Raw Living Foods Lifestyle - chiDiet.net

One Woman’s Powerful Testimony

Being a mother of four kids (ages 17, 15, 13, and 11) has motivated me to eat better despite the fact that my children don’t want to hear about healthy eating most of the time. I started to have some health problems after my last child was born. I had migraine headaches every day. My doctor wanted to put me on medication and gave me free samples. One time I seriously thought about it as I sat and cried over the pain which also took my attention away from my children. I read about the side effects and threw the samples away. They sounded worse than what I was already dealing with.

Deep inside myself I knew that my body was lacking some nutrients. My hair was not growing well and was turning gray while I was only 30. At that time a friend recommended to me a diet of fruits, vegetables, and brown rice. This helped tremendously. After about a year, I decided that I was “healed” and went back to my old way of eating. To keep myself awake I drank a lot of coffee. To relax in the evenings I would drink a couple of beers. The headaches came back right away, accompanied by varicose veins and a lump in my breast. I was extremely tired all the time and my hair had gotten thin. I started to develop problems with my blood sugar level. I often became irritable, sweaty, and panicky. Life just wasn’t fun.

At that time I began working at the health food store where I began to receive answers to some of the questions I had about my problems. Alternative health practitioners told me that I had no hydrochloric acid and terrible digestion. They said I was in cancerous condition and extremely toxic. I also had dark spots on my face. At this time I began to read books about raw foods and started incorporating them into my diet.

At first it was very hard. I lost a lot of weight and was told I was too thin by many people, including my family. My friends asked if I was doing the right thing.  The most difficult thing was to cut coffee and beer. I switched to herbal coffee and only drank beer on Saturdays. This ended up feeling like torture. It was extremely hard to focus on Mondays because I would be tired from a bad food weekend. It took until Wednesday before I would feel better again. The body would have three days to heal before I put in on the roller coaster ride again.

One day I realized I needed to get off beer and coffee entirely. I got a dog so that we could jog together. This was very helpful. I could really tell when I wasn’t eating well because I simply couldn’t jog as much. I asked my husband not to drink in front of me. That was hard. We used to always have a beer together when he got home from work. It took me six months to get over drinking beer. Now I don’t care if someone is drinking around me. I don’t crave beer anymore.

After being completely raw for a month I would sometimes lapse into letting myself have some cooked food, usually popcorn. Only then would I be reminded of the taste of beer. I feel once you have done wrong it is as if you have let yourself down and then you get into a pattern of punishing yourself and let all the good intention go. I began to rely on a number of raw food books as a personal support system.

It has been three years now since I first got started eating raw. After being thin for a while I have miraculously returned to my ideal weight. I am at the weight I was when I was a teen, only more fit.

One of the most important things I learned was how to deal with the healing crisis that I would experience on several occasions. I am glad that I had read about them in several books otherwise I may have been turned away from the good I was doing for my body. On three occasions my tongue turned charcoal black, which I learned was a result of a deep detoxing. I had many strange things happen. My breasts expelled dark green stuff. I refrained from calling my doctor despite the fact that I was a bit worried. Then the lump in my breast started to go away. I went through a time where I had such extreme gas that my family avoided being around me. I understand that this was a result of the awakening of my digestive system and luckily this period went away quickly. On another occasion I had a strange boil come up in my mouth that lasted for about four months. As I drank more greens it went down and now it is gone. I have learned not to worry when these strange healing events happen.

I learned how to grow greens like Ann Wigmore and made energy soup according to her recipe as much as I could. It didn’t taste the best and it was a little hard to stay with. Then I heard about green smoothies. I tried it and it was good. They tasted so good that I got my son to start drinking them even though he hates vegetables and greens. He felt so energized from them that we have made them a regular breakfast. Now one of my daughters is drinking green smoothies and loves them too. I have three more in the family and hope they will try them someday soon.

I feel better than I ever have before. I’ve learned to like greens. They satisfy me and now I feel more content with my diet. When the body receives what it needs the cravings go away and you start to focus on the things that make you feel better. You truly do get in touch with your body if you choose to listen to it.

Kay L., Missouri

- testimonial courtesy of www.rawfamily.com.

Tanish Marshall - Rawly Inspiring

If you could go back in time and tell yourself just one thing, what would it be?

Put down that cigarette?

Stay away from those bars?

Don't give up, you're almost there?

I posted a success story of someone who didn't give up, and got a second chance:

http://www.chidiet.com/tanisha

Tanisha Marshall suffered from obesity, fatigue, depression, and in her own words...

"I FELT THE WORLD WAS GOING TO END"

After listening to her story, share yours by leaving a comment on the blog...

http://www.chidiet.com/tanisha

You never know how your words will help.

To Your Health,

Jim

P.S. "When can I get a copy of the home study course?" - I get this question all day long about the Dr. Ann Wigmore Raw Living Foods Home Study Program.

It's finally available - now! This time we have a "Lite" version, upgrade programs, and EZ-Pay plans.

The last time we offered the course we sold out in only 42 days. This version will be even more popular!

http://chidiet.com

P.S. "I'm raw when possible, organic when practical, and I pray over the rest."- author unknown

90% of all deaths in America are caused by the foods we eat

It all began with a young mother suffering from migraines, colitis, and psoriasis covering 90% of her body. Christy Wade began questioning God about her illnesses, and researched the role food plays in our physical health and well-being.

After an extensive change in her diet, she experienced the amazing truth that God created our bodies to be self-healing, when given the proper nutrients: http://www.globaltalkradio.com/shows/wakeupamerica/.

-Thanks to VegMichigan.org for sharing this.

Testimonial - "Beginnings," by Bill Cowley

by Bill Cowley
October 8, 2006

It has been almost two years since I stopped eating meat and started the journey toward raw foods. As I reflect back on this time, which started with a two week stay at The Creative Health Institute in Michigan, I realize that, more than anything, this period has represented a beginning toward a new outlook and lifestyle. While there is still much to learn and accomplish with my diet, I would like to share where I stand at this time.

I don't get ill symptoms in the same way that I used to get them. Before, I was very susceptible to colds, sinusitis, flu, headaches, and joint pain. Now I do not get colds, sinusitis, or the flu. When such symptoms begin to appear, they quickly dissipate and never fully develop. Instead, my energy level falls, and I get some mucus lodged in my throat.

Other times I get this mucus when my diet slides and I get a buildup of mucus from the foods I have eaten, as the mucus is produced by my body to envelope the hard-to-assimilate proteins and fats it has been given. In fact, many of the improper foods that contain hard-to-digest proteins and fats produce a congestive paste that is itself congestive. I also get mucus in my throat as a result of it breaking up and becoming dislodged from my tissues. This is long-standing impacted mucus that comes loose over time as a result of an improved diet.

However, while I don't get sick like I used to, I do still get headaches and joint pain. They are very predictable, and recur according to the success or failure I have in maintaining a correct diet of fruits, vegetables, and nuts and seeds. When I give in to the cravings for foods other than these, or when I get cravings that lead me to eat too much of even the right foods, headaches and joint pain are for me the eventual, inevitable result.

My body, though far from being totally free of toxic matter, has nevertheless - as a result of changing to more easily assimilated foods - gotten cleaner to the point that it now has the ability, due to increased metabolic energy, to immediately confront and eliminate the foods that it before would have to store because of a lack of metabolic energy that resulted from the continual difficult digestion of foods incompatible with human physiology.

This newly formed process of immediate confrontation and elimination, though beneficial in the long run, causes me short-term distress and gives me the headaches and joint pain that seem so debilitating, if only for a period of days. My body, instead of being forced to store foods because of being digestively overtaxed, now immediately lets me know that the wrong foods have come into it.

The body reacts differently as a result of effective dietary change because symptomatic illness and disease vary according to the level and location of toxic residue in the body. It is our areas of weakness and prior injury that often become points where we feel the effects of these toxic residues.

It is, in reality, a matter of cause and effect that is not understood because it seems an oversimplification. Those in the medical community, since they traditionally focus on symptomatic alleviation, deal unnecessarily with complex diseases and cures because the control group - the human population - on which they base their hypotheses and conclusions is in the process of creating diseases that are largely hidden from doctors by time and the body itself.

Thus, doctors generally view disease as an exterior attack rather than an interior process. We, as well, are deceived into believing that disease is mysterious and complex, as we are all locked into a scenario that is both long-standing and pervasive. This deception, far from being an overt act by doctors, is in fact accomplished spiritually. As the Bible tells us (Ephesians 6:11), although we struggle in the flesh, it is not against the flesh that we struggle, but against spirits in high places. Human society - the result of the developed sum total of human history - is merely the means by which such spirits, under Satan's control, accomplish such persuasive training. As a result, because we allow ourselves to be locked into this control by our own selfish desires, we come to believe that it is the developed history of the world by which we are to live - and this history includes belief in the types of food that have been developed over the course of thousands of years to feed increasingly sedimentary populations.

Food has been, and still is, used as a way to gain power by controlling its means of production and distribution. As this avenue has developed over the course of time, those who profit by controlling the means of food production exert influence politically by their wealth, and socially by information and advertising, so that that their influence is not undermined.

The individuals and groups in control become deceived into believing in both the importance of their power and in the rightness of their views. When confronted with truth, whether from others or in their own hearts and minds, they circumvent this truth in order to maintain the power they have secured. They become both deceived and deceiver.

In fact, such a scenario relates not only to food, but to any avenue by which worldly wealth and power are secured - whether it comes from land, air, food, or water, and whether it involves construction, instruction, politics, the military, information services, or other various means. We are all both affected by this scenario and take part in it as well, to the extent that we develop personal agendas that are related to it.

Worldly agendas, then, can, and do, affect every part of our lives; but nowhere has this effect become more sinister, pervasive, and subtle than in the foods we eat - particularly in the enslavement we have to cravings for foods that putrefy within us and poison us because they are not suited to human physiology.

Cravings are, without a doubt, the biggest hurdle I have encountered to creating optimal health. I believe that these cravings are both physically and spiritually driven. Physically they are connected to the toxins that my new diet causes to be released into my bloodstream, and spiritually they are connected to the things of this world that I continue to possess or desire to possess.

These physical and spiritual motivations are, in effect, so interrelated that they are virtually one and the same, and I must overcome both if I am to overcome the food cravings they fuel. Gluttony and greed have the same master, and I am not free of that master. It will be only through focusing my faith on Christ and putting on the full armor of God that I will defeat them.

Nothing is more basic to human existence than physical sustenance. My life, as well as yours, revolves around this reality. The path that God provided for us in this regard is clearly laid out in the book of Genesis. However, even when the day comes that I obtain the clarity that a cleansed body supplies, I know that love, not just clarity, is the ultimate goal; and it must be obtained spiritually, not physically.

