Building Raw Vegan Community Around the World with Chantal from Live Lean Health

Catching up on festivals, freezer hacks, and why raw vegan community keeps us all thriving

I got to sit down again with Chantal from Live Lean Health and The Wellness Woman Podcast for episode 138, and honestly this one felt like catching up with an old friend. We hadn’t chatted in a couple years, so there was a lot of ground to cover, community, travel, mushrooms, cauliflower rice, and everything in between.

If you have ever wondered why raw vegan community matters so much when you are trying to live a little bit different than the mainstream, this conversation is for you. We got into festivals, freezer tricks that make raw food taste cooked, and why testing instead of guessing beats following any single dogma.

Grab a smoothie, settle in, and enjoy the full chat above.

Why Raw Vegan Community Makes This Whole Lifestyle Easier

One of the biggest threads running through this episode is just how much raw vegan community changes the game. Going high raw or fully raw can feel fringe, and it is genuinely rare to have people around you who eat like you do, understand your energy levels, and do not raise an eyebrow when you order five or fifteen bananas at once. Chantal and I talked about how easy it is to feel isolated when you start eating this way, and how finding your people, whether online or at a festival, can be the difference between sticking with it and quietly giving up.

We also touched on the flip side. When people get deep into this lifestyle they sometimes get angry at the world for not seeing what they see. A strong raw vegan community helps soften that edge, giving you a place to process the big feelings that come up rather than turning that fire outward at everyone who is not there yet.

Festival Season Recap

This year took me to the Vegan Wellness Retreat in Michigan for the first time, cooking, teaching yoga, and doing talks lakeside, and then straight over to the Netherlands for Wendy’s Dutch Fruit Festival, my first time at that one too. Both were an absolute whirlwind of old friends, new friends, and that specific kind of magic that only happens when a raw vegan community gets together in person for a few days straight. There is something about sharing meals, talks, and yoga sessions with people living the same way that just cannot be replicated through a screen. Soon I will be heading to California for the Woodstock Fruit Festival, the longest running bigest fruit festival in the world and the first one I ever went to as a speaker, yoga teacher and head chef back in 2011. I owe a lot to Mike and Yuliya at WFF and the trust they put in me, really it helped launch my career in raw food with all the connections and getting to share my talents.

If festivals are on your radar, keep an eye on my upcoming events page for where I will be next, code rawadvantage100 gets you $100 off all of them.

Freezer Hacks, Cauliflower Rice, and Kendallizing

Chantal and I nerded out for a good while on kitchen tricks, especially freezing vegetables to change their texture without ever touching heat. I walked through my method for cauliflower rice, freezing florets, thawing and pulsing them, squeezing out some liquid, then mixing in ginger and powdered chia so it holds together beautifully for sushi. I also shared a newer trick I have been playing with, soaking cauliflower or broccoli in cold water for a few hours before freezing, which makes it come out even softer and closer to that steamed texture people miss.

Chantal mentioned she has already tried my watermelon sashimi trick with great results, freezing and thawing watermelon chunks to change the texture completely before marinating with seaweed, tamari, and miso. That is the beauty of a raw vegan community sharing techniques back and forth, everyone gets better together.

Supplements, Testing, and Avoiding Extremes

We spent real time on supplementation too, and neither of us believes in blanket rules here. Chantal’s approach as a naturopath is testing instead of guessing, and that lines up closely with how I look at things. Deficiencies are not unique to raw vegans or vegans in general, most of the population eating a standard diet is dealing with plenty of gaps too. The key is staying aware of the telltale signs, getting tested when something feels off, and not living by a rigid philosophy if your body is telling you it needs support.

Digestion, Going Slow, and Meeting Yourself Where You Are

Toward the end we got into why so many people struggle when they first try adding more raw fruits and vegetables into their diet. It usually is not one single thing, it is some mix of where someone is starting from, how quickly they are adding new foods, and whether their microbiome has had time to catch up. My best advice here is the same as always, start small, build slowly, and remember this is a marathon and not a race. A supportive raw vegan community makes that slower, steadier approach feel a lot less lonely too.

There is a lot more in the full conversation, including a good discussion on Dr. Doug Graham’s actual stance on supplementation, which gets misunderstood online more often than not. Give the full episode a watch above for all of it.

Follow Chantal and Check Out Her Work

A huge thank you to Chantal for having me back on The Wellness Woman Podcast. She is doing beautiful work helping women reverse Type 2 diabetes and adrenal fatigue through food, and her perspective as a holistic nutritionist and yoga teacher brought a lot of depth to this conversation. Go show her some love.

Live Lean Health website
@liveleanhealth on Instagram
@healwithchantal on Instagram
Live Lean Health on YouTube

Check out our previous interview on her channel here

As always, thank you for being part of this growing compassion driven raw vegan community. Sharing tips, connecting and growing with each other is what helps us all thrive and have fun doing it.

As Always

Wishing You Much

PeaceLovenSeasonalFruit ck