by Dr. Ariel Policano

So, you are loving the raw diet, right?

You’ve lost weight, you have more energy, and a positively juicy new outlook on life. Fantastic! A raw vegan diet is filled with nutrition, vital force, enzymes and is free of nasty preservatives and chemicals. It is truly amazing. Still, even on a raw or high raw diet, it is good to have a health “check-in” from time to time. The fact is there are actually a few deficiencies that could develop on a raw, vegan diet if you aren’t aware of them. They can develop if you are not meticulous about having diversity and perfect balance. And really, who is? Here are 3 markers I feel are crucial to keep your eye on. This way, you can be sure you are staying healthy in every way on your raw vegan diet.

1) Ferritin (your iron stores).

2) B12 Levels, measured as methylmalonic acid (MMA).

3) Cholesterol (wait to be surprised here!).

1) Ferritin.

It is important to keep your levels of iron healthy. Of course, iron allows the transport of oxygen to your cells via the blood. Low iron levels are commonly referred to as anemia. One of the most common signs of iron deficiency anemia is sensitivity to cold weather. You feel like you cannot get warm no matter what! Another sign you can look at are changes in your thumbnail. Yes, your thumbnail. Look at it from a side angle. Do you see a dip in your nail? This can happen from the deoxygenation of cells over a period of time. It is a “secret” sign of your body that you need to check your iron levels.

Now, back to those labs. The iron levels in your blood may show up as normal even if you are on the edge of becoming anemic. Ferritin, which are your stores of iron, provides a much more accurate check of whether you are running out of “gas”. It has been said that iron-rich blood gives you charisma. Now, who wants to be without that for very long?

Ferritin levels are very important to check to avoid iron deficiency anemia. The range for women is 12-300. I would address levels below 50. Depending on how low it is, supplementation may be in order. The company Floradix carries and “Iron and Herbs” mix that is tried and true for vegans. If you are very anemic, however, this is going to be a slow intervention. In this case, you may want to supplement with a chelated iron such as iron aspartate. For those worried about iron supplements causing constipation, no need to lose any sleep. Ferrous sulfate is a form of iron is prescribed by many MD’s in high doses (325mg) at one time. This type of iron is more likely to cause things to “slow down” or to be clear, cause constipation. Also, the dose we are talking about with the iron aspartate is about 30mg, more or less.

Keep in mind some foods that are high in iron so that you can avoid a deficiency. They include Jerusalem artichokes, cherries, blackberries, nettles, spinach, dates, Swiss chard, burdock root, sea vegetables like kelp, and (yum) figs. Iron needs to constantly be renewed, especially if you are physically active. So, round up some of these foods soon!

2) B12 – Methylmalonic Acid.

MMA is considered to be a more accurate check of Vitamin B12 levels. It will tell you if you are developing a deficiency before it will show up in the serum (blood) B12 levels. Having a B12 deficiency is serious business. It is probably the most risky deficiency that can develop out of a vegan or raw vegan diet. There are many things you can do to prevent it, you just need to be aware of them!

Just getting back to MMA for a moment. If you don’t have enough B12, MMA levels will increase. That is because B12 helps to convert MMA to a crazy substance called succinyl CoA. Succinyl CoA is a raw material that helps you to produce ATP, the raw fuel of your body. Which is why…one of the signs of low Vitamin B12 is fatigue.

The more serious sign of a vitamin B12 deficiency is parasthesia, or numbness in the extremities. The old pins and needles feeling, but for an extended time. The reason this is so dangerous is that it is irreversible. Yep. As in, permanent. You really don’t want to dance with the possibility of a B12 deficiency.

As a doc, I do recommend that this is the one place that you consider taking a B12 supplement on a regular basis. Why take any chances?

Here are some food-based ways to keep your B12 levels up. You can have nutritional yeast for vitamin B12. Caution, caution, caution! I recommend you look at Red Star Nutritional Yeast if you want to go with this option as they have one of the highest quality nutritonal yeast products. Get it fresh! Nutritional yeast that is out in the bulk bins, or has been sitting on the shelf for a long time is less likely to have sufficient levels of B12.

Are you a clean freak? You might be a good candidate for a B12 supplement. Washing your fruit and vegetables really thoroughly is excellent for clearing the germs, but you may also be washing off the soil-based organisms that build your B12 levels.

Foods that contain B12, but are questionable for reliable supplementation include spirulina, blue-green algae and sea veggies like dulse. I love these superfoods for many reasons, but I would not rely on them for sufficient quantities of B12. In Healing with Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford lets us know that this type of B12 may be an analogue of the B12 that our body utilizes. Enjoy the other high nutrition of minerals and amino acids in these foods.