Moreover, where the works that love entails are reflected in the physical, they originate in the spirit by the grace of God. The effect of proper food is to maintain the purity and clarity of the physical temple God has given us. Our temples are the means by which we accomplish the spiritual work God has for us in this physical world. The spiritual world itself is a new challenge altogether. Where our dietary quest has the wonderful payback of optimal health, great vitality, and spiritual and mental enlightenment that clarifies knowledge, Satan's legions still work to overcome all of this by yet again fueling our cravings.

The “gloves come off”, so to speak, because while we are no longer deceived by our physical diet, we can still be tempted. Clarity, no longer deceived, is now threatened by temptation. Jesus knew this threat well in His own life, for as clarified as He was, Satan still tried to tempt Him by granting Him the power of this world. Satan does no less to us. This selfish being, granted dominion over the things of this world because of both his selfish sin and ours, still has ways to persuade us against our clarity if that clarity is not grounded in non-doubting faith in Jesus Christ. Satan, then, can use even our clarified body against us. What we have to combat him is the spirit of Christ, as we are told that we are to live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Our spiritual food now becomes more important than our physical diet; but it was really that way all along.

As a final note, I believe there are people who, though deceived by diet, may be as clarified, and perhaps in some instances more clarified, in spirit than those of us not so deceived. They are so because they have so much of the love of God in them that it counteracts the deceiving power of Satan. We have all known people like this. Though deceived, their hearts live in Christ; and He grants that their hearts are not hardened or deceived, though their minds might be.

Thus, it is greater to have a non-deceived heart that loves others in Christ than it is to just have a clarified mind and body through diet. The sum total of our sin as humans precludes knowledge and wisdom to anyone in all areas, but our individual faith in Christ guards against the unpardonable sin of a hardened heart. Where God pardons us, He also decides to whom He gives specific gifts and abilities. All else we must take to Him in prayer.

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Testimonial - Rich Richardson

At 40 I was fat and greasy. I suffered with constipation, sinus congestion, and much more.  Of course, I smoked, drank, and did no exercise.  From time to time I would see my doctor, and he would prescribe a number of pills.  One day he took me aside and said, “It would be a good idea if you would improve your lifestyle.”  I was indignant! I did not wish to change, just give me some pills; after all it was his job to make me better!  This was in 1973, my business was buying and selling precious metals and I was living in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In 1978 I met Dr. McDougall when he was giving lectures to the public at St. Francis Hospital in Honolulu. I started on my new diet—giving up eating animal foods, and all the other things I had once thought were good.  I walked a little each day, quit smoking, and soon I got off my medications.  Within 3 months I had lost about 50 pounds and was running five miles a day. My renewed health lasted a few years.

I am now 73 years old, fully functional, chest pains are a rare event, and I am happy to be alive. Last week I did a 14 mile bike ride. My ejection fraction is now up to 36% and my heart is of a normal size. Amazing! My total cholesterol is 125. I am of the opinion that my heart is healing itself. 

My secret?   I reduced the amount of sodium to 300 mg a day, and live on potatoes, oatmeal, corn tortillas, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, onions, yams, beans, fruit, and one ounce of walnuts daily.  Routinely, I do 20 minutes a day on my exercise bike, frequently ride my recumbent trike 15 or 20 miles. I take a small amount of medication which I hope to soon stop.

At one time I thought that my body was like a car, just a piece of machinery that could be repaired from the outside—with pills and surgery. I no longer believe that. My body is in fact a wonderful device that will repair itself if given the right fuel, a chance to breathe, and a little exercise.

Read the entire article: http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2006star/sep/060900starrich.htm.

Thoughts from Within

Woody Harrelson's thoughts on diet, living raw, and the Standard American Paradigm:  http://www.voiceyourself.com/03_thoughtsfromwithin/03_movie.php.

Testimonial - Robert Hayes

My Own Testimonial
by Robert Hayes, Pretoria, South Africa

I believe that you could all relate to my situation and that it will help you to stay raw as it did for me.

Four years ago a friend told me about the Robert Beck protocols. I bought it and got cured in two weeks from high blood pressure, diabetes type 2, rectal prolaps and other problems. I said, "Hey, we are being lied to. I've been on medication for years, were told that it was for keeps, and here I got cured in two weeks, in my home with no side affects. Why didn't my doctor told me about this? I will investigate and tell others." I said, "Lord help me, I want to know the truth. Please help me find it."

I just got the internet and I discovered that these protocols were looked at as alternative medicine, hated by the medical profession, and the pharmaceuticals are trying their best to ban them by law. Then I really decide to investigate. I want to know the truth about disease and health.

I started with doctor Hulda Clark books. She believes that all disease is caused by parasites and pollution. I wanted to see these fellows in the blood, so I bought a good microscope. Of course I did not know what to look for, so I had to get books on hematology, microbiology and parasitology. And I studied them. What a wonderful world in the small. Then I realized I must learn these big names doctors use, I also have to study physiology and anatomy, its part and parcel of the bigger picture. So I did, in my home, after hours, searching, and learning. What a new beautiful world unfolded. God really made it perfect.

Then I met Dr. Norman Walkers, Dr. Bernard Jensen, and others through their books. These got me to study the colon. I believed that all diseases start in the colon. I had my own washed eleven times last year, eventually bought my own equipment, taking colonics and enemas frequently.

By now I thought I had reached the end of the road. But something bothered me. What about cholesterol and stomachs acids, where do they fit in? Then I came across Dr. Frank Navratil, an iridologist, offering a home study course in Iridology. I got it and for a year I analyzed hundreds and hundreds persons' eyes. I could see almost everything happening inside a person's body.

Two things were clear to me. The younger the patient, the worst the condition of their organs and systems. With the course, in its program, there are diets and supplement advice for specific conditions. That got me thinking. If, for instance, carrots will heal a specific condition, then diet must be the cause of the sickness or disease. This means I had to study diets so that I can eliminate diseases.

Back to the internet, reading pros and cons about different diets. Well, soon a name pop up that changes my life forever. Her name? Dr. Ann Wigmore.

By this time I have spent more than three years studying and searching, and spent some $60.000. And all I got was the truth. Now I have to start studying what she teaches. Of course, all my previous work was gratifying and necessary. If I hadn't done it, diets and nutrition would not have had the impact on me as it has now.

After eating raw until supper, for months, I decided to go raw 100%. Two weeks later I visit my family, enjoy coffee, etc., and come Monday I could not go without coffee. For the next two weeks I had about 10 cups of coffee plus sugar free rusks every day, and lots of droëwors. (A mixture of 70% meat and 30% fat plus spices, prepared like a sausage and dried in the air like jerky)

Two weeks later my blood pressure reading was 200/130. I knew this was trouble. I know the 12 Steps of Victoria Boutenko. I new all about backsliding, thinking it would never happen to me. She's right, on your own, you're not going to make it. I took stock of myself and made a decision. Today I am 100% raw, and will never turn back. Here's how.

Reason no. 1. When I started my research, I prayed for help from Above, to get to the truth. He showed me the truth, sickness and health is mainly about diet. He showed me what to do, how can I now refuse it? Shall I say, thank you Lord, but this is not for me! I like to please my taste buds and my cravings! I can't do that! That was reason number 1 which keeps me from going back. And by the way, when He gave Adam and Eve the same diet, they had no alternative! But look at their lifespan. And there were no doctors and no pharmacies to help them if they got sick.

Reason no. 2. If I turn back to cooked food and later get sick - which will definitely happen - how can I approach Him for help? He will laugh at me. He showed me the way and I refused. So I can't look at the wrong foods ever again. Prayer does not help if you disobey the laws, millions are dying and they all are praying!

Reason no 3. I was brought up to pray at the table before the meal, and I still do it today, no matter what. Knowing that cooked food is poisoning our bodies, how can I pray, “God, please bless this food” - which are in essence poisoning me. This is making a joke about religion, your relationship with God, and your seriousness about your health.

Reason no 4. I believe you teach and convince people by example. You have to be raw yourself to influence others. "Don't do as I do, do as I say," does not work.

Reason no. 5. What happened to my will power? Am I like a child who cries at everything I am not allowed to? Am I so weak that I can't say no to a cup of coffee and a slice of bread?

Reason No 6. In my country, everybody over 65 has aids. Walking aids, hearing aids, etcetera. I don't want aids!

We all have a job to do. We have to go out there and tell the people that the raw food diet were first, medicine came later. Medicine is therefore the alternative treatment. We must reverse this wrong perception. May this testimonial help to empower you, too.

God Bless you all.

Robert Hayes
Pretoria, South Africa
27-82 820 1520
balusterman@telkomsa.net

 
Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Testimonial - Carol

Jim,

Wow, Gloria's testimony. Praise God. How exciting to see we can still take responsibility for our own bodies and not believe or wait for the words: chemo, radiation, cancer, death.

I'm excited for the staff for believing in their "work." Just imagine "what if" Gloria was the typical patient and went for chemo, etc. after being healed. I have no doubt the "return of the cancer" would be back.

Wow.... made my day without even knowing Gloria.

Carol

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Testimonial - Reni

What I have noticed is that on raw food is that I, too, feel true hunger very seldom. I could easily eat only 2 small fruit meals and a salad a day and be satiated. This goes to show just how little we really need! Imagine if everyone ate raw food. The quantity they'd eat would be far lower and this way there'd be more to go around for everyone.

- from Reni, on http://www.thegardendiet.com/.

Testimonial - Throat & Pancreas Cancer

A 70 year old guest that went to Creative Health Institute in mid-April ('05) with throat & a suspected pancreatic cancer diagnosis called this week to say that she just had a CAT scan. The results show that she no longer has any cancer!

Furthermore, she no longer needs to take medication for high blood pressure or diabetes. She applied at home what she learned at Creative Health and this was her result.

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Testimonial - Victoria Boutenko; a medical study

Lapis' notes from a recent lecture in Vancouver by Victoria Boutenko, a raw foodist who has healed her failing health and become an expert in the raw food movement in doing so. In this lecture Victoria discusses a medical study Miami physicians did on her and her husband: http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=26&i=76.

Testimonial - Hiawatha L. Cromer

On May 1, 1993 I began working at Creative Health Institute, most of the time as a volunteer. I was afforded the opportunity to regain my health here.

When I arrived I weighed 220 pounds, suffered from high blood pressure, had a pain in my right leg that caused me to walk with a limp, and had a craving for sweets.

My original intent was to stay for three months... After 9 months I had lost 60 pounds, my right leg no longer ached and I had weaned myself off of sweets except for fresh fruits.

Since being at Creative Health Institute I have witnessed what people usually call miracles. I have learned that the body is self-healing. We only need to give the body the nourishment it needs and it will heal itself.

