Super-Food
This Super-mom.com website destination is in process. We are respecting the path and the process and more is coming soon, so stay tuned!! Prana raw!! is coming…
Three and a half years ago I began an unplanned and uncharted journey, as many of the best journeys are. After hearing about the vegan* lifestyle for many years and being a vegetarian for 17 years (except during my pregnancies and while I was nursing), I had a spiritual epiphany on my birthday and decided that I was not going to consume animal products anymore.
I had had many, many people attempt to move me toward the vegan lifestyle in years past. A friend and one-time teacher at Prana who would yell at me (with love), thinking that it would sway me “to the other side.” I can still hear him: “Tail!! Ya GOTTA GO VEGAN!!”
It didn’t work. I still ate my cheeseburgers with mayo, and loved them. When I was pregnant with our second child, Sage, I lived on steak and homemade whipped cream.
But on that fateful day three and a half years ago, I “got” what my friend had been trying to tell me.
Every Super-mom’s eating lifestyle is very personal. I in no way judge what any other Super-mom (or anyone for that matter) chooses to put into her body. We are all on a different path and at a different place—a place that is right for us at this time.
Even though I had many well-meaning people urging me to go vegan, I was not ready and so it didn’t flow.
I think it’s super-important, Super-mom, to listen to your body and your spirit and do away with restriction in every area of your life, including the super-foods you eat. This is the basis of freedom, which is imperative for joy.
It’s super-important that all foods you eat are prepared with love and consumed with love. Setting an intention for what the food will do for your body, mind, and spirit is also important.
So loving your food and loving yourself while you are eating is more important than what you are eating. You can eat the world’s most “perfect” foods while thinking negative thoughts, and they won’t be so “perfect” anymore, Sistah.
All of this said, I did happen to have an awakening of sorts on my birthday three and a half years ago…and I acted on it.
I decided to go vegan. But I had fear—not for myself, but for my baby girl. I was nursing our daughter Sage at the time and worried that she wouldn’t get what she needed if I wasn’t eating animal products. I was born and raised in the Midwest–meat and dairy country–and so I had been suitably brainwashed.
A student had told me once about a fantastic nutritionist/herbalist/energy worker/spiritual teacher in California who had his Ph.D. in something that had to do with food and biology. They were working together to hone her vegan lifestyle, and she loved him.
I called him and we spoke for almost two hours, while I crouched in my kids’ bathroom to have some silence during dinner time (helloooow, what Super-mom hasn’t done that?).
I remember feeling overwhelmed and scared as he talked about something called “the raw food lifestyle.”
“I just want to learn about being vegan and what I need to eat so my baby will get what she needs,” I protested. “I don’t want to hear about sprouting nuts, seeds, and grains!! And what does that mean, anyhow?”
Then after a few deep breaths, my yoga practice kicked in. I calmed down and listened to what Daniel had to say.
After we’d said goodbye, I went downstairs to my husband and two kids, and began to tell Philippe about our fateful phone call.
“He was talking about this thing called the ‘raw food lifestyle,’” I explained.
“Really?!” Philippe exclaimed. “I just bought these books!!” he said as he unwrapped three books on the raw food lifestyle that had just arrived that afternoon from amazon.com.
Two of the books were Eating for Beauty and Feeling Good Foods (listed below), and I don’t remember the third.
A coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidences.
So I read the books—and I jumped. We both jumped, in fact. We went “raw.”
Going raw has been one of the most transformational experiences of my life—joining the ranks of giving birth to my three children, finding yoga, and meeting my soul mate.
When people ask me why I am raw, I tell them because I love who I am when I eat raw food. I am happy. I am energized. I am calm. I am focused. I am relaxed. I am patient. I am Super-mom.
I also sleep less, eat more, eat a huge variety of foods—way more variety than I ever ate when I ate cooked food—and I never, ever think about calories, fat, carbs, or my weight. My body is where it needs to be–effortlessly, and that feels good.
And all of the energy that used to be channeled in to that painful and pointless topic is available for me to use in any way that I wish!! Do not underestimate the amount of energy and focus you will have when you stop thinking about what you eat, your body, and your weight. I’ve been there, Sistah, and I know. And I haven’t really met many women who can say this—honestly. And those whom I’ve met are mostly raw-foodists.
And the food tastes great!! I can’t imagine going back to eating cooked food, because the flavors of raw are so much more vibrant and delicious. Also, at this point, cooked food doesn’t even appeal to me. It looks fake—almost plastic. It’s hard to explain, but what I say to people when they ask me if I “want” that donut, that steak, that pizza, that omelet, etc., is that I don’t have any desire to eat it, just as I don’t have any desire to eat a pencil or the piece of paper I’m writing on. At this point, my body knows what it needs and wants, and so the cooked food doesn’t look appealing in any way. This happened after about one year of eating raw. Up until that point, I only missed/craved one thing: muffins!!
No, I don’t just eat salads. In fact, I eat every thing I used to eat before—and more!! I just use raw nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, and grains to prepare my food. And no, it doesn’t take any more time for me prepare my raw food than it took for me to drive to Wholefoods and get take out salad bar and cooked food or boil some pasta.
Interestingly, I never liked to cook but I *love* to prepare raw food—to make raw burgers, blondies, nori rolls, crackers, breads, eggplant parm, sweet potato corn chowder, etc. Whatever I’m into that week. Also ironically, I had never made homemade soup in my life–until I went raw!! And when you blend raw soup at a high speed in a KTech blender, it is actually very warm, bordering on hot!!
There are many, many excellent books and websites which explain the raw food lifestyle and how to prepare raw foods. They give many testimonials about how raw food has transformed countless people’s lives, and healed them. I have listed a few of these below. I recommend these websites and books highly. I know and resonate with David Wolfe, and have met and hung out with Alissa Cohen and Mathew Kenney a few times. I can attest to their wisdom, high vibration, and beautiful intentions.
So check out these websites and/or books—if they speak to you in this moment. If not, let it go and maybe one day they will. Hey, you read this far, and that rocks!! And as always, take what you want, and leave the rest.
*vegan= (pronounced VEE-gun) means, for various reasons, choosing to avoid using or consuming animal products. While vegetarians do not consume flesh foods, vegans also avoid daily and eggs, as well as fur, wool, down, leather, and cosmetics tested on animals.
Living on Live Foods – Alissa Cohen alissacohen.com
Eating for Beauty – David wolfe rawfood.com
Eating in the Raw – Carol Alt rawfood.com or ecookbooks.com
Feeling Good Food – Susie Miller rawfood.com
Green for Life – Victoria Boutenko rawfood.com or ecookbooks.com
Raw Food Real World – Matthew Kenney ecookbooks.com
Rawsome!! – Brigitte Mars rawfood.com or ecookbooks.com
The Raw Food Detox Diet – Natalia Rose rawfood.com or ecookbooks.com
May 21st, 2008 at 7:10 am
Taylor, thanks so much for putting this out there. I’d like to
add how well the Vegan philosophy ties so well with the concept of our first Yama, Ahimsa.
When we practice Ahimsa, or the concept of doing as less harm as possible, the diet part begins to happen on it’s own accord, effortlessly. When you embrace all beings as ‘worthy’ of living in peace, you’ll see that they are not, and never were ‘food’
for us to take.
Om Lokah Samastha Sukino Bhavantu,
(May all beings be free of suffering)
Thanks so much !
John Calabria
http://www.YogaWithJohn.com
May 21st, 2008 at 10:03 am
Thanks John.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
It’s my pleasure and my honor to put this information out there…it’s about time.
Have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Taylor,
I am not tyring to sound rude, I am just curious, do you have a stove. If you only eat raw foods then you would not need one or if you have one then you would not use it. Are your children on a raw diet? I only buy healthy food for my children and I’m very particulr about what they eat, but this can be difficutl when they go to friends house or birthday parties especially seem that there is so much junk food and everything has high fructose corn sryup and saturated fat!! How do you handle this? Can you drink hot tea on a raw diet or only cold tea?
Jacqui
May 24th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Thanks Super-mom Jacqui.
You are so funny!! You don’t sound rude at all. I am very real and very open—so lay any questions on me!!
We DO have a stove. Although when we first went raw I immediately wanted to give away all of our pots and pans and get rid of our stove but my husband suggested we keep our stove and a few pots and one pan, for the kids and their friends.
I’m glad that we did, too, because we do occasionally make sprouted wheat pasta for our kids or brown rice quesadillas with almond cheese, etc. We also use the oven to bake for school bake sales and other random things—always baking vegan and wheat-free, and using as many raw ingredients as possible (i.e. we use raw nut milk instead of cow’s milk and raw olive oil or coconut oil instead of butter).
We have three children: Madison (10 years old), Sage (4 years old), and Phoenix (1 year old). Phoenix is 100% raw. He has never had any cooked food, even in utero (I was raw while pregnant with him). He is incredibly healthy, sleeps well (slept through the night 10 hours a night at five weeks old) and is happy all the time.
