One of the World's Healthiest Foods: The Magic of Kale

The kale vegetable is an amazing green food with an earthy flavor that has an abundant amount of benefits for the mind, body, and spirit. I used to wonder why I loved the green leafy vegetable so much as a child. Kale gave me the warm fuzzy feelings of comfort, cleanliness, and a sense of lightness that made my digestive system smile a little more that day. The intricate dance of the beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, and other vital nutrients that kale produces in the cellular structure of your body fights against cataracts, ovarian cancer, heart disease and other age-related diseases while promoting lung and vision health.

Although it is available in stores all year round, kale is much sweeter in taste when it is eaten in season which is in the middle of winter up through the beginning of spring. Black kale or Lacinto kale is the sweetest of them all, although purple kale gives salad a beautiful texture and look to its presentation.

Here are some variations of a kale salad!

Cheddar Kale Salad

1 bunch of kale greens preferable black kale or lacinto kale
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
4 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 tablespoon chopped white onion
2 tablespoons liquid aminos from Braggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped apple (optional)
1 tablespoon pine nuts (optional)

Wash the greens. Put them in a bowl that has a top. Sprinkle the nutritional yeast on top of the kale. Add the garlic cloves, aminos, lemon juice, and olive oil. Put the top on your bowl and shake vigorously so that the nutritional yeast is evenly distributed onto the kale.

Avocado Kale Sprout Salad

1 bunch of kale greens
1 avocado
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
1 tablespoon flax seed oil
1 tablespoon hemp seeds
1 tablespoon dulse seeds
handful of alfalfa sprouts
1 tablespoon chopped walnuts.

Chop kale into fine pieces. Dice avocados. Add kale and avocado to a mixing bowl. Add the sesame seeds, hemp seeds, dulse flakes, sprouts, and walnuts. Douse the salad with the flax seed oil. This salad is best enjoyed when everything is thoroughly mixed together. Add more dulse flakes as needed for flavor.

Enjoy your kale today!

For more salad recipes, purchase my book, The Goddess of Raw Foods available at www.amazon.com.

Congratulations to Andrea Leigh Martin who has won Angela Stokes-Monarch's book Raw Emtions!

Congratulations to Andrea Leigh Martin who has won Angela Stokes-Monarch's book, Raw Emotions. We literally just put all the names in a bowl and chose a name because we had more entries than we expected. Thanks to everyone who has participated. We will have more contests so we encourage you to follow us via Facebook, Twitter, subscribe to our blog, and to our websites at www.the-guide-to-raw-foods.com and www.nwennakai.com.

Again congratulations to everyone and we wish you many many blessings on your raw fooods journey!

Blessings,

Nwenna Kai

Raw Vegan Diet Weight Loss: An amazing story with Angela Stokes-Monarch tells it all! PLUS A FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY!

Introducing Angela Stokes-Monarch. She has a an amazing weight loss story with raw foods!

Just recently married with a lot of on her plate traveling the country lecturing and teaching, Angela takes us back to the days when the weight and the health issues were taking her vitality away and how she flipped it all with raw foods!

NK: First how is married life?

ASM: Blessed and blissed, thank you – we seem to unfold deeper into love and enjoyment of each other each day :)


NK: Please tell our readers your story with raw foods? How and why did you first starting learning about this lifestyle? What life circumstances prompted your choice.

ASM: Prior to choosing a raw food lifestyle, I used to weigh nearly 300lbs – I was morbidly obese, always ill and miserable. I was introduced to a raw food lifestyle when a friend lent me the book 'Raw Family' by the Boutenkos, in May 2002. I read the whole book in one night and went 100% raw the next day. I released 160lbs in the first two years of this journey and the excess weight has stayed off ever since. My life has gone on to shift in every way imaginable, far beyond simply the physical weight release – emotionally, spiritually, socially, mentally – my life is pretty much unrecognisable now from my pre–raw days ;)


NK: You've lost a lot of weight with raw foods. There are a lot of people who want to lose weight permanently. How can raw foods serve as a lifestyle to keep weight off?

ASM: From my perspective, eating and living raw is all about coming into alignment with our true selves – our true nature – and part of that involves shedding off excess lbs. Especially in the US, many people seem to be overfed and undernourished from other–than–optimal food choices that have very little nutritional value. When we give the body fuel that it can actually use, rather than the empty calories of highly processed, refined foods, the body finally has something to really work with and excess pounds simply melt away and stay away. It's not rocket science – lol – it's simple: eat the foods provided straight from nature, especially water–rich, fresh, organic veggies and fruits and your body will naturally take you towards optimal health.


NK: I think this question might actually be more for me than others, but how can people like me who want to gain weight, gain weight on a raw foods diet?

ASM: There are a number of things that may help someone GAIN weight while eating raw, these include: eating plenty of denser foods such as sprouted nuts/seeds/grains/greens, daily nut/seed milks and smoothies made with them, avocadoes, bee pollen, hemp protein powder, durian, spirulina/chlorella, young coconut, etc. You may also like to look into doing a parasite cleanse, as internal parasites may be preventing you from gaining/holding weight – the Intestinal Parasite Formula from Healthforce is great. You may like to also take enzymes with your meals to increase nutrient assimilation. Getting into regular light weight lifting/endurance/resistance exercises can help build up muscle too. Eating late at night and poor food combinations also often encourage weight to stick on people, these aren't necessarily the healthiest lifestyle choices though ;)


NK: I find that a lot of women more so than men gain weight on a raw foods diet eating a lot of nuts and sweets. In my brain, this just sounds impossible. How does this happen? Do you think there is another cause to this?

ASM: When many people first go raw, they eat masses of food, including nuts and dried fruits and still release weight. This is primarily because of what they are NOT now eating – i.e. they have stopped eating all the junky, refined, processed foods and are instead eating whole, raw foods; they might even be eating bags of nuts a day and still releasing weight because they are finally giving the body fuel it can use (I know this was true in my case). HOWEVER, over time, the body adapts to the new way of eating, the bloodstream and digestive tract get cleared up and we find ourselves more efficient at assimilating nutrients from food. At this point, if someone continues to eat large amounts of food, they can easily re–gain weight, or stay at a 'plateau'. The body is always working towards optimal health and efficiency and most people find that over time with a raw lifestyle, they gravitate more towards greener, 'cleaner', lighter food combinations and meals. If for some reason (emotional or otherwise) a person at this point is not willing/ready yet to consistently eat smaller amounts and instead eats a lot of packaged/dense raw food, they often end up carrying more weight than might be optimal for them. Food = calories, even if it is raw food and if you're overburdening your body with more food than it needs, you're likely to carry extra lbs, even if the food you're eating is raw ;)

NK: What's on your plate today?

ASM: Today I am mostly on juice: watermelon juice, greeeeen juices, freshly–made goji berry juice, plus some bee pollen, a little energy soup, some flax crackers and soaked Incan berries. You can see everything that I eat on a daily basis as a 100% raw foodist over at my blog: http://rawreform.blogspot.com.

NK: What are your favorite foods?

Mmmmmm...durian, sunflower greens, cherries, papaya, bee pollen.


NK: How do you find that a raw foods lifestyle has affected your life spiritually? Do you have more peace, balance, in your life? What are your moods like?

As a young child, I felt very connected to 'Spirit' and had multiple 'psychic' experiences, however I shut down most of that connection, as I felt awkward about it socially. After going raw in my early 20s, I experienced a dramatic resurgence in my 'spiritual' life, especially in terms of the connection to my chakra system. Without doubt my life feels more serene, relaxed, balanced and flowing these days than prior to eating raw. I read my old diaries form my pre–raw days in shock – I was so incredibly angry and bitter at the whole world back then – my outlook on life was very 'negative'. These days I am happy to say things are very different: I feel compassion, a connection to all of life and a willingness to be open and honest that I never experienced before. I feel very blessed.

NK: When you first started eating raw, what was your experience like? What were your challenges?

ASM: When I first went raw my detox was HUGE, as I was nearly 300lbs at that point and very unhealthy. I went 100% raw overnight and was detoxing heavily. It actually felt like too much for me at that point, so I took a step back to about 70–80% raw and that's how I ate for the first couple of years on this journey, during which time I released 160lbs of excess weight. The weight loss was so fast and dramatic that I felt like I could see new aspects of myself every time I looked in the mirror. I changed 10 clothing sizes and all my jewelry was falling off.
Emotionally and socially I often felt quite challenged in the beginning: people around me were used to seeing me eat plate after plate of pasta, pizza etc and suddenly I was eating raw – my friends didn't know what to make of this shift and many 'teased' me at first, before they started to see the changes in my life ;) I also felt awkward socially at first as I released all the extra weight and came into a smaller body, as I felt people 'expected' me to now be someone who I felt like I didn't know how to be...I was used to 'hiding' in an anonymous 'fat friend' role and suddenly it seemed like men were interested in me and women were seeing me as 'competition' – it felt very odd and unnerving for me and there was a lot to breathe into and release. I was also living at that time in a village of about 100 people in the countryside in Iceland, so I felt isolated at times – monthly raw food potlucks in Reykjavik were my lifeline back then ;)

NK: What advice do you give to those who are brand spanking new to raw? What do you tell people who have no idea as to even how to put together a salad or who say to you its too expensive or complicated?

ASM: I usually encourage people to start out eating at least 50% raw and to take it from there, towards 100% raw, if they ever take it that far. This might mean that they eat a raw breakfast and lunch and a 'cooked' meal in the evening, or maybe it means that at every meal they enjoy at least 50% raw foods. Many people find green smoothies a good breakfast to start with, or fruit salads, grawnola mixes with nut/seed milk and so on. Lunches might include a big yummy salad with greens, sprouts, healthy fats like avocado/olives and seaweeds, or maybe nori wraps/lettuce wraps with some kind of simple seed cheese/pate and veggies. Snacks might be fresh fruit, pre–packaged raw bars, home–made raw truffle balls, soaked nuts/seeds/trail mixes, chopped veggies with a dip and so on.
Eating raw can be as 'expensive' or 'complicated' as you like – one could purchase the most costly items and create lavish gourmet raw dishes, or pick and eat some wild greens and berries straight from the wild – there is no exact 'protocol' for eating raw ;)
In terms of purchasing any new kitchen equipment, I feel getting a high–speed blender (e.g. Blendtec) is usually the ideal first choice for most people, as so many things can be created: smoothies, puddings, cake and cookie mixes, ice creams and even juices if you have a nut milk bag too...
I recommend people aim to drink at least one green drink a day, plus eat seaweeds and sprouts daily. Making the choice that everything sweet going into your body is going to be a raw food can revolutionise peoples' health journeys.
I thoroughly recommend getting support from others who have gone down this path before you – whether in your local area or online. Be prepared with your own foods when you go out in public, keep yourself motivated by reading raw books/watching raw vids on YouTube/DVD, visiting websites, connecting with raw friends etc and above all...ENJOY ;)

NK: You are originally from the UK. Do you find that a raw foods diet can be enjoyed in any climate and in any culture? Or do you find that the lifestyle is more of a trend or more of a cultural thing?

ASM: My sense is that people can live and eat raw wherever they are – it is always simply a choice. I actually went raw when I was living in Iceland back in 2002 – if I'm still here 7.5 years later, I believe people can do this anywhere ;)
I always like to bring things back to nature and simplicity; I do not see any wild animals eating cooked or processed foods, no matter where they live on the planet. I've never seen a zebra for example say "Mmmmmm, no, raw food doesn't work for me, I'm going to have some pasta instead." I feel that eating raw is the optimal way to fuel the human body, in the same way that all other animals in the wild fuel themselves. However, that being said, I am also aware that many humans seem to currently have major emotional/social/cultural attachments to food that make it very challenging for them to choose a raw lifestyle. There are also some important things to consider if you're in a colder/damper climate, such as supporting your spleen (perhaps with beneficial herbs), getting Vitamin D somehow if not from the sun and so on...


NK: What do you have coming up for you? Any books, classes, lectures that you would like to share with our readers?

ASM: My most recent book 'Raw Emotions' just came out earlier this year – it is all about re–structuring our emotional relationships with food, handling cravings/overeating patterns and so on. My partner Matt Monarch and I are on very big tours all over the USA at the moment, giving raw food talks, signing books and so on.
We have a new monthly raw food radio show at TheRawFoodWorldRadioShow.com, where we interview well–known raw foodies, plus we do a daily raw food 'TV Show' at TheRawFoodWorld.TV.
We are very excited to get down to our land in Ecuador sometime soon and get started there with growing our own food, starting a family and feeling more connected to the land.

NK: Going back to the nut issue, a lot of people are allergic to nuts? What substitutes would you suggest to them? Also what would you recommend to those who have allergy issues to certain foods?

ASM: Dr. Ann Wigmore suggested that all illnesses and 'allergies' are the result of either an excess of waste/toxins in the system (toxemia) or deficiencies. It may be that some people who believe they have allergies to certain foods/objects, find that once they start eating more raw and clear out some of the waste in their systems (especially with colon cleansing), they can now tolerate foods more easily that caused them issues before. This might not be something people with potentially fatal nut allergies might be excited to play around with though ;)
In that case, I'd suggest to focus on seeds, sprouted grains, algaes, coconuts, durian, leafy greens and so on instead for denser food sources. Most long–term raw foodies don't eat many nuts anyway, so this need not be a stumbling block to eating raw ;)

NK: You travel a lot. How does this if at all does this affect your meal planning and diet?

ASM: Mmmmm, yes, my partner and I actually live on the road at the moment, doing raw food events all over the US...and I've been on the road for most of the last 13 years or so...so, for me, eating raw and living on the road are not so much of a challenge to combine, as that is simply the way I live ;)
We do our best to be prepared at all times on the road in terms of food – we travel with dried raw foods such as seaweeds, chia seeds, nut/seed butters, dried fruits, algaes, bee pollen and so on, plus we have a cooler with ice packs with us for fresh foods. We manage to eat totally raw wherever we are; there is always somewhere to find fresh produce and this combined with our dried supplies gets us through, wherever we are...where there's a will, there's a way ;)
We travel with a Blendtec blender and currently we often make a green vegetable juice in the mornings using the blender and a nut milk bag, then just before we set off on the road for the day, I will blend a little 'energy soup' and we'll eat that with crackers or something, as we start our travels. Later in the day we'll have more juice if we can find it, or maybe chlorella tablets, handmade goji juice or smthg similar and I might have a very light meal like a couple of apples with some bee pollen. That's about it for the day, besides water: we've both been eating raw for quite a few years and we eat pretty simply these days. Our intakes are always changing though, depending on where we are and how we're feeling, so if you want to know exactly what I've been eating lately, you can always check that on my blog, where I put my daily food intake every day: http://rawreform.blogspot.com ;)

NK: How do you see the raw foods movement affecting the food industry and also the healthcare issue at least in the States that is?

ASM: I think there is enormous potential for the raw foods movement to have large and lasting impacts on the food and healthcare industries. It is very clear that the more people who are out there choosing to buy organic produce, for example, the more demand there are for organics, which can have knock–on effects for agriculture, healthcare, the environment and far beyond...
Personally, what I am excited to see unfold is more and more people getting to the land and growing their own food, taking responsibility for their own health and well–being, raising happy, healthy, 'unschooled' children in communities and so on. That is the path my partner and I are starting down, on our land down in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. My sense is that most people in modern, 'civilised' societies are vastly disconnected from nature and my desire is to instead strongly reconnect to the land, set up our own food forest, disconnect from the 'rat race' and grid and really live a life of abundance and flow in nature :) There is the potential for this kind of lifestyle to be replicated all over, if people are willing...

NK:Anything else that you would like to share with our readers about your journey please feel free to do so.

ASM: I truly feel that if I can do this, anyone can. Eight years ago I weighed nearly 300lbs, was miserable and pretty much eating myself into the grave. I started this lifestyle in Iceland (of all places) and I am still here 8 years later, happy, healthy and delighted with my life path. Eating raw is simply a choice, like everything else in life...and it is a choice that I absolutely love and wholeheartedly recommend ;) I wish everyone the very best with their own unfolding paths...

Angela has also offered to give a FREE book, Raw Emotions. Tell us why you would like to have a copy of the book and how it can benefit your health.

You can only qualify for the GIVEAWAY if you have not received a FREEBIE from us before.

Post your comment to our page along with your name, city, state, country, and email address. We will announce the winner on Monday, October 19th.

7 Ways to Listen to your body's intuition

Many of you asked me about my own personal story with health and healing. Some ten years ago when I was in my early 20's, I suffered from migraines, constipation, sciatica, depression, anxiety, low-self-esteem, acne, chronic fatigue syndrome, vertigo, and I had a thyroid disorder that kept me emotionally imbalanced.

With a raw foods diet, regular cleanses, herbs, juicing, yoga, meditation, prayer, and learning to really listen and trust my body's intelligence, I learned how to stay healthy and wise.

I don't like doctors myself and I choose to stay away from them as much as possible and although I don't advocate anyone not to see a doctor, I do strongly encourage you to visit your doctor as an informed and empowered client which requires you to learn how to listen and trust your intuition.

Here are some ways to start listening to your body's intuition.

-Whenever there is pain, there is opportunity to heal something or change something.

Whether it is your diet, maybe you need a colonic, a cleanse, some rest, some alkaline water, fresh air, a change in your physical routine, etc. Get honest on where the pain is. Don't worry about fixing something so quickly. Intuition is a step by step process. The reason why it might take a while to get the answer is because intuition is an inner technology and it only works when you get it exactly right, so it will lead you to the next step once you have fully realized the present condition and the solution and then it will lead you to the next step but know that there is no pain greater than what Spirit can fix.

- Look around you at all the possibilities.

When I'm telling you that you have everything around you that you need it is really true. Intellectually I used to get this idea. I used to tell it to all my clients. I used to preach it at my speaking engagements but then one day I got it on another level and it opened up new possibilities for me. Sometimes things don't always look the way we in our heads wanted them to look so that confuses the psyche a bit, but when you take away what you thought something would look like and really look around you at the people in your life, the things both in the physically and not in the physical of what you have now to help you get through whatever discomfort or pain you are in, you will find a treasure. You might not find all the treasures all at once. Remember intuition is not a microwave heat it up quick and instant fix it tool. Its a guide that endlessly guides you to the next and the next step as long as you stay open.

- Learn to work that intuitive muscle.

Intuition is a muscle and what happens when you work your muscles, they become stronger, but when you don't they become weaker, so you have to work that muscle. You can test yourself by doing things like guessing who might call you that day because the phone is nothing but a psychic sound/vibrational chamber anyway.

- Pay attention to patterns

Everything is a pattern of things that forms something. The computer is a pattern. A chair is a pattern. Even pain and diseases is a pattern. If you ever do some real research on this stuff, you will find out that most women who have issues with fibroids have had similar experiences in their lives, similar patterns. So when you learn to follow patterns, you will learn to attune yourself to your intuition. If you notice how sluggish you feel after eating a bunch of nuts, you might want to stay away from nuts or you might want to try a different type of nut. If you notice how dry your skin gets when you don't drink enough water, you might want to start getting more raw foods and more water into your diet.

- Learn to ask yourself questions.

Get comfortable with asking yourself questions. And know that there is a solution to every problem and every challenge and there is an answer and a plethora of answers to every question. Sometimes we are afraid of asking because we are afraid there isn't an answer on the opposite end. Spirit is designed perfectly. Everything out here has an equal and opposite match. Everything. So learning to ask the right question becomes vital and this comes with time. Am I getting enough rest? Am I getting enough water? Do I need more greens in my diet? Do I need to walk more? Do I need more sunshine in my life? Or why am I always tired? Why do I have digestive issues?


-Learn how to receive the answers.

Intuition is a really really simple inner technology. It is not complicated and it won't give you the run around. When you ask, it will answer. You know how when you google something and that something will immediately pop up on your computer screen, intuition usually works in that same way. It usually doesn't wait to answer you either, so be prepared, when you ask, you might just immediately get the answer, so open your ears, open your heart, trust the first thing that comes to your mind even if it is crazy and if you don't understand, ask for more understanding and allow yourself to be lead by the answers. Also never be afraid of the answer. Sometimes a lot of us don't ask, because we are afraid of the answer, but always know the answer is always in your favor and not anyone else's.

-Go in and trust even when your mind doubts it.

Because intuition is stronger than our minds, it is communicating to us all the time. We have just learned how to ignore it, but it never leaves us, so sometimes limiting our outside physical distractions can help us to trust it more.

You can never go wrong listening to your intuition. And trust me you will pay a high price not listening to it, so you might want to learn how to tune into this muscle a lot. It is your strongest band aid, your greatest doctor, and your most reliable insurance. I'm actually going to be practicing my own does of medicine today as well so join along with me.

We love to hear from our readers. Tell us how you strengthen your intuitive muscle or tell us any stories you have with using your intuition.

Dr. Ariel Policano discusses fibroids, infertility, raw foods, and the Women Go Raw Tour

The raw foods movement is on tour with the Women Go Raw headed up by Dr. Ariel Policano, a Naturopathic physician who studied live foods nutrition since meeting Dr. Ann Wigmore in Puerto Rico in 1993.

The Women Go Raw RV tour is a video project designed to document the impact that raw food is having on women's health and women's lives in the U.S. It will document these powerful changes by visiting one-on-one with women across the nation during the entire month of September and listening to their incredible stories. Daily interviews, health tips and food demonstrations will be dispatched through video blogs on the WomenGoRaw website. They will include true stories from inspiring business owners, healers, moms, authors and experts in the field such as Susan Schenck, Angela Elliott, and Angela Stokes.

Dr. Policano's mission is to show people how to keep themselves healthy and disease free and to bring humor and fun into the process. For more information about the Women Go Raw Tour, please visit, www.womengoraw.com

NK: Could you first please tell our readers a bit about your project that you are doing with WomenGoRaw.

Women Go Raw is documenting the impact that raw foods are having on women's lives and women's health issues. For the month of September, I have been traveling via Biodiesel-Solar Powered RV. I have completed 25 interviews as of today, September 19th. These include interviews with Cherie Soria, Ani Phyo, Victoria Boutenko, Terce Englehard of Cafe Gratitude and many more. With each interview, I would say to myself, "That is one of the most amazing women I have ever met in my life!"

What I have noticed is that each woman interviewed looked years younger than their age. They all seemed to be very healthy, at peace, and happy. That isn't to say that I don't expect that these women have bad days or that they are not human. However, it was obvious that they were living their lives in a way that was deeply fulfilling to them. They didn't seem to be struggling with life! Obviously, health is important to these women. They also worked hard to continue to evolve their concept of a healthy diet over time. They changed their diet from heavy, nut based raw foods to a lighter fare that included salads and lots of green foods in the form of green juices, green smoothies, spirulina and chlorella.

NK: I work with a lot of women clients who want to improve their health with diet and exercise and I work with a lot of women who are older in their 40's who want to have children and they feel helpless. I am not a doctor but I do believe in the healing work of Mother Nature so I suggest a raw foods diet, yoga, meditation, a regular herbal cleanse, prayer, I even suggest taking belly dancing classes and pole dancing classes because I know the benefits that it has afforded me and I know that metaphysically its not that women are infertile, its just that there is a blockage. What is your take on infertility and women and how can women increase their chances of having children in their late 30's, 40's and even 50's?

I believe a lot of infertility stems from toxins in the environment which creates a hormonal state called estrogen dominance. This not only puts women at risk for female reproductive cancers, but causes an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone. This imbalance is a major cause of infertility. If women follow your instructions, they will have good success in resolving their infertility issues. Here are a few specific suggestions:

- Drink liquids out of glass, not plastic. This will reduce your exposure to plastics that increase estrogen levels
- Eat organic fruits and vegetables. Pesticides also increase harmful estrogen levels.
- Use flax oil daily. I recommend Barlean's Flax Oil.
- Consume hemp seeds and chia seeds as often as possible in salads and smoothies.
- Help your liver, which breaks down the harmful estrogens for us, through a clean diet and regular liver cleanses.

NK: You do a lot of work with women and fibroids? What recommendations do you have for women who have fibroids? Where does fibroids come from and why do you so many women have it?

Lou Corona is a mentor to me. He has eaten a raw, vegan diet for 36 years. He believes that the growth of fibroids is due to an enzyme deficiency. I recommend that women, even on a raw food diet, consume 5 medical-grade enzymes with each meal every day. That may sound like a alot of work, but the benefits are well worth it. What exactly is happening in this instance?

By consuming cooked food over many years, you place a burden on your pancreas to produce all the enzymes necessary for digestion. This challenges the body and leads to the incomplete breakdown and assimilation of food. It also reduces the effective elimination of waste. In naturopathic medical philosophy, we see the fibroids as a build-up of waste. So many women have fibroids because they consume a diet of mostly cooked foods. But there is more to the story as well.

A diet that causes an imbalance of hormones also can cause fibroids to grow. This goes back to estrogen dominance. If a woman consumes very little essential fatty acids, which are the building blocks for health hormones, and lots of processed foods then it is very likely she will end up being "estrogen dominant." Many fibroids are "estrogen sensitive", which means that they grow more easily in the presence of high estrogen levels.

NK: I always feel like if we as a planet do most of the healing work with women, then the whole planet will heal eventually? Why do you focus on working with women? What is your passion behind it?

75% of health care consumers are women. I have found that women, more than men, are interested in taking a proactive approach to their health. However, we are very interested in men and children! Through my own workshops I have discovered that women also bring the information to their partners and their children. So, ultimately everyone benefits and gets the message about raw foods, which is what Women Go Raw would like to see happen.

NK: What's on your plate today?

Is this a food question? If it is, I started my day with watermelon, juiced and then blended with Pure Synergy. Pure Synergy is a powerful greens supplement designed by the herbalist Mitchell May. There is a great blend of healthy greens and antioxidant and adaptogenic herbs in there. In general, these help a person to have sustained energy, cleanse daily, and protect themselves from the harmful effects of toxins.

I then had a nori roll filled with sprouts, raw sauerkraut, avocaodo, and other veggies and a raw dressing. Later some fresh organic raspberries from the local farmer's market here in Ashland. I am staying in Ashland, Oregon for a few days after interviewing Victoria Boutenko.

NK: What are your favorite foods?
My favorite foods are very simple. I love figs, which are really a superfood. They are high in potassium and iron among other things. I enjoy avocados, berries such as raspberries and blackberries, salads that are high in mixed greens, deep greens like lacinato kale (avocado-kale salad is a staple for me).

I do have lots of various types of smoothies, including green smoothies. I consume lots of healthy seeds and oils. These include coconut oil, flax oil, hemp seeds and chia seeds.

NK: How and why did you first start getting into raw and living fodos? What motivated you and what keeps motivating you?

I started consuming raw and living foods after I met Ann Wigmore in 1993. I went down to her institute in Puerto Rico. 2 weeks of all raw foods, including wheatgrass and sprouts, completely changed my life. I was inspired to continue to reseach natural health. I attended a 4-year medical institution for holistic health. What motivates me is that I have seen "miracle cures" with raw foods. I also have never felt better myself than when I consume raw foods. I want to see everyone feeling very healthy and never suffering with diseases like cancer and diabetes. Even putting a small amount of raw foods in your diet can and will make a difference.

What advice do you have for our readers in eating more raw foods? What benefits has it afforded you and what transformational stories have you witness with people?

Be gentle with yourself and go slow. The most important thing is the momentum. Just keep moving towards health. Read books about raw food and raw food recipes and make it fun! Eat lots of variety; try new dishes or a new fruit or vegetable that you have never tried before.

NK: Anything else that you would like to tell our readers, please do so.

Dr.AP: Thanks so much!

Thank you, Nwenna.

Eat what you want to become...Buy the best raw foods book on the planet, The Goddess of Raw Foods available on www.amazon.com.

I eat beautiful gorgeous sexy food full of water, light and life. Celebrate Vegetarian Month and give the animals a break!

You want to become light, eat food that carries light.

You want to become rich, eat rich food.

You want to embody love, eat food that carries love. Eat food made with love. Eat food that comes straight from source!

You want to become abundant, eat food that is abundant in nature.

Celebrate yourself this month. Honor yourself this month. Honor the planet. Honor your body. Honor the food that nourishes your body.

I have simple easy recipes and lots of nutritional information in my book, The Goddess of Raw Foods. Give yourself and your body a gift this month. Take care of your body and make your health your #1 priority.

World Vegetarian Day! 10,000 Reasons to Not Eat Meat

Tell us what's on your plate today? Post a photo of what's on your plate on our blog.

And tell us why you are not eating meat today or for the rest of your life.

In my book, The Goddess of Raw Foods, I have a quote by Mahatma Gandhi that first turned me into a vegetarian when I was only 14 years old.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”

October is World Vegetarian Awareness Month. Can you think of 10,000 reasons to not eat meat this month? Can you not eat meat for the next 31 days? What's on your plate today? Share with us your thoughts.

My #1 reason for not eating meat is because vegetables and fruits taste SO DAMN GOOD!!!