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“The coolest part about food is that it’s something that you get to eat. We get to eat color for a living. We get to eat color to bring us life. And so these things have all of these colors bring us life—and they have life—and that’s why raw food to me is so symbolic on a different level.”
Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram
For most of her young adult life, Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram was in and out of hospitals. Constantly sick, hyperglycemic, low on energy and losing hope that she could ever feel normal.
Little did Kristina know that a chance encounter with a strange man at the grocery store would soon change everything, radically and permanently altering the trajectory of her life.
This week I am delighted to sit down with the effervescent and passionate Fully Raw Kristina — as she is now popularly known on the internet – to hear all about how a raw vegan diet not only healed her body, but gave her life purpose.
Boasting over 600,000 subscribers, many of you may know Kristina from her wildly popular YouTube Channel. For most, this would be an all consuming full time gig. But making videos is subservient to Kristina’s first passion, which is running Rawfully Organic – the food cooperative she founded in 2007 at age 20. What began in her living room is now the largest raw organic produce co-op in the United States, providing affordable, healthy raw produce to over 6000 members across the Houston area weekly.
Although I would not label myself as fully raw, it’s fair to say that I eat tremendous amounts of raw plant foods every day and can personally attest to the importance of prioritizing a large variety of fresh raw produce on your plate at every meal.
Nonetheless, I can hear you muttering under your breath: eating fully raw sounds so extreme! Is it possible to be healthy, vibrant and happy on raw plant foods alone? Won’t I suffer nutrition deficiencies? To quell these questions, Kristina visited 2-time RRP alumnus Garth Davis, M.D. for a checkup. Here’s how it went down:
Forefront in today’s conversation is of course diet and nutrition. A fun exchange that probes:
- how eating raw resolved Kristina’s hyperglycemia and repaired her health
- the pros & cons of ‘mono-mealing’
- how cultural traditions can lead us astray
- why fruit is unfairly vilified
- why we should support local, organic farming
- tips & tricks to eating raw economically
- the importance of falling in love with yourself; and
- how to live your truth irrespective of public opinion
I sincerely hope you enjoy our discussion & look forward to your thoughts in the comments section below.
Peace + Plants,
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Production, music & sound design by Tyler Piatt. Additional production by Chris Swan. Graphic art by Shawn Patterson.
SHOW NOTES
Connect With Kristina:
Website | Youtube | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
Background, Context & Reference:
- Pre-order The Fully Raw Diet* by Kristina Carrillo Bucaram (Jan. 2016)
- Kristina’s produce co-op Rawfully Organic
- Rawfully Organic YouTube Channel
- Rawfully Organic Facebook: facebook.com/rawfullyorganic
- Kristina’s raw juice start up: FullyRaw Juice
- Kristina’s ceramics: kristinabucaram.com
- YouTube: BLOOD TEST RESULTS: 9+ Years FullyRaw Vegan!
- YouTube: Why I Started FullyRaw
- YouTube: How My Eyes Changed Color Eating FullyRaw
Notable People Discussed in today’s podcast:
- Evan Rock
- John Rose
- Dr. Colin Campbell
- Josh LaJaunie
- Garth Davis, MD
- Robert Ostfeld, MD
- Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn
Related Podcasts You Might Enjoy:
- RRP 15: Tim Van Orden
- RRP 26: Michael Arnstein
- RRP 50: Dr. Garth Davis
- RRP 63: Josh LaJaunie
- RRP 77: Michael Klaper, MD
- RRP 79: T. Colin Campbell
- RRP 107: Tim Van Orden
- RRP 152: Josh LaJaunie
- RRP 140: Robert Ostfeld, MD
- RRP 98: Evan Rock
*Disclosure:Books and products denoted with an asterisk are hyperlinked to an affiliate program. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
The Plantpower Way is now available at these fine retailers!
Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Penguin
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Great Podcast and a way to start my week.I love the other side of Raw food I did not think of.
I liked the discussion about mono meal & the simplicity.
I just love Fully Raw Kristina!! Such a positive vibration emenates from her. Been a fan for a while now. She is a shining example of just how the human body and spirit can thrive off of a vegan (raw food) diet. And the eye lightening thing.. I can totally vouch for. I’ve had the darkest brown eyes for my entire adult life (blue as a baby). Since being Vegan for the last few years (70% raw), I’ve witnessed my eye color lighten from very dark brown, to a greenish-hazel color. The cleaner my diet, the lighter the color of my eyes. Also, pre-vegan I would get the bloody red-eye in flash pictures. It was like lazer beams coming right through my pupils. Since cutting the animal products out, I simply don’t seem to get the red-eye anymore.
And Julie, so cool to hear your impulse to consume solely peaches and nectarines for a while. I just started an “orange foods” concentation into my daily smoothies. Eating more tangerines, nectarines, oranges, carrots and approcots, in an effort to heal my gut (sacral chakra). The gut seems to be our creativity center and there’s so much dense emotion locked in there. I’m already seeing a release of the bloating and feeling lighter. I’m thinking there’s a connection with the color of our food and the chakras.. just a “gut” feeling. 🙂
Namaste
YES!!!!!!!!!! Been waiting for MONTHS for this interview to happen! My two most influential vegans. Cannot wait to listen….
Kristina is such an incredible soul. What an example of human potential and creative innovation. Will always be a fan of her radiance and energy level.
Rawsome! 😀
Been looking forward to you interviewing Kristina for so long!
I made the full switch May29th 2015 the day of another surgery (gallbladder. Already lost my thyroid in Sept 14) and having A LOT of health issues; congenital that spun off other issues (Spina bifida Occulta, Double Collective System, Cartilage Deterioration Disease, Hypoglycemic, Hypothyroid, PCOS, lots of allergies, and endometriosis) . Although I was about 80% raw before, I finally made the full swing. Kristina has been such a wonderful inspiration for me and makes it SO EASY for us to follow. My fridge has never been so full and I have never spent so much time in the kitchen – but thats ok, really! Im healther just a month and half out and already see benefits. Glad I am on this journey and will follow Kristina and her FullyRaw brand where ever it may go.
I am listening to Kristina’s story now and feeling so inspired! Wow!
Thanks so much, as always, for a great podcast. I have been vegan for years but have never tried the raw lifestyle. Kristina inspired me, so today is the first day of a two-week trial for me. Since the podcast was recorded a while ago, I would love to know if Julie actually did her peach/nectarine fast and if so, how it went. I would be curious to hear if someone like her, already living so vibrantly, saw any benefit from a mono-fruit fast.
Also, the co-op is tremendously inspiring and encouraging. It gives me hope that positive change (democratizing raw-food diets, so to speak, in addition to supporting farmers directly) really is possible! Brava, Kristina!
Very well done. A wealth/health of information! Covered quite a bit of ground… I met Kristina, only briefly, at the Raw Living Expo here in TO a couple of years ago. What a wonderfully creative person and sweet soul she is (probably from all those peaches! ha!) It’s obvious and comforting that she walks her talk, which shines throughout this interview with Rich. By the way, Rich, great job interviewing Kristina. And, the wonderful comments by your wife blended so nicely with the entire conversation. Perfect balance. Thank you for this delicious “soul smoothie” :))) Blessings…
I’m 1/2 way through the podcast and really enjoying it. I have laughed out loud several times. Thank you for introducing me to her.
Great episode! I never knew about Kristina until this episode. Super motivating to incorporate more live foods into my diet. I had a great big half of a papaya and felt amazing. I did a 4 month diet that was almost all raw. My skin was the best ever, rarely needed deodorant, whites of my eyes were very white. One thing I noticed was that my fingernails became incredibly strong. To the point where it was hard to cut them with a nail clipper. I had to start on the edge and then work across. At one point even the nail clipper broke because the nails were so hard – not kidding! Thanks Rich, Julie and Kristina! Peace and OM,
Brendan
I loved this episode! Kristina has such a positive, energizing personality and listening to her on your podcast inspired me to start incorporating more raw foods into my vegan journey. I don’t plan to go totally raw anytime soon, but increasing my raw foods has made a marked improvement in how I feel in just a few fays. In addition to content and her vibrant personality and learning about her inspiring life and work, I also really enjoyed what a positive conversationalist she was. Some guests interrupt, raise their voices, or refuse to let others participate in the conversation but I thought this seemed like a really enjoyable, low-stress conversation that made it very easy to listen to.
It’s cool of Kristina to release out into the world the lab results from her blood test. I wonder if you’ve thought of doing the same, RIch?
Though, of course, I’d understand if it’s somehow something too personal!
Terrific stuff. Kristina’s story is pretty special.