Building on the success of their first raw food event with Kate Magic, Real Foods hosted our second raw food evening on the 20th July with Judy Barber, lifestyle coach and raw food expert from the Hippocrates Health Institute. Hippocrates recognized the medicinal properties of food, for example, most of you will also recognize Hippocrates’ words, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”.
The evening was a overwhelming success with Judy providing delicious tastings of green juices prepared before her audience and other wonderful raw food concoctions. Samples of fresh wheatgrass were prepared by Judy and eagerly tasted by the group. Judy also provided samples of her raw crispbreads, which were a great success! Here's a link to a simple raw green juice. Real Foods provided samples of our raw food snack mix and raw chocolate range.
The audience was a mix of raw food enthusiasts and people who are new to the ethos, so Judy provided simple tips to introduce more raw food into your diet, for example adding raw food to soups. As well as more detailed advice, including incorporating sprouted foods, utilising superfoods and making sure you have the full range of nutrients in your diet.
The various health benefits of adding raw food to a diet were outlined in an informative and inspiring way and the evening ended with Judy answering questions and offering health advice.
Here are Judy's top ten tips for introducing raw foods into your diet:
1. Add some raw ingredients to stir-fries. Frying is far from ideal from a health point of view, but at least this way you get a higher proportion of raw vegetables. That is a good start.
2. Eat sweet corn raw, either when mixing it with other dishes or serving it on the cob.
3. Blitz plenty of fresh herbs, such as basil and parsley in a blender with cold pressed virgin olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Season to taste. Then you have a pour-over dressing for salads or other dishes.
4. Discover 'courgetti'. That's thinly cut raw courgette used instead of spaghetti in pasta dishes. Try it with any sauce you like, or simply mixed with olive oil,salt, black pepper or cayenne and a rub of raw garlic.
5. Make a very simple simmered soup with finely-chopped vegetables and perhaps lentils. Then blend up plenty of herbs, a touch of raw garlic, seasonings and some good quality cold pressed oil such as olive oil.
6. Buy raw nut and seed spreads rather than ones made with roasted nuts and seeds. Then you don't have to deal with the toxic breakdown products from over heated oils.
7. Serve vegetable sticks, such as celery, cucumber and carrot. Serve them with your own or store-bought dips such as fresh salsa and humous.
8. Soak and rinse nuts and seeds before you eat them. By soaking them you turn them into living foods.
9. Grow sprouts and add them to your salads.
10. Instead of wraps made of flour, such as tortillas, use lettuce or cabbge leaves.