Many of you have asked for raw food product reviews in the past…
So today, we’re going to bring you our thoughts on two products from VivaPura that we really like.
The first is Spirulina Crunchies and the second is Jarrah Bee Pollen.
I’m excited to tell you about these products because everyone that we introduce them to love them! (Even those who don’t like spirulina!)
Take a look…
Your question of the day: What do you put on your salad?
Click here, scroll down to the bottom of the page and leave your comments now!
You can now get both of these in the Renegade Health store to try out and see if you like ‘em…
Click here for Spirulina Crunchies
Click here for Jarrah Bee Pollen 1 Lb
Click here for Jarrah Bee Pollen 8 oz
Live Awesome!
Kev
9:42 pm on October 8th, 2009
I tried both of these products at the Raw Spirit Fest in DC and they were OUTSTANDING! I really don’t care for spirulina at all, but LOVED the crunchies. You HAVE to try these. Also, I spoke to Chris Whitcoe for quite a while at the booth and also heard him speaking about his business ethics at a talk and this guy’s got it together. Amazing sense of community responsibility. I have a ton of respect for him.
Thanks for having them on, you two!
Lisa Marie Lindenschmidt
Rite Food and Company
12:36 am on October 9th, 2009
the blonde is the bees knees…the cat’s meeeoowww
12:49 am on October 9th, 2009
Hey, Lisa Marie, I was also at the Raw spirit Fest in DC and I don’t know how I missed these! Especially wish I would’ve tried the spirulina.
I currently have almost a lb left of the powder from Frontier—anybody know about the processing of their spirulina?
Mary Kay
2:16 am on October 9th, 2009
So glad Chris is offering these. Nice guy too. Tried them both at Raw Spirit east and they were off the hook! Truly delicious and nutritious. His tent was down by the music stage Mary Kay.
5:37 am on October 9th, 2009
Great interview! I love meeting the people that provide our food, and they both seem to be quite knowledgeable and ethical!
One of my favorites for salads are kelp noodles—They are made by Sea Tangle Noodle Company and you can find them at kelpnoodles.com
Some other foods that I love for my salad are: shredded beets, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, daikon radish, bok choy, arugula, eggplant, fennel, sunchokes, jicama, rutabaga, spaghetti squash, sunflower greens and other sprouts, and of course sauerkraut!!
If you feel like a salad and a soup, check out my Saloup recipe at http://rawfoodrene.com
(click on “Free Videos” and it’s the 3rd one)
Can’t wait to try the Sprirulina Crunchies!!
Thanks so much, Kevin and Annmarie for all you do!
5:45 am on October 9th, 2009
I put blue-green algae in flakes form, kelp powder, hemp and flax seeds. And from spices cayenne pepper, cumin and turmeric are the most common ones I use.
5:59 am on October 9th, 2009
i have been putting soaked wakame on my salad recently.
there is no way i would put spirulina powder on my salad or in a smoothie, i just mix it in water, and drink it as a tonic, because it tastes yuk.
6:02 am on October 9th, 2009
Mmmm, spirulina. I find that spirulina gives me head aches in high amounts too… I’ll have to try these crunchies. Also, I try to avoid bee (and any animal) products for ethical reasons, but this bee pollen seems cruelty-free enough for me! I put home pine nuts, home gown walnuts, and a bit of apple cider vinegar on my salad. Not sure if apple cider vinegar is raw, but it’s just sooo good!
7:23 am on October 9th, 2009
Great that you are going to speak more about bee pollen on the show. I’m considering letting it go to become truly vegan, but I’m hesitant because I’m not sure whether bees are really harmed, plus it’s so nutricious! About the salad topping. I usually go for good old raw sunflower seeds for a crunch. I have some hemp seeds that I’ll give a try as well.
8:44 am on October 9th, 2009
chia seeds, fermented vegetables and sprouts!
9:18 am on October 9th, 2009
Hi,
Learning a lot on your shows.
I make a salsa mixture with : Salsa-avocado-celery-green onions-bell peppers-chopped peanuts-&some times corn. It is good to just eat as is.
Betty in Indiana
10:45 am on October 9th, 2009
mmm…currently my salads have flower pettels, yellow bell peppers, cucumbers, watermelon radishes, avos, masses of sprouts and hot pink fermented veggies. Its so beautiful, with the pink, green, and yellow. I ususally ’superfood’ up my dressing . I like to make a creamy dressing by blending some veggies, usually celery or cucumber and sweet bell peppers with some citris juice, then add my spices and herbs, and then add some seasame seeds or cashews and hemp seeds, miso, and olive oil. some of the ’super foods’ i add in are he shoo wo, chaga or reshi mushroom extracts, vitamineral green, crystal manna, whatever my body is craving.
10:45 am on October 9th, 2009
What don’t I put on my salad??
10:46 am on October 9th, 2009
TRAPS?
A ‘REDUCTION’ in Bee injuries?
ETHICS?
Bees are FARMERS? Are you kidding me? The Bees are exploited creatures who get nothing from this exercise, only losses.
How about healthy foods which cause ZERO injury to INNOCENT creatures (Bees)?
There is no need for this Bee exploitation or the suffering they endure for human selfishness. There is no need to steal anything from the Bees, especially that which they have laboured so intensely to produce.
If this was a truly ethical product, there would be no need for traps.
Think about it: Because you like the taste for something innocent creatures are forced to suffer.
Suffering does not feature in my system of ethics, period.
10:56 am on October 9th, 2009
Great show! Those Spirulina Crunchies sound awesome! I often put hemp hearts on my salads. Looking forward to learning more about the bee pollen too.
11:18 am on October 9th, 2009
I will definitely be trying the spirulina crunchies & bee pollen! Right now, I put pine nuts & chia seeds on my salad.
11:42 am on October 9th, 2009
Howdy—I was probably one of the first to start using spirulina over 30 years ago, and this crunchie stuff sounds interesting think I’ll give it a try. I use only local bee pollen, as it gives me immunity to whatever allergies might be lurking around. I was a 100% raw vegetarian for 8 years, but started getting sick with some very unusual symtems. I added fish and wild game back into my diet and the symtems went away real fast. Not everyone can go 100% vegan for a long time, though it’s good to go raw for a while if you’re trying to heal yourself, as your body needs the energy for healing, and trying to digest meat takes a lot of energy. Remember, not a lot of vegans lived through the last ice age. Rev John—Recovering vegeholic
12:00 pm on October 9th, 2009
Im all about those Spirulina crunchies. Looks like an awesome product. I top my salads with broken up flax crackers and dulse. -T$
12:37 pm on October 9th, 2009
Omg- Kevin- you beat me to the punch- I too like fellow readers discovered this mind blowing bee pollen and spirulina at DC’s raw food festival and fell in love with it!!! YOu would have thought I had taken a chunk of raw cacao the way I responding chewing on each. By far the most superior quality for each. I only wish my budget made room to purchase high amounts of it more frequently.
1:49 pm on October 9th, 2009
Vegeholic, I love it!! I too have started to add raw fish, raw milk/yogurt and SOME fresh, raw organic beef into my diet. Being vegan for a long period of time can cause permanent damage to the body if you’re not careful…especially if you are a woman.
That being said I still love all the work that you guys do
Sarah xoxo
1:52 pm on October 9th, 2009
I would love to hear an interview with Dr. Natasha Turner ND, author of The Hormone Diet. I would also love to learn about beneficial herbs for the thyroid as well as how to ease your body into eating more fibre. I find this is a hard thing for a number of my clients.
2:58 pm on October 9th, 2009
algae berries are pretty good too!
5:40 pm on October 9th, 2009
I love flax , pumpkin or sunflower seeds. I am struggling with wanting crunchie things….things with some serious crunch. I don’t want to dihydrate foods. Any ideas?
11:09 pm on October 9th, 2009
Don’t know if it would work for you Jo but how about Raw Jicama slices for something crunchy. If you get a really good one they are sweet and crunchy. Loved the show guys, looking forward to trying the products.
LOL,
Deanna
1:15 am on October 10th, 2009
I’ve gotta say I am VERY frustrated right now just spent several hours looking over what you have in the store and wanted to buy the pollen and crunchies. Had a big order ready to go and when checking out it said you are not currently shipping to my zip code. WHAT???? I live in one of the top 10 largest cities in the country and you can’t ship to me? I’ve never had that happen. Very disappointed that I wasted hours tonight for nothing. Sorry to be so vocal about this, not usually my style. Still love you guys but this makes not since to me.
