Raw Mom Cooked Dad Day 3: Robyn Openshaw, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo & Dr. Ariel Policano

WOW!! What fun! This is SO exciting! Thanks a tonne for your friendly comments on the blog. It’s thrilling to see that you’re enjoying the interviews and feeling inspired and motivated to make great things happen!

A few orders of business before we announce the calls for the day!

David’s Best Elixir Ever Recipe and the Heart Leaf Salad Miracle Photo

This is the picture Avocado sent me immediately after our phone call. Epic. Trippy. Classic. Total Alien Intervention, Dude! I LOOOVE IT!

Here is the SUPERHERO drink recipe:
Brew 1.5 liters of Tea for 1+ hours containing the following ingredients (do not boil):
Spring Water
Chaga
Reishi
Echinacea Flowers
Horsetail
Nettles
Goji Berries
Vanilla

In the blender, add the following ingredients:
1-2 tablespoons raw Cacao beans or nibs
1 tablespoon of raw Maca powder
10 500 mg capsules of Fo-Ti
1 tablespoon Phycocyanin (blue pigments of AFA algae)
2 tablespoons of local Honey
2 tablespoons of local Bee Pollen
2 tablespoons of raw Sacred Chocolate Coconut Butter (www.SacredChocolate.com offers the best raw nut butters ever).
2 tablespoons of Chlorella

Pour the warm-to-hot tea into the blender containing all the ingredients. Cap and blend immediately. After 10 seconds, stop the blender, and pour the hot beverage through a strainer (stainless steel mesh strainer) into your drinking mug. Taste and enjoy!
Add almond milk to the beverage as desired if you like more creaminess.

Love!
Avocado

(I left that little “Love! Avocado” part in, so you know he’s sending the love YOUR way, Angelface!

Ron’s Blueberry Pancake Recipe

While I was going to keep the blueberry pancake recipe as a special gift for Relax Pack subscribers, the lovely Nadine herself popped into the blog and left the famous recipe! So with BIG thanks to Nadine and the Pancake Prince himself, here’s your recipe, but just so you know, it’s also available in Nadine and Ron’s FREE e-book “Imbibe” available on their website Living Libations!

Nadine’s Favorite Blueberry Pancake recipe:
1 pound of wild blueberries (peaches, strawberries, plums are good too)
1 cup chia
1 cup tocotrienals (rice bran solubles)
blend in a food processor and spread on to dehydrator sheets on low overnight

Best
Nadine

Day 2′s Blog Comment Winner is Janis Phelps!

Janis, if you’re out there, send us an email and we’ll set you up with a copy of our Raw Mom’s Healthy Lunchbox Book! Be sure to let us know what you think of our next set of calls, too! The fun is just getting started. If you comment on the blog about today’s calls, you could win a copy of our fully-loaded dessert book, “Have Your Cake & Eat it, Too!”

Now, my Sweet! It’s time to move on to our guest speakers for Day 3.

We’ve got some amazing ladies in the house!

Robyn Openshaw

This frisky, friendly creature is one of my heroines! I love what she’s managed to pull off as the single mother of 3 and a half teenagers. Between soccer practice and family time, she’s running the Green Smoothie Girl website and Robyn has fabulous advice for families who are choosing a middle path to health. She’s got such smarts and is doing fabulous things out there!  I’ll be one of the guest presenters (along with Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo) at her conference in April! SUPER excited about that!

Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

This is a woman who is a huge part of what I do on The Raw Divas’ website, and just yesterday I spent two hours planning an entire curriculum of programs for women starting off in January 2011. Her wisdom and down-to-Earth approach is so refreshing. Dr. Ritamarie inspires me to really UNDERSTAND health and nutrition. This was a fabulous call about healthy nutrition for kids and it so inspired me to want to dive into more full time study to truly understand the choices I make and take even more responsibility for the health of my little ones!

Dr. Ariel Policano

What a beautiful woman and what a great call! I loved getting to the nitty gritty on women’s nutritional needs with Dr. Ariel. She’s so passionate about women’s health, hearing their stories and helping them find solutions to their health problems. As multi-tasking women, we spend so much time worrying about our hubbies and our kids and the laundry and the dog, etc. This call is going to give you the goods on some of the deficiencies to watch for yourself, and how best to succeed on the raw food diet for the long haul.

Okay, so that’s the scoop for these calls. I hope you find them helpful. They’re a bit more “technical” and educational, but these whipper-snapper women know what it takes to thrive and to help their families thrive, too! Pull out your pens and paper and take notes that will serve you for a lifetime!

p.s.

Remember, if you’re concerned about missing the calls, you can always upgrade to the Multi-tasking Mama’s Relax Pack HERE! And remember to look for the fine print on that page, because we don’t turn anyone away because they can’t afford it!

