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.”

At age 58, Horace Fletcher participated in strength and endurance tests against Yale University athletes. He outperformed the young athletes in all exercises, which tremendously helped to promote “Fletcherism,” as the practice of thorough chewing came to be called. Fletcher also advocated eating only when truly hungry, when in a good mood, and only a moderate amount at each meal.

Consider Saliva and How it Works

Saliva supplies amylase, an enzyme needed for proper carbohydrate digestion, which also fights any pathogenic bacteria that arrived with the food. Moreover, saliva imparts to the eater’s system information about the food that’s being eaten. Lingual lipase is released along with saliva to start breaking down fat while you are chewing. Chewing allows your brain to prepare the right enzymes and digestive juices to match the arriving food.

Weight Loss and Weight Gain Solution

Chewing can affect the processes of weight loss and weight gain. Fletcher is credited with conducting an experiment that involved overweight army officers and underweight rank and file soldiers. Given the same food, both groups were instructed to thoroughly chew each bite before swallowing. At the end of the experiment, participants in both groups arrived at their optimal weight.

The more you chew, the less you eat. The more you chew, the more legitimate nutritional value you gain from your food. By paying attention to the eating process, and chewing thoroughly, you allow time for your hormones to signal satiation. Bathed in saliva and broken down into smaller parts by teeth, the bolus—chewed up bits of food—begins undergoing efficient digestion before even reaching the stomach, giving welcome help to your hard-working digestive system. Available energy can now be diverted to cleansing and repairing.

More Benefits of Chewing

Thorough chewing:

• improves blood circulation in the brain, resulting in a clearer mind
• promotes healthy gums and sinuses
• prevents cavities thanks to saliva’s anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties
• builds stronger bones, and
• gives you more energy.

Unbeatable Raw Food Success Formula

It’s my strong conviction that to experience the real miracle of raw foods, one more ingredient is needed. And you need to practice it faithfully…I call it the 30/10 chewing rule—at least 30 times for solid food, at least 10 swishes for liquids, which allows your saliva to start working.

Scientists are finding some evidence that, given good digestion and high quality food, the beneficial bacteria in the human gut can synthesize significant amounts of the vitamin B12.

Chewing just might be the final key to raw food success. There’s nothing simpler. Or harder. It will require a strong will and real effort to develop this practice. But as with everything else, once it becomes a habit, you will do it automatically.

The rewards of thorough chewing will pay off almost immediately in the form of better digestion, reduced food intake, improved health and stamina. The best part: Eating raw foods with total attention and extensive chewing is your formula for long-term success on the raw food diet.

How to Practice Chewing…

Find some time and a place where you won’t be disturbed. Public venues and rushed lunches won’t help. Choose any type of raw food you like. Bring your awareness to the present moment. Focus on the food before you. Bless it. Evoke your senses of smell and touch before you start putting the food into your mouth. Stay in touch with the feelings and sensations in your body you experience in the process. When you are ready, take a small bite, about a teaspoon, and place it in your mouth. Chew slowly. Notice the flavors that get released as you continue to chew until you feel no more flavor, the original texture has been lost, and the food has turned liquid, and then effortlessly send it down your throat.

What to eat? Raw foods are the best for your health and beauty.

How to eat? Apply the 30/10 chewing rule.

When is the best time to eat?  Eating only during the first part of the day will give you the most impressive anti-aging benefits. Read my book Quantum Eating and decide for yourself.

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!

These days  Sensa is on the news, TV talk shows, in big-time newspapers.

So what is Sensa?

It’s a patented blend of crystals you shake onto your food. The purpose: to lose weight.

How does Sensa work?

Here’s the idea…It works with your sense of smell. Certain smells are known to turn off your body’s “hunger switch.” Shake Sensa onto your food…and the crystals’ aroma makes your body react as if you’ve eaten more than you actually have—one hamburger instead of two, for example. Use Sensa on everything, the company claims, and you can lose up to 30 pounds in six months—all, of course, “without dieting” or “changing your lifestyle”. The mechanism: tripping the satiety center of your hypothalamus gland.

But will these miracle tastants actually work for you?

