Pure Jeevan Blog - Pure Jeevan Raw Foods

In our Mnemonics for the ?Clean 15? ? Or, ?Conventional? Produce That Tests Lowest for Residual Pesticides blog post last week, we put an asterisk next to "sweet corn" and took it off our list of foods to eat. Even though sweet corn tests relatively low for pesticides, Pure Jeevan still feels the vegetable isn't a safe choice for a healthy diet. There are primarily two reasons for our decision to completely remove corn from our diets. First, of all the vegetables that have undergone genetic modification (GM), GM corn is one that has been proven to cross-pollinate with non-GM corn. Second, since corn is so plentiful and easy to grow, it has been modified to become all sorts of flavors, sweeteners, fillers, etc., in food products and many individuals have developed sensitivities to it.

At a recent raw food meetup, I was surprised that so many raw foodies aren't aware of the raw almond controversy. Maybe most of our Pure Jeevan family members aren't aware of the fact that most almonds are not raw. It's sad, but very true. In 2006 a mandatory almond pasteurization ruling was created. The rule was passed sometime in 2007, I believe, and since then it's been near impossible to purchase truly raw almonds. Maybe pasteurized almonds don't seem like a big deal to most people.

Raw almonds are alive, yet dormant until they are soaked. Once soaked (or moistened in the springtime rains when outdoors), they sprout to begin growing into almond trees. Once soaked and sprouted, the nutritional content of the nuts change significantly. They are alive and filled with protein and so much more!

So far, so good, with the mono-meal fasting for Navratri! I mentioned that I'll be sharing an almost diary-like blog entry at the end of each day, to share things with all of you. Well, today's diary entry is quite long. I do share a lot about what was going on with me before the fast, and why I haven't been around much online to connect with all of you.

How's everyone else doing? Are you enjoying your raw food journey? What have you been learning about yourselves, your bodies, and your overall health?

?To keep all of you inspired while we are away, we've asked some

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

Read more: Thankful Thursday: Options

All this week on the Pure Jeevan blog, we'll be focusing on diabetes and the movement to naturally reverse it. We're working up to April 25th (my birthday!), which has been selected as the official Reversing Diabetes Naturally Day.

A warm, intelligent, and loving individual named Dr. Gabriel Cousens has been doing ground-breaking work and research on diabetes and diet. What he has found is so surprising that many people dismiss what he is saying, believing it to be false. But, I (along with many others in the natural health movement) am here to tell you that what Dr. Cousens has discovered is TRUE! You probably already know what he has discovered, of course: a change in diet (particulary including raw foods) can reverse diabetes!

Dr. Cousens did a small study on some diabetic individuals, documenting his work and findings. The resulting documentary is remarkable. We hosted a viewing of the movie at our home and the room was packed. Everyone sat silently, absorbing the truth of what they were seeing: diet CAN make a difference in a disease that is thought to be permanent and debilitating. Many of us had tears silently streaming down our faces, touched by the moving stories that were shared in the documentary. We were filled with a sense of excitement that there IS hope for those with diabetes!

Today we welcome Devaki, the yoga instructor at Peaceful Valley Ashram, for another episode of Pure Jeevan s Makin? It Monday ?Guest Raw Chef? edition. In this episode, Devaki demonstrates how to make raw Cabbage-Mango salad. We ate the salad shown just after shooting the video. It was quite tasty and refreshing! Here s the recipe: