'Raw Emotions' - new book OUT NOW :)

It’s HERE :)

My long-awaited new e-book

‘Raw Emotions’

has finally fully manifested :)

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-HAHAHA :)
After a pretty intense gestation period, I am SOOOOOOO excited to be FINISHED and to now share this piece with y’all – check out the official ‘blurb’ here below and you can order and download your copy NOW from HERE :) Thanks for your patience and…

ENJOOOOOOOY :)

--------------

Are you a ‘comfort eater’? Do you feel at ease with your body and your relationship with food, or are there things you'd REALLY LIKE TO CHANGE?
Do you LONG to feel balanced, healthy, happy and peaceful?
Have you tried Diet after Diet - sometimes lost weight, then put it back on, and want to release that weight for good?
Why don't those diets work? Most ‘weight loss’ programmes just focus on the 'weight'.

RAW EMOTIONS looks at what can bring the weight on - and it's not just food ;)
Raw Emotions goes beyond the physical, to examine the emotional and spiritual factors that contribute to our eating patterns...and gives you PRACTICAL, solid insights into how to create LASTING CHANGE :)
However you currently eat, RAW EMOTIONS, has something to offer you.

You'll learn ways to:

* understand YOUR emotional connections with food
* release patterns that no longer serve you
* examine your history with eating AND create your optimal vision for yourself
* re-connect authentically with your emotions
* address cravings and let go of overeating
* choose inspiring activities and resources to keep on track
* find balance in your food choices and lifestyle
* feel more connected, loving and joyful

Combining proven ‘self-help’ techniques with a raw lifestyle, ‘Raw Emotions’ contains 60 specific tools and action tips for engaging YOUR transformation.
This truly unique book, based on personal experience and extensive research, is a 'first' in the raw foods movement: an invaluable guide on how to 'dance' with and heal emotions that 'come up' when we change how we eat for our health.

ANGELA STOKES, author of RAW EMOTIONS is renowned for her remarkable PHYSICAL transformation - a 160lb weight loss with a raw food lifestyle.
This book is inspired by something people have found even MORE REMARKABLE than her physical changes: the emotional and spiritual shifts in Angela's life.
In this new book, Angela shares the major tips and tools that helped her experience this dramatic shift from a lonely, moody, angry and defensive overeater to a life of genuine JOY, VIBRANCY, LOVE and BALANCE.

Sound good to you?

...click here for an excerpt…

-------------------

Ok, now get ready for a double-whammy of food logs again – blogging absence makes the food lists grow longer ;)

On March the 5th I had:

1.5 quarts water
2 cups peppermint tea
16oz celery/lettuce/radish/cucumber/zucchini/carrot/ginger juice
bowl of mulberry yum: dried mulberries soaked in blended apples/raspberries, with some ground flax swirled in
1.5 quarts water
2 cups nettle tea
16oz celery/lettuce/radish/cucumber/zucchini/carrot/ginger juice
bowl of cucumber yum ;) grated cucumber mixed with sunflower seed pate, avo pieces, karengo seaweed, mixed sprouts and sliced green onions, served in lettuce wraps and nori sheets
1 quart water

on March the 6th I had:

1.5 quarts water
1.5 cups ginger tea
3 mandarins
20oz celery/cucumber/radish/lettuce/zucchini/carrot/ginger juice
bowl of mulberry yum: dried mulberries soaked in blended apples/blackberries, with some ground flax swirled in
1.5 quarts water
16oz celery/cucumber/radish/lettuce/zucchini/carrot/ginger juice
2 cups green smoothie: raspberries/pear/banana/romaine/parsley
1.5 quarts water

While you’re checking out the info on Raw Emotions, take a peek at the cheeky fridge magnets we’ve also produced, to brighten up YOUR food prep area…
Made as a companion to the 'Raw Emotions' book, this magnet serves as a daily reminder that…

The ANSWER is not in the fridge… ;)

So, next time you find your hand reaching out towards the refrigerator door handle, in response to a craving, your magnet will be right there to remind you that there is more GENUINE joy to be found beyond the kitchen… ;)


on March the 7th I had:

1.5 quarts water
1.5 cups peppermint tea
3 mandarins
16oz celery/cucumber/radish/beetroot/lettuce/zucchini/carrot/ginger juice
bowl of cucumber yum ;) grated cucumber mixed with sunflower seed pate, avo pieces, karengo seaweed and sliced green onions, served in lettuce wraps and nori sheets
1.5 quarts water
16oz celery/cucumber/radish/beetroot/lettuce/zucchini/carrot/ginger juice
bowl of apple/cinnamon mulberry yum: dried mulberries soaked in blended apples/cinnamon, with some ground flax swirled in
1.5 quarts water

on March the 8th I had:

1.5 quarts water
1.5 cups nettle tea
20oz blended cantaloupe melon smoothie
½ a watermelon
16oz cucumber/zucchini/radish/lettuce/beetroot/carrot/ginger juice
bowl of cucumber yum: grated cucumber mixed with sunflower seed pate, avo pieces, karengo seaweed and sliced green onions, served in lettuce wraps and nori sheets
1.5 quarts water
12oz cucumber/zucchini/radish/lettuce/beetroot/carrot/ginger juice
2.5 cups green smoothie: banana/babako/raspberries/lettuces from garden :)
1.5 quarts water

SO, hopefully all of you who pre-ordered Raw Emotions are now happily in receipt of it in your inbox and sinking into its luscious pages...if, however, the email gremlins appear to have swallowed your precious product and ‘tis nowhere to be seen, not even the spam box, do email us at angela@rawreform.com and let us know (ESPECIALLY if you are a Yahoo user – ‘tis a tricky beast to deliver to, the Yahoo monster…)
Ahhhhh and here we are then...in the tranquil realm of the New Moon in Pisces, with a new book baby to coo over and a big post-completion exhale for moi ;) What does dear Ms. Dale Miller like to say about this moon...? Let’s take a look...

“...a New Moon ripe for direct revelation of these most basic, yet paradoxically intertwined truths:
We are nothing and everything; full and empty. All dualistic existence is interconnected and sourced in that which abides beyond duality. We can actively awaken to this realization of essential connectedness through the relinquishment of hatred, fear, violence, and greed. This and each successive moment presents an opportunity to choose love and peace.
This is the New Moon to practice compassion and selflessness by radiating peace and calm through prayer and meditation. Pisces acknowledges our essential connectedness and realizes it through the practice of unconditional love and unwavering compassion.
Ultimately, Pisceans are embodied in order to embrace the letting go of self-identification through learning to love unconditionally. Those who can commit their lives to working for the upliftment of all other souls are our everyday Bodhisattvas. Pisces is Bodhisattva consciousness embodied in self-sacrifice. Pisces’ bottom line is to learn to love unconditionally, and to work for the collective enlightenment of all sentient beings; no matter how hard it may be or how long it may take. This is the New Moon to commit to growing up and out of selfishness and hatred. Transcendence comes in many forms, but the first step is accepting personal responsibility for the condition of your life and the lives of all other sentient beings.
Heal your life and you will make a great contribution toward healing this world. Open your heart, let compassion be your guide and become an active peacemaker. Don’t be afraid to do the work of loosening your attachment to self-identification. Love yourself by loving others. We are all in this together, and together we can do the impossible. Be inspired to be a beacon of peace and light for the world. Dive deeply into this powerfully transcendent New Moon cycle.”

BEAUTIFUL :) WOW, it's amazing how many of these exact concepts are things I've JUST been writing about in Raw Emotions - the universe dances with such a gorgeous flow of resonance...clearly, this was JUST the time for this book to birth itself ;) To read her whole piece on our current moon time – see HERE...

As for me, I’m off to get some rest now – though we actually have a radio interview in about 8 hours...it starts at 10am EST – I think you can listen in here: www.rawtalkradio.com...

ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY :)
One love,
Angelalalalalalalaaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx

E-book Packs and Coconut Cracks...

De-de-de-de-de-de-deeeeeeeeeehhhhh ;) You asked, we boinged into existence: by popular request, we’ve created discounted e-book packages of Mr Monarch’s books and my own…you can see them HERE. The starter package includes one of each of our bestselling titles – my ‘How to go Raw for Weight Loss’ and Matt’s ‘Raw Spirit’ and the deluxe package contains all 6 of our book-babies ;) ENJOY :)

On August the 28th I had:

1.5 litres water
600ml warm water with lemon juice
700ml green juice with carrot
500ml water
small salad – kale, avo, sauerkraut, dulse, lemon juice, tomatoes
slice of leftover chia pie
500ml rooibos tea
1 litre water
small greens/hemp seed salad with sea salad, barley grass crackers and tahini spread
chunks of barley grass fudge, raw halva and dulse chocolate – WOW
700ml choco tea
1.5 litres water

Someone wrote today asking how to open young coconuts – here’s a GREAT LINK by RawGuru Alex (with a video demo)…incidentally, if you’ve got a GREEN young coconut (or orange for that matter) and you’re wondering what the square-ish looking white ones are all about, they’re exactly the same – they’re just green or orange nuts which have had the coloured husk removed, leaving the softer white layer underneath…inside THAT is the hard brown layer which if left to get ‘old’ is like the older cocos you see in supermarkets and so on…those are much easier to open for most people, as there’s no husk left anymore and you can just poke holes into two of the three ‘eyes’ on the top of the coconut and pour out the liquid…hope that helps ;)

on August the 29th I had:

1.5 litres water
150ml orange/grapefruit juice
double shot of wheatgrass
handful of strawberries
½ a large papaya
2 fresh figs
500ml water
1 tbsp green powder
cup of rooibos tea
½ avo, romaine lettuce, one red pepper, 3 tomatoes, handful of Japanese seaweed, sauerkraut
handful of mulberries
½ large papaya
1.5 litres water

On the subject of coconuts…THANK YOOOUUUUUUU, oh dear ones, for all the spectacular entries so far for this month’s RawReform Prize Giveaway.
To remind those of you who may still yet enjoy to send in YOUR entry, the yummies at Artisana have supplied a BLISSFUL prize…on offer is a 5-Jar Sample Pack of their amazing coconut-based products:

Coconut Butter, Cacao Bliss, Goji Bliss, Amazon Bliss AND Coconut Oil...

WOW…thanks guys ;)
To be in with a chance of winning, simply send YOUR answer to the following question to angela@rawreform.com:

What is your favourite raw recipe that involves coconut?

This could include any kind of coconut product – the young Thai coconuts, old brown coconuts, coconut butter, coconut oil, coconut flakes – whatever does it for you ;) Just email us with your recipe and you just might be the lucky yumster drawn at random next week to receive the sublime Artisana package – yeeeeeee-HAH ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

FIRE IT UP, BABY ;)

Alright everyone, I hope as you read this you are either READY to ‘Fire the Grid' on the morning of the 17th of July OR you already did it and had a FABULOUS time ;)

For those unfamiliar with ‘Fire the Grid’, basically the idea is very simple… at the allotted time, everyone, worldwide, is invited to enjoy ‘firing up the grid’ of the planet with joy, love and appreciation ;)

The three recommended methods to ‘Fire the Grid’ are:

1. Random, spontaneous acts of kindness.
2. Enjoying whatever it is that you feel happy doing, and noticing that happiness. Feeling grateful for this joy.
3. Listening to uplifting music. Filling your space with uplifting images, colors and music…

You can watch an Intro Video about the whole thing HERE on YouTube.

The times for participation are (among others) 11.11am GMT, 12.11pm UK time, 7.11am EST, 4.11am PST.

ENJOY – for ALL our sakes ;)


On July the 16th I had:

1.5 litres water
small glass of green smoothie with rejuvelac
handful of cherries
500ml water
romaine lettuce, dulse and sunflower sprouts with sunflower seed cheese blended with rejuvelac, cayenne and cumin – yummm
1.5 litres water
700ml green juice with apple and fennel
handful of gorgeous raspberries
500ml water
500ml green smoothie – bananas/spinach/apple pulp/drop of honey/rejuvelac with goji berries swirled in…yummmmm…
500ml water

Another reader’s question from the comments:

‘…how long do you wait after eating to drink water? I notice you drink A LOT of water, and I want to drink more water myself but i was told to wait 3 hours after eating. and if i'm only eating between 11 and 7 its difficult to get 3 meals in and lots of water and juices, or so it seems.’

Yes, I drink a LOT of water – I LOVE it – it feels vital to me – especially first thing in the morning – that’s when I usually take in the biggest amount in one go – before I take anything else in. If I don’t have at LEAST a litre at that point, I don’t feel set-up well for the rest of the day. AFTER eating, I like to ideally wait abt an hour before drinking water again – this varies though, depending on what it was I ate. If I had a simple mono-meal of fruits for example, that will be digested in around 30mins and then I’ll feel fine to drink again…a heavier meal though – like a big salad with some fats etc – is a different situation – I’d wait at LEAST an hour usually before drinking water again, so as not to dilute the stomach acid…it may be longer, depending on how much it feels like I have digested the food…usually, whenever I DO drink water, I drink quite a lot in one go – like 500ml or more, so that in the space of a day I get at least about 4 litres/1 gallon in – that feels optimal to me at this point…
Hope that helps… ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Events, Education and Enemas...

