Hello and welcome!

So this is my new blog, where I am going to attempt to keep you updated with everything that's going on with me on my raw food journey.

A sandwich I made with Russell James'
Mediterranean Almond Bread

I first got interested in raw food about a year and a half ago through a friend who had been on a detox retreat and introduced me to the concept (thankyou Gina!) and since then I've been really on and off with the whole raw lifestyle thing. I didn't really get it at first and made a few half hearted attempts at introducing more raw food into my diet which didn't usually last long, and my first few attempts at raw dishes were pretty unsuccessful! But then I was introduced to raw "fried rice" from Jenna's Healthy Kitchen and Ani Phyo's raw apple pie both of which totally surprised me with how tasty and delicious they were and this really opened my mind to a whole load of new eating experiences. Right now I am back on 100% raw, feeling really good and hoping to stay that way.

I should tell you, I haven't always had a healthy lifestyle, far from it in fact! I used to party a lot, drink waaaaaay too much and take a lot of recreational drugs. That's not to say I'm Miss goody two shoes now either, I still like to go out and have fun, but I'm now much more interested in looking after my health for various reasons, some of which I'll go into later.

Melissa Mango's cheesy kelp noodles

And I want to show you that living a raw life doesn't mean you have to dedicate all your time to it- I have a full time job as a PA, I do part time work for another company and I'm also an actor, so I'm pretty busy. I don't have as much time as I would like for preparation of raw stuff, but I usually try and dedicate part of one day on the weekend to fire up the dehydrator and prepare a load of staples to get me through the week- usually breads, crackers, cakes, marinated veggies, 'bacon', burgers, that sort of thing. Then I always have a stock of fresh organic fruit and veg to make salads and side dishes and smoothies and juices to go along with it.

Jalapeno burgers, marinated mushrooms, "bacon",
salad and cashew mayonnaise.

Raw food does not have to be boring! Some of the tastiest food I've ever had has been raw, and raw desserts- well I've never tasted cooked desserts as good as some of the raw ones I've eaten. Raw ice cream, raw chocolates, and raw cakes can be amazing! I'll be sharing with you some of the recipes I've found or invented and giving you an idea of what I've been eating along the way! There's still loads I don't know about being raw, I'm learning as I go, but I do know that I feel so much better when I'm eating raw, I love it.

I've also stopped putting chemicals on my skin and started making my own skin care products from basic kitchen ingredients so I'll give you some recipes for natural products too.

Green smoothie- my usual breakfast-
looks revolting, tastes delicious!

Well this is just a short intro post as I'm still trying to get my head around how this thing works, but I'll write more soon, and upload some more pictures of the things I've (un)cooked and eaten recently! Bye for now.