Our body is a miracle of adaptability. While this is usually a good thing, in the case of Sensa, it’s not. Your body gets used to the same scent very fast. And that’s why any such quick fix will stop working for you. Mark I. Friedman, associate director of Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, pointed out that while the sight, taste or smell of food may result in the release of insulin and an increase in metabolism, “those kinds of effects are short-lived. If you constantly smelled something you would adapt to the odor, and you wouldn’t smell it anymore.”

Sensa’s website points out that their weight loss claims can be backed up by a research study. There was, however, only one study, and it was done by the company founder. Their conclusion is that the smell approach “may be helpful for use in connection with a program of nutrition and exercise to facilitate weight loss reduction.” Hmm,  if you add a program of nutrition and exercise, I promise you will lose weight even without Sensa.

Even if it works, is it safe?

But even assuming such a product could work for a long time successfully suppressing your appetite, eating less is only part of the issue, for you need to eat highly nutritious foods. When you reduce calories, every calorie counts. So with Sensa, you have a false sense of safety, for if you start eating less but without paying attention to what you eat, you might become deficient in some essential nutrients and serious health issues could develop.

Sensa contains several artificial scents and flavors. It also contains maltodextrin, tricalcium phosphate, silica and soy and milk ingredients. All are USDA-approved ingredients, “generally recognized as safe”—GRAS is the government and industry code for this—in food. A point the manufacturer makes much of: No MSG. No salt. No sugar. No calories. But all of the Sensa ingredients are processed ingredients, and several of them—milk products especially—won’t be digestible by some.

Then there’s the cost. You’ll need to pay $59 for a one-month’s supply or $289 for six month’s worth on the company’s website or TV shopping networks. So even if the product helps you lose weight – with no side effects, to keep the weight off you will have to keep paying these costs indefinitely, if you really want to avoid changing your lifestyle.

And “no side effects” is far from guaranteed. If you check out public forums and message boards about Sensa you will run across some unhappy customers. Reports of headaches, nausea, stomach pains. And plenty of claims that it just doesn’t work, even caused some to gain weight. Of course, claims for either side are hard to gauge from internet reports.

How to make the smell-mechanism work for you.

There is a legitimate idea underneath Sensa—somewhere. But why spend the money? Why use a product you might find unpalatable and that might make you feel sick? Why use a product that contains highly processed chemical ingredients?

Truth: There’s another whole category of products out there that can work for you better than Sensa, will save you the cost, let you avoid processed ingredients, and which are far safer, far more satisfying. They’re the products of nature. Several scents—apple, banana, mint, lavender, rose, peppermint—can indeed reduce appetite. In fact, if you smell your fresh salad or other raw food dish before eating, you’ll get the same effect, plus a boost of nutrients. No point wondering whether Sensa really works when raw foods and vegetables will give you all the calcium and silica you could want, and offer a lovely range of natural scents you’ll find stimulating and satisfying. Check out my video, “Lose Weight the Right Way Go Raw“, for more info about losing weight by following the raw food diet.

Go for low calories, high nutrient content.

Why mess with suppressing your appetite for “standard”—which is to say, bad—food? Instead, let your appetite run free with fresh fruits and vegetables. You might already be on your way to a vigorously healthy all-raw diet. Or you might be vegan or vegetarian. Or you might just be a person keen on losing weight. Wherever you are, there’s nothing Sensa can do for you that you can’t gain better, cheaper, and more healthily than by upping your intake of fresh fruits and veggies. There’s no sense in Sensa, I say. Instead, go natural! If you are new to raw foods check out my first book: Your Right to Be Beautiful, where I discuss my journey in discovering the raw food diet and as a result reaching the pinnacle of health and gaining amazing anti-aging results.

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.

You may be tempted to run for a tummy tuck. But before you do, read on about various much less invasive possibilities:

Belly Slaps…Warning: Do not try belly slaps if you have or have good reason to suspect any internal medical problems. Although a unique method, the belly slap uses the same principle as a slimming massage. But you don’t need a therapist—you can do it yourself. Try this method out on an empty stomach. At first you might want to stand in front of a mirror. Suck in your tummy as tightly as you can. Right away, you’ll see yourself standing straight, your back muscles contracted. Begin slapping your belly with the flattened palm of your hands, in a slightly upward movement. Keep your slaps light, just to get a feel for how the exercise works. Never go past your comfort level. Giving the abs this vibrating pressure forces the abdominal muscles to tighten up. Fast and rhythmic massage movements help to break subcutaneous fat and rid you of cellulite.

The Crane…For ages the Chinese have revered the White Crane, its long, graceful neck making it the perfect symbol for long life. Out of this came an exercise referred to as ‘the Crane,’ involving rubbing your belly clockwise, then anti-clockwise. During this exercise, you are to imagine heat or a fire inside or around your belly-button area. When you have reached the outer limits of the abdomen, move back inwards again anti-clockwise (reversing the rubbing procedure) until you are back at the belly button. Rest for a minute, then rub again. Continue about two minutes. The warmth you feel signals fat cells being burned up and your metabolism gradually increasing. Spend two minutes twice a day for the best results. I prefer doing it with the Amazing Skin Rejuvenator. You can receive additional benefits from its nails penetrating your fat.

Emu oil…The aboriginal people of Australia have used emu oil for thousands of years to treat all types of skin conditions. Emu oil does not feel greasy and is loaded with antioxidants plus vitamins E and A which are important to good skin health. Rubbing emu oil over the stomach area has been found to penetrate deep enough into the skin to raise moisture content in a short time—vital to firming skin. Emu oil is much more effective than other topical products that remain on the surface tissue.

Belly suctions…Sucking in your gut will create a “stomach vacuum.” Here’s a great way to work your abdominal and oblique muscles, giving you a flatter profile and narrower waist. You can do this exercise while sitting, while driving your car, while standing, or even while lying on awakening. Soon it will become second nature. Draw your belly inward sucking your stomach in as far as you can manage. Visualize trying to suck your belly button back against your spine. Hold in for at least five seconds, breathing normally. Repeat for several minutes, several times a day. Do this for a while, and you can graduate to the next related technique…

The Best Belly Exercise Ever! Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart. Bend your knees a little and your torso slightly forward and place the palms of your hands on your thighs, just above your knees. Inhale slowly and take in as much air as you can. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds. Exhale forcefully out your mouth till your lungs are empty. Without breathing in, use your abdominal muscles to lift your abdomen up, toward your spine, as high as you can. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds. But don’t breathe in yet! Relax your abdominal wall and let everything gently fall back into place, then take a slow, deep breath and repeat the process. Start with two or three repetitions. Build up to ten or fifteen.

The benefits of this gentle but extraordinary exercise…you’ll reverse that tummy sag…massage your abdominal organs…tone and strengthen your diaphragm, aiding your breathing. In the process, you’ll alleviate digestive problems and constipation.

Finally the best thing you can do to get a flat tummy…is to feed it raw foods and at the right time. Resolve today to begin moving toward the Quantum Eating Plan. This alone will do as much for your bulging tummy as every other exercise combined! Also watch my video How to Get a Flat Tummy which has more advice for getting that flat stomach you want.

In my local gym I frequently see these two lanky youngsters who constantly climb onto the scale. They weigh themselves, do a few sets, then immediately head straight to the scale to weigh themselves again. Some raw foodists just as badly want to gain some muscle. We all know that muscles are gained in a gym, laboring hard at the weights, not in a kitchen. But what you eat, and especially when you eat it, can be powerful determining factors in your success in gaining muscle—acutely so for raw foodists.

To maximize growth, you must activate the hormones that stimulate growth. Hormonal stimulation is the switch that turns on the anabolic process, and this very switch gets flipped whenever you fast.

Fasting?

Fasting, even short term, as in Quantum Eating, sends a ‘starvation’ signal perceived by the body as catabolic. To compensate for the “missing” food and to protect itself from metabolic breakdown, the body will boost its anabolic activities, spontaneously increasing its capacity to assimilate protein and other nutrients in order to ensure maximum nutrient utilization from minimum food. At the cellular level, a most powerful factor is activated during the non-eating part of the day. Studies on growth hormone reveal a positive correlation between hunger and stimulation of this tissue-building hormone.

