Raw Food & Healthy Eating Scotland

Rawfood, vegan, vegetarian, plant based & healthy eating in Scotland

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About Lisa Murphy

Lisa Murphy has followed a rawfood diet since 2003. She is also a counsellor, hypnotherapist and coach who specialises in healthy eating, weight loss and anxiety. For more details of Lisa's therapies and courses please visit www.CherryTherapies.com

Raw food in Cape Town

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Mar 9 0

Cape Town Raw and Vegan Food

I recently found myself far from the chilly Scottish shores, over in the South African sunshine, sampling the raw food delights of Cape Town.

Glasgow to Cape Town

After a 11.5 hour flight connecting at Heathrow (if you go, make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to connect – our flight from Glasgow to London was delayed so we had a mad dash and just made it by the skin of our teeth – which is more than can be said for our luggage!) we made it to our cute little Airbnb beach apartment at the beautiful seaside resort of Camps Bay.

Camps Bay – Cape Town beach

Camps Bay was a great base for us as it had plenty of cafes, a supermarket, fabulous sandy beaches, and a great healthy fast food place just around the corner!

Kauai healthy fast food

Kauai has salads, superfood smoothies, juices, and plenty of healthy meals. A lot of their dishes include meat; however you can ask them to veganise it for you, which transforms it into a tasty plant-based salad.  It was by far my favourite place to eat (or in my case, drink, as I became addicted to their smoothies) as it was quick, easy, and just a stone’s throw from the beach.

There was also a juice bar out on the street with lovely friendly owners. They weren’t there everyday, but when they were they brightened up the place with their cheerful banter and lovely fresh juices.

Mango Heaven

The Camps Bay supermarket (and indeed the most common one around the Cape Town area it seems) is Pick n Pay. It has all the essentials you might expect, including boxes of 6 mangos for 400 Rand – that’s about £2.50 – WELL HELLO THERE – yep I lived off mangos while I was there.

Vegans take note – you’ll be glad to know that the Pick n Pay also stocks Violife vegan cheese. Another handy thing for vegans to bear in mind is that almond milk is offered as a dairy substitute in most of the coffee shops and restaurants.

Windy weather

In terms of weather – be warned! Camps Bay can get mighty windy (even by Scottish standards!) so if you want a more chilled beach experience head on down to the more sheltered, and very beautiful, Clifton Beaches, just down the road.

Sea Point

Further on down the road is the affluent area of Sea Point. You’re gonna love Sea Point! It has a fantastic big supermarket (The Spar, Regent St) with loads of fresh produce and plenty of other healthy options including gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian. It even has flax crackers and kale chips – hurrah!

Scheckters Raw Cafe

Keep going down Regent St and you’ll come to Scheckters Raw Cafe.

This gorgeous little place is crammed with raw goodies, including fresh cold-pressed juices, smoothies and smoothie bowls.

In the morning it has a varied breakfast menu with raw and vegan options.

After 12 it switches to a fab varied menu of healthy vegan meals such as falafels, wraps, and smashed avo on sprouted toast.

Don’t forget to leave room for desert though – how about raw vegan versions of snickers or twix? #yesplease

I had a snickers bar and a snickers shake. Overkill? Perhaps. But I was on my holidays.  The snickers bar was the best one I’ve ever tasted.  In fact I’m almost tempted to jump on another 11.5 hour flight just to get another one…

Regent St in Sea Point leads onto Main St, and more juice bars (you’ll never go thirsty at Sea Point), including One Juice and the Daily Press, which has lovely super-friendly staff.

Vegan & Veggies Sea Point

But my favourite raw vegan juice bar in Sea Point has to be Vegan & Veggies, a little juice bar and cafe on Main St run by the lovely Raphael Stone.

Raphael will happily chat to you for hours about natural health; it’s clear that he’s passionate about the healing properties of food, and he has big dreams about creating something really special in Cape Town. He’s on a quest to find the healing elixir of youth! So if you know it – stop by and share it with him 😉

V&A Waterfront

Cape Town Raw and Vegan Food

Heading along the coast to the V&A centre at the waterfront, you’ll find Dr Juice in the Food Court, with a wide array of raw juices and smoothies, plus some delicious raw vegan deserts and cheesecake.

There are also plenty of other juice bars around the V&A, and also a great place for Middle Eastern style vegan food and healthy salads (called Cooked, ironically). So grab a takeaway and eat it down at the harbour while you chill with the seals.

Boulder Bay – and Penguins!

