Q&A from Artisana Coconut Butter Giveaway Post
[7 minute read]
Hello, loves! Most of you have really thought about the questions to ask, and they are good! I am very thrilled to share my vegan super-power knowledge with you.
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Q: Beth asked: In eating a raw diet, do you ever get sick of eating cold food? Or IS raw diet food all cold/room temperature? I like raw food, but I also like some nice hot roasted veggies. Thoughts?
A: Glad you asked! I really am. I am not 100% raw with my diet. I am at about 80% raw/20% cooked ratio, although I never really sit down and measure it. My ultimate goal is HEALTH. If it is going to take even more raw food intake, I will get creative.
At this point, I do enjoy some cooked foods, and I don’t beat myself over the head for eating them. I do, however, always make sure my cooked portion of the meal is smaller than the raw portions, which lead me to the next point: all of my cooked meals have a large helping of raw veggies or greens, or a combination of both.
I also agree with you—I like hot foods: warms soups, teas, etc., so I do eat those. Being that I make all of my meals at home and supplement all of my cooked meals with raw greens, I don’t worry about chemicals or preservative.
Most raw foodists that I have come across are not 100% raw, but rather “high raw” in their food intake, although there are some that do 100% raw also.
With that said: enjoy your hot veggies once in a while, but to get most benefit from foods, do eat majority high raw diet, if possible. And remember, every step in a direction of vegan, high raw, unprocessed, whole-foods diet is progress :)
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Q: Jenna asked: Just HOW scrupulous are you? I'm vegetarian and try to avoid marshmallows (including those tiny ones on cocoa mix that are so darn tasty!)/jell-o/candy colored with carmine/cheese with casein. But there are only so many ingredient lists I can read during a shopping trip before I go bonkers! Sometimes I just give up and hope for the best because I just don't have time to read each and every single ingredient. Do you read labels a LOT or do you have go-to products that you always buy as to avoid the constant double-checking?
A: Great question! I felt like that in the beginning of our switch to a vegan diet. But I had to discipline myself, Jenna, not to give up. So, I did read EVERY label, EVERY time I went shopping. To me it really does matter what goes into my body.
I abandoned all vegan food substitutes with time, because they are highly processed.
My rule: if the ingredient list is…
1. longer than a few ingredients I don’t get it;
2. has ingredients I cannot pronounce or make no sense—I don’t buy it;
3. has any chemicals in it—I don’t buy it
I am a stickler for whole foods—this approach helped me heal from many illnesses, so I still with the basics.
There are certain items that I had used for a long time [my go to items] that I know have a good ingredients list, so I know I can safely buy them over and over again [such as Whole Foods organic pasta sauce], and even with such items I do quickly glance over labels, at times, to make sure the contents have not changed.
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Q: Audrey asked: Do you do any vegan baking? I am having a hard time mastering the traditional taste and texture of cakes without using a lot of refined ingredients or processed margarine. Do you have any tips for this?
A: Audrey, thankfully I never had a big sweet tooth. I do bake occasionally for my husband, friends and family, and have learned a few healthful substitutes that work wonders:
1. Eggs can be substituted with apple sauce and bananas;
2. Butter and margarine can be substituted with coconut and olive oil
My favorite chocolate chip cookies are wonderful when I make them with coconut oil, apple sauce and bananas. They rarely last until the next day.
If you are looking for SUPER fantastic baking recipes, check out BitterSweet blog. Hannah is quite amazing with her vegan baking craft. She occasionally uses ingredients I avoid, but overall she can work magic with vegan baking.
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Q: Audrey asked: I was wondering how you handle gatherings with omnivores, and if you have any tips. I will be having a graduation party this summer and I am unsure what to serve. I want everyone to be happy with the food, but I'm not sure that they would like an all vegan spread. Any ideas?
A: Absolutely! I am full of ideas! If you are the one responsible for all foods, then make everything vegan, and, if you really are looking to please EVERYONE, serve animal products [i.e. meat] on a side.
In my 3.5 years of being vegan I might have done it only a couple of times, since I pretty strict with not serving animal products AT ALL. When I did do it, it was for a good reason. This last Christmas a friend of my husband’s was all by himself. He is as carnivorous as they come. So, I made an all vegan dinner and then prepared a chicken for him on a side. It did sicken me to no end to do it, so don’t take me to the vegan court or start throwing rotten tomatoes at me, but our relationship with him meant more to me than our dietary believes. It was worth the sacrifice!
There is another approach, my favorite actually, is do parties potluck style. Even if you, as a hostess, are making most of the dishes, you can request your guests to bring THEIR favorite dish with them to the party! You can be honest with them and let them know that they might want to bring their favorite meat dish. It works in my family amazingly! I never had anyone get upset over it. Even better, my family has been so loving to us, that now they make most of their dished vegan style, and serve meat as a side dish. Everyone seems to be enjoying it too.
