Raw Living Foods Lifestyle - chiDiet.net

Please Vote for Us!

Beth Overgaauw, Dr. Steve Monkiewicz, Dr. Flora van Orden and I have been nominated in four categories of The Best of Raw 2009 awards:

Best Raw Vegan Educator - Jim Carey
Best Raw Vegan TV Show - Grassy Roots
Best Raw Vegan Website - RawDoctors.com
Best Raw Community Outreach - Dr Flora

To win, we need your vote. Go to this link and click on "Vote Now for 2009:"
 
http://bestofraw.net/vote-now-for-2009/
 
It would be selfless of me to ask you to vote for Steven, Flora and Beth's sakes, but the truth of the matter is, I'm very flattered that I was nominated, too, and it would really, really mean a lot to me if we all won.
 
I've been working at raw inspiration for seven years now, and... well, this would be a great Christmas present.
 
Dr. Flora started teaching about raw living foods 40 years ago as Dr. Ann Wigmore's assistant. Her "Ask Dr. Flora" advice column on RawDoctors.com generates dozens of letters - and replies - every week.
 
Steven originated the concept of RawDoctors.com, and has put a LOT of work into the website for over two years. He also consulted with us on the Grassy Roots TV series, and I think he deserves this award.
 
If it wasn't for Beth I never could have produced and broadcast the 14 hour-long episodes of the Grassy Roots TV show.
 
Please vote your heart - but please vote. Here's that link again:
 
http://bestofraw.net/vote-now-for-2009/
 
Thanks for your time and consideration.
 
Jim Carey

Transforming with the times

We are taught to rely on government, money and medicine as the basis of modern life and the future, when in reality our Creator, self-reliance, hard work and a healthy diet are where we should put our faith, for such has sustained us since the first dawn of human experience.

Many who have stayed here at Creative Health Institute have said that, in times of peril, this is where they would choose to be.  Indeed, simple, healthy, organic ways of life are what many are returning to as unemployment rises, increasing health care costs continue to see many without insurance, and a struggling economy force practical alternatives to what was once high-flying prosperity that then peaked out.

It is a fact of life - the more a simple thing is altered, the more the price of it goes up, and often the quality goes down. Take - for example - a ripe apple from a tree in your yard, and a fresh tomato from the garden; upon harvesting the price is nearly free.  However, alter it into canned applesauce, or a store-bought pie, or a bottle of Ketchup and the price has tripled or more.

Comparatively, the cost you pay for prescription pills is horrendous compared to what you gain from fresh Wheatgrass Juice and garden-fresh Energy Soup.

So, as the back-to-basics movement surges forward, consider adaptation by accelerated learning by attending the two-week “Learn-by-Doing Program” where body chemistry change is realized here at Creative Health Institute.

If you are unable to attend the two-week program, it is highly suggested that you read Dr. Ann Wigmore’s book, “Why Suffer”.  This book has been the inspiration for thousands who have transformed their lives by converting from the SAD (Standard American Diet) to the life promoting  detoxification and rejuvenation of the Living Foods Lifestyle.

Don Haughey, Founder of Creative Health Institute
Hodunk, MI

The evolution of wellness - by Don Haughey

The medical paradigm rests on the power of money to structure education and to shape naive young minds in the use of expensive drugs and high tech surgery to extract dollars from suffering, fearful people.  By corporate power disease, pain and fear are exploited mercilessly.  This is not to say that there is no good intent in the healing arts, but all can see the mammon driven motives.

More harm than good comes from corporate control of the casting of medical disease care for a cradle-to-grave dependency.  It is only in the failure of chemical control of disease that diet, exercise, and return to natural basis of health are now being wisely practiced.

In a way, minds are bound in slavery to the purposely-structured belief system that is the most pervasive, the most exploitive the world has ever seen.  The creation of health insurance builds high reserves of monies that doctors and hospitals could charge excessively against with impunity.

Overt slavery imposed against the will of the people is easier to fight than mind locked, imposed and perpetuated reality that is imposed from cradle to the grave.

Medicare, Medicaid and health care insurance formed the final control of the unprecedented paradigm and the profession that it so lavishly compensates is caught in rampant greed.

With government involvement the health industry is willing to inflate, inflate and inflate until collapse is the expected end of it all.  Studies show that medical care and the government has been the leading inflationary reality.

The people can return to the basis of Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Wellness that has sustained mankind for millions of  years and all biological life forms can be trusted to carry life forward when the interference with Nature stops.

Indeed, we see that power structures and money driven realities prove that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Realizing that the foregoing can appear to be the rantings of a cynical mind, I must say that my work is and remains Natural Wellness of body, mind and spirit.

For a hundred years it has appeared that wise, directed, and beneficent ones would give the world a natural wellness care system and education that would establish Wellness as it ever is intended by the giver of life, indeed, the God the Father.

For over fifty years I have subscribed to and studied the inspired Wellness innovators - many of whom have published and practiced their findings in journals and practiced what they know works.  The problem is that even these inspired and diligent individuals one-by-one opt for some way to profit by their knowledge. The current ploy is to market supplements. Tempted to use their positions to get a piece of the fifty-four billion dollar market where the willing and prepared public spends freely, motivated by the claims.  I won't live long enough to see the end of the exploitations but, like many of the absurdities, the fall of the debt and war ridden system will come, and the whole exploitive system will collapse.

Preserving the many almost miraculous innovations of true science and development of Wellness techniques will not be lost and can be carried on without the motivation of greed for money and power.

In the Kingdom to come on the planet true benevolence will create Wellness as "Old Things pass away and we become new creatures" in spirit, heart, mind and body. The old things that pass away will be the unreality of corporate power now made superior to man and to God.  Amen.

Don Haughey
Founder, Creative Health Institute
Hodunk, Michigan

The Story of Dr. Royal R. Rife

Since the 30’s there have been many books, articles and newspapers published concerning Dr. Royal R. Rife’s Research on Cancer and other diseases. Most of his lab notes have long been forgotten about, destroyed, or kept under lock and key by a few individuals. These people, for their own selfish reasons, are unwilling to share them with the world. Yet Dr. Rife was one of Dr. Ann Wigmore’s many predecessors that taught the value of a natural lifestyle, living foods, and the fallacy of allopathic medicine. This website reviews the work history, patents and discoveries of Dr. Rife, as reported in the media and medical journals from 1930 to 1971.

Beware the modern medical hex

- by Al Sears, M.D.

If you go to a doctor for a long-term problem pay close attention to what happens. Be wary if your doctor pulls out a prescription pad right off the bat.

With appropriate use, powerful drugs can work wonders for short-term acute problems. But for long-term problems, their record is not what it's often touted to be. The money from these return purchases for chronic drug therapy is corrupting our medical information system. I've come to believe that chronic drug therapy more often burdens than heals. Today, I want to illustrate a related danger.

When your doctor gives you that prescription, he naturally feels compelled to convince you he's doing the right thing. This usually means warning you of the seriousness of your problem and often involves presenting it as your only option.

Today I'll show you why this can mean "double trouble" for your good health and how to break this "prescription drug hex" afflicting millions of Americans.

How the Inadvertent Spell Is Cast

Harvard graduate and natural medicine expert Andrew Weil, M.D. calls the common over reliance on prescription drugs "medical hexing."¹  And I have to agree - I've seen many patients "cursed" by their prescriptions.

As surprising as it sounds, when you carefully analyze what happens, you find modern day hexing does exist. It all starts when a well-meaning doctor tells you something like, "You'll never get that under control alone. I'll need to prescribe something for you." Or when you quietly accept the prescription as the solution.

You doctor's desire to do something for your visit often results in over prescribing. But he's taught that it won't work unless he convinces you. His reciting of the words that you won't heal without it reinforces his belief that you must take it or suffer. Your accepting the prescription indicates that you believe that your body can't heal itself without the drug. The hex is on!

Both intention and expectation are powerful agents of healing and disease alike. You start the medication and get temporary relief of a symptom reinforcing the belief. But the underlying disease progresses eventually manifesting as another symptom. You and your doctor both believe you need another drug. Before you know it, you're on five different medications. Your original problem has never healed, you have a pathological belief you can't heal, you're body is enduring chronic toxic burdens and... now you're broke.

Countering the Spell

I love to see patients break this hexing. Take Peggy for example. At age 70, she developed ovarian cancer. All the experts told her it was fatal and if she wanted to live a little longer her only option was radiation and chemotherapy. But shortly after beginning treatment for her cancer, she developed diabetes and required insulin injections.

Given two months to a year to live, she felt powerless looking at the last few months of her life filled with radiation, chemotherapy, doctors and hospitals. She'd had enough. She quit her cancer therapies and decided to enjoy what was left of her life.

Then she came across an all-natural herbal tea called essiac - a mix of burdock root, sheep sorrel herb, rhubarb root, and slippery elm bark. Her body, once clear of the pharmalogical toxins, regained its balance and its innate capacity to heal. A few weeks later, she stopped her insulin injections. She started doing what she dreamed of - traveling the country. A recent medical check-up proclaimed her cured of both the cancer and the diabetes.2

But as every doctor knows, that's impossible. What saved Peggy was that she didn't know it was impossible.

It's really not so incredible. Your body is built to heal itself naturally.³  If you have stories of natural healing you'd like to share, email them to DrSearsResearch@aol.com

To Your Good Health, Al Sears, M.D.

- What Doctors Should Know,  Body & Soul, September 2004
- Cancer Hope Reborn, The Vancouver Sun by Mia Stainsby, May 16, 1992
- What Doctors Should Know, Body & Soul, September 2004

Thanks to Dr. Sears and www.vitalmaxvitamins.com for this article.

- and thanks to Larry Meggs for bringing it to our attention.

Holiday Turkey - Serving up Science for Dinner

PETA video on turkey farming: http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=shirley_jones&c=weekly_enews.

Reverse Diabetes in 30 Days

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days is an independent documentary film that chronicles six Americans with 'incurable' diabetes switching their diet and getting off insulin.

The film follows each participant's remarkable journey and captures the medical, physical, and emotional transformations brought on by this radical diet and lifestyle change.

We witness moments of struggle, support, and hope as what is revealed, with startling clarity, is that diet can reverse disease and change lives.

Additional wisdom is provided by Morgan Spurlock, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Robbins, Rev. Michael Beckwith, and Doctors Fred Bisci, Joel Furman, and Gabriel Cousens.

We've been awaiting this film for months; it's finally been released. Learn more, and get your copy here:
http://tinyurl.com/revDiabetes.

Yours in health and vitality,

Dr. Jim Carey

P.S. "Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food." - Hippocrates.

P.P.S. Here's another good video about reversing Diabetes and other health challenges with raw, living foods: http://tinyurl.com/chiFood.

The Dirty Little Secret of the Raw Food Movement

Yes, it's true. The raw food movement has a dirty, nasty little secret.

 

It's this: Many people go raw, only to encounter NEW health challenges, sometimes much worse than what made them go raw in the first place.

 

Over the years I've received numerous letters about this. One woman even described her journey from SAD (Standard American Diet), to Raw, to insulin-dependent Diabetic.

 

Surprised? I was. So much so that Dr. Flora van Orden III - PhD in Nutrition, and a 40-year raw fooder - Dr. Flora and I spent time consulting with each of them, over the years.

 

In every case we found the same fundamental cause. The person in question suffered from a dietary deficiency. That is, while they were eating healthy, nutritious food, they weren't eating a balanced diet.

 

That is, they weren't getting all of the different nutrients that their bodies need.

 

The insulin-dependent diabetic, for example - she admitted that her raw food diet consisted almost entirely of fruits, and the overload of sugar did her in. She sees this now, and her request is that we make people aware of potential traps like this one.

 

Statistically, after one year most vegans are only eating seven different foods.

 

That's not enough for the body to get all the different things it needs - the typical list is 112 different vitamins and minerals, all available from plant-based foods.

 

So, how DO you get enough protein? How about vitamins, especially B-12? Carbohydrates? Some fat in your diet is important, but what's the right source? Where do you get Omega 3 if you don't eat fish?

 

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This is where Dr. Ann Wigmore's Raw Living Foods Lifestyle Program comes in.

 

Dr. Ann Wigmore has been called "The Queen of Green,"  "The Original Raw Diva" and many other compliments, along with earning numerous degrees and awards (click here to read them).

Dr. Ann developed her "Raw Living Foods Lifestyle" back in the 1950's after being told by her doctors that nothing could be done for her colon cancer.

Through study, research and experimentation she healed her cancer, then went on to teach thousands of others around the world how the body can heal itself with the proper nourishment.

 

Dr. Ann found that certain foods - foods most people overlook - are essential to a balanced, healthy diet.

 

Dr. Ann taught that it's not about "superfoods," it's not about supplements, it's about balanced, living nutrition.

 

By the 1960's she had become a world-recognized expert in the field of raw food, had earned numerous degrees, and her advice was sought all over the world.

 

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Sadly, all great programs lose some of their momentum after the founder passes.

 

Dr. Ann perished fighting a fire in her apartment in 1993. Eighty-four years old, she was found in the hallway with a bucket of water beside her, and another bucket in the bathtub, with the water running. Smoke from the fire had overcome her.

Dr. Ann did leave us her Lifestyle Training Programs. You can learn about the various hands-on programs at AnnWigmore.com - Learn More. I've been to a number of them and have seen people undergo amazing transformations.

 

My first exposure to Dr. Ann's program was at Creative Health Institute in Michigan, and it did wonders for me. I've been a member of the Board of Trustees of their non-profit Trust for many years. My favorite is the Living Foods Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. Brenda Cobb and staff do a wonderful job of imparting a true Wigmore program. From what I've seen and heard, they all do a great job.

