Raw Food with the OMMH! (4)

Getting started with raw diet,

need a bit of preparation,
on top of fullfilling the 3 pre-requisites.

As one may see in most raw vegan recipes,
a lot of juicing and blending are required.
Hence, preparing the relevant kitchen equipment
would be a logical next step.

They are:

Juicer:
Basically any decent juicer will do;
altho a press juicer is preferred over a centrfugal juicer,
as there is less damage done when juice is pressed out.
A good durable press juicer
may cost SGD600-1000.

Blender:
Often people get this mixed up with juicer.
A blender is one that blends everything of a fruit,
a long with fiber and seeds.
The outcome is usually a thick liquid.
A good blender is required to make
the blended food smooth and fine;
also to save ingredients and cost.
Nothing get sieved out and wasted.
A favourable super blender
may cost SGD1000-1600.

Food processor:
This is not essential, if a super blender already exists.
But, this equipment may help to make
a lot of healthy salad cream, nut butter or even raw cakes!
-- to cheer up our life =)
A normal grade food processor
may cost about SGD100-250.

Yes, after the 3 pre-requisites,
it's investment.
They are inevitable.

Going raw isn't an overnight affair.
If one is not well educated, well prepared, well equiped,
any diet regime simply won't work.

That is why there is no need to rush.
As a start, perhaps one could go through
a year of transition,
slowly increase the portion of raw food
and decrease the portion of cooked food.

That will give one ample of time to
get educated (e.g. attending raw cooking classes),
restructure one's lifestyle,
and save up to buy those expensive equipment!!

So, get prepared!


Happy learning,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


p/s: Incidentally, I will be conducting a Biogenic raw food worshop on 17th July @ Onaka . Enquiry @ 6464 2007.

Raw-Food-with-the-OMMH
{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Raw Food with the OMMH! (3)

Like many things in life,

things don't come easy and
things come with a cost or are tied with 'terms and conditions'.

It's true that going raw vegan
isn't a diet as complicated as rocket science,
but it's important that one abide by certain 'rules'
when participating in 'the game'.

Exactly why some of my students asked:
would raw diet be sufficiently nutritious/nutritionally balanced?

The answer is yes, if one plays by the rules =)

Rule 1:
Remember always that
one should not be selective with their food,
given any diet/regime they are undertaking.
Being selective about food, will obviously deprive
one from getting full spectrum of nutrition from the already limited
choice of raw food sources.
This is the #1  pre-requisite one needs to fulfill
before plunging into raw food diet.

Extended from the principle above,
it's also important to have easy/ready access to
wide variety of fresh produce
to ensure comprehensive nourishment.
(special note: Singapore which imports 90% of her food, may pose a bigger challenge to go totally raw)


Rule 2:
Access to organic food.
Raw food, is not just about eating non-cooked food.
It's actually about life-force and robust nourishment
(when eating right).
Organic food provides higher nutritients and life force
compared to chemically grown ones.
Hence, in order to ensure optimal nourishment,
organic food source is essential for raw foodists.

Many raw amateurs/beginners simply do not meet the first two pre-requisites,
hence the concern of balanced nutrients when they go raw.


Rule 3:
Dedicated to do sprouting and fermantation on weekly basis.
From TCM point of view,
fruits, leafy vegetables (as frequently seen in salad and raw smoothies)
are cooling.
These food groups are even more cooling, when eaten raw, generally speaking.
In order to counterbalance the Yin element predominating in raw diet,
it's important to take seeds which are of Warm/Yang.
Seeds are usually toxic (to different extent) when taken raw.
Hence, the only way to eat seeds raw is by sprouting
to do away the toxin.

Also, sprouting offers tremendous life-force in the raw food
(sprouts are not just alive but actively, robustly alive).
This consequently will provide raw foodists with
vigour, stamina and dynamic speed.

Fermented food (e.g. rejuvelac, raw vegan cheese)
which comprise of actively dividing live bacteria,
offers the similar benefits as sprouted seeds.

If the 3 pre-requisites above are fulfilled,
one will be on smoother path towards raw veganism.



Well regards,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

Raw-Food-with-the-OMMH


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Raw Food with the OMMH! (2)

c

While self-digestive enzyme remains
the magical key to motivate people go raw diet
so as to look younger and to be more energetic,
other supportive reasons to go raw, includes:

^preservation of the natural activity of the nutrients
      because heat from cooking sometimes damages
      the function of certain nutrients,
      one example is that heat will degrade Vitamin C.

^free of toxic by-products that arise from heating of food
      because many a time, heating induces chemical reaction among nutrients,
      forming substances that are not natural and toxic to our bodily system
      one example is heated oil that leads to formation of carcinogens

^bioavailability of some nutrients may be higher
      because heating sometimes damages/complicates
      the molecular structure of some nutrients,
      and subsequently causes the body's extra effort to convert it back to natural form or
      to break down to smaller form before assimilation.
      one example is heat-denatured proteins that needs extra step
      to be hydrolysed before assimilation
     *contraditively, heating is required to make
       some other nutrients(e.g. lycopene) readily absorbable.

^less food additives/chemicals
      because raw food is never processed and hence
      the lower chance of contamination of addivitives/chemical
      one example is fresh fruit juice
      vs bottled juice pasteurised and preserved by benzoates

Raw-Food-with-the-OMMH
Here is one of many testimonials of the benefits of going raw:




Getting moved to try out raw diet?

Don't rush..
Wait till the next blog post.
-- There are pre-requisites to go raw!.. hehehe..



Come back soon,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

Raw-Food-with-the-OMMH

{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Raw Food with the OMMH! (1)

The trend of going for raw diet
is catching some attention these days,
while the concept of going vegan is also fast spreading.
-- this is a very good sign and ought to be congratulated :D

Along the years,
when I conducted classes on vegetarian wellness,
often I get questions of all sorts, substantially asking about:
- how to balance our nutrition by going raw
- whether raw is too "yin"/"cooling"
- is there more tasty ways to prepare raw meals
etc...

Recently, a friend of mine who has been attempting
on a partial raw diet,
came to me with the exact same complaints as listed above.
That triggers me on writing up this series of blog
on clarifying some facts and myths about raw diet.

First thing that needs to be clarified is
why go raw?

One of the major reason is that
raw food contains self-digesting enzymes.

This self-digesting enzymes mainly comes from
lysosome, a cellular compartment that is meant for
degrading waste/toxic substance in every single living cells.

When a cell is alive,
these self-digesting enzymes are organised and contained tightly in
the lysosome compartment to prevent leakage into other parts of the cells
-- otherwise, anything that comes in contact with lysosome content
will be digested/degraded.

But when a cell is ruptured,
the lysosome enzymes will leak out and blindly degrade anything that
it comes in contact with.

When we eat raw food,
cells are ruptured by chewing, or dissolved by gastric juices,
releasing the food-originated digestive enzymes
into our gastro-intestinal tract.

That in turn makes our food more quickly/efficiently digested
with less participation of digestive enzymes secreted by our own body.

Everything is energy.
That includes digestive enzymes.
If we were to eat food that will naturally self-digest itselves,
our body will save a lot of energy producing our own enzymes.

With that energy savings,
our body could redistribute energy resources to other parts of our body,
especially where healing is needed.

This further implies that
when we save energy when eating raw foods,
our body could channel energy
  to our brain for quicker thinking,
  to our immune system for disease prevention,
  to our skin for better complexion
  to many other organs for enhanced functions =)

More RAW info to come...


Good day,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

Raw-Food-with-the-OMMH
{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Surprises in Hong Kong and China (3)

One more surprise was my encounter with
a TCM professor in Zhuhai.
That basically worthed my 3D2N visit to the humble city.

The professor's name was Dr Wu Zhi Wu.

My gang and I was on a 1-day tour in Zhuhai,
during which we visited
a Traditional Chinese & Tibetan Medical Centre.
(a routine marketing component of any China tour)

Despite the obvious marketing scheme,
I kept my mind open,
and took up their offer
to get free consultation from a TCM doctor during visit.
Professor Wu Zhi Wu was my consultant.

The reason I was surprised to meet Dr Wu,
was that, for many years,
I haven't met a doctor whom I can seriously communicate with
-- and communicate in quality and quantity.

During the entire consultation session
which lasted more than 1hr, (close to 1.5hr),
Dr Wu was acting like my university lecturer,
tutoring me about TCM principles to heal (in broad view)
on top of discussing my personal bodily weakness (in narrow view).

His sincerity to heal and pass on
the self-diagnosis & self-healing knowledge
touched me.

Notably and amazingly,
when I told him that I am also in healing business
he gave me some useful tips:

Tip 1. People nowadays are generally stressed.
Offering nutritionals that help people to relax/destress/sleep,
will naturally resolve many of their health problems.


Tip 2. Singapore is surrounded by sea and the humidity
affects the lungs and consequently causes sinus.
Offering nutritionals which can strengthen their lung,
will resolve the increasingly common sinus problem.

I wholehearted accepted his blessing
and felt grateful to meet a doctor who truly
heals (by education).

At the end of the session,
Dr Wu heart-warmingly gave me his QQ number
and told me I could consult him online anytime.

I eventually bought some herbal powder from
the medical centre (according Dr Wu's prescription),
to strengthen my health foundation.
After taking it for 2 weeks,
the herbs were already working!

I couldn't be more grateful.

This tour to HK-China is one of the most wonderful trips
in recent years indeed!!



Regards,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

p/s: Another small surprise was that, I paid for 2 month's of supply of herbal powder, and now looking closely at the sheer amount they gave me, I think it may last me for 4-5months! The medical centre do very well in sales and marketing, but do even better in giving true value to people.




{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Surprises in Hong Kong and China (2)

The second surprise that I encounter in Hong Kong and China was
to find out that Hong Kong and Guang Zhou
are charging the consumers for plastic bags!!

At 7-11 and Wellcome chain grocery stores in Hong Kong,
the cashiers asked for HKD0.50 for plastic carrier; and
in Guang Zhou, even at a humbly small deli grocery store,
they ask for RMB1 for plastic carrier!!

I was amazed by the environmental effort,
given my prejudice that
these highly populated cities would be like Singapore,
and can't be bothered to take these baby steps
to prevent plastic bags abuse.
-- I was wrong. Happily wrong tho' ;)

Singapore being a leader in East Asia, has a lot to catch up
in this perspective, definitely.

The experience being asked to pay for plastic carrier
was actually very impactful to me --
Everytime the cashiers asked me to pay for the plastic bags,
my brain started to work out a creative way to carry my goods;
and that broke my cyclical circuit thinking just about my ownself and
suddenly force that very "environment issue" into my day-to-day agenda.

Now that I am back in Singapore,
everytime I pay for my goods at the cashier
I am still naturally thinking how I can carry my stuff without a carrier.

Can't believe that
just a few cents of plastic bag lesson
could change my thinking pattern and habit!

As I write up this blog, my heart is yelling:
Singapore and Malaysia must implement compulsory plastic bag fee immediately!!!


Charge for plastic bags!
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Surprises in Hong Kong and China (1)

It has been a week since I came back from Hong Kong-China trip.

While I have been busy catching up with work,
I couldn't wait to tell my friends some of the surprises
in Hong Kong and China!

One of the surprises is
the quality vegetarian places in Hong Kong & China!

Thanks to Happycow.net and my good friend Emily,
I managed to find a lot of nice vegetarian restaurants/cafes in Hong Kong.

These are a few that I had been to and enjoy the quality of the food there :D

World Peace Cafe
21, Tai Wong Street East,
(off Johnston Rd.)
Wanchai, Hong Kong.
http://www.worldpeacecafe.hk/
Tel: +852 25275870
** Yummy organic vegan food in modern fusion style. 
Run by a group of buddhist volunteers.
Great dining ambience and friendly service! Moderately high price (~SGD15-20/pax).
Highly highly recommended =)

Loving Hut
Shops B&C, G/F, The Hennessy,
213 Johnston Rd,
Wanchai, Hong Kong.
http://www.lovinghut.com/
Tel: +852 25743248
** Comfy and spaceous dining experience.
Traditional style but definitely health conscious vegan food.
Sister branch of Loving Hut in Singapore. Systematic self-service.
Reasonable price (~SGD8-10/pax).

Greenfeel Vegetarian
145 G/F, Sai Yee St,
Mong Kok, Hong Kong.
Tel: +852 23938012
** Nicely designed interior, offering romantic dining experience.
Very wide array of traditional East Asian cuisine and snacks,
but with creative twists!
Good taste, moderately healthy and good service.
Resaonable price (~SGD8-12/pax)
Highly recommended!


Whereas, in China,
although we didn't have much luck finding many vegetarian places,
we managed to bump into several good veg restaurant!

慈生素食菜馆
广州市越秀区
净慧路７６号（光孝寺隔壁）
５１０１８０．
Tel: 86 020 81072970 / 81072976
**Very traditional Chinese restaurant, but there are plenty of healthy options.
Buddhist setting for the devotees at GuangXiao temple just next door.
Yummy taste and very cheap price
(~SGD4/pax for a proper round table ala carte dining!)


佛山素乐地餐饮纯净素食

佛山市禅城区
锦华路
东方广场
德胜楼三楼A05号
Tel: +86 757 82221115 / 82221155
**comfortable and contemporary interior harmonises nicely
with the traditional but very quality + health conscious vegan cuisine.
Great taste, good service and moderately high price.
-- My Guang Zhou friend, Brian, gave us a treat,
so can't remember the exact price range! :P
Highly highly recommended!

fg fine foods
009, Ground Floor,
Sky Metro,
Guangzhou East Station,
Guangzhou.
Tel: +86 020 62886040
**this is not a vegetarian place,
but they offer large array of ovo-lacto vegetarian options.
Mediterranean style, but truly fine quality and great taste.
-- modern interior, cosy dining experience, good service,
and moderately high price (~SGD12/pax).
Worth trying, if can't find any veg place =)


More surprises to come!!



Cheerio :D
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}