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Q: Mary asked: I understand that healthy eating a lot of times means fixing meals at home, but I am on the go quite a bit with 4 kids in tow. Do you have any easy meal ideas to help us continue eating healthy even when we are out?
A: Mary, since I do not have 4 kids in tow it is slightly different for me. However, I do regularly cook for 4 or more adults. I find that dedicating 1 or 2 days to cooking and prepping over the weekend is the easiest way to accomplish mid-week cooking exhaustion.
On the weekend, and some weeks are better than others, I try to pre-cook grains, pastas, etc.; prep greens and salad ingredients, so that during the week all I would have to do is pull the out, warm up, if the dish needs warming, or toss things together to serve a quick meal.
If in a hurry, try to stick with simple meals. I find that green smoothies, smoothies, hom-made cereals are the quickest way to get best nutrition into your kids.
Now I am going to give a link to a blog of a mother of 5 children! She is homeschooling and abides by high raw vegan diet too. She has a whole system set up to succeed. You will be amazed. Vegan Family Inc.
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Q: Kristin asked: HONEY? Vegan friendly? I head many debates about this one. If you eat Vegan, and eat honey you are not a true vegan. Thoughts ?
A: If you want to be very scrupulous, Kristin, honey is an animal byproduct. In the beginning of my vegan journey I refused altogether to eat ANYTHING of the animal kingdom, including honey. However, I do use raw honey now on a regular basis. Here is why and how.
I buy my honey from a local farmer, so I know he takes care of his bees; I do my best to use RAW honey only, since I eat honey not for sweetness but for its nutritional benefits—it rich with enzymes, vitamins, minerals and nutrients; and I buy organic honey, the fact that honey provides me with sweetness also is a huge benefit, since I do not eat ANY processed sugars [99% of the time].
Now, super strict vegans can take me to the vegan police, if they want to on this, but with most of them eating more vegan junk than I would care to know about, my choice is superior to theirs. In addition to that, you will find that a lot of vegans and raw vegans end up eating some sort of animal product one way or another [example : vitamin D3]. Unfortunately not everyone is being honest and open about it.
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Q: Lynn asked: Could you give a rundown on what nuts are truly raw, and which ones-even thought they say raw on the lable-aren't. Where are good places/sites to purchase raw nuts from?
A: Lynn, reading the label is key, as well as knowing your provider. Most raw nuts are supposed to be raw, however with current laws in the US, I know that most almonds get zapped [irradiated]. Cashews by nature are poisonous [kind of like poison ivy], so when they are harvested they are treated with heat. So, even though I have seen cashews being sold with TRULY RAW label on them, I highly doubt that someone can eat TRULY RAW cashews and get away with eat.
When shopping at local stores, even such as Whole Foods, it would behoove to talk to the manager of the department where you buy your nuts and find out if the nuts are TRULY what they are labeled. There are times when it happens that even the manager does not know more than what the label says. At that point you have a choice on whether you want to buy the product or not.
I get 99% of my nuts from www.azurestandard.com It is a co-op, so I get wholesale prices on them. There are other on-line companies that offer superior products, but I find them a bit out of my budget. You can check out the NaturalNews store for deals and option. http://store.naturalnews.com/
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Q: Zatalie asked: I would like to know ... what is your favorite raw chocolate recipe? :)
A: A raw cheesecake for sure! I have recently created a recipe that was delectable. I will be publishing it in my e-cookbook in the near future.
I also like to add raw cacao to “energy bites” I make for myself for when I am out an about working long days, like shooting a wedding, and needs a constant, even source of energy. I do add cacao to my smoothies as well.
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Q: Shannon asked: Have you found a good recipe for a raw mayonnaise? One of my favorite salad dressings involves vegan mayo and Parma! but I would like to mayo part to be raw.
A: Honestly I found only one recipe that could be considered raw so far. I came across it on another blogger’s post [Notes from Vegan Kitchen]. I tried making it, but mine did not come out, although I think it was due to one of my ingredients. My niece made it and said it turned out fantastic, so I am planning to get fresh ingredients and try it again. My niece, when she made her first batch, instead of boiling the ingredients, simply ran them in her Vita-Mix until they warmed up and thickened. If you try it and it works for you, let me know.
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Thanks everyone for participating and asking these questions. Healthy living can seem a bit intimidating, but it is doable when you have support, which I am happy to provide for you.
Enjoy your day, and don’t forget to enter the Artisana Coconut Butter giveaway!
Until next time: Live an UNPROCESSED Life!!!
