It's Dangerous! It's Divine! It's Durian!

In back is the whole durian. In front is the
prepackaged, frozen durian

Until I started exploring the world of raw foods, I had only briefly heard of durian, a.k.a. "the king of fruits" to many in southeast Asia where the fruit is grown and is beloved, a.k.a. "the stinky fruit" to many here in the west where we are unaccustomed to the strong flavor, and even more so, smell of the fruit. I had originally heard of the fruit when Andrew Zimmern tried it on his Travel Channel series Bizarre Foods. This guy can eat turtles, animal guts, bat wings, and pretty much anything he is given, but one bite of durian caused him to start gagging and he could take no more. I was so curious, because I've always been one who can handle "unusual" foods, but I largely forgot about the stinky fruit for over a decade. Once I started educating myself on raw foods this fruit started popping up all over the place. It seems it's widely talked about in the raw food community, and more commonly appreciated than elsewhere, which seems understandable. I know the more I try various new raw foods and eat larger amounts of raw foods in general, the more I like new and unique flavors. Also, it's almost like once you get rid of cravings for salty, fatty foods and give your body fresh, living foods, your body knows what's good for it and craves these things.

So after hearing more and more about this fruit and watching YouTube videos of raw vegan durian parties I became almost obsessed with giving it a try. I searched all over the web trying to figure out how to obtain some, but learned that it wasn't in season. To tide myself over, I ordered some freeze-dried durian from The Raw Food World. I was incredibly surprised how mild the stuff was. I liked it, but didn't love it. It reminded me of a crunchy sweetbread mixed with dehydrated banana that had perhaps gone just a little stale. I knew there was probably more to the real stuff, but was glad to have finally tried it. 

Husk of the durian fruit

Well, the moment of truth finally came. I was in Dallas with my brother and my mini-vacation turned into a bit of a durianfest. We were at an Asian mall, of sorts, and my brother noticed one of the stores that sold bubble tea made a durian smoothie with tapioca pearls. I decided to give it a try, and I loved it. I recognized the durian flavor, and felt like I got to experience it more strongly in this form. From the bubble tea place, we walked next door to the grocery area where we found frozen durian pods in a plastic container, as well as a WHOLE DURIAN! I was so excited I could have screamed (I think I held it to a gasp, though). 

So what were the results? I had two very different experiences with the prepackaged frozen pods and the whole fruit. When the frozen pods thawed out, the texture became like a mixture of watery, slimy pudding with fibrous chunks akin to canned artichoke. The flavor was pleasant, but I gagged on the texture. This morning I turned the rest of that into a smoothie that I found to be absolutely wonderful, but my family wasn't too keen on. After that I became super anxious to open the whole fruit, which had been outside thawing the night before so as to not stink the house up. Opening the durian was the most fun I've had in a while. Sounds sad, I know, but it was really cool. The fruit is so hard, spiky, and dangerous to work with (it's said you could kill a man with a blow to the head with a durian), but there are these little fragile lines running across the fruit where you can literally tear it open with your hands. Once inside, you find these perfectly formed, soft little yellow pods. They feel like a super soft play dough to the touch. When I first tasted this one it was like heaven on my tongue. It was like eating a soft, creamy pudding and tasted like vanilla, shortbread, sugar cookies, stuff like that, but the flavor was much richer and more complex. There's truly nothing I can compare it to and convey what it's like. I think complex is the most important word there. There were just a couple parts of the texture that I'm still getting used to, but I'm sure I will be a durian king in no time.

I'm so happy to have eased into this with the smoothies and freeze-dried durian. part of the problem with people unfamiliar to the fruit trying it for the first time is that they jump straight into chowing into the fruit. Durian is so truly different from anything we have here in the west that easing into it can help a lot with it not being too big of a shock. So, my friends. If you ever get the chance, try a durian smoothie, candy, cookie, etc. And if you don't like it, don't give up. Durian also seems to be very different from experience to experience. Keep trying until you find your durian bliss!!!

Much Love!

Devan

P.S. Here's today's lunch: Fresh strawberries, and sweet, ripe plums. Mmm-mmm!