Activate and Reactivate Anabolic States

Our ancestors cycled between periods of undereating, when food was scarce, and periods of overeating, when food was abundant. The human body has become well adapted to withstand periods of little or no eating. When you don’t eat during the latter part of the day, you trigger a primal biological mechanism that helps your body adapt to food deprivation and better survive in times of hardship. Alternating periods of eating and no-eating, combined with regular exercise, will force your body to activate and reactivate anabolic states. The body is pushed into break and repair cycles. As a result, your body rejuvenates and improves itself.

Exercised on an empty stomach, the body triggers an anabolic potential that will turn into actual repair and growth of muscle tissues after a good raw nutritional meal. Keep in mind the body repairs and grows muscles when in the state of rest.

Quantum Eating Plan for Muscle Gain

On the Quantum Eating program, you eat all your daily food ration between 7 AM and 2 to 3 PM, then you don’t eat for some 17 or 18 hours. Your body is perfectly equipped to function between fast and feast modes. The greatest advantage of this method is that it forces the body to detox daily. Anti-aging bonus: The recycling of broken cells and proteins delivers an overall rejuvenation of tissues. Liver detoxification is critical for the proper production of steroid hormones and the proper metabolism of food for energy and growth.

Exercise…Then Eat

My rule: Exercise…then eat. Exercising before a meal is win-win. Exercise on an empty tummy, and you stimulate an anabolic state, forcing your body to do two things…One: Burn fat—with no calories at the ready, there’s nothing to burn but fat. Two: You’re inhibiting fat production. Recover from this bit of bodily stress with a nutritious raw food meal afterward, a meal that will replenish your energy reserves, adding the nutrients needed for muscle repair and muscle growth. For the chemists in the crowd, note that all these functions are regulated by the cellular factor cyclic guanine monophosphate (cGMP), which you’re adding when you eat vegetable carbohydrates.

You’ll find even a nice little psychological effect in the exercise-then-eat plan: You’ll enjoy your meal even more, because you’ve earned it! Keep up the plan…exercise, then eat…be sure you’re consuming a sensible raw food diet with plentiful protein and all the vitamins and minerals you should get, and there’s no reason you can’t maintain and build healthy muscle tissue aplenty. Learn more in my book Quantum Eating, now in it’s 2nd Edition.

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It’s very common for me to hear from people who have lost too much weight on the raw food diet and cannot gain it back. Desperate emails reach me, begging for help to put on a few pounds.

“Denise” writes:

 Dear Tonya…I think raw food is great, but it isn’t for everyone. I tried raw and juicing for 6 weeks and lost way too much weight. And I was thin to begin with.

Malabsorption is the Problem

My response…When people have trouble gaining weight on raw foods, one of the main reasons is their not being able to absorb certain nutrients required for optimal weight and health. In an ideal world, we should be able to exist just fine on the raw food diet.

Let’s face it: A lot of people live in less-than-ideal environments. Sometimes their health suffers unless they make necessary adjustments. Example: Our bodies need lots of sunlight for proper Vitamin D. But, especially if you are older, you have a harder time manufacturing this hormone. If you live in a locale that doesn’t get a lot of sun—e.g. England, or the USA’s Pacific Northwest, Vitamin D can become an issue. Now that doesn’t mean that it will, just that it’s a possibility. Ditto Vitamin B12.

Malabsorption often stands at the root of issues which have to do with inability to gain weight and with deficiencies such as in Vitamin D and Vitamin B12. In fact, B12 is vital for proper digestion and absorption in the first place. Given the proper conditions, our bodies should be able to manufacture such vitamins on their own. Changes in the gastrointestinal tract of people as they get older can significantly decrease intestinal function, as can medications or surgical procedures. Result: undernutrition or malnutrition.

100% Raw and 100% Vegan?

Unlike Denise, I do believe the raw food diet is for everyone. At the same time the many letters I receive convinced me: not everyone will succeed being 100 percent raw vegan. Here we must be careful not to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.

The reality is not everyone can absorb everything they need from raw plant food. This is true for a variety of reasons, and adjustments sometimes need to be made that can compensate for this, even if only temporarily, in order to be able to bring the body back up to a desirable, healthy weight. Simply eating more usually doesn’t work. In the end, it’s not about how many nutrients we consume—it’s about what we absorb.

