Wow, I just took a gander at the "Best of Raw" web site and saw that Pure Jeevan is nominated for all sorts of great things -- singling out Wendi, me, Pure Jeevan, this blog, and the All Raw Directory over at least eight different categories!

We really appreciate the nominations, so thanks so much to those who took the time to do that. We'd love it if you would vote for us for "Favorite Raw Blog." (You can do that now by going here.) Of all the things we were nominated for, that's probably the one we've really put the most effort into.

Best of Raw is a pretty neat thing. I think it's got an underlying spirit to it that fits in well with the raw vegan community. In other words, even though it's kind of ostensibly a competition of sorts, it's not really about that. It's more of an overall vehicle of awareness.

Within the raw community, it seems sometimes like information overload. Since we're "in the know," it seems like there is so unbelievably much going on all the time -- raw events, new raw restaurants, emerging health news, new recipes, new books, inspirational writings, health coaches emerging on the scene, video channels, web sites, etc. So, yes, it's crazy-busy! BUT... we have to remember that, even now, the overall awareness of raw among the general populace is still remarkably low.

There are some encouraging signs... In my opinion, the broad umbrella of vegetarianism has now progressed to a small but undeniable presence in the mainstream (a great first step!). Most restaurants have at least one vegetarian option -- even the most meat-centric venues we've ever heard of.

Step up to vegan and it gets a bit tougher, although even those options are expanding. After visiting our local co-op this evening, I stopped in at Whole Foods. Vegan dishes absolutely abound there -- even on the hot bar. Another great step!

But move up to raw and, unless you're at some rare raw foods oasis (usually only in larger cities), you're either "rolling your own" or probably tucking into a rather uninspired non-organic salad somewhere, maybe with a little romaine or a spring mix (although, in fairness, the Whole Foods I visited in St. Louis over Thanksgiving did offer two nice raw salads -- kale and asian veggies).

We're on the road today to Chicago. A cursory Googling of "number of restaurants in Chicago" turned up one page that estimated 5,500. Another search for raw restaurants turned up 3 listings. So, the "Chicago Ratio" is 3/5,500. (I'm not going for mathematical accuracy here, but just bear with me.) If we say that this ratio represents the general awareness level of raw in the mainstream, then, it means that about 0.05% of people have anything to do with raw foods.

If only 0.05% of us needed to know about the healing benefits of raw foods, then that number would be appropriate. But, when you compare that 0.05% to another statistic like 8% (the number of diabetics in the U.S. population) or ~20% (the number of pre-diabetics), then it's easy to see why the awareness level is painfully low. (And that's only comparing it to diabetes!) (Stats from the Pure Jeevan diabetes page.)

So, there's SO much room for growth in raw awareness, it's absolutely crazy! We're glad to be here in the ground floor of it all, and glad that so many other sites like Best of Raw and all of the other outstanding nominees are out there spreading the word.

(But still, your voting for Pure Jeevan for Best Raw Blog would really be cool.)