zenpawn

Following on the heels of Angela Stokes‘ story comes this Mail Tribune article about Clent Manich.

Losing almost 200 pounds, overcoming type-2 diabetes and enjoying the best health of his life are the only reasons Manich needs to continue on a raw-food diet that includes copious quantities of “green smoothies.”

I’m inclined to attribute more of his weight loss to the removal from his diet of all the awful food he was eating than to going raw. On the other hand, he maintains that following a rough three weeks, it was all the healthy food that kept him off the junk. We’re in agreement there…

It’s funny how often people think I’m depriving myself by rejecting a slice of chocolate cake or something. But, I just don’t have the taste for it anymore. I’d much rather a chunk of super dark cacao or a banana or any number of nature’s bounty.

Speaking of raw success stories, if you have one you’d like to share, consider adding your voice to Gazpacho For The Soul.

Had a nice visit with my little sister (only by a year and a half) and her husband Monday evening. She was on a whirlwind tour up from North Carolina and—as so often is the case—my advance notice was minimal.

Nevertheless, even on a “school” night (I still call it that; makes me feel younger), I met them at my Mom and stepdad’s, about 50 minutes away, for dinner. Anything for my sis. And, it’d been a while since I’d seen Mom and Al too, so I was really excited.

Of course, I brought my own food; it’s easier for everyone that way. But Mom hooked me up with some corn on the cob and tomatoes too, both from local growers. The corn was seriously the best I’ve had all season!

That’s zucchini pasta, made with a Saladacco, topped with broccoli, carrots, sweet vidalia onions and garlic. On the right, hiding under the onions, a big chicory salad.

What’s the sauce, you ask? Pureed kidney beans, onions, and cumin. “Thought you weren’t eating cooked food,” my sister inquired. “Surprise!” I replied. As has been calculated here on the blog, I’m about 80% raw by calories. No apologies. Legumes are your friends.

I think I surprised her too when she asked if I knew how many calories were on my, literally overflowing, plate. Let’s see… 45 for the broc, 30 for the carrot, 30 for the zucchini, 175 for the beans, etc..

Anyway, it obviously wasn’t all food talk, and it was great catching up with the family. I expected to be tired upon getting home. Instead, I caught a second wind from the sheer joy of our impromptu gathering and enjoyed a green smoothie as dessert to cap off the evening.

As promised, now that my blog is on a more professional host and I’ve time to come up for air, I’m ready to make my big announcement. I’m really excited about this and put in a lot of sleepless nights and weekends, installing and fighting software, crunching the nutritional numbers, etc..

As you know, there’s a lot of buzz these days about green smoothies. Even Oprah has whipped up a blenderful or two on her show. In fact, she’s currently trying a 21-day vegan challenge! It seems all my dietary modifications started with time-bounded experiments that continued past their fourth-dimensional boxes. Let’s hope it does the same for her and her fans.

My latest personal “challenge” (the quotes because it wasn’t challenging at all) was a couple weeks on a self-designed liquid raw healing protocol. Green smoothies were front and center. While there’s nothing new under the sun, I purposely avoided reading raw food books or searching the web for ideas during this period, in order to at least attempt creating just that.

I expected to emerge with twenty-one new raw blender recipes. Instead, I was having too much fun. With the habit firmly entrenched, I just kept going. Now, a smoothie a day is back in my repertoire. Back? Indeed. Funny thing is, before I went vegan, a yogurt smoothie was my breakfast of choice.

Toss the yogurt and replace with a tossed salad and you’ve got something closer to what I enjoy today. Ultimately, I stopped compiling the recipes at just over 50. After all, I’d told everyone they were on the way. And now, they’re here! Better yet, I set about creating a community forum where members can share their own creations, modifications, and in general just get to know each other.

Check it all out at…

p.s. - My chessblog is live.