On Friday, May 3, 2013 I gave my first demonstration at Sunspot Natural Market! Here, my friends Amanda Coons and Grace Bagshaw digging it 😉 ! I prepared and sampled the Simply Divine Strawberry Chocolate Cheesecake, it was so much fun! There’s nothing I love more than connecting with people, hearing their stories- enlightening each other! I met so many wonderful people! I also ended up traveling with Derek Weaver, a Sunspot employee (and a fair of many other trades), to Nature’s Pharm, another natural store in the Lafayette area. I could not get enough demoing, absolutely love it! Hope I do it the rest of my life!
Sunspot:
At both demonstrations, I spoke a lot about the raw foods diet and the ingredients I used.
Why Raw Vegan? It takes 80% of one’s energy to digest cooked food, whereas it takes only 20% of one’s energy to digest raw food. Why? The life in the food helps the bodies enzymes breakdown and absorb all that the food has to offer. Cooking denatures proteins; inactivating enzymes. When the enzymes in the food are still alive, it is much more easily metabolized. Hence why after eating this cheesecake, you could go for a run! Whereas after eating regular cheesecake, you’d probably be more down to sit and digest, watch tv, or take a nap.
Coconut Oil and Coconut Nectar? At this point in my life, I do not use oils and sweeteners. I have become very satisfied with the natural sweetness in fruit and don’t think that oils are necessary or beneficial in the diet. However, if I were to make a gourmet raw vegan dessert, the oil and the sweetener that I would use would be coconut oil and coconut nectar. I have read a lot about the benefits from both of these products, and they clearly trump other oils and sweeteners. The coconut oil, which I read a long time ago was the only oil that, when cooked, does not create free radicals, has medium long chain saturated acids which decrease cholesterol overall, yet increasing HDL (the good cholesterol). It also has benefits to the skin and immune system, as it is antibacterial, and antiviral. Coconut nectar, the truly enzymatically alive sweetener, is alkaline, low on the glycemic index, and low in fructose. Coconut nectar has 17 alive amino acids, as well as a host of minerals and vitamins B and C.
VITAMIN KATIE 
Hi. What would you suggest as an alternative to coconut, as I seem to react to coconut everytime I have it?? Thanks 🙂
Avocado!? Give it a go! I’ve made avocado mousse, it works as a great thickener! All the best! Let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with!
Thanks a lot 🙂