Soft Touch Wellness Gives Away an XBOX & 2 Wii Systems!

Wow!  Our family doesn't even own one of these systems, but our practice gave away three great prizes to three great patients for refering new patients to Soft Touch in 2010.  Congratulations to all the winners!

Marylu won the XBOX 360. Brian & Erin won a Wii System as well as Staci and her daughter Rowan.

Raw Vegan "Potato" Salad

Lately, I've received several requests for the recipe for my raw "potato" salad.  The recipe is not mine, as you will be able to see in the video.  Click here to see it.  The only thing I changed about the original recipe is that I add more avocado and I use Celtic sea salt instead of tamari or Nama Shoyu.  It's all up to the individual what they like on their dish.  So here it is:

Raw Potato Salad


For the Salad

1 jicama

1 yellow bell pepper

4-5 stalks of celery

1 avocado (I use 2-3)

1-2 tbsp. of fresh rosemary minced

1 red onion thinly sliced

Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.

For the dressing

¼ cup tahini

¼ c water

½ tsp. cumin

3 tbsp. lemon juice

4 tsp. parsley

1 tsp. tamari or Nama Shoyu

1 tsp. agave nectar

pinch of salt

pinch of chili powder

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients and toss until the salad is covered with the dressing.

Optional: add organic sweet relish if you don’t mind the salad not being 100% raw.

Dragon Fruit and Mango Dessert

Check out this recipe for dessert.  Fast and easy to make.  Looks exotic and tastes yummy.

1/2 dragon fruit diced
1 mango diced
1 tbs. mint minced
1 strawberry for garnish
1 mint sprig for garnish

Mix the dragon fruit, mango and diced mint.  Garnish with strawberry and mint.

In retrospect, I would have drizzled some raw honey for added sweetness.  It hits the spot on a hot day!

Introducing the Dragon Fruit

Fresh Cut Dragon Fruit

My husband introduced me to the wonderful dragon fruit today. Being completely unfamiliar with the fruit, I had to be taught how to open it and eat it. Click here for instructions.


This delicate fruit is a complete surprise - pink and green on the outside, white and black on the inside. Its consistency is that of a soft pear and it tastes like nothing I've ever tasted before.



Pick one up at you local grocery store or you can get one online.  Enjoy!

Raw Food Resources

I've received many questions about where I get my recipes for raw food meals.  I always say, stick to simple recipes that you can find on youtube so that it isn't overwhelming, but often times, this answer is not enough.  So to satisfy the curiosity, here are the books I use.


This book by Juliano is for those who have been tinkering with raw recipes and are ready to start sprouting and dehydrating.  There is a sprouting time guide and he also gives advice on what equipment to have in your kitchen.













This volume is more than a recipe book, it is a lifestyle guide.  The book gets very personal with the authors sharing stories from their own lives' journeys into the raw food worls.  Both of them are trained chefs in the cooked food world and transfered their skills to raw.  It is entertaining to read and the recipes are works of art.  I use their recipes when I am in the mood for a fancy new dish or trying new ingredients.







Now there are many other raw food recipe books that I haven't tested out yet, but I will recommend because they come with high marks or I have seen the author's work in another venue like another book,  video or the internet.  Here they are:

Resources for Preparing Raw Food

I just taught a class on how to prepare delicious raw food dishes.  I was asked a lot of questions about where to buy some of the tools we used to slice, chop and process the food we made.  So here are direct links to the tools we used.

1. The World Cuisine vegetable slicer.  It is an amazing little tool that makes spaghetti-like noodles out of veggies like zucchini and beets.  It is easy to clean and easy to use.







2. The food processor is an essential for anyone making meals from live food.  I think Kitchen Aid has discontinued the model I have, but this one is comparable.













3. The garlic mincer I use for garlic, ginger, fresh rosemary and anything else that can fit inthere that needs mincing.  It is fun to use and easy to clean!

OK, there you are; those are the secret weapons to start you on a great adventure with RAW, LIVING FOODS.  Enjoy and let me know how you are using the tools. 

Time flies when you are having fun!

Our family has indeed been having fun testing out new raw food recipes and learning a great deal about non-toxic living.  We also just finished teaching another detox seminar which was our best one yet.  We are very excited and humbled by the level of positive support from our patients and friends.  But the seminars are not about us, it's about those who are looking for ways to heal their bodies from chronic diseases and the ravaging effects of prescription medication, not to mention the crappy food that we tend to put into our bodies disguised in phony labels such as: all natural, sugar free, organic, etc. Not that the labels are bad, its the deception that we are oppposed to.  Anyhow, this time around, we received more interesting questions from the seminar participants.  Here are the answers.

Q:  Can eating too much fruit make your body/blood acidic?
A:  No, unless you are eating crates of citrus fruit with no balance in your daily eating.  The foods that make you most alkaline are dark green, leafy vegetables.

Q: Is the Ph level in the saliva, blood and urine the same?
A: No, they are not the same (good question)  For the benefit of those of you who were not at the seminar, let me explain. During the seminar we passed out a piece of Ph testing paper to each person and they put it on their tongue to test the Ph level of their body.  Ideally, this Ph test would be done with urine which is much more indicative of body Ph, but during the seminar it's just more convenient to have everyone test their saliva, as you can imagine.

Q: What is the best toothpaste to use?
A: Anything without sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS).  Can't say exactly which one is the best, but here is link to a list of SLS-free toothpastes.  We especially like anything that is flouride-free as well.  We just bought Weleda Plant Gel Toothpaste   http://www.dentist.net/sls-free-toothpaste.asp

Q:  What is bromine used for in food?
A:  It is used as a dough conditioner and also used in some citrus flavored soda.

Stay tuned over the next few days we'll be answering more questions.  If you have follow up questions or comments, please post them or email them to ruth_shama@yahoo.com and I will make sure to post the requested information.

In the meantime, we want to remind you of a few events happening at the wellness center:

FREE Movie Screening of Food Matters

Saturday, May 22   Doors open 2:30pm  Showtime 3:00pm

At our office - 19474 Rinaldi St. Northridge CA 91326

RSVP Here:  http://foodmatters.bravenewtheaters.com/screening/show/13953-northridge

RAW Detox Seminar

Saturday, July 17

9:30am-1:00pm

$40.00 registration before May 22

$45 registration after May 22

Register online at www.stchiro.com