Wendi Interviews Wes Hannah of Blossoming Lotus Restaurant

2010 Trip, interviews, video Comments

Here’s Wendi in Portland interviewing Wes Hannah, one of the owners of Blossoming Lotus, a vegan restaurant that also serves a lot of delicious raw foods. Wendi said it’s worth a trip to Portland just to eat there!

[Sorry about the video quality there. I was having some trouble editing this on an old machine. Wendi took the good one with her on the trip!]

Once again, we’d love to thank our generous trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing, for helping us to make this possible on our budget!

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Perusing the Peacefully Percussive Pacific, Pure Jeevan Ponders Portland

2010 Trip Comments

Wow, Pure Jeevan is officially coast-to-coast now! That picture, above, is our name written in the Pacific sand. Surely, there’s an apt metaphor here, if only I felt moved to make one. Instead, why don’t we take a look at what Wendi wrote about this, and see if a life-lesson doesn’t spring to life! Her remarks, written for Pure Jeevan readers:

So, the ideal place on paper (Corvallis) wasn’t seeming quite like the perfect place for us that we thought it would be. It’s an amazing little town, with a lot going for it. If someone is looking for a totally hip, laid-back, creative, educated group of people living in a small town with no unsavory extremes as far as cold and heat, then this is the place for you. For us, however, we now realize that we’ve grown to love all that comes with living in a larger city. Corvallis is fantastic, but now we realize we need a larger city.

Eugene wasn’t quite the right fit, either, even though the city is totally progressive and a great place to visit. So, we decided we should spend some more time in Portland to see if it feels like the right place to settle. When we arrived, we loved Portland very much!  But, we only stayed briefly because we were so sure at the time that Corvallis was going to be “the” place. (We didn’t want to spend all of our time in a big city when we thought we were looking for a small town to settle in.) So, we’re going to head back up to Portland to see what we think before continuing on with our journey.

Our lovely hosts in Corvallis, the Zander family, suggested we take the scenic route and visit the coast of Oregon along the way. Not only would this be beautiful, they suggested, but it would allow us time to think things over more. Plus, this would also be a nice way to see even more of what is available in the Corvallis area (since we just weren’t 100% sure yet about what felt right for us).

So, we drove over to the coast (less than an hour’s drive) and it was beautiful! So, add that to the huge list of amenities offered by the lovely Corvallis!  The drive to the ocean, the actual ocean and beaches, were … WOW! What a beautiful part of the United States! Everyone should be able to take time from their lives to explore the world a bit more. There is such breathtaking beauty everywhere – and this is part of what life is about (experiencing the beauty all around us). Wow! Here are some pictures for you!

As she said, she sent a bunch of pictures. Let’s have a look, shall we?

Wow, … I think Wendi’s right about taking time to explore the world and appreciate its beauty. So, someone please tell me again why I’m sitting in a windowless office inside of an ugly concrete building in Pittsburgh today? Perhaps it’s to endure this even longer so that I’ll never make this mistake again! Paychecks are nice, but when you’re old and decide to reflect on your life, what are the chances you’ll say, “Wow, I’m so glad I sat in that dreary office most of my life and made all of that money”? Not bloody likely, my friends.  “Jeevan” is the Hindi word for “life.” Those pictures … that’s life!  And why raw foods?  … Simple: It gets you MORE Jeevan.

Once again, we’d love to thank our generous trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing, for helping us to make this possible on our budget!

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Makin’ It Monday Guest Raw Chef Edition: Kerry Matson Makes Raw Apple Pie

2010 Trip, Makin' It Monday Comments

So, did you think we’d forget about Makin’ It Monday during Wendi & KDcat’s big cross-country tour?  Absolutely not!  While in Salem, Wendi filmed Kerry Matson demonstrating one of her favorite raw recipes – heck, one of our favorites, too! I’d have to say that raw apple pie is one of the classic raw dessert recipes. Everyone interested in raw should know how to make this! (And anyone who tastes it will soon be interested in raw!)

To us, raw apple pie is not only an amazing dessert. Sometime’s it’s the main entrée! I suppose that’s just one more example of how raw folks tend to live it up just a little more. :-)  Here’s the recipe:

Kerry’s Apple Pie

For the crust:

3/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup macadamia
Process in food processor until finely ground. Then add 10 soaked dates and continue to process. Press crust into the pan. Optional:  add some cinnamon and/or nutmeg. Double recpe if you want an extra thick crust.

