I ran down the stairs exclaiming, “My birthday isn’t until June, how can you tease me like this? I want! I Want! Now! PRETTY PLEEEEEEEEASE!”

Well, as you can guess, since I’m posting about the sous vide and it’s not June, I received my birthday gift … early. :)

My Sous Vide Supreme

Sous Vide Intro: Why is a sous vide awesome? I’d say my main three main reasons for loving the sous vide (also known as a water oven) are a) the ability to cook with absolute consistency… every time… the perfect whatever-food-you-want, b) it cooks at low temperatures – like a slow cooker, and c) it gives you great flexibility because you can keep most foods in the sous vide for extended periods of time without over-cooking. You know how timing everything in the kitchen can be hard when cooking multiple things like a protein, veggies, and making a salad? With a sous vide, it makes it a piece of cake. Plus? It’s the hot new thing for home cooks.

I’m new to using it and I can’t wait to share more with you on how cool this thing is. But… holy moly it’s awesome and cooking eggs in the sous vide takes life to new levels. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ll ever go back to making eggs any other way now that I make them sous vide. Ok, that’s not true, but darn close. I think I’ll go between making my veggie-loaded-frittatas and making the perfect eggs, sous vide style.

Eggs ccoking away… for the perfect egg.

Sous Vide Eggs, cooked at 146 degrees F for 62 minutes, on top of gently sautéed spiralized zucchini noodles, diced tomatoes, and yam puree.

On a side note, we have a road trip planned during the summer and I am taking my sous vide on the road. It makes perfect sense because it’s so easy to use and clean up is a snap. I can’t wait to share pictures of me using my sous vide supreme in a hotel.

EDITED TO ADD (4/25/13): Although I mentioned it in the title, I neglected to mention that we also scramble our eggs in the body of the post. It’s not as often but we still do it. I love scrambling them in Ancient Organics ghee or organic coconut oil. When I scramble our eggs, my typical M.O. is to cook up a lot of dark leafy greens in the ghee, then crack in the eggs after the greens have cooked for a few minutes. Scramble up the eggs while finishing up the greens. Coconut aminos are great added to the pan for this as well as orange zest.Similar Posts:

• Pretty High Raw Food Intake (w/ A Cooked Vegan Recipe!) – Pregnancy Food Journal
• Comfy Cinnamon Apricot Oatmeal (Part Raw / Part Cooked Vegan Recipe)
• Easy Motherhood With Yams Galore
• Kiwi Black Bean Guacamole
• Easy Raw Vegan Transition Ideas

But first, it is important that I say I’m reporting this based on my own experiences. What follows is not a prescription for you. You’re on your own journey and I respect that. Please, do what you want for yourself. I’m sharing this because I feel it’s important, and so much has changed.

The big news: My family is no longer eating a vegan diet. 

As many of my readers know from my blog and books, I’ve been a hardcore, ethical vegan (some might even say militant) for almost a decade. To sum it up… well, there’s really no summing it up. The transformation has been too consuming and complex. But I’ll try…

My head has gone through so much thinking, researching, meditating, analyzing, soul searching, and emotion over the past four months that I can’t cover everything here in one post. Consider this the first of many posts as I continue this evolution. I’m still in the “researching” and “experimental” phases, and I hadn’t actually planned on attempting to tell this story until I was farther along. But I began to realize that A) people might want or need to know, and B), if I had waited too long, I would have forgotten some  of the details. Perhaps by jumping into the story mid-stream and sharing now, it will help me share more of it in better detail.

For starters, we still eat some vegan meals, but we don’t eat vegan at every meal.

It’s worth repeating: We are all different in how we respond to foods and what we want for our families. Food is a weirdly emotional subject for people and it’s hard to say anything about the subject that won’t ruffle somebody’s feathers… times a million when it comes to veganism vs. omnivorism. I don’t claim to have all the answers even for myself, and I can’t recommend what you should do for you or your family. All I can do is share what we went through, the changes we’ve made, the thinking behind it, and the results we’ve experienced.

So, why the change? It all started with our toddler, Kamea. I began having doubts about our vegan diet when she became strangely sick in the early fall. Wait. Back up… actually, when I think about it. I’d been dreaming of eggs for about three years. I ignored them though. Then, Kamea had a strange illness of sporadic vomiting, having trouble walking for a couple of days, and overall I was feeling instinctively like perhaps being vegan was not right for her. She consumed plenty of breastmilk over the years, thankfully, but her solids were nothing that made me feel like she was getting all she needed. Too often I was stressed about her diet. (I later became convinced that my maternal instincts had been correct.) That began the research. That, and I kept hearing and thinking about the word “balance.” That word kept popping up in my mind and what always followed it was the thought that my vegan diet was anything but balanced, because simply… a vegan diet is not balanced. It’s on the far end of the dietary spectrum.

