About Rawmazing
Greetings! I am Susan Powers, the creative force behind Rawmazing, the website designed to help you transition from the SAD (Standard American Diet) to the healthy, tasty world of raw food.
Having been involved with food and wine for years as a trained sommelier, gourmet food and fine wines were a part of my every day lifestyle. Meeting and working with many top chefs and studying classical french cooking along with many other cuisines, inspired my passion and creativity for food. It also led me down a path to excess weight, general fatigue and other symptoms that I knew were associated with my diet. My body was seriously rebelling and I needed to do something about it.
Then I found raw. It was exciting to find a whole new way to prepare and eat food. Exploring the world of raw food was fun. There were new things to learn at every turn. I tried some of my own recipes but experienced a lot of failure, so I just learned how to prepare raw food using every cookbook I could get my hands on. Reading about raw, the health benefits, and the principles behing this way of eating became an obsession.
I became 100% raw. It was amazing. I lost weight, had more energy than I have ever had and the best part was the mental clarity that I began to experience. My health issues resolved themselves and I felt better than I had for years.
But all journeys have their bumps in the road. Minnesota winters are very cold and long. Stress was building up in my life from other sources and I defaulted back to my “comfort” food. All the consequences of what I was eating became glaringly obvious as I gained weight, experienced more fatigue and lost my focus. Knowing full well that all of the symptoms I was having were directly related to what I was eating, when spring hit, I decided to dedicate myself to raw again.
This time, I did it differently. Food is a sensory experience. My greatest desire was to create food that not only tasted wonderful, but also was beautiful to look at. I believe in presentation and that it is an important part of the dining experience. Having fallen off of the wagon also gave me insights on how to incorporate raw back into my life…striving for 80-90% this time, not 100%. With a little patience,planning and some transitional recipes, it is easy to avoid the pitfalls that temp us to this healthy way of life. Eating well is one of the best gifts that we can give ourselves and our loved ones.
It is said that 60% of our illness in this country is caused by the SAD (Standard American Diet). Our current way of eating is not only making us sick, it is also quickly depleting our planet of it’s resources in ways that are completely unnecessary. It is time to bring a new mindset to the masses. Help us spread the word as we show ways to a more nutritional way of eating that doesn’t require you to give up the flavor and beauty of food!
Warmest Regards,
Susan
Disclaimer:
This website is intended to give you information about healthy eating based on research, personal experience. I am not a doctor and information on this website should not be considered medical advice. Please consult your physician for health treatment and diagnosis.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! Lovely site, Susan.
Good for you!
You’re a brilliant writer/journalist. Each piece has the magic making it easy and fun to read. Thanks for the contribution.
Thank you Susan. Now I don’t feel so bad. I try and juice and then I stop. While the recipes seem so easy it seems I have to be home to prepare everything right on the spot. Can I prepare ahead of time some of the recipes and take them on the road. I’m out and about quite often.
Carol
I would look at each recipe. Some need to be made and consumed, some are portable.
Hey!!
GREAT SITE SUSAN!!
You’ve been busy!! all look’s WONDERFUL
I’ll atch for you Winter classes..
Love lois
So lovely to see a MN Raw blogger! I just found your site via a MPLS Farmer’s Market tweet, and I’m excited to read more
So glad to have you here!
Susan Such a beautiful site . Thank you for all your healthy information. Green Blessings Arlena
Hi Susan,
Thanks for your site. I especially liked the Oct 3 post.. Blessings! J
Your website and your story are so relatable. Thank you for that. I have followed a similar path. I appreciate and stand up for your honesty. Kat
Great points. I have discovered healthier “natural” foods, then vegetarianism, veganism, and finally raw. I found that with each improvement from the fast food, margarine and coke lifestyle I was living before, Iost weight, felt better, and had better hormone balance (except when I tried eating soy/tofu/TVP as a meat substitute. Very bad for you in large amounts, esp if you already have hormone issues or take the pill). I’ve let things slide for various reasons, but I try to incorporate the various types of eating well that I’ve discovered into my life at least once in a while, and we still don’t eat as much meat and processed food as we used to. So many benefits.
Your site is fabulous. I love to cook but want to be raw and have found the two a little incompatible. I keep trying recipes and think oh this is nice, for the first taste, then meh. I love gourmet, I love presentation, I love your website. I am going to try some of your recipes. I am so excited to find some gourmet raw recipes. And you are in the north and have to deal with weather and “local” issues too. I am in Calgary and the Farmers Markets are already bringing in stuff from South America. Which is OK and I buy it, but you understand!!
I got here from the G Living Website that I love as well. Most of my great recipes have come from there and I can see that a lot more are going to come from here!! Thanks and nice to meet you. If you have a newsletter or email or whatever, sign me up. I am going to be one of your groupies!!
Sue
You can sign up for notification on the feedburner link to the right! Thanks for all the kind words. It means a lot to me to know I am helping!
Hi Susan,
WHY AREN’T YOU IN LA? Your recipes look fantastic and I want to take a class!!! If you opened a restaurant out here you would OWN! Just…you know, throwin’ it out there…
xoPaula
WOW…Amazing pictures, amazing receipes!
Thank you very much!
Thank you for sharing your creative dishes.
We met you daughter at Copper Mountain. She was our daughters snowboard instructor. When the kids told her we eat raw in class she gave us your website. Small world
I love this site, so inspirational and delectable!
Does anyone have a recipe for a mashed & rolled soft fig paste mixed with a bit of fresh grated coconut, maybe some mashed date as well, then rolled in semisweet cocoa powder?
This holiday I was given 4 of these luscious tiny raw fruit balls and am not sure how to arrive at the very soft, almost tender texture of the fig/date paste.
Much appreciate any help anyone can give! Thank you kindly, -evw
Hi Susan,
I’m a fellow MN and yes, the winters make eating raw more difficult, I agree. I’m glad that I found your site and am going to have to check my calendar so that I can take a uncooking class from you!
I am an endurance ultra runner and have found that since going raw I have much less recovery between races. It’s been an amazing learning experience.
I found your website online, as I have just started eating raw on an almost full time basis. I am an Inronman Triathlete and have suffered injuries that have kept me from racing the past two years. Eating raw has increased recovery time and given me a sense of overall well being.
Thank you for your great recipes!
Natasha Powers
Wonderful to hear! Love your name, too!!!
Very cool! Drop me an email and I will get you on the class list.
i am really enchanted with your web site!!!!
you are a very special person and i really appreciate your work and write – the pictures are invitation for us to keep on the train and try to do something that can be desire before the taste!
(many of my food did not look good even tastes good!!!) So i only have to say thank you !
Wish you are in Florida – i am in Miami!!! I would be on all your classes!
Also here we have very few raw places to go out! So if you would like to spend winter time on this paradise, you also could have something to work – as a restaurant !!!
Lots of love and Blessings!
Just to clarify did you use almonds with the skin left on for this recipe?
Hi Susan,
What a great site and some of the recipes look great and I can’t wait to try them! I totally agree with you about how awesome you feel eating a high raw diet. I myself am not 100% but not far off and feel the best I have in ages.
Becky
Hi Susan: I just wanted to tell you that your website is big, bright and beautiful! I was just browsing the other day looking for a raw vegan quiche recipe and I came upon your website and found what I was looking for. The photography is excellent and you make the dishes look so mouthwatering and the directions and recipes you give are so thorough and right on point! You make raw food preparation easy (even if it isn’t!).
Thanks so much…it is easy!!! Glad you like the site!!
Hi Susan,
I love your site. It is very motivational in staying on track. I am just wondering what you were eating that was not raw when you were 80%-90%. I ask this because it seems to have made a world of difference when you went 100%. Thanks for the info.
Cheers,
Mandy
All kinds of things. I do not eat meat in any form, but did indulge in dairy, sweets, etc. For me, especially at my age, food adjustments, even small ones make a huge difference.