The Fresh Network Blog

What to do when raw isn't working

Some people who go raw sail effortlessly into undreamed of levels of health and happiness and never look back. But for others it isn't such a smooth voyage. In many cases this is because they were not as genetically blessed and/or because they are dealing with serious health challenges. If this is you then read on as we have advice that may help you.

Maybe you felt better initially when you went raw but then reached a plateau and can't seem to move to the next level. Or maybe you have always struggled with your health and never really felt well on raw but just know that it has to be the best way to eat. Either way, in going raw you have taken a "road less travelled" that few are brave or enlightened enough to take, and it can be extremely disappointing and disheartening not to get the results you were hoping for.

Important aside: you can't undo decades worth of bodily abuse in days, so if you only recently went raw it could be just a matter of time for you. This article is written for people who have been eating raw or high raw for years - not days, weeks or months.

We see long-term health seekers in all three categories - rawsome, so-so and struggling - and we've noticed a common mistake. People in the latter two groups often put all their available time and energy into refining their diet when it is much more likely they will get the results they are after if they channel those efforts into other areas. So here are the main pointers to consider if you are raw but not rawsome. The first three are nutrition-related, but (and this is assuming you are already eating raw or high-raw) once you have done them, consider yourself done on the nutrition front!

Come to our Christmas party!

Just because you’re into all things eco and organic doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy a big night out and a good old knees-up as much as the next person. But if you choose to eat raw vegan, chances are you’re used to being left pretty disappointed on the food front, as you politely pass on the champagne, the steak and the crème brulée and push limp lettuce leaves around your plate.

But not on Sunday December 6! We are holding a party at London’s Saf restaurant, which is for our money not only the UK’s but also Europe’s top raw restaurant. This will be THE raw party of the year, folks! And there are still some tickets left, so read on to find out more...or just book your ticket now! Our early bird prices are still on offer - book by October 31 and you get 10% off the ticket price, and there are further savings if you buy more than one ticket.

Four reasons you will want to be at this party:

The food We tasted everything on Saf’s menu and hand-picked the delights to serve to you on this special night. Naturally, it was a tough job but we don’t cut corners when it comes to ensuring our customers are getting the very best! The food will be served as passed canapés, starting with savoury delicacies and moving to sweet treats as the night progresses. Among other things, we selected amazing raw sushi, Saf’s famous beetroot ravioli (pictured), an out-of-this-world cashew cheese with sage pesto and a pink peppercorn crust, and some raw cakes that have to be tried to be believed. There will also be a salad bar serving three gorgeous "to-live-for" salads. Food will be in abundance, and it’s all created by none other than Saf’s executive chef, the legendary Chad Sarno, and brilliant new head chef Anupam Som.

The people If you’ve attended previous Fresh Network events you’re sure to see familiar faces here! If you haven’t, you will find it the ideal place for meeting people who are on your wavelength, should you wish to. A hint: if you’re passionate about all things raw but don’t have any (or many) friends who share that passion, consider it a priority to be at this party! Ask anyone who lives an alternative lifestyle and has plenty of like-minded friends: it makes a huge difference to your quality of life. Many customers report that they have forged some of their best friendships at our events. Oh, and did we mention that a number of high-profile raw food experts will be there on the night to chat to guests and sign books? This will be your chance to meet some of the people you’ve read about online, or seen in the pages of Get Fresh! magazine.

The discount shopping There’s no need to wait for the January sales if you shop with us! We will be selling everything from our online store at extra-special prices at this party, with discounts ranging from 10% to 20%. Why not beat the crowds by arriving at 5pm for the hour of pre-party shopping? We’ll be operating a system whereby you can leave your shopping with us and collect it later. If you purchase any of our kitchen equipment (ideal as Christmas gifts, including to yourself!) we will mail them to you to save you lugging heavy boxes across London. With discounts like these you don’t have to do much shopping to make back the cost of your party ticket in savings!

The goody bag As our gift to you for attending you will receive a special surprise Christmas goody bag packed with raw treats: a selection of lovely things to eat and to read, along with discount vouchers from some of the top companies in the field. It wouldn’t be a surprise if we told you any more than that, but suffice it to say that Christmas will come early for you if you attend this party.

The agenda
5pm Doors open for shopping
6pm Party begins
7pm-9pm Enjoy the canapés and visit the salad bar
9pm-11pm Music and dancing
Midnight Doors close

From the night’s menu...

Welcome cocktail
Lavender & Ginger Lemonade

Savoury canapés
Beetroot Ravioli
Taco Mexicano
Vegetable Maki
And more...

Salad bar
Baby Gem Caesar Salad
Spinach, Tomato and Basil Salad
Thai Papaya Salad

Dessert canapés
Chocolate and Orange Marble Torte
Raspberry Geranium Cake
And more...

