The Daily Raw Cafe: About Terilynn

Name: Terilynn Latrese Epperson

Birthday: July 31, 1970

Place of birth: Chicago, Illinois

Where I grew up: Aurora, Colorado

How I went raw: My husband and I first came upon the raw lifestyle in 2004. It was Valentine's Day weekend and we were tired of living on two different diet plans. We went to the bookstore and decided to find something we both can do together and stick with. I knew about raw foods but I wasn't sure what he would think about it.

Fortunately, he was game and the first book we purchased was Nature's First Law: The Raw-Food Diet by Stephen Arlin, David Wolfe, Fouad Dini, R.C. Dini, Marc Wolfe and Ken Seaney. David Wolfe's The Sunfood Diet Success System was the second book we bought. Amazingly, it was a good month or two before we purchased a recipe book to create raw dishes.

We ate 100 % raw for 6 months, I lost 25 pounds and my husband lost a whopping 80 pounds. Then I got pregnant, moved to New York with one of my daughters and got home sick, started eating cooked foods, came home and sabotaged my husband's progress and ......yada yada ya.. Well, over the past four years my husband and I have attempted to get back to that time of 100% but we finally let ourselves off the hook.

Favorite raw memory: Making raw vegetable sushi and drinking wine with my husband.

Favorite raw experience: Completing my 93-day juice feast in March 2008.

Favorite raw dish: Seaweed Chowder and simple salad

Family Life: Married with five children, Jordan, 17; Kevin, 14; Donavan, 8; Bishop, 3 and Avery, 1

Why Raw?: I love the way eating raw makes me feel. I love the energy I get, the way my skin and eyes glow. My temperament, my body and all of the things eating fresh fruits and vegetables provide, I love.

From start to finish, creating raw cuisine for me is a journey of happiness and peace. From our garden, to the kitchen, to the table, I'm involved with a living creation that feeds my soul in so many ways and that's pretty cool. I love raw food cuisine and I hope with these recipes, you will too.

5 things about myself that you might not know

1 When I was younger (and maybe still) I wanted to be an actress.
2 I didn't get my driver's license until I was 25 years old.
3 I don't care for tomatoes but I enjoy recipes with tomatoes in them.
4 I can bounce a quarter on my stomach.
5 I am a (step)grandmother to six children.