This Weeks Events at Living Health

I am excited about the upcoming week. Just like last week, multiple inspiring and motivating events are planned. In addition to the living health events, I am scheduled to do a free Healthy Eating talk at Live Oak Universalist Unitarian Church in Cedar Park on Tuesday October 23, from 7:00 until 8:30 PM.

A summary of the events for the coming week is below. I get a break from teaching as Dina Knight, a recent graduate of the Living Light Culinary Institute makes her Austin, Texas teaching debut and Dr. Craig Sommers joins us as a guest speaker.

1)Thursday October 25: Forget Cooking with Dina Knight: Thursday October 25 6:30- 9:30PM. Dina is loaded with ideas and techniques to jumpstart you on the road to preparing mouth watering, vitality enhancing living foods dishes like nut milk, mock tuna, noodles with marinara sauce and chocolate mousse! See below for details.

2) Saturday October 27:The Secrets of Longevity with Dr. Craig Sommers, author of the book The Raw Foods Bible: Saturday October 27, 2007 6:00 - 9:00 PM at the home of Sarah Nayer. This is a free event. Dr. Sommers will be a guest speaker at the fourth Saturday Raw Foods Potluck. Bring a 100% raw dish to share. See below for details.

3) Sunday October 28: Holiday Survival Talk by Dr. Ritamarie . Sunday, October 28, 2007, 4:30 - 7:00. Learn strategies for joyfully maintaining your health in spite of the temptations of the holiday season. Taste some festive and delicious living foods treats and get ideas for healthful holiday gift-giving. Register and pay a nominal donation of $20 by Thursday October 25 and receive a free copy of the class booklet Handling Halloween Healthfully, filled with recipes, resources and activities for making Halloween both fun and health enhancing.

To register for any of these events or for more details, visit the website at http://www.drritamarie.com/ or call us at 512 349-9677.

Until next time,

Yours in health

Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

Raw Spirit Festival and Raw Weekend Update

Raw Spirit Festival and Raw Weekend Update

Sedona Arizona is a magical place all the time. Bright orange peaks that resemble characters and castles, energy vortexes and a wide array of alternative healing opportunities make it a great place to visit anytime. Add 2000 living foods enthusiasts, beautifully prepared and delicious living foods, inspiring talks and great music, and you have a prescription for joy.

The Raw Spirit Fest was truly an amazing event and I am grateful to the organizers, volunteers, and my family for affording me the opportunity to attend. I met lots of new people and made lifelong new friends. Can you imagine making living foods recipes for 2000 people? A crew of volunteers managed to pull it off for 7 meals in a row. Each meal was beautifully presented and packed with nutrition. Next year's event is already being planned for mid- September. Mark your calendars. It is an event worth attending.

The Living on Live Foods Level 1 class this weekend was was an incredible success. I was joined by 20 amazing people who shared in the excitement of making delicious, vitality promoting dishes. I tried out a new format for the class and it was an overwhelming success. Instead of mostly demonstrations by me and lots of tasting by the students, the students got to make and eat lots of food. Each one walked away knowing that making the food was not only do-able but pretty easy! It was great to taste all the delicious variations of the recipes! The artistry was pretty amazing as well. Thanks to all for making Saturday such a fun day for me.

Saturday evening was equally as amazing. We had a huge turnout for the potluck featuring Yemiah Favor and her Thai Delights DVD. I learned several new techniques and am looking forward to making her Thai noodle recipe. Everyone really outdid themselves on the food, too.

We had delicious Thai soup made by Dina, Thai salad by Yemiah, Tapioca Pudding by Dr. Ritamarie, carrot cake, mango chutney, croquettes, several types of crackers, beautiful and delicious salads too numerous to recall in detail and lots of fresh fruit. We had many new comers and many familiar faces. Wow! The community and support is awe-inspiring!

Thanks to everyone who participated in making this weekend a joy for me. Many many thanks for all the help in making the class a success. Pamela Weems, a recent Living on Live Foods Level 2 graduate made her living foods teaching debut with her delicious version of Spicy Lime Green Cilantro Soup. Pamela's sister, Melinda Carter, a July 2007 level 1 graduate, came all the way from Dallas to help out. Joshua Adair, our dedicated farmer's market assistant attended the class and assisted with food prep and cleanup. And of course, thanks to my invaluable assistant, Maureen Honey, for getting the class materials and rosters ready for me while I was away in Arizona attending Raw Spirit Fest. Many thanks to Yemiah and David for sharing their DVD and wealth of knowledge. They are inspiring to all of us.

