I have been involved with health and awareness in one form or another for my entire life. I was blessed to be raised mostly vegetarian in a meat eating Seventh Day Adventist household which provided me with a spiritual and healthy upbringing. Many SDA's eat vegetarian but some of them eat a some meat in a similar fashion to kosher (no pork, fish with scales, etc). My parents converted to SDA just before I was born and they wanted to raise me vegetarian for the first couple of years and then give me a choice once I was around 2 or 3 years of age, I choose to be vegetarian. Being a highly adventurous and experiential person, I veered off from eating vegetarian at the age of 13 and this lasted 5 years.

    At the age of 18, I became an activist and decided to be vegetarian once again for ethical reasons. At 20 years old I started eating a high percentage of raw plant based foods because prior to the age of 20 I hadn't been able to eat most raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds in their raw state without having a serious hive reaction inside my mouth and throat. This happened because I met an organic farmer who convinced me to eat an organic watermelon, a fruit that was one of worst for me to eat, when I took a bite I had NO reaction and I immediately realized that I wasn't allergic to the actual produce, but to the pesticides and chemicals within the non-organic fruits and vegetables. After this awakening I could finally eat all of the produce that I had never been able to enjoy. At the age of 27 I became aware of the very small raw vegan movement and of course I gravitated towards it.

    I literally became raw vegan overnight after eating at Juliano Brotman's (author of Raw and founder of Planet Raw) first raw restaurant in San Francisco and the restaurant I met a woman that had survived cancer by changing her eating habits to the raw living plant based diet. This truly inspired me because my mother had died of cancer at the young age of 45 years old. For over a year I was Juliano's best customer and we spent a lot of time together in his restaurant; so much time, that without realizing it, I learned how to prepare raw food just by watching him create his cuisine for his customers. He decided to move to LA and without even a blink of an eye I took over the restaurant and put the chefs hat on overnight. I didn't even know that I had learned the basics from him until I jumped in the kitchen. I proceeded to manage the kitchen and restaurant by self-teaching myself and of course with the assistance from an ineffable force with many names. I named the restaurant Organica:The Living Cuisine.

    Organica was open for business from 1998-1999, it was a little ahead of its time and didn't last primarily because there was not many people that had caught on to the raw food idea at that point. After the restaurant closed I stopped preparing my cuisine for a while and went into the music business. After closing, I really wanted to experiment around to see the comparison between eating organic raw vegan and eating organic cooked foods, even meat. I started incorporating a large percentage of this food into my life. I felt great for quite a while, but after a few years I started noticing the difference between them both and at one point I realized that raw foods were the way to go.

    At that time I was reminded by my close friend Howard Krouk, whom I originally inspired to be raw, that not many people were creating raw cuisine that tasted as good as mine. He truly sparked the fire under my bottom, pun intended, so I eagerly started preparing it again. I always focused on preparing 100% vegan and somewhere between 95-100% raw living when making my cuisine professionally, but when it came to my personal intake, I started back on my raw adventure with about 80% raw and 90% vegetarian. I tried eating a small portion of primal (raw dairy and meat) and realized that it just didn't work for me, physically nor energetically. Finally, I decided after many years of experimenting, that eating a plant based living foods lifestyle was the best for me.

    Now, I eat all plant based and primarily raw, when I say “primarily” I mean that I eat some ingredients that are not raw in some of the my own prepared cuisine and also when I eat at raw restaurants. These ingredients include agave, coconut palm sugar, nutritional yeast, spices and namo shoyo. Also, when I want to convert a cooked recipe into a raw version, I might taste a few bites of a cooked version so that I can properly “mock” the flavors. I have thousands of recipes, a percentage of them are 100% raw living and a portion is 95-99%. My focus is to entice people who have never eaten raw foods and to give those who have previously been turned off to raw foods by a flavorless or terrible tasting experience.

    I know that there are infinite possibilities with creating amazing tasting new recipes, which is why I never get bored. A person must have a dedicated desire to eat more raw living foods and then the creativity will come. If you check out my newly designed website www.ChefBeLive.com, the feature called, "Food Porn" has quite the colorful array of temptations. Not only do the images of the cuisine jump off the page, but they also scream to be eaten. I designed my own website and I really love the new look because it exudes enticement. Most of the dishes in the"Food Porn" section of my website are gourmet recipes that are sexy, hence "Food Porn". I don't necessarily recommend this type of cuisine for a busy workday unless you are going to stop by a local gourmet raw restaurant for to-go orders. It can be very time consuming, often taking 3 days to prepare with all of the steps.

    A person can create delicious taste bud tantalizing dishes that are quick and easy to prepare within 5-15 minutes too. There are a lot of such recipes out there but I can only vouch for the free ones on my website or the others in my teaser raw recipe eBook "Orgasm of the Taste Buds". For the next few weeks I am offering a "buy 1 get 5 free", this is to motivate people to give them away to someone in their lives that can't afford it, or someone that needs to be inspired. On some of my busy days I just pick up my favorite fruits and veggies and just munch on them or I make seasonal salads with dressing on the side. I primarily eat in this manner due to my schedule and I save my gourmet creations for my more relaxed days, special occasions, for clients and especially for those that I am trying to "turn on" to raw foods.

