Health & Other stuff

For months now I have been considering changing my diet from vegan to raw vegan. It just makes sense to me that the best foods for our bodies, are the purest. Those that are provided from the earth, and not modified or processed in any way. While my health has improved dramatically over the course of my time I have switched to a vegan lifestyle, I still have a few obstacles to defeat.

I have read a lot about the benefits of raw foods and my body has been pushing me to go in that direction. As much as I have wanted to make the switch, I had been reluctant. My love for cooked and steamed veggies held me back. I have a fondness for all things cabbage and constantly racked my brain over how I could make raw brussels sprouts taste just as amazing raw as they do cooked.

I was fortunate enough to make a new friend recently whom is a health coach, nutritionist, owns her own raw chocolate company, and eats a primarily raw diet. After going to her house a few times and tasting some of the phenomenal foods she had prepared, I knew switching to a raw diet would be something that I could successfully achieve!

I made the decision to jump in and get started, and so far I am loving it! It seems like it would be so much more work, but really it isn’t. The most important thing to remember is to plan ahead and your dehydrator will be your best friend!

Here are a few recipes I have tried to help get you started or just if you are looking to try something new:

Kale Chips

I finally did it! I found a great kale chip recipe that I just love! I have tried a few different recipes without complete success in the past and quickly gave in to paying high dollars for store bought kale chips. (recipe found on goneraw.com)

Ingredients:

1 Large bunch of kale- wash, remove from stems, and tear into smaller pieces.

Flavor:

1 cup of cashews (soaked in filtered water for 2 hours)

1 red bell pepper (seeded and chopped)

juice of 1 lemon (or lemon juice works, just kind of eyeball the amount you use)

1 T. nutritional yeast (this adds that cheesy taste)

1/2 t. pink Himalayan Crystal salt

optional- 2 t. of agave (I didn’t use this as I am going for the salty taste in my chips)

Preparation

Put  all flavor ingredients into the blender and mix until smooth. Mine was still a little thick so I added a teensy bit more water.

Use your hands to coat the flavor ingredients onto the pieces of kale. It’s messy, but the most efficient way to get the mix inside the crevices of the kale.

Put the pieces of kale onto sheets of dehydrator trays (keep pieces folded, it makes for a nice thick, crunchy piece of kale) and dehydrate on 105 degrees overnight or until the coating dries.

Then remove and place directly on screens and dehydrate for about 12 hours or until completely dry.

YUM!

Chive Rangoons

Wonton Wrappers:

2 medium zucchini

1 cup shredded coconut

2 T. coconut aminos (tamari works just as well)

1/4 cup cold-pressed coconut oil

2 T. cold-pressed sesame oil

3 scallions, green parts only and finely chopped

1/3 cup ground flax seeds

2/3 cup filtered water

Chive Cream:

1 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for 1 hour and drained

1/4 cup filtered water

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 t. Himalayan salt

1/2 t. miso

1/4 cup chives, minced

1/4 cup red pepper, minced

1 large clove of garlic, minced

Ginger Dipping Sauce:

1/4 cup coconut aminos

1 T. cold-pressed sesame oil

2 t. raw honey or raw agave nectar

1 t. umeboshi vinegar

1 t. grated ginger

1 t. raw sesame seeds

1/4 t. crushed chili pepper

chopped scallions for garnish

Preparation:

Wonton Wrappers- Peel the zucchini, shred 1 3/4 cups, and scrap into a large bowl. Mix in the coconut, coconut aminos, coconut oil, sesame oil, and scallions.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together flax seeds and water. Add the flax mixture to large bowl and mix everything together well.

Prepare 3 dehydrator trays with nonstick sheets. Drop about two tablespoons of mixture onto trays and spread out to make a 4-5 inch circle in diameter.

Dehydrate 4-6 hours at 105 degrees. Remove from nonstick sheets, flip over wrappers directly onto the mesh sheets and dehydrate for another 6-8 hours or until crisps. Don’t leave in dehydrator for too long, as you want them to still be flexible enough to fold like a taco.

Chive Cream– Place cashews, water, lemon juice, salt, and miso in blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Scrape into bowl and fold in chives, red pepper, and garlic.

Ginger Dipping Sauce– Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Assembly: Lay a wrap flat on the plate, spread two tablespoons of chive cream filling to cover entire wrap. Fold in half to create a half circle. Serve with ginger dipping sauce on the side (or put it directly on top of cream filling).

(this recipe was passed onto me by a friend that attended a raw potluck. I’m not sure where it originally came from, so if anyone comes across the source, I would love to get the information. Always want to give credit where credit is due!)

Enjoy trying out these recipes, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

More recipes to comes soon….

Happy raw eating!!

So after nine (long, long) weeks without running, I decided to get back into the game; or should I say onto the trail?

A short run down of what’s been going on: I went to a podiatrist four weeks in a row, received four cortisone injections, and just before my fifth appointment, was told that my insurance company has some issue that needs to be resolved, so I haven’t been back to the doctor since.

I had previously asked him when I could run again and he said when I am completely healed. The injections had helped significantly. The swelling went down after the first injection as well as the pain. Apparently he hit a nerve with the second injection because I was in pain for days, yowie!

Instructions were to ice every night for twenty minutes and NEVER go barefooted (I had to wear sneakers every day, everywhere!) I would wear them into the bathroom, take them off, leave them by the bathtub, shower, get out, put them on, take them off to get dressed, and put them back on; even with my pajamas on! You have to understand, I am a walk in the door, throw off my shoes, change into comfy clothes kind of person. The tedious task of wearing sneakers all of the time took a few days to adapt to. At this point I was willing to do anything, it had already been a month since my last run. I was a week a way from my first half-marathon and had to stop running because of the pain, I had pushed myself to far.