Are you in love with raw sauerkraut? How about kombucha? Like to take mega-doses of probiotics as a hobby? Well, if your intestines are rich in healthy bacteria, you may be producing sufficient quantities of B12 internally. Of course, with people taking so many antibiotics and not having a healthy share of probiotics they are more at risk of having a B12 deficiency.

3) Cholesterol

OK, hold on to your hats and your shares in your pharmaceutical companies! Your cholesterol may be TOO LOW. If you have total cholesterol below 160, you may want to consider getting those levels UP, yes up.

Is cholesterol just some pesky toxin that we are trying to ban from our bodies with every opportunity? The drug companies make it seem that way, don’t they? Cholesterol is a crucial raw material for healthy hormones including reproductive hormones and adrenal hormones. It is also an important component in cell membranes. You want to love up your cell membranes! They surround your cells, allowing only certain things in (like good nutrition) and making sure that all the waste products get out. A healthy cell membrane is crucial to disease prevention including cancer.

Low cholesterol levels have been correlated with depression, anxiety, risk of hemorrhagic stroke and premature births. Pretty crazy! You might notice that you are craving saturated fats, or that you are feeling a little fatigued or just “not right”. Have your labs done and then check out the parameters below.

If I were looking at your labs, I would want to see total cholesterol above 160, LDL above 90 (even up to 110), and HDL above 50. If your total cholesterol or LDL is low, I want to recommend that you really make an effort to get some saturated fats into your diet. Of course, coconut oil satisfies this need, and so does cocoa butter (the fat portion of raw chocolate). Red palm oil is also another oil to consider. It is really beautiful to look at because it is also rich in beta-carotene, which is pretty cool. This is the palm oil that is NOT partially hydrogenated. Check out organic virgin Palm Oil from Tropical Traditions.

I suggest that once per year you give yourself a gift and check in with a health practitioner who is knowledgeable about raw vegan nutrition. Here are the labs that I suggest you have done each year:

• CBC – Complete blood count
• Chemistry Panel – numerous checks including fasting blood sugar, liver and kidney markers
• TSH – Thyroid marker
• Lipid panel – fats including good and bad cholesterol
• Vitamin D-25-Hydroxy – Best marker of your Vitamin D levels
• Ferritin – Iron Stores

It only takes a small investment of your time and attention to truly inform yourself about what you need to thrive and avoid deficiencies. You’re worth the effort.

To you health,

Dr. Ariel Policano

Dr. Ariel Policano has been studying live food nutrition for over 15 years. She is a licensed naturopathic physician and a graduate of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Ariel helps people to optimize their health with a balanced diet of living foods, superfoods and other cutting-edge nutritional interventions. She is the creator of the Body Bliss Cleanse, which is an effective 14-day supplement program. Dr. Ariel is available for phone consultations and works with clients around the world.

I have always been a woman of words, but I don’t think I realized how much I prefer those words be written, rather than spoken, until I tried to record my first video with MAC.

It’s been over 3 years now that I’ve been humming and hawing about doing my own video blog. I did one with Mika and Sebastian, but then I was just the silent assistant, so it was easy. MAC helped me take the camera out into a sunny place and we tried to do a video for the Believe in Green project.

Here’s about as far as I got.

Now that I’ve broken the video ice a bit, it doesn’t feel that difficult, and I’ve already started getting ready for another one next week.
Stay tuned and thanks for cheering me on through my stage fright.

Tera

p.s.

Please let me know what kinds of topics you’d like me to cover in an upcoming video blog? Spare us all from another cheesy home video and let me know what kind of funky topics you’d like me to

Hi!  My name is Lyn and I’m soooo excited to be a part of this group. (I’ve recently come onboard as the new director of the Raw Diva website!)

I’ve been a fan and follower of The Raw Divas site since it first came out.  It has helped me a lot and I love telling others about it.  I love how it’s actually a community and that things are kept FUN!

I’ve been interested in nutrition for a loooong time (yes – I’m old!) because I was very motivated to find a better way to handle my health problems.

I didn’t get off to a very good start.

As a toddler I had severe asthma which also led to catching anything that came along.  My mom was a chain smoker but no one back in the 50’s thought to tell her not to smoke around me!

For fear that I’d miss too much school, my doctor put me on ‘desensitizing shots’.  This seemed to stop the asthma during the 5 years while on the shots, but it caused weight gain and after the shots were done, the asthma, while far less frequent, would flare up at times.

My ‘teen rebellion’ was to reject the food I’d grown up with, reject the idea of using medical drugs to handle health issues and start trying to eat right and exercise so as to control the asthma without drugs.

