Wow, who knew so much work goes into meeting up with people all across the country?! It’s going to all be worth it, though, to meet so many of you!! Below are the definite meetups happening. There are more being planned that we’ll share once things are finalized. If you don’t see your town/city here, but it’s on our list of places we’ll be visiting, maybe you’d like to help us put together a little gathering? If so, just let us know! We’ll be updating later next week with a more finalized plan for the trip and various meetups taking place.

• PORTLAND, OR: February 25, a small meetup will happen around 2pm at the Blossoming Lotus restaurant!
   
• CORVALLIS, OR: February 28, meeting local unschoolers at the Sunnyside Up Cafe at 1pm! Thanks, Jon Gold, for organizing this gathering for us!
   
• SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA: March 13, Wendi giving a talk at the meetup group, @6pm. See here for details.
     
• SANTA ROSA/SEBASTOPOL, CA: March 10, raw food potluck meetup and talk, 7-9 pm. (North Bay Living Foods Community)
   
• LOS ANGELES, CA: March 14, raw food meetup at Cru (raw restaurant), at 5:30 pm! Thanks to Debbie Young for organizing this! (Space limited, so RSVPs will be necessary.)
   
• TULSA, OK:  On Saturday, March 27, at noon, the biggest event of the trip is being organized by the lovely Penni Shelton! This will be a Raw Food Rehab Spring Celebration where Wendi will be sharing her story and answering questions. All are welcome, but you must RSVP to attend the event. Please consider attending this event, as it’s going to be great fun! You can find details and a way to RSVP through this link.
   
• CHICAGO, IL:  On Thursday, April 1, at 7:00 p.m., Wendi will be speaking at Whole Foods in Hinsdale, IL (Chicago area). Details on the Downers Grove Meetup site, here.

Healthy raw food snacks for this cross-country tour have been sponsored by the amazing Jeff and Helen Rose of Natural Zing! If you’re planning your own trip, or simply enjoy raw snack foods, be sure to visit their amazing online store (it’s Pure Jeevan’s favorite source for raw food supplies!).

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Announcing:  Pure Jeevan’s Halloween Raw Pot Luck – A Costume Party for All Ages!!

When:  October 31, 2009, 6:00 p.m. – ???

Where:  Wendi and Jim’s home – 31 Hillman Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15227 (Google map)

Details:  Wear your costume and bring a raw food dish to share (enough for at least 6 – 8 people) and be prepared to have a howling good time!  If anyone has kids who would like to trick-or-treat, feel free to arrive around 5:30 p.m. to get a good head start on the neighborhood action (expect sugary, non-raw, traditional Halloween fare if you’re trick-or-treating).

Questions, etc? Email Jim — Rawdiant [at] Gmail.com, Google Map Link

Please R.S.V.P.!  Hope to see you here!!! We’ll be in costume (it’s a tradition we never miss). Wendi, the Gypsy, will be reading fortunes, so don’t miss this opportunity, as she only does this once per year, and she’s eerily accurate!

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Hi everyone!  We wanted to announce plans for a raw food picnic / potluck / meetup next Saturday, September 19th, at noon, in Berkeley Springs, WV at Berkeley Springs State Park (link to map), a wonderful natural healing destination about half-way between Pittsburgh and D.C. Wendi was just talking with Rawbin from the Capital Area (D.C.) raw food meetup and we all thought that a combo Pittsburgh / D.C. meetup might be fun. So, we all planned something right on the spot!

Berkeley Springs is a really nice (but small) public park in West Virginia about half-way between Pittsburgh and D.C. I traveled there a few weeks back with Melissa, Dave, Ella, and Bethany on the way to Raw Spririt East. We had a super time soaking in the spring water and checking out all of the cool alternative shops. (I did a write-up here on Pure Jeevan a few weeks ago and posted some video of the place). 

All are welcome… not only from the Pittsburgh and D.C. meetup groups, but anyone who wants to join in!  If you love fresh spring water, remember to also bring some jugs / bottles so that you can load up on this awesome, healing H2O (all for free!).
 
BTW, I didn’t register or anything with Berkeley Springs State Park. So, this is all unofficial as far as they’re concerned. But it’s a public park, and seems amenable to people gathering and having picnics, so all should be fine. Bring a raw vegan dish to feed 6-8 people, please, as it’ll be a potluck!
 
Hope 2 C U there!!!
-Jim & Wendi
 
ps The park has wi-fi, too.

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If you are in the Pittsburgh area this weekend, you are in for a real treat! Rhio will be visiting with us and she’ll also be meeting with others during her two-part presentation for the Pittsburgh Raw Food Meetup on Saturday. You don’t have to be a member of the meetup to enjoy this presentation. Below is information about the event you won’t want to miss!

Two-Part Presentation by Rhio includes Dinner
author of Hooked on Raw
Saturday, May 30, 2009 – 5:00 PM – $20.00
Vault Coffee & Tea Bar, 3619 California Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
RSVP: Janet McKee 724.417.6695 or janetmckee@netscape.net

1) Learn how to make yogurt out of nuts and seeds.
Dairy products contain casein which breaks down in the body to casomorphin, an opioid peptide with addictive qualities… that is why giving up dairy can be hard for some people. Rhio demonstrates how easy it is to make yogurt out of nuts and seeds with tastings of the yogurt and generous tastings of a coleslaw made with the yogurt.

2) Genetically Engineered Foods Explained in Plain Language
In this talk, you will learn the who, what, why, where and how of GE issues. You will also learn what other countries have done to protect their citizens and the environment, and what we can do here to get the same protections and rights. At least 70% of all GE foods are grown in the US, with Canada and Argentina making up most of the balance at this time. The food fight of the century began in the US and what happens here will be pivotal to defeating this technology worldwide.

Recently the results of some long-term feeding studies commissioned by the Austrian Government confirmed that genetically modified corn seriously affects reproductive health in mice. Advocates fighting against the proliferation of GMOs into the open environment have long warned about the infertility link along with other health risks. They are now calling for an immediate ban of all GM crops so that the fertility of women around the world can be protected as well as the health of humankind.

You can find out more about Rhio at the following links:

• www.rawfoodinfo.com
• www.NYTalkRadio.net

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Jim here… Today is April 25, 2009 — Wendi Dee’s Birthday!!  She’s asleep now. It’s 1:30 in the morning & I’ve been up for hours assembling something stunningly amazing to share with you.  You see, this year, I asked some friends, family, and foodies to take a page of a sketchbook and offer Wendi some Happy Birthday wishes — and then send it back to me so I could bind it all into a large book!  WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!! Check out the response from 40+ people from around the globe. It’s a little overwhelming to see this much positive energy in one place. What a momentous day she’s in for in another 5 hours or so when she gets up and is greeted by such a surprise! If you’d like to say Happy Birthday, just leave a comment here! Thanks to everyone!

Update:  Just added another digital file to the collection! For any latecomers, any new additions will be added as they come in. Even if you’re just now learning about this special project, I’m sure Wendi would be more than happy to add your loving message to this collection that she will always hold dear to her heart. You can send your original art to her (and I will scan — at 31 Hillman St., Pgh., Pa 15227), and/or send a JPG to me at Rawdiant [at] Gmail.com and I’ll post it on the digital site!
 
Clarifications: (1) Yes, as some of you may have guessed, Wendi’s body has circled the sun more than 25 times. If you visit the site, I explain what the “25th” birthday means a little more. It’s basically about the amazing power of raw foods. (2) No, I didn’t send messages to David Wolfe, Gabriel Cousens, Woody Harrelson, or other raw food celebrities Wendi isn’t friends with. However, if they are huge fans of Wendi’s, they are more than welcome to contribute at the above address! LOL

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All this week on the Pure Jeevan blog, we’ll be focusing on diabetes and the movement to naturally reverse it. We’re working up to April 25th (my birthday!), which has been selected as the official Reversing Diabetes Naturally Day.

A warm, intelligent, and loving individual named Dr. Gabriel Cousens has been doing ground-breaking work and research on diabetes and diet. What he has found is so surprising that many people dismiss what he is saying, believing it to be false. But, I (along with many others in the natural health movement) am here to tell you that what Dr. Cousens has discovered is TRUE! You probably already know what he has discovered, of course: a change in diet (particulary including raw foods) can reverse diabetes!

Dr. Cousens did a small study on some diabetic individuals, documenting his work and findings. The resulting documentary is remarkable. We hosted a viewing of the movie at our home and the room was packed. Everyone sat silently, absorbing the truth of what they were seeing: diet CAN make a difference in a disease that is thought to be permanent and debilitating. Many of us had tears silently streaming down our faces, touched by the moving stories that were shared in the documentary. We were filled with a sense of excitement that there IS hope for those with diabetes!

Diabetes affects millions. Chances are, you either have close friends or family who suffer with the disease, or maybe you, yourself, are either prediabetic or diabetic. Diabetes diagnoses have skyrocketed in recent years, and it’s now showing up at alarming rates among our children, as well. What’s worse, almost every individual affected by diabetes thinks that there’s no help or cure. So, the more we spread the word, the more we can see our loved ones and others regaining their health and vitality along with the rest of us! Let’s not keep this a secret — Diabetes IS Reversible!!

If you haven’t seen clips from the documentary, yet, you can view it on a special page we are going to continue updating over this week. Right now the page is sharing information about the documentary and includes an amazing deal for anyone purchasing the DVD before the end of this month (over $300 in free materials just for supporting the mission to reverse diabetes naturally!). I can’t recommend this DVD strongly enough, as it clearly shows REAL proof of natural diabetes reversal. And, it’s not just any raw foods diet, either. Dr. Cousens has developed a specific treatment protocol.

As the week progresses, we’ll be adding more information about diabetes to that page. Also, check back here at the blog all this week to read some inspiring stories shared by those who have been naturally healing their bodies from diabetes by eating a raw food diet! Tomorrow we’ll be sharing one of those stories, as well as ways that you can easily help support this movement to reverse diabetes naturally!

Together we can all make a positive change in this world!

Lots of love to all of you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

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On March 1st we started a Juice-a-Day Jamboree, to challenge ourselves (and our readers) to include more fresh juice into our diets. We knew we weren’t ready for an all-out juice feast, but a juice a day seemed like something we could commit to in our daily lives. So, the Juice-a-Day Jamboree was born. We’ve been posting periodic updates on our original post about the Jamboree, but figured we’d post periodic juice updates in the main part of our blog, as well, to encourage others to add some more fresh juice to your diets, as well.

We’ve missed one day of juice since we started the Jamboree. Our original goal was to have our juice first thing in the morning, but we weren’t always successful with that. So, we told ourselves that any time of the day is fine, but if we can start the day with a juice we’d prefer it that way. The changes we’ve been feeling are more pronounced when we begin the day with fresh juice, rather than when we have our juice later in the day.

The changes were obvious right away, but their intensity keep increasing. By just drinking one glass of fresh juice a day we have been noticing more energy and, most of all, even more focus during the day. We’re drinking approximately two cups of fresh juice a day, not nearly as much as juice feasters are consuming per meal. However, just the small amount of juice is doing something. I can see maybe someday working up to even more fresh juice in my diet. For now, however, a juice-a-day is good for us here at Pure Jeevan.

KDcat is drinking the juice along with Jim and I on most days. She’s also consuming a lot of cooked foods and a bit of packaged “junk” food from time-to-time. She hasn’t noticed as large a change in her energy or focus. That could be, in part, because she isn’t drinking the juice when it’s freshly prepared. She likes to sleep in (teenagers!) most mornings, so her juice isn’t consumed until at least three hours after it has been made. Many times she’ll even wait to drink it until after her lunch. So, I don’t know if her lack of extra energy and focus are because she’s eating cooked foods or because the juice isn’t fresh when she’s consuming it.

We’ve mostly been sticking with the apple, carrot, celery, lemon juice recipe. Once we added some green juice to it and once we drank fresh orange juice for our daily drink. Overall, we are liking this challenge. The more we do it, the less of a chore it seems to be.

For the rest of you who are juicing, how are things going for you? Have you made any amazing juices that you’d like others to try out, as well?

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Welcome to Pure Jeevan’s “Juice-a-Day Jamboree”! You’re probably wondering, “What IS Pure Jeevan’s Juice-a-Day Jamboree, anyway?” Well, it’s simple: It’s an ongoing, informal, loosely organized “event” centered around juicing. Think of it as an interim step between (1) any kind of diet or lifestyle, from SAD to full-on raw, that does not include much regular juice, and (2) an all out juice feast where that’s ALL you’d consume for a period of time. Basically, we’re saying, “Let’s just make this simple and accessible for everyone. Let’s just make a goal to simply drink more fresh juice!”

Wendi and I have been thinking a lot about incorporating more juicing into our lives lately (which is something we’ve done off and on over the years but never stuck with long-term). One thing holding us back from doing it more often is the time requirement. When we juice, it usually takes a half hour or so from start to finish. I know it doesn’t seem that complicated, but I suppose it’s just the whole process of setting up the juicer, washing and peeling the produce, juicing it, setting the juice aside while we clean the juicer, doling out the juice into glasses, cleaning up the mini-mess that makes, and then sitting down to actually enjoy the juice.

However, we both intuitively felt that we needed to be juicing more (we both feel flooded with energy during the day each time we juice). So, we wondered how we could add more juicing into our diets without it becoming a big deal. Then Wendi came up with an idea that seemed like a real winner: Instead of starting from scratch every day, maybe we could pre-wash and pre-sort our fruits & veggies on the weekend so that, during the week, all we need to do is grab a bag of prepared produce and go immediately to the juicing phase. If we decided to do this once a day, we could make it part of our daily routine.

We didn’t take action with that idea for a while, and almost forgot about it. But then Wendi was reading Penni’s blog and was reinspired to get our own juicing regimen started. Penni is an experienced juice feaster who chronicled her 92-day feast last year and is very inspiring. (A juice feast or fast is a period during which you consume ONLY fresh juices for a span of time.) Penni has currently challenged herself again (read her Juicing Couture post) and many individuals are joining her in the challenge — including us!

To make it more fun and motivational for us and our readers, we have decided to create a fun event out of it. So, the message of our Juice-a-Day Jamboree event is easy: Incorporate more fresh juice into your life, at least once a day if you can. This isn’t a juice feast or fast. It’s just a small, ongoing “challenge” to prepare yourself some juice every day and see how you feel as a result. No rules, no time limits, no pressure. Just some delicious juice to nourish your system. (In the future, we may desire to do a full juice feast. But currently, a more simple juice goal fits better into our lifestyle.)

If you want to have a little more fun with it, grab one of the following sidebar buttons …

… add it to your blog and link it here to this page — http://purejeevan.com/blog/?p=876 — to let others know what you’re doing. This way, you can encourage others to incorporate more fresh, health-giving juice into their daily lives. And you’ll also remind yourself of your Juice-a-Day goal. Don’t forget to come back to this page periodically and leave a comment to let us and everyone else know how you’re doing! We look forward to sharing our Juice-a-Day journey with you. We’re starting today. How about you?!

=========

We’ll be posting periodic updates about our Juice-a-Day Jamboree experiences, below, and look forward to hearing from you about your Jamboree experiences!

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EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!

Kevin Gianni Wants to Meet 
Pittsburgh Raw Foodists This Saturday!

UPDATE: Location is set for my home in the South Hills

Kevin and Annmarie Gianni will be in Pittsburgh for the Steeler’s game on Sunday. They’d love to meet Pittsburgh raw foodies while they’re here! So, if you can make it to meet up with them, let Wendi Dee know as soon as possible. We’ll either be meeting at the East End Food Coop (if I can reserve the space at the last minute) or at my home (South Hills/Brentwood). Please respond by Friday at 5:00 p.m. about your availablity.

WHAT: Meeting with Kevin and Annmarie Gianni
WHERE: South Hills/Brentwood
WHEN: Saturday, January 17th, 5:30 p.m.
BRING: One raw, vegan dish (enough to serve 12, or more)
FEE: Free!!!
RESPOND: RSVP by Friday, 5:00 p.m., by sending an email to: WendiDee@PureJeevan.com

I know it’s last minute, but better last minute than not at all. He and Annmarie are a joy to be around, so I hope you can make it to meet them.

Lots of love to all of you,

Wendi Dee

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We’re not ready, yet, to announce one of our big exciting projects that’s going to be coming to life very soon. However, we’re working on something for it and we’d love to hear your opinion about it. So, if you are up for some quick fun this evening, please send me an email (wendidee   @   purejeevan.com). We’ll then share something with you that we’ve been doing and ask for your opinion! 

We’ll need to receive an email from you tonight by 10:00pm EST to know you’re interested in helping us. Then between 10:30-10:45 you’ll receive a link to see something exciting (in which you’ll learn the inside scoop on a very big project!) and you’ll be asked to send us your opinion by 11:15 pm EST. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes for most people.

So, are you in? If so, send me an email and you’ll receive the link this evening!! I’m super excited about the thing we’re working on this evening. It’s a lot of fun!!!

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Pure Jeevan hosts the Pittsburgh Raw Food Meetup this Sunday, November 2, at 3:00 p.m.! Click here for details and a map link. We hope you can make it. We’d love to spend time with you!

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