Medical News

Some North Texans say they're seeing unbelievable health benefits and dramatic weight loss from a revolutionary diet. To succeed, you have to be willing to eat raw food. Before you make a face, read on. The meal options may surprise you.

Lissa Sieja of Watauga likes to experiment and try new things in the kitchen. She also wants her family to eat as healthy as possible. That's why she's put her family on the Raw Food Diet.

"We really believe in what we eat because it makes us feel better, and it's healthy," Sieja said. "We just wake up feeling more energized."

So, what is exactly is the Raw Food Diet? Sieja says it consists of plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. She says it has to be something that still contains living enzymes.

"People are afraid that we're talking about eating pork and chicken raw, and that's the furthest thing from the truth," Sieja said. "It's all plant based."

Sieja stumbled on the diet several years ago when she began having medical issues.

"I started out having mid-age problems like fibromyalgia and passing gall stones," she said. "I started raw food, and got rid of all my symptoms."

Paul Nison has written several books about the Raw Food Diet. His latest - The Daylight Diet - is due out soon. Like Sieja, he discovered the Raw Food Diet when after being ill. He also says the diet has helped his body heal.

"The way we've been traditionally doing things is so unhealthy," he said. "That's why we have more disease than ever before in the world."

Nison says by removing processed and unnatural foods that actually shut down your body's natural defense, you're removing the problem. By adding raw, organic materials into your diet, you'll be fueling your body to fight off disease and rebuild faster.

"The diet controls the pain in the body," Sieja explains. "It causes inflammation. If you eat too much of the wrong foods, you're inflammed."

"I would challenge anyone to have good, organic, ripe produce and dislike it," Nison said. "No one will. It just tastes delicious."

Sieja showed off several of the most common meals she makes for her family. For breakfast, she mixes up milk made from almonds, pure water, nectar, and vanilla. She pours taht over organic granola and blackberries. For lunch, she made pasta noodles out of zucchini, then topped that with a walnut meatball and a homemade marinara sauce. For dessert, she homogenized frozen, organic bananas to make an ice cream. All of the meals she made took less than 30 minutes to create.

Sieja is a part of the Fort Worth Raw Food Meet-Up Group. To learn more about their group, click here. There are several other Raw Food Meet-Up Groups in the area. To find the one closest to you, click here.

Below are the recipes Sieja made for us:

Cheese Sticks
Needs a dehydrator set at 105 for 12 to 20 hours
4 ½ cups hulled raw sunflower seeds
½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup Tamari or Nama Shoyu (see note)
3 cloves garlic, peeled

Grind 2 cups of the sunflower seeds using a coffee grinder or a food processer. Place contents onto a plate. Set aside.
In a food processor, combine 2 ½ cups of sunflower seed with the lemon juice, garlic and Nama Shoyu. Blend until smooth. Use a pastry bay to squeeze out sticks about 3 long onto the plate with the ground sunflower seeds. Roll until coated. Transfer onto a dehydrator sheet.
Serve warm with marinara sauce.

Marinara Sauce
1 ½ cups seeded organic or garden tomatoes
1/3 cup diced organic red bell pepper
½ cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons Nana Shoyu or Tamari (see note)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 cup organic sundried tomatoes
Pinch of salt

In a blender, process until smooth. Serve with spaghetti, cheese sticks or use as pizza sauce.

Meatless Meatballs
1 cup soaked walnuts, soaked in pure water, drained.
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Tamari or Nama Shoyu (see note)
¼ teaspoon minced garlic
Pinch of salt

Place all ingredients into a food processor and process into a paste.
Shape into meatball sized balls and place into a container. Cover with Marinara Sauce. Serve with Zucchini spaghetti.

Zucchini Spaghetti
1 Zucchini, peeled

Using a vegetable spiral slicer, cut zucchini in thin noodles.
Use kitchen scissors to cut into manageable sized pieces. Serve with Marianna sauce and Meatless Meatballs. Garnish with slivers of fresh basil.

Almond Milk
1 cup Raw Organic almonds
1 cup pure water
Soak almonds over night in water.
2 cups pure water
1 cup soaked drained almonds
¼ agave nectar
½ teaspoon organic vanilla

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Pour through a milk bag or use a fine strainer to remove pulp. Store the milk in the refrigerator. Drink, pour onto cereal or use as base for a milkshake.

Granola
Makes 3 quarts
Needs a dehydrator
2 1/ 2 cups soaked and sprouted raw oat or buckwheat grouts
2 cups pitted dates
1/2 cup pure water
¼ cup organic raisins
1/3 cup minced pecans
1/3 cup shaved dried coconut
¼ cup hulled raw sunflower seeds, soaked 4 to 6 hours, rinsed and drained
¼ raw pumpkin seeds, soaked 4 to 6 hours, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup raw sesame seeds, soaked 4 to 6 hours, rinsed and drained
¼ cup flax seeds, soaked 4 to 6 hours in ½ cup pure water
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together the grouts, raisins, coconut, nuts, seeds and cinnamon together.
In blender, blend the dates together with the water to make a smooth paste. Add more water as needed. Mix into grouts, raisins, coconuts nuts and seeds.
Spread into a non-stick dehydrator sheet and dehydrate for 8 hours at 105 degrees. Flip and dehydrate for an additional 24 hours until completely dried.
Break granola apart and store in a glass jar. Serve with almond milk.

Banana Ice Cream
6 organic ripe bananas, peeled and frozen

Using a Champion juicer or a Green Star juicer, force frozen bananas through juicer using the homogenizer plate. Serve with carob sauce or fresh fruit.

*Note: You can find Nama Shoyu, a fermented, unpasteurized soy sauce at Marker Street, Central and Whole Foods Grocery stores in the DFW area. For those sensitive to wheat, buy the wheat-free Tamari.

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