At that time there wasn’t all the information there is now, and I’d barely heard anything about a vegetarian diet, much less a raw diet.

My ‘big changes’ were things like using ‘whole wheat’ flour, eating less meat, and using honey instead of sugar. Can you imagine – that was radical in my world back then!  My mom hated whole wheat bread and purposely sought out the whitest bread she could find!  My brothers still tease me about my first whole wheat/honey cookies that they decided were perfect for their sling shots!

I had pretty good success.  My tactic was to improve the removal of toxins – with running and exercise, while at the same time increasing my nutrient intake.  This helped prevent the asthma and helped control my weight for the most part.  I also handled PMS by observing what I would crave, usually chips, and realizing that the very foods I was craving were the ones that caused extra bloating and therefore extra pain.  Once I stopped eating the stuff I was craving right before my period, I had no more PMS. I felt great most of the time.  I thought I was pretty hot stuff.

I had a rude awakening during my pregnancy.

I got really sick!  And I mean REALLY sick!  Not just morning sickness.  I couldn’t hold anything down, hurt everywhere, had heart palpations, asthma back with a vengeance and I had a ‘glaucoma’ attack and lost some of my vision.  Not only did I feel horrible, I worried about my baby and it also hit my pride.  Here I’d thought I was eating so much better than everyone around me and knew what I was doing.

Once again I found nutrition served me well.  An acquaintance ordered me (love her!) to go get Adelle Davis’s book and do her anti-stress program – NOW!  We went out and bought a TON of vitamins and everything we needed for her ‘protein’ drink.  She had you sip on 4 oz. of the drink and take a huge handful of vitamins every 3 hours, around the clock, if awake.

It was amazing.  I went to feeling like I was on my deathbed to back at work in 3 days.  As long as I continued on it, I did great.  And funny thing was, it was a milk based drink.  I know now that I’m allergic to milk! It’s still one of the mysteries of life how in the world it helped me so much.  My theory: I think I was absorbing about zero nutrition, and that it threw so much in, that even if I only absorbed 10%, it was enough to start improving things.  And I also know now that my adrenals were shot and that it was a program designed to help the adrenals.

So, I recovered from that ordeal. Nursed my son (for a loooong time), determined to reduce his risk of developing allergies.  (which worked!)

In the many years between then and now about all I’ve struggled with was weight.  Occasionally the Asthma.  I was semi-vegetarian.  I didn’t eat meat all the time, and more like a seasoning when I did. Not as a main course.

When Fit for Life came out it moved me closer to being a vegetarian.  And somewhere in there I found out some of the foods I was allergic to.

Age, Pre-menopause and Menopause have brought a lot of new challenges. Weight issues, eyes worse, more aches and pains, nails getting weak, moods not so great at times… I started reading more and more and looking for more answers.

I discovered the raw food movement about 6 years ago.  I didn’t jump in fully but I did at least eat more raw foods, made green smoothies daily when they came out, and ate a lot more greens.

Then about 3 years ago, I went to a nutritionist and through hair analysis found out my minerals were low, adrenals low and soon after thyroid low.  Then thanks to the Gianni’s recommending doing blood tests once in awhile and a program by Dr. Rita Marie, I found out my vitamin D levels were low and verified the thyroid is low.  Taking the vitamin D made a huge difference in how I felt.

Then at a free test I also found out I had some osteopenia.

Yikes – I was getting horrified.  I thought I was one of the people taking good care of myself.  How could this be???  What isn’t falling apart?!

I read a few things that gave me a wakeup call.  One talked about not procrastinating when it came to handling any health issues.  It’s so easy to put off an exercise program, to lose the weight you need to lose, to really lose the bad eating habits that are hurting your health.  I think it was Dr. Berg.  Then he also had a post about how it’s wrong to think just a little bit won’t hurt – it can!

I realized, I had all this information, but I had never really broken free of all the cravings and bad habits that prevented me from really eating an optimum diet.   It was great I hadn’t eaten the SAD diet all my life.  But I’d never really done enough to fully address all the harm that had been done early on.

So, I decided I really needed to step it up.  Really get off of chocolate and sugar this time.  Truly stop eating any foods I’m allergic to (like gluten!).  Not even a little bit.  No more food samples where I work.  No more thinking, ‘It’s just one bite.’

Then Raw Divas to the rescue!

Even though I send people there a lot, I hadn’t really participated for a long time.  I did the 3 day green smoothie challenge and then went right onto the 21 day cleanse. It has really made a huuuggggge difference.  I have been doing so much better – and for longer – than any other time I’ve tried being high raw.  I’m off of chocolate and sugar and not craving them.  I’ve been completely gluten free for over two months.  Completely milk free for two months.