 

Dr. Ann's program works. It really works. It works because it focuses on the proper types and varieties of plant-based foods in order to give the body full, proper nutrition.

 

For those who can't afford two or three weeks and several thousand dollars for a hands-on program, we developed the Dr. Ann Wigmore Raw Living Foods Home Study Program five years ago, and it, too, has benefited thousands, all over the world.

 

We have hundreds and hundreds of testimonial letters. You can read and see some of them at the following links (be sure to click on Previous or Next at the bottom of the pages):

See chiDiet.com/blog/category/success-stories

and chiDiet.net (see the "Feedback" pages)

and AnnWigmore.com (see the "Testimonials" pages)

 

Look around these websites and you'll find many more positive success statements. We have such a big collection of them than I don't have anyplace to publish all of them.

 

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However, even the Home Study Program isn't inexpensive. The current economic climate has pushed me into coming up with something new and even more affordable.

 

Here's what I've refined Dr. Ann's program into - The Dr. Ann Wigmore Collection - a collection of 10 DVDs of the basics of Dr. Ann's Raw Living Foods Lifestyle.

 

While the Dr. Ann Wigmore Collection is only a good overview of her program, it contains enough to get you started on the right track.  

 

Seven of the DVDs give you hours of rare footage of Dr. Ann teaching her program, and cover a lot of detail, especially about the right foods to eat, and why.

 

The other three fill in the gaps that Dr. Ann's videos didn't cover, and are taught by veteran instructors from Creative Health Institute, which was co-founded by Dr. Ann and has been teaching her program since 1976. 

 

In addition, these two instructors have agreed to be available to you for personalized coaching by phone or email.

 

I can think of no better way to get on the right track with a new Raw Living Foods Lifestyle than to view - and re-view this information.

 

This Collection is going to throw a lot of what you think you know about food - even raw foods - out the window.

 

Remember - this is tried, true, proven information that has withstood the test of time - and protects you from the dirty little secret of the raw food movement.

 

 

Here's the link: chiDiet.com/aw.htm

 

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Working with you to grow your health,

 

Jim Carey

 

 

 

 

P.S. "If you ignore your health, it will go away." - Unknown

 

 

Here's that link again: chiDiet.com/aw.htm

Benefits of the Raw Living Foods Lifestyle

We have numerous testimonials from students who credit the Raw Living Foods Lifestyle with their recovery from:

• Arthritis
• Diabetes
• Breast cancer
• Cancer of the larynx
• Cervical cancer
• Malignancies, including uterine cancer
• Colitis
• Leukemia
• Hepatitis
• Gangrene
• Heavy metal poisoning
• Tuberculosis
• Peritonitis
• Pyorrhea
• Hemorrhoids
• Asthma
• Sinus infections
• Burns
• Cuts
• Menstrual irregularities
• PMS
• Constipation
• Headache
• Eczema
• Psoriasis
• Halitosis
• Acute anemia
• Vericose veins
• Metastatic malignant melanoma

PLEASE NOTE: that we offer no cures - we treat and heal no one. We simply share information, developed by Dr. Ann Wigmore, about how a Raw Living Foods Diet and Lifestyle can benefit everyone, and how the body often cures itself with a proper diet.

Things the Program Can Do for You:

• Weight Loss
• Alleviate pain
• Prevent disease
• Combat disease
• Increase energy
• Cleanse the body
• Improve digestion
• Recharge your immune system

Visit chiDiet.com for more information.

Here's a directory of Wigmore Educational Resources (all links open in a new window or tab):
AnnWigmore.com - The story of Dr. Ann Wigmore, and a listing of Wigmore Institutes
Dr. Ann Wigmore's Degrees and Awards - probably not a complete list
GrassyRoots.com - The 14-episode TV series I did about raw foods and the Dr. Ann Wigmore Lifestyle
chiDiet.com - The Home Study version of the Dr. Ann Wigmore Raw Living Foods Lifestyle
RawLife.org - I put all of the videos from Grassy Roots TV and the Wigmore Lifestyle Home Study Program online
chiDiet.com/hs3.htm - The Dr. Ann Wigmore DVD video collection
GoRaw.net - Other raw websites I'm involved with or respect

Raw Testimonials and Stories:
http://rawlife.org/category/facts
http://annwigmore.com/index.php/testimonials-1.html
http://annwigmore.com/index.php/raw-testimonials-2.html
http://annwigmore.com/index.php/raw-testimonials-3.html
http://annwigmore.com/index.php/more-testimonials.html
http://chidiet.com/blog/category/success-stories
http://rawlivingfoods.typepad.com/1/feedback_home_study_program/ - See the various "Feedback" categories on this site

How to be, and stay, raw...

Weekend Update
Hi!   The biggest challenge to staying raw is staying inspired. When we have to do so much planning ahead when we travel, when we have to make our own "fast food" at home, when we have to turn down offers of "goodies" at work, it's really a challenge to be, and stay raw.   Staying inspired, constantly reminding ourselves of why we want to live differently than most of the world, is important.   To help you with this I've lined up a bunch of good stuff for you this weekend:   It's another Raw Film (and Audio) Fest weekend on RawDoctors.com, and I've posted a whole bunch of inspiring testimonials, including Paul Nison's feature-length video.   Looking for raw recipes? Be sure to check out the recipe section on RawDoctors.com. You'll find almost a hundred posted there.   There are a lot of us who want to raise our children to be healthy and happy, too. So I've posted a number of items about Raw Parenting, including Karen Ranzi's 2-hour lecture at Creative Health Institute.   All this, again, at RawDoctors.com. Please note that at the end of the page there's a link to Page 2. I've posted that much stuff this weekend - and there's no charge for any of it.   Over on GrassyRootsTV.com there's another episode of my Raw Living Foods/Wigmore Lifestyle TV show available. This week's one-hour show is about the relationship between stress and healing, simple yummy salads, and composting.   Lots of food prep tips in each episode of Grassy Roots TV! Be sure to check out the other episodes, under "Season One." I'd love to hear what you think.   On chiDiet.com/blog the Home Study Program giveaway contest is closed. The judges are evaluating the entries, and the two winners will be announced early next week. If you're looking for raw food videos on particular subjects, or just want to keep a few around the house for ongoing inspiration or to share with your friends, there are about four dozen titles available at chiDietVideos.com.   Remember - It's not "cheating" or "failing" when you eat outside of the program. It's just eating outside of the program.   Whether you're 95% raw, 50% raw, or 20% raw, how much better are you doing than when you were eating the SAD (Standard American Diet)?   Working with you to grow your health,   Jim Carey       P.S. Don't get your body out of balance. Don't overeat on Fruit or Nuts. Don't detoxify too fast. Learn the correct method to going and staying raw with Dr. Ann Wigmore's Raw Living Foods Home Study Program.   The Home Study Program is available again from chiDiet.com. Bigger and better than ever!	Jim Carey, Raw Living Food Advocate       Learn about Dr. Ann Wigmore and what her Raw Living Foods Lifestyle is all about at AnnWigmore.com.   Be sure to check out the testimonial pages, too!         What's the difference between a Raw Fooder and a Raw Living Fooder?   Living Foods are those that would sprout if put into the earth. Living Food Advocates believe in a generous proportion of grains and fresh sprouts in the diet because of the biophotonic or "life force" energy these foods contain.
My Links Twitter me: http://twitter.com/rawdoctor Facebook me: jcarey@chidiet.com YouTube me: chidiet Unsubscribe Interesting Posts and Videos Raw Living Food Event in Kaduna, Nigeria More New Raw Food Success Stories Dr. Jim's recent Raw Lifestyle Essays

About Energy, Food and Human Nature...

- A Philosophical Outlook On Being a Raw Fooder

 The older I get the simpler and more unified life looks to me.

We're all creatures of energy. Everything in our lives, everything around us, everything we experience consists of energy.

To start with, we're made up of energy. Every proton, electron and neutron in our universe - including those that make up our bodies - is made up of three quarks. Quarks are, simply put, just energy. In the microcosmic analysis of it, all we are is a bundle of energy forms.

It's obvious to us that people and animals also have a life energy - something different than molecular energy. The cells of a dead animal don't stop existing, they change (decay, rot), but the life force energy of the animal is gone.

What about plants? In the past two decades scientists have measured the life energy of plants, and define it as biophotonic energy. It's a separate thing from molecular energy and explains how plants can respond to music, voices and love. So plants have a life force energy, just as animals do.

When we interact with others we gain emotional energy. When we interact with love and affection our positive energy is returned to us, increased. But even when we interact with hate, disgust or animosity, our ego gains energy. Negative energy, true, but the ego doesn't care - energy is energy and the ego wants to be fed.

The same is true of our physical bodies. Our bodies gain energy from almost anything that we put in them. Obviously there are side effects to the Standard American Diet (SAD) - obesity, cancer, asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and all the others. But despite the damage such a diet is doing, people continue to eat it because it tastes good, just as they'll argue or fight instead of walking away.

 

So consider this: If our egos will fight instead of walk away,  and if our bodies will consume known toxins, what are we doing to our biophotonic (life force) energy in the process? Another thought: can these effects on our biophotonic energy be considered karma?

Here's the way I think of it: When I kill or cook my food I destroy the biophotonic energy, the life-force energy of the food. When I eat raw living foods the life force energy of the food becomes a part of me.

When Dr. Ann Wigmore taught that we should "listen to our bodies, because they will tell us what we need," she was referring to what our bodies truly need, not what we've trained them to want.

That's where Dr. Ann's detoxification, cleansing and lifestyle come it. By following her regime we clean ourselves up enough to be able to listen to what our bodies need, not want.

 

Yours in Radiant Good Health,

Jim Carey

"You are what you eat" IS "the law of attraction." - Mike Grefner

P.S. Be sure to visit RawDoctors.com this weekend. The Film Fest Weekends are back, and many of the subscription sections are now free, including my recipe collection.

"I'm raw when possible, organic when practical, and pray over the rest." - Unknown.

Genetically engineered crops use MORE, not less pesticides

When genetically engineered (GE) crops first came on the market in 1996, proponents claimed that they would need far less pesticide than conventional crops. Most genetically engineered crops are modified to either tolerate the herbicide glyphosate (HT crops) or  to produce their own insecticide (Bt crops), so in theory, fewer applications of pesticide on GE fields would be sufficient to take care of pests.

For the first three years of use, this was true. However, a new report by agricultural economist Dr. Charles Benbrook, Genetically Engineered Crops and Pesticide Use in the United States, shows that farmers now use more pesticide on the top three GE crops—corn, soybeans, and cotton—than on conventional varieties: Union of Concerned Scientists .

Enzymes, Digestion, and Raw Living Foods

The human body is a wondrous, miraculous healing machine.

- by Dr. James Carey, Ph.D. (computers)

Last week I discussed the role of the digestive enzymes and the pancreas, and how an organic raw living foods vegan diet improves digestion, nutrition and our energy levels. Today we're going to look at the role of stress in disease, and how that relates to your DNA and healing.

Think of your DNA as being like a piece of thread, or yarn. If you've ever twisted a piece of thread tighter and tighter, you may have noticed how the strands of the thread start to fray, breaking in small places along its length as you tightened.

When we undergo stress our DNA does the same thing. This stress can come through work, our families, our neighbors, our circumstances, the weather... but the biggest component of bodily stress is - what we eat.

That's right. When we eat a diet of processed, pesticided, herbicided, preserved foods, the work our body has to do to remove those toxins creates large amounts of stress.

When the body is stressed our DNA helix gets tighter and tighter. When it becomes too tight genome pairs start to fail, just like a fraying thread.

The genetic component of disease comes from this DNA predisposition. If your mother's DNA failed at the gene that prevents breast cancer, then you'll have the same genetic tendency when your genome pairs start to fail.  If your father had prostate issues, then you will, too, because the same gene pair will tend to fail under stress.

When we eat a diet that is high in organic raw living foods we reduce the stress in our bodies for the reasons we've discussed in the previous articles - detoxification of our body tissue, and reduced workload on the pancreas, liver and kidneys. Our DNA then loosens just like a released thread, and heals itself.

 

Here's the really good news:

• All of the tissue atoms in your body are replaced every six months.
• All of the bone atoms are replaced in six months to two years.
• When those atoms are replaced the DNA is replicated, and depending upon the stress levels in your body, will get better or worse.

 

Next time we'll discuss exercise and it's relationship with stress reduction, and how it also relieves depression better than drugs.

Yours in Great Natural Health,

Jim Carey


Dr. Jim Carey, PhD, DD, has been a raw living foods advocate for six years, ever since the Dr. Ann Wigmore program changed his life. You can learn more about Dr. Wigmore, N.D., and Dr. Carey at AnnWigmore.com, RawDoctors.com, chiDiet.com, chiDietVideos.com and chiDiet.net. Dr. Carey is currently doing an American television series about the raw vegan lifestyle. Episodes of his show can be seen at GrassyRootsTV.com. Dr. Carey resides in rural Georgia, USA, where he loves to eat wild edibles, and travels extensively sharing the message of the raw living foods lifestyle.

(Dr. Jim also served as Director of Creative Health Institute for several years, and is a Trustee of the Creative Health Institute 501(c)-3 Non-Profit Trust.)

5 Reasons Why Raw Food Helps You Lose Weight

It’s a well-known and accepted fact that a raw food diet helps you lose weight rapidly and effectively. Some people take to raw food only to achieve significant weight loss, and once they do so, they sing its praises and adopt it as a way of life.

