So, October sees me in Vancouver, Canada, where I?ve been hanging out, giving talks, meeting the local rawbies and getting on with writing my next book ;) NEWS FLASH: Next Saturday ? Oct 20th - I?ll be hopping across the water to give a talk in Victoria, BC too. The event starts at 6.30pm in the ?Green Cuisine? Restaurant, #5-560 Johnson Street, (Market Square), Victoria. For more info, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Hope to see you there if you?re in the area ;)

In this month?s newsletter you?ll find?

*Raw Success out now ? win a free copy :)
*The Kitchen?s Alive with Living Enzymes
*The ?Thyroid Epicenter? at the RawReform Store
*Raw Transformations ? The ?Down Under? Tour
*Winner of Anastasia Book
*?Inspirational Blog? Award
*Raw Job Opportunity
*Candida and Detox

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Raw Success OUT NOW ? WIN a free copy :)

Winner of ?Anastasia?

Raw Job Opportunity

Ok?opportunities like this don?t come along so often ;) SO, if you?re a strong, budding rawbie in the Santa Barbara/Ventura/Ojai area of California, LISTEN UP ;) A vacancy has opened for a packer in the shipping department of a major raw food company in that area. Are YOU motivated, reliable and physically able to lift boxes? Do you seek to enjoy your work, with a positive, upbeat energy? The ideal candidate will be someone efficient, detail-orientated and excited to work in a rapidly expanding, dynamic young business in the raw food community. If this sounds like you, or someone you know, we?d love to hear from you :) Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it in the first instance. Thanks :)

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CANDIDA and DETOX

Ahhhhhh, yes, candida?the plague of raw foodies everywhere?I get asked SO often about how to deal with candida issues, that I decided to include here the section I?ve been writing on it for my new book?hope this helps some of you find balance with our little fungal friends ;)

This does not tend to be the most popular subject to talk about, but I like to go into it, because it is an issue I frequently see people dealing with when they adopt raw vegan lifestyles. Candida albicans is a fungus that everyone has on and in their bodies. Issues arise when this fungus grows out of control and takes over. Typical symptoms include digestive upset, yeast infections and skin rashes.
Candida thrives primarily on carbohydrates and sugars. Thus, most people with a history of overeating those foods will be dealing with candida issues. (Many people also have candida overgrowth from extended use of antibiotics.)
I experienced very unpleasant candida overgrowth issues in my first years raw. This is why I like to give guidance on this topic ? it was so much hassle for me and I want to help others take simple precautions to avoid such infections. There are a number of things we can do to avoid candida overgrowth, or deal with an already established overgrowth. It really all comes down to your colon health and the balance of the ?good? and ?bad? flora there.
If you are taking good care of your colon health and keeping up with all the detox waste that is being thrown out of your cells into the colon, you are less likely to run into imbalances. However, if your colon is getting backed-up with a slew of fermenting, messy, dense food combinations, coupled with cell detox waste from going raw, you?re in more of a sticky situation. If you?re not taking care to keep all that waste moving out of you, it?s much easier for your intestinal flora to get out of balance and the candida to overgrow. With that in mind, obviously colon cleansing can help play a big part in helping people avoid candida overinfections, especially in the beginning.
Most of us are no-where near optimal health when we start out on a raw food journey and we can use all the help we can get to deal with turning around our degenerative state of health. Some raw people are against the idea of colon cleansing as they do not see it as ?natural?. While I can resonate with the fact that almost no other animal on this planet seems to engage in colon cleansing (except some birds), I also see that no other animal species is as far from nature and degenerative as us. (Aside from those animals ? pets and so on ? who we feed other-than-natural foods.) So, colon cleansing may not seem ?natural? and yet, given how far we?ve come from ?natural? as a species and as individuals, it seems almost like ?cutting off our noses to spite our faces? to NOT colon cleanse when going raw. Most of us are packed with old toxins. The average person holds 5-10 LBS of old waste in their bodies. Going raw means you are giving your body the permission and the fuel to start to clear that stuff out. Now, you can do it without colon cleansing, but why would you if you know that by doing the colon cleansing, you can help your body release that stuff faster and avoid running into fermentation and candida overgrowth issues?  ALL illnesses, diseases and detox symptoms are basically the result of the same thing - a toxic system. (I really could have called this section anything in terms of diseases ? they?re all basically the same, at the root ? I just chose to focus on candida as it?s such a common concern.)
Your body is overloaded with things it?s trying to deal with and tries to let you know about it through the different symptoms. Clear out the toxicity and the symptoms vanish. Colon cleansing is like the fast-track to clearing out that stuff, so why not go for it?  I would recommend that anyone starting out on a raw path does a series of colonics in the beginning. One session every month for 4 to 6 months is likely to be a good start and your colon hydrotherapist can tell you more as you begin to see the results. This will help enormously with the initial detox and release of waste and you?ll be much less likely to run into candida issues. After an initial series like this, you can do a colonic perhaps once every few months or so to maintain good balance in your colon and clear more waste. Doing enemas or using a colema board at home will be beneficial too for cleansing. You might want to do an enema once every ten days or so, to keep things moving. As and when you reach a point of feeling balanced and very ?clean? inside from old waste, that would seem to me to be the time to perhaps decide that colon hydrotherapy doesn?t really feel so natural to you and you?d rather let your body now deal with the normal flow of waste by itself. Avoiding the useful tool of colon hydrotherapy at the beginning of your raw adventure though seems to me like a missed opportunity to make things easier on yourself. Aside from colon hydrotherapy, dealing with candida tends to be a three-pronged approach:

Foods to Avoid
If you are dealing with candida overgrowth, I would recommend minimising the amount of sugars you are taking into your body, for a few weeks at least. This will help to starve down the candida population. Avoid concentrated sweeteners (e.g. honey, agave, molasses) in particular, along with any starches, sugary foods, alcohol, mushrooms, cheeses and vinegar. This approach, combined with the other suggestions here, can help get you rapidly back into balance.

Treatments
Aloe vera juice/gel and coconut oil are very supportive for the colon and intestinal flora. They are soothing, balancing, healing and nourishing. Drinking green vegetable juices will also help balance your system.
Strong anti-fungal agents like fresh garlic, pau d?arco, oil of oregano, tea tree oil and grapefuit seed extract (GSE) will help deal with unwieldy candida issues. These are more ?combative? and direct in approach than the more soothing/nourishing/preventative options like aloe and coconut oil.

Probiotics
These are very useful for both avoiding and healing candida overgrowths. Probiotics help nourish and nurture the ?good? flora in your intestines. You can take probiotic supplements like acidophilus or bifidus blends, as capsules or powders. You can also get nourishing probiotic action straight from your foods by consuming things such as sauerkraut, fermented seed cheeses and rejuvelac. For high quality probiotic supplements, I recommend either Dr Fred Bisci?s ?Freddie?s Blend? probiotics, or Threelac. Both are available in the RawReform store. Taken daily, probiotics will help your intestinal flora to stay in balance throughout detox, or get things back into balance if you experience issues. 

Other Considerations:
Other things that can help heal a candida overgrowth include being in a hot, dry climate, rather than damp or humid. Spending time with the skin exposed to the sun ? candida is a fungus that thrives in dark, damp conditions ? direct sunlight helps destroy it. Wearing cotton/natural underwear rather than nylon/synthetic. Wearing loose, rather than tight-fitting underwear/clothes.

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That?s all the news and views for now?don?t forget to send us YOUR entry to win a copy of Raw Success?and here?s wishing YOU all best wishes and blessings for your OWN Raw Success ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx
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