Raw

Committing to Organic

Committing to Organic

Our first meal from the organic delivery.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I did the figures on how much we spend on fresh produce at the supermarket on a weekly basis, and based on our findings, we decided that it was high-time to take the plunge – to commit to a regular organic fruit and vegetable delivery.

The commitment isn’t just financial of course – it’s about making the most of every box of leafies that arrives at our door – learning how to prepare the plants we aren’t familiar with – finding new favourites – and, yes – eating out a little less.

To talk bald figures – we knew that if we committed to an organic delivery that cost $250 a week or less (the fruit and veg portion of our standard shopping budget), whose contents could make meals for the entire week, we would be saving a stack of cash (note: for two people, we eat a shit-ton of vegetables. That metric is no exaggeration). Plus – the value would in fact be far greater, because we tend to only really be able to find decent conventionally farmed fare at our local super.

We decided to go with Organic Empire. We’ve experimented with fruit and veg delivery companies before, but I have to say that this so far trumps our experience with the others. I met Angela the owner briefly, at a business event, and ran into her again at her stall on World Vegan Day in Melbourne last year. She’s doing amazing things – she really is – including growing a lot of the business’ own produce.

Please find pictured our first delivery. No – seriously. Each subsequent arrival has been nothing less than as spectacular as this. And you want to know how much moolah we part with on a weekly basis to get this magnificent harvest? Between $105 – $125. Which literally means we save over a hundred bucks on supermarket shopping each week to get what we need to feed (and juicify) us – and often more.

I know that people often feel a little hesitant when thinking about taking the plunge with organics (I know that I certainly did). There are a lot of fears that the produce will be full of bugs or soil or… well, you know – other random organic matter – but to speak with utter honesty, the quality of the produce we’ve received from Organic Empire has surpassed that of the conventional crap we buy at supermarkets – and has all been clean, well washed upon arrival and has kept gorgeously all the way through until the 7th day of the week (when we toss all the vegetables we have left over into a big pot and make a hearty stew or soup).

I’ve been recommending Organic Empire to my friends (a lot) lately and don’t hesitate to recommend them to you, too – they’re a good business with stellar service and a truly great product.

- MZ. x

Current obsession: coconut water

Current obsession: coconut water

I’ve replaced my daily takeaway coffee with a daily coconut water. And boy is my body ever cleaner and happier for it. The number of coconut waters gracing the market now is something extraordinary. My local is usually never short of Cocobella. I also luurrve C Coconut Water and Dr. Antonio Martin’s CoCo Juice

Peppermint Magazine (pictured) does a great li’l writeup of this insanely healthy bevvie in their latest and greatest issue yet (imho) – Autumn 2012. I had the pleasure of meeting Pep’s Deputy Editor, Tess Curran the other evening and I have to say that I’m really rather excited the previously mostly-Brisbane-based publication going to be corresponding now from Melbourne, Australia. No matter where you are, howevs – if you’re not into Peppermint Mag yet, go there. It’s a leading voice in sustainable style – zero BS.

- MZ.

Dearest friends, fellow cleansers, and the superéthically curious: today it is my unreserved delight to bring you the heart-racingly exciting, inaugural episode of Superéthique TV.

I decided to experiment with running the Living Clean project across multiple media – written article and video being the two easiest and most fun for me to whip together at half a moment’s notice.

And so… here it is. The episode that kicks it all off. Where we will be making a sumptuously refreshing Watermelon Crush! It’s an easy, cheap, quick, low-mess way of cooling down and pepping-up on a summer’s day, and is Oh. So. Delicious… So, enjoy!

Those fresh-fresh-fresh ingredients again (you can totally play around with the amounts to taste, too): Keep reading…

Gorgeous greens - image from our fabulous new friend: Wellness W.A.

Hello, lovelies. Welcome to the “Re-Nourish” edition of Living Clean. Today’s installment is your foundation kit of your-body-is-a-temple-already rituals, ingredients and tricks of the cleansing trade to get you really re-nourished, deeply refreshed and hella re-energized. So, crack open a coconut water, and let’s get started.

Green Juice

The number one thing I would instill in you as an absolute must is green juicing. It’s certainly something I’ve got to get back into (yeah – I’ve totally fallen off the wagon, friends) – whenever I go green first thing in the morning, every morning, I don’t catch so much as a sniffle (even when the worst bugs are floating around), my energy shoots through the roof, and well – let’s just say that when I say “it’s cleansing” I really, truly mean it.

You can use most green veggies that are good raw – everything from broccoli stalks to spinach leaves. Make sure that when you add your fruit component, that it’s roughly a third or less the amount of vegetable that you juice (apples & kiwi fruit is great, and I’m quite partial to a bit of watermelon at this time of year…). This ensures your blood-sugar doesn’t spike too quickly first thing. Fresh lemon and ginger will give your juice a detoxification supercharge.

The Singaporeans know how to juice.

Here, I’m borrowing a pre-loved recipe from a previous post of mine, because it’s still my absolute, 100% favourite.

The Lean Green Clean

  • 1/2 cucumber (or whole if Lebanese) – peeled if not organic
  • 2 x celery stalks (include the leaves)
  • 2 cups of baby spinach leaves
  • 1/2 – 1 lemon (peeled)
  • a good thumb-sized knob of ginger
  • 1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves

Sometimes if we make too much, I pop the remainder into an old agave bottle or jar, whack it in the fridge, and leave it to enjoy later onwards in the day. It beats a 3pm caffeine and sugar jolt hands-down. We use the Breville Ikon/Juice Fountain Plus, which is roughly the equivalent of this one.

Salad

Eat this shit. And lots of it. But seriously now, in my very humble opinion you can salad up at every meal while you’re cleansing (and beyond, my darlings) and not feel like you’re in any way in denial.

When I was a very young actor graduating from drama school, and on a get-trim-fast-fest while still needing to maintain incredibly high energy levels throughout the day, I had the best “breakfast salad” routine down.

Hot-to-trot “breakfast salad”

  • Soak half a cup of raw, organic nuts in chilled, filtered water overnight to “activate” them (or get them in the sprouting state). Cashews, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds & pepitas are amazing for this – but go nuts (oh, sorry) and experiment with other favourite if it takes your fancy.
  • In the morning, smash your nuts up manually – just a tiny bit – until they’re a little rough and chunky.
  • Chop up a serve or two of raw fruit (in season, of course). The lower glycemic-index versions are best. Apple, peach, pear, nashi, melon, kiwi… play around and combine a couple if you like, depending on what’s available.
  • Grate some fresh ginger. Not too much – you don’t want to be overwhelmed. But it should be enough to give your salad a good kick up the patootie.
  • Mix all that good shit up together. You can add a squeeze of lemon juice if you like.
  • If you feel like you need a bit of solid oomph, you can ladle a good spoonful of natural (unflavoured & unsweetened) soy yoghurt on top. But this is optional, and not nutritionally essential, ’cause you’ve got such nummy goodness in those blissfully activated nuts.

And as for lunch and dinner?

Really, this is all about picking fabulously fresh, organic-where-you-can, and most definitely in-season produce, and combining as much raw with lightly cooked ingredients as possible. Aim for 60-100% raw veg for at least lunchtime, if not dinner too (a little lightly steamed veg is totally fine, if you’re struggling to ease yourself onto raw, btw). Your body will definitely thank you for it.

The other awesome thing about raw and par-cooked vegetables is that they fill you up way faster than crap that’s had the shit cooked out of it. Give it a burl for a few nights, and you’ll find you’re not running back for seconds anywhere near as fast as you used to!

Quick tip: If you’re used to creamy sauces and salad dressings, a wildly delicious and hella healthy alternative is to use chickpeas (or just plain supermarket-bought hommus if you’re in a hurry), cashews and sesame seeds (or tahini) in place of the scary dairy. Talk about protein pack!

Cashews will need to be soaked for a couple of hours, chickpeas cooked (a can is cheating but totally acceptable if you’re short on time or patience, and would otherwise struggle with the chick), and sesame seeds or tahini paste can be thrown in with either as you prep you paste.

You just need a hand blender, a food processor, or a mortar and pestle and some awesome cardiovascular fitness.

Smash em up, season to taste (tamari, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, cumin powder… play around with flavour as you will). Et, voila: healthy creamy dressing and/or sauce.

Water.

Not much to say about this really, except drink up. Have a good stainless steel or glass flask on your person at all times with chilled, purified water. Stay hydrated throughout the day. A squeeze of lemon and a sprig of mint, or slice of cucumber can zazz things up a little if you’re getting tired of plain H2O. Whatever makes it easiest to get roughly 1.5 litres of it down your hatch every day – do it. You’re going to need to stay incredibly well-watered as you’ll be flushing out a f**kton of toxins as you cleanse, and you’ll need lubrication to wash them away with. *Slurp.*

Supplements.

Yep. This is really a consult-your-doctor one, but I would say that if your diet’s been a little hairy in the past and you’re struggling to add the fruit and vegetables back into it in the volumes required to pick your system up off the floor, a daily multivitamin (a good one, and vegan-friendly of course) for at least a month or two won’t hurt. Once your diet is richly packed with a wealth of seasonal, organic and raw fruits and vegetables however, you can probably rethink your need for this one.

It’s commonly recognised by most medical professionals that those eating a plant based diet are at a higher-than-normal risk of vitamin B-12 deficiency (it’s the only nutrient you can’t get from plants alone). Hell, I was put onto this stuff when I was still a flesh-muncher. You can get tested for deficiency (it’s not a bad idea all round), but it’s not one that I’d ignore at any rate. Ask your doctor or naturopath what the best route is for you.

Then there’s bacteria. The good type. The stuff that you commonly find in yoghurt. Well, the great news is that you can get non-animal-based capsules of good bacteria/flora to work wonders in your digestive system, and keep your gut-work happy.

In addition to these three reasonably essential puppies, for gut cleansing, it’s worth checking out psyllium husks and aloe vera juice to aid in the, er… release of solid toxins that have built up in your intestines. Yummy.

And finally, other supplements to consider are zinc (especially in cold and flu season), vitamin D, and magnesium. Spirulina (a superfood seaweed) also rocks my world. And as always, check it all out with your health care professional first – or at the very least, the qualified naturopath in the health food store. Seek out a good intergrative doctor, and you’re set for life.

Breath.

Yeah. You do it without thinking. It keeps you alive. But while you’re transitioning to a life of living clean, begin to give yourself the gift of big, deep, conscious breaths. Detoxing is about so much more than just dumping crap out of your body. It’s getting the toxic evil ju-ju karma out of our lives, too. The junk-food of the soul.

Breath helps to clear this. Take in big, deep, hedonistically gorgeous gulps of it. Close your eyes and drown in your stillness. In the midst of chaos, the horrors of peak hour, on the verge of a fight, when you’ve eaten something you wished you hadn’t, on a day you just haven’t had a break and it’s breaking you, stop. Close your eyes and breathe. In, two, three, four, five. Pause. Out, two, three, four, five. Pause. Repeat.

___________

Okay, so we’re really on our way here.

On Monday: a treat! That’s all I’m saying! Except that it will be a whole cocktail of fun… I’m saying that, too.

And then next Friday, we’re going to batten down our Living Clean hatches and set some grand and juicy goals.

Until then, mes chéris, Santé!

Ming-Zhu. xx

It’s been incredible. The newly-found self-confidence. The sideways glances. The compliments.

Especially since right now it’s pretty hot in Australia and we’re all just that little bit more – well – naked. To feel genuinely comfortable in my skin for the first summer in well over ten years, I can only describe as exhilarating.

The Back Story:

I adopted an almost entirely plant-based diet just under a year ago. I’d been a nutritional vegetarian for two years prior to this exciting new phase in my foodie journey, so it wasn’t a big leap for me to make – either culinarily or psychologically.

After having gotten schooled up on the hows and whys, I splashed out on a juicer (for my greens), swapped a stack of conventional produce for organic, and got my vegan on.

The first few months were all about trying stuff out: discovering new alternatives to the claggy dairy that we had become used to, reading the fine-print on the backs of packets, and over compensating with waaaay too much bread. (Way too much.)

All the while, I was managing to cart my ass to yoga maybe once or twice a week, and squeezing in 20-30 minutes’ walking 5 days a week if I was lucky – punctuating a working lifestyle that had become scarily sedentary.

I was maybe a tiny bit healthier, but hardly the energy-filled spunk-rat I wanted to be.

Then all of a sudden there was an overseas wedding to attend. We jettisoned off to Singapore where the searing heat meant that (for cosseted Melbournians like us) the majority of our waking hours had to be spent poolside, or in the heavily air-conditioned gymnasium. There were noodle dishes, gluten-based meat substitutes, sweet iced coffees, G+Ts, and mirrors everywhere. I felt at total and utter odds with my body, and my – let’s be honest – fairly crappy overall health and fitness.

It was time to overhaul my whole lifestyle. So, when I returned to Melbourne, I started working with a trainer to change and up my exercise. I re-read Crazy Sexy Diet and Skinny Bitch from cover-to-cover (it’s not actually as insanely LA as the title suggests, trust me). I got back on the raw-juice wagon in earnest, and cut out the white bread, the sweetener and the rather hearty soy-based smoothies that had slipped into my daily diet.

I cut my alcohol consumption down to almost nil, and weeded out almost all processed, substitute-style foods. I sought out the purest, organic, cruelty-free products to use on and around my body, too.

At the same time I started eating more raw fruit and vegetables. Stacks more. I embraced salad-creation as a way of life. I drank chilled, filtered water like a muthaf**ker. I learned how to lightly steam. Priceless.

Jump-cut a teeny-tiny two months: From this declaration of newly-found-health-dom to the lead-in to the silly season, I’d lost 7 kilos (that’s about 1.1 stone, or 15.4 pounds depending on where you live). Not Biggest Loser-style masses, but enough for people I hadn’t seen for a while to start to notice the difference. It was about 10kg (1.6st/22lb) short of my ultimate goal. But despite this, I’d gotten to a place where I was happy to take my cardigan off in public – plus my skin was glowing with radiant, veggie-love.

And then the new year hit in full force. Friends and family went on annual leave and flew into Melbourne (or at least just back into our social calendar), apple cider (the alcoholic type), pinot noir and gin and tonics once again became a regular fixture in the schedule; the white-bread creep was inexorable, irresistible, deadly; soy ice-cream visited her havoc upon me.

The scales stopped moving. Sort of. To be honest, they actually started moving in the opposite direction. Mild hangovers and insane heat started making regular exercise something to be avoided and then put off altogether. I have felt the old patterns sinking in.

But this time, instead of conceding to the inert apathy about what I put in my mouth and how much I move my booty, I decided to seize my health by the balls and slam home those last ten (okay, now eleven) kilos with absolute love and commitment.

Enter, Living Clean:

What a great opportunity! To take my fired-up journey to better health and a fitter body via pure, kind and conscious living choices and turn it into a whole resource for Superéthique readers to make healthy and practical changes in their lives and for the planet and its inhabitants.

I started out adopting a plant-based lifestyle for largely ethical and environmental reasons. At the same time, I learned about the significant health benefits (longevity, increased libido, avoidance of serious diseases anyone?). But then… I noticed the tangible changes to the way it made me look and feel.

Living cleanly has been the greatest lifestyle choice I’ve ever made, and certainly the one with the richest (and most holistic) rewards. It’s not a fad, it’s not a diet, it’s not a regimen. It’s a whole-life approach. And whatever it is you’re wanting to achieve in 2012 – be that getting fitter, looking better, losing weight, being more mindful about the choices you make (even changing your job, or earning more money!) this approach will support you 100% of the way, and positively impact your success in both direct and indirect ways.

So, let’s get started! Because today’s post is an introduction to Living Clean, I’ll be posting again on Monday morning with the first “official” installment in the series. From there on in, you’ll hear from me and the Living Clean project every Friday. Here’s a quick run-down of some of the things that you can expect to get:

  • Lifestyle tips for re-framing your approach to shopping, eating, et cetera.
  • Recipes, recipes, recipes… delicious and simple, but wildly nutritious.
  • Tricks that I use to keep myself on the wagon, easily.
  • Inspiration, motivation and a links to research-reading if you’re interested in it.
  • Hat-tips to my favourite brands (and businesses) that keep me Living Clean every day.
  • Lots. Of. Photos. (& maybe even a couple of videos…)

Sound good? Great. Let’s do this! Oh – and don’t forget to sign-up to our eNews: you’re going to want to get access to the awesome 2012 giveaways we’ll be doing regularly – including a few from Living Clean features (cunning plans afoot!).

I’ll see you on Monday, sweetpeas!

Santé! Ming-Zhu. xx


I’ve been a non-dairy drinker for a couple of years now (and prior to this, on and off for about a decade). For the majority of this time, I had assumed that my choices were limited to good old soy and rice milk (or “beverage” strictly speaking – there are rules about using the term “milk” to describe a non-dairy based product on the shelf).

A couple of years ago, a naturopath I was seeing prescribed that I drink Almond Milk as part of my vego regimen. She wanted me to get all sorts of enzymes that I couldn’t get from soy lattes – It was an expensive buy off the shelf – $5 – $9 for a litre, and it was heat processed so as to preserve it unrefrigerated. This shelf-sourced version was kind of brown and tacky – I was largely unimpressed with the option, and cut it loose without really giving it a second chance.

When veganism rocked around in my life, as most people do, I threw myself into research and study on different nutritional options (and largely speaking – the incredible healing power of raw food). And lo and behold: one of the big things I discovered is how important raw nut milk is in a balanced vegan diet.

Again – it has to do with all important enzymes and nutrients that are destroyed in heat processing, sterilisation and life-preserving techniques. The best way to consume this delicious wonder is… fresh and raw.

So – what are a gal’s options?

The first – and by far the most decadent is to head to an organic chocolate bar – kind of like… Coco Loco on High Street, Northcote (in Melbourne’s inner-North) and drink their rapturously divine hot chocolates made with… Cashew Milk – or as they like to spell it: Kashew Mylk. It’s not as thick as traditional Italian ho-cho, but definitely just as rich, without the queasy, mucusy (yes, I just wrote mucusy) after-effects of downing a half-litre of moo. It’s light and fresh, but totally indulgent at the same time.

But we are headed into the summer months here, aren’t we? And there aint’ nothin sweeter than chilled nut milk – it’s a fantastic mid-morning (or mid-arvo) pick-me-up beverage. If you live Sydney-way, then you can order it, fresh and ready-made from The Goodness Company (featured here, before) – they do both Almond and Brazil Nut Milk Mylk. Bless them! (I have got the biggest crush in the world on The Goodness Company.)

Alas, TGC does not deliver to Melbourne! Swoon! Faint! Keel over in disappointment! In Singapore, I noticed that hand-pressed Almond Milk was everywhere (there was even one place that wouldn’t serve soy in our coffee, but offered Almond instead…). It was made fresh before your eyes. Thank goodness for the local wonder-eatery that is Yong Green Food (they are the bedrock of vegan and raw gourmet in Melbourne) – for these guys press fresh Cashew Milk daily as if it were no big deal. (I’m still searching for other places that do it, so if you’ve got sources, please give us the heads-up)

But you want to know a secret? It is no big deal. It’s super-simple. After having drunk my own bodyweight in the divinity that is Raw Cashew Lassi at Yong Green Food recently, I decided I wanted to turn my own hand to “milking” the nut.

A quick bit of research led me to Living Synergy. Jenny – the incredible Australian holistic entrepreneur who helms Living Synergy does nut milk bags good. (Check out the rest of her site, too – for her incredible collection of aligned products and services, and comprehensive collection of information on raw vegan nutrition.)

I got in touch with her recently, and she happily agreed to donate a couple of nut bags for trial and… giveaway at Superéthique! We’re very excited to bring you a quick run-down of my fantabulously successful experience using the Living Synergy nut milk bag.

My finished product.

The instructions are simple – you soak your chosen nuts (I’ve done it twice with almond, and am yet to try cashew – I’ve heard, however that cashew is much creamier); I soaked both batches of almonds overnight – but you could definitely get away with a couple fewer hours if you needed to (full instructions are available on Jenny’s website). I would recommend using filtered/purified water for this.

[Soaking "activates" the nuts - makes them "living" - which in a nutshell (hah!) means that the soaking has induced in them a "sprouting" state - instead of remaining dormant seeds, they begin to germinate. Great for the gut - digestion and enzyme wise, and much richer and more flavourful on the palate.]

Chocolate Almond Milk: with raw cacao and agave nectar.

You then drain the excess fluid, rinse the nuts, and throw them into the blender with some more purified water. Experiment with how much, depending on how thick and rich you want your milk. Blend the nuts and water, and over a good bowl or wide-mouthed jug, strain the thick, gorgeous, sludgy pulp – and… milk the bag – yes, my dears – kind of like an udder.

You can then repeat these last two steps with the remaining pulp, until you’ve squeezed all the milky goodness out of the mixture.

Nut Milk Nutmeg Chai.

It’ll keep for up to 3 days in the fridge, but I recommend consuming it straight away, or chilled briefly for a cool, summer interlude. I worked out the cost of making a litre of this stuff myself – not too thick, but not watery, either – at about $3.80 – cheaper than soymilk and shelf-sourced Almond milk. There’s a comprehensive price breakdown here.

The bag can be reused again, and again, and again – and even put to use for growing sprouted seeds (I’ve yet to try this, but I’m really looking forward to it.)

Fittingly, our giveaway today is one of Living Synergy’s awesome Nut Milk Bags + recipe booklet. So, get your fine self on the mailing list to be in the running to win.

Santé!

- Ming-Zhu. x


1 2  Scroll to top