Return of the Raw Recipe

I'm back after a much longer break than expected. The return of school and work have taken a larger than expected toll on my ability to maintain the large amounts of time and effort I was putting into the total package of buying and preparing raw foods, educating myself about them, exercising, blogging, and other health-related things. I'm doing what I can to maintain it, however, and want you all to know that I still love it and find it to be absolutely beneficial to go for it to whatever extent is possible. Raw, organic, whole foods combined with exercise is just unbelievably life-altering for the better. If it weren't for sticking to this lifestyle as much as I have, I'm sure I would have porked up a lot over the last month. Instead I've managed to keep my weight off and am starting to tone up a bit. Even with my schedule, I'm able to grab fruit on the run, make green smoothies, and buy healthy raw snacks to take with me wherever I go. There's always a way, even if you have to compromise on some things here and there.

So while I've been away, I've made a few recipes I wanted to share with you all. They're not going to be exact recipes (you should know by now that's not really how I roll), but I trust you guys to use your taste buds and make some yummy food!

To start with, we have some delicious zucchini pesto pasta! This stuff was so yummy and so easy to make. To get the really fine zucchini noodles you'll need a spiral slicer of some sort, but you can also just use a vegetable peeler to make broad noodles. The sauce is a spinach pesto I made in a food processor. All you do is use something along the lines of 4 cups of spinach, 1 cup of walnuts, fresh garlic to taste (maybe 2 or 3 cloves), 1/4 cup olive oil, the juice of 1/2 lemon, and salt and pepper to taste. Make your noodles (I used 2 zucchinis and felt like I could have used a little more for the amount of sauce I had), blend all the sauce ingredients together in the food processor and mix the sauce through the noodles. On top, I have some white mushrooms I marinated for a little bit in vinegar, agave nectar, tons of pepper, and maybe some seasonings (Again, sorry. I don't recall for sure), and some sliced tomato. The vinegary mushrooms made a really nice contrast to the richer, earthy taste of the pesto. This is one of my favorite raw food dishes I've made, although I am a HUGE pesto fan.

Next is another zucchini dish (yes I know I use zucchini a lot, but it's delicious). This is vastly different from the pesto recipe, however. It is much less of an entree and more of a side salad or picnic item. I used a spiral slicer, but you can cut it up however you want, to make little ribbons of zucchini and carrot. Then I diced red onion, mushrooms, and some kind of nut and mixed that in. To make a sauce, all I did was take one whole avocado and mash it with my hands through the whole thing. Add a tablespoon or so of lemon juice and/or apple cider vinegar. If you use the vinegar, start with less and add more to taste, as it goes a long way. Continue with salt, pepper, dill, garlic or onion powder, or any seasonings you want, really. This was such a light, fresh, zesty, crunchy and tasty salad. I definitely recommend it. Plus it covers your bases of healthy fats and natural, plant-based proteins. 

 Last, but not least, we have dessert. Some of you may recognize this from my facebook profile. This is the simplest, most amazing thing ever. Seriously, just pit 6 avocados and empty the meat into a food processor. The original recipe called for 1/2 cup each of raw cacao powder and raw carob powder. I tried that and would recommend maybe 1/3 cup of each, or start with 1/4 and add to taste. For sweetener use 1/2 cup agave nectar. Blend. Simple as that. It's very rich, almost like frosting, and it's delicious served chilled. 

I hope you all try some of these out. They are really good and pretty easy to make. I don't think they're too pricey either. I'm going to try to do another blog post this weekend with a couple snack/treat recommendations, and also one on superfoods/nutrient-rich foods. Let me know if you have anything else you'd like to see addressed. 

As always, much love!

Devan

Keep it Simple

Mango pico de gallo on top of sesame seed veggie crackers;
Avocado with Himalayan sea salt and agave nectar

One thing that I feel people worry about with a raw food diet is the prospect of time involved in food preparation. While this is a valid concern and much of what can be prepared is time-consuming, I just wanted to point out that there are many ways in which raw foods can be easier than any other kind! I've been feeling a bit under the weather the last few days and have hardly felt like preparing food and I have found plenty of ways around it. Bite into an apple; peel a banana; simple, simple simple!

You want something with a little more pizzazz, you say?  I just made a fresh and delicious dinner of mango pico de gallo on top of veggie crackers, and one of my favorites, fresh avocado with sea salt and agave. The pico was pre-made, but raw and fresh from my local grocer and the crackers are raw and organic, bought from my local health food store. Expensive? Not really. The 1/2 avocado was about $0.75 and the crackers, while fairly pricey at perhaps $5 per container, are so heavy and nutrient-dense from all the seeds in them you only need a little to be satisfied. The pico was about $3 for 12 ounces and I barely made a dent. All together, maybe $2 for the meal. Note: I had already started eating when I remembered to take the picture, so it was a bit larger of a meal than is pictured.

What I mentioned above about the crackers being nutrient-dense and heavy reminded me of something I wanted to point out. Another common misconception is that the only raw foods there are to eat are veggie sticks and salads. How could you get full off of that? Well, it's hard, unless you transition to that. In the meantime, eat more and eat dense to satisfy any cravings you might have for rich and creamy foods or junk foods. Use things that are high in fat like avocado, nuts and seeds to help fill you up. As long as your diet is clean, this will not make you gain weight. These are healthy fats. They're good for you!

Other things I've done while not feeling well: eating out at a salad bar; eating plain fresh produce, as mentioned above; munching on kale chips and other healthy raw snacks; and juicing grapefruit.

Between having a very successful trip to Dallas for 5 days and being able to eat raw easily and joyfully while fighting a cold, I'm feeling more and more confident that this lifestyle does not have to be difficult! Like most things, it just requires some adjustment, which I'm enjoying experiencing.

Be well & much love!
Devan

Raw Bliss in Dallas

I am so lucky and spoiled! When I arrived at my brother's in Dallas today I was greeted in the kitchen by seven bags of variously flavored kale chips bought in anticipation of my arrival by my brother's partner, Jamie. Next to these was a book, Nature's First Law: The Raw-food Diet, by Stephen Arlin, Fouad Dini, and David Wolfe. As if this wasn't enough, there is a cookie jar full of Lärabars, a fresh bag of grapes in the fridge, and a large glass jar full of raw nuts. I was simply overwhelmed by the kindness and thoughtfulness that went into their preparation for my visit. I mentioned in my last blog that I was going to do better about being prepared for eating "raw on the run", and while I did try to prepare more for this, he made it completely unnecessary, not to mention infinitely more tasty than what I had anticipated based on what I brought with me. So I snacked on much of this after I arrived, and for dinner we went out to Souper Salad and I was able to get two big delicious salads that were very satisfying.

Even all of that is just a preamble to the amazing dinner we just ate at Be Raw Food and Juice. I have been so incredibly excited to check out a raw food restaurant and am super happy to have gotten to with these two great guys in Dallas. As it was a special occasion, what with being together and trying a new raw restaurant for the first time, we splurged and got a little bit of everything. I am so full. Nate got the California Roll and a Hemp Horchata. Jamie got the Coconut Curry Soup, Rawsagna, and Pad Thai. I got the Vietnamese Pho Soup, Coconut Kale Enchiladas, the pizza sampler (included 2 slices each of the Margherita, California, and Greek pizza), and the Minty Hemp Elixir. We all shared each thing we got and ended up being able to try quite a bit from their menu. There wasn't a single thing that any of us disliked and there were several things that we went on and on about. I loved the elixirs. My Minty Hemp Elixir was so fresh and minty, and Nate's horchata was very smooth and sweet with just the right amount of cinnamon.

Front: California Roll. Back: Margherita Pizza. (Failed to get any pictures of untouched platters. Sorry)

The restaurant was small and the atmosphere was very cozy. I could probably move into the bathroom, it was so cozy and smelled so good; not to mention its close proximity to the kitchen. Our server was sweet and soft-spoken, and I'd say the service was quite good. Whether that was merely because there were so few customers there, I do not know.

California Roll

As we were wrapping up with our food, Jamie ordered the cookies & cream cheesecake and a brownie with strawberry sauce. We took these home to give our food a bit of time to digest, and promptly devoured them upon arrival. These too were absolutely delicious, particularly the cheesecake.

Left: Cookies & Cream Cheesecake. Right: Brownie.

