Grezzo Restaurant
Raw power
By: ROBERT NADEAU
3/19/2008 3:54:40 PM
 RICH BROWNIE SUNDAE: The brownie, based on Brazil nuts, served with housemade gelati. |
| Grezzo Restaurant | 69 Prince Street, Boston | Open Wed–Sun, 5–11 pm | AE, DI, MC, VI | Organic wine | No valet parking | Access up two steps from sidewalk level | 857.362.7288 |
Grezzo, which means “raw” in Italian, is an upscale vegan restaurant specializing in “raw and living food.” No heat above 112 degrees is permitted, so the only cooking appliance is a dehydrator. Cold is allowed, so there’s gelato. But since there’s no dairy, the ice cream and cold sauces are made from nut milk. The menu is also pretty much devoid of gluten. The compensation for all of these limitations is the ingenuity of chef Alissa Cohen, who’s been eating this way for more than 20 years, plus an enormous variety of top-of-the-line vegetable ingredients.There’s also a reusable, recyclable, hemp-fiber bushel bag of hype. On alissacohen.com, it’s not just a restaurant — it’s a book, a DVD, lessons, supplements, and before-and-after weight-loss photos. This diet, it’s claimed, relieves 24 medical and psychiatric complaints, from diabetes to cancer.
So how’s the food? In March, when local greenhouses are straining for enough light to grow greens, no less? Well, fabulous — but perhaps more interesting than soul-satisfying. There are certainly some things here that other chefs are going to steal. For example, if you dehydrate thin slices of beets and squash, not only are they edible, slightly sweet, and a teeny bit like pasta in texture, but all the colors are preserved. So the Chioggia beet slices have all the beautiful red and white stripes, and a golden beet is the color of corn. I will be very surprised if this doesn’t show up in all the fancy bistros. (I’m going to try it at home.)
Grezzo looks like any tiny North End trattoria. The walls are cranberry-salmon, and there are oil paintings of vegetables. There is a little bar. Tabletops are copper. There are a lot of candles, apparently not raw but possibly organic. The servers, clad in black, are slim and lively. The chef-owner, in street clothes, is present but not hovering.
At the table, there’s no breadbasket. (No baking equals no bread.) Already one wonders, why are we in the North End? Would we like a drink before dinner? That could be the featured Grezzo mojito ($6) or cucumber martini ($7). The mojito is a pretty good no-alcohol fake of a mint-lime drink. The martini has some kombucha (fermented sweet tea) for fizz and a bit of alcohol, but lacks the resinous, herbal flavors of a classic martini. It tastes like cucumber.
One successful appetizer is “maroon carrot bisque” ($8). These purple carrots purée into a tasty cold soup, and the garnish of razor-thin unusual carrot slices, some crisp pear, and onion is a nice texture contrast. Gnocchi carbonara ($11), on the other hand, is deep in the genre of faux food, since the kitchen can’t poach dumplings, use bacon or eggs, or even liquid-smoke seasoning (which is made by burning wood). So what we have are nut balls in a nut-cream sauce, and it tastes more like halvah than pasta. What excited me on this plate was the garnish of raw green peas and micro-green pea shoots.
An entrée of winter-vegetable lasagna ($22) is in the same zone. There’s no pasta, no cheese, and no cooked-down tomato sauce, so the dish looks and tastes more like salad than lasagna. The tomato sauce is a few dabs of chopped stuff, while the “béchamel” sauce mentioned on the menu is another nut cream, and not much of it. What stood out was the spectacular variety of greens and edible flowers, plus sliced and sometimes dehydrated vegetables. This is certainly great eating — once you get the idea of lasagna out of your head.
Massaman coconut curry ($21) lacks heat, but there’s also no coconut milk. Again, one thinks of stew but crunches along on salad. The nut cream has some curry flavor, but the lasting positive impressions are of shredded snow peas, shredded coconut, a variety of sprouts and micro-greens, and the intriguing vegetable vermicelli, which are long and stringy but aren’t pasta and don’t look like spaghetti squash. What are they?