However, it’s not the fact that food is not cooked that leads to becoming slim and fit; it’s more because:

•    You eat hardly any saturated fats: When you go on a raw food diet, you stop eating foods that are processed which are high in trans-fats and saturated fats. This makes your body healthier and naturally slimmer. When you avoid fatty, processed foods on a long term, you also don’t tend to gain weight.  
•    Your intake of salt decreases: When you eat raw food, there’s often no need to add salt because you’re mostly eating fruits and vegetables. This means that you stop taking in salt in any form, and when this happens, you lose weight. Salt is not good for your body and causes a host of illnesses and diseases. You not only lose weight when you avoid salt, you also become healthier.
•    You eat more fruits and vegetables: When you eat more fruits and vegetables, you eat less of other foods that contain fat and unhealthy carbohydrates. This makes you lose weight naturally because you are avoiding foods that cause weight gain.
•    You are more energetic: When 90 percent of your diet comprises food, especially those that are naturally sweet, your body is filled with instant energy that you want to expend. You feel like going out and doing something, like exercise or other vigorous activities. In short, your lifestyle becomes very active and your metabolic rate increases. This makes you lose weight and also prevents you from putting it back on in the long run.  
•    You care more for your health: When you adapt to a raw food diet, it becomes a way of life, one that pushes you to live more healthily. You avoid alcohol, cigarettes and drugs; you don’t take medicines indiscriminately; you begin to exercise regularly; you sleep better; and you do not eat too much because it is hard to do so when you’re on a raw food diet. These significant changes contribute to a new, healthy and slimmer you.

Raw food diets are not for everyone – it takes a great deal of discipline and determination to make it work. So if you’re not sure of yourself or your level of motivation, start out slowly by adapting to a combination of raw and cooked food, and make steady progress as you go.

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of online nurse practitioner schools. Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com

Intentions and What You Eat

Hi Jim,

I just read your article where you wrote about your experience of the connection between eating and spirituality.  Thank you for this.  It is a great article.

I think the biggest thing missing in the world of nutrition and eating, regardless of what model one is promoting, is... CONTEXT.

People do not have a big enough context for why they eat.  Many people who are asleep have no context at all!  Context determines everything!!  When my context for eating evolved into eating for enlightenment; eating to experience a deeper connection with Creator; eating to (according to David Wolfe) increase the occurrences of serendipitous events in my life; eating to accelerate the Law of Attraction and deliberate manifestation in my life... my whole life changed.

Knowing that we are vibrational beings, (and that vibration determines what we attract and how well we can connect with Source), I now only have one reference for making any and every choice in my world, especially when it comes to food choices.  And that is.... will it raise or lower my vibration?

And even though I was, on human level, a little bummed about the list of foods Ann suggests to remove from our diet, if it means that I can better tune into the good stuff at the higher end of the "radio dial" of life... (what I call WGOD)... then so be it.

I am in this world but not of it.  I AM ascending and love it!!  My ascension and connection to my Mighty “I AM” is the most important thing in my life.  And if eating a certain way can accelerate my ascension, then I AM all for it!!

This is the context that has been missing and not talked about enough by health leaders.  Maybe it's time to start talking about it and let the chips fall where they may.  Maybe it's time to come straight out and say it.  Do you think it's time yet?  Is the world ready for this yet?

Let's call it The Ascension Diet.  The joke is that when one eats in this context, all of the desired physical and vane outcomes for eating all happen by default.

I have given this subject matter tremendous thought and contemplation.  I can talk at great lengths about.   I feel a blog and/or book brewing inside me.

You will never know how profound your response to my question about what water you drink has been to me.  You said, “I filter it and pray over the rest.”  It was the “Law” that broke the camel’s back for me!  It took all the pressure off of “doing it right”.  I realized that my intention and prayer was and is the ultimate determining factor of well-being in my life.  I qualify and determine the value and benefit of the food, whatever it may be, brings to me!!

A person who I respect once said to me, “A person will probably get more value eating a McDonald's Happy Meal in a state of joy and happiness than eating a raw, organic meal in a state of anger or depression." 

Too much emphasis has been put on what the right things too eat are instead of the mental state a person is when they eat it and their ability to qualify, charge, and energize their food, whatever they might be eating.

Continued success to you, Jim.   And Thank You.

Louie Schneidman

Why is the Wigmore Lifesytyle Different From the Raw Foods Movement?

In the seven years that I've been involved in the raw food movement I've been gratified by the rate and amount of it's growth. Sales of fresh fruits and veggies are the highest they've been in decades, and the awareness and acceptance of what we're doing is higher than I've ever seen.

I retired from the computer industry in '99, then discovered the Dr. Wigmore program of raw living foods at Creative Health Institute and changed my life in '01. A year later I found myself the Director there. I saw it as a good use of my time in retirement, a way in which to give back to the world all that's been done for me.

Initially I thought I'd help out for a year or two, get the center back on it's feet, build a website for them, start a newsletter and install a computer network.

I had no intention of embarking upon a second career, but that's what happened.

In 2001 there were only a handful of websites and resources. Friends would email me links with the message, "Look, a new raw website!"

If you did a Google search on "raw foods" you'd get several dozen page matches. I just did a Google search on the same term and got back 260 million page matches. Now THAT is a growing movement!

Finding raw recipes used to be a challenge; I just looked and found five dozen raw recipe books on Amazon.com alone, as well as numerous websites like chiDiet.net that publish new raw recipes every day. I love it!

I love it that Susan Schenck has published her encyclopedia of the raw foods movement, The Live Food Factor - I used to know everybody in the raw food movement, but now I rely on Susan's book to sort out who's-who.

I love it that movies like Supersize Me and Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days are reaching the mainstream market and showing in theaters, raising awareness of the dangers of the Standard American Diet (SAD).

What's Next?

Recently I was asked why I didn't retire again (can one re-retire?).

"The raw foods movement is taking care of itself now," I was told. "You've done what you set out to do. Why not go back to traveling, see the world, and enjoy your retirement?"

Tempting. I've thought about it for weeks.

What I've seen, however, is that Dr. Ann Wigmore's work isn't done yet. While it's gratifying that the raw foods movement has grown so much, Dr. Ann's program was about much more than just eating more fruits and veggies.

That's why I call it the Wigmore Lifestyle. Dr. Ann's program embodies an entire way of life, a healthier way of living.

Dr. Ann took sick, diseased people and showed them the way back to a healthy, happy life. She led them through detoxification and into healthy eating, true, but she also addressed the issues of stress, exercise, nutrition, food combining and more. Dr. Ann revived juicing, especially of Wheatgrass, growing sprouts at home in limited space, and created foods like Rejuvelac and Veggie Kraut - all radical ideas.

Each of the elements of her Lifestyle is important to maintaining a wholistic, healthy body and a positive outlook on life.

Her lifestyle is often simpler than the typical raw diet. It's really about re-learning how people were designed to eat before industrialization shifted population into the cities.

Dr. Ann saw that all healing - and good health - is Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual. She had a theology degree (along with several other degrees), but never preached - she taught that it's important everyone recognize, acknowledge and follow their personal spiritual path as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Like I said, wholistic.

In Conclusion:

I guess I can't retire. Not yet, at least. Wherever I speak I meet audiences that are predominantly raw fooders, ones that are doing better than they were on the SAD, but still find themselves with health challenges, deficiencies and toxicities.

I say "Thank You!" to all of the raw food advocates out there - around the world - for all you do. But when it comes right down to seeing people heal their health challenges and recover their lives, it's Dr. Ann's program that works. So I'm not retiring.

Not yet. There's still work to be done, and a message to share.

What I've Done Lately:

I've updated and modularized the Dr. Ann Wigmore Raw Living Foods Lifestyle, and by printing in higher volumes, lowered prices. Learn more at chiDiet.com and chiDietVideos.com.

This is a biggie - I've created an online version of Dr. Ann's Raw Living Foods Home Training Program, and of my Grassy Roots "Introduction to Dr. Ann Wigmore" TV show. You'll find them both on RawLife.org

Yours in Great, Vibrant Health!

Jim Carey

Here's a directory of Wigmore Educational Resources (all links open in a new window or tab):
AnnWigmore.com - The story of Dr. Ann Wigmore, and a listing of Wigmore Institutes
Dr. Ann Wigmore's Degrees and Awards - probably not a complete list
GrassyRoots.com - The 14-episode TV series I did about raw foods and the Dr. Ann Wigmore Lifestyle
chiDiet.com - The Home Study version of the Dr. Ann Wigmore Raw Living Foods Lifestyle
RawLife.org - I put all of the videos from Grassy Roots TV and the Wigmore Lifestyle Home Study Program online
chiDiet.com/hs3.htm - The Dr. Ann Wigmore DVD video collection
GoRaw.net - Other raw websites I'm involved with or respect

Raw Testimonials and Stories:
http://rawlife.org/category/facts
http://annwigmore.com/index.php/testimonials-1.html
http://annwigmore.com/index.php/raw-testimonials-2.html
http://annwigmore.com/index.php/raw-testimonials-3.html
http://annwigmore.com/index.php/more-testimonials.html
http://chidiet.com/blog/category/success-stories
http://rawlivingfoods.typepad.com/1/feedback_home_study_program/ - See the various "Feedback" categories on this site

Dr. Jim Carey, PhD, DD, has been a raw living foods advocate for six years, ever since the Dr. Ann Wigmore program changed his life. Dr. Carey resides in rural Georgia, USA, where he loves to eat wild edibles, and travels extensively sharing the message of the raw living foods lifestyle.

Dr. Jim also served as Director of Creative Health Institute for several years, and is a Trustee of the Creative Health Institute 501(c)-3 Non-Profit Trust.

Living to be 100

According to this fascinating video segment aired on Nova, only one in 10,000 of us will live to see 100. But scientists are working on finding ways to increase that number.

Researchers found cutting the food intake of just about any organism by up to 30-40 percent extended its life by as much as 60 percent.

Calorie restriction reduces insulin levels and triggers the production of sirtuins, which are produced as part of an intricate stress response that kicks an organism into survival mode (which beefs up DNA repair and prevents cells from dying).

13 minute video: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3401/01.html.

You Don't Need a Drug to Make it to 100

Researchers have discovered that a molecule called nicotinamide, a component of vitamin B3 (niacin), binds to a sirtuin protein and prevents it from unleashing its renowned anti-aging effects.

A drug that prevents the niacin-sirtuin interaction could therefore help counteract age-related disorders, including obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Two Massachusetts-based companies are already working to develop drugs that affect sirtuin activity. Elixir Pharmaceuticals has filed more than 20 patents or applications related to a sirtuin class of compounds: http://www.mercola.com/2007/mar/3/you-dont-need-a-drug-to-make-it-to-100.htm.

Paw Paw picking

A Spectacular Ending to a Wonderful Season at Creative Health Institute
- by Sarah Thompson, Fall, 2004

For years I've been coming to the Creative Health Institute (18, to be exact), and with each passing season this small but potent wheatgrass institute impresses me more and more. What is it in Hodunk that affects me so deeply that I would rather spend my summer laboring in our organic garden than sitting on the beach at Cancun? Is it the good fellowship I have with my fellow raw fooders, a chance to mingle with like-minded people? Or do I simply enjoy watching guest after guest go through this remarkable process detoxification and rejuvenation, satisfied that I've helped empower another human being with this sacred knowledge? Or, could it be more basic than that? Is it the food and the way it makes me feel that draws back? More specifically, as my physiology adapted over the years to the local plants?

For years, I've also been eating the wild edibles here at Hodunk. I've actually dubbed Hodunk the "Wild Edible Capital of the World" because I've never seen a wider variety of them anywhere else. Plants such as Lambsquarter, Parslane, Queen Anne's Lace, Stinging Nettles, Plantain and Burdoch Root, to name just a few, grow abundantly on our grounds.

This year alone I've consumed at least fifty young sweet red clover flowers. I always knew red clover as a blood cleanser with anti-cancer properties, but this year I learned that it's also a powerful hormone balancer. No wonder I feel so good! (Thank you, Dr. Ann!)

And everyone should be growing Comfrey, especially if you're a vegetarian. Did you know that Comfrey is high in plant protein and as one of the only plants that draws B12 from the soil? It also contains the compound allantoin, a cell-proliferant, which means it aids both plant and animal cells in creating new cells rapidly. Taken internally it helps to build cells, especially bone; used externally it makes a powerful poultice. Personally, I enjoy eating the roots, especially on a crisp fall day like the kind are having now. Which brings me to the Paw Paw.

As fall begins to approach winter, one by one, all of the wonderful plants that I've nibbled upon all summer are beginning to lie down and go to sleep. Every day I find it more and more challenging to forage. This afternoon Donald Haughey, our wonderful founder, decided to take us to a special grove of trees to forage for the elusive Paw Paw fruit.

Now, best thing about foraging for Paw Paw is that you get to say "Paw Paw." The Paw Paw is a small green fruit shaped like a kidney. The tree is thin, almost out-of-place amongst the maple and oak. Resembling a more tropical plant, it's known as the "Indiana or Michigan banana," growing mainly in Eastern America. The early spring twigs are being studied for a potent anti-tumeral agent known as Annonaceous Acetogenins. The fruit, however, is mild and sweet, and harvesting them with my friends was a treat I'll not soon forget.

The trees were glowing with the brilliant colors of fall, casting a light yellowish-green luminous quality around us. At first we suspected we were too late, but upon closer inspection we found enough fruit to fill our buckets. By simply shaking the trees, the fruit fell easily to the ground. We harvested enough fruit so that our guests and staff can enjoy the nutritious fruit for weeks to come.

