Warm Raw Food in the Winter: Chia Nut Milk Recipe

One of the misconceptions about the raw/living foods diet is that you have to eat cold food, which for many is especially unappealing in the winter time. You can heat food up to 115 - 118° Fahrenheit (46 - 48° Celsius) without killing the vital enzymes, which is quite warm to the palate, while keeping the food regenerative rather than degenerative, as with dead, cooked food. Vegetables used in recipes or salads can be warmed by soaking in warm water for a few minutes before preparing, or warmed in a dehydrator. One of my tricks to have warm live food in the winter is to cut up my favorite veggies, put them in a sauce or broth or marinade, and dehydrate them for about 10 to 20 minutes to warm them and give them the taste and texture of cooked food. Dehydration concentrates flavors and wilts veggies so they taste like they’re cooked.

For example, I can cut up Chinese Napa cabbage with onions, and then put them in a nice terriyaki sauce made from Kikkoman Organic Soy Sauce (fermented, not brewed) and a little organic maple syrup. The onions become like carmelized onions, and the cabbage wilts and is soft and warm after only 10 or 15 minutes. You can wilt many greens this way in your favorite sauce. I make warm (<118 degrees) miso soup and add wilted veggies from the dehydrator to make a delicious and warming live soup. You can do the same with low sodium boullion (I like Organic Gourmet brand), or make a blended vegetable soup and warm it by either blending for about 5 minutes in a high speed commercial grade blender, or putting it in a sealed container in a sink with warm water for a few minutes. I do this a lot in my high speed blender because it’s fast, easy, tastes great, and is very filling.

I rarely eat breakfast in the morning since the body is still detoxing from the previous night for a couple of hours after we get up, but if I’m hungry in the morning, I will sometimes make a warm chia nut milk that is not only warm and delicious, but also very filling and high in protein and omega fatty acids. Here is my recipe for chia nut milk. Note, you can reduce the amount of nut milk and increase the amount of chia to make a warm breakfast pudding.

Chia Nut Milk

2 cups homemade nut milk
1 tbsp chia
optional: 1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon powder
10 to 12 drops (or to taste) of Omica brand organic vanilla flavored liquid stevia

Place all ingredients in a glass jar, shake well, and continue to shake it every few minutes to prevent the chia from lumping. Place the jar in a dehydrator or sink with warm water to warm up to no more 118F for 15-30 minutes. Continue to shake occasionally during the warming process until thick. No need to measure the water temperature, if you can leave your hand in the warm water without discomfort it’s not too hot.

Note also, do not mix nuts with sweeteners other than stevia, or fruits, the combination of fast digesting sweeteners with slow digesting proteins and fats in the nuts will create fermentation in the gut, poor digestion, and will feed parasites and pathogens in the body.

If you don’t have any nut milk made, you can use Sun Warrior protein powder in a pinch, see the video below.