Wines are available but not featured. A glass of organic zinfandel ($9) was rather good. My guess would be that raw-food promoters are not terribly interested in wine (and beer has to be cooked in the brewing process). But there’s a parallel movement in the wine world called biodynamic winemaking, which fosters wild yeasts and has produced some impressive and unusual flavors in French wines.
Dessert is the easiest course in this cuisine. Chef Cohen has a picture on her Web site of faux cannoli and such, but the faux dessert our night was “sinfully delicious cheesecake” ($11) — and it rather was. No actual cheese, of course, but the combination of ground nuts and bananas was pretty rich and delicious, and the nut crust underneath was better than the cookie-crumb crusts of most commercial cheesecakes. An agave sauce with some berries and kiwi didn’t provide the sweet contrast you’d get with “real” cheesecake, but it was tasty. A “rich brownie sundae” ($11) was a slam dunk. It came with housemade vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry gelato; chocolate sauce that was somehow melted; and a “brownie” that was crumbly and based on Brazil nuts, but rather like a brownie, with that irreplaceable chocolate flavor.
The short menu changes weekly and offers a “chef’s tasting” ($59). I think the former is a good idea, but the latter might not be, since the best effects of this cuisine are not cumulative. Cohen is putting so much on each platter that her best weapon — obscure varieties of vegetables, herbs, and greens — can be dulled by overuse. Her real goal is to make this a diet for life, so I think in the long run her efforts are better aimed at cold soups and salads rather than faux Italian or Thai food. It will be interesting to see what she serves on a planned brunch menu.
One meal is not a diet for life, so I didn’t expect to feel more energized and lucid, nor did my aches and pains melt away. I was, in fact, on the way to a Celtics game, and considered balancing my Grezzo meal with a kosher hot dog. But I didn’t really need it, and didn’t have it.Robert Nadeau can be reached at RobtNadeau@aol.com .
Reference: http://thephoenix.com/printerfriendlyB.aspx?id=58334
Filed under: Raw Reviews
Sluggish, depressed, grieving the untimely death of a sister, Heather Bishop finally gave in to her other sister, Dawn Bishop, to bust out of the doldrums by doing something new.
Or more to the point, un-doing something old.
Heather, a committed vegan, stopped cooking and switched to eating only raw food.
“I promised my sister I would do it for three days only,” said Heather, who runs Bishop’s Bail Bonds with her father, Holly Bishop. But three days was all it took to hook the Longview woman on a diet even more stringent than veganism.
“I felt so different,” she said. “I had more energy and focus; I didn’t need as much sleep.”
In four months, Heather has lost 40 pounds and become a passionate proponent of the raw food diet. She spends hours learning recipes from dozens of cookbooks, goes to a weekly raw-diet group in Portland’s Pearl District, and will attend a world confab on raw food in Sedona, AZ in September.
Last week, Heather and Dawn served up a delicious lunch of raw dishes to several Daily News reporters, a photographer and Heather’s husband, cabinet maker Claude Ostgaard.
“I’m about 80 percent raw,” said Claude, who still craves an occasional pasta meal and “will never get rid of seafood, especially oysters.”
The lunch menu included tandoori balls, Thai wraps with sesame tahini dressing, nori rolls that looked and tasted like sushi, somosas with banana tamarind sauce, chips with a silky hummus dip, Tom Khai Soup, pad thai salad, and Heather’s original frozen dessert plus a rich layered sweet – something like cheesecake – in a raspberry sauce.
Don’t rush into the kitchen just yet.
Although some spices and condiments can be found locally, Heather orders a lot of ingredients at goldmine.com. Special equipment is required for preparing raw food that looks and tastes this good. And until the methods become second nature, it takes time to learn how to make a variety of dishes that will meet nutritional needs.
That said, every part of the lunch was beautiful, with bright flavors and pleasing textures.
Aside from an interesting take on sushi (her seaweed wraps around ground cauliflower rather than sticky rice), Heather tends not to focus too much on “fake” foodstuffs. Instead, she serves salads, appetizers, juices, smoothies and creamy, room-temperature soups.
The “pad Thai” salad that Heather makes with varying widths of shredded jicama, cabbage, mint and cilantro, was delicious tossed in a light sauce of liquefied almonds and tamarind (a tropical fruit).
She made the tandoori balls with pulverized almonds, onions, red peppers and curry sauce, with just the right balance of these flavors. Tandoori refers to a combination of spices including garlic, cumin, cayenne, ginger and garam masala.
Strong seasonings help pump up the flavors of raw foods. A staple condiment, for instance, is nama shoyu, an organic, unpasteurized soy sauce that is aged for four years.
That said, it takes practice to get Eastern food right, and Heather draws inspiration from more than 20 cookbooks and experiments the way any chef would.
“I love the process,” she said. “I’m not grabbing a jar.”
Instead of turning on the oven, Heather relies on a slicer called a mandolin, a high-powered Vita-Mix blender (they start at $350), a food dehydrator and a Cuisinart food processor.
Gesturing at the granite-topped island and custom cabinets made by Claude, she added, “This kitchen does not go to waste.”
When Heather and Dawn’s sister, Darla Gettman, died last August of a massive heart attack at the age of 49, “it was a wake-up call,” Heather said. “I want to do what I can do to protect myself.”
The staples of the diet are nothing new: fresh vegetables and fruits, lots of avocados and spices, and pulverized cashews and almonds — which provide a meat-like bulk and a kind of “milk”.
Raw fooders hold a special reverence for cacao beans, which contain high levels of sulfur and magnesium and may increase focus, alertness and well-being, according to a Raw Cacao Web site.
Cacao beans that are certified organic and raw are dried at low temperature and are used in making smoothies, brownies, pies, and truffles. The beans can also be ground into a coarse powder and brewed like tea or used in coffee-like drinks.
An acquired taste, raw food lovers prefer it to processed chocolates.
As with many food regimes, the raw food diet is an alternative to an American diet of fatty, over-processed food, which raw food converts blame for obesity, low energy and all kinds of illness. Books, articles, Web sites and seminars promote raw food as a cure for sleep problems, addictions and terminal cancers.
Claims about the raw food diet include the belief that raw food is “alive,” and temperatures higher than 105 degrees kill healthy enzymes in fruits and vegetables. Advocates say they have more energy, lose weight easily and have revitalized skin.
Kaiser dietician Janice Stixrud said she can see many benefits in eating more fresh, raw fruit and vegetables.
“We’re always beating that drum,” Stixrud said. “That’s the food group that most people don’t get enough of.”
She has not done enough study of a totally raw diet to advocate it or caution against it, the dietician said, but she’d be concerned about people – especially pregnant women and children – getting the right balance of nutrients, including protein and calcium.
“Some vegetables offer better nutrition when they’re cooked,” Stixrud said. Cooked tomatoes, for instance, have more anti-oxidants than raw tomatoes, she said.
“Not being able to cook might make it hard for some to digest the food,” the dietician said. “I don’t think it would suit someone with irritable bowel syndrome.”
Stixrud suggested a good reference work for people considering strict new diets: “What to Eat,” by Marion Nestle.
“She stresses common sense, fresh food, how to pick food that’s healthy. She’s open minded, she doesn’t hype things and she tries to educate the consumer.”
Heather Bishop said anyone interested in trying a raw food diet should talk to their doctors. She and Dawn, granddaughters of a Longview butcher, said they try not to be rigid about the lifestyle.
When they’re invited to friends’ homes to eat, they choose salad, and Heather sometimes asks the host if she can bring a raw dish to share. “Heck, I’m going to go -it’s about friendship,” she said. “I don’t want eating to inhibit my social life.”
Families can be a whole other challenge. Dawn said, laughing about how her kids call the raw food movement a “cult.” As she did with Heather, she urges her loved ones to try the diet because it’s healthy.
“What’s important?” Dawn said. “Rush, rush, rush, let’s get on the hamster cage? Or taking care of our families?”
Heather agreed. “A lot of people think this is extreme,” she said. “Dawn’s the one who told me, “Seeing all the processed food at the supermarket – that’s extreme.”
