Why I haven't been around online the last few weeks...

I’m BACK :)  

As you may possibly have noticed, I’ve been more or less “absent” online in the last few weeks…today I finally have the energy to connect again, so here I gratefully am :)

I want to share what has been unfolding for me this end the last few weeks… I basically became uncharacteristically extremely unwell and ended up in bed for almost two weeks. I believe the situation began with some kind of infection or virus, then spiraled from there, leaving me still slowly rebuilding my energy daily right now.

On the morning of October the 10^th I awoke to a sudden very odd sensation in my head and body…a lot of pressure in my head, a feeling of “not being in” my body, vision behaving strangely and so on…after a few hours I laid down again and pretty much ended up in bed for the next two weeks, bizarre symptoms playing themselves out over time…hot and cold flushes, sweating, semi-delirium, complete loss of appetite, pressure in head, extremely low energy, strange vision, huge difficulty moving the physical body and so on…

This illness was extremely odd for me to experience, as I am *not* used to feeling ill anymore at all… At this point now today, all of the strange “symptoms” have passed and I am more or less back to my usual self, though it definitely feels like I am still rebuilding my vital energy day by day…my sleep pattern had also become completely messed up from being in bed so long, so I am still working on getting back into a more typical flow… 

 

More than anything, I am left with a deep and clear message once again in my life that *health is the greatest wealth* - trulytrulytruly, without our health, we have so little…health and vitality are such incredible gifts, so often overlooked I feel, when we are used to having them with us… 

While I was in that semi-comatose state in bed, I would see what other people were doing around me, how fast they moved, how quickly they could think and speak, the number of things they could do in a day and I was just in complete awe…from the place I was in, it all looked *impossible* - in the space of a day it was literally all I could do to drink some juices, eat something and shower – the rest of the time I was just there, in bed, in a daze of symptoms and semi-delirium…very odd to experience…

When I would connect to Spirit during this time and ask them what was going on, I always got the same response – an overall “blankness”, basically a message to "keep out of it", the over-arcing feeling that everything is fine and being taken care of – I may not understand the process at play now, that doesn’t matter, I am still being supported and carried and at some point it will all make sense, this is a necessary part of the process… The message seemed to be more or less: “you just do what you can to keep the physical body alive right now and we’ll take care of the rest, at some point this will all make sense.” Wow…pretty bizarre to be experiencing…just trusting in the unfolding flow, especially as I pretty much had no option in terms of energy anyway; I could barely move or think, so it all very much felt like a space of surrender and waiting to see what was unfolding…I felt much like I imagine a caterpillar does as it languishes and liquefies in the chrysalis, deconstructing into a mush, trusting the process and eventually emerging on the other side, brighter, stronger and ultimately transformed… :)

Now that I am more-or-less out the other side of this health “drama”, it is amazing to me to be able, for example, to make a batch of flax crackers, as I did yesterday…I had wanted to do that for about two weeks, yet it literally would have felt impossible for me to do so even a week ago…to note yesterday that there was enough vital energy back flowing through my system to perform such a task without feeling completely and utterly exhausted by the end of it was such a bright blessing and I am so grateful :)

This experience the last few weeks reminds me of a similar illness I experienced when I was about nine years of age – as I recall it came on just as suddenly and left me totally wiped out on the sofa for more than a week, swirling in symptoms and semi-delirium… No-one ever knew what it was I was dealing with, it just came, did whatever it did and moved on…

Perhaps my current detox process just finally hit that age of my life and I am reversing back through that curious stage again – who knows… ;) I do recall that after I came through that experience at the age of nine and finally had some vague appetite again, my parents whisked me up to the local corner shop to buy whatever sweets, chocolates and other treats I would eat – lol – while I certainly won’t be taking that approach this time around, I am definitely grateful to be able to eat again…you may notice that there are no food logs for me here in my blog for the last few weeks – there wasn’t much to make note of and I had no energy to do so anyway… we’ll see if I can get back on track now with making my usual notes… ;) 

For now, I am SOOOOOOOOOOO grateful to still be here in the game, to be feeling more vital life energy in my system day by day, able to walk around again, converse with people, do a few more activities each day, eat and drink with more ease and so on – again, a huge reminder that *health is the greatest wealth* - may you all be feeling truly vibrant and healthy, today and always… :)

All love, 

Angelalalaaaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx

Best of Raw 2010 Results Now IN :)

OoOOOooooo, THANK YOU everyone for all of the supportive votes we received in the Best of Raw 2010 Awards :) The results were just announced a couple of nights ago - here's what we were delighted to receive:

1st Place - Online Raw Vegan Superstore - TheRawFoodWorld.com

1st Place - Blog - RawReform

1st Place - Funniest Raw Woman - Angela Stokes-Monarch

1st Place - Radio Show - The Raw Food World Radio Show

2nd Place - TV Show - The Raw Food World TV Show

2nd Place - Blog - Matt Monarch/Raw Success

2nd Place - Funniest Raw Man - Matt Monarch

2nd Place - Sexiest Raw Woman - Angela Stokes-Monarch

3rd Place - Smoothie Mix - The Raw Food World's Acai Powder

4th Place - Raw Vegan Educator - Angela Stokes-Monarch

4th Place - Simple Raw Chef - Angela Stokes-Monarch

THANK YOOUUUUUUU again to everyone who voted - we appreciate you :) You can check out all the results HERE and of course, sending a huge LOVE-blast of appreciation to the ever-lovely Laura Fox for hosting this fun community event... ;)


on January the 31st I enjoyed:

1 quart water
3 cups watermelon/orange juice
3 cups greeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
water of a young coconut
a mango
3 cups pineapple/cucumber juice blended with Ormus Greens
shared cucumber salad with Mr. M; salad stuffed into nori sheets with a little Sea Clear and hazelnut butter, followed by a few pruuuuunes :)
2 cups horchata tea
water of two young coconuts


on February the 1st I loved:

