Raw Food Class in San Francisco April 4th

By Dan | Published: March 15, 2010

Spring Greening

Caesar Salad

Caesar Salad

An Evening of Live Food and Drink

With Fresh Raw Chef Samuel Lippman

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

5:30PM – 8:00PM

Nervous Dog Coffee
3438 Mission Street (Between Cortland Ave. and 30th ST.)
Bernal Heights, San Francisco

Farmers Market Menu

3 Green Drinks
Sam’s Green Juice
Peachsley Smoothie
The Green Machine Power Shake

Cosmo-Polynesian Iced Tea

Whirled Peas Pate
Red Pepper Flax Crackers

Vegan Caesar
Pistachio Crouton, Hemp Seed Parmesan

Spring Onion, Asparagus and Snow Pea Thai Green Curry
Cucumber Daikon Glass Noodle

Wild Mushroom Walnut Burger
Almond Onion Bread, Sun Dried Tomato BBQ, Spicy Mustard

Sunburst Squash Lasagna
Cauliflower Ricotta, Pea Shoot Pesto

Classic Cashew Lemon Cheesecake
Pecan Crust, Local Strawberry Coulis

Course Details

  • $85/Person, $150/Couples
  • Register here :

  • Professional Food Prep Demonstration and Lecture
  • 6 Course Dinner and Drinks
  • Full Recipe Booklet of All Dishes
  • Raffle Drawing For Prizes

Learn To:

  • Prepare Simple and Sophisticated Raw Vegan Recipes
  • Use a Knife, Blender, Food Processor, Mandolin, Food Dehydrator
  • Green Your Diet
  • Eat Seasonally
  • Shop Locally
  • Stock Your Pantry with Wholesome Organic Staples
  • Lead a Healthful Lifestyle

Chef Sam Lippman

is a professional RAW vegan chef with over five years experience preparing original live food recipes for private clients and working in many of the Bay Area’s top organic food establishments, including Google, Café Soulstice, Alive, and Back to Earth Organic Catering.  An enthusiastic chef and teacher, these workshops are an opportunity to learn from a professional with passion for healthy and delicious cuisine.  Chef Lippman uses a local and seasonal approach to his dishes, showcasing pure flavor combinations, sensuous textures, and striking presentation.

Posted in Event | Leave a comment

Successful protein shake

By Dan | Published: February 15, 2010

In a previous post I shared my frustration with coming up with a good protein shake. Marie Hughes came to the rescue and gave me a great tip about how to improve my protein shakes, namely adding water and ice in equal amounts. I tried it and it worked, thanks Marie !

I blended the following ingredients together:

  • 2 cups hemp milk
  • 2 heaping tbsp rice powder
  • 10 cubes of ice
  • 1 tsp of honey
  • 1 banana
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla

The end result was two full glasses of 13g of protein each, not a lot but still something. It tasted decent, not too sweet , and it had no grit. One final trick was to let is sit at the end and then shake it a bit, this way it became nice and smooth.

Posted in 20lbs-more, Recipes | Leave a comment

Starting Protein Shakes

By Dan | Published: February 13, 2010

Since the beginning of the year I have managed to gain only 2 pounds, so I’m changing things up a bit. For speeding up my weight gaining experience I am supplementing now with protein shakes. Making a decent protein shake is a challenge, at least to me. I would love to hear your feedback on how to create the perfect protein shake. My two factors for judging a shake are taste and grit.

Taste

  • Not too sweet
  • Not too bland
  • It is easy to have a full glass of it

Grit

Grit seems to be a major issue currently. It seems to help a bit to overblend it but it would be great to find a powder which I can prepare at work as well, where I don’t have a high speed blender.

Winner

Currently I have one shake which I think is quite good, but I’d love to have some variety.

  • 1 heaping tablespoon Rice Protein from NutriBiotic (12g protein), coconut water from one young thai coconut
    • This simple combination is the winner for now. It works great with/without adding the coconut meat.
    • I am having this twice a day, which gives me about 25g of protein. This is still not much, I would like to get 50g of protein from shakes, as my protein intake from regular food is not big.

Losers

  • Hemp protein  + orange juice
    • It was way to sweet, I couldn’t chuck it down.
  • Hemp protein + coconut milk + vanilla + pinch salt
    • It was too thick and creamy
  • Rice protein + stevia  + vanilla  + water
    • I tried this at work without a blender. I just used a spoon to mix it all together and it tasted awful. It was also very gritty, the rice protein just didn’t dissolve.

No whey, no soy

Milk and soy are highly allergenic food items. I try to stay away from them as much as possible. Any protein shake shouldn’t contain any of these ingredients.

Do you have a protein shake you like? Please post it as a comment. I would love to try it and give you feedback on it.


Posted in 20lbs-more, Nutrition, Recipes | Leave a comment

Dialog Dinner: Thyroid Health, Walnut Creek, Feb 16th

By Dan | Published: February 13, 2010
Thyroid Hormone Testing

See handout for details.

Join us Tuesday evening, Feb 16th in Walnut Creek, CA for a 3-course dinner by Chef Joni Sare and a discussion on Thyroid Health led by Steve Fowkes, nutrition expert.

Do you have persistent cold hands and feet, tendency towards constipation, borderline depression, sleeping problems, low body temperature, low pulse rate? You might have hypothyroidism.

The thyroid hormones produced by the thyroid gland control the body’s cellular energy. If the body can’t produce and/or use these hormones efficiently, the above symptoms can occur.

Certain tests are over prescribed and other tests are under prescribed, come to this event to find out which tests are available and a possible course of action for thyroid therapy. Click here for the handout (.pdf) which will be used during the dinner.

Register Now for the event

This gathering is for anyone who is interested in health information for themselves, their friends/family and/or for their clients/patients.

When: Tuesday, February 16th   ·   7 – 9 pm (Dinner will be served at 7pm, so please arrive accordingly.)

Where: A private home in Walnut Creek on the ridge above Acalanes High School (The address and directions will be sent to those who register.)

Who: Steve Fowkes, a biochemical nutritionist and Joni Sare, a dietary chef and YOU (see BIOS, below)

Price:

  • $30 for one person
  • $55 for you and a friend
  • $80 for you and two friends

Bios:

Steve Fowkes is an organic chemist, neurobiochemist, nutritional formulation consultant, legal expert witness and is considered an expert in brain function and metabolism. He has written several books, authored numerous articles and papers, illustrated books and scientific papers and served as editor, technical editor and guest editor on many more. He is currently writing his sixth book. In 1979, he co-founded a nutrition company, Vitamin Research Products and managed their research, new product development, manufacturing, data-processing and shipping departments until 1983. In 1992, he founded and continues to direct the Cognitive Enhancement Research Institute. His ability to translate technical topics for the public led to TV appearances on People are Talking, a San Francisco-based TV talk show, The Dr. Dean Edel Show, a nationally syndicated TV talk show, and CNN’s Larry King Live and several anti-aging documentaries. Steve is available for private and group nutrition counseling. Contact info:  www.ceri.com ·   650-321-2374

Joni Sare, NE, Chef is a personal trainer for the kitchen and a healthy eating coach for people. She specializes in whole-food nutrition lectures, cooking demos, meal planning and dinners (from raw food to meat-based meals). Joni offers 3- to 30-day live-in retreats to help people make lasting changes. She began nutrition studies in 1983 and is course-certified as a Nutrition Educator (2007) and Natural Chef (2008), from Bauman College(.org) in Berkeley. Joni is the Executive Director of the Health Medicine Forum(.org), an educational foundation in Walnut Creek, producing events at the Lesher Arts Center. Joni is available for private and group nutrition counseling, lectures, cooking demos and catering.  Contact info:  www.jonisare.com ·   925-381-8498

Steve and Joni, along with Dan Popovici, are co-founders of Project Wellbeing. The three of them host nutrition and cooking events at their home in Sunnyvale and around the Bay Area.

Dialog Dinners bring people together to share interests and ideas while communing at the dinner table. Through conversations like this change is encouraged and occurs. Featured guests will lead the conversation at the dinner table, topics include: health and healing, environment and living. Contact Joni to suggest and/or offer to be a featured guest.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Mexican Vegetable and Fish Tostada

By joni | Published: February 8, 2010

Sunday night’s dinner was worth sharing … we hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did.

