Top RAW Food Potluck and Guest Speaker, Mary Russo, in Scottsdale!

Join us and Guest Speaker, Mary Russo, at Natural Grocers in Scottsdale on Saturday, August 2, starting at 5:30pm for this month's Top Raw Potluck! Mary will speak on the dynamic link between gut health and brain health. Join us for a special evening of inspiration, wellness, and real-life transformation!

Please come and experience the grandeur, the spectacle, and the wonder of the world's most succulent and tantalizing foods. You'll discover new and creative dishes, consisting of savory and satisfying flavors, from foodstuffs found only in Nature. Get Real. Have Fun. Enjoy Life. And Living Foods! Hosted by Mary. (NOTE: This is a potluck, so please bring a RAW Vegan dish [to feed 8-10 people] and bring your own plate, utensils, and drinking cup [and take them with you afterwards].)

Guest Speaker, Mary Russo, has been an integral participant in local Raw food potlucks since their inception in 2000. She has been hosting and co-hosting potlucks in Phoenix and Scottsdale since 2010, recruiting health experts or group members to share testimonies to provide free health education to everyone. Mary loves sharing the news that “We can take responsibility for our own health and enjoy life while on our health journeys.” She looks at the Plant Powered People of Arizona (hosts and co-hosts of local health-related events) as her “health heroes” for support from a like-minded, health-conscious plant-based community. On a continual quest for optimal health naturally, Mary always has fresh insights to share from her research and experience.

Speaking Topic: Clean Your Gut to Clear Your Brain
In this presentation, you will learn:
What is Leaky Gut and how do you know if you have it?
Why Leaky Gut affects “Leaky Brain”
Which foods tear the gut vs. which foods soothe and help repair the gut
Ways to help heal your gut

This is a potluck, so please bring a Vegan RAW food dish (veggies/nuts, herbs/spices, salt, olive oil are generally acceptable ingredients for dishes), or a salad (fruits, veggies, nuts, spices), or a fruit/veggie platter for eight (or more) people, fully prepared and READY TO EAT. Don't know what to bring? There are literally 4.63 gazillion recipes on the Internet. Type in: "Raw Food Recipes" in a search engine and see what happens!

To see what others have brought at past Meetups to this event visit: https://www.meetup.com/VEGphx/photos/29509277/

This event starts at 5:30pm with food at 5:45pm. Please be on time so your dish can be featured in the line on attendees first pass through it. There is a guest speaker each month after the potluck. Stay tuned for forthcoming details.

HOUSE RULES at Natural Grocers: No items with gluten whatsoever are allowed, and there's no soliciting nor selling of anything at the store (which are the exclusive realm of the venue hosting the event). And to cut down on costs/waste, please bring your own plate, utensils, and drinking cup (and take them with you afterwards). Also, if you could list the ingredients of your dish, that would be helpful to people with allergy issues. Finally, we must have cleaned and vacated the potluck room (just inside the front door to the left) by 8:30pm. Please cooperate in that regard.

Please be advised that this is a RAW-Vegan potluck. For those persons unfamiliar with "raw," that generally means no foodstuffs that have been heavily processed/heated/cooked. In other words, "raw" typically entails foodstuffs as Nature intended (e.g., fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, sprouts) which have all their nutrients intact, and not cooked out of existence, nor processed into oblivion. Most manufactured/canned/bottled/packaged foods, such as popcorn, chips, Veganaise, etc. are typically not "raw"; though, cold-pressed olive oil, raw coconut aminos, raw agave, spices, and salt are generally-acceptable exceptions to the non-packaging precept.

For those persons not familiar with the term "vegan," that generally means free from animal products and their derivatives. This includes all dairy products, honey, and whey. If, on the off chance that someone new attends this event, and is unfamiliar with the RAW-Vegan parameter of the event, please be in keeping with the longstanding tradition of the leadership and members of the Vegetarian Society of Phoenix (which includes the VEGphoenix! Meetup group) to be accepting/understanding (in the moment) of all people, their current level of awareness, and their own individual paths in life. This means that if there is a particular potluck item that is not entirely "raw" and not entirely "vegan," do your part (in a calm and loving way) to help make sure that this item is clearly labeled as such, and let the participants at the event decide for themselves whether or not to indulge in it.