Deanna
2:26 am on October 10th, 2009
too sales pitchy. I trust your recommendations, Kev (and annemarie), but that felt too much like a sales pitch.
6:00 pm on October 10th, 2009
i was at grace grove just then and had the opportunity to check out viva purs products… as soon as i saw the bee pollen i guessed if it was the same kind raved by kevin on the show awhile ago. i was correct.
i was completely blown away. this stuff was so incredibly tasty i couldn’t stop sampling! the spirulina crunchies are amazing too though i do like spirulina anyway. also great was the australian artichoke syrup.
these guys have brought quality to a new level
Rockin!
10:08 pm on October 10th, 2009
thats amazing! i wish we had spirulina like this on the market where i live (Australia/Norway). Since the pollen is from australia, is it on the market here? im cautious about foodmiles and such so not very keen to buy from overseas..
great show! keep it up
10:09 pm on October 10th, 2009
oh and forgot to mention; i LOVE the flavour of spirulina! and i used to munch the powder in secrecy in my room on campus. bahaha bit weird.
9:09 am on October 12th, 2009
I occasionally use spirulina … never minded the taste … but the mess can be a drag sometimes. So crunchies … might just try sometime. I don’t use honey (never liked the sweet taste) and have never tried bee pollen. But great info regarding VivaPure product.
My favorite part of this video was how Ivri watched Chris as he spoke … such pleasure and love radiated. Sweet!
What I top my salad with: squeeze of lemon, dulse, and sometimes hemp seeds.
Thanks for great show!
12:53 pm on October 14th, 2009
It’s great to know about high quality products like this. I have to keep in mind my goal of investing grocery $$$ on local farmers. I’ve noticed raw food stores are packed with items that arent’ really food – supplements, powders, elixirs, etc and one could literally spend thousands of dollars on this kind of stuff.
So it would be helpful to have a show addressing how one can decide which supplemental items give you the most ‘bang for your buck’.
Thanks.
5:16 pm on October 14th, 2009
Besides the usual, I use organic shelled hemp seed to get my Omega 3’s in for the day.
5:38 pm on October 14th, 2009
Why HONEY is not Vegan!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/176413565/why-honey-is-not-vegan
11:31 pm on October 14th, 2009
My future mother in law puts celery, red radish (not the hot kind) green pepper and lettuce. I don’t really like salads in general (with the exception of Caesar of course) so instead of dressing I put cottage cheese on top, its delicious!
5:22 am on October 15th, 2009
Still not VEGAN huh?
You in the US have a great problem with bees dying off through viruses. It has been shown in all creatures that following our own natural diet gives us the best chance of a healthy life. Indeed that is one of the main reasons for looking at a raw vegan diet.
Honey, and other even more brutally obtained products from bees, are not part of a natural human diet. (Processed) sugar is not natural for any creature. It is not natural.
How do you think that we humans can steal the natural food of the bees and replace it with unatural heated sugar in some form and expect them to stay healthy?
It is no wonder that they are losing their natural immunity to fight disease.
Please STOP using and abusing bees. We must protect them or die ourselves. It is believed that that whole planet would die within only 4 years of the demise of the bees.
Still not vegan?
As with all animal products, honey comes at a cost. In honey production bees are subjected to procedures similar to factory farming.
Queen bees have their wings clipped and are artificially inseminated with sperm from decapitated males.
They are killed off when their fertility decreases.
Indeed, whole colonies may be killed off to save feeding them over the winter.
Get real about life – don’t destroy the planet for a little sweetness,try soaking some dates in water, use that.
Be healthy for healthy bees.
Let’s hope that the damage we have done to the bees is not lasting or we are all doomed.
How can you heal your body while leaving your spirit unclean.
PS I am still awaiting a meaningful reply from my email a few weeks ago re the ab-use of bees
10:47 am on October 16th, 2009
I love to put hemp seed on my salads or pine nuts. I still like honey. The Scriptures say honey is good in small amounts. I’m sorry the bees are treated this way, but I’m not a vegan because of the cruelty to animals.
I am for health reasons. I feel the best way to have a pure physical temple is to eat vegan. I tasted spirulina before and didn’t really like it, so the crunchies ahve possibilities.
Hey do you guys always soak your nuts? Like the pine nuts for my salads-should I soak them first? Then if so, why do I rinse them?
Thanks!