The Green Queen

More addiction confessions and more raw pizza!

My last post I wrote about my former addiction to pepperoni pizza and how I finally feel I have it under control.However, what I didn't share is something that I'm very much addicted to today, even while I'm striving to be raw.

I don't like using the word "addicted", because it definitely doesn't resonate with me, but how else do you describe something you use even when you know it's bad, that you use as a way to stuff your emotions and keep you numb, and something you feel like you have no control over.

I'm talking about CRISPS. (Potato chips to some of you)

This photo is part of a campaign by the British Heart Foundation to expose hidden salt, fat and sugar in common foods. They specifically target crisps because the average child eats these readily available "treats" frequently. Unfortunately, I'm probably not the only person in the modern world to have a crisp addiction. Even Oprah has struggled with them. It's funny. I've never tried drugs (except for the odd whiff in Amsterdam), never experimented with pills, always hated cigarettes and I rarely drink. But seriously, sometimes I crave my crisps like a junkie!

I can go weeks without even thinking about a bag of crisps, and then (like yesterday), I'll eat four bags in a row. If I'm at a party, I really can't resist them. It's not a recent habit either. I can remember spending my lunch money on crisps until I went to a school that banned them, but then I was right back on them when I went to High School.

Rationally, it's probably because I haven't connected giving up crisps with my values. Giving up McDonalds (another former addiction) was easy because of the ethical, environmental AND health concerns I had. Then giving up meat for me, followed a similar process. I'm still working on dairy, but I fundamentally believe it's not a good product for my health or the planet. My diet coke habit didn't really wane until I read about how soft drink companies destroy local environments and water safety in third world countries. Now crisps, I think of as bad for my health (my supposed number 1 value), but nothing environmental or ethical. Hmmm.... interesting.

My aim now is to investigate crisps a little further. Why exactly are they bad for us? How do they impact the environment, are they an ethical product? Hopefully I find some real dirt and I can finally get them outta my life. I think it's a powerful lesson for me. Hopefully in the future my health will be reason enough, but in the meantime, I gotta guilt myself about the planet, animals and third world countries. 

Please share your addictions in the comments section and how you overcame them. 

On a more positive note!

Here are some pictures of Blanka and I enjoying some more raw pizza at her house. We have a Tues ritual of meeting for yoga and a green juice. We just extended it a little today for lunch too. Our green juice blew my socks off. Seriously green and amazing. Lots of herbs: parsley, coriander and mint; pineapple for sweetness; celery, fennel, brocolli stalk, lime and ginger. WOWSA.

Oh, and Blanka lent me her copy of Evie's Kitchen which has a recipe for deydrated potato chips. Maybe I need to carry an emergency box with me everywhere I go!

Raw Pizza Hut

One of my cooked food addictions in my previous life was pizza. Specifically pepperoni pizza. 

When I was a kid, a big treat was going to Pizza Hut. In my home town there was a big restaurant branch, which was kinda a big deal then. They had the coolest promotions - like they would put an electronic timer on your table and if it went off before you got your pizza - it was free!

Then - OHMYGOD - they started doing "All you can eat", but you had to request additional slices from the waitress, so it was a bit embarrassing if you ate too much.

When Pizza Hut introduced the "help yourself" buffet, it was the most exciting news ever. Before I visited, I would eat lightly "to prepare". I would wear comfortable, roomy clothes. I would eat salad as well, but I would avoid eating the crusts. When a fresh pepperoni pizza came onto the buffet, I would run and cram as many pieces as I could on my plate. After a while, I would go to the bathroom to "make some room" and if that wasn't bad enough - I would secretly wrap up a few pieces to take home (and more often than not, I would eat them in the car). 

When I was a teenager, I would go there twice a month and have an eating competition with my friends, which I often won. We would also get home delivery once a month or so. I could eat a whole pizza to myself, and finished off my families slices too (even just their crusts).

I could eat and eat and literally NEVER feel full. I was a little bit chubby but because I was training as a dancer, I actually maintained my weight throughout.

Writing this, I feel very sad for that girl. I never saw it as a problem, and I only realise now that I had a very serious problem with food. I had a lot of anxiety in my life and stuffing myself was one way of coping. It was a form of self harm. 

When I went raw, I was still eating pepperoni pizza ocasionally. I even bought a horrible microwaved one once and hid in the office kitchen because I didn't want anyone to see me. YUK. I wouldn't dream of eating pepperoni now, even though I do eat vegetarian pizza now. It doesn't have the same hold on me, and I can manage my overeating much better now.

Blanka gifted me some wonderful raw bread this week, and I thought.... RAW PIZZA!

I've asked Blanka for the recipe for the bases, but here is what I put on top:

• I soaked thinly sliced courgette in olive oil, salt and red paprika for about 30 mins til soft (this was my "pepperoni")
• Thinly sliced red pepper
• Spinach thinly sliced and soaked in warm water to make it soft
• Mashed avocado
• Fresh basil (which smelt amazing)

The base was tomato paste, ketchup and dried herbs. Spread the paste and assemble the ingredients on top however you want.

You can put anything you want on top - maybe raw cheese, mushrooms... anything!

By the way - this is the ingredients list for a typical frozen pepperoni pizza:

Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Pepperoni Pizza Topping (Pepperoni Made with Pork, Chicken and Beef (Pork, Mechanically Separated Chicken, Beef, Salt, Spice, Dextrose, Oleoresin of Paprika, Sodium Ascorbate, Garlic Powder, Sodium Nitrite, Lactic Acid Starter Culture, BHA and BHT and Citric Acid to Protect Flavor), Water, Soy Protein Isolate), Water, Mozzarella Cheese Substitute (Water, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Rennet Casein, Modified Corn Starch, Potato Starch, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Vital Wheat Gluten, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Titanium Dioxide (Color), Maltodextrin, Magnesium Oxide, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin A Palmitate, Riboflavin, Vitamin B12), Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Corn Starch, Rehydrated Pasteurized Process Nonfat Mozzarella Cheese (Water, Nonfat Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes, Citric Acid, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin B, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Phosphate), Salt, Sugar, Defatted Soy Flour, Dried Whey, Dried Onion, Spice, Methylcellulose, Rehydrated Enzyme Modified Cheese (Water, Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), and Natural Flavor. 