Health nugget – Fish is known to contain mercury and having too much can cause problems, luckily cilantro works well in Mexican dishes …. and…cilantro helps chelate (eliminate) the mercury that is absorbed into the blood out through the kidneys into the urine.


Ingredients for the veggie and fish topping

Dan's enjoying the tostada.

6 tomatillos
1 red bell pepper
1 carrot
1/2 red onion
1 poblano/ancho pepper

2 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp powdered cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP onion powder
1 TBSP dried oregano

1/2 lbs Petrale sole
1/2 lbs Monk fish

Ingredients for the tostadas

4 Brown Rice Tortillas
1 tsp dried oregano per tortilla
1/4 tsp powdered cumin per tortilla
sea salt to taste

Process

1. Prepare and toast the Brown Rice Tortillas. See directions, below.
2. Mince the veggies, some small, some medium size, set aside.
3. Mince the cilantro and mango, set aside.
4. Chop the fish into small bite-size pieces, set aside.
5. Cook the veggie and fish mixture. See directions, below.

Directions

Toasted Brown Rice Tortillas
1. Preheat oven to broil on high.
1. Wipe tortilla with olive oil.
2. Sprinkle oregano, salt and cumin to taste.
3. Put tortillas on baking sheet and place in oven for 5 minutes, or until brown and crisp, remove and set aside.

Veggie and fish tostada
1. Heat oil in large saute pan, add veggies, heat for 3 minutes, stir occasionally
2. Add spices, heat for 3 minutes, stir occasionally
3. Add fish, heat for 3 minutes.
4. Flip the fish and veggie mixture and heat for 3 minutes.
5. Spoon mixture on top of the toasted Brown Rice Tortillas.
6. Top with minced cilantro and mango.

We’d love to hear your comments and if you added or changed any of the ingredients.

Posted in Recipes | Leave a comment

Experiment “20lbs more” – Day 5

By Dan | Published: January 6, 2010

After 5 days my current weight is 133.5 lbs 9% body fat. This might be also due to dehydration but currently I think it is too early to tell. Anyways I haven’t yet made progress going in the right direction as far as weight is concerned. My energy level on the other hand has been rock solid, and my sleep quality has been also very good, sleeping on the average 6 hours / night. Read More »

Posted in 20lbs-more | Leave a comment

A healthier 2010

By Dan | Published: January 2, 2010

I would like to invite you all to the  First Annual Bay Area Wellness Festival on 1/20, 7 PM at the Cubberly Theater in Palo Alto. The theme is: A HEALTHIER 2010. We expect to be close to the capacity limit, which means more than 300 people. There is nothing better than starting the new year with a BLAST! Read More »

Posted in Event | Leave a comment

Experiment “20lbs more” – Day 1

By Dan | Published: January 2, 2010

Today I’m starting an experiment where the goal it to gain 20lbs. I also want to gain this weight in a healthy way, that is not to harm my body. One way to achieve this goal is to just eat a few pounds of sugar every day. That would probably get me the 20lbs in a short amount of time and probably give me diabetes along the way as well . I consider that cheating and during this experiment I will continue what I’m doing now, that is not eat refined carbohydrates which includes high fructose corn syrup, white sugar, white flour, white rice etc. Read More »

Posted in 20lbs-more | 2 Comments

Podcast #1 : Questions and Answers about Health

By Dan | Published: December 30, 2009

On Dec 29th, 25 people interested in health and nutrition gathered to have dinner and ask lots of questions. Steven Wm. Fowkes did a great job answering all questions. The questions touch upon almost every topic that one usually cares about. Sample Questions are : “What is an effective way to get rid of cravings?” , “What are the benefits and cautions of coconut oil?” , “What is the story behind cholesterol? “, “How can one improve ones sleep?” and much much more. Read More »

Posted in Podcast | Leave a comment

FUNDRAISER for Elaina Love & her son Dominic

By Dan | Published: December 3, 2009

Learn about nutrition  & how to prepare gourmet green dishes

Learn everything you want to know about nutrition and also how to make delicious & healthy green foods with a professional RAW foods chef and vegan triathlete. Discover the benefits of alkalizing green foods, how to source local and seasonal ingredients, and how to eat affordably.

Read More »

Posted in Class, Event, Fundraiser | 8 Comments