12:17:PM 06/11/2013
Julia Millard

A love of food and a passion for health has led a Geelong ironwoman triathlete to get creative with raw food.

Eileen Murphy-Sims has been a vegetarian since 1993 and gained a love for raw food in 2004 after going on a retreat to Fiji, where they served her a delicious raw dessert.

“They were serving blueberry sorbet, and I was thinking ‘how is this good for you?’,” she says.

“It was an eye-opener and I already had a passion and love for food, and this is where my exploration for raw food started.

“I’ve been studying it ever since and have travelled to amazing raw restaurants around the world and found them very inspiring.”

A raw-food diet consists of uncooked, unprocessed and often organic or wild, food, which Murphy-Sims says is loaded with goodness.

“Every mouthful of raw food you eat is nourishing and good for you,’’ she says.

“If you eat a sandwich with white bread, yes, it will give you energy from the carbohydrates, but you won’t be getting the nutrients like you do with raw food.”

Murphy-Sims’ fondness for raw food has been enhanced with help from Botanical Cuisine chef Omid Jaffari, from whom she has been learning for two years.

For the past 18 months she taught classes at Botanical Cuisine in Collingwood.

The businesswoman, who owns a successful PR company, now runs two-hour classes in Geelong as part of her new business Raw Ambitions, teaching people the benefits of raw food and how to get creative with food.

“I give people a good introduction to raw food and why they will benefit from it, now with evidence to suggest we don’t have enough raw foods in our diets,” she says.

“You have to plan a little bit with raw food but it’s easy to do at home; it’s not time-consuming and it’s 100 per cent more nutritious.

“It’s less stressful than conventional cooking because you don’t have to worry about things burning or not being ready in time.

“A lot of people in Geelong are now switched on about the benefits of raw foods and it’s just a matter of teaching them how to be creative with their food and what they can do.”

The 44-year-old says raw food is perfect fuel for her when she competes in some of Geelong’s great races over summer.

“Rather than eating sugar-laden power bars, you’ll see me eating dates and walnuts while I’m out riding,” she says.

“This is an area that I am really passionate about, debunking many of the myths around protein and appropriate nutrition for athletes.

“You can and should run your engine on clean fuel, making every bite count, and be as nourishing and nutrient-dense as possible.”

But the Geelong East resident says she has a sweet tooth and she often includes treats in her raw-food creations.

“I make cheesecakes and slices that have no refined sugar or carbohydrates,” she says.

“I make gateaux from hazelnut meal and I swear I’m eating the richest cake but it’s actually good for you.”

Raw food is a lifestyle for some people with chronic conditions, but Murphy-Sims says she simply loves eating healthy.

“I do PR work for Running Raw Around Australia and a veteran couple, Alan and Janette, are running a marathon a day around Australia this year,’’ Murphy-Sims says.

“Janette was a cancer sufferer given less than a year to live and believes she cured herself by eating exclusively raw foods.

“I, however, do this more because I have pure enjoyment and creativity of raw foods.

“It’s so easy to add some goodness into your life, and I personally have a very sweet tooth, so creating food that satisfies cravings is top of my list.” 

For information on raw food classes in Geelong, contact info@rawambition.com.au

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