Exotic Eats!

Happy Thursday everyone! Time for a small update!

"Open heart, open mind."

Getting my stretch on before Bikram. I'm on Day #3 of my 100 day Bikram yoga challenge. (I will be talking more about this next week after my Friday update on The Cane Juice Chronicles)

Still drinking cane juice like it's my job. It's been so beneficial for alleviating sore muscles. I can't wait to share my findings with you guys as far as my running goes!

I've also been eating ginormous quantities of jackfruit lately. We've been going up to San Gabriel Valley to hit up 99 Ranch at least once a week and we've been getting 2 15-20 lb. jackfruits at a time...which I polish off all by myself by the end of the week.

Sweet and juicy! So much yum!

If you've never had jackfruit it kind of tastes like pineapple and bubblegum. In fact, it is rumored that Juicy Fruit Gum was supposed to mimic the flavor of this exotic fruit.

I wasn't really into jackfruit like this until recently when I went to a Fruitluck and had the most bombing fresh jackfruit! After that, I was hooked. There is such a clear difference in taste and texture in fresh jack vs. frozen jack. I find frozen jackfruit to be very chewy and almost gummy. It's decent, but if you really want to experience everything this fruit has to offer I would suggest biting the bullet and picking up a fresh one.

It should be soft and fragrant when ripe; I've read that it should smell a bit over-ripe and that's a good sign that you've got a delicious jackfruit on your hands.

Durian! King of fruits!

Also, this happened today. Everyone's favorite stinky fruit, mmmm DURIAN! I, personally, do not find it's smell that offensive, but I know lots of people do. To the extent that in Asian countries where this fruit originated, Thailand, for example- this fruit is banned in hotels, buses, trains, most public venues. Poor Durian, but that's ok because what it lacks in appealing smell it makes up for with the most amazingly creamy, sweet, almond-y vanilla custard!

A lovely treat for a beautiful, sunny Thursday in California!

Enjoy the rest of your Thursday and don't forget to keep it Postively Plant-Powered! 

Hollywood 10K; The Cane Juice Chronicles

Last week I posted on my Facebook page (Positively Plant-Powered; like, follow, and share if you haven't already!) some very exciting news:

This coming April I will be running the Hollywood 10k and one of my absolute favorite local LA businesses, Raw Cane SuperJuice Bar, will not only be sponsoring me, BUT -- they will also be providing me with sugar cane juice as my fuel for training and race day!

 I feel extremely grateful for this opportunity because let's be real here, me + cane juice = match made in heaveeennn! If you follow my instagram (you must! I post lots of yummy food pics! RawFoodNerd, yes, do it!) I am continually professing my love of this liquid gold elixir and seek it out often. (And you should too, as you will not be sorry - they frequent several farmers markets throughout the week in the LA area.) I am so far from being one of those head in the cosmos 'feel the life-force, mannn'-types, but seriously, when I drink sugar cane juice I can feel it pulsing through my veins; pure energy, simple and sweet! Robby & Rey, owners of Raw Cane SuperJuice Bar, are definitely onto something here!

Cane juice 4 daysss!

While training with cane juice, I intend to document this entire process on the blog so that I can share this experiment with all of you! My intentions are not only to show the amazing benefits that can be achieved athletically while incorporating this super-charged green juice, but to further prove that animal products, crazy energy drinks, and protein powders are not necessary when it comes to training/reaching your fitness goals.

Ever had wheatgrass juice? Didn't really enjoy the taste? Well, sugar cane plus the chlorophyll here is like taking all the amazing properties of wheatgrass juice (minus the unpalatability) and combining them with sugar cane to make an incredibly powerful SUPER juice! 

As I document this process I plan to take a closer look as to why cane juice works so well as training fuel and compare it to my other pre/post training 'meals' (mostly smoothies or organic fruit juices). I want to look at the nutritional profiles of cane juice vs. other sports drinks outside the raw/vegan realm. And furthermore, I intend to put together a little PDF book of my favorite cane juice recipes that I will be able to share with you all!

In order to be completely transparent here, I will be uploading my Runtastic stats onto the blog and you can also find me on Strava (Alysha Maiorelli-Wyrauch).

I leave you will this -- an awesome compilation of sugar cane juice factoids!

Learning to Love, Happy Valentine's Day!

I am going to get a bit unconventional here today and choose to acknowledge Valentine's Day as a way we can ALL celebrate not just loving others, but loving ourselves as well! 

Carob-Date Caramel Covered Strawberries!

For an easy sweet treat, that's healthy and delicious, try dipping strawberries in Carob-Date Caramel Sauce (Equal parts pitted dates of your choosing + coconut water + 1-2 tablespoons of carob powder, blend!) and popping it in the freezer for an hour. So much yum!

Learning to love yourself, for who you are AT THIS MOMENT, is so important as you embark on your journey towards a healthier lifestyle. 

Without getting too cliche here, it really is true that your relationship with yourself is the most important relationship you will ever have. If you don't take care of yourself-- your body and mind, what good are you to other people? 

For the longest time I looked at food and exercise as a rewards/punishment system. Even though I was eating a 100% plant-based, vegan, low fat raw diet! My exercise correlated to what I could and couldn't eat; if I did Bikram and then ran at the gym then I deserved to eat two durian, but if I didn't then I was lazy and I wasn't worthy of indulging in my favorite food. This would then correlate to how I perceived my body overall; my abs weren't visible enough, my stomach wasn't completely flat, my jeans felt a bit tighter. Even when it came to normal food consumption, I had rules that I had set for myself in regards to eating and often this translated to this feeling of constantly needing to be moving, expending energy -- earning my food. I couldn't just sit back and relax. I felt manic and stressed. 

In essence, just because I changed the way I was eating, didn't mean that my negative view of myself or my body dis-morphia, that manifested in high school when I began dieting, magically went away as I thought it would. I was still ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT FOOD. And granted, I love food, and I love making food, but the way I was always thinking about food wasn't healthy. 

Food and exercise should never be used in a rewards system situation no matter how healthy you are eating. Food and exercise are about nourishing your body and soul, end of story. 

It wasn't until I got some disappointing blood tests back that I finally was able to take a step back and say, "Woah, what am I doing to myself here?" and "Is this really all worth it?" (Let me be clear in saying that I was never restricting calories- I still ate huge portions and never counted calories.) I realized that this obsessive routine I had created around food and exercise was interfering with what I wanted to do in my life. And I began to look at the larger picture in that, when I look back, twenty years from now, am I going to be happy? Ultimately, the answer was, "no." 

Somewhere along that way I had begun to equate the way I looked, how my clothes fit, etc. with how much I valued myself and in turn, how much the people in my life loved me. I felt like if I looked a certain way then they would love me more. It is a common way of thinking, but extremely deluded, especially since no one in my life EVER gave me a reason to feel that way. I allowed myself to be consumed with negative thoughts, anger, and simply never feeling worthy. 

It took time and a lot of dedication to change 10+ years of thinking, but learning to love who I am, right now, was key. Allowing myself to relax a little and not put so much pressure on myself to be perfect and always in control was another big step. And I think just learning to trust my overall natural instinct again was very important. 

So, on this day of love, if you are feeling unworthy, self-conscious, angry, sad, alone - just take a minute, breathe in deep, and allow yourself to feel all these things. Then exhale them all out, let them go. Really, just let it all go. Tell yourself that you are worth it. Whatever body you are in right now, LOVE IT. 

Once you accept that you are perfect as you are right now then achieving all the other goals you have set for yourself, will be that much more possible. 

Hope you all have a sweet, positive, self-LOVING day! 

What I Eat Wedesday, Raw Vegan Persimmon Pudding & Soft-Serve!

What to do when you've got 40 + pounds of ooey gooey sweet ripe end of the season persimmons left? Well, you make persimmon pudding of course! ...And then you top it with double vanilla soft-serve and mulberry-graham... Boom! The ultimately guilt-free, dairy-free, nut-free power bowl! 

Persimmon Pudding w. Double Vanilla Soft-Serve topped with Mulberry-Graham

Part of living this lifestyle is buying fruit in bulk. And if you are like me, you tend to kind of over do it sometimes when your favorite fruit comes into season! Other than durian, persimmons are my favorite fruit. As you can tell, I am very pro-versility here and I like fruit that can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. (Check out my previous post here for my Butter Lettuce/Zoodles (Zucchini Noodles) w. Tomato-Persimmon Ginger Dressing and here for my Festive Persimmon Salad w. Spicy Persimmon & Sun-dried Tomato Dressing)

This is the ultimate twist on your standard sundae, without the habitual guilty conscious that typically follows. You should never feel guilty about eating nourishing bowls of delicious goodness like this. Fruit is fuel. Not just for your body, but for your brain. Recent studies have shown that fruit raises serotonin levels in the brain and serotonin is a lovely little chemical that keeps us feeling happy; who doesn't want more of that? 

Here is what you will need: 

• 10 ripe, peeled, frozen bananas 
• 5-6 ripe (soft and squishy) persimmons 
• 10 dates 
• 1.5 cups of dried mulberries (Hunza is my favorite brand) 
• 1 cup coconut sugar (optional) 
• a vitamix or food processor 

Instructions: 

In a food processor or vitamix, pulse your mulberries + coconut sugar until you have a crumbly, flour like consistency. Sometimes, if I am craving a bit more texture I will reserve some mulberries and add them in afterwards, only pulsing a couple of times so I still get some lovely chewy bits mixed throughout. 

Put your mulberry-graham to the side in a separate container. 

Next, let's make the double vanilla soft serve! 

I use a vitamin here so it is a bit easier for me because I can throw the bananas in whole and get a great arm workout while using the tamper to push the bananas into the blade. However, if you are using a blender or a food processor, this will be a bit more of a time consuming task. 

For the blender you are going to want to make sure your bananas are a bit thawed and cut into smaller chunks that way it will be easier for the blade to chop them up. I would add 1-2 T of coconut water first to assist in the blending. I would also recommend doing this in advance that way you can throw your soft serve back in the freezer if it gets too melty. 

If you are using a food processor I would suggest also cutting your bananas into chucks and only blending half of the bananas straight through. Then pulse in the rest so that it helps maintain the soft-serve like consistency that we are going for here. 

For the double vanilla kick, I use Vanilla Powder + 1-3 drops Sweetleaf Vanilla Stevia. However, you can feel free to use alcohol-free vanilla extract, whole vanilla bean, or Vanilla-infused Coconut Sugar!  

For the persimmon pudding I throw all my persimmons into the vitamix or blender with my 10 dates and puree until super smooth. 

Now comes the fun part, assembling & eating! 

In nice big bowlI pour in my persimmon pudding. Then I layer on my double vanilla soft-serve. And lastly, I top it with a whole lot of mulberry-graham! Feel free to assemble or add your own little twist to this sundae!

This is a less artfully layered version where I did persimmon pudding, double vanilla soft-serve,  more persimmon pudding and topped it with date caramel and mulberry-graham. 

For more of my daily eats, tips, and recipes check out my Facebook page, Postively Plant-Powered or my instagram: RawFoodNerd. 

Breakfast of Champions

Ok, let's talk bananas...

As a high carb, predominately raw, fruitarian I eat a sh!t load of bananas.

What people think ripe bananas look like:

WRONG!

What RIPE bananas ACTUALLY look like:

If your bananas are green, then they aren't ripe, If your bananas aren't spotty, then they are not ripe. If your bananas don't effortlessly break from the bunch, then they are not ripe. Unripe bananas = constipation and indigestion. Unripe fruit is starchy and unpalatable, whereas ripe fruit is sweet and delicious- full of easily absorbable fructose that your cells just soak up!

There's a lot of fruit-shaming going on in our world today and often people blame the fruit they eat for sour stomaches and poor digestion when really the fruit was just an innocent accomplice to poor food choices, combinations, and lack of ripeness.

Why you should eat bananas: (Preach!)

• Bananas (other than being incredibly delicious) are actually great for soothing an upset stomach and aiding in the correction of poor digestion since they are high in fibre and actually function as a natural anti-acid. Have an ulcer? Really hope you don't, but if you do, bananas coat the lining of the stomach creating a barrier against corrosive acids. 
• They contain a great deal of pectin which helps move degenerative toxins and heavy metals out of the body
• Full of tryptophan, which gets converted to serotonin, they help combat depression and elevate mood.
• High in potassium, they are a sure-fire solution for cramps
• Bananas also help increase calcium absorption 
• They are also full of B-vitamins, manganese, and a host of disease-fighting antioxidants! 
• Great source of ENERGY! Bananas are the original protein-brotein shake! Easily assimilated, digestible workout/post-workout fuel! 
• Bananas are the ultimate weight loss fruit! They keep you satiated and carbed-up which will prevent you from reaching for unhealthy, oily, fatty, salty snacks throughout the day. 

And it just wouldn't be right for me to leave you without a banana recipe so you can begin to include some 'nanners into your daily diet! This is a personal favorite of mine and I typically have it for breakfast and/or lunch when I am not digging into some super, sweet melon. It's a staple in my 'diet' because I can pack in a lot of carbs that won't leave me feeling weighed down. I tend to have this on days where I know I am going to be doing Bikram yoga AND running later in the afternoon. 

Banilla Kreme Smoothie

optional, to add some variety to your budding banana relationship: include a handful of pitted dates, carob powder, cinnamon, or all of the above!

15 Organic, ripe spotty bananas 

3 drops Stevia Sweetleaf Vanilla Cream drops 

2-3 cups of distilled water 
(depending on desired consistency)

Blend until creamy perfection is reached! 

Unripe bananas? Ain't nobody got time for that! #7 baby, for the win!

Spotty ripe banana chart and unripe banana picture from google images 
Banana facts from food matters.tv

Quick & Easy Raw Meals for the New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I know I am a little behind and it's been 2014 for at least two weeks now, but I have been hard at work putting together some new delicious recipes for the blog and my future e-book, which hopefully will be coming out this summer.

In honor of 2014 I wanted to share with you a couple of incredibly simple and satisfying raw vegan fruit-based meals that I have been enjoying as of late.

The first is a sweet mango vanilla pudding topped with thawed organic blueberries and tart crunchy pomegranate seeds. It takes less than five minutes to make and you can find the ingredients in virtually any supermarket. I purchased mine from Trader Joes, mostly in the freezer section. Frozen fruit is a perfectly acceptable way to get your fruit in especially if you live in an area where getting quality fruit in the winter is more difficult.

Mango-Vanilla Pudding with Organic, thawed Blueberries & Pompom Seeds

Ingredients: 

One bag of thawed, frozen mango chunks or two ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped 

1 bag of thawed, organic blueberries or 1 punt fresh organic blueberries 

dash of vanilla powder 

seeds from 1 whole pomegranate

Blend mango and vanilla in high speed blender until smooth. Pour into bowl and top with blueberries and pom seeds. 

This pudding is light, creamy, and so so sweet. It's easy on digestion, a great way to refuel, and full of healthy carbohydrates that will keep you energized throughout the day! 

The second recipe I want to share is for a savory salad that I ate nearly everyday during the holiday season. The dressing is really what makes this salad and the flavor just explodes in your mouth! It's overt-fat free, salt-free, and oil-free, but it tastes so rich, you would never been able to tell! You can also put this over zucchini and/or cucumber noodles -- I've done both! 

Butter Lettuce w. Tomato-Persimmon Ginger Dressing

 

This dressing totally reminds me of French Dressing! However, this is a dressing that is actually GOOD for you!

Tomato, Persimmon, Ginger Dressing over Zucchini Fettuccine

Ingredients: 

4 ripe (soft to the touch)persimmons

1 pint of cherry tomatoes

1 cup of mango

3-4 sun dried tomatoes, soaked

knob of ginger 

handful of chives 

In a high speed blender combine the mango, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and ginger. Taste to make sure flavor is on point-- you want to really be able to taste the ginger as that is what gives it the yummy kick! Blend until smooth and then add in your persimmons. Blend again until creamy consistency is reached and at the end pulse in chives. Pour over salad or noodles of your choice. 

In the first picture I poured my dressing over butter lettuce with chopped tomato, mango, and chives. Best.salad.ever! 

In the second picture I used the dressing for my zucchini noodles. And this was actually my Christmas Day dinner! Several of my family members tried and it loved it as well!

If you try either of these recipes, please let me know! I love to get feedback! Enjoy!

Raw Food Nerd, Holiday Edition

It's about that time, the holiday season is officially upon us and that means holiday parties where the temptation to eat foods that are filled with butter, salt, oil, and various unsavory animal products will be at an all time high.

Save yourself, don't make eye-contact with the beautifully decorated sugar cookies and best stay clear of the yule log. They're bad news bears!

But, really, there is no need to stress; It's entirely possible to maintain your healthy lifestyle while still being able to socialize and enjoy the festivities! You just have to know how to navigate the scene and come prepared!

And the best way to do that is to bring foods that suit your own dietary needs that you can also share with others! (This is also a fun way to show skeptics how versatile and delicious eating raw/vegan can be without having to be preachy..)

Here are three sweet, high raw vegan treats and a delicious, colorful 801010 salad that you can take to any party!

I'm a sucker for persimmons. I love that they are crisp and fresh with a sweet caramel, toffee, sugary ooey gooey-ness. Seriously, I look forward to persimmon season all year. And in California I can get them by the box from the LA Wholesale Market for as little as $17! (For those unfamiliar, persimmons average about .99 cents per pound from the Asian Markets in LA, but can average any where from .69 cents to $2.99 per persimmon depending on the store. I'd like to keep my wallet intact so by the box, wholesale style is how I roll.)

Festive Persimmon Salad w. Spicy Persimmon & Sun-dried Tomato Dressing

 Ingredients: 

2-3 ripe persimmons

leafy green mix 

cilantro 

baby cucumbers, sliced thin 

cherry or grape tomatoes, halved 

chopped chive 

chopped leek

Dressing: 

2 ripe tomatoes or 1 cup cherry tomatoes

1/2 orange/red/ or yellow bell pepper

1 green onion 

1-2 persimmons

1/2 cup soaked, oil-free/unsulfured/salt-free sun dried tomatoes

small knob of ginger (to your preference) 

1-2 slices from your favorite hot pepper (go easy, you can always add more spice if you want!) 

Blend your dressing until smooth. Taste and adjust spice if need be. Pour over salad upon time of arrival if you desire to place on the side and allow others to dole out the dressing on their own. 

Date Truffles

Ingredients: 

1 lb. fresh, organic wet-packed dates 

 3 drops of Stevia Sweetleaf Drops (choose your favorite flavor, mine is Hazelnut and Peppermint!) 

1 cup of coconut sugar 

I have a vitamix so I just toss all my ingredients into the vitamix and use the tamper to push everything into the blades until it looks like the consistency of frosting.

Sweetleaf Liquid Stevia Drops are the secret to scrumptious ooey-gooey date truffles. They add heaps of flavor without the addition of funky preservatives or additives. Stevia is completely natural and plant-derived so it won't spike your blood sugar and has, in fact, been shown to lower blood sugar. Thus making it a great sugar alternative for diabetics! It is very sweet so a little goes a long way. These have become essential in my kitchen! 

If you happen to not have a vitamix, using a food processor is an equally successful method.

Transfer to a bowl and begin rolling out your date batter into little-medium sized balls. 

Optional: 

Roll in coconut, carob powder, or more coconut sugar 

P.S. These will go fast, so snag a few for yourself before they are gobbled up!

Coconut Almond Butter Cookie Cups

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups of Coconut flakes 

No-salt almond butter
1 cup of Chia seeds
1 cup of Dried mulberries
2 1/2 cups of organic dates 
1/2 cup raw pecans 
1/2 cup of raw walnuts
Dash of cinnamon 
Dash of nutmeg 

In the food processor combine pecans, walnuts, chia seeds, 1 cup of the coconut flakes, cinnamon, and  nutmeg. Pulse until ingredients have the consistency of flour. Add in dried mulberries and dates. Pulse blend until well-combined and ingredients come together as a ball of "dough". Shape into cookie form, top with almond butter and coconut flakes. 
I put mine into cupcake holders for easy transport! You can even "roll" these out, so to speak, and use holiday cookie cutters! 

And lastly, who doesn't LOVE a chocolate pudding? That's right, no one. Chocolate pudding knows no age! This pudding in particular happens to be raw, high carb, with a bit of warming spices to make this especially festive! (I also used carob powder instead of cacao because cacao contains theobromine which acts as a stimulate in your body and creates toxicity. It also stresses the adrenal glands. Too much and the reaction is similar to a caffeine high. Some may find this beneficial during the holiday season as a means of 'powering through', but I find it dangerous and unnecessary. A little bit won't kill you, but people tend to overdo it during the holiday season and it's a much better option to snack on some dates then go crazy with some chocolate, raw or not. Plus, dates are a great source of dietary fibre and rich in the minerals manganese and potassium. They are naturally low in fat and full of antioxidants! Can I get a hell yeah for dates?!)

Below is my favorite brand of dates which can be ordered from the Bautista Family at www.7hotdates.com They sell them wet-packed, which means fresh - they are of the highest quality, organic, and utterly incredible. 

No-Chocolate Chocolate Spiced Pudding

Ingredients 

1 lb of organic dates, pitted

1 cup of carob powder 

2-3 drops Chocolate-flavored Sweetleaf Stevia 

3-4 ripe (spotty) bananas 

water from 1 young thai coconut 

Cinnamon 

Nutmeg 

Cayenne

In a high-speed blender combine all the ingredients from above except for the cayenne. Add coconut water only if necessary as you want it to be thick like a stove top pudding. Blend until ingredients are fully combined and the result is a very thick mixture. If you want your pudding to be thicker add more dates. Now add in your spices, only adding a pinch of cayenne at a time so as not to overpower the pudding. Blend again and taste to make sure your desired spice level has been reached. 

Set in a bowl and leave in the fridge, covered, to rest for a few hours or overnight.

Hopefully these sweet treats will keep you satisfied at any party you attend this holiday season!

Stay tuned for my holiday e-book which will be coming out shortly where you can find these and other recipes like them!