While still in Austin, I had every intention of exercising in Dallas. The odds were against me, but I busted out a mile run in the rain, wearing old, thin street shoes, just to keep my commitment to myself. Well, and to my friend too. I had been telling her how soft I've gotten in Texas with the warmer weather. I used to bundle up in Utah in the snow and go running. I haven't done that here in nearly two years (if memory serves) because 40 degrees is too cold (as opposed to 20 or 30 in Utah?). So it felt really good to pull out the old winter running clothes, layer up, and run. I had forgotten how invigorating a cold, drizzly run could be. It was quite nice. I may have gone longer, but I've heard bad things about going long distances with an extreme and sudden change in shoe type.

So I guess that's about it for now. As I've heard some raw foodies say recently, I am just so "blissed out". ;)

Much love
Devan

Raw on the Run

All the brown paper bags are various veggie/nut chips and
crackers. The bar in the front is a Raw Revolution peanut butter
cup bar. To the left of that are sprouted garlic sunflower seeds,
and to the right is a live pumpkin bar. Comment for more info.

Throughout the majority of the time I've been exploring the raw food world I've been on a break from school and work, sitting at home being antisocial, absorbing everything I can through books, YouTube, articles and blogs, and applying my knowledge at the stores and in the kitchen. It has been a wonderful time. Like, seriously wonderful. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I'm feeling well and happy, my weight is quite rapidly getting back to what it used to be, and I'm learning a lot. Somewhat out of the blue, and without much forethought on my part, I found myself within the span of a few days going out to two movies, socializing, getting back at the gym and feeling very busy compared to what I had gotten used to. This has been incredibly fun, but has also been a huge lesson in the importance of scheduling your food preparation and eating times around your activities as well as bringing healthy snacks with you when you go out. On many of the last several days, my food consumption dropped to something along the lines of 1 green smoothie and a coconut water protein drink for the entire day. Oddly, I didn't find myself feeling hungry and I'm not sure yet what's up with that (queue Saturday Night Live "What's up with that" skit music), but it seems potentially unhealthy. I do tend to trust my intuition and try to listen to my body, and to that end I think it was fine. In the long run I would feel differently though, and want to at the very least be on the lookout for such potentially unhealthy patterns. On the other hand, many believe that a calorie restricted diet increases longevity, and there's much out there to back this up. I suppose for now I could think of it as something along the lines of a brief fast. What I hope to take from this, especially as I'm watching the days of work and school rapidly drawing near, is to always have a stash of raw food on the go; stuff like flax crackers, dried seaweed, dehydrated fruits and veggies, raw nuts and seeds. I actually have all the snacks pictured above, but forget to bring them with me. I'm headed to Dallas tomorrow for a few days and will take those along. These are quite pricey to be buying as a fix-all, but luckily I invested in an Excalibur food dehydrator and think this will more than pay for itself as I make super nutrient dense homemade flax crackers and the like. I'm really excited to play around with the dehydrator. In fact, I'm currently using it for the first time ever dehydrating apples that I soaked in lemon juice for a minute and then covered in agave nectar and cinnamon. Hope they turn out and I can take them to Dallas with me. See? Learning my lesson... ;)

Long slow run: 7.3 miles, 90 minutes, 781 calories

On a more positive note, I present to you Raw on the Run part II! I've been feeling really well at the gym lately. When I run, I can tell the difference from having dropped some weight, and my knees seem to be getting better from said weight loss and/or the stretches and exercises I've been doing for them. Also, I've finally been getting in some resistance training and am feeling more and more confident that you can get plenty of protein from this type of diet. Yesterday I did a 7.3 mile run, the farthest I've done in probably close to 2 years, and while I was quite exhausted from it, I felt just as good or better than other times I've pushed myself so hard. I even had the energy after 80 minutes to work up to an 8.5 mph sprint, which is approaching my max speed. Before the run, I had a high calorie fruit smoothie, knowing I'd need the energy for a long workout at the gym. I also brought a big bottle of water with lemon juice and molasses for some extra fuel to keep me going through the run. Sounds weird, I know, but it seems to work. Also, raw blackstrap molasses is high in iron and the vitamin C in the lemon helps the body absorb this iron more readily. Then on my way home, I stopped at the health food store for coconut water (a good recovery drink). I ended up drinking a good 16 ounces of coconut water with protein powder, then running to my friend's where I stayed for several hours, and eating an apple on the way home (Hey! I guess I did prepare a little!). So my total food intake was a smoothie, an apple, and two drinks, basically. Along with a 700+ calorie burn from the run, I don't know if this is great for the potential weight loss, or just really unhealthy. When these types of things happen, I do at least try very hard to make what little I do eat is very nutrient dense and catered to my activity for the day. On a minimal exercise day I eat lots of dark leafy greens and veggies and less nuts, seeds, avocados and fats. On a big exercise day I'll try to get more carbs and proteins, as well as minerals and electrolytes to refuel my body.

