Raw Sea Foods

Radishes
Originally uploaded by rawallison.

I've now tried raw fish in two ways: ceviche (marinated in citrus juices, which "cook" it with the citrus acids rather than with heat) and cold-smoked, which is another technically raw way of preparing fish without heat. I learned that fish is sometimes cured before smoking, so I have to make sure it wasn't cured in sugar. Curing is supposed to be provide extra protection against microbes. I have to say I like smoked fish better than my homemade ceviche, but I'm a newbie at making ceviche, so I'm not giving up. I still need to figure out how long to marinate, what herbs and spices to use, and which types of fish respond best to this type of preparation. The tilapia I tried was a bit chewy, so I might have done something wrong. Next I'm trying cod.

DULSE
I felt so good about my dietary change that I was motivated to look further into healthy sea foods. Readers have recommended that I try dulse, so today I read up about it. The info on the back of the dulse package alone cheered me up, but let me quote Wikipedia for you, which pretty much provides the same info: "Dulse is a good source of dietary requirements. A handful will provide more than 100% of the daily amount of Vitamin B6, 66% of Vitamin B12, a day's supply of iron and fluoride, and it is relatively low in sodium and high in potassium." This is great not only for me, but for Felicia, who needs extra B12 and iron due to her gastric bypass surgery.

So I'm feeling pretty good tonight, having had some smoked salmon sushi, a bottle of kombucha tea, and performed some deep breathing exercises. I'm going to try to ease back into meditation. I'm very bad at it- if my mind isn't racing a mile a minute, I'm falling asleep!

An update on HAIRWATCH: I can say with near certainty that my hair has been falling out rather than ceasing to grow altogether. I can tell because my hair is growing long. In fact, I almost want to say that it is growing quickly, but I don't want to be too optimistic! Despite the fact that it is growing in length, however, it is still thin around the temples and top -meaning I can see my scalp easily in those areas. I feel heartened that my hair is growing in length; I guess it is an indicator of something positive.