Jenny Yemaya Cook – 11 questions i ask raw foodies

Yay another interview mcthing.  Jenny isn’t Scottish but her dog Ralph McDuff is and actually I’ve decided it’s ok to have as many non-scottish rawbies as I see fit…my blog bla bla bla 🙂

Anyway, Jenny is just so damn gorgeous I had to ask her to answer the questions.  She actually is one of the most gorgeous people on the planet officially! 🙂  Check her out:

1. How long have you been in to raw foods?

About 10 years ago I was living on a tropical island off Panama in a hut on the beach. A mango tree used to drop mango’s on my roof during the night and there was an abundance of avocados, noni, aloe, papaya, pineapples, bananas growing all around. I would cycle 15 kilometres each day to a deserted beach, just picking a coconut off a tree for nourishment when I was thirsty. I noticed my body and health start to change and felt more alive than ever before. I had never heard of a raw food lifestyle, but naturally was living it.

2. How did you discover raw foods?

About a year after living this way I went to LA and to a bookshop called The Bodhi Tree where a book fell off the shelf in front of me. It was The Essene Gospel of Peace by Edmond Bordeaux Szekely. I couldn’t believe what i was reading, that this diet and lifestyle existed at the time of Jesus. I felt I had stumbled on my spiritual truth.

3. What were some of the first benefits you noticed?
I had been diagnosed with extremely high blood pressure which is now completely normal on raw foods. My weight and body shape changed to what it is meant to look like. My eyes became clearer and brighter and people were commenting that I was reverse ageing. My mind felt clear and my energy levels soared 🙂

4. Were there any drawbacks? If so, what and how did you handle?

No drawbacks at all!  The only thing i missed for a while was coffee, so I used to go and stand outside coffee shops and inhale deeply the aroma!

5. How did your family and friends react?

At first i think everyone thought I’d gone mad and that it was just a phase I was going through…But now they all come to me with their health problems to fix! I’ve been helping my brother and father reverse their diabetes and friends to lose weight.

6. How did you handle reactions? any tips?

You can never tell anyone what to do. It is best to be a shining living example and let them come to you. They will soon want a bit of what’s making you look and feel so amazing! The other thing is to make delicious food for people and before you know it they want the recipe.

7. What advice would you give people who are interested in raw foods on how to get started?

Take it slowly, listen to your body and what its telling you. Get yourself a juicer and start each day with a green juice (1 whole cucumber, 3 sticks of celery, any green leafy veg, an apple, half a lemon and an inch of ginger). This will alkaline the body and set you up for the day, curbing sugar imbalances. Aside from this have a big salad at some point during the day. Gradually cut out caffeine, alcohol, dairy, fish and meat. Eat as many vegetables as you can and a little fruit.

8. What is your number 1 raw tip?

Seek out others doing the same, organise potlucks or get togethers to support one another and swap recipes.

9. What is your favourite raw food and why?

It varies but one of my staples is my fire crackers made from sunflower seeds and cayenne….they are a great snack….but you can’t beat a salad picked straight from the garden with fresh herbs….or my raw chocolates 🙂

10. If you could be any raw food what would you be and why?

Probably a mango, ripe, juicy, sweet, delicious and if you eat enough of them you get a spiritual high 🙂

11. How do you see the raw movement in five years time?

The rate at which it is growing exponentially is rawsome!  As more people awaken to its health benefits and environmentally how it can help save the planet, i believe it will become more main stream. On a personal level I am in the process of creating a raw vegan community so that we can live, work and play the way nature intended, so in 5 years time i see a beautiful future with like minded souls creating a piece of heaven on earth 🙂

As a result of knowing how difficult it can be to be raw vegan and travel I decided to put together the best holiday ever combining all the things that made such a huge difference to my life….I run week long residential raw vegan retreats on the island of Bimini in the Bahamas taking people out to swim with wild dolphins, yoga, meditation and breathwork….it’s paradise…the most transformational journey you will possibly ever have. If the Bahamas seems too far away, then from my home in Suffolk i have opened the UK’s first raw vegan B&B near the coastal town of Southwold. I also run food classes, give one to one nutritional advice and foraging for wild foods classes.
www.rawdolphins.com
www.eatrawlove.com

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Simply loving the insight in to other people’s journey, I bloody LOVE Jenny to bits!  Got my eye on that raw vegan community too!  🙂

This one’s for you Jenny woop woop! xx