Thursday, September 4, 2008

Vitamix RAW nut butter tip

So, many of you probably know this, but wow, that Vitamix can sure heat food up! Last entry I posted about my pistachio yum bars. Well, I had used nuts right from the freezer for that recipe. Today I tried it again with room temperature nuts (so like 85 degrees!) and they got quite HOT in there. I didn't even blend them down all the way to nut butter.

So, the tip is: FREEZE the nuts first before attempting nut butter in the vitamix, especially if you're trying to keep the nut butter raw.

Love and light,

~ Melissa

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5 comments:

Living Green said...

Hi, I have just been to the Tree of Life Center in Patagonia, AZ on a reversing diabetes program. After a one week green juice fast and two weeks of 100% raw food eating. I am off insulin and my blood sugars have stabilized around 85-100. So, I am committed to staying raw the rest of my life. Anyways, I live at 10,000 feet in the mountains of Colorado where it snows for about 6 months and cold. My accupuncturist feels that a raw food diet is not a good idea in the winter. As an accupuncturist, what are your thoughts on being yin deficient and eating raw in the winter time? my email is joanna.kanow@gmail.com. Thanks and be well.

Melissa Sokulski said...

I did email this response, but I thought I'd post it here as well, in case others wanted to read it:

Thanks for getting in touch! And congratulations on reversing your diabetes!!! That is really so wonderful. I am familiar with the tree of life program and I'm so glad you went there and had such success.

Many acupuncturists voice a concern about raw foods and winter because that is what we learn in school. That is how I felt, too, when I first heard about raw foods based on what I'd learned about Chinese Theory. However, once I experienced raw I found my actual experience was much different (and better!) than what I'd learned in school. (If your acupuncturist is Chinese, they have a whole culture of eating mostly cooked foods and lots of meat, so a raw food vegetarian diet is foreign to them and sounds terrible.)

Your experience shows that your body is much healthier eating raw foods. In winter, many people worry about cold conditions such as qi or yang deficiency. I'm not sure why yin deficiency would be an issue (unless you mean too thin?) Yin deficient conditions often feel hot, and raw foods are cooling and nourishing and would balance nicely. If too thin is a concern, then of course you can add healthy raw calories.

If you're worried about being too cold in a long winter, first of all, don't worry! Just take it day by day, you may feel better this winter than ever before. If you do get cold, there are modifications you can make to a raw diet to help you:

~ You can add warming foods like kale, onions, ginger and garlic.
~ You can gently raise the temperature of your food to body temp or slightly above (95 - 105). That way your food is still raw, but you're not eating it cold.
~ Avoid eating too many fruits (which you probably do anyway if following Tree of Life's program.)
~ Avoid ice cold drinks and cold smoothies.
~ You can always also have some warm/hot water (or herbal tea) if you are doing that.

I am in the process of writing more about raw foods and traditional chinese medicine on our other blog: http://birchcenter.blogspot.com, because I really do think that a raw foods diet is not so oppositional to Chinese Medicine (just how we learned Chinese medicine.)

Anyway, please let me know if anything comes up or if you had any other specific questions I didn't answer.

Congratulations again!!!

PRAGUE said...

Hello, I am looking for some help with my aching lower back. This year in January I have had on the job injury which kept me for 3 days at home. After my MRI, I was told that one of my discs is dried up and that's what has caused my problem. Not sure on how to correct this problem without getting steroids injections that according to my doctor is the only way to get the inflamation down and get on to the road of recovery. Unfortunately for me, I am all against taking anything that is chemically produced and has side effects. I have been going to a chiropractor, but I am still having pains in my lower back. I am also taking bromelain. My worst problem is that I can't sleep for more than 5 to 6 hours at a time and it makes me tired by the end of the week. Due to the pain I just have to get up. I must be extremely tired to get my 8 hours in. Do you have any suggestions on what I should try to do or not to do. Thanks, again for any suggetion that you might have.

Melissa Sokulski said...

Hi Prague,
Some ideas that come to mind would be yoga or gentle stretching, MSM is a supplement that you might want to look into, and also seeing an acupuncturist may help. I can't really offer you specific medical advice without seeing you...if you are in Pittsburgh you are welcome to come into the Birch Center (East Carson Street, south side) and see my husband and he might be able to give you more specific recommendations and treatment.
But I do hope you find relief!!

PRAGUE said...

Thanks for the reply. I'll surely checkout the MSM supplement. By the way, I live in Portland, Oregon. I hope you'll understand that Pittsburgh would be little bit out of the way. I do appreciate your offer. You just never know. I do have a Chinese acupuncturist that I visit occationally in Beaverton, so I am ready to give a him try too. Thanks again.