Eat Dance Live

First off, many of you have been very supportive of the studying/work/exam craziness that has been my life recently. I really appreciate it, so thanks for all your comments and emails over the last little while. To all you faithful blog followers, thanks for being understanding and patient towards my recent scattered posting habits. Secondly, as some of you may know, the Canadian August long weekend is one of my favourite times of the year. Why? Because that means it's camping time! Every year, Andrew and I head to an awesome camping festival that often ends up being an annual highlight. While river dips, drum circles, and fire pit dancing could be my recap of the trip, I usually end up writing a more useful mosquito post. So here goes: Last year, I shared some of my successful strategies to naturally avoid getting bitten by mosquitos by focusing on light coloured clothes, staying clean, and minor dietary changes. The most common diet tip is not to eat potassium-rich foods for the...

"Where do you get your B12?" The more nutritionally-conscious raw diet skeptics have cleverly replaced the age-old "where do you get your protein?" question with this one. However, as always, I come prepared! While we only need a very small amount of B12 every day, it's vital that we get it so I welcome the question. B12 helps your body convert carbs, fats, and proteins into energy. It helps maintain red and white blood cell health. Finally, it helps form necessary protection around your very important brain nerve cells. Deficiency usually expresses itself in the form of anemia, fatigue, weakness, constipation, inexplicable weight loss, and more dramatic neurological changes like tingling of the extremities, maintaining balance, depression, confusion, dementia, and memory loss. The thing about a B12 deficiency is that for some, it hits them suddenly, but for others it could take up to a period of as long as 20+ years to express (but then the consequences are pre...

Tempeh is one of those foods that's still okay on my list. I make it for Andrew every week, and of course, if I make something, I'm bound to taste if it's okay. Unlike other foods that I don't even allow to pass my lips anymore, tempeh still has benefits I don't mind getting a couple tablespoons of every once in a while. Tempeh has been a staple in Indonesia for over 2000 years. I've tasted all sorts of tempeh, both yummy and totally nasty (Australia, I don't know what's up with you, but you've got to do something about your tempeh). Of course, being made up of soybeans, it's a great meat substitute in terms of protein, and also has a heavier meaty texture that's great for mock dishes. It's made by cooking hulled soybeans, adding in a culturing agent, and incubating them to let them ferment over night until they form a cake. Tempeh is one of the few soy-based foods that actually uses the whole soybean. Fermentation also makes it extra he...

And by that, I mean sushi. If I haven't made it clear yet, I have something of a seaweed addiction. I always have a strong desire to incorporate more of it into my life. To celebrate, my day began and ended with seaweed. Breakfast was yet another spirulina strawberry-banana whip. This one was made by simply blending 1 1/2 frozen bananas in the Vitamix (or any high speed blender), then separately blending 3 frozen strawberries, and topping that magnificent mix in a bowl with 1 heaping teaspoon of spirulina. To end a wonderful day, I have just finished polishing off 1 1/2 rolls of my superfood sushi , one of the first recipes I ever blogged about. To make it more raw, this version had sprouted red quinoa instead of steamed quinoa. The rest was the same, though I did use a couple strips of tempeh as the protein and Braggs instead of soy sauce. I do eat tempeh on rare occasions because live/fermented foods are usually a-okay in my book. I also don't have to go into detail to re-e...