Hellloooooooo…
I have 2 speaking events this week in Canada:

I speak in Barrie this Tuesday – the 17th – from 7pm at ‘The Core’ centre – details HERE…

Then on Saturday – the 21st - I speak in Toronto with Matt Monarch from 2.30pm. Details are HERE…

Hope to see you there if you’re around this area ;)


On July the 14th I had:

1.5 litres water
small glass of green smoothie
bowl of raw buckwheat cereal, blended with berries, cinnamon
500ml water
romaine lettuce with fresh raw sunflower seed cheese, dulse and basil leaves
3tbsps hemp seeds & bee pollen
1 litre water
500ml green juice with apple
6 black plums
handful of sunflower greens
big bowl of GORGEOUS cherries
1 litre water

Life just keeps on getting sweeter here in the company of this beautiful, vibrant raw family…the way they speak with each other, the things they share, the openness, caring, genuine contact and appreciation…it’s SO wonderful to see and experience such a healthy, joyful family unit in action…and YOU can even see them in action too if you like ;) They made a DVD documentary about their way of life called ‘Raising Children Raises Us’ – which you can see more about HERE. It was shown at the Raw Film Festie in Hollywood earlier this year…mum of the family, Shannon, also wrote an accompanying article of the same name, which you can see HERE on the main RawReform site – beautiful people ;) I feel so blessed to be learning here alongside them and grateful that there are people here enjoying this way of life and modelling it for others like this...how blessed we ALL are for that...these are truly the raw wonder-kids of a new generation ;)


On July the 15th I had:

1.5 litres water
1 box strawberries
500ml water
avo/romaine/sunflower sprouts/cumin/lime juice/dulse
spoonful of coconut butter with honey and cardamom powder
500ml peppermint tea
1 litre water
1 litre green juice with apple and fennel
6 apricots
green smoothie of bananas/romaine/spirulina with whole gojis swirled in
1 litre water

This comment was just left after my last post here:

“...I dont think i'm digesting food well enough. I feel "backed up". I eat lots of fruit and veggies and have added flax oil to my smoothies and juices I'm chewing my food carfully and drinking pleanty of water and even taking e-3 live. I'm at a very healthy weight, but I feel like I need a good internal cleaning done i'm only able to "go" once a day on average and Its never enough. I've been considering taking colon cleansing pills, but I'm really confused as to weather this is a good idea at all and if I should just stick to eating more fruits and veggies instead. do you have any advice?”

Well, I certainly have some guidance, yes…do some colon cleansing. I would recommend you immediately go and get a series of colonics with a registered colon hydrotherapist – preferably 5-6 to start with. This is a KEY element for people to handle detox well – keeping up with the waste that is being released into your system. Most of us have DECADES of old junk stored in our cells…going raw is like going into a life-long cleanse – like hitting the ‘clean out cells NOW’ button and the body starts to throw out all kind of waste. The colon can quickly get overwhelmed if you’re still EATING and so it’s dealing with the usual flow of waste, PLUS all the old waste too, that you’re trying to suddenly eliminate now…there is SO much to say about all this and what it really comes down to is this: you can go raw and NOT do colon cleansing if you like…you can do that…you’re just not going to have anywhere NEAR as easy time of it as if you did some colon cleansing…I recommend too that you get hold of a good enema bag to do ‘maintenance’ cleansing at home. There are fabulous 6-quart bags you can get now, from HERE. These huge bags work almost as well as having a professional colonic – they’re quite amazing for getting all the way round the colon, clearing everything out.
I would also recommend you read something like Dr Norman Walker’s ‘Colon Health’ book – HERE. As he so wonderfully puts it:

"Not to cleanse the colon is like having the entire garbage collecting staff in your city go on strike for days on end."
Dr. Norman Walker, D. SC., PhD.

Colon health is integral to the health of your whole body and not to be underestimated...so yes, please, by all means, TAKE CARE OF YOUR COLON ;)
One love,
Angela. xxx

Toilet Talk...

Ok, there have been so many requests for the elusive 5TH DAY video of the liver cleanse I did earlier this year, that I’m going to list the full set of links here for all to enjoy. The 5th video wouldn’t fit onto YouTube for some reason – too big file or smthg – which is why it ended up on Google instead – sorry for confusion ;)
(Wow…amazing to think that this liver cleanse was 3 months ago now…this year really feels exceptionally fast to me…)

Liver Cleanse Video Links:

DAY 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JStNHjq-yw

DAY 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQX61xYYmxw

DAY 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz91N-sHOGc

DAY 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU_Hqo46jDc

DAY 5: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-2907709016184333803

and a reminder, the protocol I used was Andreas Moritz's spectacularly-named 'The Amazing Liver and Gall Bladder Cleanse'...ENJOY ;)


On June the 2nd I had:

1.5 litres water
800ml green juicebox of raspberries
soaked chia seed with blended soaked prunes, lucuma, banana, spirulina and goji berries
2 litres water
8 apricots
1 casaba melon
1 litre water
bowl of baby spinach with sauerkraut
500ml water

I’ve stopped flushing the toilet. LOL…I’m sorry, that’s probably a bit more information than some of you were expecting…but I’m happy to share about this…I once saw a sign that said

‘if it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down…’

and that’s what I’ve been following of late…I like it because it means a LOT less water is used daily in this house. Another great thing people can use of course is ‘hippos’ – bags that sit in your toilet cistern and prevent so much water being used with each flush…you can get those free often from water conservancy places – in the UK you used to be able to get them from CAT…
I recall Wolfie describing urine as ‘sacred’ at one point when I heard him speak last year and that it’s a great gift to share it with other plants and so on outside…I love that…I don’t often choose to share in this way in urban settings however…so, for now, the mellowing of the yellow is my favourite eco-approach ;) (…thanks…)

On June the 3rd I had:

1.5 litres water
1.2 litres watermelon juice
1 litre green smoothie – bananas, romaine, spirulina, water with goji berries thrown in for magical-chewability…
500ml water
2tbsp fresh bee pollen
bunch of red grapes
500ml water
piece of raw ‘rye’ bread with sauerkraut, no-bean hummus, spinach
bowl of watermelon flesh (yummmmmmmmmm)
500ml water

I have a request: I am looking for a bespoke jeweller. If you are a yummy, talented jeweller who is experienced with creating beautiful, unique pieces, especially working with precious gems, please get in touch. Please email me at angela@rawreform.com with details of your work, or if you know of a jeweller who you’d love to recommend, please let me know too ;) THANKS…
Ooo, and a quick reminder for those of you in the area – I speak tomorrow night in Hamilton, Ontario, at the Goodness Me Health Food Store – see the event details HERE:

http://www.rawreform.com/component/option,com_events/task,view_detail/agid,42/year,2007/month,07/day,04/Itemid,76/

One love,
Angela. xxx

Luminescent....