Nature is remarkable, especially if you have the opportunity to follow its natural rhythm. Here nature has provided us with fruit at the tail-end of the season that is high in the antioxidants vitamins A and C, boosting our immune systems so that we can enter into the winter months fortified.

My challenge for you is to find the wild plants in your area that are edible. Never eat anything you can't identify, so start out with something simple like dandelion. You'll be surprising a good you'll feel after juicing the plant with carrots, or blending it (including a flower), with apple and avocado.

Don't forget: if you ever find yourself in the middle of a Paw Paw grove, shake down a few for the deer. They always appreciate a helping hand!

[You can see photos of healthy, vibrant raw gardener Sara scattered about the CHI website. http://creativehealthinstitute.com]

Stress, DNA and Healing All Tie Together

-    The human body is a wondrous, miraculous healing machine.

by Dr. James Carey, Ph.D. (computers)
- reprinted with permission from Christendom International Magazine.

Last time I discussed the role of the digestive enzymes and the pancreas, and how an organic raw living foods vegan diet improves digestion, nutrition and our energy levels. Today we’re going to look at the role of stress in disease, and how that relates to your DNA and healing.

Think of your DNA as being like a piece of thread, or yarn. If you’ve ever twisted a piece of thread tighter and tighter, you may have noticed how the strands of the thread start to fray, breaking in small places along its length as you tightened.

When we undergo stress our DNA does the same thing. This stress can come through work, our families, our neighbors, our circumstances, the weather… but the biggest component of bodily stress is – what we eat.

That’s right. When we eat a diet of processed, pesticided, herbicided, preserved foods, the work our body has to do to remove those toxins creates large amounts of stress.

When the body is stressed our DNA helix gets tighter and tighter. When it becomes too tight genome pairs start to fail, just like a fraying thread.

The genetic component of disease comes from this DNA predisposition. If your mother’s DNA failed at the gene that prevents breast cancer, then you’ll have the same genetic tendency when your genome pairs start to fail.  If your father had prostate issues, then you will, too, because the same gene pair will tend to fail under stress.

When we eat a diet that is high in organic raw living foods we reduce the stress in our bodies for the reasons we’ve discussed in the previous articles – detoxification of our body tissue, and reduced workload on the pancreas, liver and kidneys. Our DNA then loosens just like a released thread, and heals itself.

Here’s the really good news:

•    All of the tissue atoms in your body are replaced every six months.
•    All of the bone atoms are replaced in six months to two years.
•    When those atoms are replaced the DNA is replicated, and depending upon the stress levels in your body, will get better or worse.

Next time we’ll discuss exercise and it’s relationship with stress reduction, and how it also relieves depression better than drugs.

Yours in Great Natural Health,
Jim Carey

Learn more at chiDiet.com

Dr. Jim Carey, PhD, DD, has been a raw living foods advocate for six years, ever since the Dr. Ann Wigmore program changed his life. You can learn more about Dr. Wigmore, N.D., and Dr. Carey at AnnWigmore.com, RawDoctors.com, chiDiet.com, chiDietVideos.com and chiDiet.net.

He's currently doing an American television series about the raw vegan lifestyle. Episodes of his show can be seen at GrassyRootsTV.com. Dr. Carey resides in rural Georgia, USA, where he loves to eat wild edibles, and travels extensively sharing the message of the raw living foods lifestyle. He can be contacted via email at jcarey@chiDiet.com.

(Dr. Jim also served as Director of Creative Health Institute for several years, and is a Trustee of the Creative Health Institute 501(c)-3 Non-Profit Trust.)

Would you like to be well?

by Donald O. Haughey, Founder, Creative Health Institute

Yes? Then ask yourself, “Why?” To what purpose are you seeking wellness? What are you doing with your life? When I teach wellness to people it’s to help bring them to their true purpose.

Find a good reason to be healthy. I don’t just want to see people’s aches and pains go away, I want them to be transformed. If you live with a sense of high, pure purpose you wake up stimulated by that purpose and you hit the road running.

So if you want to be healthy, ask yourself, “Why?”

Wellness and the Weather (location, location, location)

It’s great having a resource like Creative Health Institute here in the Midwest. Every other Wigmore training center is located around the fringe of the country.

But sometimes the weather in Michigan can be a bit severe on the body and psyche, and we start having thoughts of Florida for a couple of weeks vacation.

Well, if you’re one of the lucky ones considering a trip to warmer climates for a little vacation this year, why not consider Puerto Rico? For the same price as a Florida vacation you can spend two weeks at the Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute there. Even if you’re already familiar with the Wigmore program, they have a “relaxation program” that’s just super!  See www.AnnWigmore.org for more information.

Who's your guru?

Who's Your Guru?
by Dr. James E. Carey, DD, PhD (computer technology), former Director and Executive Trustee of Creative Health Institute

As editor of the chi Living Foods Newsletter, and as one of the volunteers that create, produce and distribute the home study version of the Dr. Ann Wigmore / Creative Health Institute program, I get lots of letters. One of the most common queries I receive is about resolving the conflicting advice of various "raw food gurus." Somehow, I'm expected to have all of the answers. And at a deeper level, people want to know WHY there are so many conflicting opinions and methodologies surrounding raw foods - why can't we all agree on the facts, they ask?

First I bear in mind that the greatest mistake in life we can commit is one-sidedness, when we believe that wear are in possession of the only exclusive truth, and everything and everybody else is wrong. Therefore, I trust little of what I "think" I "know." After all, "everybody knew" that the earth was flat, that ships made out of metal would sink, that the human body was incapable of traveling faster than 35 mph, that Dewey would be elected President over Truman, and that cooking food was healthy.

So I examine what is being said from a critical viewpoint. Is there clinical evidence, unbiased studies, scientific research to back up what the person is saying, or are they merely rendering an opinion? In most cases we're listening to opinions - opinions not necessarily gathered from unbiased personal observations and research.

Then I look at who made the statement and what their reputation is. People like Dr. Gabriel Cousens, Dr. Douglas Graham, Dr. Bernard Jensen, Dr. Edmund Bordeaux Szekely, Dr. Lorraine Day and Dr. Ann Wigmore, after receiving a through medical education, have made extended, often life-long, scientific and clinical studies of the effects of raw and cooked foods on the body, and back up their opinions with statistics and evidence, not just anecdotal stories.

Others, like Victoria Boutenko, Paul Nison, Hiawatha Cromer, Nomi Shannon and Juliano, have studied raw foods extensively, often for decades, usually with recognized raw living food experts or academies, have devoted years of their lives studying the effects upon themselves, sharing the raw living foods lifestyle with others, and have often participated in studies as well as conducted their own. After accumulating all of this experience, their friends encourage them to speak out publicly about what they've learned.

Both of these groups are eminently respectable, and I trust their advice and opinions.

There is a third group. These are raw fooders that have taken a two-week program somewhere are are now out to save the world. With less than a year of experience they come out with their first book. I applaud those who have purity of motivation, but unfortunately, many have jumped on the bandwagon because they see this as a "good business opportunity." Interest in raw food is up four-fold in the last two years, it's the #2 diet and Hollywood, and it's often "sexy" to the media.

Sometimes there appears to be a new "insight" or "revelation" in the work of these newcomers, but opinions are merely empty words until they are backed up by solid evidence.

I try to read the works and newsletters of all raw fooders, but the more I see blatant self-promotion the more I question their motives and the validity of their writings. So many, many times their "original work" tends to be composed of re-worked material originally developed by the people named above. We have an ironic saying in academia - "stealing from one person is plagiarism, stealing from two or more is research." The point is, true research is more than just rewording the works of others.

Anybody that emails me more than once a month about their "exciting, revolutionary" new book, or video, or discovery, is suspect. Those that email me three times a week tend to be shameless self-promoters, rewriting and reworking the material of others.

If you want to find out if something is true, first ask yourself if it's in harmony with the laws of nature? If yes, there's a one-third probability that it's true. Then ask if it's in harmony with eight thousand years of wisdom, with all the highest teachings of the great spiritual giants, philosophers and scientists. If yes, there's a two-thirds probability that it's true. Then ask yourself if it's in harmony with your inner intuition. This inner intuition is another avenue to truth (see Power vs. Force), and if it's in harmony with your intuition also, then you can be sure that it is true.

"Gray are all the theories, but green is the tree of life." - Goethe

How do you find a good doctor?

Here's Dr. Mercola's opinion of how to go about finding a good physician:

http://mb.mercola.com/QA/How-Do-You-Find-a-Good-Physician--2109.aspx.

What the first humans ate

What the First Humans Ate
by Victoria Boutenko

          Once, when I was a little girl, my father took me to an archeological site located near the Azov Sea. There, scientists were excavating the ancient Greek town of Tanais from 5th century B.C. We were surprised to discover that this ancient town was positioned so deep in the ground. During the past 25 centuries, it gradually had become covered by almost 30 feet of dirt. We had to climb down many steps to reach its narrow streets and tiny stone homes surrounded by stone fences. Tanais was so well preserved, that it was easy to imagine it full of people. I was mesmerized by my feelings of physical closeness to prehistoric life.

In addition to wandering the streets of Tanais, we were permitted to touch some newly excavated artifacts. Many small, broken, and other nonessential pieces were left at the site after they were thoroughly studied by the scientists. We found many small fragments of broken ceramic dishes, covered with curious patterns. I especially remember a very unusual looking petrified fish, which looked as if it had recently been dried. I immediately made plans to bring this 2,500 year old fish back to school with me, but as soon as I touched it with the tips of my fingers, it collapsed into powder.

          Not long ago, I found myself equally mesmerized when I read about recent archeological discoveries. The article talked about the thirteen oldest human skeletons unearthed in East Africa[1]. The scientists dated them at 3.6 million years and named them “the first family.” These hominids* had curved phalanges, or finger bones, which means the creatures were agile tree-climbers. Also, they had very thick enamel on their teeth; and their molars were large and square, similar to other creatures that chew lots of greens[2]. Scientists believe that the first humans spent the majority of their time in the branches of trees because that habitat offered much-needed protection from predators and supplied fruit and green leaves, and thus the tree-climbing adaptation developed.

          The earliest humans, known as “Australopithecus,” dwelled in East Africa about 3.6 million years ago. At that time, the land of East Africa was covered by tropical rainforest. It made sense to me that they lived in the tropics because heavy annual rainfall, high humidity, and hot temperatures year around ensured an abundance of food for all the inhabitants of the rainforest. I have heard amazing stories from people who traveled to the tropical rainforest about the countless varieties of fruits, all of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Some of these fruits even grow directly off the trunks of the trees. The variety of fruit-bearing plants in the tropical rainforest reaches almost three hundred different specimens, very few of which have been cultivated.

          Sweet fleshy fruits attract not only birds and mammals but even fish, when the fruit rolls into the water. Due to the wealth of fruit, most of the animals in the tropical rainforest live in the canopy, which is the upper part of the trees. There is so much food available up there year round that some animals never descend to explore the forest floor. (I could definitely live like that if only I could get my computer up there!)

(This is a long chapter and I cannot publish it all here. Victoria)

Copyright 2007 by Victoria Boutenko. www.rawfamily.com

Fasting making a comeback with physicians

Fasting, practiced for thousands of years as a cure for a variety of diseases, is making a comeback slowly among the practitioners of modern medicine.

Buchinger, on Germany's Lake Constance and a handful of other clinics around the world are beginning to offer fasting as one of the physical therapies and medical tourists are flocking to take advantage, according to Newsweek.

The magazine said by fasting the doctors at Buchinger mean a "minimalist diet of 300 calories per day, veggie broths and juices for two weeks to several months, accompanied by blood tests, purges and other treatments."

Director Frantoise Wilhelmi di Toledo was quoted as saying many hard-to-treat conditions, from arthritis to allergies and various skin disorders, benefit from the metabolic switch that takes place when the body starts living off its own reserves.

"Of the 2,000 guests who come to fast each year (half from southern Europe, America and the Middle East), about one third arrive with serious ailments the rest come to lose weight or cut stress," he said.

Fasting, the magazine says, has lately gotten a boost from medical research. Clinical studies in Scandinavia have shown that fasting is an effective treatment for rheumatism especially if followed by a vegetarian diet. In one study, pain and swelling came down by a third in a week and stayed that way for a year.

Read more: http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14316166.

Aquatic Therapy's Role in Recovery

There are many different ways to deal with medical conditions such as arthritis, Parkinson’s disease and fibromyalgia. Some doctors prescribe medications while others recommend physical therapy. One method that has been proven to help people deal with these conditions is the use of aquatic therapy. Therapists use water and activities that are specifically designed to enhance, restore and maintain a person’s functional abilities. This technique can be used for people with acute or chronic conditions.

After an injury, illness, or surgery, a patient may experience increased sensitivity to pain and lose some ability to bear weight on the affected area of the body. Water reduces the pull of gravity, which allows motion and functional activity to be more comfortable. Rehab pools are useful because water supports the body while reducing joint stress and providing resistance and assistance with movements. Patients can improve function and mobility at a rapid pace during the healing process. Some other benefits of aquatic therapy include improved muscle strength and cardiovascular function, reduced stress, decreased swelling, increased circulation and a higher range of motion. Increased flexibility, balance and coordination are also common results of aquatic therapy.