    Now if you want to prepare raw food recipes in your own kitchen let's pinpoint some basic essentials that everyone should know about when eating organic, raw food and what are the "musts" to have in the kitchen. In my opinion, a high-powered blender and a food processor are most important devices to get started other than a knife, cutting board and your essential kitchen tools. Following that, I feel a masticating/homogenizing juicer such as Green Star and a dehydrator with a temperature gage are the next most important. I also am adamant about teaching those to always soak their nuts and seeds, including nuts and seed without enzyme inhibitors; this makes them all more digestible. Most nuts and seeds have what is called enzyme inhibitors and these inhibitors are not good for our digestive system. I also suggest eating as much organic, wild or biodynamic food as possible, staying away from chemicals that are poisonous and especially genetically modified foods. 

    Now let's talk about the information that I believe most people need get started with the raw vegan lifestyle and how to keep the experience successful and moving forward. From what I've learned, it is most important to always take baby steps and to be easy on yourself. In my opinion, the thoughts and beliefs are as or more important than what we put into our body, so I suggest starting with your understanding of the basics and then taking it one moment at a time. Honor the inner voice guiding you. A lot of people don't know how to listen to the inner voice but believe me it is in there. As you make small baby steps you will notice it guiding you and no it's not necessarily an actual voice, but I assume it can come in that form. For me it's an overwhelming feeling.

    It is important to read a lot of material and to listen to a wide array of educators to see what you resonate with, because we are all different and what resonates for one might not necessarily make another feel better. I suggest to Google "raw foods" and also going into your local bookstore and picking up a few books on the subject. Also, look for meet up groups and connect with others who do and have what you desire, learning from others is always a key element. Most importantly, don't torture yourself and find a way to love yourself because you are an amazing being capable of your wildest imaginations and worthy of the best. Even if you smile one or more times per day and add an apple or salad to your daily meals you are taking small baby steps towards enormous future shifts.

    When people that want to enter into the raw food business arena I have some personal suggestions. I suggest that they have an extreme passion for it, and then seek out people who are doing what they want to do and learn from them. They should be willing to invest time, energy and money because it doesn't come over night or for free, but if they have the drive and want to do it, it will be achieved and manifested. If the vision is to become a gourmet raw chef then applying the same techniques is key, but at the same time considering if they have a gourmet palate for cuisine is crucial as well. I have seen many people spend lots of time and money, but in the end not having the required palate to create consistent amazing tasting cuisine and then turning people off because of the creations being flavorless or worse yet horrible tasting. This does not mean one cannot become a raw chef because they don't have such a palate, there are always recipes available from accredited chefs.

    There are many ways one can have a career in the raw world. They can partner up with other like-minded individuals and find a place that makes them feel passionate and creative to work in a business relationship. They can create a product business and hire or partner up with someone that can formulate recipes. They can start a website providing raw food knowledge or products, there are many possibilities for those who so desire to share raw foods with others. Make sure to enjoy what you do in life, find a sweet spot that makes you feel wonderful in every moment, find your bliss! We are all limitless beings and we can create and be anything that we desire. Realize that everything that happens to you is a gift, a lesson for you to evolve and grow from. That's been my trick and I assure you it works. I have talked to many people with such similar stories that I have mostly learned through experience. If there is any way I can inspire a person to start feeling and thinking like this, then I am doing my job.

    In my opinion and actually factually, everything is energy and thoughts are vibrations, so start thinking about the things that you want in life and find a way to feel spectacular in every moment and you will create your every desire, Your Wish is Your Command. Here are some of the projects that I have currently been vibrating into my life and have been working on; I am currently co-creating a beginner raw program and a bunch of videos and eBook with recipes. I also have a book publishing deal for a bunch of eBooks and a bound book as well. I have thousands of recipes and can create them in my sleep so there are many more books and products to look forward to. I am also currently working as a personal chef for a couple very well known and distinguished individuals in LA, plus creating a BeLive TV Show with a Food Network producer and Oprah Network producer.  I was voted internationally as Best of Raw's favorite gourmet raw chef 2010, my eBook was included in the 2011 Oscar nominee gift bags and the kale chips I created for beOn Living were in the 2010 Emmy nominee gift bags. Also I am currently in negotiations to create a BeLive Raw food line, which is in the beginning stages, but definitely look out for the products online and at a store near you, because one way or another it will be achieved.

    I hope this properly answers some of your questions about the raw vegan life from my perspective and I pray this excites you! Once again to receive my promotional offer for my eBook “Orgasm of the Taste Buds” for the next few weeks, "buy 1 get 5 free", visit my website www.ChefBeLive.com. I hope I am inspiring at least one person here. I love you and I am grateful to have you in my life in any way, shape or form.

    Thank You from the depths of my heart