My biggest fear during this time was that I had developed arthritis in my foot. After all, that was my last diagnosis according to the symptoms in my hands. I still struggle to accept this diagnosis. The way my second toe had swelled was reminiscent of four years ago when my second finger turned into a sausage overnight and really has never been the same. I suddenly remembered all of the pain that I had endured and was fearful of reliving the experience; this time in my foot.

I had come such a long way in my health, how could this happen? The hope was that I had incurred a running injury rather than developed arthritis. After a few x-rays, the physician confirmed that my injury was from running and that there were no signs of arthritis in my bones. Woohoo!

Fast forward to current time: I took it upon myself to start running, I couldn’t take it any more. I needed to run! I jumped on a treadmill and ran two miles, easy as pie. I felt great and was so happy to get back into my groove. As I ran I started to notice something; I was striking the ground mid-foot! I was awesome, like my running style had transformed on it’s on during my down time. I was so excited, things could only get better from here on right?

Hmmm, it seems the lack of using my groin muscle over the last nine weeks had a negative effect on my progress. After a few recent runs, my previous groin injury has returned. I’ve been icing it and took about five days off from running and working out.

I jumped back onto the trail in hopes of a full recovery only to discover it still hadn’t healed. I didn’t care, I ran, I ran, and I ran for 5 miles. I was happy to know that I had the ability to run a 5 miler pretty easily after 3 months without my feet hitting the pavement.

Since my last run I’ve decided to rest; I’m hoping to run in a 5k in less than a week so we’ll see how the leg holds up.

Until then, for those of you fighting through a current injury, take it easy and take the time to heal. You’ll be happy you did!

Happy Healing!

Recently I attended part one of a two part running clinic by Newton. The event provides information to runners on natural running style and the importance of proper form. The second part of the clinic allows the attendees to apply what they have learned from the lecture. Due to my injury, I did not attend the second day, but did learn a lot of useful information from the lecture that I would like to pass onto you.

If you haven’t heard of Newton, they are a shoe company that has developed a product based on, you guessed it, Isaac Newtons laws of motion. Not only do they make a great shoe, but this company also provides loads of information on the topic of running, offers coaching and coach certification, in addition to books, apparel, and other running accessories.
So let’s get down to the nitty gritty here……first thing is first, proper form. When running, the hips should remain level with an upright body and forward lean (from the ankles, not the waist). The spine should be straight, sternum lifted, shoulders relaxed, chin slightly tucked, with a slight flex at the hip.

It is important that the feet land under the center of mass no matter what. When stepping out in front and striking the ground on the heel, it’s as if you are slamming the brakes on a car. Deceleration occurs, thus increasing the chance of injury.

Check out this graphic for a visual.

Landing with the heel causes greater impact with the toes and ball of the foot. The shoe raises the height of the heel causing impact to come in and push off from this causes injury. Hmmm, this sounds familiar to me. I admit, I’m a heel striker and right now I am in a bad way with an injury in the ball of my foot and swelling of my second toe. I haven’t run in over a month and this lecture was really starting to make sense to me.

Ground contact time-this is the amount of time your foot is in contact with the ground on each stride. Faster runners have a shorter contact time. Ground contact time decreases as pace increases. If you are wondering why this is important, here is the answer: when you are in contact with the ground, you are not moving forward. It is only when you are airborne that you are propelled forward. So, a foot that lands in front of the body’s center of gravity will ultimately increase ground time. Ahhhh, that’s why my time hasn’t been improving!

So how should we be landing? Well, as mentioned before, below our center of mass. By doing so, you should land on the mid-foot reducing shock and allowing the heel to land naturally. Once this happens, the elasticity of muscles engage naturally creating and storing energy. Now you are ready to lift back of the ground almost effortlessly. View images here.

Check out some information on how to improve your running.

View different natural running styles.

A couple of notes that I would like to address:

-I visited a podiatrist for my injuries and suggest fault on my behalf to due improper running style. I told him that I am a heel strikers and aware of the fact that I should be striking mid-foot. The doctors response? “That’s not accurate and doesn’t make a difference. You run how you run and don’t change a thing, you can’t change how you run.” AND, “don’t go buying those shoes with the toes, it’s just a fad.”

It was interesting to hear the doctors take on what I had suggested to him. He is after all a doctor, a foot doctor, he knows what he’s talking about right?

Don’t get me wrong, I have seen my fair share of doctors, especially over the past few years. During this time, I have learned that doctors don’t know everything and are sometimes just trying to figure things out just as much as we are. I’ve got to give credit to the doctor that fessed up and said, “I just don’t know, you are a mystery.” While this comment was a bit discerning, it was honest and I respect that.

Just because I now have my doubts about doctors opinions doesn’t mean that I will automatically discount what they have to say. I took his comments into consideration.

That being said, I’m almost certain that all of the professional runners which I follow and read up on have more knowledge in running than said doctor. Professional and mediocre runners alike often suggest the same running form-mid-foot strike!

If this is something you would like to try out, be patient. It takes time to adapt, a LOT of time. And new running form will come at ease with much practice. Remember-land, lever, lift!

Give it a go and if you get frustrated, feel free to keep in touch. I’ll be working on a new stride of my own!

Happy Running!