No Sweat...

I am enjoying SWEATING at the moment. This is pretty new for me. As you perhaps know if you’re familiar with my background, I lived in Iceland for around 3 years, on and off…and the whole reason I ever ended up there was because I was SICK of being an obese sweaty mess and assumed that, well, it MUST be cold in Iceland, right…? So I went to live there… ;) In my break times at the ecovillage I lived in, I would sit outside in a t-shirt in the snow, enjoying the cold…LOL…(btw, can you spot me in a pic on that link...???)
Anyway, these days I’m relishing the opposite. I am LOVING getting into a good sweat at least once a day…it’s such a great way to release toxins, through the skin, our biggest eliminative organ…and summer is such an easy time to embrace this if, like me, you’ve been a bit ‘perspirophobic’ ;) It’s not hard to work up a sweat even just going for a walk in the summer time…if you’re not getting out there and…errmm…leaking some liquids…at least once a day, I feel you’re missing out on a great opportunity to cleanse…so go on, go and get sweaty, in whatever way pleases you most… ;)

On June the 29th I had:

1.5 litres water
1 casaba melon
1 durian
1 litre water
handful of strawberries
500ml water
700ml celery/cucumber/apple/fennel/ginger juice
500ml water
2 litres watermelon juice and bowl of watermelon flesh

Juice Feasting Buddy Wanted

:) A dear and wonderful friend of mine in California is seeking a support buddy for her current adventures into the juicy realm…if you are female, currently Juice Feasting or intending to start very soon and are interested in a mutual support system with another beautiful being, just email me at angela@rawreform.com to let me know your details and I will try to hook you up… Thanks :)

On June the 30th I had:

1 litre water
big bunch of grapes
bowl of soaked chia mixed with mashed banana, lucuma powder, maca, pumpkin seeds and a pinch of Himlayan salt
1 litre water
700ml green juice
6 apricots
500ml water
small green salad with avo, lime, cumin, sauerkraut, dulse, flax crackers.
500ml peppermint tea
1 litre water

Today, June the 30th, saw the Full Moon in Capricorn. According to Lisa Dale Miller, this is the full moon to celebrate one's commitment to hard work, goal-setting, and follow-through. Yeeeeee-HAH ;)
Lisa says: “…celebrate small steps, realistic goal-setting, and being successful when faced with tremendous limitations.
Use this Full Moon as a test of how selfless and openhearted you can be. This Full Moon simultaneously uncovers our fear and reflects the solution to our fear: acting only from love, compassion, and doing the hard work of relieving the suffering of all sentient beings by achieving enlightenment and inner peace.
This is a very powerful and serious Full Moon-don't waste it!”
You can read her whole summary HERE. Enjoy…

One love,
Angela. xxx

Three Things I LOVE :)

Number 1: Spinach
Don’t worry…I haven’t been neglecting my tongue scraping…it’s spinach…I just LOVE baby spinach leaves…they taste like BUTTER to me…do you get that flavour too…? I will happily just snack on them straight from the bag…and this particular leaf pictured happened to be an exact match for my tongue… ;)

On June the 27th I had:

2 litres water
big bowl of cherries
500ml water
1.2 litres green smoothie – banana, romaine, spirulina
500ml water
1 litre watermelon juice
salad containing fresh young greens, watercress, basil, cilantro, spinach, cumin, lemon juice, avocado, sauerkraut, red bell pepper and dulse. Flax crackers and jalapeno/cilantro dip
spoon of chocolate/coconut spread
1 litre water

Number 2: Watermelon Juice
I am also extremely excited about watermelon juice at the moment. It’s been one of my favourite juices, without question, since starting the Juice Feast back in November…HOWEVER…I had NO idea just quite how amazing it was for me until I read a little bit about it in a book of the teachings of dear old ‘Wiggie’ Ann Wigmore herself – listen to this:

“Watermelon…is the most alkaline of any fruit or vegetable, providing a great aid for overcoming any acid condition.
Watermelon rind is rich in protein, vitamins A, B, C, enzymes and minerals, chlorophyll…watermelon juice plays a great role in bringing the body to its normal balance…”

WOW :O I LOVE it…the yummiest, cleanest-feeling juice with an incredible alkalising action…how blessed we are…be sure to buy organic and juice the WHOLE thing though – seeds, rind and all, for maximum benefits... ;)

On June the 28th I had:

2 litres water
bowl of watermelon flesh
1 litre romaine/banana/spirulina smoothie
3 peaches
800ml water
small bunch of grapes
800ml cucumber/celery/apple/ginger juice
small salad with spinach, watercress, avo, lime, cumin, dulse, sauerkraut, flax crackers and jalepeno/cilantro dip
3 choco treats
1.5 litres water

Number 3: Rebounding
I LOVE rebounding…anyone who has heard me speak at lectures about exercise will likely know that this is my favourite form of exercise…in fact it is one of my current conditions for agreeing to live permanently anywhere in the future – there must be a rebounder available ;) another condition is that the location is by a large body of water…well, the universe being the blessed manifestor of dreams that it is, has brought forth both for me already in my current location and I LOVE it…bouncing about on a trampoline daily while gazing out over a serene, huge forest-fringed lake is so divine to me…and rebounding is such an incredible way to exercise – there’s some crazy statistic that 5 minutes of rebounding is the equivalent of about 20 MINS jogging…wow…I know which one I’d rather choose…;) You can see more about the marvelous Needak rebounders HERE…

All love,
Angela. xxx

Raw Food Access for All ;)

Next Wednesday, July the 4th, I am going to be speaking in Hamilton, Ontario, at the ‘Goodness Me’ health food store. Hurray :) I’m excited to share my story and raw food guidance here in Canada. The event will start at 6.30pm and entrance is free – you can read more details about this event HERE and I hope to see some of you there… ;)

On June the 25th I had:

1 litre water
1.5 litres watermelon juice
big bowl of cherries
8 fresh figs
500ml water
1 litre green veggie juice with carrot
spring greens/avo/dulse salad with curry and dried tomato hummus-es and flax crackers.
1.5 litres water

Jeff Rogers, the author of raw food ice cream recipe book, Vice Cream, has come up with an interesting path to help prevent pasteurisation of raw almonds…he’s made a new site called ’What Would Jesus Pasteurize?’…wow...I find this is an interesting angle…here’s what Jeff says on the matter:

“As I see it, the issue that will have the greatest impact in reversing the pasteurization decision is the issue of religious rights and the Essene teachings (we should not cook our foods.) We in the US have the right to religious freedom! The almond issue not only treads on our right to raw foods (and properly labeled foods), but it treads on our rights to pursue our religious beliefs.
According to Essene teachings, Jesus (Yashua) told his followers that we should not cook our food. Pasteurization is a form of cooking. The mandatory pasteurization is actually a form of sacrilege!”.

Sounds convincing to me ;) You can check out the site, which has masses of useful info on who to contact to help prevent the pasteurisation act going through, HERE.


on June the 26th I had:

1.5 litres water
800ml green juice with carrots
10 fresh figs
1 litre cucumber/celery/apple/fennel/ginger juice
1 litre water
small bowl of soaked chia seeds mixed with hemp seeds, banana, raisins and lucuma powder – yummmmmmmmmmmmm
small leftover salad and hummus with flax crackers from day before
1.5 litres water

I’m living with a dog at the moment who is like a compost bin…it’s extraordinary…he will literally eat almost any raw foods he’s given...and he's not raw... I have been giving him the PULP left over from juicing celery/cucumber/ginger/apple for example, for the last couple of weeks and he LOVES it…he'll eat watermelon, strawberries, tomatoes…anything really…I find it very peculiar and yet endearing…he’s like a raw vegan in-the-making and has astounding energy for a 9 year old…

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

Fun and Games...

Stumbled across this amusing raw version of ‘I will survive’ on YouTube today: ‘I will Eat Raw’…sweet ;)



On June the 16th I consumed:

1.5 litres water
700ml celery/cucumber/apple/ginger juice
5 peaches
green salad (broccoli greens, arugula, watercress, basil) with cumin, lemon juice, avocado, salt (MMMMMmmmmm ;)
ground almonds mixed with lucuma powder and local raw honey
1 litre water
¼ large watermelon
2 boxes strawberries
500ml water
500ml celery/cucumber/apple/ginger juice
3tbsps hemp seed with 3 tbsps bee pollen
1 litre water

WOW - the little sweet mixture I made of ground almonds with lucuma powder and local raw honey today was AMAZING...it tastes just like shortbread to me - I'd never tried this combination before, but was inspired to find something to do with some yummy local raw honey I bought this weekend...this was the result - so simple - just 3 ingredients - and SO delicious...wow...my new favourite raw treat... ;)

On June the 17th I had:

1.5 litres water
500ml celery/cucumber/apple/ginger juice
¼ large watermelon
kale salad – kale, avo, lemon juice, cumin, fresh chives, tomatoes, olives, dulse
new yummy shortbread discovery stuff :)
1.5 litre water
1 box strawberries
500ml green juice
small green salad - broccoli greens, arugula, basil – with dressing made from ground flax, bit of green juice, dab of honey and cumin
1 litre water

I was intrigued to receive from Jinjee a couple of days ago the link to a Time Magazine article on ‘What the World Eats’ – this is a photo essay that shows families from all over the world with their typical weekly food intake laid out in front of them. I was mainly intrigued because of the incredible synchronicity I experienced around this. I first saw these pictures about 10 years ago, in another magazine. I have barely thought of them since. The DAY BEFORE Jinjee sent this out, I just began speaking to my friend here in Canada about those exact pictures – they had been on my mind, as I was thinking how I’d love to see my before-and-after shots of a typical week’s food for myself, comparing pre-raw to now…my friend and I were amazed to discover we had in fact both seen these pictures, as it was a long time ago that I had seen that piece…then suddenly up popped the message in my inbox from Jinjee, about the exact same pics…wow…the universe has some interesting little games going on in the collective conscious ;) I’d totally recommend checking out the pics anyway – fascinating stuff…see them HERE...

Enjoy,
One 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