As I type this sentence, we are now well and truly into my Raw Food & Soul Adventures Retreat in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. 

Every day has been jam packed with adventure, workshops, excursions, laughter, detox, yoga, meditation and food, glorious raw food!

Something in particular, which was a heap of fun for everyone- also happened to be the activity during which I came to the conclusion, that we have a group of creative geniuses on our hands…

First, I had everyone pull a team name out of a 'hat'. 

Teams were either Macadamia, Pumpkin Seed, Walnut, Sunflower Seed, Almond or Brazil Nut.

Then I introduced all the ingredients that everyone would get the chance to play with. These included everything from Goji berries and Dates, to a whole variety of Superfood powders, like Baobab, Acai, Spirulina, Barley grass, Violet Fig powder, Raspberry powder and about 15 others. 

They were to be judged on taste as well as presentation and everyone was encouraged to forage through my parents' garden for decorations.

Plate decoration in process:

And then everybody tasted and casted one vote for the best decorated plate and one vote for the best tasting ball:

 I'm only glad I didn't have to make that decision, I would've struggled big time! Just take a look at all the creativity that went on:

I've no idea how they managed to choose with all that variety, but we had a clear winner on all accounts:

The gorgeous Sue, Suzanne and Bill wowed all 17 participants with their taste pairing. And luckily for us, they were only happy to share their 'Vilca Balls' recipe with Better Raw readers too!

