Introduction to Eating Raw

I realize "eating raw" might conjure up thoughts of cold, crunchy, tasteless food day after day (it did for me) - but it doesn't have to be this way! 

I've been 70-100% raw since February 2012, and while the food is room temperature or colder, it's also colorful, flavorful and glowing with life-force energy. I feel lighter and healthier and really enjoy my food - even more so that I did cooked food.

If you're interested in getting started with raw, it's very easy; you don't have to be 100% - start with maybe 20% and gradually increase the amount of raw fresh foods in your diet each day. Since it's summertime, this is a great time to start.

All you need is a food processor, blender, and optionally a paint strainer (for the green smoothie & nut milk  - you can get a 2-pack of paint strainers from Home Depot for about $8). Eventually, if you decide you love eating raw, invest in a food dehydrator so you can make flour-less breads (about $30-50, like this one). 

For this post I'll share some of my favorite, delicious, easy-to-make raw treats (that don't require a food dehydrator). Also, whenever possible eat organic!!!

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 MEALS  & SIDE DISHES

Nut milk

Soak 1 cup almonds for 4+ hours (can also use a mix of almonds, walnuts & pecans). In a blender, mix nuts with 2 cups water and a few ice cubes. (Optionally you can add 1-2 pitted dates and/or 1 tsp vanilla to taste)
Pour the mixture through a paint strainer and squeeze or "milk" the strainer until all liquid has been extracted. Keep refrigerated.
 

Breakfast Cereal

1 heaping tbl flax meal
1 heaping tbl slivered almonds (or chopped walnuts)
1 tbl raisins or blueberries
1 tsp stevia (or agave)
1/2 cup nut milk

Optionally, add cinnamon, a spoonful of vanilla protein powder or sliced banana.

Quick Guacamole

Mash 1 avocado with a fork. With a spoon, mix in 2 tbl chopped purple onion and 2-3 tbl lemon juice. One of my favorites!!!

Garden Burgers

Combine in a food processor:

• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup walnuts (or sliced almonds)
• 1/4 medium onion (finely chopped)
• 1 tbl agave
• 1 tbl oil: extra virgin olive, sesame, or your choice
• 1-2 tbl nutritional yeast (optional: makes for "cheesy" flavor)

Scoop a heaping spoonful onto a large lettuce leaf (such as Romaine) and fold the leaf over in lieu of bread. Optionally, add Bragg Amino Acids to the mix for more flavor. Delicious and very filling!

Green Salad (adapted from therawtarian.com)

Mix chopped kale and romaine lettuce (about 1 cup each).
Using your clean hands, mix in 1 tbl olive oil, kneading until all leaves are saturated with oil.
Add 1 tsp of raw apple cider vinegar, 1 tbl chopped purple onion, and 1 tbl walnuts.
Optionally, sprinkle on 1 spoonful of nutritional yeast. Very tasty!

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 SNACKS & DESSERTS

 

Banana Walnut Pudding

So easy - just mash a banana and add cinnamon and chopped walnuts. Gooey but sweet and filling!

Carrot Cake (adapted from therawtarian.com)

Combine in a food processor:

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1 tsp agave (or 1 packet of stevia)

1/2 cup raisins

1 tsp cinnamon

 1 tbl water

Do not over-process - just pulse a few times until everything is crumbly. Tastes just like carrot cake!

Crumb Cake

Mix equal amounts of pecans and walnuts in a food processor (do not soak in water beforehand) until crumbly. Transfer crumbs to a bowl and add cinnamon and agave to taste. Makes an amazing dessert!!!

You can also add a little cacao for a chocolatey treat, or add nut milk & raisins and eat for breakfast.

Chocolate Pudding

In a food processor, mix:

1 avocado, diced

¼ c raw agave nectar, or more to taste

¼ c cocoa powder

¼ c water

2 t vanilla extract

¼ t sea salt

Place avocado, agave nectar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and sea salt in a blender. Gradually add 1 tablespoon of water at a time to achieve a creamy consistency. Chill overnight and enjoy as a rich dessert the next day.

Chocolate Fudge Brownies (adapted from therawtarian.com)

One of my favorite desserts - they really do taste like real brownies!