Sage is about 80% raw. She still eats some sprouted bread, sprouted pasta, and Cherrios with nut milk. When she does eat something cooked like sprouted bread, she just has “balance” with it. She knows that “balance” means something raw. So if she wants some pasta, she’ll say “May I please have some pasta and I want to have some apple for my balance.” Or she’ll eat the sprouted bread with almond butter on top. We’re all about balance and not restriction. We never want our kids to feel restricted, but instead want to educate them about why raw food is the best possible thing you can put in your body, why we eat all raw food, and why they’ll feel best if they eat a lot of raw food. We also want to offer them a wide variety of delicious raw foods so that they won’t even want the cooked equivalent (i.e. yummy raw brownies, cookies, blondies, ice cream, pizza, “burgers,” oatmeal, chocolate, etc.). We explain to them that when they eat raw, they can eat dessert for their entire meal!!
Our kids love to eat the raw ice cream at Pure Food and Wine when we are teaching at Prana NYC in New York’s Union square, and they love to eat raw bagels with “cream cheese” and raw chocolate pudding cake with raw “hot chocolate” at the East Village’s Quintessence Restaurant (both are listed in Super-mom’s top picks).
Madison, our ten year old, is about 40% raw. She is a work in progress.
For many years of her life, Madison’s diet consisted of mainly “white foods” (pasta, bread, risotto, fries) along with chicken nuggets. This was certainly not my intention when she was born. I believed that if I offered my child everything and did not restrict, she would choose the best food for her body. Madison proved me wrong!! My ex-husband ate the standard American diet and so we offered Madison things that I ate (healthy foods but I was not raw yet) and things that he ate. In the end, she chose the cheese puffs and French fries. And thus, at age ten she was afraid of fruits and vegetables. So about 9 months ago I had a talk with her and explained what had transpired and said that we needed to make a shift, and that I would be patient with her and I hoped she would forgive me for giving her Ritz bits as a toddler!! 
You live and learn. And then you learn some more.
So currently, I am happy to say that Madison drinks green juice every single day (kale, broccoli, spinach, celery, lemon and agave) and also eats agave nuts that I make for her in the dehydrator and other assorted raw treats. It’s one day at a time with her and she’s doing great. One day, as she watched her baby brother scarf down his raw lunch and request the green juice his papa was drinking, Madison sighed “I wish I could start over. Look at Phoenix—he loves everything that is good for him.”
I told her she CAN start over—we all can—in any moment. Once we set that intention. And at the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist us.
Regarding how I handle my kids going to friends’ homes and birthday parties, for the most part, I just let that go. Control is an illusion and I can’t control what other people have in their homes and/or feed their children, and that is their choice. I refrain from asking Madison’s friends’ parents to not give Madison junk food; however, since Sage is so “raw” now, her little body can’t handle it if she eats the junk. If she eats processed flour and sugar at her friends’ homes she comes home feeling not well and/or has a meltdown when she is usually happy and calm all the time. Food really affects moods—all of our moods.
So with Sagey, we asked her school to give her only fruit at snack time (instead of fruit and Cheezits) and asked her friends’ parents to give her fresh fruit, lara bars, and/or almond butter sandwiches on sprouted bread when she asks for snack. Her friends’ parents have been awesome about it and have loved learning more about raw food. And Sagey is really into it and so she is proud to eat her fruit at school and her special snacks at friends’ homes. She also likes to educate people about raw food.
I also made some wheat free vegan chocolate cupcakes and brought them to her school for when there is a birthday at school and all of the other kids are eating cupcakes. They froze the vegan wheat-free cupcakes and pull them out when a party is happening. Easy!!
As far as tea, I don’t really like cold tea and if I wanted hot tea I would have it—I’d just make it with not quite boiling water. I am often asked how I am raw in this climate and it’s funny because I have never once missed “hot” foods, even in New England. Also, if I wanted something warm, I would make warm oatmeal or soup and/or heat something in the dehydrator.
Have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor
May 26th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Taylor,
I love all of your articles and responses to raw food. I learn something new everyday with your postings. As you know, I’ve been 100% raw for 2 months (thx. to u & Philippe and my beau), but I’m not really counting the days anymore because I’m not going off it. I love raw foods and I love making them. It’s easy, fun, and guilt-free.
I agree with you that it’s easier to adapt to if you make the process simpler. I love not having to wash greasy dishes, pots and pans, wait for the water to boil or wait for something to simmer, etc. Although, I do think about some of the Asian dishes that I haven’t had for a while like Pho, but it doesn’t really bother me that much because I know it’s not healthy food. And I always feel guilty after eating it because it’s full of carbs! So the craving comes and goes.
Just wanted to thank you for turning me on to raw food. I’m learning and experiencing so much and I know it’ll get better from here. I’m starting to do some food combining but not sure if I’m right all the time. Regardless, it’s all good…sistah!
Cheers,
Julie
p.s. now, you have the best day ever and ever and ever…
May 27th, 2008 at 3:47 am
Thanks Julie.
I’m so glad that you are enjoying the raw journey and learning more every day.
It WILL get better from here–every day!!
It’s amazing to Philippe and I how much better–and easier and more fun–it gets every single day.
Yesterday we spent the day in York, Maine at a Wild Animal Kingdom and Amusement Park and then took a walk on the Main Street of the town and the beach, and let me tell you girlfriend, there was no raw food in sight!! LOL!!
But we came prepared, as we do when we journey to Disney World, and it was so easy and fun and we were talking about how we enjoyed the day so much more with the clarity and energy that raw food provides.
When we noticed a lot of the other parents slowing down late day, we still had tons of energy.
Also, it’s so wonderful how the food they sell at amusement parks, zoos etc. doesn’t even look appealing–or real–to us anymore. It’s just a non-issue.
As far as the food combining, just do your best (with breath :)) and it’ll come with time.
Don’t obsess about it or try to be “right all the time.” There is no such thing as right all the time!!
Just try what speaks to you and see what works for YOUR body. All of the things that are written about raw food are so helpful and wonderful; but let your body be the final judge.
And just like your yoga practice, your body is different every single day, and especially as you detox with your new raw food lifestyle, you’ll see that your body’s needs and cravings will be ever-changing. As is the flow of life.
This is a good thing…keeps our lives and food fun and interesting, sistah!!
So have fun on this journey, Julie and
Have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor
May 27th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Hi Taylor,
I am learning so much from this site - and I am not even a mom (yet)! I was hoping you would be willing to reveal the recipe for “green juice”. Also, what is the name of the nutritionist/herbalist in California that helped you kick off your raw food lifestyle. Thanks so much for creating this forum!!
May 28th, 2008 at 3:43 am
Thanks Heather.
I’m so glad that you are enjoying the site and learning things, and I’m so happy that you brought up the fact that Super-mom.com is so NOT JUST for Super-moms!! It’s for EVERYONE, just as Prana Power Yoga is for everyone—not just yogis and/or athletes and/or people with yoga clothes.
Thanks for pointing out that important point.
I’d love to share my green juice recipe; however, I must say that with raw food (and life) things are always changing, and so what I make now for green juice today may be different than what I make next week or next month. What I make and eat changes with the seasons and what is fresh and local and also, most importantly, what my body and spirit wants. Also, my intuition plays a part in this process as well. Sometimes it will just come to me on my mat to incorporate more of this or that food in my day, and I always follow that.
So that said, this is what I’m making for our green juice these days. I make as much juice as my Breville Juicer will fit into its pitcher…I think it’s about forty ounces, and I drink a huge glass of it (about 20-25 ounces I’m guessing) and my kids each drink a smaller glass than I do. I juice: kale, spinach, broccoli, celery, and lemon (two small or one large). Then I add agave to taste to make green lemonade.
This really tastes like lemonade—it’s delicious!! Play around with how much of each green you put in, according to your taste. Celery makes the most juice, but you want to make sure you juice a lot of the very green veggies also because they are the most nutrient dense. Spinach and broccoli have a lot of protein. I use a lot of veggies in this juice…2-3 bunches of kale (depending on how big the bunches are), about a half of a package of broccoli from Trader Joe’s (be mindful not to juice too much broccoli or it may be tough on your digestive system), about half of one of those big plastic containers of spinach from Wholefoods (spinach doesn’t make that much juice so I tend to juice a lot), and one to two bunches of celery. But remember, this is for a HUGE juice!! So you’ll likely need less veggies than I’m listing. But the more green juice you can drink, the better. When I first learned about green juice, I drank this much twice a day if possible because my body needed it to heal from all the years past of processed and cooked food. I love and crave this juice. It’s delicious!! Don’t forget to use ONLY ORGANIC produce in your juice.
Daniel Schmachtenberger’s email is geosol114@yahoo.com.
Also, check out my top picks for Adrienne Martin’s info—she’s great too!!
Thanks again Heather and have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor
May 31st, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Taylor,
I am very interested in this raw lifestlye. I have a 10 month old daughter who is just started to eat more of what we eat and because of this I am becoming much more aware of what I am consuming and the foods we have in our house. When you decided to no longer consume animal products, did you completely change your diet that very day or was it a slower process? Also, since you and your family eat only raw foods, do you never go out to dinner? I know you mentioned a few places in NYC that serve raw foods (and I know of an excellent place in Chicago, it’s called Karyn’s) but other than that are you limited to making all of your own meals?
Thanks very much for this fantastic information,
Laura
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:55 am
Thanks Super-mom Laura.
I am actually going to be teaching a raw detox workshop at Prana Power Yoga in the near future (the date is still being determined) so stay tuned—keep checking our website at pranapoweryoga.com. It will be both asana (yoga poses) in a heated room with music during which I will talk about the raw food lifestyle, along with an information and Q and A session about the raw food lifestyle. There has been a lot of interest in the raw food lifestyle, which is wonderful, and I would like to teach people about it while they are moving their bodies and opening their minds, so they can integrate the information with ease.
Isn’t it so amazing how when we begin to feed our babies “finger food,” we become so much more aware of what we are putting into our mouths? That’s a good thing!!
In answer to your question, when I decided to no longer consume animal products it was a very transformational day for me—it happened to be my birthday and I had a sort of spiritual epiphany (as I talked about above), and so I made a decision to stop completely right then.
However, I had some fear, since I was nursing our 7 month old daughter at the time. I was concerned she would not get what she needed nutritionally. And thinking back, I had fear also about whether I would get enough “protein,” since I was brainwashed about how much protein I needed and the sources from which I could take in that protein.
So for a little while, Laura, I recall having “protein shakes” using egg white protein powder. I forget the brand but I think it was called Jay Robb’s. I got it at Wholefoods. Anyhow, it wasn’t long (a matter of a few days) until I just couldn’t consume the protein shakes with the egg white powder anymore because it looked and tasted awful to me. It just wasn’t appealing anymore physically, emotionally, or spiritually. I remember that day vividly—as I took the canister of protein powder out of the fridge I felt sick to my stomach.
I love when decisions come from this place, from a place of coming from your center and saying “no, I don’t want that because it doesn’t appeal to me,” instead of “I am not going to eat that—no matter what. I am forcing myself to do this.”
I was just telling some students after my class yesterday how when you practice Prana Power Yoga, you will begin to do exactly this—to eat foods that are right for you and your body, without even thinking about it. It will come with ease.
So I made the decision to go vegan but moved at a gentle pace in that direction, honoring my fear and working through it, drinking some egg white protein shakes until they no longer appealed to me. And it wasn’t long at all before I was all vegan—just a few days, but everyone is different and so everyone’s path will be different. The important thing is to honor your path and what you need in the moment.
As far as going out to dinner, it’s funny, because we just went to a wonderful dinner party at our good friends’ and neighbors’ home last night. The adult’s dinner was actually completely raw and fantastic!! This is what was served: two dips with onion bread and raw veggies, lasagna with extra amazing sauce and “neat” balls , wild rice with cashews and the most outrageous coconut cream peach pie and mango pineapple cream pies I have ever consumed. Philippe and I were the only “all raw” people at the dinner party and every single one of the guests was amazed at how amazing the food tasted. Everyone was asking all about raw food because it tasted so good!! There was homemade baked pizza for the kids at the party, or they could eat the raw fare if they so chose.
Regarding going out to a restaurant, there are two raw food restaurants in the Boston area: the Organic Garden in Beverly (listed in my top picks section) and Alissa Cohen’s Grezzo in the North End.
We go to the Organic Garden pretty regularly for lunch. We used to go every Saturday for lunch as a fun family outing, and go to the beach afterward with the kids (it’s five minutes from the Beverly beach). We haven’t been going as regularly anymore because we’ve been teaching teacher trainings on weekends and teaching at Prana NYC once a month, etc.
Other times we go to local “conventional” restaurants like Zaftigs (a student of ours owns this awesome kid friendly restaurant in Coolidge Corner) where our kids eat the cooked fare (they are not 100 percent raw—except the baby, and it’s all about balance) and we order salads and bring an avocado and dressing if we feel like it or just order an abundant plate of fruit. It’s more about the experience than the food and so unless we go to a raw food restaurant where they make cool things that we want to learn about so we can make it ourselves, what we order isn’t really a big deal—it’s just about being with our kids and enjoying each other’s company.
I think it’s interesting that you say “limited to making all of your own meals” because before I went raw, I would have used the same words, but now, I actually like what I make so much better than anything I get at a restaurant!! This is a big statement for me, since when I ate cooked food I did not like to cook at all. Now I love to prepare raw food and find it really relaxing, fun, and grounding. People used to say the same thing about cooking but I never related. Now I do!!
And since we love the foods Philippe and I make so much and so do our friends that taste it, we are going to open “Prana Raw”—a casual raw food restaurant where you can eat in or take out. We are in the process of signing a lease and so I can’t say where or when yet, but stay tuned!! Philippe and I are psyched to open Prana Raw to bring affordable delicious healthy food to our community. It’s not going to be a forty minute drive away!! It will not be completely raw—we’ll serve a few cooked things like brown rice and ezeikeil wraps, etc. It’s all about balance.