I have also learned about the importance of enzymes. All cooked food depletes the body of its enzyme reserve. Enzymes are the foundation of all living cells, and the catalyst for all the metabolic processes that occur within the body.


Hiawatha L. Cromer, MSW

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Testimonial - Belinda

"I lost 17 lbs, I feel so much better." - Belinda

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

This woman is 56 - so what's her secret?

(The Herald - UK) If you had met Suzi Grant in the 1980s, "anti-ageing expert in the making" is probably not the impression you would have come away with. A broadcast journalist working the back shift with ITV's TVam breakfast show, she would often get home at 4am and got through the "huge pressure" of constant deadlines by indulging her cravings. "I actually looked rougher then than I do now, and it was 15 years ago," she says. "I smoked and drank a lot, as we all did at that time. The job was very enjoyable - but incredibly stressful too."

"I started reading up about health and found that you could avoid all the degenerative illnesses of your 40s and 50s if you took your life in your hands. I was 42." http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/65189.html

Testimonial - Connie

When I arrived here at CHI I was so ill that I was concerned for my life. I was in a great deal of pain, my arm had deteriorated (the cuff is gone and inoperable as well as my spine) and I'm also diabetic and have neuropathy really bad. When I arrived I couldn't walk without the walker, or bathe myself. I am now able to do both and within a week I was able to start living on my own, which I never thought would again be possible. I believe there is hope that I can get better, not just a little by that I can get well. I'm 73 years old, and becoming young again.

-- Connie

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Testimonial - Bill and Evah Phillips

Bill and I have just returned home today from what we have termed our greatest adventure in our 50 years of marriage.

We spent three months at Creative Health Institute in Union City, Michigan... this was a chance to do something very different and we knew we could do it... The small class was remarkable ... you become really good friends with those you spend a lot time with... a rural farm setting with clean air, long country walks, and healthy food.

It was an amazing experience, neither Bill nor I had big problems to work on, but at 82 and 83 we wanted to stay active and be able to live in our own home the rest of our lives. If you are fighting a disease we suggest you run, not walk, to Creative Health Institute.

... We had benefits we would never have guessed... The first thing we noticed was no more cramping in our legs, we credit that to changing our milk intake to sesame milk, which is high in calcium. 

I quit taking my high-blood pressure medication, but had it checked every week just to make sure it didn't get out of control. It stays well within the range on the living-foods diet.

Bill had not been able to cross his left leg over his right until well into the program... The last count on his PSA prostate test was brought down from 7.3 to 3.7...

We both lost some weight... we definitely feel our overall general health is better - we have more stamina and well-being than before we went.

If you want to tune up your health, meet very interesting people, and experience a new way of eating that really works ... then consider going to the Creative Health Institute and learn what really works.

Sincerely,
Bill and Evah Phillips

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Testimonial - Jackie & Gideon Graff

Teaching raw food preparation began because we wanted to share with others the new life that we had received by eating Genesis 1:29 foods. Eating these raw plant foods enabled us to personally absorb the powerhouse of energy and vitality from the sun, air, and water.

This living nutrition has allowed our bodies to self-heal, during which time we have lost 150 pounds of fat and toxins between the two of us. After eight years on living foods, we now have boundless energy, with normal blood pressure (off all medications), have reduced cholesterol, no more depression or hot flashes or allergies, and have a sense of peace, which we have never had before in our lives.

God has given us the desire to bring this knowledge to others.

- Visit their website at http://www.sproutrawfood.org.

The top seven diets in America

Top Seven Diets in America
From www.MedicalNewsToday.com

The seven diets below are not in order of popularity; they are just the seven most popular diets.

RAW FOODS
THE SCIENCE: Cooking food destroys its nutritional value: Enzymes begin to degenerate; the body has to use its own enzymes to digest food, hastening aging and sapping energy.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Animal protein, and anything heated past 118 degrees.

RAW FOODS IN NEW YORK: Unless you've got a personal chef able to whip up coconut-meat noodles, familiarize yourself with one of the city's three Quintessence restaurants, which serve raw-vegetable soup, raw 'pasta' (thin strips of squash), even raw wine.

READING UP: Raw (came out May 2003), by raw-food guru Roxanne Klein and four-star chef Charlie Trotter.

OTHER RESOURCES: Why Suffer, by Dr. Ann Wigmore; Eating without Heating, by Sergei and Valya Boutenko; Raw Family by Victoria Boutenko; Twelve Steps to Raw Food, by Victoria Boutenko.

www.annwigmore.com, www.chidiet.com

WEIGHT WATCHERS
THE SCIENCE: Foods are assigned point values based on their number of calories, grams of fat, and grams of fiber. Eat anything you want, but stay inside your daily point limit.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Five-course tasting menus and supersize McDonald's meals.

WEIGHT WATCHERS IN NEW YORK: There's a Weight Watchers group for everyone: Creative types meet at 14th Street; fashionistas migrate to 38th and Broadway; at 51st and Sixth, you'll find folks from NBC; and so on.

READING UP: Weight Watchers Stop Stuffing Yourself; www.weightwatchers.com

ATKINS
THE SCIENCE: The body metabolizes carbohydrates first; cut down on carbs, and your body will burn fat. So you can eat all the protein and fat you want and still shed pounds.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Sugar and carbs. After a stringent regimen during the first few weeks (including no more than twenty grams of carbs a day), gradually up your carb intake and ease into a diet low in trans fats, sugars, refined flours, and processed foods.

ATKINS IN NEW YORK: The Atkins Center is located right in midtown. There, an Atkins counselor will develop a personalized regimen for you (212-758-2110).

READING UP: Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, by Robert C. Atkins; www.atkinscenter.com

THE ZONE
THE SCIENCE: Balance the basic food groups: 40 percent carbs, 30 percent fat, 30 percent protein.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Caffeine, artificial sweeteners, one-dimensional meals.

THE ZONE IN NEW YORK: Zone Gourmet delivers three prepared meals and two snacks daily—all perfectly balanced according to the 40-30-30 ratio (800-diet-308; $34.95 per day).

READING UP: The Zone, by Barry Sears; www.zoneperfect.com

PERRICONE PRESCRIPTION
THE SCIENCE: Pounds are shed and wrinkles prevented by eliminating foods over 50 on the glycemic index and by increasing your intake of antioxidants (dark leafy greens, blueberries, cantaloupe) and omega-3 fatty acids (nuts, olive oil, salmon).

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Rice, pasta, bread, refined sugars, potatoes, and juice.

PERRICONE IN NEW YORK: Dermatologist Nicholas Perricone practices in Meriden, Connecticut; if you can't make the trip, pick up his antioxidant skin-care line, Cosmeceuticals, at Saks Fifth Avenue and Sephora.

READING UP: The Wrinkle Cure and The Perricone Prescription, both by Nicholas V. Perricone; www.perriconeprescription.com

LIFE CHOICE
THE SCIENCE: The antithesis of Atkins: a low-fat diet that comprises fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and soy products in their natural forms.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Cut back on meat, sugar, alcohol, and high-fat foods.

LIFE CHOICE IN NEW YORK: Dean Ornish, the man behind Life Choice, is 3,000 miles away. But if you need hands-on coaching, the Avon Salon & Spa's nutritionist, Gayle Reichler, is an Ornish guru (212-310-6363).

READING UP: Eat More, Weigh Less, by Dean Ornish; www.ornish.com

MACROBIOTIC
THE SCIENCE: Eat only when you're hungry, chew slowly, and divide your daily proportions along these lines: 10 percent brothy soup; 30 percent veggies, 10 percent beans and sea vegetables, and 50 percent whole grains—plus a bit of seafood, fruit, and nuts. And lots of twig tea.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Meat, dairy, artificially or chemically treated foods, and caffeine.

MACROBIOTIC IN NEW YORK: Keeping a macrobiotic kitchen can be a full-time job. Restaurants like Souen, Ozu, and Angelica Kitchen can ease the burden. Or contact the Natural Gourmet Cookery School to hire a personal chef, available full-time or for the occasional dinner party (212-645-5170, extension 103).

READING UP: The Macrobiotic Way, by Michio Kushi; www.macrobiotics.org

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Testimonial - Department of Veterans Affairs

Karen Fussell has introduced the "Living Foods Program" to several staff and patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center on October 19, 1998. This healthful eating concept was well received and her presentation very dynamic! Thank you for your part in her bringing us this very special program today.

Sincerely,
Sharalyn Davis, RMT
Creative Arts Therapist
Department of Veterans Affairs
Battle Creek, MI
October 19, 1998

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Raw living food testimonial - Dr. Ann Wigmore

Through the American eating habits I developed cancer of the colon, arthritis, hernia, migraine headaches, blood poisoning, depression and gray hair by the time I was fifty….

I knew the only thing to do was turn back to nature….

So gradually I developed the Living Foods Lifestyle and returned to nature. It took me about three years to regain my health.

Today I have improved the Living Food Lifestyle which means being able to regain health in only several months rather than several years...

Dr. Ann Wigmore

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

The benefits of raw foods, by Paul Nison

By Paul Nison

And God said, "I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food."  Genesis 1:29

My interpretation: Eat fresh, ripe, organic raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. These foods and these foods alone were meant as fuel and nutrition for our bodies. In addition to fresh air, sunlight and water, they're all the body needs to thrive. Interfere with this process, and the body will go into survival mode. In this article, I will not focus on the survival mode
eating cooked foods entails. Instead, I'll focus on the benefits that accrue to us when eating the foods we were told to eat by God.

We've all heard about calories, protein, and fat. When we eat the way God instructed, we  wouldn't care about any of them.  If counting calories, burning fat, and eating high protein foods were so important, why are Americans engaging in these practices the most overweight, disease-ridden people in the world?  Listening to God, and getting back to our true body design will keep us healthy.

The way to do this is with raw foods. What are the benefits of a raw food diet? Major benefits are preserving energy and keeping your vitality level as high as possible. Overcoming major and minor diseases are common benefits, and feeling like Superman/ Superwoman is often mentioned.

Healing with raw foods: If you feel sick, weak, lazy, tired, or have a disease, eating raw foods can help you begin to overcome all that. What caused these poor bodily conditions is having supplied the body with low quality food. That produced low quality blood, or poor quality blood leading to the problems mentioned above. Eating the highest quality food will keep your blood clean and reinstate your health. All these negative bodily actions are caused by a lack of oxygen, a result of eating food that allowed
the body very little oxygen. In other words, you are suffocating yourself to death when you eat foods lacking in oxygen. Raw foods contain an abundance of oxygen in mineral form. They are loaded with air for your suffocating body.

Thriving on raw foods: Your body takes much time and energy to digest non-raw foods. If you overwork a machine, it will get old fast and breakdown. A raw food diet is enzyme rich which preserves the body's energy. The more enzymes in the food, the less the body has to work to digest the food. The enzymes go right to work to assist the body in doing the job. What to do with all this energy? Thrive! That's what we'll do on a raw food diet.

