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process, which will aid your digestion so you can absorb more nutrients from the food you eat.
    Fermenting drinks is another beneficial way to get more of those good-for-us bacteria into your body; again, I’ll show you how to make fermented drinks in the next chapter.
    The following recipe is an easy vinegar-free pickle dish made with a salt brine. It’ll be ready to eat in one day. For an even speedier pickling time, I include a vinegar recipe in chapter 5, along with many other pickled vegetable recipes.

SLICED CUCUMBER PICKLES
    MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
PICKLING TIME: 1 DAY
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    Cucumber is softened in salt and lemon juice, then set aside for a day to pickle.
    1 cup cucumber, peeled, cut into ¼-inch-thick rounds
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
    In a nonreactive mixing bowl, toss the ingredients together. Place in a pickle press, under pressure. Or, place a plate over your mixture in the bowl, and stack heavy plates on top of it. Set aside at room temperature for 1 day.
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    Will keep in the fridge for several days.
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    VARIATION: Add 2 tablespoons of fresh dill, or other dried or fresh herbs and spices, to the basic recipe to make additional flavors.

SUBSTITUTIONS
    I encourage you to substitute your favorite ingredients whenever your heart desires. You may want to substitute a sweetener such as maple syrup for agave, or dried herbs for fresh (two to one), or collard for romaine lettuce, or almonds for Brazil nuts.
    Notice the consistency and flavor when making substitutions. If substituting dates for agave, for example, you’ll want to add a bit more water, as dates are a solid fruit and agave is a syrup.
    Remember, when using whole food ingredients, no two dates are identical in nature, for example. One may be moister and softer, whereas the next is drier and less sweet. Use your own judgment to adjust levels of spice, flavor, sweetness, and/ or moisture to create the exact flavor profiles and consistencies you love. Here’s some example sweetener substitutions:
    Agave for maple syrup, or vice versa 1:1
    A pinch of stevia powder to 1 tablespoon of agave syrup
    2 pitted Medjool dates and 3 tablespoons of water to 1 tablespoon of agave syrup

PART 2
    THE RECIPES

3
    DRINKS
    ALTHOUGH DRINKS MAY seem to be a no-brainer in relation to a raw foods diet, threre are nuances of flavor and nutrients, as well as a huge array of possibilities. Even more traditional dairy-laden beverages can be converted to a great raw drink with some creative yet easy-to-fing ingredients. Raw drinks can be mastered when we focus on flavors, colors, and consistencies inspired by traditional nonraw versions.
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    Drinking is the easiest way to get nutrient rich foods into your diet. Add a smoothie, mylk, shake, or elixir to any meal for a blast of instant antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. The water and fiber in my drinks will fill you up while detoxing you from the inside out and will even help you eat less.
    Smoothies, mylks, and shakes are made by putting fruits and/or nuts into a high-speed blender and blending them until smooth. Adding ice will create a cold, slushy texture. And using your high-speed blender will give the drink a smooth texture plus create bubbles on top, similar to a light cappuccino froth. If you don’t have a high-speed blender, you may want to first grind your whole nuts into a powder before placing in your blender, to create a smoother consistency. I’ll start you off with three different Basic Smoothie recipes and one Basic Nut Mylk recipe, then I will show you how to create new flavors from there.

    Not All Calories Are Created Equal
    CALORIES IN raw foods are different from the calories that come from cooked food. An ordinary iced coffee shake usually will have many more calories than my raw Matcha Shake, but for the sake of this comparison, let’s say they have the same number of calories.
    Most of the calories from the traditional coffee shake come from refined