by Joanna Steven
Many people still believe dairy to be one of the best sources of calcium available. While it is true that dairy products are somewhat calcium-rich, one should keep in mind that they are also rich in animal protein. Because animal protein has an acidifying effect on our organism, calcium has to be leached out of our bones to restore the optimal pH balance.

photo by gokoroko

Even according to the National Dairy Council, “Individuals who consume a low-protein diet, such as some vegetarians, may require less calcium than omnivores or individuals who consume a higher protein diet.”

As a result, dairy products may provide our bodies with calcium, but they also take some away in the process. While the effect is small, there are healthier and more efficient ways of getting enough calcium; many plant foods are alkalizing and filled with many nutrients besides being calcium-rich, low in saturated fat, and devoid of cholesterol.

A similar calcium-leaching process may also happen during pregnancy. The developing fetus needs calcium for proper development, and if the mother’s diet does not contain enough to meet its needs, it will end up being taken from her bones. Unlike other nutrients such as iron however, the calcium requirement does not increase during pregnancy. It is now estimated to be about 1,000 mg per day, but many studies have found this amount to be greatly exaggerated, especially for men. A diet rich in calcium-rich plant foods, coupled with weight bearing exercises, is likely to provide enough calcium easily.

Besides, ingesting enough calcium is only half the battle. There are many nutrients that help with its absorption, and are just as critical in a healthy person’s diet. Such nutrients include vitamin D, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium.

photo by sateda

Still, someone  looking for animal-free sources of protein may be a little lost at first, but within a short amount of time, finding high calcium sources will become as easy as recognizing other foods for being high in vitamin C, iron, or other nutrients. Some of the most calcium-rich plant foods include:

−    Sesame seeds (27%/ounce)
−    Chia seeds (18%/ounce)
−    Almonds (7% per ounce)
−    Leafy Greens (kale: 10%/cup, collards: 5%/cup)
−    Seaweed (kelp: 21%/cup; dulse: 6%/cup)

Tahini and Fruit Spread
My dad used to make me tahini and jam spreads all the time growing up. For a raw jam, blend fresh fruits with agave nectar until sweet and of a consistency similar to cooked jam.

Ingredients:
−    2 T tahini (sesame seed butter)
−    2 T raw jam

Directions:
Stir the tahini and jam together until they are somewhat mixed but you can still see streaks of each ingredients. Eat on raw crackers, sprouted bread, or with a spoon!

photo by Cyanocorax

Chia pudding
Chia puddings can be made in a variety of way.  Here are a few combination that have been proved to be popular by many:

Sesame chia pudding:
The combination of chia and sesame seeds makes this pudding extremely calcium-rich. This recipe is adapted from the one (http://www.tonyakay.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1875) Tonya Kay was served while giving a talk on raw foods in Dallas. Chia pudding has since become one of her staple foods, and this particular version fulfills nearly 50% of our calcium requirement.

Ingredients:
−    ¼ cup sesame seeds, ground
−    1 cup water
−    2-4 T honey, more or less to taste
−    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
−    1 teaspoon cinnamon
−    3 T Chia Seeds

Directions:
Combine ground sesame seeds, water, sweetener, vanilla and cinnamon in a blender and blend well. Pour the contents of the blender into a strainer over a bowl. Add the chia seeds and stir. Put the mix in the fridge and take it out to stir every 10 minutes or so until the chia seeds have finished releasing their yummy gooey goodness. It shouldn’t take longer than 1/2 an hour to be fully ready to eat.

Generic Chia Pudding:
This pudding is a base that can be altered any way you want. Try adding cacao, goji berries, lucuma, spices, etc.

Ingredients:
−    4 T chia seeds
−    4 T ground coconut
−    1-2 cups water or nut milk, depending on how thick you like your pudding
−    Sweetener to taste, about 2 T, or soaked dates

Directions:
Blend the coconut, liquid and sweetener in a blender. Stir in the chia seeds by hand, and stir the mix twice every 10 minutes. Keep in the fridge.

photo by JWilsher

Mixed Vegetable Salad with Sea Weed
This salad can be kept at room temperature for a while without a problem. I often make it if I have to eat outside the house and know I won’t have access to healthy food. This salad contains about 25% of our calcium requirement, and is also exceptionally high in iron (50% of the RDA), phosphorus (20%) and potassium (30%).

Ingredients:
−    ½ cup finely chopped kale
−    3 large lettuce leaves, shredded
−    1/2 a ripe avocado, cubed
−    1 small tomato, diced
−    3 small portobello mushrooms, sliced
−    1/3 cup dulse
−    2 T finely chopped kelp
−    1 T hemp seeds

Directions:
Mix everything together, and keep at room temperature for about an hour to let the seaweeds soften a little. You can mix in the dressing right away (before waiting), or just before eating. Mixing it later will ensure the lettuce stays crisp. You can add in anything else you like, such as carrot sticks, cubed cucumber, etc for added nutrients and variety.

