Raw Foods Diet & Raw Food Weight Loss Blog

We’re taking a very short break from our Nadi Balance series to announce that once again it’s a special time of the year for diabetes awareness. As you may recall, we spent Wendi’s 25th birthday last year doing public outreach on this very topic, as it’s an issue close to our hearts. Pure Jeevan even maintains a special page, here, for diabetes information. So, if you know of anyone suffering from diabetes, and feel that they may be receptive to some really eye-opening information on the topic, please direct them to:

http://purejeevan.com/diabetes/

I’m happy to report, by the way, that Wendi’s birthday this year was super-fun. We started out the day with a rousing Happy Birthday chorus and some raw cherry pie (perhaps a future Makin’ It Monday installment!), went into Oakland (where the University of Pittsburgh campus is) to tour the international-themed classrooms in the Cathedral of Learning, and then returned home where I made some rawsome Indian samosas (courtesy of a super recipe posted by Sarma Melngailis on G-Living). They were so tasty, I actually made them twice!  (In addition to that cherry pie recipe, I’ll likely also post a recipe for a traditional Indian mint chutney that I think also goes very well with the samosas. Most Indian restaurants serve samosas with this kind of chutney, and it’s fairly easy to make.)

The trip to the Cathedral of Learning is part of what our daughter has named our “Pittsburgh Bucket List” — or, things we’d like to do before leaving the Pittsburgh area once and for all. So, we checked this one off yesterday. Soon to come are some things like a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterwork, Fallingwater (I know, I know… we have no idea how we’ve lived here 12+ years and not visited that). What’s on YOUR bucket list — either for your area, or for your life?  Inquiring minds want to know… drop a comment below!

Speaking of special outings… Wendi has to make a quick trip out of town tomorrow through Thursday (for something wildly exciting!), so we’ll have to wait until Friday or Monday in order to resume the Nadi Balance series. We appreciate the many emails and questions sent to us in response to the information we’ve shared so far. Trust us: We understand the gravity / importance of what we’re sharing. All questions will definitely be answered — some immediately, others after we’ve completed our initial statements on Nadi Balance. Basically, we need to put a framework in place from which we can even begin answering these questions — and that framework is still incomplete. So, if we addressed questions now, the answers would not make sense. But, we’ll get there — we promise!!

Six months ago, we devoted a week’s worth of coverage here on Pure Jeevan to diabetes. You’ll find diabetes statistics, raw food resources for diabetes, stories of people who have beaten diabetes using a raw foods diet, an audio interview Wendi and I did about diabetes, and more.

We also linked several times to the Movement to Reverse Diabetes Naturally, where people could pick up copies of two amazing DVD documentaries, “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days” and “Raw for Life.” Through an enormous effort during those weeks back then, the RDN Movement spread the word about raw foods to literally thousands of people!

We just heard from the RDN Movement again. They’re running a special this week on both movies — 50% off! So, if you haven’t seen them yet, but still want to, there’s no better time. Just go to:

• http://tinyurl.com/pj-diabetes

I still haven’t seen Raw for Life, but Simply Raw is really an amazing documentary and testament to the power of raw foods. For our complete coverage of diabetes from earlier this year, visit this link.

Wow, is it Friday already?!  Time flies when you’re powered by 100% raw organic goodness! Today, we wanted to share an audio interview with you. Last night, Alex Ortner from the Movement to Reverse Diabetes Naturally interviewed us about our recent work helping them spread their message. We were honored to hear him introduce us as ”two people that hold a special place in my heart right now, and I’ll tell you why that is: They are probably the two most active people that we’ve had in the movement to reverse diabetes naturally.”

Well, Alex, it was our pleasure! We met scores of new people during our work for RDN, generated major awareness about the movement, and spread the word about the raw food lifestyle as well. To listen to or download the interview, just visit their site, here. Topics covered include:

• Our experience on a raw food diet — how it has changed our lives on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels;
• Why being raw is so much healthier than just being vegan;
• Why we chose to get involved in The Movement and what we did on Reversing Diabetes Action Day;
• How we lost weight and came off all of medications;
• How you can meet us on our upcoming road tour;
• And more!

If you’re new to our site, our permanent diabetes awareness page is here.

The link to our interview is: http://www.rdnmovement.com/?p=984

You thought our “Know Your Food” series was dead??!!  (Or, if you’re a new reader, maybe you don’t know what “Know Your Food” is yet!) Well, we’ve been poking around in the archives this week and discovered THREE lost episodes. This is HUGE… It’s like one of those stories you hear every few years about some rare Hollywood film being discovered in a vault somewhere (laughing so hard)!

Over the next week or two, we’ll be posting these three episodes. Today’s episode is PUMPKIN, starring Wendi and her guest Ella (daughter of Melissa and Dave, who run the FoodUnderFoot blog we linked to recently). Once these missing episodes have been aired, this will usher in the dawn of a never-before seen level of production values for the Know Your Food series. The new stuff will totally win every major award available to YouTubers (continues laughing…).

Sure, we know pumpkins aren’t in season right now. However, this video is sweet because of our special guest. So, enjoy the Pumpkin episode:

 
Some additional information about pumpkins:

• Pumpkins are jam-packed with beta carotene, which helps protect against cancer, heart problems, and respiratory troubles. It’s got decent amounts of Vitamin C, E, B2, Iron, and Potassium as well!
   
• Pumpkin seeds are of course edible. However, we’re going to cover them in a separate “Know Your Food” episode.
   
• According to the Wikipedia, pumpkin extract may be good for diabetics. If you’re diabetic, it may be worth researching this further.
   
• Pure Jeevan’s free eBook, “Raw Food Recipes,” has an outstanding raw pumpkin pie recipe — tastes even better than traditional baked pumpkin pie, and is actually GOOD for you! (If you haven’t received our eBooks, sign up here and you’ll get them via email.)
   
• The All Raw Directory has around 10 different pumpkin recipes listed at the time of this blog entry. See www.AllRawDirectory.com and search for “Pumpkin” in the Recipes section.
   
• Where Jim grew up in the midwest, years before he became an English major, he once walked into a Wal Mart and informed the manager that the word “Punkin” on their sign was misspelled. They promptly asked him to leave.

A few weeks ago, we hosted a Diabetes Awareness week here at Pure Jeevan. This was our contribution to the larger Reversing Diabetes Naturally movement that we blogged about. We wanted to let you know that the package of bonus materials offered to people who purchase the Simply Raw DVD is quite amazing! (See this post for details.) We reviewed all of the materials ourselves, and it’s just a ton of great information.

The original deadline for receiving the free bonus materials was the end of April. However, the deadline has been extended through Friday, May 8. So, if you know anyone who has diabetes who could benefit from either the “Simply Raw” documentary and/or the companion film, “The Ultimate Enyclopedia of the Raw Food Listyle,” simply point them to http://tinyurl.com/pj-diabetes.

The Simply Raw DVD isn’t only about diabetes reversal. What we took away from it was the restorative power a raw food diet has on a body. Diabetes reversal is one of the many chronic conditions that has been reversed / cured when a raw food diet is followed. If you haven’t seen the documentary, we highly recommend it.

We are leaving our Pure Jeevan Diabetes page up permanently as an information resource for our visitors. That page is at http://www.purejeevan.com/diabetes. If you’d like to see other helpful information appear on that page, just let us know. Together we can spread the word that diabetes is reversible!