Raw Food

Yesterday I went to a raw food introduction workshop with Diana Marchand. Some of you know I didn't have terribly high expectations going into this. I met Diana at a Nanaimo Women's Business Network meeting. I mentioned to her that I am interested in raw foods which is true. My interest comes and goes and lately it was pretty low. But I also knew that my interest would come back and I'd be glad for the information I received.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by both the taste of the food and Diana's approach. She wasn't telling us what not to eat, but rather giving us some great options that we could add into our diet (and that would logically displace some of our less healthy foods). I won't pretend I loved everything I ate, but that's not unusual for me. I'll let you know about the 3 things that made the largest impact on me.

The only "green smoothie" I'd ever had was a smoothie with some of that green powder. Not my favorite thing, especially since I don't like stevia (which the powder was sweetened with). But I'd wanted to try a real green smoothie. Diana made a smoothie with water, apple, banana, mango and spinach and it was awesome! Tasted just like a regular smoothie, but looked a little different.

When I think raw food I had always thought fruits and vegetables (of course) and possible some strange dehydrated or blended foods. I hadn't thought of oats. We had a cereal made out of soaked steel cut oats. Another win! I like oatmeal well enough, but I much preferred the texture of the soaked oats.

I had read about chia seeds and frankly I was very apprehensive. You soak them and they turn into a gel. I am all about texture. I don't do tapioca. I don't do bubble tea. I don't do weird gel-like food. When we were given our bowl of soaked chia seeds and blueberries, I watched the woman next to me eat first to see her reaction. Then I tried them. I thought they were fine. I'm not going to pretend I loved them, but I felt if I mixed them with some fresh fruit, I would. A very surprising find!

What does this mean for me now? Really just seeds planted in my brain. Right now I'm happy with how I'm eating and it's vastly more healthy than what I used to eat. But over time I'd like to incorporate more raw food into my diet. So I will slowly look at ways of incorporating some of Diana's recipes into my eating. I'm also really grateful for more vegetarian/vegan options since a part of me is always headed in that direction again.

Want to know more about raw eating, visit Diana's website.