I’m sitting in the snuggly “Smuggler’s Inn” in Northern Ireland feeling like the luckiest lasses in the whole wide world. My little Irish getaway has been nothing but a series of serendipitous encounters–the kinds of things you read about in story books and fairy tales. Rainbows and castles, mystical misty cliffs and some of the friendliest, happy-go-luckiest people I’ve ever met.

We came to see U2 play a concert in their hometown of Dublin. We ended up seeing the concert twice and even got within a few feet of the stage! The concert was a Magnificent celebration of the things that matter most in life–love, truth, beauty, freedom and the courage to make each day a Beautiful Day!

We decided to spend over eight hours standing in line so we could ge close enough to smell Bono’s sweat the second night. While in line, we met people from Italy, France, Germany, Chile, Berlin and throughout the U.S.. I was enchanted by the fact that tens of thousands of people from all over the world were coming together inspired by art, music and a positive message about how to live life fully and love without limits!

This is my last day in Ireland, then I’ll be snuggling with muffins and off for a Disneyworld adventure with the kids next week! Around here, our International Green Smoothie Day is just around the corner! If you haven’t heard yet, we have a Blendtec blender, Excalibur 9-tray dehydrator and LOOOOADS of other prizes and surprises up for grabs! If you want to qualify to win these are any of the other prizes, then just make sure you’re signed up and on board for the next Green Smoothie Challenge! You’ll be hearing lots more about it as we get closer to August 15th!

I’m off for another day of Irish adventures and hoping that wherever you are you’re making the most of your Beautiful Day!

Windy wishes and Irish kisses,

Tera

P.S.

We’ve been taking quite a few pictures and I promise to update my Facebook profile with a few doozies of our adventures.

LOOOOVE and hugs!!xoxoxoxo

As you’ve probably noticed, there’s been a lot of talk about the “Cozy Coaches” lately. We just started a group about 7-8 months ago at the end of a session of the Body Enlightenment System. I wanted to include this little blurb from Stacey about our special group and what they’re all about:

Amazing things can happen when you take opposing forces and put them together.  Take rain and sunlight for example!  Somehow, those two very different elements create a rainbow spectrum of beautiful colour that we all stop to admire.

So began the Cozy Coaching group with The Raw Divas. In December of 2008, women, all of whom were striving to improve their lives, were given the opportunity by Tera Warner to come together and be part of a shining collective known as the Cozy Coaching group.  The feisty participants in the group were all members of the The Raw Divas Body Enlightenment System, and they were so enthused with their raw food experiences and the ongoing support that made those experiences successful, that they sought further opportunities to develop their connections with one another and to work together to expand one another’s influence.  As in any rainbow, each individual has brought a unique quality to the whole – knowledge, skills, and experiences that enrich the lives of all those involved.  This is a group as colorful as the raw foods they blend, nibble, and devour!

Developing a healthy lifestyle is not a path one pursues in isolation of all the other variables that affect one’s life.  The remarkable ladies of the group share personal stories and experiences with work, relationships, goals, conflicts, and personal triumphs.  They recognize the importance of community and they continue to grow by supporting one another with knowledge, encouragement, and that ‘just being there’ quality that makes them return week after week to their Sunday evening teleseminars.

When you see a rainbow in the sky, perhaps the most natural thing in the world to do is to look around you and see with whom you can share it.  This, now, is the focus of the group.  Finding individuals who will benefit from the support and experiences of these women and extending and expanding positive influences.

We hope you enjoy their light!

The Cozy Coaches are the women behind the publication of our latest Diva release: Divalicious: Simple. Sexy. Raw. If you buy the book you’ll notice that they’ve taken this idea of the rainbow and incorporated it into the book as a sort of symbolic reference to the strength of the team they’ve created. They are also the warm-hearted heros behind our weekly support calls. You can sign up to speak with some of them every Sunday!

It’s inspiring to watch what community can do and we’re grateful that you’re on board with us as well! Thank YOU for helping to make this a thriving community powered by wisdom, grace and girlie-girl adventures.

by Michelle Rankin

We’ve been sooo excited for this article to come and you can be assured we’ll be posting it in our next issue of HHH, too. It’s brilliant and so helpful! BIG thanks to Michelle Rankin for putting this one together!! Go ahead and let her know what you think and if this was helpful for you!

Kefir: A bubbly, tangy, yummy elixir of health.  From Michelle Rankin’s Fermented Kitchen

First, the caveat: I don’t claim to be a kefir expert but I am a big fan and I did offer to write this article so here goes. Since this is primarily a raw vegan audience, this article will focus on how to make fermented young coconut kefir and a similar probiotic drink using either a powdered kefir starter or probiotic capsules. Like all my articles, this is intended to be a very basic overview. I’m one of those people who quickly gets analysis paralysis, but if someone just spells out the basics, I will get started, then do an afternoon-wasting, in-depth research project on the topic later.