Anyway, looks like I'll always be learning, and I think this is as it should be!

Until next time...
Much love
Devan

The Popcorn Siren

There it sits on the seat next to me as I drive home from the movie theater; the popcorn bucket, softly calling out to me, "Deeevaaaan... Ooooh Deeeeeevaaaaan. Can you hear me? Can you smell me? You don't have to save ALL of this mouthwatering deliciousness for your sisters. Go ahead. Have a bite. Just one bite. You managed to eat a single kernel at the theater without losing control. Just one crunchy, buttery, salty, delicious bite." I reach over and grab a single piece... reach over and grab two more. That was delightful, I don't need anymore. So why is my hand wandering over to the bucket again? And again. And again. And again. And... Good lord, why is the bucket nearly empty???!!! Sigh... Oh you devilish, rascally little kernels, undermining me in such a way.

So this is the part in previous attempts in dietary changes where I've often said, "Oh, well I screwed up. Guess it's over." Well not this time, buddy! I actually feel very ok with my little junk food relapse. It's all part of the process, or journey, if you will. I actually had to laugh at it a bit, my temporary frenzy. I saw little images in my mind of popcorn flying out of my mouth and hands; little crumbs forming a cloud around me as I sob into the bucket. I didn't by any means actually feel this way, it was just a comical image that entered my mind. I considered not even talking about this, but that would go against everything this blog stands for. My intentions are to share my journey with you; the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the amazing, the awkward, etc.

What is really good about this experience is I was able to use it as a gauge to see how my body has changed since going high-raw. I've always gotten mild headaches from eating large amounts of movie theater popcorn. I can tell my body liked it even less than before. While I did eat much more popcorn than I had wanted, it really was only maybe a third of the bucket (I accidentally spilled much of it on the floor of my friend's car. You were so gracious. Thank you!), and I feel the same right now as I used to when I would eat probably nearly a whole bucketful along with a 32 oz drink. I have heard stories about how as your body adjusts to healthy, nutrient-dense foods, it starts to reject unhealthy foods more. Some people view this as the veganism, raw food diet, etc., making people sickly or unable to "handle" anything. What many people in the raw foods movement say, however, and this makes sense to me, is that it's more related to building up tolerances. Matt Monarch of the Raw Food World likens it to how we would die if we consumed a teaspoon of arsenic, but were we to take a drop every week, then every other day, then every day, and so on, we'd eventually build up a tolerance. Well, the same goes for food. As babies we live off of mother's milk. We move on to fruits and veggies. Next thing we know we're eating bread, animal crackers, birthday cake, and finally Mcdonald's happy meals. If you gave the newborn these junk foods right away they'd likely get very sick, but slowly introduce them to it and they're fine. Well, supposedly the same thing works in reverse. We can lose our tolerance for unhealthy foods as our bodies become more pure. I don't know the science behind this, or if it's even true, but it kind of makes sense to me, and I don't feel that losing my tolerance for junk food is necessarily something I'm going to feel to bad about. I think it's actually a very exciting prospect. None of us really want to eat junk food. It tastes good and is briefly satisfying, but that's about it, and we know it's horrible for out bodies.

So, to wrap this up, I had a little adventure today, don't feel any remorse about it, and am moving forward with joy. I'm even open to this happening again. Who knows, maybe next time I'll feel gross after only a handful of it... and be ever so grateful. ;)

Much love to you all!
Devan

Back to Work

I finally made it back to the gym after a couple weeks with only one visit. I expected it to be packed with "resolutioners", but to my surprise it wasn't bad at all. On my way there I found a tiny dog running off to the side of the road without a collar. I tried to get close, but it barked like crazy. I chased it for about half a mile as I was on the phone with animal control. It's owner ended up coming and I ran back to my car. So, I got a good mile warm up on my way, then when I got there I did another 5 minute warm up on the treadmill just to be safe, 20 minutes of hill repeats (2 minutes at an incline of 10, 2 minutes at 0), and then a 5 minute cooldown. Next I did lots of stretching, some specific exercises for fixing my knee pain, strength training (abs, quads, triceps, shoulders and chest), followed by more stretching. I felt SO great when I was done. Glad to be back. I have a half marathon in February and I have a lot of work to do!

Here's what I ate today. Not much, but I followed my instincts, ate what felt right to me, and felt really well all day. I got a little hungry around 10pm or so, but (partially influenced by a friend; thank you) decided to not eat so late. I've been trying to do better with that anyway, but got off track during the holidays a bit.

• 1/2 of a humongous apple
• 1 serving raw protein powder
• Juice (probably over 24 oz): purple carrot, carrot greens, beets, beet greens, spinach, celery, apple, lemon, fennel
• Maca, chlorella, fiber w/herbs, flax, and chia mixed into 24 oz. water and sweetened with stevia

Hope to have some more recipes and interesting tidbits for you soon!

Much love

Devan

Adventures in Restaurant Land

This morning was my first time eating out since going raw! Well, ordering something, anyway. I've been avoiding this and even somewhat dreading it, thinking that it would (a) be too hard to find something pleasurable to order; or (b) Somehow be uncomfortable for whoever I was with. Weirdly, both times I've been out were at IHOP. The first time I just drank coffee, and it was with my siblings who knew about my lifestyle and knew I was just going along for the company. This morning, however, I was with a friend who I was meeting in person for the first time. He also knew from my blogs that I have been eating raw, but I had still been wondering if my diet would make things uncomfortable at all if we were to eat out together. Luckily, he was very kind, gracious, and even supportive/encouraging about my food choices in general, and there was not any confusion or awkwardness about it. Then again, when asked if I wanted to go eat, my response was literally, "If you won't get mad at me for ordering a bowl of fruit". Good strategy, right? Just put it out there. Haha. ;) So that was nice and refreshing. I mean, I know these things will come up in the future, and probably with much less pleasant results. I've just been thinking I need to get used to things like eating raw on the go and eating raw while dining out with people.

On to yesterday's and today's food intake. They were rather weird and scattered again. I'm hoping to get back into a more regular routine of green smoothies and energy soup again, but the last couple days I've largely been grazing. I do believe in trusting your body and not forcing yourself into too strict of routines, which is part why I hardly ate anything all day today and when I finally did it was pretty much just a plate of veggies. On the other hand, I like to see that in general I'm trying to get a wide variety of foods and their corresponding nutrients into my body, and a great way of doing this is smoothies and energy soup.

12/31/12

• Juice of 3 grapefruits and an apple
• Green smoothie: 1 bunch of spinach, 1 cup blueberries, a handful of cranberries, 1 T ground flax seeds, 1 T chia seeds, 2 T Irish moss, 1 B12 vitamin, 1 date, 1 dropper of stevia, water to liquid consistency. 
• A few bites of a disgusting energy soup I made out of the "Brussels sprouts" I got from the farmers market that weren't really Brussels sprouts, cucumber, watermelon radish, garlic, avocado, salt, flax seed oil, and water
• 1 avocado covered in agave and sea salt (One of the yummiest snacks EVER!)
• Crumbs at the bottom of the bag of tarragon dijon kale chips
• Crumbs at the bottom of the bag of sea salt and vinegar kale sesame kale chips
• 1 fairly large slice of my Chocolate Coconut Custard Pie drizzled with agave
• 1 decaf coffee that I ended up dumping the last few swallows of
• 1 wine glass full of kombucha to toast in the new year

1/1/13

• Bowl of mixed fruit
• Tall glass of grapefruit juice
• Chlorella
• Kombucha
• 1/2 banana
• 2 tomatoes, 2 watermelon radishes, and 1/2 cucumber with salt, flax seed oil, red chili pepper sauce, and wasabi sauce
• 1 T flax seeds
• 1 T chia seeds
• 1 T hemp seeds (hemp hearts)

Much love

Devan