Combine in  a food processor:

1 cup pecans
1/2 cup dates
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup avocado
5 tablespoons raw cacao 
4 tablespoons shredded unsweetened coconut (optional)
2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Spread into a pan or cookie sheet (about 1/2" high). Freeze overnight; cut into squares. Store in the freezer for amazing chewy brownies!!!

Thin Mints (from http://www.onegreenplanet.org)

Mix together:

3/4 cup protein powder
1/2 + 2 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp stevia, liquid
1 tsp peppermint extract
6 -7 tbl coconut oil, liquid Place all ingredients into a bowl and stir together.  Scoop onto plate or tray, then set in fridge to set (you want the cookies to be hard to the touch). Keep refrigerator or store in freezer.

Cheesecake Pudding (adapted from therawtarian.com)

Soak 1 cup of cashews in water for at least 4 hours. Drain and add cashews to your food processor. Using the s-blade, whip the softened cashews, adding small amounts of water until the consistently is that of pudding.

Transfer "cashew cream" to a small bowl, and add about 1-2 tbl lemon juice and 2-3 tbl agave (modify amounts according to your taste). Oh soooo good!!!

Quick Cheesecake (adapted from therawtarian.com)
Based on the above, if you want to make firm cheesecake, mix about 1/2 cup of melted coconut oil in with the whipped cashews, lemon juice and agave; spread the mixture in a pan and refrigerate. Cut into squares and serve with fruit. Delicious, and I swear it tastes just like cheesecake!

Apple Cobbler
 
In a food processor, mix:

1 apple, chopped

1/2 c walnuts
1 tsp maple agave

cinnamon

Don't over process, but mix until crumbly. Delicious!!!
 

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SMOOTHIES

Berry Smoothie

In a blender mix:

1 cup nut milk
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup chopped strawberries
1/3 cup blueberries
1/3 cup chopped blackberries

1 tsp vanilla
stevia (I use 2 packets) or agave to sweeten
a few ice cubes

Optionally, add 1 heaping tbl vanilla protein,1 tbl flax oil, 1/4 cup of coconut kefir or 1/3 sliced banana. Thick & yummy!

Green Smoothie

In a blender, mix:

3 cups water
1-3 chopped green apples (depending on how sweet you like it)
1/2 chopped cucumber
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped kale
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1 tbl spirulina

After mixing, strain about 2/3 of the pulp by pouring the mixture through a paint strainer little by little, and squeezing or "milking" the strainer until all the liquid has been extracted. Dispose of the pulp and rinse the strainer. Optionally, add stevia to the smoothie to sweeten.

Almond Smoothie

In a blender mix:

1 cup nut milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup almond butter
1 heaping tbl vanilla protein
1 tbl flax oil
1 tsp vanilla
 stevia (I use 2 packets) or agave to sweeten
a few ice cubes

Chocolate Smoothie

In a blender mix:

1 cup nut milk
1/2 cup water 
1 tbl avocado
1 heaping tbl cacao
1 heaping tbl vanilla or chocolate protein
1 tsp vanilla
stevia (I use 2 packets) or agave to sweeten
a few ice cubes

Optionally you can further thicken by adding 1 tbl flax oil, 1/2 cup cashews, 1/4 cup almond butter, chocolate pudding (recipe above), or 1/3 banana

Access Bars - A Not-so-great Experience

Over this past year (2011), I've gotten tons out of listening to Access Consciousness speakers Rikka Zimmerman, Dain Heer & Gary Douglas on alternative talk radio. However, my first course, Access Bars, was awful and so opposite what I thought Access to be about - it was so bad it soured me on Access for weeks & weeks. Also since I got nothing out of it, the class was a complete waste of time & money.

I debated on whether or not to post this, but in the end I decided some good may come from sharing my experience.


What is Access Consciousness?

Access Consciousness, founded by Gary Douglas, is "a set of tools & processes to change anything in your life". It's (supposedly) about "empowering you to know what you know", celebrating your uniqueness, and empowering you to live from consciousness (which is aware of everything but judges nothing)

There are many aspects to Access, but 3 that are important to note are:

1) Asking questions
So much of Access is about asking questions -- empowering OPEN-ENDED questions such as "what's right about this I'm not getting?", "what's right about me I'm not getting?", "what else is possible?", "how does it get better than this?". You don't answer these questions with your logical mind; rather the question is the doorway to a new awareness.

