Thank you for visiting! We love when people come here: it means you want to learn more about us. Or you're lost. Either way, we're glad you're here!
What is The Primal Desire?
The Primal Desire is a team made up of Holley and Raj, two friends who share a passion for promoting healthy lifestyle choices. The website is mainly focused on making real food fun and delicious. Most of our recipes are paleo-based (gluten free, dairy free, no processed sugars, etc.) that are accessible to even novice chefs. We make food fun with unique flavor combinations, entertaining stories, and a genuine desire to make people's lives better.
We promote all levels of health and wellness. Physical, dietary, mental, emotional, social, environmental, and spiritual well-being are all important in one's ability to thrive. So we've recently added our “Learn to Human” section of The Primal Desire. You can think of this as a collection of essays, interviews, and “owner's manuals” for the human existence and all things healthy.
The Team – Holley and Raj
Where do we even start? We are both funny (we know so because Raj laughs at all of our jokes). We're smart (we know this because we're smart enough to realize how funny we are). Both of us are adventurous and playful. The list goes on and on and… We are thoughtful and caring and ambitious and… we want to make a positive impact. Our motivations to achieve world domination are not for power, they are to make a difference. Make people happy and healthy.
If you have any suggestions or want to partner with us to achieve our domination of the world (that sounds way dirtier than simply “world domination”, doesn't it?), then please drop us a line. Want to know more? Lucky for you this page continues. AND, as a free bonus for you today, you can read more about each of us in our own dating profiles without the hassle of installing Tinder or Bumble: Learn about Holley. Explore the mind of Raj. – Nope, we decided that was a weird place to let people explore without a personal guide, not to mention the liability issues. Read about Raj.
Our Core Values
To better understand what's driving The Primal Desire, we think it's important that you know what our core values are. Hopefully, these really resonate with you as well. Check out The Primal Desire values. The basic message is that we want to have fun with others while educating and helping people while promoting positive healthy lifestyle choices and connecting while being able to explore the world and experience cool things. Any of that sound like what you want or could use in life?
These principles help us choose products and companies that we share with you, as part of the useful resources that can help you improve your overall health. Stuff we share with you are the things that we share with our own families and friends. For example, Instant Pots are one of the most incredible devices that make cooking healthy food quick and easy and Beautycounter is a company trying to improve the safety and push for transparency within the cosmetic industry (it's absolutely horrifying what is allowed in these products that we put on our bodies every day).
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Our Food Philosophy
Even though our healthy eating philosophy is paleo-centric, we recognize that no one diet works for everyone. It's true that a lot of people could benefit from a gluten free, dairy free, refined-sugar free diet, but…
our larger concern for everyone is real food.
Talking about food is a lot like talking about religion. Both can be very interesting conversations, but it really sucks when someone tries to push their beliefs on you. And similar to religion, there are some common themes within different healthy diets. So even though we think the paleo lifestyle is amazing and can improve the health of A LOT of people, we're not here to push some sort of paleo agenda or pull you into some kind of primal cult.
By the way, we are not the paleo police. Neither of us eats paleo 100%. Not even gluten free all of the time. Raj likes to say that he's “foodie first and paleo second”. Except when one of us is doing a challenge (which is a great way to clean up your diet and health every once in a while), we generally shoot to eat paleo 80% of the time. Unless you have a symptomatic or medical reason to follow a strict diet, this seems like a healthy balance to allow for fun and experimenting with food, while providing your body with proper nutrition to thrive.
Food is EVERYTHING
Food shouldn't be a stressful thing. It's there to fuel us. Nurture us. Food is everything. It is nourishment. It’s fun. It’s creative. It’s health. It’s social. It’s spiritual. It’s a reason to get out of bed in the morning (or afternoon. …or in the middle of the night). It’s enjoyment. It’s comfort.
Food is love!
We are passionate about food and promoting all the positive things surrounding food. So it makes sense that this is where we've focused.
Wellness
Holistic wellness – more than just a buzzword, it is important. We are concerned with total wellness – of you (and ourselves), the community, and the planet. All three levels have multiple aspects that need to be cared for. For example on the individual level, your physical health includes nutrition, exercise, the health of your microbiome, stretching, dealing with and avoiding injuries. There is also the spiritual, emotional, and psychological needs.
We want to be a positive influence and resource for all levels of wellness. Because all pieces of wellness influence each other. Green living reduces toxins that we (and the planet) are exposed to, improving our health and the quality of food that we use to nourish our bodies. See! One more way that food is everything. Plus the quality ingredients taste better. Everything is connected.
Both of us have experienced life-altering health issues in our lives. Our own experiences include, but not limited to, a car accident, autoimmune disease, chronic pain, Hashimoto's disease, hormone imbalances, depression, identity-loss, weight gain, etc. And then there are the events that important people in our lives have gone through with us at their sides.
Why do we care? And why would you listen to us? Both of us are empathetic caring people who want to see and help you and others improve their quality of life. Holley feels all the feelings. Raj used to be a pharmacist. We care. Life-ling learning is important to us and it makes sense that when we put the time and energy into researching things that we share it with you. That's why we made this site in the first place.
We're Both Single
To be clear, we are not a couple – so for those of you coming here to check out Holley, don't let the tall brown guy intimidate you. Same goes for you ladies. Both of us are single and should do more dating.
We are both really good at cock-blocking each other, but not on purpose! We try to get each other dates. In fact, Holley is always trying to pimp Raj out with social media tags like #singleandavailable #rajispretty #handsomeman and #beardedman. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be working, and Raj doesn't know that many single guys to introduce to Holley. So it's looking like it might be up to you…
Are you familiar with dating apps? Either way, it's time to learn more about each of us: read about the lovely Holley and learn about the guy with the sieve for a memory – Ol' Whatshisname. Raj? That sounds right.
Enjoy some more random stuff about us in What's On My Phone?
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Some OG Info
Do you wanna see some of our original stuff from a few years ago? These are photos of the craziness in the apartments we were each in when we started The Primal Desire:
Raj's tiny kitchen chaos
Some of Holley's canning chaos.
The original logo: