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Being on my version of the Earth Diet Challenge: 365 days sugar free, preservative free, MSG free, artificial anything free, I’ve been looking at different ways of preparing food.

About two years ago I was at my diet was 100% raw and I felt absolutely amazing. I had recently been diagnosed with Graves Disease and the medication wasn’t working fast enough and so my specialist recommended removing my thyroid. Things go a little out of control without a thyroid as I soon discovered. I was tired, foggy and if that wasn’t enough I gained 10 kilos in 8 weeks! I ‘discovered’ the raw food diet on a google search and I seriously never felt better.

However as with most things, as I started feeling better the motivation to stay 100% raw diminished, as did my feeling great. Funny that.

I eat fairly well these days, and as I said earlier I committed to the Earth Diet Challenge 56 days ago now and was looking for new ways to prepare my food when along came a 2 for 1 offer to attend a raw food class so how could I say no to that?

I arrived to Michelle’s class and joined the other 10 ladies that were there, her classes are held at the back of her home in a gorgeous room with plenty of natural light.

Michelle started off by telling us about her story, her past health problems and where she gets her passion for raw foods. The best thing was she was totally upfront with all of us and admitted that she wasn’t perfect, not only was she not perfect but she had eaten a Krispy Kreme doughnut recently! Talk about making people feel at ease.

The other great thing about Michelle is there was no “all or nothing” approach. I’ve found that a lot of people who say they’re interested in your health have a belief that their way is the only way and they can be quite painful to deal with.

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She went through a dazzling array of equipment that she uses, but was quick to point out that we could start with just the basics of a blender and food processor, knife and cutting board.

♥ Michelle making a green smoothie, check out that glowing skin!

We then progressed to the food, and oh my goodness what a great way to convert people while educating them.

We started off with two different green smoothies, followed by Buckwheat Crispies, Cacao Crispies, Almond Museli, cinnamon gRAWnola and Walnut and Goji Crumble. And just in case there was a chance that we might be able to walk out the door rather than be rolled she then gave us Almond and Chia Porridge followed by my favourite, The Big Brekky! Tomatoes, Mushrooms and Guacamole on Sprouted Toast.

♥ Ingredients for the Buckwheat Crispies

♥ Some various raw food products

♥ The yummy looking tomatoes and mushrooms!

All this was made in front of us showing us just how easy it is to add more raw into your diet and how simple it can actually be to put it all together with no experience at all.

The price ($135) included all the above plus handouts with information on where you can get your nutrients on a high raw diet as well as equipment, methods, kitchen cupboard staples as well as resources to find all the above.

Best of all she gave us the recipes to all the food we sampled as well as a few more smoothie ideas.

Where: Hamilton Hill
What: Raw Food Classes
How much: Generally around $135 for 3 hours learning to prepare (and be filled up on!) fabulous raw foods
Website: www.foodinthenude.com.au
Email: michelle@foodinthenude.com.au

Reviewed by Chizelle S Salter, writer, extreme self-love expert and hostess of Chizelle TV.