Try Raw Eggs

One food seems to address several aspects of being able to put on healthy weight: raw eggs. It was Susan Schenck, author of The Live Food Factor, a well respected leader in the raw food movement, who made me think differently about raw eggs as a solution for folks who need to gain weight.

During the last seven years I received many emails from people who added raw eggs to their diet and were able to follow the 100 percent raw food lifestyle successfully. If the need arises, you must get creative because your health is more important than any dogma.

My 2 Raw Eggs a Day Experiment

I was curious to see what would happen to someone who was very clean and healthy on an all-raw vegan diet if she added raw eggs to her diet. So I did the usual thing I do when I want to learn something: I experimented on my own body. I am my own best guinea pig, my own personal lab rat. For six weeks I added two raw eggs daily to my diet.

This is what I found. To my surprise I had absolutely no adverse reactions whatsoever. No bloating. No lethargy. No constipation. No skin breakouts. No downside at all that I could detect. I felt exactly the same as I always feel. And there were no negative changes in my face. What I did notice was that I gained a few pounds.

And this addition was the only thing I did differently in my diet for 6 weeks. Thus ended my homespun research and confirmed to me that for people who may be having trouble gaining weight on the raw food diet, incorporating raw eggs will probably be helpful.

It May Work for You

I have no interest in becoming embroiled in vegan-versus-nonvegan controversies. (And plan not to indulge that debate on my blog.) My purpose: simply finding what works for an individual who has encountered problems in this area. But I do understand that those who are morally opposed to eating any animal product whatsoever may prefer supplementing instead.

I am glad I did this experiment. It was helpful to prove a point: It works and may be very beneficial for those who are having trouble gaining weight on a raw food diet. Raw egg yolks are an excellent source of DHA, Vitamin D, Vitamin K, Vitamin B12 and lecithin. I would not discard egg whites, either. They might make your weight-bearing exercises more rewarding and make muscle growth easier.

Concerned about salmonella? Get the full perspective on raw eggs in Raw Food and Hot Yoga.

Related Article:

Vegetarian Protein

Some raw food leaders are “coming out” that they are a little non
vegan here and there or a bit “cooked” during the winter. I have
been trying this too. I am very happy with the couple of needed
pounds I put on and with my new level of energy. I would be
interested to hear if you have treated this ground as well, Tonya.
I will still love you if you have!

My correspondent seems to be doing very well. Yet, I’m aware that
some of you have grown disappointed and confused as a result of
following leaders who have in some ways altered their own 100
percent raw paths to address their immediate, individual needs.
Good, this confusion will lead to further learning. Very good!
This is the time to re-evaluate your position. You should not have
followed anyone in the first place. I’ve written about this in my
books, and I want to repeat it again here: Learn from everyone,
but follow no one.

Please, keep this in mind while reading what comes next.

Since the summer of 1997, not once knowingly did I consume cooked
food. After some adjustments, and even some step retracing, I’ve
developed a raw food plan that works very well for me.

I believe the raw food lifestyle is the best for shedding unwanted
pounds.

With every passing year I’ve gotten trimmer. During the twelve
years I’ve been following the raw foods lifestyle, I had to resize
my wardrobe downward and get alterations done three times! After an
initial loss of about 30 pounds, it’s surprising I’ve been quite
stable all along since then at about 110 pounds. But due to
practicing hot yoga, my weight and muscles are continually being
redistributed more effectively. When I stand next to healthy 18
year-olds of my height in hot yoga class, I have similar body
proportions.

The raw vegan lifestyle has been working for me. That said, I have
no dogma and no religious zeal when it comes to a 100 percent raw
vegan diet. The adjustments a person makes for his or her own
circumstances will be–must be–completely individual. Those
adjustments may also be temporary. In addressing a deficiency, you
may try one method, and then abandon it in favor of something else if
you find that works better.

There are people leading raw food lifestyles who have to make adjustments if
they develop a deficiency or find they’re simply not experiencing
the full measure of vibrant health they know is possible. This
doesn’t happen to everyone. It hasn’t happened to me. But it does
happen to some, and for a variety of reasons.

Deficiencies or imbalances may occur if someone starts out with a
severely compromised digestive system. I’ve found this to be one of
the main reasons people develop deficiencies over the long term. In
this case, a person’s digestive system might never–even on the best
diet in the world–be able operate to perfect capacity without a
little extra help.

