Raw Vegan For A Day

Hello lovely readers,

I'm always reading about health and nutrition in the news or through other blogs and I'm always fascinated by 'raw vegans'. Raw vegans are vegans who don't eat anything cooked above a certain temperature (so that no nutrients are lost in the process of cooking). When I ventured into the world of veganism last year I relied on grains and pasta so raw veganism is something I just couldn't get my head around and always said I couldn't do.

Lucky for me in the last year or so I've developed this lovely little trait of wanting to do everything I say I can't do. I know if I don't at least try it I will never really understand so here I am eating raw vegan.

Note: I had a huge sirloin steak for dinner last night, this is not for ethical reasons.

Another reason I'm experimenting with this is that recently fasting has been everywhere. I'm sure most of you have heard about the 5:2 diet? Where you eat what you want (in moderation!) for 5 days a week and then fast for 2 days a week by only eating one calorie restricted meal (usually about 500-600 calories I believe). The benefits of fasting have been researched a lot recently and the way I understand it is that by fasting, you're giving your digestive system a break and therefore your body has time to do some maintenance of itself.

Personally fasting is not for me, I'm so gutted about it because I'm a firm believe of the benefits it offers - reduced blood insulin levels, lower bad cholesterol, lower blood pressure, promotes growth of new brain cells and evidence from studies using mice showed that alternate day fasting begun in middle age delayed the onset of memory problems by 6 months. To name a few...

So from my old vegan experiment I remember reading a lot about raw food being easier on the digestive system. Once the structure of your food has been changed during the process of cooking your body has to work harder to break it down. I'm sure I don't need to clarify this but just in case... meat is not the easiest thing to digest but I'm not suggesting you eat raw meat. At all.

When I finished my vegan challenge, I swore that I would still have meat free days... I have not stuck to this. And of course I have recently stated the best advice I've read in a while - if you can't see yourself sticking to a lifestyle change for the long term (say 1 year minimum) then don't bother with it. So what I thought might be a good compromise would be to have 1 day a week where I go raw vegan and today has been my trial day.

For breakfast I made this beautiful thing called 'chia pudding'. I've seen numerous photos of chia pudding but for some reason I have never been inclined to try it. Yesterday I saw a post on a health and fitness facebook page (which I recommend if you want motivation and positivity in your life!) and saw it as the perfect sign to embark on my first raw vegan meal.

Summer Time Chia Pudding: 
1.5 tablespoons chia seeds
1/3 pint water or almond milk (or any other liquid of your choice)
Fruit of your choice to top :)


So so easy to make. Chia seeds absorb liquid well so simply put your seeds and liquid together and leave over night. The seeds swell up and make 'chia pudding'. I topped mine with kiwi (4 for 50p in Morrisons), 1/3 of a mango, some pomegranate seeds and a little coconut. I based my fruit decision purely by what was on offer in store but it was a magical combination! Plus if you make it in tupperware or a little jar you can take it with you anywhere. What more could you ask for?

Now one of the main problem I had when considering eating raw is that I only ever really eat cooked vegetables. Plus I hate hate hate salad leaves. Yesterday for lunch I made myself a chicken wrap like I have most days but made it with raw peppers and onion and I really enjoyed it. So that made lunch today easy peasy.
Raw Leaf-Free Salad:
1/2 red pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1 Tomato
1/2 avacado
Handful of cashews.
Salt to season

I'm sure I don't have to patronise you by telling you to chop it all up and mix it together...
To go alongside my salad I made a smoothie. I had left over coconut milk from the goan curry I made Sunday so I figured this was the best way to use it up. It did not disappoint.

Mango Coconut Smoothie:
2/3 Mango (you could use more of less - this is just what I had)
1/2 tin of light coconut milk
1/2 lime (juice)
A wee bit of lemongrass - I also happened to have left over from another curry!
Blend all the ingredients together, drink and enjoy.

Snacks:

For my morning snack I had one Medjool date and a handful of almonds. I'm not really 100% sure what the raw rule is on dried fruit... But I wasn't too worried today about being super strict! For my afternoon snack I chopped up one carrot and bought some hummus... Ok ok in an ideal world I would have made the hummus myself but I simply could not be bothered. I checked the ingredients and landed on plain hummus because all the lovely flavoured ones had sugar in them. Honestly.

Veggie Spring Rolls
1/2 carrot
1/4 cucumber
1/2 avocado
Large handful bean sprouts
Rice paper

Thinly slice all the veg and trim the bean sprouts, soak the rice paper in warm water for a few seconds and then lay out onto a clean, flat surface. Put your filling in and fold up, like you would a burrito. It's that easy! You can find rice paper in any supermarket with the rest of the Asian cooking ingredients, I recommend giving it a go! You can out whatever you want in them I guess, the picture on the packet had prawns in and they looked good.

I was so impressed with these! I was skeptical about how they'd turn out but it was actually so easy to make. Who needs Chinese eh? Ok ok so sweet chilli dipping sauce isn't exactly clean, nor are the rice wraps but l want this meat free day to be something I can stick to weekly and this is my compromise. This is probably the first time in my life I haven't had a hot, cooked dinner.

Last but not least was pudding. What, you didn't think I'd forget about that now did you? Vegan means no Greek yoghurt for me so I made 'vegan ice cream' which is very yummy. I would make this more often but I usually have a banana in my smoothie for breakfast and I do (usually) try and limit my fruit intake - especially of high sugary fruits like these glorious sons of bitches.
Peanut Butter & Banana 'Ice Cream'
1 frozen banana
Dash almond milk
1tsp peanut butter
Toppings

This just requires blending the frozen banana and almond milk together until you get the consistency you want. I did put my peanut butter in the processor too, poured it into a bowl and topped with raw cacao nibs. Beautiful and guilt free. Just the way I like it.

I really enjoyed today, I loved every single one of my meals and tried lots of new things - I've never eaten or made any of these meals before and I was pleasantly surprised by all 3. Obviously lunch was nothing special but it's nice for me to know that I actually like raw vegetables and can now make healthy on the go lunches easily without worrying about cooking up my veg first. I would definitely do this day again and I think I will try and do a raw(Ish) vegan day once a week - although I probably need to cut back a little for it to benefit my digestive system!

So back to protein shakes, chicken wraps and red meat tomorrow. Until next week you beautiful vegan food.


Minnie
xXx

P.s sorry if the layout of this blog is shit, my laptop has died and my iPad doesn't let me move pictures around.

Pps. Enjoy this photo please and thank you!