‘Raw’ foods touted for health benefits

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

The “raw foods” movement is gaining momentum as a healthier, more down-to-earth way to eat and live. Don’t think raw meat, eggs or even sushi, though.

Raw foods essentially returns to a more natural lifestyle, eating foods that grow in nature before they are processed too much.

Raw fooders tout the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables and grains before they are boiled, baked, fried, and mixed with fat and salt and chemicals.

“It’s really about eating healthy food,” said certified raw food educator Kristen Gurnitz Bernier. “It’s about eating foods fresh from the earth without having to over-process them. It’s about getting back to the basics of nutrition and eating.”

Little heat, no meat

Technically, the raw foods movement means a diet of uncooked fruits and vegetables, sprouts and soaked nuts and seeds. Some heating is allowed, but not above 118 degrees, which raw fooders say still leaves the nutrients intact.

Meats are not eaten by most raw foods enthusiasts, and neither are dairy products, which are heated above 118 degrees during the pasteurization process. Meats are cooked at temperatures much higher than that. Sushi is surprisingly not considered a “raw food.”

“Typically, raw food people do not eat any type of animal products,” according to Bernier, “because they all contain cholesterol.”

Bernier said she began a raw foods diet more than two years ago when her health was declining.

“I was in a bad slump,” she said. “I had gained an extra 30 pounds, and I kept getting sick. It seemed like I got every flu or cold that came around. I would work out, then the next day I would be completely zapped.”

Desire to ‘feel better’

Then, one day, she happened upon a raw foods book at a store. The word “detox” in the title made her think that’s what her body needed. She took the book home and as she read the message rang true to her. Not one to do anything halfway, Bernier immediately overhauled her diet.

“I just wanted to feel better,” she said. “Pretty much overnight I decided to do something about it.”

First, she eliminated many of the unhealthful foods she had been eating, such as soda and potato chips. She gave up meat, too, which she said wasn’t really very difficult. At the beginning, she still ate seafood, but not long after she gave that up, too.

Bernier said she began feeling better and more energetic almost immediately.

“My health has improved tremendously,” she said. “It’s been more than a year since I’ve had kind of cold at all.”

Her extra pounds came off, too. She shed almost 30 pounds in less than nine months. “I feel so much lighter now,” she said. “I have so much more energy, and I get better quality sleep.”

Certified teacher

Bernier said before she became a raw foodist, she would sleep 10-11 hours each night and still felt tired during the day. Now, she sleeps 7-8 hours and feels well-rested each morning.

She recently became a certified raw foods educator at The Living Light Culinary Institute in California through a raw food educator series offered there.

“Raw foods are living foods,” she said. “They are easy for the body to digest and eliminate, and they make it easier for the body to cleanse, heal and repair itself. That leaves more energy for our bodies to use for other things, such as to fight off disease or inflammation.”

Vitamins and other essential nutrients are lost or reduced in the heating process of cooking, Bernier explained.

A place to begin

Getting rid of some of the processed foods in our diets and replacing them with fresh fruits and vegetables is a great way to begin a raw foods lifestyle, she said. It’s not as difficult as it sounds.

Bernier gets up each morning and makes her “Live Green Smoothies” with spinach or kale, oranges, and other fresh, live foods.

“It sets the tone for the whole day,” she said.

For snacks, Bernier encourages fresh fruits or carrots or celery. Whole Foods grocery has a great assortment of raw-food snacks, she said, such as cookies, crackers and bread that are made with no dairy products and with oat-based products and dehydrated fruits, all cooked below 118 degrees.

Bernier also suggests replacing bread with sprouted bread, such as Ezekiel bread, which can be found at many area grocery stores in the freezer sections.

Salads are a great way to bring in all sorts of raw foods to the diet, she added, or those interested can look up other recipes online. Recipe books and the Internet are where she’s gotten some of her favorite recipes.

Bernier has a series of three talks and demonstrations on raw foods scheduled for the Provena Saint Joseph Inwood Athletic Club. The first one is this week.

Recipes

Live green smoothie

2 oranges, peeled

1/2 pineapple, peeled and cored

1 banana

couple of handfuls of fresh spinach or kale

1 1/2 cups filtered water

Put in blender and puree

Mock tuna salad

2 cups raw almonds

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

3 stalks of celery, diced

3 green onions, thinly sliced

Avocado mayo

1 cup pine nuts

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

4 pitted medjool dates

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon celtic sea salt

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon each dill, thyme, and basil

1 avocado

Place almonds, parsley, lemon juice, garlic and sea salt in food processor and chop until fine. Place into a bowl and stir in celery and green onions. Set aside.

To make the avocado mayo, place pine nuts, apple cider vinegar, dates, garlic, salt, lemon juice, spices and avocado in food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.

Mix in avocado mayo into almond mixture. Serve on ezeikel sprouted bread or pitas, or wrap it up in lettuce, kale or collard greens. Top with tomato, sprouts, black or green olives, or sliced avocado.

Wilted kale salad

2 bunches organic kale

1tablespoon sea salt

1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced

1/2 cup hulled hemp seeds

Dressing

2 avocados

1/2 to 1 chipotle pepper, dried (depending on desired spiciness)

1/4 cup cold-pressed olive oil

1tablespoon raw, unpasteurized honey

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Remove the stems from the kale, wash and tear into smaller pieces. Place into a bowl and add sea salt. Massage sea salt into the kale until it looks wilted. add tomatoes and hemp seeds. Blend the dressing ingredients in a blender until creamy. Add dressing to the wilted kale mixture. Eat alone or on top of dehydrated crackers, bread, or organic blue corn chips.

Choconana shake

2 frozen bananas, sliced

2 cups almond milk or hemp milk

1 tablespoon organic cocoa powder or carob powder

drizzle of raw, unpasteurized honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (alcohol free is best)

pinch of sea salt

Put in blender and puree.

Recipes courtesy of kristen gurnitz bernier

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