austinwomanmagazine.com 69

gourmet / h e a lt h y e at i n g

Raw Food, Easy and Delicious a delicious take on healthy foods. Beets café offers a wide variety of raw foods, smoothies and juices to help jump-start your health in 2014.By Megan Russell

For Texans, raw food may be a hard idea

to grasp. Questions like, “Is it just salad all

the time?” or “What about protein?” come

to mind when milling over this seemingly

fad-driven diet. But for Chef Sylvia Heisey,

owner and chef of Beets Café, these ques-

tions are easily answered and this diet is

hardly a fad. Instead, it’s a lifestyle choice

that can lead to happier, healthier, pain-

free living. Raw food is simply food in its natural state.

nothing is heated above 118 degrees, in order for the food to maintain its nutrients and enzymes that the body needs to absorb and use for energy and digestion. after 118 degrees, your food’s nutri-ents begin to diminish.

For those looking to diet or cleanse the body, Beets café hits all the go-to dietary buzzwords. it is raw, vegan, organic, gluten-free, non-gmo gourmet food. But don’t let the stereotypes that are associated with those words turn you away.

“i wanted to have Beets café be something people would not be intimidated to go into,” Heisey says.

For all its lofty food ideals, Beets may be one of the most down-to-earth and calming restaurants in austin. the atmosphere is bright and fresh, evoking a feeling of cleanliness on the outside that welcomes the cleansing benefits of the food offered.

of course, atmosphere is only a small part of the dining experience. Does the food taste good? People are under the deadly misconception that healthy food can’t be tasty at the same time. we are taught from an early age to believe this because of consuming food doused with sugar or salt—an overwhelming amount of which can alter your palate and affect the way you taste food—leading to adults turning their noses at healthy foods and making up excuses as to why they don’t eat enough of them.

“i just want something fast,” “Vegetables are too expensive and they go bad too quickly,” or “it makes my stomach hurt.” these and many more are all excuses people use based on the fear of having to give up their favorite flavors and comfort foods. But in reality, healthy food can taste even better than unhealthy food.

on the Beets café menu, you’ll find a wide variety of foods seasoned impeccably to help you taste all the dimensions of your meal. the most popular item on the menu is the eLt, Heisey’s take on the BLt, substituting real bacon with marinated eggplant bacon. the eggplant is crisp and thin and takes on the flavor of the spices, which overpow-ers any eggplant flavor you may not appreciate.

other favorites include an asian noodle salad and chalupas and tacos. Beets doesn’t skimp on the dessert either; the café has a whole case filled with your favorite desserts made raw. the chocolate cheesecake is a local favorite.

what spurred Heisey to bring delicious, healthy food to austin? oddly enough, it started with suffering, or rather, the elimination of suffering. coming from a traditional mexican-american family, she watched her family’s diet cause them to suffer with diabetes, weight, heart disease and arthritis. all of these ailments could be taken care

of and improved upon with diet.“i’ve been a fanatic about food and

health way before i started thinking about raw, mostly as i observed my family and all their aches and suffering,” Heisey explains. “the one thing i remember my mother saying is, ‘i’m going to die anyway.’ But, if just dying is what would happen, i’d wel-

come that. that’s not the problem. the problem is that you don’t die, you suffer. You have some issue and then you suffer until you die.”

so when she decided to open the restaurant, Heisey wanted to create a place where people could experience food and see what it feels like to eat something and not feel bad after.

“a lot of times, people will eat something and

“ I do eat some cooked food. I’m not black or white about this. I think people need to find their own balance.”

70 Austin Woman J a n u a R Y 2 0 1 4

then they have indigestion, nasal or allergy prob-lems or headaches. so they grab the antacids or the allergy medicines or antihistamines and all of that causes other issues. if we just go back down to what’s real and what we’re putting into our bodies, being conscious of that, that experience can help people begin to see that they can handle some of their issues with just food or cleaning up their diet. that’s what i wanted to make Beets all about,” Heisey says.

Raw food can be intimidating not just to eat, but to prepare, with high-priced and occasionally time-consuming cookware like food dehydrators. anyone looking to change their diet can easily be discouraged and turn away. Beets helps by taking you through all the steps on your healthy, pain-free journey. along with eating at the restaurant, you can attend monthly classes that will teach you how to make your favorites, or schedule one-on-one private classes with Heisey.

while Heisey is a raw-food chef, that doesn’t mean she’s exclusively raw, and recognizes that sometimes it’s not only difficult, but the body may need more.

“i do eat some cooked food. i’m not black or white about this. i think people need to find their own balance. i’m of the opinion that everybody has to find their own way, because some people need to have meat. i rarely eat meat…but the thing i do be-lieve is that the food has to be clean. so if it’s going to be beef, it has to be organic, grass-fed beef.”

in the end, for chef sylvia Heisey, the most important thing to do if you are committed to raw food, or health in general, is to change your lifestyle, but start slow.

“Just begin to incorporate more vegetables and fruits in to your diet and then expand from there,” she advises. “it’s good to take it slow because your health is like a journey, you have to keep investigating and keep searching for what works and what doesn’t work for you and your body. i’m still discovering a lot of things about raw food and different combinations of foods. it’s a creative process and it’s a learning process.”

to try austin’s only gourmet raw-food restau-rant, visit Beets café at 1611 w. Fifth st. to sign up for the Jan. 11 Raw Food Basics class, visit beetscafe.com.

Ingredients:2 medium zucchini, peeled and chopped (makes 2 cups)2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil2 cloves garlic, minced1/4 cup lemon juice1/2 teaspoon paprika1/2 teaspoon ground cumin1/2 teaspoon paprika1/2 cup tahini1/4 cup sesame seedsDash cayenne Directions:In a high-speed blender or food processor, process all ingredients except sesame seeds, until smooth. Add sesame seeds and blend on high until creamy. Garnish with fresh-cut vegetables. Enjoy!

BEEts CAfé’s ZuCChInI hummus