Today for “Take the Time Tuesday,” we’d like you to take the time to meet Mimi Kirk, whom many of you may know as the winner of PETA’s “Sexiest Vegetarian Over 50″ contest last fall. If you’re interested in longevity, and how diet influences the way we look, act, think, and exist, then you’ll definitely want to listen closely to what this vibrant woman, who is 71 years young, has to say. We spoke with Mimi for nearly an hour this weekend, and are happy to share her inspiring interview with all of you. Below, you can listen right here, or download a podcast MP3 version.

Listen Now!!

Click the player above to listen here, or download the MP3 file here (right click the link and choose “Save file as…” to save to your hard drive for your own use). 

Topics covered include:

• What PETA thought about raw foods
• What it was like to win that contest and what influence that has had
• Her path to raw; why she became vegetarian, then vegan, then raw
• How long she’s been raw & what differences she’s noticed
• Her theories on aging and why diet is so impportant
• Why people today are aging prematurely
• Her recommendation for starting your day
• Duplicating tastes of other cooked foods
• Her routine / how she prepares food on a regular basis
• Her thoughts on supplements, herbs, protein, B12, etc.
• The winning combination for ultimate longevity
• Why so many younger women are fans
• Why cooked food is like smoking
• Her thoughts on menopause and natural vs. conventional approaches
• Her thoughts on medicines and drugs
• Why healthy living and heathy eating is so critical for healthy aging
• Skin issues associated with aging and whether raw helps
• What it’s like to know people the same age who are in very ill health
• Benefits of spiritual practices / meditation / attitude
• Her thoughts on finding your place with food / diet
• Thoughts on longevity & healthy, older others she knows
• Progress on her upcoming book

To learn more about and connect with Mimi, you can:

• Friend her on Facebook (search for “Mimi Kirk”)
• Check out her web site at www.youngonrawfood.com

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You know that old saying about a picture being worth a thousand words? Well, today we want to add a thousand words to your daily informational intake.

Take the time to meet…

Raw Food Photos!

Pure Jeevan’s online friend, urban gardner, eco-warrior, and all-around rawkstar Mike Lieberman (aka CanarsieBK) started this clever site up a while back, and it seems to have just one delightful purpose — to show one picture of a raw food dish per day (well, most days, anyway).  Or, maybe it’s just to show as many raw foods pictures as people submit!  (Care to share your thoughts, Mike?)

Besides being a much-needed repository of delicious-looking raw food photos, the site is also highly inspirational. For anyone who thinks “raw foods” means only “salads,” a quick trip to Mike’s site will get your wheels spinning and your appetite fully engaged. (That September 24 picture of “Cheesiecake” by Rawaga is so delicious looking, I heard Doug Graham is now renaming his book 10/10/80!)

So, check out Mike’s site at www.RawFoodPhotos.com, and also friend Mike while you’re at it. (You can find him here on Facebook.)

*     *     *

(Jim here… On a personal note, I’m painfully close to leaving the corporate world once and for all. My job is mostly answering documents known as RFPs. I used to think that, for the rest of my life, those three letters would call to mind the dull, bland, uber-boring phrase, ”Request for Proposal.” But now, thanks to Mike’s web site, I can just think of Raw Food Photos! So, seriously, thanks Mike!)

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Do you know how sometimes you meet somebody new and they tell you their name and it just doesn’t seem to fit for some reason? Well, that’s just not the case for the person that we’d like to introduce to you today. This person’s name describes the individual she is as well as the community that she creates.

Take the Time to Meet… Happy Oasis!

Happy Heavenly Oasis is the founder and CVO (Chief Visionary Officer) of Raw Spirit Festival Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the bliss about living in healthy harmony. She’s traveled the world, spreading happiness where ever she goes.

If you’ve never met Happy Oasis before, you’ll have the chance to do so this coming weekend (August 29-30) or in another month (Sept. 26-27) during the incredible Raw Spirit Festivals that she has organized.

Happy is definitely a creative being. She has written some books (Bliss Conscious Communication and Uncivilized Ecstacies) and she’s well-known for her gift of storytelling.

Some further information from her bio page on the RSF site:  “Ms. Oasis has spent years in volunteer service with such organizations as Habitat for Humanity and Mother Theresa’s, though mostly volunteering at temples, ashrams, monasteries, food banks, refugee camps, farms, orphanages and others’ homes. Raw vegan health consultant at spas and insight meditation guide at temples in both the Orient and Occident, Happy has also taught intuitive wild edible plants classes called “Lets Get Wild!” in more than a dozen ecosystems around the planet.”

You can learn more about Happy, the Raw Spirit Festival, and a space for sharing Raw Spirit Festival memories by visiting the following sites:

• Raw Spirit Festival
• HappyOasis.com
• Raw Spirit Festival Memories 
  (All Raw Directory)

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Yesterday’s post was a little “heavy,” don’t you think? In it, we shared a bit of the stress we were experiencing related to our pending move. There was just so much data to pore through (and yes, we’re still feeling that stress)! 

At times like these, it’s often good to step back, breathe, and make sure you’re not … well, freaking out – which makes today’s “Take the Time Tuesday” installment absolutely fitting, for we would like you to meet a raw foodie who goes to great lengths to ensure that your “Vitamin L12″ levels stay well into the superhero range. Without further adieu, then…

Take the Time to Meet… Pete Vincent!

Pete’s mission in the raw food world can be summed up in two words: raw humour – and that’s “humour” with the -our ending. I once tried typing in his site name with the western “humor” spelling and, well, let’s just say it took years of intense therapy to reverse the shock of what I saw as a result of that typo.(*) So, if you’re going to visit Pete’s colourful home on the interwebs, please remember that he’s British and, as such, you’ve got to enter the address into your address bar like so: www.RawHumour.com.

(*) Actually, that’s not true. It’s just a vile rumour started by me in order to work the word rumour in here along with colour and humour.

In all seriousness, it’s very easy to find yourself absolutely overwhelmed when learning about raw foods. Add to that all of the common challenges and problems people encounter while transitioning from less healthy diets, and it makes for quite an emotional roller coaster. One day you’re flying high on your first juice feast, the next you’re feeling extreme guilt when you cave-in to a “cooked food temptation,” frustration with friends or family members who aren’t supportive, or disappointment when you fail to meet a health-related goal you’ve set up for yourself.

To help ease your attitude and life your spirits about these things and more, Pete provides more content and information than the law allows. His Raw Humour Network encompasses the main site, a Ning community site with forums and humourous discussions, a YouTube channel, a blog, audio content, and probably all sorts of other laughter-inducing features we’ve failed to mention here. Go explore it all — have fun!

Hopefully, we’re all eventually heading toward a state of constant bliss! In the meantime, though, it’s important to remember to have fun along the way, and not get overly stressed out. As Pete writes on his site, “Raw Humour is here to help you keep balance between trying to be healthy feeding your belly and exercising your belly with some good old belly laughter to feed your emotional body too.”

You can learn more about and connect with Pete Vincent by visiting the following sites:

• RawHumour.com
• The Raw Humour Club
• Pete on Twitter
• Pete on FaceBook

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Sometimes you meet someone and you just know they have tapped into something special, something most of us search for but never quite find. That was the case when I met this lovely woman I’d like the rest of you to meet. There’s a centered peace about her, down deep in her core, and yet she’s overflowing with an energy that I’ve never seen matched by anyone else. She’s delightfully insightful, intelligent, and playful all at the same time.  

Take the Time to Meet…

Tonya Kay is an entertainer and athlete powered by raw foods. Even though her schedule is quite busy with training, rehearsals, and being in the spotlight, she still finds time to educate others about the health benefits of consuming a raw food diet. On her YouTube channel she currently has 30 raw food videos covering just about any subject you can think up. She also has some fantastic raw food books available on her site.

Tonya’s most recent eBook is Raw Nutritional Analysis ll: Spring Athlete’s Diet co-written Tonya and Joanna Steven. The book is a follow-up to a previously written one, Raw Analysis: Autumn’s Diet.  In both books, Tonya’s diet is followed for a month and then undergoes a nutritional analysis to see how balanced it is, or isn’t. Within the pages, Tonya shares answers to common raw food questions and clears up misconceptions about the raw food diet. Each day you can also see what kind of exercise/activity her body experiences.

I’m not sure if Tonya ever sits still for very long, especially over this past year. Prior to this year, Tonya was a member of the Off-Broadway phenomenon, STOMP, and danced in many other productions, as well. Her modeling has been shared in numerous publications, including National Geographic, and was also displayed in NIKE stores. She’s beautiful, talented, and inspiring. Below you’ll see a list of some of the things Tonya’s been doing lately. To learn even more about this incredible woman, check out the site links we’ve also shared, below.

Photo montage of Tonya performing!

What Has Tonya Been Up To Lately?

• Two weeks ago, she performed a solo Bullwhip Burlesque on Showtime’s LIVE NUDE COMEDY. (NOTE: This clip about the show is for mature audiences.)
• This year, her knife throwing duet has been featured on the History Channel’s MORE EXTREME MARKSMEN (link to part of the show).
• Last Thursday, her knife throwing duet was featured on NBC’s TONIGHT SHOW WITH CONAN O’BRIEN (link to that clip). 
• She’s set to play her first reoccurring role on Comedy Central’s SECRET GIRLFRIEND (as Cassidy, the lesbian burlesque dancer who beats up boys — premiering October 14 after South Park!), and
• In November, she will co-star in famous comic illustrator’s TAROT: WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE comic series in it’s 9th year — as herself, Tonya Kay!

Cover to her November issue in
TAROT: WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE,
illustrated by Jim Balent.

You can learn more about Tonya Kay by visiting the following sites:

• Tonya’s site
• Her Kayos Market site
• Tonya’s Blog @ EcoHearth

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All this month, Jim has been experimenting with a low-fat, raw vegan diet. He discusses his reasons for trying a low fat diet, and how he’s been feeling with the changes, in his first and second posts so far this month.

Many of you have heard us mention the famous low-fat, raw vegan 80/10/10 diet here on our blog. Well, today I’d like to highlight the individual behind that diet. So…

Take the Time to Meet…

Dr. Douglas Graham!

Dr. Douglas Graham is a raw foodist (of 27 years), an athlete, a chiropractor, writer, speaker, and health adviser, among other things. He has been advising world-class athletes and trainers around the world, speaking about heath at more than 4,000 events worldwide, and publishing various health and diet publications for many years.

For ten years, Dr. Graham owned and operated a popular fasting retreat in the Florida Keys, where he personally supervised thousands of fasts. He also taught the Health Educator program at Hippocrates Institute. Before retiring to focus more fully on writing and speaking, Dr. Graham also ran a private choropractic practice for twenty years.

Some of you are already aware of Dr. Graham’s famous book: The 80/10/10 Diet, in which he outlines what he believes to be the optimum diet for humans (at least 80 percent of calories coming from healthy carbohydrates, with a maximum of ten percent each from protein and fat). He also has other health publications available: The High Energy Diet Recipe Guide, Nutrition and Athletic Performance, Grain Damage, and a forthcoming book, Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries.

Dr. Graham is passionate about educating others, sharing his knowledge and observations about health and fitness over his lifetime. I’ve spent some time with Dr. Graham and his passion for health and education shines right through him. He’s a lovely individual, so if you ever have the chance to meet him I hope you’ll do so.

You can learn more about Dr. Graham and his products and services by visiting the following sites:

• FoodnSport Web Site
• FoodnSport Blog
• Products, Events, Services
• Dr. Graham Forum on VegSource.com

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I’m excited about something that one of my friends has been working on. Melissa is gifted in so many areas, one of which is wild edible identification. She recently told me she was working on something that would help a lot of people and I was excited about her new project. Well, now it’s ready to be shared with everyone!

Take the time to meet…

Food Under Foot: Unleash the Energy of Wild Edibles!

The concept is awesome: a fun, easy-to-use site for identifying and learning to use safe, wild edible plants that grow all around us. The site is new, but I can already tell it’s going to be amazing. There are categories for plant identification, medicinal information, recipes, and the very important “do not eat” section on the blog.

I’ve been out on wild edible walks with Melissa many times. She has even helped me identify what is and isn’t edible in my own yard. Her site is going to be extremely useful for those of us interested in raw foods who also want to eat  the most nutrient-rich plants possible!

Wild edible plants are full of vitamins and minerals, often more than organically grown food! Plus, they are extremely hardy and full of vital life force. The bonus is that they are free and all around us! Along with the helpful wild edible information, Food Under Foot is quick to caution against eating certain wild plants that can be confused with edible ones (better safe than sorry, right?!).

There’s a free five-part wild edible mini-series being offered when you sign up for their mailing list. I just signed up, so I can’t tell you what it’s like, yet–but, I’m sure it will be informative and useful! If you are interested in learning more about wild edibles, be sure to check out the new Food Under Foot site!

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Surrounding yourself with information about the raw food lifestyle is important when you’re beginning your raw food journey. That’s one of the tips I shared with many of you who are subscribed to our mailings–and it’s a very important tip. Even after being raw for over three years, I still surround myself with information about the raw food lifestyle. It not only keeps me inspired, it allows me to feel an even deeper connection with the community of which I am a part.

One of my friends, Beth Berry (better known as Bunny Berry), has become a constant source of inspiration for many individuals learning about the raw food lifestyle. She puts out video blogs through YouTube and has developed a wonderful group of followers in her RawFu community. As most raw foodists can tell you, your mind becomes clearer on the raw food diet and creativity soars as a result. Beth was already quite creative before raw, but on a high raw diet she has become even more so. I want to share something that she has recently created for the raw food community!

Take the time to meet…

RawFu Magazine!

RawFu Magazine is a brand new magazine Beth has created. The first issue features the lovely Philip McCluskey who was interviewed about the foods he creates and eats. Knowing Beth, this is going to be a gorgeous magazine filled with fun, helpful information with a dose of humor thrown in among the pages. I am expecting a lot out of this magazine and I know I won’t be disappointed.

The marketing genius that Beth is, she has managed to work in a wonderful bonus for subscribing to this new magazine–a chance to win something! The makers of Blendtec (a high speed blender with similar power to the Vitamix) are giving away a blender each month in May, June, and July to one lucky RawFu Magazine subscriber. Sweet!

If you’ve been looking for a source of continued raw food inspiration that isn’t online, a magazine may be what works for you. There are other wonderful raw food magazines available, too (check the Books and Mags Category of the All Raw Directory). I’m featuring RawFu Magazine today because it’s a new one that’s just coming out for the first time, in addition to knowing it’s going to be fabulous because I know Beth puts her all into the projects she creates. Check it out!

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We’re loosley going to be picking up some of the ongoing themes we used to cover here on the blog. For the Take the Time Tuesday theme, we asked our readers to take the time to meet or learn about an individual, product, company, etc., that we think may be of interest to you. For today’s entry, I’d like you to:

Take the time to meet…

Many of you have heard me mention Natural Zing before. However, I’ve never focused on them, or their service, before. So, today I’m making them the focuse of a Take the Time Tuesday blog entry! Natural Zing is an online source for just about everything a raw foodist needs and wants. They sell appliances, books, packaged raw foods, bulk nuts, raw olives, and so much more. When I was putting together a raw food spiritual retreat last year, Natural Zing contacted me and asked if I’d like them to donate some snacks for those attending the retreat. Nice, right? Prior to that, I never had any experience with Natural Zing. That quickly changed, however.

Once I saw the quality raw food products they were carrying, I ordered many items for the retreat. After the retreat, I found myself ordering again for my own family’s needs. Within a few months after the retreat, Natural Zing offered me free tickets to the Raw Spirit Festival in Sedona. All I had to do was drop by their booth from time-to-time to replenish their samples, tidy the samples up a bit, and that was all! Nice, right? From the moment I met Jeff Rose, the President of Natural Zing, I knew we would be life-long friends. Guess what kind of energy he gives off? Nice! I wouldn’t doubt that everyone who meets him thinks, “He’s a nice guy.” (He’s a funny guy, too, and lots of fun to be around!)

Jeff Rose and Wendi Dee at the Natural Zing booth in Sedona, AZ

Since the festival, I’ve gotten to know Jeff and his beautiful wife, Helen, even more. They are remarkable individuals who have created an amazing business. Natural Zing is the leading distributor of raw, vegan, organic foods in the US and Canada. You don’t get to be the leader without putting a lot of passion and purpose behind what you are doing. I witnessed first-hand how Natural Zing makes certain the products they are selling are of the best quality and from the best sources possible. While at the Raw Spirit Festival, Jeff was approached by countless individuals wanting their products sold through the Natural Zing store. He questioned what the sources for ingredients were, explaining that just because something is raw and organic it doesn’t mean it’s made from quality ingredients. He’s pretty strict with what he’ll carry, so I’m always comfortable trusting what is available through the Natural Zing store.

If you visit the Natural Zing web site, you’ll quickly see they aren’t just an online store trying to make money. They have an education tab to educate their customers about healthy practices, they use only 100% recycled paper in the office, they recycle boxes (I’ve seen this—Jeff saved every piece of cardboard from the Raw Spirit Festival and paid to have it shipped back to the Natural Zing office for re-use!), uses soluble packing materials, and even gets their electricity from a 100% green bio-mass generation facility. In addition to Natural Zing, Jeff and Helen founded the Spirit Bliss Community, a non-profit educational organization that provides events, seminars, and other learning experiences on raw vegan nutrition and how to grow organic food.  

There’s nothing I haven’t liked about this amazing company and their owners. They are ethical, honest, loving, and genuine people running an amazing company that I am happy to feature today. I’ve also asked Helen and Jeff if they’d be interested in sharing their raw stories with us, for a future My Raw Story feature here on our blog. I think they are inspiring people and I’m happy to have met them. Without hesitation, I recommend Natural Zing to all of our readers as a fantastic resource for all of your raw food product needs! Whenever you click to the Natural Zing site through any links on our sites, we also get a small commission. Nice, right?

If you are interested in getting to know more about Natural Zing and its owners, you can visit the Natural Zing site, as well as their blogs:

• Natural Zing Online Store  (Sign up for their newsletter to be alerted about sales and specials!)
• Natural Zing Blog  
• Natural Zing Babies Blog   (Jeff and Helen have two beautiful children.)

===========

ADDED: I JUST received my Natural Zing order, not long after posting this entry!! I ordered everything late Sunday evening (no shipping on Sundays), and here it is in my home already (Tuesday afternoon)! They’re always so fast with their shipping. I didn’t want to hope they’d get it here today–but, they did! I know I sound like an advertisement for Natural Zing by now, but they really are as great as I’m saying.

Natural Zing was out of the raw olives that we all love here at Pure Jeevan, so Jeff suggested I try some new ones he’s carrying that are better than all the rest. I trust his opinion, so I ordered them. OMG!!!! These olives are AMAZING!! You can sqeeze them and get olive oil of out them, too. They are so delicious and not bitter at all. It’s going to be difficult to not overeat on them!  If you like olives, I definitely recommend these (I never liked olives until I tried them last year) from the Natural Zing catalog: Peruvian Sundried Pitted Black Olives (8 oz., raw, organic, cured). OMG!! They are sooooo delicious! I don’t recommend them if you have a hard time controlling yourself with tasty, salty snacks, though.

XOXOXO

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I was reminded about a video I saw some time ago, after seeing a similar video on my dear friend Bunny’s blog. What you are about to see is AMAZING!!

Take the time to meet…

The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra!

Here’s a little something about the orchestra, taken from their web page:

“The Vegetable Orchestra performs music solely on instruments made of vegetables. Using carrot flutes, pumpkin basses, leek violins, leek-zucchini-vibrators, cucumberophones and celery bongos, the orchestra creates its own extraordinary and vegetabile sound universe. The ensemble overcomes preserved and marinated sound conceptions or tirelessly re-stewed listening habits, putting its focus on expanding the variety of vegetable instruments, developing novel musical ideas and exploring fresh vegetable sound gardens.”

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A few years ago, my dear friend Melissa and I decided to split the cost and order a raw food home study course (then known as The Dr. Ann Wigmore Program). Let me tell you, this was not a cheap program that we purchased, but at that time there wasn’t as much free information available on the Internet like we now have.

Was it worth the cost? Well, kind of. Since we had both been reading and learning so much about raw foods (she had actually been raw for a long time many years before), much of the information wasn’t new to us. However, if someone was newly learning about raw foods, the program would probably have been fantastic. The quality of the materials we received wasn’t great (photocopies of photocopies that were sometimes difficult to read, and some videos that were blurry or difficult to hear), but at least we had a lot of information at our fingertips.

When I  decided to go completely raw again, I pulled out the videos and printed materials and used them as a form of motivation to continually surround myself with raw food information. I didn’t rely solely on the information in the program, I also devoured any new raw food preparation books I could find through the library, and I found all kinds of raw food blogs and communities on the Internet. I figured that if I really wanted to do it, truly wanted to become a 100% raw foodist, I’d need some sort of support. For me, that support was going to come from constant inspiration by surrounding myself with any raw food knowledge I could acquire.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because that program that we purchased has been revised by the publishers and it may be of better quality, now. I’m not here to promote one thing over another, but what the company is offering might be something you want to check out……

Take the time to join a contest to…

WIN A FREE 
Dr. Ann Wigmore
Raw Food Home Study Course!

It doesn’t seem like there are any strings attached to entering the publisher’s contest. The rules are simple:

1. You must leave a blog comment to be eligible to win the contest.

2. In the blog comment, you must say why you feel that you should win the course and why you feel the raw diet will help you achieve greater health.

So, if you have the time and feel lucky, go ahead and ENTER THE CONTEST. If you do, I hope you win the program and then let me know what you think of it!

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