Tickets will not be available on the door and numbers are strictly limited so book early to avoid disappointment!

Ticket price includes:

• welcome cocktail and raw nibbles
• savoury and sweet canapés, in abundance
• as many visits as you want to the salad bar
• unlimited filtered water and herbal and green teas
• goody bag filled with gorgeous raw treats

We hope to see you on December 6. Remember - we're still offering early bird prices, but not for much longer, so why not book your ticket right now! On our website you will find masses of useful information including how to get to Saf, hotel suggestions and a mini raw guide to London for those who are planning to make a weekend of it.

So that's okay then

I'm passionately into natural health, but purely because I never got around to doing anything about it I still have something in my house which is widely believed by experts in the natural health field to be a very bad thing. Wireless internet.

There are plenty of highly qualified people who believe that daily exposure to "wi-fi" is at the very least a potent energy zapper. Some experts believe its consequences can be a lot worse than that.

Today I called my internet service provider, a leading British telecommunications company, to find out how I can move off wireless. The person who took my call was, insofar as one can tell this from voice alone, not a day older than 20. 

When I explained that I would like to change from wireless broadband to wired he at first replied that I can simply connect using a cable. "But surely the wi-fi will still be in the house even if my computer is on a wired connection?" I asked. He replied that it would, and that if I was worried about someone else hijacking the connection I should password protect it. I explained that my concern was in fact about the health consequences of having wireless at home.

Raw: your biggest questions answered

We're back to tell you more about our brilliant new ebook -pictured - and to share an extended excerpt from it. This is the book where we ask a panel of 12 leading experts the biggest questions regarding the raw diet and lifestyle. Click here to read an extended selection of those questions and/or to download the book and read on to see who is on the panel.

The excerpt we've chosen to share is part of the chapter on supplementation. [Note: a similar excerpt appeared in the current issue of Get Fresh! magazine - if you have already read it there it is still worth reading on, as this version contains information that was not included there due to space constraints]. Without further ado, here it is...

We're back - with more exciting news!

We're sorry this blog hasn't exactly been a hive of activity over the last fortnight. That's because there has been so much activity going on behind the scenes. We can't go into too much detail right now as it has been a bit of a marathon and we all need an early night. But in brief, here are a few things you might be interested to know...

To the left is the cover of our much-anticipated ebook, which is just out - Raw: your biggest questions answered. This is the book we updated you on two weeks ago, it features the opinions of 12 leading raw food experts on a wide variety of topics, and you can now find out more about what's in it, and/or instantly download it and get your hands on 270 pages of the most valuable and fascinating health information ever published.

But this isn't the only publication we've brought out this week: we're also proud to bring you the Autumn issue of Get Fresh! magazine, now available in print or as an instantly downloadable emag.

Also newly launched this week is our affiliate programme. This is for those of you who have a raw business, website or blog and and would like to earn a potentially very nice source of passive income referring customers to us. It's as simple as signing up online and then putting a special link or banner (which we'll provide) on your website. This will automatically track traffic from your site to ours and pay you commission on any sales that result. Go here to read more about our affilate programme and/or to sign up.

Finally, we have been busy planning our Christmas party. It's on the evening of Sunday 6th December, it's at Saf, London's top raw restaurant, and it will be THE raw party of the year. Tickets are on sale as of today and numbers are limited so they are sure to sell out fast. Go here to read more about it and/or to snap up your ticket/s before it's too late. 

Exciting news!

This is the Autumn issue of Get Fresh! magazine. We're still putting the finishing touches to it but we had to tell you about it as it's our most exciting issue ever bar none. Why? Because it contains – along with the usual selection of brilliant articles and interviews – 14 pages of highlights from The Fresh Forum files.

The Fresh Forum is the massive project we embarked on earlier this year to quiz a panel of 12 of the world's leading raw food experts on the biggest questions regarding the raw diet and lifestyle. The result is that we now have reams and reams of valuable and fascinating material ready to share.

You may recall that we announced this project back in April and invited you to send in your questions. A great many of you did just that and along with our own considerable list we ended up putting so many questions to our busy panellists that in some cases they needed months to get all of their responses to us.

In fact it is because we're waiting for a few all-important last-minute clarifications that the Autumn issue is running a few days behind its scheduled release date. We estimate that UK subscribers will receive it on or around Wednesday 7 October, and we'll be back again soon with a full line-up of what's in this amazing issue.

The Fresh Forum material is SO valuable and fascinating we wish we could publish all of it in Get Fresh! But there is so much of it that unfortunately isn't feasible. We had to make it available to you, though, so we've put together an ebook, Raw: Your biggest questions answered. This will also be out on 7 October and it will contain the entire Fresh Forum files: all the questions we asked and all the answers the experts gave. Here's a sample of just some of the topics covered:

What's the best way to transition to raw and how important is it to be 100%?

The raw food enzyme theory: science or speculation?

Is the vegan diet ideal for everyone?

How easy is it to raise children raw?

Cacao, calorie restriction, colonics.

Detox, deficiencies, dental health.

Salt, supplements, sex.

We asked it all, and you can read the questions and answers in their entirety in this unique ebook. Unfortunately that's all we can reveal for now, except to say that many of the answers surprised us and we're sure they'll surprise you, too!

Dr Brian Clement of Hippocrates Health Institute tells it like it is

The swine flu vaccine - will it be voluntary or mandatory?

UPDATED ON SEPTEMBER 8 (ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IN THE FIRST SET OF BULLETPOINTS)

If you have been relying on the mainstream media for information about the swine flu vaccine you may be surprised to learn that there is a question about whether it will, in fact, be a matter of choice. But if you've been following what independent online sources are saying on this subject you will know the internet is abuzz with rumours the vaccine will be mandatory.

We decided to look into the issue and we found that while many of the scare stories circulating seem to have little in the way of foundation, it is indeed the case that on paper this novel, fast-tracked and virtually untested vaccine is effectively mandatory in the UK and the rest of the European Union, the United states, Canada, Australia and many other countries.

Shocking, isn't it?

Now, the step from this vaccine being mandatory on paper to governments attempting to force it on those who don't want it is a big one, and at this point it seems unlikely it will be taken. In the following report, we present the facts we have discovered regarding the mandatory vaccination risk, and our analysis of those facts.

Banana hazelnut shake

I'm a big fan of shakes made of frozen banana "ice cream" blended with nut milk. Almond milk is lovely in these shakes, Brazil nut milk is better still, but I believe I've just discovered the hands-down winner: hazelnut milk.

Although this is incredibly quick and simple to make (we are talking under five minutes), you'll need a well-stocked raw kitchen that includes a high-speed blender, a food processor with the "S" blade fitted, and a supply of peeled bananas in your freezer. Here's how you do it:

1. Several hours before you want to make this recipe, measure out half a cup of hazelnuts and then fill the remainder of the cup with water.
2. When you're ready for your shake, remove two bananas from the freezer and place in bowl of food processor so they defrost a little before you process them.
3. Pour away the soak water and blend the hazelnuts with a cup of fresh water.
4. Strain the mixture using a fine mesh sieve or a nut milk bag so you have a creamy milk and no "bits". Pour the milk back into the blender jug.
5. Process the frozen bananas until they are whipped into an ice-cream-like texture. This may take about two minutes, and the mixture may go grainy first, but keep processing and those bananas will morph into something that looks and feels like "Mr Whippy".  
6. Spoon this mixture into the blender with the hazelnut milk and blend until you have a cold, thick, creamy - and praliney, thanks to the hazelnuts - shake.
7. Pour into a tall glass and drink through a straw.

Wild food for dummies

If you know the real deal on superfoods, you know that wild food is as super as it gets. But if you’re anything like me, you’re a bit of a dunce when it comes to telling safe berries from poisonous, and the only edible wild greens you can positively identify are nettles.

But come August there is one wild food that grows abundantly in the UK that all of us can identify and most of us love. I’m talking, of course, about blackberries.

You can buy them in the supermarket for around £2 per micro pack, or you can find them growing wild and eat to your heart’s content – for free.

Blackberries are rich in vitamin C and they’re one of the few fruits containing substantial vitamin E. They are also loaded with health-protecting phytonutrients – some say they contain more than any other fruit. Here are just a few of them:

• lycopene and ellagic acid, both of which combat the cell damage which can lead to cancer
• flavonoids, which safeguard eye health
• polyphenols, the group of antioxidants we are told makes red wine a health elixir
• and their vibrant colour comes from proanthocyanidins - these potent free radical busters offer protection against aging and all diseases.

Blackberries are perfect eaten on their own, preferably at the hedgerow, and they are also lovely in smoothies. Here’s my favourite summer green smoothie, and it's a meal in itself - just whizz the following together in a blender: a cup of blackberries, 2 medium bananas, a nectarine and 100g-200g of spinach.

Food, Inc

Food, Inc has been causing a stir in cinemas across North America this summer. Unfortunately it won't make it onto the big screen in the UK, so we'll have to wait for the DVD release on November 3. Find out more about this important movie, which features Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (In Defence of Food), at the official Food, Inc movie website.

The fig

Brigitte Mars explores the original forbidden fruit.

The fig is one of the most eagerly-awaited highlights of the August harvest. This succulent delight, which brings to mind ancient times and southern climes, is said to have been Cleopatra’s favourite fruit. Its soft, delicate skin gives way to reveal an aromatic flesh bejeweled with hundreds of tiny seeds.

Originally from Asia, and now cultivated across the Middle East and Mediterranean, the fig is a member of the mulberry family. It is one of the most ancient fruits on earth, and also one of the most alkalizing and mineral-dense. It ranks among the top food sources of calcium and also contains abundant copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorous and potassium. Besides this, it is rich in vitamin B6, folic acid, protein and fibre. 

Being as restorative and energizing as it is succulent and sublime, the fig is considered an aphrodisiac food and a supreme sexual tonic. It comes from well-hung trees, and the fertile seeds it’s packed with nourish both libido and fertility. Another of the signatures of fig trees is that they can live as long as 100 years and grow to 100 feet in height, though when cultivated they are usually kept to a more manageable 16 feet.

Figs are excellent for athletes and those who want to gain weight. They also help deter cravings for sugar, alcohol and drugs by stabilizing blood sugar levels. Figs have a high content of mucin, a soothing laxative. They are also known to neutralize toxins, making them an ideal food to eat while cleansing.

There are several botanical classes of fig, and several hundred commercial varieties, giving rise to a wide range of flavour, size and colour – the latter spanning the spectrum from black, to purple, to green, to gold, to white. Whichever variety you are shopping for, look for plump, tender fruits that are free of bruises and not mushy.

Fresh figs are delicate and perishable and are best consumed within a couple of days of purchase. Avoid washing them until ready to eat. If they are not yet ripe, keep at room temperature and out of direct sunlight. Remove the tough stems before eating. Enjoy figs as a snack or for dessert. A sublime treat eaten as they come, they need no adornment.

This is an abridged version of an article which appeared in the Autumn 2008 issue of Get Fresh! magazine.

Conscious eating is on the up

Last week's Sunday Times contained a very positive piece about eating vegan. The article touches on the health and eco benefits of animal-free cuisine, as well as its growing popularity: it reports that the conscious eating market is predicted to grow by 19% in the next five years. Eating raw is also mentioned in a positive light in this quote from a trend forecaster with the US agency Culture of Future:

“Eating vegan and raw is the quickest way to health, and it has really hit mass stride in Hollywood with stars who are more concerned with glowing health than going green. It gives the body what it wants: a rest from heavy and slow digestion and a chance to release and rebuild."

However, the main slant of the article is that veganism doesn't have to be a full-time thing. While we don't agree with everything in this article we think it makes some great points. Obviously, if you are a passionate ethical vegan, going part time isn't an option for you. But isn't it great news for humanity, the planet and all the creatures that inhabit it that so many people are starting to embrace vegan meals and plans like "vegan until dinner"?

Considering the UK press is often neanderthally scathing about all things vegan (did anyone else see the Telegraph review of Saf restaurant last year that amusingly yet also ridiculously described vegans as people who live in "hemp-knitted hovels"?), it is great to see The Times demonstrating once again that it has its finger on the pulse when it comes to conscious living.

Organic food has no health benefits

Or so the UK government would have you believe. Variations of this headline are all over the media at the moment (just type it into Google if you don't believe me).

Why? Because the UK Food Standards Agency commissioned a study into the topic, this is apparently the finding, and they want to help Joe Public make "informed choices". 

Specifically, Gill Fine, the FSA's director of consumer choice, commented that the study showed, "there is little, if any, nutritional difference between organic and conventionally produced food and there is not evidence of additional health benefits from eating organic food."

That last bit, especially, is quite a claim to make. So what is the FSA basing this on?

You may be surprised to know that the study in question looked at just one aspect of the organic versus non debate: nutrient levels. It apparently found little difference in nutritonal content between the two classes of food. That's the party line, anyway. Read the appendix and you learn that, in fact, some nutrients were found at substantially higher levels in organic foods.

But let's leave aside the "higher nutrient levels" argument because, frankly, it is irrelevant. And that's because it is arguably the least important reason for choosing organic. Most people who buy organic would keep on doing so even if a study convincingly proved that it contains no more nutrients than non-organic, because they are making this choice for much bigger reasons.

Summer sale

We thought you might be interested to know about our extra-special summer offers so we put together a newsletter which you can read online. We've got discounts on: the Caribbean Blue range of sun protection, a brand new range of raw snacks, some brand new raw bodycare products, several great books and a must-see DVD. We also have - back by popular demand - Dr Martins organic Coco Drink and Coco Milk. Go here to read all about these products and offers. Our summer newsletter also includes a brill article by Professor Rozalind Graham about why the sun is essential for our health.