Two years ago, we were putting the final touches on launching the Pure Jeevan web site and blog. (While the blog archives show material dating back to 2006, the material from '06 and '07 is all pulled from Wendi's "Going Raw" journal, which was kept on another site. We pulled it into this site when we launched it to give those starting out on raw an inside look at one person's experiences in transitioning to a raw food diet.)

Pure Jeevan was birthed out of Wendi's overflowing excitement and enthusiasm at having regained her health, coupled with a deep desire to help others find a path to healing that is easier than the long road she traveled. Her vision was (and IS) to inspire others, offer as much free motivational information as possible, and to be there as a loving light to help others along this sometimes dark and difficult path back to health.

With Jim's creative and technical skills, the birth of Pure Jeevan was beautifully executed. What started out as simply a project to help his wife, Jim soon found himself waking up with healed body, mind, spirit, and emotions! That's when Pure Jeevan progressed from a crawling baby to a walking toddler. With all of the information Pure Jeevan puts out to inspire others, you'd think "toddler" wouldn't be a good description. (We offer some amazingly in-depth discussions and information about the raw food lifestyle.) However, as you witness Pure Jeevan's growth in the months and years to come, you'll see that there's much, much more to learn and to share with all of you as we mature beyond the toddler years of fundamental raw lifestyle information and inspiration.

(As a side note, Pure Jeevan is currently experiencing an exciting growth spurt. Wait until you see the changes!)? So, Happy 2nd Birthday Pure Jeevan. Here's to the greatest adventure in health, inspiration, love, community, and so much more that awaits us all!

Take a look at all Pure Jeevan accomplished in just one of its "toddler" years! In 2009...

• Pure Jeevan's blog published more than 260 posts, averaging five posts each week, all year long! Sure, a few of them were housekeeping matters or other non-substantive things. But, the overwhelming majority of them were loaded with amazing, usable information, inspirational stories, and practical, actionable ideas!
• We wrote about the FOOD! Naturally, we spent a lot of time talking about specific foods and reecipes. Some highlights that come to mind are a number of great smoothie recipes, a whole week of salad dressing recipes, a series on herbs and spices, features on figs, pawpaws, oil, raw pastas, Japanesee knotweed, corn, mint, summertime recipes, marinara sauce, kimchi, salads -- and, perhaps our most popular blog post ever, the sweet potato pancakes!
• Makin' It Monday appeared more than a dozen times, quite often with special guest raw chefs like Debbie Young's daughter Sam, our friend's Melissa and Dave Sokulski, Joe Prostko, Tracey Anne Miller, Devaki, Leela Mata, and our own daughter KDcaT. We'd love to feature YOU on Makin' It Monday in 2010!
• Take the Time Tuesday appeared 8 times, with features on (1) raw superstars like Doug Graham, Happy Oasis, Pete Vincent, and Tonya Kay, (2) web sites like Natural Zing and Food Under Foot, and (3) a feature on Bunny's Raw Fu magazine.
• We brought you 20 intallments of the highly inspirational My Raw Story feature, highlighting the raw eexperiences of Andrew Perlot, Chris Carlton, Chris Paris, Debbie Young, Jacki-Ann Harmon, Jeff Rose, Jen Moore, Kendra Harper, Linda Salas, Lucy Brandt, Melissa Sokulski, Mila Ilina, Nancy Osborne, Pamela Reilly, Penni Shelton, Rawbin Anderson, Sally Roman, Tina Pruitt-Campbell, and Zee Charnoe!
• We shared interviews galore!? Wow, we interviewed so many wonderful people! Some highlights include Bif Naked, Kevin Gianni, Rhio, Leigh Krizoe, Charlie Wilson of Help Yourself, Viktoras Kulvinskas, Marcus Rothkranz, Michelle Pierson, Glen Colello from Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe, RawDawg Rory, A.J. Wentworth from Chocolate Conspiracy, Danny & Kathy Living of Borrowed Earth Cafe, Hatice Yavuz of Cousins Restaurant, Joe Prostko, Myra Goodman of Earthbound Farms, Andy Grant of Grant Family Farms, and probably a few more.
• Pure Jeevan was interviewed! When we weren't interviewing others, it seems many others were interviewing us. Among those were Rhio, Revvell, Kevin Gianni, Alex Ortner, and Michelle Pierson. (Many archived / linked to here.)
• We spent a good deal of time providing Raw Food Education. Wow, we fielded a lot of great questions this year -- things like saggy skin after weight loss, how much raw you "should" consume, eating when you're not hungry, and questions on moderation, raw food for pets, exercise, storing smoothies, enzymes, and more. In addition to answering questions, we spent significant time on education and outreach projects. For example, we ran a five-part series on vegetarian athletes, devoted a whole week to diabetes awareness, wrote quite a lot on organic gardening/farming, launched a Produce Buying Tips feature, and started (after experiencing a live blood cell viewing) what will become a much more in-depth foray into the hard-science side of raw foods. (More on that soon in 2010!
• We focused a great deal on providing Raw Inspiration and Motivation! Some highlights included our reviewing our changes and growth for the 2008/2009 year,? offering insights into changes that come when transitioning from high-raw to 100% raw, offering stories on intuitive eating, sharing experiments with a low-fat raw vegan diet, meditation and raw foods, loving yourself through cravings, letting go of expectations, raw food travel tips, settting priorities, socializing with nonraw friends and family, will power, and so much more!
• We had a lot of fun! We shared stories of raw outings, raw celebrations, parties, celebrity guests visiting with Pure Jeevan, online community activities, Raw Spirit Festival highlights, Wendi's special 25th birthday celebration/surprise, Jim's ongoing push-up challenge, and a few fun/silly posts for good measure. Pure Jeevan was also nominated, for the second year in a row, for many categories in the "Best of Raw" awards celebration. (Thank you!)
• We shared personal stories of Wendi's health challenge with Lyme disease. She shared personal thoughts and feelings throughout this difficult time in her life, and was pleasantly overcome by the loving support pouring in from Pure Jeevan family members worldwide.
• Pure Jeevan faced made a difficult decision to postpone our planned cross-country RV trip that had been planned for more than two years. We also shared the elimination process we've been going through in the selection of an ideal place for our relocation. (And, wow, we'll have some super exciting news about that in the coming weeks, too!)

Wow, not bad for a two-year old, eh!? So, what's in store for 2010? Stay tuned...!!!