New Blogs

Our new blog is up and running, you can get the link at Naked Food Cafe.

Picture "borrowed" from Raw Vegan Mama, at Simply Green Living.

Banana Island Recipe Book

Banana Island Recipes

All the low fat raw vegan recipes featured on the blog in one easily accessible place. Also has links to all the mystery fruits and our reviews of them. Enjoy!




http://bananaislandrecipes.blogspot.com/

Moving Day

As many of you know, our stay on Banana Island, our magical, imaginary island of fruity deliciousnes, was an experiment with a low-fat fruitarian diet. We started our exploration on August 31, 2007, and planned to spend 90 days determining the adaptability of the diet to our lifestyle, tastes, etc. It has been almost 6 months, and our project has finally come to an end.

After much discussion, we have decided that a low fat raw vegan diet, consisting mainly of fruit and green veggies, is not for us. There are many factors involved in our decision, the primary being that we are just not happy eating this way. Harmony in our home is more important than any diet, so this is a decision we have reached together. We were never able to transition Christopher to the diet, so he was not a consideraton.

We are sold on the idea of a low-fat vegan diet, but I do not want to label us as any kind of eaters. I believe we need to eat as well as we can for our bodies at all times, but I will not, in the future, feel bound by any rules, rigid or flexible. The saying, "rules are made for breaking," IMHO, comes from the fact that as soon as someone says we can't, we want to, even if the someone is ourselves.

We have not completed our February recipe challenge, but I did not feel like I was being honest with everyone by continuing the blog when we had already ended the experiment. I realize how seriously some of you take your commitment to this lifestyle and want to respect that. One of you might want to take up the challenge and continue it on your blog. I have found it to be a lot of fun.

At this time Sarah, from Living the Fruity Life, has submitted the most recipes and reviews of the recipes of others. If you will email me your address Sarah, we have a special gift for you. You also may want to move the recipe challenge to your blog, since you are so good at trying new food combinations.

I appreciate everyone's contributions and have created a gift for all of you. You can find it here.

I do not want anyone to think we are saying that the 811, or any low fat raw vegan diet, is not effective or worth pursuing. It is simply not the path we are led to follow, though we are glad to have spent this time exploring the option.

When I began all of this 5 years ago, I saw things in a very linear way. There were vegetarian diets, vegan diets, raw vegan diets, low fat raw vegan diets, fruitarian diets, and each was an improvement on, or step ahead of, the former. Now I am seeing our eating style as more synthesized, learning new things from each step forward, but not being bound to leave the others behind. I plan to incorporate techniques and foods from all lifestyles, as I see fit.

I guess what I am saying is, I really have to leave most rules behind when it comes to what I eat, or it really cannot be instinctive. I am not talking about knowledge, as I think the more of that we acquire, the better; I am talking about rules. So, we shall see where this leads us. I will still be blogging at the Naked Food Cafe for a short time, but am getting ready to unveil a new blog that is more inclusive, and a better representative of who I am and where I am headed. I hope that some of you will want to journey on with me.

I will still be reading your blogs and cheering you on in your efforts. I wish you all the luck in the world in pursuing your goals and achieving all you have set out to accomplish. I will be there waiting for you at the finish line!

As always, if you ever make it down here, or up here for you Queen B, stop on by, we will gladly share a bowl of juicy raw fruit and a jug of pina coladas, or fresh squeezed Florida orange juice, with all the friends we met on Banana Island!



Much Love to All of You!
Connie

"The only rule in the Wise Woman tradition is that there are no rules. Allowing the unjudging flow of compassion, in a Wise Woman way, we are challenged to remember that the perfect wholeness of each moment is ever changing. There can be no rules."

"Rules make safe comfortable, secure boxes to hide behind when normalcy stretches its limits, and the unexpected occurs. Rules are safe. Rules are elastic. Rules are visible. Rules are accountable. Rules are regular. Rules are logical.

All rules are made to be broken, says the wise woman."

-Susun Weed, Healing Wise

If You Like Pina Coladas.....

and getting caught in the rain, then you will LOVE this! :)


Pina Colada

Blend:
Juice of 2 limes
Meat and water of one young coconut
1/4 ripe pineapple
Optional, agave to taste
Ice
Enjoy, with or without a paper umbrella!

Cucmber Pasta with Pepper Sauce

Photo by Raw Vegan Londoner



Check out her Pointed Red Pepper Pasta here.

Texas Sunset Slaw

Sarah, http://sarah811.blogspot.com/ left this coleslaw recipe for the rest of us to try:

Texas Sunset Slaw

1/2 head purple cabbage

2 apples

1 yellow bell pepper

Grate all of the above. Into the dish, pour and mix: About 8 oz OJ, and a handful of crushed pecan bits.

Harmony's Mystery Fruit

Harmony has picked up where our mystery fruit game left off. Thankfully, she is not asking us to guess the names of her exotic acquisitions, but she is sharing lots of details of her experimentation. Check out Fun With Fruit and Hygiene for pictures and taste reviews of the Black Sapote (chocolate pudding fruit), canistel, pictured above, and sapodilla. It all starts here.