Guest Benders: Lori + Michelle from Pure2raw

Hello everyone! Did your week start off on the right foot…or the left? 😉 Ever thought about what foot you start on first thing in the morning? [Mine is the left, in case you were curious!]

No matter what foot you started on, I hope you are healthy. I am currently battling a croup cough and sore throat — the two worst symptoms of being sick, IMHO! Hopefully it will ease up overnight and I will wake up with 100x more energy. It’s hard to be productive!

Good thing I have such fantastic Guest Benders to share their story! I first encountered the Pure2raw twins while reading about Gina’s adventures at 105degrees. I was so excited when they contacted me to write a guest post because their story is truly inspiring. Take it away, ladies!

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Hello Eating Bender readers,

We would first like to thank Jenn for letting us be a guest on Eating Bender.  We are thrilled and honored to share our story.

We are the Pure2raw twins.  We are fraternal twins who happen to be best friends, roommates, and business partners. Our blog is where we share our journey of living the raw foods lifestyle. We are passionate about health and fitness and share it all on our blog. We also love to create and share recipes.

Our journey to better health started at a young age. We have suffered from many health problems ranging from constipation, acne, hormonal imbalance, yeast problems, depression, and a constant battle of what foods to eat or not to eat. We were not fortunate enough to have a strong digestive system which led to many of these problems. And over the past years of eating poorly (the typical SAD diet) has caught up to us and we finally said enough is enough, we were sick of being sick. And decided to make changes!

As we got older we decided it was time for us take our health into our own hands since traditional medicine was not working.  We started looking into alternative treatments. Finding a more natural approach just seemed to fit us. Raw foods came into our lives about 2 years ago and for us has been the best thing! We have come to realize we had a sick colon, liver, and gut, and to heal we had to start from the inside, which is not always easy.

Transitioning into the raw foods lifestyle was not that difficult for us because we had already eliminated so much out of diet from process of elimination. We are now high raw foodists who eat gluten free, wheat free, peanut free, corn free, soy free, yeast free, egg free and dairy free! We DISLIKE explaining ourselves using such “limited” labels, because we are just two average girls trying to live a healthier life, like everyone else. 🙂 And for us raw foods has help made us feel more alive and we want to help others who might have similar health issues.

We want to show others that eating what sounds like a limiting diet is not limiting at all. Eating a raw foods diet we have never felt deprived. We feel there are no rules that you have to be 100%….just incorporate more living foods into your diet 😉

One of our favorite things about being raw chefs is creating fun and delicious dishes. Lori became a certified raw vegan chef and counselor through the vegan network and Michelle attended 105 degrees, the first living foods culinary academy. We want others to enjoy delicious living healthy foods as much as we do.

We have a large product line, so we are constantly adding new products.  We specialize in gluten-free vegan treats and use natural sweeteners! Twin Cakes Bakery began as a gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and peanut-free bakery, then as we grew we received more request for other options like corn-free, sugar-free, and soy-free. Then as we started enjoying our new way of eating, we launched our Pure2Raw product line last year.  We aim to be a one-stop shop for moms, individuals, and athletes who may have multiple food allergies or just want a more natural sweet treat.

On Pure2raw we hope to inspire others to just to be more open-minded and realize labels do not truly resemble what that lifestyle is all about.  We show how we maintain a balanced life through eating well and exercise, and still having fun and enjoy life’s little pleasures.  We not 100% perfect, just realize our bodies thrive when we eat a more clean diet that happens to be mostly raw.

Please check out our blog for more about our story and Twin Cakes Bakery.

Have you tried raw foods? If so, what is your favorite raw food?? What are your views on “food” labels?? Like or dislike? Do they affect how you view others?

And before we go we will leave you with some food porn…

Michelle’s favorite quick simple meal:

The Pure2Raw Twins

Lori and Michelle

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So inspiring and impressive! I would like to sincerely thank them for sending me some of my very own goodies to try from the Twin Cakes Bakery.

So far, I’ve had the chance to try all of their fabulous bite-sized treats. I’m in love!

First we have the Brownite Bites — these were so rich and smooth!

Then there are the Vanilla Kremes — a delightful take on macaroons!

And the chocolate version, Cocoa Kremes — again, heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth good!

Now I can’t wait to try the raw crackers! Thanks so much, ladies!

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Have you checked out their online store? What goody do you most want to try?

I highly recommend the raw snack bites 🙂

Abrazos!