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Hey brighteyes-I do drink tea but it is not raw. It’s a very small exception since there really is nothing about tea that is unhealthy. I mostly drink hot water though and it’s just as soothing.
As for Chocolate that’s a big no no. Unless it’s specifically labeled raw it’s loaded with refined sugar, diary products and cooked cocoa. There are plenty of alternatives though:) Since going raw I have become excessively sensitive to non raw chocolate. It gives me horrible headaches and stuffy sinus’s. But if it doesn’t bother you and you don’t have a problem with it (dairy and being cooked) then go for it! haha
i drink tea. usually herbal, or just hot water with lemon juice. it does get cold in CT, but mostly i find it keeps me from eating when i’m not hungry.
as for chocolate—the natalia rose reasoning is that if you are eating cooked foods at night then more “pure” chocolate bars like dagoba (which was bought out by some big company like nestle by the way! ick!) are easily combined after most cooked meals. also, it’s a big step up from cadbury’s or hershey’s. so if you are making the switch, anything BETTER quality is better for your body.
personally, i found eating raw that i could not handle the caffeine in chocolate or (black) tea anymore. it went straight to my nervous system and kept me up for literally days. not something i care to repeat. =)
I haven’t tried raw chocolate yet. I would like to. I do drink tea every day. Tension Tamer or just chamomile. I sometimes heat the water and sometimes I just throw the teabag in a cup cold water and let it sit for a while, ala sun tea, but no sun! It starts to color the water after about ten minutes and is like full strength taste after a half hour.
maybe she wrote that book before raw choc was available. I meet loads of raw fooders that are avid herbal teas drinkers. Personally I Love my green juice, that is my cup of tea, My body temp is so stable that I don’t normally feel the cold. I walk around barefoot dressed in summer clothes all winter – since going raw.
Drinking tea is not a problem as long as you heat the water separately from the herbs. First heat filtered water, let cool if it’s really hot, and stir in the herbs and let em’ soak into to water. Same with hot chocolate, just heat some filtered water and when it’s slightly cooled blend in almonds, strain though nut milk bag, and add cocoa powder with sweetener. Voila, raw hot almond milk hot chocolate. :)
I like to infuse my pau d’arco and cat’s claw tea for 24 hours in water, strain it through a nut mulk bag, then use it in a smoothie or nut mylk with raw cacao powder. You can use any kind of tea you like! Heat it up to just 115 degrees if you want to keep it raw, and then blend. Or you can heat it up after blending if you want it warmer.
I do love raw cacao and eat it regularly. As far as tea, I hadn’t really noticed, but I have all but stopped drinking it. I used to drink 3-4 cups of green tea a day. Now that I think about the timing, I guess it was within the last 2 months that I haven’t had the desire for it. I’m curious if it will change during the cold weather months, but I must agree with Zoe that I’ve noticed a change in my body temperature since going raw, too. Interesting!
Hi brighteyes
As you can see, drinking tea is pretty much accepted by most raw foodists. However, if you are in a cold weather setting and don’t want to drink tea, there are several options. According to Indian (Ayurveda) and Chinese medicine systems, each food you eat has the ability to heat you up or cool you down. In the winter, I try to add more cinammon, red chili powder, cardamom, and cumin to my diet because these spices heat the body.
There are several sites that list all the heating/cooling properties of food. A good one is here: http://holisticonline.com/ayurveda/ayv-food-Her… .
Hope this helps!
I got out of the tea habit over the summer, for the most part because I did make some sun tea. I will see what happens this winter, but also in CT (pianissima where in CT are you?) it gets chilly so I like a good cup of tea.
Tea I drink is only herbal now so I don’t really get concerned it isn’t raw (not 100%, just doing as natural as I can). I have so far broken addiction to chocolate, except bag of fruity cacao beans, so hoping that isn’t as big a problem this year. Just need to remember most hot chocolate makes me sick!