Have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I am so excited about PRANA RAW!! It is exactly what we all need!! Thank you for spreading light with love and allowing the process to happen with intuition. It is truly AMAZING!
June 4th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Thanks Lorraine.
I am so excited for Prana Raw!! too!!
It’s going to be so nice to have a quick, delicious, affordable, and healthy raw food restaurant in our community.
Prana Raw!! will be completely vegan and we will serve mostly raw, with some cooked foods like brown rice, tofu, and wraps–for those who are partially raw and enjoy some cooked vegan foods and their friends/family who aren’t raw at all but still want to enjoy Prana Raw!!’s excellent food and comfortable atmosphere. And who knows, after they taste some of our desserts, they may just consider the raw path!!
A student just told us about a space for rent yesterday pretty close to Prana Newton and we are considering it.
It’s a different space than the one that we were working with but we are open to everything that the universe brings to us.
Good luck on your raw path, Lorraine, and
Have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor
June 5th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Hi Taylor!
I am not a Mom but wanted to check out your Super Mom website. I am SO excited you will be opening Prana Raw sometime in the future! We need more raw restaurants. I just began about a 50% raw food diet after a recent cleanse. I feel so much better eating raw foods, but don’t feel quite ready to make a 100% shift yet. I’m on my way though! My biggest problem is being social with my friends (which often involves food) and usually not having raw options. I’m pretty good on my own. I usually “give in” when I’m out to eat to not create difficulty, but then I am not being true to myself. Though sometimes, my body does want the bread at dinner or that Indian dish. I think what will be good for me is to have a night where I can have my friends over and cook them a completely raw dinner. By sharing myself with them and my new interest, they may in turn want to explore it more with me. I am planning to get the cookbook Rawvolution soon. Sue had it at the yogaHOPE office (she’s been going raw too) and we drooled over the recipes!
Be well, and will see you soon!
Love,
Amanda
June 6th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Thanks Amanda.
Super-mom.com is not just for moms!!
It’s about inspiration and community and support—Mom or not
So welcome to the site and I’m so happy for you that you had a nice cleanse and then decided to eat 50% raw clean foods.
It feels good, doesn’t it?
No worries about making the 100% shift.
I am really not into labels or restriction—just following your intuition and your heart and feeling good!!
Many people describe this issue you are having with being social with friends and maintaining a raw lifestyle.
As with any process, be gentle with yourself and take it one moment at a time. Try to not anticipate too much, as this can create anxiety.
When we first went raw, Philippe and I found that the “issue” with the whole social thing was more in our minds than in reality.
When we really got down to it, our friends and family were totally supportive of our choices and lifestyle, and in fact, were fascinated and wanted to learn more!!
So our social events often involved and still involve a lot of education around raw foods—because people just want to know, and we love to teach.
It’s fun to spread the light.
So you can explore what’s going on with you and your social stuff, but often, most of it is in our own minds, and when we become comfortable with whatever we’re doing (not just food), everyone around us is comfortable as well. It’s just a non-issue.
It’s most important to be true to yourself. Everything else will follow.
Also, there are some easy ways to not be “difficult” when out to dinner or whatever.
Eat something before you go out to the restaurant so you’re not starving, and then bring an avocado and some dressing and order a big salad. If they don’t have a big salad (did you see that Seinfeld?
) order two or three smaller ones!! When we were in Paris last June with our three kids and my brother and his family, I was 100% raw the whole time and sometimes I would order three salads!! I’d order one and eat and enjoy it and then order another and sometimes another!! The French loved it.
You can also bring some raw crackers, bread, or nuts. I brought a bunch to Paris. The most important thing is to feel comfortable and confident with what you are doing. As with anything, it’s all about energy. It’s not about the food.
I think it’s a great idea for you to invite your friends over for a raw dinner. We do this all the time. And now, our friends invite us over for raw dinners as well!! It just took some time. Sometimes our friends invite us over for dinner and serve cooked food but have some raw stuff for us to eat as well. And the other guests end up wanting more of the raw food than the cooked!! Some friends will look up a raw dessert recipe or whatever and try it and again, that’s always gone before the cooked options.
Rawvolution is a great raw book. The onion bread is our favorite!! I brought a lot of it to Paris. He also has a service where you can order a week’s worth of raw food and he sends it to you. So maybe check that out. I got it once and it only lasted me three days but it was good. It wasn’t as fresh as what I make though, which is to be expected since it’s shipped to you.
Have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor
June 22nd, 2008 at 8:01 am
you’ve inspired me to eat more raw foods! i’ve dabbled in raw foods for the last few years but can never seem to commit to eating 100% — i always seem to get derailed by the time factor of sprouting, dehydrating, etc. you’ve inspired me to just think about it differently…i just need to give it another chance and try easier raw food recipes to begin with. also, a BIG congratulations on starting your own raw food restaurant — seattle could certainly use one of those!
if you don’t mind me sharing one of my all-time favorite snacks
it’s also my daughters’ favorite:
Cashew cream (or frosting):
soak 1.5c of cashews for 25 minutes, 5 dates for 15 minutes and then throw both into a high speed blender (we have the vitamix) with 1 cup of the date-soaked water, 1 tbsp vanilla, 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup (i like honey), juice of 1 lemon (meyer lemons make the BEST) and blend until creamy. you may need to add more date-soaked water. This is great straight out of the jar but even better as a dip with strawberries, raspberries, apples, etc.
by the way, how do you crack a coconut??
thanks for your awesome site!
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Thank you, Taylor for sharing all this good info. I am the super-mom of a four legged, tail waggin’ Rhodesian Ridgeback and am loving super-mom.com. I am also proud to say that I open the coconuts in my house!
We are entering the raw food lifestyle via Natalia Rose’s book The Raw Food Detox Diet (which includes good coconut-opening instructions) and are addicted to green lemonade!
Sarah
June 24th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Thanks Super-mom Sarah.
Can you come to the pink house and open coconuts?
I like Natalia Rose’s book a lot.
I read it a few years ago in two nights on Nantucket…I stayed up really late reading because I couldn’t put it down!!
That was when I read about green juice for the first time and understood its importance.
I began juicing immediately and have juiced every day since.
Green juice is so important and I really saw a difference after I began drinking it regularly.
I just filmed a segment yesterday at our home with Adrienne Martin for Abundant Living about my green juice (on youtube on June 28th) and also Super-mom.com and what’s new at Prana Power Yoga.
17-month-old Phoenix stole the show—calling for the green juice after we made it and then chugging it on camera in a wine glass.
Have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor
June 28th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Hi, Taylor.
Thanks so much for the suggestion of the Organic Cafe in Beverly. My husband, 11 month old daughter, and I went there tonight for dinner and it was absolutely delicous! Everything on the menu sounded delicious and we were all happy with our order. We are really looking forward to Prana Raw!! I think a raw restaurant would be a big hit in Newton (or somewhere close to Boston).
Thanks again,
Laura
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:52 am
I think all of this raw food talk is so inspiring!! There is Grezza in Boston’s North end for a raw food eatery. I am so ready to start!
I also think you have to join forces with my childhood friend raw food frank!!
here is his blog:
rawfoodfrank.wordpress.com
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Thanks Laura and Tracee.
I will check out your friends blog Tracee…
Have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor
September 25th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Hi Super-people,
I get 100s of SPAM messages daily and at this point, I delete them all manually (whew!!).
On occasion, one of your comments gets SPAMED by accident.
If you ever post a comment but don’t see it on the site, this is what happened (it’s rare–it’s happened only twice so far).
Chelsea’s comment got accidentally SPAMED and so I am reposting it here:
Hi Taylor!
I stumbled upon your site recently, and have become very interested in your raw lifestyle. I grew up on cooked foods, but have been realizing that I do not feel my best when I eat meat, cheese, or primarily processed foods. However, I am concerned that switching completely will be a shock to my system. I am wondering if you have any advice as how to ease into these eating habits. Or if you have any advice at all. I should also let you know that I am a college student (and not a mom) so this could be very difficult for me. Please let me know whatever you can. I am very interested.
Thanks!
September 25th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Hi Chelsea,
I think practicing AHIMSA, which means non-violence in Sanskrit, is a very good practice–both on our yoga mats and off.
This applies to many things–all things–including being gentle to the physical body.
So I completely agree that it is not a good idea to “shock” your system.
Your intuition will tell you what will be a shock, and you can experiment with different things.
Some people like to ease into a partial or completely raw lifestyle, while other people like to jump in 100% overnight.
It is extremely rare to jump in 100% overnight and live a successful 100% raw lifestyle, but it has been and is done, if everything is in alignment.
One thing you can do to ease into a more healthful lifestyle is to put less processed foods into your body in general.
Be mindful of what you put into your mouth and ask yourself, is this a whole food?
Is it in a package?
Has it been processed and if so, how much?
An excellent way to eat less processed foods is by ADDING IN more healthy raw unprocessed foods.
I like the idea of ADDING IN instead of TAKING OUT/RESTRICTING.