So, it started with dreams of eggs, then raising Kamea during these critical developmental periods (particularly neurological development), that got me thinking about things. And then there’s the fact that I wasn’t without my own health issues. Me? Health issues? Now that I look back at it with the clarity of hindsight, yes. The problem was that I wasn’t making the diet connection. I figured it was “something else.” I had thought I was eating and living the ideal lifestyle so, despite making constant tweaks and adjustments (superfoods, fancy juicers, superherbs, tonic herbs, prepping foods various ways to optimize nutrients, following rules for combining or not combining certain foods like having vitamin c with iron rich plants – just to name a few), never in a million years would I have entertained the idea of making such a radical change. But, that’s exactly what happened.

As this journey started, I found myself asking questions like…

• Are there cultures around the world who eat exclusively vegan and, if so, have they done so for multiple generations?
• What nutrients are omnivores easily getting that vegans are trying, with much effort, to get with supplements?
• Are there nutrients where supplements aren’t enough?
• If we get enough of certain nutrients from supplements, are they ever still inadequate for some reason or less than ideal?
• Does supplementing overlook essential co-factors that are known to science? What about the ones that aren’t yet known? (Seems like, every week, they discover more complex linkages between nutrients that are consumed together.)
• Under what dietary circumstances did humans evolve and what does that say about my vegan diet?
• How have things changed since I went vegan almost a decade ago with respect to plant based foods?
• What vegan-promoting studies and experts was I relying on for information? Are they unbiased? Are they cherry-picking studies that support their philosophy while ignoring those that don’t?
• What is the current state of animal agriculture? Has it changed since my first days of eating a vegan diet?

These are just a handful of the hundreds of questions that would run through my head almost every day. I couldn’t help but ponder such issues, and time and again, I was moved by many of the answers I was opening my eyes to see. Truthfully, my world was about to get seriously rocked. Turned upside down. What started as a troubling little nag in my mind started peeling layers back until I was in nothing short of a full-scale identity crisis… what if I’ve been wrong… ALL THESE YEARS? Even worse, what if I’ve harmed my child? I can assure you, these are issues that nobody wants to face, but I owed it to myself and to my  family to seek out the best available information — regardless of the source — that was available anywhere to be found.

“Meat-curious vegan” seeks answers.

The first thing I discovered was, wow, there are a lot of us. Since switching back to an omnivore diet, I’ve learned there are legions of people with nearly identical stories to tell, including more than a few esteemed nutrition and health experts. The common thread: We were vegan, some quite smugly, thinking it was the human ideal of a smart-n-healthy diet, but then, only after several years, started to experience health problems, and then switched back to omnivore, and the health problems disappeared. That is a pattern that I heard over and over. But there was an interesting second pattern…

What we also have in common — made somewhat easy no doubt due to having adapted to a strict (vegan) diet for many years — are the strict kinds of omnivore foods we eat now vs what we were eating pre-vegan. I’m speaking about high quality. Even more so for former raw fooders, whose restrictions (such as avoiding grains) make some vegans’ diets look like junk food. So the strange irony is that hard-core vegans and raw fooders actually have more in common with, say, a hard-core paleo diet than the population at large. In short, we’re all accustomed to reading labels, grilling restaurant staff, ordering hard-to-find ingredients online, preparing food ourselves to ensure its purity, and eating plenty of vegetables.

For those of you who don’t know, I originally went vegan for ethical reasons. With health benefits an added big bonus for this nutrient-minded gal, the vegan diet seemed like a no-brainer. I remember over the years when people would go vegan and then stop because they didn’t feel well on it, I used to think to myself, “Well, they’re simply not doing it right.” Some people complained of lack of libido, lack of iron, lack of energy, etc. I now realize, quite humbled, that many of those problems may have been valid, even if they were doing a vegan diet “right.” Perhaps it took longer for the vegan diet to take a toll on my health than others. More likely I just couldn’t admit it to myself because my beliefs were so strong, constantly reaffirmed by my full-time immersion in the understandably self-reinforcing vegan culture (minorities do need to stick together and support each other, so this culture is understandable).

But after taking a careful look at Kamea’s vegan diet and what a growing child needs, and starting to recognize some cracks in our own adult vegan diet, I started to feel differently about it all. I’m now confident that these cracks started some years ago, but I wasn’t seeing a possible dietary connection. But then added on top of these deficiencies came pregnancy and breastfeeding — which is depleting on any mom — and the cracks became gorges that were impossible to ignore. But I tried to, or I tried to explain them away. I rationalized that maybe I was sleep deprived and messed up hormonally from breastfeeding. But, seeing Kamea on a vegan diet pointed out things I hadn’t previously thought about (and I’m convinced MommaBear instinct is quite a bit more powerful than cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias). I started looking to the future when Kamea would wean and I wondered if her vegan diet would be nutritionally adequate. My mind started to spin and I was questioning all of my previous assumptions, and at the same time I was getting more and more frustrated (and quite distraught) from having been vegan so long and wondering what implications that had for my family. I personally concluded that I was not willing to experiment with my child’s or family’s health.

