Hi Paul and Anna,

what do you both think of doing a raw picnic sometime this summer in sunny warm Melbourne?  I was so insprired by the raw potluck dinner at raw pleasure that I think in those few hours I learnt much more than I could read in a whole book.

An event before Matt comes over may also help to generate interest.  Anyway it's just a suggestion but nothing beats feeling like you are part of a community of people on a similar journey.

Regards,

Helen

Hey Helen and Anna,

Check out this site... how interesting it would be to check out this one day??

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~herring/flora.htm

xxpaul

Hi Cee
Welcome to the melbourne picnic then... that's four of us! 

I'm very excited about this... great idea.  I too agree with the botanical gardens.  That way we can bring our food and have a nice environment to chat.

Does anyone have any date suggestions.

I am putting my husband on a juice detox (or more raw food really but don't tell him that) for up to 5 days over the cup weekend.  We have from Fri to Tues off so great op to cleanse.  It will help me too, to stop indulging in small bits of comfort foods. 

How about a Friday after work sometime around 6pm then...  After daylight savings of course... and also when the weather is looking good... if it's not we can reschedule.  NOVEMBER sometime?

Looking forward to setting a date...

Are there any other raw Melbournians out there???

Anna, Paul and Cee,

Sounds like a deal then...November it is!  I'm good with either dates.  I am sure we will get more Melbournites coming out of the woodwork.

Paul, to give you a very brief background I have only recently started the journey of discovering raw a couple of months back (did flirt with the idea about 6 years ago and even bought a dehydrater and sprouter but lost motivation from lack of knowledge).  Green smoothies have been a wonderful staple at this stage.  The rest of my family are going on the ride but we still need more knowledge and a supportive environment to in order to make raw our way of living.

I think the picnic will be a fabulous way to do this

Regards,

Helen

Hey paul!  What do you teach ?   x

YUM YUM YUM,
Strawberries, Blueberries, sounds great!!!

Yes, maybe we should think about doing it later on down the track.

Jen,
I teach Feldenkrais.  Awareness Through Movement classes.  Its great, do you know anything about it?
Put simply its about reprogramming the nervous system to be a more efficient, functioning human.

Its great, I started doing it around the same time I started being RAW... So I sometimes wonder which is helping me more...RAW or Feldenkrais...  I would say both.  I feel cleaner and more energised by eating RAW and Living foods, and I move in ways I could never through Feldenkrais. 

By the way, thanks for explaining what your naturapath role was, and how you tied Raw Food into that. 
Yeah, I mean, I have found even through my catering...you can't change peoples eating habits in a day, not even in weeks, or even months... it takes time... there are only a select few people, namely Raw foodies, who have found something within themselves to explore the cleansing and healing powers of food.  And yes, the best route to take with others is to encourage a healthier lifestyle to that which they are presntly accustomed to.  Heck, theres even a smaller percentage of people within the raw food community that are doing what is considered an even more healthier route... its what suits at the time for that particular person and where they are in their life. 

yeah... I just wish there were more Naturapths like you.  Its scary to think that the power of some people can mislead so many, just because they have the initials Dr. in front of their name, or something along these lines...
do you know what I mean??   What, with advertising, expert opinions, studies, research, industry agendas, government agendas etc... what do you believe??  what can you believe, who can you believe?

Piers sent me some literature on irradiation in food in Australia the other day.  It was amazing.  I did not know anything about this before.  To think that the goverment is supporting this, is scary.  And then further, the way in which the irradiated foods are labelled and identified are so slack, is sickening.  (literally).  How dare they. 
Reminiscent of some other periods in history involving dictatorships and the like. 

Anyway...
yeah... And then its the power of the people as well, in vogue last year was chinese medicine... man these dudes gave me and raw food a bad name.  Ying, Yang that, you gotta cook everything to keep your chi and the fire in your belly.   
Man, what???  Doesn't sound right to me.  But then again, thats me, and maybe it sounds right for others... but anyway, my point is, raw food was taboo because more and more people were being recommended to these people the new thought, the new way of thinking, the way to be healthy was to eat and live a lifestyle like this.

Maybe thats not directly from the chinese medicine man directly, maybe its from secondary sources...
I sure know reading some of the RAw Food articles I cringe at what they say about it, and how you can go about it... I did that recently with the Donna Karan article in the RP archive...HOT SOUPS, CUPS OF HOT TEA!!!  How is that raw???  Now that's gone out and spread the raw word to all the fashionistas out there thinking about changing their diet. 

And to end, my point is that the more we spread the raw word (and properly), the more it will catch on and become vogue and more people can enjoy the life they this way.  Its better for everyone, because, its all win win, economies of scale, business opportunities, better products, easier access to products, more information, greater support network to get you through those hard times, or just any times... etc...

And I guess for me, the best way I feel to do that is lead by example.

So I started a quest to be the best human I could be. 

And good for you for doing the same.   Sounds like you are turning things upside-down.  From the INSIDE!!

wow, so there you go.
blurted all that out didn't I!!!
HA!
all love
all good
speak soon
xpaul






     



xpaul

Cup week-end for strawberry picking...couldn't think of a better way to spend it!!!

I have also been confused with the TCM way of thinking when it comes to diet and eating foods.  The main fact that has me so convinced that raw is the optimal way to eat is simply "logic".  Does nature make something so imperfect that we have to heat, extract, refine, add chemicals, additives, flavours and colours, then hydrogenate and emulsify in order to make it ideal for our body to assimilate? 

If heating causes damage to our own skin tissue when hot water touches it then why would it not cause damage to natural living foods?  It certainly doesn't take long to notice the differnce once raw foods are increased in the diet.

Thank Anna and Paul for your great insights!