A Day in the Life of Karen Ranzi

My day begins at 7 a.m. I start out by washing up and looking at favorite quotes I have posted in my philosophy corner. There is one written by the Buddha that always inspires me to remind myself that life is fine the way it is right now:

I always start my day with a bowl of fruit or a green smoothie. Today, I started with my favorite smoothie, which I feel truly nourishes me:

• 2 cups of water
• 2 chopped Granny Smith apples
• 1 bunch of dandelion leaves

This is Dandelion Apple Sauce. As I eat I chew slowly, thinking of the extreme benefits I am receiving from the life force in this food.

I grew up on the standard American diet and turned to raw foods 20 years ago, in 1994, when my son, Marco, was ill with asthma, chronic ear infections and chronic allergic rhinitis. My diet has been 100 percent raw since then because I lost the taste for cooked foods after a few months of eating only raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. I also saw the dramatic healing of my son’s condition, and this spoke very powerfully to me about the benefits of the raw food lifestyle. So from then on, I raised both of my children on a raw vegan diet. Marco is now 24, and his sister, Gabriela, is 26.

I started with a haphazard raw food diet, emphasizing nuts and dried fruit and not enough green leafy vegetables. I soon learned the benefits of a diet high in leafy green vegetables, fruit, smaller amounts of nuts and seeds and following appropriate food combining principles.

I often jump on a rebounder but today have chosen hiking and yoga for my movement activities. After exercising, I replenish with five bananas and lots of celery to provide significant minerals to balance the sugar of the bananas.

I then drive 15 minutes to the school for autistic children where I work two days a week as a speech therapist. Today I will be there half a day, and when I arrive home, I will make a large green juice, 16 to 32 ounces. My favorite green juice consists of kale, cucumber, lots of celery, lemon and a small piece of ginger. I then spend at least one hour a day answering emails from individuals, parents, educators and others wanting information on naturally managing health issues. I love to empower others and consider my responses to them most important.

I then make phone calls to set up book tours, speaking engagements and other forms of promotion. Recently, I have been planning my speaking engagements for my talk on preventing and healing autism for the Autism in Focus Symposium at Arnold’s Way in Lansdale, Pennsylvania; my presentation for the London Vegfest; and planning information for my raw food coaching programs and talks for the Borneo Fruit Festival in Indonesia. I love to meet and speak to people interested in improving their health and the health of their children. My passion for a healthy lifestyle at a time of major disease epidemics such as cancer, obesity, autism, diabetes, asthma and heart disease keeps me focused and working hard on a daily basis.

After many years of raising and homeschooling my children, I placed my energy into writing a book that would be an important resource for families moving toward health in all areas of life, Creating Healthy Children: Through Attachment Parenting and Raw Foods. I felt empty when my children left home to follow their own passions, and the book gave me an adventure that fueled my love of living and provided me with a vehicle for getting out into the world to deliver a very much needed message.

I eat my last meal by 6 p.m. and start with loads of fresh fruit. In the fall, I have been loving grapefruit, so I begin with two of them. Then I have a couple each of local apples and delicious juicy pears, and then I have my heavier meal: a large salad with lots and lots of crispy Romaine lettuce, half an avocado today (other days I might switch and have a nice scoop of seed pâté or a special nut or seed dressing), lots of sprouts (I especially love sunflower sprouts), thinly sliced cucumber, soaked and unsalted sun-dried tomato halves and lemon. Yum!

I pay attention to the time I finish eating so I am not eating late into the evening and have plenty of evening time to digest my food. I’ve noted that since I have been living this way, I feel more rested and energetic the next morning because my body can focus on sleep at night instead of digestion. All who practice this powerful health and rejuvenation technique extol its virtues.

I go to bed around 11 p.m. At that time, I express my gratitude for a full day—one in which I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to facilitate others, both adults and children, in their quest to nourish themselves and improve their lives. In the process of reaching outside myself to help others, I have truly enriched my own life—physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.