Welcome To The World, Sally Joy :)

:))))

Our new baby horse was born Friday night :)))

Welcome to the world, Sally Joy :)))

She came in with the recent full moon on the stargate, 11-11-11 :)

She is like a *tiny* little sacred white replica of her dad, our

palomino Sparkie - she has the same white markings on her face and

ankles...

Mumma Barbie and baby both seem to be doing really well...and her

older brother Cherry Star is being very gentle with her so far... :)

Sally Joy is feeding a lot already, she is very alert and seems like

quite a brave little one - as you can see in this picture, she

already went to meet Mr. M up close on her *first* day here - Cherry

didn't make contact for about 10 days after he was born...perhaps

because mumma Barbie's pregnancy was very relaxed this time, this little one

has very few fears... :))) We hope so :)))

You can see a photo album of pictures of Sally Joy's first day here Earthside, over on Facebook, HERE - enjoy :)

The dogs are very curious and also learning to leave her

alone...Barbie is very protective...she is also still nursing Cherry

at the same time...

The picture of the stones on Facebook is where Sally Joy was born and we buried

her placenta... I laid a ring of eight stones around one

central white stone to represent her horsey tribe around her,

protecting her - she is horse number nine now living with us here ;)

We love her :))))))

on November the 9th I delighted with:

1 quart water
2.5 cups coconut water blended with Vitamin C powder
3 tbsp spirulina crunchies
1.5 cups coconut water
little bowl of cucumber salad with avo/sauerkraut, plus flax crackers, nori, tahini, SeaClear, lecithin on the side, followed by a little apple
mug of herbal tea
chunk of Mr. M’s Pili Nut Chocolate, 2 cups coconut water
mug of herbal tea


on November the 10th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
1 cup coconut water blended with Vitamin C powder
2 cups greeeeeeeen juice from the garden
little bowl of cucumber salad with avo/sauerkraut, plus flax crackers, nori, tahini, SeaClear, lecithin on the side, followed by a little apple
mug of herbal tea
chunk of Mr. M’s Pili Nut Chocolate, 2 cups coconut water
mug of herbal tea
1 cup water

The Freeze-Dried Durian is baaaaaaaaaaaack :)))

Any of you durian lovers out there who have ever tried our amazing Freeze-Dried Durian product will surely be jumping for joy right now – it’s BACK :)

These little chunks of freeze-dried deliciousness are made freshly from each durian season in Thailand and we JUST received the new batch – YAY :))) Mr. M and I are super-excited to get our hands on some again – it’s soooooooooOOOOoooOoOOoooooo GOOD – like durian “popcorn” or smthg – lol ;) You can also rehydrate it in any liquid, use it in smoothies, ice cream mixes, cereals and so on – endless possibilities :)
If you’ve never tried durian, this might be a fun new culinary adventure for you – proceed with caution though – people tend to looOoOOOOoooove durian or find it repulsive – lol ;)
You can get your mitts on some of the fabulous Freeze-Dried yumminess HERE – enjoy :)


on November the 11th I rejoiced with:

1 quart water
1 cup coconut water blended with Vitamin C powder
2 cups greeeeeeeen juice from the garden
bowl of Berry Good cereal with diced apples, maca and coconut water
2 cups coconut water
little bowl of cucumber salad with avo/sauerkraut, plus flax crackers, nori, tahini, SeaClear, lecithin on the side, followed by a little apple
mug of herbal tea
2 cups water


on November the 12th I loved:

1 quart water
1.5 cups watermelon/orange juice
2 cups coconut water blended with Greener Grasses
35 chlorella/kelp tabs
Yummmmmmmmers raw lunch at a friends’ place: salads, dressings, amazing stuffed tomatoes, followed by subliiiiiime carob pudding with freshly picked berries – GORGEOUSNESS :)
Water of a young coconut
Handful of coconut BBQ chips
2 cups water

OoOOOoooooo, we have a *beautiful* RawReform Giveaway Gift to share with one blessed winner this month: one of our GORGEOUS 8” Bamboo Salad Bowls :)

We looooooooooooooooove our sustainably-produced bamboo-ware selection and have a mass of these bowls, plates, cutlery, utensils and more here at our home in Ecuador – everyone always asks us where we got them from, as they are very aesthetically pleasing ;)

Well, this month we’re offering one of the beautiful 8” Salad Bowls to one fortunate winner…so, to be in with a chance of winning this gorgeous bowl, just send us in your A to the following Q:

“What is your favourite salad recipe that you’d love to fill up this bowl with…?”

 

Send your answers to rawreformcontests@gmail.com by December the 17^th and a winner shall be picked at random and with much jubilation shortly thereafter... :)

In the meantime, if you'd love to order some gorgeous bamboo-ware for your own delight, you can check out our whole bamboo collecti0n HERE - enjoy :)


All love and resonations of JOY :)

A. C. Stokes-Monarch. xxx

A Breath of Fresh Air...

So, we’re back in Australia now and really appreciating the clean air ;) It’s lovely to breathe so freely and we’re once again detoxing like crazy, releasing lots of accumulated nonsense from the last few weeks, waking up daily with mucus streaming (sorry if that's TMI for anyone ;). I actually completely lost my voice in Thailand, as the pollution was so intense that I had a hacking cough a lot of the time – it was very odd to experience – can’t remember the last time I lost my voice and it seems that I associate things like that with having tonsillitis etc when younger and feeling horrendous...well, nothing like that now – I felt mostly fine – the hacking cough just wrenched my voice away. Usually I sing often in the space of any day and it’s been odd to not be able to do that recently, or to have some odd squeaky noises pop out if I do try to sing ;). My voice still isn’t 100% back yet – it’s getting there though... Here in Australia all is sunny autumnal days of blue skies and rustling leaves in amazing shades of red, orange, brown, pink and yellow...very chilly compared to Thailand – I’d rather have fresh air right now though than heat... ;)

on May the 17th I had:

1 quart water
2 cherimoyas
3 cups spinach/Jerusalem artichokes/celery/parsley/carrot juice
2 cups water
romaine wraps – avocado, tomato, cilantro, karengo seaweed, with yummy macadamia/flax crackers on the side
3 cups water
2 cups spinach/Jerusalem artichokes/celery/parsley/carrot juice
3 ladyfinger bananas and 1lb cherries
1 quart water