2) Staying out of conclusion
Another important part is staying out of conclusion, because conclusions are limiting, so stick to asking questions.

3) Knowing that there is nothing wrong with you, and that your uniqueness is to be celebrated.

There are many, many more tools, but even those few I've picked up have opened so many doors for me, so I decided to jump in and take some courses.


The Bars Course

The prerequisite course is Access Bars. If you're not familiar, the Bars are 30-odd points on the head that when touched, supposedly release thousands of years of programming, causing perceptual shifts and giving you "a shiny new hard drive". It's marketed as "at worst you'll feel like you had the best massage of your life, and at best your whole life will change".

One Bars session lasts approximately 1 hour. In the Bars class, you give & receive Bars twice, so the class lasts about 5-hours (including introductions, q&a, breaks, etc).

Now perhaps it's been great for many, but honestly, I feel NOTHING with the Bars (and I'm not dense - I'm highly sensitive); so whether giving or receiving, it's one long, boring day of touching points on the head and watching the second hand slowly creep 'round the clockface.

But we're all different, so if this is my experience, so be it; it's boring, but I'll get through it. My facilitator, however, was definitely NOT ok with it.


A Grueling Day

When I admitted I felt nothing to my facilitator (who didn't seem to conceive how anyone couldn't LOVE the Bars), she jumped into problem-solving mode and proceeded to scour me for anything that needed fixing (maybe I was a perfectionist, cared too much about doing it right, was too uptight, believed it had to be difficult, had a problem with touching, had a problem being touched, etc, etc - none of which was true). I allowed her to do some clearings, but none of it felt right.

Not once did she ask questions like, "what's right about this that I'm not getting?" (which is a big part of Access); instead she seemed more to ask "what's wrong with Ellen that I'm not getting?"

Things got worse when she started comparing me to other people, saying she noticed (no questions asked) I was "hidden" and this must be the culprit. Raising her hand high, palm down, she said everyone else was "here", but - lowering her hand - that I was "here". At this point I'd had enough.

Fed up, I told her I didn't appreciate being treated like a problem to be solved, nor being compared to others to see where I was "less than". I then asked "what if there are thousands just like me who feel nothing in a Bars session....AND IT'S OK?" -- which, not surprisingly, left her dumbfounded.

Now there were many other things this woman did that I found manipulative (asking me questions that were not open-ended, running clearings without asking my permission, etc), or downright annoying (like repeatedly caressing my head as if I was a child), but let's just say I was less than impressed with this woman.

Anyway, the whole experience soured me on Access for weeks and weeks. My facilitator had no interest in empowering me, but more in treating me as defective for not reaching her  standard. So much for celebrating my uniqueness. My gut feeling is that she was insecure and had so much personally invested in people loving the Bars (and loving her since she's the facilitator), and when I didn't love the Bars she got defensive. The worst part was that she wasn't new -- she'd been facilitating for nearly 10 years!


In Summary

Besides the less-than-desirable treatment, not only did I feel nothing during the Bars class, but I experienced nothing afterwards: no perceptual shifts, no "shiny new hard drive"...nada. Therefore, I honestly believe that, for some of us, Access Bars is a complete waste of time and money.

However, if the Bars class calls to you, here is my message for newbies and facilitators:

1) If you're a newbie I highly recommend attending a Gifting and Receiving session first; they're low-cost and you can see what the Bars is all about.
If however you take the Bars class and, like me, you feel nothing, stand in the reality that THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU. Don't let your facilitator treat you like a problem to be solved. If they do, don't be afraid to stand up for yourself and ask "What's RIGHT about me you're not getting?" or "What if a lot of people feel nothing...they just don't admit it?" or "What if this is evidence of a great gift?". After all, you didn't pay $200 to be treated as defective!

2) If you're a Bars facilitator and a participant feels nothing, please do not conclude there is something "wrong" with them, and instead ask questions like "What's right about this I'm not getting?" Facilitators should practice what they preach. Please remember that the Bars is the first course we take, so if someone leaves feeling bad about themselves or Access, you may have lost them permanently.

