What is cellulite? Cellulite is what happens when fat that’s just under the skin protrudes into the skin’s dermal layer, resulting in that undesirable hills-and-valleys appearance. Changes in metabolism, hormonal and genetic factors, stress, weight gain, sedentary lifestyles and possibly certain toxins—they’re all suspected culprits in bringing about this condition. For many who endure cellulite, probably several of these suspects are conspiring together. So what can be done? 

Can Men Get Cellulite? Sure, they can. But it’s a lot more common in women. The reasons are several. For one, there’s a theory that the female hormone estrogen tends to ‘aggravate’ cellulite. Another, better evidenced cause: Collagen cells are organized differently in women than in men. Collagen cells in men are arrayed in a mesh-like format, more tightly packed so less fat gets through, while in women they’re arranged more in rows, allowing fat cells to push between them easier. Not only that, women also tend to have body fat distributed closer to the surface of their skin, especially over their thighs, where it has more of a chance to protrude into the dermis resulting in cellulite. These are, however, tendencies. Men definitely get affected by cellulite. And increasingly, fat is becoming not just a “women’s issue,” but an issue for our society at large.

Is there a medical treatment for cellulite? For starters, cellulite is something the medical community largely considers “normal”—especially as we age—and for which doctors often recommend no particular treatment. What’s more, if “treatment” means a pill, a medical procedure, something that squirts out the end of a syringe, or some easy-breezy cream, salve, garment or gadget you can buy in a drugstore or from a late-night infomercial, then no, there pretty much is no treatment. No treatment, at least, in the mainstream sense.

Cellulite is stunningly stubborn. You will require perseverance and dedication even to reduce it, and much more to eliminate it.

What you can do. Let me offer five specific things you can start doing today to improve your lower body’s looks.

One…Watch what you eat. There’s a correlation between body fat generally and cellulite in particular. Studies show female athletes with lower percentage body fat typically have less cellulite. Calorie restriction and optimal nutrition will flood your body with the right raw materials for building healthy cells, tissues, and organs. That same diet will also help reduce underlying fat.

Consider trying an all raw diet—now there’s truly optimal nutrition. As your body cells become nourished by top-notch nutrients, you’ll be able to decrease portion sizes and the frequency of your meals—you’ll simply need less food to meet your body’s needs. You’ll begin eliminating food-borne toxins, too. Some high-value foods to emphasize in your diet: walnuts, chia seeds, purslane, and hemp seeds, all storehouses of essential fatty acids that help repair your skin’s epidermal layer. Foods high in anti-oxidants—berries, mango, peas, papaya, and broccoli—will help keep inflammation in check. To improve collagen production, get sulfur and Vitamin A from cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, black olives and carrots.

Two…Try a three-day vegetable juice fast. Green juices due to their anti-inflammatory, skin-cleansing and mucus-dissolving properties are essential for beautiful skin, and in improving your cellulite areas in particular. Make these your only food for three days, and keep a cellulite diary during that time.

Three…Embrace exercise. Commit to be physically active daily. I recommend hot yoga in particular. In a hot yoga studio, your body will steadily morph into its original blueprint shape, legs and thighs included. Yoga, as a system of exercise for addressing both physical and spiritual aspects of your life, can be added to your “bag of tricks” for cellulite problems. Don’t be deceived by the apparent simplicity of the static yoga poses you hold for a number of seconds: yoga will match, and in some instances surpass a good gym workout. It addresses cellulite from within, by improving circulation and lymphatic flow, stretching the fascia, burning fat and replacing it with muscle. Add heat to your workout by attending a hot yoga class, and you are also looking at accelerated detoxification through your skin during the class and beyond. Your metabolic rate will significantly increase during the class, leading to reduction of body fat, and thus, cellulite. The next time you are in a hot yoga room, rejoice when Hands to Feet Forward Bend and Eagle Poses come up, knowing you will be liberating your thighs from unsightly dimples.

It’s simple, in principle: Build muscles. Lose fat.

These aren’t the same thing, of course. Not the same process, biologically. Not the same result. Fat doesn’t “become” muscle. You can’t “turn” one into the other—that’s just loose talk.

But bodybuilding, as a muscle-building program, definitely cuts down the appearance of cellulite. Fitness research director Dr. Wayne Westcott of Boston’s South Shore YMCA states that lifting weights allows one to build “a firm and strong muscular foundation that smoothens out the irregular, lumpy appearance of skin.” Muscle-building reduces the push-and-pull tension under the skin, which we associate with cellulite.

Addressing cellulite effectively, through bodybuilding, means targeting your hips and thighs with exercises such as dead lifts, lunges, squats, leg presses, leg curls and other leg resistance exercises. The key: heavier weight, fewer repetitions. (Classic strength training, by contrast, warrants lighter weights, more reps.)

Look to hot yoga or weight lifting, or even better, both for smooth dimple-free skin!

Four…Dry brush your body daily. Praised by dieters, beauty experts and health nuts (including myself) alike, dry brushing boosts your circulation, helping break up those fat and toxin deposits. Brush daily before your shower, spending extra time on the areas of your body most prone to cellulite. Any body brush you buy at the health food store will do. To provide the final boost, try using the Amazing Skin Rejuvenator on your thighs and buttocks. This will improve circulation in those areas, reducing cellulite from the inside out.

Most conventional cellulite treatments available produce only a temporary effect in some individuals. Go beyond. Take matters into your own hands and start changing your body’s appearance of your part of the body one raw juice, one exercise at a time. And there’s still one more thing you can do…

Five…Cupping massage for reducing cellulite.

My four recommended steps: Diet…exercise…dry-brush…and perform regular juice fasting. They really work! Still many believe that liposuction is the only way to lose that cottage cheese.

You know there’s a better way. You can add the ancient practice of Cupping Massage to any sound diet and exercise program for additional cellulite fighting benefits. It’s become all the rage in the last couple of years. Its virtue: Cupping therapy addresses the cause of cellulite, not just its symptoms. Cupping stimulates, revitalizes the lymph system. It helps break down toxins, flush fat cells, and, in the end, help you get rid of that orange-peel texture. One of the best effects of cupping: stimulating renewed blood circulation.

A tip for those of you practicing juice-fasting…For best results, perform your cupping massage during your juice fast.

Cupping massage is wonderfully adapted to the task of conquering cellulite. Medically, cellulite is by itself not a contra-indication for cupping. But do consider other medical issues—skin conditions, in particular—and consult your physician if you have any worries.

Our  Venus Body Sculpting Cups can help deal with cellulite. When you perform sculpting massage with these cups, a vacuum is created which increases blood circulation in the massaged areas, causing blood to reach the deeper layers of the skin. As a result, metabolism and the flow of oxygen to the massaged areas increases,  subcutaneous fat is burned, and skin surface is refreshed.

Follow the instructions for cupping massage provided in the accompanying manual with one change – spend a bit longer time (10-20 minutes) on the cellulite affected areas, such as the thighs. With daily practice, you’ll see tighter, more youthful, supple skin. After four to six weeks of regular daily use, most people see a noticeable reduction in any cellulite.

Remember though, cupping massage is not a universal remedy, but is an effective weapon in your arsenal in combating cellulite. It, along with the other four tactics discussed in this article, can lead you to smooth, supple, more beautiful skin!

What is Cupping Therapy?  

If you know only a little bit about “cupping therapy,” you may suppose, as many do, that it’s some sort of latest trend in holistic health.

On the contrary… Cupping therapy is an ancient alternative form of medicine, long popular in China and Russia. You’ll find it mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus, one of the oldest medical texts in existence. Cupping was used by the ancient Egyptians, by Hippocrates, and was known across Asia and Europe.

People in many cultures have used this method to not only deal with various internal ailments, but even for correcting structural misalignment. And recently cupping has become increasingly popular as cellulite, stretch marks and overall skin rejuvenation solution.

Methods for achieving reduced pressure inside the cup vary.  Local suction is achieved by using heat (fire), a mechanical pump, or hand-pumping.

Fire cupping

Here’s what’s commonly done in Russia and China for treating respiratory problems—colds, pneumonia or bronchitis…

A glass cup is used and an alcohol-soaked wick is lit and placed inside the cup. The air inside is heated and expands, so that when the wick is removed and the cup quickly placed against the skin, the air in the cup cools, forming a partial vacuum inside, so it sticks to the skin, creating a strong suction. As a result of the vacuum inside, blood rushes to the area, helping healing. The suction created by the cup penetrates deep into the tissues, releasing toxins, triggering the lymphatic system, and clearing the blood vessels. The glass cup is left stationary on the back for 10 to 20 minutes. Where the blood or lymph is stagnant, circular bruising impressions will be left. These fade in about 4-7 days.

No-Fire Cups

More and more people in the West becoming aware that cupping therapy is not only beneficial on the deep therapeutic level, but also produces a rejuvenating effect on the skin and underlying tissues at the place of application. But not many are comfortable with using the fire cups as they usually require assistance and can be messy. As a result, in recent years a new cupping method has rocketed in popularity. This is cupping massage with “no-fire cups.” Oil is applied to lubricate the area of the skin to be treated. Then a partial vacuum is created in the cup by means of a mechanical pump or, more commonly, by simply squeezing a rubber ball attached to the cup. The cup is then pressed on the skin and the rubber ball is released.

In this method, the cup is constantly moved over the skin surface in a massaging motion instead of being left in place as with the fire cups. Some temporary bruising is also to be expected with these cups during the first week of use, especially if your body has blood circulation issues and if you’re leading a sedentary lifestyle.

The Healing Potential of Bruising

Western medicine tends to react negatively to bruising. In the East, however, there are several holistic practices focusing on the healing potential of bruising. Fire-cupping and the Chinese practice of gua sha work on the same principle.

In Russia, fire cupping has long been used for treatment of various ailments. During 20^th century wars, when conventional medicine was in short supply or completely unavailable, Russian doctors used an interesting technique to save the lives of many wounded soldiers. They would draw some blood intravenously, then inject it subcutaneously—just under the skin—in the general area of an injured organ failing to heal properly. This would immediately cause a bruise, which triggers the body’s powerful repair mechanisms. Needed hormones and antibodies would rush to the area and healing would begin. The blood is the patient’s own, and there’s no real injury inflicted—a simple technique, yet it was effective by making use of the body’s own healing mechanisms.

How Does Cupping Therapy Work?

The suction-cupping massage technique uses the same principle. The only difference: how the blood gets there. When you use the suction cup, creating a partial vacuum, a little blood squeezes out through capillary walls underneath the skin, also creating a bruise. It comes down to this: Healthy capillaries are highly elastic and won’t break or allow blood to squeeze out. Only more aged, inelastic capillaries will lose blood. This fact makes suction cupping treatment usefully selective.

A more distant cousin of the same process: In holding a yoga pose, you create a brief “tourniquet effect,” and then, when you release the pose, your vessels are flushed with new blood and oxygen. Yoga focuses on the organs, joints and ligaments. But in cupping massage, we concentrate our efforts on rejuvenating our most visible organ—the skin.

The Reasons Behind Bruising

If a capillary is inelastic, the blood inside tends to be stagnant. Such stagnant blood often occurs if your body is highly acidic, and may indicate that you have a large number of abnormally shaped blood cells (poikilocytes).

When this stagnant blood starts to emerge from the capillaries after a cupping treatment, it triggers the body’s regenerative mechanism. There is then a jump in the immunal response, leading to tissue rejuvenation. What’s more, renewed blood flow stimulates the metabolism in areas of excess fat, making fat tissue more pliable, better able to be released by aerobic exercise.

There’s a lot going on here, causally. That’s why no single beauty tools will help you if you don’t take care of what goes into your body. Diet is an essential ingredient. For capillary strength, build lots of Vitamins C, K and E into your diet. That can be hard on a conventional diet. But the raw food diet already includes plenty of these vitamins.

Another thing you can do to improve the health of your capillaries is follow a regular exercise routine. Any reasonable exercise will do—regularity is the ticket. Yoga practice, in particular, promotes good blood circulation, which in turn strengthens your capillaries.

