Retreats and Relief...

OOOoooo, here’s another exciting raw food job opportunity alert:
I was contacted this week by Florence in Canada, who is looking for three yummy beings to help run her spa and wellness resort at a 4* wilderness lodge in the Selkirk Mountains, BC. The roles are:

1) Cleanse Director
2) Raw Food Chef and Lifestyle Coach
3) Holistic Health Practitioner and Spa Services Coordinator

The centre will be offering raw food, body cleansing and health rejuvenation retreats.
The pay for these positions looks great, the scenery will definitely be stunning, the work rewarding and staff from outside the immediate area might also be able to live in the lodge during the retreat season (July-October).
Full job descriptions and details on how to apply for these positions are available on the retreat website - http://www.inner-cleanse.ca/ - click the ‘Employment Opportunities’ button, on the left-hand side. You can also read details about the retreats on the site.
ENJOY :)

on June the 6th I had:

1 quart water
1 mug of pau d’arco tea
3 cups cucumber/celery/pineapple/ginger juice
2 cups water
1lb cherries
yummy savoury meal of nori rolls stuffed with dill hummus, mung bean sprouts, baby spinach, lambs’ quarters and spicy cracker pieces. Followed by a DELECTABLE little bowl of goji berry powder, yacon powder and pine nut butter mixed together :O
cup of peppermint tea
2 cups celery/cucumber/cilantro/spinach/endive/fennel/ginger/carrot juice
2 apples and 2 tbsp of divine goji powder
2 cups water

on June the 7th I had:

1 quart water
1 mug pau d’arco tea
2 cups celery/cucumber/cilantro/spinach/endive/fennel/ginger/carrot juice
a delicious papaya
3 cups water
jalapeno/cilantro hummus with baby leaf salad, nori, Mexican flax crackers and mung bean sprouts. 2 raw chocolate bliss balls
3 cups water
3 cups celery/cucumber/apple/ginger juice
1lb gorgeous cherries and 2 tbsp goji berry powder
2 cups water

After the blog I wrote about travel last week, Makaela replied to say:

“Just like to mention, have travelled in India, & took the homeopathic remedies for malaria...and out of a few of us, the only ones that got sick were the ones taking the prescribed medication for malaria...the homeopathic work a treat .....& Helios etc. advise always for free...
Makaela”

WOW, that’s SO great to hear, Makaela, thanks for sharing that. I can remember taking rounds of the prescribed malaria tablets at least twice on travels in my younger days and they felt horrendous in my body, just as I’d heard they would be – nausea, headaches etc (and that from someone who was VERY accustomed to taking allopathic medicines at that point ;) Yes...very unpleasant pills, so it’s WONDERFUL to hear a raw foodie success story with taking the homoeopathic remedy instead...thanks :)
Incidentally, while we’re on the topic of nasty old medicines, I awoke one day this week to the taste of thyroxine in my mouth – which I stopped taking 6 years ago when I went raw (after being on it for abt 12 years). WOW...where had THAT been hiding...??? ;)

on June the 8th I had:

1 quart water
1 mug womens’ tea
big slice of watermelon
3 cups cucumber/celery/pineapple/carrot/ginger juice
flax crackers and nori rolls with pistachio nut butter, mung bean sprouts & lambs’ lettuce. Followed by a little ball of goji berry powder, yacon powder and pine nut butter together = total YUM ;)
mug of peppermint tea
3 cups water
2 cups celery/cucumber/endive/sprouts/lettuce/carrot juice
½ a yummy papaya
little ramekin (love that word ;) bowl of carob powder mixed with yacon powder and pine nut butter
3 cups water


on June the 9th I had:

1 quart water
1 mug pau d’arco tea
2 cups celery/cucumber/endive/sprouts/lettuce/carrot juice
½ a yummy papaya
2 cups water
2 apples with ½ an avocado, dulse, mung beans, pistachio nut butter and a few flax crackers
ramekin of carob powder/yacon powder/pine nut butter
1.5 quarts water
2 cups celery/cucumber/endive/cilantro/ginger/carrot/apple juice
sublime little bowl of blended green yum: macadamia butter, yacon powder, maca powder, carob powder, green powder, water
2 cups water

I’ve been reading a couple of the Postsecret books this last week. Have you been over to Postsecret.com? I’ve mentioned it before once or twice...I think it’s a fascinating project. If you’re not familiar, it is a ‘community art project’ wherein people anonymously send in their secrets that they’ve never told anyone before, written on postcards. These postcards are then displayed on the website, at travelling exhibitions and some of them make it into the Postsecret books (4 books have been published so far I think).

Frank Warren is the guy who started this project and had NO idea that it would reach the scale it has – I believe over 250,000 postcards have been sent in since he started in 2005. People write in about all kinds of things – unrequited love, deepest wishes, traumas, memories, suspicions, doubts etc. The books are amazing little collections of expressed vulnerability, truth and sincerity. You can almost sense the collective relief of letting these things OUT into the world, out of each individual’s head ;)

I remember when I first started to get into ‘recovery’ work, as outlined in ‘Raw Emotions’, one of the things that struck me the most was connecting to the vulnerability, fallibility and ‘humanity’ of others – realising that, wow, other people do things or have done things they don’t feel so great about and it’s ok to talk about those things, share them, release them and hey, maybe even laugh about it all afterwards ;) This is the same kind of transformative energy I perceive in the Postsecret project and books too. Indeed, I’ve heard of people reading one of these books and it helping catalyse them into whole new life paths...beautiful...
My favourite piece that I’ve seen in the 2 books I’ve been looking at over the last week seems to have been written by a young woman in Canada. She wrote that there were 6 things she felt unable to tell anyone – even her boyfriend, who she shares everything with. She wrote them down on 6 postcards and was going to mail them in to Postsecret. The next morning, she decided instead to leave them next to her boyfriend’s pillow as he slept and she left for work. A while later, he arrived at her place of work.
He asked her to marry him.
She said yes.
That actually moves to tears – I find the shift in energy so beautiful – that these things that have probably been holding her back from being fully present, open and loving for years are suddenly instantly transformed and released, in the light of acceptance and love. We’re all human. We all have aspects of clutter and shadow behind us – they don’t have to strangle-hold our experiences though, if we choose to let them out into the light...
Ahhhhhhhhh, breathing deep with gratitude here,

All love,
Angela. xxx

Fruity Feedback...

