Raw Chocolate Truffles

OMG, you guys. This is my favorite raw food desert I've made (so far)! It's so yummy, all raw, and so totally good for you.


Ingredients:

1 cup raw cacao powder
2 cups raw shredded coconut
8 large dates (pitted)
1/3 cup raw coconut oil
1/3 cup filtered water
1 tsp cinnamon
A touch of vanilla extract
A dash of pink Himalayan sea salt

Topping ideas (to roll the truffles in):

raw cacao powder
raw cacao nibs
vegan chocolate chips
pistachio bits
goji berries
shredded coconut

What to do...

1. Mix the dates & water in food processor until it forms a paste.
2. Mix in cacao powder.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the shredded coconut with the coconut oil.
4. Add the two pastes together in the bowl, then add cinnamon, vanilla, and sea salt. Mix ingredients until it forms a thick batter.
5. Form into small balls and roll in the toppings. Toppings are not necessary, but just add a fun touch and great flavor.
6. Place on wax paper in fridge for 15 min. Enjoy!

If you want more of a sweetener than dates, you could add honey, agave nectar, or stevia.

I couldn't believe how much these tasted like pure dark chocolate treats. Everyone loved them and were very surprised to hear the ingredients & that they were raw and healthy!

Raw cacao is different than it's sad, processed brother, cocoa. Cacao is a superfood because it is extremely high in antioxidants and flavonoids. It turns out that all the bad things commonly attributed to non-raw chocolate bars, such as cavities, weight gain and diabetes, are actually caused by the dairy, sugar and others fillers added to the chocolate. Health benefits of chocolate when it is in the form of raw cacao beans, butter, nibs and/or the powder include; weight loss (because of its high chromium and coumarin content), prevention of cavities (theobromine actually kills streptococci mutans one of the strains of bacteria that cause tooth decay) and regulation of blood sugar which is beneficial for diabetes (chromium can naturally regulate blood sugar). Also, raw cacao benefits the heart and the entire cardiovascular system as a whole.

Cacao is the highest whole food source of magnesium, which also happens to be the most deficient mineral in the diet of modern cultures. Magnesium relaxes muscles, improves peristalsis in the bowels and relaxes the heart and cardiovascular system. The dark chocolate antioxidants have been clinically proven to literally dissolve plaque built up in the arteries, which helps in reversing heart disease and causes naturally lower blood pressure. Also, various other vitamins and minerals in raw cacao benefits the cardiovascular system.

And I love that this recipe uses coconut oil! Out of all the oils out there, coconut is one of the healthiest. The health benefits of coconut oil are immense and it adds great flavor to desserts!

Definitely going to make this one again for the holidays. :)

Fruit Salad

This is fast & easy. Chop up whatever fruits you have on hand, add some rasins, goji berries, walnuts, honey, cinnamon, etc. and you have a fantastic, healthy RAW desert right there. Get creative and make it your own. Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon GRAWnola

This is awesome because it satisfies that crunchy, sweet craving, but is still completely RAW and healthy for you!

Binding ingredients:
1 cored apple, chopped 1 ½ cups date paste (dates soaked in water for 1-2 hours, then pureed with ¼ cup of water until smooth)
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons sea salt

Raw seeds/nuts/fruits:
½-1 cup sunflower seeds
2 ½ cups pecans
2 cups walnuts
2 cups almonds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup chia seeds
½ cup flax meal
1 cup raisins
½-1 cup organic dried unsweetened coconut

These ingredients are just suggestions. You can add or subtract whatever you want, just make sure to have something sticky (ie date paste) in the binding ingredient list you use.

What to do...
1. Grind the binding ingredients and ¼ cup of the sunflower seeds in a food processor until smooth. Place in a large mixing bowl.
2. Put the nuts and seeds into a food processor (you’ll probably need to do it in 2 batches). Chop coarsely, using a few quick pulses. Place this mixture into the large bowl with the apple/date (binding) mixture, add the dried fruit, and mix the rest by hand.
3. Spread granola on a Teflex sheet (parchment paper will work too).
4. Dehydrate at 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit for about 5 hours or until the granola is crunchy.

