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Siri Datta asked:


What is a Raw Foods Diet?

Taken from the book Mini Size Me – The Raw Yoga Revolution



“Let me share my vision with you; I see the world without sickness, sorrow or mental disturbances in which we are living in perfect balance and abundant health and harmony.”

Dr Ann Wigmore Phd

(Co-Founder of the Hippocrates Institute)

I couldn’t of said that better myself. I, too share this vision, and I hope that at the end of reading this article , you may be inspired to actually taste this experience for yourselves.

So how do you feel right now?

Take a few minutes to close your eyes and tune in to your body with a few breaths. Allow yourself to sense how you truly feel. Do you feel a lively and vibrant superhero?  Or a lethargic, tired and heavy frump that is low on energy, or maybe you are just somewhere in between?

If your answer is Superhero, it’s likely that you have already taken steps towards aligning your diet with an intake of sun-filled, energy-drenched fresh green nutrition. Which is an excellent start!   But if the answer is frump, there is no need to despair.  This is where a raw food diet will deliver the medicine, the methods and the manifestation that you require to step into the YOU, that you know is inside, just bursting to get out.

If on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = zero energy, while 10 = superhero) you feel about 6 or less, then a raw food diet will shake your foundations  and raise your rafters into a whole, new, fresh level of vitality and health. At the very least you could gain a few more super powers through this super improved diet.

So what is a raw foods diet and why would you make an effort?  What are the benefits? Can I still have a take away on Saturdays? The optimum choice would be no. But wouldn’t you like to be free from the desire for it, if you knew it delivers you no favors?  Read on to find out the expanded benefits of a raw lifestyle.

Firstly, the raw lifestyle is a great choice for all those out there who know that inside each of us is a seed of massive life force, and want to tap into it. Layers of disbeliefs, mental blockages, emotional pains, combined with poor nutrition are preventing the full ignition of your life and transformation into Superb Health.

I see raw foods as the best available fuel for the fire of your life.

So what are Raw Foods?

Lets jump right in and go exploring.

Access Exceptional Energy

Our average diet is food diminished by cooking and cut short of the essential enzymes for healthy digestion. Raw foods are nature’s healers, flooded with sunlight, filled to brim with minerals and bountiful with active enzymes. These foods are still alive! Please re-read that sentence.  You will be eating food that contains abundant energy within its cellular structure and growing rich with the vital life force known as ‘prana,’ the fuel source of all living things.   Could you say the same for the frozen pizza at the back of the fridge, or perhaps a pot noodle?

That is why, when on a raw foods diet nothing is heated beyond 37 degrees, which is the same temperature as our bodies.  Above 37 degrees, you will start to kill off all enzyme activity, and deplete the life-force within the food.  We need to eat this food while it is bursting with life.  It is at this stage that we soak up the life-force from the food to harness its qualities and send it around our bodies.  Rather than siphon our own internal energy to digest the already ‘dead’ food.

When we say dead food, we are referring to the standard cooked diet that usually depletes our energy, ultimately resulting in disease and impaired old age. 

Some examples of raw foods are fresh fruit and vegetables, that are ideally grown in your own garden. Also within this diet there are sprouted foods (alfalfa and mung beans) nuts, seeds, seaweeds and now the ever popular ’superfoods’. 

Hippocrates, an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of modern medicine, sums up the benefits beautifully:

“So let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.”

Upping your intake of raw is choosing radiant life!

Return to Nature

A raw lifestyle is a move towards eating as nature intended. Raw foods are foods in their natural unprocessed state, un-treated with heat to prepare them for eating.  Today, so many of our food (fuel) sources are heavily processed, filled with chemicals and soaked in sugar. These foods lead to addictions, dependencies and cravings. What many people do not understand is that disease incubates over time. If, on a daily basis we continue to consume un-natural foods,  we are supporting a future of disease rather than a future of health. Raw plant prana is nature’s gift for rejuvenation.

Reduction of Excess Fat

People are often interested in raw plant foods for its massive weight loss potential, as there are many recorded accounts of stunning physical transformations when going  ‘Raw’. 