What were my specific health issues from being a vegan so long?

Fertility. Well, you all know we struggled with fertility. It’s still a big “what if,” but I feel in my core that we were not nourished enough to conceive on our own. I now know that, despite superfoods and supplements up the wazoo, we lacked some essential fertility-supporting nutrients… stuff you just can’t get in a pill or any bizarre exotic mix of daily goji berries and maca. I could go on at length about just this one issue, but it deserves an entire post which perhaps I’ll write at some point, with all the gory technical details.

Skin issues. Over the years, sometimes I had an amazing glow, especially in the beginning of being vegan and raw. But as the years passed, time and pregnancy took their toll, and with extended breastfeeding… well, my skin started to suffer. I had some horrible breakouts that lasted long and didn’t heal quickly. I started to notice that I had pale, grayish looking skin, and dark circles under my eyes. Of course, I’m a mama to a toddler and constantly sleep deprived so I thought this must all be par for the motherhood course. But then there was the rash I had on my finger since before I was pregnant with Kamea. It would get irritated (and frighteningly worse) with water and too much dish washing, and it would itch, get red, etc. It would come and go, but mostly come for over three years. I kept hearing in my mind what my mom always said, “Your skin manifests problems happening within.” So, I wondered. My diet is awesome, right? Why do I have this rash? Surely my insides are glowing and beautiful. This rash couldn’t mean anything about my food choices. Well, I now have some ideas as to why my vegan diet resulted in skin problems.

My teeth. Since pregnancy and through breastfeeding I’ve had two teeth break plus some other issues. Again, I didn’t think anything of it because I thought my diet was pretty perfect; in hindsight, I was missing important nutrients.

My butt was sagging. I’m 36 years old and, despite regular exercise, my butt was starting to sag. I was embarrassed. I started looking at pictures of when I was younger, maybe 8 years ago and I had a full face, olive skin, and although I was younger back then, I certainly didn’t anticipate a freakin’ saggy soft ass at the tender age of only 36! Oh, and the skin on my knees was sagging. I was like, “Seriously? My knees?… WTF, am I suddenly 80?” Overall, I was looking way too old for my age. I kept wondering how that was possible when my family history didn’t support that (both sides aged with good skin), plus, HELLO(!), I was eating such an antioxidant-rich vegan diet… so what was wrong with me?

Nausea. And, the bloating. I can’t tell you how many times I complained to Greg about feeling nauseous after eating or saying “I feel so fat” from the bloat I had even though I was only weighing 117. Again, I never dreamed it was my diet. In hindsight, I wonder if being a long term vegan contributed to low stomach acid which could explain these things. Or, perhaps it was the vegan food such as grains and legumes, which can be hard to digest.

Lastly, my cupboard was becoming a pharmacy of supplements as I tried to keep my family’s intake of nutrients balanced, but which probably was even more unbalanced as I took many supplements in isolation. I became increasingly leery of this because I knew intuitively that the best nutrients are found in real whole foods… not isolated in supplements. Not to mention, it had become a monthly line item on the household budget comparable to a car payment.

Clearly, something wasn’t right.

There was a lot going on that I didn’t realize … until I opened my mind to the possibility that something was not right in my diet. Humbled, but nevertheless intrigued, I pushed on. (At least as a non-vegan, I can now eat crow! Ar ar ar.)

At first, it seemed more than just a little weird to end the vegan chapter of my life… as I said, it was more like an identity crisis. These labels carry so much meaning and weight with them. Fortunately, now just a few months later, it actually doesn’t seem like a big deal. At some point, a switch in my brain just flipped, and that was that. It was about my family’s health, not a philosophical crusade. It boils down to the fact that my family was missing nutrients, and now we’re not.

Some Specifics

Here are a few things that concerned me about our vegan diet, but I didn’t realize it until a few months ago:

1. Nuts and seed oils (as well as grains) can be high sources of omega six fatty acids, which can be a problem especially when my diet wasn’t a strong source of omega three fatty acids in spite of my consumption of hemp, chia, and supplements. For example, eating a vegan burrito (or even a sans-tortilla “bowl”) at Chipotle was not a great choice like I had thought it was. There is refined soybean oil in about everything Chipotle makes. And, don’t get me started on the tortilla (see number 3 below). Another example: Eating loads of nut-filled raw brownies was not great either. I’m not saying raw chocolate brownies are completely bad, but in hindsight, it’s not as innocent as I once believed, especially when scarfing down several at a time or if I was eating all raw all the time. I realize that a lot of people eating “exclusively raw” might not have the issue of inflammatory omega six refined oils, but most people aren’t exclusively raw. And, even if you are raw, there’s a lot of omega six fatty acids in a raw diet while lacking quality omega three fatty acids to balance it out. As I was not usually all raw, once I started looking closer at the vegan foods I was eating, I was pretty shocked at what I found.
2. Drinking all of those protein shakes because I craved protein. I became curious as to why I was even craving protein, not to mention the possible consequences of consuming a powdered and concentrated food like that with warnings of metal contaminants, etc. A protein shake here and there, no biggie, but to have it much more often than that because we were trying to add protein to our diet is another deal altogether. (Why did it take me so long to realize this???)
3. Um, gluten is the devil. ‘Nuff said.
4. Retinol is important for so much including pregnancy, fertility, breastfeeding. And beta-carotene will not cut it – at least not for my family. (This one alone probably pisses me off the most because retinol is only in animal foods. You never hear vegans warn about it like they do B12, and who knows the problems I caused my family by avoiding it.)
5. Iodine and my lack of it from not eating fish (and mostly gagging at sea veggies) was not good. And on top of that… consuming massive quantities of crucifers (daily juicing, anyone?) might have negatively affected my thyroid, which could alter many things including fertility. Honestly, I knew crucifers could be problems for people with thyroid issues but I presumed my thyroid was in top shape. Who knows what potential damage I was doing to my thyroid gorging on so many green juices, green smoothies, green powders, and kale salads, and not balancing it with enough iodine-rich foods.
6. Important nutrients were missing (fat soluble nutrients, choline, etc), and supplements weren’t cutting it. I sure tried though. I’ve learned a lot over the months regarding the importance of fat soluble vitamins, the source of them, the absurdly complex ways that they interplay with each other for optimal health, how they are important for other nutrients that aren’t fat soluble, and — bottom line — how much easier and better it is to get them from foods instead of trying to add them through isolation in my diet. At the risk of flogging myself too much for one blog post, I just can’t believe I didn’t consider this stuff before.
7. Cholesterol is not the devil. This alone flipped my worldview upside down when we learned more about cholesterol. Do you know I had a cholesterol reading once a few years ago that was 95?! And, to think I bragged about that. I’m ashamed of that now.
8. Soy, always a bit iffy, now seriously scares the crap out of me, no matter what form.
9. I questioned the amount of grains and legumes we had in our diet and how it contributed to our problems. Not only are they an inferior source of nutrients (especially for a growing child like Kamea), but they increase the overall sugar load in the body and I was eating a lot as a result of increased hunger due to pregnancy, breastfeeding, being active, and basically not being nourished. (The degree to which legumes are problematic for human digestion continues to be hotly debated and researched as you read this.)

How did I make the transition?

At first I was learning about vegan foods that might not be that great for you, such as wheat and gluten. Then I learned how grains and legumes in general are just not so good. Now, as a raw fooder, I was already aware of many of grains’ problems. But the problem is that if I’m not eating anything from animals, and then I decide to cut back on nuts due to their poor fatty acid profile, and fruit has too much sugar to be a large part of my diet … pretty soon I start running out of things to eat. Then, add breastfeeding to the daily caloric requirements, and my weight started to drop precipitously. I had to get more calories, so I had started consuming more grains and legumes despite their disadvantages. But once I learned more about why they’re bad and started revisiting my options, the whole equation changed, because it became much easier to get high quality calories from animal products.

So I began by eliminating grains and legumes from our diet. It’s been 4 months since I’ve had either and I don’t miss them a bit. I am committed to a 85/15 flexibility rule where I don’t freak about a meal here and there that might have grains or legumes (hold the gluten though), but I’ve not felt the need to implement that much “cheating” yet.

We eliminated all soy. We reduced carbs overall (including cutting down on fruit) because I think we were eating too many. When you take out all of those aforementioned foods, that takes out a lot of food. Then, as I learned more and more the importance of nutrients we were missing or not getting enough of, or not getting them in an easily assimilable form, I was drawn to foods for those missing key players. Enter: high quality animal foods. So, it was a process of cutting out certain low-quality vegan foods and then adding in certain high-quality animal foods. It was a process and it didn’t all happen overnight. I plan to detail the specifics in a future blog post.

What about my hardcore ethics? Once I had committed to making a change for my family’s health, I was afraid I’d enter omnivore-land begrudgingly, crestfallen, and with a heavy heart. And at times it felt completely foreign. Yet my old distant memories made the idea of eating certain foods familiar at the same time; after all, I was an omnivore for decades before going vegan. Additionally, I actually, naturally, started seeing my food differently. I considered evolution, my ancestry, biochemistry, health, how animals are raised and processed, and the ecological web of life on earth.

Above, I listed a lot of health challenges I experienced while being vegan for so long. So, what happened when we introduced animal products?

Night and day is what happened.

• My skin, almost literally, changed overnight. I haven’t broken out in four months. My face filled out. My skin tone changed and I have more of my natural olive tone color to it. I look in the mirror and I see my former self. Oh, and the pesky rash I had on my finger? Gone. As if I never had it, not matter how often it gets wet from doing dishes.
• My digestion changed practically overnight as well. I no longer get bloated or nauseous after eating. And, I never feel fat (and you should see all the fat I eat now – whoa).
• My body composition is changing and it looks so much better. My ass isn’t sagging anymore, thank god!
• I feel more nourished now but I’m still healing from being depleted for so long. Hopefully we’ll conceive naturally this time around. That’d be awesome. Speaking of… my monthly cycle changed instantly! If that’s not proof that something is going on with one’s endocrine system, then I don’t know what is.
• Kamea has done super terrific, too. Whew, this mama is finally at ease. When eating an all vegan diet (aside from breastfeeding), keep in mind that there is little margin for error, not just with nutrients, but plain old calories. If her appetite wasn’t strong, she wasn’t getting enough calories. If she was finicky, she wasn’t eating enough, or it would pressure me to feed her lower quality foods I knew she’d eat, like the tortilla on my Chipotle burrito or extra nuts, just to make sure she got enough calories. Or there was the issue that many vegan foods are high in fiber so her belly filled up before she could get adequate calories. Or the fact that I had so many rules to follow regarding where to get certain nutrients in the plant world, like pumpkin seeds for zinc, and so she filled up on those and there wasn’t much appetite for other important foods. I faced constant hand-wringing daily dilemmas… all gone now. Her appetite went up, her caloric intake went up, her nutrients went up, and she started gaining weight at a healthier rate. I went from being a constant ball of stress about her eating enough to feeling totally relaxed and relieved knowing she was getting everything she needs, especially as she started to ween. This stress was taking its toll on me, emotionally, and affecting my sleep… all things that are terrible for health. All of these are much better now, secondary effects of the dietary change. It’s like I’m living a new life relatively void of anxiety compared to how things were before. I only wish I had done it sooner.

All of these changes happened immediately and it was proof for me that we were going in the right direction.

It’s true that there were many times I felt great as a vegan, especially in the beginning years. Perhaps there was a cleansing element to it; or perhaps it was mind-over-matter, a placebo, because I was on a serious animal ethics mission so I didn’t think my issues were food related. I am only now recognizing this for what it was. I now suspect I was in a constant state of denial because I thought I was doing the best one could do. There were periods when I went all raw and it was heavenly. But, I never stayed all raw because it felt too unbalanced. Add to that a pregnancy and extended breastfeeding. I simply became depleted and my body showed the signs, and it’s during the past year or so that it hit me the hardest. I was forced to open my mind and consider that my diet had shortcomings. I’m so glad I did. “When I knew better I did better.”

I have to admit that looking back, I have deep regrets. I was vegan for too long, and it was not in my best interest during my pregnancy and especially having Kamea being vegan as a growing child. Ugh, better late than never though.

So what do we eat? Well, I think this post is long enough, so I will happily share the details of our meals in upcoming posts. It’s very interesting, and comical at times, and I’ll give a little hint to pique your interest: When I do things, I do them BIG.

I’ll say that much. I am on a steep learning curve and feel like a total noob in the kitchen at times, like I’m starting all over from square one. In a future post, I’ll also share the various people, books, websites, and other resources I’ve been studying that supported this transition.

PS. I had my blood work done after having been eating this way for a couple of months and the results? Stellar.Similar Posts:

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And, I like to make them quickly.

And, I don’t always want them made from nuts.

I know, seems like I’m picky. Yeah, sometimes I am.

Well. :) I have two awesome vegan mayo recipes that really take no time to make if the goods are on hand. But, in all fairness, although I call them mayo recipes, truthfully, they’re not really mayo recipes. But, they serve to replace the mayo in a mayo-loving-salad. Make sense?

Unique Vegan Mayo Recipe #1

Avocado + Mustard + Lemon = Creamy and tangy goodness that is easy to mash into your salad yielding a mayo-like experience. Here’s what I do. I get a big mixing bowl and put my salad ingredients in it.. usually chopped veggies and non-sweet fruits like carrots, celery, red bell pepper, cucumber, and the like – raw sauerkraut makes for a great addition. Add a diced avocado, a couple big dollops of organic mustard (my favorite here), and a squeeze of fresh citrus such as lemon, lime, and/or orange. Mash/Mix it all up. No nuts needed. No soaking needed. Just easy peasy n dreamy n creamy. (Obviously, season with salt and pepper as desired.)

Unique Vegan Mayo Recipe #2

Sweet Potato + Mustard = Creamy and low fat deliciousness that adds velvety mayo-like texture, vibrant color, and nutrition like it’s no one’s business. The clincher here, however, is having 1-2 cooked sweet potatoes on hand in your fridge already. If you’re like me, this is a common item in your fridge (read more here). Okay, so same drill as above… Get a big bowl out and add your favorite salad veggies and foods. Put 1 to 2 peeled (cooked and cooled) sweet potatoes on top, add a couple dollops of mustard, and smish smash it up. Season as desired. When I made the salad and served it to Greg, he came out of his office exclaiming (unsolicited, I might add), “Wow, this is a 10 out of 10!”

All in all, these two options are great healthy replacements for the next time you need mayo in your salad. They add creaminess, nutrition, and flavor which is really what you’re after. Pro-Tip… (good quality) mustard makes everything better.Similar Posts:

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Dehydrated pickles and olives

In the picture above you see organic sweet relish type pickles (from Trader Joe’s, already cut), sliced organic dill pickles (Trader Joe’s, again, already pre-sliced for sandwiches), and green olives on the right (those needed to be sliced). I was really pleased with the results of dehydrating these things.The sweet chunky pickles had a delightful chewy and salty texture. Great for eating a few by themselves or tossing on a salad. The dill sandwich slices are a salty, delicious, crunchy, and airy treat. And, the olives took on a fun chewy-ish type texture, salty too, of course, and good.

Although making these is new to me, and so they’re not featured in my book about dehydrating raw vegan foods… there are a bunch of other great recipes in it. You can pick up a hard copy through Amazon (or the ebook right here).

If you don’t have a dehydrator yet, I’d say the best ones on the market are by Excalibur and Sedona (you really can’t go wrong with either). Remember my recent post about dehydrating marinated mushrooms and onions? Making those is worth the price of a dehydrator alone.Similar Posts:

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• Organic Fair Trade coffee (part decaf/part reg) with chaga mushroom capsules emptied into it and stirred.
• Longevity Chia Porridge warmed with some warm organic coffee stirred in. As I wrote in a previous post, I make plain chia porridge and store it in my refrigerator. In the morning I take some out and let it sit on the counter to get closer to room temperature. I decorate it with longevity ingredients. Then, I sometimes stir in warm herbal tea (or on a unique occasion some warm organic coffee), which warms it quickly.

• Raw Vegan Coconut Yogurt – homemade and the best ever. (Recipe #1: Simply take a package of raw organic young thai coconut meat and put in blender. Add a cup or so of raw organic young thai coconut water. I buy both of these at Whole Foods Market and they’re kept in the freezer section. Add some raw organic nuts, a handful or two – I like pili nuts because they’re soft and require no soaking – plus their flavor it wonderfully mild. Blend well. Add 2 capsules of your favorite probiotic powder – open them up and empty contents into blender. Blend briefly. Put in a glass dish or mason jar big enough for it to expand a bit and work its magic. Gently lay the lid on it. Set on your counter to ferment for 12-24 hours. Done! Refrigerate what you don’t eat.) I also have a video showing a Raw Vegan Coconut Yogurt Recipe here. Plus, a recipe for my Quickie Raw Vegan Coconut Yogurt is here.

Organic Raw Young Thai Coconut water and meat.

Pouring this perfect yogurt into a glass dish to ferment.

Yum. It’s amazing just plain!

• 2 oz Coconut kefir
• Large Salad with Shallot Dill Dressing (Recipe #2 below), romaine, baby arugula, red bell pepper, cucumber, black sesame seeds, kelp granules, and sauerkraut.

A tiny serving for the pic… mine was much larger.

• Herbal tea
• Kombucha
• Brussel sprouts (cooked) tossed in a small amount of raw chia oil, black sesame seeds, and sea salt. Organic popcorn with raw pumpkin seed oil and sea salt. Non-Sweet Minty Green Smoothie.
• 2 tablespoons raw cashews
• Immortal Machine protein shake blended with both iced peppermint and Spring Dragon teas.

————-

• 2 cups warm Spring Dragon with Chaga (powder and tincture), Reishi powder, Love Bean Raw Fudge, and vanilla drops.
• 2 oz. Coconut kefir
• Longevity Chia Porridge with my raw vegan coconut yogurt stirred in and some hemp seeds. Wow. I’ll write that again. Wow! This was so fracking yum!

Large bowl Longevity Chia Porridge with raw coconut yogurt + hemp love (2 servings), before stirring everything together. Once stirred, I wait about 30 minutes so everything gets to the best texture ever.

• Herbal tea (chaga mushroom, nettles, raspberry leaf, Spring Dragon Longevity, and Honeybush – Kamea loved the blend)
• Water with vanilla drops, Dragon Herbs eeTee green powder, and moringa powder
• Large Salad with diced avocado, lime, romaine, shallot (I’m making it a big point to add more onions etc to my diet – healthy for the body), arugula, red bell pepper, cucumber, carrot, fennel, black sesame seeds, kelp, mustard, and sauerkraut. Beet Kvass drink.

Salad ready for tossing. I don’t merely toss though. I really smish smash it around so all of the ingredients combine for the perfect bite every time. Bamboo hands make that task easy.

Love these organic specialty mustards (reasonably priced, too).

Pro-Tip: Adding a dollop of organic mustard to your salad will elevate the flavor of everything and make it addictive. Being addictive to salad is a good thing. One of the best tips I have is adding mustard to a salad… my usual go-to is a salad of greens and veggies and topped with diced avocado, a big dollop of mustard, lemon or lime squeezed on, and some fresh (or dried if you must) herbs —> That combo of goodies serves as my dressing. Oh, and adding a scoop of raw sauerkraut is a fabulous, tangy, and nutritious addition.

Post smish smashing. See? Everything is coated with avocado, sauerkraut, and goodness.

• Immortal Machine chocolate protein shake with cold Spring Dragon Longevity and Mint teas
• (Lots) Cooked Broccoli tossed in raw pumpkin seed oil and sea salt plus raw celery, red bell pepper, and fennel.

————–

Raw Vegan Shallot Dressing

Pili and hemp are a great combo.

Raw Vegan Shallot Dill Dressing

Yield 1.5 cups

• 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 1/4 cup pili nuts (yes, that’s pili, not pine)
• 4 Brazil nuts
• 1 cup filtered or spring water
• 1 tablespoon fresh juice lemon or lime
• 2 teaspoons dried dill
• 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan crystal salt
• 2 teaspoon shallot

Blend it up until creamy and enjoy.Similar Posts:

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It gets a bit more complicated than even that though… once you have the temperature figured out, you need to be aware of how long you steep the leaves. Knowing these two things can make a big difference with tea making, if you want the best tea ever.

I love my Breville tea maker. It rocks.

Enter: my favorite tea maker… Breville and using this great tea maker to make some Chaga Chai Tea. The Breville Tea Maker has different settings for temperature and time… making the perfect cup of tea every time. It’s the coffee maker for tea lovers. But, don’t take my word for it, check out the great reviews on this baby.

A little research for making the best tea.

I bought a couple of books: The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook and 20,000 Secrets of Tea.

Chaga. Chai.

I can say after a year of continued use, that I love my Breville Tea Maker. It was a Valentine’s Day gift from Greg (and with Valentine’s Day around the corner, maybe it’s a gift for your loved one… or yourself). I use my tea pot almost daily to make the best tea and the health benefits are felt. Plus, I think it’s the easiest (least messy) method, too. Gotta love that.Similar Posts:

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Serving them in pretty glasses makes them even more fun (especially for kiddos).

A blender-full of goodness that refreshes my body and feels cleansing.

Here’s the gist of it…

Non-Sweet Minty Green Smoothie

• 1 to 2 cups water
• 1/2 to 1 cucumber
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 to 2 heavy handful(s) spinach or romaine
• juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon or lime
• handful mint (Don’t be shy… this is the trick! A heavy handful of mint elevates the flavor brilliantly, and you can also add other herbs – rosemary, basil, or parsley are wonderful)

Blend until smooth and enjoy this brightness in your life.

If you want to add oomph, blend in 1/2 avocado.

******* By the way… Have questions or comments? Use Twitter or my Facebook fan page to chat. Links are on the right-hand side of my blog. —>Similar Posts:

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Note: This is an article I wrote for the wonderful One Green Planet. And, the image you see above was compiled by them from photos I submitted to them.

Sticking to a raw vegan diet is relatively easy in the controlled environment of your own home and kitchen. But staying raw out in the real world takes some extra effort.

Whether you’re eating out with friends, going to a family gathering, or joining your co-workers for happy hour, there are plenty of social and logistical situations that are not very conducive to eating nature’s most healthy food. It might be easy for some people to just be hungry and eat later when they get home. But hungry and I do not get along well. There is a better way.

The key is to explain your situation to others when necessary and to always be prepared. It’s about thinking ahead and having options or a plan.

Explain and Train

First, explain your diet to your family and friends. Then train them how to accommodate you if they’re interested, or at tell them not be offended if you just fend for yourself and decline food they may offer. This upfront effort pays off. My husband and I have trained our family well. By now, everyone knows that when we’re invited to a function, we’ll probably bring our own food, and that’s just us, so don’t be offended. Or we may eat beforehand and bring snacks. The important tip for succeeding here is two-fold: 1) Let your family know what and why you’re eating raw or vegan. Share your excitement with them about it, while still letting them know that it doesn’t mean any extra work on their part. Depending on their tolerance for new things or alternative lifestyles, this may seem weird the first few times. But eventually, it becomes the new “normal.” Eventually their questions and comments stop coming up when it’s no longer new and different.

It also helps that the food we bring is gorgeous. It’s so self-evidently healthier, without lacking substance or deliciousness, and you can tell just from looking at it. While our family eats plates filled with monotone processed greasy foods that lack life and nutrients, we fill our plates with vibrant, rainbow colored foods. It’s a stark contrast – almost laughable – when you look at our plates of food versus theirs. After a few times of seeing our plates loaded with enticing colors like green, orange, red, purple, blue, yellow, white, etc, and then they look down at their plates filled with brown mush, they started to appreciate our choices.

Inevitably, new people ask questions and sometimes even want to try a bite. Sometimes we bring extra (only if the host would like us to). I’ve discovered that many people actually want to eat healthy, at least some of the time, but they don’t even know where to begin. So when they’re presented with the opportunity to have a tasty, healthy meal that is brought to them, they’re usually excited, even if it’s not something they’d normally eat. It is intriguing after all… Lasagna… without pasta? Really? Yes, try it!

Always Have a Plan

Dealing with family dinners and social functions like parties and get-togethers with co-workers require some planning ahead of time. Either check the details about the function or venue and see if there will be raw or vegan options, or bring your own food. If you frequently bring your own food, keep a ready supply of some raw foods in your freezer that you can just thaw and take. Don’t be shy about it either. This is your health, your responsibility and no one else’s. Don’t feel weird about bringing a few raw food bars and a green smoothie wherever you go. In fact, my husband is known for showing up at client meetings with a green smoothie in hand. His clients sometimes ask him what’s in it. “Kale, cilantro, tomato, celery, carrot, cucumber, raw cacao, and maca.” Wow. It sets the tone. This guy doesn’t mess around.

That’s what it amounts to. You have the capacity to be a bad ass, so be one! Your body deserves the best and you don’t need to think twice about what others might think. And in my experience, I almost always get asked questions and people are impressed at the level of dedication to my health.

Eating Out

Going to restaurants is a little different because it’s hard to bring food into a food establishment (they’ll sometimes say it’s forbidden due to health code regulations, but I’m skeptical because they never complain when somebody brings juice for a baby, etc). Still, I do it all the time, and I don’t feel guilty if they don’t offer healthy options. When they do, I’ll eat ‘em. If they only have a few items, I’ll mix-n-match. For example, if we’re going to a Mexican restaurant, I’ll bring along raw flax crackers and organic red bell pepper strips to dip in their salsa and guacamole. Authentic Mexican? No, not really. Delicious? Absolutely! And so much healthier than chips deep fried in fat.

If it’s another type of restaurant where I can get a huge salad, I do that, and sometimes I even get two since one doesn’t always fill me up. Here is a situation where it’s smart to look at the menu online ahead of time and see if you can build something from it. Call ahead if you like and talk with the manager or chef. I peruse the menu and see what veggies are offered throughout the dishes, so I knew they have them in stock. I simply asked for a plate of raw or lightly steamed veggies. Sometimes I bring in my own raw dip or some organic lemon and sea salt. And, if you’re afraid you’ll be tempted by your family or friends’ options while you’re gnawing on a plate of veggies, then be sure to bring yourself something sweet and decadent like a raw brownie or chocolate! Heck, sometimes that’s all I bring!

My favorite and simplest thing to bring to a restaurant is a green smoothie. I’ll bring it in some form of a travel cup, which is less conspicuous and I usually carry it in my purse. If the wait staff ever gives me grief about bringing my own food, I say “I’m on a special allergy diet from my doctor and I can’t eat anything grown with pesticides or herbicides or that has animal products.” This has never failed me… I think the medical aspect scares them in this litigious society.

What it boils down to is that I really don’t give a hoot what others think when it comes to my health. It bears repeating… my health is my responsibility, not theirs. It’s up to me to take care of myself. Maybe one day all restaurants will offer raw vegan, healthy food like they now provide a smoke-free environment. But until then, I do whatever it takes to ensure health for myself and my family, and with a little bit of planning and practice, it’s actually really easy.Similar Posts:

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Warm Raw Chocolate Chinese 5-Spice Elixir is great for warming you on cold mornings (or evenings).

Warm Raw Chocolate Chinese 5-Spice Elixir

Yield 1 large serving

1.5 cups filtered or spring water

2 vanilla drops

2 to 3 tablespoons raw chocolate paste chunks

1 teaspoon Jem raw nut butter

heavy splash coconut oil

1 heaping teaspoon maca

1/4 teaspoon Chinese 5-Spice

raw sweetener of choice, to taste

Blend until warm and serve in a wicked magical mug.

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