Restricting doesn’t work long-term.
This is a fact.
Adding in does work long-term, and is fun!!
So find things that you love to eat that are not processed and include more of them into your days and nights.
Even just setting the intention to do this will shift your life dramatically.
At the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you.
Some awesome raw super-foods that I highly recommend to ADD IN to your life are: avocados, olives, coconut, RAW CACAO, goji berries, hemp seed, and greens.
Start where you are and be gentle with yourself.
And have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor
December 19th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Taylor,
Wow! You are a super Mom! I love your blog so far. My husband and I are newbie prana power fans and found your site with the latest abundant day announcement.
We’re really interested in trying the raw foods diet. We were introduced to raw foods at a Perfect Health conference in CA, met David Wolfe, (bit cocky for my taste) but we loved the raw cacoa and seeds. Then we were introduced to daily greens & currently do, then we sampled some raw foods at a whole foods conference and were amazed at how good they were. I’m curious as to the expense of all the equipment you need for a raw foods diet. A juicer, dehydrator… which book of all of them do you recommend the most for beginners? I’m excited to hear about your upcoming restaurant too. Thanks for being an inspiration to so many!
Jana
December 20th, 2008 at 5:51 am
Hi Jana,
Thanks for your kind words and welcome to Prana Power Yoga!!
Our practice transformed my life, and I practice every day, so keep showing up to your mat!! I teach on Fridays at 6:15am in Cambridge, 9:30am in Newton, and 12:00 noon in Winchester, and I’d love to meet you sometime at my class.
I’m so glad you are interested in incorporating more raw foods into your life. I don’t like the word diet so I never use it, since a. it has such negative connotations–and for good reason!! and b. eating raw foods is not a diet. It’s making a conscious choice to bring more life force–more prana into your life by choosing to consume foods that contain energy, instead of robbing you of energy. Raw foods have enzymes, cooked foods don’t. Enzymes=life force and keep us young, healthy, and happy.
That’s great that you met David!! He’s a friend of ours and is actually not conceited at all—he’s just so full of energy, life force, and enthusiasm that he may sometimes come off that way if you don’t know him. ☺ Once you get to know him, you’ll love him.
I would recommend a Breville Juicer. We’ve had a few juicers and this is by far the best. And it’s easy to clean. It costs about 400 dollars, depending on the deal you get. Google it and find the best deal you can.
I would recommend the Excalibur dehydrator, and that ranges between 100 and 220 dollars, depending on how many trays you get. I recommend getting the larger one with the most trays so you can have many goodies dehydrating concurrently!! Then you can have crackers, agave nuts, muffins, breads, and cookies dehydrating at the same time!! I heard that they now sell dehydrators at Target and I think that’s terrific—it shows that the word is spreading. I don’t know about their quality though since I’ve never used them.
If I were to buy only one gadget, I would buy a juicer. I drink green juice every single day, and so do my three children. It is by far the most important thing I consume daily as a raw vegan, because all of the nutrients go directly to my bloodstream, and greens are by far the most nutrient dense thing you can consume. My recipe for green juice is on YOUTUBE. Just type in Taylor Wells green juice and it’ll come up. You can see how my son Phoenix loves it so much that he stole the show!! ☺
We explain in detail all about green juice and it’s benefits and so much more at the PRANA CLEANSE™, which is January 9-11th at Prana Newton. You and your husband should do it!! It’s going to rock. We taught the first one in September and it sold out, and people loved it so much that they asked for it again in January. There are a few spots left so sign up soon!! You can read all about what it is and the four different levels online at pranapoweryoga.com.
Out of all the raw books out there, I would recommend Everyday Raw by Mathew Kenney. I used to recommend Alissa Cohen’s Living On Live Foods, and that’s a close second, but a student/friend gave me Everyday Raw and I have been using it “every day” since!! Seriously, the recipes are so easy and quick and I actually do refer to it daily to make mac-n-cheese, seaweed salad, and creamy sesame dressing, which are my recent favorites (my favorites change all the time, which is good because you always want to vary what you eat). I make my own versions of his recipes (and all recipes) but I do open that book daily. I also love his macaroons and mashed potatoes. All of these things take five to ten minutes max. Alissa’s book is great for describing all about raw foods and the philosophy about going raw and letting you know that you can do this. She has a lot of great, inspirational stories of people who healed by going raw. Her recipes take a bit more time in my opinion but are also good. We also know Alissa, and she too is a very nice person. As is Mathew!! The raw food world magnetizes vibrant, high energy people who want to make the world a better place. ☺
We have found a space for PRANA RAW and are currently talking to the landlord. So stay tuned and have the best day ever!!
Namaste!!
Taylor