I am looking forward to this week's events. We have 3 planned. Wow. Another week filled with high vibration activities to inspire and motivate. I am especially looking forward to all the guest speakers we have lined up through the end of the year.

I just got my professional website back online after it was hacked over the summer. I will be adding resources soon, but in the meantime, I am excited to have it back online at http://www.austinhealthcoach.com/ . The complete class schedule is at http://www.drritamarie.com/

Until Next time,

Yours in health

Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

Still spaces in Living on Live Food Saturday October 20

We have a class coming up and it is starting to fill! If you register ASAP you might be able to get a space. We've taught this class many times to a full house. I hope you cann make it. The details are below.

I will be posting some recipes soon.

We have done some website updates. There were technical difficulties which required us to build from scratch.

check out http://www.drritamarie.com/
and
http://www.austinhealthcoach.com/

Both will be updated soon with lots of new resourses. Stay tuned.

Warmly,
Dr. Ritamarie

Living on Live Foods Level 1

Bringing the Healing power of Raw and Living Foods into your Life!

By the end of this class you will know:


· How to easily prepare delicious, nutritious and beautiful meals in a matter of minutes
· How to eat in a way that enhances your health and increases your vitality
· How to tap into the healing properties of fresh plant based foods
· How to deliciously eat an abundance of fresh vegetables
· How to make delicious, health giving fresh and live plant based meals that taste much like your favorite dishes
· How to simply and easily prepare gourmet meals from fresh,whole, plant based ingredients,
· How to quickly and easily shop for whole, fresh foods
· How to stock your kitchen and set up your environment for easy food preparation
· How to stock and use basic kitchen equipment that makes food preparation quick and easy
· Basic techniques for improving the digestibility of nuts, seeds and vegetables

During this class, we will make and eat a delicious, full course meal, including soup, salad, appetizers, main course, dessert and beverage, and learn how easy it is to do the same at home.

email drritamarie@drritamarie.com for details

Living Health Fall events

Schedule of Upcoming Classes & Events
Learn to amke delicious living foods and enjoy a meal with new friends!

check out http://www.drritamarie.com/ for details

10/20 Sat Living on Live Food Level 1 10AM - 4PM
10/20 Sat Movie Night and Living Foods Potluck FREE 6:00 -10:00 PM
10/25Thurs Forget Cooking Beginner Class with Dina Knight 6:30 - 9:30 PM
10/28 Sun Holiday Survival and Shopping Evening 4:30 - 7:00 PM
11/10-11/11 Sat & Sun Thanksgiving Feast Class 3:00 - 6:00PM both days
11/11 Sun Thanksgiving Feast- 6:30 - 8:00 PM $20 per person for a grande meal!
11/17 Sat Movie Night and Living Foods Potluck FREE 6:00 -10:00 PM
12/13 Thurs Holiday Party Foods 5:45 - 7:15 PM
12/13 Thurs Holiday Desserts 7:30 - 9:30 PM
12/15 Sat Movie Night and Living Foods Potluck FREE 6:00 -10:00 PM

I hope to see you at an event or two soon

Healthfully Yours

Dr. Ritamarie

Making Healthy Food a Hit with Kids

I am so excited to announce a class on a favorite topic of mine--diet and nutrition for creating healthy, happy kids!

By the end of this 3 hour, hands on class, you will be able to feed your kids quick and easy meals that provide them with the nutrients they need to be happy, healthy and well adjusted , identify and avoid nutrient depleted, health depleting foods, create a strategy for dealing with the perpetual stream of birthday parties and food centered events in a health promoting way ,
have your kids asking for more nutritious food, make a plan for keeping your family healthy and know your options for handling minor health issues in a non-invasive way that supports your child's natural defenses.

In this class you will learn information and techniques to help you to get started on good nutrition habits that will benefit your children for a lifetime. Basic facts and nutrient tables are provided to help you choose foods that contain all the vitamins, minerals, fats and proteins that the growing baby and child so desperately need. Shopping tips, suggestions for stocking the pantry and simple recipes are included. Several recipes will be prepared and techniques for modifying recipes to suit your child's individual tastes are demonstrated.

The class will be held on Wednesday, September 26, beginning at 10:30 AM on and lasting for approximately 3 hours.

Early enrollment GIFTS

Register and pay for the class by September 20 and receive the following BONUSES, most downloadable upon receipt of your payment:

- Digital collection of 5 popular RECIPES for Kids (pdf download)
- Special Report: Why Does it Matter What Kids Eat? (pdf download)
- Stocking your Healthy Pantry Class Notes, including charts and shopping guides (pdf download)
- A sample of healthy raw chocolates, special recipe, created and made by Kevin Claver, age 9 (get these the day of the class)
- A coupon good for $10 towards another class attended through the end of December 2007. (get this the day of the class)

Tuition: $75 . Price includes tasters, a how to and recipe guide, hands on experience, samples to take home for your children to try, and bonuses if you sign up and pay for the class by September 20.

Where: Northwest Austin off 2222 near 360. Directions provided with registration confirmation

When: Wednesday September 26, 2007, 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM

To register

email drritamarie@drritamarie.com

or

call 512 349-9677

I hope to see you there.

Healthfully Yours,

Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

New Article on the effects of Gluten

I haven't posted in a while. Things got busy there for a while, with a lot of classes and training a new assistant. I plan to write at least weekly.

The topic of gluten intolerance has long been a favorite of mine. In my practice, I see so many major changes in people when they get the gluten out of their diets. Long standing problems often melt away within a few months, sometimes wthin a few weeks. The widespread effects of gluten intolerance can effect every organ system. Commonly overlooked as related to gluten intolerace are depression and anxiety, thyroiditis, balance problems, ADHD and autistic spectrum disorders, and neuromuscular disorders. I wrote an article called The Many Faces of Gluten Intolerance for a magazine called Purely Delicious. The full text is available in PDF form at http://www.purelydelicious.net/ . I also wrote a more technical article called The Role of Gluten in the Etiology of Neurodevelopmental Disorders for a professional journal called The Journal of Nutritional Perspectives.

Below is a link to a recently published article from msnbc.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20643573/site/newsweek/page/0/

All of our food preparation classes are gluten free. We have one coming up on September 26 for parents called Making Healthy Food a Hit with Kids. I will be posting details soon.

I will be publishing more gluten free recipes soon. Check back regularly. Sign up for our mailing list and newsletter at http://www.drritamarie.com/.

Healthfully yours,

Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

A few seats remaining for Living on Live Foods Saturday July 28

We still have just a few spaces left. The class is guaranteed to get you excited about including more fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet. Learn to make delicious soups, appetizers main courses and desserts that will increase your energy and vitality.

All dishes are organically grown, fresh, brimming with nutrients, and sugar, gluten and dairy free! Completely guiltfree.

Struggling with a few extra pounds, low energy or trying to transition to a gluten or dairy free diet for health reasons? Consider joining us this Saturday, from 10Am to 4 PM for a life changing day of fun, food and learning. Meet new friends and create a support network. See the previous post for details. Call 512 349-9677 or email drritamarie@drritamarie.com to reserve your spot before it's too late. You will be happy that you did.

Yours in Health,

Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

Great Living Foods Class Scheduled for this weekend!

This coming Saturday, July 28, I will be teaching Living on Live Food Level 1. This is a very popular class, and rightly so! During the class, I will be demonstrating how to make a full course meal, including soup, salad, appetizers, main course, dessert and beverage, and learn how easy it is to do the same at home. All dishes will be made entirely from organically grown plant based, gluten and dairy free foods, fresh and alive with health rejuvenating properties. Think healthy food is boring? Think again! Try these on for size:

· creamy lime cilantro soup

· stuffed mushrooms

· sushi rolls stuffed with mock salmon spread

· stuffed pepper and cucumber appetizers

· spring rolls

· angel hair "pasta" with garden fresh tomato marinara sauce and macadamia nut ricotta cheese

· garden salad with a surprise new dressing

· date nut torte with raspberries for dessert

Learn, eat, make new friends and have a great time. There will even be a hands on portion when you can practice what you've learned and take home new skills that you can use right away. You will receive a 20 plus page booklet of recipes, resources and nutrition information as a reference. The detailed agenda for the class is below. Hurry and reserve your space now, before the class fills up! Class begins promptly at 10AM. We recommend that you arrive 10 - 15 minutes early to get settled.

In the class we will cover:

· How eating the right diet can enhance your health and increase your vitality

· The healing properties of fresh plant based foods

· How to deliciously eat a an abundance of fresh, plant based foods

· How to make delicious , health giving fresh and live plant based meals that taste much like your favorite dishes

· How to simply and easily prepare gourmet raw food meals

· How to shop for whole, fresh foods

· How to stock your kitchen and set up your environment for easy food preparation

· Kitchen equipment use

· Basic techniques for improving the digestibility of nuts and seeds

Upon completion of this course you will be recognized as a Certified Alissa Cohen 'Living on Live Food' Chef. You'll be able to demonstrate recipes from her 'Living on Live Foods' book, and to continue to the next level of the Living on Live Food Training.

Tuition $125 includes a full course meal, lots of tasters and a detailed booklet with recipes.

Where: 9508 Bell Mountain Drive, Austin, Texas 78730

When: Saturday July 28, 2007, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

To register, email drritamarie@drritamarie.com or call 512 349 9677.

Take a look at the schedule below for details of our other exciting classes, coming up soon.

Yours in health,
Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

Schedule of Upcoming Classes

Monday July 30, 6:30 - 9:30 PM Crusts and Crackers

Wednesday August 1, 6:30 - 9:30 PM Pizza and Pasta

Thursday August 9, 4:00 - 6:30 PM Drink Your Greens

Thursday August 9, 7:00 - 9:30 PM Healthy Decadence Desserts

LIVING ON LIVE FOOD CERTIFICATION CLASSES

Living on Live Food: Level 1: Saturday July 28, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Living on Live Food: Level 2 (Weekend!): Friday August 17, 7 - 9 PM; Saturday August 18, 9AM - 7 PM; Sunday August 19, 9 AM - 5 PM

You may register by sending an email to drritamarie@drritamarie.com or calling 512 349-9677.

Green Travel Food

Greens are such powerhouses of nutruents that they are considered nature's superfood. I am always looking for ways to help people to eat more greens. For the past week and a half I have been doing a green cleanse,during which the only food I consume is blended greens- soups and smoothies. I am really enjoying it. My energy is super high, and I sleep well because I go to bed feeling so light. I am getting ready to go on a plane trip to Colorado to go skiing for a few days, and want to continue to eat as much green food as possible. So, tonight, in preparation, I made 3 flavors of blended green soup and dehydrated them into rounds, like big tortillas. Portable Green food for travels and eating on the slope!!! Very tasty too.

I am working on an e-book of foods that are abundant with greens- green soups, green salad dressings, green smoothies, green desserts, green wraps, and more. Last week we had a wonderful green sorbet and the week before chocolate "ice cream" with greens in it. Eat your greens was never as fun as it is now!!! Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I just posted the upcoming class schedule at www.drritamarie.com/. The classes are filled with unusual ideas like this, as well as demonstrations and tastings! Hope to see you at one soon!

Healthfully yours,

Dr Ritamarie

Yummy Greens Recipes

I have been doing a Green Cleanse this past week. It has been a great experience. 14 people joined me, and we had an email support group where we shared recipes, challenges and successes. I'll be organizing another one soon. For a description of a green cleanse and more information, check the website www.drritamarie.com/ . Check back here or there for the dates of the next cleanse. On Friday evening we hosted a Movie night and Raw food Potluck. We had a nice turnout. I really enjoyed chatting with everyone. After the meal, we watched Gabriel Cousen's Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine. It was both informative and inspiring. Our next Movie Night and Potluck will be February 17. For more info go to http://www.drritamarie.com/ and click Events Calendar. Since I was doing a green Cleanse, rather than my usual potluck fare, I made 3 Green concoctions. Here are the recipes.

Tropical Green Sorbet
2 cups papaya
1 mango
½ of a pineapple
3-4 cups spinach

Blend the pineapple first then add the mango and papaya and blend until smooth. Add spinach a handful at a time to desired sweetness. II was surprised at how much I could add and still have it be sweet. Pour into container of ice cream maker and run until frozen. Yum. You can also drink it as a smoothie. A few ice cubes would be a nice addition if so.

Italian Soup
1 ½ cup dried tomatoes, soaked in 1 cup water
4 cups fresh tomatoes (I used Roma)
6 stalks celery
1 bunch basil
A few springs of fresh oregano
A few sprigs fresh rosemary
2 heads of romaine hearts
1 clove garlic

Blend all until smooth. Add sea salt or other seasonings if desired

Lime mint drink
¼ cup lime juice
1 bunch fresh mint
3 apples
3 heads hearts of romaine
2 cups water
Ice cubes

Blend all. Adjust lime to taste. Add water if too thick. Add ice cubes and blend to cool down. Very refreshing.

Comments and questions are always welcome.

I will be updating regularly, Sign up to be notified when I do so you don't miss anything, or check the website www.drritamarie.com for updates.

Bye for now

Dr. Ritamarie

Drink your Greens: Taste Balancing Tips

As many of you know, I just started doing a group green cleanse. There are about 15 of my students, clients and subscribers at http://drritamarie.com doing it together along with a couple of hundred from around the world. This involves a week of blending greens with either vegetables and herbs, to make soups or with fruits to make smoothies, and drinking these concoctions instead of eating meals. This may sound very strange to those who have not tried green smoothies or soups, but I find it to be a very satisfying way to cleanse. While recipes abound, I generally just throw the foods in the blender, tweak for taste, and drink. While this may work well for me, others like to have recipes. So I am posting a new recipe I just invented and the methodology I used to create it, so that others may feel more confident creating a recipe or fixing up a recipe that just does not taste right.

I have been studying the concept of taste balancing. There are 5 primary tastes that our tongues perceive: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and pungent. If a food contains a balance of all 5 tastes, it is pleasing to the tongue. I have been using this in creating and modifying recipes with great success. This afternoon, I decided to try it with a green smoothie. Someone told me that mango and kale made a good smoothie. I put 2 mangoes and a whole bunch of kale in the blender and turned it on. The thick green concoction wasn’t bad, but it tasted to me to be too bitter and too sweet at the same time. I could have drunk it, but decided instead to experiment with the 5 tastes. I added half a bag of frozen strawberries to tone down the sweetness of the mangoes. It was better, but not quite there. I then added the rest of the bag, and ¼ cup of fresh squeezed lime juice for a bit of sour. It was starting to taste even better. Now I had sweet, from the mangoes and strawberries, bitter from the kale, and sour from the lime and a bit from the strawberries. Now I needed to balance for saltiness. Part of the cleanse is to avoid added salt, so I chose celery for the salty taste. 2 stalks were added. It was getting there, but needed a bit more salt. I added another stalk, making 3 all together. The last taste to balance was pungent, also known as spicy. I sliced a 1 ½ inch diameter piece of ginger about 1/8 inch thick and added it, along with about 1 teaspoon of dried mint. It was delicious! I offered a taste to my assistant and to my next patient, who had just arrived and they both liked it. So there you have it. A new recipe and a method for fine tuning your own.

Final Recipe :

Green Mango Delight
2 Mangoes
1 large bunch of kale
3 stalks of celery
1 bag of frozen strawberries or 1 1/2 cup fresh
1/4 cup lime juice
1 1/2 incu by 1/8 inch round slice of ginger
1 teaspoon dried mint leaves (or a handful fo fresh)
Water to desired consistency

• Put mangoes in blender and blend until smooth
• Add kale and blend again.
• Add celery, ginger, lime juice and mint.
• Blend until smooth.
• Add water if desired.

If you have an ice cream maker, this would make an excellent sorbet. Just pour into the container and turn it on.

I am liking this green cleanse so much, that I think I may continue another week. If you want to join us for the next green cleanse, check out the website, http://www.drritamarie.com/ for details. I will post it there as soon as we have a plan.

For those new to Greens and green cleanses, check out the Green for Life program at ===> http://tinyurl.com/3dvy2u . The audio tape interviews with Victoria Boutenko and Frederic Patenaude are excellent. The program also includes the transcripts of the tapes and the book Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko, and the cleanse guide. I also ordered the extra recipe book, which has recipes for green smoothies, salad dressings, and soups. If you order the program, you can do the green cleanses as often as they are held.

Bon appetite. Try adding a green smoothie or soup to your diet each day. Just that simple change can impact your health dramatically.

Yours in Health
Dr. Ritamarie at http://www.drritamarie.com/

New Year! Upcoming Classes: January 2007

Happy New Year!

I'm so excited about the upcoming Living on Live food class this Saturday! We have a good group of people signed up and I'm anticipating more before the end of the week. I have so much fun teaching this class and empowering people to make delicious healthy meals at home.

Visit our website at www.drritamarie.com for more information!

We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming class or event.

-Dr. Ritamarie