Serve with fresh fruit and almond milk or coconut milk. YUM! Or just eat it on it's own.
Store in an airtight place and keep refrigerated for freshness.

Purple & Green Dream Juice

I just threw this together from what I had in the fridge and it turned out great!

Ingredients
3 leaves of kale
4 leaves of purple cabbage
3 stalks of celery
1 cucumber
1 orange
~30 concord grapes

Put through juicer and enjoy!

Remember: Try to eat (or drink!) all the colors of the rainbow, EVERY DAY!


peace, love, & light.
melissaintheraw.

IC Green Smoothie!

The green smoothie changed my life. There are tons of different great recipes out there! This is the one I started out with when I first started my IC healing journey. With IC, our bladders and bodies are more sensitive, so our food choices are pretty limited. This was my daily breakfast when I started my raw food plan!

Ingredients:
1 Thai coconut (use water & meat)
1 pear (or apple if you can tolerate it)
1 banana
3 stalks of celery
1-2 cups of spinach
1 tbsp flax meal
1 tbsp spirulina powder
ice if desired

Instructions:
1. Put all ingredients inside blender and blend! May need to add in some water if there is problems blending.

Suggestions:

If you find you can't tolerate the apple and/or banana, leave them out. You can use stevia as a sweetener if desired.

Coconut: It's hard to always have a fresh coconut, and even harder to open them! Don't be intimidated. These tasty treats have electrolytes and alkalizing properties, as well as many other health benefits. So it's worth it! I've made friends with the produce guy at Whole Foods and he always opens them for me, then wraps it back up. The downside to this is I have to use it soon, but that's usually not a problem, since I have smoothies every day. You can also search Youtube for how to open a coconut. Sometimes when coconuts are too expensive or I am too busy, I use coconut water or make my own almond milk. Be careful when buying things in cartons because they are not raw and have added ingredients that can hurt IC.

Seeds: I use flax for the Omegas and fiber, but feel free to get creative and try other ideas!

Spirulina is a great superfood that helps alkalize your body! It also is a good source of protein and vitamin B12. It's also been proven to help IC. But if you don't want to use it, find another green super food powder that you want to try.

Healthy breakfast: This is a great, healthy way to start your day! Ever since I started drinking 1 green smoothie a day, I've experienced many positive health benefits, including extreme IC pain reduction. :)

Liquid Feasting

I don't write many diary-like entries, so I thought I'd change it up a bit! I'd like to update you on what's going on in my life.

Today I started a liquid feast! There's tons of terms out there to describe this type of detoxification program...juice fast/feast, liquid fast/feast, etc. They're all pretty similar, but the names vary depending on what exactly you are consuming. Fasting is defined as abstinence from all food and drink except water for a specific period of time, usually for a therapeutic or religious purpose. It is often used as a detoxification method, as it is one of the quickest ways to increase elimination of wastes and enhance the healing processes of the body.* Living on liquids is much easier for your body to digest and assimilate than chewing and swallowing whole foods. Drinking nutrient dense, high alkaline liquids creates an atmosphere in which an advanced level of cleansing and healing can take place, as you are allowing your body to be flooded with immediate usable nutrition, without taxing your digestive system.

I'm calling my chosen program a liquid feast because I am not limiting my diet to just juices. I am drinking juices, as well as other liquids, such as water, smoothies, coconut water, and kombucha. And it's a FEAST because I am not counting calories here. :)

I decided to do this for a few reasons. (1) I have never done any kind of fast before and I wanted to try it out! (2) I am feeling a bit lethargic lately, since I've been cheating on my raw food diet recently with naughty things like alcohol and sugars. I don't feel as healthy and energetic as I did when I first started out on raw foods and I can just tell that my digestive system is not happy. (3) I have a sprained ankle that is taking FOREVER to heal and I am hoping that this will help it. I twisted it over 1 month ago while hiking in Flagstaff and I did not give it enough time to heal, which turned it into a very severe sprain. I was in extreme pain (it still hurts but is manageable now) and could not walk on it. I have been in a walking boot (a big strap on cast) for 3 weeks now and I'm still unable to walk without it! This is getting a bit frustrating, since I'm unable to work with the boot and I'm getting a bit stir crazy from sitting in bed all day every day. But I have hope and my liquid feasting to keep me busy!

