Have you ever heard about mono meals? When I first did, it sounded like such a great idea. When you eat a mono meal, you eat one item (and only one item) for the entire meal. Eating that way is supposed to be very cleansing and it gives your digestive system a rest from processing different types of foods at the same time. Supposedly there is a boost in energy, as well, since your digestion isn't taking up so much energy.

I recently received an email asking for advice from one of our Hindu readers, asking what I could recommend as far as light eating during the nine-day Indian festival of Navratri. Navratri is traditionally a time of fasting for nine days, however in modern society most Hindus no longer fast. Many do, however, pay more attention to their diets, and they try to eat lighter meals that do not contain animal products. Since our reader is just starting his exploration into raw foods, I didn't want to offer him advice that would make his nine days of Navratri difficult.He recently purchased a Vitamix, so I suggested that he make a lot of smoothies, since he has been enjoying them so much.

Read more: Fun-Filled Friday: Mono Meals!

Hi everyone!? Sorry for not posting yesterday. Things got crazy-busy on my end, and Wendi is still out of town on her tour. I know poor Deb Young is eagerly awaiting our next installment, as that's the one from Wendi and KDcat's visit to sunny L.A. (during which they had SO much fun and captured some great footage at a raw restaurant there!). However, I honestly do not have a single free moment this week. So, we'll pick up on Monday, April 5 -- by which time our raw travelers will have returned home!? Upcoming posts include:

• Los Angeles -- vids w/ Deb Young, visits to raw restauranrs
• Las Vegas -- vid interviews @ a raw restaurant there
• Arizona -- some Makin' It Monday stuff & staying w/ raw friends
• New Mexico -- visiting w/ raw friend Terri Mares & all sorts of interesting activity/video
• Oklahoma -- hanging at 105 degrees, & Wendi & Penni's raw event
• St. Louis -- visiting w/ family there & my mom as a guest Makin' It Monday chef!
• Geneseo -- visiting with family!! (Hi Cindy!)
• Chicago -- visiting with Danny & Kathy Living, and a raw event at Whole Foods

Some of those are multi-day posts, too, as we have so many interesting raw food goodies to share!? So, see you soon!

To help keep all of you inspired, we ve asked some

remarkable individuals to share their raw food stories with you. Enjoy!

Read more: My Raw Story: Pamela Reilly

Last night I dreamed of meandering through an unfamiliar cityscape, following some lonely sidewalk next to a river at night, feeling particularly sad and miserable beneath dim yellow street lights. I wore a black suit, carried a highball glass, and was absolutely drunk!

Having crossed the river, I soon realized (even in my dream-drunken state) that I'd been wandering aimlessly. Feeling rather pathetic, I decided to walk back across the river and sober up in a casino that I knew was there. Drunk and depressed, I figured I'd just sit in front of a slot machine for a few hours.

Read more: Is Alcohol Raw?

Yesterday we talked about attending raw food meetups / potlucks. Today we'll focus on...

*Hosting* Raw Foods Meetups

There are two main ways to host a raw foods meetup. The first would be through the meetup.com web site. If there is no raw foods meetup in your area, you're going to need to launch one. (See the Meetup web site for details.) If there is a group, you'll need to sign up and get to know the moderator, as you'll need to announce your meetup through that person.

Read more: Raw Meetups: What to Bring, How to Host Them (Part 2)

Q: How Long Do Smoothies Last?

I responded to a similar question a while ago in an online forum. This issue comes up a lot, acually, so I figured I'd provide our response here on the blog rather than simply through an email reply. Here's that response, reworked a bit for our blog:

Optimally, I suppose we'd all just eat things whole, most of the time, instead of blending/juicing ...

Read more: Reader Question: How Long Do Smoothies Last?

After our Oklahoma stop, we had back-to-back visits with family. During our 40-day tour, we had a great time at every place we stayed. There's something extra special about being with family, however. KDcat especially loved this part of the trip, where she could stay up late and sleep in every morning.

Our first stop was St. Louis, Missouri, to see Grandma and Grandpa Dee, and Aunt Jeanne. We did some shopping at Whole Foods, bought lots of organic produce, and prepared some raw dishes to share with everyone. We purchased a young coconut and KDcat used Grandpa's hatchet to show everyone how to open a young coconut. Jim's mother learned to make raw hummus, without chickpeas, and even agreed to be a guest chef for a Makin' It Monday raw food recipe video! So, we'll be sharing that with all of you in the near future! Aunt Jeanne loved the hummus, as well as the raw tacos we created. She seems to have a liking for raw foods, so who knows...you may be seeing another Dee online sharing info about raw foods in the future ! Grandpa is always a fan of apple pies, so he thoroughly enjoyed the pie we created during our visit. Grandpa and KDcat also spent some time talking about music, a passion for both of them.

Our second stop was Geneseo, Illinois, to visit with Aunt Cindy, Uncle Ray (who had to work during our visit), and cousin Destiny. KDcat and Destiny don't see each other very often, so this was a real treat. Destiny's a sweet girl who became a vegetarian over a year ago (she's the only vegetarian in her home)! That's a huge thing to do when you're just a young teenager and we're proud of her for taking her health into her own hands (and for saving the animals!). We took a lot of pictures while visiting. In the photoset, you'll see that somehow a monkey crawled onto KDcat's back and hung around with her most of one day (in which she was dressed up in quite the outfit!). That monkey found its way into all kinds of interesting places (in a park, playing on the slide, swing, etc., and even in the house playing the piano -- and I caught him trying to steal some of my bananas!). The weather was beautiful during our visit, so we spent a lot of time outside, walking and enjoying the beautiful time together. At this stop we created a raw apple crumble, which Aunt Cindy later modified with blueberries. We're gently nudging her to make a video of the recipe she created, so we can all see how it's made! It sounded delicious.

Read more: Family Visits During Our 40-Day Tour: St. Louis, MO, and Geneseo, IL

Jim here... Well, I may have lived 100% raw for nearly one year now (and mostly raw for a few additional years), and I have definitely witnessed the reversal of many physical ailments during that time, but I can say with certainty that, if raw actually cures people of allergies, it looks like I still have a ways to go before reaching that milestone. Here's a snippet from an article I published a few years ago in a book:

I believe I was roughly 12 upon learning of my allergy to poison ivy (the hard way, naturally). By age 14, I'd heard all of the poison ivy folk lore and "wisdom" out there -? that sensitive people like myself can inadvertently contract it via smoke from a nearby brush fire, that ingesting the plant's concentrated essential oil can reverse one's sensitivity to outbreaks (even, some said, to the point of complete immunity), that scratching spreads the rash, that scratching does not spread the rash, that going to get the shot and the steroids makes it fade more quickly, that calamine is best, that it's not, et cetera.

Read more: Anyone Have an Inspirational Raw Allergy Story?

We at Pure Jeevan are making MAJOR life changes!

Did you think our lives solely revolved around raw foods---that once we went raw, there were no more major life changes to be experienced? Well, maybe it's true that our lives do, in a way, revolve around raw foods---they give us the health and vitality necessary for living a truly vibrant life! However, we are each (Jim, KDcat, and Wendi) unique and interested in many different things. Somehow, we pull all of our differences together and stand united as a loving family. It will be together, as a family, that we embark on an amazing MAJOR life change.

A few of you may already know what I'm talking about, but the rest of you are about to find out all about it, too! You may have noticed that we've temporarily discontinued many of our raw food services---for those of you who have written to ask for help, I am still responding to your emails. If I can't help you at this time, I'll do everything I can to assist you in finding the help you need. This was a necessary part of preparing for the change that is about to take place. In addition to cutting back on our services, we may not always be consistent here with our blog postings, and our email responses may not be very timely (as some of you may have already noticed). We will answer your emails, however, so please don't stop sending them to us. Hearing from all of you makes my heart fill with love and happiness!

Read more: Pure Jeevan Making Major Life Changes!

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?

Leaving Sin City, our fearless raw travelers headed south to Arizona for all sorts of raw food adventures. First up was a trip to Prescott Valley to meet Abi and Eli. Let's take a peek into Wendi's travelogue again, shall we

You probably haven't met our official tour guide yet. We call her Simone. She's a bit testy at times, but always gets us safely to our destination (although sometimes in rather roundabout ways). She added an extra one-time $89 fee to our trip budget, but we're very satisfied with her performance so far. You see, Simone is our trusty GPS unit!

Leaving Las Vegas, she guided us through the Hoover Dam area on our way to Arizona, a geographic area that I think would be better described as a "state of extremes." There, we experienced super hot, sunny days, freezing nights, snow outside even when it's sunny and hot, and also a bizarre experience we had in which some bananas actually froze and then nearly roasted all in the same day.

Read more: Arriving At Abi's Arizona Abode After Arduous Attempts