Raw Food Almond Dream Bar Recipe

 

Check out the ingredients and directions for this raw organic food bar.

Buying Raw Food for Dogs

Dogs on a raw food diet are naturally healthier, happier, and more energetic. They will face less health problems both in their present state and in the long run when compared to their kibble fed (or other dog diets) counterparts.  However, buying raw food for dogs can be a challenge to some dog owners since there are several considerations to keep in mind.
First, when buying raw food for dogs, make sure the food is human grade food or fit for human consumption. This means it is the highest quality raw food available. Making sure that everything is fresh and safe to eat is one of the keys to success when following the raw food feeding model and assures you are getting the best raw dog food for your pets.
Next, make sure you buy organic fruits and vegetables. Organic fruits and vegetables are grown without pesticides or insecticides or any growth enhancers. This means the produce is all natural and good for your dog.
Fruits and vegetables which are not grown the organic way  is not ideal because the traces of pesticides and chemicals  used on non-organically raised produce can be ingested by your dog  and lead to health problems. Even if you wash the fruit and vegetables, pesticides and chemicals are not completely removed from the product.
Be sure you purchase your meat from a reliable butcher who takes his product from a farm which does not use growth stimulants for their livestock. Like fruits and vegetables that are not grown in an organic manner, meats with growth stimulants is not an ideal raw food for dogs. These stimulants can give your dog health problems or create unnatural growth in your dog.
When buying raw food for dogs, be sure to shop in the right quantities, which is how much you can store giving your freezer or refrigerator space. Keep in mind that different foods have varying shelf lives. Fresh vegetables lasts about a week and frozen meats lasts three to six months in the freezer, depending on the kind of meat.
If you would like to store vegetables for longer periods of time,  you can create a vegetable slosh in bulk and freeze it in the portions that you will be feeding your dog. When feeding puppies, keep in mind that they will need a higher
percentage of protein in their diet compared to fully grown dogs because they're at a critical growth stage. Puppies will eat about four times a day in their  first three months. Afterwards you can switch to fewer feedings.
Older or fully grown dogs will eat less often than puppies, but if they are very active, they will need more feedings or a higher percentage of protein as well. It is important to keep  details like these  in mind when buying raw food for dogs so that you know how much of each kind of food to buy.
For more details like these, a good place to get more information is from the ebook 'Going Rawr! Dog Lovers Compendium.' Its author, Maggie Rhines, shows you exactly how to choose raw food for dogs, as well as proper methods of storage and preparation.
It's great for people who are just starting out their dogs on this diet and who would like to know more  about how to implement it and how to avoid food contamination. You can check out the book's website by clicking on this link for more information:

http://rawfoodhealthwatch.com/go/goingrawr.php

 

 

Top Raw Kitchen Appliances

In a raw food kitchen you will find much smaller appliances than you would typically see in a "regular" kitchen. Lots of raw foodists actually get rid of the stove completely or put a board across the top for extra counter space.

So what's in a raw kitchen? I usually see at least a blender, a food processor and perhaps a spiral slicer (for raw pastas for example), a dehydrator and sometimes a juicer.

The top pick dehydrator for raw foodists I'd say would be the Excalibur 3900 Deluxe. It is a pro-grade system made for use at home. It has a square shape, an adjustable thermostat, and a rear mounted heating unit. This allows for even drying. It uses a proprietary horizontal air flow system called the Turbo Charge Parallexx® Drying System. It has a 600 watt motor as well. It can be used by raw food eaters to create gourmet meals that require a square or rectangle shape, such as raw breads and cracker.

 

For blenders, I often see the Tribest Personal Blender PB200 used to grind seeds and nuts or for single serving use. But the main blender I see would be one from the line of Blendtec blenders. Blendtec-TB-621-BHM is a popular one. It comes with a 3 year warranty and the blade has a lifetime warranty. The machine cleans very easily which people tend to like.

The Joyce Chen Saladacco Spiral Slicer is a tool a lot of raw foodists seem to have. With it you can cut vegetables into paper-thin slices, julienne strips, half rounds, and spaghetti-like strands. It also makes it easy for you to slice harder vegetables, like sweet potatoes, and parsnips.

Vita mix have great blenders especially for professional use or very frequent home use.

 

What's in your raw kitchen?

Is Kale Really All That?

Kale, a member of the dark green leafy vegetable family, more specifically the Brassica family, is suggested to be one of the most, if not the most, nutritious green when consumed in it's raw state. Kale is a great source of the B-vitamin folic acid, vitamin K, beta carotene, carotenoids (such as zeaxanthin and lutein), calcium, magnesium and other valuable nutrients.

Kale is said to: be a protective against ovarian cancer, optimize your cells' detoxification, contain carotenoids that lower cataract risk, promote lung health, among many other health benefits.

If you enjoy the taste or want to give it a try, I found a great video recipe for kale and tahini salad, which can be found here. The link brings you to a free series of raw video recipes and the kale and tahini salad recipe shows up in your inbox on day two I think it was.

Kale is slightly bitter in taste and not enjoyed by everyone in salads so preparing kale chips or adding kale to green smoothies has become popular amongst raw foodists and other natural health advocates.

Growing Sprouts

Seed and bean sprouts are true living foods... they are still "alive" while being eaten. It has been suggested that sprouts are superior to most other foods because plants are nutritionally at their strongest during the sprouting stage. They require a huge nutrient surge to "break free" from the pod and begin to grow. And because they are raw the enzyme level is pretty high as well.

It doesn't take long for a raw foodist to start hunting down information to learn how to grow sprouts. Sprouts can be eaten by themselves, added to salads, added to green smoothies, put on sandwiches, added to soups and many other recipes.

