RawFu Challenge - Day 65

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

It’s astonishing to me how quickly time can go by, and how something as simple as sitting down at the computer to write a few paragraphs can become a real challenge. This past week was really busy, and I’m happy to see there’s finally nothing on the calendar for tomorrow! Well, for me, anyway. Darren is taking Joe to the Verizon Center in DC tomorrow night to compete in a hockey shoot out during the intermission of an NHL game. So, it’s a pretty exciting day for Joe. But, aside from yoga in the evening, which is optional, I don’t have anything on my calendar. Big sigh...

This morning, I took Joe to the allergist again. He had a bunch of allergy testing a few months ago, which revealed additional allergies to soy and wheat, in addition to dairy, tree nuts and legumes. We’ve eliminated soy and wheat from his diet for the past few months, but have been wondering how vigilant we should be with allergens that don’t cause acute symptoms. When Joe had his test for Celiac disease, we fed him a lot of wheat for the couple days prior to the test, and he had an obvious gastro intestinal reaction. So, that seems reason enough to not feed him wheat. However, after a long discussion with the allergist today, about the goals of managing allergies, I think it’s probably in Joe’s best interest to not completely eliminate foods that he can moderately tolerate, as there is some evidence to suggest that complete abstinence from these foods can actually increase sensitivity in the long-run. That’s not to say that these foods should be staples in his diet.

Nonetheless, I think we’ll just take a step back, keep his diet wheat-free, and maybe include occasional whole food soy items, like edamame and tofu. And, we’ll forego any further testing for now, because getting positive test for things that he’s already eating without apparent reactions is just likely to limit his diet even further without real long-term benefits. We’ll do some of our own food trials here and there with elimination and reintroduction, but only with the foods to which he’s never had a severe reaction. It’s fairly apparent that his allergies to nuts and legumes are going to be lifelong. I find the whole subject of immunology and allergies to be fascinating. I still feel that boosting the immune system with a healthy lifestyle (good nutrition, exercise, sunlight, good relationships, sleep, etc) is the best approach to having the best quality of life while still living with some allergies. So, that’s where we are with things for now… it’s a continually revisited topic.

Anyway, the 100 day raw food challenge is progressing smoothly. We go through a few days every now and then where we get a little bored with the routine of smoothies and salads, but usually, out of that boredom comes some new tasty dish. Last week I sprouted quinoa, and found that I actually like it better than cooked quinoa. It has sort of a nutty taste, and makes an excellent addition to salads, parfaits, or just plain with a little olive oil, sea salt and pepper. I even got the kids to eat it by mixing it with diced apples, a little agave, cinnamon, vanilla and hempseeds.

Today, I had a little more time at home, and was able to make raw hummus from the Raw Food Revolution Diet cookbook by Cherie Soria. She was at Vegetarian Summerfest this past summer, and I picked up her book there. A lot of the raw hummus recipes don’t use chickpeas at all, but this one uses sprouted chickpeas and zucchini. I sprouted some chickpeas a couple days ago. It was pretty easy. But, they have strong flavor, so they’re more of an accent to a dish, then the dish itself. But, the hummus turned out super yummy. We ate it on whatever chunks of veggies we had available, and put some on our salad for dinner, too.

I also got the idea for raw caramel apples, too, from Annmarie and Kevin on the Renegade Health Show (YouTube). I tweaked their recipe a bit, as they used almond milk. I just used hempseeds and a little water, room temperature dates, a tablespoon of coconut butter, a teaspoon of vanilla powder and a pinch of salt. I blended that all up and it came out like a creamy caramel. I just stuck chopsticks in the ends of a few apples, rolled them in the “caramel” and refrigerated them for an hour or so. I was quite happy with the results. It’s not the stick-your-jaw-together sticky caramel, but the consistency was really nice, and the taste was very much like caramel.

Then, this evening, I decided to start a batch of the raw onion bread from Matt Amsden’s RAWvolution cookbook. Several people have mentioned it to me recently, so I decided to give it a go, since I have a surplus of onions. However, it calls for sunflower seeds, and I wanted Joe to be able to eat it (he’s allergic), so I substituted half pumpkin and half hempseeds, and I used sea salt instead of the nama shoyu (raw soy sauce), so we’ll see how it turns out. It has to dehydrated until tomorrow night, then be flipped over and continue until the next morning. So, if all goes well, it will be ready by Friday.

Then, to round out the day, I made use of some of the eleven packages of sprouted corn tortillas I got this month through our food co-op to make dinner for the kids. I used some leftover black beans, and just spread it on the tortilla. I sprinkled on some raw “parmesan” cheese stuff I made from pumpkin and hempseeds, nutritional yeast, a little salt, and spices. To my delight, they actually ate quite a bit, and there were no looks of disgust or rolling of the eyes. They even ate some salad. Yeah!

So, it was a productive and fairly relaxing day, aside from a couple interludes of squabbling siblings and an energetic toddler. My mom stopped by in the afternoon and sat with the kids for an hour, while Darren and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Well, Darren rode his bike alongside me while I walk with the dog, but we both got some exercise, fresh air, and time to talk. That’s always nice. Now, I’m hoping Zofia cooperates and falls asleep soon, so I can rest up for another day of fun and excitement with my Petite Trio!