Some people with digestive issues have a hard time absorbing
nutrients. They may make a personal choice to augment probiotics,
animal products, or other dietary additions that give them what
they need, whether these additions be raw…vegan…or even outside
the vegetarian camp altogether.

I have perfect digestion. I never use any digestive aids. My
problem is different. I have hips that were seriously damaged at
birth. I experimented with many methods until I found my ace in the
hole–Bikram yoga–and that works for me. I embarked on a 60-month
challenge of doing hot yoga 1½ – 3 hours every day. This, in my
estimation, is what was needed to make my hips “normal” again. Do
you have to emulate this “out there” practice? No. Absurd. To keep
your body flexible and fit, all you’d likely need is three or four 90-minute
sessions per week.

During our trip to Russia this summer, my mom (who hadn’t seen me
in ten years) told me, “You look as if you have taken a mold and
reshaped and sculpted yourself!” No mold required, I assure you.
Your body, when optimally nourished, is the best architect available.
It can make some pretty fabulous improvements all by itself–if you
give it the right materials to work with.

Personally, even for gaining weight, I would not go for cooked
grains and stir-fried vegetables. If you are having a difficult time
with the 100 percent raw vegan diet, consider an alternative that I
discuss in great detail in my book Raw Food and Hot Yoga. If you
need to rekindle your passion for raw foods, read or re-read my
books. I stand behind every argument I made there.

If incorporating some cooked foods works for someone, who am I to
throw stones? For myself, I can’t imagine it. Not an option for me.
But it may be just the thing to bring someone else back into
balance. And once again I say: So be it! The point is to be
creative in our approach to health…always willing to learn…to
adapt…to try new things as our needs evolve. So long as we have
free will…and so long as our needs, goals, ambitions–not to mention
our bodies–are individual…so are our choices. May you make yours
wisely!

Here is an email I’ve just received and felt compelled to share with
you:

Dear Tonya,
I’m glad you’re addressing the matter of 100 % raw. I find cooked
food so wildly unaesthetic and ruined, I never want it. …It’s so
important to understand that doctors don’t study health. They study
medicine. Would a patient continue to visit his doctor if the
doctor had taught him how to be healthy? I’m so grateful to be
living free of doctors and their tests for the past 40 vegan years.

Amazing rejuvenation has happened since I no longer eat at night
since last February. It’s been a whole year. I’m more secure than
ever in the knowledge that healing happens if we just give it a
chance instead of eating and digesting at all hours as I used to
do. And I used to think that if it was raw, that was good enough.
Exclusively raw during the day is a thousand times better.

How about you? Do you know how to find Bikram yoga classes in your area? Try this webpage, which you may find very helpful for all things Bikram: www.bikramyoga.com  and click on “class finder”.

Perhaps, though, you live in a more rural area, or you have transportation issues, and you just haven’t been able to locate a good hot yoga class in your area. Fret not! There are still options for you! (Surely you didn’t think Mr. Choudhury would let you off that easy, did you?)

You can do hot yoga at home. With a little determination, you can turn almost any room into your own private hot yoga studio. I know many people who simply provide themselves with a heater, a humidifier, a mirror, and Bikram Choudhury’s own book, CDs or cassettes and…voila! There they are, stretching and sweating with the best of us.

Have a bathroom big enough to be comfortable moving around in? This would probably be your best bet, as a bathtub full of hot water easily delivers a nice bit of humidity easily, and you likely have a large mirror in the room already, or could affix one to the back of the door. So all you need to do is add a space heater.

If your bathroom’s not right, choose any room in the house that you are comfortable in. Your aim is a temperature of about 102 to 105 degrees F (39 to 41 degrees C) and about 40% humidity. If you have a thermometer that can measure these things, a little experimenting will lead you to a combination giving you roughly the conditions you need.

Space heaters and humidifiers are perfect for this job. But you’ll want to exercise caution if using either of them in the bathroom. Do yourself a favour: Read the instructions that come with these pieces of equipment. Be sure you follow standard safety procedures, such as maintaining the prescribed distance between the heater or humidifier and any wall, curtains, plastic, or other fabric. Be sure the floor is dry. Don’t let cords get wet. Bikram yoga should be a stimulating experience—but not an electrifying one!

You’ll want to dress in cool, comfortable yoga gear and see how you are performing the poses in a mirror. A yoga mat with a towel set on top is what you’ll be performing your poses on. I would suggest purchasing, from Bikram’s array of books and CDs, those that are specifically designed for use at home. You can find them for sale on Bikram’s website.

What about those of you travelling for business or pleasure? While you’re online digging out the right GoogleMap, be sure you also visit Bikram’s site and get a map to a studio in the city you’ll be visiting. But what if you’re not visiting New York or Atlanta or San Francisco or Toronto? What if you’re stuck in a motel in Broken Elbow, Nebraska? Well, then, just convert your hotel room bath into your studio. Hot water, mirror, and go ahead—use all those towels!

That’s really all there is to it, whether you’re at home or on the road. Your only challenge will be getting used to what you are doing, so you know how to create the perfect Bikram yoga experience for yourself. This will only come by getting in there and practicing. Do expect some trial and error, as with anything new. You are going to sweat and you are going to work out in a way you never have before. What’s more, you’re going to love it!

If you can’t locate a studio, why not make your own? It’s quite simple, and you now have the 411! Good Luck!

by Kelli Haines

“I had tried ‘going raw’ every way there was and could never see it through or stick to it. Before the raw food diet came along I was a die-hard Atkins girl; again and again and again. I was the epitome of Yo-Yo dieting, and was battling a binge/purge mentality.

My Goal is to Be Where My Body Wants to Be

Once I got a hold of 100 Days to 100% Raw, I knew I could finally meet my goals in a healthy way. It took me a few tries, but once I made the commitment, I went all the way through the program and was as surprised as anyone to discover that I reached my original goal weight! Since then my goal weight has changed to just be wherever my body wants to be…which is lower than what I originally thought.

The key for me was discovering that the things that promote cleansing are also the very things that promote weight loss. Not only did I lose my unwanted bulk, but I gained a lot of good health habits that now serve me well in other areas of my life. I obtained a newfound appreciation for colon cleansing because, even though in the 100 Days e-book whether or not to perform it is left up to the individual to decide, I practiced it once a week and found that it was a key ingredient in promoting cleansing and weight loss.

Waste=Weight

Raw food author Natalia Rose has said that “Waste=Weight” and I didn’t want to just pile a bunch of raw food on top of old waste. Now that I’m pretty much where I want to be weight wise, it’s also easy to maintain if I am consistent with my health practices including dry brushing, exercise, juicing and a high raw food diet.

If I just sat around eating raw foods and waiting for the weight to fall off, I don’t think I would have been successful because it takes a more balanced and well rounded approach.

As I gradually move towards applying the Quantum Eating principles, I am delighted to realize that regaining the weight need never be a concern. Now, I can move beyond focusing on my diet as a means of weight loss and can focus on the other areas of life that are more important: taking care of my temple, reaching out to others and growing spiritually. Losing weight on the raw food diet was merely a springboard for me to get on to the real business of living!

Cleansing Leads to Weight Loss

Cleansing causes weight loss. The enzymes that are contained in raw foods assist with this. Purifying your diet by incorporating Quantum Eating will take you further up the cleansing ladder. Weight loss comes in spurts as your body cleanses and moves up a level. It is not usually a steady or predictable decline on the scales. Sometimes the scales don’t change but your shape does. This happens when you exercise and work out, since muscle actually weighs more than fat.

Don’t Keep Looking at the Scale

You eventually learn that glowing, radiant health and a lean and clean body don’t always amount to a certain number on the scale. Some people have experienced no weight loss for the first few months while the body is healing other issues and then suddenly, the weight comes off at an alarming rate. When it comes to weight loss on a raw food diet, no two people are alike. Every experience is unique.

People overeat before switching to raw foods because their bodies are constantly hungry, craving and crying out for nutrients that they are not getting. After making the switch to the raw food diet, eventually you are getting enough nourishment, as well as fiber from your food, so that you are satisfied with less. Your body is also processing and assimilating better, so you actually don’t need as much. You get more nutrition from less food.
www.simplyrawbliss.com