Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Benefits of Raw Food Snacks - Part 2

Hello Again - This blog will feature "Part 2" of the introduction material (begun with the previous blog) written in my newly released "Raw Energy" book. I hope that after reading this, it will inspire you to want to read the entire book and try some of my raw snack recipes. In future blogs, I will be discussing - more indepth - the importance of consuming raw foods in your daily diet.

Part 2 starts here . . .

"What is the real health difference between my raw snacks and ubiquitous commercial snacks? Most conventional snacks are made with processed, refined, nutritionally empty ingredients with a sprinkling of preservatives and synthetic flavorings and a heavy-handed complement of white sugar and sodium. Yes, consuming them will indeed give you a real, albeit temporary, energy lift when you need it most. But because they are not created from whole foods consisting of unprocessed proteins, essential fats, and complex carbohydrates, that digest slowly and feed your body with sustained vitamin-and mineral-rich pep, but instead are made of refined ingredients, stripped of their former life-giving elements, they will cause your blood sugar to spike. Within an hour or so, the opposite happens: your blood sugar plummets, and low blood sugar means low energy, a cranky attitude, and a hankering for even more junk. By consistently consuming these types of snack foods, day in and day out, you may have unknowingly jumped into an unhealthy eating cycle replete with unstable energy, a raging appetite, poor health and mood, and a less-than-radiant appearance.

It's time to hop off that merry-go-round of poor snacking choices. The recipes in Raw Energy are chock-full of nutrients and long-term energy boosters that taste so incredibly good, you'll wonder why you haven't been snacking this way all along. These raw snacks meet your body's nutrient quota, trigger your natural appetite-regulating hormones, and won't leave you wanting more. We tend not to overeat the foods that satisfy on all levels.

The basic goal of this book is simple: to introduce you to a new way of snacking healthfully in the raw. The snack recipes in this book eliminate the negatives and accentuate the positive aspects of snacking, helping to maximize vigor, vitality, beauty, physical stamina, and endurance at every stage of life. These family-and friend-tested recipes will aid in the achievement of the utmost nature has to offer: total, resilient, whole-body health, with eyes that sparkle, hair that is lustrous, skin that is fresh, glowing, moist, and smooth, nails that are strong, bodily organs that function well and work in harmony with each other, and - best of all benefits, as far as I'm concerned - mental and physical energy to spare. The road to health can be paved with wonderful freshness, new taste sensations, vibrant colors, and delectable flavors that make your taste buds dance and your spirits soar.

Anyone who is still a bit dubious or isn't sure about the taste excitement of whole, raw snack foods will swallow his or her skepticism with the first bite of my Creamy Carob Freezer Fudge or sip of my Papaya Sunset Soup. So, turn the pages and absorb a bit of information about the fresh world of raw foods and the importance of regular snacking. Learn how to stock your kitchen with the best raw ingredients and essential food-processing equipment and gadgets, and read the primer on learning how to "uncook". Then, jump right in, find a recipe that piques your interest, get your hands messy, and be prepared to enjoy some luscious snacks in the raw. The recipes are relatively simple to concoct, yet exciting on both visual and taste-satisfying levels. Once you get the knack of cooking in the raw, I hope you will be inspired to tap in to your own inner creativity in tweaking these recipes to suit your own personal tastes and dietary needs.

NOTE: The above article was derived from the book, Raw Energy, by Stephanie Tourles, Storey Publishing, 2009. The information is true and complete to the best of the author's knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author. Ms. Tourles disclaims any liability in connection with the use of this information. It is for educational purposes only.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Raw Energy - Part 1

Hello Everyone . . . Right now, I'm on the road, smack in the middle of my book tour for my latest book, "Raw Energy". I'm traveling throughout the country giving talks and doing raw food prep demonstrations and speaking to all manner of people who are interested in the raw food movement and what energizing, pure raw food can do towards helping to heal their bodies and rev up their energy levels.

"Raw Energy" was published in late December 2009 and is an introductory book into the world of raw foods. It is not a "militant" raw foodist book that will try to convert you to a 100% raw food diet and persecute you if you don't eat all raw, but rather, it is a book that will encourage you to integrate more raw, luscious, whole foods into your diet. It presents to you124 recipes for raw food snacks that range from juices, nut milks, smoothies, trail mixes, raw cereals and fruit parfaits, veggie chips and dips, to frozen fruit creams, chilled fruit soups, dehydrated energy bars, and raw confections (including raw fudge!!).

"Raw Energy" will also describe for you the equipment essentials necessary for making raw food creations, teach you how to "uncook", and will introduce you to raw food recipe ingredients and a few more exotic ingredients, such as raw cocoa, raw carob, spirulina, raw soy sauce, bee pollen, plus others.

I'm going to begin this Part-1 by writing, verbatim, the introduction of my book. I want you to see just how exciting and potentially delicious the addition of more raw foods - in the form of snack foods - into your diet can be. Here we go . . .

THE BENEFITS OF RAW SNACKS

"Raw Energy" was written especially for those of you seeking healthful and dramatically different alternatives to empty-calorie snack foods such as doughnuts, muffins, white-flour bagels, vending machine junk, processed cookies, cakes, candy, crackers, and chips, fast-food milkshakes, artifically flavored milk drinks, and pasteurized canned and bottled juices - not to mention so-called energy bars that frequently contain refined fruit syrups and high-fructose corn syrup.

The methodology of food preparation in "Raw Energy" represents a huge departure from the way most Americans cook. My aim with this book is to introduce you to a new realm of food preparation: uncooking! I hope to educate and make you, my health-conscious readers, aware that raw snacks can be far more satisfying than conventional snacks while providing deep, sustained, "get-up-and-go" power and promoting health, vitality, and good looks - as they tantalize the taste buds. The all-raw-ingredient recipes are easy to make, delicioius, and delightful to the eye and palate. And better still, they are highly nutrient-dense and enzymatically potent: raw foods retain their naturally occurring enzymes, which typically make them easier on the digestive system than cooked foods. These energy treats consist of real, whole foods, and are completely unheated and uncooked, as is each individual ingredient. Unlike most "no-bake" cookbooks published to date, "Raw Energy" recipes contain no sugar, fruit juice concentrate, jams or jellies, marshmallows or fluff, corn syrup, chocolate syrup, flour, dairy products, refined salt, candy pieces, toasted or roasted ingredients, malt sugar, chocolate or butterscotch chips, sulfured dried fruit, or hydrogenated fats. They DO contain raw nuts and seeds, raw unprocessed honey, raw nut butters, unsulfured dried fruits and coconut, raw oats, raw carob and raw cocoa (yes, raw cocoa powder does exist), freshly extracted juices, nut milks, and all types of fresh and frozen fruit. I even use raw sweet potatoes and zucchini to create sinfully delicious, crispy, dehydrated vegetable chips. These snacks are good for your body (nutrition and taste), mind (no guilt), and soul (satisfying).

I'll stop here this week. Next time, I'll pick up with, "What is the real health difference between my raw snacks and ubiquitous commercial snacks?" . . .


NOTE: This article / blog was written by Stephanie Tourles and taken from her new book, "Raw Energy", Storey Publishing, 2009. The information given is true and complete to the best of the author's knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author. The author disclaims any liability in connection with the use of this information. It is for educational purposes only.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Nourish Your Hair - Part 2

In the last blog, I promised that I'd give you a yummy herbal tea recipe to naturally nourish your hair. Well . . . here it is. Now, I won't guarantee that this tea will make you sprout hair as long and lush as Rapunzel's, but this mineral-rich brew is a delightful way to nourish your hair (skin and nails, too) from the inside out. This recipe uses dried herbs, and will yield 2 cups of tea.

This is a terrific tea to drink on a daily basis to remineralize your body, especially if you have weakened bones, have recently broken a bone, or are pregnant and want to ensure that your unborn child receives plenty of naturally-derived minerals to build strong bones and teeth. The herbs are very safe to consume regularly.

RAPUNZEL'S FAVORITE HERB TEA

Ingredients:

- 1/2 teaspoon horsetail
- 1/2 teaspoon raspberry leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon nettles
- 1/2 teaspoon oat straw
- 1 teaspoon peppermint
- 2 cups boiling, purified water
- Honey or lemon to taste (optional)

Directions:

Add the herbs to the boiling water, then remove pan from heat source. Cover and steep for 5 to 10 minutes. Or, steep for 4 hours for a super-nutritious infusion. Strain. Add honey or lemon to taste, if desired. Sip slowly and enjoy.


NOTE: This article was written by Stephanie Tourles, lic. holistic esthetician, aromatherapist, herbalist, and nutritionist. She is the author of "Organic Body Care Recipes", Storey Publishing, 2007; and "Raw Energy", Storey Publishing, 2009; plus many other titles on natural body care. The information in this article is true and complete to the best of Ms. Tourles' knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author. The author disclaims any liability in connection with the use of this information. It is for educational purposes only.