My story

My name is Rayne Kuntz. I am a food lover who also happens to be a certified raw vegan chef and instructor. I love to connect with people who want to explore the life-changing benefits of clean, plant-based living.

I grew up in the 1970’s eating the typical North American diet – heavy in meat, dairy and processed food. I was addicted to sugar. I would start my day with boxed cereal, douse my salad with bottled dressing and put ketchup on everything.

Fortunately, I was very active, skating several times a week, but once I hit puberty, I started to gain weight. I tried my first fad diet (the cabbage soup diet) in my teens. It was the start of an unhealthy dieting rollercoaster that continued until my early thirties. My rock bottom came when the button on my size 16 kaki pants popped off at a girlfriend’s wedding shower. The next week I joined Weight Watchers with a friend, starting a nine-month journey of going from 197 lbs to 137 lbs. Losing 70 pounds on my 5’3” frame was transformational, but losing the weight was just the start. I spent the next decade exploring how to make the change permanent and live with more health and vitality. In 2010, my husband and I decided to go plant-based.

I continued to learn and adapt our approach, but when it became clear I wanted to deepen my learning and live more holistically, I left my high-stress corporate career and enrolled at the acclaimed Living Light Culinary Institute in Fort Bragg, California, to become a raw vegan chef and instructor.

My husband and I moved to Ladysmith, British Columbia on beautiful Vancouver Island in 2018. I now offer personal consults on how to incorporate whole plant-based food into a busy lifestyle, teach workshops on subjects including sprouting, fermentation and dehydration and will come to a person's home to put on an innovative dinner party.

I love immersing myself in new knowledge and I am eager to share my expertise with anyone who is interested.

Meaning behind Sage

Sage (Sāj)

·      Aromatic plant used for seasoning

·      A person wise through reflection and experience

·      Dried and burned by First Nations people in cleansing ceremonies

Sage was also the name of my childhood dog. For a little dog she had an adventurous spirit. She would retrieve large sticks in the cold Pacific Ocean, she would ride on a crazy carpet with me down the toboggan hill and she loved to race me on my bike.