Other amazing benefits of a raw food diet:

Cost efficiency:  People often tell me it costs too much to eat healthfully, or it costs too much to eat a raw foods. I used to think so too at one point in my life, but now I just laugh at that since I found raw foods are the least expensive you could ever buy.  They can even cost nothing and often do. What costs more, a banana or a candy bar? An apple, or a slice of apple
pie? Raw fruits and vegetables are the least expensive foods. Then, there are wild foods which can be found all over, and all wild foods are free to enjoy. They're the highest quality foods, the least expensive, and they're 100% raw.

Real fast food:  Does it take longer to eat a banana, or a banana split? An orange, or a hamburger. When it comes to fast food, McDonald's and Burger King can't hold a candle to fruits and vegetables.

The biggest selection of foods to choose from:  Did you know you could eat one new variety of fruit every day for the rest of your life and still not come close to eating all the varieties in the world? Most people in this country limit fruits to apples, bananas and oranges, but there are tons of other fruits sold in markets all over. Exotic fruits are everywhere these days. Enjoy a nice chocolate pudding fruit, or some jack fruit. Or how about a durian? Are you thinking you don't know about these fruits? Did you know that there are over 50 kinds of bananas, 50 kinds of apples out there? Try them all; then you'll realize there's so much to choose from.

Enhancing mind power:  It's a known fact among raw fooders, eating raw foods helped them develop mental powers they never knew they had. It's a scientific fact: more oxygen to the brain will help improve mental capabilities, and we already spoke about how eating raw foods brings more oxygen into the body. Many people had some form of depression until they ate more raw foods; then, their depression lifted or subsided.

Connecting with God:  This is the major benefit of a raw food diet. The more you eat foods God told you to eat, the better relationship you'll have with Him. It's simple. If your parents told you to do something when you were a little kid and you did it, you pleased them and had a good relationship. But if you said no to them, they wouldn't be happy with you. The more you
listened to them, the better they could guide your learning about life. God works the same way. Listen to God and you will have a great relationship with Him. And God said, "I have given you the seed-bearing plants throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food."  Genesis 1:29.

The more raw foods you eat, the more you'll experience all these wonderful benefits and so many more. You'll also start to enjoy a personal relationship with God that will enhance your whole life. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Give it a go and eat raw foods!

-- reprinted with permission. Paul's websites are:
http://www.RawLife.com
http://www.TheRawWorld.com

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

Cancer-free due to raw living foods

Cancer Free!
a letter to CHI from Gloria Albu

A routine check-up in late January of this year resulted in the discovery of a lump at the base of my neck. A biopsy followed and I was diagnosed with cancer (adeno-carcinoma of unknown origin). The oncologist said I must start chemotherapy immediately so I would have 5 years instead of six months to live.

I absolutely refused his professional advice and went to work on myself. To start with I made Essiac tea and drank it every day, took Jordan Rubin's products and did a lot of praying! I knew I first needed to rid myself of the fear surrounding the dreaded C-word. From there I was in touch with many people, gladly accepting their prayer support. I thanked God in advance for answered prayer. I practiced visualization - like sending wheelbarrows, dump-trucks and empty box car trains throughout my body to pick up all the debris of dead cancer cells and removing them. I sent armies in to annihilate any remaining cancer cells. I talked to the cancer cells first and let them know they were not going to spread any more - they were done! I practiced hands-on prayer, employed the healing humming technique of the Australian aborigines. I practiced the energy system's healing technique of guided imagery developed by Carolyn Myss and Norm Shealy. I planned to have fun - gardening, spending time with my youngest grandchildren. I hung affirmations on pretty ribbons all over my house such as “I am made in the image and likeness of God therefore I am magnificent in every way.” I kept fresh flowers on my dining table.

I made plans to go to Hippocrates in West Palm Beach but when my cousin in Michigan heard of my plans she said, "Come to Michigan. I have a friend who went to CHI and is now cancer-free!" (Mary Lou, now CHI's secretary).

So, knowing that Holy Spirit had already worked out all the details, I soon arrived at CHI in the middle of April. By the 3rd day of the wheatgrass fast my blood sugar dropped so low I had to ask for fruit to balance out. I have been off all medications for diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol ever since!! Wow! After 17-18 years of prescriptions!

Last week I went to my family doctor for a follow-up and the CEA was about the same, so he said I must get started on chemotherapy right away so I could live 5 years instead of 6 months. So, reluctantly, I went to see the chemotherapist again, but at the same time I was so sure the cancer was gone. He tried his medical best to convince me I must get started on chemo immediately, so I could live another 5 years instead of 6 months (must be a standard remark) and to "stop taking herbs!" Medical professionals have a way of making one feel as if he/she is delusional - or that I was just a 70 year old silver-topped nut! He finally asked how I felt and I replied, "I believe in the power of prayer and have been building my immune system with wheatgrass and raw foods and was sure the cancer was gone!" So he suggested we take another CAT scan and see what the results were.

The technician gave me an infusion so the x-ray would be very clear. I had to wait through the weekend for the report on Monday.

While I was unloading the trunk of my car that weekend a magnificent peacock-blue and black butterfly circled around me twice, flitted away and returned. It circled me again and landed on the floor of the carport. As it posed there, facing me, it seemed to be blessing me by raising and lowering its wings slowly several times. I knew instantly this was a Divine messenger letting me know that everything was OK!

Monday I picked up the report and there was no evidence of any cancer! Confirmation by Medical Technology!!

Ain't God awesome!!

The CHI founder (Don) and staff are wonderful emissaries for our Creator's plan of healing the planet. Thank you, thank you! I learned so much.

I'll stay green and raw for the rest of my life!

Gloria Albu

P.S. An additional benefit - I have dismissed 46 pounds forever! My minister of many years told me to "Hold the High Vision" and I have! May the Light and Love of God enfold and bless all who read my story!

A Few Words From Dr. Jim's Producer

Dear Dr. Jim,

I just wanted to take a moment to put in writing my appreciation and admiration for the work you do. I have learned a great deal from working with you to produce the first season of Grassy Roots and truly look forward to the next season of “eye-opening” information.

As you know, I am currently re-editing each episode and as I review and “re-listen” I become more convinced that what you teach and promote has a truth deeper than many may see. We, as a species, have gotten so off path when it comes to taking care of the holy temple of our body, failing to ‘hear’ what comes natural to other creatures, due partially, I suppose, to the gift of free-will and that nagging self-god, the ego, who can be so easily deceived.

But I am no theologian, so will stick to the facts.

When we first began production of Grassy Roots, I had never even heard of the term, “raw vegan”, but quickly became “raw curious” as I began background research, both from your websites, and others.

At that time I had tendonitis in my right elbow and left wrist, from carrying camera equipment and such. I was also plagued with severe intestinal pains frequently, had been for years, so thought it normal. Now, five months later, having done nothing but increase my intake of raw veggies and fruits significantly and all but eliminated meat and dairy, (may have chicken or fish once a week), there is not even a memory of the pain I once felt in my joints.

If my intestines do revolt and give pain, I usually can link it to ingestion of something cooked that I ate only hours before, making me think back to the episode in which we discussed the 12 Steps to Raw Food and the challenges anyone would face in changing to a more natural diet in this day and age.

As a side effect of these dietary changes, something unexpected has also happened. A new Passion has grown! Not just for my life and how I approach living it, but also a strong desire to help others see what is so important about all this. We ARE what we eat and NO other person or corporation controls what we eat unless we ALLOW it. Ultimately, what we put in our bodies, in our minds, in our hearts, is determined by our OWN choices, choices that should be made with only one goal… to live a life fully open to and appreciative of the abundance available to us with the gift of life itself!

I could go on and on, but will stop here. Again thank you so much for your efforts to share this information with the world.

Beth Overgaauw
Capricorn Projects, LLC
GrassyRoots.com

What Dr. Ann Wigmore's Raw Living Foods Lifestyle Did, and Does, For Me

by Dr. James Carey, PhD (applied microcomputer technologies)

For 23 years I lived in Key West, Florida, and built several computer companies. In '97 I sold off the business, apartments, office building, house, and most of the stuff I'd accumulated. By January '99 I was 48 years old, free and financially liquid.

I took a year or so off and toured the United States, traveled 60,000 miles, first with an Airstream trailer, and later with a Bluebird motorcoach.

I also spent the time overcoming my addiction to cigarettes, something I'd been dependent upon since I was 14 years old.

By Spring of 2000 I was rested, collected, and tobacco-free. I'd relocated to rural Georgia, adopted a dog, and started building a house with my own hands. I also weighed 260 lbs. I'd been watching my weight creep up over the years, from my college weight of 165 to around 220 by '99.

I considered myself healthy because at 45 I could still shinny up a 30 ft. sailboat mast and repair the masthead while holding on with my legs. But a year of sitting behind the steering wheel substituting junk food and rich meals for the cigarettes I was trying to give up really put the weight on me. Now I was almost 50 and single-handedly building a house.

I considered myself to be in good shape, I was active and pain-free, but I sure was getting big.

Jim at 260 lbs.

Jim at 170 lbs.

So... January, 2001. New Year's Resolution - go on a diet. I read about health and nutrition, then put myself on a 1700 calorie-a-day vegetarian diet. I walked at least three miles a day, five times a week.

In four months I lost 20 lbs., bringing my weight down to 240. I kept counting calories in my little notebook, I kept walking 15 miles or more a week, and by Summer - still 240 lbs.! 

I could not lose any more weight. Frustrating. If I went off my diet for a weekend in Savannah I'd gain 5 lbs. in two days, then take a week - or more - to get rid of it.

Back to the Internet for more research. I read about people who had been on one diet or another, but after initial improvements their health deteriorated and they were facing new health challenges because of the inadequacies of the dietary regime they'd adopted.

The deeper I dug, the more one program stood out. The Raw Living Foods lifestyle, taught by Dr. Ann Wigmore. It was old knowledge going back thousands of years, and she was the most famous of modern advocates. What impressed me most were:

1) Testimonies by people that have lived the lifestyle for 20, 30 and 40 years, and are thriving on it.

2) What does the founder look like today, or what did they die of? Dr. Ann died of smoke inhalation while fighting a fire, at 84. She was fit and healthy.

3) Other raw fooders have died as a result of sports accidents in their 80's and 90's, not of disease or medications. All maintained an active lifestyle up until their passing over.

4) Dr. Wigmore's Raw Living Foods Lifestyle combines raw living food, internal cleansing, body detoxification and plant-based supplementation. All of the elements of good health rolled into one.

5) There are hands-on training centers where one can go and experience the program for an extended period of time, and not just try to sort it out from books or weekend seminars.