Reference: http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/03/12/this_day/10141428.txt
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 6:35 AM PDT
By Cathy Zimmerman
Filed under: Raw Reviews
The raw food diet is one of the most influential diet trends around.
The name of the ‘raw food diet’ may seem self-explanatory; of course it is based on raw food. But there is so much more to it that you need to understand. When you do, you’ll see why this diet has acquired such a strong and loyal following.
Eating raw food is popular right now, but it’s hardly original. Our prehistoric ancestors knew all about it before they discovered fire. But we forgot it for a while until the early 1900s. That was when people like Herbert Shelton and Ann Wigmore began to be a bit more vocal about the benefits for people following a raw food diet.
Some of the stated benefits of the raw food diet, as argued Artturi Virtanen, are that when raw food is chewed enzymes are released in the body, which helps us to digest the food more fully. The recent popularity of the raw food diet can perhaps be laid at the door of the book, “The New Raw Energy” by Leslie Kenton. This trend has many Hollywood celebrity followers such as Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson.
But what do we mean by ‘raw food’? We don’t mean raw meat. Advocates of the raw food diet are vegetarians. The diet is comprised of raw nuts, seeds and sprouted seeds, fresh fruits and vegetables, freshly squeezed or juiced fruit and vegetable juices, purified water, unpasteurized dairy products and other unprocessed foods free from chemicals.
Usually, people on a raw food diet eat 75% raw food. The rest of the diet may be fruit and vegetables dried in a food dehydrator below 116 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature at which a food dehydrator works.
The benefits of a raw food diet are: a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes, greater energy, glowing skin with fewer signs of ageing, fewer digestive complaints, more easily maintained weight loss and even healing of some illnesses and chronic health conditions.
It is recommended to follow a diet plan specifically designed by a doctor who is expert in the raw food diet so you can get all the vitamins and minerals you need. This is because, unless you know what you’re doing, it is quite difficult to get enough calcium and protein on the raw food diet.
The raw food diet isn’t for everyone, but if you’re still interested, now you know the basics, you may like to check it out with a doctor who has experience in this area, so they can help you put together a healthy eating raw food plan.
Reference: http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=20080321_raw_food_diet.htm
A wonderful resource for information and events in the Washington area.
Seattle has been a little slow in the makings when it comes to Raw Vegan Food. However, as is common with anything in this city… given a little pep talk it usually comes around.
Be sure to check out Chaco Canyon when your in town. Not too Shabby.
Cafe & Market
Raw Vegan GourmetWelcome to Karyn’s Fresh Corner Cafe, Raw Vegan Gourmet Restaurant & Karyn’s Cooked – Conscious Comfort Foods
Being a vegan for over 25 years and a proponent of Living Foods, I’ve learned that good nutrition is good eating, good digesting, and absorbing the nutrients your body needs. However, most people eat food that has been cooked and then warmed up. This process depletes the enzyme activity in food and prevents the optimum digestion and absorption of nutrients.I’ve often said, I could have never eaten this way for so many years just eating steamed rice, boiled vegetables, plain lettuce, and tomatoes. I need flavors, textures, and color which all aid in digestion of food. What I hope to bring you is my love of the exotic blend of fruits, grains, vegetables, and sprouts that our natural world has to offer. Remember that the most magnificent gift of any of us will ever be given is our own body. At Karyn’s, we are committed to using only whole fresh foods (organic) whenever possible. We create fresh delicious and high quality meals that are high in fiber and low in fat. In addition, we have a variety of vegan hot dishes. We serve a wide selection of gourmet living foods that are high in protein and contain no cholesterol. We do not use dairy products, eggs, refined sugar, salt, or artificial flavors.
For over 20 years I have been teaching and counseling individuals and running workshops showing people the practical, holistic ways to improve their lives, conveying the importance of food choices and how to prepare these tasty nutritious foods for themselves at home.
I believe we should prepare our foods to nurture and sustain our bodies. In our busy, stress filled lives, we aren’t always able to give priority to ourselves. Consistency is the key to making healthy lifestyle changes. Let us help you maintain that consistency with our Living Food Menu and delicious cooked foods.
If you would like to learn how to prepare healthy foods or, perhaps, need a little inspiration to go further in your personal health journey, classes and workshops are given periodically throughout the year.
Here’s to your health and happiness!
Karyn
Store Hours & Locations
Karyn’s Fresh Corner Cafe
Open daily: 9am to 10 pm
Located at: 1901 North Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois 60614
Phone: 312.255.1590
Fax: 312.255.1592
Karyn’s Raw Vegan Gourmet Restaurant
Open daily: Lunch from 11am to 3:00 pm & Dinner from 5:30 pm to 10pm, Sunday Brunch from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm
Located at: 1901 North Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois 60614
Phone: 312.255.1590
Fax: 312.255.1592
B.Y.O.B.
December 20, 2007
Gothamist.com
Matthew Kenney, Chef
In 1993 Matthew Kenney debuted his first restaurant, Matthew’s, to enviable acclaim; before he knew it Food and Wine Magazine had declared him one of the ten best new chefs in America. A flurry of activity followed, as Kenney involved himself with a series of popular restaurants throughout Manhattan that emphasized regional Mediterranean cooking. In 2004 he switched gears, opening Pure Food and Wine, an organic raw food restaurant on Irving Place that continues to impress diners with pretty definitive evidence of raw food’s potential. (The White Corn Tamale with Raw Cacao Mole, Marinated Mushrooms, Salsa Verde and Avocado is supposedly sublime.) His latest project is Free Foods NYC, the non-raw but mostly organic midtown café. We questioned Kenney about Free Foods, his conversion to organic ingredients, and got him to share his recipe for raw pumpkin pie; he swears you’ll never know it’s actually made with carrot juice.Your new café, Free Foods, is organic. But what about the lobster for your lobster stew? Our lobster comes from Maine (where I grew up) and is an entirely organic product, grown naturally without the use of any chemicals or synthetic treatments. There is no USDA certification for fish at present but fish from the wild is about as close to organic as it gets. My home there is on Penobscot Bay, where the Maine lobsters are very populous. The lobster harvest is one aspect of the food industry that has actually changed very little over the years.
How do you verify that the organic ingredients from your suppliers are in fact organic? In most cases, we purchase products with the USDA Organic Seal and our suppliers are mandated to provide us with organic whenever it is available. If we are working with a boutique product from a smaller supplier who may not have the resources to seek formal Organic Certification, we use our best judgment based on the facts available to us.
What brought about your shift to cooking with organic foods? There are a few factors that have influenced me. The experience of growing up in an environment filled with fresh, seasonal foods is something I have always wanted to convey in my cooking. In recent years, as the gap in quality between organic and conventional ingredients widened, I began to feel that it was increasingly important as a chef to take responsibility, not only for the flavor of the food, but for the impact the ingredients have on the diner and the environment as well.
What environmentally sustainable methods does Free Foods practice? Freefoods uses only compostable packaging and utensils (made from corn, paper and sugarcane) and does not serve any beverages packaged in plastic containers. We even compost a majority of our kitchen waste. We avoid using synthetic materials throughout the store, provide our staff with organic cotton t-shirts and used as many natural materials in the construction of the store as possible, while avoiding plastic and other pre-fabricated options.
More and more restaurants these days are doing the “locavore” thing. Is this a fad or something that’s here to stay? That really depends on where it is being practiced. There are certain parts of the country where I would prefer not to have locally grown food, given the quality of the soil, water and air. However, it is a very admirable goal and one that will surely gain traction as artisanal producers continue to develop great products.
What’s the dish on your winter menu that you’re most proud of? The Pinot Noir and Dark Chocolate Cupcake with Salted Caramel Glaze
What is your favorite NYC restaurant these days – besides the ones you’re involved in? Elio’s, on the Upper East Side, has been my favorite restaurant for about 18 years.
