Raw Pregnancy and Raising Raw Children

Now, don't get excited - I'm not pregnant or having a child anytime soon ;) I just watched a wonderful little YouTube video today of Summer Kolesar speaking with Paul Nison about raising raw children and got inspired... You can see that video HERE. Summer is a beautiful soul si*star* who I had the pleasure to meet when I spoke in Asheville in 2007. If I recall correctly, she was raised ‘semi–wild’ in Canada, foraging the bounties of nature and she is still a wonderful wild–food gatherer to this day, plus all–round gorgeous raw goddess and mother ;)

As you may recall, the current RawReform Giveaway Contest is also about raising children raw (you can see the details for the giveaway HERE to win a signed copy of Shazzie’s latest book, Evie’s Kitchen). We have wonderful suggestions flowing in daily by email about how to best help children eat healthier food...
SO, with all this wonderful info buzzing around, I felt inspired to compile a list of useful resources for those interested in raising children raw. This is actually smthg people ask me about often, although I am not (yet ;) a mother, so I thought it would be helpful to collect all these fabulous resources together in one place, for all to enjoy ;)
(FYI - I also just posted this info to the main RawReform site in the articles section HERE, in case you'd like to refer to it without the food logs etc in the middle ;)

Here we go:

Websites

*http://www.thegardendiet.com – beautiful Jinjee is raw mum ext–raw–dinaire to at least five little ones – she has masses of info, pics, ebooks, magazines, audios, videos and more to share on pregnancy, ecstatic birth, child–raising and more...

*http://www.rawmom.com – fabulous site that is home (among other things) to a blog where different raw mums from around the world write weekly, sharing guidance.

*http://rawtoddleralex.blogspot.com – blog from yummy–mummy Melissa Gilbert who has been raising her son Alex raw and tracking his progress online since birth. She has two wonderful raw recipe books for baby/toddler foods. Melissa also has her own blog at http://rawmom.blogspot.com.

*http://pullingdaisies.blogspot.com – sweet Annelise’s blog following a raw pregnancy, birth and child raising.

*http://www.karenranzi.com – Karen has been teaching about raising ‘Super Healthy Children’ for a decade. She has classes, a book and a great list of links at her site.

*http://www.brigittemars.com – Brigitte Mars is a herbalist, mother, raw foodie and all round shining light ;) She is mother to the gorgeous Rainbeau Mars, who is also a raw yogini mama – see http://www.rainbeaumars.com.


on Jan the 10th I had:

1 quart water
little mug of spicy tea
1.5 cups veggie juice: celery, turnip, kale, local greeeeeeens, Jerusalem artichoke, purple cabbage, fennel, endive, ginger, lime
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and tahini on the side, followed by three little yumpots of durian ice cream = YUMMM :)
3 cups water
double shot of wheatgrass
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and tahini on the side, followed by a little bowl of blended sweet yum: carob powder, lucuma powder, maca, cinnamon, vanilla powders, with gojis and water
little cup rooibus tea
3 cups water



Articles/Videos/Magazines

*‘Raw Vegan Children’ article by Shazzie

*‘Raising Raw Children’ article by Matt Monarch

*‘Raw Parenting’ interview with Shazzie on Natural News

*Revvel interviews Jinjee Talifero

*Revell interviews Shazzie

*Summer Kolesar on YouTube

*Juno Magazine – all about natural parenting, raw foodie Kate Magic has contributed a great deal to this magazine.

*Pear Magazine – this an online raw food magazine, which often has articles about raw children or written by raw parents.


Books/DVDs

*Evie’s Kitchen by Shazzie

*Birth As We Know It (one of the best DVDs I’ve ever seen)

*The ‘Anastasia’ Books by Vladimir Megre (these books have influenced me more than any others)

*Baby Greens by Michaela Lynn

*Fresh by Sergei and Valya Boutenko – has info on how to transition kids to raw.

*Eating without Heating by Sergei and Valya Boutenko – raw recipe book from the Boutenko ‘kids’.

*Raising Children Raises Us book & DVD by Shannon Leone – Shannon’s gorgeous, loving spirit flows through her work.

*The Children's Health Food Book by Ron Seaborn

*Breakthrough DVD – from Jinjee and Storm

*Raw Living and Eat Smart, Eat Raw – both by Kate Magic, these raw recipe books are packed with practical recipes Kate used to raise her three boys.

*The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff

*Primal Mothering in A Modern World by Hygeia Halfmoon

*What Mothers Do Especially When It Looks Like Nothing by Naomi Stadlen (If I was only able to read one non–raw–orientated book on being a mother, I would choose this – AMAZING info ;)

*Sun–Sational Raw Baby Food and Sun–Sational Smoothies by Melissa Gilbert – 2 ebooks from this lovely raw mum.

*Wise Woman's Herbal for the Childbearing Year by Susun Weed

*Pregnancy and Oral Health by Mama Gums


on Jan the 11th I had:

1 quart water
little mug of spicy tea
1.5 cups veggie juice: celery, turnip, kale, local greeeeeeens, Jerusalem artichoke, purple cabbage, fennel, endive, ginger, lime
3 cups water
double shot of wheatgrass
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and tahini on the side, followed by a little bowl of blended sweet yum: carob powder, lucuma powder, maca, cinnamon, vanilla powders, with gojis and water
little cup rooibus tea
3 cups water


Foods that children seem to LOVE :)
As previously mentioned, I am not yet a mother – from what I’ve observed of raw children however, these seem to be some of their favourite foods:

*fresh fruits
*smoothies – greeeeen or nut–milk based
*nut/seed milks
*raw cakes, pies, cookies, yumballs – anything sweet ;)
*bee pollen
*chia puddings
*raw food snack bars
*grawnolas/cereals
*dried fruits like mulberries, goji berries, incan berries
*freeze–dried fruit – mangosteen, jackfruit, durian

The biggest struggle most raw parents seem to have is getting greeeeens into the little loves...well, here’s sending you all great gushing green smoothie love... ;)

Ok, I listed everything that came to mind here about raising children raw...I hope this is useful to at least some of you ;)
I’m sure there are other wonderful resources out there too – feel free to leave a comment below HERE if there are other links/books etc you’d love to see added to this list :) Also remember that you can see this article HERE for reference without the food logs etc...

ENJOY :)
One love,
Angela. xxx

Show Your LOVE :)

WOW – did you see the review of ‘Raw Emotions’ posted over on RawFoodRightNow.com yet? They just posted it up a couple of days ago and it was so much fun for me to see this book summarised from someone else’s perspective. So much of my time and energy this last year went into co-creating this book that it’s kind of challenging for me to get perspective on it anymore – you know that feeling? When you’ve worked on something so intensely, you’re just immersed in it and can’t get an overview...well, this review helped to show me what it was that this book is all about ;) LOL... They even give a section-by-section breakdown of what the book contains...
Here are a few little excerpts from their review – you can read the whole thing HERE.

“In Raw Emotions, Angela Stokes takes her six years of experience overcoming a lifetime of emotional eating addictions, and provides a practical and spiritual blueprint for traversing the inner raw emotional journey. From identifying how your emotions are tied to food, to creating your Optimal Vision, and following up with an incredible wealth of very useful tips and tools, Angela has run the gambit in Raw Emotions. The book is a complete guide. From start to finish, Angela winds you around each potential pitfall and giving you "power-ups" along the way for those extra tough times. This book truly is a wealth of information. We are confident that any reader interested in really exploring, releasing, and finally overcoming their troubles with going and staying raw will obtain serious benefit with a read through of Angela’s Raw Emotions. She knows this journey, inside and out. She's lived it. She's been there, and because "success leaves clues", it's highly recommended that everyone who is considering (or has!) changed their diet significantly in the more raw direction, grab a copy and read with an open mind and heart.”
Thanks guys :) You can read that whole review HERE and purchase Raw Emotions HERE.

on May the 12th I had:

1.5 quarts water
water of 2 large young coconuts
masses of rambutans
2 cups water
2 tbsp bee pollen and a small handful of dulse
1 small round delicious durian
2 quarts water

Are you familiar with the world of ‘RawBabyAlex’ and mum Melissa Gilbert? If not, Melissa has been documenting her raw food baby’s progress online for quite some time and it makes fascinating reading – especially for anyone interested in raising kids raw. Melissa has actually compiled two wonderful e-books of all the different recipes that Alex has loved as he’s been growing up, from baby foods to toddler treats. (He is such a healthy big boy now that his blog has actually been moved along to ‘Raw ToddlerAlex’ ;) Melissa also keeps her own lovely blog at RawMom.blogspot.com, as well as writing regularly for the info-packed raw magazine Pear.
Unfortunately, this amazing little raw family are having some pretty challenging times at present...in February they were burgled and all their possessions were taken. They moved house and even state, only to discover that they cannot find work in their new location and that very soon they will likely be homeless. They are in a time of crisis. On her most recent blog, Melissa writes that she visited the local food bank to try to get something to eat. They had no raw foods, except 5 bunches of celery, which they gave her. When she got home however, she realised they were almost totally rotten and unusable. Melissa is an incredible mother and gives tirelessly and with so much love to the raw community through her writings. I would feel so sad to see this amazing young family living out in the scorching Arizona desert in a tent with seemingly nowhere left to turn. They really could use some support right now - this is an opportunity to help out an incredible raw family. Instead of just asking people to donate money to help them with their situation however, I’d love to recommend that you invest in Melissa’s 2 fabulous ebooks – ‘Sunsational Raw Baby Food’ and ‘Sun-Sational Smoothies’. They are just $10 each, available from her site HERE. Imagine the difference $20 could make to a family that is in dire straits right now...and YOU get smthg wonderful too – two recipe books packed with tried-and-tested recipes ;) I sincerely hope the raw food community will reach out and support this loving family unit in their time of need...please feel free to re-post this message and pass it along to others in the raw food community too...and enjoy the recipes ;)
(P.S. If you DO feel moved to simply send a donation to the family, their Paypal email address is loverawlife@gmail.com) Thanks.

on May the 13th I had:

1.5 quarts water
large amount of fresh rambutan
water of 2 large young coconuts
bowl of blended yum: bananas, coconut meat, spirulina, maca, vanilla powder, with some seaweed on the side
2 quarts water

Many health-orientated people in Canada have become concerned this week about ‘Bill C-51’ – if you haven’t heard abt this yet, here’s the ‘skinny’ from the lovely Natasha of SimplyRaw.com:

“If the Bill is passed, it will affect all Canadians' rights to health through the regulation of vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements. Currently, many of our councilors and MPPs are unaware of the details of Bill C-51. Canadians need to be informed and act immediately as it is a very serious matter. I just blogged about Bill C-51 at http://www.ottawaraw.wordpress.com Here is the online petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/billc51FI”

Thanks Natasha...Canadians, the Bill ball’s now in your court ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

Thailand Durian Magic...

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

on April the 26th I had:

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

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

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

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

on April the 27th I had:

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

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

One love,
Angela. xxx