Raw, Juice, Kombucha, Mommyhood and More

I'm blessed to have many passions in life, with my amazing family and our health topping the list.  I've never blogged before but this is the perfect opportunity because in my semi-obsessive quest to find out all I can about health I've amassed quite a bit of knowledge.

To start off, my name is Angela and I am Mrs. Kombucha.  :) 

My husband and I own and operate a kombucha company here in Chicago, IL.  We met 4 years ago and he was one of the catalysts for my obsessive love of health and wellness.  He was a health conscious vegetarian when we met and I was trying to find the best way to nourish my body and soul.  I had a very disordered eating (bulimic, anorexic) background and he stepped into my life at the perfect time.  Our ideas about life, the world and our commitment to health jived. Without him I wouldn't have made it to where I am today. 

   Mr. and Mrs. Arize Kombucha

www.arizekombucha.com

We now have an amazing two and a half year old daughter and are working on building out our kombucha brewery. 

Raw

I've been vegetarian for the last 4 years and my journey to mostly raw vegan has been a slow, transitional and perfect (for me) progression.  I started as many vegetarians do, with lots of carbs, bits of fish, quinoa, legumes and meat substitutes.  I bought into the modern day nutritionist's viewpoint of what health is and how much micro and macro nutrients you need to consume and I practically drove myself crazy with all of the calculations- especially what with having a vegetarian pregnancy. 

I first discovered raw through Cousins Incredible Vitality- a raw food restaurant in Chicago that has since closed- where Nathan first started brewing his kombucha.  We slowly started adding more and more raw foods as we learned about what our bodies actually need and not what big pharm, big food, the dairy and meat industry, the USDA and the FDA want us to believe we need.  

I now eat a high raw diet with some cooked vegetables, legumes and the occasional sweet potato, bit of quinoa or cooked restaurant vegan meal.  My days normally consist of smoothies, green juices, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, superfoods and greens, greens, greens, greens galore.  

 You can't get enough protein or calcium in a vegan (and especially raw vegan) lifestyle    

Myth!  

Most SAD (Standard American Diets) diets contain WAY too much protein!  Ever wonder why someone who has lots of milk, cheese and yogurt during their lifetime has osteoporosis?    It isn't because they haven't eaten enough it's because they've eaten too much - animal protein that is.  Too much protein actually causes depletion of calcium and increases risk for osteoporosis. Why, in a nation where we have so much milk, cheese and other dairy products is our level of osteoporosis so much higher than other countries?

It's impossible, unless you're calorie deficient, not to get enough protein on a plant based diet.  Believe me, I've checked and checked. Even when I'm completely raw, no legumes, nuts or seeds, I still am meeting or exceeding the amounts of protein that a woman actually needs in a day.  EVERYTHING contains protein.  

Check out some of the vegan and raw vegan body builders out there.  They're amazing and have been doing it for a lot longer than I have. 

Also- a little info on calcium rich plant based foods:

http://www.vegan-nutritionista.com/vegan-calcium.html 

Juicing

I love green juice!!! 

Green juice is an amazing way to get nutrients in.  Green juice is medicine, truly the only medicine we should need other than food.  It's nutrients and energy are immediately available to our cells and are able to completely bypass the process of digesting and removing nutrients from the fiber of our foods.  I try to drink a green juice or green smoothie at least once a day.

Green juice is also very alkalizing which is really important for the body.  Our bodies want to be alkaline (slightly above neutral PH), not acidic.  Processed foods, processed sugars and animal products create an acidic environment in us whereas raw foods do the opposite.  For example lemon, which we think of as very acidic, is in fact is alkaline forming in the body, same with kombucha, lime, orange.. etc.  In addition to my green juice I also drink a quart of lemon water every morning after I oil pull (more on oil pulilng later). 

I also juice for our little one.  We never do store bought juice for her.  In my opinion it's almost as bad as real sugar soda (not high fructose corn syrup or artificially sweetened soda- that stuff's just poison).  It's dead, the nutrients are dead or removed and then artificially added back in.

She loves to drink juice because it tastes great, I sweeten her green juice with a higher ratio of raw apple, and because I let her help.  When kids are involved they're much more apt to try things.  Although she still doesn't like to eat most vegetables she'll drink all the green juices or green smoothies I put in front of her. She also loves to juice carrots and make her newly dubbed, "Halloween juice."   


I have an Omega masticating juicer and I like it.  It oxidizes much less than our centrifugal juicer, Breville Jucie Fountain, does.  We're planning on upgrading to a Greenstar or other like juicer for Christmas, though as ours is getting on the older side. 

I also have a Vitamix- the most amazing blender on the market in my opinion. 

My favorite juice recipe:

1-2 apples

1 cucumber

1 bunch kale

1 bunch celery

1 lemon or lime

optional thumb of ginger 

and if you're really in it for the medicinal qualities and not the taste add in some garlic sometimes I do as many as 5 or 6 cloves and just choke it down

And with that the little one is up from her nap and my mommy duties begin again.  Wishing you good health and sending positive vibrations and love.