Having said that, if you do perform an internet search for ‘kefir’ and even more interestingly ‘kefir history’, you’ll learn that a whole new world exists and I believe it is one worth checking out. However, I recommend you follow these simple instructions first and make yourself a gallon of coconut kefir to power your search and ward off the analysis paralysis that will likely ensue as you ponder the many varieties of opinion you’ll encounter based on the fact that kefir likely originates from a discovery by shepherds that fresh animal milk carried in leather pouches on hot days would often ferment into this health creating, effervescent beverage. As a more interesting story, I’ll let the following history lesson taken directly from http://www.kefir.biz/history.htm set the stage for the great importance of the information you’re about to learn.

“Amongst the people of the northern slopes of the Caucasian Mountains there is a legend that Mohammed gave kefir grains to the Orthodox people and taught them how to make kefir. The ‘Grains of the Prophet’ were guarded jealously since it was believed that they would lose their strength if the grains were given away and the secret of how to use them became common knowledge.

Kefir grains were regarded as part of the family’s and tribe’s wealth and they were passed on from generation to generation. So, for centuries the people of the northern Caucasus enjoyed this food without sharing it with anyone else they came into contact with.

Other peoples occasionally heard strange tales of this unusual beverage, which was said to have ‘magical’ properties. Marco Polo mentioned kefir in the chronicles of his travels in the East. However, kefir was forgotten outside the Caucasus for centuries until news spread of its use for the treatment of tuberculosis in sanatoria and for intestinal and stomach diseases. Russian doctors believed that kefir was beneficial for health and the first scientific studies for kefir were published at the end of the nineteenth century.”

And with that, the secret was out. Today, proponents of kefir claim that it helps with everything from cleansing the liver and endocrine system to increasing energy and calming the nerves. Donna Gates, author of the Body Ecology Diet reports that it helps with food cravings as it nourishes and balances the body. It is used for sleep disorders, ADHD, and depression. In addition to its antifungal properties, it is also antibiotic in nature. And for all these reasons and more, there is a large constituency using kefir in healing from Autism.

Concerning candida and kefir, from http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk, I found the following quick overview:

“You might find it odd that a drink containing yeasts would be good for treating candidiasis but it has been helpful to many people, both by restoring a better balance to the gut flora and because some elements of the microflora will kill off Candida Albicans. Not all yeasts are harmful.”
Thanks to Donna Gates of the Body Ecology Diet, raw vegans too have access to this elixir of health by substituting the water of young green coconuts for the traditional dairy.

Unless you can find the small transparent water kefir grains, also called sugary kefir grains, regular large white dairy grains don’t generally transfer well from an animal based source to coconut water and tend not to live very many generations. In order to know exactly what you’re fermenting with anyway, the solution is found in powdered kefir starter, available for purchase online. I buy from the Body Ecology website http://www.bodyecology.com or Wilderness Family Naturals http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com.

Usually, one box of powdered kefir starter can be used about 6-7 times in coconut water. After that, you might have errant bugs take over and should start over from scratch to ensure you are drinking what you intend to be drinking. While I’m on that topic, if you already take a high-powered probiotic, you can make a similar fermented drink substituting two probiotic capsules for the kefir starter. Just know that you’re not drinking the real thing and if your health doesn’t resolve like the claims made above, break down and buy the kefir starter. Your own probiotic will colonize better anyway while drinking the kefir regularly, and kefir generally colonizes your intestines much better than a probiotic alone.

Oh, and one more thing to note, I have looked many times at the kefir starter in the refrigerated section of my health food store and it does not contain any kefir. How it can be labeled as kefir is beyond me but if you’re looking to buy it locally, look for fancy long words that resemble: Lactococus lactis subsp. Lactis, Lactococus lactis subsp. Cremoris, Lactococus lactis subsp. Diacetylactis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. Cremoris, Lactobacillus kefyr, Kliyveromyces marxianus var. marxainus, Saccharomyces unisporus. Phew, what a mouthful. I don’t know why many of those words look the same; I just borrowed that information from the Wilderness Family Naturals site.

Okay, moving right along to the moment you’ve all been waiting for…How to make kefir.

Making kefir is as simple as this: warm your coconut water, dump in the starter, stir, cover and let sit on your counter for 24-48 hours.

That’s it. Too easy? In case you can’t believe it is that easy; I made a batch and took a few pictures to prove it. Here are the details for you Type A’s like me.

1. Order your kefir starter and a case of 9 young coconuts from your local Asian grocer. I pay $12.50 for mine. A case makes nearly a gallon, give or take depending on how much you drink in the process. The directions on your box of kefir say something like use 3 coconuts. That would last me through breakfast so I use a gallon and still only dump one starter packet in.

2. Open your coconuts. Now, do not do a u-tube search for this topic unless you want to crack up. Do not get out your cleaver either. That comes later. Do not, I repeat, do not cleave off the top of your coconut and waste half the juice. Instead, get a clean little screwdriver and a clean little hammer that you can dedicate to this task. You’re going to hammer one hole in the top and turn it over on a glass and poke through the bottom. You’ve created two holes and it will drain out quickly. There is an eye on the bottom, you’ll get used to finding it, and in the meanwhile, just hack away on the bottom until your screwdriver goes through, it is really pretty fun.

You’ll notice that I’m draining it into a little glass jar. I only drain one coconut into a little jar at a time, and then transfer it into my big gallon container. That way, if you get a purple one, you haven’t contaminated your whole brew. I’ll get to the details on the purple ones later. Try not to drink all the water you’re draining out and do your best to get a lot of it into your big container. Donna Gates says it’s too sweet for you in that form. I say it’s YUUUMMMMMY!

3. Put your big container into a pot of water and heat it until your coconut water gets just below 100°F. You can test it with your finger, you shouldn’t be able to really feel it as it will be the same temperature as your body. Remove it from the water so it won’t heat up anymore.

4. Dump your starter or probiotic capsules in and stir it up.

5. Cover it and let it ferment overnight. Test it in the morning with a clean spoon. It should taste tangy and tart, not sweet anymore. It will have gone from clear to a little milky. If it is still sweet, let it go another 6 hours. 24 hours is plenty in the summer where I live but if you’re cranking your air conditioner, it might take a little longer. If it is winter where you are, first, I’m sorry; second, it will probably have to go closer to 48 hours. This isn’t rocket science, you’ll know when it’s ready, just taste it.

6. Refrigerate it to slow down the process and drink it with meals and throughout the day.

Purple water: Now, your coconut water will vary from coconut to coconut. What you don’t want is a purple or pink tint to the water. If you notice that, throw it out. If you’re not sure (it can be subtle), open that coconut to check the meat. You’ll be able to notice a distinctive purple or grey tinge to the meat. There is quite a debate online about this, some people claim it is a delicious baby coconut and some people claim it is spoiling. It likely won’t kill you any more than eating a spoiled apricot will but if you’re trying to heal from your own inner spoiling ie. Candida, why risk it? I took a picture of the purple water (I told you it is subtle) and the meat of a normal coconut and the purple one side by side to try to illustrate this point. I asked the owner of the grocer about this and her exact words were, “No Michelle, we don’t eat the purple ones”. I took her word for it. She’s been eating them much longer than I have.

Opening your coconut to get the meat out. This is where you get to get out your cleaver. We use a cheap machete. My husband hacks it on each side then the top along the same line. You get the picture. Open it up and scoop out the meat. Use it in your smoothies or to make cheese by blending it up and adding a little of your fermented kefir. Let it sit out overnight the same way and enjoy when it gets tangy.

Formaldehyde. There has been considerable debate about weather or not young coconuts have been sprayed with formaldehyde for shipping. This is a rumor that has spread for years and scared many away from this healing drink. Matt Amsden recently had a bunch of different brands tested and he found that they did not contain formaldehyde. They might contain something else to preserve them but I doubt it. They spoil just like my mangos from the same region in the same amount of time. Anyway, you just can’t worry about everything. I just wanted to bring that up because if you haven’t heard it yet, you will.

Transferring to another batch. If I’m using a probiotic, I usually start over each time with two new capsules per gallon. If I’m using kefir starter, I transfer about a cup of it to a gallon and let it ferment away. No need to open a new packet until you’ve fermented six or seven batches or if the taste changes drastically.

Cost per batch: Kefir starter at both of the above links is $26.95 USD for 6 packets; each can be used 7 times so each batch costs about 65 cents plus $12.50 for coconuts. So, roughly 13 bucks for a gallon of coconut kefir elixir of health, not bad at all!

By the time you get this, I shall be frolicking in green fields of shamrocks and drunk on Irish whiskey! Okay, just kidding about the whiskey thing. I don’t drink whiskey, but the fiery redhead in me is feelin’ cheeky.

So, I’m in Ireland taking an entire week off to soak up (literally, I think it’s supposed to be POURING rain) some exciting adventures with Mr. Right! YOU, Sweet Diva, may as well take a few moments in your busy day to enjoy the latest issue of Health in High Heels!

CLICK HERE to check out the latest issue! It’s got loads of iron-packed recipes, and two fabulous articles. One is all about getting enough iron on the raw vegan diet, and Tracy Neely hits a home run with a fantastic article about the most important foods to include in your diet if you want to be assured of keeping that silky, soft skin for a long time to come.

Hope you enjoy this issue!

Here’s another bit of inspiration and good cheer that came whipping into my world this week:

Thank you Tera for the thought provoking, sincere, and lovely closing letter you scribed to us all. It is very amazing to be a human [woman] alive in this whirlwind time of change, technical advances in technology and medicine and in man’s evolution. To think what a telephone looked like in my childhood compared to those today…and to know that the horse and buggy was the common mode of transport in the very near past! It is no less than astounding. My dietary evolution is no less amazing. In my 48 years on our lucious orb, earth, I have always been seeking a better way. I went from eating what I thought was healthy (not!), to vegetarian, vegan and then raw foodie. And I learn something new almost daily to refit my knowledge and retool my habits. Life is a journey of stops and starts and lessons. It is an honor to be among such lovely contemporaries and to look forward to overcoming the challenges we all face as we and our planet ages…

Love is All…Peace Everything else!!! Best wishes in all you endeavor to do.
~Amanda Thompson
Gulfport, Florida

I’d like to get a bit better about sharing some of the feedback that comes in–if only for the sake of giving you a taste of what’s going on in the inboxes around here. The big focus for the next few weeks is going to be International Green Smoothie Day.

I’m VERY excited about all the sponsors we’ve pulled in for this event, and I’m sure we’ll get a lot more. Anyway, if you want your chance to win a Blendtec blender or an Excalibur dehydrator, then this is definitely your chance!!

Check out more in this week’s Health in High Heels!

Love and hugs,

Tera

ONCE UPON A TIME, there lived a little growl named Famish.  Famish was the caretaker of Tummyville, a rather insidious (some argue that the original spelling was insideeus) place whose residents never stayed for very long.  To Famish, Tummyville was a vast and empty land, and the more it seemed that residents came and went, the more the space grew big and empty and difficult to maintain.  Famish was always happiest when Tummyville folk were about, for it seemed that Tummyville was then full of life. And when Famish was happy, he often nestled himself quietly beside the liverlilly pond and went fast to sleep while the residents were consumed with their daily business.  Yes, as long as he had company close by, Famish was quietly peaceful.

Sadly though, when the little growl Famish woke up, he was often all alone.  It was then that Famish was prone to blubber and moan and bewail, and when little Famish wailed, he wailed to be heard and the sound echoed throughout the empty recesses of Tummyville.  “Woe, woe, woe!” he would sob sadly…  “Why won’t anyone stay?”  But as always, no one was left there to answer his starving questions.

Famish was ravenous for fulfilling friendships.  And even though they didn’t stay long, Famish still delighted in the typical residents of Tummyville, for they were all that he knew.  He’d become quite close with the greasy Cheese family and often there were crowds of salty Fries or groups of flavoured Chips to chat with.  Some of the best nights were when the spicy Pizza slices were in town.  They were so peppy, and, more often than not, Famish would meet one that was also a really fun guy.  But, truth be told, whenever these folk left, Famish had to admit he sometimes felt worse than before. Afterall, the conversations were never really that sustaining (if they bothered to interact with Famish at all for he was often overtired and napping) and if you asked Famish, he would tell you that he just couldn’t stomach many of the bad habits he observed among these folks.  In any case, whenever the little growl felt terrible thinking of such things, he’d once again let out a piteous yowl such as would send you down a river of tears on a flotilla of rubber hankies.

Nothing ever lasted it seemed.  The more people Famish met, the more he craved endless company, as he just couldn’t seem to get enough.  He was simply insatiable.  Tummyville seemed ever more empty and lonely.

One day, Famish was sitting alone by a gallstoney creek and lamenting his longing when a stranger arrived.  Famish squinted warily at the strange looking girl whose hair was compellingly leafy and whose complexion was a strange shade of green the likes of which Famish had never seen before except among the oldest of the Cheese family, but this person was obviously not old.

“Why hello there little growl,” pipped the girl.  “Where is everyone?” she asked looking around with a concerned expression.

Famish gave a little sigh.  “There’s just me,” confessed the little growl, stirring his big toe in the bile brook.  “There were some others here awhile ago, but everyone always leaves so quickly.  I get awful lonely.”  He looked at the girl with his sorrowful gaze.

Her eyes softened gently.  “Awww, why that’s a sad shame,” said the girl, extending a leafy frond to pat the little growl gently.  “My folk, we tend to stick around when we find a nice place… though this one does seem rather big and empty.  It’s no wonder you get lonely. My name is Aruguella by the way.”  Aruguella flashed him a verdant smile.

“Aruguella…  What a lovely name… I don’t believe I’ve ever heard it before.  It’s nice to meet you Aruguella.  I’m Famish.  Are there more of you?” asked Famish hopefully.  He’d never met anyone this friendly and kind in Tummyville before.

“Why yes, of course!  Bunches of us!  Though we tend to travel in smaller groups.  But if you like, I can ask my friends to come for a visit on one condition.  We try to spend time with as many good, wholesome folk as we can, and we try to limit our exposure to negative people.  If I had a nickel for every time one of the Potato children went astray with the Canola-gang…”

Famish was thrilled.  Without a moment of hesitation, he sprang from his previously lonely perch and quickly set about putting up signs outside of Tummyville restricting access to the town.  The old residents were surprised when they returned and found they were unwelcome, but there were plenty of other big and empty welcoming towns to go to.

Soon, Famish started to meet all sorts of new and colourful individuals who loved to interact with one another – Persimmons and Spinaches getting along smoothly; Tomatoes, Peppers, and Beans all wrapped up together, and Blueberries, Mangoes, and Bananas all blending beautifully. Famish did find the Whole-Grain’s to be a highly complex family, and he was always forgetting which grain was which.  Nor could he remember how to properly say little Quinoa’s name.  And strangely, the Sprouts never seemed to tire of showering.  But, with increasing appetite, Famish found himself enjoying lasting conversations with crunchy Carrots and crisp Celery.  Of his new friends, Famish became particularly fond of the unpredictable, always satisfying Zucchini’s who seemed to fashion themselves according to whatever company that they kept.

The best part of the whole experience, much to Famish’s surprise, was that though these folk traveled in much smaller numbers, they had so much energy among them that Famish never quite got peaceful enough to fall asleep for very long.  Aruguella’s friends didn’t seem to be in as much of a hurry to leave either, and they took far better care of Tummyville than any of the previous residents ever had before.  In fact, after awhile, Famish didn’t notice Tummyville seeming large and empty at all anymore…  It became snug and cozy.

“Oh Aruguella!” gurgled Famish…  “You’ve brought so many changes to Tummyville.  I’m oh so repletely satisfied!”  He paused to wave gleefully at one of the boisterous Broccoli children who scampered by.  “How is it that I’m so much happier?”

And just as she had on the first day she’d arrived, Aruguella extended a leafy frond to pat the little growl gently.  “Sometimes Famish, less is just more,” she said.  She put her arm around the little growl and they walked along side-by-side.  “Now come with me; there’s this girl named Stacey Cashew I’d like you to meet…  I know you’ll just love her.  She’s such a nut!”

AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY, HEALTHFULLY EVER AFTER…

Stacey Terry is one of our cozy coaches and you can read more about her here. You can also chat with her on our cozy coaching calls by signing up to be notified whenever we host a live support call!

At about this time two years ago, we made a request to participants of our 7-Day Detox to help us put together a recipe book by sending in their favorite recipes. We asked for simple recipes that are easy on the system and wanted to collect a whole book of detox-friendly recipes.

Then we called upon some friends–other go-getters in the raw food movement that we consider “Raw Divas,” and we asked them to contribute a few recipes each.  The end result is this:

Divalicious!
Simple. Sexy. Raw.

With 140 jam-packed pages of recipes, this book is a treasure. For months and months we sat on this endless pile of contributions and recipes and we just couldn’t get it all done. Then I called upon my friends and sisters in our Cozy Coaching group and asked for them to pitch in and help get this done.

The results are better than any of us could have imagined. When you flip through the pages of this book, you’ll see that A LOT of time, care and attention has gone into making it a GORGEOUS, INSPIRING, and HELPFUL representation of the culinary wizardry of a whole lot of exceptional women.

Until International Green Smoothie Day arrives on August 15th, we’ll be offering a special launch pad price. Get your copy now and save $5 off the cost of the book. This is an e-book, so you will not have to pay additional shipping or wait to receive your copy. Just download, print and enjoy!!

It’s BEAUTIFUL and I am SO, So, SOOOoooOOOOo excited to be able to finally show it off!!

Thanks for your support!

Love and hugs,

Tera and the Cozy Coaches

by Joanna Steven

Are You Getting Enough Iron on the Raw Vegan Diet
by Joanna Steven
When I first told my doctor that I planned on getting pregnant some time this year, she immediately prescribed a multivitamin. Since I am aware of the fact that many raw women cannot stomach leafy greens and other super nutritious foods in the early months of their pregnancy, I decided to go ahead and take them. But when I noticed that each pill contained twice the daily requirement of iron, I was a little concerned.

According to the MedlinePlus Encyclopedia, iron overdoses can cause anything from dehydration to liver damage. When I told her that my hemoglobin level was already 44 (with 37 being the limit between normal levels and anemia, and 47 the limit between normal and excessive levels) without even taking a supplement, she mentioned the fact that as a vegetarian, taking iron supplements wouldn’t hurt, and that pregnant women need more iron anyway.

Still, I wasn’t convinced. If my iron level is so good without me even paying attention to it, I should be able to eat enough iron rich food to get me through my pregnancy without difficulty. I started incorporating various iron rich ingredients into my daily recipes, and realized that really, when we eat healthy, nutritious raw foods, we should get all the iron we need without taking supplements.

Most dieters are not aware of the fact that raw vegan ingredients contain more than enough iron for good health, more so than red meat and other supposedly iron rich foods.
For example, let’s look at hemp’s nutritional profile. A quarter of a cup of hemp contains 40% of our daily iron requirement. By contrast, a serving of red meat contains only about 10 to 15%. We would need to eat 10 steaks a day to get enough iron, while a little more than ½ a cup of hemp is more than enough!

Another super iron rich food is parsley. Some people like to juice it, or add it to green smoothies. I personally find it a bit strong in smoothies, and I once read that parsley juice wasn’t recommended during pregnancies (parsley as a whole food is healthful, but massive quantities such as in parsley oil or large parsley juices aren’t recommended). My favorite way of eating it is simply in tabbouleh. And since I substitute the traditional bulgur wheat with hemp, my tabbouleh really becomes an iron powerhouse!

In the nuts and seed department, pumpkin seed and unhulled sesame seeds really shine. Just an ounce of either seed provide nearly ¼ of our daily iron requirement. I love sprinkling pumpkin seeds on salad, or adding them to flax crackers. And sesame seeds can be slipped into nearly anything as they are so small, or they can be a dish’s main attraction if you use tahini (sesame butter) as part of a salad or kale chips dressing. In general, other nuts and seeds such as sunflower, cashew or flax will provide around 10% of our iron needs per ounce.

Eating an iron rich raw vegan diet is really easy, and here are a few recipes to get you started!

Protein & Iron Strawberry Banana Shake (serves 2)
This recipe provides 30% of the FDA’s protein and iron requirement, as well as more than 300% of our daily vitamin C requirement, thus enhancing our body’s ability to absorb iron. It also provides 25% of our folate requirement, an important nutrient during pregnancy.

Protein & Iron Strawberry Banana Shake (serves 2)
This recipe provides 30% of the FDA’s protein and iron requirement, as well as more than 300% of our daily vitamin C requirement, thus enhancing our body’s ability to absorb iron. It also provides 25% of our folate requirement, an important nutrient during pregnancy.

−    4 cup sliced, strawberries
−    2 large bananas, frozen
−    ¼ cup hemp seeds
−    ½ to 1 cup water
−    Agave or honey to taste, depending on the fruits’ sweetness

Directions:
Blend all the ingredients until smooth. If using fresh bananas, you can add a few ice cubes for a cool, refreshing smoothie.

Parsley & Hemp Tabbouleh
I often look at ethnic recipes for nutrition. Often, the ingredients within them have been combined, consciously or not, to ensure maximum nutrition absorption while tasting wonderful. This salad supplies more than 50% of our iron requirement for the day, as well as a generous 20 grams of protein.

Ingredients:
−    2 ounces parsley, chopped
−    1 Roma tomato, diced finely
−    1 T fresh mint, chopped
−    3 T hemp seeds
−    1 green onion, diced
−    1 T olive oil
−    1 T fresh lemon juice
−    Pinch salt

Directions:
−    Toss all ingredients together except for the tomatoes. Refrigerate until ready to use, and add the tomatoes just before serving. If the tabbouleh stays in the fridge for too long, it might start to dry out. Simply add a little more olive oil and toss one more time.

Quick & Easy Morning Cereal
This cereal is so quick and easy, and my husband likes it more than all the really complicated ones that needs lots of dehydrating and prep time. Adding nut milk make the mix even more nutritious.

Ingredients:
−    1 T pumpkin seeds, soaked
−    1 T sunflower seeds, soaked
−    1 T raisins
−    1 T dry apricots, finely diced
−    1 T prepared raw chocolate chips, chopped (or a few cacao nibs)
−    Anything you want to add! Berries, fresh fruits cut into small cubes etc. are especially good

Directions:
Toss all the ingredients together into a bowl, add some nut milk, and enjoy!

Just in case you missed it, another issue of Health in High Heels just popped off the presses. Super excited about this issue! Not only do we have 2 amazing articles, but there are also a whole lot of other exciting treats and surprises in there for you! Cool stuff, if I do say so myself.

I’ve decided that we should make Mondays our days for renewing our commitments on the blog. When we were going through the 90-Day Deep Tissue Detox, many of us would come here once a week to declare our commitments for the week. That extra accountability can really help!

Now that we have our Cozy Coaching calls on Sunday evenings, we have a great opportunity to get on the blog and lay down a few targets and objectives for the week. I love kicking off the beginning of the week with a solid list of my targets and objectives, or a good ol’ fashion “to do list”. It helps keep me focused.

Anyway, this week is off to a great start! Health in High Heels is ready for reading and the Green Smoothie Queen willing, we’ll be making a very special announcement this Thursday about something we’ve been working on for TWO YEARS! Finally, finally, finally it’s going to see the light of day!

Okay, Sunshine, I’m outta here! Enjoy this week’s issues of Health in High Heels and don’t hesitate to send us your suggestions for improvement and thoughts for things you’d like to see happening around here!

Love and hugs,

Tera

P.S.

I almost forgot to mention! I’m adding a bunch of pictures from the Raw Food Potluck we held at my house this weekend! If you add me as your Facebook friend, you’ll be able to check out a few new pics of my pad, my friends and some scrumptious foods!

P.P.S.

If you’re up for it, go ahead and leave your commitments for this week in the comment section below! I will, too!

It is often written that organically-grown foods contain two to three times the amount of known vitamins, minerals and other essential health-giving nutrients as foods grown with the help of herbicides and pesticides. But what is unfortunately heard less often is that wild-growing food, that being, foods that spring forth from the power of Mother Earth alone, meaning no fertilizers needed for the soil, no hybridizing, no chemical sprays, no human intervention whatsoever, just natural rain cycles, Sunshine, and whatever soil these awesome plants can sink their roots into, contain more life giving and life-enhancing qualities than even the ‘best’ store-bought organically farmed foods do. Not just vitamins and minerals and all the other scientific discovered elements, but real life-force energy. These are Natural Superfoods. Eating these foods always brings a smile to your face. And that’s the best thing ever!

Imagine if we city dwellers could be so privileged as to be able to include such jewels in our diet. Well we can! Yes, right here in these sprawling giants known as Toronto or Montreal, we have a plethora of high quality foods just waiting for us to discover. City green spaces, thickly forested areas, little back laneways, front lawns, backyards and even our own flower beds and pots, all play host to a wide variety of wild foods. So what are these Magic Wonders? Let’s take a closer look.

Lamb’s Quarters is an incredible green leaf vegetable that Loves to grow from the base of fences in little laneways, usually more prolifically so on the Sunny side. It has a wonderfully salty taste that is NOT bitter. Fresh in a salad it’s dynamite. By mid-June it’s in full swing and lasts that way until well into September when the plants begin to seed. The seeds can be eaten raw and have a great spicy flavour, or they can be boiled for making a breakfast gruel or ground into flour. This plant just Loves to give. Given the right conditions this generous bush can grow up to two meters tall – spilling out into all directions. (Someday it will be illegal to cut this plant down). Lamb’s-quarters is very high in vitamin A, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus and is also a good source of protein, trace minerals, B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, iron, and fiber. (And it tastes great, too!).

A great salad companion to the above mentioned is Wood Sorrel. What’s so amazing is that this little Gem can often be found sprawling about on the ground right around the base of Lamb’s Quarters. Isn’t that convenient? She’s so wonderful! Wood Sorrel boasts a delicate lemony flavour, capable of giving any salad an original twist. As an added bonus, this plant can more than likely be found right in your own flower bed, box or outdoor potted plants. (Its seeds usually come downloaded for free in most bags of potting soil. Lamb’s Quarters, too! So you don’t have to go far. But please take note, if you find Lamb’s Quarters growing in potting soil that has been artificially enhanced with nutrients, it is not advisable to eat it, as Lamb’s Quarters are very adept at drawing nitrates from the soil and will therefore contain an unnatural balance of minerals.)

Let’s move on to one of the most power-packed foods Mother Nature has to offer. Dandelion! Yes, the scourge of many a Lawn Lover, is actually a True Gift. Often thought of as a bitter horror, dandelion can be quite palatable when the leaves are picked young. I’m told the flower buds pickled are great, too. Baked and ground, the roots will deliver an interesting coffee. And if you’re into juicing, even more mature leaves can be used. Combining four to six dandelion leaves with celery, cucumber and an apple makes a splendid juice, chalk-full of nutrients. Dandelion is a proven diuretic and revered liver cleanser.

The great thing about these wild foods is that you know how fresh they are because you picked them. No more wondering about how long they’ve been sitting in cold-storage or on the side of the highway. You can even stand there and eat them straight away. It’s a total blast. I literally do this regularly throughout the Summer in Montreal.

Another dainty treat are Daisies, not only are they exquisitely pretty, but the lighter coloured green leaves are great in salads.

Plantain, is about as common as grass and clover, and can be used in salads, too. But just make sure to use the young tender leaves, as the older ones can be quite stringy. Much has been written of the healing virtues of Plantain and a wealth of information can be found at www.botanical.com in an essay entitled A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve.

In only slightly more wild areas and later in the Summer, the velvety red fruit clusters of the Red Sumac shrubs can be used to make the most fantastic ‘pink lemonade’. Gather entire fruit clusters then rub gently to bruise the berries. Soak them in cold water for 15 minutes then strain the water through cheese cloth and chill. Sweeten with Agave nectar or maple syrup and voila, you have a perfect summer drink. It really is good and it’s that easy!

City green spaces are amongst the many great places for finding all the different varieties of clover. They are rich sources of protein and can quickly turn any salad into a visual splendour. The fun just never ends! (Just get there before the lawn mowers do!) Red clover also contains minerals such as calcium, magnesium, chromium, potassium, and vitamins such as niacin, thiamine and vitamin C.

Well that should serve as a good Wild Food in the City primer, but I’m sure there’s probably a lot more goodies springing up between the cracks for us to discover. As wonderful and wholesome as I believe the practice of wild food foraging to be, a gentle word of caution is necessary to share at this point. One must be aware of dogs and their need to pee, seemingly at random, when they are out and about. So, use your best judgement, be particular about where you forage from, and when picking from plants growing along fences, choose leaves from higher up on the stocks.

I really believe that foraging for wild food, even if we are walking along a concrete sidewalk to get there, truly connects us to the energy of the planet or at the very least, heightens our awareness of our home, The Earth. The Earth is warm, giving and vibrantly alive and these qualities are passed unto us to a greater and greater extent the more we engage in a close and caring relationship with Her. The environmental impact of eating wild foods can be profound. Every little bit counts. I’d just like to write that again – every little bit counts. Consider how much of the fresh produce that we in Canada purchase daily, is actually coming all the way from California in a truck and is packaged in plastic. We can collect wild food on foot and it requires no packaging. When you’re finished there’s nothing left. That’s it, that’s all! If those who feel the slightest want decide to take a stroll next Saturday morning down the back lanes behind their homes, they will definitely come home with some interesting goodies for lunch. You might even come back with a whole salad and some herbs for a soup. (Just the other day I came across a substantial amount of Wild Garlic Mustard in the forest on Mont Royal in Montreal. I didn’t even know that garlic mustard existed until I bit into it. And I’ve since been back for more). Now that’s seriously delicious stuff. You can go a long way with that!!

To read more stories about Jimbo’s Journey with Raw Food,  visit his blog at www.jimbolinasunshine.com