For the filling:

3 apples (any variety), diced a bit
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1.2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 of a lemon, juiced
Process as shown, then fill your pie crust pan!

BTW, if you’d like to connect with Kerry, I know she’s a member of Raw Food Rehab, an online raw food community that can be found at http://rawfoodrehab.ning.com .

Once again, we’d love to thank our generous trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing, for helping us to make this possible on our budget!

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Eagerly, Everyone Euphorically Explores Eugene. Editorialization Ensues.

2010 Trip Comments

Picking up from the previous installment, Wendi and KDcat absolutely loved beautiful Corvallis, but ultimately felt it had too much of a small-town feel for us. So, they decided to take a road trip to the nearest big city, Eugene. KDcat and Stephanie (one of the lovely daughters of our Corvallis hosts) were enjoying their time together, so Stephanie decided to come along.

The trip from Corvallis to Eugene is but one pleasant hour’s drive. The group’s first stop was the Buffalo Exchange, a new and secondhand clothing store. Everyone loved the store, which offered a great selection of  fun clothes you can’t usually find in other stores or thrift shops. A barely worn pair of red hi-top Converse sneakers was the highlight of this stop for KDcat. She’s been wanting a pair of these exact shoes for … well, forever! She immediately began decorating them when she had the chance (after they were disinfected, that is).

From there, they explored greater Eugene, checking out areas others had suggested. There were a lot of cute shops, but they were geographically spread out. It wasn’t like the neighborhoods in Portland, where you can walk blocks and blocks with unique stores, restaurants, etc., all in a row. There was a nice vibe to Eugene, Wendi said, but something about it just didn’t feel like home for us. Wendi said there weren’t as many people out and about as she’d expected, but that could have been because they visited on a Sunday. Here are some pics from around town — and then we’ll talk food.

As far as the food goes, many of the restaurants serving organic produce were closed early that day (or were not open Sundays). This was a bit of a surprise, as larger cities usually have restaurants open on weekends – and ones that stay open late, too. They settled on Café Yumm, which seems to be a big Oregon chain. Wendi had heard there were many organics to be found, so she figured she’d give it a try to see how raw-friendly it was. The only fresh foods that were organic at the restaurant, however, were field greens. So, she ordered a plate of them. However, as typically can happen when a raw foodie orders a salad in a non-raw restaurant, the portion was a disappointment. Perhaps this is because most non-raw people aren’t used to treating a healthy salad as a main entree. (The only entree-sized salads most people ever encounter are the dinner salads from the big chains, which are actually major artery cloggers.) So, yeah, small salad. But, Wendi added that the employees were all very nice.

In a related note, one idea that raw foodies can use in the non-raw world is to ask for and carry certain extras from time to time. For example, when presented with a smallish, rather plain salad, Wendi asked for some extras (olive oil and lemon, which most restaurants have on hand), and then ran out to the car to her stash of botija olives she’d received from Natural Zing, our official trip snack sponsor. They’d sent quite a few bags of those olives to keep Wendi happy – and adding a bunch of those delicious olives to the salad, along with those other extras, really turned a plain, small salad into a nice meal. So, extra thanks to Helen and Jeff Rose of Natural Zing! (Those olives are available here, for anyone interested in trying them. They are the BEST olives EVER! Search for “botija” and try the ones with aji and the ones with herbs!)

KDcat ordered some organic, vegan cooked foods and had a good chuckle when Stephanie’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich was served with a pickle. Stephanie said PB&Js are always served with pickles out there. This was very strange to KDcat and Wendi, as pickles normally come only with grilled cheese sandwiches or burgers. (Of course, what do we know — in Pittsburgh, they serve sandwiches with french fries and cole slaw ON the sandwich!)

KDcat has been rating cities based on the music selection on the radio. So far, Portland is the only place that’s ranking in the “passable” range. I thought for sure that Eugene would rank a bit high, but they weren’t able to find any alternative music on the radio (again, it could be because we were there on a Sunday).

All in all, Wendi and KDcat liked Eugene – especially the hip and friendly people. However, it didn’t feel like home and it didn’t feel like a big enough city to satisfy our desire for a large, diverse place to enjoy on a regular basis. So, they headed back to Corvallis to talk about everywhere they’d visited so far. They called me on Skype to video chat about it and to make a group decision about what we’d like to do with all that we’ve learned so far. We decided they needed to head to the ocean immediately to ponder the situation. So, stay tuned for that!

