I made acquaintance with this lovely store through my friend who wrote down the name and asked me how I would pronounce it. He was surprised that I had it right from the first time because you can give it a twist. Just try yourself…

LIVE LIVE

Another alive food store where you can purchase all your raw goodies and superfoods is Live Live. I love the name! Simple, easy to remember, to the point, sharing a beautiful message and vision. I wish I had come up with it myself as this was around the time I was looking for a name for my business myself.

The open space is very inviting and calming and oh, how nicely every product is put down with great care! It is just lovely to look at them. Nice packages, other choices than I saw before what makes it even more interesting to investigate them.

The  owner is a very helpful, friendly man to whom it is nice talking to. His own Live Live brand is offering superfoods and green powders, something to keep in mind for when I want to extend my own offers on my online store in the near future.

It never gets boring to spend time to your health in these kind of places! They offer natural beauty and if you never taste Brad’s Raw Chips before and have been looking for them, then this is your chance.

And …

HIGH VIBE

When you notice the bright green in the 138 East 3^rd st NYC, NY. 10009, you know that you are at the right place. This facade with its nicely displayed windows is so inviting that you simply HAVE to open the door and check out what it is behind it. To me, it is raw paradise. The store is using every square inch at the fullest to please your hunger for superfoods, organic body care, whole foods supplements, raw food goodies and knowledge.

You will be welcomed warmly and whatever your question about a product, you will get a satisfying answer. I was pleased to meet Bob Dagger, the owner, who is always looking for the best for his store. I especially like the variety of products here and you can tell how much love and effort is put in expanding the huge offer. There is always something new to discover and this time I noticed mushroom powders such as Reishi and Chilajit, Tocotrienols, Sunflower and Soy Lecithin, vanilla powder and yum, raw Manna bread!  I tasted their two Zana Juices, a very powerful probiotic drink made of fermented cabbage. I could buy the whole store but only had one suitcase…

It is good to visit places like these where you can immerse yourself and broaden your raw horizon. It is by buying completely new products and trying out their possibilities that you can discover new tastes and textures in your recipes. This is what keeps your uncooking exciting, fresh and new. New, high quality products motivate you to go deeper into the culinary world of raw food and feel the excitement of eating healthy. Oh my, I can talk hours about this!

Another section which gives me the high vibes is the lovely book department. It is so good to see a library this expanded. I bought Matt Amsden’s book but felt like buying the whole series of Dr. Norman Walker and more. It is just so nice to have all that choice and to be able to browse through books instead of ordering them online without seeing or smelling. I like to hold books in my hands before they become mine.

So if you are in New York, be sure to hop over and get the good vibes at High Vibe!

You will love, love LOVE this smooth smoothie! I do! I am enjoying it right now while I am writing. I simply have to share this wonderful recipe which started in some kind of a minor because I was out of bananas and leafy green vegetables and didn’t feel like going out in the rain. My throat was feeling soar since last night and I felt tired when I woke up this morning so I had to make a super smoothie fast!

I was wondering how to replace the smoothness of a banana in my smoothie. I opened my fridge, hm, soaked chia seeds could do the trick. And ripe pears for some sweetness. My favorite loyal coconut oil would help too for sure. This is how I brew this overnice super boosting smoothie. After drinking one glass I feel the energy coming back and the sourness has gone.

This smoothie is packed with essential fatty oils (3 to 10 times the oil concentrations of most grains), proteins (one and a half to two times the protein concentrations of other grains), linoleic (the unsaturated fatty acid which the body can’t produce) and calcium ( it contains the important mineral boron, a catalyst for the absorption of calcium).

TOOLS YOU NEED

• A blender
• A sharp knife
• A cutting board

INGREDIENTS FOR ALMOST 1 QUART

• About 3-4 cups rejuvelac (you can also use water, tea or coconut water… but the rejuvelac is so great!)
• 1 C soaked chia seeds
• 2 C blueberries (when you take frozen berries in winter, you don’t have to add ice)
• 2 ripe pears
• 2 TBS coconut oil
• 2 tsp maca
• 1 tsp bee pollen
• 2 TBS supergreen powder (Amazing Grass is very good and tasting lovely!)
• 2 TBS hemp seeds
• 2 TBS honey

THE MAKING OF…

Blend until very smooth ( a bit longer to break down all the chia seeds) and soak all the goodies in this goddess drink…

TIPS

• Chia seeds have no taste so you can easily add other flavors while enjoying all the great nutrients of chia (EFA’s!)
• You can add chocolate, goji berries… their rich flavors will always take over from the chia seeds
• Soak a few cups of chia seeds overnight and store what you don’t need in a sealed glass container in the refrigerator; they stay good for two weeks
• Chia seeds can help you to lose weight because of their good fats. Moreover they are very filling and help you control hunger in a natural way

]]> http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2011/01/24/super-chia-smoothie/feed/ 4 http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2011/01/12/green-green-grass-of-home/ http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2011/01/12/green-green-grass-of-home/#comments Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:58:44 +0000 Marie-Claire http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/?p=1061

Grown wheatgrass

Nothing is as simple as growing grass and yet… a lot of people seem to have trouble to get those green blades up and ready to juice.  So I thought it might be a good idea to tell you how you can be successful in growing your lovely waving  grass  in the light at your window. What are the most common problems I hear about?

• Mold
• The berries take a long time to sprout
• The grass is growing irregularly and much too ‘thin’

I must say I had some trouble when I started too. All you need is a little bit of practice and some good tips. When you have a problem, ask yourself what is the cause and you go on from there to find your own solution. But you won’t have to with this little guide…

Green Green Grass Of Home

Let me start from the beginning; sprouting the berries. The first times when I was sewing my wheatgrass, ( and I bet a lot of starters do) I simple threw the seeds in a tray with organic soil, drenched it with water and put it up in the light because when you need to grow something, it needs light no? Nope, it doesn’t! Actually seeds need to be in the dark to be triggered and sprout. They need that signal; “you are under the ground so better start growing so you can see the light!” To grow your grass easier, you have to help it a bit by soaking and sprouting the seeds first.

Soaking

SOAKING BEFORE SEWING

• Rinse one cup of wheatberries so eventual residue can come off
• Soak  them covered up with pure water overnight
• Next morning rinse them until the water is clear
• Put them in a sprouting bag or jar and turn the jar upside down so the water is removed and the seeds can’t get moldy
• Cover up with a dark towel and place them where you don’t forget about them
• Rinse them 2 to 3 times a day
• When they get their little tail, they are ready to sew

Ready to sew, the tails may even be smaller

SEWING

• Take a plastic tray that is perforated (this is important so the seeds will never be too wet and grow mold)
• Make  a layer of organic soil of about 1.96 to 2 inches (the quality of the grass is depending on the quality of the soil!)
• Wet the soil but don’t make it too wet (mold)
• Now you can sew your sprouts; very thick! You may not see any soil anymore or you will only have some poor blades)

Every day!

• Spray the seeds
• Take a piece of newspaper, make it wet and cover the tray with it (this way the seeds can keep the moist they need)
• Place this tray in a dark, cool place
• Wet the newspaper every day, and spray the soil and seeds very well(this way you won’t get too much water in the tray)

White Grass After Two Days

• After two or three days, you will have lovely white grass
• When it is about 2.7 inches or 7 cm high, take the newspaper off, get it out of the dark and bring into the sunlight!

Into The Light

• Now the miracle happens and it is always lovely to see it happen; photosynthesis turns the grass green and makes it grow
• After about 7 days, your grass will be about 6 inches or even more

Ready for Harvest

HARVEST & JUICE

The way you harvest your grass is just as important to receive all the minerals and nutrients. Most minerals are close to the soil.

Harvest

• Take a sharp knife or scissors and cut off the grass as close as possible to the soil.
• The best way to get all the juice out of grass is juice it with a slow juicer or manual juicer.
• If you don’t have either of them, you can make a diluted version with your blender: put two handfuls of grass in it and pour a little bit of water on top to get it going, blend and strain through a fine sieve or a nut milk bag. This juice is not as strong as the real thing, but it is still better than having none. This is how I did it until I could buy my slow juicer.

Wheatgrass Juice From The Blender

TIPS & NOTES

• Don’t blend grass too long in your blender; it may dull the blade
• Mold can be caused by too much water, but also by too few water! When you spray your seeds, you have much more control.
• Choose a very good organic soil to benefit your grass at the fullest! Grass absorbs about 97% of all minerals in the soil; so if you want to have good quality wheat grass, the soil has to be rich in minerals.
• Buy organic seeds who will give you all you need.
• Something I always do to give my soil extra vitamins and enzymes is when I rinse my smoothie glass, I use that water to spray the grass. If it doesn’t help, it sure won’t harm and by the way; I am sure it is the best fertilizer for my grass.
• Don’t let the seeds sprout too long. Don’t wait with sewing until their tail is very long; it will take away their strength and they will grow slow and look poor. A little tail is all you need; the wall is now soft enough and the sprout is ready to grow.
• Wheatgrass can be different depending on the kind of seeds you bought. Some seeds give long, narrow blades as the ones I was growing above. But you will also notice that other pictures have grass with wider blades. I prefer those because they are much juicier.
• If you always want a tray ready, start a system with a routine that keeps you juicing and drinking this healing grass.
• When you have mold, you can’t juice the grass anymore. Throw it upside down on your compost; it brings oxygen in compost.
• You can grow and harvest one tray twice; it will look rougher and not as long anymore but just fine to juice!
• The grass will “eat” all the soil and form a “mat” with the roots. This is first class compost!
• A great organic brand for wheatberries is Geo. The seeds are strong and the grass is …. sweet and green! To purchase feel free to visit my website.

Geo seeds and their grass

Good luck! If any questions, feel free to email me.

Slamming Smoothie

TOOLS YOU NEED

• A blender
• A sharp knife
• A cutting board

INGREDIENTS

• 4 small leaves of kale (or two large ones)
• A frozen banana (you can take unfrozen too)
• A sweet pear
• Fill up your blender with spinach
• A grab of parsley
• A handful of Goji Berries (it adds sweetness and so many great nutrients!)
• 1 tsp beepollen
• 1 tsp Maca
• 1 TBS coconut butter
• Rejuvelac (see the recipe here; I added slices of lemon and mint to this batch)

THE MAKING OF…

• Throw everything in your blender
• Blend and chew that smooth smoothie! Cheers!
  

  Super Smoothie

Arrival in the fog

I was surprised by the cold when I got out of my car at De Hoge Venen in Belgium, the place to see a Wolfe looking for mushrooms and wild herbs. I only heard the day before it would be a five hour long walk. I had a bottle of hot green smoothie with me (with nettles and lots of cayenne to keep me warm!), a thermos of hot ginger and black pepper tea and some chocolates I made with lots of maca to stay energized. Five sweaters and a thick raincoat, a pair of cotton stockings and a pair of ski socks, under a warm jeans, two scarves and a pair of rubber boots. I felt like a moon walker but wouldn’t be cold!

Foggy Day

We walked in a cloud of fog and misty rain. But it was beautiful. I didn’t see deer and hoped for a lynx, but a Wolfe made it all up. He didn’t stop talking one moment. How could he, with all these people around who wanted to know something about everything. He was barefoot, only wearing flip flops and I bet he was having a hard time walking through ice cold mud and water.

Barefoot

It took a while before we found our first mushrooms. But once we got to the woods we discovered real medicinal beauties on dead trees and birches, where they love settling and growing. I am trying to remember their names all week, still a very annoying leftover of what I went through. But… I now have what I need to feed my brains thoroughly, to activate my neurotransmitters and get just as smart as when before I became ill! I picked enough of them to get an IQ of 160 and make 700 liters of strong, healing tea. It will all come back to me then!

If I'd still knew the name, I would be happy telling you...

What I do remember is that these species contain neurotransmitters. This would mean that they can communicate to… you and me on a telepathic level. By preparing tea of them they will enter your brain. A lot of mushrooms have the ability to provide you these extremely high medicinal values. You only have to know what you can pick.

Now drying to make tea...

I am looking for a good mushroom guide now, because once you get intrigued by them you simply have to know. I know that these examples are all edible but it is just nice to know all about them. Reishi mushrooms for instance will enhance your immunity system and Natural Killers which fight cancers. They deliver improved adrenocortical function, have an anti-allergic activity, prevent you from getting bronchitis, lower high blood pressure, contain many antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties. The right mushrooms are your free superherbs!

Picked lots of these black beauties!

Baby Boletus

I have been picking a lot of these little Boletus mushrooms and eating them. They taste wonderful. I have been extremely attracted to eating white mushrooms lately. I eat a whole box a day and can’t get enough. When I was looking into a solution to raise my ridiculous low levels of lymphocytes I discovered that you can raise these low levels by… eating white mushrooms! This is how our body is communicating with us; by giving signals of what you need. I thought this was a most amazing observation and I am so glad I followed these signs! My next blood test will have to tell me if they did raise!

Another very important observation is also required if you are picking mushrooms. They tell us everything if we can ‘read’ their language. It is written in their color and substance, their ‘belly’, the little ‘guests’ growing on them. Always be very careful when you get out there. Have a good guide with you, learn from others who know what they are doing, read, study and practice in the wild. Let me show you something.

On top

The Bottom

When you turn a mushroom upside down it will mostly tell you if it is poisoned or not. When they are shaped like this one, they are edible. When they have these little ‘ribs’ underneath, leave them be.

Inside..

Chopped Mushroom

One piece like this will make 10 liters or 340 oz of super tea! Put a piece in cold spring water on the stove and heat it up slowly until 80 °C or 176°F during 45 minutes. You can repeat this ten times with that same piece of dried mushroom before it has released all its nutrients. Dried mushrooms stay good for years if you keep them in a dry place.

Coral Mushroom

Brain Food!

Coral mushrooms are the real deal. They are medicinal and true brain food! I was amazed by their beauty and wonderful shapes. Without a guide I would have considered them as extremely poisoned. Now we were told to pick, dry, and consume them to fuel the brain.

"Why are trees always cold?"

The same reason his feet aren't?

I wish I could remember the exact explanation of why trees are always cold… but all I could think off during that story was how his feet could not be!

Misty...

]]> http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2010/10/22/david-wolfe-in-belgium-3-a-trilogy/feed/ 3 http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2010/10/20/david-wolfe-in-belgium-2-a-trilogy/ http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2010/10/20/david-wolfe-in-belgium-2-a-trilogy/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:22:36 +0000 Marie-Claire http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/?p=834 Calcification… a disease of civilization that hits all of us sooner or later. How come? Too much calcium, the wrong kind of calcium and calcium supplements. Consequence; cataract, arteriosclerosis, kidney stones, heart attack, Alzheimer, arthritis and so on and so on. In the past they were called old age sicknesses, now you can get them at young age already. That’s when I hear young people say sneering; “We are forty, we are on the decline!” A typical expression when one doesn’t know better and it is such nonsense to settle with it, no matter what age.

David Wolfe

David Wolfe confirmed my own suspicions; that a standard diet is accelerating these reactions. That raw food can turn your life around, react with strength and let your body revive. He wrote a program to reverse the process of calcification, to resolve calcium and to get rid of it. Intriguing. Why don’t we know about this? That’s also his question. I am wondering each time again why essential information isn’t shared with the population. Simple; industry, money, power. It makes me so angry!

So we need solvents to resolve all the calcium which is building up slowly, Wolfe claims. And he is right. Whenever a problem, there is a solution. The higher our intake of calcium, the more issues will manifest. He investigated the whole area, made a schedule and wrote a book about it.

But what are the alternatives? is what I often am asked. Magnesium, Phosphorus and Silica. Those three minerals are strong enough to build and reinforce our bones. By consuming more valuable minerals in a natural way we can prevent so much suffering. How? Green, green, green. How? Just start simple; with a fresh wheat grass juice and a green smoothie every morning; it contains more vegetables and fruits you can eat in a day.

So Wolfe created a plan and takes the problem by its horns step by step. No cheap steps, but so aren’t doctors once you start ailing. Always worth trying because doctors don’t know many answers either. Instead of admitting, they rather write an extra subscription for more calcium. Sigh.

The most important issue always is your body. It is like no other body and this is how you have to treat it, as a unicum on earth, with its specific wishes, moods and needs. What is good for one person can be a disaster for another one. So stay tuned with your body and listen what it has to tell you. Only you can understand its language.

Beautiful Nature

A short note about the Superherbs, as Wolfe is naming them. They are more powerful than any other herb and what more, they are out there for free, they grow in your garden, in the wild and waiting for you to pick them and use. What are you waiting for? Your immunity system will blossom, your nerve system will relive.

Shi Take

Some “bodybuilders” to grab in nature are:

• Absolute top 1 of superherbs are wild mushrooms; Chaga and Reishi are the most powerful ones and you can find them all around in the woods to make strong tea. One small piece is enough to provide you of 340 oz. of tea. They also heal Candida.
• Maytaki, Shitake (we all know that one) en Coriolis cure the nerve system. Coriolis is also an anti-cancer medicine.
• Malva or Mallow ( marshmellows!)  – All parts are edible and deliver you 20 times more minerals than any other plant.
• Chamomille
• Artemisia (the name is coming from the protector Artemis)
• Neem – the most powerful detox herb

And did you have any idea that asparagus is a medicinal vegetable?

We can do so much ourselves! Knowing where and how to start is essential and seminars like these can help you with this. tomorrow we will make a walk!

Resting

Beautiful blooming moss

Day 1 – Vitality and Longetivity Seminar

I was a half hour too early. But I got a nice spot on the first row. At first I was hesitating to attend this event. I admire his work and his knowledge but am not a ‘follower’. I can read what I need to know. A friend though advised me to go because I would learn a lot from what he is telling besides what he writes in his books. And this is what I love; learn, learn, learn. So I subscribed. There was also a second day; a walk in de Hoge Venen in Belgium, to look for wild edible mushrooms and herbs. Now this is what really took me in because I am using more and more wild edibles in my diet and to identify mushrooms you need somebody to explain.

When David Wolfe started talking, he got me right where I wanted to be: in the area of not that often shared information This is what my mission also is about: telling everybody what isn’t been told. So I knew immediately my money was well spent. What was the seminary about? Immune rejuvenation, rebuilding adrenals, kidneys and reproductive energy and the most important medicinal herbs you can include in your daily diet to get there.

David Wolfe Lecture

What struck me was his phenomenal knowledge. It was much more than I expected and he went much deeper than I knew he would. On top of that he is a very good speaker who knows how to choose his words. And he knows how to sell a good show because let’s admit; he is passionate about health but he is also a real marketing man, a seller and an entertainer who knows how to get his audience where he wants it to be: at the stand where his books are for sale. He even got a ‘not follower’ over there: I bought two of them. So he is really gifted, talented and gets you in his grip.

The seminar took about 4 hours and a half. In between he didn’t stop but answered more questions coming from people at his feet. He took a brief bathroom stop and went on again. The stream of information didn’t stop for one moment and I soaked it all. I am glad I bought the book where I can reread his thoughts and process all of them in quiet.