You wouldn’t expect penguins to be hanging around the sunny shores of South Africa, but there they are!  Loads of them!  If you head off on an excursion to visit Cape Point and see the penguins at Boulders Beach you can re-hydrate at a cool little café along the way, in between the car park and the beach. I had a fresh watermelon juice that really hit the spot after a bit of penguin watching.

Cape Town – healthy quality food

I have to say, I was mega-impressed by the general standard of food around Cape Town.  Everywhere was really excellent quality, at incredible value for money.

There are so many healthy cafes and restaurants around Cape Town, and I didn’t get to visit them all, sadly. But this website is a great resource for checking out some more raw and vegan-friendly places:

https://insideguide.co.za/cape-town/best-vegetarian-vegan-restaurants-cape-town/

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*Please note – cafes and juice bars open up and close down at a rapid rate, so please check directly with websites or Facebook pages before visiting, in order to avoid disappointment. And please comment below with any updates or additions you’d like to make.

Have you visited Cape Town?  What did you think?  Let me know in the comments below.

Raw Vegan Organic Cacao Lotion Bars

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Feb 3 0

I decided I was going to have a bash at creating some raw vegan organic cacao DIY moisturizing lotion bars. It turns out they’re ridiculously easy to make! I may never buy lotion bars again…

What’s a lotion bar you may ask??

It’s like a bar of soap that you rub on your skin, but instead of washing you it moisturizes you. Like body lotion in solid form.

Raw vegan organic cacao goodness for your skin

I love these kind of bars for taking with me while I’m travelling as they’re less likely to make a big mess in my suitcase if they somehow come out of their packaging en-route.

So I decided I’d make one batch of general skin-pampering lotion bars, and one batch of mosquito-repellent bars for any sunny holidays I may find myself on (my Holy Grail is to find the perfect natural organic bug-repellent).

While I was checking out recipes online (Wellness Mama is well worth checking out for tons of cool recipes) I noticed they all seemed to include beeswax. Now, the thing about beeswax is that it melts at a pretty high temperature, which makes the bars extra-solid, which isn’t really necessary in our ‘not so tropical’ Scottish weather. So I decided to omit the beeswax, which also meant they would be vegan. Bonus!

Most recipes were usually including shea butter too, and I would have definitely used this cos it’s lovely, but I didn’t have any to hand.

I used a combination of raw cold pressed organic coconut oil and raw organic cacao butter for gorgeous silky-smooth bars that nourish the skin without any chemical nasties.

I thought it would be a good idea to also add a little oil that stays liquid at room temperature, to make the bars a bit softer and easier to glide on to the skin. Because let’s face it, in this country you need a chisel to prize your coconut oil outta the jar in the mornings.  I used hemp oil and evening primrose oil but you could just as easily use other oils such as olive or jojoba.

Bear in mind though, if you take these on holiday somewhere hot, they’ll get all melty and turn into a thick luxurious lotion. While this feels gorgeous on your skin, it’s not quite so gorgeous spilled in your case all over your new holiday clothes. So take them in a good sturdy container, and keep them in the fridge if you want them to stay solid.

Skin pampering raw vegan organic cacao lotion bar

Ingredients:

1 cup cacao butter
1 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons evening primrose oil
10 drops each of the following essential oils:
Ylang ylang, lavender, frankincense, clary sage, patchouli

Mosquito repellent raw vegan organic lotion bar

Ingredients:

1 cup cacao butter
1 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons hemp oil
8 drops each of the following essential oils:
Eucalyptus lemon, tea tree, peppermint, citronella, cinnamon

 

Instructions (for both types of bar):

Melt the cacao butter gently over a very low heat (careful, you don’t want to cook it), then once it’s about half melted add the coconut oil. Once they’re both liquid, remove from the heat and add in the other oils. Stir everything around, then pour it into some silicone moulds, or any other spare containers you have lying around. Then leave it to chill and become solid.

And that’s it. Told you it was easy didn’t I?!

The bug repellent bars can double as deodorant bars too (and even toothpaste!) due to their lovely fresh scents.

So there you go – your very own raw vegan organic skin nourishing bars! Let me know how you get on!

And one more thing – please try to resist licking yourself in public, it’s a tad uncivilised 😉

Lisa x

Green Superfoods Juice for the ultimate raw morning

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Mar 8 0

green smoothie

Ever wish there was a way you could supercharge your diet and banish junkfood cravings, before you even have breakfast?

Sometimes it’s a good idea to look at success strategies for other aspects of life and apply them to your eating behaviours.