I’ve finally lost some weight, aches and pains reduced to almost nothing, no headaches, more energy, sleeping a lot better, a lot more cheerful and playful ….

I feel empowered!  When there are bad foods around, I haven’t been the least bit interested in cheating.   It is so freeing to just do it and get to the place where you are not fighting with yourself.  Trying hard to resist, then failing to resist, then beating yourself up over it!

I should have stayed connected up 3 years ago when I did my first Raw Divas program!

Here’s a list of some of the things I think really helped me. Maybe it will help you.

1. Get connected up to like-minded people – like Raw Divas – and do the programs, access the online community and connect!
2. Keep reading – you never know when you’ll read something that will help you understand your situation better or give a tip that moves things forward. Do like Tera says, observe for yourself what is working or not and trust that you can figure out what works for you better than any ‘expert’ can.  You can get the help of a nutritionist or health oriented doctor, but don’t make them responsible for your health.  You be the captain.
3. Really decide – no more procrastinating. Why not have great health now, before things have gotten so bad that now you have to take action.  It’s never too late – but don’t wait for a heart attack, diabetes or cancer to decide it’s time to take action.
4. Get rid of the idea that a little bit doesn’t hurt. The foods you are probably tempted by are the ones that are VERY addictive – meat, cheese, chocolate, sugar, salt.   Or, they are foods you are allergic too.  And, if they are a processed food they will also have additives to make them even more addictive – like MSG, sugar and salt.   The more you eat of them, the harder the ‘addiction’ and the harder to stay away from them.
5. Use Fit-day! While on the cleanse Tera introduced us to Fitday.  This was a real eye-opener.  I saw that I wasn’t getting enough calories during the day, which was why I was over-eating at night.  And, I could see that I was eating way too much fat!   It was amazing to see how just a little bit of nuts could take me from 15% fat for the day to 30-40% for the day.
6. Journaling. Telling other people in the group what I was eating, how I was feeling, how I was doing, seeing how they were doing, sharing tips – really is a big help!  This really helped me to sort out issues that made me reach for the wrong foods or overeat.
7. Decide to make life more fun! Finding things that gave me pleasure – like great music, great conversations, activities I enjoy.  Don’t let food be the main entertainment.
8. I didn’t do this intentionally – but somewhere in there I stopped watching TV for an hour each night before going to bed.  I think getting busier with things I enjoyed or wanted to work on made this happen.  It was part of the ‘put more fun’ in my life decision.

Here’s my recipe that I used when weaning myself off of chocolate.  By making my green smoothie a ‘chocolate smoothie’ temporarily, I didn’t become a rabid chocoholic later in the day.

‘Get me off of chocolate Green Smoothie’

Ingredients:

• About 2 cups of water
• ¼-1/2 cup frozen blueberries (or other berries)
• 1 heaping T of raw chocolate powder (once I was out, I just continued with the carob and didn’t miss the chocolate)
• 2 heaping T of raw carob powder
• A big shake of cinnamon and big shake of Kelp powder (optional)
• ½ – 1 avocado (optional – I don’t usually add avocadoes, but I wanted this one creamy like a chocolate shake)
• Huge amount of spinach – 3 – 4 big handfuls until the entire top of the blender was full.

So, that’s my story!  A BIG thank you to everyone at Raw Divas!  I love you all!

Xoxoxo,

Lyn Wright

Alright, Green-Gogetters.

It’s important to me to give a bit of attention to the people who helped make BiG happen. It was really a treat to get the chance to hook up with these green scene stars on the phone for a one on one call about what will make the world a better place and inspire us all to take a bit more responsibility for the way things are.

Green Urban Goddess Sarma Melngailis is about a lot more than mouth-watery desserts and classy restaurant. It was fascinating to get a sense of all the work that goes on behind the scene. We see malomars and chocolate mint cookies, but there’s so much more to it. Listening to her talk about her uncompromising commitment to organic, raw ingredients inspired me is a reminder that we vote with out dollars!

It takes guts to make hippie a hip thing to do, and the thing I loved most about this call was when she shared a bit about the fact that she goes out of her way to choose staff who are not vegetarian or raw to ensure that she creates a comfortable experience for anyone who comes into her restaurant.

Sarma’s got style and there’s no denying it. You can catch her interview when you sign up for BiG and learn more about how you, too, can be a lucky duck when you check out her online store and score yourself some of her treats and eats!

Next time you’re sitting there feeling sorry for yourself about not having enough money or time or having too much to do, then pull out tonight’s interview with Kris Carr and listen to it again and again and again!

The fact that she’s taken one of the heaviest words out there and turned it into a “crazy sexy” thing means she’s tapped into her superpowers in a BiG way! THAT is the power of thought, the power of attitude and gratitude and living in joy, and that’s exactly why we asked Kris to be a part of our Believe in Green project.

Lucky for us, she said yes! You’ll love this inspiring interview with Kris and after listening you’ll want another dose of her positivity and you can dose up here.

The only man on our BiG thinkers panel was Anthony Anderson, also known as “the raw model.”

And now that you’ve seen his picture, I know what you’re thinking, but that’s not why I invited him, you frisky critter!! I invited him because he loves getting his fingers in the dirt and has some amazing advice and inspiration for BiG thinkers like you. He’s passionate about permaculture and by the end of this call, you will be too!

I was so impressed with the content he shared in this call and had more positive feedback about this call than any other. He was in a fantastic space for this call and I hope you’ll sign up for Believe in Green so you can soak up some of his wisdom and wonderfulness. (Even though this event has ended, you can still access the calls for free!)

I want to just take a few moments to acknowledge the different participants we had on the Believe in Green event.  Green Smoothie Girl, Robyn Openshaw. We picked her to help us kick off this event, because she knows how to keep it real. Some of our guests are known for their extremist points of view, but depending on where you’re coming from, these ideas can be a bit overwhelming.

Robyn knows how to speak to anyone and help create a comfortable gradient with objectives that feel realistic. She also is the single mom of 4 children (3 of which are teenagers) and so she knows how to shop on a budget, multitask, run a business and still make time for healthy living. You can sign up to access her interview here:

I am delighted to present Majora Carter.

Major was so busy we had to reschedule this interview about 4 times!  That’s probably part of the reason that when the interview started, she thought I was just another annoying journalist.   Jimmy the web wonder worker actually forgot to edit the part where Majora told me to look online for the answers to the questions I was asking!!

*gasp!* She thought it was a print interview.

I’ve never felt THIS worried that I’d be met with one word answers during an interview. She was a tough nut to crack, but once I managed to speak a few of the words that resonate with her, she actually ended the interview by calling me “sweetheart.” I received a lot of great feedback about this call. Majora was the first person to help create a public park in the South Bronx in over 60 years!!

If she was a tough nut to crack, it’s only because that’s what it takes to make things happen where she lives. The thing you need to know about Majora is that she’s seen a lot. She grew up in places you and I have never really known and she CHOOSES to live there still because she’s committed to making things better. I suggest you sign up to catch this interview and for more information about her, visit her website or catch her super-inspiring TED talk!

The next si-star to grace our BiG stage with her presence was the lovely Angela Stokes-Monarch! What a treat to connect with her again. She’s come along way from being 160 pounds overweight and while in the beginning her motivations were to lose weight and improve her personal health, she’s now inspired by her ability to touch the lives of tens of thousands of other women and men around the world.

I invited her to take the BiG stage because she’s invested a lot of time recently in learning more about sustainable living, and she’s nearly achieved that ideal for herself. When you sign up to catch this interview you’ll get to hear about some of her favorite resources for growing your own food and sustainable living, and you’ll also find out what she wanted to be when she was a little girl and how, in a certain way, that’s exactly what she ended up doing!!

You can sign up to access these calls for FREE at any time, but I suggest you fork our the ten smackeroos that will go to helping the Girls’ Club, too.
Thanks again for your support!

It’s hard to believe that there are only a few days left of our live Believe in Green event, the process has been an inspiring one. I’d been promising myself to do little blog posts on each of the presenters of the event and even though it’s late, late is better than never, so I’m going to start with the person whose interview kicked off our BiG event: Victoria Boutenko.

I’ve interviewed Victoria a few times, but this was by far my favorite. I was so surprised by some of her answers and her outburst of love and appreciation at the end of the interview is probably something I should record and listen to when I get up every morning. You can listen to the Believe in Green interviews at any time, and while you can sign up and listen to the calls for FREE, we encourage you to drop a wee bit of cash knowing that your $10 donation will go to support the Lower East Side Girls’ Club and their health and nutrition programs.

Here are a few reasons to sign up and listen to Victoria’s call

• She explains how to avoid the gross green smoothie experience of having your food taste like lawnmower pulp.
• Her personal routine is super inspiring.
• She’s got great advice for new comers!
• She gives a few secrets to foraging for wild edible greens that I had never heard before and added dozens of new plants to my wild repertoire.
• She’s got one of the best attitudes a human can possibly have.
• She’s the queen of green smoothies doing great things to make a better world, and listening to her will make YOU want to get up and do great things, too!

You can access Victoria’s interview when you sign up for the Believe in Green event here.

Thanks again for supporting this program!

Ooooh eeee!

Yesterday was officially International Green Smoothie Day and I am delighted to report that our Believe in Green program has lifted off.

We’re starting the event with a fabulous interview with the “creator” of green smoothies, Victoria Boutenko. I love Victoria (who doesn’t?!) and it’s been a pleasure to watch her skyrocket to success over the last few years with the popularity of “green smoothies.” We felt it important to pay special tribute to her work and so she was the key speaker for our preparatory day.

In that interview with me she shared some of her unusual personal habits, which I absolutely love, and if I could adopt them myself I would. Unfortunately skinny dipping isn’t looked favorably upon in downtown Montreal. I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with Victoria on many occasions and this was really a special treat!

You can still access this interview at any time by signing up for Believe in Green.

We set a target of $10,000 in donations, and we’ve nearly reached the $6000 mark by now. It’s exciting, encouraging and inspiring to watch the numbers rise! Thank you so much for all those who are helping to spread the word and make this happen.

Last night at around 6pm Eastern, Robyn Openshaw, also known as: Green Smoothie Girl, came to the stage to share her helpful information on how to get the kids on board healthy eating, and how to get the whole family started on a healthier path to whole foods no matter where you’re starting from.

Robyn is a single mom of 4 kids (3 of them are teenagers, so I TOTALLY take my hat off to this woman!) and she’s self-employed. In the moments when I think I’m crazy to be doing the things I do, I think of her and remember there are crazier.

All kidding aside, I LOVE Robyn’s work and think her get-real approach to raw food is the perfect message for so many people who struggle with a 100% ideal.

I need to give BIG thanks to Blendtec who is sponsoring this event with a fancy, shmancy, brand new Blendter to the winner of our Ripple Maker award. Every year for International Green Smoothie Day we award one (sometimes two) lucky participants with a new blender. All they have to do is host a green smoothie event or do something to get the word out about green smoothies. The person who touches the most lives with their event will win the blender!

It’s not the easiest task in the world, but for a prize like this, we want to honor it with a worthy endeavor to make a difference out there. It’s a thrill to know that seniors’ centers, and elementary schools in Mexico have become the stompin’ grounds for green smoothies because of this event.

If you’ve not yet signed up, you can still access ALL the interviews when you come onboard. We set a target of $10,000 in donations and until we reach our goal, we’re going to keep the gates open! We busted the $6000 mark, so all we need is 400 more people to join us for this green smoothie event and we’ll be home free.

Thanks so much for your support of this event!

Love and leafy greens,

Tera

p.s.

Oh my! I didn’t even mention that 100% of the money we generate for this event goes to the Lower East Side Girls’ Club!

As some of you know, we’ll be hosting a Raw Spa retreat in mid August! I’m really excited about this event and wish we could host hundreds of people in the little house we’ve rented for the weekend, but in the spirit of making the Spa experience accessible to everyone, and also partly because I simply crave opportunities to listen to Nadine share about all her delicious natural beauty knowledge, I’ve decided to create a Home Version of our Raw Spa Retreat.

We won’t be able to whisk all of you off to the mountains with us, but we will be able to help you create an aromatic escape and a fabulously empowering experience of self-pampering at its very best. Here’s how it’s going to work:

While I can’t sweep you away to the mountains, I can invite you to attend a fabulous teleseminar interview this coming Thursday evening with Nadine Artemis. If you don’t know who this delicious diva is, then you can read all about her here and catch our previous call about Natural Sun Protection for Summer. We’ve invited her to join us this Thursday to give us a head-to-toe beauty lesson, and give you the chance to ask her your questions about what to do and include in the ultimate home spa mini-retreat!

Let’s face it! It’s not that easy or affordable for everyone to just escape to the spa for the weekend. And given the size of most women’s to do lists, sometimes taking a bath and flossing our teeth can feel like pampering. It’s important and empowering for us to take the time to nurture our curves, soften our skin and bask in that princess self-pampering vibe.

You can not take care of your body and feel bad.

It’s impossible to surround yourself with beautiful scents and nourish your skin, your hair, your little toes and still feel grumpy about life and the problems that come up.

So, Nadine is coming to empower and inspire us to do some good things for ourselves. And while 15 of us will be soaking up sun by the waterfalls, those of you who will not be able to join us will still be able to create a fabulous opportunity for self-pampering in your own home. (And THAT’s where we most need to put pampering in place! You shouldn’t have to escape before you finally take time for yourself. A home spa is ideal since it helps you put in healthy habits where you need them the most!)