Ooooooo, I’m excited about Living Luminaries - a new film that’s started to show, from the Spiritual Cinema Circle. The director contacted me about it this week and I watched the trailer here:

http://www.livingluminaries.com/trailer.html

Looks great to me :) In the same kind of line as 'The Secret' and ‘What the Bleep do We Know…?’, this one is subtitled ‘The Serious Business of Happiness’ and includes interviews about creating happiness and enjoyment with all kinds of people spreading the light, such as Eckhart Tolle, Gary Renard and Don Jose Ruiz…looks very inspiring…more info HERE…enjoy…

On June the 23rd I had:

1 litre water
little box of cherries
3 peaches
10 fresh figs
500ml water
1 litre greens with carrot juice
1 durian
huge amount of raw chocolate
1.5 litres water

Ok, it was a bit of a cacao ‘party weekend’ here ;) …and now it feels like recovery time for me…nothing too severe…definitely a far cry from the alcohol hangovers I used to bring on myself…this contrast felt pretty apparent to me on Sunday night as I sat in a comedy club surrounded by people drinking alcohol, eating nachos and so on – and there were we, munching on raw chocolate – something which to me feels like an equivalent of alcohol these days, yet to most people in that room would be like having health food probably… ;) Interesting contrast…anyway, I’m MUCH happier to be dealing with my current slight cracao hangover and knowing my antioxidant levels are quite probably through-the-roof right now, rather than feeling grouchy and drained from drinking grog… ;)

on June the 24th I had:

1 litre water
big bowl of cherries
2 shots of E3 Live
800ml green juice with carrots
8 dried figs
1 litre water
big kale/avo/tomato/dulse salad with flax crackers
cacophony of cacao
1.5 litres water

I was happy to receive this message a couple of days ago from a newsletter I subscribe to…it affirmed to me that OTHERS are also dealing with issues trying to deliver messages to Yahoo email addresses at the moment…

“Notice to Yahoo subscribers: Because our emails are being blocked randomly and without explanation on the Yahoo mail servers, we cannot guarantee dependable delivery of our emails to you at this time. Adding us to your list of Safe Senders may help. However, if it is important to you to receive our updates, we recommend you change your email address to something other than Yahoo. We apologize for this inconvenience.”

Ok…so, it seems this is a widespread issue at the moment…I don’t know WHAT is happening with Yahoo, but if you are a user of their system, I’d love to encourage writing to them suggesting they relax their approach a bit…I don’t think I’d be too happy if MY email service wasn’t actually delivering my email to me… ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

Sweeeeeet to Share...

I made a new webpage on YouTube – I’m excited :) I just learnt that I can make my own ‘channel’ to store all my videos together, as well as share my favourites with the world – I really like it – you can see it HERE: http://www.youtube.com/rawreform
Check out the UK news interview with Shazzie in my favourites section – I find it sooooo wonderful – she shines with all her truth and raw glory and the presenters just about implode with outrage ;) tee-hee-heeeeee ;) I love it…

On June the 21st I had:

1.5 litres water
bag of cherries
800ml celery/cucumber/apple/fennel juice
big green salad with avo, dill, cumin, salt, seaweeds
1.5 litres water
1 papaya
2 bananas mashed up with a handful of seeds, goji berries, pinch of salt and some lucuma powder
1 litre water

I am SO in love with lucuma powder…have you ever tried it…? Those of you who have heard me talk at lectures may remember me mentioning it…it’s EASILY my all-time favourite raw sweetener…it is made from a dried fruit from Peru (see picture above), comes as a golden powder which is low glycemic and it tastes like SHORTBREAD…just divine…that recipe I made up recently of raw honey mixed with ground almonds and lucuma is outrageously good…the nearest thing to raw shortbread I’ve ever tasted and so simple – just 3 ingredients…yummmmmmmmm…it’s not always easy to locate, but you can see more about lucuma and order some to start playing with for yourself HERE…ENJOY ;)

On June the 22nd I had:

1 litre water
500ml spice tea (coooooooooooold here in the morning)
big bowl of strawberries
1 litre celery/cucumber/apple/fennel juice
2 bananas mashed up with a handful of seeds, goji berries, pinch of salt and some lucuma powder
1 litre water
1 mango
3 litres watermelon juice
bowl of baby spinach, sunflower and broccoli sprouts, dulse and jalapeno/cilantro no-bean hummus
Explosion of raw cacao treats (uh-ohhhhhh…cracao-ed and dangerous… ;)
500ml water

I had a look at the stats for the RawReform E-journal recently and discovered that people are tuning into these musings daily from over 30 COUNTRIES worldwide…wow...predictably, most of us are located in Canada, the US, the UK and Australia, but a big HELLO and WELCOME too to those of you joining in from Brunei to the Solomon Islands, Poland to Pakistan, Malaysia, Venezuela and Morocco to Saudi Arabia, Barbados, Vietnam and beyond…WOW…what a global community we are of like-minded light beings ;) I'd be fascinated to hear about perceptions of the raw food lifestyle from some of you in these far-reaching places if you'd like to leave a comment... ;)

Much love and joy to all,
Angela. xxx

Happy Summer Solstice... :)

The Sun Never Says

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."

Look
what happens
with a love like that,
it lights the whole sky.

Hafiz (Sufi poet)

Tomorrow (Thursday the 21st) is Summer Solstice. Yeeeeeee-HAH. The longest day of the year and a true sign, if anyone needed another clue, that summer is definitely with us up here in the northern hemisphere…personally, I am simply LOVING the abundance of fresh fruit and leafy greens, plus playing out in the sun every day… and on summer solstice, we get to spend more time appreciating the magical sun than on any other day of the year…hurray :)

On June the 19th I had:

1.5 litres water
4 peaches
600ml celery/cucumber/apple/ginger juice
green salad (arugula, basil, sunflower and broccoli greens, romaine) with lime juice, cumin, avocado, dulse
1 litre water
600ml ‘juicy-smoothie’ mix of romaine/spinach juice blended with strawberries
mini-bowl of strawberry shortcake pie (sans cacao this time ;)
1.5 litres water

I have a new trick. It helps me deal with post-meal sweet cravings. I don’t really want to put sweet stuff in my body anymore after eating savoury things (like salad at lunchtime) and YET, I still have the desire for something sweet... So, my trick is to take a couple of packets of ‘Pro to Go’ – these are little yummy packages of sweet flavoured probiotics that you can just tear open and knock back – I get the sweet hit AND probiotics at the same time. The sweetness comes from xylitol – which wouldn’t be my first choice of sweetener, but is raw and this feels like a great stepping stone for me away from desserts…hurray :) You can see more about Pro to Go HERE.

On June the 20th I had:

1 litre water
2 quarts strawberries
500ml celery/cucumber/ginger/apple juice
bag of ORGANIC CHERRIES (YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY - first ones I've found in Canada ;)
½ box of baby spinach
700ml banana/romaine green smoothie with spirulina3tbsps of bee pollen mixed with hemp seeds
1 litre water
700ml green smoothie with spinach, romaine, peaches, banana
1 litre water

To celebrate Summer Solstice tomorrow, the organisers of Raw Spirit Fest are holding a special FREE TICKET promotion. Raw Spirit Fest is being held from October 12th-14th this year, in Sedona, Arizona and is going to be INCREDIBLE :) I am so excited about this event. I will be there as a workshop facilitator, along with many other wonderful raw speakers like Matt Monarch, The Boutenkos, David Wolfe, Viktoras Kulvinkskas and Ani Phyo. Buy your ticket for the festival on Thursday 21st June – Summer Solstice – and you will be in with a chance of receiving another ticket, completely FREE, to share with a loved one. The 1ST and 21ST people to purchase their tickets on this day will receive the free gifts, SO, I suggest you follow THIS LINK and book your place today if you haven’t done so already…See you there… ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

Berry BLISS ;)

I went strawberry picking yesterday. WOW. I haven’t been since I was about 15 I think…it was GREAT…I picked about 6 quarts of juicy sweet berries and went on to eat them with every meal of the day ;) lol…it was incredible…the cacao strawberry shortbread pie we made in the middle of the day yesterday was outrageously good. I had not had cracao again for about 10 days, so really enjoyed the blissful, opening, love vibe of it. The recipe was SO simple:

Base:
Ground almonds
Lucuma powder (gives the shortbread taste)
Local raw honey
Ground cacao nibs

Filling:
Strawberries
1 Banana

Please don’t ask me about quantities. I don’t know…I just use what works. We used the food processor to mix together the pie base and pressed it into a dish. Then we blended the berries and banana together, poured that on top and decorated with more sliced berries. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY…very liquid – I would perhaps add lucuma powder to the filling as well in the future, to thicken it up…

On June the 18th I had:

1 litre water
about 2 quarts of strawberries
500ml water
500ml green juice
incredible cacao strawberry shortbread pie
2 litres water
750ml ‘juicy-smoothie’ hybrid containing romaine, spinach, lime juice blended with strawberries
1 litre water

I’m excited to say that this evening –Tuesday June 19th – at 6pm PST (9pm EST), Matt Monarch is giving a FREE live teleconference with Mike Snyder. You can listen live through the web via this link:

http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=270678

OR you can also listen live by phone by calling 218-486-3695 and entering access code 408606#.
You can submit YOUR question for Matt on the above webpage too – enjoy ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Eclectic Emissions...

Today I met an apparently popular mammal here in Canada…Wiarton Willie…seems this groundhog is given the responsibility of declaring how long winter is going to last, on the 2nd of February each year…or something to that nature…the details of Groundhog Day are a bit hazy for me, but it was fun to meet a 7 foot totem of a groundhog anyway ;) Mmmmmmm, summer sun here in Ontario is BEAUTIFUL…loving exploring nature by the serene lakes…and last night we made a campfire on the shores of Lake Huron to honour the New Moon in Gemini, sending our intentions and desires dancing into the flames…

On June the 14th I had:

1.5 litres water
½ bag of grapes
handful of soaked/sprouted/dehydrated seeds and nuts, spinach, nori, 2 bananas
1 litre water
box of strawberries
¼ large watermelon
500ml water
500ml green juice
kale salad with avo, olives, dulse, lime, cumin, young garlic, nori and tomatoes
500ml spice tea
1 litre water

I recently re-read Raw Spirit and there was one paragraph I felt really inspired to share here, from the interview with long-term raw foodist Dr Fred Bisci (over 40 years raw)…

Why is it bad to go back and forth from a Raw Food Diet to a cooked food diet?

That can be a disaster because it takes time for a body to accommodate what you are putting into your system. It takes the average person a lifetime to gradually introduce some of the negative things in their dietary lifestyle. For example, if a person were to take a tablespoon of arsenic all at once it would probably kill them. Let’s say they took one drop every third day and gradually every week increased it. In the matter of a year or two, they could probably take 2 or 3 tablespoons and it might not affect them. It is the same with your diet. Ever since you were young, you have gradually continued eating and living a lifestyle that is not conducive to a healthy physiology. Let’s say all of a sudden you clean your body up, which on a very clean diet would only take a matter of months or a year. Then one day you have a weak moment and binge with foods that previously took you a lifetime to work up to. Your body won’t be able to tolerate it because you did not give it enough time to accommodate what you are doing. The impact could be 100 times more disastrous then if you had gone back gradually.

This is definitely smthg people seem to often get confused about…adopting a raw food lifestyle is really like being on a life-long cleanse…so swinging back and forth between very high/totally raw and cooked can therefore be very hard on the body…I personally cannot imagine eating cooked/processed foods anymore…owwwwwww…it would feel like SUCH hard work to digest and those things are so far outside my framework of what qualifies as edible now…

On June the 15th I had

1 litre water
3 peaches
nori wrap filled with leftover kale salad
½ bag green grapes
big green salad with avo, fresh chives, cumin, nori flakes, LOVE
1 litre water
500ml celery/cucumber/apple/fennel/ginger juice
¼ large watermelon
3tbsps hemp seed with 3 tbsps bee pollen
1.5 litres water

A cool tip from one reader – Andrew:

"Just enter your zip code in the site below, and it tells you which gas stations have the cheapest prices (and the highest) on gas in your zip code area. It's updated every evening.

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx"

…seems likely to be a useful thing to know for many people – enjoy ;) and if you perchance feel inspired to switch over to bio-diesel instead, here is a cool little Google Video of David Rain talking about how his truck is powered by veggie oil and he hasn't paid for fuel for about 4 years ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

On Communication and Cleanliness...

June the 14th is the new moon in Gemini. This is the moon of information, communication and ideas. Here are a few things astrologer Lisa Dale Miller has to say about this moon (see her full article HERE):

“The New Moon in Gemini calls on each of us to open up, talk about it (whatever it is), and open ourselves to feedback.
This is the New Moon to work on your communication skills. Learning how to communicate effectively creates successful relationships…communicate your wishes, dreams and desires to those who can aid your progress.”
“Gemini rules change. This is the best night to work on managing your fear of change. Everything changes; it is the nature of Maya, the field of relativity. When we ride the changes and make surfing the waves of change a vehicle for success, we actualize the highest expression of Gemini.”

Beautiful…I’m excited because my Moon is in Gemini from my birthchart – so I’m in full alignment there on this day ;) I recently had a free birthchart produced for me, actually, from a great site – www.alabe.com - I’d recommend trying it out – I was impressed with the accuracy of my reading…

On June the 12th I had:

1.5 litres water
500ml celery/cucumber/apple/greens juice
¼ large watermelon
big green salad with avo, cumin, lime juice, seaweeds
1.5 litres water
box of raspberries
500ml celery/cucumber/apple/fennel juice
1 medium papaya
1 litre water
½ mango
1.5 litres water

I am SO active physically at the moment – I seriously don’t think I’ve ever been this consistently active as an adult…and it feels AMAZING – such a gift to myself…jogging, yoga, cycling, dancing, sit-ups – most of those, every day :) WOW – I LOVE it…I truly believe these bodies were made to be active and it feels like a real adventure to me to explore more and more about using this one…my fuel intake consists of many ‘clean’ and simple raw foods at the moment too, lots of yummy summer fruits and greens, so I’m feeling great…hurray :)

On June the 13th I had:

1.5 litres water
¼ large watermelon
big green salad with seaweeds, lime juice and handful of soaked/sprouted/dehydrated nuts and seeds
1.5 litres water
3 peaches
3 apriums
1 banana
1 litre water
1 box raspberries
600ml cucumber/apple/fennel/bok choi juice
3 tbsp hemp seed with 3 tbsp bee pollen
1 litre water

I have a new toy – a recent addition to my collection and I really appreciate it… It’s pink. It’s hard. It goes in my mouth and moves across my tongue…oooooo, matron ;) …don’t get too excited - it is…a tongue scraper… ;)
I am really appreciating this simple little detox tool…I’d never used one before I got hold of mine during my Juice Feast, but now I use it every morning. It helps remove any white-ish/yellow nasty stuff that has built up on my tongue overnight. I always use it now before I drink my first water of the day – it makes SUCH a difference for me – it feels so much nicer to drink the water in to that cleaner environment, rather than swallowing down any grim tongue detox remnants, back into my body…I love it and totally recommend getting hold of one – they’re so cheap (just $7) and will last you YEARS, as they’re made of stainless steel…see HERE to order one...marvellous…

Enjoy :)
One love,
Angela. xxx

Learning and Loving...

Many thanks and gratitude to all of you who have been sending your emails/comments to US Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, asking him to reconsider the ruling on mandatory pasteurisation of almonds in the US. There have been some great messages going out to him in this last week – I have in fact created a special page on the RawReform site to gather these messages together – so, if you have not yet sent him a message yourself, please feel free to visit that page HERE and copy/paste as you please into an email for mike.johanns@usda.gov…together, we can make a difference with this…

On June the 10th I had:

1.5 litres water
700ml celery/cucumber/apple/fennel/ginger juice
¼ of a big watermelon
500ml water
kale salad: finely chopped kale, flesh of one avocado, lime juice, dulse, diced tomatoes, cumin, young garlic
one banana blended with figs and lucuma powder
2 litres water
box of strawberries
600ml green juice
small salad of fresh sunflower greens, watercress, baby leaves, cilantro with flax oil, hemp seed, lime juice, young garlic as dressing, w/nori.
Handful of goji berries
500ml peppermint tea
1 litre water

Ok, I learn more about this body every day…it seems to speak to me clearer and clearer all the time and today it was telling me that it definitely didn’t appreciate the heavy-ish meal I had in the evening of the 10th (see above)…although this salad was small, it had quite a number of ingredients and a fair amount of fats…my body did not appreciate working on that all evening and night and I awoke feeling very sluggish and heavy the next day…

On June the 11th I had:

2 litres water
box of raspberries with baby spinach leaves and handful of sunflower greens
1 litre water
¾ of a durian
2 litres water
700ml celery/cucumber/apple/ginger juice
3 peaches
2 tbsp bee pollen with 2 tbsp hemp seed
1 litre water

I am TOTALLY in love with this song by Alicia Keys at the moment (embedded below) – wow, she inspires me SO much – when I hear her and see her, I perceive gorgeous, open, pure, loving spirit working straight through her – here is a goddess so totally in her flow with her path here on earth, spreading her messages through the musical vibration, touching millions – she seems so fantastically talented, dedicated, tuned-in to her energy flow and true to her work…just SO beautiful to witness :)
ENJOY :)
One love,
Angela. xxx

Melons, Movies and Movements...

Went to the farmer’s markets here in Canada this weekend…WOW – I got some really wonderful things, I’m so excited – I have a HUGE tub of fresh, vibrant sunflower greens for example, for $2.50 – WOW – one of my absolute favourite foods…plus fresh cilantro, huge cucumbers, magnificent kale…and I tried apriums for the first time – a hybrid between apricots and plums – YUM :) We also bought 7 ENORMOUS watermelons, all seeded and organic (see picture), for $4 each...wooooo-HOO – I am SO excited - we seriously have about 160lbs of watermelon flesh here to consume :))) LOL...AND, I am DELIGHTED to say that there is weekly compost collection at the houses here – how wonderful - all ‘waste’ is sorted and collected – I am very impressed…yes, I definitely like it here already ;)

On June the 8th I had:

1.5 litres water
500ml cucumber/celery/apple juice
box of strawberries
500ml water
avocado/lime/cumin/spring greens/nori/salt
1 tbsp goji berries
500ml water
bag of cherries
1 litre water
500ml celery/cucumber/apple juice
2 tbsp bee pollen with 2 tbsp hemp seeds
1 litre water

I have just been updating the ‘Media Coverage’ page on the RawReform website and discovered that one of the segments on me that was recently broadcast on SMTV is now available on YouTube – nice…it is me doing a raw food demo – avo/cilantro wraps and almond milk – check out the interesting make-up I received that day ;) and indeed, the whole piece, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmW_XDWlsVc




On June the 9th I had:

1.5 litres water
big bag of apriums and apricots
800ml celery/cucumber/apple/ginger juice
avocado with sunflower greens, cilantro, baby romaine, nori, cumin powder, salt
3 dried figs with chocolate/coco sauce
1 litre water
500ml water
less than a cup of pineapple
1 banana
box of fresh figs (WOW)
600ml celery/cucumber/apple/ginger/fennel juice
3 tbsps bee pollen mixed with 3 tbsps hemp seed
1 litre water

I am enjoying being very physically active here in Canada at the moment – I am located next to a beautiful huge lake, with parks all around and it is very inspiring to just get out and get moving…I am running and cycling and spending lots of time in the sun…SOOOOO nice after many weeks on the road recently…I enjoy meeting the animals here especially…there seem to be a lot of them and they seem to be less shy of humans than I am accustomed to – seems like everyone in Canada is super-friendly ;) I am amused to meet these tiny rodents dodging about on the sides of paths – I am assuming they are chipmunks, but am not sure - I was so surprised to see them at first, but everyone else seems to ignore them, so I guess they're common here…today I also met many water-bird babies – baby swans and geese and ducks…ahhhhhh, my favourite…yes, I feel very blessed to be enjoying the serenity here…

One love,
Angela. xxx

Shifts...

Ok, so…it turns out that I’m in Canada, not Jamaica…lol…hmmmmmmm…how did THAT happen…??? Looooong story…suffice it to say that I’m feeling delighted overall to be here – I have never spent much time in Canada before and am feeling very welcomed…it feels very ‘soft’ and friendly here to me, as well as summery and fresh…and I am relieved…I will quite likely set up some events in the Toronto area for sometime soon, so watch out for details of that if you are around…

On June the 6th I had:

1.5 litres water
500ml green/carrot/red pepper juice
1 box strawberries bag of cherries
blend of coconut meat, figs, dulse and green powder (YUM)
500ml water
shot of E3 live
500ml cucumber/celery/apple juice
3 tbsps fresh bee pollen
1 litre water

My food intake is really quite simple at the moment…I have come to a realisation that my focus these days in terms of what goes in to my system is so much more about QUALITY rather than QUANTITY…my body’s ability to assimilate the foods I ingest is much greater than it used to be, after cleansing so much, so a small amount of high quality food works ideally for me, to get the nutrition I need…whereas in the past, eating was all about quantity for me – wanting huge amounts of everything. Now I would much rather have a small amount of smthg that is very high quality and will quickly and easily digest and be used by my body, than a large amount of food that is maybe not the greatest quality, not well-combined, etc just to get that ‘full’ feeling…this shift is interesting for me to witness in myself and I appreciate it – it feels very nourishing to me to move into this kind of pattern…

on June the 7th I had:
1 litre water
500ml cucumber/celery/apple juice
3 peaches
500ml water
soaked/dehydrated seeds, nori, spinach
1 tbs goji berries
500ml water
bag of cherries
shot of E3 live
1 egg fruit with some coco/chocolate sauce
1.5 litres water

In the latest RawReform Newsletter, which was sent out this week, I included a review of Ani Phyo’s fabulous new raw recipe book ‘Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen’ – I’m going to share the review here too, for anyone that missed it – I cannot recommend this recipe book highly enough – yes, it is recipes, but they are SIMPLE and seem ‘clean’, well-combined and above all...YUMMY ;) Ani's book is gaining great recognition already - it was even reviewed last week on well-known blog Boing Boing...

