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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.

To RAW or not to RAW, that is the question…

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Dec 10 0

I hear a lot of people saying ‘I’m raw now’ or ‘I’m not raw anymore’ and it kind of perplexes me. The idea that you ‘are’ or ‘are not’ raw is a strange one. I realise they’re just words but it begs the question, is ‘raw’ something you are, or something you do?

I was thinking about this earlier when I was out exercising. I exercise most days, but there are occasional days I skip my workouts, due to being too busy etc.

After those days do I say to myself – ‘Oh, I’m not an exerciser anymore, so I may as well stop exercising completely!’?

No, of course I don’t. I just continue on with my usual workout program the next day without giving it a second thought.

And yet, this kind of behaviour seems to happen on the rawfood scene all the time. One day they’re raw, then they ‘fall off the wagon’, feel guilty, lose all momentum, and go back to their previous style of diet.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Including rawfood in your diet can be looked on in the same way as including exercise in your life. The more you do, the better you feel.

Most days (during the winter, especially), I start my day with a cup of hot tea.  What?? COOKED WATER??? Yes, technically speaking, straight away I’m not ‘raw’ at all!  But I don’t let that kind of thinking bother me – I love my herbal teas and I’m not giving them up anytime soon just to fulfil a dogma!

So don’t feel you’ve got to be perfect and be ‘100% raw’ in order to feel like you’re doing it right. Just keep including as much rawfood as feels right for you, and continue to live your life, remembering there are so many other lifestyle choices that affect your health.

Raw food and camping in Orkney and the Outer Hebrides

By Lisa Murphy Leave a Comment Nov 23 4

I recently had a camping trip around Orkney and the Outer Hebrides – wow, what an amazing time, there certainly are some incredible places to visit here in Scotland!

So I thought it would be helpful to share a little of my experiences in finding good places to eat raw food along my travels.

Of course, like any sensible raw foodist, I went well-prepared: stocked up with plenty of fruit and veg, and even some raw juices and smoothies which I’d pre-made and frozen before setting off.

It turns out I didn’t need to be quite SO well-prepared though, as even before we’d got our first ferry we found ourselves at The Green Welly in Tyndrum.  This is a smashing stop-off point that you’re sure to come across if you’re travelling around Scotland as it’s situated on the A82 in the middle of Loch Lomond, Fort William, Perth, and of course Oban, which was where we were headed.

It sells fuel, food and gifts, and is always surrounded by swarms of friendly bikers.  Make your way to the back of the shop (avert your eyes from the home-made brownies! Resist, resist!!) to the chilled section and you will see a nice little selection of fresh fruit and juices.  Proper freshly-squeezed orange juice no less – none of that pasteurised nonsense!  I got some Scottish strawberries for my lunch on the ferry.

The journey from Oban to Uist takes around 6 hours, and the café on the ferry isn’t exactly bursting with rawness, so it’s a good idea to bring your own food.  I was glad of my strawberries, they went nicely with my flask of green juice, sat out in the sunshine watching the waves go by.

Once we got to Uist we set up our tent in a lovely little campsite right by a gorgeous white sand beach (the first of many!).  I gathered up some wild edibles and made some tasty warming herbal tea on our little camping stove (I may be a raw foodie but like any typical Brit I’m never giving up my tea, no way!).

Here are a couple of places I’ve heard of that you might like to try if you’re hunting for some quality fresh produce while you’re in Uist:

The Big Garden http://biggarden.scot/the-big-garden/

Beautiful kitchen garden on South Uist, right by the beach, which grows and sells a variety of fresh seasonal produce.

MacLennans Supermarket  http://www.maclennanssupermarket.co.uk/

Family-owned shop in Benbecula selling fresh produce.

Luskentyre Beach Isle of Harris Outer Hebrides

Luskentyre Beach.. simply beautiful

Our next stop was the Isle of Harris, where we visited the stunning Luskentyre beach.  This beach was voted best beach in Britain, and it’s not hard to see why – it’s completely breathtaking.  I happened to stroll by the set of a music video which was being made, so I sat and watched while a girl in a long white dress walked straight into the sea until she was completely immersed in the water, cameras hovering above.  I felt really sorry for her as the wind was really biting despite the bright sunshine – she must have been freezing!

Like I say, the Outer Hebrides aren’t exactly well-equipped for raw foodists, but camping out there was a nice experience for me as it made me really simplify my diet.  I did a lot of mono-eating during this trip (mono-eating = eating one food at a time as opposed to mixing them up in a meal/recipe) as it just seemed to suit the simplicity of it all; sitting on the ground outside our little tent, surrounded by the raw beauty of the islands.

I must say that Uig Sands on the Isle of Lewis was the absolute highlight of the trip for me.  We camped on the beach up in the sand dunes and had a little spot all to ourselves.  We lit a little campfire and sat back and enjoyed a spectacular sunset over the turquoise water – it was pure heaven.

Uig Sands camping

Sunset on the Isle of Lewis

While on Lewis, the Callanish Stones are not to be missed – they are undoubtedly one of the most magical places in Scotland.

Callanish-stones

Callanish Stones – mysterious and brooding

I visited Stornaway Farmer’s Market  to stock up on some lovely fresh produce mid-way through the trip.  I got some lovely yellow courgettes amongst other things.  Their stuff is super-fresh; most of it is picked within 24 hours of it going on sale.  Get there early in the morning before it sells out!

Yellow courgette noodles

Yellow courgette noodles

When we got back on the mainland we stopped by Smoo Cave in Durness – well worth checking out on your way from Ullapool up to the Orkney ferry.

While on the mainland we also squeezed in a quick stop to Thurso and a visit to Carrots health food store to stock up on supplies.

After getting into Orkney on the ferry we headed into Kirkwall, where we stayed at the Pickaquoy Centre campsite.  Compared to our wild camping in Lewis, this felt practically like a 5 star hotel, with its heated shower complex, kitchen and lounge area and wifi.  It was also very handy for the ferry and close to town too.  There was even an option to use the spa and swimming pool at the centre – luxury!

If you’re in Kirkwall at the right time you might catch the farmer’s market in Orkney, it’s held on the last Saturday of each month.  Here is some more info: http://orkneyfarmersmarket.weebly.com/

We popped into the Real food café in Kirkwall for lunch.  In terms of rawfood, it only really provided salads,  but it had such a lovely atmosphere that I thought it was worth a mention.

We travelled around Orkney, staying at the Birsay Outdoor Centre and the gorgeous Wheems Organic Farm, where we had some fantastic hot sunny weather.  The handy thing about staying at Wheems was that they sold their own organic veg on site.

A simple lunch at Wheems Farm

A simple lunch at Wheems Farm

Stromness was a cute little town to visit, and we found a lovely health food store there that sold a great range of goods including raw chocolate, seaweed, and herbs.

While in Orkney we visited some fantastic places, including the spectacular Ring of Brodgar 5000 year old standing stones, the beautiful Italian Chapel, and the fascinating Neolithic settlement of Scara Brae.

Orkney is quite a mission to get to, but once you get there you won’t regret it.

Have you been to Orkney or the Outer Hebrides?  If so, leave me a comment below and let me know how you liked it.  Did you find any great places for raw and healthy food?

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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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