Once again, we’d love to thank our generous trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing, for helping us to make this possible on our budget!

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Curiously Cruising Corvallis’ Curvy Countryside

2010 Trip Comments

After leaving Salem, Oregon, Wendi and KDcat drove less than an hour to the city of Corvallis where they met up with their hosts the Zander’s – Joni, Steve, Bekka, and Stephanie – a fellow unschooling family Wendi had come to know in an online forum. “It was great to be in their company and we loved them right away,” Wendi wrote. “Their home is absolutely beautiful on a really cute lot with plenty of plants and trees around — including the most delightful flowers that smelled divine (I think they were called Daphne).”

Corvallis is the city we’ve mentioned multiple times … the city that feels like it’s the right fit for us. Well, it lived up to our dreams in just about every way. It’s a progressive, hip town with a lot going on. The people are friendly, the weather is beautiful, the land is gorgeous, and there are lots of unschoolers. Access to fresh, ogranic, raw foods doesn’t seem to be an issue anywhere in Oregon, according to reports from the road so far. While they’ve been away, we’ve talked quite a bit each night about what they’re finding — and fresh organic produce seems pretty much everywhere out west. “The west,” wrote Jim Morrison, “is the best.” (Surely he was a raw foodie.)

Jon Gold, owner of the Sunny Side Up Cafe (a vegan and vegetarian restaurant there) and an unschool father, put together a little gathering of unschoolers for KDcat and Wendi. They were able to meet some local unschoolers and ask questions. There was also a gathering one day at the cafe where KDcat was able to do some art at a table with some other unschool teens. It’s definitely a creative, easy-going town with some fantastic people in it!

Oh, and Wendi also got to meet up with Cheri Scott, a local raw foodie who she knows from Penni’s Raw Food Rehab group! Here’s a quick picture set of some of all that:

Corvallis features cute homes with beautifully landscaped yards, lots of flowers, multiple parks, and it’s not a long drive to be in the mountains or on the beach (they visited some of the beaches, so be looking for pics/vids of that in a future post), depending on which way you drive.

However, no matter how awesome it was, Wendi and KDcat felt like there was something not quite right. Wendi had to admit being sad to not find herself jumping up and down with excitement, knowing that Corvallis was, indeed, our new home. On paper and through research, it really does seem like the ideal place for us. However, in reality, Wendi and KDcat realized that we’ve lived in a big city too long and that the small-town feel just doesn’t feel like a perfect fit for us – even though, again, Corvallis was charming! It’s a very good thing they’re making this cross-country trip to visit places, because we could have easily moved there and found out too late that it wasn’t ideal for our family. And so it was back to the drawing board for the hometown search!

Thanks so much to our wonderful hosts, who not only welcomed Wendi and KDcat with open arms, but supported us in our decision to continue looking beyond their beautiful city. KDcat had a great time with the family, especially with their cats (see some fo the pics!).

Oh, the drama! Where will Pure Jeevan wind up settling?  Is there an ideal town?  Will Wendi and KDcat fall in love with some charming little burg, or decide that big-city life is best? Why are strains from 1960s television shows swirling through my head? Suddenly, I head Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor singing:

Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin’ is the life for me.
Land spreadin’ out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.

New York is where I’d rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.

~Theme song from “Green Acres”

Tune in again SOON for the thrilling continuation!! 

Once again, we’d love to thank our generous trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing, for helping us to make this possible on our budget!

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Back Soon with Our Corvallis Installment!

Pure Jeevan Talks Comments

Hey Everyone-  Just a quick note, in case you’re reading our blog and thinking, “Wow, Wendi and Jim usually update daily! What’s up??!!” We’ll get back to it pronto, I promse — maybe even later today! Turns out it’s just a TON of work orchestrating a tour like this, especially across a three-hour time zone. But, now that we’re getting used to it, I think we can look for some more timely updates. The latest is from Corvallis, Oregon. But, we’re also going to talk about Portland a lot more soon! So, stay tuned!  -Jim

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Wendi Interviews Kerry Matson On Her Raw Journey

2010 Trip, interviews, video Comments

In yesterday’s installment, we talked a bit about Salem, Oregon. I inadvertently missed this video in Wendi’s batch of uploads. So, here’s Wendi interviewing Kerry Matson on her path to raw and some of her favorite raw foods!