RAW RECIPE BOOK REVIEW: Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo

I confess – I rarely get excited about raw recipe books. As you may have noticed if you’re a regular reader of my e-journal, I tend to eat pretty simply. I’m far more likely to reach for a head of romaine and an avocado to munch on than to pull out a recipe book…and YET…a new raw recipe book has just hit the market in the last few weeks that I’m genuinely excited about ;) Ani Phyo’s ‘Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen’ is, in my opinion, an outstanding piece of work. Setting a new pace in style, sophistication and simplicity, Ani’s book speaks to me on so many levels and oozes authenticity. She is really a star. If you’re not familiar with Ani, she is the executive chef for SmartMonkey foods, who make yummy raw bars and other treats. She’s been on a raw path for many years and is a shining example of radiant raw health. She is also a keen promoter of all things green and this, for me, is what really sets this recipe book apart – aside from the fabulous recipes, Ani has included a wealth of tips for helping people to live greener, cleaner, healthier lives – from recycling to green energy, buying local to composting, there is plenty to inspire…and it’s presented in an easy-to-follow, accessible, fun format. I love this. I feel this book is going to help masses of people to simplify and green up their lives and for that I feel a HUGE amount of gratitude for what Ani has put on offer here.
Ani’s recipes are easy to follow and use simple ingredients, yet look truly delicious at the same time. Here is a chef who truly knows how to work with simple combos of flavourful raw ingredients to produce outstanding results. Most of the recipes have fewer than 6 or 7 ingredients and they are all accompanied by little icons to indicate which kitchen equipment you may need to make the dish. This makes it very user-friendly to flick through the book and see what to make based on the equipment you have.
I love that Ani’s sweetener of choice is dates. Yes, they may be high glycemic, but they are a WHOLE food, unlike something like agave syrup, which has been tapped from the cactus and quite likely heated to a high temperature. Ani favours water-rich foods every time (love it ;), hence the emphasis on dates rather than syrups.
I feel excited when I read this book. I can feel the beautiful, clear, vibrant energy that Ani embodies and is sharing with the world now through this book. It’s sleek, stylish, beautifully designed and all about simplicity ;) I can see this easily being my top raw recipe book recommendation from now on…
Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen is published by Avalon, costs $19.95 and is available now – you can buy it online HERE or in book stores. ENJOY ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Almonds and Immortal Burgers...

Ok…so today was ‘officially’ World Environment Day and…it’s time to talk about raw almonds again…so, it seemed recently that the law to pasteurise all almonds in the States had gone through…talking with friends in Chicago recently however, we were handed flyers with information on how we can ALL act now to try to turn this situation around. The rule is due to go into effect on September the 1st, 2007. The idea is that we act NOW to contact US Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns to let him know why raw almonds are important to us and we do not want to see them pasteurised. If we do not act NOW to turn this around, it may literally never be possible to purchase raw almonds in this country again…and it may even open a floodgate for similar laws requiring pasteurisation of other foods…eeeeeek ;) no thanks…so, please take a few minutes NOW, for you, me, all those we care about and all those yet to come, to preserve access to truly raw foods. Here are the contact details for Secretary Johanns:

Email: Mike.Johanns@usda.gov
Phone: 202-720-3631 Fax: 202-720-2166

On June the 4th I had:

1.5 litres water
500ml green juice
1 nectarine
hemp seeds/oil with other seeds in nori wraps with Himalayan salt and kale
dried figs with chocolate/coconut dip
500ml water
2 apples
shot of E3 Live
500ml water
vanilla cheesecake and chocolate truffles
2 litres water

I was sent a hilarious video link recently about ‘The Immortal Burgers’ of fast food restaurants…it’s an incredible little story of a guy who went to a VERY well-known burger restaurant back in 1988, bought a couple of burgers, ate one immediately and put one in his coat pocket…which he then forgot about until a YEAR later when he pulled that jacket out of his cupboard again. He opened the burger wrapper to discover that the product looked and smelt EXACTLY the same, as if he’d just bought it… :O…he decided to keep it longer, to see what happened…then started to buy and keep other burgers too over the last 18 years, to see when and how his mounting collection would start to decompose…it didn’t, it hasn’t, it doesn’t…yes, the scary fact is, these burgers are ‘immortal’ – the video shows his dated collection of burgers and buns, all pristine…just IMAGINE what happens to cells of our bodies that are fed with that kind of fuel regularly…eeeeek ;) This really leads me to wonder how much left-over damage there is going on in this body from all the years I lived on toxic junk foods…it is said of course that our bodies replace every single cell in our structure within the space of 7 years…and as I’ve been raw for 5 years now, I’m a long way towards literally having a totally different body…and yet, there is definitely still detox work for me to do…hmmmmm…food for thought…anyway, I’d certainly recommend checking out the burger video HERE and sharing it with those who might still be eating these kinds of meals…it’s QUITE eye-opening ;)

http://www.thebestdayever.com/burger.htm

On June the 5th I had:

2 litres water
box of cherries
500ml green juice with pineapple
flax crackers, avo/lime/salt/spinach/nori
chocolate truffles
1 litre water
shot of E3 Live
dried figs with green powder
1.5 litres water

Here is the message I just sent to Secretary Johanns about the raw almonds – feel free to cut and paste into an email of your own… :)

Dear Secretary Johanns,
I am really sad to hear that the rule recently passed about the mandatory pasteurisation of almonds is due to go into effect on September the 1st this year. As a raw foodist, raw almonds are one of my chief sources of protein, calcium, B vitamins and healthy fats, besides being the only nut to have an overall alkalising effect on the body, which helps people to heal from illnesses. Raw almonds help nourish the bones and teeth in particular. Raw almonds have been especially useful to me over the last 5 years as a raw foodist – they are calming on the nervous system, packed with vital life-force energy and easy to use in many ways, from eating whole as snacks to making replacement milks/cheeses etc for people who are intolerant to dairy products.
When raw nuts are heated/pasteurised, they lose their vital life-force, the fats change composition and they no longer deliver the same nutritional benefits to the body (instead, becoming detrimental in fact, especially to the liver and gall bladder). Raw, living foods in their most natural whole state are extremely healing and have been documented as helping people reverse any number of health complaints, from obesity to cancers to infertility. It concerns me that if this new rule DOES go through in respect to the almonds, it will set a precedent for such laws in regard to other produce too and access to these healing raw foods will become limited.
I urge you to do whatever you can in your power to turn this rule around NOW, to ensure the continued availability of truly raw almonds (and other produce) for ourselves and those generations to come.
Yours sincerely,
Angela Stokes

Please take a few moments now to compose an email to Secretary Johanns – even if it means just copying and pasting the above (with your own name ;) – every message will count at this point to get the message across that we don’t want to lose access to raw almonds… :)
All blessings,
Angela. xxx

Sweet Treats...

