Raw style

Why do we have two raw foods threads?

"health liberation"?

Liberation from what?

Liberation from health sounds like a pretty bad deal to me 8)

Well, this being the Bay Area, we actually have a number of raw restaurants to choose from.

My favorite is Cafe Gratitude, of which there are four (menu here (http://www.withthecurrent.com/menu.html))

You'll notice that it ain't cheap. And for someone such as myself, putting together enough food to feel satisfied is downright expensive.

On the other hand, it's actually delicious! First time there, at a friend's insistence, I was dubious, but pretty much everything tasted great. I guess one way to look at the prices is that this is actually a pretty high end place, gourmet dining wise, and the general hippy/health food ambiance is just misleading. Taken that way, the prices are by no means out of line for a lot upscale Bay Area eateries.

I peaked in the kitchen, and as you might imagine: no stoves. But lots and lots of hand and electric grinders. And mortar and pestles. And presses. And endless rows of jars with seeds, grains, nuts, seasonings and oils (all cold pressed, of course). I guess the trick for making things like "bread" and "corn chips" and the like is to grind a bunch of stuff real fine, bind it with oils, press it to shape, and let it air dry.

Ironically, if you want to be a "rawatarian" and want a varied, interesting diet, you actually have to do quite a bit more work to produce things.

Still, I can see the appeal, to an extent. Have no idea if the health claims hold any water.

Yeah... she watched what she ate and lost weight.

You can do that with cooked food too...

No kidding. I know I'm a bit old fashioned, but the "eat less calories than you burn" diet seems to produce results. What a crazy universe.

Not so much, in my experience. Eat less => body starts to burn less => no weight loss. Even if you do lose weight, it is most likely protein loss, and since each unit of protein binds eight units of water, it all comes back right quick.

To lose weight you need to gain muscle mass, which makes your body less efficient.

It doesn't really matter. If weight is to be lost, calories burned must exceed calories taken in. That's pure science.

what's a unit of protein?

pound, kilo, gram, whatever - any unit of weight measure will do since it is a ratio.

I was just pointing out that he doesn't really know what he is talking about... As you know 'a unit' is well completely arbitrary...

You are pretty negative lately...