B12, Intestinal Flora and Rejuvelac...

Quite a few people have been asking me about B12 recently, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on the matter here...

What about vitamin B12?
B12 deficiency tends to be a big health concern among vegan raw fooders. This vitamin is essential for red blood cell formation, energy and nerve function. It seems to be found in western food sources primarily in meat and dairy produce, so vegans often have low levels of it. (Though many studies also seem to show widespread B12 issues, regardless of whether people eat animal products or not...)
B12 Deficiency can lead to exhaustion, dizziness and blackouts. Other symptoms of B12 deficiency include anxiety, pale skin, blurred vision, poor memory, constipation and in severe cases, anaemia and nerve damage. It’s a controversial issue and some suggest there are in fact no reliable vegan sources of B12.
As for me, I feel like I do now get some B12 from the foods I eat - (algaes, seaweeds etc) PLUS I rarely wash my fruit and veg - I like having some soil/micro-organisms in there to help my system produce B12 and thrive ;) I also take good care of my colon, through both consuming probiotics and doing colon cleansing, which means my internal flora produce B12 for me too. To be certain I’m getting all that I need, I also take a B12 supplement regularly, which I feel is like my ‘back up’ in case the foods and internal flora really aren’t working.
A couple of years into my raw journey, I actually experienced a serious B12 deficiency. At that time, my food intake was quite unbalanced, I was doing no colon cleansing and taking no B12 supplement. I was pale, dizzy and low in energy and ended up having blood tests to determine the cause, after a fainting spell. After discovering I had a low B12 count, I started taking supplements and my health improved rapidly...

I hope that gives some answers for any enquiring minds out there...also read on below for an easy, cheap way to help support your ‘friendly’ intestinal flora to rustle up their own B12 ;)

on March the 12th I had:

1 quart water
mug of pau d’arco tea
2 cups greeeeeen juice: celery, cucumber, landcress, parsley, Jerusalem artichoke, endive, fennel, ginger
2 cups energy soup with okra and tahini on the side
mug of spicy tea
3 cups water
2 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, landcress, parsley, Jerusalem artichoke, endive, fennel, ginger
3 cups hemp milk with cardamom/cinnamon/vanillaaaaaaaa :)
2 cups green juice
2 cups water

I was recently sent a link to a great article by the lovely Lenette Nakauchi in Chicago, on ‘22 Ways to Save Money’ as a raw foodist.
I love the number 22 and I loved this cool article too, packed with useful suggestions – check it out HERE for sweet little tips on buying in bulk, foraging, sprouting...aaaaaaand making your own fermented yummies – more on that below... ;)


on March the 13th I had:

1 quart water
mug of pau d’arco tea
2 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, landcress, parsley, Jerusalem artichoke, endive, fennel, ginger
2 cups energy soup with okra and tahini on the side
mug of spicy tea
3 cups water
2 cups green juice: celery, cucumber, landcress, parsley, Jerusalem artichoke, endive, fennel, ginger
an apple, sea spaghetti salad with Ms. Magic, followed by spicy tea and yummmmmmy ‘cool happy cakes’ ;)
2 cups water


You asked, we delivered ;) There have been numerous requests lately too for a video showing how to make Rejuvelac...so, I got my filming/editing hat out and put the following together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oke_kwwovX8

:) Hope that helps for any budding fermenters out there ;) I’ve been making rejuvelac consistently for the last few weeks now here in the UK, using it as the base for all my energy soups... It’s a great, inexpensive way to get live enzymes and probiotics into your body tooooooo...

Here’s a 7–Day Rejuvelac Timeline for your delectation:

Day 1: Leave wheatberries to soak in water overnight.
Day 2: Morning - discard soak water, leave wheat to sprout. Evening - rinse sprouts with clean water.
Day 3: Morning and evening - rinse sprouts off with clean water.
Day 4: Place sprouted wheat into a container and cover with lots of water to create the rejuvelac. Leave to ferment for the next 36-48 hours or so.
Day 5: Leave the rejuvelac fermenting.
Day 6: Decant the drink into containers, into the fridge. Add more water onto the wheat to make a second batch of rejuvelac.
Day 7: Decant the second batch of rejuvelac and offer the wheatberries to the local birdies ;)

ENJOY :)

All delight and joy to you...
Ms. Stokes. xxx

Let's CELEBRATE ;)

I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED and happy and grateful and RELIEVED…any of you who have purchased RawReform E-books this last month will know there have been issues with the delivery of the e-books via Paypal…this has been a huge challenge to straighten out, during which, every single transaction has literally had to be handled manually – not remarkably enjoyable…but TODAY, the magical webmaster of the RawReform site fixed it all and it all now flows flawlessly again…HURRAY :))) Apologies to anyone who experienced a delay in the delivery of their e-books as a result and I would LOVE to make an offer to you all, to celebrate – for the next week, you can use the following code to get 20% off ANY purchase of the RawReform items – HURRAY :))) The coupon code is:

celebrate

After placing items in your cart on the RawReform site, you can enter the code ‘celebrate’ into the box that asks if you have a ‘Coupon Code’. THEN press the SUBMIT button (be sure to hit Submit BEFORE you go to the checkout, or your coupon won’t be activated). This code is valid up until next Wednesday, the 25th of July – and you can see which goodies are on offer HERE.
ENJOY :) and thank you for all your patience while we were fixing this issue ;)

On July the 17th I had:

1.5 litres water
small glass of rejuvelac
600ml green juice with apple and fennel
bowl of chia seeds soaked in green juice and rejuvelac, mixed with apple pulp, goji berries, cinnamon and honey
1 litre water
box of cherries
2 peaches and a handful of sunflower greens
3tbsps bee pollen mixed with hemp seed and cardamom powder
500ml water
cup of banana/strawberry ice cream
cup of green smoothie with almond milk, mango, romaine and sunflower greens
500ml water

Following my water ramblings of yesterday, this question came in today from another reader, Sonia:

“re the water question, i am always thirsty, i drink loads of water, and i have been tested, i am not diabetic, Why is this?”

Thanks for your question, Sonia. Well, I assume you are asking about why you're always thirsty, rather than why you're not diabetic... ;)
It is tough for me to give you a good answer about this however, without seeing you and knowing much more about your current situation and eating habits. For a start, how much is 'loads' of water for you? Are you eating 100% raw? If not, what else are you eating? How long have you been on a raw path? What was your health like before that? Do you exercise/sweat much? Are you eating many WATER-RICH foods? Do you live/work with air conditioning? Are you getting many salty foods into your body, that 'hold' the water? Are you taking care of your colon to help eliminate old waste matter that's being released? There are SO many factors at play here... MOST people in our societies are chronically dehydrated, so drinking 'a lot' of water for most people is something useful, rather than an issue...(see the book 'You're Not Sick, You're Thirsty' for more info.) My guidance for you at this point though would be to check in with a HOLISTIC practitioner of some kind if this really concerns you - someone who will take a look at the whole picture with you, not just an isolated part of your health/body, like blood pressure or smthg...I'd suggest a homoeopath or naturopath or better yet, someone who is trained in a number of alternative fields and can give you a good, broad perspective...all best wishes to you with this ;)

I spoke tonight in Barrie, Ontario, with a lovely little group of people and will speak again this Saturday in Toronto on Saturday with Matt Monarch – details HERE – hope to see you there if you're around... ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

The Tale of Smurfette and the Wheat Berries...

Today I took time out and went into the yummy-crazy world of Niagara Falls…WOW…what a mixture…incredible, beautiful, awe-inspiring natural wonder meets all kinds of plastic neon tourist-orientated flotsam…and everyone is dressed like smurfs ;) lol…hundreds and hundreds of people…quite amazing…so, we joined the blue plastic army and boarded the Maid of the Mist…it was SOOOOOOO beautiful to see the falls so close…I was here perhaps 10 years ago and don’t recall having gone so near to the water…the boat goes right into the ‘horseshoe’ of the falls and waits there a while…looking up, you are surrounded by cascading, thundering walls of water on all sides…we were DRENCHED from the spray (except for the covering of the smurf uniforms of course) and the water felt surprisingly clean and refreshing…I was howling like a banshee…I loved it :) I also happened to be eating a box of cherries at the time, which got cleansed in the mighty shower from Niagara too…wOOOOOOoooo…what a place…just magnificent…

On July the 5th I had:

1 litre water
300ml rejuvelac
½ medium papaya
500ml water
spinach/sunflower greens/sauerkraut salad with hemp seed/flax oil/salt mixture, in nori wraps
500ml water
700ml cucumber/celery/fennel/lime juice
1 litre banana/romaine/spirulina smoothie with whole gojis thrown in for chewability ;)
500ml water

OK, so I started making rejuvelac…I’d never done it before and am so far enjoying it. For those not familiar, rejuvelac is a drink made by fermenting wheat berries. It was one of Wiggie’s favourites and I’m quite into the dear old gal’s writings at the moment, so decided to brew up a batch for myself. On first SMELL, I was not taken with it…to be honest, it smelt like old socks…or mouldy cheese…hmmm…and YET, when I started to drink it, it is actually very mild and quite pleasant. It’s also outrageously packed with nutrients and live enzymes. It’s rich in vitamins B and E, has more vitamin C than orange juice, valuable friendly bacteria, proteins and enzymes, helps digestion and balances the intestinal flora. Wow...
So now I’m drinking it every day. I’m rather proud of myself in fact for having made my first batch. One of the less-than-thrilling aspects of living on the road, for me, is that doing things like taking the time to sprout things or make my own crackers, etc, doesn’t tend to happen…I have been stopped in one place for a few weeks now though, so it seemed like an ideal chance to try smthg like this…I’d recommend it…like many things, it’s SO easy when you know how to do it, very inexpensive and will give you masses of interesting-smelling liquid to nurture your intestinal flora with ;) See below for instructions on how to make some yourself and ENJOY…

On July the 6th I had:

1 litre water
400ml rejuvelac
700ml cucumber/celery/fennel/lime juice
½ an AMAZING pineapple
400ml rejuvelac
spinach/sunflower greens/sauerkraut salad with hemp seed/flax oil/salt mixture, in nori wraps
500ml water
about 2lbs of amazing local cherries, some doused in water from Niagara Falls :O
500ml water
500ml rejuvelac
bowl of watermelon flesh
500ml water

Here’s how I made my rejuvelac. I soaked a load of soft wheat berries overnight for abt 8 hours (probably about a cup, I’d guess - I got them organic from a bulk section in a health food shop). Then the next morning I drained that soak water away.
I then sprouted the wheat berries for 2 days, rinsing them twice a day.
After that, I covered them with about 2 litres of water in glass jars with the tops covered with nut milk bags secured with rubber bands. I left them to ferment for 2 days, before my first batch was ready. I poured that off and started drinking it and storing it in the fridge.
I covered the wheat berries with another two litres of water and left them again, this time for a day. I poured of that batch into the container in the fridge, then repeated the same process for the last batch of 2 litres. So, I used the same berries 3 times, to get about 6 litres or 1.5 gallons of rejuvelac…and tomorrow I’ll throw the wheat berries out for the birdies to munch…what a great process…
If you want to investigate more about Wiggie and her fermented ways, HERE’s a selection of her books for your perusal…

Ooooo, happy 7/7/7 to everyone for Saturday ;) Looks set to be a yummy lucky day…ENJOY…

One love,
Angela. xxx