Better Health on Raw Vegan Diet - Lowered Cholesterol

Carrot Dancing photo by Connie Webb

Just got my recent lab results back and I have improved on everything since this lifestyle. Cholesterol went down and is now in the normal range. I am so happy for that! And I am in the proper weight range for my height and age of 56 - another great benefit!

I had a feeling this way of eating was going to help me lots after reading and seeing all the positive results people were getting on this way of life. So grateful that this way works for me, too!

Cholesterol before raw Vegan was: 246 as of December 2013

Cholesterol after being on the Raw Vegan Lifestyle for just two months and 18 days:
188 as of February 2014 (I am sure it will go lower as I ease off too much oil, too. I will be working on that over the next months as well. Little steps at a time.)

Easy Zucchini Dish - Raw Food Vegan

Easy Zucchini Dish by Connie Webb

Easy Zucchini Dish - Raw Food Vegan

2 Zucchinis peeled and grated

3 small carrots peeled and grated

1 roma tomato grated and then rest of peel chopped in dish

1 small avocado chopped

1 TB raw sunflower seeds

2 TB raw almonds chopped (Soak almonds overnight, rinse, drain and then chop in food processer or food chopper with s blade. Chop till fine.)

Mix all up in bowl and then add dressing and seasonings of your choice. 

(My choice for dressing and seasonings were: 1 TB of sesame oil, 1 TB Apple Cider Vinegar, sea salt, ground black pepper and some nutritional yeast. It could have been spiced up a bit more, too. Experiment with dressings/seasonings to your liking.)

With Weight Loss - Tailor Your Wardrobe Yourself To Fit You Again

One of the benefits of a Raw Food Vegan Diet is weight loss besides feeling much better. Because of this your clothing will be a bit baggy as you are losing weight. I started my raw food vegan diet on Dec. 3rd and today is Feb. 15th. I have lost 20 pounds and I don't want to really buy a bunch of clothes as yet. So taking in the clothes I have is a good way to go for me at the moment to save money. Here are some easy video links on youtube that show you how:

For your jeans, here is a great video that shows you how to take them in with just two darts made on the back of them:
http://youtu.be/3IYUdSwy1vA

For your shirts or blouses, just sew the inseams of them. Here is an easy video that shows how:
http://youtu.be/oKhSYyi8jCg

Eventually you can reward yourself with some new clothing, but why spend a bunch of money yet especially if you still will be losing a bit more weight. Tailoring your clothing yourself is a good way to go in the meantime. And of course going to thrift stores or yard sales can be a good way to tide you over until you want to invest in some new clothing, too. Take care all.

Easy Broccoli Dish - Raw Food Vegan

Easy Broccoli Dish by Connie Webb

I made this broccoli dish yesterday. It tasted even better today. All it took were these ingredients of:
Chopped up Broccoli, Red Peppers and Celery. Then add some Grated Carrots. Then just put on a dressing of your choice, but I used Cold Pressed Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce and Apple Cider Vinegar. Marinating in the fridge overnight made it much tastier, too.

Dinner Salad and Raw Vegan Cookbooks at our Library

Tonight's Dinner Salad photo by Connie Webb

Our library has some nice raw vegan cookbooks. We can also order raw vegan cookbooks there, too. So it is nice to be able to look up different recipes until I am able to purchase some cookbooks of my own.

Tonight's Dinner Salad: Romaine Lettuce, shredded carrots, broccoli chopped, red pepper chopped, heirloom baby tomatoes, some avocado pieces and some marinated portabello mushrooms. Sprinkled some basil, garlic, sea salt and ground pepper on it. Served it with a goddess type homemade dressing and it was delicious.

Yummy! photo by Connie Webb

Pre-Valentine's Day 2014 Raw Vegan Treats

Made some Pre-Valentine's Day Treats - With all the stores having all that "other" Valentine's Day stuff out, it is nice to have some Raw Vegan Treats on hand. :-)

NOTE: On the treats, use more or less of the ingredients to your liking. Do lots of taste testing.

Raw Vegan Treat by Connie Webb

Chocolate Coconut Dipped Raw Vegan Strawberries:
Some strawberries dipped in a raw vegan cacao mixture dipped in fine organic coconut. 

How I made this: Washed and cut up strawberries. Then I mixed about 2 heaping tsp of cacao powder with about 3 tsp of agave nectar and 1 tsp of cold pressed olive oil. I dipped the strawberry tips in this and then dipped them in coconut. You can make up the chocolate mixture to your sweetness and liking. Then refrigerate this for a nice tasty treat when you want. 