Motivational coach Brian Tracy has a strategy for success in business that he calls ‘Eat that frog’. The basic premise behind this is very simple: that thing that you need to do today – that important, but difficult thing – is often the thing that you put off the most in favour of the other easier tasks.

So in terms of business/career, an example of this might be that you put off writing another chapter in your book in favour of scrolling through social media or checking your emails for the 17th time.

The book writing just doesn’t seem as fun as checking Facebook.  But the book writing can bring you much more gain, in the long run.

Brian Tracy recommends that you start off with the most difficult task and just get it done. In other words, ‘Eat That Frog’.  Simple, yet highly effective.

I was thinking about this the other day as I made my morning juice and I realised how useful it is to apply that same concept to your dietary routine. I’d recently seen a very insightful Instagram post by Patrick Queen from Euphonic Health, who mentioned the importance of getting your important micronutrients in first, before you move onto macronutrients (eg carbs, fats etc).

It really resonated with me, as I noticed how I’ve fallen into a pattern of doing this quite naturally, by making what I call my ‘superjuice’ every morning. This consists of a green juice which I then blend with various superfoods. I feel it really sets me up for the day.

Now, this green superfoods juice wouldn’t win any fans, taste-wise. It’s not sexy, it’s not sweet, and I’m sure a lot of people would hate it. I personally think it tastes ok, but I’ve got used to it over time. After all, tastebuds get used to whatever you ply them with, pretty much.

But I’m not drinking it for taste. I’m certainly not going to be taking it around to a pot luck any time soon to win people over to the joys of the raw food diet. I simply see it as my morning fuel.

Believe me, I’d be very happy to have a raw chocolate bar for breakfast instead. It’d be tasty and sweet and give me a bit of a buzz. But in the long-term, it just doesn’t feel anywhere near as good as that boring green juice does. With my green superfoods juice fuelling me as I go through my morning I feel centred, calm, and satiated.

So, to apply Brian Tracy’s ‘Eat That Frog’ concept to your eating habits, start off your day with the most nutritionally dense food you can. For me it’s that green juice. For you it might be something completely different. Hopefully you’re not taking me literally and actually eating a frog for breakfast.  But whatever it is, start with it, and you’ll reap the benefits over the day, and over a lifetime.

So how do you make a green superfoods juice? I won’t give you any specific recipes, because everyone has different nutritional needs, and when it comes to superfoods there are so many different types out there that the best idea is to research what you think is best for you.

For me personally, I’m naturally a very ‘up’ type of person whose mind is always on overdrive, so I find it’s really helpful for me to stay away from anything stimulating.  So even though things like coffee, raw chocolate, green tea etc are often thought of as superfoods, they just don’t work for me.

Perhaps this is why the greens suit me so well, as they give me a nice calming magnesium boost.

But to give you a general pointer, I usually start with something like a head of celery, a cucumber, an apple, a handful of sprouts or microgreens, some leafy greens like spinach or lettuce, and a small piece of ginger.

I juice all these then add them to the blender with a big spoonful of green superfood powders such as chlorella, kelp, tulsi, etc. I also add in some (pre-soaked) Irish moss and a good quality wholefood supplement. I might also add a spoon of pre-soaked/sprouted seeds such as chia, flax, sesame etc.

I tend to go through phases with my superfoods, using different ones depending on whatever takes my fancy.  Here’s a picture of one of my typical green superfood juices, from my Instagram page (feel free to follow me for more raw recipe inspiration):

Green smoothie

Green Superfood Juice

So – what’s your favourite raw super-breakfast? Let me know below!

Buckwheat bread raw vegan recipe

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Mar 8 0

salad with buckwheat crackers

Buckwheat bread is a great raw vegan staple food.  It’s one of those things you can make in bulk then keep for whenever you need a quick tasty snack.  Buckwheat is very high in nutrients and very low in price, so it’s a real store cupboard essential for when you’re on a budget.

Not quite a cereal, buckwheat is a sort of wanna-be grain that’s related to rhubarb and sorrel.  Gluten-free and a good source of high quality plant-based protein, it’s an excellent grain substitute for people who want to avoid gluten.

Quite bland in flavour, once soaked and sprouted it lends itself just as well to sweet dishes as it does to savoury, so there’s no end of combinations you can try with it: porridge, pancakes, crackers, or just throw some into your smoothie.

Buckwheat side-effects and how to minimise them

Even though buckwheat is not a grain, it does have the same protective mechanisms that all up and coming baby seeds have – ie antinutrients such as leptin and phytates (it basically isn’t all that keen on being eaten).

Buckwheat in particular also contains fagopyrins which can cause allergic reactions when consumed in large quantites.  So it’s a good idea not to go over the top in your consumption of them.  However, there are some good workarounds when it comes to minimising antinutrients, such as sprouting them, and also adding in a fermentation element.

This recipe includes both sprouting and fermentation, so it’s one of my favourite ways to eat buckwheat.

How to sprout buckwheat

Buckwheat will sprout really easily as long as you have a good quality supply of seeds.  Just soak the seeds in a jar of water over night then drain them the next day (they will be quite slimy… this is due to the formation of mucilage during the soaking and sprouting process – yes, not the most appetising-sounding thing in the world, but it’s quite good really).

Rinse and drain twice daily for about three or four days; until you see some little tails poking out, then it’s ready to be transformed into… well, whatever you want really!  You can use sprouting trays to make the process a little less fuss.

This buckwheat bread recipe is transformed into pretty pink deliciousness by the addition of fermented beetroot.  It also really pumps up the nutrition factor with lovely live probiotics, so it’s all good.

How to ferment beetroot

My basic guide to fermenting any kind of veggies: chop them up, chuck them in a glass jar, fill the jar with salty water, put the lid on, and ignore them for a bit.  It’s pretty slap-dash, but that’s really all there is to it.

Ok – there’s LOADS more to it.  There’s whole books written about the subject, including this excellent one:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Fermentation-depth-Exploration-Essential/dp/160358286X

Funny enough, one of my next blogs was going to be all about fermentation, but then my esteemed pal Patrick Queen beat me to it.  He’s done a much better job than I would have done, so I’ll take the lazy option and just link to his one instead.  See the master at work:  https://www.euphonichealth.com/recipes/2018/3/4/saerkreut  

So here’s my recipe for buckwheat bread.  You can substitute different seeds and add different veggies etc.  Just play around with it because there’s really no limit to what you can do with buckwheat.  Ok there probably is quite a limit.  It can’t make you invisible, for instance.

Pink Buckwheat Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups sprouted buckwheat

1 cup flax seeds (soaked overnight)

1 cup sunflower sprouts (sprout the sunflower seeds for two or three days, in the same way as you would the buckwheat)

1 cup fermented beetroot

1 onion

Method:

Process all ingredients using a food processor (add a little lemon juice or water if necessary), then spread the mixture on dehydrating trays.  Dehydrate for a few hours until the ‘bread’ starts to look a little firm.  Score some lines across it (for ease of breaking into shapes later), then turn over and dehydrate for another hour or so.  If you don’t have a dehydrator you can use a cool oven with the door a little ajar.

I want to experiment this year with planting buckwheat out and see if I can grow some buckwheat flowers, as they are much-loved by bees.  And I’m all about keeping the bees happy.

Have you had any success with growing buckwheat plants?  Let me know in the comments below, I’d be happy to get some tips!

Raw Vegan Emergency Supplies

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Mar 3 2

raw vegan foods snowed in

10 Emergency Raw Vegan foods for when you’re snowed in

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed there’s been a bit of snow outside. I must admit, I’m one of those people who scoffs when they see panic buying going on in supermarkets, but my devil-may-care approach left me somewhat unprepared when the country ground to a halt this week.

My usual vegbox delivery didn’t turn up (understandably!) and I found myself scrabbling about in the cupboards wondering what I was going to eat for the next few days.

I soon realised that I was – quite by accident – fairly well-prepared for any eventuality, so I thought it would be a good topic to write about.

So, here are my top ten tips for staying stocked up in the snow!

1. Sprouts

I’m not talking Brussels sprouts here (although they would be pretty handy in an emergency too) – I mean those groovy little seeds and pulses that will sit in the cupboard for ages, just waiting for you to add a little water so they can grow into superfresh, supercharged superfoods whenever you need them.

salad with buckwheat crackers

Supercharged sprouts

Surely they must be the all-time number one emergency go-to food?

I like to maximise storage space by filling the cupboards with jars of sproutable seeds, rather than tins of dead pasteurised food.  That way each jar has the potential to triple or quadruple itself in quantity, giving you an abundant supply of fresh vibrant living foods.  You don’t get that with a tin of mushy peas, do you?

2. Seaweed

I always keep a huge bag of sea spaghetti that I get from Funky Raw – I call it my Apocalypse Spaghetti because I’m sure it would see me through the darkest of days! I get a 1 kg bag and it seems to last forever.

I take out a handful whenever I need it, soak it in water then marinate it to soften and add flavour (it’s pretty bland on its own). It’s a fantastic source of minerals, which is handy if you’re running low in green veg.

seaweed salad

Sea spaghetti with spicy fermented beetroot

That pic has just reminded me of another surefire winner when it comes to emergency food – fermentation.  I always have a big jar of fermented veggies on the go (eg sauerkraut or kimchi) – it’s amazing for adding flavour and substance to even the more boring of salads.  Not to mention all those lovely live probiotics to boost your immune system while you’re stuck indoors.

Other handy types of seaweed I like to keep in the cupboards are: wakame, nori, Irish moss, kelp and dulse.

3. Fresh fruit

Some types of fruit, such as apples and melons, will store well for fairly long periods of time. It’s also handy to keep a good supply of bananas in, in varying degrees of ripeness.

4. Frozen fruit

I have a shelf in the freezer dedicated to bags of frozen berries. They’re becoming very widely available in the supermarkets these days (you’ll probably find them near the frozen desert section), although sadly there never seems to be any organic options. I’ve even seen bags of frozen coconut pieces in Sainsbury’s, which are very useful for blending into smoothies and soups.

5. Frozen veg

Don’t forget you can freeze leafy green veg and chopped up root veg like carrots and ginger – you can even store them in handy smoothie-sized bags ready to blend up for a refreshing drink. Whenever I have a surplus I fill a few containers up and keep them for those times when the cupboards aren’t so flush.

6. Dried fruit

Dates and figs are great dried fruits to have on hand for a speedy sugar supply. I prefer these over fruits like raisins and sultanas, as the latter tend to have sulphites and oil added to them. If you’re careful with your suppliers of dates and figs then you can avoid these additives.

Soak them in a jar of water to rehydrate them, and keep them in the fridge for an emergency fast carb supply.

7. Coconut

Dried coconut flakes, coconut sugar and coconut oil are great store-cupboard stand-bys. Coconut flakes can be used to thicken smoothies, or blended into tea/coffee as a milk substitute, and coconut sugar is a nice light healthy sweetener.

I always have big tubs of coconut oil in, as it’s so versatile – I use it for my teeth (oil pulling/swishing) and on my skin as a cleanser/moisturizer. Oh and I also eat it of course 😉 You can spread it on crackers as a butter substitute, or if you cook any of your food it’s a good stable saturated fat.

8. Dried herbs

I love my herbal teas, especially in the winter when I’m feeling the chill, so I always have cupboards full of various herbs. I usually stockpile in the Spring and they seem to last me all year round. Nettles, dandelions and radish greens are among my favourite freely-foraged foods. They can be added to smoothies or you can make some warming tea with them.

I also have a seemingly endless supply of wild garlic (both frozen and dried) that I foraged from some local woods last year, which is ideal to add to salads and soups.

9. Wheatgrass

Another sure-fire Apocalypse food, you can buy huge big bags of wheatgrains at a very low cost, and as long as you have access to soil and water you can grow trays of lovely fresh microgreens no matter what kind of weather’s out there.

10. Green powders

If you decide not to go the fresh wheatgrass route, an easy substitute (albeit a lot more expensive) is to buy green superfood powders for adding an easy mineral boost to smoothies. You can get mixtures such as Vitamineral Green or Pure Synergy, or individual greens like wheatgrass and barleygrass etc. I also like algaes such as chlorella and spirulina.

Beware some of the new fancy superfood blends that are finding their way onto supermarket shelves lately – close inspection of their ingredient list often reveals quite a few cheap fillers! Always got to keep one step ahead 😉

So there you have it – my guide to the best emergency rawfood supplies for when the next snowstorm hits!

Did I miss any out? What are your favourite stand-bys in times of shortage?  Let me know in the comments!

Healthy Eating – is it a mental illness?

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Feb 28 0

orthorexia

“Are you 100% raw vegan?” she asked, with an evangelical gleam in her eye.

That was before she’d asked me my name.

It’s not the first time somebody has ‘introduced’ themselves to me in this way at a rawfood potluck.

If you move in rawfood circles, you may have come across this all or nothing ’cooked food is poison’ kind of attitude, and it can be a bit off-putting, especially if you’re just getting started and wonder how on earth your diet could possibly exclude all cooked food.

There are some who would argue that this kind of thinking – whether it relates to raw, paleo, vegan, or any other restrictive diet – deserves to be classified as an eating disorder. And in fact there’s even a label for it.

Stephen Bratman first coined the term ‘Orthorexia’ in 1997, defining it as “an emotionally disturbed, self-punishing relationship with food that involves a progressively shrinking universe of foods deemed acceptable”.

If you’re the kind of person that says “Hey, I eat what I like! As long as it’s tasty, that’s all that I care about!”, while rolling your eyes at that person in the supermarket carefully scanning the ingredient list on a packet of gluten-free bread, then you may agree.

On the other hand, if you have done a bit of research into exactly what ingredients are added to processed foods, then you might think that a mental illness label is more suited to those people who blithely trust the big food corporations to feed them without checking out what exactly is inside those pretty boxes of convenience foods.

Michael Moss, author of ‘Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us’ certainly puts a strong point across in his expose of the sinister marketing practices of the major food industries, claiming that junk food is basically a legalised narcotic that we are being systematically manipulated to consume.

Back in the 1990s when the concept of Orthorexia was starting to be discussed, I was beginning to change my own eating habits; becoming vegetarian, then a few years later moving onto the raw food diet. So when I came across the concept of Orthorexia I was outraged at the idea that eating healthily should be labelled with such negatively.

However, after spending many years immersed in the world of health food, I have to say that the kind of obsessiveness that Bratman describes is indeed often apparent.

That constant search for the pure, perfect diet and the feelings of guilt or shame when it isn’t followed (and the sense of superiority when it IS followed) are common topics of conversation on internet forums, Facebook groups, and at pot-lucks.

Yet the search for that perfect diet remains elusive. It seems everyone has a different opinion on what we should eat, and in this age of ‘information overload’ we never have far to go (or to click) before we get to the next self-proclaimed expert telling us to…

Eat lots of fruit!
Don’t eat any fruit!
Go vegan!
Eat animal products!
Eat kale!
Kale will kill you!
Eat raw food!
Always cook your food!

And so on, until it seems the only feasible option left is to become breatharian..

There’s a minefield of confusion out there in the world of nutrition, in both mainstream and alternative circles. Added to this, each year seems to bring some kind of food scandal, such as salmonella in eggs, ‘mad cow disease’, and horsemeat in supermarket ready meals.

So there’s little wonder that people are starting to become much more aware of what to put in their bodies. But does it necessarily mean that you’re mentally unstable?

There’s a list of questions at Webmd.com to help you identify whether you’re suffering from Orthorexia. They’re not all that helpful, in my opinion. Some of them seem to assume some quite specific social norms.

For instance, the question: ‘are you planning tomorrow’s menu today?’ operates on the assumption that everybody outsources their food preparation.

I mean, if you’re getting your meals from the local takeaway, then sure, you don’t need to do much planning other than picking up the phone and dialling a number.

If however you’re making your meals from REAL foods – not pre-packaged boxes – then of course you have to prepare and plan them in advance.

For example: sprouting, fermenting and dehydrating are all popular ways of preparing foods on a raw diet, and they all require some prior planning (several days in some cases). But does that mean we’re orthorexic – or are we just organised?

Not so long ago people had to plan MONTHS in advance in order to eat: they would grow their own food, then utilise preservation methods such as pickling to store it for when it was needed.

Does all this pre-preparation mean they were orthorexic? Of course not. It’s just that we now live in a society where we expect somebody else in a place far away to do all that for us.

Another question asks: ‘Does your diet make it difficult for you to eat anywhere but at home, distancing you from friends and family?’

I’d say this is more of a reflection on the type and variety of restaurants available, than on your state of mind. Twenty years ago even just being vegetarian made it difficult to eat out, whereas nowadays restaurants are much more willing to cater to a multitude of dietary requirements. Glasgow for instance has an abundance of restaurants who offer vegan options, and even some who are exclusively vegan.

So rather than asking what kind of foods we’re eating, the amount of time we spend preparing them, or where we eat them, perhaps a more appropriate question may be:

Do you feel guilty or anxious, fearful or irritable, if you eat something you think you shouldn’t?

Even this question is not quite impartial, as science is now finding out that food may in fact alter and affect our emotions.

Food and emotions – It’s a two-way street

Studies such as this one from The Journal of Psychiatric Research look at the role of the gut microbiota in cognitive function, demonstrating how our internal microorganisms can actually shape our thoughts and behaviour in negative ways.

So is it right to assume that we’re feeling down about our poor food choices – or are we in fact simply responding to the influence of our gut microbes?

Food and emotions are clearly interlinked in very complex ways, making it very difficult to really define a term such as Orthorexia. But if I had to make my own checklist to identify if I have an eating disorder, I think I could whittle it down to just three questions:

Do you have fun and enjoy being creative while preparing food?
Does your body feel good after you’ve eaten?
Are mealtimes a joyful experience for you?

If you can answer yes to these questions, then chances are you’re on the right path.

Celeriac Coleslaw Recipe

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Feb 5 0

raw salad celeriac coleslaw

Celeriac – it’s one of those vegetables that just isn’t very pretty, no matter how you look at it.

My favourite description of it has got to be by Joe Hind from the Soil Association, who describes it as “a cross between a brain and a dirty little alien”

raw celeriac

Yep! Pretty spot on!

But however it looks, I like to use it when it pops up in my veggie delivery box, as it’s a good honest local food that’s high in dietary fibre, vitamin C, vitamin K, phosphorus, B vits, and potassium. With that little repertoire I’m sure you can forgive its old gnarly appearance.

But what exactly do we do with it? If you eat cooked foods, it can be treated in a similar way to a potato, and the most common recipes I’ve seen are for celeriac mash.

As a raw foodie, however, I like to keep my root veggies crunchy. I often chop up celeriac and juice some along with apple, carrot and ginger.

I also like to grate and marinate it, like I did in the following coleslaw recipe:

Celeriac Coleslaw Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup grated celeriac
1 cup grated red cabbage
Half an apple, grated
Handful of hazelnuts, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon hemp oil
1 teaspoon wild garlic powder (optional – I still have loads left over from some wild garlic I foraged last Spring so I pop it in everything!)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients, cover, and leave in the fridge to marinate for a few hours, or overnight. The lemon juice adds a lovely tang. This coleslaw goes really well with mashed avocado (but then again, anything goes really well with mashed avocado!).

Here it is on the side of a courgette noodle and tomato salad. It really livened it up and gave it a nice crunchy texture.

raw salad celeriac coleslaw

Have you been brave enough to try celeriac yet? If so, what are your favourite ways to eat it? Let me know in the comments below!

Healthy pink lemonade virgin cocktail

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Feb 3 0

non-alcoholic cocktail

This healthy pink lemonade non-alcoholic cocktail is perfect for a refreshing fizzy vitamin C-fuelled lift, and the berries add a gorgeous colour.

Ingredients:
3 apples
2 lemons
1″ cube ginger
1 cup frozen berries
1 tablespoon baobob (This superfood is available in most good health food stores. Don’t worry if you don’t have any, it’s fine to leave it out – but it does add an extra bit of zing)
1 tablespoon maple syrup (adjust to taste depending on how sweet you like it)
3 drops vanilla stevia (or you can substitute with vanilla extract)
500 ml sparkling water

Juice the apples, lemons and ginger. Blend with the rest of the ingredients. Chill in the fridge and serve with ice.

Interview with PICNIC Vegan Cafe Glasgow

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Feb 1 0

vegan restaurants glasgow

Of all the vegan cafes in Glasgow, Picnic has got to be one of my favourites.  It’s a lovely bright friendly wee place with a smashing menu of simple tasty dishes.  Unlike a lot of the other vegan restaurants in Glasgow, it places an emphasis on healthy plant-based organic foods, so if you fancy a smoothie and a raw vegan salad for lunch with a delicious raw cake for desert, then Picnic is for you.

Fairly new to the Glasgow vegan scene, Picnic was established in 2016 by owner Michelle Morrow, and already has an army of dedicated fans who give it rave reviews on Trip Advisor.

Curious to know more about how Picnic came to be, I asked Michelle if I could interview her and she very kindly agreed.

10 Questions for Michelle Morrow, Picnic Vegan Café Glasgow

1. To begin, can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to be running a vegan cafe in Glasgow?

MM: My husband, Nick and I went vegan about 5 years ago. We were very frustrated there weren’t any fully vegan places in the city centre offering healthy, freshly made food. Realising there was a bit of gap in the market, we began planning and researching opening our own place and Picnic was born!

2. Opening a fully-vegan cafe is quite a bold move, considering that most cafes tend to go down the safe route of offering vegan and vegetarian options. What motivated you to open a completely vegan cafe?

MM: Being anything less than fully vegan wasn’t something we considered. It wouldn’t have sat at all well with us to serve any animal derived products because Nick and I feel strongly there’s no such thing as an ethical or healthy animal product.

3. Glasgow is usually more well-known for its deep-fried Mars Bars and Irn Bru, rather than with healthy or vegan food – what made you choose this city in particular for your location?

MM: First of all, we are very settled in Glasgow, so it made sense to open here. Also, the fact Glasgow has so many other vegan places means it’s a popular destination for travelling vegans! Glaswegians also love to eat out generally, so we try to attract as many people – both vegan and non vegan alike – as possible.

4. Where do you get your inspiration for the delicious plant-based dishes that you serve in Picnic? Do you have any particular favourite vegan chefs that you follow, or do you prefer to veganise conventional recipes?

MM: Inspiration comes from all kinds of places. I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen with various ideas and if I think they’re good enough, we serve them in Picnic. I like to travel, so some inspiration comes from things I’ve tried elsewhere. I also like to look at different recipes and tweak them to add my own twist.

5. Veganism is really exploding in the UK lately – have you noticed that trend reflected at Picnic? Are you currently inundated with newbie vegans doing Veganuary?

MM: We have seen quite a few customers in January who are doing Veganuary, which is great. We also have a real mix of regular customers plus new people coming all the time. Veganism and interest in it is noticeably on the up, which is a great thing. We also have a lot of customers who are not vegan but have drastically cut down their intake of animal products. It’s always pleasing when people try vegan food, plant milk or cakes for the first time and love them!

6. What is your most popular raw food (or drink!) in the cafe?

MM: The Raw Pad Thai salad we offer is very popular – it’s also one of my favourites. It’s a nice combination of healthy fresh salad with a lime and cashew dressing. There’s also a few fresh chillies in there, which I love. The smoothies are also very popular with the Glasgow Green being a particular favourite.

7. What would you say people prefer – healthy plant based food or the decadent vegan cakes you offer?

MM: I think people welcome the fact there’s somewhere they can get a healthy lunch or breakfast, which isn’t that easy in the City Centre. Of course, everybody loves the cakes which is why we offer a choice of healthier, raw options.

8. Do you ever get famous vegan celebs paying you a visit?

MM: There’s been quite a few musicians and DJs who’ve dropped in, whilst on tour. My husband was particularly excited when we had the bass player from The Who in for lunch one day because he’s a big fan.

9. What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened in Picnic? Any funny stories?

MM: Yes, funny things happen on a regular basis but that would be telling!

10. Where do you see Picnic in the future? Do you have any exciting plans coming up?

MM: Being a relatively new venture, our first goal is keep developing our existing outlet to ensure the business continues to grow. We’re happy with the way things have gone, so far and don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.

 

Many thanks to Michelle for kindly spending the time to answer my questions.  Be sure to pay Picnic a visit if you haven’t done so already – you won’t be disappointed!

You can find them at 103 Ingram Street Glasgow G1 1DX.

Raw Vegan Burns Supper Edinburgh

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Jan 12 0

Raw Vegan Burns Night

Edinburgh Rawfoodies – time to get excited! Marie-Anne Marten from Beetroot Cafe is about to launch a monthly pop-up Supper Club, and her first one is a fully raw vegan Burns Supper!

This amazing experience will take place at 7.30pm on Friday 26th January at Century General Store in Abbeyhill. On offer is an expertly created four-course tasting menu including haggis made from sprouted buckwheat, dairy-free cranachan cheesecake and cashew cheese and seaweed crackers, with some sparkling kombucha to wash it all down.

The entire menu will be 100% raw uncooked plant-based goodness – what a perfect way to celebrate Burns Night and  Veganuary all in one go.

raw vegan edinburgh

Marie-Anne – a Wild Food Cafe graduate – has joined forces with holistic therapist Fiona Reilly to put together this fabulous raw vegan event. They are both passionate about healthy eating, and very excited to combine it with such a wonderful Scottish tradition.

Tickets are available on Eventbrite .  You can also connect with Marie-Anne on Facebook , and if you need any more encouragement to book, just have a look at all the delicious food pics she shares on Instagram .

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ABOUT

Lisa Murphy BSc.(hons), PG Dip. Couns., Dip.C.Hyp/NLP, is a hypnotherapist & counsellor who specialises in weight issues, anxiety, and stress-management.

Lisa has followed a rawfoods lifestyle since 2003, and incorporates rawfood support and coaching into her healthy living therapies.

For more details of Lisa’s therapies and weight-loss courses please visit www.CherryTherapies.com

 

Love Raw Food?
SIGN UP for free updates, tips and inspiration - AND get my free RAWFOOD TRAVEL SURVIVAL KIT, full of tips & tricks for when you're on your trips!
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