Once again, we thank our trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing, for helping us to make this possible on our budget!

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Seeing Salem’s Shops, Stores, and Super-cheap Supermarkets Spawns Smiles

2010 Trip Comments

Wow, today is Day 7 of the Big 2010 Tour! So far, Wendi and KDcat have spent three days on a train and three more in Portland, Salem, and Corvallis. We still have plenty of content to post from those, including a good deal of video (once I’m able to edit that).  For now, let’s look at some pics and talk about their second stop, Salem!

Prior to leaving, Wendi & KDcat (let’s just say “W&K” from here on out, okay?) stopped at People’s Co-Op in Portland for supplies. As much as they loved Portland, they weren’t very impressed with the co-op there, as compared to the one we have in Pittsburgh. However, in fairness, they were told that it’s still a “young” co-op. Still, it’s surprising to me that Portland wouldn’t have an enormous one.  However, it could very well be that there is not as much of a need there, in an area in which organics are much more accepted. Here in Pittsburgh, one could argue that our co-op thrives because organics are largely scoffed at by other retailers. Interesting, eh?

(By the way, are people on the west coast really as laid back as everyone says? Wendi got into a bit of hot water for filming inside another co-op! Here in Pittsburgh, I doubt anyone would care if you set up a movie set in our co-op. No charges were filed, thankfully.)

Anyway, in Salem, W&K were hosted by Pure Jeevan family member, and fellow homeschooler, Kerry Matson and her family. Her husband, Gordon, and their children Colton, Sutter, and Makenna made them feel at home and showed them the wonders of Salem. KDcat enjoyed their dog, Sula (shown in the pics) as well as their cats! She also had a lot of fun roller-blading with Makenna. Here are a few snapshots:

For the first time, W&K got to experience Oregon in the rain during their drive down from Portland. Naturally, it rains a lot in such a verdant part of the country. However, in this temperate climate, that turns out to be a huge boon for any raw fooders (or, really, anyone who enjoys foraging). There are berries galore in Oregon — and that’s really exciting for us! Kerry said they’re super cheap and super sweet because you can pick them fresh and eat them right away. Wendi sent me an email stating, “Blackberries are pretty much considered a *weed* around here!?!?!”

Imagine that!  I suppose it’s like that all over. When you have something in such abundance, you tend to take it for granted. (Reminds me of our experience last year with coconuts in southern Florida!) Although, as raw foodies, I can’t imagine ever taking these precious gifts from nature for granted. Can you?!

In Salem, W&K took note of MANY grocery stores that sold organic produce — “LOTS of them,” Wendi excitedly noted. On top of that, Kerry showed Wendi a map of the area for farms where you can pick your own produce … and the prices are amazingly cheap.

You know, part of what we’ve talked about here on Pure Jeevan is the growing importance of becoming more involved in your food choices, and in fact in learning more about growing your own. As the world becomes more threatened by and saturated with GMO abominations and “conventional” pesticide-laden crops, it behooves us all to take an interest in organic agriculture. Wendi and I have a goal of nearly full self-sufficiency on a large plot of land. But, anyone can produce healthy food; people like our buddy Mike Lieberman, who lives in Brooklyn, are showing how even city dwellers can grow their own.

W&K saw many, many small farms around Salem. It’s nice that the farms are right outside the city and it’s easy to live a more rural life and still connect witht he city. Salem is nice — not too small or big. It might not be hip enough for KDcat, though. We’ll have to see how she rates it in comparison with all of the other places they’ll visit. Wendi was mostly super excited about all the available organics in this town. They visited many different shops and markets, and took some video of the organic fruits … and the cheap prices! Here’s a super-short peek at that:

Their next stop was Corvallis, so stay tuned for that report!

Once again, we thank our trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing, for helping us to make this possible on our budget!

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Wendi and KDcat Wonderfully Welcomed to the West (See Slide Show!)

2010 Trip Comments

Well, after three long days of train travel, Wendi and KDcat arrived in Portland.  I knew they’d had a rough trip (as I’d posted, Wendi experienced some serious motion sickness!), so I booked them into an awesome Bed & Breakfast, literally across the street from the raw restaurant they were planning to visit. That B&B is called the Lion and the Rose Victorian Bed & Breakfast Inn. Wendi said everyone there was super-nice. (There was a neat synchronicity about it, too, which I’ll post in the comments section.)