There are four components that make aquatic therapy unique from traditional therapies: buoyancy, heat, hydrostatic pressure and resistance. Buoyancy provides support by decreasing gravitational forces placed on weak limbs that are less able to bear weight. It lessens stress on muscles and joints, which allows a person to move more easily. Aquatic therapy is usually performed in a swim spa or heated pool, and the warm water relaxes muscles and improves the range of motion and flexibility. Hydrostatic pressure uses the water surrounding the body to help circulate blood from the legs to the heart, reducing swelling that can occur in the ankles and feet. The reduction of swelling will decrease joint tenderness while increasing the body’s range of motion. Resistance is felt in only one direction with traditional therapies, which can cause some muscles to become overdeveloped while others aren’t utilized as much as they should be. Aquatic therapy helps to improve muscle strength and balance by providing resistance in all directions.

People who have medical conditions such as muscular dystrophy or arthritis should consider aquatic therapy as an option when looking at possible treatments. It can also be used to treat repetitive stress disorder and relieve discomfort that may result from pregnancy.

- From Forrest W
aquaman910@gmail.com

Cursing Relieves Pain

I know we all heard growing up that swearing was not the polite thing to do. A new study spins that idea on it’s ear.

New research from England’s Keele University suggests it may be a good thing to cuss a bit. Apparently, their school of psychology found ripping off a few choice expletives eases pain and makes you generally feel better.

And here’s the kicker, while the soap-in-the-mouth stuff worked well for men, it worked even better for women. LOL.

Full story: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/07/14/2009-07-14_cursing_makes_you_feel_better_and_relieves_pain_research_shows.html

John Tilden Week Part 2

Tilden Suggestions for Food Combinations

Dr. John Tilden was a late 19th century and early 20th century medical doctor who turned to Natural Hygiene to help his patients recover from a wide variety of diseases.

Today we'll look at the first five of Dr. Tilden's suggestions for food combinations:

1. Do not mix starches and protein foods in the same meal.

2. Take but one kind of starch at a meal.

3. Take but one kind of protein at a meal.

4. It is better not to mix starch, fruit, and milk. The triple combination is very hard on most people, especially those with impaired digestion. Milk and fruit make a good combination; also starch and fruit.

5. If we wish to combine ideally we will not take starch and milk in the same meal. Why? Because it is a protein and starch mixture. Raw milk is an ideal food within itself, but heating or pasteurizing kills the life or vitamin element.

For a list of different types of starches and so on, see: http://chetday.com/hbprogram.html

John Tilden Part 1

The Four Tilden Rules for Health

Dr. John Tilden was a late 19th century and early 20th century medical doctor who turned to Natural Hygiene to help his patients recover from a wide variety of diseases.

This week I thought I'd share with you some of Dr. Tilden's common sense advice about diet and life and health. I've always been fond of Tilden's four rules for health, and I think you will be too.

1. Never eat unless absolutely comfortable in mind and body from the previous meal or meal time.

2. Never eat without desire and a keen relish for the plainest and simplest foods; and not then, if to do so will cause the breaking of the first rule.

3. Avoid overeating. This is best accomplished by observing the fourth rule.

4. Thoroughly masticate and insalivate all foods.

Following these four simple rules can make a big difference in how you feel. Try them out and see what you think. They're free and easy to do!

From http://chetday.com

Wellness by Natural Means

Your life can be radically redesigned by involvement in natural wellness through discipline, diet and the practices that create and maintain wellness using the fifty-year-long program established by Dr. Ann Wigmore, and now practiced in many countries.

The old sayings "You are what you eat," and by Hippocrates, "Let your food be your medicine," stands for us as guidance, and many have come to Creative Health Institute with what has been ruled incurable or terminal dis-ease and found their way back to wellness.  In our twenty-six years of conducting the program we have come to agree with Dr. Ann that there are no incurable diseases, just some incurable people.

We have had trainees sponsored by hospitals do the three month program in search of ways of introducing elements of Living Foods Nutrition into hospital settings.  Indeed, catching the truth of our time, and being involved in facilitating it is imperative, if we ae to check the disease patterns, extant.  What everyone learns in alternative connections is what is on the leading edge of change.

The eroding paradigm and cultural collapse is seen by all thinking people and institutions as very serious.

We can exploit this or concentrate on helping to correct the erosion.

Wonderful to say that concerned people in positions of influence are joining "The Way, the Truth, and the Life" that works for improvement in Wellness by Natural means.

Think about it.

Don Haughey, co-Founder
Creative Health Institute

The Key to Good Health

THE KNOW IT ALL KEY TO GOOD HEALTH
By Elizabeth Neumaier

pH or the presence of hydrogen is one of the best measures of your health. It is also a very easy tool you can use yourself to test the presence of minerals in the body. Testing your pH will show how fast or slow your metabolism is running at a cellular level before symptoms appear. This includes how fast or slow food is utilized, waste is eliminated, hormones do their jobs or lymph is functioning to fight illness. It is a barometer to forecast future health ailments rather than a lab test that shows the body in the present. So you can see it is an incredibly important tool to read how well you body systems are functioning.

Good pH is 6.2 - 6.6 for urine or saliva. The lower your numbers the faster you are running internally and the more acid you are. When you are more acidic enzymes do not work as well, cells do not function properly allowing disease to take hold. Low acid numbers over a long period of time can lead to nervousness, strokes, high blood pressure, colitis or bloating or diarrhea, yeast infections, liver problems and all kinds of nasties. Vitamin C, Iron and B12 are low. What causes your levels to go high? Three things and three things only, diet (meat and grains), negative emotions (now that’s a biggy) and the biggest stress. Movement also causes acid, but is easily eliminated through respiration. When your body is more acid minerals are stripped to help alkalize this environment. The first mineral to go is sodium then calcium, magnesium and potassium. Can you get an idea of where osteoporosis comes from? Our bones are stripped of calcium to balance our high acid diets of grains and animal products. Literally holes form in our bones from calcium depletion due to your bodies desperate need to alkalize due to diet and life style.

Slightly higher pH numbers, over 6.6, are OK if you really are on a diet of 80% fruits and veggies. If you have not been on a diet like this then the high numbers mean pretty much all your minerals are gone and your body is using ammonia to alkalize itself. All body systems have slowed way down and are struggling to divert disaster. That’s why nursing homes have that strong smell of urine, it’s the ammonia. Most of the residents there have used up all their minerals, as seen by the dementia and disfigured bone structure.

You can test yourself for pH levels very easily. Most pharmacies carry pH test strips, ask the pharmacist. Pee on a strip first thing in the morning. After 2am is first thing in the morning. In other words if you wake up at 3am to go to the bathroom, check your pH then. The color the strip turns can be matched to a chart that will give you your pH number. There are some others ways to test your pH over a series of days too. If you are interested in this get Fell’s Official Guide to Health and Wellness. This is an excellent and easy book to learn all about pH. What is also fun is to test the pH of fluids you drink. Stick a strip in you green tea, distilled water or god forbid, coffee and look at the color that registers. It’s quite eye opening.

You can also test your saliva pH, but this is slightly more complicated and needs the guidance of a naturopath or get Fell’s book.  There are also many other connections to pH and heath not discussed here.  Email me if you have questions.

There are some simple, but not easy, ways to remedy bad readings. Meditation, prayer, laughter and a positive outlook help enormously. Slow your life down, have fun, help someone in need. Eat 80% fruits and veggies, millet is the only grain that is alkaline. Retest you pH each week and if you gradually start these changes, you will gradually see improvement. If you go off the program you will see your pH start to slide.

That’s it. Sounds too simple doesn’t it? Putting these changes into action is a life time commitment. Start one day at a time. Maybe tomorrow have no grains or animal products for lunch and tell a joke, or help an animal or person in need. You are on the road to a better and healthier life already

You are smart enough to learn how to become free of illness.

Remember sickness is not a natural byproduct of life.

Hopeful signs, by Donald O. Haughey

Hopeful Signs
by Donald Haughey, founder of CHI in 1976

Many of man’s enterprises undertaken to do the good work of God are threatened by the lack of forthright action on the part of those it is supposed to serve. The will and purpose of man is more and more diluted by increased substance abuse. Indeed, drugs of choice and ever more toxic medical drugs, the polluting of the food supply by the addictions to salt, sugar and fats in concentrated forms, and the de-vitalization of formulated processing for profit are all bearing down on us.

The grass roots wisdom that is causing the swing back to raw organic purity is hopeful and making a difference. In wisdom and/or desperation – “the way of the truth and the life” - people are seeking out prevention and cures for the ills of man.

Now we do well to seek out what the wise among us are doing to learn and practice the ways of not only survival but the ways of perfecting our being. Advice and guidance is not only available but taught by those dedicated to showing forth the ways of wellness and the perfection of our Spiritual Being. Creative Health Institute stands at the leading edge.

Donald O. Haughey
Hodunk, Michigan

One way to adapt to long term as a raw food vegetarian is to live with common sense

By Donald O. Haughey, founder of Creative Health Institute

One way to adapt to long term as a raw food vegetarian is to live with common sense.  Excessive will power based on the supposed knowledge we acquire can make life miserable and create physical, mental, emotional and spiritual imbalance that throws off the body, blood, and brain chemistry.

Dr. Ann Wigmore gave me the basis of the lifestyle that saved my life.  I experimented with her position and that of Arnold Ehrets and that of Dr. Christopher, Dr. Jenson and others and never found better simple advice than hers.

Fortunately, kinesiology let me tap into body, mind, and spirit wisdom to test what is good, bad, and in between.

My favorite song became, “You’ve got to ac-cen--tuate the positive, e-lim---inate the negative.”

Don O. Haughey
Founder, Creative Health Institute
Hodunk, MI

Drugs and doctors may be the leading cause of death in the US

by Joseph Mercola, D.O.
www.mercola.com

At one time the main title of my Web site read: Doctors are the Third leading Cause of Death.

Many of you reading this have read or seen this in many places other than my Web site. This article, available on my home page, was widely circulated on the Internet and was one of the reasons why my Web site was initially popular.

What you may not realize is that I am the one who made this analysis and popularized it. The original study was published by Dr. Starfield, a full professor of public health at the most prestigious hospital in the United States, Johns Hopkins. Her study never had the headline in it, but instead listed the published research documenting the various causes of deaths that doctors contributed to.

I simply added them all up and compared them to cardiovascular diseases and cancer and came up with the above headline, which was widely circulated on the Internet.

Interestingly, when I contacted Dr. Starfield by e-mail she disagreed with the headline I had come up with. She did not feel that doctors were the third leading cause of death, but thought they were the number one cause of death because of their failure to inform their patients about the truth of health.

Now this might be a bit too harsh as even if people understand health truth they have freedom of choice and can choose to use sugar, soda and drugs (legal and illegal) to compromise their health and longevity.

However, JAMA actually published a study a year earlier that could support that doctors may be the leading cause of death in the United States.

This finding is more of a speculation though, so below I have provided some other studies to support this assertion.

    * In 1994, an estimated 2,216,000 (1,721,000 to 2,711,000) hospitalized patients had serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and 106,000 (76,000 to 137,000) had fatal ADRs, making these reactions between the fourth and sixth leading cause of death.

    * Fatal ADRs accounted for 0.32 percent (95 percent confidence interval (CI), 0.23 percent to 0.41 percent) of hospitalized patients. JAMA April 15, 1998;279(15):1200-5 BMC Nephrol. December 22, 2003, Medication-related problems (MRP) continue to occur at a high rate in ambulatory hemodialysis (HD) patients.

·         Medication-dosing problems (33.5 percent), adverse drug reactions (20.7 percent), and an indication that was not currently being treated (13.5 percent) were the most common MRP.

·         5,373 medication orders were reviewed and a MRP was identified every 15.2 medication exposures. Nurs Times. December 9-15, 2003;99(49):24-5.

    * In 2002, 16,176 adverse drug reaction reports were received, of which 67 percent related to reactions categorized as 'serious.' Pharm World Sci. December, 2003;25(6):264-8.

·         Medication administration errors (MAEs) were observed in two departments of a hospital for 20 days.

·         The medication administration error rate was 14.9 percent. Dose errors were the most frequent (41 percent) errors, followed by wrong time (26 percent) and wrong rate errors. Ten percent of errors were estimated as potentially life-threatening, 26 percent potentially significant and 64 percent potentially minor.

Serious and Fatal Drug Reactions in US Hospitals
    * Drug-related morbidity and mortality have been estimated to cost more that $136 billion a year in United States. These estimates are higher than the total cost of cardiovascular care or diabetes care in the United States. A major component of these costs is adverse drug reactions (ADE). Healthsentinel.com

    * The numbers of deaths reported in data sets varied 34-fold and were up to several 100-fold less than values based on extrapolations of surveillance programs. Am J Med August 1, 2000;109(2):122-30

    * About 0.05 percent of all hospital admissions were certainly or probably drug-related.

    * Incidence figures based on death certificates only may seriously underestimate the true incidence of fatal adverse drug reactions. Eur J Clin Pharmacol October, 2002;58(7):479-82

    * In one study of 200 patients, ADRs may have contributed to the deaths of two (one percent) patients. J Clin Pharm Ther October, 2000;25(5):355-61

    * In a survey of over 28,000 patients, ADRs were considered to be the cause of 3.4 percent of hospital admissions. Of these, 187 ADRs were coded as severe. Gastrointestinal complaints (19 percent) represented the most common events, followed by metabolic and hemorrhagic complications (nine percent). The drugs most frequently responsible for these ADRs were diuretics, calcium channel blockers, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and digoxin. J Am Geriatr Soc December, 2002;50(12):1962-8

Dr. Mercola's Comment
As health reporter Nick Regush said last year:

"There is no way to be nice about this. There is no point in raising false hopes. There is no treatment or vaccine in sight. There is no miracle breakthrough on the horizon.