I’m re-reading Raw Emotions at the moment. I’m happy to see that it makes sense ;) LOL...after a couple of months’ break from it, I’m reading it over and getting it ready to go to print. I’m adding in a few little extras here and there for the printed version, like a ‘testimony’ page of peoples’ comments so far who have read the book. We’ve had some absolutely lovely feedback already and we’re certainly open to more if YOU’ve read 'Raw Emotions' and would like to share anything in regards to your experience with it. Here’s something sent in by ‘A’ this week:

“Hi Angela, I just wanted to tell you that I finished reading "Raw Emotions" last night.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for writing this book.

You have hit so many nails on the head for me in this book, I am very grateful to you. I am now in the process over going back through my notes to decide which concepts I am going to implement first.

I want so badly to heal my relationship with food and eating and you are such an inspiration to me. Now I see clearly why my earlier attempts at being raw or succeeding with any other way of eating have not been sustainable.
And, thanks to your book, I understand why eating raw foods can be an important part of the healing process. Maybe the time was right for me to get the message...and maybe it's about the teacher showing up with the student is ready.

Thanks again.
Best, A.”

THANKS, A :) If YOU have a testimony you’d love to share, or any comments, feedback, typo alerts or anything else about ‘Raw Emotions’ you’d care to send in, please email angela@rawreform.com and let me know :) You can also order the e-book HERE if you haven’t seen it yet...
THANKS :)

on June the 4th I had:

1 quart water
cup of pau d’arco tea
10oz celery/cucumber/cabbage/fennel/spinach/carrot juice
1lb cherries
2 cups celery/cucumber/spinach/fennel/cabbage/endive/lemon juice
spicy flax crackers topped with dill hummus, sprouts and dulse seaweed = yummmmm
little bowl of sweet stuff afterwards = GOJI BERRY POWDER (WOW), yacon powder and lucuma powder, mixed with water
3 cups water
10oz celery/cucumber/spinach/fennel/cabbage/endive/lemon juice
orange fruits meal: papaya/loquats/persimmon
3 cups water

Time for another story of Brighton magic :) A couple of days ago, a dear friend was leaving on a trip to London for the day. Just before she left, I said ‘Mmmmm, if I was going to London today, I’d go and eat durian there...’ ;)
A few hours later, I was walking down a street in Brighton and suddenly felt the energy of durian, as my attention was drawn to the left. I looked up and there was a Chinese supermarket there that I’d never seen before. Hmmm...I followed the clues and walked towards the store. I then SMELT the durian before I even saw it...and entered the shop to find 2 boxes of fresh, unfrozen durian sitting next to the door. :))) I’ve never seen durian for sale in Brighton before and was extremely excited. The owner told me she gets shipments of them every week in the summer time and this was the first shipment of the summer...and it had just arrived a few minutes before I got there. WOW. The synchronicities in this place are just beautiful :) I really feel like Brighton is an amazing vortex at times – things can certainly manifest quickly here... The cost seemed reasonable too, at £5.95/kilo – which doesn’t seem wildly different to London prices, if I recall correctly. I bought a gorgeous little fruit and ate it in the sun yesterday. If anyone else would love to go and partake of these magnificent munchables, the address is:

Ryelight Supermarket, 48 Preston Street, Brighton, BN1 2HP Tel: 01273 734954

ENJOY :)


on June the 5th I had:

1 quart water
1 mug pau d’arco tea
orange fruits meal: papaya/loquats/persimmon
3 cups celery/cucumber/endive/spinach/fennel/ginger/apple juice
a GORGEOUS little durian
1.5 quarts water
3 cups celery/cucumber/endive/spinach/fennel/ginger/apple juice
1 mug rooibus tea
1 cup water

I’ve been eating quite a lot of fruit (mono-)meals of late and REALLY enjoying them. Here are some of the things I’ve been appreciating:

1. I love that when I eat a fruit meal, I feel light afterwards, rather than ‘weighed down’ in some sense by fats/heavier combinations, etc. When we first go raw, for most of us, there’s a sense that we can almost ‘eat anything’ and we’ll still lose weight, feel healthier and lighter after meals and so on, even if we’re eating raw pizza and cheesecakes all day long – this is of course because we’ve STOPPED eating the really crazy toxic processed/cooked ‘foods’ and almost anything that’s raw is some kind of improvement. That all shifts, the longer one is raw. If I was to eat raw pizza, cookies, cakes etc all day long now, I’d be a mess...LOL...my body consistently moves towards a ‘cleaner’/simpler intake all the time. Whereas raw pizza might have felt ‘light on my stomach’ to me at the start of this journey compared to the junk foods I used to eat, that is no longer the case. Now FRUIT meals feel light to me and I like the ‘clean’ feeling of fuelling up on them...
2. Yesterday I was eating some gorgeous papaya in the sun (one of my absolute favourite foods). After eating, I looked at my skin and noticed my arms and legs looked a little dry. Hmmm, what to do...? Then I realised the answer was right there in front of me – the discarded papaya skin :) I picked it back up and rubbed it all over my limbs – I got my food, then they got theirs’ – wonderful :)
3. I’m feeling more and more that I definitely prefer eating fruits whole, as they are, rather than blending them, making them into cakes/puddings etc. It just feels SO good to me to eat something like that in its whole and natural form, giving blessings before I open it or bite into it, visualising where it came from, giving gratitude. It seems a very different energy to throwing something in a blender and shattering all the cells into a mixture of something else. I’m reading the classic book ‘The Secret Life of Plants’ at the moment, which is also impacting my thoughts around this a lot ;) Plants truly sense and respond to all our thoughts and feelings, as repeatedly outlined in this book with countless examples...
4. I love when supermarkets/stores sell off the BEST fruit really cheaply, because as far as their standards go, it is ‘overripe’, when in fact, it is absolutely IDEALLY ready for munching...this week for example, I got a clutch of divine persimmons that were perfectly soft and ripe for less than £1 ($2)...I see this happen a lot with bananas too...
5. Finally...GOJI BERRY POWDER...while this may be a dried fruit product, rather than something of the more succulent nature, I felt compelled nonetheless to mention it here. This week, three sachets of dried goji berry powder arrived here from Mr. Monarch in the US. (: W.O.W. :) This is one of the most sublime raw foods I’ve tasted yet. Absolutely delicious – it melts in your mouth and tastes sweet and fresh and bizarrely reminiscent of some kind of childhood sweets (not sure which...) You can literally just eat it straight from the packet on its own, it’s SO tasty...or add to any kind of sweet raw meal/smoothie/cake etc...you can get hold of some HERE if you’d like to treat your taste buds ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Travelling in the RAW...

