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    raw food and soul adventure destination retreat announced!

    Friends,

    I've teased you with promises of a destination retreat for long enough, now I have a sneaky feeling that you'll agree: what I'm about to announce has been worth the wait...

    You might have been expecting to retreat with me to Bali, and right until just last week, I was too. But expectations are toxic and I found that all the pressure I was putting on myself to fulfil this promise has been majorly taxing on my energy, creativity and productivity to make it an epic trip away.

    I knew that this was not the right head space to be in during planning stages, especially since I'm well aware that my energy could contribute to your spiritual experience on a raw food healing escape. Still I just couldn't figure out what was standing in my way and why I was having obstacle after obstacle in regards to locking in Bali. So I put everything aside, lit up an incense stick, rolled out my mat, dimmed the lights and began breathing my consciousness into a deep sea of calm, until there was just you and me and the vision of the most unforgettable retreat for you.

    When I opened my eyes, the clock said 1:11.

    I have no idea how long my meditation went on for, but I do know two things for certain: 1). The incense stick has burned out long ago, so I would've been in deep for at least 15 minutes and 2). We are going to Vilcabamba, Ecuador!!!!




    As I experienced this amazing realisation, I couldn't understand why something so obvious didn't come to me earlier. Well now that it has, it is not about to go anywhere. I've even set the date...

    Mark your diary for six nights/ seven days over 19-25 November 2013.


    What you may or may not know about Vilcabamba...

    • It is home to my beautiful parents and their raw food restaurant Sungate 11:11.
    • It is my own personal retreat destination, where I go annually to detox, reconnect and recharge.
    • It is a tiny village entirely surrounded by majestic mountains.
    • It is best known as the Sacred Valley of Longevity.
    • It is a magnet for the most gifted, spiritual and loving people. If you don't consider yourself as such a person yet- Vilcabamba is the place where you'll discover otherwise.
    • It has the purest air of any place I've ever been to on earth.
    • It has uncontaminated mineral-rich earth which bears the most delicious, healing and organic produce for everyone and the majority of its inhabitants have direct access to natural spring water.
    • It is the raw food capital of the world.


    Now that you know our destination and the date -and before I send you an application for taking part- I want to make sure that this is a retreat which ticks off all the boxes for you.

    If you can make it to Ecuador for a week starting 19th November, please tell me what your most ideal getaway will entail...






    eating amsterdam | raw food style | reviews

    I love Amsterdam. Period.

    It wasn't my first time paying the Netherlands a visit last week, but it was the first time since the birth of Better Raw. And because now I was seeing everything through a different lens, you can argue that this was really the first time after all.

    Come on a mini walking tour with me...

    Wondering along Amsterdam's canals 

    This makes me want to live in a house boat

    Cute + stylish + historic + fresh + cosy + adventurous = all in one apartment, only in Amsterdam

    Like a flower to sunshine

    Bicycle central!  Sis- you'd love this!!

    Getting amongst it.

    Backwards, yet makes so much sense.


    I had all sorts of intentions to try every single raw food cafe in the city, but... 1). I underestimated how many choices were available, especially that I was only there for 30 hours. And 2). I didn't expect to be catered for by the most beautiful hosts with their delicious homemade smoothies, pesto courgette pasta, raw chocolates and chia puddings.  

    As awesome as that is for me, I'm not so sure that Marjolijn and Jesse have plans to open their own restaurant any time soon (they already run www.superfood.nl and www.detoxyourworld.com), so I figured that even if I grabbed a small snack somewhere, I could report back to you on what raw food eats are available in Amsterdam... 


    Our first stop was the Superfood Centre, an all-in-one wellbeing hub (check out the people working out in the background at 9am Sunday morning). I just arrived then and wasn't hungry for the big selection of their cereal bar/ snack/ chocolate/ superfood range, but they had a juicer, which may as well have been called 'the transportation device to heaven' and at that point I wouldn't have known the difference. 

     

    Eazie was a lunch time stop. To be honest it wasn't on my list and I was heading elsewhere, but the fact that it said 'Salads, Woks, Smoothies' caught my eye and woke up my hunger. I had their basic Greek salad and the most delicious 'Crazy Coconut'- banana, pineapple, orange, coconut smoothie. This I think is a great example of one of many restaurants, where you can find a full raw meal, without it specialising in our funky cuisine. 


    Juicy Details at Schiphol Airport was a very VERY exciting discovery and made me seriously wonder why every airport doesn't have a juice bar. Flying is so taxing on our immune system, but a juice or a whole food smoothie before and after a flight is all that is needed to rebalance, ground and reinvigorate our precious body.



    Here are some of the places I never made it to, but hopefully if you visit Amsterdam, you can benefit from these suggestions...

    The Soulsister sells vitamins, superfoods, natural cosmetics and it has a wheatgrass bar! You could even grab yourself a handy booklet called InLivin' The Good Life Guide To Amsterdam, while you are there. 

    Unlimited Health seems to have it all- a health foods store, a yoga centre, as well as a juice bar, restaurant and a bistraw, where you can get some apparently delicious salads, quiches and cakes to eat in or take away.

    Golden Temple has been recommended to me for their raw chocolate slice and other cakes on the permanent desserts menu, but if you would like a three course raw food meal, reservations will need to be arranged in advance. 

    Bolhoed looks really good for a vegan (not raw) option and by the sounds of the reviews, definitely a place I'd like to pay a visit, especially being so near Anne Frank's House and Noordermarkt.



    Did I miss any of your favourite raw food eats? Maybe even just a vegan option? Let me know in the comments below...