Here are a few of the things that Nadine and I will be covering on this call, though you’re welcome to send in your thoughts and questions for us ahead of time by, just click this link and submit your questions in the box:

For it is in the dew of little things that the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

- Kahlil Gibran

• The best tips for healthy hair, what to put on the hair and what to avoid.
• Natural tips to prevent split ends and frizzy hair!
• Tips, tricks and techniques to bring out the best in your skin.
• Which foods to eat to enhance beauty and which to avoid completely.
• The best aromas to use on different parts of the body and why.
• Why Nadine has chosen some of the special ingredients in her beauty care products.
• How to handle acne and skin blemishes naturally.
• Guaranteed ways to get the glow without spending a fortune at the cosmetics counter!!
• The best ingredients to use around the eyes and how to avoid those heavy “bags”.
• Why oral care is KEY to staying beautiful and what to do to keep your teeth gorgeous and healthy your whole life!
• Why your left over produce may be your best beauty secret waiting to happen!!
• Budget-friendly beauty tips for EVERYONE!

I really hope you’ll join us for this call. I’m thrilled that we’ve getting the chance to take the time to pamper ourselves and get the word out there.

–>TO ATTEND THIS CALL, SIMPLY CLICK THIS LINK ON THURSDAY, JULY 29 AT 9:00PM EASTERN

You can click the teleseminar link at any time to send in your questions. IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO ATTEND THE LIVE CALL, you can come back at any time to listen to the replay of this call. You don’t need to sign up or give your email to listen to this call, so please feel free to spread it around and invite others to take advantage of some well-deserved self-pampering!

I asked Nadine to put together a deluxe beauty bundle of her products for the ladies that will be joining me at the spa in August, and so she’ll be telling us a bit more about this, but we’re also going to be making it available to everyone, even those who are not able to join us for the spa.

Now, for those of you who are feeling the constraints of a tight purse string, she’s also going to be providing beauty tips for ANY budget, so even if you can’t splurge on her intoxicating blends, you’ll still have plenty of suggestions for what you can do on a tight budget.

Personally, I know that if I don’t buy the blends, I’ll just never get around to doing it for myself, and a little dose of self-pampering goes a very long way for me, so I absolutely ADORE being able to splurge on myself. Given the number of hours I spend at the computer or chasing about with the kids, it’s a luxury I can’t afford not to afford myself.

Now, the way our little home spa retreat is going to work, is that during the days that 15 of us will be self-indulging near the mountains, I will arrange to post daily blogs that will inspire all of us to put ourselves first. Using the tips and suggestions in this call with Nadine, we’ll go through a weekend of pampering ourselves.

The Raw Spa Retreat is happening on August 12-15th, so on those days we’ll have self pampering tips posted here for everyone to follow along with. And those of you who would like to order the Beauty Bundle that we’ll be using at the spa, will have an opportunity to do that on the call!

I looooove how we’ll all be connected for a self-pampering extravaganza no matter where we are, no matter what budget we’re on!

Hope to speak to you on Thursday!!

Basking in all things beautiful,

Tera

p.s.

As soon as the spa finishes, we’ll be kicking off our Believe in Green project, with a 10-day green smoothie challenge! Make sure you’re there to join us and you’ll be finishing off your summer looking and feeling rested, relaxed and better than ever!!!!

by Tiffany Sporicelli

Hello all you green Divas out there! I’m a huge fan of all of you and what this site has to offer, so I thought I’d try to share something myself, instead of just greedily taking in all the valuable information you share!

All my life I have been interested in plants and the mystical, magical properties they contain. However, I had many interests growing up and there are only so many hours in a day, so, I didn’t end up following my interest in gardening and herbalism until after the completion of my undergraduate degree. I was 25 and after two short years of living and working in Manhattan, I moved (read: ran) away to return the sprawling countryside of northern New York. It was in this transition to the country that I rediscovered my innate desire to begin working the land.

With two small children and her modest organic garden, Rebecca embodies all the grace and wisdom of our earth mother. A year ago she took me in and began giving me herbal lessons in exchange for some work on the farm. There ware really no downside to the situation for me- I had found my heaven on earth. Since I was renting my home at the time, I appreciated the opportunity to get down and dirty in the soil while learning more about herbalism from a certified herbalist!

Now, herbalism and gardening remain interests and just that. I certainly do not claim to be an herbalist myself. But I thought it would be interesting to share this novice’s experience and what valuable herbal basics I’ve learned so far during this herbal exploration.

One of the most popular ways herbs are used today is in cooking. We use them to add flavor to dishes and to create authentic recipes from each corner of the globe. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme along with cilantro, oregano, and a few others have become kitchen staples. Not only do they taste great, but they offer many health benefits from toning to detoxification.

Another popular way that people ‘take’ their herbs is though herbal teas. You don’t need to observe four o’clock teatime daily to know that a good cup of tea, properly steeped, can soothe the nerves and bring about wonderful healing results. Chamomile might be one of my favorite nighttime teas for the flavor, but it has also been used for centuries in treating children’s colic, nervous stress, infections, and more. No wonder it’s one of the leading ingredients in Celestial Seasonings’ popular Sleepytime tea!

If tea isn’t, well, your “cup of tea,” today, just about everything comes in capsule form. Vitamins, sleep aids, caffeine, and, you guessed it- herbs. In fact many of the leading medicines on the market today are heavily concentrated doses of herbs that our ancestors discovered centuries ago to be potent healers.

Herbs also come in tinctures for a controlled dose. Tinctures are concentrated herbal extracts in a liquid solution. They are administered by dropping 20-30 drops into water (or tea) depending on the desired outcome. Tinctures need to be taken regularly and herbal medicines usually take several days to months before the desired outcome is achieved.

There are several other ways to reap the benefits of medicinal herbs. Oils, lotions and bath soaks have become popular in homes and spas around the world.

We can incorporate the use of herbs into our modern lives in many different ways however to embark on this path of herbal healing and wellness, it must be understood that good health and the path to vitality can’t be found in a plant or pill. Good health is the result of balanced living and nurturing ourselves on a daily basis. It’s a way of life, not a passing diet plan. And no herbal regimen should take the place of personalized medical care from a licensed professional.

Stay tuned, Divas, for our upcoming project: Herbal Talks for Women with herbalist Jonathan Raymond!!

Hey gorgeous health heroines!

We have a little something special to support and inspire you along your path to perfect health. As many of you know, our Green Smoothie Detox kicked off TODAY! We’re starting with a week or preparation and then next week we rev our blenders and get into green mode.

One of our most recent participants on the 22-Day Green Smoothie Detox is a writer and decided that she would love to share her experience on the blog as a way of inspiring other people to change. She’s coming from a bit of a rut in the road after she lost her husband to cancer a year ago. She certainly helps keep it all real. I invite you to follow along and enjoy the ride as another wild woman of courage picks up her straw and starts slurping her way to vibrant health and high-energy living.

Not everyone has the guts to put their “before” picture out there before the changes and improvements have happened. We’re so confident about what the program will do for her, that we’re perfectly comfortable having her flaunt her fabulous improvements. Anyway, here’s Marie:

I choked writing a bio.   Because I don’t know who I am anymore.   I come to the Raw Divas – raw and scraped to the bone with emotional and physical pain.   A year of bad eating or barely eating.   A year of crying.   And I’m ready to crawl out of the hole and live again and be remarkably healthy.   I’m going to surf ride a green wave of wonderful to health.

A year ago, I had a great life.   I live in Mystic CT, a beautiful seaside community, near casinos with great live shows and fantastic art museums scattered around the area, and a train hop to New York or Boston.   A year ago, I had a husband who loved me, who had a great job and I was working on my writing.   We were happy, healthy, and financially solid.   Then cancer hit like a bullet train in May. Long drives to the hospital had me chugging coffee and eating apples and peanut butter at best, and drive through or nothing at the worst.  Of throwing up in fear and pain, and panic that my husband was so ill.  Last August my husband died, and I hit rock bottom emotionally and financially.   Suddenly, I had to start rebuilding my life and I had no idea what to do.

I sit here today.  I’m a new widow, jobless, and stressed.

Worst (best) I have an agent for my books I met her the day I put my husband in Intensive Care, but I have to finish writing the books, and I cry, am depressed, and spend about 10 hours a day during the day in a flannel jammy watching Star Trek. Jean Luc Picard doesn’t boldly go anywhere he hasn’t gone at least 12 times before.   When I lost my husband, I lost the last of my family, we had moved for his job, so I’m isolated.   The economy here is so dismal I can’t find work.  And my best friends moved to whole different continents!!!   And I had to fight to get my husband’s ashes after 10 months.  It’s been grueling.

Do the words “life sucks” mean anything???   I’m tired and miserable and need to change.

I have eye circles  so dark that the racoon is asking if he can get makeup tips and I need something.   I was mumbling something to the cat or God, or something and this invite to Raw Divas popped in my inbox and I jumped.   Leapt.

I have my own garden, plenty of parsley and greens!!  I grow blueberries and raspberries and strawberries and a lot of other veggies.   I‘m ready for a new and fabulous life and I’m going to chronicle the journey to health, wealth, well being and a new life. Check it out!  I’ll be blogging every day about my experiences.