1 quart water
1 quart coconut water mixed with orange juice
3 cups greeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
water of a young coconut
a mango
bowl of "mushroom" soup, followed by a few prunes
2 mugs horchata tea
water of 2 young coconuts

Little Reminder:

Tonight at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific, we are super-excited to be interviewing the wonderful Hand Analyst extraordinaire, Ronelle Coburn, on Discovering your Life Purpose... Ronelle's influence has been fundamental for me in terms of huge recent shifts in my own creative flow and I'm super-excited to share her wisdom and insights with y'all too...you can get the call access details at http://www.TheRawFoodWorldRadioShow.com - enjoy :)


on February the 2nd I appreciated:

1 quart water
3 cups orange juice/coconut water mixture
3 cups greeeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
two small mangoes
water of two young coconuts
shared cucumber salad/kale salad with friends; salad stuffed into nori sheets with a little Sea Clear and hazelnut butter and coconut chips on the side, followed by some pruuuuunes :)
2 mugs horchata tea


on February the 3rd it was an unexpected day of travel for me and I found:

1 quart water
1 quart watermelon/orange juice
3 cups greeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
a mango and a handful of strawberries
30 chlorella tablets
handful of prunes mixed with pecans
3 cups water
2 carob-maca yumballs
2 mugs reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
1 cup water


Today is the last day to submit your entries to win one of three signed copies of the lovely Penni Shelton's "Raw Food Cleanse" book - here's a reminder of the deets:

We are very blessed to have another 3-part prize for this month's RawReform Giveaway :) The ever-lovely Penni Shelton of the RawFoodRehab.com community has offered us three signed copies of her recent book "Raw Food Cleanse" to give away to three blessed winners - yeeeeeee-HAH :)

We *love* Penni and all of the wonderful movin'-shakin' she's doing to help people on to healthier paths worldwide...if you'd LOVE to win a personal signed copy of her book, which contains various cleanse outlines plus over 75 yummy raw recipes...just send us in your answer to the following question, to rawreformcontests@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it :


"If you could help anyone else to detox/cleanse, who would it be and why...?"

Send your answers in by February the 4th to be in with a chance of winning a copy of beautiful Penni's book - the winners shall be picked at random and with sincere delight shortly thereafter... :)

All love,
ACS-M. xxx

Win Copies of "Raw Food Cleanse" :)

If you didn't already see, we are very blessed to have another 3-part prize for this month's RawReform Giveaway :) The ever-lovely Penni Shelton of the RawFoodRehab.com community has offered us three signed copies of her recent book "Raw Food Cleanse" to give away to three blessed winners - yeeeeeee-HAH :)

We *love* Penni and all of the wonderful movin'-shakin' she's doing to help people onto healthier paths worldwide...if you'd LOVE to win a personal signed copy of her book, which contains various cleanse outlines plus over 75 yummy raw recipes...just send us in your answer to the following question, to rawreformcontests@gmail.com:

"If you could help anyone else to detox/cleanse, who would it be and why...?"

Send your answers in by February the 4th to be in with a chance of winning a copy of beautiful Penni's book - the winners shall be picked at random and with sincere delight shortly thereafter... :)
 
(If you missed the announcements of the winners of last month's contest, you can check those out HERE... ;)


on January the 6th I appreciated:

1 quart water
water of a young coconut
water of two young coconuts
a dragon fruit
a papaya
40 chlorella tablets with kelp
3 cups pineapple/cucumber juice blended with Greener Grasses powder
40 chlorella/kelp tablets with 2 tbsp coconut oil
mug of reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
1 cup water


OMGoddess, I *loved* this hilarious four and a half minute video sent over by a friend today of animal video clips with accompanying voice-overs - I was crying with laughter watching it today - ENJOY :)

http://www.wimp.com/animalvoiceovers

ALAN ;)

on January the 7th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
2 cups watermelon/orange juice
3 cups pineapple/cucumber juice blended with Greener Grasses powder
a dragon fruit, a papaya
2 dragon fruits
2 cups watermelon/orange juice
30 chlorella tablets, handful of coconut chips
mug of reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
cup of water


on January the 8th I was blissed with:

1 quart water
3 cups coconut water mixed with orange juice
a papaya, a dragon fruit
3 cups pineapple/cucumber juice blended with Ormus Greens
30 chlorella tablets with 1 tbsp coconut oil
bowl of freeze-dried durian chunks :)
mug of reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
2 cups water


Ooooooo, our dear friend Kate Magic in the UK has a fun update to share: she will be holding a raw retreat in Goa, India from March the 15th-18th - here's the deets direct from Ms. Magic:

"For the first time ever, Kate is offering a chance to receive a Raw Magic Accreditation. On this twenty hour course, Kate will cover the full spectrum of the Raw Magic lifestyle. From philosophy to sea spaghetti, from B12 to 2012, from relationships to kale chips, we promise that you will finish the course armed with a practical knowledge of how to make magic in the kitchen, along with a transformed awareness of how to empower yourself and implement the magic in your world.
Everyone who completes the course satisfactorily will receive a certificate, an endorsement from Kate and Raw Living, which you may use as a credential should you wish to start teaching classes or catering yourself.
Bhakti Kutir is located 200m above Palolem beach, Goa’s finest and safest beach, on the terraces of a coconut grove. The retreat centre is fully equipped to cater for raw foodists, and also has its own 7 acre organic farm.


Early bird price £225 until 31st Jan; after that £250.

The price you pay on booking is for the course only. When you book, Raw Living will be in touch to find out how they can help you with arranging flights, airport transfers, accommodation, day trips, therapies, and meals.
Don't miss this opportunity to complete this life-changing course in an utterly paradisical setting. Guaranteed to be truly, deeply, madly magical!"