I’m going to answer a couple of travel-related raw questions today that came in recently...first up:

“I am deciding to go & do a little travelling & wondering / hoping you might cover some of your essential tips for travelling in the raw possibly on your blog.....
Makaela”

Thank you :) Ok...let’s see...here are my Top 10 Essential Tips for travelling in the raw...

*BE PREPARED – take nutrient-dense things with you that travel well – e.g. – don’t take a watermelon with you on a plane ;) LOL – aside from the fact it would probably take up half your baggage allowance and quite possibly be confiscated at the other end, it’s not going to feed you for more than a day or two. Take foods that are somewhat the ‘opposite’ of watermelon – dense, concentrated things – nuts, seeds, crackers, goji berries, seaweeds, trail mixes, etc. Have these things with you, then get the fresh stuff where you are. If travelling by plane, pack as many foods as possible into your CHECKED luggage. Take whatever you're going to eat on the plane in your hand luggage (water-content rich things like cucumbers are good here ;) - try asking the security people NOT to x-ray your plane food - you might get lucky ;)
*FRESH PRODUCE – clearly, organic is usually preferable – you might not always be in areas where organic produce seems very forthcoming though, SO, aim for stuff with thick skins, if in doubt – papaya, pineapple, avocado, possibly durian ;) etc. If pushed, it seems preferable (though certainly debatable ;) to go for non-organic fresh produce than to choose any processed, packaged food instead. Do your best with what you find available and be sure to give your food lots of love, gratitude and blessings, regardless of origin ;)
*CHIA SEEDS are a FANTASTIC food to travel with, as they are very nutrient dense and bulk up in under 10 minutes to 10 times their volume, when soaked in any liquid. This is the food Aztec and Mayan messengers used to use, to keep them going on their travels. See the Chia Cheat Sheet for more info.
*GREEN POWDERS – definitely take green powders with you wherever you go – hopefully and preferably you’ll find fresh greens that you feel good about, wherever you end up – in the event that you don’t though, or you just want more greens – you’ll always have the powder as a back-up ;) VERY important to help keep us balanced/alkalised/mineralised, especially if you’re somewhere where the main things you’re munching are fruits and you’re getting a bit sugared-out ;) (If you can take some probiotics with you that are stable at room temperature/travel well, that will be useful too ;)
*COCONUTS – if you’re somewhere that has fresh cocos available – GO for it, preferably many times daily ;) I am in LOVE with fresh cocos – they are quite incredible – so balancing, nourishing, full of electrolytes, sterile environment (coco water can actually be used for blood transfusions for humans if necessary ;O...), they’re also anti-fungal/microbial/viral etc – oooooo, they’re just wonderful. Consume, often ;) In many cases, drinking coco water will be FAR preferable to drinking any water sources you’ll find, though do try to drink ‘pure’ water daily too (which will often mean bottled water...).

(Contd. below…)

on June the 2nd I had:

1 quart water
12 oz cantaloupe melon juice
2.5 cups celery/cucumber/fennel/cabbage/spinach/watercress/carrot juice
1lb yummmmmmy cherries
little bowl of blended green yum: mango/spinach/alfalfa sprouts/spirulina/kelp/avocado, with mung bean sprouts and pumpkin seeds stirred in :) delicious...
2 cups water
½ a delicious papaya
2 cups celery/cucumber/fennel/cabbage/spinach/watercress/carrot juice
cup of ‘womens’ tea
little bowl of chia gel mixed with finely diced banana and apple pieces
another cup of ‘womens’ tea
1 cup water

*RESEARCH – if you feel drawn to, it can be useful before you set out to do a little poking around on the internet etc to see what kind of options might be available where you’re heading – try search terms in Google like ‘organic’, ‘organic farm’, ‘permaculture’, ‘raw food’ and so on, for that area and see what pops up – you might suddenly discover that there’s an organic farm with a home-stay right in the region you’re interested in visiting... ;) Or you might locate some markets to go and check out that you wouldn’t have otherwise maybe found... (As always, you can check out sites like WWOOF.org – Willing Workers On Organic Farms – for places to do work exchange. Couchsurfing.com and Craigslist.com may also be useful ;)
*BELIEVE that you will eat foods you want to eat – i.e. don’t be in fear that there’s going to be nothing for you to eat – where there’s a will, there’s a way. Mr. M and I travel all over the world and have NEVER resorted to eating cooked/processed things – there is always SMTHG to eat, if you’re willing to focus energy towards finding it ;)
*EQUIPMENT – we find it useful to have a few basic items with us – a few spoons/forks/a sharp knife or two, a couple of wooden bowls, NUT MILK BAGS, water containers, etc. We use nut milk bags for sprouting on the road, as well as straining juice, etc. On this last huge trip down under, we ended up travelling with a blender AND a juicer – pretty intense ;) I would hope not to do that again and wouldn’t really recommend it (though it’s definitely nice to have access to those things – also depends a lot on HOW you’re travelling – if you have a vehicle of some kind, that can make a big difference ;) You could also of course travel with a little ‘personal blender’, which can be also used to make juices, IF you’re carrying a nut milk bag ;)
*HOUSE GUESTS – if you’ve never read it, you can hop over HERE to read an article I wrote a while back called ‘How to Be a Great House Guest’ – which was published by the Guardian online in the UK :)
*ENJOY – remember that whatever happens, it’s all just a game – a big ol’ cosmic giggle ;) Regardless of what appears to be unfolding around us, we can be happy in every moment, if we choose to be. Every experience is an opportunity. Life on the road can feel pretty intense at times, far from ‘home’, unfamiliar languages/places/tired/jetlag/etc etc... do your best, whatever the apparent circumstances are, to be with what is, with grace. Breathe deep...you might not have seen an organic kale leaf in 3 weeks...hmmm, life’s still ok though, right? LOL ;) Go with the flow...and ENJOY :)

Hope that helps :)

on June the 3rd I had:

1 quart water
1.5 cups pau d’arco tea
1 quart cucumber/apple/ginger juice
bowl of blended yum: banana/avocado/alfalfa sprouts/cilantro/spirulina/kelp powder, with mung bean sprouts and pumpkin seeds swirled in
3 cups water
1lb cherries, 3 loquats
20oz spinach/cucumber/celery/fennel/alfalfa sprout/cabbage/carrot juice
bowl of chia gel with papaya and finely diced banana, followed by a
little bowl of amazing yum mixture: GOJI BERRY POWDER (WOW), with lucuma powder, yacon powder and a little pine nut butter
3 cups water

Ok, onto travel Q number 2:

“I have a question. With all the traveling you and Matt do, are you required to get any vaccines before you are allowed into any of the countries you travel to? I want to do some traveling in the future but I am against vaccines.
Thanks,
Kim~”

Hmmmm...yes, I had a LOT of vaccines for international travel, BEFORE I was raw...pretty much all the vaccines that are offered in fact, except for yellow fever. My experience was that they were mostly very unpleasant. During my early detox as a raw foodist, my left arm would often swell up in red lumps and release pus - presumably old toxins from all the injections. (Sorry if that is 'TMI' for you ;)
SO, since I've been raw, I have not had any injections...and I've had no issues travelling anywhere...then again, I've been going to pretty 'tame' places mostly...the US, Canada, western Europe etc...
I'll say this though - I cannot recall EVER being checked ANYWHERE I have gone for proof that I've had vaccinations - and I've travelled all over the world...so, I'm not sure when/if it would really be an issue. Take obvious precautions, like not eating things with thin skins/no skins, avoid ice cubes etc and areas where it looks less than sanitary and...you can easily be fine and disease-free. I feel it's pretty unlikely much of any of the vaccines are still in my body - maybe some of them - and I have no 'fear' about going places, getting illnesses OR getting hassled for not having 'the right injections' ;) I guess I have the somewhat dubious 'advantage' that if they WERE to hassle me abt it, I have HAD an armful of toxins in the past and probably have some paperwork somewhere to show that I had them all done...as I said though, I cannot remember EVER being asked abt my injections by any border guards etc...
For other places to ask/read abt this - I would perhaps suggest curezone.org as a starting point, along with perhaps the 'Thorn Tree' forums on the Lonely Planet site...

ENJOY :)
All love,
Angelalalalaaaaaaaaa. Xxx

Brighton ROCKS :)))

I had SUCH a beautiful experience on Brighton beach today, which I would love to share.
It was the first time I’ve been to the beach since I got back to the UK. As perhaps you may be aware, this is not a sandy beach – it’s all pebbles. As I stepped out onto the rocks, a HUGE smile spontaneously spread across my face and is actually still with me as I write this. Something about Brighton beach just really seems to resonate for me... I had a very moving experience here on my ‘spiritual’ path a couple of years back, which I’ll write more about further down the page... My mother’s side of the family is from here and this place holds a lot of energy for me... I love how so many people all sit on the beach, facing out to sea – they rarely face other directions – it’s like a collective meditation out to the ocean... I laid down on the pebbles this afternoon and tuned into the energy of the place through my whole chakra system; yummy, relaxing energy flowed through me. After a while I sat up and looked around at all the stones around me. I thought to myself, ‘mmmm, I’d like to bring one of you with me, to carry this energy on my journey’, then I wondered how I would recognise such a stone in my collection – I have many stones from many places and the stones from Brighton beach are relatively plain – how would I tell it apart from others in years to come? Right then, my hand reached out and picked up the first stone I laid eyes on. I turned it over and right there, etched into the surface, was the word ‘Brighton’ (see pic - hope you can kind of make it out - my usual camera is on holiday at the moment ;).

:O :O :O .WOW.

Have NO doubt that the universe hears and responds to our every thought... What a BEAUTIFUL gift – of all the millions of stones on the beach, that was the one I was shown to pick up... I have no idea how it came to be etched with the name of this city...perhaps there are many more like this ;) LOL...maybe it’s a city policy now in fact, to stamp all the beach stones, so that people like me don’t come along and make off with them all ;) LOL...I really don’t know...in any event, I really appreciated it as a sweet gesture and affirmation from the Universe... Ever-more encouragement to keep my thoughts tuned to love and gratitude ;)

on May the 31st I had:

1 quart water
3 cups watermelon juice
1.5 cups green juice: celery/cucumber/endive/radish/spinach/ carrot juice
1lb yummy cherries
2 cups water
little gorgeous nugget of Kate Magic goji cake with a little bowl of super-fuel: green powder, hemp seeds, yacon syrup, maca = YUM
3 cups water
cup of pau d’arco tea
1.5 cups green juice: celery/cucumber/endive/radish/spinach/ carrot juice
½ a sublime papaya
2 cups water

Ok, so here’s smthg I wrote a while back about another very moving experience I had on Brighton beach back in summer 2005, while I was helping out at ‘Raw Living’...

“After another whirlwind day with Raw Living, I felt over-stimulated on super-fast energy and a great need to get out of the house and down to the beach. I went there and reached out to the sea and stones to help me ease the intensity I was feeling in my life. I laid down on the pebble beach and released my chakras to the stones and the sky. Something amazing started to happen. A huge amount of energy began to be sent into my being, through my third eye chakra. It came in waves, pulsating into my being, crashing into and onto and through me like the waves of the sea were crashing onto the shore below me. It was an extremely intense experience, yet liberating too and would be the start of a greatly increased connection for me with my energy body. I stayed there, letting the waves flow into my being, for quite some time, exploring this new sensation. When it became too cold to remain there on the beach, I headed home again in a new altered state. I was blown away by the intensity of this new feeling and unsure what to do with it…it was a little hard to even explain what had happened to Kate when I got home…
In the days that followed, the energy kept on coming into my body, with the same intensity and it was a challenging time for me. I simply didn’t know what to do with it all back then…I felt very ungrounded and this powerful force was crashing continually into and through my body. It felt something like being continually electrocuted for a few days. I was very unbalanced with it and needed guidance. I asked my older 'fairy godmother' friend for guidance and she helped me understand that it was a Kundalini awakening – a new level of energy being opened to me and I needed to integrate it and learn to ground it, to feel more at ease. I needed to allow it to become a whole body experience – allow the energy to flow through my whole being as it came in, rather than it just bounding into me and my system kind of freaking as it didn’t yet know how to handle it. This was what I needed to know and as I worked with those principles, it did indeed become a more integrated and whole-body experience. Rather than it feeling like my energy field was being boomed apart by the waves, it started to feel like an amazing and hugely enriching experience. The energy flowed now in through my third eye chakra and dissipated through my whole system. Other dramatic events of that time also conspired to help me learn to access and ground greater energies...”

I LOVE BRIGHTON :)))

on June the 1st I had:

1 quart water
1 cup pau d’arco tea
3 cups celery/cucumber/spinach/watercress/ginger/apple juice
1lb cherries
yummy little meal of hemp seed/flax oil/Himalayan salt/kelp powder mixture stuffed in nori rolls with mixed sprouts & spinach leaves
3 cups water
3 cups celery/cucumber/spinach/lettuce/watercress/ginger/apple juice
½ a delicious large papaya
2 cups water

I also love the raw community that is manifesting around Brighton. There are SO many incredible, vibrant beings here, sharing raw fun and creating beautiful things. I was at a raw potluck last week and as I looked round the room at the attendees, I was just awestruck at all the wonderful things everyone is manifesting...here are just some of the raw-friendly businesses in this area (in alphabetical order ;) :

*Hunab Ku – Twinkle and Lucifer’s ‘Portal to the Immortal’ – they are also helping organise a retreat with David Wolfe later this year...

*Raw Chocolate Company – Linus’ phenomenal big-scale project to bring raw chocolate to the masses :)

*Raw Gaia – Lisa and Hector’s GORGEOUS line of raw skin-care products – NOTHING compares ;)

*Raw Kitchen – the uber-lovely Shell’s site with recipes, raw catering services and more...

*Raw Living – Kate’s magical long-standing website with store, books, recipes etc.

*Space of Love – as mentioned recently – Matt (and Lara’s ;) site for the festie in August (plus the Anastasia books).

*Total Raw Food – newlyweds Jess and Tom’s vibrant online store, with articles, recipes and more.

Are there more that I’ve missed...? Probably – I’m sure someone will remind me if there is ;) ...and these are just the people who are ‘officially’ doing raw things here – there are so many more magical raw beings around here involved in this scene...what a blessing :)
Incidentally, Kate Magic also wrote a very sweet MySpace blog this week about how much she also loves Brighton – CLICK HERE to see more ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

6 Years Raw TODAY :)

OOooOoOOooo, I have a VERY exciting JUICY opportunity for someone out there...I’ve been contacted by a lovely woman named Jennifer here in the UK who is looking for someone to be a live-in chef at her beautiful new rural property in the north part of East Sussex, starting in mid-July (see pic – WOW ;).
The role involves preparing fresh veggie juices and salads daily as part of a weight-loss programme for the land-owner. In return, the fortunate being who takes on this position will have their own self-contained ‘bedsit’ living area to enjoy. This position would suit an individual OR perhaps a couple who are happy to share the space together. The property covers 8 beautiful acres, with organic gardens and a swimming pool due to be created this summer.
The position would suit someone who is creative, open-minded and preferably talented at preparing healthy (mostly raw) foods, though Jennifer is willing to train someone to make juice too, if necessary ;)
It is ESSENTIAL that whoever takes on this role is a car driver with their own vehicle, as Jennifer does not drive and part of the job would involve going to purchase produce from nearby shops/markets, etc. The position will be offered at first on a 3-month trial basis, so that each party can confirm that this is something they feel good about ;)
Jennifer has recently returned to the UK from California, where she lived in a raw community for a few years and she is hoping to create a similar supportive network at this new property here.
Aside from this ‘JUICY’ position, Jennifer is also seeking a live-in gardener/caretaker/groundsperson to manage the organic gardens and property, in return for living in another self-contained cottage on the land. (This cottage could also easily accommodate a small family unit or couple if necessary.) The ideal person for this position will have experience with gardening/landscaping/building etc.
There may also be other opportunities to move into a space on the grounds in the future.
Aside from the main house, bedsit and cottage, the estate also contains a restored barn, which has been converted into a lovely ‘workshop’ space, where gatherings will quite possibly be held in the future.
If you would like to contact Jennifer about the Chef or Gardener roles, please email her on: dragonfly229 (at) hotmail.com (replace ‘at’ with the @ symbol), being sure to write ‘Community Retreat Project’ in the subject title, please.
(I imagine these positions are likely equally open to international candidates as they are to UK residents, provided any international applicants take care of their own visa/travel arrangements, etc.)

on May the 28th I had:

1 quart water
40oz watermelon/orange juice
½ tsp bee pollen
3 cups cucumber/radish/endive/cabbage/lettuces/spinach/carrot juice
3 cups water
1 quart cucumber/celery/apple/ginger juice
½ tsp spirulina powder
cup of rooibus tea
½ tsp coconut oil
2 cups cucumber/radish/endive/cabbage/lettuces/spinach/carrot juice
2 cups water
juice of 2 oranges mixed with spirulina powder
1 cup water

As I post this, it is May the 30th 2008 and it is exactly 6 years today since I went raw, up in Iceland :)))
WHAT a journey it’s been :O I feel so very blessed to be on this path, living my truth, sharing with so many incredible people and watching the shifts in lives/consciousness...it is an amazing gift...
As I’m in England at the moment, I took the opportunity to seek out my old diary from 2002, to see what my thoughts were during those fateful days 6 years ago...here are some choice excerpts:

Firstly, this is how I summed up the evening before the 30th, when I was lent the ‘Raw Family’ book by my friend – a crossroads moment in my life...

May 29th, 2002
‘After dinner (pasta), felt very full and tired and uncommunicative. Decided to go out to tent. Laid out there – cold, but made fires in my stomach and was fine. Then H, being very sweet, brought me sleeping bag and books to read. One of them was the story of the ‘raw family’ – Russians who only eat raw food. Read whole book in about 2 hours – it was fantastic, a revelation. Seemed so simple and so revolutionary – I felt like I should really do it. But so many complications seemed to be in the way. But then also, a lot of positive things for me – like I don’t own any kitchen stuff yet, I’m almost vegan now anyway, I work in greenhouses = free veg and no-one relies on me to cook, etc... Hmmm...decided to sleep on it...’

WOW – how perfect – laying with a belly-full of pasta, reading the book that was about to flip my life inside out ;)
Here’s what I wrote the next day...

May 30th, 2002
‘Didn’t sleep so well, as head was full of revolutionary thoughts about being raw. Sort of decided to do it, by accident – just prepared breakfast of fruit. It had begun. To work and hunger pangs starting to creep in were fended off with cucumber shoots, as I turned them.’
(I was working in organic greenhouses at the time, tending cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers ;)

It’s so interesting to me to look through these old diaries and see how much my life has shifted these last 6 years...perhaps I'll share some more excerpts over the coming days, seeing where I was at on my journey back then ;)
Tonight I went to a 5 Rhythms dance class to 'celebrate' the transformation I have experienced and danced myself into a trance of love and gratitude...LUSH...thank you to everyone who has rippled through my life path in these last years...may there be much more joy to unfold together yet... :)

on May the 29th I had:

1 quart water
juice of 2 oranges mixed with spirulina powder
3 cups watermelon juice
2.5 cups green juice: cucumber, celery, spinach, chard, radish, endive, cabbage, carrot juice
2 cups water
1lb GORGEOUS cherries
1 tsp green powder
2 cups green juice: cucumber, celery, spinach, chard, radish, endive, cabbage, carrot juice
½ a large, gorgeous papaya
2 cups green smoothie: mango/banana/spinach
2 cups water


on May the 30th I had:

1 quart water
3 cups watermelon/orange juice
2 cups celery/cucumber/radish/endive/cabbage/watercress/arugula/cilantro/carrot juice
½ an amazing papaya
2 cups water
little bowl of delicious sea spaghetti seaweed with flax oil, ACV and kelp granules
1.5 quarts water
1 tbsp green powder


Lisa in the UK wrote in to say:

"Hi Angela, great that you are back in blighty for a bit and good to hear that all these interesting things are happening over in the states - but is anything like it happening over ere at all do you know? sunshine and peace Lisa"

WELL, my dear...there is in fact a VERY exciting looking festie coming up in the lush Sussex countryside, from August the 15th-18th. It is called the ‘Space of Love’ festie and is a different manifestation of the ‘Funky Raw’ festie that has been running every summer down in Devon for the last few years. The lovely Lara and Matt have taken over the running of the festie this year and transplanted it to Sussex, which will make it easier to access for all the raw foodies in the London/Brighton area... ;) There will be:

raw food talks, demos, music, yoga, drumming, massage, meditation, qi gong,
sweat lodge, raw goddess workshop, kids’ yurt, healings
and amazing raw/living food catered by the divine Shell of TheRawKitchen.co.uk

This is a drug-free and alcohol-free festie and tickets are capped at 150 attendees on the land, so register soon if you want to be assured of a place ;) Weekend tickets for adults are a highly reasonable £60 for adults (£50 concessions), £30 for 6-18 year olds and under-5s go free. You can also just get a day pass for the Sunday, for £25.
For more info, see the SpaceOfLove site – hope to see you there :)

All love,
Angela. xxx

The Philosopher's Notes...

There is a VERY exciting new project I’d like to introduce you to (if you haven’t discovered it yet already ;) It’s called ‘Philosopher’s Notes’ and basically, it’s like mini ‘Cliff’s Notes’ for self-development books.
Brian Johnson (the man behind the wonderful ThinkArete site, which I keep mentioning) has taken all his favourite inspirational books and distilled the offerings in them down into 6 pages each OR MP3 recordings of around 20 minutes, that you can listen to as you go about your day... I think it’s an INCREDIBLE project and such a wonderful offering to the world...think of ALL those amazing books you’d love to take the time and space to read and it maybe never quite happens for you...sound familiar? Well, now you can quickly and easily get the ‘skinny’ on titles like ‘Loving What Is’, ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, Eckhart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth’ and so on from a guy whose true gift in life seems to be assimilating universal truths and presenting them for others in a way that makes them super-easy to understand and integrate. See why I’m excited about this now…??? ;)))
In fact, I’ll let Brian explain the project himself – here’s what he wrote on the Notes:

“The idea is simple: you’re busy. AND you’re committed to reading/learning/growing and all that good stuff. When you put those two together, it can be hard to keep up!!!

Have you noticed that in any given book, there are usually a bunch of REALLY “Big Ideas”—those life-changing gems that really make an impact in your life (those pages are usually all marked up, underlined, starred, highlighted and all that goodness in my books! :))?!?

Well, what I’ve done is opened up my favorite books, gone straight to those pages with the BIG IDEAS and created “PhilosophersNotes” that quickly give you the inspiring gems along with my thoughts on how these ideas have impacted my life and how they can impact yours—all in the context of a 6 page PDF or a ~20 minute MP3 (so you can decide if you’d prefer to read over a cup of tea of listen on your way to work, on a hike, at the gym, doing errands or whatever’s best for you!).”

Brian already has Notes ready for 35 different titles, with many, many more to come. The current introductory price for a year's subscription to the service is an incredibly reasonable $19.95, set to rise to $39.95 on June 1st (this Sunday). That investment gets you instant access to all the 35 titles that are already ready, PLUS you’ll be emailed a set of Notes from the archive every other week (both PDF and MP3 formats).

SPECIAL OFFER for RawReform Blog Readers: On top of the already inexpensive subscription price, Brian is very generously offering readers of this blog an extra 10% off. If you hop over to the PhilosophersNotes.com website now with THIS LINK, you can save an extra 10% on the yearly subscription price, reducing it to just $17.95 – wow, thanks Brian :)
I really hope y’all enjoy this new service...

on May the 25th I had:

1 quart water
2 quarts cucumber/celery/apple/ginger juice
little bowl of strawberries and cherries = yummmmmm
baby spinach leaves, mixed sprouts, pumpkin seeds, a couple of brazil nuts, wakame seaweed
3 cups water
½ an incredible honey-like papaya
1 quart water

On Monday I went to the magical launch party of Miss Magic’s new book ‘Raw Magic’ in Brighton. FUN :) (We're going to have the book available soon in the US - we're working on it - bear with us ;) Kate didn’t know I was back in the UK, so it was fun to surprise her, as well as catch up with other raw yumsters here and meet some new faces on the UK raw scene ;). It was lovely to meet Philip McCluskey in person – here is a snap of us both below, taken by the fabulous Suki...there was masses of raw chocolate on offer at the party – I’m on juices though right now. The last few weeks I kind of lost the plot with juicing once a week for the Global Juice Feast – it seemed challenging while travelling in Thailand etc. Well, right now it feels TOTALLY right to be back on juice again – my body is still pretty spun-out from jet-lag/sleep deprivation etc and juicing feels like the quickest route to recovery ;) I think I’ll juice for at least 3 consecutive days now...we’ll see what happens after that ;)

on May the 26th I had a juicy day of:

1 quart water
8oz AMAZING pineapple juice
1.5 quarts cucumber/celery/apple/ginger juice
1.5 quarts watermelon juice
2 cups water
shot of wheatgrass/ginger juice followed by a shot of straight ginger juice and a few sips of Suki’s intense wild greens/garlic juice
2.5 cups celery/cucumber/lettuce/spinach/sprouts/carrot juice
1 quart water


on May the 27th I had:

1 quart water
8oz pineapple juice
3 cups celery/cucumber/lettuce/spinach/sprouts/carrot juice
3 cups watermelon juice
2 cups beet, carrot, ginger, lime juice
double shot of wheatgrass juice
2 cups water
1 cup ‘relaxing tea’
1 tbsp green powder, 1 tbsp bee pollen
3 cups green juice: celery/cucumber/lettuce/parsley/ginger/apple
2 cups watermelon juice
2 cups water

WOW, it is SO beautiful to me to see how the raw community is coming together to support Melissa Gilbert and her family, who I wrote about on this blog a few days back. Thanks to all of you who have bought her e-books or sent in donations.
Melissa and her family are now officially homeless and out in the Arizona desert in a tent. Her husband has thankfully found a new job – they are now going to live in the tent until they have enough money to start renting a place again. Yesterday Dhrumil re-posted my blog post about the family to GiveItToMeRaw.com and it is just WONDERFUL to see all the responses there from people who have gone to Melissa’s site and bought both her e-books for $20, to help support this beautiful raw family in their time of need. You can see that thread on GITMR HERE. You can see Melissa’s blog HERE, which is now being updated by her great friend Aleesha, until Melissa has an internet connection again. If you didn’t purchase Melissa’s e-books yet and would like to, you can see them HERE. For those of you who HAVE already purchased them and maybe not received them as email attachments – please be patient – they are trying to get them emailed out to people asap as they receive the orders...you can also actually email Aleesha on timelessspirit@shaw.ca once you've paid for the e-books and she will send them to you, as Melissa has no real internet access right now...and again, as I wrote before, if you feel drawn to simply donate funds to the family, rather than purchase their books, you can transfer money with Paypal to: loverawlife@gmail.com.

THANK YOU, beautiful raw community, for sharing the love :)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Food Matters...

I’m back in England now…aaaahhhhhhhh, England...so nice to walk back into a country where I don’t need to think about whether I need a visa, or an onward ticket somewhere...time to give my passport a bit of a rest... ;) Mr Monarch is back in the US for a wee while = :(
My journey back here was over 24 hours long and I’m still kind of spun out from it...I am charmed by the sunny ‘spring’ greenery of this country though and it’s nice to see stone fruits and berries again, along with the little goodies growing in my parents’ garden, like organic lettuces, cucumbers, tomatoes and even a thriving fig tree that I gifted my mum many moons ago...
On the way back here, I read a collection of articles in ‘AsiaNews’ magazine about the current ‘food crisis’ worldwide. The theme was primarily about the decline in availability of rice, as the major staple food of Asia and the issue of what to substitute for rice...I was somewhat saddened and alarmed to see that the main alternative being suggested was potatoes... ??? After having just been in Thailand where we were totally overwhelmed by the amount of fruit we saw – SO much durian hanging from trees and stacked in warehouses for example that it seemed impossible there could even be enough people to eat it all – it seems very odd to me to apparently ignore that and head towards planting up masses of spuds instead, which according to the articles, many people in Asia do not really like anyway... Hmmmm, very curious... I wonder if the Anastasia books have been translated yet into Chinese, Japanese, Thai or any other major Asian language...I hope so...imagine the impact that COULD be seen if people all over just that region of the world (let alone the rest of it), instead of fretting over the apparent lack of food, were willing/able to get to a piece of land and start growing their own fruits, veggies and whatever else jingles their jangles...

on May the 23rd I had:

1 quart water
2 cups celery/spinach/cucumber/lettuces/parsley/carrot juice
2 cups green smoothie: banana/romaine lettuce
3 little persimmons
1 quart water
romaine wraps stuffed with wakame seaweed, avocado, sprouts, pumpkin seeds & arugula leaves
2 quarts water
water of 2 young coconuts

I’m VERY excited to announce a new film that is going to released very soon called ‘Food Matters’ – have you seen the trailer for it yet? It looks AMAZING to me – especially for showing to doubting relatives, sceptics, people who tend to live in their left-hemispheres and so on ;) It is a full-length, professional documentary about how modern, ‘industrial’, processed foods are basically killing people and showing how we can all make healthier, simpler choices. There are interviews with all kinds of ‘experts’ in this field, including David Wolfe :) Wonderful stuff – raw food thankfully has a strong voice in this film, spreading this simple, healing message even further.
This film looks set to be HUGE – think smthg along the lines of ‘What the Bleep’, or ‘The Secret’, yet in food terms :) It seems to be aimed at the ‘mainstream’ too, which is so exciting, to think how many new minds will now be getting exposed to this information with this film – and hopefully in a way that will seem accessible and not too ‘far out’ ;) LOL...I think it’s a very exciting project – it is due for release in just a few days, on May the 30th – in the meantime, you can see the trailer HERE – ENJOY (watch out for Wolfie getting almost the last word... ;)

on May the 24th I had

1 quart water
slice of cantaloupe melon
½ a gorgeous fresh pineapple
3 cups water
plate of jack fruit, mango & papaya
3 cups water
meat of a young coconut
3 cups water
baby spinach leaves, wakame seaweed, sprouts, pumpkin seeds
2.5 quarts cucumber/celery/apple/ginger juice
2 cups water

A few upcoming raw events to tickle your tantalisation tendrils:

June the 14th – Mr Monarch speaketh in Los Angeles – see HERE.