Medicine, as we know it, is dying. It's entering a terminal phase.

What began as an acute illness reached the chronic stage about a decade ago and progression toward death has been remarkably swift and well beyond anything one could have predicted.

The disease is caused by conflict of interest, tainted research, greed for big bucks, pretentious doctors and scientists, lying, cheating, invasion by the morally bankrupt marketing automatons of the drug industry, derelict politicians and federal and state regulators - all seasoned with huge doses of self-importance and foul odor."

Currently, the United States spends about 1.5 trillion dollars for healthcare, and the projections are that it will double in less than 10 years.

The sad tragedy is that we are spending all of this money on disease management focused on drugs and surgery, and our return on this investment is profoundly poor. More and more people do not have the energy they need to get through the day while millions of others are suffering with painful crippling diseases because they have violated basic health principles.

Often, negative health and lifestyle choices are made because of a lack of knowledge, and it's my passion to increase the public's awareness of the health tragedies facing the nation. I will give you, the consumer, the tools to become a major force for good health and to alleviate disease and suffering.

Thanks to Dr. Mercola and www.Mercola.com for permission to use this article.

-- Thanks also go to Pam Davis for bringing this article to our attention.

How young is your brain?

Try this self-test from the RealAge doctors.

Stand on one leg and close your eyes. The longer you can stand without losing your balance, the younger your brain is -- 15 seconds is very good if you are 45 or older. Have someone spot you if there's any chance you might not recover your equilibrium in time to avoid a spill: http://www.realage.com/news_features/tip.aspx?v=1&cid=16879.

The most important discipline for achieving perfect health

The Most Important Discipline for Achieving Perfect Health
By Michael Snyder
Copyright 2005 by TheRawDiet.com; reprinted with permission

The absolute best way to transition to raw foods is through fresh, raw juices. Some people may have trouble digesting the fiber in plant foods. If your previous diet was low in fiber, then suddenly increasing the fiber could be a big shock to your digestive system. The whole point of juicing is to remove the fiber. The nutrients are immediately absorbed and assimilated into the body.

A common problem people may have is that they don't have enough mineral salts in their system, which are essential for digesting plant fiber. Bernard Jensen found that the mineral most of his patients were low in is the sodium salts. We need both potassium salts and sodium salts for proper digestion of raw plant foods. Potassium salts are easy to find in most plants. The sodium salts are a little harder to find, and many people are deficient in them. Celery is high in sodium electrolyte minerals, and this is why I recommend celery as the foundation of juices.

Get started with a discipline of drinking green juices. You could either make them yourself, or purchase them at your local juice bar. My favorite green juice recipe is made daily at Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida. The Hippocrates green juice is made with one quarter celery, one quarter cucumber, and one half sunflower green sprouts. This drink provides carbohydrates, electrolyte minerals, enzymes, chlorophyll, sodium salts, fats, and it contains more protein than most Americans receive in two days. You could add in a little carrot juice to sweeten it up, or substitute other leafy greens for the sunflower greens.

The next most important juice is wheatgrass. I can't say enough good things about this beverage! It is the food highest in chlorophyll (70% chlorophyll), it contains essential amino acids, essential fats, and it may contain up to 92 minerals. It is a powerful detoxifier, it alkalinizes the body, it's a blood and liver cleanser, and it's great for healthy skin and hair.

Wheatgrass is simple and inexpensive to grow. It is available at your local juice bar, but It's much cheaper to grow your own. The juice may cost $1 an ounce in the store, and it only costs about five cents an ounce when you grow your own. The arithmetic screams loudly, 'Grow your own!'

You only need between 2 to 4 ounces of wheatgrass juice per day. I recommend chewing the juice for two minutes to assist in digesting the complex carbohydrates. Chewing the juice allows the nutrients to be absorbed under the tongue and helps strengthen the teeth. You could also chew the grass, but don't swallow because grass fiber is indigestible.

Here is an excellent article, "The Benefits of Wheatgrass Juice" by Dr. Ann Wigmore: http://www.hippocratesinst.org/wheatgrass.html

Another juice I really love is watermelon juice. The secret with the watermelon is to juice the rind and seeds along with the fruit. The rind is where you'll find most of the minerals and sodium. The watermelon is an excellent food for cleaning out the kidneys. It is a diuretic and disinfectant. This is the perfect thirst quencher on a hot summer day!

I highly recommend a juice blend called the lemon ginger blast. This recipe is similar to the famous Master Cleanser lemonade drink made popular by Stanley Burroughs. Lou Corona, a holistic health educator, taught me this recipe. He has been eating a 100% raw and living foods diet for over 30 years. To make this, you juice a couple apples, a lemon, a half-inch to an inch of ginger root, and throw in a pinch of cayenne pepper powder. I use the hottest cayenne pepper I can find. I enjoy the blast first thing in the morning, and always drink it on an empty stomach.

Lou's Lemon-Ginger Blast recipe is on his website: http://mywebpage.netscape.com/angelaortiz2u/LemonGingerBlast.html

This drink is an excellent super tonic providing numerous health benefits. The lemon juice is one of the best foods for restoring alkalinity to the body. Our body's pH must be slightly alkaline at 7.4, and lemon juice is one of the most alkaline foods available.

Cayenne pepper and ginger are the best foods for improving blood circulation, they support and aid the digestive and immune systems, and they really get the energy moving through the body. They help remove any mucous or blockages that are preventing proper circulation. The apple sweetens up the drink and provides valuable vitamins and minerals.

Basically, you can and should juice most produce in the market.

One food group that is often overlooked is the root vegetable. The root vegetables make excellent juices and contain many unique vitamins and minerals. The root vegetables include potatoes, yams, beets, carrots, turnips, parsnips, burdock root, and celeriac (a.k.a. celery root) among others. (Don't forget to juice the beet greens!)

Some foods don't juice well and should be avoided. For example, foods such as bananas, dates, and strawberries don't contain much juice. I don't recommend juicing rhubarb or buckwheat green sprouts, they contain some toxins that are concentrated in the juices.

One of the best books ever published on the subject of juices is "Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices" by Dr. Norman Walker. You must read this book! All of Dr. Walker's books are essential reading for health seekers. Dr. Walker was a raw foodist who lived to be 114 years old in perfect health. He drank live fruit and vegetable juices on a daily basis.

Fresh living juice will provide you with great health benefits. They are without a doubt the best tool available for maintaining and restoring health.

You'll discover more about the benefits of living foods in Michael Snyder's free e-newsletter, "The Health Evolution" at http://www.TheRawDiet.com.

The know-it-all key to good health

By Elizabeth Neumaier

pH, or potential Hydrogen, is one of the best measures of your health. It is also a very easy tool you can use yourself to test the presence of minerals in the body. Testing your pH will show how fast or slow your metabolism is running at a cellular level before symptoms appear. This includes how fast or slow food is utilized, waste is eliminated, hormones do their jobs or lymph is functioning to fight illness. It is a barometer to forecast future health ailments rather than a lab test that shows the body in the present. So you can see it is an incredibly important tool to read how well you body systems are functioning.

Good pH is 6.2 – 6.6 for urine or saliva. The lower your numbers the faster you are running internally and the more acid you are. When you are more acidic enzymes do not work as well and cells do not function properly, allowing disease to take hold. Low acid numbers over a long period of time can lead to nervousness, strokes, high blood pressure, colitis or bloating, diarrhea, yeast infections, liver problems and all kinds of nasties. Vitamin C, Iron and B12 are low.

What causes your levels to lower? Three things - diet (meats and grains), negative emotions (now that’s a biggy) and the greatest -- stress. Movement also causes acid, but is easily eliminated through respiration. When your body is more acid minerals are stripped to help alkalize this environment. The first mineral to go is sodium, then calcium, magnesium and potassium. Can you get an idea of where osteoporosis comes from? Our bones are stripped of calcium to balance our high acid diets of grains and animal products. Holes actually form in our bones from calcium depletion due to your body’s desperate need to alkalize, due to diet and lifestyle.

Slightly higher pH numbers, over 6.6, are OK if you really are on a diet of 80% fruits and veggies. If you have not been on a diet like this then the high numbers mean pretty much all your minerals are gone and your body is using ammonia to alkalize itself. All body systems have slowed way down and are struggling to divert disaster. That’s why nursing homes have that strong smell of urine -- it’s ammonia. Most of the residents have used up all their minerals, as seen by their dementia and disfigured bone structures.

You can test yourself for pH levels very easily. Most pharmacies carry pH test strips - ask the pharmacist. Pee on a strip first thing in the morning. Any time after 2 am is first thing in the morning. In other words if you wake up at 3 am to go to the bathroom, check your pH then. The color the strip turns can be matched to a chart that will give you your pH number. There are some other ways to test your pH over a series of days, too. If you are interested in this get Fell’s Official Guide to Health and Wellness. This is an excellent and easy book to learn all about pH. What is also fun is to test the pH of fluids you drink. Stick a strip in your green tea, distilled water or, God forbid, coffee, and look at the color that registers. It’s quite eye opening.

You can also test your saliva pH, but this is slightly more complicated and needs the guidance of a naturopath, or get Fell’s book.  There are also many other connections to pH and health not discussed here.  Email me if you have questions.

There are some simple, but not easy, ways to remedy bad readings. Meditation, prayer, laughter and a positive outlook help enormously. Slow your life down, have fun, help someone in need. Eat 80% fruits and veggies, millet is the only grain that is alkaline. Retest you pH each week and if you gradually start these changes, you will gradually see improvement. If you go off the program you will see your pH start to slide.

That’s it. Sounds too simple doesn’t it? Putting these changes into action is a lifetime commitment. Start one day at a time. Maybe tomorrow have no grains or animal products for lunch and tell a joke, or help an animal or person in need. You are on the road to a better and healthier life already.

You are smart enough to learn how to become free of illness.

Remember -- sickness is not a natural byproduct of life.

You can contact Libby at e.neumaier@worldnet.att.net. We always appreciate her articles and advice.

The key to self-healing is high energy nourishment

The Key to Self-Healing is High Energy Nourishment! (Energy Soup)
-- from www.chiDiet.com, Lesson 6

Many easy-to-digest foods are consumed in the Living Foods Program. Most North Americans have low hydrochloric acid, which will increase as we eat Living Foods. By blending Living Foods, enzymes and other nutrients are easier for the body to assimilate. Energy Soup gives our cells fuel to nourish, which provides for self-healing in the quickest possible way. Also, it's easy to prepare.

Energy Soup is best taken about 5 times per day in small amounts (one cup or less per serving). Prepared with Rejuvelac, it's good for 2 days. You can add grated fruit or vegetables. Fruits are cleansers and greens are healers. Chewing is important so the food mixes with saliva and the body can better begin the digestive process. We suggest that you eat some energy soup most days for the first year of your rejuvenation.

There are many recipes for Energy Soup. If you are diabetic, don't add beets initially. Most energy soup recipes consist of:

1) Rejuvelac, or lemon and water, and sea vegetables
2) un-sweet fruit (eg. tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet pepper) or squash
3) sweet fruit
4) celery - for salt / potassium
5) greens
6) avocado (or banana, or sesame seeds, or sunflower seeds) - to thicken
7) shredded fruit, veggies or dehydrated soup chunks - to chew

Have some leftover energy soup? Dehydrate it to use as snack food. Or add flax seeds and seasonings to make dehydrated crackers.

Remember: If we eat food without chewing properly (perhaps because of inadequate teeth), if we over-drink or over-worry, we interfere with digestion. Energy soup helps us to avoid these problems by "pre-chewing" or "pre-digesting" the food for us! See "Why Chew?" in Lesson 1 for more information.

[About a month before Victoria's lecture about Green Smoothies I'd started eating more energy soup, and cut back my fruit consumption. Like Victoria, I'd noticed that I'd reached a health and weight plateau, but as soon as I cut back on fruits and started eating more greens, my health started improving even more. What I personally appreciated from Victoria's latest video (Green Smoothie Revolution) is the idea of adding mangos, papayas, bananas and other sweet fruits to the Energy Soup (Green Smoothie), because I admit I was getting bored with apples and pears as sweeteners. -- Jim Carey.]

Eat your pain away

Eat Your Pain Away!
by Jackie Graff

If you have fibromyalgia, the solution to your pain, fatigue, sleep problems, brain fog, headaches and other common symptoms can be as close as your kitchen!

Eight years ago I was obese, had joint pains, fatigue, depression, high blood pressure, chronic headaches, allergies, memory and concentration problems, hot flashes, and sleep problems. Although I was never diagnosed with fibromyalgia, I think that I was just a pizza, cookie, or ice cream cone away from this diagnosis. All of these conditions or symptoms have gone away since I started eating a diet of raw food eight years ago.

I've been a nurse for 37 years. I know many individuals suffering with fibromyalgia who relieved their symptoms and returned to a functional life by changing their diet. How does it work?

Let's look at the likely causes of this devastating chronic illness. Then I'll show you how a diet of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds can reduce the inflammation and provide nutrients to heal the body.

Inflammation

As scientists delve into the causes of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, asthma, overlapping conditions of fibromyalgia and arthritis, they have started to see links between these disorders and an immunological defense mechanism called inflammation, which is a lifesaver most of the time. Doctors are finding evidence that inflammation plays a greater role in chronic diseases than they thought.