Since January of this year, amongst all other major life commitments like planning a wedding, running online programs, writing my first hard copy book, writing another eBook, launching my new alkalising superfood product- pH booster, organising my first Raw Food and Soul Adventures Retreat in Ecuador, and planning the biggest project of my life's work (to be revealed soon), I have also been studying at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. This school is based in New York, but the course is done by correspondence. It is a part-time course full of recorded lectures by world class speakers, like Deepak Chopra, David Wolfe, Geneen Roth and hundreds more! The amount of inspiration and knowledge I've gained over this time can't be measured and I would love LOVE love for everyone who even considers doing this year long program, to look deeper into it and invest in yourself (scroll down for Special Discount news). You become a qualified Health Coach at the end of it, but what really matters to me is the person you become during it. Here is just a handful of amazing quotes which I've been jotting doing during the year. I thought you'd love them too... "Anyone I've ever met who has their shit together, was standing in it at the time." - Stephen Levine "Information doesn't mean a thing to people without inspiration." - Bernie Siegel "The way we do anything is the way we do everything. The way we eat is the way we live." - Geneen Roth "For every diet there's an equal and opposite binge (bulimia which is binging and purging is another way of depriving yourself)." - Geneen Roth "We spend our lives protecting ourselves from losses that already happened." - Geneen Roth "This is not a diet, this is a way of life, that is sustainable over a lifetime." - Mark Sisson "Don't try to help people to 'not die', help them to enjoy life!" - Bernie Siegel "People with plants in their home live 5-7 years longer. It's about relationships. Water and take care of a plant, you are already not lonely, even though you might live alone. - Bernie Siegel (about how having a relationship helps you to survive) "I always remember the words of George Halas, the owner of the Chicago Bears football team. When he was well into his eighties a friend found him in his office on Sunday, and asked him why, at his age, he was working on a Sunday. His response, 'It’s only work if there’s someplace else you’d rather be.'" - Bernie Siegel "If you love people, you'll enjoy your life. If you don't, you won't love anything you do." - Bernie Siegel "The purpose of healing is to live while you are alive instead of dying while you are alive. Healing is about being broken and whole at the same time." - Geneen Roth "If LOVE could talk to you about your relationship with food, what would it say?" - Geneen Roth "We are using the food as a doorway to understanding the rest of our lives." - Geneen Roth "Enjoy your food but eat less - choosemyplate.gov" - Geneen Roth "'I want it just because I love it'... But people that love things, take time with things. You want to be present with what you are eating, not gorging yourself with food and feeling bloated and gaseous. That's not love, that's suffering." - Oprah Winfrey "Noone wants to do business with people who give a limp handshake." - Karin Witzig "One of the reasons why McDonald's can keep their burgers at such a low cost is because of their low cost labour. They protest in order to keep the minimum wage from rising". - Michele Simon JD, MPH "Food is the most effective way of breaking down social barriers". - John Quilter, food busker "We are already eating less animal foods since a few years ago, but we are still eating 8-9 billion animals per year." - Mark Bittman "Industrialised stock producers don't want you to see what these conditions are like. They wanna fill your screens of happy farmers looking after individual animals. That's not what it looks like." - Mark Bittman "Your 'Pringle' contains 30% potato, that yoghurt has the same amount of sugar as ice cream, that whole grain cereal bar may be no better for you than a snickers." - Mark Bittman "We need to demonise soda, the way we've demonised cigarettes." - Mark Bittman "50-100 years from now we are all going to be eating a plant based diet. Whether that happens through a catastrophe or a peaceful sustainable life giving way is based on whether we make the right choices now and how we fight in this struggle together." - Mark Bittman "If you don't have your health, then you don't have anything. Life can then be a real drag and a drain on your finances." - Andrea Beaman "Pesticides are great at killing bugs. What's the difference between a human being and a bug? Size. Pesticides will do the same to us, it will just take longer." - Andrea Beaman "Pesticides accumulate in fat cells and organs to break us down over time." - Andrea Beaman "Localharvest.org to join CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to pay approx $500USD to a local farmer and get seasonal weekly harvest for 24 weeks! That's one shop to WholeFoods Market for some." - Andrea Beaman "Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience." Ralph Waldo Emerson "Food alone wont give you that higher spiritual attunement, it along won't give you financial abundance or relationship satisfaction. But it is a necessary component, a platform. We must nail the food first!" - Mike Adams, The Health Ranger "We all want to be at the top of the mountain NOW without climbing it. It is unavoidable, so you might as well enjoy the process." - Stacey Morgenstern "If you can describe a person's problem better than they can, then they will automatically and unconsciously credit you with knowing the solution. They assume you know the answer. What is my prospect's problem? Then list specific frustrations." - Peter Drecker "You know enough. You are capable enough. You have everything you need within you." - IIN member "As soon as you trust yourself, you'll know how to live." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "In Chinese medicine, you are taught that anger is in the liver. When liver is irritated, anger occurs." - - - Joshua Rosenthal "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. And when you change the way you be with things, the things you be with change." - Paul Epstein. "The difference between meditation and morning pages is that often if you have something bothering you and go into meditation with it, you might come out thinking that nothing needs to be done about whatever was bothering you. Morning pages move you into action and usually as you start writing, by the end you know very clearly what is bothering you and what the steps are to fix it." - Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way "There are 4 questions I ask when I'm ready to binge: 1. Am I hungry? 2. Is this what I want to eat? 3. Is this what I want to eat now? 4. Is there something else that I could eat instead?" - Julia Cameron "Morning pages routine: What do I need to know? What do I need to try? What do I need to accept? What do I need to do? What do I need to grieve? What do I need to celebrate?" - Julia Cameron "Ultimately what you believe to be true, will be true for you. This is why so many don't lose weight- your brain has not received the message that your body has changed." - Marilena Minucci "The person doesn't fail. It's the strategy that fails." - Marilena Minucci "Have you ever criticised or mirrored another? It's really about you, not them. If you spot it- you've got it." - Marilena Minucci "Great affirmation to shift on a cellular level: 'Even though I don't know how/ even though I feel this way, I still deeply and completely love and accept myself." - Marilena Minucci  

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Tanya Maher (pronounced Marr) is a leading pioneer in the world of ultra-nutritious and energising plant-based foods for the whole family. Tanya co-founded 'Tanya's,’ a high-end raw cafe in 2014 and merged it with her established wellness company 'Better Raw' in 2017. She is the creator of the Amazon #1 best selling DVD 'Raw Food 101' and author of Hay House's 'The Uncook Book' (available to purchase worldwide, here). Born in Russia, raised in New Zealand and now raising her own family in London, Tanya has been hailed as one of the most recognised experts in the world of gourmet raw food by the likes of Vogue, Daily Mail and Women's Health. www.tanyasliving.com