6) Most hands-on centers are reasonably priced - I've paid as much for one night at a nice hotel for what they charge for a week's stay.

7) Dr. Ann Wigmore's program is educational, not "do this blindly because I say so." At the training centers they teach why the body isn't healthy, and what you can do about it. As an engineer and scientist, I appreciate this.

The more I looked at it, the more the Raw Living Foods Lifestyle stood out as being the program that would work for me - or for anyone!

Synchronicity also came into play. An old friend. When I mentioned Dr. Ann Wigmore's Raw Living Foods program she told me that she'd studied with Dr. Ann at Hippocrates Institute in Boston, and credited the lifestyle with changing her life.

August of '01 found me at Creative Health Institute, near Union City, Michigan. On a trip to visit family I stopped in for a three-day visit. I was so impressed with the personal experiences of the graduating students that I went back to Georgia, closed up the farm, and returned to Michigan to attend the two-week program. I still weighed 240 lbs.

In my first two weeks at Creative Health I lost 20 lbs. I never went hungry, I never missed a meal, I never counted a calorie. Indeed, I usually had seconds.

At the end of the first month I was down to 210 lbs. When I headed back for Georgia for Christmas I weighed 200 lbs. I'd lost 40 lbs. without even working at it!

Why did the program work so dramatically for me?

I was toxic. Not only did the organic, unprocessed food that Creative Health served reduce and eliminate the toxins in my body, Dr. Ann's program helped my body eliminate toxins that I'd been accumulating all of my life.

By eating processed foods, I'd been putting toxins into my body faster than my body could remove them. I learned that my body was storing these toxins in fat cells in order to protect me. Once I eliminated the toxins I was ingesting, my body was able to process the backlogged accumulation and dispose of it.

I also learned that I had a large amount of impacted fecal matter. Most people do. Enemas cleared out this backlog.

From '01 to '05 I spent three to six months of the year at Creative Health, helping out as a volunteer as I helped myself get healthier. I weigh 170 lbs. now.

The other reason I kept returning to Creative Health was the good feelings I felt when I saw others overcome their health challenges. I've seen people heal diabetes, obesity, arthritis, colitis, after-effects of chemotherapy, breast cancer, hepatitis, heavy metal poisoning, asthma, wounds that wouldn't heal, PMS, migraine headaches... all forms of health challenges.

I've seen people stop smoking, painlessly, in just a few days. They didn't even notice that they'd quit. Wish I knew that back in '99.

I've watched people perk up, heal, and get happy. Like Chantel from Zimbabwe. She came to Creative Health with rheumatoid arthritis, which she'd had since she was 16. She was 26. Upon graduation from the two-week program Chantel said, "I stopped taking my medication after I was here three days. I've not had any pain in more than a week."

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she added, "This is the best I have felt since I was 15 years old."

Some time later Chantel sent me an email: "While I am only 75% raw after these two years, I am not taking medication, and my pain has not returned. I am happy to tell you that I am now married and three months pregnant. Your program made this possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

What do raw living foods do for me?

Helped me lose over 70 lbs.,

Gave me an energy level that's like being 25 again (I even took up skydiving - at 52!).

Instead of sleeping 8-10 hours a night, I wake totally refreshed after only 4-6 hours of sleep.

My bowels are regular and move easily.

I'm happier - all the time. I have a more positive outlook on life. People say I "glow," and I smile all the time.

My taste buds have changed, and my cravings for snacks, sweets and caffeine have disappeared.

Most of all, I find my life more satisfying and rewarding than it's ever been before.

I try to help Creative Health in their mission. I've installed computers and a network, rewrote the website, taught classes, mowed the lawn, started a newsletter, served as Program Director, done public speaking, fixed toilets, painted, produced videos, answered the phones, stuffed envelopes, and told my story on TV and radio

When I was answering the phone at Creative Health I repeatedly heard people say, either:

1) I have the time to attend, but just can't afford it, or

2) Affording it is no problem, but there's no way I can take two weeks off.

For those reasons I created the Home Study Program. From a file cabinet with over three decades of research studies and student materials, and two decades worth of videotape, I spent my winters assembling the most comprehensive overview of the program I could.

I now administer the Raw Living Foods Home Study Program in order to help those who:

1) Can't afford to attend a center,

2) Want to have a comprehensive overview of the program to take home with them, or

3) Need training materials to help them share their wonderful transformation with others.

I'm finding it a great way to spend my retirement, and the second half of my life!

Jim Carey
Midville, Georgia
December, 2007

Why Suffer?: How I Overcame Illness & Pain Naturally, by Dr. Ann Wigmore

Why Suffer?: How I Overcame Illness & Pain Naturally, by Dr. Ann Wigmore, DD, ND, is available for free via download.

An Inspiring Classic. This is her autobiography about growing up with her homeopath Grandmother in Lithuania, healing herself of gangrene as a teenager, and discovering wheatgrass juice and raw living foods as the treatment for her cancer, after the doctors gave up on her. This was the basis of the findings and and teachings that became the Wigmore Diet Program of Dr. Ann, used by thousands to reverse dis-ease, detoxify & rejuvenate. Paperback, 182 pages.

To download for free (471k): http://rawlivingfoods.typepad.com/books/whysuffer.pdf

Another download site: http://chidiet.com/books/whysuffer.pdf

For background information about Dr. Ann: http://annwigmore.com

The living foods lifestyle, home study version

The Dr. Ann Wigmore Living Foods dietary education program is also available in a home study version. In the series of 15 training lessons, each one consisting of a lesson plan, class notes, videotapes and books, you’ll learn all about the Wigmore Program, internal cleansing and food preparation. Authors and presenters include Dr. Ann Wigmore, Dr. Lorraine Day, Victoria Boutenko, Paul Nison, Mary Moore, Hiawatha Cromer, Don Haughey and others. For more information see www.chiDiet.com.  Best of all, you’ll have the information available for reference for years to come!

“The most exciting thing in the Living Foods Movement since Dr. Ann Wigmore.” – Don Haughey

“Wonderful packaging. Fast delivery.” – Molly Ruffino

“I’m really enjoying the information, and look forward to each month’s lesson.” – Darlene Shule

“Great service.” – Brenda Dunne

“Worth devoting my life to.” – Jim Carey

“Wonderful. Incredible.” – Larry Meggs

“Long Overdue.” – Sara Thompson

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.

From morbid obesity to a new life with raw living foods

Just a few years ago, Angela Stokes from Brighton, England, weighed 294 lbs (21 stone/133kg) and was depressed, lonely and constantly ill. Underneath a false mask of contentment, she was deeply unhappy and binged daily on junk foods in an endless cycle of overeating, refusing to discuss her weight issues with anyone.

These days, after moving over to a raw vegan diet since May 2002, she weighs in at a healthy and happy 138 lbs (9st 9lbs/62kg), is 100% raw and feels her life has been completely transformed.

Angela was not always overweight. She was a very active child and the fastest runner in her school at the age of 10. Her problems began when at the age of 11 she developed an underactive thyroid and began to gain weight. The weight gain escalated with uncontrolled overeating, so that a decade later, at the age of 21, she found herself weighing in at nearly 300 lbs (21stone/133kg). Her pre-raw diet consisted of enormous quantities of chocolate, fried foods, stodgy carbohydrates and greasy fats.

It took a possible diabetes scare to jolt Angela into awareness that perhaps there were kinder ways to treat her body, but it was not until a friend lent her a book about the amazing transformation of one family on a diet of mainly raw foods – Raw Family by the Boutenkos – that life truly took on a new direction for Angela and her body started to take on a totally different form.

She felt like it was the answer she’d always been waiting for and swapped her calorie-packed carbs and fat-laden diet overnight for a 100% raw lifestyle.

Coming from a place of such ill-health, her detox was very severe and she found that cutting back to about 70% raw for the first couple of years suited her better. Her weight loss was phenomenal and during the first year alone, she lost over 100 lbs (approx. 7½stone/50kg) of excess fat and her health, vitality and passion for life increased exponentially.

She found that the less she became of herself physically, the more she became of herself as a whole person, gaining confidence, developing self-esteem and starting to open up towards others in a way she had previously found very challenging.

As the pounds slipped away, her body came to life and every day was an adventure of discovering new activities she could now participate in more easily, like sports, shopping for nice clothes and attracting male attention: her love life blossomed.

When she looks back now, Angela comments that it often feels like she is speaking about a different person, as her life has changed so dramatically over the last 4 years. She has lost more than half of her body weight from her biggest size and the transformation that began on this physical level led on to huge shifts on emotional and spiritual levels too for Angela.

She feels enormously blessed to have experienced such a remarkable transformation in her health and happiness and now devotes her life to sharing with others her message of hope for natural recovery from morbid obesity and destructive overeating patterns.

She encourages others to take this holistic approach to healing themselves, emphasising that this does not have to mean an ‘extreme’ lifestyle change to bring extraordinary results. It is not essential to go 100% raw, now or ever, to experience huge benefits - just eating MORE raw foods than before and more raw than cooked foods will help people begin to lose weight and regain their health.

In January, 2004, she set up her popular testimonial website www.rawreform.com, where she shares her own experiences of going raw, along with guidance for others on how to follow a similar path to reclaim their health.

She is living proof of the extraordinarily powerful healing effects that can be found through adopting a diet high in raw, living foods – she walks her talk and her before and after pictures speak for themselves.

Angela currently offers two e-books for sale on her site: RawReform: How to go Raw for Weight Loss is an intro guide to natural weight loss for those who struggle with overeating and RawReform: Recipes is a supporting volume to help raw newbies transition happily and safely into raw.

She has recently finished a tour of the West coast of the USA, sharing her message of hope and recovery and will continue later this year, from August to October on the East coast – details can be found on the ‘events’ page of her website.

She also runs retreats (held in Sussex, England and Michigan, USA this year) and guides others who would like support to lose weight with raw foods through personal consultations. Angela is passionate about helping people to reverse overweight and obesity issues with natural choices, rather than crash diets, invasive surgery or "magical bullet" pills.

Her desire to help others help themselves on the road to better health has already earned her an award at the House of Lords in England for research into obesity, along with funding to redevelop her website to better serve the needs of the growing community who look to her work for support and guidance.

Angela sums up her transformation on raw foods in the following way: "I may now be half the person physically that I was before going raw, but I am so much more myself in every other way. I am delighted to share my experience and hope with others."

For more information, or to purchase her e-books online, see Angela’s site – www.rawreform.com - or contact rawreform@hotmail.com.