Anyway, thanks for reading - I hope some good will come of this post


***UPDATE: In May 2013, I heard Dain Heer saying in an interview that the Bars class is no longer required (boy I wish that had been true back in 2011!) so don't let anyone talk you into taking it if it doesn't call to you




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More posts!
Quick Technique to Improve Self-Esteem
How to Open Your Third Eye
In Celebration of Introverts
Healing Miracles with Quantum Techniques
Zen Entrepreneur: The Spiritual Side of Business
Ufology: Recommended Reading
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Ann Taylor's Belief Re-patterning

Ann Taylor is a healer with the remarkable ability to re-pattern beliefs. The idea is that beliefs are like hardened mud tracks, and Ann's ability allows her to "re-plow" the landscape of your mind, allowing for new, more empowering beliefs to be laid out. All you do is listen to her voice and your belief structures about a certain topic are revamped; topics such as finances, health, success, trauma, debt, etc etc.

Though it's not hypnosis - you are very awake and alert during the processes - Ann's voice is comforting and hypnotic.

I admit for a long time I didn't feel anything and didn't believe anything was happening. It was only after I listened to her on a teleclass late at night and was unable to sleep that I knew something had happened -- I don't know how else to describe it except to say my brain felt "charged" (I've since heard Ann warn people not to listen before bed - now I know why!)

Honestly, I generally don't feel anything when Ann does her processes, but one time I focused on the issue at hand and felt something shift in my brain, leaving the issue lifeless and without any charge whatsoever. Now I actually never think of the incident; when/if I do it's like a black & white scene that happened to someone else - absolutely nothing in me gets triggered. Amazing!

You can learn more about Ann's work at http://www.innerhealing.com/; you can even try a brief sample of her processes on the homepage.

Her website offers an array of cd's for purchase on topics like money, youth, rejection, etc and if you sign up for her newsletter, you'll be informed of upcoming teleclasses where she offers her cd's for a discount.

The only drawback to Ann's work is that you cannot listen while you sleep - you must actively tune in; therefore listening to process after process can be time-consuming.

That said, if you have the time give it a try

Theta Healing - Magical!!

I completed Theta Healing Basic DNA course in January, 2011 at Lightwork Seminars in San Francisco. Wow, what can I say??? It's MAGICAL - that's for sure!!!  It's basically about accessing the theta brainwave, and reaching the "7th plane" to facilitate healing. The founder, Vianna Stibal cured herself of terminal cancer with this modality.

According to Vianna (who seems extremely psychic), in our "world" there are 7 planes: the 1st one is minerals & crystals; 2nd one is the realm of fairies & elementals; 3rd is our 3-d plane; 4th is where we go when we pass on - just like the 3-d plane, but extremely refined; the 5th is the realm of angels & ascended masters; the 6th is the Laws (Law of Attraction, Magnetism, Time, Astrology, Truth, just to name a few); and the 7th is the realm of the Creator (God, spirit, source). Since the 7th plane is above the Laws, anything can be created or changed, independent of time or space.

In the Basic Theta course, you learn a meditation that puts you in Theta, and also takes you to the 7th plane; once "here" you command the Creator to initiate the changes you want.

If you command a healing and nothing happens, it's because you have beliefs blocking the change, and for that you command that the limiting belief be pulled & replaced (and you learrn how to do his also)

I do the meditation twice a day - I really love it - however I'm not nearly as psychic as Vianna (or my instructor), at least not yet. Supposedly if you keep practicing, you eventually open your psychic centers, so I'm trying to be patient :-) When I do the meditation, I perceive bright white light everywhere - it s truly amazing and beautiful.

After completing the course (1 weekend), others told me I was glowing (and I definitely felt like it!) Also, I could not watch television for weeks & weeks; eventually I gave in watching comedies, but to this day, 1 year later, I cannot watch commercials (I have to put them on mute) I definitely cannot watch news shows, as the energy seems very dense.

And yes I have created miracles! My best example is that I was scheduled to be audited; during the meditation I heard the word "canceled" (either I commanded this or I heard it - I'm not sure). A few days later, I called the IRS since I hadn't heard from them -- and the rep said my audit had been canceled, so don't worry about it. YAY!!!!!

If you're interested in Theta Healing, read Vianna's book, "Theta Healing", available for about $10 on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Theta-Healing-Introducing-Extraordinary-Modality/dp/1401929281/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298150374&sr=1-1  (or just read the first pages on Amazon's "Click to Look Inside" which tell of how she cured herself)

Also check out ThetaHealing.com

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