You’ve co-authored a raw food cookbook and have more to come. Are you a vegetarian raw foodist? I have many raw foods in my diet, but I also incorporate some dairy products and occasionally fish, when I am comfortable with its source.
What’s so great about raw food? As a chef, I became involved in raw food because I realized that it had the potential to be as vibrant and flavorful as any cooked food. Those qualities, in conjunction with its health and environmental benefits, make raw food hard to challenge.
But Matthew, you can’t get enough protein if you don’t eat meat! True or false? This is a myth. Our proteins are developed from the essential amino acids which are all available in plant food.
What is your favorite vegetarian dish? Local Polenta with Wild Mushrooms at Chase’s Daily in Belfast, Maine
Have you ever heard from any committed carnivores who got dragged to Pure Food and Wine and liked it? I have heard many carnivores admit that they tried raw food and liked it, although it’s hard to say how many of them would actually consider converting.
Tell us everything you ate yesterday. I don’t have traditional meals unless in a restaurant, so it all runs together…green mango smoothie, wheat toast with macadamia butter, avocado salad with sunflower sprouts and sea vegetables, raw cacao brownie, baked sweet potato with brown basmati rice, swiss chard and shiitake mushrooms, apple-apricot sorbet.
What cooking tips can you offer someone cooking vegetarian meals at home? I think that the best cooking at home is always straightforward. With vegetarian, keep it seasonal, simple and focus on the quality of ingredients. There is nothing more satisfying than a rustic, greenmarket inspired menu. I nearly always go shopping without any preconceived menu and build the meal around what inspires me.
Please share a good holiday recipe. RAW PUMPKIN PIE WITH THYME
(Yield 1)You will never know that this pumpkin pie is actually made with carrot juice. I think it is my favorite of all of our pies – the filling is also great on its own, as a cold pudding or flan.
For the crust:
2 1/4 cup pecans
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon date paste
¼ sea salt
(Optional: soak pecans over night and dehydrate at 118 degrees for 24 hours.)
Place pecans in food processor, pulse into small crumbs.
Mix all ingredients together well by hand.
Press into plastic-lined 9 inch tart pan to desired thickness.
Dehydrate 48 hours.
Chill crusts in freezer for 15-30 minutes before filling.
If not using all the crust, store extra in containers in the freezer.
For the Filling:
1/2 cups cashews soaked
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup agave
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons carrot juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 vanilla bean, scraped
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 tablespoon fresh Thyme, chopped
Blend all ingredients, except thyme, in Vitamix until very smooth.
Stir in thyme.
Fill candied tart crust and chill in freezer overnight.
Remove pie from metal tart shells, cut into 12 even slices and wrap in plastic wrap.
Cut the slices, running a knife under hot water and dry it with a towel between cuts.
Store in freezer.
Link to Article: http://gothamist.com/2007/12/20/matthew_kenney.php
Garden Lasagna / Chad Sarno
(Pine Nut Ricotta, Olive Relish, Wild Mushroom, Sweet Pepper Coulis)
Serves 6-8
| For the Lasagna: 3-4 round zucchini sliced into thin rounds, or long zucchini sliced thin in strips4-6 black plum tomatoes, or roma, sliced in thin rounds
1 cup sliced mushrooms (portabella, chanterelle, baby oyster), toss with 2 T shoyu and 2 T olive oil 1 cup Pine nut Ricotta (see recipe) 1/2 cup seeded and tomatoes tossed with T olive oil 1 cup olive relish (see recipe) ½ cup smoked red pepper puree (see recipe) ½ cup smoked yellow pepper puree (see recipe) Course sea salt, smoked (for garnish on each plate) |
| For the Pine Nut Ricotta: 1 cup cashews soaked 10-12 hours1 cup pine nuts
2 TB flax or olive oil 2 TB lemon juice 1 TB Sea Salt 1 clove garlic 3 TB water 2 TB fresh chives minced 2 TB sage, or oregano minced |
| For the Fresh Olive Relish: 2 cup Sicilian green olives pitted and course chopped2 cups kalamata olives pitted and course chopped
2 cloves of garlic fine minced 2 TB tarragon fine chopped 2 TB black truffle oil |
| For the Sweet Pepper Puree: 1 cup fresh sweet peppers seeded and chopped2 TB olive oil
1 TB lemon juice 1 tsp. smoked salt |
In high speed blender, blend all ingredients until smooth, put through fine strainer for optimum consistency.
Recipe Reference: GLiving Chad Sarno
http://gliving.tv/greenchefs/recipes/?p=154&akst_action=share-this
Filed under: Raw Reviews
Full Detailed Information on Eczema
Mike Hussey
November 20, 2007
The term “eczema” is broadly applied to a range of persistent skin conditions. These include dryness and recurring skin rashes characterized by one or more of these symptoms: redness, skin edema, itching and dryness, crusting, flaking, blistering, cracking, oozing, or bleeding. Areas of temporary skin discoloration are sometimes due to healed lesions, although scarring is rare. Eczema is a very common condition, and it affects all races and ages, including young infants. About 1-2 percent of adults have eczema, and as many as 20 percent of children are affected. It usually begins early in life, even before asthma or hay fever. Most affected individuals have their first episode before age 5 years.
Eczema Causes
The exact cause of eczema is not known. Although it is activated by the immune system and is related to allergic reactions, it is not the same as other allergic reactions. People with eczema do have the IgE antibodies (immunoglobulin E) produced by the immune system as part of allergic reactions.
What does eczema look and feel like?
Although eczema may look different from person to person, it is most often characterized by dry, red, extremely itchy patches on the skin. Eczema is sometimes referred to as “the itch that rashes,” since the itch, when scratched, results in the appearance of the rash.
Eczema can occur on just about any part of the body; however, in infants, eczema typically occurs on the forehead, cheeks, forearms, legs, scalp, and neck.
What Are the Signs and Symptoms?
Signs and symptoms of eczema can vary widely during the early phases. Between 2 and 6 months of age (and almost always before the age of 5 years), children with eczema usually develop itchy, dry, red skin and small bumps on their cheeks, forehead, or scalp. The rash may spread to the extremities (the arms and legs) and the trunk, and red, crusted, or open lesions may appear on any area affected.
Treatments of Eczema – When the focus of your daily diet is that of organic raw foods you discover two amazing things. When you eat over 50% of your foods raw you find that you have a greater resistance to diseases such as eczema. Your body will have the ability to self heal skin rash, eczema, asthma and hay fever.
You also discover that the pace as which you age is dramatically reduced.
So what can eating raw foods do you for eczema?
#1 – Treatments of Eczema – If you suffer from eczema and eat above 60% of your foods raw and organic you are affected in a totally different manner physiologically than an Eczema sufferer who eats mostly cooked foods in high quantities.
#2 – Treatments of Eczema – Raw foods have the ability to help your skin to radiate. Your skin will heal, glow, and tighten giving off high levels of radiance. You will also radiate more energy if you reduce the amount of cooked foods you eat and increase the raw.
Is It Contagious?
Eczema is not contagious, so there’s no need to keep a baby or child who has it away from siblings, other children, or anyone else.
How can eczema be prevented?
Eczema outbreaks can usually be avoided with some simple precautions. The following suggestions may help to reduce the severity and frequency of flare-ups:
* Moisturize frequently
* Avoid sudden changes in temperature or humidity
* Avoid sweating or overheating
* Reduce stress
Reference: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=43458
Filed under: Raw Reviews
Lucy Atkins
Tuesday December 4, 2007
The GuardianShock news from the world of dietary research: raw-food fanatics may not be so deranged after all. Research has emerged showing a direct link between a chemical called acrylamide and womb and ovarian cancer in women. Acrylamide is produced when we roast, fry or bake our food.
If you are still reeling from last month’s news that bacon and sausages cause cancer, then the idea that the future holds only raw beansprouts may seem a bit much. However, it appears that the more crispily we cook food – particularly starchy foods, such as potatoes – the more acrylamide is produced. The University of Maastricht study found that women who consumed 40 micrograms of acrylamide a day (the same as in a 32g packet of crisps) had double the risk of cancer than women who ate the least.
The evidence is so persuasive that the EU is now advising people to avoid overcooking when baking, frying or toasting carbohydrate-rich foods. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) suggests casting an aesthetic eye over your dinner plate: keep your chips to a gentle golden yellow, and your toast to the lightest shade acceptable.
Acrylamide, explains a FSA spokesman, is a chemical produced naturally when a wide variety of foods are cooked. Most breakfast cereals contain it. Cooked meat contains low levels, too. This latest study is not the first to show a link with cancer. However, the FSA admits that, “It is not possible to have a healthy balanced diet that avoids acrylamide.” Virtually all women eat acrylamide, probably daily. Not all of us get endometrial or ovarian cancer.
The sensible point lurking deep in the headlines is that we should all cut down on chips, crisps, fast foods and processed foods, which contain the highest levels of acrylamide. In short, eat everything in moderation and increase your fruit and vegetable intake to offset the (unavoidable) baddies.
Reference: http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2221384,00.html
Filed under: Raw Reviews
Dr Anjali Mukherjee
Sunday, December 09, 2007 03:19 IST
Is eating raw food healthier?
Raw fruit and vegetable juices (usually referred to as ‘live’ foods) provide biologically-active components called enzymes, which play an active role in all metabolic activities in the body. Without enzymes, the body cannot utilise protein, fats, carbohydrates and vitamins in food into the bone, hair, skin, muscles, glands and hormones.The body absorbs the vitamins and minerals present in fresh and raw foods better than from synthetic vitamins and refined and processed foods. Since these enzymes and nutrients are extremely sensitive to heat and get destroyed during the process of cooking, we should try to incorporate raw foods in our diet. Foods rich in enzymes such as papaya, pineapple, cabbage, reddish, beetroot and raw sprouts should be consumed frequently.
I’ve been told that organic foods help retain enzymes, vitamins, minerals and fibres in the body. Is this true?
Yes, since the extent of processing involved is minimal (fewer artificial methods, no chemical ripening, no food irradiation, and no genetically modified ingredients), nutrients are not destroyed and their subsequent absorption in the body may be better than those produced with conventional methods.
Research shows that organic foods are much richer in micro nutrients and mineral content. For example, chromium was found to be higher in organic foods by an average of 78 per cent and the antioxidant Selenium was found to be about 390 per cent higher.
How can you know that certain foods are organic and no fertilisers have been used? Where are these available?
A ‘certified organic’ label is usually the only way for a consumer to know that a processed product is ‘organic’. These are readily available at leading super markets and large retail stores at their special organic food sections, such as in Kendriya Bhandar or the Fabindia or Tribes India stores.What are processed organic foods? Are they as healthy?
Processed organic foods usually contain organic ingredients or at least a minimum percentage of organically grown constituents, which conform to the required standards. These products may range from canned foods to frozen vegetables and ready-to-eat cereals.
As far as ‘healthy’ goes, fresh is better than frozen and frozen better than canned. It is important to check the organic certification and the related nutrition facts (total fats, sodium, calories, etc) before buying the product.
How healthy are organic ice-creams, dairy and other organic products in the market?
Organic farming keeps harmful chemicals and pesticides out of food and beverages, so they reduce the risk to many health problems such as allergic reactions, headaches, asthma, growth retardation and skin disorders.
Along with taste and sweetness, the texture, firmness and nutrient content of organic fruits and vegetables are also rated higher than those grown conventionally. Among other products, organic groceries such as organic basmati rice, bajra, whole wheat and organic pulses like beans and lentils are richer in vitamin content.
Could you offer a healthy recipe featuring the use of organic foodstuff?
There is, in fact, no separate recipe to prepare or cook organic foods. They can be easily incorporated into our daily menu of soups, starters or main course. For example an organic potato and cauliflower can be prepared as aloo-gobi, exactly the way it is prepared in the basic recipe.
Raw salads that we consume should be organically grown as these organic foods are richer in nutrients and minerals, and devoid of any contamination.
Reference: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1138087
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