It's day three and all is going okay. I seem to have a bit more energy since it's not all being sapped trying to digest complex meals. The last time I did mono mealing, I received countless emails from Pure Jeevan members who were concerned I was doing something unhealthy. Eating simply for nine days, however, is not unhealthy.

Did you know the body doesn't need a full range of vitamins and minerals at each and every meal? Somehow many of us were taught that each meal needs to be a complete balance of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, carbohydrates and that just isn't the case. What the body needs is a well-rounded diet, overall, to be in a balanced state. If, over the span of a month or two, you've consumed a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouts you will find that you've met just about all of your nutritional needs.

Read more: Day 3 of 9, Mono-Mealing During Navratri

Recently, we were asked how to balance meals when one individual is an under-weight-open-to-raw-semi-carnivore and the other is overweight and feels the need to be on a raw food diet to lose weight and regain health.

Many of you reading this will agree: It's wonderful that the partner is open to the raw food diet! That's going to make life so much easier. Many on the raw food path lack a supportive partner, and that's an issue we've discussed in the past here on the blog and will continue to address in the future.

Read more: Underweight and Overweight Partners

So, did you like Part One yesterday ? Pretty great, right ? Well, today we present Part Two, in which Wendi takes the interview into a more up-close and personal place. In this audio, Kevin shares details about:

• the first interview he ever conducted
• what he wanted to be when he grew up
• what his family thinks of his raw lifestyle
• his tattoo, Joseph Campbell, and thoughts on life and death
• spirituality, religion, and guilt
• the book that opened his mind to a deeper connection
• running and spirituality
• his typical day / routine
• his business expanding
• what "systems" are and how he uses them
• the shocking truth about his teen years
• recent personal development programs he's listening to
• "taking 1%, applying it, and moving on"
• mentors and influences
• the books that shaped his life
• making shifts in friendships
• his thoughts on "The Secret"
• whether he thinks he can do more push-ups than Gabriel Cousens
• why there was a donkey at his wedding
• his biggest wish (it's a beautiful one!)

So, what are you waiting for ? Listen NOW!!

Read more: Part *2* of a 3-Part Series Profiling the Multi-Talented Kevin Gianni!

Yesterday we talked about stress eating and I suggested coming up with a plan for ways you can deal with stressful situations in the future, before mindlessly turning to food for stress relief. I even said maybe it was okay to eat a gallon of ice cream if that's what makes you feel better. A healthy lifestyle isn't only about the foods we put into our mouths; it's about overall health (body, mind, spirit, emotions) and the decisions we make regarding our overall health on a daily basis.

Many times, individuals who struggle the most when trying to eat a healthy diet are the ones who have other aspects of their lives keeping them from attaining the healthy lifestyle they're desiring so much. For them, working on their diet may not be the best approach to overall health. If eating something we know is healthy for our bodies, something we know looks and tastes great, is difficult to do then there's something bigger going on in our lives than just food. If that's the case, it's important to figure out what's going on.

Read more: Getting to the Root of Stress Eating

Happy Navratri!

DAY 1:

Read more: Mono-mealing During Navratri, Day 1 of 9

Today's Jim's birthday!

This photo is from Saturday night. We had a sleepover birthday party to celebrate Jim's big day. The Pure Jeevan home was filled with loving friends, amazing raw food dishes, and vibrations from some fun group drumming!

Happy, happy birthday, Jim! May all your wishes come true and your life always be filled with health, love, laughter, and friendships! I love you!

Read more: Happy Birthday to Jim!

Wow, what a stressful weekend! We spent pretty much the entire past two days going through the dozens and dozens of suggestions we received in response to our July 30 post concerning our move (in which we asked for help in finding the perfect new place to live). We listed every city suggested to us, as well as a number of cities we specifically wanted to consider. Then we attempted to gather data from the Internet to rank these cities. Here's a HUGE snapshot to show our progress. (I'll explain a few things below.)

As you can see, we ranked each city according to many criteria. These included the number of sunny days per year, average high and low temperatures, air quality (higher #s better), water quality (higher #s better), Superfund statistics (an indication of the general toxicity of an area -- higher #s better), land prices, crime rate (the numbers "x / x" indicating scores from 1 to 10, lower #s being better, for "personal" crimes and "property" crimes), and finally a "liberal / conservative" ratio based on voting records for that town.

Read more: Working Through the Voluminous Data

KDcat and I returned from the ashram last night filled with peace and motivation to move forward with our current goals (more about this in the upcoming newsletter). However, we also returned to a home with next to no produce in it (well, compared to what we normally have available). What to do? There's no way to run to the co op today (only one car in our home) or this evening, so it's time to be creative. Let's take a look at what Pure Jeevan has in the fridge and on the counter, and we'll see what we can create!

Read more: Makin' It Monday

Here's another brief video from our travels. Since time for editing is limited, I think I'll just run some more of the shorter vids this week and then get into the longer, more in-depth interviews next week. So, this is a short, fun conversation I had with Steve, who tends the raw juice and smoothie bar at Cousin's Incredible Vitality raw restaurant in Chicago. Here's the vid:

Read more: Pure Jeevan Interviews Steve from Cousins Raw Restaurant in Chicago

You rarely hear us talk about our daughter here on the blog. Some of you have noticed and asked questions about her through email. I'd like to tell you why we don't write about her very much, because there's something to be learned from it.

First, I usually don't like to write about people unless I get their permission. This is especially true when my daughter is concerned. I respect her privacy if she chooses for me to not share things about her life. Years ago when I knew I wanted to create the Pure Jeevan site, I talked with Jim and our daughter about it. I said it was something I felt drawn to do, that I felt it could help a lot of people, but I wanted it to be a family site if it's something they were interested in doing along with me. Jim agreed to help me at the time, but didn't fully embrace Pure Jeevan himself (now, however, he has become a very active part of this site and all of our projects). Our daughter, however, said from the very beginning that she didn't want any part of it.

Read more: KDcat: Don't Label Me

Jim here... "Do I Need to Eat a Certain Percentage of Raw Foods to Call Myself a Raw Foodist " This seems to be a common question among some people interested in pursuing a raw and living foods lifestyle. I fielded such a question recently online, and thought I'd recap my own answer here, somewhat edited for enhanced clarity:

I know what raw foodism means. And, if you're here, you probably do to, or at least you're interested in it and know the basics. But, to the mainstream population, raw is absolutely unheard of, totally out of the box -- relatively speaking. So, let's begin by taking a look at who in the world has potentially heard of RAW. Let's start more broadly and then hone in.

Read more: Do I Need to Eat a Certain Percentage of Raw Foods to Call Myself a Raw Foodist?