It's nearly winter here in Aus, and it's reminding me of how much I used to struggle when it got cold. I struggled because 1. I was new to it and 2. Because I was not properly prepared or approaching it right. Most people don’t fail at raw because it’s winter, they fail because they don't do anything differently when the season changes. There's actually so many things you can do to work around it... - Use a hot water bottle/heat bag - Drink herbal teas - Eat fruits and veggies at room temp (take them out of the fridge before eating so they warm up. Thaw frozen fruit before adding them to your smoothies) - Eat in the sun - Stay active and move your body lots - Make meals with comforting textures (like creamy and dense) or make more gourmet raw dishes that have more density to them - Make raw treats to eat at night - Wear lots of warm clothing and use cosy throws and blankets when you're sitting still - Drink a hot cup of cacao or carob powder - Eat enough calories (in winter you need more cals) - Use warming spices like ginger, turmeric, cumin in your recipes This applies to living in a cold climate as well 🥶

Here are the 4 kitchen tools I highly recommend you buy to make raw eating really easy... 1. Blender I use my blender almost daily. It’s perfect for making dressings, sauces, dips, and smoothies. I’ve used both a NutriBullet and a Ninja. You don’t need anything super expensive, but it does need to be powerful enough to properly blend frozen fruit, nuts, and seeds. I recommend getting one with a power rating of 900W or higher. Anything less and you’ll end up with half-ground nuts in your sauces! If you want something really powerful, a Vitamix is the best of the best. They’re basically the kings of the blender world (but a lot more of an investment!). They’re also larger in size, which is perfect for making big, high-calorie smoothies or batch-prepping sauces to last a few days. If you're using a smaller blender like a Ninja or NutriBullet, you'll need to make multiple smoothies to hit the same calorie intake. 2. Juicer This was one of the first tools I bought when I started my journey. I was inspired by Medical Medium after coming across him on social media while looking for ways to heal my acne naturally. He introduced me to the importance of consuming more fruits and vegetables and how juicing is such an easy way to do that. My first juicer was a cheap Breville that I bought for under $100. I used it every single day… actually, multiple times a day. It got me through my first 8-day juice fast and hundreds of days of juicing after that. I completely fell in love with juicing, and it became a daily ritual I never skipped. When the Breville finally burnt out, I upgraded to the Nama J1. I immediately noticed how much smoother and richer the juice was. Because the Nama is cold-pressed, my juices could stay fresh for up to 3 days in the fridge. This was a total game changer, especially when I was juice fasting. I ended up doing multiple fasts with it (several short ones, plus a 14-day, 17-day, and 30-day). That 30-day experience was a life-changing experience I'll never forget. Now I have the Nama J2, and I use it every single day. It’s a hands-free juicer with a giant hopper, which means you can load everything in and walk away while it does the work for you. So handy if you're short on time or multitasking. It also comes with a bunch of attachments, so you can make things like nut milk and sorbet too. (And if you’re interested, my discount code AMY10 will save you 10% 😉)