For those of you in the UK or thereabouts, be sure to shimmy along to New Horizons at Inspiral in London this Tuesday (the 20th) to hear Philip McCluskey of LovingRaw.com share about his colossal weight loss experiences with raw foods and his recent 100 day Juice Feast. WOW :) Sounds amazing – his presentation is titled ‘Half the Man’, as Philip has lost nearly 200lbs since going raw 2 years ago, from his top weight of 400lbs :O – a phenomenal journey. If you can’t make it along to his event, you might enjoy to watch some of his yummy videos HERE or check out his blog HERE...
ENJOY :)

on May the 18th I had:

1 quart water
3 cups celery/spinach/parsley/carrot juice
2lbs cherries
2 cups water
pumpkin seeds, wakame seaweed fronds, romaine lettuce leaves, cilantro, followed be a few dried apple ring pieces
2 cups water
2 cups celery/spinach/parsley/carrot juice
bowl of blended yum: dried figs, almonds, spirulina
1 quart water

Here's some info on new products from my latest newsletter, in case you missed it ;)
We’ve been adding ALL kinds of wonderful new products to the RawReform Store lately, from Spirooli Slicers, Greek flax crackers and Colosan colon cleanser to the 9th book in the Anastasia Series, Barberries, new E3 Live flavours and all kinds of books and yum in-between. You can see ALL our new products HERE. http://store.rawreform.com//products_new.php?

Here are MY top five favourite new items:

Onion Bread - Finally, the raw foodist's ultimate solution to bread cravings. This is definitely the best raw onion bread we've tried - soft, chewy, with a deliciously more-ish flavour, similar to fried onions. Great with any kind of topping/spread or served as a sandwich, with a tasty raw burger. Beat those bread/pasta cravings once and for all ;) Enjoy :)

Goji Powder – WOW :) This goji powder is SO vibrant, easy to add into smoothies, sprinkle over grawnolas for an extra hit of nutrients or mix up with other powders to make bliss balls and raw cakes. Gojis are fabulous for supporting the thyroid, kidneys and the immune system. They are a GREAT source of vitamins A & C, B vits, protein and iron.

Bliss Conscious Communication by Happy Oasis - Fabulous guidance for free-flowing, fun conversations. I recommend this book in ‘Raw Emotions’. It helps people to become more conscious about how they communicate and cease using a limited vocabulary. It can help you to understand exactly how your thoughts and the words you say have a real impact on the world. Yummy :)

Ulimana Chocolate Brownies and Spreads – Ok, WATCH OUT for these products. They are off-the-scale gorgeous raw chocolate creations from those lovely Ulimana people in North Carolina who make the sensational truffles. Now they’re making brownies and spreads too and you can even buy tubs packed solid with the mixture they use to make the truffles (my favourite). These products are truly incredible edibles...enjoy :)

Yacon Powder – This is my current favourite of all the different low-glycemic raw sweeteners out there. I tried this for the first time recently and LOVE it – it’s sweet and tasty without being OVERsweet. Yacon is a root vegetable from S. America that is said to be NO glycemic (as the sugars cannot be absorbed by the body), as well as acting as a probiotic – WOW, pretty impressive for a sweetener ;)

To see ALL our new products, click HERE: http://store.rawreform.com/products_new.php?

All love,
Angelaalalalaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx

Time to Leave Thailand...

We’re back in Australia now. It was fun to go and play for a while in Thailand...we also found some aspects of being there a little challenging though – primarily the pollution factor...from car fumes to pesticides to litter, it felt a bit full-on for us... Here are some of my recent observations about life in Thailand:

1. In general, Thai people seem to me to be happy, relaxed, smiley, kind, generous and content. Indeed, enjoyment seems very embedded in the national psyche. One of the guiding principles of Thai culture is ‘sanook’ or ‘fun’ – if smthg is not ‘sanook’, there’s not really any point doing it ;) LOL – love it ;) People ensure to enjoy themselves together wherever they are – even at ‘work’ ;) – this is a nation who seems at some level to really get the idea of enjoying our time here...they could be thought of as a very heart-centred people in this regard...

2. ‘Tis a country where the bathrooms are generally very...wet ;) LOL...they seem to take the term ‘water closet’ literally and the whole bathrooms are usually like ‘wet rooms’, tiled throughout and quite often with no shower curtain or anything to separate off a bathing area – everything just kind of merges into one big sloshy fun room ;) I like it. Having grown up in England, where even the bathrooms obscurely tend to be carpeted, this is a refreshing alternative to me. ‘Tis also a country where I tend to shower a lot – at least once a day and sometimes up to 3 times a day. It’s very hot and humid and while I love sweating, I don’t like feeling sweaty for extended periods – I think that’s a throw-back from my obese days, when being hot and sweaty felt very uncomfortable to me...

on May the 14th I had:

1 quart water
2 cups INTENSE veggie juice (cabbage, celery, cucumber, cilantro, carrot)
water of 3 young coconuts with another quart of intense veggie juice
big bag of rambutan
3 dragon fruit
1 quart water
½ a fresh pineapple
½ a fresh durian
1 quart water


3. People tend to travel by motorbikes/scooters. They seem VERY skilled at riding them and very few people seem to wear helmets. It’s not uncommon to see people riding along on a motorbike while sending a text message (SMS) on their phone, carrying cardboard boxes, holding their babies and so on ;) Very young children routinely travel on the bikes and many speed past with 2 or 3 tots on board... It’s pretty remarkable to observe, for us. They seem to start learning to ride them very young too – a few days ago we saw an absolutely classic sight. A Thai girl who looked literally about 9 years old rode past us on a big black motorbike, pulled up at the side of the playground, then excitedly ran with her arms flailing towards the playground toys, where she sat and played. LOL...nobody batted an eyelid, while we mused on the fact that if a similar scene were played out in the US/UK, the parents would most likely end up arrested or smthg ;)

4. While we’re on the subject of children, I’d love to mention the distinct lack of strollers/pushchairs/prams in Thailand. I literally didn’t see a single one there, or any of the assorted baby-related paraphernalia that tend to go with them (except the packaged milk powders ;). Thai people carry their babies and when they’re old enough, they walk. I appreciate this simplicity. It also seems like it would be very challenging to even try to use a stroller/push-chair there if you wanted to – the kerbs are often VERY high off the road – up to a foot or more off the road – not very conducive to pushing baby strollers around... (BTW, there is a WONDERFUL book on the benefits of carrying babies, called ‘The Continuum Concept’.)

on May the 15th I had:

1 quart water
plate of fresh fruit: papaya, pineapple, rambutan, mangosteen, banana
water of 2 young coconuts with wheatgrass powder
amazing raw food restaurant feast at Rasayana in Bangkok – platter of taco cups, raw lasagne, raw pizza, pesto pasta, followed by banana ice cream with amazing macadamia/carob wafers
1 quart water
water of 2 young coconuts and 8oz carrot juice
2 divine mangoes
1 quart water


on May the 16th I had:

2 quarts water
1 cherimoya, 1 persimmon
2 cups water
romaine wraps stuffed with avocado, alfalfa sprouts & karengo seaweed, with some gorgeous macadamia/flax crackers on the side
1 quart water
3 little persimmons
1 pint water

5. One thing I find very challenging about life in Thailand is the pollution. It is shocking to me. As I mentioned before, the Thai culture seems mid-way somehow between ‘tradition’/old ways and haphazardly embracing aspects of a more ‘western’ lifestyle, with an apparent emphasis on...plastic and pesticides (see below for more on pesticides). Litter is abundant in most places, streams and rivers bubble with untold chemical concoctions and the streets are hazy with petrol fumes (so much so that we actually bought face masks to walk around in and Mr Monarch is of the opinion that the last 3 weeks in Thailand have aged him a couple of years ;O ). In many ways, this country is like a potential paradise (beaches, warmth, exotic fruit, coconuts, elephants, friendly people, inexpensive, etc), then not far underneath that surface, there is a much murkier reality. It’s like they’ve taken on different aspects from the ‘west’, yet managing those things doesn’t quite seem to flow well...or maybe they’re just not as adept at hiding it as other countries ;) People in western countries often speak of ‘throwing things away’, raising the question of ‘where is ‘away’?’, while in Thailand one almost gets the impression they don’t even bother to make landfills/other solutions to manage all the rubbish that’s generated from the packaged foods – people just drop it where they are – ‘away’ is...well, right here actually...imagine how abundant the soil everywhere would be if all those dropped items were fresh food scraps instead ;)

6. On the subject of fresh foods, pesticides and other poisons are a major issue in the Thai food chain. Some of you have been writing in asking why we’ve not been eating any veggies lately. Well, that’s why...it’s VERY challenging to find anything organic, so anything we’ve been eating tends to be smthg with a thick skin, so that we’re at least hopefully limiting our exposure to toxins. We were very blessed to have access to amazing organic veggies at the health spa where we stayed on Koh Chang – hence we were drinking veggie juices daily and eating veg-meals there. However, most of the time it seems wiser to focus on thick-skinned fruits and coconuts, though having said that, we hear that many people inject durians in Thailand with all kinds of toxins, as well as picking them before they’re ripe and dunking them in Sodium Dioxide to get them to ripen quicker – eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek... Fortunately a friend who used to live in Thailand advised us to ask vendors in Thai for ‘durian ban’ – smthg like ‘wild durian’. These are smaller, rounder fruits that usually haven’t been meddled with as much. We hear that organic farming is starting to be more common in the north of Thailand now, in the Chiang Mai area, which is encouraging... ;)

I’m definitely gonna miss the coconuts – love, love, LOVE having fresh coconuts every day, they feel soooooooo good to me...and all the fruit was fun...and the elephants... ;) We’ll have another video ready sometime soon hopefully concluding our adventures there...for now, bye-bye Thailand and thank you :)

One love,
Angela. xxx

Pressure

We’ve left the little raw food oasis at The Spa on Koh Chang now and we’re back on the Thai mainland, at a beach-side resort where the beach is about 10 strides from our room. Yummy :) We’ve had some wonderful adventures in the last few days. A couple of days back, we had Thai massage for the first time since we got here. WOW. It was INTENSE. I was absolutely amazed at the power hidden in these teeny-tiny, petite little Thai women ;) LOL...in terms of intensity, I think this actually rivalled a massage I had once from Igor Boutenko (Dad in the Boutenko family) – and anyone who has ever had a massage from this huge Russian powerhouse knows how hardcore his technique is... Well, I asked the Thai massagist for ‘medium’ pressure and I was literally squealing at times...I can only imagine what Mr Monarch was experiencing beside me, as he asked for ‘strong pressure’...eeeeeeeeeeeek ;O They use this VERY potent herbal balm on the back, which acts like ‘deep heat’, penetrating deep into the tissues. Aside from that, they also seem remarkably adept at pinpointing the exact points of most tension if a body and NAILING those areas with vice-like pressure...eeeeeeeek ;) I think I’ll ask for ‘soft pressure’ next time... ;)

on May the 8th I had:

1 quart water
shot of wheatgrass and water of a young coconut
bowl of mango/banana raw ice cream, ‘raw chocolate pie’ and a raw spirulina energy ball
2 cups water
½ a deliciously ripe pineapple
shot of gotukola juice and a glass of carrot/celery juice
2 cups water
bowl of papaya/coconut meat/spirulina smoothie with some seaweed on the side (sounds odd, tasted GREAT ;)
3 cups water

on May the 9th I had:

1 quart water
shot of wheatgrass juice and water of 2 young coconuts
3 cups water
cup of warm water with lime juice and honey
big bowl of banana/mango ice cream with honey/cinnamon sauce and bee pollen
2 cups water
1 tbsp wheatgrass powder
½ an incredible pineapple,1lb rambutan
a few pods of yummy durian, a few mangosteen
1 quart water

We were also delighted to go on a beautiful elephant trek in the jungle. REALLY yummy experience. It seems there’s not many places for elephants to live anymore here – humans have taken everything over. Many elephants now live in sanctuaries instead. We visited one of these sanctuaries on Koh Chang (which actually means ‘Elephant Island ;) We got to swim in a river with the elephants & scrub them down, then we climbed up ontop of them and trekked through the jungle. Naturally we were on the elephant who stopped to eat durian on the way – it was absolutely classic. I love their big huge round padded feet, which they use to just squish the durian open, then pull the pieces out to enjoy – nice style :) We also got to hand-feed them masses of bananas afterwards too. They seem so gentle to me. They also apparently have the biggest brains of all land animals – very intelligent and responsive. One of my favourite stories that I heard in recent years was that after the Tsunami here in the India/Thailand area in 2004,
in some areas, the elephants who had fled to higher ground before the tsunami struck then came back down and carried human children up to higher ground. WOW. I don’t know if that happened in this reality or not – I’d like to think it did though...and if it did, then what an incredible act of compassion, after all that humans seem to have done to take over elephant areas...

on May the 10th I had:
1 quart water
water of 2 big young coconuts with wheatgrass powder
1.5 lbs rambutan
3 cups water
an entire AMAZING little jack fruit – absolutely incredible, one of the best meals I’ve ever had – perfectly ripe, sweet like candy and DIVINE
3 cups water
water of 2 big young coconuts with wheatgrass powder
bowl of blended yum: bananas, pineapple, coconut meat, spirulina
3 cups water

on May the 11th I had:

1 quart water
water of 2 large young coconuts with wheatgrass powder
a few rambutan and half a fresh pineapple
3 cups water
another entire little amazing jack fruit
2 cups water
bowl of blended yum: bananas, coconut meat, spirulina, with a few gojis swirled in
1 quart water

While we’re on the topic of large ‘natural disasters’, I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your notice that Burma is in a state of crisis right now after the cyclone that hit last weekend. Some of you have written in asking if we were affected by the cyclone. Physically, no – we were far away from Burma when the cyclone hit – on the east side of Thailand. We do however feel concern and compassion for the current situation there. As I write this, I believe the amount of aid being permitted into the country is still very small. However, one organisation I’ve received information from this week – Avaaz - is collecting and sending money directly to the monks IN Burma, who are providing people directly with shelter and help. Avaaz has received over $1million in aid this last week from worldwide donations. You can see their site HERE if you’d like to contribute. I presume there are also many other organisations collecting and channeling aid money in a similar way to this too – Avaaz is just one that I’m aware of, if you’d like to send some financial support for our brethren in Burma...

One love,
Angela. xxx

Raw Home Study Course Out Now...

Today is the day that the Ann Wigmore Home Study Course I mentioned last week goes on sale, at 12pm EST. Apparently there are fewer than 500 copies of the programme for sale and I think I heard that the last time they did a print run like this, they sold out in 48 hours...Oooo la la ;) SO, if you’re interested in getting into details with Wiggie’s ways, you might wanna click over HERE and get your hands on a course while they’re available again...
Or if you missed my blog post last week abt this new course, you can read all about it HERE.

ENJOY :)
One love,
Angela. xxx

(P.S. We went on an AMAZING elephant trek in the jungle today – more details and hopefully a video aswell to share soon... :)

With Gratitude...

We’re on Koh Chang now, a little Thai island near Cambodia. After arriving and spending our first night in a slightly bizarre place here, where the windows didn’t open, the air conditioner blasted smoke and I woke up with a cat next to me in bed...we moved on today ;) The universe graciously led us instead to a simply GORGEOUS raw food/health spa resort...WOW...green juices, a whole raw food menu, colema boards in the bathrooms, salt water swimming pool, massage & steam room onsite, meditation/yoga classes, free bikes to borrow, videos such as ‘What The Bleep’ and ‘The Secret’ showing daily – this place is a modern raw foodist’s dream ;) YUM. The eatery here was actually featured as one of the ‘Top 50 Restaurants in the World’, in the international magazine Restaurant. Yeeeee-HAH :)
I’ve been reflecting a lot the last few days on how Thailand often appears to me like a country caught between ‘tradition’ and a more ‘Western’ culture that seems to permeate in many-fold manifestations... It is a land RICH in interesting raw foods, for example – durian, mangosteen, rambutan, coconuts, various greens and so on, yet there are shops everywhere RAMMED with ‘plastic’ packet foods, candies, cakes and so on. I ventured into one supermarket to discover an ENTIRE AISLE of boxed baby milk/formulas… :O Literally DOZENS of different pasteurised, packeted, homogenized, filler-packed brands of expensive, mucus-forming cow’s products to clog your kids up with. Shocking. Familiar big-name company logos abound and there seems to be a national fascination with plastic bags. Pretty much anything you purchase will be handed to you in a plastic bag, even if it’s already IN a plastic bag to begin with... ??? ;) People even drink their SODAS from plastic bags...lol...vendors like to keep hold of the glass soda bottles, to send them for re-filling (hmmmm...nice, kind-of ;), so they pour out the customer’s sugary acid-forming concoction into a little plastic bag, throw in some ice and a straw and off they go...quite remarkable... At the same time, you’ll see roadside stalls and markets STACKED with fruit, everywhere you go. One thing I personally find a little challenging to integrate is that in the fresh street markets, there rarely seem to be specific areas set up for different kinds of food products, e.g. a veggie stand area, a meat/fish area etc – everything is just intermingled all over the place, so in-between the luscious jack fruits and mangosteen, one readily comes face-to-face with live frogs, eels, crabs and so on, along with various entrails and untold macabre scenes (to me), from which I avert my eyes and nose...just really not my kind of thang ;) Hence I’m feeling very grateful and blissed to have landed up today in a place that serves yummy, organic raw vegan foods and juices and seems to be more eco-focused than other places we’ve stayed so far...yummm... :)

on April the 30th I had:

1 quart water
water of 2 young coconuts
big bag of rambutan with a few pieces of papaya, jack fruit and a lady-finger banana – YUMMMMMMM :)
2 cups water
water of 2 young coconuts with wheatgrass powder
6 durian pods, 2 mangosteens and 1 rambutan
2 cups water
little bowl of 2 mushed lady-finger bananas with spirulina and a small handful of pine nuts/goji berries mixed in = yummm :)
1 quart water

on May the 1st I had:

1 quart water
water of 2 young coconuts with wheatgrass powder
a handful of rambutan, 4 mangosteen a lady-finger banana
2 cups water
smoothie of coconut meat, lady-finger bananas and spirulina
2 cups watersmoothie of coconut water/meat, leftover dried mulberries, karengo seaweed and spirulina – YUMM :)
1.5 quarts water

Some of you wrote to say that you had difficulties with the links for the ChiDiet site that I posted a couple of days ago – I’m sorry to hear that. If you would still like to enter the giveaway contest to win one of the two free ‘Raw Food Home Study’ kits, you can click HERE.
Better get over there quick though, methinks, as I suspect they’ll be choosing the winners soon...

on May the 2nd I had:

1 quart water
water of 3 young coconuts with green powder
bowl of smoothie: banana/coconut meat/spirulina, with karengo seaweed on the side ;)
1.5 quarts water
½ a small durian, 6 mangosteens, a lady-finger banana and a dragon fruit
1.5 quarts water


on May the 3rd I had:
1 quart water
water of one BIG young coconut with spirulina
big bag of rambutan
glass of greeeeeeeeeen juice
shared meal of raw dishes – lasagne, veggie terrine, nori rolls, followed by banana ice cream with cinnamon/honey sauce = YUM
1 quart water
INTENSE shot of gotacalla juice (said to be GREAT for aiding memory/brain-function)
Yum bowl of blended bananas/coconut meat with spirulina and a little karengo seaweed
1.5 quarts water

BTW, for anyone who has never seen the Monarch and myself speak in public and is maybe wondering what our events are like, here are a couple of sweet little recent reviews from 2 yumsters who attended our Melbourne event:

Here’s a snippet from Helena’s post:

"When I first heard that Matt and Angela were coming to Melbourne I did what most people do and googled them. After watching Matt’s vids on YouTube, and reading about Angela on her blog. I was doubtful about spending an entire afternoon listening to a young guy from California, sporting dreadlocks and a tanned body, talk about his great adventures eating raw. Angela; well, her story sounded good, but I didn’t have a weight problem and have always been wary of D*** word..."

You can find out what she thought of our talks and read her whole in-depth piece HERE:

It was lovely to meet Joanne from RawMom.com too at this event – here is a snippet from her write-up:

“The afternoon was utterly inspiring. Matt was down-to-earth, intelligent and intense, telling us of his experience and that of others, but also going into the science behind eating raw. He didn’t hold back from frank discussion about – ahem – colonics and gas, and other not-oft-mentioned unmentionables! Angela glowed (as evidenced in the photo of her and I), and gave a personal account of the physical and emotional changes she underwent on her raw journey, during which she lost 160lbs/72kg and gained a whole lotta health and happiness. Gosh, they’re really a lovely couple, and I just love that they want to make the world a better place.”

Awwwwww ;) You can read all of Joanne’s musings HERE:

THANKS to you both for sharing your reflections, lovely ladies ;) ...and hopefully one day we will connect with YOU too, dear reader, at another venue in space and time, if thou dost desireth it...

One love,
Angelalalalalaaaaaaaa. xxx

Thailand Video and Raw Food Study Course ;)

We’re in Chanthaburi now – the durian-growing capital of Thailand and hence, most likely, the world ;) The smell of durian is just in the air here in many places and as it is harvest time right now, there are enormous stacks of the fruit EVERYWHERE. It is absolutely incredible to see, for us. On the bus on the way here from Bangkok, we saw literal truckloads of durian passing us on the roads, while all along the roadsides, markets are stacked high with the ‘king of fruits’ and open warehouses reveal enormous containers of the spiky spectacle...it’s phenomenal...
We went out for a wander today to the local markets in the area we’re staying in. The market vendors were amused to see our enthusiasm for their fruits, especially the durian ;) (See the video below for evidence ;) There were so many amazing fruits available, including sapodillas (another one of the Monarch’s favourites), rambutan, mangoes, jack fruit and something I’ve never seen anywhere before which tasted like a cross between a white sapote and a grapefruit – bizarre ;) Things seem SO inexpensive here – like less than $1 US for a whole fresh durian, opened on the spot by the vendor. WOW... You can check out our adventures on video HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXC4m3zr7ws

on April the 28th I had:

2 quarts water
1 coconut water with wheatgrass powder stirred in
a ‘gourmet’ raw feast at Rasayana raw restaurant in Bangkok – WOW :) We tried various things: green veggie juices followed by spicy coconut soup, vegetable sushi, coconut noodle pasta, live pizza, raw papaya salad, banana/carob pie and carrot cake.
1 quart water
little handful of gojis
1 fresh durian
2 cups water

Yesterday we visited the Rasayana raw food restaurant in Bangkok. It is a beautiful little tranquil oasis of living cuisine amidst the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. Rasayana is attached to a healing centre that offers colonics, massage, saunas, yoga and other therapies. It was SO nice to be able to access organic, fresh, loved-up raw food and green juices. The menu was wonderful – a yummy blend of more traditional Thai flavours with common gourmet raw items such as spiralised pasta, pizza and so on. The food was absolutely delicious, gorgeously presented by very attentive staff and above all, very easy to digest, which is always a huge bonus ;) There was very little fat involved in the dishes we chose – most of the dishes contained lots of veggies covered with OUTSTANDING dressings and sauces – that is a great ‘secret’ of raw food prep – get a FABULOUS dressing to work with and you can persuade people to eat all kinds of veggies ;) LOL...we loved it. I also loved the experience of being in a restaurant with a WHOLE menu to choose from again. It’s a long time since I was in a raw restaurant and having a whole menu to choose from feels, to me, almost like being a ‘mainstream’ eater again, with many choices available, instead of trying to piece together a limp salad from a menu in a place that has minimal interest in raw ;) I would DEFINITELY recommend checking out Rasayana if you find yourself in Bangkok.


On April the 29th I had a fruity day of:

1 quart water
1 lady finger banana
2 coconut waters with wheatgrass powder
a handful of rambutan, a few jack fruit pods, ½ a sapodilla, 1 bizarre sapote/grapefuit-like fruit, a couple of durian pods
1 coconut water with wheatgrass powder
4 rambutan, 4 jack fruit pods, half a gorgeous little pineapple and 1 lady-finger banana
3 cups water
2 lady-finger bananas, a couple of durian pods, the meat of a young coconut, plus a handful of goji berries with pine nuts
1 quart water

My GOODNESS, there’s quite a tempest of yum brewing over on ChiDiet.com – have you seen? They are almost ready to re-release the ‘Raw Food Home Study Course’, based on Ann Wigmore’s teachings. It’s officially going on sale on Thursday, May the 8th. This is the completely updated, comprehensive version of this home-study course that has already helped people all over the world GO and STAY successfully raw, with an emphasis on greeeeeeens, cleansing, growing, exercise and other ‘Wiggie ways’ ;)
We were fortunate to see a preview copy of the course and it is RAMMED with information. Wow. Containing a complete 300-page 13-step study manual, 10 DVDs, a huge recipe book, audio interviews with transcripts, books from Ann Wigmore herself, a ‘free’ consultation and much more, this course is a BOUNTY of wisdom from one of our Raw Food elders, condensed, organised and handed to you in a package for easy digestion ;)
As a special launch prize, ChiDiet are GIVING AWAY 2 free sets of the course, along with a free 1-hour consultation with the man behind the course – Jim Carey. You can click HERE to find out more about that. Jim is also going to be doing a live call with Victoria Boutenko this Thursday, which anyone can join, where they’ll be discussing what a yumster Ann was, along with giving away ANOTHER free copy of the course – WOW – that’s 3 free copies you could win this week ;)
We often get emails from people asking WHERE they can go and study something about raw foods. Well, there aren’t yet a vast number of places to do that – and this course can be an ideal solution ;) Just learn in your own home, at your own pace. Maybe even buy a set among friends and enjoy it together – that tends to help with the motivation ;) You can find out much more about what will be in the course, as well as get a FREE Ann Wigmore e-book called ‘Why Suffer?’ and see a nice little video presentation by Jim called ‘Dispelling the Raw Food Myths’, by clicking HERE.

One love,
Angela. xxx

Thailand Durian Magic...

We’re in Thailand now, as those of you who read Mr Monarch’s blog will be aware ;) We arrived last night to Bangkok and we’re in a yummy state of bliss already, even if we’re still in the city right now ;) Fresh durian, pineapple, papaya, rambutan and longans right out on the street outside our hostel, elephants walking in the streets, countless salesman and hawkers selling their wares...and HEAT – I haven’t been anywhere so warm and humid in quite a few months – it feels funny to have my arms exposed again and feel my skin, rather than being wrapped in layers ;) It is HOT here – it was about 30C/86F when we arrived last night – WOW ;) We’re off to hopefully find Bangkok’s very own raw food restaurant today – Rasayana – see HERE.
I’m not sure how much internet access we’ll be getting the next few weeks, so bear with us if you send messages and don’t hear back swiftly ;)

on April the 26th I had:

1.5 quarts water
1.5 cups pineapple juice
½ meal of blended gojis/almonds, with a little grawnola alongside ;)
1 quart water
little handful of seaweed
1 tbsp wheatgrass powder
1.5 quarts water
other half of blended goji/almond meal, with a little grawnola
handful of fresh sprouts and seaweed, a selection of little ‘bliss balls’ ;)
2 cups ‘kapha’ tea
3 cups water

Thanks for all the yummy messages that have been coming in about the ‘Raw 5 Years going on 6 Years’ video myself and the Monarch posted last week ;) We’re glad to hear many of you have been enjoying it too – it was certainly fun to film ;) Here’s a comment left by one reader - Lyn - about the video, that I found amusing ;)

“Angela, your new Maria von Chia clip made my day! Matt's inner von Trapp captured on film was priceless! Thank you again for your daily blogs, you are truly inspirational. Love from Lyn in Manchester, UK”

If you haven’t seen that particular YouTube offering yet, you can access it HERE – let your ears soak in the subtle pleasures of raw food musical world ;)

on April the 27th I had:

1.5 quarts water
3 cups pineapple/celery/fennel/spinach/romaine/parsley juice
1 DELICIOUS cherimoya
2 cups water
meal of mixed sprouts, ½ avocado and seaweeds
2 cups water
little blended meal: soaked dried figs blended with spirulina and almonds
1.5 quarts water
handful of sprouts and seaweed
2 cups water
1 fresh coconut water and a few durian pods (here we go ;)
3 cups water

Have you seen RawMom.com yet? If you haven’t, this is another little side-venture from those lovely Raw Divas Tera and Amy that I would HIGHLY recommend. WOW. RawMom.com is a blog written by 7 actual, literal, living, bonefide Raw MOMS, who live all over the world :) They each write one day a week, sharing tips and guidance on their areas of interest and there is some FABULOUS info in there to access. I am just so delighted to see that there’s a clear place for people who want to bring up little raw magic monkeys to get guidance from others who are living this way, have gone down the path already and have a wealth of experience to share. I love it :) We even got the chance to meet one of the seven lovely ladies this weekend when we spoke in Melbourne – Joanne came along and it was lovely to meet her, along with the inimitable Gala Darling and many others we have connected with previously via the internet – THANKS to you all who came along... ;)
Now...on with the durian munching ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

The Tale of The Frog Princess and The GREEEEEEEEEENS... ;)

I’ve been TAGGED :O To be honest, I’m not totally sure what this is all about – seems like fun though – Poppy wrote:

“Hello Angela!! You're it! Now the rules are: write five things about yourself that we don't already know about you and then tag up to five other people. Good luck!! Poppy x”

Hmmm, ok...5 things y’all don’t know about me...let’s see...

