Sorry it’s a bit late Sir (this was meant to be my January newsletter, but it’s 3rd February to be exact), but I was busy drinking sugar-cane and passion fruit juice in Florida...
I’ve been reading Jeanette Donofrio (aka Ms.FitVegan)’s new (2024) book Raw Vegan Excuses. Apparently I should stop making so many excuses. It’s good advice but the U-Turn Health blog is not schoolwork and I really was very busy drinking sugar-cane and passion fruit juice in Florida and meeting fabulous and inspiring people like Jeanette at the Woodstock Fruit Festival...
So I wasn’t planning on going to the Woodstock Fruit Festival in Florida this year. I have been to the UK Fruitfest for the last five years, but Florida is a long way away and the festival was being held in January when my kids are in school.
But you know how sometimes the stars just seem to all align?? I was fairly broken after agreeing to six night shifts in a row over New Year (I had a couple of very challenging cases to manage), and so my boss agreed for me to take some impromptu annual leave. Then two days later I received a text from someone who had a ticket to the festival but couldn’t go! How weird is that!! Then I looked at my diary and realised it was over a weekend when my daughters were due to stay with my ex-partner, so I was only due to have them with me for a few days over the whole time period anyway. A quick phone call to my mum and she was booking her train up from Oxford to play with her grandchildren, and two days later on the Friday I was booking my flight for the following Tuesday. Saturday saw my girls and I down at the outdoor megastore buying a sturdy two-man tent (which will also be good for her Duke of Edinburgh award, my daughter assures me) and a two-seasons sleeping bag, both of which I could fit into my hand-luggage-sized suitcase, and off I went.
I have never ever travelled so light, but it was so liberating! Eating ‘light’ and travelling ‘light’ both allow us to access a sense of spaciousness, in which we are open to new possibilities and opportunities. I had the great good fortune to spend some time with the wonderful Ellen Livingston at the festival, and to return home with her (2023) book Following Nature Home: Raw truths uncovered on my 20-year fruitarian odyssey. Ellen is a yoga teacher and her book focuses on the emotional and spiritual aspects of transitioning to, and sustaining, a high raw/fruit-based diet. What I loved most about this was her deep understanding that we will achieve our best health when we eat only the food that nature provides for us, in the form in which nature provides it to us, and that by doing this we can achieve a much deeper understanding of and relationship with nature than we ever will by eating food that has been processed beyond recognition.
For more pictures and insights from the festival do hop over to the @uturnhealthuk Instagram page and like, comment, follow etc. See you there!
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