The thread through the seminar where the foods we eat. He spoke of three groups of food; “Food, “Superfoods” and “Superherbs”. Food, being our vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts, is our daily nourishment. But it isn’t boosting our immunity system in a way we can experience the effects of what superfoods are delivering us. I had the same experience and it was a confirmation of what I felt when I went raw. I started with eating everything raw and I felt much better, but the real boosts came when I got my specific selection of superfoods and started using them every day in my smoothies.

I smiled when I heard his selection of superfoods; it was exactly the same one as I chose for after thorough study when I went raw. I first took my blood results and reports and wrote down all my issues plus what I was lacking off. Then I studied the benefits of all the superfoods and purchased the ones who could provide me the nutrients to boost my immunity system (which was still at minus 16 and no natural killers available), to regulate my adrenal gland, to heal my organs (they were all exhausted and some damaged from all the heavy metals and toxins I couldn’t even get rid of after three years of detoxifying), to heal the damage that was been done to my brain, to rebuild the muscles I lost, to get rid of all toxins and heavy metals, to stop and reverse the process of disease, to make my body strong enough to cure itself.

So here are the superfoods which will boost your immunity system, recharge your energy level and nourish your body thoroughly. One more thing before I go on; even if you are healthy it is good to include them into your diet.  Imagine the head start you have, wow! You don’t have to add each one every day, let your body talk and guide you through what you need to feel optimal.

Maca, Goji Berries, Beepollen/ Royal Jelly, Wild honey, Coconut (oil), Chocolate, Hempseed, Chlorella, Spirulena, Wheat grass juice,  Wild edibles, Mushrooms, Seafood and Marine Phytoplankton. Very often combining certain superfoods bring new forces alive. An example Wolfe gave was blueberries with chocolate. Everybody is different; try out what works the best for you.

Beepollen

I already knew my list worked because I became able to combat disease and regained my life. But hearing his list of top superfoods affirmed that I chose well and that I can feel the vibration of what is good for me. Another nice surprise was him, mentioning a 109 year old man. I asked him if he was talking of Bernando LaPallo and yes he was! (I wrote a post about this amazing man who is still young at heart and looking young!) Now Wolfe referred to it as well, I will repeat it here for you as well. It is a Bernando’s top five list of all foods so you can start working with this one… Cinnamon, Garlic, Honey, Olive Oil and Chocolate.

109 years old and rocking on raw food!

The principal is so simple; listen to your body and give it what it is asking for. It is all out there, all you have to do is… do it!

Superherbs is another very important group of foods to include in your daily life. I am saying ‘life’ instead of diet because there is more to it than buy and eat them. You have to take scissors and a bowl, put your jacket on and go out, walk in the fields or the woods while enjoying the freedom, silence and sounds of nature. This too is a powerful healing factor: being in nature and ground. I remember how important my daily (even if it was very short then) walk in the woods, away from everything and everybody. Walking and looking for the herbs that will refuel your body is just wonderful. Coming home with a bag full of fresh power makes you want to sing!

Or if you have a garden, look around at what is growing in there. Those are the plants you need for your health. Ask yourself if these are detoxifying plants, or if they will give you the minerals you are lacking. Pick the plants that come to you and eat them; they are there for a good reason. When I was ill, my garden was filled with Solidago , Thistles and Stinging Nettles, all plants with great detoxifying benefits, begging me to use them to clean my blood and liver. Check it out yourself and learn…

And of course there are the mushrooms, strong, full of healing power. Add mushrooms to your diet and your immunity system will boost! If you are suffering from immunity issues you will become stronger, if you can’t pass one winter without a flu or several colds you will notice germs are affecting you less and less. More about this in the next pot (this is a trilogy…)

Next post in this series of three will be about calcification and which herbs are very good for you.

Bilberry Plant

]]> http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2010/10/18/david-wolfe-in-belgium-a-trilogy/feed/ 11