Hi there! Welcome to Almost Raw Vegan. Thanks so much for visiting ♥.
My name is Catherine, I live in Ottawa, Ontario - the beautiful National Capital of Canada – and I’m an “Almost Raw” Vegan!
Changes to my diet started as a result of My Reasons for Eating Almost Raw Vegan which inspired my interest in learning more about nutrition for my own health & wellness. And since then, my thirst to learn more has grown exponentially in the past few years.
As a result, I am now a book-aholic, web-surfing-aholic, blog-aholic and creative-edibles-aholic and soon-to-be ebook author 
for anything plant based eating related!
You will often find me browsing the latest books online and in bookstores, surfing the web or out talking to like minded plant based guru’s to learn as much as I can about the effects of diet on our mind, body & soul.
I just love (LOVE) to create new easy peasy edibles that incorporate all that I’ve learned!! Put it all together with my love for sharing my new found discoveries and that brings us to AlmostRawVegan.com as well as my Facebook & Twitter pages!
I attended Living Light Culinary Institute, the world’s premier organic raw vegan chef training school. They have a variety of amazing courses/certifications for raw food chef wannabes like me. I enjoyed their FUNdamentals training in 2012.
I also completed eCornell University’s Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition. You may have heard of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, he has a best selling book, The China Study. If you haven’t already read his book, I highly recommend it – it will give you a new perspective on the impacts of diet and nutrition that I’m sure will change your life. The Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition program at eCornell incorporates the best of Dr. Campbell’s work, as well as the latest information from leading experts in the field.
Here are a few links to get you started:
- My Reasons for Eating Almost Raw Vegan
- Why eat Raw?
- Almost Raw Vegan Food Pyramid
- Typical Meals
- My Library of books & video’s
I hope you enjoy my insights and may you find inspiration from AlmostRawVegan.com, Facebook or Twitter. I would love to hear from you! You can email me at AlmostRawVegan@bell.net.
Have an amazing day!
Catherine ♥♥
So jealous of your training! Aside from that, reading your about me is eerily similar to my own experiences. I can’t get enough of this stuff!
Thanks for sharing with us
Thanks so much Veggie V! It’s so nice to know that others have had similar experiences….
Hi Catherine,
I am another Catherine. I just started a website and blog. I am very impressed and inspired by yours. It sounds like we have a lot in common. I have been looking for a program in plant based nutrition so I was happy to see that Cornell U. has an e-course. I’m going to look into it. I have been wanting to start doing some raw food classes and have had a lot of people express interest, so I may do some trial classes this summer. But I want to expand my knowledge for my own sake as well as to pass on good, solid information to others.
Catherine in Santa Fe, NM
Hi Catherine,
You are very sweet, thanks so much for your kind words. It’s nice to hear we are like minded in our passion for plant based nutrition. I think you will really love the eCornell program. That’s fantastic you want to host raw food classes – I say “go for it”, follow your passion!! Keep us posted on how it goes….
I’m totally jealous of your career path at the moment! I will have to live vicariously through you and educate people on a more grass roots level! Loving your blog!
Awww, thanks Somer – thanks for the nice feedback xox I do love the courses I have/will be taking… but courses or not, we all have our life experiences that also speak volumes… so share share share xox
I shall keep sharing!!! And be jealous of your courses
Hi there, I just came across your site and can’t wait to try some recipes! I was just wondering if you supplement with anything? I’m always worried I’m not getting enough calcium even with all the greens I eat I seem to only get about half of what they say our daily requirements are, however I do take b12 and vitamin d.
