Tracy’s Raw Food Journal

Those just transitioning from a SAD (Standard American Diet) lifestyle to a high-raw/Eighty Percent Raw (www.EightyPercentRaw.com) lifestyle will likely appreciate ideas for how to begin improving their existing diet in a tasty and healthy way.

Here’s another of my favorite breakfast ideas which will satisfy your yearning for a sweet breakfast cereal but will minimize your cooked/grain, dairy and refined sugar consumption. Try it and let me know what you think!

Natural Applesauce with Homemade Granola and Soy Creamer

1 to 1-1/2 c. raw (preferably) or All-Natural Applesauce

1/2 c. Homemade Granola (recipe to follow)

3 to 4 Tbl. Store-bought Soy Creamer

Just put the applesauce in a bowl, top with granola, spoon soy creamer on top and enjoy! Simple, delicious, and MUCH more healthy for you than many other “traditional” breakfast foods! *Here’s my “off-the-cuff” recipe for Homemade Granola (I just tossed the ingredients into a bowl, mixed them and toasted it in the oven…measurements are approximate.)

Homemade Granola

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup brown flax seed, ground in coffee grinder

1 cup raw almonds, chopped

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 c. dark agave nectar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Sprinkling of sea salt

Spread on ungreased cookie sheet and toast in 400 degree oven about 20 minutes. Stir and return to oven for an additional 10 or so minutes. Allow to cool. The toasty deliciousness is fabulous and even though this isn’t raw (you absolutely COULD just use this raw instead of baking it!) it’s still a MUCH healthier alternative to most store-bought breakfast cereals. Also, if you follow the recipe your meal is MOSTLY natural applesauce and the granola just supplies a nice, toasty, crunchy addition so you feel like it’s a REAL TREAT! The soy creamer adds richness and makes you feel the same satisfaction you get from putting milk on cereal without all the negative aspects adding dairy can cause in our bodies.

Hi Gang!

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I wrote an entry for this blog so I thought I’d update with a subject I think a LOT of people might find helpful. Delicious healthy, if not always Raw, food alternatives for some of your favorite, unhealthy foods.

I’m having weight loss success that is being sustained over the long-haul, and I believe a big key to WHY I’m having that success is that I’ve made some key substitutes for some of the unhealthy foods I used to consume on a regular basis.

I hope these help you, too, and maybe even spark a few of your own healthy versions of favorite foods! If so, PLEASE email them to me! I’d love to have them and post them here!

Ok, here you go -

Soda Pop (Diet or Regular)

Replace With: Water, Green Tea, Yerba Mate Tea, Red Wine (evening only)

Fruit Juice (Bottled/Store-bought)

Replace With: Water, Green Tea, Yerba Mate Tea, Red Wine (evening only)

Salty/Crunchy Snack (Chips, popcorn, pretzels, etc.)

Replace With: Raw nuts such as almonds, cashews, etc., roasted peanuts in the shell, dill pickles, olives, celery filled with natural nut butter and topped with raisins, raw vegies and hummus or ranch dressing

Pudding or Creamy Comfort Food Desert

Replace With: Old Fashioned Oatmeal* or Raw Chocolate Pudding*

Pasta or Noodles

Replace With: Zucchini Noodles or Real Egg Noodles*

Bread/Rolls

Replace With: Lettuce for wraps. Deli meats and sliced cheeses w/o bread

Store-bought Chocolate & Candy

Replace With: Raw Cacao Goop, 70-85% Chocolate Bar, Dates & Almonds

Milk Shake, Malt or Ice Cream

Replace With: Green Smoothie, Frozen Pure-Fruit Sorbet

French Fries or Potato Chips

Replace With: Baked Yam, Baked Sweet Potato, Baked Home-Fries, Boiled Yukon Gold or Baby Red Potatoes

Any dish served over rice or noodles

Replace With: Eat the sauce/topping alone or on-top of raw baby spinach leaves, bean sprouts, zucchini noodles

Sweet Breakfast Cereal and Milk

Replace With: Tracy’s Raw Apple/Banana/Nut “Cereal”*, Old Fashioned Oatmeal*, Green Smoothie

Toppings such as butter/margarine, cheese, sour cream, milk. cream, creamy salad dressing, etc.

Replace With: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray, olive oil, salsa, hummus, home made salad dressings, balsamic vinegar, canned garbanzo beans or home made/fat-free “refried beans”*

Thick meaty soups and stews

Replace With: Meat-free home made lentil soup, pinto bean, garbonzo bean, and other bean and vegetable-based soups and stews.

A Couple of Other Tips

Replace sugar, artificial sweeteners and corn syrup based sweeteners with:

Stevia (I use the powdered version in packets), Agave Nectar, Raw Honey, Pure Maple Syrup, Medjool Dates, Raisins, Applesauce

Eliminate potatoes and other starchy vegetables and grains as much as possible.

Eat chocolate every day in order to prevent a sense of deprivation. Raw cacao is best, but Lindt or Green & Blacks 70-85% Cocoa chocolate bars are very low sugar and are very satisfying.

Always put “greens” (raw spinach is our favorite but try any other salad greens you like) in your fruit smoothies. Read more about this below in another post about green smoothies.

Eat something every 2-3 hours to keep yourself from feeling overly hungry. Try to have a small, balanced snack or meal which includes a good source of protein along with primarily vegies and/or a piece of fruit.

Drink a large glass of water prior to, or just after eating and only eat until satisfied. Personally, I like to eat until I think I might still be a little hungry and then top it off with a big glass of water. That way I feel totally FULL!

WALK wherever you can instead of taking your car. MOVE YOUR BODY!!! A great, free workout tracking website and support community can be found online here: www.teambeachbody.com/coachtracyj

Find a workout buddy or team who will support you and hold you accountable to your own weight loss and fitness goals!

*Recipes for foods listed with an asterisk can be found below in this blog or will be provided soon. Check back in the next few days for my Old Fashioned Oatmeal recipe.

GOOD LUCK!