The unexpected benefits of being a raw living fooder

Reprinted by Popular Demand ---

Unexpected Benefits of Being Raw

by James Carey

I live out in the woods of east central Georgia. WAY out in the woods. My driveway is several city blocks long. You can’t even see the house from the road. Every summer I contract poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac at least a dozen times. Seventeen times, one year. Each case lasts about two weeks, unless I catch some more elsewhere on my body and have overlapping cases. I’ve found the Canadian Centre for Disease Control (CCDC) website has the most useful information, and I know all about urushiol and Technu and Clear Caladryl lotion. Did you know that one nanogram of urushiol (billionth of a gram) is enough to cause a rash, the name is derived from the Japanese name for laquer, dead plants can infect you even after five years, urushiol remains potent for several centuries, or that the name Poison Ivy was coined by Captain John Smith in 1609? I could go on…

I’m just careless about it, is all. I stop to admire the sunrise, then realize that the tree I’m leaning against is covered with PI vines. I go crawling under the house to fix something, and realize the next day that the pretty little plants I crawled over were poison oak. I go berry picking, and push right though the poison sumac to get to the blackberry bushes behind. I’ve even caught PI from the dog (the oil can be carried on their fur) and mowing the yard.

Invariably, two days later I start to itch, and when I backtrack my activities I find the cause of infection (the CCDC calls this “vectoring,” in case you were wondering.)

At least I never get PI on my feet or ankles. That’s because I always wear big, heavy boots around the farm. Of course, I’m constantly battling Athlete’s Foot. I wear two pair of white socks, change them at midday (dinner, not lunch), and have a collection of sprays, ointments and powders. I know almost as much about Athlete’s Foot fungus as I do about Poison Ivy.

It’s been different this summer, though. Here it is July already and the one case of PI I’ve had lasted only two days. And I haven’t had Athlete’s Foot since I left CHI last fall. Curious, no? I thought so, especially since spring came a month early and everything’s blooming even heartier than usual.

I mentioned this to Don Haughey, co-founder of Creative Health Institute and he said, “Oh, that’s because your body is more alkaline now.” I checked with a chemist at Georgia Southern University, and, sure enough, that’s correct. An alkaline body chemistry repels skin diseases.

Like the local girls say, “Well, ain’t that special?”

Jim Carey,
Herndon, Georgia

See www.chiDiet.com for the complete training program.

Mike Snyder Interviews Dr. Jim

"I first started doing raw foods over 8 years ago to help me heal from a chronic illness called eczema. I tried the raw vegan fruitarian diet and my symptoms started getting worse. I was scared because I thought the raw foods diet was not working.

I then discovered Ann Wigmore's teachings and immediately got on her program. I was surprised at how quickly my health improved. After one month, my eczema symptoms healed! My friends and family are always remarking about how healthy my skin is.

I tried a few other versions of the raw foods diet but they didn't work out for me. I experienced low energy levels and cravings for unhealthy foods. The other programs just didn't compare to the High Energy teachings of Ann Wigmore.

Ann's teachings on blended foods and green juices are the most valuable discovery of our time. An investment in this program will change your life! If it wasn't for Wigmore, I would still be on medications and suffering from eczema. Thank you Jim for keeping her program alive!"

Click here to download the interview (18 mb MP3 file)

- Mike Snyder, Portland, OR

http://www.TheRawDiet.com

Who is responsible for your health?

A good answer to those who think we're fanatical:

Your answer to this question can increase or decrease the quality and length of your life, so consider carefully: Who is responsible for your health?

Your instinctive response may be that you are, with the help of a few experts. But put even a little thought behind it and you realize it's a loaded question. Because it depends on what is meant by "responsible." Does that mean who is to blame or praise for your current state of health? Does that mean who should be watching out for your health? And for that matter, what is meant by "health" itself?

The rest of the article: http://www.mercola.com/2003/jul/9/health_responsibility.htm.
- submitted by Helen Terry

The unexpected side effects of a raw foods diet

Unexpected Side Effects of a Raw Living Foods Diet
- by Jim Carey, former Executive Director of Creative Health Institute

During the years I’ve been associated with Creative Health Institute I’ve seen dozens and dozens of people learn to control and heal their health challenges by adopting a Raw Living Foods diet. For one reason or another they’ve given up on American Medicine, they realized that there is no “Magic Bullet” for what ails them, and they’ve come to us.

We’ve shown them that the Magic Bullet is within them - it’s their own bodies. They can’t change it; they have to use it the way it is. A raw living foods diet, organic when possible, is the Magic Bullet that they’ve been seeking.

I’ve seen people reduce, and even eliminate, their need to take Insulin or other medication to control their blood sugar levels; I’ve seen them control their hypertension while no longer depending on drugs; I’ve seen tumors shrink and disappear; I’ve saw a young lady get relief from the rheumatoid arthritis that had plagued her for 16 years; I’ve read testimonies from former students that their symptoms of fibromyalgia and candida had gone away; people that obtained the relief that they had been seeking when they came to CHI.

But each and every one of them also obtained an unexpected side effect -they had shed lots and lots of excess weight.

Richard came to learn to control his diabetes -unexpectedly, he lost 20 lbs. during his two week visit. Another letter tells of shedding fifty excess pounds, over the course of one year, “easily.” Indeed, Don Haughey, co-founder of CHI, shed 55 unneeded lbs. when he transitioned to the Living Foods Lifestyle and cured his 7 diagnosed ailments.

I originally became involved with the program because I saw it as a healthier way to live; unexpectedly, I dropped 20 lbs. in the first two weeks, 30 lbs. in the first month, and 80 lbs. over the course of two years. I’ve gone from 260 lbs. to 180 lbs., from a 44”waist to 33”, and, like almost every letter we get states, “I feel much better, I have much more energy, and I sleep better at night.”

Gosh, these unexpected side effects are great!

Radio Interviews with some of the Raw Film Festival filmmakers

The interviews are with the following film makers :

Howard Lyman     Film: Mad Cowboy
Jennifer Mattox of Faerie Films, LLC,
    Film: All Jacked Up  2
Djehuty Maatra   Film: Toxic Inspector, Toxic Kitchen
Mark Perlmutter,   Film: Raw For Life

The show will now be broadcast over the Internet at:

http://iamhealthyradio.com/dorit_serenity_spaces.html

Beginning this Sunday (tomorrow) 23rd February, 2008 starting at 4pm (PST) and continuing right  up until the Raw Lifestyle Film Festival on the 21st of March 2008.

Should you have problems listening to the show, please change your browser to Mozilla Firefox which usually resolves any problems.

Committed to Raising Consciousness,

Dorit, Raw Lifestyle Film Festival Creator and Organizer

Book, Celebrating Our Raw Nature 1 & 2

http://www.serenityspaces.org
310-854-2078

Smoking and Raw Foods

"This isn't earth shaking and only the latest in a line of personal successes. I smoke .. I know - ugh - and it is past cleaning time for the teeth. I really looked at them this morning - there was NO STAIN from tobacco & coffee on the inside of the lower teeth. Absolutely none - they look just like after a cleaning, only better, in that the "clean" is more uniform & natural looking. I know my mouth - they would be stained at this point in time. And furthermore, they literally "squeak" when rubbed .. obviously no plaque! I'm forever being surprised with little things like this that I didn't expect. We take about 1-2 oz/day, I guess, all said & done. The spraying of the mouth GOOD before bed is to me, the most important of all & done religiously."

- C.T.

Raw, Living Foods Really are Good and Tasty

Reno News and Review: “Raw, living foods really are good and tasty."

First suggestion: You can make a salad by grating those carrots, onions, and garlic in your basement. They might not be leafy greens, but they’ll give you that raw foods energy burst. That’s what they do in Siberia, since they can’t run to the store like us tender-skins and get watercress, romaine, and baby spinach. Actually, that does sound pretty good.

Second idea: consider growing sprouts. Many seeds and grains, from mung beans to sunflower seeds to quinoa to wheat, will easily sprout, and the sprouts have the chlorophyll and vitality of spring shoots.”

Read more: http://www.newsreview.com/reno/Content?oid=606306

Leafy Healing

The modern food diet of cooked, de-mineralized, de-vitaminized food accompanied by poor elimination, produces a great deal of acid poisons which bathe the cells of the body causing pain, swelling, and inflammation. When accompanied by a lack of organic sodium, calcium tends to settle in the various parts of the system, for sodium is the mineral which helps to keep calcium in proper solution so the body can utilize it.

When this calcium settles in the joints, we have the condition known as arthritis. When it settles in the gall bladder or the kidneys, then we have gall stones or kidney stones. And when it settles in the walls of the arteries, then we have high blood pressure or hardening of the arteries.

So in light of these facts you can see how important it is for us to consume green leafy vegetables which are abundant in organic sodium.

From http://www.TheGardenDiet.com

Testimonial - Judy B

Thanks, Jim.  I need some inspiration right now! After having been 100% raw for 21 months now, I'm still not feeling that great.

It helps to read testimonials about folks who went raw and experienced detox symptoms.

Judy B

Why Switch to a Living Foods Diet

Courtesy of Roxanne's Raw Restaurant, Larkspur, California
http://www.roxraw.com/

Living foods are the key to our health and longevity. They allow our bodies to perform as they were meant to. Our bodies have evolved over a four million year period. For 3,950,000 of those years we ate only raw, living foods. It is only recently that we have begun eating cooked food. When we look at other mammals in nature, we do not see any significant incidence of the diseases that have become pervasive in humans. No cancer, heart disease, strokes or diabetes.

Before discussing why Living Foods are so critical to our health, lets examine what cooking does to food. The first thing that is lost when you cook something is its' water content. Our bodies are between 60% and 70% water. Vegetables and fruits are loaded with water, and it is structured water that better facilitates our biological processes. Cooking denatures the proteins in our food, rendering them harder to digest and utilize.

Cooking destroys 50 percent of the protein in our food. Between 50 and 80 percent of the vitamins and minerals are also destroyed. Pesticides break down into more toxic compounds, which are more easily assimilated into our bodies. Oxygen is lost and free radicals are produced.

Most importantly, enzymes are destroyed when food is heated above 118 degrees. Enzymes are the catalysts of every chemical reaction in our bodies. Without them, there can be no cellular division, immune system functioning, energy production nor brain activity. No vitamins or hormones can do their work without enzymes. There are two different types of enzymes in our bodies, metabolic enzymes and digestive enzymes. We produce over 100,000 different enzymes, each doing a unique task.

Interestingly, every food contains exactly the perfect mix of digestive enzymes to break it down completely. These are called food enzymes. Nature in its never-ending perfection sees that all food whether flesh, fruit or vegetable, decomposes and returns to the earth from which it came. But cooking our food above 118 degrees destroys its enzymes, leaving our bodies to generate the enzymes necessary to digest it.

There are two main problems with this enzyme destruction. First, our bodies cannot produce enzymes in the perfect mix to metabolize our food as completely as the food enzymes nature creates. This results in partially digested fats, proteins and starches that will clog up our body's intestinal tract and arteries. The Eskimos are a remarkable example of this. Eskimo means, "one who eats raw." While living for centuries on a diet that consisted primarily of whale or seal blubber, Eskimos developed no arterial sclerosis. They had almost no heart disease or stroke, and no high blood pressure. Established nutritional doctrine would predict a high incidence of these ailments, but even raw blubber will digest itself completely if it is not cooked and its enzymes are not destroyed. But once you heat even the finest olive oil above 118 degrees, you will not be able to digest it completely. It will clog you up.

More importantly, it has been demonstrated that our bodies produce a finite lifetime supply of enzymes. Every cooked meal we eat causes enzyme production that draws on our finite reserve. A living food meal does not cause this drain.

This can help us understand why an 85 year old has only 1/30 the enzyme activity level of an 18 year old. Aging is really nothing more than running out of enzymes. Cells stop dividing, our immune system fails to handle challenges it managed easily when we were younger. Our enzyme reserve is depleted over a lifetime of eating cooked food. In 1930, Dr. Paul Kouchakoff found that when we eat cooked food, our bodies attack it with leukocytes, the white blood cells that are the cornerstone of our immune system. These cells bring enzymes to the cooked food in an attempt to break it down and get rid of it. Our bodies actually treat cooked food as a foreign invader. No leukocytes are produced when living food is eaten. It is a tremendous burden on our body to produce digestive enzymes and leukocytes. It takes ten metabolic enzymes to make one digestive enzyme. The pancreas of humans and our domesticated animals is twice the size as a percentage of body weight, as mammals in nature. This is a direct result of the overwork we place on it to create digestive enzymes. It's no wonder we feel so tired after eating a cooked meal. We actually burn close to half of the calories we consume in a cooked meal just to digest it!

In nature, all mammals live eight to ten times their maturation age. Humans, and our domesticated pets and farm animals that eat cooked, processed food only live four times our maturation age. In the famous Pottinger cat study, it was demonstrated that cooked food diets result in shorter life spans, congenital abnormalities and eventually, loss of reproductive capability. In lab experiments, mice fed a living food diet live fifty percent longer than mice fed cooked food.

It is amazing to see how all animals in nature maximize their enzyme reserve. If you give a squirrel a raw nut, it will not eat it, but always will bury it. It will only dig it up when the nut has sprouted. They have found sensors in squirrels' noses that can identify a sprouted nut. Raw, unsprouted nuts have enzyme inhibitors that prevent the nuts' food enzymes from digesting it. Only when it sprouts are these inhibitors deactivated.

When our bodies eat the living foods they were meant to, our entire bio-terrain operates in optimal health. All of our cells, organs and systems are able to do the jobs they are capable of in perfect balance. A healthy bio-terrain requires proper enzyme capacity, acid-base balance and a healthy digestive tract. These can be achieved through a living foods diet. With a healthy bio-terrain, our bodies manage all health challenges quite effectively. This is why we rarely see disease in mammals living in nature. It is what we put into our bodies that prevent them from doing what they are capable of. Cooked food destroys our bio-terrain. Living foods support a healthy bio-terrain.

A living food diet leads to a longer, more energetic life. Think of how you feel after a Thanksgiving feast. The burden of digesting a cooked food meal drains our energy. This does not happen with living foods and the extra energy allows the body to focus its resources on cleansing and rebuilding. Less sleep is needed and it is more restful. Only when we eat food that our bodies evolved eating, we will produce the right balance of hormones and brain neurotransmitters.

When Roxanne and I began eating living foods, we thought we would give it a try for one month. After one month, our bodies just went "Wow!" The change was undeniable, and we couldn't believe our energy level and reduced need for sleep. Our vision even improved. We listened to our bodies, and they were right. We hope you will give your bodies a chance to tell you what they want and need.

Testimonial - Lucy Brandt

Folks! This is monumental! For those newbies or those diagnosed with hypethyroidism?

Background: about six years ago I was diagnosed with a dead (non-functioning) thyroid. I thought it was about me getting older. I was getting more and more tired and really attributed it to getting older. Well - after about a year and a half I went to a specialists. He has put me on every dose range possible. From the lowest, going all the way up to the highest. Since going raw 10 months ago, I've been back to him 3 times. The first time he was amazed at how my numbers had changed - for the good! He questioned what other meds I was taking. None doc. Your's is it. "What foods are you eating?" Just fruits and veggies doc. "Nah, that shouldn't have anything to do with these numbers." Um, okay. So he cuts my meds in half.

Six weeks later I go back. Same questions. Same answers. Oh - this time I tell him I'm drinking green smoothies. Same answer regarding foods should have nothing to do with the numbers. Well then why are you asking me? Mind you. He's short, fat, and bald. I don't put a whole bunch of trust in his diet choices. Cuts my meds in half again. He claims I'm hypERthyroid now. I was on a pretty high dose before starting raw. I can't remember, something like 275? Is that possible? I honestly can't remember. I know it was 200 something. Then I go back a third time. Yeah, you got the drill. My numbers have improved, he cuts my meds. This time he didn't even bother to ask about meds or foods - he's learning. I went back today. As we were walking back to his office I ask him how he is, he's fine. He asks me how I am. I'm fine I say. No you're not says he. Why? He says you're still showing hypERthyroid numbers.

I'm giggling to myself and as we get ready to sit down in his office I say to him, "Hey doc - I got an idea. How about if I go totally off the meds and come back say in two months and you read me again? I mean you're reading my meds right now, right?"

"WHAT???" was his response after he picked his jaw up off the floor. So I repeat, "You're just reading my meds right now, aren't you?"

"Well, uh, yes, actually I could be." So he took me off. Reassuring me that when I come back I'm gonna feel not so good, in fact so much that we may have to start all over again with the meds, you're okay with that, right? (He's asking me).

I say to him, "Well, you know, I could come back here feeling REALLY good, 'ya know?"

"Well, yes", he chuckles, "you could feel good. But you let me know if you start feeling bad, okay?"

I say to him that I'm glad I feel THIS way as opposed to how I felt a year ago. He says that being hypER has it's bad points too, such as osteoporosis (not good bones) and heart ! conditions. He doesn't realize just how healthy I am.

I'm not gonna feel bad. He's gonna feel bad when he realizes he's lost a patient. Well, no, not really, he'll have fifteen other poor souls that will take my place in line as one of his patients.

I am so stoked that I have met my goal in less then a year! Any thing else will be secondary to these TWO monumental healings that raw food has done for me.

The first being my migraines gone after 53 years of suffering and my life being destroyed by them. Even migraines meds did nothing for me.

And now my thyroid curing/healing itself by eating raw.
How simple.
How beautiful!

HOW HEALING RAW IS!!!
---------------------------------------------------
UPDATE!!!

I went back to my doctor this morning (June 27, 2007) and he didn't think it was necessary that I return to continue seeing him. I have done so well with my "progression" that I am no longer his patient. He said my numbers are showing a perfectly functioning thyroid, and he asked how I was feeling and said if I needed to come back then to do so. Meaning if I start feeling poorly, then to come back. I don't believe I will see him again; as a patient that is. YAY!!!

So, with that said - anyone who has ANY doubts that raw is not healing, I am living proof. Our bodies are very forgiving, healing, and amazing machines!!

Okay, here goes - me before - July 2006 (GASP) and me now, July 2007 and I've enjoyed every minute of the transformation!

Before: http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3185&d=1186057934

After: http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3186&d=1186058051

---
For more accounts of raw food healing see Storm's eBook The Healing Raw Diet eBook at http://www.TheNatch.com

Why Raw, by David Wolfe

Why Raw?
by David Wolfe

Every culture seems to have a story about how human life began on Earth. Most describe a story where humans showed up here living in paradise.

Everything was perfect for long ages of time, until something happened. Some consider that "something" to be the flood, or to be "the knowledge of good and evil," or a shift in the ages, etc. What was it? Why is it that humans live life on Earth so differently from the other creatures here?

Raw-food eaters such as myself believe (actually know) we have found the answer. The great change came over the life of humans on this planet when we discovered fire and began experimenting with cooking our food. Let's use our best sense: no other creature on the planet cooks or tampers with its food in any way. Here is an experiment: Let's feed a tribe of gorillas coffee and donuts for a few generations and let's see what happens! Because cooked food is part and parcel to civilization we have been trained never to question it.

What constitutes the basis of human nourishment? Is it pills and supplements coming out of the roaring jaws of factories? Is it the flesh of animals being churned out by factory farms? Is it the milk of cows which was intended for baby calves? Is it cooked and processed food?

The basis of human nourishment is obvious: it is RAW PLANT FOOD which is presented to us in abundance in nature. All this talk about this diet or that diet or "natural" this or "natural" that is all nonsensical. There is only one normal diet: a raw-food based diet.

Going raw recreates you in your original form. Eating raw transforms you back into an intuitive natural creature < it returns to you lost animal powers. Eating raw plant food radically naturalizes you and puts one back in touch with the material and spiritual flow of nature. Because of this effect, eating raw grounds you in the natural world and also provides you with more awareness of the spiritual world  which is really also part of the natural world.

You are a work of art in progress. Each meal is a cloud or a tree or a flower a piece of the painting that you are becoming. Every bite of food you put in your body should be adding to your perfection, to your beauty.
You are what you eat is a cosmic law. It is known in every culture and throughout every civilization throughout history. Every person knows that saying. Give your body the highest quality food possible. Eat organic and homegrown food.

I have made my life's work a study on how to help people succeed and prosper with the raw-food lifestlye in spite of the monotonous routine world's peer pressure. The best way to succeed in any area is to educate yourself. I hope you will take a moment to enjoy and absorb the information in my books: The Sunfood Diet Success System and Nature's First Law: The Raw-Food Diet.

For more information on the raw-food approach, please visit our web-site at:
http://www.rawfood.com  or write to: Nature's First Law, PO Box 900202, San Diego, CA 92190 USA, please request our free catalog.

Congratulations and Thank You

James,

Thank you for the always inspiring letter, but this time you have outdone yourself. It is fantastic to read all these personal testimonies of real people and their experience by going raw. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! You are changing the world a letter at a time, making this world a better place.

Love and appreciation from

Hilde Bedsvaag from Norway

From 22 to 2

When I was a small child it didn't really matter to the world that I was so overweight until I entered school. Then all of a sudden my appearance mattered to everyone. How I looked would determine how many friends I would have, what kickball team I would be chosen to play on and who would mock me. Well, let me explain something to you, it does not matter how big my heart is, how much I long to be loved, or how much love I am willing to give to someone. If I don't look a certain way, no one will want to even get close to my heart. Once I am judged by my appearance whether pleasing to the eye or not it doesn't matter, now it is determined how I am treated. Will I be invisible? Will I be mocked? Will I be treated with respect? Will I be lied to? Will I be used?