Food should be about SELF LOVE, not SELF HARM

With love,

 

Get your free copy of my ebook- The Raw Detox Diet, and learn how I lost almost 10kgs (so far) with raw food, cleansing and detoxing.

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Raw Easter Dinner Party!

So my Easter weekend was topped off by a glorious raw food feast at Blanka's house (of Gracefully Raw fame).

It was fabulous - and Blanka (and David)'s house is so lovely - sunny and peaceful. It was great having my Mark there and another one of Blanka's friends too.

It really made me feel grateful for the raw and healthy friends I have!

So - the MENU:

Vietnamese Wraps

Rice paper wraps from the local Asian shop (not raw but they are very thin). You have to soak them for about a minute in warm water. 

I put in some slices of mango, some spiralised carrot, small pieces of avocado and a very generous dollop of coriander (cilantro).

It was very simple and fresh. Topped off with some cress. We also used a dipping sauce of agave and some chilli flakes.

Tip - don't buy the wraps from the health shop. Go to a proper Asian shop - they are a million times cheaper.

Raw Sushi

Toasted nori sheets (not raw, but easy to buy from any Asian shops)

Rice is cauliflower blended very gently in water, and then drained. It makes it a very fine "rice" type texture.

Then stuff anything in it - we marinated oyster mushrooms in some sesame seed and chilli oil with some soy sauce. Also some avocado, thin strips of cucumber and coriander.

Finally, some black sesame seeds scattered around the plate.

You just need a sushi mat and then look on youtube for how to roll. It's easy!

Tip - make sure the "rice" is dry, otherwise it destroys the nori!

Raw Green Thai Curry

I'll link the recipe when Blanka posts it on her blog, but it was absolutely FABULOUS. It was a recipe from Russell James' Thai (you can download some free recipes here)

Lots of fresh ingredients, like bean sprouts, sweet baby corn, peppers, seaweed and other yummy stuff in a gorgeous thai sauce.

We also had gorgeous mushroom satay sticks - no photo alas!

Raw Pineapple "Fried Rice"

This was gorgeous. A pineapple scooped out with cauliflower rice.

Recipe will be at Blanka's site later this week!

This was sweet and spicy with nice herbs. Yummy.

Dessert

Wow - this was amazing. Raw chocolate tart with raw raspberry icecream

Warning: I had a second helping of this, just because it was so yummy. This is seriously powerful stuff. 

Let me tell you what happened. A couple of hours later I started feeling very BUZZED, and then I couldn't sleep for a while. The next day I felt quite unbalanced and even a bit shaky. To ground myself a bit, I found I had a packet of crisps, then a baked potato for lunch, and then popcorn and another two packets of crisps in the afternoon. The shame! I probably can't blame it exclusively on the raw chocolate, I also had some wine, and I very rarely drink - so it could have had something to do with it.

Raw chocolate is very powerful. I should have had one piece and be done with that. It was so rich and decadent that one piece was sheer heaven. Having a second portion was bordering on greedy!

You can read more about it on various raw food blogs. It affects people in very different ways, so it might be fine for some, and weird for other people. You gotta do what works for you.

So - what a lovely, lovely day.

Then here's a pic of Marky Mark, enjoying his dessert, and then Blanka taking a photo of me enjoying mine!

 

 

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Raw Pad Thai

I haven't been experimenting too much with raw dishes lately so on the weekend I decided to make some Thai inspired raw dishes. This was really nice and really hit the spot. It's incredibly versatile and took hardly any time. Best of all - no oily wok to clean up afterwards.

Thai Sauce

• Small handful of almonds (or any other nut really, cashew, peanut or macadamia would be nice)
• 2 medjool dates chopped
• 2 stalks of lemongrass
• 2 tsp of grated ginger
• 1 cup of coconut water
• Juice of 1.5 limes
• Splash of almond oil 
• Splash of sesame seed oil
• 1 tsp of green curry mixture (not raw)
• 2 T of soy sauce (not raw)

"Noodles"

• Bean sprouts
• Shredded carrot
• Grated cabbage
• Julienned cucumber
• Carrot and courgette put through a spiraliser to create long thin noodles.

(Could also use strips of red pepper, baby corn, mange tout, sugar snaps - anything really)

Other stuff

• Bok choi - wilted in warm water
• Sliced celery
• Herbs - I used mint, coriander and parsley
• Sesame seeds
• Nuts to crush on top
• Lime wedge

How to make it

It couldn't be easier. Whizz up the sauce in a food processor or Vitamix. Pour half of it in a bowl and mix in some of the "noodles", sesame seeds and some chopped herbs. Let the flavours sit for a bit.

Put the wilted bok choi on your plates and then just start piling up the different "noodles" and other ingredients.

Lastly, put a little bit more bean sprouts on top, some of the herbs for garnish, sprinkle on the nuts and squeeze a bit of lime. Use some of the leftover sauce to drizzle over the top.

Thank god there's a bit left over - I'm going to go have some for lunch now! It's so fresh and doesn't leave me with that heavy feeling from cooked noodles, or give me a hangover from the MSG!

 

Get your free copy of my ebook- The Raw Detox Diet, and learn how I lost almost 10kgs (so far) with raw food, cleansing and detoxing.

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