Thanks for all your emails that have been coming in for the May RawReform newsletter giveaway…to be in with a chance of winning a WHOLE BOX of raw Lara Bars, all you have to do is email in your answer to the following question:

What has been your strangest detox symptom/experience with a raw food lifestyle?

Send in YOUR answer to angela@rawreform.com - be quick though – the next newsletter is about to come out this week for June, so the winner will be drawn in the next day or so…best wishes ;)

On June the 2nd I had:

1.5 litres water
500ml green juice with carrot
box of strawberries
400ml green juice with apple
mix of soaked/sprouted/dehydrated almonds and seeds with baby spinach leaves, dulse and nori sheets
1 litre water
one big egg fruit
200ml melon juice
bee pollen and hemp seed mixed together
1 litre water

I had an encounter with an extraordinary fruit this day. I was gifted three beautiful canistel or ‘egg fruits’ as they are commonly known, from Florida (see picture above...LOOK at that beautiful heart shape :). I’d never seen or tried one before and was intrigued to hear that they ‘taste like eggs…only sweet, sugary…’ Hmmmmm…ok…well, it was smooth and orangey-yellow, with a sheen on the outside, soft to the touch, like a ripe papaya and as I split it open, it fell into luscious pieces of soft yellow flesh. I took my first bite…and it was definitely a case of love at first bite…WOW…it’s like no fruit I’ve ever tasted…it truly and simply is like eating cooked egg yolks – the EXACT same colour and texture, but such a sweet, soft, delicate flavour – it feels very feminine in its energy to me – absolutely gorgeous…soft, sweet, luxurious…it kind of melts in the mouth, with hints of caramel…and it is HEAVY – like the same kind of fat feeling as eating an avocado or durian…yet not oily at all, just dense…wow…I can foresee a fruit-munching trip to Florida unfold at some point…

On Sunday June the 3rd I had:

500ml water
500ml watermelon juice
500ml green juice with carrot
box of strawberries
1 small egg fruit
hemp seed mixed with fresh bee pollen, with dulse/nori
1 litre water
handful of cherries
750ml green juice with apple
small plate of raw potluck foods
1 litre water

A sweet little question came in by email this weekend about my food intake:

“I love reading your blog! Could you tell me the "recipe" for your avo/lime/nori meal? Do you just mix it up? roll it up? I notice you eat this every day!” N

:) Thanks for the Q…yes, I have definitely been eating that simple meal a lot these last couple of weeks on the road…the way I do it is to just cut the avocado in half, scoop out some of the flesh onto a nori sheet, squeeze a little lime juice onto it, sprinkle on a little Himalayan sea salt (and cumin if I have some – mmmmm ;), add in some young leafy greens if I have some, like baby spinach leaves and then wrap it up and munch…that’s it, no prep, no machines, no plate even, just a knife and a spoon ideally, to deal with the avo…this is so simple and yummy and satisfying for me…also, an even simpler variation is to just cut open the avo, squeeze on the lime and sprinkle on the salt – eat straight from the avo skin, with a spoon – this is SO delicious as a snack – a must-try…

One love,
Angela. xxx

Pushing the limits...

I’m excited to say that the Juice Feast Teleconference Call series finished this week and the playbacks are all now available to access HERE on the RawReform website. We covered four topics in the weekly one-hour talks – Juice Feasting Practicalities, Hopes and Fears, Social Issues and Ending a Juice Feast. Thanks to all who participated and for those who want to listen in now to the playbacks…enjoy ;)

On May the 31st I had:

1.5 litres water
1 litre green juice with apple
avo/romaine/salt/lime/nori
macadamias with honey, maca and cayenne pepper
1 litre water
400ml green juice with apple
blend of coconut meat, Nutiva hemp shake, honey and water
with a sliced apple
500ml water
500ml peppermint tea
1 apple with fresh young greens
few macadamias
700ml water

I’d love to share a couple of recent anecdotes from life on the road as a raw foodist, witnessing some subculture cross-overs… Last week I experienced my first ever visit to a ‘drive-thru pharmacy’…yes…apparently such things now exist ;)…and my friend had something to pick up at one…I sat, smiling in amazement in the passenger seat and peeling a juicy mango I was about to bite into…just then, the pharmacist arrived at the service window, stared into the car at my mango and exclaimed ‘what’s THAT…?’ Just as I’d never seen a drive-thru pharmacy before, this woman had never seen…a mango… :) it amused me to see what different realities we can share…
Another interaction I witnessed this week that surprised me was between a mother and her 21-month-old son…we were waiting late at night for a Greyhound bus…the little boy curiously picked up a cigarette butt from the floor, to which his mother cried out ‘put that down, Kyle, you’re too young to smoke’…and there seemed to genuinely be no irony intended…wow…that nearly floored me…the fact that ANYONE smokes anymore still amazes me and the idea that a toddler is simply ‘not old enough yet’ to smoke was incredible to me… ;O
Travelling around the US on the Greyhound buses has indeed been quite some experience these last weeks and my conclusion is that I will defer from choosing this mode of transport again in the future… ;) I choose not to use words such as ‘never’ too frequently, but I do believe that in the context of whether I would choose to travel with Greyhound again, I would make an exception… ;)

June the 1st I had:

1.5 litres water
500ml green juice
avo/salt/romaine/nori/spring greens
banana mashed with maca
1 litre water
500ml green juice with carrot
strawberries with chocolate/coconut butter sauce
plate of raw potluck munchies like flax crackers with olive tapenade
1.5 litre water

I saw Cirque de Soleil’s Delirium last night in Nashville, TN. WOW. It was utterly, utterly spectacular. I would totally recommend seeing it if you have the chance…it is so incredibly stimulating and visually stunning (see little pic above). The dresses in particular were awe-inspiring…it was like a visual and aural FEAST…I LOVE to see what it is possible to do with these human bodies if we work them – dancers, trapeze artists, hula-hoopists, acrobats – the displays were outstanding and totally inspired me…I remembered a long-standing desire I had to be able in this lifetime, in this body, to do a back-flip…I do believe I possibly had the intention to be able to do that before I was 30 years old too…hmmmmm…well, I’ll be 29 this summer, so let’s see if by next summer I am ready for that ;) I promise I’ll make a YouTube video to share if I am able… ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx