raw magick

grab & run: takeaway raw pizza in cape town

rawmagick — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:51:26 +0000

the raw food world in cape town is ever expanding, much to our delight! after teaching our 2nd smoothies class with smashing success, we drove off to pinelands to pick up our takeaway pizza made lovingly by natalie reid of earthshine. she snipped fresh chives from the garden just out the kitchen door onto the artfully scrumptious pizza and tucked it into its cute brown takeaway box and we were off to devour the precious pie at home!

pizza = happiness

edible work of art!

the crust was delightfully crispy and light which was a nice compliment to the richness of the tomatoes and olives. the fresh and fragrant basil and chives were just the extra magick that filled our mouths with joy! the cheese was a little on the sweet side but went well to balance all of the other flavours. well done, natalie! sign us up for next time!

why we love wednesdays

rawmagick — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:25:19 +0000

ok, another trip to kwalapa’s raw food wednesday buffet and we were in heaven! we’re so glad that raw food is catching on here in cape town. so above, clockwise from left is mini pizza on essene bread, stuffed mushrooms, crackers with cauliflower pate, massaged cabbage, apple, and fennel salad, and summer veg salad! yum yum yum… can’t wait til next time!

why raw foodists should clean their pipes

rawmagick — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:42:44 +0000

i’ve been wanting to communicate the importance of colon cleansing for awhile, but after coming across this article by matt monarch, i don’t think it could’ve been said any better, and backed with more detail, research and personal experience. talking about your poop/pipes is uncomfortable for some, but i don’t mind so much. if you’re so concerned about what you’re putting into your body, you should at least take some notice of what’s coming out! enjoy! much love, ~vanessa

Cleansing the Colon on a PERIODIC Basis, by Matt Monarch

Whenever you improve your diet (i.e. eating less, consistently, compared to your previous intake), you will inevitably go through detoxification. The more you improve your diet, or in other words, the more damaging foods that you elminate from your diet, the more you will detoxify. For example, the most cleansing diet that ANYONE can do is go on a water fast, because you are eliminating everything from your diet except water. Generally, you are advised to lie in bed during water fasting, as you detox, regenerate and heal.

About 10 generations ago (1000 years or so), man was not eating processed foods such as refined sugars or “McDonalds” and breathing polluted air like today. As our ancestors started eating more poorly and creating more polution with each generation, they would pass down their toxic cells as they reproduced, until we have reached our current state of widespread gross toxicity today. We are born with toxicity. Studies show that human breast milk is more toxic today than ever before in history.

Keeping all of this in consideration, most of us have also been eating poorly ourselves for decades on end. In this condition, if we were to eliminate everything from our diet except water and go on a fast, we will be detoxing a huge amount… Now… When you go on a 100% Raw Food Diet, you are eliminating everything from your diet except the most water-rich and easy to digest foods. Choosing this kind of lifestyle is ALSO like going on a Life-Long Fast. It’s like going on a “Raw Food Fast”. That is why it is called the DETOX diet. An apple is more than 80% water, it barely taxes the digestive system, and it is the same kind of situation with most fruits and vegetables. When you go on a 100% Raw Food Diet, you step into the process of bringing your body back to the days 1000 years or so ago when we walked a much cleaner Earth.

Regardless of your diet, your body’s natural process is to detox and cleanse every single night. Even if you are eating “McDonalds” three times a day, your body cleanses as much as it can throughout the night…and then you wake up groggy. Then most people seem to drink coffee in the morning to attempt to counter this groggy effect. With this type of lifestyle, you cleanse and detox a lot throughout the night, however, you become more and more toxic with every single passing day, because more toxicity is going in daily than the body can detox out. When you go on a Raw Food Diet, you are still going to do this natural process of detoxing every single night… however, the tides change a little here… Comparatively speaking MUCH LESS toxicity is going into your body on a daily basis and your body can easily handle cleansing out any toxicity created from those raw foods that you ate that day in a short period of time. Therefore, during this ! nightly cleansing process, the body has energy freed up to go after older, deeper DENSE matter that has built up through the decades and generations of poor eating. As the years go by on a 100% Raw Food Diet, you are going to consistently cleanse deeper and deeper and you will become “cleaner and cleaner”. at a cellular level. Side Note: The more you detoxify, the cleaner you become, the more sensitive you become to past food choices & toxins such as air pollution, cigarette smoke, and perfumes… and lastly… the more in-tune you also become to that universal cosmic spiritual energy.

This release of old waste matter is going to continue throughout your 100% Raw Food path, whether you are aware of it or not. The MOST EFFECTIVE way to get around this is to cleanse the colon with colonics (colon hydrotherapy). NOTHING DETOXIFIES THE BODY MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN CLEANSING THE COLON! ALL of the health institutes out there that bring people in and help them heal from degenerative diseases utilize colonics and enemas. In my opninion, it is the number one reason why these health institutes have such a HIGH SUCCESS RATE in healing people from all sorts of degenerative diseases. I have seen people who just wanted to slightly improve their diet AND were willing to do the colon hydrotherapy on a periodic basis, and they pretty much healed based on the colon cleansing. You name ANY health food institute out there that has a high success rate like this and guess what they do… They usually give everyone three col! onics a week and everyone does two enemas a day… in the morning and evening. Ding ding ding…!!! Healing occurs and cleansing the colon is the number one reason why. When these people improve their diets, it is imperative to also get this old toxic waste out, swiftly and effectively.

It is unavoidable: the TRUE 100% Raw Food Eater will feel very toxic, again and again, as waste is released DEEP from their cells in detox. Most people who aren’t willing to cleanse the colon on a periodic basis don’t do well on the 100% Raw Food Diet because of these repeated cycles of feeling toxic. Often, when someone runs into a “rut” with the Raw Food Diet, they think that fasting is the solution. This can actually make the situation worse if the real issue is located in a dirty colon. They are already cleansing STRONGLY on this raw food diet and then they go on a fast and eliminate MORE FOODS from their diet, accelerating the cleansing process even more. This just adds more toxicity to the bonfire and can worsen the situation, whereas a simple colonic or series of colonics could remedy the situation.

Many people think “I have bowel movements three times a day, I don’t need to do colon hydrotherpay to aid my detox”. There is a GREAT chance that you may be extremely toxic AND poop three times a day. The amount of solid waste being eliminated daily does NOT determine the toxicity within the human body. For example, when a person goes on a water fast, they DETOX A LOT! and it is definitely not only coming out of the body in the form of feces. The tongue is coated white, they have body odor, mucus is pouring and their breath smells. If they were only detoxing through solid waste on this fast, they would obviously be pooping all day long; detox has many routes other than solid bowel movements, hence the amount of feces someone passes daily doesn’t necessarily correlate directly to their level of detox. To learn more about what toxicity really is, you can read about the blood gases in my book Raw Success or read the Blood Gas Theory article I wrote HERE.

Now, I am not suggesting to do colon hydrotherapy EVERY SINGLE DAY. However, I do feel that it is key to do this on a PERIODIC, ongoing basis for ultimate success on any type of improved diet. Ironically, the more foods you eliminate from your diet (the less you eat), it becomes ideal to cleanse the colon more often. Many people think that the 100% Raw Food Diet is what we are meant to eat in nature, and therefore, it should all work itself out, without colon cleansing. I consider this a little ABSURD considering the current condition of this planet and the human species; we can use all the help we can get in terms of detox. When you go on a 100% Raw Food Diet, you initiate the process of bringing things back to HUNDREDS of years ago, when we walked in a pristine environment.

Here is a general recommendation for the frequency of doing professional colonics. Each person’s condition is naturally different and someone weighing 300 pounds may require more than a slim person, for example. If someone is on a Standard American Diet without improving their diet at all, a colonic once a year may provide some benefit. Unfortunately, in this kind of situation, it would pretty much just be like hitting the reset button until the inevitable. Someone on a WHOLE FOOD, intermediate cooked food diet, I would suggest to do colonics 3 – 4 times a year. Ironically, if you are on a 100% Raw Food Diet, I would recommend doing colonics once a month. I know some individuals with serious degenerative diseases who want to heal so badly, that they do colonics weekly. I know of some individuals who wanted to heal so badly that they did a professional colonic 3 days a week, with enemas on the other days.

I don’t gain anything personally from sharing this information with you; I don’t make any money from colonics. I share this information because I KNOW from experience with myself and THOUSANDS of others who have benefited from cleansing the colon that this WORKS! If you think this is some kind of “ego” thing, well, I’m sure to the majority of the human population, I look like an IDIOT trotting around this planet telling everyone to stick pipes up their bums! I share this information because, quite simply, it works…whether you choose to take action on this or not is up to you…

For ULTIMATE success on any improved diet, the key is to not just cleanse the colon once here or there, but to do it on a periodic basis. Cleansing the colon CONSISTENTLY on a periodic basis has the potential to make a huge difference for your health and well-being.

raw magick @ hout bay green faire – 28 nov 2009

rawmagick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:20:48 +0000

setting up our stall for raw pizza

showing people how quick & easy raw food can be!

giving our first raw food demo!

famous raw foodists: jónsi (from sigur rós) and alex

rawmagick — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:07:10 +0000

jónsi and alex

ok, so i already knew this, craig told me, but rediscovering that the lead singer from sigur rós is a raw foodist is very, very exciting. it may be old news to some, but i don’t care because sigur rós is one of my favorite bands of all time, and on some days they ARE my favorite band of all time and you all know how excited i am about raw food. jónsi and his partner alex are both certified raw food chefs and they’ve created the most adorable and endearing downloadable recipe book called the Good Heart Recipe Book as well as their own recipe show.

as i type this, craig is flipping through the recipe book and we’re both giggling with delight at the DIY artwork and the luscious photos and recipes, as we’re drooling and wishing that we could eat now. but alas, it’s past midnight, we’ve already had our raw hot cacao (with carob substituted because we’d stay up all night).

jónsi and alex are living the life that we aspire to, we’re so close, believe it, we will also be travelling the world, playing our music, making delicious raw food and teaching people how to make delicious raw food, making art and exhibiting art and generally having lots of fun and making lots of magick. yay for jónsi and alex! they get the raw magick superhero stamp of deLIGHT! check out their website at jonsiandalex.com

leftover magick

rawmagick — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:04:37 +0000

the simple and esoteric definition of the word “magick” is basically turning nothing into something, and turning something into something else. it’s simply alchemy! and if you think about it, magick is going on all the time in kitchens everywhere, especially in ours!

this afternoon, we had raw butternut soup. we had a bit left over, but it wasn’t really enough to put away for later. we were both stuffed from the spinach, arugula, watercress and orange salad, and neither of us could possibly eat anymore. i thought to myself, “if i were a bowl of raw butternut soup, how would i want to be reincarnated?” as a burger!

so i threw some carrots and oats in the vita-mix, mixed it in with the soup, which was already seasoned with lots of cayenne, turmeric, garlic, braggs, coconut oil and himalayan salt, and then added some additional salt, cumin and curry powder. i slapped the concoction onto the dehydrator, formed some cute little patties (for the baby cabbage buns) and there was the soup… magickally transformed into burgers. presto chango. dinner! ~blessings, v

curry butternut burgers on cabbage "buns" w/ sun dried tomato & radish sprouts

rrrrraw in cape town @ kwalapa launch party

rawmagick — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:55:23 +0000

craig under kwalapa's gathering tree

we heard from beryn @ superfoods that there is now a raw food buffet lunch in town on wednesdays and thought it would be a perfect date, since we rarely go out to eat these days, due to the lack of anything raw and vegan or remotely alive at local restaurants. we made our way there today after a lovely and powerful 11/11 meditation. when we arrived at kwalapa in newlands we were disappointed to find out that due to their launch party there was no buffet today, but we were delighted to be personally invited by patrick, one of kwalapa’s co-founders, to today’s festivities which included food tasting, live music, and talks.

in addition to having a raw food buffet every wednesday created by annie, kwalapa is a wholistic concept in itself, housing an organic wholefoods store and deli centered around organic, local, and seasonal farming and building an eco-conscious community. we were quite impressed, not only by the food itself, but by the vision and passion with which it was presented.

yum yum nasturtium

though the weather could have been much better for cape town going into summer, we enjoyed sitting outside under beautiful fairy lights and stylish lanterns, under the arms of a giant ancient tree as platters of food were brought around for tasting and guests treated themselves to a number of delights. we enjoyed a passionate and inspiring talk about the importance of organic farming called “growing happy food” given by liz eglington, who has been running a magical organic olive farm in the klein karoo since 2001.

stuffed mushies

and despite no raw food buffet today, after “tasting” cucumber rolls, some absolutely divine olives, fresh juices, flax cracker bites, dehydrated stuffed mushrooms, dehydrated apples and pears with nut butter, and raw chocolates (!) we were satisfied and stuffed with raw food by the time we headed home in the rain.

raw chocolate, oh my! yes please!

so we had our raw food buffet date after all! yay for 11/11 synchroncity. we were in the right place at the right time, for sure. and we’ll definitely be back next wednesday for the raw food buffet.

speed blog: 5 reasons why we eat raw

rawmagick — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:13:12 +0000

craig:

1. to have lots of energy

2. because it’s delicious!

3. i like being creative with my food

4. i prefer eating food that is as close to its natural state as possible

5. it’s better for the environment

vanessa:

1. i want to eat food that’s alive not dead

2. i want to be healthy and vibrant into old age

3. i love desserts, have a sweet tooth, and sugar is evil

4. i suspect i’m allergic to wheat and dairy, and replacing it with delicious things is the way to go

5. i want to make the conscious choice and eat delicious things at the same time

: vanessa’s raw superberry cheesecake

little dragon’s new album, machine dreams

rawmagick — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:04:17 +0000

one of our favorite bands, gothenburg’s little dragon, has a new album in the queue, and we are just loving it! the cd hasn’t left the car for a week and we’ve been driving around all over cape town from century city, to newlands, to town, to camp’s bay, to seapoint, and back, with the majestic mountain looking down on us, while we blare this album on repeat. fresh music. yes!

successfully raw

rawmagick — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:38:00 +0000

since craig did peter and beryn’s elements of health course in 2007, he’s been inspired to eat raw vegan but often reverted back to cooked foods. i decided to go raw around july of this year, and i was making delicious magick in the kitchen when i arrived in cape town with my vita-mix and craig’s dehydrator. things got a little busy for us and we got lazy. i started craving hot food and cooked grains. we fell off the wagon a bit, so to speak.

thankfully, we’ve recently been inspired to stick to 100% raw food after going back and forth between raw vegan food and cooked vegan food for the last 2 months. but with the help of a couple raw food teachers you may or may not know of, we are diving in head first to stay 100% raw.* these are all worth checking out if you find yourself needing a little support, inspiration, or encouragement.

*maybe 99.5% would be more accurate. certain things like nori aren’t available here raw, that we know of. we use technically un-raw spices and seasonings (braggs, nutritional yeast, himalayan salt) from time to time, but try to find cold-pressed oils and any other raw ingredients that we can find

boutenko raw family

*victoria boutenko and her documentary “12 steps to raw foods”

i love victoria boutenko, because she sees cooked food as an addiction and gives you a plan for overcoming that addiction and eating raw food instead! she is one of the early pioneers of raw food and has so many amazing stories to tell from her 15+ years of being raw with her husband, daughter, and son.

karen knowler

*karen knowler and her “7 Simple Secrets to Going & Staying Successfully Raw”

karen has 16 years of experience living raw and is a raw food personal coach. she presents some very valuable information on 10 different types of eaters and their behavior when making food choices. her website has tons of free resources and her free tele-seminars are packed with info, tips, and support. her emphasis on the transformation that the raw food lifestyle affords is truly inspirational.

talifero family

*and “breakthrough” a documentary made by storm talifero, about his beautiful raw vegan family… very DIY, home movie, but with lots of heart and very inspirational.

hope things are delicious and delightful in your world!

cheers,

vanessa + craig