Benefits of Cupping Massage

Cupping is great for general skin rejuvenation. And it’s ideal for scars, stretch marks and cellulite. One great benefit of this massaging method: Bruising is usually minimal. Try it! At first you might feel a slight discomfort. But once you start noticing the improvement in your circulation, cupping will become a real pleasure.

Personally, I apply it on my legs, my upper chest area and on my arms.

The first four or five times you use the suction cups, you may find some slight bruising that will go away in a few days. At first begin with your thighs and butt, less visible areas of the body, so you can see how your skin reacts.

The benefits outweigh the temporary bruising you might experience. Cupping massage will improve the peripheral circulation of your blood, lymph and interstitial fluid. Stagnant blood in aging capillaries will gradually disappear, and you’ll improve the metabolism and respiration of the skin in massaged areas. Repeated cupping massage will improve skin tone and elasticity. Many users also report fewer muscle cramps in the treated areas.

To experience the benefits of cupping massage consider our Venus Body Sculpting Cups. They are convenient to use, for they have a simple pump to create the needed air pressure, allowing you to regulate how much suction you wish to apply. Regular practice will keep your skin nutrient-rich and well-hydrated, oxygenated and free of trapped toxins, all of which will show glowingly, through smooth, moist skin, blessedly free of cellulite!

These days in the raw food community the theory has been touted that staying on the “whole food diet”—for example, 80% raw—will let them achieve the same results as a 100% raw food diet, though over a much longer period of time.

Here’s the idea in a nutshell:

1. Since detox is slower on a “whole food diet” than on 100% raw, you’ll be cleansing your body longer, therefore you’ll be getting younger over a longer period of time, say 10 years.

2. 100% raw eaters detox faster and deeper, they will become “ridiculously young,” perhaps in 3 years, but then they’ll still begin to age.

3. Therefore, the 80%, the whole foods regime would be equal in results to the raw food diet at some point, since the “whole food” people who are still getting younger will catch up to 100% raw individuals. (Remember those started to age again after just 3 years.)

But the premises and the conclusion in the scenario above are seriously flawed on many levels. Let us consider them more carefully.

No Full Detox

First, we know that raw foods purify and restore cells much more thoroughly than whole foods ever can. Whole-foodists never achieve the deep detox effects raw-foodists do.

If you stay 80% raw, the body will adjust to the new regime pretty quickly. You’ll get younger for sure, but within a year or two you’ll stop “getting younger,” the plateau will be reached soon. In my case it happened after three months. Another diet upgrade will be needed to detox the body more deeply. But if that doesn’t happen, the body will still be subject to aging – slower than if the person were eating the Standard American Diet – but still faster than if she or he were 100% raw.

The idea that the body will continue cleansing itself on 80% raw for many years to come is simply wishful thinking. If you’re only 80% raw, you’re still taking in 20% of the toxins you used to. So long as your body’s digestive and waste systems are still dealing with that load of impurities, you’ll simply never become fully detoxed.

80 Doesn’t Equal 100

The argument at its core is that partial restoration of health will result in the same effects as total restoration, but will take longer. But can this idea really withstand logical analysis? Taking raw foods as the basis point for our assessment, we’ll call its cell restoration 100% (“full raw results”). As a “whole foods” diet partially purifies the cells, its resultant peak would be proportional to the degree of cellular restoration. Let’s be generous and call that 80%.

Another major flaw in the whole foods argument is that the peak “youthening” point achieved in 10 years (80%) would be equal to the extent of repair (100%) that’s achieved in 3 years on raw foods. Sorry…80% just never equals 100%.

I believe the chart below is more representative of the anti-aging effects of both dietary plans.

Every person who honestly lived 100% raw for a period of time knows this feeling once expressed by David Wolfe: My experience has been that by eating 95% raw food, I received 95% of the amazing results. After comfortably eating 100% raw food for several years, it seemed that I was receiving 1,000% of the results.

Everyone goes through detox. I agree on 100% raw, the detox is more pronounced. But with the right attitude, it can be very satisfying, and you will be reaping all the “youthening” benefits in the process. And when most of the major detox is complete, aging will proceed at a much slower pace than by just going with the 80% whole foods plan.

Anytime we upgrade our diet, regardless of our starting point, we can’t but feel better, have more energy, and get farther along the path of delaying the aging process. Switching from a standard American diet to a whole foods diet will surely bring its rewards. Look: I’m not loyal to 100% raw foods for the sake of raw food. And you bet I’d like it if only 80% of the effort could take me all the way. But it hasn’t. And it can’t.

Am I against your trying the 80% whole foods diet? Certainly not. I just don’t want you to have the wrong idea—that you’ll get the same health and anti-aging benefits as with a fully raw lifestyle.

The Addiction Factor

But there is more. What worries me is the key negative aspect of the Whole Foods plan-cooked food is the most addictive thing there is! Many people cannot stick to the 80% raw plan. They may start, but then that percentage will start to dwindle and dwindle. It is a situation similar to an alcoholic who believes he can kick the habit by only having two beers a night. But the fact is, he is an addict, and that’s why he can’t stick to only two beers. And with cooked food, we are hardcore addicts. We have been raised since infancy, possibly since birth if you were fed infant formula, to consume mostly cooked foods. This is why I believe abstinence from cooked food is the way to go.

Regardless of what we eat, we’ll all be experiencing some degree of aging. But in my almost sixteen year experience, over the long haul, a 100% raw food diet coupled with fastidious skin care, is the best anti-aging formula there is. See my book Quantum Eating for advanced anti-aging practices that make 100% raw more enjoyable and easy to follow.

What is dry fasting?

It’s as simple as the wet-dry distinction. Wet fasting: Drink water, but take no food. Dry fasting: a total abstinence from both food and water for a defined time.

There is one more level of dry fasting called Absolute Dry Fasting. Some suggest to reach the deepest level and realize the full benefits of dry fasting, it’s better not to let any water come in contact with the body through the skin or mucous membranes. You heard that right: no showers, no swimming, no brushing teeth while dry fasting.

Animals commonly use dry fasting for healing. When wounded or very sick, they retreat for rest and refuse to take in food or water until they get better. Humans used to have the same instinct, until the advances of civilization replaced it with readily available food and medicine, and culture took over to dictate when and what we eat.

You may have acquired somewhere the common belief that humans can only survive three days or so without water. If so, you might be surprised to learn that therapeutic dry fasts as long as five, seven, nine, even eleven days are not unheard of. The Guinness Book of Records mentions 18 days as a record for a person surviving without any food or water. With the right intention and some comprehensive information about fasting as a mode of healing, you can go with relative comfort through the experience of a 24-36 hour dry fast and reap the benefits.

The Mechanisms behind dry fasting

The cessation of both external food and water creates a special kind of stress in the body, prompting it urgently to come up with both nutrients and water, initiating the process of making both internally. During a dry fast, the body survives on so-called endogenous or metabolic water, produced internally as a result of metabolizing fat tissue. Unlike any exogenous water, this metabolic water is of superb quality, produced by the hard work of our own cells. It literally erases any negative information imprint which the body had before the fast, allowing cells to experience a kind of a rebirth, as a result.

Under dry fasting conditions, even the skin changes its function, from being an organ of elimination to serving as an organ of absorption, taking in any available water from the air and supplying it to healthy cells. Besides water, the body during a dry fast absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide and nitrogen to manufacture its own amino acids. Since there is no water to flush out the endogenous toxins, these are eliminated by means of a unique mechanism, dormant during less rigorous modes of fasting: Each cell, in effect, becomes the furnace that burns up its own waste.

Results seen in dry fasting

Inflammation cannot exist without water. Microorganisms need water to survive. These facts taken together make dry fasting a highly effective tool to address acute health issues and degenerative conditions. Such a fast stimulates the immune system, activates the body’s anti-inflammatory mechanisms, purifies the blood and clears the blood vessels, as well as cleanses the GI tract and renews its mucosal lining.

Dry fasting also eliminates parasites and promotes regeneration of healthy tissues. And this isn’t even a complete list of benefits. Every cell of the body literally cleans house. Only the strongest and healthiest of cells survive in such extreme conditions, while cysts and benign tumors dissolve as a result of autolysis, a process by which the body sacrifices its sickest cells for its own survival.

Sounds like a perfect solution for weight loss….or is it?

While it is true that during dry fast the fat tissues become the fuel for metabolizing the water needed for bodily processes, dry fasting is not a magical, one-time solution for weight loss.  You must adjust your diet after the water or dry fast by reducing the amount of food you eat and increasing its quality. Permanently. If you don’t, you’ll likely quickly gain back all the weight you’ve lost, and then some.

Can you use dry fasting for weight loss?

Sure. A better way: short dry fasts such as once a week. A still better way—perhaps the best way: Fast every day for 14 to 16 hours. That is what I call Quantum Eating. Embracing Quantum Eating, you’ll consistently teach your body to eat less, while performing regular short dry fasts. These, working in tandem, will be the key to your permanent weight loss. A special bonus: You simultaneously will reap unprecedented anti-aging benefits via this lifestyle. Read more in Quantum Eating.

Can dry fasting help you gain weight?

If your issue is the less common one of being underweight, Quantum Eating is also here to help you gain weight and stabilize at a desirable “normal” weight. Learn more in my book Raw Food and Hot Yoga.

Dry fasting retreats. Prolonged dry fasting to address a persisting health issue is a serious undertaking. It is important to find a knowledgeable, experienced practitioner who will supervise your fast. While dry fasting retreats are still hard to find in the USA, such centers do exist abroad. Sergey Filonov of Altai, Russia, is an experienced and competent health professional and author, who runs a retreat called Sinegorye, specializing in dry fasting http://filonov.net. Anna Yakuba, also an author on the topic, offers a similar retreat in the Ukraine http://syhoegolodanie.com/.

Dry fasting holds the potential of changing us on a much deeper level—physically, mentally, emotionally—than any other type of fast. And it’s my favorite way to fast. It’s easier than a water or juice fast and the results are three times more pronounced. But to do not attempt it until you thoroughly research the topic and until you are already very comfortable with water fasting.

Read more on water fasting in Your Right to be Beautiful.

I have been vegetarian since 1995 and 100 percent raw since 1997. I have tried many practices in my health journey, enjoyed many successes along the way, tripped over a few failures, and achieved some remarkable results. But if you ask me what has been the single most beneficial constant throughout my health journey, there’d be exactly one answer: juicing.

Why Juice?

The practice of juicing is health promoting, will give you the best complexion you’ve ever seen in the mirror, and is the best single anti-aging practice going. Whether you want to lose weight, detox, correct certain nutritional deficiencies, to feel light and energy-charged in your physical workout, or to simply experience more focus and clarity in your mind, look no further than juicing vegetables.

I don’t buy juices. Certainly not the kind you’ll find in a can, bottle, jar, or cardboard container at the supermarket. I don’t care whether the label says pure fruit goodness…100% Florida grapefruit…natural…organic or anything else. I make it myself.

Read to Get Motivated to Juice

The benefits of freshly juiced vegetables and fruits are many… There’s a lot of information out there on juicing—on websites, in books and health magazines, Blogs, and online testimonies about “juice cures” from former sufferers of all sorts of ills. Do read as much as you can. Reading is important for self-motivation and as an intellectual base for your juicing practice. But ultimately, it will be your consistent personal acquaintance with the process of juice extraction and “eating” juice that will make you a convert to the power of fresh juicing to change your health for the better.

Some argue that juicing is not natural since it removes fiber. Consider…the human body is itself the very prototype of a juicer. We are the ultimate juicing machines. Just as chewing food causes the release of the plant’s cell content to be digested and assimilated while letting fiber pass through, in a similar manner the juicer extracts the precious liquid part of plants, separating it from the pulp. Freshly squeezed juices deliver easily absorbable and highly concentrated nutrients, and at the same time provide significant digestive relief. But what about fiber?—that precious stuff that cleanses us so well as it passes through our bodies. On the raw food diet, you will get plenty of it. Lack of fiber will never be an issue.

How to Make Juicing Even More Beneficial

Want to maximize your juicing’s effectiveness? Simple…Don’t gulp it down. Just because there’s hardly anything there for our teeth to sink into, don’t shoot your juice down the pipe right after you sip.

Crushing food is one function of your mouth, but there is another, equally important, and that is saturating each bite of food with saliva. Juice is a concentrated food, and, like any food, needs to meet with saliva in a very intimate way at the start of its digestive journey. Saliva contains the enzyme ptyalin (aka salivary amylase), which initiates the digestion of carbohydrates right in the mouth. Saturating each bite or sip with saliva is like imprinting the vital information that the body will be responding to for the rest of the digestive process.

Benefits of Chewing Your Juice

While you are chewing, your body is figuring out how many enzymes and what kind it will need to produce in order to digest this bite. It is also allowing the temperature of food to match its own, as well as absorbing the sugars from the carbohydrate digestion directly into the bloodstream before you even swallow. So it only makes sense to drink a fresh juice slowly, mindfully, holding each sip in the mouth for a short while before swallowing. Remember—it’s ultimately all about how much of the good stuff the body will be able to absorb and make its own. This practice will ensure the best assimilation of the juice you took effort and time to extract.

Targeted Juicing

Where the range of store-bought juices is limited, your range as a juicing enthusiast is wide open. You can target your juicing recipes to your particular health needs—an invaluable tool if you are trying to avoid using pharmaceuticals and supplements.

Juicing is a big piece of the anti-aging puzzle, with the potential to slow and even reverse the effects of aging by flooding your body with antioxidants, resetting your biological clock over and over again towards a younger feeling and looking you.

The alert, bright, positive feeling that only concentrated plant nutrition can invoke, as well as a glowing reflection in the mirror, will keep bringing you back to the juicer and a glass of the precious liquid gift given to us by plants.

Read to Start Juicing?

My article, Vegetable Juice, is a great place to start learning the basics of good juicing practice. For more information on juicing, as well as my personal experience of recovery check out my books Your Right to Be Beautiful and Quantum Eating, now in its 2^nd Edition.

Juicing is the way to go. In time—even a relatively short time—your own improved health and looks will prove it!

He’s America’s most popular doctor, with millions of “patients” taking his advice via the TV airwaves. We’re talking, of course about Dr. Oz. Well lately, the good doctor is touting yet another magic pill—this time the “Magic Weight Loss Cure for Every Body Type.”

A recent study in India—sponsored by the product’s manufacturer, incidentally–involved 16 overweight individuals. Participants lost 17.5 pounds in 22 weeks, on average, taking the green coffee bean supplement without changing anything else in their lifestyle. This weight loss effect has been attributed to a natural phytochemical, Chlorogenic Acid, found in generous amounts in green coffee beans.

No Side Effects?

Part of the trouble here (beyond this being a very small-scale study): The exact effects of chlorogenic acid on the body haven’t been well researched. We are told there are “absolutely no side effects.” Of course, however, such a small recent study simply doesn’t warrant such a conclusion. And let’s keep in mind too that historically diet pills have brought a plethora of side effects (ever heard of Fen-Phen?) It is known that chlorogenic acid can modulate or suppress the immune response, though it’s not yet clear how. The effect of chlorogenic acid on the immune system does seem to be dose-dependent.

Green Coffee Beans

The primary dietary sources of chlorogenic acid are coffee and tea, whether regular or decaffeinated. Green coffee beans typically contain 6% to 7% of this component with roasted coffee beans having less, as the roasting transforms chlorogenic acid into other molecules. Chlorogenic acid makes you lose weight by slowing the release of glucose into the bloodstream after a meal. But don’t be so quick to hop on the green coffee bean bandwagon. What some scientists neglect to remind us is that coffee beans in any form contain caffeine which is not only a highly addictive psychoactive stimulant, but one which overtaxes energy reserves by being very hard on our adrenal glands.

Green coffee beans are extremely bitter. You can’t just munch on them as you might sunflower seeds. So the extract of the bean comes conveniently packaged in pill form, sold to the magic-craving public.

Ever noticed, by the way, the bitter taste many diet pills and other diet products have? Read the package directions, and you’ll nearly always see advice to wash these bitter pills down with umpteen glasses of water. What they don’t tell you is: Drink about ten glasses of water a day, and you’ll lose weight even without the pill!

There is a Better Way

But back to those sunflower seeds…I mention them because they are rich in chlorogenic acid, too. And so are blueberries. You can’t go wrong eating these and a vast array of other raw plant-based foods that taste delicious and come endorsed by Mother Nature herself as ways of optimal eating for humans. Regularly supplement such good, natural foods with whatever kind of movement brings you joy. You probably already know hot yoga is my favorite, but it doesn’t whether it’s yoga, dancing, jogging, weightlifting, walking or gardening. Combine good eating and good exercise and you’ll have a duo of true and proven ways to reach your weight loss goal while maintaining and improving your overall health.

Too Easy?

For some in our culture, this advice feels too old-fashioned, too commonsense. As the fat epidemic burgeons—more than 1.4 billion adults worldwide are obese, the World Health Organization tells us—people look more and more for Oz-style magic. And there’s nothing more appealing, to miracle seekers, than a pill.

How Do Weight Loss Pills Work?

Weight loss pills work (when they work at all) in one of three main ways…

• speeding up the metabolism,
• suppressing appetite, or
• interfering with the body’s ability to absorb certain nutrients.

All three of these methods are of course also messing with the body’s existing natural ability to regulate itself. If there’s a miracle here, it lies not in some pill, capsule or superfood, but rather in the well-regulated body itself.

It all comes back to the missed opportunity of raw, natural plant foods. You’ll do well on raw foods, I promise! Add in good exercise, and you’ll find a clear way to weight loss now and to healthy living from now on. Check out my video Raw Food Weight Loss for more info.

Insulin-Like Growth Factor and Aging

Many bodybuilding websites advise you to combine two hormones—IGF-1 and HGH—in supplement formulas. It’s the kind of advice a fair number of bodybuilders seem to go for—anything to give them the extra edge.

But is that a good idea? Let’s look at what these hormones are. Throughout life, HGH (human growth hormone) comes from the pituitary gland, whence it’s whisked throughout the entire body. The amount of HGH released declines with age. IGF-1 (Insulin-Like Growth Factor) is produced in the liver and works with HGH in an important way. In effect, HGH stimulates the need for growth, stimulating anabolic activity throughout the body, and IGF-1 carries out the growth—especially muscle growth. Indeed, both HGH and IGF-1 prove essential to muscle growth—the bodybuilder’s goal.

But there’s a catch. Lots of scientific data indicate that high levels of HGH and IGF-1 will decidedly age you.

Lower levels of IGF-1 protect against aging and certain types of cancer. When IGF-1 levels are low, new cell production slows allowing the body to concentrate on repairing existing cells. When IGF-1 levels are high, this signals the body to enter a ‘go, go, go’ mode, causing cells to grow and age too fast to be repaired. The result: accelerated aging.

How to Lower IGF-1 Levels and Slow Down Aging

Eating less food in general certainly helps lower IGF-1 levels. A low-protein diet helps even more. And fasting is the quickest, most effective way of all to lower IGF-1 levels in order to assist the body in slowing the aging process. Research done at Baltimore’s National Institute on Aging evidences that fasting one or two days a week could protect the brain against some effects of Parkinson’s Disease and even Alzheimer’s.

One drawback to infrequent, extended fasting is that, once a person goes back to normal eating habits, IGF-1 levels shoot right back up to pre-fast levels. Recent research has discovered some effective ways to help IGF-1 levels remain low consistently. One of those ways is what’s called “intermittent fasting.”

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Sounds a bit daunting, that expression. Somewhat clinical and rather “hair shirt,” as well. But it needn’t be intimidating at all.

My readers all know that fasting is one of the oldest healing methods known to humankind. Historically, many fasts were days in duration, even much longer. In contrast to extended fasting—say, three days and up—intermittent fasting means simply short bouts of fasting (water only, usually) interspersed with periods of eating, practiced on a more or less regular schedule. Indeed, in intermittent fasting, the period of fasting isn’t the exception, but rather is part of a planned pattern of eating.

There is a wealth of evidence that such a pattern offers enormous health and anti-aging benefits, including an increased capacity to resist stress, disease, and aging. Ori Hofmekler, creator of The Warrior Diet was the first to offer a diet plan based on intermittent fasting. Skip breakfast and lunch and aim to eat one big meal per day, at night. For the most part, on his plan, you fast during the day. You’re allowed to eat whey protein, green vegetables, and berries during the day, but for maximum effect you fast until dinner whenever possible.

There are plenty of ways you can perform your intermittent fasting, several of which are being researched. One method is “alternate day fasting,” where research participants eat whatever they want on “feast day,” then semi-fast the next day on a certain very limited number of calories—example: a small, calorie-restricted breakfast, then no food until the next day.

Other versions of intermittent fasting programs include the one-meal-a-day regimen, fasting one or two days a week, and fasting once every other week. And of course, there’s me, with my Quantum Eating.

Intermittent Fasting—so many methods, variations. What’s the best way? The best IF program for you: The one you’ll start and stick with, faithfully, comfortably, every day. It will depend on your daily routine, your kind of work or profession, your current level of health, your exercise schedule, your family life, and so on. The truth is, they’re all good, because each is a step in the right direction. Virtually every variation on intermittent fasting has been shown to reduce IGF-1 levels significantly, even by as much as 50%. All deliver benefits.

To determine which variant of fasting is objectively better would require some extensive (and expensive) research testing one version against another. What’s more, even that unlikely research may just confirm what we know now—that all the major methods work, and each individual needs to find what works best for him or her.

Bottom line: You decide.

Quantum Eating…An Advanced Version of Intermittent Fasting

I’ve found Quantum Eating to be the optimal form of intermittent fasting for me. I have been practicing it since 2005, with amazing results.

Quantum Eating—unlike some other plans—recognizes how special raw foods lifestyles are. Once your body adjusts to the quantum eating program you feel no sense of deprivation. Quite the contrary, any overindulgence becomes torturous, compared to the light, energized feeling of eating in moderation.

With Quantum Eating, especially when you go raw, you never stress your digestive system on ‘feast days’ by eating too much or by eating the wrong foods, leaving you reaching for Alka-Seltzer. Since you do not eat at night in the Quantum Eating lifestyle, there’s no danger of overeating and going to bed on a full stomach.

When you eat only raw foods, and only in the first half of the day, leaving the second half of the day and overnight for fasting, you’ve developed an advanced form of intermittent fasting. When you become accustomed to a daily pattern of eating and non-eating cycles, such brief periods of hunger as you’ll experience really won’t feel like hunger at all, and in consequence you won’t “beast out” when it’s time to eat. Quantum Eating keeps you at an even keel every day. No swinging “binge-purge” pendulum!

Quantum Eating is simple and uncomplicated—physically, emotionally and spiritually. It has worked wonders for me, and if you approach it sensibly, it can do the same for you. If you have any doubts, read the book, now in it’s Second Edition. It will address all your questions.

It is a part of the design of your skin that it has small openings on its surface, called pores, leading into sebaceous glands that secrete oil for skin protection and lubrication. Most skin pores are barely noticeable to the naked eye, and we pay them little attention. Except, that is, when we see them staring back at us in the mirror like so many moon craters. In my late thirties, I used to have this very problem. No more.

What Causes Pores to Enlarge?

While it’s commonly accepted that pore size is genetically determined, several other factors most likely contribute. Hormone imbalance may play a role in excessive oil production, promoting pore enlargement. As skin ages and loses collagen, pores become larger, continually trapping more and more dead skin cells along with oils, which plug and stretch the pores even more—a vicious circle. Enlarged pores almost always go along with an oily skin problem. The odds of having dilated pores are not in your favor if you struggled with acne as a teenager and attacked the problem with your bare hands. Sun damage to the skin can also factor into pores becoming more visible.

Approaching the Large Pores Problem from Within

The way to a beautiful exterior always starts inside. Before you see perfect facial skin, your liver, stomach, colon, pancreas and other internal organs must experience a state of health. Since you are constantly building and re-building your cells with the help of the foods you consume, diet is the number one player when it comes to addressing any health or cosmetic issue. If you are already on a raw food diet, you’re ahead of the game. Make sure you drink fresh, predominantly green juices regularly. Take a look: The skin of frequent juicers is vibrantly alive, healthy looking, and clear. A glass of juice has more potential for your skin healing and rejuvenation than any cosmetic procedure or pharmaceutical product you might be tempted to try.

Concentrate on foods that help rebuild collagen in your body, such as silica-rich radish, alfalfa, nettles, burdock root, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, sulfur-rich cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, green cabbage), pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, watercress and mustard leaves. Foods high in protein, vitamins A, C and E, copper, zinc and iron all play important roles in collagen formation. You don’t have to be formulaic—you’ll find that if you eat a wide variety of colorful raw foods, you’ll have your all your bases covered. Maintaining your raw plant-based diet is the foundation for any additional external approach you might take toward achieving beautiful skin.

Keep your Face Clean

Enlarged pores can be stubborn. Commit to keeping your face as clean as you can, always. Experiment with diluted raw apple cider vinegar (1 tablespoon of vinegar for 8 ounces of water) instead of soap. You are trying to catch up with excessive oil production by removing dirt, oil and skin debris as soon as they are produced. Let them remain, and the pores become more visible.

Get the Oil Out

Unclogging your stuffed pores is the first step to diminishing their visible size. Steaming your face for a few minutes before cleansing it or applying hot towel allows the oil to soften, making it easier to remove from the pores. A clay mask offers a way to soak up oil, draw out impurities, and (as drying occurs) tighten the skin’s surface, making pores appear smaller. You might want to try our green clay masque. We’ve just received a freshly made batch.

Get Rid of Dead Skin Cells

Daily exfoliation helps remove dead cells, thus keeping the pores on the small side. Dry brushing might bring the best results.

Tomato Mask for Oily Skin

Because of their astringent qualities, tomatoes help remove extra oil and reduce the apparent size of large pores. Cut your tomato into circles, place on your face and leave for twenty minutes. Rinse your face with warm water, then cold.

Help from Citrus Country

As you move through your day, reach for a lemon slice and rub it over your face. Lemon juice is a natural cleanser and purifier, with the ability to tighten skin and shrink pores. If you’re peeling a grapefruit or an orange, rub the inside of the peel on your skin for a similar cleansing effect. Experiment with cucumber, too: Feed your skin by rubbing it with one slice, and eat the rest.

Baking Soda Skin Toner

Mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda with a little water to form a white paste. Apply the paste to your face and let it dry completely. Wash off with water.

Egg White Mask #1

Whisk the white of one egg until it forms a foam. Add a teaspoon of warmed raw honey, and the juice of one lemon. Mix well and apply to the face for half an hour. Once it’s dry, wash the mask off with warm water.

Egg White Mask #2

Mix two egg whites with a quarter cup of fresh orange juice. Apply to the face and leave for fifteen minutes. Remove with warm water.

Salicylic Acid

Rub your face with salicylic acid, a 2% liquid solution, at bedtime, then apply moisturizer to avoid excess dryness.

Hydrogen Peroxide Spray

This will moisten your skin, neutralize bacteria and shrink large pores. Combine 3% hydrogen peroxide with distilled water, a 1:1 ratio. Pour this into a spray bottle, and spray on your face after using any mask or scrub. Avoid getting it into your eyes!

It’s a Trek—Not a Sprint

When it comes to highly visible, bigger-than-usual pores, prepare for your solution to take some time. Thorough transformation on a physical level takes both time and commitment. That said, a combination of a raw food regimen and a consistent skin care routine, tailored to your particular skin issues, is the safest and most natural route to take in caring for your body and realizing its innate health and beauty.

I received this email from a reader:

At age 52, I have been using Copper Peptides for almost one year and added Retin A, two months ago…. I don’t believe in store or commercially bought anti-aging products anymore, but find the research and track record of Retin A and the seeming trustworthiness of Dr. Pickart (CP’s) hard to resist. Both claim to “remodel” skin, and I wonder whether I’d be missing out, long term, not to use them. What do you think?

Nowadays many women, like my reader above, are reaching for the latest discoveries such as Copper Peptides and Retin-A, two patented products promising unique, unrivaled benefits. Retin A chemically exfoliates, while copper peptides assist in wound healing and recovery. Both promise to “remodel” your skin, and they do—after a fashion. But once you understand the science behind it, you’ll see there are easier, cheaper, and healthier ways to do the same job. How do I know? Because I’ve been doing it for the last fifteen years with great results.

What is Retin A?

Let’s take a more careful look. As the product’s name suggests, it is a retinoid, a chemical compound derived from Vitamin A, and is only available by prescription. This by itself sends up red flags for me.

Retin A is commonly used to treat acne, but users discovered that their skin also improved in other ways. This, I believe, is due to the fact that your skin will immediately go into a repair-and-rejuvenate mode after damage is inflicted on it.

Retin-A is known to boost collagen production. But this is something your body will do on its own if you exfoliate enough. Retinoids act on the DNA of the living layers of skin, increasing skin cell turnover and promoting the extrusion matter clogging your follicles. The product’s compounds also prevent the formation of new blackheads or whiteheads.

All these new skin renewing methods base themselves on an old idea: inducing repair by stripping the outer layer of skin, “tricking” the body into producing new cells and making new collagen. “Damaging” your skin is a highly effective way to see a real difference in skin quality. Retin A does that, and in essence that’s why it works. There is, however, a better way to do it. Facial dry brushing accomplishes what all these products and methods claim to do—and then some!

What’s the Bad News?

All these benefits come with a price. The effect of increased skin cell turnover can be irritation and flaking, as retinoids make skin very sensitive and susceptible to damage. So sensitive in fact that you must wear sunscreen daily if you go out in the sun even for a few minutes. You cannot use retinoids if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant because it could cause birth defects. Another red flag!

People often give up in the first few weeks of using Retin-A because the irritation causes them to think it isn’t working.

Compare this with facial dry brushing. This practice, too, increases cell turnover, unclogs pores, and increases circulation, but without side effects. No need for sunscreen, either. Initial irritation is very mild and only lasts until your skin grows accustomed to the brushing.

Copper Peptides

The utility of copper peptides was discovered by Dr. Loren Pickart in the late 70’s while researching wound healing. He researched the effects of peptides (small fragments of proteins) on tissue regeneration, eventually patenting several peptides that bind in specific ways with copper. Certain copper peptides help reduce scar tissue formation while stimulating the skin to return to its original condition. It is the wound-healing effects of copper peptides that lead some doctors and dermatologists to use them as a recovery aid after procedures such as chemical peels, dermabrasion and laser resurfacing. Because they are also anti-inflammatory, they are often used in combination with products such as Retin-A.

The Downside of Copper Peptides

As you may suspect, even these “healing” copper peptides don’t come without risk. Here is an instructive quote from www.smartskincare.com:

While moderate use of copper peptides stimulates collagen synthesis and has antioxidant effect…excessive use can have an opposite effect by increasing the levels of free copper [or] triggering excessive production of metalloproteinases. Free copper promotes free radical damage and collagen breakdown, leading to accelerated skin aging. Metalloproteinases can digest collagen and elastin, weakening the skin and causing sag…

The research isn’t conclusive. There are the usual disclaimers—“more studies required.”

I’ve found that skin that is healthy inside-out will automatically kick into recovery mode and rectify purposely induced damage (via brushing as opposed to retinoids), with or without copper peptides. My belief is that topical application cannot increase collagen, but stimulation via facial massage, exercises and brushing can. This is especially true if you give the body the nutrition it needs via a raw food diet to perform these functions. Did you know that some of the best sources of copper in the diet are leafy greens, nuts and seeds?

Instead of adding more pharmaceuticals to your lifestyle, why not go the natural way? You can get the desired effects of Retin A and copper peptides completely naturally and safely by practicing facial dry brushing, especially if you include facial exercises and massage along with a raw food diet. You do not have to rely on the men in white coats to concoct them in a laboratory, or worry about adverse side effects.

Dr. Hauschka’s is one company whose products and methods are very popular with health-seeking, beauty conscious people. A number of years ago, I used and recommended their cosmetics myself. Recently one of my readers pointed out some differences in our approaches to skin care. Her email prompted me to review carefully Dr. Hauschka’s famous “7 facts that will change your skin.”

Hauschka’s philosophy differs slightly from mine. (Or shall we say mine differs from his? After all, he’s the doctor!) I don’t disagree in every respect, but there are a few tenets that I feel compelled to challenge.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: Hauschka doesn’t address diet. By contrast, I insist that diet is an integral part of skin care. Without a sound diet, your skin will never be healthy. You’ll always have to ‘treat’ skin problems that a poor diet and lifestyle create. Dr. H, despite the fact that his products and methods are based on very high quality plant ingredients, comes from a pharmaceutical perspective. Why not, say I, get to the root of the problem instead of merely dealing with the symptoms?

Is Night Cream Important?

Dr. Hauschka advised to skip the night cream: “Covering the skin with moisturizer 24 hours a day sends a signal to sebaceous glands to cut down on moisture production, resulting in even drier skin that becomes dependent on moisturizing products just to appear “normal.”  Hence, do remember to let your skin breathe!”

Beautiful On Raw: If you use a day cream that absorbs within five minutes and a night cream that absorbs in an hour or two, you still have 21 hours and 55 minutes to let your skin breathe! Ask anyone who has passed the 40 year mark—over time skin becomes less able to care for itself.  Our sebaceous glands cut down on moisture production as we age, so our skin needs help. A truly natural cream can supply the needed moisture. You can stimulate your sebaceous glands through massage, dry brushing and vigorous exfoliation from the outside and good nutrition from the inside, so skin cells will renew themselves faster.

Like treats like. Dr. H says: “Though it might seem counterintuitive to apply oil to an oily complexion, it’s actually the most logical solution. The skin knows whether it’s sufficiently protected, producing more of its own oil when skin is dry and less when it’s balanced.” If we treat dry skin with rich, heavy creams or oils, he says, we effectively trick our skin into believing it’s been producing too much of its own oil. In response, it decreases production, perpetuating a dry skin cycle.

Beautiful On Raw: We want to get away from treating “oily” or “dry” skin. We want our skin to be neither especially oily nor dry. The solution is diet, not a special cream.

Should You Scrub Your Skin?

Dr. Hauschka says: Stop scrubbing—your skin is not the bathroom floor. Soaps, scrubs, and exfoliants can strip your face of its natural protection, leading to dry, irritated skin and an appearance of premature aging. Hauschka’s adherents use the “press and roll” method, aimed at encouraging the lymph system’s function and cleansing the skin without stripping the acid mantle.

Beautiful On Raw: Harsh ingredients can irritate and dry the skin. However, scrubbing and exfoliation, by themselves, do not amount to harshness. “Damaging” the skin ever so slightly, roughing it up a bit, stimulating it, is a well-known technique among skin care experts. Skin will rejuvenate itself when exposed to damage. (Don’t be afraid of the word damage. It’s the same with muscle: The weightlifter “damages” his muscles slightly every time he hits the gym, but this damage stimulates repair and new growth.) That’s part of the reason you look better after a cosmetic procedure, but only temporarily. What if you rough up your skin just a little every day and it’s constantly rejuvenating itself and looking better? This is what daily exfoliation does, increasing circulation and oxygenation.

All debate aside, I do believe Dr. Hauschka’s company and products to be among the most impressive available today. I am only pointing out how our philosophies variously differ. Dr. H does not address diet, so, in his world, skin must be babied, constantly treated for problems. I encourage a skin-building, skin-fortifying diet, building up the skin’s tolerance gradually in order to cause it to repair, rejuvenate and shine.