Mmmmm, sounds fabulous indeed - here is the link to check out more: http://rawmagicingoa.wordpress.com and you can book your places here: http://www.rawliving.eu/goa.html/

All love and rosettes of joy,
Ms. Stokes-Monarch. xxx

Best of Raw 2010 *NOMINATIONS* Open Now :)

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's that time again... ;) The Best of Raw 2010 Awards are open NOW for nominations... :)
Who will *YOU* nominate in categories such as your favourite raw food chef, author, restaurant, snack food, book and more...? There are 40 categories to nominate for this year - so get moving ;)
You can check out who has been nominated already HERE - if your favourites have already been nominated, you do not need to submit them again - this is just the nominations round...once all the nominations are in, then the voting begins in early December...so, check out who has been nominated already and submit *your* suggestions using the big "Nominate Now" button on the right, HERE :)
This is the third annual Best of Raw Awards, hosted by the lovely Laura Fox...you can check out her intro video explaining the awards HERE and if you would love to sponsor the event to help support all of the hard work and love that Laura and her volunteers pour into these festivities, you can find out all about sponsorship HERE - enjoy ;)


On November the 3rd I enjoyed:

1 quart water
3 cups watermelon/orange juice
2 cups greeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
4 granadilla
2 cups greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
water of a young coconut
a papaya
shared cucumber salad with Mr. M - salad stuffed into nori sheets with a little raw Brazil nut butter, followed by a Carob Brownie Batter Yumpot
mug of horchata tea
1 cup water


on November the 4th I appreciated:

1 quart water
shotglass of orange juice
water of a young coconut
bowl of papaya + pineapple with coconut yoghurt, carob, maca, stevia :)
2 cups wild greeeeen coconut elixir from Mr. M
shared cucumber salad with Mr. M - salad stuffed into nori sheets with a little raw Brazil nut butter, followed by a Carob Brownie Batter Yumpot
mug of horchata tea
1 cup water

Today sees the launch of the new David Wolfe interview on the current Simply Raw Series of insightful free videos - Mr. Avocado is sharing on detox, cancer, some top personal recommendations for ultimate health and hairdressing tips for guinea pigs (note: I may have made the last one up... ;) You can check out this new video over at http://www.SimplyRawVideos.com - Mike Adams' video, the last in this series, will be up in a few days too - enjoy :)


on November the 5th I loved:

1 quart water
1 quart watermelon/orange juice
3 cups greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
bowl of papaya with coconut yoghurt, carob, maca, stevia, ashwaghanda :)
2 cups water
shared cucumber salad with Mr. M - salad stuffed into nori sheets with a little raw Brazil nut butter, followed by a Carob Brownie Batter Yumpot
1 cup water
"ice cream bean" seeds and a banana at sacred ceremony
1 cup water


on November the 6th I was blissed with:

1 quart water
glass of orange juice
bowl of papaya with coconut yoghurt, carob, maca, stevia, ashwaghanda :)
2 cups water
2 cups greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
shared 'raw taco' meal with friends, including lettuce wraps, guacamole, nut pate, cut veggies, coconut 'sour cream' etc, followed by carob-halva yumballs :)
cup of local herbal tea
1 cup water


WOW, one reader, Shirley-Ann, sent us an incredibly cool link a few days ago - a video introducing a new machine from Japan that literally turns plastic waste back into OIL :O
This machine is *SO* cool - check out the 5 minute video below to see the potential this technology has to change the current game here...we are *SUPER*-excited about this machine - we want to get one here in Vilcabamba as soon as possible to help reclaim the plastic waste here and turn it into something people can use again, instead of throwing into landfills or burning, as is the usual case here at the moment...the video is in Japanese with English subtitles - enjoy and please share this message with others if you think this kind of machine could be useful in YOUR communities :)

http://www.flixxy.com/convert-plastic-to-oil.htm

All love and divine flow, 

ASMonaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaRCH. xxx

What is *Your* Morning Routine?

I posted the article below in my latest newsletter - 

I wanna share it here too for those who may have missed it - enjoy ;)

In one of our recent online videos, Mr. Monarch mentioned that I do a certain routine every morning and there have been a number of messages since then enquiring what this routine involves, so I thought it might be a grand idea to share some info on that today...I'm going to cover here the first three things that I do each morning (after emptying my bladder, of course ;) This is not presented as a "prescription" for morning management - I would simply love to share what I personally choose to engage in immediately after rising, as so many of you were asking about this - perhaps you may find some inspiration herein ;)

1. Tongue Scraping - I *love* tongue scraping. This is an ancient "yogic" practice of using a scraper of some kind to remove any unpleasant build up on the tongue that has accumulated overnight during the detox phase. There is usually a thick-ish layer of white/yellow 'sludge' that can be easily and quickly scraped off and rinsed away... Personally I use one of the Dr Tung's stainless steel scrapers, which last for countless years and it feels *so* good to me to remove that layer of detox waste from my tongue and freshen up my mouth a bit before I start to ingest anything new - I don't want to take all that sludge back down into my body when it has worked so hard all night to bring it all forward for elimination... ;)


on September the 25th I loved:

1 quart water
3 cups watermelon/orange juice
prune soak water and YUMMY soaked prunes
cup of amazing tonic elixir ice cream from the Longevity Tonic Bar
2 cups water
bowl of kelp noodles with spicy sunflower seed sauce stuffed into romaine leaves and nori sheets, with cucumber on the side, followed by a little cupuacu spread from Gnosis
2 cups water
1 cup kefir


on September the 26th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
2 cups watermelon juice
3 cups greeeeeeen juice
bowl of kelp noodles with spicy sunflower seed sauce stuffed into romaine leaves and nori sheets, with cucumber on the side, followed by a little acai powder
2 cups water
*amazing* "$18,000 Jing Master" elixir from the Tonic Bar at Longevity :)
2 cups water