One of the most potent weapons produced by inflammatory cells are free radicals. These free radicals destroy or damage anything that crosses their path. There are antioxidants in foods that can neutralize these free radicals and heal the body with phytonutrients. There are hundreds of phytonutrients, but the benefits of the following have been well researched:

Flavonoids found in apples, cranberries, strawberries, and grapes eliminate carcinogens, inhibit blood clots, and guard against heart disease and inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.

Carotenoids found in carrots, citrus fruits, tomatoes, peppers, dark leafy greens, corn, pumpkin, and beets are also excellent for combating inflammatory conditions. Lycopene is a type of carotenoid that can prevent skin and lung cancer. Luten, another carotenoid, can reduce the risk of blindness or macular degeneration.

Turpenes found in citrus, spinach, and tomatoes eliminate cancer-causing free radicals and reduce blood levels of LDL cholesterol, lowering heart- disease risk.

Allyl sulfides found in garlic, chives, leeks, and onions reduce blood cholesterol and help the liver eliminate cancer-causing free radicals. They also have antibacterial properties.

Isothiocyanates found in cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, bok choy, kale, turnips, mustard greens, and chard trigger enzymes that suppress cancer- related DNA damage.

Why does a diet of raw food decrease inflammation?

When cooked food is eaten, leucocytosis occurs. Individuals experience a rise in the white blood count, the body's natural immune response. Check your temperature before eating and again 30-40 minutes after eating a meal of cooked food, as the immune system goes into overdrive. This constant defense mechanism of the body has been proven to cause inflammation to many organs of the body. Many people eating a junk food diet have a chronic low-grade temperature.

A raw food diet consists of organic uncooked fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. It is more desirable to eat them uncooked because heating these foods above 110 destroys most vitamins and all of the enzymes, and deranges the caloric nutrients (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates).

All fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds contain varying amounts of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Calories are not changed by heat, but fats are transformed to trans fatty acids. Carbohydrates are caramelized, and proteins, which are made up of amino acids, are coagulated - making them difficult to digest and assimilate. The immune system then has to treat them as foreign invaders. This can exhaust the immune system.

The Body Can Heal Itself

The body can heal itself. A raw food diet gives the body nutrition, but not food that's difficult to digest and assimilate, which can cause problems or toxicity. Physicians agree that most chronic diseases can be prevented, overcome or improved by a change in the diet.

The more raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds added to the diet, the healthier the person will become. Cooked foods have low nutrients in comparison to the calories they contain. Raw food is high in nutrients and enzymes compared to the calories.

A raw food diet eliminates items such as pasta, potatoes, bread, sugar, unhealthy fats, meats, and dairy. When I have gone back to eating cooked food, many of my symptoms recurred. I was addicted to cooked food, but now I am addicted to feeling good and being able to live life to the fullest. It is my passion to teach as many people as possible the benefits of a raw food diet.

There are some side affects to the raw food diet…… such as weight loss, more energy, smoother, glowing, more youthful skin and shinier hair. This lifestyle also reverses aging: eyesight improves, blood pressure drops, sinus problems and snoring disappear, digestive problems go away, breast lumps disappear, blood sugar normalizes, depression lifts, aches and pains are diminished or disappear, and thinking becomes clearer.

I know, because I experienced all these changes after going on a diet of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. These are good side effects; compare them to some of the bad side affects of medications.

How do you establish a raw food diet?

First, get rid of all processed junk food in your diet. Eliminate sugar and trans fatty acids, colas, caffeine, alcohol and preservatives. Eat only whole foods. Add as many uncooked fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds as possible to your diet. It can be as simple as eating fruit and salads. To prevent boredom and a return to cooked foods, I developed many recipes that can substitute for just about every cooked food. You can have raw pie, cake, cookies, nut loaf, pizza, lasagna, tacos, and many other delicious recipes all made with raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

The following are quick and easy ways to get more raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds into your diet:

Blend your favorite fruits together for a breakfast fruit smoothie
Eat fruit for breakfast
Blend a bunch of your favorite vegetables for a lunch vegetable smoothie or soup
Eat a big salad for lunch
Make salad dressing from a lemon and olive or flax oil
Take a bunch of your favorite vegetables, fresh fruit, a mix of organic raisins, dates, figs, and apricots, or a mix of raw nuts and seeds with you for snacks on the go
Drink plenty of water
Drink a fresh (not pasteurized) vegetable juice every day

The more raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds you add to your diet, the better you will feel. Some may think this is too restrictive. But being sick with a chronic, debilitating disease like fibromyalgia is more restrictive.

Go to the market and eat your way back to health!

NOTE: Consult with your doctor before initiating any dietary changes.

Jackie Graff, RN, has 37 years of experience in patient care and education. She is a gourmet living foods chef, educator, health consultant, and a 100% live foodist. She opened the country's first raw food café, learning center and organic market in June 2002 in Atlanta. In 2003, she established Sprout Raw Food, to provide education to people interested in the raw food lifestyle. Jackie is currently working on a comprehensive raw food lifestyle and recipe book to be published later this year. We'd love to hear how you manage your fibromyalgia symptoms and what kinds of accommodations you have made for FM in your life. If you have a story you'd like to submit to “In My Own Words,” email it to edeffner@fmaware.org and editor@chidiet.com.

Peace and blessings to all of you,

Jackie & Gideon Graff
Sprout Raw Food
1085 Lake Charles Drive
Roswell, GA 30075
(770) 992-9218
info@sproutrawfood.org
www.sproutrawfood.org

More sleep for better health and weight loss

Trying to lose weight? According to a new study, there's a simple way to improve your chances that your diet will be successful. You don't have to purchase anything, and you don't have to take any prescriptions or exotic supplements. And add this to the bargain: you might also reduce your risk of a disability later in life.

Sound too good to be true? Well it is. Because in order to get this weight-loss benefit you'll be required to do something far more difficult than shell out a few dollars: You'll have to discipline yourself to get more sleep.

I don't believe I know anyone who's getting enough sleep. I don't. My husband doesn't. My friends, family, colleagues - none of them seem to get enough sleep on a regular basis. Most of us are too rushed and too busy to make sure we get seven to eight hours per night, which is considered ideal for most people.

By some estimates, Americans average about six hours per night. That may be enough for some. But if you want to help make your diet work, you'll probably need more than that, according to a study from Columbia University, presented at the annual scientific meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO).

Researchers used almost 10 years of data collected on nearly 18,000 subjects who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES); a study that gathered information on general dietary and health habits. After accounting for other factors that contribute to obesity, the Columbia team reported these estimates:

* Less than four hours of sleep per night increases obesity risk by 73 percent, compared to subjects who slept seven to nine hours each night
* An average of five hours of sleep per night increases obesity risk by 50 percent
* An average of six hours of sleep per night increases obesity risk by 23 percent

The researchers believe that body chemistry might explain the link between sleep deprivation and obesity. A lack of sleep increases grehlin, a hormone that sends a hunger signal to the brain. At the same time, the level of a protein called leptin drops. Leptin helps suppress appetite, so when the level is low, appetite increases. Combine too much grehlin and too little leptin, and you've set the stage for an intake of too many calories.

For those diligent souls who find a way to reduce their waking hours and get more sleep, a reduced risk of obesity is just part of the reward. Because if body weight is controlled - especially abdominal fat - simple daily tasks may be more manageable in later years.

In another study presented at the NAASO annual meeting, researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center demonstrated how abdominal fat may play a role in disability among the elderly. More than 9,000 subjects were measured for waist-to-hip ratio, weight and height. Nine years later these measurements were taken again. At that time the subjects also answered questionnaires about their ability to perform typical daily activities such as household chores, cooking, dressing, etc.

The researchers found that subjects whose abdominal fat increased over the follow-up period were less able to adequately care for themselves and complete the daily tasks most of us take for granted.

Of course, this is only one drawback to out-of-control abdominal fat. Of more concern is the development of metabolic syndrome, for which abdominal fat is one of the key symptoms. As mentioned in previous newsletters, when an expanding waistline is combined with high blood pressure and elevated levels of triglycerides and C-reactive protein, risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes rises sharply.

I'm not suggesting that getting a little more sleep each night is all it will take to prevent the development of abdominal fat or metabolic syndrome.

But when we connect these dots, and then connect others - such as daily exercise and a balanced diet free of refined simple carbohydrates - a picture of good health emerges.

- Our thanks to Health Sciences Institute at www.hsibaltimore.com, and Larry Meggs for bringing this article to our attention.

An interview with David Wolfe

Author of Eating for Beauty

Q: How long have you been on a raw-food diet?
David: I cut out meat and dairy completely about 7 years ago and I've been a raw-foodist for more than 3 years now.

Q: What is a raw-food diet?<
David: A raw-food diet is a natural diet. Every single natural organism on the planet, except man, eats exclusively raw foods. No free-living creature ever tampers with its food. Some people consider this diet the next step past a vegetarian or vegan diet, but it really transcends diets. It is simply the natural way to nourish your body.

Q: But I feel healthy right now. Why do I need to get into a raw-food diet?
David: Do you ever suffer from any colds, fevers, headaches, body pains, allergies, etc.? These symptoms, which are considered normal by civilizations standards, are actually dangerous pathological conditions caused by eating cooked food. How many animals do you see blowing their noses? How many primates do you see coughing their lungs out? People think they are healthy, but they have never experienced Real Health.

Q: What is wrong with cooked food?
David: Cooked food is dead food. You cannot revitalize living cells with dead food. Cooking destroys the vitamins and minerals in your food. Isn't that obvious? Fire destroys! Cooked food eventually clogs up your body, beginning with your large intestine or colon. It damages and irritates all your internal organs. It causes you to degenerate prematurely and it creates diseases artificially. All the diseases of civilization - cancer, heart disease, diabetes - are all directly attributable to the consumption of cooked food.

You can visit David Wolfe's website at http://www.DavidWolfe.com

Five Healthy Choices

Many factors play a part in determining if your cholesterol levels are healthy. You have little control over some of these factors, such as how old you are, whether you're male or female, or whether you have a family history of high cholesterol. But other factors, like what you eat, how much you weigh, how active you are, and even how much alcohol you drink and how you handle stress, can very much influence your cholesterol levels, and you have the option of working toward reducing their impact.

Here are five healthy choices you can make right now to help manage your cholesterol levels.

1. Maintain a Healthy Body Weight
Excess weight tends to increase your LDL ("bad" cholesterol) level. If you are overweight and have high LDL cholesterol, losing weight may help you lower it. Weight loss also helps lower triglycerides and raise HDL ("good" cholesterol) levels. Maintaining a healthy weight is especially important for people who have additional health factors that increase heart disease risk, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Maintaining your weight and body mass index at a desirable level can make your RealAge as much as 6 years younger.

2. Stay Active
Regular physical activity may lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol, helping reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke. It can also help you lose weight if you are overweight, which may provide additional benefits to your heart. Please check with you doctor before starting an exercise program, especially if you've been inactive or have heart or other health problems. Need a quick, easy, and effective exercise plan? Try the RealAge 20-Minute Workout.

3. Kick Out Saturated Fats
Saturated fats and trans fats that increase cholesterol may have a negative effect on your heart. Learn how to find these fats on nutrition labels.

Trans fats are found in baked goods, such as cakes and pastries, and in fried foods. Saturated fat and dietary cholesterol are commonly found in foods of animal origin. Meat, egg yolks, whole-milk dairy products, butter, and lard are particularly high in saturated fat. However, saturated fat is also found in some plant-based items, such as cottonseed oil, coconut oil, and palm kernel oil.

Reducing your intake of these foods or replacing them with lower-fat alternatives can help improve your cholesterol levels. Read this article to learn some healthful substitution options.

4. Limit Your Alcohol Intake
Although moderate alcohol intake may increase HDL cholesterol, there are risks to drinking too much. It can damage the liver and heart muscle, lead to high blood pressure, and raise triglycerides. In general, women should have no more than one drink per day; men should limit themselves to no more than two drinks per day.

5. Take Time to Relax
In several small studies, stress has been shown to raise blood cholesterol levels over the long-term. One way that stress may do this is by affecting your habits. For example, when some people are under stress, they do not take time to eat healthful meals. Indulging in comfort foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol can contribute to higher levels of blood cholesterol. Try these relaxation strategies when you’re feeling stressed.

Although you can't control the way your genes affect your risk for heart disease, you can control other factors, such as your diet. So focus on what you can do for your heart -- eat right, stay active, and maintain a healthy weight.

From www.RealAge.com

Awaken to One Thing, Awaken to All

An interesting thing happened on the way to being Raw. Once I began questioning the Standard American Diet (SAD), I began to question everything:
-------------------

The "New" Economic Bailout Plan:

What we are dealing with is the most drastic curtailment in public spending in American history, leading to social havoc and the potential impoverishment of millions of people. 

The Obama promise largely serves the interests of Wall Street, the defence contractors and the oil conglomerates. In turn, the Bush-Obama bank "bailouts" are leading America into a spiralling public debt crisis. The economic and social dislocations are potentially devastating. 

Obama's budget submitted to Congress on February 26, 2009 envisages outlays for the 2010 fiscal year (commencing October 1st 2009) of $3.94 trillion, an increase of 32 percent. Total government revenues for the 2010 fiscal year,  according to preliminary estimates by the Bureau of Budget, are of the order of $2.381 trillion. 

The predicted budget deficit  (according to the president's speech) is of the order of $1.75 trillion, almost 12 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. 

War and Wall Street

This is a "War Budget". The austerity measures hit all major federal spending programs with the exception of:  1. Defence and the Middle East War: 2. the Wall Street bank bailout,  3. Interest payments on a staggering public debt. 