To start growing sprouts you must first soak the seeds or beans. At this stage enzymes are active and in some cases the food has turned from acidic to alkaline. Given the right amount of moisture a seed will begin germination. Rinsing seeds at regular intervals will keep their thirst quenched. Between rinsing and draining is when they grow.

Check out these free video recipes, the first one for kelp noodles uses mung bean sprouts as one of the main ingredients

Green Smoothies For Weight Loss Or Weight Gain

Green smoothies are simply fruit smoothies with greens mixed in. The result doesn't have to be "green" in color, just the addition of greens makes them a "green smoothie".

It has been noted in the past that mixing fruits and vegetables (cooked or otherwise) is not healthy. It is considered a "food combining nightmare" by some. It causes fermentation which can lead to other issues. So, why is it OK to mix greens with fruits in a green smoothie?

In testing, greens, when mixed with fruit, do not cause the fermentation issues as regular vegetables. Some people are now putting greens in their own food caegory. Although greens are essentially dark green leafy vegetables, they are put in their own grouping outside of vegetables, as simply "greens".

Mixing 60-70% fruit with the rest greens and some water to your green smoothie recipe, makes for a delicious and healthy snack, treat, drink or meal. Consuming green smoothies can help regulate weight in some people. Lots of overweight people who have added one green smoothie a day to their diet, without any other changes, have achieved weight loss.

Adding some nutrient dense food, like figs, can actually result in the opposite, and can assist in healthy weight gain.

Cartoons With A Positive Message?

I was watching Dora The Explorer with my 2 year old daughter the other day. She always asks that we put that show on for her so when I was watching her the other day I caved and put it on. I don't hate the show, in fact there are some decent messages in there, and it also teaches a bit of Spanish but this particular episode is about saving a stuck ice cream truck. Not a really big deal because all my daughter knows about ice cream is the raw banana ice cream we've made her in the past.. but still.. I would prefer she watches cartoons and TV shows with a better message about food. (On a side note, I'd also rather she didn't play with toys such as fake pizzas, ice cream cones, french fries, etc. but I choose my battles and leave that one be.)

 Anyway, as we were watching that Dora episode I was thinking that it'd be nice if there were cartoons, with like I said, a better message about food.. healthier food choices, that's the education I want for my daughter if she MUST watch TV, especially when she watches it over and over.. and as I was watching, I also wondered if there was a market for that.. I thought it would be great to have books, TV shows and cartoons that hinted on, or discussed, or mentioned, or even flat out explained to children about toxins, organic food, raw food and the like...

 Then I got an email the very next day about this cartoon!

 RawMan and GreenGirl Meet FrankenFood

 

 The cartoon touches on the importance of raw organic food in the human diet.

 It loosely discusses the food crisis with Monsanto and genetically modified foods. Perhaps you've heard about it? Monsanto I believe has patents on seeds and is getting farmers to use them (one way or another) and the seeds can only be used one time and a new lot has to be re-purchased. It is also suggested that these GMO foods grown from the seeds may result in (or already has resulted in) sickness and/or disease. I can't be certain if there is any truth to this.. but you can find a documentary on the whole thing.. check Google for "monsanto torrent" and I'm pretty sure you'll find the program.

Raw Dog Food Recipe

The Dailymotion video below goes through a recipe for raw dog food. Below the video I have laid out the recipe for your convenience.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdtn4y_raw-dog-food-recipes_animals

Preparing raw dog food is similar to preparing yourself a raw meal. Be sure when choosing this path, to give your dog variety, as there are lots of raw dog food diet recipes to choose from.

When following a raw dog food recipe be sure the ingredients are as fresh as possible to avoid bacteria, mould, etc.

Below is a 5 minute raw recipe that is easy to follow...

The ingredients include: 5 skin-on and bone-in chicken wings, 1/2 cup grated carrots, 1/2 cup cottage cheese.

Now, mix the cottage cheese and carrots together, place the wings in a bowl and tip it with the cottage cheese/carrot mixture.

Keep in mind that too much cottage cheese, being that it has cows milk, can cause digestive issues, so use this recipe only on occasion.

Check out this post to find out how you can get more information on serving sizes and ingredients that are dependent on your dogs size and current health status.

Weaning Your Puppies

It's not just humans that are seeing benefit from a raw food diet. Pet owners are finding that their animals are becoming healthier and more energetic after the switch as well.

According to the YouTube video above (which doesn't support vegan diet, includes raw meat as well)...

Transitioning to a raw dog food diet should occur slowly to allow your pets to develop a taste for the raw food.

If your are switching a young dog over, and the puppy has not started eating solids at this stage then the switch should be a lot simpler.

The video suggest starting the puppy off with natural milk such as goats milk. Once the puppy begins on solids then mashed vegetables can be introduced. After that finely ground meat can be fed to the puppy.

Growing Population Of Raw Diners

As the raw and living food diet continues to become popular and seen with the respect it deserves as more and more people are witnessing positive health changes, a growing number of raw food restaurants emerge. Typically, adopting a raw food diet can limit one to merely have snacks or eat salads while away from home, since most restaurants serve primarily cooked meals. But, in order to meet the demand of a growing population of raw foodists, raw food restaurants are opening up worldwide, and many of them serve high end raw food cuisine.

Raw food restaurants are popping up in places like Toronto, London, Los Angeles and many more hot locations. In Toronto Ontario you have places like: Live Organic Food Bar, Rawlicious and Raw Aura. In London you can find Inspiral Lounge, Ottolenghi, Raw, Saf and VitaOrganic. In LA you can check out spots like CRU Cafe and the raw friendly Elderberries.