Hi Becky – I don’t supplement with anything other than B12. As for calcium, there is alot of calcium in dark leafy greens as well as nuts, seeds (sesame is very high in calcium). On my list is to write about calcium sources but that likely wont’ be until next month. I hope that helps? You can also find lots of information on the net about calcium sources for vegans and raw vegans. xox Here’s a great list that may help you: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/25-vegan-sources-for-calcium.html?page=2
I know what your saying is true, I do myfitnesspal.com mainly just to keep track of my nutrients and I am a super organized person and it’s a nice way to plan my meals, but even with eating green leafy’s like 3 times a day and other veggies I only seem to get about half of what it says I need, is this enough? I do sometimes add sesame seeds to my smoothies but not sure if having that and more nuts/seeds throughout the day is too much. Sounds like I need to do a vega-licious.com boot camp lol
Agreed, re: the nuts/seeds quantities… check out my Raw Vegan Food Pyramid, the nuts are at the top so quantities should be relative to the rest of the goodness foods. Fully support Vega-Licious.com’s BC… Elena offers a wealth of knowledge and the support network she offers through Facebook is also excellent…. let me know your thoughts if you give it a try xox
I love Elena, what I really need to do is her boot camp, I don’t know anyone in person that eats plant based and no unhealthy processed foods etc. like I do, I need detailed help lol and I know I should pay her for it instead of asking a million questions all the time. One of my usual smoothies contain about 3 leaves of kale,1 banana, 5 oz strawberries, 1 cup water, 1tsp dulse, 1 tbs chia seeds. I get nervous about having more fruit throughout the day, I need a meal plan, would it be ok to double this and have it for 2 meals or is that wayy too much fruit? I’m trying to figure out what I should eat in a day, I’m trying to keep it breakfast-smoothie, lunch- salad or veggie wrap, and cooked dinner, and fruit and veggies for snacks, I do like popcorn with the tiniest earth balance butter on it and a little himalayan salt. Thanks for your help and replies
No worries re: the questions, feel free to ask away. I know when I switched my diet, I stopped counting calories and even stopped looking at quantities – instead listened to (or tried to) my body and let my body be the guide. I tend to have a smoothy in the morning and I will often have 1litre of green smoothy – that said my smoothies are the only time I eat fruit so I don’t worry too much about the amount of fruit, but I do try to have more greens than fruit as I believe a lower fruit portion is best. For lunch I also have salads and for dinner I have salad with something veggie which may or may not be cooked. We don’t use salt and try to minimize oil… so we don’t eat much processed foods, I find the earth balance butter is very salty for us – because we don’t use salt we really notice foods that are salty – also hubby had hereditary high blood pressure so that’s why I don’t use any added salt. Personally I find dinners the biggest challenge, but lately I find if we have green salad together with either cooked veggies, perhaps veggie bake, or pasta with tomato or pesto type sauce, or wraps with salad, hummus, seed crackers, etc. that seems to work best. I hope that helps. Feel free to ask or email me via facebook if you prefer.
xox
Thank you so much, this helps a ton! I really appreciate it, I will def find you on FB!
Thanks, happy to share. See you on FB xoxo
Hiya, I’ve nominated you for The Silver Quill Blogger Award, I so love your blog, you’re an inspiration! Even if I don’t always actually get to follow your recipes, I love reading them and enjoy the photos you choose to accompany them!
Wow, that’s soooo nice of you Lois… thanks so much for the vote of confidence. That means a lot to me xoxox
Thanks for following my blog! ~ Be Here Now~ xo
I love your recipes!
Thanks and likewise
xox
Thanks Trine for sharing all these wonderful recipes and insights. I can not wait to start trying some of your amazing smoothly combinations.
Hi Nadine – how nice to see you here
I’m so glad you enjoy the recipes/insights. Enjoy the smoothies… you’ll have to let me know your favourites… xox
I know you left a similar comment on my blog, but I’m pretty amazed by how our stories are similar. I’m very much enjoying “playing” now that I have my Vitamix. One of my favorite things about this journey is “meeting” other people. Anyway, have a great night/day!!
I couldn’t agree more… I love the community of fellow bloggers… so glad I found you
You too have a great day/nights xox
Don’t worry I have been browsing the net since I woke up at 6am this morning so you are not the only one, but I’m afraid I’m a carnivore. I eat lots of meat and veggies, I hope that wont offend you. I look forward to receiving healthy posts from you. Glad to know you live on Ontario…
Phew, love that I’m not alone with the 6am thing
and yes, it’s a-ok that you are a carnivore….I’ll still talk to you 
Ok, so truth be known – even though I think plant based is the way to go, I also love that we are all free to make choices that work for us, so no judgement here… whatever works for you is a-ok by me…. I think it’s great that you are here, I hope you enjoy!! xox