In recent years with my busy schedule, I rarely have the time to make homemade cosmetics. This was one of the reasons I developed my own facial cosmetics line. But for those of you who are interested in creating your own cosmetics, these are the best recipes that we could find.

Fruit Facial

This idea is as simple as it gets! Just like the lady in the picture, you can place pieces of fruit on your face for an easy and effective skin treatment. Regular applications will help moisturize and nourish the skin, improve circulation, provide antioxidant protection, and the fruit acids assist with exfoliation. Besides the pictured fruits, try applying papaya, strawberries and bananas.

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The late Dr. Steinman was one of three joint winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Few in the world may know more about cancer than Ralph Steinman did. And it was cancer… pancreatic cancer, specifically…that eventually caused his death. Read the rest of this entry »

Consider a situation: a seventy-something grandfather—I’ll call him Bob—was diagnosed with advanced cancer. The doctors have recommended surgery and chemotherapy, but there are no guarantees.  The Bob we remember: Energetic, warm, full of life—never sick a day in his life, as far as any of us knew. But now: constant stomach pain, severe bloating. He takes prescribed medications daily. Read the rest of this entry »

I fret when I see a TV commercial touting some cleansing product in a Here—pop this pill kind of tone that reminds one of diet pills and miracle foods, perpetuating the notions that, first, you must buy something in order to get digestive health, and, second, achieving that health can be easy and instant.

You can’t lose weight. You can’t gain weight. You have acne. Liver spots. You’ve aged prematurely. You don’t sleep well. Naturopathic Medicine traces all these issues back to the condition of your digestive system. Most health-oriented people know they need to cleanse. And digestive cleansing is all the rage nowadays. Read the rest of this entry »

During the last eight years I have learned a great deal about cosmetics, how they’re made, and what’s possible and impossible, quite apart from the marketing claims. The catalogue of misleading messages employed by manufacturers, advertisers and labelers is a vast and fascinating one. Let’s look at a few… Read the rest of this entry »

Tonya Zavasta is 53 years young

The sun has quite a rap-sheet. Just about every degree of assault and battery you can name, from the mere annoyance of a little sunburn around the backyard pool to full-on skin cancer. Freckles, liver spots, red blotches, wrinkles, and dry skin—the sun “takes the heat” for them all. And the older we get, the more we blame old Sol.

Is it the Sun’s Fault?

Actually, I abhor the phrase “sun damage.” The sun per se does not create these problems. Toxins in the body are what do the damage, directly. Unless you’re on a sound raw foods diet, sunlight will have an ill effect on the skin. Sunbathing is downright dangerous for those on a standard high-fat American diet or who don’t get an abundance of raw fruits and vegetables. An average person must take steps to protect herself from the sun. The trouble is…you are then missing out on all the benefits that sunlight brings. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been many years since I took the first few tentative steps on my raw food journey. Since then, I’ve experienced one exciting transformation after another, both physically and mentally. My health, looks and state of mind have continuously improved over the years. Just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get better, they did! I firmly believe this is because I took special care early on to transition slowly to raw foods, and to incorporate all of the lifestyle practices so essential for creating genuine, lasting health.

Food is Just the Beginning

Our western culture is all about diets, all about pills—things you consume. The truth: Food is only the beginning! I get many emails from people confused and disillusioned because they’ve been eating raw foods exclusively for a time but still feel constipated, still have skin issues, haven’t lost enough weight—the list goes on. A common thread runs through many of their pleas. It’s simple: The “food thing” is all they’re doing! I can’t figure out what’s wrong…I haven’t experienced the ‘butterfly-cocoon effect’ like you…and I’ve been raw for months! Sometimes, the trouble might be medical. And I do not, cannot give any medical advice. I can, however, offer some common sense from one who has walked the path for many years. Read the rest of this entry »

Metabolism is the set of chemical and biological reactions that occur in living organisms in order to maintain life. Through eating, drinking, breathing, and assimilating, we degenerate due to metabolism’s reactive by-products. Metabolism causes damage, and this damage eventually causes pathology. Every organism that metabolizes also dies because of this metabolic process. Metabolism keeps us alive and metabolism eventually will kill us. The fitness industry is all about “boosting your metabolism.” On the other hand, leading anti-aging research is all about slowing down metabolism through caloric restriction. Seems like a paradox? Read the rest of this entry »

Remember Chernobyl? That’s right—the nuclear “incident” that occurred on April 26, 1986 in the Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. The day after, we were driving just 15 miles from that site, returning from a visit to friends.

At first, the government kept the incident under wraps. Nobody told us we were passing through a high radiation zone. We often think of that day—how we got out of the car and had a picnic at the roadside. Read the rest of this entry »

Having a new baby. Often it’s the happiest time of your life. You’ve counted the fingers and toes, verified he or she is healthy, and probably pronounced your child as the most perfect in creation. At first, you don’t even care about that lingering “baby bulge,” you’re so happy. But time has gone by, the worries of childhood are behind you and now you want to move heaven and earth to get rid of that baby bulge. Read the rest of this entry »