3 Deficiencies You Can Develop on the Raw Food Diet (Two of Them Will Surprise You!)

by Dr. Ariel Policano

So, you are loving the raw diet, right?

You’ve lost weight, you have more energy, and a positively juicy new outlook on life. Fantastic!  A raw vegan diet is filled with nutrition, vital force, enzymes and is free of nasty preservatives and chemicals.  It is truly amazing.

Still, even on a raw or high raw diet, it is good to have a health “check-in” from time to time. The fact is there are actually a few deficiencies that could develop on a raw, vegan diet if you aren’t aware of them.  They can develop if you are not meticulous about having diversity and perfect balance. And really, who is?

Here are 3 markers I feel are crucial to keep your eye on. This way, you can be sure you are staying healthy in every way on your raw vegan diet.

1) Ferritin (your iron stores).

2) B12 Levels, measured as methylmalonic acid (MMA).

3) Cholesterol (wait to be surprised here!).

1) Ferritin.

It is important to keep your levels of iron healthy.  Of course, iron allows the transport of oxygen to your cells via the blood.  Low iron levels are commonly referred to as anemia.  One of the most common signs of iron deficiency anemia is Read more »

On TV with Yoga For Kids!

Last week Saturday, July 5, at about 8:27 a.m., I had the pleasure of being a guest on The Morning Show of WJXT — Jacksonville, Florida’s Channel 4.

Jax4Kids.com and Channel 4 are partners, and my part-time work role with Jax4Kids.com landed me a spot on The Morning Show to talk about Yoga for Kids. The opportunity fell in my lap when I least expected……It was an awesome experience (apart from looking like I was 10 pounds heavier on air). Hmmh?

There were so many angles of children’s yoga that could have been covered during the segment, and I initially pondered just what approach I would take during my 3.5 to 4 minutes of air time. Eventually, it all came together…….In a moment it was clear that I would definitely focus on Super Brain Yoga (the posture pictured with arms crossed).

Then, it was obvious to me that “Balancing The Cat 1,” another brain balancing exercise, would complement Super Brain Yoga. (In the above picture, we should be looking down to keep the neck long. My son, in red, is closest to the correct positioning in this picture.)

And, what’s a children’s yoga demonstration without the popular “Cat and Cow” exercise that warms up the spine? There were some other postures I had planned to cover, but time did not allow. However, I was fortunate to end up getting a total of about six minutes of air time, and I believe I was able to communicate valuable information to parents in that time.

In a note that Jinjee Talifero from TheGardenDiet.com wrote to me the night before my TV appearance, she said:

“…My friend Roe is a speaking teacher at Berkeley University and she says to draw an imaginary line in front of you, and when you step over it, you are stepping into ‘giving’. Do that right as you walk on stage or while you are there, just before the cameras roll.”

I truly did step into giving. I felt it, and, as we know, giving feels great! With passionate energy and a love of yoga, I gave all that I could give in those moments.

What made the time even more special was that my son, nephew and two of my son’s friends “gave” with me. They joined me on air to assist in demonstrating the postures. It was a thrill to have them there working along with me. It was a like a mini kids’ yoga class on TV. Fun! Fun!

That experience has now inspired me to turn a wonderful yoga idea of mine into a reality. I’ve had this idea circulating in my head for a while but have been holding back; it’s clear that the time has come to make it happen. You’ll have to stay tuned for those juicdy children’s yoga details and the connections that have been pieced together for me these past few days.

Perhaps my grand plans will be on the next episode of Yoga for Kids with Penny Powell — courtesy of Channel 4 and Jax4Kids.com.

In the meantime, here are some reviews I received about Saturday’s segment:

~ I caught you on TV this morning. Great job! You spoke eloquently and obviously knew your subject. The kids were great! Until later -Namaste, Vicky

~ My mother-in-law saw your skit on TV – she called to tell me all about it – said you did a wonderful job. Loved the ‘Brain Power’ thing!! Go, girl, go!! Bonnie Morgan, owner of Peaceful Yoga Studio

~ I just watched the recording of you and the boys from this weekend. What a great job you did!!!! You gave parents some very useful information and the boys did a wonderful job, too. The pose relevant to ADD was an excellent idea, Penny. I didn’t notice as much from the pictures, but Caleb looks like you! Such a handsome young man Thank you Penny! Well done!! Alison Peters-Carlson, Jax4Kids.com

Thank YOU, Alison, for the opportunity! As I’ve told you, you help make life extra fun! It’s a blessing to know you! The hightest in me honors the highest in you!

With Yoga Love,

Penny