I’m over the moon

So you can imagine my excitement when I was asked to open the event!

Yes that’s right I will be opening the event!

Not only will I be opening the event but I will also be doing a raw food demonstration

I will be showing visitors how easy it is to make:

• Raw Pasta and Pesto
• Raw Chocolate Brownies

You can read more about what I’ll be up to here

I hope to see you there!

Don’t blend in, Get blending!

Don't blend in!

How many times have you stopped yourself from saying or doing something for fear that others wont agree with you or because you feel that if you expressed the true you that you would no longer fit in with your friends or family?

Well let me tell you, that you were not born to ‘fit in’!

There is only one of you and you are unique. Your uniqueness makes you special! You are the only one who sees life as you do, bringing with your own special gifts and talents and the world is less bright when you do not share this.

Eating a diet that is high in raw foods, especially green smoothies and juices, will start to clear away your debris – this will include any physical and emotional baggage that you have been trying to hold on to – and allow you to reveal the TRUE YOU.

As you start to connect to your true self, or as I like to call it - your Divine Shine, you will start to speak your truth as anything else is just not an option. You will begin to stand in your authentic self and be happy not to blend in – You will find your passion and purpose.

This may mean that your friendships change, but were these ever really true friends? However new friends will arrive and these friends will be supportive and help you step in to your truth and stand strong.

Are you ready?

To learn more about green smoothies click here

Raw Foods Kitchen Wish List

I love eating a high raw and living foods diet.

One of the ways that I support myself to do this is to have my kitchen set up with the right tools to make the meals I love.

Is you kitchen ready for raw?

In my kitchen I use the following tools:

• Chopping board
• Sharp knife
• Julienne slicer
• Grater
• Measuring cups
• High speed blender
• Juicer
• Citrus press
• Food processor
• Dehydrator
• Trays for sprouting wheatgrass and sunflower greens
• Glass jars for sprouting
• Glass jars for storage
• Nut milk bag

However when I first went raw, I could make amazing dishes with just a few basics:

• Chopping board
• Sharp knife
• Grater
• Juicer
• Citrus press
• Blender

I think most of the above can be found in most kitchens already?

My cupboards are also important and as well of lots of fresh fruit and vegetables I always make sure I have the following in:

• Cold pressed oils
• Nuts and seeds
• Nut butters
• Herbs and spices
• Beans and seeds for sprouting (including wheatgrass and unhulled sunflower seeds)

Back to Basics – Juices

Juicy Juices

Freshly juiced fruits and vegetables give your body an instant boost of nutrients, enzymes, vitamins and minerals in a form that the body can easily assimilate, absorb and digest.

At the most basic level, juicing allows us to add so many more vegetables to our daily diet, and to up the amount of raw food we consume, giving the body energy and boosting the immune system, whilst supporting the body’s cleansing process.

Back to Basics – Green Smoothies

Delicious Green Smoothies

Green Smoothies are a tasty way to get more fresh fruits and vegetables in to your diet.

When the fruits and vegetables are blended they become easy for your body to digest and for the nutrients to be absorbed. They differ from juices in that the fibre remains part of the smoothie.

Green is the key for a nutritious and cleansing smoothie as Green vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables, contain lots of chlorophyll which is incredibly effective in cleansing our bodies. Chlorophyll can help make our bodies strong, detoxify the liver and can purify and help to rebuild our blood cells.

Click here For my 3 Simple Steps to Create a Delicious Green Smoothie

Back to Basics: Raw Food Techniques

Raw Food Techniques

Although on a raw food diet, raw foods aren’t ‘cooked’, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t specific techniques that are used to prepare the food.

In fact there are many techniques used that make foods more digestible and add variety to the diet, including:

• Sprouting seeds, grains, and beans
• Juicing fruit and vegetables
• Soaking nuts and dried fruit
• Blending
• Dehydrating food
• Cutting and preparing fruits and vegetables

Over the following weeks we are going to look at each of these in turn to add variety to your food.

Back to Basics – Mono Meals

Mono Meals - Simply divine

Mono meals are meals that are made up of a single fruit or vegetable.

By eating in this manner it really gives your digestive system a rest, it allows you the chance to reconnect to what true hunger is, it can alleviate cravings and really get you in touch with what foods taste like as you focus on the food as you chew and fully experience its flavours and textures.

In my experience mono meals are one of the best ways for you to get in touch with your body and be able to listen to what it is trying to tell you.

Back to Basics – What is the Raw Food Diet?

Most people believe that it is normal to live a life in which they eat food that is far removed from nature and consider diets high in natural, raw and living foods as extreme.

Although it is now accepted that processed food, laden with fats and sugar, will cause illnesses and dis-ease; people continue to eat these foods having no reason to think about the bigger picture.

Processed food that is far removed from any natural ingredient also far removes us from our natural flow with the universe.

The more living raw food we eat the more our lives take on greater meaning and purpose as we start to understand how we have been blocking our true nature.

Yes raw foods will give you more energy, you are likely to lose weight, have clearer skin and ailments may clear. But the biggest gift you have when you increase these foods in your diet is the ability to step into your own flow, discover your unique brilliance and Shine in the world.

What is the raw food diet?

The raw food diet is a diet based on unprocessed and uncooked plant foods, this includes:

• Fresh fruit
• Vegetables
• Sprouts
• Nuts and seeds
• Dried fruit
• Seaweed

On the raw food diet, food is not heated above 40 – 46 degrees C or 104 -115 degrees F. When foods are heated above this temperature it is shown to destroy the enzymes in the food and can reduce the nutritional value and “life force” of food.

Reported benefits of the raw food diet

There are many benefits of following a raw food diet and I have experienced many including:

• Increased energy
• Improved skin appearance
• Better digestion
• Weight loss
• Finding my ideal weight
• Clarity of thought
• More creativity
• A deeper connection to myself
• Better sleep

The raw foods diet naturally contains less

• Additives
• Artificial flavours and colourings
• Trans fats

And more health promoting nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fibre, enzymes, phytochemicals and no doubt other nutrients that are yet to be discovered.