First "in the raw" blog ever

Hi Anand here.

Runi and I are always experimenting with new living food recipes and new approaches to raw, seeing what feels good and tastes great. So much so it is rare for us to eat the same recipe twice. We have decided to create this blog for 2008 to really expose how we live on a daily basis. What we are eating, what we are up to, the recipes and the effects! For those of you who are new to the raw lifestyle this blog will give you a deep insight and hopefully inspiration into what is really possible on a raw food diet 5 years down the track. We will also be sharing much more than just food - spirituality, love, guidance, purpose, life, intimacy, relationships......................

Wow, what a year 2007 was! We travelled to all states except Tasmania teaching "The Art Of Gourmet Raw Food Preparation" classes. Thank you so much for all of you who attended the classes. Sharing this information and these recipes with you brings me so much joy and fulfilment: for the first time in my life I can truly say I am living my dream and the work I do feels like fun. Over 1000 people have now attended our classes and retreats and in 2008 we will be offering trainings to teach those of you who are passionate about this how to run your own classes and how to inspire and help others as a raw food coach. This new venture will be called "One Luscious Bite" and we will keep you up to date with its birthing process in this blog.

Also we have just relocated our home and business (still unpacking) from busy Byron Bay to a more serene but equally beautiful Murwillumbah (40 minutes north of Byron nestled near the heart of the magnificent Mt Warning (Wollumbin) caldera) Moving home and business is HUGE and we are very happy in our new town and abode.
Here is a photo of Runi, Anand, our new home and Raw Power world headquarters :-)

Ok lets get into it! Here is what currently works for me during the course of a day. (this has evolved and will continue to evolve over the months and years I spend on this beautiful planet)

First up in the morning I like to bounce on a rebounder (mini trampoline) for 20 minutes - this loosens me up, wakes me up, drains my lymphatic system and prepares me for meditation. I currently meditate for 20 minutes simply watching the rise and fall my breath. This really helps to set the mood for the day. Relaxed, focused. After meditation I do another 20 minutes of stretching and weight beating exercise like push ups, crunchies, yoga.

One of the most common questions we are asked is "what do you actually eat in a day?" My answer is simply plenty of fresh organic raw fruit and vegetables - today I ate for breakfast 1 dragon fruit (also known as pitahaya, huǒ lóng guǒ (火龍果/火龙果 lit. "fire dragon fruit"), strawberry pear, nanettikafruit, or thanh long) with 2 mangoes and a tablespoon of wild WA bee pollen
Dragon fruit is an amazing fruit packed withb anti oxidants and is fast gaining popularity where we live in Northern NSW. Mixed with mango and bee pollen it is totally YUMMMMY! A couple of hours after brekky I ate 2 lady finger bananas.

For lunch we had a beautiful salad with nori seaweed finely chopped, a tahini, lemon juice and tamari dressing and guacamole mixed with fresh blended lemon grass, chilli, celtic sea salt. The greens were cos lettuce, rocket, chicory, parsley, coriander plus we added grated beetroot. I just never get bored with salads - there are endless possibilities.

After lunch we indulged in some raw chocolate fudge (we don't usually eat chocolate except for rare special occasions) however, we are working on some amazing new recipes and of course we have to try them - hazards of our occupation! Seriously though, I feel that raw cacao in small doses is not harmful and it is packed with anti oxidants, magesium and other mood enhancing chemicals such as anandamine a "bliss" chemical which helps stimulate the production of serotonin. Without giving away too many of our secrets in the fudge we used, raw organic fair trade cacao powder, cacao butter, agave syrup, almond meal, medjool dates, coconut oil and a pinch of celtic sea salt. You can actually find our original choc fudge recipe on our website

Dinner was another beautiful salad and I have to admit more chocolate which is probably why I am still here writing at 12.26am! Enough for today. Love peace blessings and radiant health to all. xxx Anand and Runi