I know there are a lot of people out there who are under the impression that a raw food diet can be damaging to your teeth.  Well, I just had to pipe up as living proof that this does not need to be the case!  I just got home from the dentist and neither the hygienist or dentist could stop telling me how gorgeous and healthy my teeth are!

Now some of you may point out that perhaps that is because I’m not a 100% raw foodist.  I laugh at this and wonder why anyone would think that processed foods would improve someone’s teeth?  In my experience, the more raw, vegan food I eat, the healthier and whiter my teeth become.

The truth is, unless you’ve got some serious underlying health issues affecting your teeth, a raw food diet should do nothing but benefit them.  Here’s how I care for my teeth.  I’m not saying you need to do what I do to have a healthy smile, but maybe some of the things that work for me will help you too!

1. I brush my teeth twice a day, without fail.  I use an extra-soft, plain G.U.M toothbrush, because that’s what my dentist recommends.  I also use regular, fluoridated toothpaste.  I might try toothsoap in the future, and will definitely let you know how that goes when I do!
2. I use soft picks every night before I floss.  My dentist recommended these in my first pregnancy when my gums were getting sensitive from hormone changes.  They are amazing and completely restored my gum health in days!  I’ve kept using them ever since.
3. I floss my teeth every night (before I brush) with waxed floss, and I make sure to pull the floss down the length of each tooth to pull off any build up from each tooth.
4. I limit my fruit intake.  Yup… you heard right.  While fruit is wonderful for so many reasons, it can be hard on the teeth.  Now don’t get me wrong!  I definitely eat fruit.  I eat fruit every day, but I stick to a few very basic guidelines to help make sure I’m not damaging my teeth in the process.  You may agree or disagree with my thoughts, but if you’re having tooth problems, I highly recommend experimenting and researching further to see what will work best for you:
   • I avoid eating unripe fruit
   • I try not to eat too much citrus/acidic fruit
   • When possible, I eat tree-ripened fruits - they taste better too!
   • I try to ensure that I eat more greens than fruit every day
   • I try to eat a variety of vegetables and non-sweet fruits every day too

That’s it!  No fancy equipment, no rigid cleaning schedule…  Just happy, strong, healthy, and pretty gums and teeth!

It’s a GIRL!!!! Yay!  Yet another little diva soon to be in our midst!  Of course, we would be just as happy if it were a boy, but YAAY!  It’s a GIRL! 

So we had our 2nd US doctor appointment, and all is well.  The baby weighs 6 oz (it amazes me that they can tell that, since they obviously can’t actually weigh her). 

Around week 14 I kept wondering if the flutters I was feeling were the baby, but since most women can’t feel any movement until week 20 (so says Baby Central), I thought maybe it was just my imagination or other things shifting around - especially since my digestion has noticeably slowed (as is normal in pregnancy).

As it turns out, it actually is the baby I’m feeling.  She flipped and turned several times during today’s ultrasound, and I got the familiar feeling of movement each time… so yeah… it isn’t gas, it’s a baby!

Here’s the symptoms update:

1. feeling extremely tired - same as last month
2. attention span is more normal, except for getting to tired
3. forgetfulness seems better
4. nausea is much improved, but still present (mainly in the evenings)
5. dizziness is gone
6. the smelling abilities of a blood hound remain and now anything perfumed (like laundry soap) smells especially horrible at the moment
7. inability to enjoy my former staples (bananas, green smoothies, etc) - I’m still off green smoothies, but am enjoying fruit smoothies from time to time now
8. varied cravings - mostly for fresh fruit now… and the odd publix sub!  My most consistent craving however, has been for ice water with lemon.  Yum!

My diet is still a combination of raw and non-raw.  I have had some steamed broccoli lately, but mostly want fresh, juicy fruits.  Funny enough, it is very difficult to get decent oranges in Florida at the moment (huh?).  I know - so odd, considering Florida is famous for oranges, but I’m guessing that much like South Africa (where I lived twice for six months each time), all the best fruit is exported.  So I’ve moved on to nectarines.  Publix has had tree ripened nectarines in stock lately, and they are amazing!  Unfortunately the aren’t organic, but I’m enjoying them anyway.  The cost of groceries where we live is outrageous, so I have started trying to make my way to some of the local farmers markets.  So far they have been very small with very limited produce, but it is always nice to buy from them when possible.

Oh… one last thing… to any woman out there who is also pregnant and finding it hard to get comfortable at night… I highly recommend getting the “Back ‘n Belly” pregnancy pillow.  My first pregnancy I didn’t have a pregnancy pillow and now that I have this one, I don’t know how I would ever survive with out it.  It’s amazing!

So that’s the baby update for the moment.  If I can work up the energy, I will post some ultrasound images tomorrow!

Today I made THE BEST smoothie EVER, which will heretofore  be referred to as “The Best Smoothie EVAH”!  In honour of the wonderful and classy woman, who in her gorgeous Southern Accent said, “How Evah” while telling us the sites to see in New Orleans several years ago.

So… this is not a light smoothie… it’s not at all a green smoothie… and it’s not the lowest fat of smoothies I’m sure… but I think it was THE most delicious smoothie I’ve ever had, and since the preggy hormones have put me right off of green smoothies, I’ve been experimenting with decadence!

Here is what I made:

1 cup of “30 Second Nut Milk” from Raw Food, Real World

2 frozen (very ripe) bananas

1.5 cups of frozen mango (fresh would also be delicious, but I didn’t have any)

2 TBS shredded coconut (again, fresh would be amazing, but I didn’t have any)

I put it all through the blender, and voila!  The Best Smoothie Evah!  Dessert in a glass!

I made a tasty and zippy little salad tonight, after seeing it on a beautiful blog that I now can’t find!  It was quite good and different from my usual fare, so I thought I’d share my version.

First I made the dressing:

• 1 tbs tahini
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• sprinkle of pepper
• dash of sea salt
• cayenne
• a couple of drops of hot sauce

Then, instead of the lettuce boats that the original blogger created, I diced cucumber, tomato, green onion, celery and some romaine lettuce, added some of the dressing and mixed it in a bowl.  It turned out great and was a nice change from my normal, less seasoned stuff.  Telly enjoyed picking out pieces of cucumber from the mix and she didn’t even mind the sour edge to the dressing.

If you know who this recipe belongs to, let me know so I can credit them properly!

Saturday Telly and I went to Delray Beach to check out the Green Market there.  I’ve never been to Delray, and thought it was kind of cute.  It reminded me of a tropical version of Queen Street, and it was just as busy.

The market was really small, but had some nice produce.  We bought organic pears, green onions, bell peppers, and strawberries that Etelle ate as we walked around.  Then we had lunch at a nearby restaurant.  It was very bland and not worth the price.  We should have stuck to our fresh fruit and veggies, but we enjoyed ourselves in the sunshine and change of scenery.

Today I received an order of Organic Vanilla Beans (1/2 lb for $21).   I’ve never used fresh vanilla beans before, but after getting Raw Food, Real World  for Christmas, I’ve decided to spice up my life with some occasional raw gourmet cuisine to replace forays into cooked territory.  This week I’m planning to try some nice smoothies, especially since my normal green smoothies seem so unappetizing still.

Not only did I get a great deal (half price! - seriously, check out the link for a deal!), but Beauty & Spa Concepts (the supplying company) also included a gorgeous natural loofah sponge and home made olive oil soap.  How generous!

I’m really looking forward to my belated birthday gift from Zvi… a Vitamix!  The Raw Divas and Vitamix are offering a great incentive - free shipping in North America (a value of $25-35) if you use the code 06-002969 when you place your order directly with Vitamix.  Even I’m planning to take advantage of that offer!  It’s a big investment, even with the deal, but for anyone wanting to make this happen, Vitamix offers a payment plan too.  Pretty good deal for any avid raw foodie!  Also, if you let the divas know you’ve ordered using the code, they’ll send you a month long recipe and menu planner to help you give your new toy a workout.  Here’s looking forward to smoother smoothies!

Helloooooo!  I know that many of your are starting to wonder if I’ve just become a figment of your imaginations, and after a gentle poke from Tera today, I figured I’d better surface soon or risk being forgotten altogether!

As many of you know, I’ve been fully enjoying all the colourful offerings of first-trimester pregnancy fun.  This has included:

1. feeling extremely tired
2. no attention span
3. forgetfulness
4. nausea
5. dizziness
6. the smelling abilities of a blood hound
7. inability to enjoy my former staples (bananas, green smoothies, etc)
8. varied cravings for everything from olives to clementines (and shhhhh!… butter tarts!)

Tera has been AMAZINGLY patient with my seeming inability to get anything productive done and while I’ve tried to help out as much as possible, she has been so wonderful about picking up some of my former tasks for a while.  Thank you Tera!

One of the things we thought might be fun would be if I shared some of my pregnancy experiences with you.  Since there isn’t a whole lot of information on the raw food diet and pregnancy available for public consumption, some people might be interested to hear more about what some of the challenges and triumphs of the experience might be.  I’ll try not to get too graphic, but I have to admit that “barfing” as Tera called it recently (making me giggle in 3rd grade glee!) is likely to make several appearances (mentions, not images!) in this post.

As you might already know, this is my second pregnancy since discovering raw.  I wasn’t exclusively raw in my first pregnancy, as I spent my first 20 weeks with my head in the toilet most of the time, and like many raw foodists, found the thought of greens quite revolting throughout most of my pregnancy. 

I started off that pregnancy eating a lot of fruit and drinking a fair amount of fruit juices.  However, after an unfortunate upchucking incident involving a piece of undigested grape getting stuck in my nasal passages (sad but true - yet simultaneously hilarious in retrospect - although I still rarely eat grapes and make a conscious effort to fully chew my food), I moved from fruit, to toast and peanut butter, and eventually, to cheeseburger happy meals (gasp! I know!). 

At the time it felt like the blander and less food-like the food, the less unpleasant to throw it up, and since every time I sat up meant running to the bathroom, that was just about the most important thing in the world to me at the time.

This pregnancy is pretty different so far, as far as foods go.  Pretty much all I can stomach are clementine oranges (I don’t usually eat a lot of citrus), water (which I couldn’t touch last time), and very juicy fruits.  I eat the odd other thing here and there (a few butter tarts have made an appearance), but when the nausea hits, it’s little oranges all the way!  I couldn’t even consider McDonalds this time around - thank goodness! 

Another difference this time, is that every once in a while I can not only eat a salad, but really, really want one.  This makes me very, very happy!

The best difference of all however, is that there has thankfully been quite a bit less throwing up this time around, although there has been just about the same amount of feeling like it.  I am hopeful that the nausea will subside sooner than it did the last time.  20 weeks is a long time!

Otherwise, everything is going well.  Ultrasound shows a rapidly growing little baby flip-flopping around and about 13 weeks, 5 days old.  All is normal and well and expected due date is around July 8th. 

As many of you know raw almonds were recently banned for sale in the United States due to 2 salmonella outbreaks that have occurred on non-organic, industrial almond farms.  As it currently stands, even almonds labelled as raw are actually pasteurized.  Unfortunately, this pasteurization not only means all almonds can be cooked for sanitary reasons, but can actually be commonly fumigated with a highly toxic gas.

Aside from the obvious impact on the nutritional quality of our foods, this legislation means significant financial burdens on small-scale and organic farmers.

Thanks to the Cornucopia Institute and concerned citzens, reform to this legislation is being considered.  Your help is needed to get word to the people making these decisions!  If you would like the law on raw almonds reconsidered, please follow this link.  Learn more and take action today!

It’s when we stand together that we become the most powerful.  If you think that one person doesn’t make a difference, think again!  You can change the world!

Not like we really needed a study to convince us, but for the naysayers out there… now there’s “proof”.  Like clear eyes, glowing skin, and super-hero energy wasn’t proof enough!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article2753446.ece

To those who will say, “well, what about those studies saying there’s no difference”.  To them, I suggest checking out some kirlian photography, or just taste the difference between an organic and conventional banana or apple.  I’ve tried it with many a skeptic to find them amazed that they really cool taste a difference - and organic tastes better!

On top of all of this evidence… would you rather eat a local family-farmed organic apple, or a industrialized farm’s apple sprayed with pesticides, picked early, waxed and stored for months before hitting your supermarket shelves and your home?

I mean, really… do we honestly need scientific studies to convince anyone other than the ones who don’t want to accept the obvious anyway?

From Cornucopia Institute Website.

Federal Regulations Would Harm Sustainable Farmers and Biodiversity

We need your help in another battle to stop the slippery slope toward a sterilized and industrialized food system that threatens biodiversity and the very existence of family-scale farms that grow food in a safe, healthy, and environmentally sustainable way.

In response to the E. coli 0157 outbreaks last year in bagged spinach, the USDA is considering a change in the federal regulations that could potentially require growers of all fresh leafy green vegetables to follow specified guidelines in the fields and during post-harvest handling. The federal rules would be similar to the California guidelines that were set by large-scale operations after the outbreaks. The guidelines include growing practices that discourage biodiversity and sustainable/organic farming practices, deplete soil fertility, and create “sterile” fields—methods that have not been scientifically proven to actually reduce E. coli 0157 bacteria but are certain to reduce biodiversity, harm wildlife, and burden family-scale farms.

Small- and medium-scale farmers would bear the greatest financial and logistical burden of such specified guidelines. For example, if the rules require testing for pathogens at every harvest—as they currently do in California—then large-scale farms that grow one type of crop and harvest only one to three times per season would pay much less than smaller and more diverse farms that continually harvest many types of vegetables. If regulations dictate a single set of growing practices and food safety measures, which are appropriate for large-scale “factory farms” but not for diverse family farms, we risk losing the very farms that grow leafy greens in a healthy and sustainable way. A one-size-fits-all regulation will not work!

The rules threaten biodiversity and environmental sustainability in several ways. Farmers would be encouraged to eliminate wildlife and any vegetation that may provide habitat for wildlife. The rules also discourage the development of microbial life in the soil. These methods have not been shown to reduce the risk of harmful bacterial contamination. In fact, sustainable farming methods that promote microbial life in soil have shown to reduce E. coli 0157 because it has to compete with other microbes and is therefore less likely to thrive. However, the aim of these rules seems to be for sterile fields that support no forms of life, except for the leafy greens.

We must make our voices heard, telling the USDA that we do not support federal rules that would put a great financial and logistical burden on family-scale farmers, discourage environmentally healthy ways of farming, and harm wildlife.

Taking action is easy, but with a December 3 deadline for submitting comments to the USDA, we need your help today. Please tell the USDA that food safety is an important concern, but that mandating measures with no scientific basis that will put small farmers out of business, and harm wildlife, is not the way to go.

Please submit your comments today by downloading the sample letter below or writing your own message and posting it online (see instructions below), or faxing it in. The USDA is specifically asking citizens to comment on its plan to implement these rules, and it’s important that you tell the USDA that you want to ensure access to fresh, leafy greens and that you oppose a Marketing Order or Marketing Agreement that would impose federal standards for all growers of leafy greens. Remember that every comment counts, but individualized messages/letters carry more weight than form letters.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE LETTER TO THE USDA

1) To submit online:

Go to www.regulations.gov. In the middle of the screen, you will see “Search Documents.”

In Step 1, choose “Documents with an open comments period”
In Step 2, choose “Department of Agriculture”
In Step 3, choose “PROPOSED RULES”
In Step 4, choose “Docket ID” and then type in “AMS-FV-07-0090”

Hit “Submit.”

Next, you will see a column titled “Comments, add/due by.” Click on the tiny tan dialogue icon, and you are now ready to submit your information and your comment.

2) To fax: (202) 720-8938.

** Please make sure that your letter references Docket Number AMS–FV–07–0090.

In addition to the Cornucopia website more information on this matter is available by visiting the California-based Community Alliance for Family Farmers’ website at http://www.caff.org/foodsafety/. We thank CAFF for their diligence on this issue.

Well, hello there!  I have been busy, busy, busy lately.  We finally put the finishing touches on our Cravings & Emotional Eating program, and just when I thought I might come up for air, we’re working on even more new treats for The Divas.  Pure craziness, but it is really great to look at how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time!

So, for lack of anything more interesting to say, I’m going to post some pictures to illustrate what Tera calls, “Amy’s Crazy Mango-Peeling Technique”.

1.  Cut as much of the mango away from the each side of the pit as possible.

2.  Hold one of the sides you cut away in one hand and take a drinking glass in your other hand.  Use the drinking glass to scoop the mango flesh away from the skin.

3.  Voila!