The budget diverts tax revenues into financing the war. It  legitimizes the fraudulent transfers of tax dollars to the financial elites under the "bank bailouts". 

The pattern of deficit spending is not expansionary. We are not dealing with a Keynesian style deficit, which stimulates investment and consumer demand, leading to an expansion of production and employment. 

The "bank bailouts" (involving several initiatives financed by tax dollars) constitute a component  of government expenditure. Both the Bush and Obama bank bailouts are hand outs to major financial institutions. They do not constitute a positive spending injection into the real economy. Quite the opposite. The bailouts contribute to financing the restructuring of the banking system leading to a massive concentration of wealth and centralization of banking power. 

A large part of the bailout money granted by the US government will be transferred electronically to various affiliated accounts including the hedge funds.  The largest banks in the US will also use this windfall cash to buy out their weaker competitors, thereby consolidating their position. The tendency, therefore, is towards a new wave of corporate buyouts, mergers and acquisitions in the financial services industry. 

In turn, the financial elites will use these large amounts of liquid assets (paper wealth), together with the hundreds of billions acquired through speculative trade, to buy out real economy corporations (airlines, the automobile industry, Telecoms, media, etc ), whose quoted value on the stock markets has tumbled. 

In essence, a budget deficit (combined with massive cuts in social programs) is required to fund the handouts to the banks as well as finance defence spending and the military surge in the Middle East war. Obama's budget envisages: 

For the rest of the story: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12517

Med schools failing to teach Nutrition

Almost 60 per cent of US medical schools do not meet recommendations for nutrition education for med students, producing physicians - the first port of call for nutrition advice for many consumers - who may have inadequate nutrition knowledge.

Read more: http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=67000-nutrition-obesity-education.

How meat-centered eating affects the world environment

The world is experiencing an overpopulation in farm animals. Between 1950 and 1994, global meat production increased nearly fourfold, rising faster than the human population. During this period, production rates jumped from 18 kg/person to 35.4 kg/person (Brown and Kane 1994; FAO 1997). The combined weight of the world’s 15 billion farm animals now surpasses that of the human population by more than a factor of 1.5 (Table 1).

In many countries, the affluent are eating the most meat, often at the expense of poorer people who depend on grain supplies increasingly diverted to feed livestock. In China, grain consumption by livestock has increased by a factor of five since 1978 (Gardner 1996).

Any discussion of overpopulation should surely include domesticated animals that, like people, depend on food, water, shelter, and mechanisms for heating, cooling, and transport. The many farm animals are straining resources and causing environmental harm as a result of their voracious appetites for feed crops and grazing.

More: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-30610-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html.

Why does prayer seem to work selectively?

Have you ever wondered why our prayers and thoughts can affect some things and not others? For instance we don’t seem to be able to change solid objects but we do seem to be able to affect people, food, and nature.

Scientific studies done on prayer show that it can be effective in healing disease. Traditionally people pray over or bless their food. And prayers have even been thought to influence nature as in crops, weather patterns, and the beauty of house plants.

What these things have in common and what sets them apart from solid objects is a high water content (60-90%). We’ve heard the phrase water is life. The studies done by Masaru Emoto at http://www.hado.net show that the cellular (crystal) structure of water is completely rearranged depending on what you tell it, label it, pray over it, think about it, or sing to it.

So as you get out of the shower or as you dress each day give thanks for how beautiful, strong, energetic, and healthy your body is – and I believe it will reflect your thoughts and become more so!

To Your Health,
Jinjee
http://www.TheGardenDiet.com

One More Benefit of Practicing Gratitude: It Can Help You Stay Raw!

One More Benefit of Practicing Gratitude:
It Can Help You Stay Raw!
By Victoria Boutenko

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”  - Cicero

When we adopt a raw food lifestyle, we may feel deprived of our habitual pleasures, especially when we watch others enjoying cooked delicacies that used to be our own favorites. Being hungry, angry, lonely, or depressed at that moment could add even more frustration to our feelings of misery. I would like to share with you a method that can help eliminate feelings of deprivation from your life forever.

We all have different perspectives on life. Some of us feel that life is becoming increasingly more frustrating, especially considering all the natural cataclysms and political challenges. At the same time, others view life as a totally beautiful and enjoyable experience. Initially, I thought that our opinions on the fairness of life depended on the level of our material wealth. Later, I met some poor people who were content with their lives and wealthy persons who were deeply upset about their lives. While watching many people caught in a material pursuit (including myself) I developed a strong interest in the true origins of people’s contentment in life. I came to the conclusion that there are two opposite perspectives on life: the materialistic perspective and the grateful perspective.

The materialistic approach to life guarantees discontentment and frustration, as there is no objective limit to the acquisition of personal possessions. There is no constant measure that could be marked as “enough.” At the same time, only the very basic possessions that satisfy our essential needs such as food, clothes, and shelter, can bring us a sensible feeling of contentment. The majority of the items beyond the basic needs convey very little enjoyment to their possessor.

Contrary to this, gratefulness inevitably leads us to becoming aware of the unlimited wealth that life holds for every one of us. Grateful people tend to be happier, more optimistic, more satisfied with their lives, than their less grateful counterparts. Michael E. McCullough, a professor from Florida, provides experimental evidence that gratitude leads to improvements in psychological and even physical well-being.[1]

McCullough’s groundbreaking research demonstrates that “people who place too much emphasis on materialistic pursuits – people for whom obtaining wealth and material possessions takes priority over meaningful relationships, community involvement, and spirituality – tend to be unhappy people. In general, they are dissatisfied with their lives, and tend to experience high levels of negative emotion. They are at risk for a variety of mental disorders. In contrast, grateful people – people who readily recognize the many ways in which their lives are enriched by the benevolent actions of others – tend to be extraordinarily happy. They experience high levels of positive emotion and are generally satisfied with their lives.” [2]

Being constantly exposed to a vast variety of advertisement and financial challenges, we may increase our materialistic perception of life. According to McCullough’s research, gratefulness is such a powerful approach to life that it may reduce people’s materialistic strivings. [3]

I invite you to apply this valuable information about the power of gratitude to any situation in your life. Below, I am presenting two different approaches to watching another person consuming a cooked delicacy.

The materialistic approach:

What is that heavenly smell? Oh no! It’s pizza! Look at how they are enjoying it. How come I am not allowed to enjoy it? Am I a monk? They don’t look as if they are going to die. Can it be true that I will never again in my entire life be able to partake of such a pleasant meal? Oh, how lucky these fellows are! I wish I could enjoy pizza now as they do! What torture, poor me. Oh that aroma… it brings tears to my eyes. So many of the sweetest memories come to mind, the best times. Now, they are over. E-eh.

The grateful approach:

That smell is oddly familiar. Wow, pizza. I had a lot of it in my life! More than one could dream of. Now it is time to take care of my health. Yeah, health is my priority now. All these people eating pizzas will be delighted to discover a healthy diet in their time. I am grateful that I am on a healthy diet already. I do feel a lot better. I am so glad that I will not have to be sick again. In only fifteen minutes I will be home. What do I have in my fridge? Those hass avocados I bought yesterday should be perfectly ripe today. It will only take a couple of minutes to prepare guacamole with lemon, tomatoes, and jalapeno. Uh, my mouth is watering! I have fresh romaine lettuce, tomatoes and a giant organic mango that will be so yummy and nourishing. Oh, I am looking forward to my raw dinner that will leave me feeling light and wonderful. I greatly appreciate what the raw food diet is doing for my body and mind. How fortunate I am! What a blessing life is.

To develop a grateful attitude, we need to practice one simple activity— notice the positive sides of events in our lives. The very best way to do this is to keep a gratitude journal. Buy yourself a notebook and start writing three to five grateful notes daily. I think that we should be grateful not only for the positive but also the negative experiences. Often, it is the most painful events in our lives that shape the qualities in ourselves we value most.

Practicing gratitude can make your life on a raw food diet more enjoyable and will have a positive impact on your health, your mood, and your life in general.

[1] Emmons, A., McCullough, M. The Psychology of Gratitude. Oxford University Press, USA, 2004

[2] Polak, E., McCullough, M. Is Gratitude an Alternative to Materialism? Journal of Happiness Studies, 2006, DOI 10.1007/s10902-005-3649-5

[3] McCullough, M., Kilpatrick, S., Emmons, R., Larson, D. Is gratitude a moral affect? Psychological Bulletin, 2001, #127

- thanks to Victoria Boutenko, www.RawFamily.com.

The Legacy of Dr. Ann Wigmore

The legacy that Dr. Ann Wigmore left to the world was wellness achieved by the simplest of all Physical Mental Emotional and Spiritual lifestyles. This is hard for man because, unlike the animals, we are creative, the benefits of which is life enhancement - when we do it right - but the created world of hurt when we do it wrong. Sad to say that we can create counter-productively when we are care-less, neglectful or exploitive.

Now it is each person's duty to decide whether or not they will live beneficially or destructively, contributory or depleting to the general welfare.

A measure of suffering in our lives helps us to realize first-hand what the reality of suffering is in the whole human experience. Indeed, knowing that peace, joy, harmony and love can exist, and by our hand, give us a way to see our positive contribution to the whole. Now we give full consideration to this when, and if, we have suffered enough.

My life has now extended to 80-years-old and my circumstance conducive to wellness and productive activity inspires me to write and speak out as Dr. Ann did in the diligence in her "mission." That mission was to share the simple truth of an Organic lifestyle, to choose Living Foods to sustain us biologically and Faith in God and Nature to be in "The Way, the Truth and the Life."

Those who come to Creative Health Institute get the Pure Dr. Ann direction for wellness and the wonder is that in just two weeks you can feel the difference that, if carried on, is the correction for and of all degenerative disease and the basis of life in wellness, as the Creator intended.

Believe, my friend, that there is the way to live in wellness, and that it is the way life was intended to be.

Indeed, in giving up meat, milk, cheese, salt, sugar and alcohol, and all tendency to excess and addictions, is the front line action expected of educated individuals. The problem created by most doctors and the pharmaceutical companies is that they work to maintain their power and wealth in the exploitation of dis-ease.

Indeed, we are so vulnerable when in upset and pain that it puts us at the mercy of those we select to help or treat us, and God knows we need help when we break a leg or our condition makes us weak or faint. Often we do not have faith in the body’s natural means of rebalancing so we rush out for a quick remedy.

Indeed, faith in the reality that “this too shall pass” can create patience to let the immune system correct the body without the aspirin plus plus plus. Those that have dealt with crisis disease and experienced natural correction and the use of simple remedies like abstaining from dietary intake and even simple increased pure water intake, and an enema when needed, corrects many disorders.

I share my recovery story at Creative Health Institute, that Dr. Ann encouraged me to start after my complete change of lifestyle was prompted by her book, Why Suffer?

Indeed, it is nothing short of a miracle that stopping habitual gluttony and fasting on Wheat Grass juice and high fluid intake turned my body chemistry around and slowly gave me back my health.

In the thirty years of carrying on the work at Creative Health Institute, which has, from the beginning, adhered to the simple detoxification and rejuvenation program, I have seen every form of degenerative disease reversed for those who really do the program.

The saying: “Yard by yard it is hard, while inch by inch is a cinch,” is a good place to end this with praise of Dr. Ann Wigmore, a saint of wellness.

Donald O. Haughey

The Menacing Mathematics of Multiple Meds

There's something scary about drugs that concerns a growing number of physicians and should wobble the knees of every patient on the planet.  It's obvious to any mathematician but somehow has escaped the general scrutiny of the health industry.

It has to do with combining meds.

Ever since I can remember I have been fed the perception that drugs are governmentally evaluated and thus are safe if taken under the guidance of competent physicians.  However, even if we accept the presumed safety for the ingestion of one drug, we must ask ourselves how might that safety change if we take multiple drugs?

For safety assurances, proper testing should be done for every drug combination we are advised to take. If we take Prozac and Tylenol, for example, we should be presented with all the possible benefits and consequences before allowing these two foreign substances to mix with the chemicals our bodies already create.  Same thing goes for combining Paxil with Viagra or Interferon with Lipitor.

The list of possible problems here is monstrously long because there are a b'zillion drugs and mega b'zillions of combinations.  Nonetheless, I've never seen or heard of any studies that test any of these combinations ... have you?

Read more: http://eftcommunity.emofree.com/blogs/eft_blog/archive/2006/10/28/743.aspx?WT.mc_id=N_Nov27_Blog.

- Thanks to Helen Terry

Focal Theory of Infection

Germs cause disease, right? I mean, that's what almost everyone believes, so it must be true, right? Louis Pasteur discovered that, right?

Well, Pasteur recanted that belief before his death, and many scientists are now focusing on another theory that seems to explain the source of disease much better, something called "The Focal Theory of Infection."

The theory has been around since the early 1900's, but is recently awakening renewed interest:
http://www.altcorp.com/AffinityLaboratory/focalinfect.htm#Focal.

[This website has disappeared, but here are more links to articles on the subject:
http://www.google.com/search?q=focal+theory+of+infection&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a ]

Eating your way to better health

Stefan Aschan believes that proper nutrition is the only way to support your ultimate goal of improved physical and mental performance, productivity, well-being and appearance.  In order to function at 100% of your mental and physical capabilities, you must eat what the earth has provided you. By that he means: eat as close as possible to the earth. The goal is to eat food as it was meant to be, fresh and not altered: http://www.stefanaschan.com/strength123/body_nutrition.html.

- thanks to Helen Terry