2. One Quart Water - It feels vital to me to drink a sufficient amount of water first thing, to set me up well for the rest of the day in terms of hydration. The appropriate amount for me at this point in my journey seems to be around a quart/litre of water. Drinking water is the next step for me after tongue scraping...I've usually been asleep for around 8 hours or so, which means for that whole time my body has been receiving no liquids and has also been in detox mode. If I make sure I get that quart of water in first thing, it helps to flush those toxins through and set up my hydration for the day...over the years I found that if I don't set myself up well for the day in this way, I would feel more irritable and prone to headaches during the day



on September the 27th I appreciated:

1 quart water
3 cups greeeeeeeen juice
bowl of Lydia's Berry cereal with fresh blueberries/peach and almond milk :)
2 cups water
cup of coconut kefir
can of freeze-dried durian with a few brazil nuts :)
2 cups water


on September the 28th it was VERY hot and I was blissed with:

1 quart water
1 quart watermelon/orange juice
1 quart watermelon/orange juice
3 cups greeeeeeeeen juice
1.5 cups spicy hazelnut milk
can of freeze-dried durian with sample of *amazing* new raw "gourmet" coconut butter ;O
2 cups water
cup of coconut kefir
2 cups water

3. Yoga/Meditation - Daily yoga/meditaton practice feels very important to me too - this is another component that feels very key for me to engage in, otherwise I will feel a lot less 'connected' during the day, more easily side-tracked, less centred and so on... Personally, the framework for my yoga/meditation practice is The Five Tibetan Rites series of stretches, which is an ancient set of movements said to help increase longevity and keep the chakras spinning in alignment. Over the six or so years that I've been practicing these moves daily, I have adapted the process to better suit my personal flow and lifestyle, including adding in various extra moves/stretches to the original five movements, plus also combining my meditation practice WITH the movements, to create a kind of flowing, moving meditation... To me, it feels soooo good to stretch my body out well after a night of sleep, to ground back into this physical reality and at the same time to be meditating on my intentions for the day, to set myself up for a fun flow ;) Perhaps some day soon we'll make a video to show you the exact moves I work through in the mornings, for now though, HERE is a great website to check out the original series of Tibetan Rites and HERE is a video of the Giannis demo-ing the moves too...
My meditations/visualisations involve a lot of gratitude, love and healing energy. I ask for love, light and healing to be sent through my body and being for this whole day, then send this same energy through to various friends, family members, animals, people who spontaneously come to mind and so on...I wrap up by asking for plenty of grace, love, compassion and so on to be available to me during the course of each daily experience, to help me show up as the brightest version of myself I can muster ;)

By the end of this kind of morning routine, I am feeling refreshed, rehydrated, back in my body, centred, filled with love and joy and ready to get to action...if you're feeling that *your* morning routine is more characterised by things like alarm clocks, rushing, stimulation and stress, then I hope you may find some inspiration here to seek more serenity as you ease your way into each day... ;) ENJOY :)

All love,
Ms. A. C. Stokes-Monarch. xxx

Validating Your Divine Self... ;)

OOooOooooo, ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time again...raw food, detox and fitness plans seem to be kicking off all over the shot right now...there are many many different plans to follow – maybe you’d like to RawFu away any Holiday excesses with the lovely Bunny Berry's assistance, for example?

Or maybe you’ll be a Raw Diva with their new 7-day plan?

Jinjee and Storm have years of experience to share of course too, on a different 7-day plan HERE...

...or if you REALLY wanna go for it, then the first Global Juice Feast of this year just kicked off yesterday (Jan 3rd) and will run until Jan 31st. You can flow into that yumminess with the beautylicious Rainosheks HERE.
I'm sure there's plenty of other yummy detox plans kicking off too - maybe even some in your local area...???

Now, as for EXERCISE, as many people know, those lovely Boutenkos did a huge trek along the Pacific Coast Trail when they first went raw...if you’d like to follow a little in their footsteps (virtually at least ;) HERE is a cool site that was sent in by one reader - Steve - where you can ‘walk the Oregon Coast’ virtually ;) lol – love it...you keep track of your biking/walking/exercising in your local area, then record it on the site, making simultaneous ‘virtual’ progress along the Oregon Coast track – nice motivational tool...you can also go on a walking tour of Italy on the same site if you prefer... You just enter the promo code ‘InStep2008’ to join in for free, apparently...
ENJOY :)

on January the 2nd I had:

4 quarts water
1 apple


on January the 3rd I had:

2 quarts water
mug of pau d’arco tea
40 chlorella ‘nuts’
double wheatgrass shot with ginger and lime juice
an apple with 3 tbsp Sproutein powder
1 quart water
1.5 cups energy soup with a flax cracker, followed by 2 tbsp goji berry powder
little mug of rooibus tea
2 cups water

Hmmmm, so, as for me, I haven’t been eating much the last few days, as you might have noticed. No, this is no intentional ‘detox’ plan... ;) The journey back from Mexico was simply pretty INTENSE – over 28 hours in transit in the end...and I seem to find that my appetite goes away after journeys like that...I sense it’s a combination of jet–lag, out–of–bodyness, sleep deprivation, messed up circadian rhythms, feeling puffed–up from planes, body wanting a break from digestion so that it can heal as fast as possible and so on...well, the result is: no interest in food, or at least very minimal…which is fine – interesting to observe...and I‘m grateful to feel more–or–less back in this body now, slowly grounding back down with some more foods, especially some healthy fats as it’s COLD here in the UK – eeeeeeeeeeek...who turned the heaters off while I was away...? lol ;)


on January the 4th I had:

1 quart water
little cup of rooibus tea
3 cups grrreeeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, Jerusalem artichoke, ginger, lime
1.5 cups energy soup with flax crackers, followed by a little rammikin dish of hand–blended yum: carob powder, lucuma powder, cinnamon, maca, gojis, water
3 cups water
30 chlorella tabs
gorgeous little bowl of grawnola with carob/lucuma/macadamia nut ‘mylk’ – WOW :)
little mug of rooibus tea
2 cups water

Mmmmmmm, I wanted to share a really sweet short film with you today that was sent in by another reader – Shane. It’s called ‘Validation’, is abt 16 mins long, very heart–warming and has won a whole mantelpiece of awards already ;). You can watch it HERE:


SMILE :)
All love,
Angealalalalalaaaaaa. xxx

What Do YOU Love Most About...

I’m VERY excited to announce a new feature here called:

‘What do you love most about...?’

The raw food movement is expanding so rapidly that I find myself often a-gasp with glee at new additions to the raw scene – new websites, restaurants, stories, books, foods, blogs, films, festivals...this glorious family is just so magnificently abundant with creativity and yummy flow...
In honour of all this, I’ve decided to create a new feature on this blog to celebrate all things raw-ly wonderful :)
There are SO many different raw resources out there these days and even if you don’t agree with EVERYTHING about some raw-related person, place or product, there is nearly always SOMETHING about what they offer, which you can pinpoint that resonates for you...that’s what we wanna know about ;) Let’s keep on bigging up the love and gratitude in this amazing network of people who are bringing forth so much light for the planet...
Here’s how it works...

*I’ll post here what I love most about the chosen raw-tastic person, place, object or similar...
*YOU are welcomed to post a comment to this blog letting everyone know what YOU love most about this raw-markable offering to the world...
*We keep on collectively spreading the love and appreciation :)

You might share about your favourite experience with that person/place/thing, your impression of their impact on the world, what you most appreciate about their contribution to spreading the raw message and so on.
If you’re not familiar with the person/place/thing in question, you could always check the link to their site and see if you’d like to share anything about your first impression of what they’re offering...
You can share as much or little as you like – all comments offered with love are welcomed ;)
In this spirit of love and thanks, it seems appropriate to start off this new feature by bigging up the majesty of: Café GRATITUDE :)

What I love most about Café Gratitude is...

The coconut crème pie. :O RIDICULOUSLY, outrageously, absurdly good...

Now, over to you – what do YOU love best abt Café Gratitude...?
(Don’t worry if you’re not sure yet how to post a blog comment – detailed instructions can be found below... ;)

on July the 6th I had:

1 quart water
mug of ‘pleasure’ tea
2.5 cups green juice: cucumber, celery, sunflower greens, tat soi, mixed sprouts, fennel, ginger, greens from the garden
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with a red bell pepper and a couple of flax crackers. Followed by a little bowl of blended almonds/lucuma/maca/cinnamon/water
mug of ‘pleasure’ tea
3 cups water
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with a couple of flax crackers. Followed by a little bowl of blended almonds/lucuma/maca/cinnamon/water
3 cups water

How to Post a Blog Comment in 5 Easy Steps...

1. If you’re reading this message in an email, first of all, go to the RawReform blog page HERE (you can also just click on the title of the blog post at the top of the email, OR the link that says ‘Blog: http://rawreform.blogspot.com’ at the very end of the email.)
2. Then scroll to the end of the post that you want to leave a comment on.
3. You’ll see a little comment count, written in green, at the end of the post. It might say ‘0 COMMENTS’ or more. Click on that link. This takes you to a new page where you can fill in YOUR yummy comment. You can submit it either anonymously, using your name/URL, using your Blogger/Gmail ID or using smthg called ‘OpenID’ – you choose ;)
4. Press the ‘Publish Your Comment’ button.
5. That’s it – simple ;) Comments are later posted to the blog and everyone hopefully gets to enjoy your delicious musings... ;)

on July the 7th I had:

1 quart water
shot of wheatgrass
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with a couple of flax crackers. Followed by a little bowl of blended almonds/lucuma/maca/cinnamon/water
mug of ‘pleasure’ tea
3 cups water
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with a couple of flax crackers. Followed by a little bowl of blended almonds/lucuma/maca/cinnamon/water
mug of ‘pleasure’ tea
1.5 cups green juice
3 cups water

WOW. I had an amazing detox release experience this afternoon :) An ‘ancient’ fat cyst on my back suddenly opened and released its contents. :O Now, once again, this may all be TMI for some people – if so, please feel free to skip this section ;)
I believe this occurred as a result of the very simple, very ‘greeeeeeen’/alkalising way I’m eating at the moment – as you can see from my daily food logs, it’s pretty much green juices and green/fat energy soups going into my system at the moment. As a result, my body has more space/energy to divert into ‘cleaning house’ and seems to be getting to it ;) I suddenly felt an itch on my back this afternoon, went to investigate and found I’d scratched a cyst open. It emptied out a whole little sack of fatty white waste – rather like a little lump of lard ;) LOL...I found myself simultaneously revolted and enthralled ;)
Those of you who have heard me give a raw food talk before may have heard me speaking about the random benign fat cysts that are still on my scalp. There are at least 5 of them sitting there and I’m always curious to see when they might also be released...well, let’s see if there’s any movement up there too in the coming days/weeks... ;)

One love,
Angelaaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx

Letting go and moving on...

I had such an amazing experience at my parents’ house, which I’d love to share…I’ve been clearing out bits and pieces of my old possessions from my parent’s space over the last weeks and found a drawer full of old diaries…it was SUCH an interesting experience for me…I gave them to Matt to flick through as I continued emptying out drawers and the things he found to read out had us alternating between hysterical laughter and jaws dropped in disbelief…I was SOOOOOOOO angry as a teenager/young 20-smthg – I had NO idea…it was astonishing to hear some of the things he read out and to know that they were written by the same hands which are typing this now – and just a few years back...he was reading stuff from around the year 2000, when I was really at my peak of obesity, illness and – seemingly – bitter resentment…my entire outlook on life was SO entirely different to that which I feel I embody now…as Matt read, it seemed like everything was an issue for me back then – my perspective was so dark and dreary and ANGRY…everything was such a problem/someone’s else’s fault/not fair and so on…hearing the words now, I can clearly see where the fear and pain was coming from in each situation and that back then, I simply hadn’t yet come into my own self/embodied to the point I seem to have today…I was instead reflecting, attracting and embodying all that I had known growing up and was yet to discover that which truly resonates for me – in fact, there was a hilarious bit Matt read that went something along the lines of:

‘Woke up. Ate breakfast with Naomi. She ate salad. Weird. I ate 5 pieces of toast with yeast extract, fruit and chocolate.’

LOL…yeeees…wow, how the times change, eh? ;) …and I for one am SO grateful for the constant shifts and opportunities such as these to reflect…

On September the 5th I had:

1.5 litres water
400ml grapefruit/orange juice
800ml green juice with carrot
bowl of blended avo/banana/maca/lucuma/cinnamon, with sprouts, tiny pieces of broccoli, sultanas and hemp seeds
500ml water
6 fresh figs
500ml water
little bowl of goji berries and pine nuts together
1 medium papaya
500ml water
3 tomatoes, bowl of incredible soaked sea spaghetti seaweed with hemp oil, hemp seeds and seagreens
slice of lavender magic cake
1 litre water

Have you heard Ani Phyo’s Interview on Raw Vegan Radio yet…? Aaaaaah…ANI :) She’s SUCH a sweetheart…I listened to this interview the other day and loved the way she summed up her life – she sold her house, dis-attached herself from the vast majority of her possessions and now travels about in her convertible car with her dog, luggage that fits in the boot (trunk)…and that’s it :) …they travel all over the place, visiting people, doing raw food demos, promoting her book and living in a state of constant gratitude…MMMMMMmmmm, love that gal :) She’s a wonderful light-worker and I totally recommend checking out this sweet little 20-minute or so interview HERE…

on September the 6th I had:

1.5 litres water
400ml grapefruit/orange juice
800ml green juice with carrot
little bowl of cake made with pumpkin seed/soaked dried apricot/lucuma base and frozen durian/banana filling
1 litre water
plate of pot luck yummies – salads, dips, hummus, etc, then pieces of 3 other delectable raw cakes – it’s raw cake bliss at the moment ;)
1 litre water

We’re off to Canada tomorrow – wow…six weeks back in Blighty just fleeeeeeeeew by…much gratitude for all we have experienced and shared here these last weeks…the sunset over the south coast was absolutely phenomenal this evening – what a send off ;) …followed by a really sweet and lovely raw potluck gathering at a local ‘raw-friendly’ house – such divine timing - a great opportunity to bid farewell to so many bright light-workers of the UK…ta-rah for now, lovelies…time to splash back over to the other side of the pond… ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

Raw Events, Ferments and Pregnancies... (don't get too excited ;)

Are you a luscious lady, ripe for a touch of juicy detox??? Hmmmmm…??? If so, I’d highly recommend you shimmy on over to Ronora Lodge in Michigan for their second Women’s Juice Feast Detox Retreat of the year, starting September the 12th. Unfortunately, due to visa blahblahs I will not be present to facilitate this retreat as originally planned…the first JF retreat we held there back in spring-time was AMAZING though and I would be back there in an instant if it was possible…the fantastic news is that the modern-day mumma of raw foods herself, Victoria Boutenko has agreed to step in and head up the juicy joy team…yum :) Visit www.rawnora.com for more info ;)

On August the 30th I had:

1.5 litres water
700ml warm water with lemon
700ml orange/melon juice
600ml green ‘garden’ juice with carrot
3 plums
bowl of chia soaked in blended apples/persimmons/water, with dried figs, mulberries and dates
500ml water
6 fresh figs and a little box of jack fruit pieces
1 litre water

One of you marvellous popsicles – Michelle – wrote in with a couple of questions:

If you have the time, could you share the sauerkraut recipe you enjoy so often? I've made some cultured veggies in the past but wouldn't be able to eat those daily on a bet. And when if/you become pregnant, how will you change your diet if at all? If that is not something you've considered, please forgive me asking. Thank you so much! Michelle

Mmmmmm…yes…sauerkraut…actually, the one we’ve been eating of late is an unpasteurised one we’re buying from Bionova here in the UK…here’s a quick run-down of how I WOULD make it if I were to do it myself though:

Cut up a head of cabbage, really finely. Put with enough water to cover the cabbage, in a glass vessel in a dark-ish, warm-ish place, for about 4 days (keep checking). Make sure it’s covered. Add a little probiotic powder if you want to speed the process up…

As for being raw pregnant…well…my intention is that as and when I get pregnant and have kids, I would remain completely raw - as I am now - and would also raise them completely raw. I know too though that this seems to shift for many raw women when they actually GET
pregnant, so, I'll see what unfolds - I cannot imagine being anything other than raw though...we'll see...and I would feel very unpleasant about giving any child of mine anything to eat other than raw foods...they will have their own journey to explore as they grow up - I'd love to give them what I would consider the healthiest start I can...

on August the 31st I had:

1.5 litres water
600ml warm water with lemon
700ml watermelon/orange juice
600ml celery/cucumber/carrot/radish/fennel
romaine wraps with avo, fermented sunflower seed cheese, sprouts, cilantro (coriander), red pepper, tomatoes and pumpkin seeds
1 litre water
5 fresh figs
big juicy-smoothie hybrid of carrot/apple/cucumber juice blended with spinach and ginger
bowl of chia soaked in apple juice with mulberries
1 litre water

SOOOOO…the spectacular Festival of Life kicks off tomorrow in London…yeeeeeee-HAH…I love it…I speak tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon at 5.30pm and Matt speaks earlier – at 3pm – hope to see you there if you’re around ;) More info on the site http://www.festivaloflife.net…

One love,
Angela. xxx

E-book Packs and Coconut Cracks...

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

On August the 28th I had:

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

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

on August the 29th I had:

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

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

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

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

What is your favourite raw recipe that involves coconut?

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

One love,
Angela. xxx

'Passion for Paradise'...;)

On September the 1st I’m going to be speaking in London at the fabulous Festival of Life raw food/permaculture/vibrant living festie. I’m excited – it’s going to be a wonderful weekend. I speak on Saturday afternoon at 5pm and Matt will be there speaking too – at 3pm. I believe this is the fourth year of this wonderful gathering (perhaps 3rd...)– wow – it seems amazing to me that it was 3 or 4 years ago now that I first attended this event, as a visitor... It absolutely blew me away – I was in awe – it was the first raw gathering of its kind I’d been to and spending the whole day living, learning and eating among a crowd of so many like-minded beings was SUCH an amazing experience to me… One of the things I love so much about this festie is that it’s so affordable for people – entrance is just £12 for the whole weekend and all talks, sessions, food demos and so on are free once you’re in…there will be stalls, incredible raw food, yoga, music, dance and MASSES of vibrant joy…hope to see you there ;)

On August the 20th I had:

1.5 litres water
300ml warm water with lemon juice
1 litre ‘garden’ juice
1 box of blueberries
handful of mulberries and 3 tsp green powder
big green salad with avo, dulse, fresh tomato/garlic sauce, sprouts and sauerkraut
1 litre water
1 large papaya
1 litre water

I’ve stopped using deodrant. LOL…I love it…many raw foodists of course choose not to use any deodorants, or just something simple like lemon juice…well, after dabbling all over the ‘natural’ deodorants section of health food stores for the last few years, I’ve kind of lost interest…my body pretty much doesn’t produce that much odour anymore anyway – only when I’m detoxing something rough, like cracao…so, the deo’s become kind of…redundant…I’m enjoying this new experience – it feels like another happy step onwards into simplicity for me…I still OWN a deodrant stick and use it from time-to-time…overall though, my pits are mainly breathing free and easy these days…I’ve also started to sprout and regularly eat fenugreek sprouts, which have apparently traditionally been used in India for regulating body odour for generations…hmmmmm…interesting…have you TRIED fenugreek sprouts???…WOW, they smell and taste SO great to me…and are, of course, also happily packed with enzymes and nutrients…yummmm ;)

on August the 21st I had:

1.5 litres water
300ml warm water with lemon juice
150ml orange/grapefuit juice
700ml cucumber/celery/romaine/carrot juice
3 persimmons blended with 4tbsp of ground chia, with a handful of mulberries swirled in
500ml rooibos tea
500ml water
green smoothie of pear, romaine, spirulina, water and gojis
500ml water
greens/avo/dulse/sauerkraut/sprouts salad with fresh tomato sauce and hemp seeds
1 litre water

I went rock-pooling one day recently, when the weather was brighter…poking about in the rocks while the tide was out…it was amazing…I was in a stage of feeling a little tired of being incessantly ‘on-the-road’…that morning however, in my sun-kissed scramblings on the rocks, I was blessed by an encounter with a beautiful huge black crab. We stopped and gazed at each other for quite some time…I breathed deep into the experience and took the message that I, like the crab, am of course truly at home always, wherever I am…I have my backpack just as he has his shell…my style is a little more complex than his, admittedly…and yet, I resonated and felt at peace…thanks little friend ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

A mouthful of durian helps the medicine go down...

I saw Mary Poppins at the theatre this weekend. It was FANTASTIC – in every sense of the word…mmmmmmm…wow, I just LOVE musicals…as I suspect is becoming clear ;) Yes, more to come on YouTube soon, I promise… I grew up on a diet of greasy food, Monty Python and musicals…and seeing Mary Poppins again now, as an adult, was amazing to me…I appreciated it on so many levels that I had never consciously understood as a child…yet now I can see the essence of what it was that I must have loved so much back then…aside from being able to pull whole hat-stands out of her bag, laugh her way up on to the ceiling and so on, she is the most AMAZING light worker…truly ;) LOL…Mary goes around from place to place, spreading light, love, joy and genuine communication between people – there’s no nonsense with this nanny, yet she is pure heart-energy, moving and shaking her way through the skies and down chimneys into peoples’ lives…and when the work is done and the heart spaces are opened with those people, that’s it, she’s off, to the next place…beautiful…if you’ve never seen this show, you’re perhaps quite perplexed at my blatherings here – well, I’d really encourage you to watch it – it’s so innocently inspiring and uplifting…enjoy :)

On July the 28th I had:

1.5 litres water
2 tbsp green powder
1 tbsp sunflower seeds mixed with wakame seaweed flakes
1 litre water
piece of jack fruit and 1 whole durian 2 litres water

Ahhhh, yes, it was definitely a durian day on Saturday for me…as evidenced in the picture above at the pagoda in London’s Chinatown…yummmm…quite magnificently, we also managed to do a re-run of events this time last year, ending up taking durian on the underground again and into the theatre too (see THIS old newsletter for my dramatic durian encounter on a London rooftop last July) ;) LOL…I suspect it was not much of a ‘coincidence’ that the girl sitting in front of me during the play moved halfway through the performance…eeek…sorry people…the durian passion just has me in its grip…along with THIS steamy British laydeee too, so it seems – OOOO la la, madame...

On July the 29th I had:

1.5 litres water
700ml green juice with apple and fennel
bowl of chia seeds soaked in blended jack fruit and apple juice
1 litre water
350ml green juice
leafy green salad with nut balls, followed by lime mousse and chocolate/almond cake (courtesy of the wonderful Raw Fairies catering now offered at Bonningtons Cafe in Vauxhall.)
1 litre water
2 tbsps green powder
500ml water

Q & A
A question from one of YOU to ME…
“When you add lime juice to you green juice do you juice the lime peel and all through the juicer or use a separate citrus juicer, then add the lime juice to your green juice? About how much lime juice do you add?”
…well…I don’t juice the lime peel…I tend to roll the lime on the counter-top first, pushing down on it (a top tip for getting maximum amount of juice out of any citrus fruit, easily, as it breaks open the ‘pods’ inside) then cut it in half and just squeeze into the already prepared juice. I’d usually use about ½ a lime per person…depends on your taste of course ;) Hope that helps…

AAaaaaaaaaaaand…a question from ME to YOU…
One lovely lady just asked me for a raw recipe for pickling summer squash or paddy pan…not being much of a ‘pickler’ myself and having frankly never HEARD of ‘paddy pan’, I have no recipes to share, but if you DO, please either leave a comment here or drop me a line at angela@rawreform.com and I’ll pass the juicies on and post here too, for all to yummy up… thanks ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

The Fox, The Bees and The Moon...

Fox News published an article covering my transformation and raw foods today – hurray :) Great to see a more ‘mainstream’ media outlet like this embracing the raw food message – Alissa Cohen, Natalia Rose and I all contributed to the piece and I feel it turned out well as a good little intro piece for people to the idea of raw foods – YAY – every little bit helps in spreading this message of health and healing :) You can see the piece here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,289000,00.html

On July the 12th I had:

*1.5 litres water
*tiny gorgeous glass of green smoothie
*bowl of luscious raw ‘granola’ – soaked sprouted oats, blended with coconut butter, lemon juice, berries, cinnamon and…I don’t know what else – a WHOLE lot of love…to make a YUMMY smooth creamy breakfast cereal, topped with banana slices, hemp seeds and fresh lavender…WOW…how blessed am I…??? ;)
*salad of spinach, romaine and dulse with a sunflower seed and garlic dressing, with a separate sunflower seed kale wrap
*1.5 litres water
*4 peaches
*700ml peppermint tea
*3 frozen cherries – yummmmmmmm :)
*400ml celery/cucumber/romaine/fennel/apple juice
*bowl of chia seeds with goji berries, apple, spirulina, maca and honey
*1 banana with a tbsp coconut butter
*1 litre water

Ok, time to answer a question from one of YOU delightful little popsicles reading this…Michelle asked:

“Can you tell me why you use bee pollen because I cant find anything online about that. Also why MSM? I read you used that somewhere else.”

Hmmmm…yes…I use bee pollen mainly because I like it – I love the taste and texture of it and that it is such a ‘wonder-food’ in terms of the nutrients…it’s phenomenal in terms of the amino acids - the PROTEIN (hallelujah…;), the B-vitamins, mineral range, enzymes…those little nuggets are incredible power-houses…and it gives me a great energy boost…I love that it’s not fatty, but feels dense and nourishing and enriching…one of my favourite ways to eat it is just to shake it up with an equal amount of hemp seeds and eat it as a snack – PHENOMENAL nutrient intake and feels pretty light and easy to digest too…love it…my favourite kind of bee pollen is FRESH and still MOIST - not stuff that's been dried a lot - the stuff you get fresh like that just meeeelllllllllts in your mouth and is amazing to me...and yes, I'd love to state myself as a 'raw bee-gan' again...or...whatever word you feel comfortable with in place of 'vegan' - bee pollen and honey are the two products that come from animals that I enjoy...
As for MSM…hmmmmmmmmmmm…doesn’t really interest me so much INTERNALLY these days – I used it for a while when Juice Feasting…mostly it just tastes unpleasantly bitter to me though and I prefer to use it externally, on my skin in lotions like THIS, rather than drinking or eating it…it definitely brings extraordinary results for SOME people though – there are many testimonies of people dealing with joint issues like arthritis and so on finding tremendous relief with it. You know what they say…everything ain’t for everybody… ;) Here’s what I wrote about MSM in 'A Juice Feaster’s Handbook':

"MSM – (methyl sulphonyl methane) – a sulphur compound that occurs naturally in every cell of our bodies and is necessary to produce collagen/connective tissue. MSM gives flexibility, tone and strength to the skin, hair and nails. Taken as a powder/capsules, MSM is excellent for restoring elasticity and flexibility to skin and joints and for healing scar tissue. Try taking ½ tbsp a day of the powder and increase if you feel it is beneficial to you."

on July the 13th I had:

1.5 litres water
1 litre green juice with apple
1 mango
500ml water
spinach/romaine/hemp seeds/dulse/lemon juice
apple pulp mixed with raisins, cinnamon, maca and honey
little glass of banana/greens smoothie
1 banana
1 apple
1 litre water
3 tbsps hemp seed and bee pollen mixed
1 litre water
green salad with tahini/garlic/lemon dressing, nori sheets and flax crackers
500ml water

Hope you had a great Friday the 13th… ;) Tomorrow, July 14th is the New Moon in Cancer. This is the New Moon of love, carrying the idea of fully opening to the possibility of living each day as a loving, heartful, mindful being. This is what Astrologer Lisa Dale Miller has to say about it:

“This is a New Moon to take responsibility for our inner emotional condition, without all the drama.
This is the best New Moon to work on your home life and the quality of interaction that goes on in your family. We all need time to stop and really appreciate our loved ones: to fully embrace them, look deeply into their eyes, allowing the heart to soar in the recognition of oneness. This is also a great New Moon to engage in healing work around your own childhood/family system issues.
This is the right New Moon to begin letting go of old defense and protection mechanisms that may be doing you, and your relationships, more harm than good.
Cancer is the zodiacal archetypal Mother. This is a great New Moon to begin learning about the Sacred Feminine and incorporating this wisdom into your daily life and by extension, into our world. The Way of the Sacred Feminine is one of love, caring, understanding, compassion, peace and joy.
Open your heart and take care of your emotional life by committing to an insistence on love and kindness in all your interactions. This is the way of Cancer!”

To read her whole beautiful summary, see HERE.

With all love to you all,
Angela. xxx