Raw Vegan Treat by Connie Webb

Chocolate Coconut Almond Truffles -  Raw Vegan Candy:

How I made this: I put about one cup of raw almonds (soak the almonds for about 8 hours in water and rinse and then drain off water) in a food processor with the s blade and chopped them all up. Then added to the nuts in the food processor about 2 tablespoons cold pressed olive oil, 2 tsp heaping cacao powder and 3 tsp agave nectar. Mixed it up some more in food processor. Taste test it until it is a texture you like. Keep mixing till you get it a good consistency. Then roll up into little balls and dip into some shredded coconut. Put in freezer in container to have a delicious raw vegan treat.

Be sure to treat yourself this Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day all!
Keep taking good care of you!

Some Recent Raw Vegan Foods I Have Made

Photo of "Bright Red Coleslaw" by Connie Webb

I made a really nice "Raw Vegan Stroganoff". I just had some ribbon zucchini noodles and covered them with this Cashew Cream sauce from this link:
http://www.reloveplanet.com/2013/08/vegan-kitchen-raw-zucchini-cashew.html
Then I had the idea to add some marinated mushrooms and portobella mushrooms to it. It was so good! The noodles I made with zucchini and just used a peeler to peel the zucchini into long thin ribbons. I think this is going to be my favorite dish. I marinated the mushrooms in a little oil and soy sauce. (Still need to get another brand of soy sauce that is "raw" and doesn't have wheat in it. Will work on that.)

Another dish I made which I just made up was this "Bright Red Coleslaw" which had: Green cabbage, carrots, fuji apples, beets and some cold pressed olive oil, raw apple cider vinegar, a little lemon, agave nectar and sea salt. I just used a food chopper/processor with the s blade to chop up the cabbage, carrots, fuji apples and beets. I also grated some of the coleslaw and beets to make it have a little different texture mixed in there, too. After this was all made, I added some sunflower seeds to it. It wound up tasting really nice.

One more dish I made was "Cheezy" Portobella Mushroom I just took a portabella mushroom and added some oil and soy sauce to it. I then sprinkled on some nutritional yeast. And that was quite tasty, too.

I like "creating" lots of different raw food dishes. This is getting to be really fun and exciting. Take care all.

Today's Dish I Made - Raw Vegan Mini Burger in a Romaine Lettuce Wrap

I watched a video of Megan Elizabeth's at Youtube about these raw burgers she made. So I made some of my own and here is a photo of them before I put one in a roll up:

Enclosed below is the Youtube video link on how to make these. Mine are different in that I did not make mine as big or put them on a portobella mushroom with tomato and lettuce. Instead, I put my mini one in a Romaine Lettuce leaf, added some marinated mushrooms and spread some of the tahini mixture on the leaves. But the basic way to make these is to follow Megan Elizabeth's video:
http://youtu.be/lHVS2gB95Pg

These turned out really well and were very nice tasting! So go ahead and give them a try if you would like to. :-) I look forward to trying them the "exact" way Megan Elizabeth made hers as soon as I get some portobella mushrooms. Check out more of Megan Elizabeth's Raw Food Videos at Youtube. She explains things very nicely and easily. Take care all.

The Raw Food Lifestyle - Today's Thoughts

Not only am I eating healthy raw foods, but I am filling my mind, heart and soul and being with positive words, thoughts and images. I am letting go of any hurts and pains. I cry if I need to cry. I laugh when I want to laugh. I am being more of the real me. Food is one avenue to a healthy well-being, but also it includes letting go of negativity and depression by filling my life with more joy and positive living.

I am inspired by motivational videos I see at youtube or continued views of other raw foodist videos. I also am really changing my thinking.

Yesterday I went for a bike ride on errands. It was very windy and challenging to ride in the wind. But I changed my thoughts to notice how the wind was blowing all the trees and how interesting that looked. I focused on noticing all the different trees whenever thoughts of how tough it was to pedal by bike in the wind. I focused on the blue sky and how clear it was with barely any clouds. I focused on how lucky I am to even be strong enough to ride a bike in the wind. Then my bike ride went okay and I was not all dark and gloomy about it. 

Our mind is so powerful and we can experience what we want to experience. Someone may view the day as horrible and yet others can view it as interesting.

I want to stay with this healthy way. My days are now filled with learning new things, keeping up with my responsibilities, exercising daily, and basically seeing where I can be a person who is helpful instead of not so helpful.

I am not perfect at all this positive stuff, but I do the best I can with each new day. One thing that has been perfect is the raw food diet. Eating raw foods has simplified things lots for me. I eat more basic whole fruits and veggies now. I am not into the raw gourmet as much and will probably just do that for holidays. For now I basically just have fruits and veggies uncomplicated. Maybe a smoothie for breakfast, salad for lunch and some raw veggie zucchini spiralized with sauce for dinner. Fruits or veggies for snacks work. I add in some almonds and sunflower seeds, too. I use cold pressed olive oil as well on salads. So everything is quite easy. If I get hungry, I grab a banana or two. That solves that right away at low calories. I am happy for the simplicity of this new way.

Take care all. 

By, Connie Webb 2/3/14