1. I used to hand-carve runes onto stones as a business.
2. I have a great desire to play the character ‘Nancy’ in the musical Oliver...
3. I am allergic to nickel.
4. When I was a child, I had an obsession with frogs – I had pictures of them and toy frogs everywhere, plus I played often with real frogs out in the garden.
5. I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was about 11. I still don't really like activities where you add something on to the body to do smthg - like skiing, roller-blading, ice-skating and so on... ;)

Well, I’m guessing most of that was new information for MOST readers ;) So now I get to tag 5 more people, eh...? Ok, me choose 5 other bloggers (in no particular order) so the blogging flow is maintained:

Mr Monarch: http://mattmonarch.blogspot.com/
Margi: http://rawcanadiangirl.blogspot.com/
Ellen: http://rawtraveling.blogspot.com/
Holly: http://www.rawcuisine.co.uk/
Ani: http://www.aniphyo.com/

Looking forward to see what YOU all want to share ;)
THANKS :)

On March the 16th I had:

2 quarts water
1 quart watermelon/mandarin juice
1 pint celery/cucumber/lettuces/cabbage/dandelion/parsley/beetroot/carrot juice
2 little bowls of yum: one with a blend of apples/mulberries/cinnamon, the other with bananas/blueberries/yacon powder/vanilla
1 quart water
½ tbsp green powder
little bowl of cucumber yum: grated cucumber mashed together with avocado, pumpkin seed pate, finely diced onion, mixed sprouts and karengo seaweed, served in lettuce wraps and nori sheets
1 quart water


on March the 17th I had a juicy day:

1.5 quarts water
3 cups watermelon/mandarin juice
1.5 cups wild berry tea
1 tbsp paste made from spirulina powder, bee pollen, vanilla powder, maca powder and water
1 quart watermelon/mandarin/lime juice
1 quart cucumber/lettuces/parsley/carrot/Jerusalem artichoke juice
3 cups apple/cucumber/celery juice
1 quart water

Hmmmm, a lot of you seem to be having issues trying to place orders in the RawReform Store from OUTSIDE the US (especially Canada). I hear you. This is unfortunately a common issue right now - we CAN send things internationally, from our depot in the US - the site just does not currently handle international orders very happily ;) We're working on it and foresee having a user-friendly new site for ALL customers within the next couple of months. In the meantime, the process for setting up international orders is a little peculiar – breathe deep, here it is:

*create an account for yourself in the RawReform Store (or log in if you already have an account)
*go to 'edit your shipping address'
*leave your postal code as it is in the Zip Code field
*For 'State' put NV, for 'Country' put USA
*write your full city, state/province and country in the field that reads 'COMPANY NAME'

Our customer service reps know to then send it internationally - it's a little trick we set up to 'side-step the system' ;) I hope that makes sense to any of you having issues with this and I apologise for the inconvenience. You are also welcome to call our customer service reps if you prefer, on 001-866-729-3438 OR email Mr. Monarch on matt@rawspirit.org and he can help you set your account up for international orders. Once your account is set up, you'll be able to easily order from then on - it just needs to be set up for the first order ;)

on March the 18th I had:

1.5 quarts water
10 fresh figs
2 cups honeydew melon/apple juice
1 cup cucumber/lettuces/parsley/carrot/Jerusalem artichoke juice
1 pint cucumber/lettuces/parsley/beetroot/carrot/J. Artichoke juice
3 peaches
10 fresh figs
½ a watermelon
1 pint water
¾ of a durian
1.5 quarts water


on March the 19th I had:

1.5 quarts water
10 fresh figs
1.5 cups cucumber/lettuces/parsley/beetroot/carrot/J. Artichoke juice
1 small handful wakame fronds mixed with pumpkin seeds
10 fresh figs
1 quart water
2 cups green smoothie: banana/peach/blueberry/romaine/cilantro
20oz juice: lettuces/Jerusalem artichokes/beetroot/radish/dandelion/carrot
little bowl of cucumber yum: grated cucumber mashed together with avocado, pumpkin seed pate and karengo seaweed, served in lettuce wraps
little paste of lucuma, yacon and vanilla powders mixed together with water, served with yacon slices – yummmmMmmm :)
1 quart water


Here are a couple of recent reader Qs on travel/food ‘safety’:

“Angela, Congrats on your new e-book! It takes patience and trust to work with the precious timing of the universe and you've got it! My hubby and are traveling to Guatemala at the end of the month-it will be my 1st experience traveling in the raw. I will be sprouting and dehydrating some nuts and seeds, probably make some flax crackers, definitely bringing my spirulina and Vitamineral Greens and enzymes. Did you find it safe to eat fresh greens in Central America? Any advice would be great! I look forward to your blog in my inbox often-thank you for sharing!!xo, Kelly”

“You mentioned that you rarely wash your fruit and veggies - are you not concerned with parasites? I know it is less of an issue in the developing countries but in warmer climates, isn't it dangerous not to disinfect any potentially pathogenic bacteria? Xell”

Thank you, ladies :) Hmm, ok, let’s see...greens in Central America...yes, in Costa Rica there was an adequate supply of organic greens in the areas I was in...I was cautious to stay near the more ‘developed’ areas though, where (rather ironically), organic greens were more readily available – the further I went from the main city, the scarcer organics seemed to get and crops in general seem to be HEAVILY sprayed down there, so I was not at all into using non-organic greens. SO, I commend you definitely on preparing yourself with GREEN POWDERS – that is key, if you don’t want to be delving into unknown greens territory ;) As fresh greens are so high in water content, personally I’m just not into the idea of consuming them if I don’t get a good feeling for how they were grown, otherwise it’s kind of like having a drink of pesticides ;) lol... When I’m in countries that don’t seem to have the greatest range of organic greens available I make SURE to have green powders with me (plus other raw foods like chia seed, goji berries, dried crackers, seaweeds etc) and I tend towards fruits with thick skins, like melons, pineapples, papaya, avocado etc. Of course, in some countries/rural areas (like some parts of N. Italy, in my experience), no ‘organic’ standard seems to exist, simply because people don’t tend to spray anything there ANYWAY – nice :) It’s just taken as given that food isn’t sprayed, so there aren’t necessarily any ‘organic’ labels at markets and so on. I like those places ;)
I guess if you’re in places like Central America, can’t find fresh greens you feel good about and really want some, you could get hold of whatever you CAN find and wash them in something like a solution of Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE) in clean water. Which leads us into Xell’s Q... ;) Hmm, yes, I’m really not into washing fruits/veggies much. I know people are into all different ideas, like using GSE/veggie washes/H202 etc… All that stuff just doesn’t appeal to me much...sometimes I will wash produce off with water if, for example, we’re breaking off lettuce leaves and there’s a lot of mud or insect life in there... In general though, I feel there is a MAJOR fear factor going on in our societies around bacteria/microbes etc. It just makes sense to me to eat food more or less as it comes from the earth (‘organic’, of course ;). After all, it’s the insane attempts to ‘clean’ our environments with chemicals and ‘kill all germs’ that helps accelerate conditions like asthma and allergies, amongst countless other issues... In terms of parasites, yes, most of the time lately I’m not in places where I’m concerned abt this from my food – as I started to say above though, maybe if someone’s in a country where they DON’T feel good abt the foods available to them, washing with some GSE or smthg might be a good idea. Personally, I’m actually getting very interested in doing a parasite cleanse at the moment – I’ll start smthg very soon in fact I think – it’s more BIG old parasites, from my obese days that concern me though (e.g. potential large worms etc), rather than little microbes etc that might be on my food right now. We’re planning to go up to Thailand in a while, so I’m interested in having any potential parasite situation in check before that too ;) I’ll let you know how it goes...
I know some people will read this and be shocked or even outraged at the idea of not washing foods etc – well, we all have different paths and this is the way I do things right now – I’m not saying everyone ought to do things this way or that I always have or always will do things like this – it’s just what feels good to me at this point ;)
Hope that makes sense and that you’re all feeling great about your food choices too ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

Ancient Wisdom...

Did you know you could read the whole of the Essene Gospel of Peace online for free? I didn’t, until yesterday…then I found this Essene site and had some fun poking about and seeing what Jesus apparently shared about living foods – here’s a great excerpt from Book 1:

“I do say to you: Kill neither men, nor beasts, nor yet the food which goes into your mouth. For if you eat living food, the same will quicken you, but if you kill your food, the dead food will kill you also. For life comes only from life, and from death comes always death. For everything which kills your foods, kills your bodies also. And everything which kills your bodies kills your souls also. And your bodies become what your foods are, even as your spirits, likewise, become what your thoughts are. Therefore, eat not anything which fire, or frost, or water has destroyed. For burned, frozen and rotted foods will burn, freeze and rot your body also. Be not like the foolish husbandman who sowed in his ground cooked, and frozen, and rotten seeds. And the autumn came, and his fields bore nothing. And great was his distress. But be like that husbandman who sowed in his field living seed, and whose field bore living ears of wheat, paying a hundredfold for the seeds which he planted. For I tell you truly, live only by the fire of life, and prepare not your foods with the fire of death, which kills your foods, your bodies and your souls also."

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-HAH :) Tell it like it is, brother… ;) You can read the whole thing over at this site: http://www.essene.com/GospelOfPeace/peace1.html
Enjoy :)

on December the 27th I had:

2 cups water
1 lb cherries
1 pint all-the-greens-in-the-fridge/daikon/carrot/apple/cucumber/turmeric juice
small slice of mango/macadamia raw cheesecake with bowl of grawnola with fresh sliced banana and homemade macadamia cream
1 quart water
1 pint beet green/fennel/cucumber/lettuce/tatsoi/random greens/carrot/apple juice
bowl of cucumber cream = blended cucumber/avo/garlic/lime juice/salt with a bowl of chopped fresh tomatoes covered with basil pesto and flax crackers
3 cups water

I think it’s time to play the fun game again of ‘what have people been punching into Google to end up on this blog?’. If you’ve been reading here for a while, you’ll know I mentioned before that there is a part of the stats data for this site that shows me how people ended up looking at this blog – what they were searching for in Google which led them here…there are always some pretty fascinating enquiries in there – here are some recent examples:

*can you lose weight by eating a raw potato
*how do i make carob fudge with just water
*i have been detoxifying with bentonite my skin looks so nice
*how to get women on facebook
*cracao, Poland
*smelly pee wheatgrass
*her angry enema bag
*i ate fresh pineapple and my tongue started to bleed

...???…yeeeeeeeees…well, I do hope these people all found some kind of useful information here to serve them, if not the exact cure for bleeding tongues, smelly pee or pacifying enema bags… ;) LOL… I LOVE the idea that Krakow in Poland could be re-named ‘Cracao’ instead though – perhaps we could organise a raw chocolate party there…any readers in Poland…??? ;) As for making carob fudge with JUST water…hmmm…I’m not sure if even the master of living foods himself – Jesus – could muster that one… ;)

on December the 28th I had:

3 cups water
1lb cherries
2 mangoes
1 pint beet green/fennel/cucumber/lettuce/tatsoi/random greens/carrot/apple juice
little bowl of buckwheatie grawnola cereal with chopped fresh banana and apple
1 quart water
1.5 cups beet green/fennel/cucumber/lettuce/tatsoi/random greens/carrot/apple juice
bowl of pesto soup: basil pesto blended with fresh tomatoes, ½ a cucumber, fresh garlic and hemp seeds, with sprouted lentils stirred in for chewing, served with chilli flax crackers
3 cups water

My hair is drenched in coconut oil today. I LOVE the smell of it. I run the oil through my hair like this from time-to-time and leave it in for about a day or so, to let the hair soak up lots of yummy nutrients and get soft and sleek, then I wash it out. I used to see people coat their hair in coconut oil all the time when I lived in Sri Lanka. I thought they were crazy back then…lol…in my pre-raw days, it looked so greasy and disgusting to me, especially in a hot and humid tropical climate…well, here I am a few years later, smothered in coconut oil myself in summertime and loving it ;) My favourite coconut oil is made by Cocopura (see HERE) – it feels soooooo clean and pure to me, smells fantastic, tastes great and comes in glass packaging too, to keep it more stable. It’s hand-harvested in the South Pacific Islands – not so far from where I am now…actually, I’m rather surprised at the scarcity of coconuts here in OZ – any that I have seen are either the imported white-husk young Thai Coconuts or big orange fresh cocos that are $5 EACH…huh??? Looking forward to getting to Thailand in a few months and back to an abundance of fresh cocos – yummmmmmm… ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx