Chewing Guide to Raw Food Success

How do some manage to stick with the raw lifestyle for the long-term? And why do others revert, even after initial considerable success? Just eating raw, I believe, is not quite enough to achieve optimal health. How you eat is equally important.

The Chewing Idea Comes to America

Horace Fletcher (1849—1919), known by the nickname—“the Great Masticator” taught and religiously practiced chewing food until it “became liquid and swallowed itself.” According to Fletcher, following this practice would not only increase “the amount of strength a person could have,” but also considerably “decrease the amount of food that he consumed.” Read the rest of this entry »

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?  Read the rest of this entry »

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

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: Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

A reader asked: “How can I go 100 percent raw? I keep falling back. A guru mantra from you will definitely help.”

I don’t know of a sacred verbal formula that will keep all bad food at bay. But I do know some simple steps that will definitely help.

Experience tells me this…at those times when we reach for that piece of forbidden food, it’s usually because we have let ourselves completely—if briefly—forget the reasons why we wanted to eliminate unhealthy foods in the first place. Read the rest of this entry »

Several articles of mine—see Myths about Cosmetic Preservatives and Green Cosmetics—have as their purpose clearing up misconceptions about the need for preservatives in natural cosmetics, face creams especially. Still, I constantly get well-meant suggestions that I should use a “natural” preservative such as radish root, or aspen bark extract, or Japanese honeysuckle in my products.

The main difference among face creams and formulas is whether they’re oil-based or water-based. With an oil-based formula such as my new night cream, there’s no need for added preservatives at all. However, an oil-based formula is, as the name guarantees, oily and therefore usually unsuitable for daytime use. This is why most day creams and moisturizers are water-based. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

A reader wrote: I don’t understand the value of soaking raw nuts before eating. Nuts have such mild flavor to begin with—aren’t we just watering that flavor down?

Enzyme Inhibitors

Tree nuts and seeds are highly concentrated fat and protein, given by nature to ensure that an actively growing sprout will have all the nourishment it needs. Just like any other raw foods, nuts and seeds contain enzymes. We want the benefit of those enzymes, and that’s one reason we choose to eat food without subjecting it to intense heat. However, till the germination conditions for nuts and seeds are met—like moist soil, or in our case a soaking process—the enzymes in most nuts and seeds stay dormant, held hostage by so-called enzyme inhibitors (another brilliant natural mechanism to ensure the proliferation of the species). Read the rest of this entry »

Most cosmetics, as it happens, fall within the FDA’s legal purview. Back in 1977, legislation on labeling cosmetics took effect. But how effective is that labeling legislation?

Most of us have more or less come to trust ingredients labeling. We’ve gotten thoroughly used to it in the labeling of foods. Most take for granted that, on a cosmetics label, the ingredients will be listed in their order of predominance in the product. We assume that the ingredient listed first is the one present in greatest quantity, the second listed is the one having the second largest percentage, and so on. But it isn’t necessarily so. Read the rest of this entry »