June 6th-8th – Mr. Monarch speaketh again at the Yoga and Raw Food expo in New York. See HERE.

June 5th – the premier (HALLELUJAH ;) of the new ‘Simply Raw’ film at the Newport Film Festie on Rhode Island. (...been waiting to see this film for nearly 2 years ;) See HERE for more info.

May 31st-June 2nd – ‘The Best Weekend Ever’ event in Atlanta, Georgia with Wolfie, Peter Ragnar, Mike Adams and other funsters – see HERE.

ENJOY :)
One love,
Angela. xxx

In Harmony...

We watched a very cool little 20 minute video yesterday on TED.com, by a chef called Mark Bittman. (If you haven’t visited TED yet, you’re in for a treat – MASSES of free speeches by incredible people, all usually 3-20 mins long, more or less – great lunchtime viewing if at a ‘puter ;) Thanks to our friend Marie for sending this link...
In this video, Mark speaks very eloquently, interestingly and convincingly on the impact of the overproduction & overconsumption of meat, dairy and junk food, how to lessen your carbon footprint through food choices and the effect cattle farming is having on the world – both in terms of individual health and the health of planet. Something VERY worthwhile passing on to doubting, burger-munching friends and family alike, methinks... ;) See here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/263

on May the 19th I had:

1 quart water
2 cups celery/Jerusalem Artichoke/cucumber/carrot/cilantro juice
3 tangerines
1 custard apple, 2 persimmons
wakame seaweed, pumpkin seeds, baby spinach leaves, alfalfa sprouts, followed by a few pieces of dried apple rings
3 cups water
2 cups celery/Jerusalem Artichoke/cucumber/carrot/cilantro juice
handful of cherries, 1 banana, 1 persimmon
1 quart water


on May the 20th I had:

1 quart water
2 cups veggie juice: celery/bok choi/cucumber/parsley/Jerusalem artichoke/carrot juice
3 persimmons
pumpkin seeds, wakame seaweed, baby spinach leaves, a couple of macadamia/flax crackers
2 cups veggie juice: celery/bok choi/cucumber/parsley/Jerusalem artichoke/carrot juice
2 cups water
3 persimmons
2 bananas mashed with spirulina, with 2 apples and a few almonds
3 cups water

REMINDER: Looks like this is the last week to get hold of a copy of the new Ann Wigmore Home Study Course. There were fewer than 500 copies available and they’re very nearly sold out. So, if you didn’t invest in a copy yet and you’re waivering on whether to invite Wiggie into your world, now might be the time to take action ;) You can see more about the course HERE.
I think I might actually start growing wheatgrass again this summer...I used to grow it in Iceland very successfully – one guy I was living with actually took care of his Hepatitis drinking the good green stuff, plus his hair started to turn from white to black again – pretty impressive ;)...that was all YEARS ago now though...travelling really isn’t very conducive to growing things like wheatgrass...sprouts I can handle on the road, wheatgrass is trickier...hmmmm, well, we’ll see how green my fingers get the next few weeks, along with my inside... ;)

on May the 21st I had:

1 quart water
4 little mandarins
2 cups celery/bok choi/parsley/cucumber/carrot juice
3 persimmons
1 quart water
2 cups celery/bok choi/parsley/cucumber/carrot juice
lettuce leaves stuffed with avocado, tomato slices, mixed sprouts, karengo seaweed, baby spinach leaves, with a couple of macadamia/flax crackers
1 quart water


on May the 22nd I had:

1 quart water
2 persimmons
3 cups water
bowl of smoothie: banana/coconut meat/water/spirulina/vanilla powder/maca, with a little slice of coconut crème pie and a cracao ball - uh-oh, WATCH OUT ;)
3 cups water
2 cups celery/parsley/lettuce/spinach/carrot juice
romaine wraps stuffed with avo, Karengo seaweed, finely sliced spring onions, tomatoes, with a few flax/macadamia crackers on the side, pumpkin seeds and wakame seaweed
1 quart water

Finally for today, if you’re able to make it to Santa Rosa in California on the weekend of the 6th-8th June, I’d strongly recommend you make your presence felt at the Harmony Festival. This year (which is the 30th anniversary of the festie), the ‘Eco Village’ area is being managed by dear raw goddess herself, Ms. Laura ‘Foxy’ Fox. Yeeeeeeeee-HAH :) The line-up looks FABULOUS :) She has pulled together all kinds of raw food funsters to head up the Eco area - Matt + Janabai Amsden of Rawvolution, Victoria Boutenko, Cherie Soria, Bruce Horowitz, Rainbeau Mars + the owners of Cafe Gratitude will all be presenting.
The festie attracts over 25,00 people and there will be a huge range of things on offer, within and beyond the ‘Eco Village’ area – music, talks (including...Danny Glover…;), healing therapies, vendors, workshops, kids’ playland, art and all sorts of marvellous offerings...
Passes for the whole weekend seem to start at $119 and the festie plants a tree for every ticket purchased, in collaboration with Trees for The Future. They are also taking volunteers to help out and they have carpooling set up too...you can see all about it at www.harmonyfestival.com.

ENJOY,
All love,
Angela. xxx

A Breath of Fresh Air...

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

on May the 17th I had:

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

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

on May the 18th I had:

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

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

Here are MY top five favourite new items:

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

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

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

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

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

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

All love,
Angelaalalalaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx

Time to Leave Thailand...

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

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

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

on May the 14th I had:

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


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

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

on May the 15th I had:

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


on May the 16th I had:

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

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

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

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

One love,
Angela. xxx