Thanks to everyone for the motion sickness tips! Wendi’s feeling better, but after such a long train ride, she and KDcat still feel the effects on their balance (feeling like they’re still moving, slightly dizzy, ears blocked a bit etc.). I suppose train travel takes a little getting used to. But, again, they’re feeling much better.

Even though it was a short stay in Portland, they managed to squeeze in a meetup with two Pure Jeevan family members, Ann Chatterton and Tracy Partridge Johnson (as well as Ann’s children, Zoe and Zack, and Tracy’s son Brandon). They met up at the Blossoming Lotus, an organic/vegan venue that offers some gourmet raw dishes. Here’s a slideshow!

Here’s Wendi’s first “report from the field”:

We all met at a fantastic restaurant, Blossoming Lotus, that serves organic raw foods. The food was absolutely AMAZING and Ann treated KDcat and me to a meal for which we are extremely grateful (especially since I was pretty much fasting on the train because of the motion sickness). Ann recommended that I drink a fresh juice including some ginger, so I had an apple, lemon, kale, ginger juice that gave me a sense of balance after the long train trip. 
 
I also met with one of the owners, and did a quick video interview. We took pics of the food that we ordered (we were sharing all the dishes) and it was FANTASTIC. I think it’s worth a trip to Portland just to eat at that restaurant!  In the video, we have a quick peek  at their large kitchen and hear how the business is doing there in Portland. The restaurant isn’t fully raw, but it’s fully vegan and mostly organic.

As you can tell, Wendi and KDcat are totally in love with Portland! They felt very comfortable, and found the people extremely friendly and easy going. Tey say there’s a hip vibe to the place and both  felt totally at home and like we would all fit it (which we don’t feel in Pittsburgh). Best of all, things are all all in bloom! There are flowers, green grass, trees all in bud (lots of cherry blossoms), and there was even a freshly mown lawn that they joked about rolling around in because it looked and smelled so delightful after the stale air on the train for three days/nights. (And, for anyone wanting a comparison, there’s a blizzard today in Pittsburgh. Yeah, I’m a little jealous!)

Bottom line:  Portland is definitely a contender for a place to relocate! I’ll post that video soon, and maybe some additional pictures.

Additional Notes:

  • You can friend Ann Chatterton on Facebook! (Ann, thank you SO much for treating Wendi and KDcat to such a delicious assortment of raw gourmet food!!!)
  • Tracy Partridge Johnson is on Facebook, too! She also runs the web site Eighty Percent Raw.
  • Our Flickr photo stream for this whole tour is here. (Going to this Flickr account will let you see names and descriptions not shown in the slideshow, above. So, if you’re curious about something, check out the Flickr set directly.)
  • Direct link to the slide show shown above.

Once again, we thank our trip snack sponsor, Natural Zing, for helping us to make this possible on our budget!

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Anyone Know a Good Remedy for Motion Sickness?

2010 Trip Comments

 

As I write this, Wendi and KDcat have been en route to Portland for 39+ hours so far (including a long layover in Chicago)! Looks like they still have another 22 or so hours to go. What a monumental trip, eh?! Cross-country travel by rail really gives you a better appreciation for the distance, as compared with air travel or even highway travel. Imagine what it must have been like in the covered-wagon days!

So far, reports from the train have been not so wonderful. KDcat seems to be having a good time roaming around socializing. But, Wendi’s experiencing some major motion sickness. Oddly, we never anticipated this problem — which is incredible, as we spent more than a month planning this trip! But, it just goes to show you that you cannot anticipate everything in life!

Anyway, Wendi asked me to send a special shout-out to our friend Melissa who made a little scented sachet for Wendi to take along. She said the smell provided some comfort and helped stave off the motion sickness a little. However, she’s currently afraid to eat much, for fear of getting sick. (She did have a small portion of some of the Lydia’s organic raw cereal from Natural Zing.)

I’m sure she’ll make it through to Portland without too terribly much more sickness. However, if anyone has any suggestions for dealing with motion sickness, please post a comment! She does have internet access from time to time on the train, and will likely see any suggestions you post!

I made a new category (called “2010 Trip“) for all of the posts related to this grand adventure. I’m going to now go back into our blog and tag older ones (the trip itinerary and so forth) with that tag. Again, thanks to our Official 2010 Trip Snack Sponsor, Natural Zing!!

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Is Raw Just Calorie Restriction?

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In one daily newsletter that Wendi and I subscribe to, there was a discourse recently about being right – but being right for the wrong reason. I’ve long been interested in that concept; it’s fascinating, when you really think about it — like getting credit on a test for an answer you guessed at, or knowing how to say something in another language but not knowing what it means. Along those lines, I’d like to share some personal opinion with you.

One of the common pro-raw arguments is that it’s a calorie-restrictive diet and thus healthy because it limits our caloric intake (a regimen widely associated with extended lifespans in scientific literature). If you consider that a pound of greens or veggies has about 100 calories (generally speaking) and a pound of fruit has 300-400, imagine the incredible amounts of food you could ingest daily and still be considered calorie-restricted (as compared with the recommended number of calories for your build and lifestyle)!

It’s quite a lot — especially if you were to limit the calorie-boosters that also exist within the raw paradigm — nuts, seeds, dehydrated foods, and calorie-dense foods like dates, avocados, etc. You know those plastic shoe-box sized containers of pre-washed spinach? Those contain merely one-pound! Can you imagine eating a whole box (or two!) that size in one day, and only getting 100 or 200 calories for your efforts? (Actually, this problem — recognizing that mega-quantities of greens are healthy, but pondering how to go about eating that much – is said to be the inspiration for Victoria Boutenko’s pioneering the now-ubiquitous green smoothie.)

So, yes, in one sense, raw can be a calorie-restricted regimen. But, let’s back up a bit, as I want to make two important points here:

1. Let’s not rush to conclude that healthy calorie restriction is simply a numbers game and that “a calorie is a calorie” — meaning that any calorie will suffice on a restricted diet. Consider two similar people:  Person 1 eats a calorie-restricted diet of 1,500 calories per day from pure lard. Person 2 eats 1,500 calories per day of fruits and vegetables. Intuitively, you know where this is going, right?

So, the kind of calorie matters. It seems that there is a scale of “nutritiousness” out there, doesn’t it? On the “lard” end of this scale, you have calories that are not only devoid of nutrition, but that are in fact toxic! Then, somewhere in the middle, you have caloric sources that are likely … let’s say “kind of neutral.” And then over on the right side are calories that are healing, nutritious, enlivening, and uplifting. Same calories, dramatically different results. Calories have dimensions, depth! (Perhaps they have many dimensions. Maybe we should devote a post to each one we can think of!)

Here’s point number 2:  I would submit that this dimension of nutritiousness is actually more important than the “scientific calorie,” this ”unit of energy-producing potential equal to this amount of heat that is contained in food and released upon oxidation by the body” (according to my American Heritage dictionary). In fact, I’ll stop just shy of asserting that counting calories as we know them now is all but useless to a raw foodist.

If nutrition is more important (which I believe), then that changes the whole game. To me, standard caloric recommendations represent a measure of how much cooked food, dead and/or highly diminished in nutritional value, the average person can tolerate. (I know that’s not technically what it means, but I’m suggesting that it’s another way to think about it.) It could also be, to some extent, that this is how many cooked calories we need in order to glean a modicum of life-sustaining nutrition — to barely scrape by nutrition-wise, in other words … whereas, if you’re eating a generally lower-calorie raw regimen, you’re easily pulling in the nutrients your body desires!

I do think standard calorie counting is useful as a very general guide. But, I have to tell you:  Neither Wendi nor I ever counted or restricted calories as part of our intention to lose weight. I mean, sure, there were times when we tracked calories out of curiosity. But, we also regularly enjoyed some very rich foods during our first raw years. I’m not speaking of packaged raw foods; I’m talking about things like creamy coconut milkshakes, rich apple pies for dinner, raw brownies, enormous salads with thick dressings, and other not-very-low-cal things!

Raw in general probably will fit into most people’s definition of a calorie-restricted diet. But, I suspect that’s not what’s so magical about raw foods! So, I suppose it’s nice to be right, but it’s even more fulfilling to be right for the right reason. Maybe, in the end, finding the ultimate reason will elude our ability for understanding.  (In other words, maybe I don’t fully appreciate why I’m right, either — assuming that I am.) But, I submit to you that, in delving into these other dimensions (nutrition trumping calories), you’re heading further down the path of being right for the right reason.

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