Most of my life I was used for one reason or another. I let myself be walked over because I was in such desperate need to be loved or at least, liked. If someone showed any interest in me at all for any reason I would do whatever it took to be around them. I never had any real friends. No one that really cared about me and supported my dreams and aspirations. In fact, I did not have any dreams or aspirations because my mother didn't let me. I had to live the life that she wanted me to live. If I had a desire to do something she would say no. I was never allowed to have a thought or show any emotion without checking with her first. I never had any privacy and was always around such negativity and pain that I didn't know what real love or happiness was. Love and happiness were just something that I was desperately looking for my whole life. I guess that I wouldn't even know what they were if I had stumbled upon them. Believe it or not, there were a few times that I did stumble upon them, or so I thought. No. Not this time.

This is why I used food to control my emotions. The only thing I could control was the food that went into my mouth and it was a lot of food.

[click on photo for enlargement]

I was always the fat girl in school, you know the one you can pick out of any class picture. That was me, the fat girl with a big heart desperately wanting to be included in anything. When I was 10 years old I was 150 pounds and a size 13. My nickname was Moose. We would play in the playground at recess and I would be on one side of the see saw and 3 or 4 girls would be on the other end. This was the only way that anyone would play with me. It was rare that I was included in anything like parties or sports teams. If I was invited to something I was usually made fun of once I got there. It was as if they had hired a clown for the birthday party and the clown never showed up so they decided to just use me for a laugh instead. If I could tell you how many times I called my mom to come get me from a party or a sleep over because I was being laughed at for being fat…

I just kept on eating and my parents kept telling me how fat I was. I was a closet eater. I would go to a drive thru, super size it, eat it in the car on the way home, go home and eat another meal. I would eat an entire box of oreos in one sitting and not even realize I had eaten anything. My mother put me on weight watchers countless times. I would lose 30 pounds in 6 months and then gain it all back, plus more. This was a vicious cycle that surrounded me until I turned 25.

A quarter of a century, 25 years old. I don't know what this did to me but, it pushed some deep rooted buttons, that lit a fire inside me burning so hot that no one could stop me. This point of my life, I was still living at home, engaged to a guy I dated for 10 years that I knew I didn't want to marry, I couldn't get a job, no one would hire me because I was morbidly obese, a size 22 and 245 pounds. Well, I was now on a mission to lose weight. I went on a mission to find the perfect way to lose weight. I searched the internet and spoke to people about what they did to lose weight. I found the perfect plan!!!!!!

I got started and my first month I lost 23 pounds!! WOW!!! In the past it would take me months to lose that much. Over a period of 10 months I made little changes every day and learned how to listen to what my body was trying to tell me. I felt amazing! I started to exercise and completely change all of my habits. I turned into a different person. People started to treat me differently. I broke up with my fiancé and gave him his ring back. I needed to move on. I started to surround myself with people that I wanted to model, positive, grounded and happy people. I went from a size 22 down to a 2 in 10 months. This was about 9 years ago. I have always struggled with my weight since then fluctuating up and down a bit but, I have kept my weight down.

Now I have some other demons to deal with. The demons in my head and some terrible digestion problems that I didn't know I had until I lost weight and realized what my body had been trying to tell me all along. I have severe constipation. Now starts the long road of taking laxatives and going to countless doctors. I won't bore you with all the details but, let me tell you it was not fun at all. I became a fixture in many doctors' offices for years. Still to this day not one doctor could tell me what was wrong with my body and would just prescribe some medication that I would end up not taking. I did not want to be dependent upon medication, I wanted to find the cure!

Google and I became best friends. Google helped me find something called a raw food vegan diet. That sounded intriguing so, I read on and on and on and on. How fascinating it sounded. I became a sponge and soaked up all the knowledge I could about being a raw foodist. A light switch was turned on in my head, how could I have been so blind? It was the food I was eating that was making me sick! Of course! Well, I got started immediately eating raw and about 4 days after I began I started to notice some changes. It was amazing! All I needed to do was change the way I eat once again to feed my body properly. It wasn't about the amount of calories I put into my mouth, it was the quality of the food and how it is prepared so my body will be able to digest it. The way my body feels is beyond words, it is just a feeling you need to experience for yourself. My body feels lighter, I am not bloated all the time like I used to be and I have the most amazing energy all the time. My mind is very clear. It was so foggy at one point I don't even know how I was able to get my shoes on. I have been raw now for only 6 months and I have fallen in love with it.

Everyone around me at work is so fascinated about the food I eat for lunch. A group forms around me at my desk on a daily basis to see what I have brought that day. My friends know that when they have a party at their house I am bringing a raw dish. Most people don't believe that what I made or how I made it, they just know it is delicious.

Now, I am on the right path, I can just feel it inside me. I have left the old me behind and still creating the new me. I am excited to be taking this new journey in my life. It is amazing what only 6 months can do to someone's life. Check back with me in another 6 months!

Thank you for listening to my story.

Eileen Mayorga

[I met Eileen in Atlanta last month and was fascinated by the story of this beautiful, energetic woman. I especially thank her for being willing to write this piece for us. Perhaps another time Eileen will share the before-and-after pictures of her now-raw husband, parents and family. - James Carey]

Survived the 30 Days

Renata on Raw

So, I survived the 30 days trial period as James' Personal Assistant. And trials we had, minor ones in the office, major ones outdoors.

I survived about 8 snakes, fire ant attacks, combat exercises of the navy planes, and the heat, and the heat and the heat. Yes, we have a/c in the cabin where the computers, tapes and books are located. James was not kidding when he mentioned there is only the cabin on the farm, built originally past the civil war, after Sherman’s devastating walk through the south.

And no, there is no luxury suite tucked away in the woods. It’s rural living at its best.  I like it still. The commute is rather pleasant, about 100 yards from my hideaway. No fumes, no irate drivers, no rush hour, no high gas prices, just a peaceful, short walk through the woods.

I grew up in Munich and have lived over 20 years in the States. Since 1992 I have worked as a massage/colon therapist in various states (CT, SC, MT, NV). I am a CNHP, a certified natural health practitioner. However, the benefits of raw living foods were nowhere mentioned in the studies. The emphasis was on finding out which vitamins are missing in the body, how to test the body for it and then paying good money for them on top of the grocery bill. At times, even dairy and meat were propagated in the teachings.

So, how did I get introduced to raw living foods? I noticed in the last few years that my joints were getting rigid, and over time my fingers and toes were quite stiff in the morning despite of consuming a heap of vitamin pills on a daily basis. My whole body ached. Not a good thing for a massage therapist.

Last July I started a serious juice fast which alleviated the discomfort somewhat. Discomfort is the body talking to you, like the lights on the dashboard in your car - time for a check-up. One has two choices: turn off the lights and pretend nothing is wrong, relevant to the body: take some pills and pretend your health is fabulous. However, sooner than later the body sends out more serious signals. That is definitely the time to act instead of ignoring and covering up the signs. A serious disease simply does not develop overnight. The body has an innate wisdom and tells us in many ways we are off course and adjustments are called for.

To make a long story short, I switched my diet completely to raw living foods, my joints are flexible again, no more aches and pains, a clearer mind and a much more pleasant attitude towards ageing. I feel so much better at 55 than at 25. Is it magic? Absolutely not, just the right fuel for the body. You would not want to put acid into your car tank, why put the wrong fuel into your body? Spare parts for the body are just so hard to come by.

Renata Dorner

Testimonial - Gena

Hi Jim!

I've been researching the raw food lifestyle for years now and even put it into practice back in 1993, when faced with life threatening liver disease, it worked. Since then, I haven't taken very good care of my bod and am paying for it, big time! Anyway, I've been searching for simple and quick recipes as I transition and as much info as I can get my hands on... I have done several searches on the internet and today, NIRVAVA! I came across yours! Nothing is by coincidence :o)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love your site! I will be searching it daily!

Many Blessings to you!

Gena T.

Testimonial - CR Segers, Belgium

Dear Jim,

Since I received your weekly newsletter I try to eat as much as possible raw vegetables and fruit with good results regarding my health (my age is 84).

It was a tremendous help to keep me on the raw-food-track.

C.R. Segers  (Belgium)

Testimonial - Shaya

I went from 189 pounds to 155 pounds in a few months by going from vegan to 100% raw vegan without the aid of any supplements.  I should add that I was not "fat" at the high weight or at least I carried it well. 

People comment that I am so skinny now, but it is all relative.  I feel great (didn't feel bad before) and  I have continued to run a minimum of four miles three times a week and have had some of my best times in over five years. 

I have also continued to work out three times a week and have increased both the weight and number of reps in my routine.  I have more energy and need less sleep.  Again, all of this without supplements.  In fact, I stopped taking the various vitamin, mineral, and herbal supplements that I had been taking. 

I trust that many of you have had similar results by going raw.

Shaya
[from serenityspaces@yahoogroups.com]

Eating well the raw food way

(Haleakela Times) "Raw food is the only diet I have found that simultaneously nourishes the mind, body and soul. I know I am eating in a way that has minimal impact on the planet. It really is in harmony with the environment, the natural order, and it lets me support my community eating local organic produce," says Dave Elberg of Makawao: http://www.haleakalatimes.com/news/story2061.aspx.

Testimonial - Steven Gibb

- by Steven Gibb, former Director of Creative Health Institute

Hello friends…

When we see, hear or learn something in life we have to make a decision what to do. One decision is to ignore what we have learned. Another is to take head to this information and truly discover what and how it may play a part in our life. On another note we are right where we are supposed to be in life but that doesn't mean our friends can't plants seeds. So, here I am planting the seed that you may take heed to consider what you place in your mouth.

I was once well and became violently ill due to the things I placed in my mouth. Much of that was cooked food and from fast food joints like McDonalds! I am now on a life looooong journey to once again achieve total wellness.

Even though it has been an interesting journey I wouldn't wish it upon an enemy if I had one.

You health is the best thing you have going for you… take it from someone who lost it.

You are a living organic organism and your fuel is “living food." Its not up for discussion… there’s nothing to discuss… get the facts! End of story…

Warmly,
Steven

Dare you click here to discover some more truth??? http://www.mcspotlight.org

Testimonial - Jodi Mardesich

Jodi's journal of going raw at the Ann Wigmore Institute in Puerto Rico. Journal starts on November 3, 2003: http://www.slate.com/id/2090570/entry/2090637/.

Raw journals

Here's a website that can be a resource for raw-interested people; people who are sharing their raw journey, through daily (to every-few-days) journal entries: http://fromsadtoraw.com/RawDailyJournals.htm. (check out Annette, who's lost 117 lbs. being raw, as of July, 2006.)