So today is DAY 1 of the liquid feast. So far, I've had 1 green smoothie, 1 watermelon/ginger/lime shake (YUM), 1 green juice, 1 coconut water and 1 GT trilogy kombucha. And I feel GREAT! I am so surprised at how much energy I've had today. I'm wide awake right now and it's almost 10pm! Every time I get hungry, I just grab (or prepare!) a liquid and take my time drinking it. I feel pretty satisfied and happy today. No negative feelings...yet. I think I can do this! My goal is to go 5 days. Let's see what happens!

I don't know how I'm going to fall asleep tonight!

The Complexities of Naturally Healing a Chronic Disease

"Just because "they" say there is no cure;
it does not mean that you can't get better.
It only means that "they" haven't figured it out yet.
That's all it means.
It does not mean that you can't get better."
- Catherine Simone

So I have a lot of things going on in my mind right now and I just want to get them off my chest. So sorry if it sounds a little rocky. I just want to stress a few things that are important to understand about natural healing.

So often we are told that Interstitial Cystitis is an incurable, chronic disease. When I was diagnosed, I believed this. I was in pain, suffering, and hopeless, taking pills and not getting anywhere. I did this for a year without really changing any of my other habits, besides for a slight IC Diet modification. After a while, I decided I had enough of all this devastation. I had let IC take over my life and it had crushed my hopes, dreams, and spirit. I had passed the responsibility of my own health onto these strangers who had no idea what causes IC or how to treat it. So, I decided to take my health back into my own hands. I decided to mindlessly stop paying the big pharmaceutical companies because they weren't doing me any good and start finding my own way to heal my body naturally. I decided to search for the cause and the cure to my problems. I did not want to live or "manage" a life with IC anymore.

(Please note that I am not degrading modern medicine, for it does have great uses in lots of different scenarios. However, I believe that it is not helpful for many chronic conditions.)

There is a growing number of individuals out there who are refusing to accept that IC is incurable and have managed to heal themselves of IC. I am one of them. It is possible. But it's not going to be easy.

You've got to remember that there is no quick-fix with IC. It took your body a lot time to build up all those toxins and get sick, so it's going to take a long time to get the toxins out and regain your health. With Western medicine, we are used to these easy-outs, a quick pill that solves all our problems with little effort. But with a chronic condition like IC, this method is not going to cure anything, it is simply covering up the symptom of a much bigger problem. Natural healing focuses on restoring health by detoxifying and regenerating the whole body, and this takes time and effort. But the results of long-lasting health and definitely worth it.

I just want to stress the fact that everyone's healing path is going to be different. So what worked for me, or someone else, may or may not work for you. That's why it is important to look at all your options. Do loads of research in your spare time! Read articles and books, watch documentaries, etc. about IC, diet, and natural healing methods. See what other people have done, learn about the body, and most importantly, learn to listen to your body. Read the signs your body gives you! If your stomach/bladder hurts after you eat something, then what did you eat that caused that? If you have constipation, what do you think caused it? Try to interpret what your body is telling you and make adjustments in your life to attempt to counteract the issue. I advocate the things that I do because they worked for me and I want to spread the message. But my way is not the only way! It may or may not help you. That's why it is important to know all your options and make decisions based on your own situation. I firmly believe that IC has many different causes, so therefore, there will be many different ways to heal it. That is why it is important for you to research, listen to your body, and try to figure out what causes your specific case of IC (and other related conditions). Then you will get a better idea of how to treat it. Once you know the cause, you can try to remedy it.

The fact that there are many different ways to heal brings me to my next point. Healing your IC is about whole body health! A healthy diet is only one part to the whole. Same goes for things like herbs, supplements, physical therapy, yoga, exercise , meditation, getting sun, etc. When using all these different aspects of healing, you will experience much more results than just using one or two.

So really, it's all about lifestyle change. Somehow, our current lifestyle has caused us to get sick with IC and maybe other related conditions too (I had GERD, allergies, lactose intolerance, and eosinophilic esophagitis, others have IBS, fibromyalgia, etc...) It's time to take charge of our health and change the lifestyle that created our health problems. The time is now.

“You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it."
-Albert Einstein