Meet Susan

Rawmazing.com

There is a beauty and grace in simplicity.

Whether it’s how you live, how you eat, or how you move through this world, simplicity creates peace, joy, and health.

After years of complicating my life with the endless search to be “filled”, I have come to a place of grace and have a true joy for life. I move with an open heart and a desire to share what I have learned — and am still learning — along the way.

It is my truest desire to help you to be inspired. To bring health, joy, peace, and beauty into your life.

Seven years ago, when I started Rawmazing, I had found a way of eating that helped heal my past digressions with food. At that time, all I knew was that I loved raw food and the way it made me feel. I read everything I could, bought every book I could find (they were few and far between at that time) and started on a journey that not only brought me better health, but also started a love affair with the creation of recipes made from whole, plant-based, raw food.

Driven to Learn

As my life evolved, I was driven to learn more about the food I was preparing and how it affects our bodies and our health. I enrolled in T. Collin Campbell’s Plant Based Nutrition Course through Cornell’s E-school. What I learned not only supported the daily experience I was having from eating plant based food, but also gave me knowledge to support a whole food, plant-based way of life.

It also helped relieve some of the “raw food guilt” that I had when eating cooked food as I learned that, properly prepared, some cooked food can have great health benefits. It helped me to strengthen my desire to have a diet including both the raw food I love and healthy cooked food. Learn more about why I’ve chosen to embrace cooked food as well as raw.

It wasn’t a big departure as I have never promoted a 100% raw diet long term. And I have found a wonderful balance by eating raw and whole food, plant-based cooked food.

The Beginning of My Journey

Changing my diet wasn’t the end of the journey, it was the beginning of a journey into a whole food, plant-based life! I completed my Rouxbe Plant Based Professional Cooking Certification and developed a deep desire to start incorporating more cooked recipes into the site.

But it didn’t stop there. I have learned so much in my many trips around the sun. So much about living with grace, about simplifying but not depriving. About the beauty and grace you can create in your life not by constantly adding, but by finding out what brings you joy. I want to share what I have learned and also introduce you to people who have great gifts and wonderful ideas to offer to you.

It is with deep gratitude that I invite you to my site. I am so glad you are on this journey with me. I can’t wait to see where it takes us.

A Few Fun Facts

I recently married the love of my life, Peter, on September 24, 2015. Never think that love has passed you by! Meeting an amazing life partner can happen at any age and I am so grateful for my husband, who, by the way, became vegan while I was studying the T. Collin Campbell course.
I was born and raised in Minnesota but now live in the San Francisco East Bay Area. I love it here but miss fall and winter and the snow! And especially my mother, Cora. Frequent trips are necessary.
I have two grown daughters, Mia and Kaia, who now live in California and Utah. If you were to ask me what my greatest life achievement has been, I would say giving birth to these two beautiful human beings and being lucky enough to be on their journey with them. They are beyond amazing and I love seeing the incredible women they have become.
I have also recently been blessed with two outstanding stepsons, Alex and Chris. They bring such a fun and interesting dimension to all of our lives. They are intelligent, caring human beings and I love that we are all a family.
We have two wonderful dogs, Atlas, our Kuvasz, and Sadie, our little Pug. Animals are a huge part of my life and I adore all four-legged friends. They bring such peace and unconditional love into our lives, daily.
I am an award winning professional food photographer. You can see my work here: www.ShootingtheKitchen.com and www.Susanpowersphotography.com. I plan on expanding this part of my life into the blog!
I am vegan and strive to have a vegan lifestyle but I am not perfect. I will not judge people for where they are in their journey. I would prefer to extend my hand and help you learn about this lifestyle rather than condemn you. I believe in love and acceptance for wherever you are in your journey.

>As far as the rest of it? I recharge in nature, love to learn, love sewing, knitting, painting, playing the harp and piano, and just about any type of creating that I can do.

I have successfully grown my first limes and lemons and have an amazing herb garden growing in pots. For a Minnesota girl, this is a big deal.

I love that you are here.

Disclaimer:

This website is intended to give you information about healthy eating based on research and personal experience. I am not a doctor and information on this website should not be considered medical advice. Please consult your physician for health treatment and diagnosis.

Also, we are an Amazon, Vitamix and Excalibur Affiliate. We make a small commission on any sales completed through our links. We greatly appreciate your support!

We are also now a Rouxbe Affiliate and proud to be one. We do make a commission when you sign up.

Thank You for Visiting!

Share Via

dara wrote on September 12, 2010

lovely, absolutely lovely. i too fell off the raw wagon for a year after 3 raw years. i gained weight, my adrenal fatigue came back. within one month of going raw again, i lost weight and the adrenals were better. i decided then i would dedicate myself to sharing this information that i knew would change peoples lives for the better. i went to culinary school in January and got a job as a private chef a month later! (i turned an oscar winning actor into a raw foodie mostly 😉
nice to hear your story
regards,
Dara

LBrandt wrote on August 10, 2010

Hey Susan! I have been Vegetarian for 30+ years, Vegan for 11 and now 100% Raw and have been for 5 years. I suffered my entire life with migraines and then a non-functioning thyroid. I would literally wake up and chew on about 3-4 Excedrin P.M.’s just to “take the edge off” that migraine and be able to (barely) function with a non-working thyroid made living extremely difficult.
After 11 months eating 100% Raw? Both were healed/cured (this after six years going to a thyroid specialist, which did nothing except load my body with useless chemicals) And my energy level and mental clarity is soaring. EVERY day!
You dishes (the ones I’ve tried) now are so good! I truly believe this is the way humans were meant to eat. Mama Earth provides for us. Thank you so much.
(((hugs)))

Stephanie wrote on July 14, 2010

A great journey, Susan. I feel the same way. I am at 100% right now, but will allow myself the 80-90% as time goes on. Though honestly, I’ve lost all desire, really, to eat meat. Reading “Reasonably Raw” kind of sold me on that one, and although it still smells great, its appeal has disappeared. I will remember your story if / when I have trying times. 🙂

On another note, I really think it’s way more than 60% of sickness comes from SAD. I bet most cancer comes from our diets. I respect everyone’s decision to eat what they want, but over time I truly hope to show my loved ones how important a raw diet is as they see the change in me.

If you have not read the book I mentioned above, I think you might find it both motivational and educational, even though this is your passion.

My apologies for the long comments.

Best,
Stephanie

Sara wrote on July 7, 2010

Can do Susan…your recipes are so worth the wait!

Sara wrote on July 6, 2010

Susan, I adore your site and it’s really helped me this time around trying to be raw. I know you are coming out with a dessert book, but how about an all around recipe book? I would most certainly buy one for myself and a couple more for some friends and family who think raw is all about juice and sprouts.

Susan wrote on July 6, 2010
Sara: I am working on one. It takes months to do a cookbook. So you will have to be a little patient. 🙂

Debbie wrote on July 3, 2010

I love your site so much Susan! It’s elegant, informative, sensitive, warming, and the recipes and presentation are beautiful and delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this site with all of us. Keep up the fabulously, raw-riffic work!!! =)

Jodie Bonfrer wrote on June 16, 2010

Shannon sorry to hear about your hubby’s and son allergy to nuts.
I ‘m wondering if you guys eat any dairy food at all ,as dairy can coarse a lot of problems and can completely upset your whole system.
Al allergies are coursed by on natural substance in our body’s.
I have been gluten intolerant but have no problems since I stopped all dairy products.
I’m a strong believer of all natural food and never eat processed foods at all.
If I would eat out it would only be a raw food restaurant.
I get maid when watching adds on tv promoting junk food as a healthy food.
The other day there was a lady on the news who had diabetics and all kind of problems she had major back problems as she was very obese, I saw her eating white bread how silly can one be.
All she has to do is eat raw and her problems will subside.
Mainstream lacks a lot just seams they don’t care my partners nurse told my partner she should lose weight she herself it twice as big as my partner.
My partner used to inject her self twice daily with 22 units now she uses 15units isn’t that great.
There is so much you can do to be in a good health with out the help of a doctor.

Shannon wrote on June 6, 2010

Yup, he’s allergic to all of them, unfortunately. My son is allergic to all but almonds, which at least means I can make *most* of the recipes and just have a slightly different flavour to them, but the hubby is completely cut off from all of them.

So would you just sub coconut for the nuts called for at a 1:1?

Shannon wrote on June 5, 2010

Hi Susan, I am wondering how to substitute for nuts.

Hey, my husband and son are both allergic to nuts and I’m trying to decide what would make a good crust for a pie or base for a cake. Would either coconut, finely ground, or sunflower seeds work? What about raw oats, ground up? There are so many good recipes out there and I feel badly that they (especially my hubby) miss out on them. We’ve all been fully raw for over a year now and we’re feeling great (among other things I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that my daughter’s hormonal mood swings really leveled off quite a bit!), we eat fairly plainly but it is nice to have a special recipe around sometimes that we can all share.

Oh, I tried going to your “contact me” page and it didn’t offer any way to contact you.

Susan wrote on June 5, 2010
You could try a coconut crust. Is he allergic to all nuts?

Your whole food, plant-based life.