David Wolfe, one of the world’s leading authorities on Raw Foods says: “No amount of raw plant food is fattening. Only cooked food is fattening.” 

Does this mean bland and unsatisfying food? Not at all!  You couldn’t be further from the truth.  The great news is that some raw fats e.g. avocados can actually help excess weight dissolve. Plus, by embarking on a natural raw plant lifestyle,  any weight that is lost, will stay off,  as nature returns you to the true weight and shape for you.

Brilliant Skin and Great Long Life

The benefits of going raw and staying raw are  endless! You’ll enjoy a clear and glowing complexion, bright shiny eyes, increased libido and beautiful, lustrous hair and nails. People who have experienced acne have found that detoxifying their diet brings dramatic improvements including fewer blemishes.   All who go ‘raw’ will have stunning skin and hair.  Try it and see for yourself. 

In today’s western world, the average age expectancy for males is 65,  70 for females, but there is endless evidence to show that a raw diet can greatly extend your lifespan.

Dr. Howell a world renown Nutritionist , states that:

“Humans eating an enzyme-less diet use up a tremendous amount of their enzyme potential in lavish secretions of the pancreas and other organs, resulting in a short lifespan 65 years rather than 100 or more.”

Every living being has a fixed enzyme potential which can be prematurely exhausted in a large way through eating cooked and processed foods.  Raw plant foods come complete with such massive amounts of live enzymes that you don’t need to use up your “enzyme store” to digest them.  We will talk about enzymes later.

Thorough Body and Mind Detox

By going raw you give your body the best chance to offload all those toxins created over years of a cooked, processed diet and stressful living. What we eat profoundly affects the way we think, feel and behave. Life shifts come from changes within. When you take in only pure, natural and healthy foods, you begin to glow within and without. To quote David Wolfe  “We are not really human beings, we are human becomings, because we are constantly becoming more.”

A raw food diet can kick start  ‘becoming more’, more wonderful, more physical and much more mental transformation.

The Bliss of Balance

Take a simple and easy initial step towards raw foods by supplementing one of your daily meals with a dark green leafy salad and a tasty dressing.  This book promotes the concept that through adding delicious raw alternatives gradually to a standard cooked diet. Both your body and mind will naturally realize the benefits of raw plant foods and develop a preference for these. As you introduce more raw nourishment, you will notice increased life focus, heightened sensory awareness and a greater zest and drive for life.

If your idea of Raw is lettuce, tomatoes and a bit of cucumber you are about to be hugely surprised. Learning about raw cuisine is an expansive and fun journey of creativity and experimentation.  Before long, you will be introducing raw nourishment for the healing and vitality of your friends and family.

Seeds of Change

An optimum raw diet contains a high percentage of sprouted seeds.  Seeds are often seen as symbols of a powerful and vibrant potential for good reason! If you consume the powerful energy of a plant-in-the-making, this high enzyme  vibrancy  transforms into positive fuel  for your present and future  abundant health. The evidence is clear, take a cooked almond seed, plant it in the ground can a tree grow? No way.  Plant a sprouted seed and here you have the potential of an almond tree! Our bodies are so blessed with the prana of living foods.

Acidification

As we began our journey into a raw foods diet we discovered some startling facts and information:

? Fat is an over acidification of the body

? Fat is saving your life

? Fat is a response from the body to an alarming over-acidic condition!

Through the absorption of raw foods only we began to understand that we were changing our bodies from acidic into alkaline. This is the first process that kicks in when beginning a raw diet. We need to understand that the body creates fat cells to take away acid from the vital organs. All the acid that has been stored in your fat cells in your body begins to break down and is passed out through all elimination points (bowels, kidney, skin, lungs and nose). 

This acid has come from meat, fish, yeast, mushrooms/fungi, (and the waste products of these living organisms) tea, coffee, dairy, alcohol, tobacco and wheat being the main culprits.

We realised that we were ingesting the energy from these living fruits and vegetables to restore our whole being.  Our diet was feeding us energy, not depleting it.  We were absorbing the vital life force present in our foods.  This added energy jumpstarted the natural detoxing period that blessedly comes from this Raw Nutrition Diet.

We began to experience the detox zone as the acid began to come out. To assist with this vital and necessary phase we began weekly coffee enemas, which we preformed separately in the solitude of our bathroom! Detoxing can reveal itself as spots, colds, lethargy, aches and pains within the body, emotional outbursts, mood swings and sometimes zero energy.

We began noticing that the detoxing came in waves, it certainly was not linear.

After 6 months we noticed that the sugar cravings had subsided, the urge for coffee and bread didn’t turn us crazy anymore and that we were now sold on this way of life and hungered for more experiments and experiences into how far this supreme radiant health could evolve into.

So you have to ask yourself  “How do you truly feel?”

What is keeping you from experiencing the lean, healthy and truly energetic body that you deserve? 

Are you content to continue feeling lethargic, uncreative and halfhearted in your passions?

I suspect not….

And neither were we!

Benefits of a Raw Food Diet

? Increased Vitality

? Less sleep required

? Shining skin and eyes

? Rebuilding your body’s tissues and inner structure

? Inherent powers, prime animal instincts and responses

? Growth into new direction within your life

? Naturalise and neutralise your body

? Strips away chemicals and toxins within your body

? It compels you to live naturally and in harmony with the Earth

? No physical waste – packaging, bones, shells, – only compost!

? Pulls acid out of your cellular system

? Peels off excessive fat and weight

? Cleans your circulatory system

? Boost energy in all your inner organs

? Balances your hormonal levels

We are gifted with the intelligence and power to make positive nutritional choices. Too often, we just don’t know how abundant, varied and delicious our food choices could be, leading to choices made through incomplete awareness. Mini Size Me presents you with great trade-ups in food choice and quality that is lush, fresh and fun.

The Downside of a Raw Lifestyle

I have been raw for almost 4 years now, and I can honestly say I have had no bodily reaction to this way of life.  Yes I experienced detoxing at the initial stages and of course, that was a challenging phase to pass through, but the pros massively outweigh the cons.

I have only ever discovered 2 main areas of the Raw Challenge:

I understand that some people experience coldness in their bodies, and often feel they can’t stay on a raw diet, once the summer has passed.  However, the Director of Lotus Healing in London, Guru Dharam Singh, has advised me that there are certain Chinese herbs that can boost the kidney and spleen energy to prevent one from feeling cold.

I have been advising extra chillis, garlic, ginger and cinnamon to boost the internal heat that is felt inside.  Also by boosting the amounts of fats in your diet, you will insulate your internal heat, and keep the cold out as you enter the winter months.

The biggest challenge to overcome is naturally the reaction you get from other people who are not raw.  My goodness, you have to be prepared for this one!  It’s quite something how other people react.  Until one is well versed in the benefits of raw, it can be quite a concept to grasp.  Our conditioning is so strong in the belief that we must eat cooked foods that anything else simply is NOT RIGHT.  And that’s about the size of it, when questioned why people don’t believe in a raw foods lifestyle, they simply can’t actually put a finger on a very strong or concrete point.

The older generation (parents), really don’t get the idea at first!  My parents particularly my mother, felt I was endangering my health, and she was watching very carefully to see whether her daughter was only to waste away.  Waste away, you got to be joking!  Radiantly bloom into life was the result.

But it was difficulty being at home and maintaining a raw regime.  It was a daily chore to redefine my choices and myself.  But over time she came round, and now she looks on and agrees, yes there is a tremendous amount of sense to eating raw.  I have actually overheard her speaking with her friends.  “She only eats salads, and only twice a day, but look at her she obviously knows what she is doing!”

With time and as people begin to see and feel the changes within you, they will come round and not only that, they will be curious to find out more.

This article has been taken from the soon to be released raw yogic book “Mini Size Me – A Yoga and Nutritional approach to

achieve outstanding Health and Vibrancy ”, written by Siri Datta and Duncan Campbell.

You can begin a 40-day Raw Food Programme with Siri Datta’s & Duncan’s expert guidance and support.  They will encourage and inspire you to “keep up” all through an online coaching forum.  Alongside raw foods, she will also provide you with a yoga programme tailor made for your type.  Mini Size Me, is the online programme that has sent 1000’s of people soaring to beautiful and radiant levels of confidence and enhanced enchantment.

Mini Size Me, also offers 3-day, 7-day, 21-day programmes alongside the Melon Cleanse and the Women’s Moon Cycle.

Email Siri Datta on minisizeme23@yahoo.co.uk or call 01935 423 466

Join The Raw Revolution – The Mini Size Me Programme

Kimberly Buchanan asked:


What is Food Intolerance?

Food intolerance is discussed quite often these days – so what exactly does it mean?  Well, sometimes our bodies cannot tolerate the foods we eat. This is known as food intolerance. When people consume foods that they’re sensitive to, such as dairy products for lactose intolerant individuals, their bodies have a negative physical reaction. The effects show up every time the food is consumed, although not always right away. If large quantities of the food are ingested, symptoms can be severe.

Food intolerance is sometimes mistaken for food allergy.  Food allergies cause a person’s immune system to sit up and take notice, while food intolerances don’t involve the immune system.  Neither are they linked to contaminated or spoiled foods; those cause food poisoning, not intolerance.

Food intolerance describes the adverse physical reaction to the ingestion of certain foods; it is something that affects the digestive system.

The Causes of Food Intolerance

As mentioned earlier, food intolerance is caused by the inability to digest certain types of food, usually due to insufficient amounts of the chemicals or enzymes needed to digest a particular food.

Lactose intolerance is very common. People who suffer from this condition don’t have enough of the enzyme called ‘lactase’. Therefore, their bodies can’t break down the lactose, or milk sugar, in dairy products.

Common symptoms of lactose intolerance include intestinal distress, gas, bloating, and bowel irregularities.

Other people can’t process alcohol because they don’t have enough of the enzyme ‘alcohol dehydrogenase’. They can become ill if they consume even a single alcoholic beverage.

The additives, flavor enhancers, and preservatives in processed foods are another common source of food intolerance. MSGs, caffeine, benzoates, and aspartame cause pain and fatigue in sensitive individuals.

Who Suffers from Food Intolerance?

Anyone can!  Food intolerance is not limited to any particular group of people, however there are some factors that play a role in the likelihood that a person is affected by intolerance.

Food intolerance can be hereditary; therefore if your parents have food intolerances, chances are good that you’ll have some too. Ethnicity plays a role, too. Only 10% of northern and western Europeans suffer from lactose intolerance whereas persons of Asian, African, Greek, and Native American descent are much more susceptible.  Lactose intolerance affects 70-90% of the latter populations.

Newborns tend to produce more lactase, so they can digest lactose more easily than adults and older children. The symptoms of lactose intolerance can appear in children as young as two, but many people develop it later in life. Gastroenteritis sometimes causes a dip in lactase levels, bringing on a temporary intolerance to dairy products. Children face a high risk of lactose intolerance following gastroenteritis.

And half of all Asians are affected by alcohol intolerance!

What are the Symptoms of Food Intolerance?

The symptoms of food intolerance center around the digestive system.  Sufferers may experience stomach pain, bloating, nausea, loose stools, or the opposite (constipation.) These symptoms are seldom life-threatening, but they can make a person miserable on a daily basis. They can manifest anywhere from a few hours to a few days after the food is consumed, making it difficult to identify exactly what the problem food is.

Alcohol intolerance causes redness of the face, nausea, irregular heartbeat, headaches, and dizziness.

Symptoms can also feel similar to allergy symptoms, such as a runny nose or itchy throat.

Food intolerance symptoms can become quite severe if a large quantity of the food has been consumed. People with a slight enzyme deficiency typically don’t experience symptoms as acutely as people with a larger deficit.

How is a Diagnosis Made?

Trial and error is the simplest way to test for food intolerance. This is done by removing one food from the diet for a while and monitoring symptoms for improvement. If symptoms decrease, the food is then reintroduced. A return of symptoms will reveal whether or not that food was the culprit.

This method works best for those who have intolerance to one or two foods.

For those people (like me!) who have intolerance to several foods, the elimination method could take months…years…and an answer still might not be found.  There are home tests on the market, that can identify your problem foods for you.  Check out http://www.foodintolerancenews.com to see one.

Specific tests are used to diagnose lactose intolerance. For example, your physician might recommend a test to measure the amount of hydrogen in your breath; a stool acidity test; or a blood glucose test to determine how well the patient digests milk sugar.

How is Food Intolerance Treated?

Food intolerance is usually controlled by removing the troublesome food(s) from the person’s diet. For instance, lactose intolerant individuals can replace regular milk with soy milk.

If the intolerance is mild to moderate, the affected person can try eating only very limited amounts of the food in question. Mild lactose intolerance can be managed through the use of lactase enzyme supplements.

If foods are removed from one’s diet, they should be replaced with nutritious alternatives. It’s crucial to avoid malnutrition, especially in growing children. If you have questions about suitable food replacements, speak with your nutrition specialist.

Dr. Randy Wysong asked:


Everyone eats so everyone has an opinion about food. But if health is the objective, mere opinion doesn’t count nor does fad or majority rule.

Most people think the average cooked diet based upon official food pyramids is just fine. Some eat predominantly fast food. Others advocate veganism (eating only plant foods), or lacto-ova vegetarianism (plants plus milk and eggs). There are also proponents of special foods such as fresh juices, soybean products and macrobiotic cooked grains and rice.

Everyone can make arguments on behalf of their beliefs. They can cite examples of people who have escaped disease and lived long. Some argue morality and ethics, such as those who say sentient animal life should not be sacrificed for food. Others set their eating practices by the standards of holy writ that eschew certain forms of foods and sanctify others. Others just eat what tastes good and that’s logic enough for them.

Eating beliefs seem to take on an almost religious character. People feel guarded and pretty zealous about food and don’t like others meddling. But since health is intimately linked to what we take into our mouths, thinking, honest reflection and willingness to change are in order.

It is easy to be deceived because wrong food choices may not manifest their full impact until late in life. Nutrition can even pass through genetically to affect later generations. In this regard, food ideas are also like religion in that hundreds of different sects can each claim to have the truth. But none of them needs to fear disproof since adjudication will not occur until everyone is dead and gone to the afterlife.

The body is extremely adaptable and will attempt to survive on whatever it is given. If the food is incorrect there is usually no immediate harm. But the body will eventually be stressed beyond its ability to adapt, resulting in disease, degeneration and loss of vitality. Unfortunately, such consequences are so far removed in time from the eating regimen that caused them that few understand the relationship.

So be careful before subscribing to bold claims about what is or is not good to eat. The true test of any health idea lies too far out into the future. Our best hope then is to be well grounded philosophically before we slide our legs under the dinner table.

How do we develop a healthy eating philosophy and sort through all of the competing eating ideas? I am going to explain here a very simple principle that is so reasonable you need not even look for proofs. Follow along with me and see if you don’t agree.

Consider the following three premises:

1. Just like a tree is genetically adapted to absorb certain nutrients from soil, and a lion is genetically adapted to thrive on prey, and a deer is genetically adapted to browse on vegetation, so too, are humans genetically adapted to certain kinds of food.

2. The majority of foods we are presently exposed to are a product of the Agricultural/Industrial Revolution and occupy a small part of the genetic history of humans. (Refer back to the 276-mile time-line in which only a few inches represent industrial-type eating practices.)

3. The natural, genetically adapted to food for humans must predate them. In other words, how could humans exist before the food they needed to survive existed? We were completely developed biologically prior to agriculture and any method of food processing. That means whatever diet archetypal humans ate was the perfect diet because that was the diet responsible for the existence and development of the incredibly complex human organism. That diet was the milieu, the environmental nutritional womb, if you will, from which we sprung.

If you consider these three premises, the logical conclusion derived from them is that the best food for humans is that food which they would be able to eat as is, as it is found in nature.

Our tissues were designed to be bathed in food nutrients derived from natural living foods, not with dyes, preservatives, synthetics, nutritiously barren starches and refined sugars and oils. Make no mistake; if we are not eating according to this principle, our bodies are in constant deficiency, imbalance and toxin exposure. The result of generations ignoring this principle is an epidemic of obesity, chronic degenerative diseases and the exhaustion of our digestive processes.

A feature of all natural food is that it is raw – alive if you will. This is consistent with the Law of Biogenesis that says life can only come from preexisting life. Life begets life. In spite of scientists’ dreams to the contrary, we have never observed life springing from non-life, nor have we ever even been able to create life from non-life in a laboratory. If we eat living foods, we enhance our own life. If we eat dead, devitalized foods we become devitalized and dead. Granted, this will not happen all at once, but as the adaptive reserves are exhausted we become just like the dead food we eat.

So a fundamental feature of our natural diet was that it was raw. Yes, even the meats, organs, eggs and insects – raw. Remember, we’re far back in time, even before the use of fire (much less the microwave, stove, oven, grill, deep fryer or extruder). Studies of the diets of past cultures and today’s still-primitive societies reveals that they ate exactly as their genes and the environment dictated.

We were not suddenly dropped from outer space onto Earth with fry pans, matches and rotisseries. We began on the forest floor, not in a line to a fast food counter. We had only our natural bodies in a natural world, exactly like every other creature. Every other organism on Earth eats raw foods exactly like they are found in nature. Do you think nature doesn’t notice our decision to change all that?

Would tofu qualify? No, because tofu is found nowhere in nature. Would oatmeal porridge qualify? No, because oatmeal porridge is found nowhere in nature. Would hamburgers, French fries, pop, breakfast cereals, granola, canned foods, candy, sports drinks, muscle building powders, vitamins and minerals, mashed potatoes, carrot cake, croissants, bagels, Jolly Ranchers, Ding Dongs, Cocoa Krispies, Good ‘n Plentys or Fig Newtons qualify? No. None of these are found as such in nature.

For those of you who are by now panicking (if not gagging) at the thought of eating raw foods, yes, there is danger of food-borne pathogens. But if you are careful and clean, the danger is far less than the danger of a lifetime eating devitalized processed foods. Raw natural foods must be safe or our ancestors would have not survived and we would not exist!

It is a choice. When faced with a choice, why not opt for the wisdom of nature? Is it not strange we are the only creatures on the planet to cook our foods? Is it a wonder, given this, that we succumb with every imaginable chronic degenerative disease virtually unknown in creatures eating the raw natural diet?

Simply think of yourself placed in nature in the total absence of modern technology. Ask yourself the question, what would I eat… and what could I eat? You could eat and digest fruits, nuts, insects, a few plants, honey, worms, grubs, eggs, milk and animal flesh. These are about the only food substances in nature humans are capable of digesting without technological (including fire) intervention. These are, in fact, the very foods that are the mainstay of nomadic primitive societies. Only when these foods become scarce do unpalatable, inedible foods such as most grains and vegetables become cooked and processed to change their palatability, neutralize toxins and increase digestibility.

So that is where we have been. But does this have anything to do with us here today in the 21st century microwave age? It has everything to do with us because it is this expansive historical context that served as the womb that shaped and defined us. It is this natural wild setting that occupies the vast majority of our history and predominates our genetics. It is the incubator within which life on planet Earth has developed.

What would have been the predominant food in the wild? Likely prey. Envision yourself placed back in time in that setting with a family to feed. You would be looking for the most calorie- and nutrient-dense foods you could find. That would not be a few wheat seeds, some grass or a root. You would let the herbivores do all the grazing and digestion with their specialized stomachs that are capable of converting essentially any plant material into edible protein and fat. Then you would eat them. I don’t like that either, but that is the way it is.

Pretty simple isn’t it? We should eat what nature provides that we can digest. Yet this is not explained in nutrition textbooks, and PhD nutritionists graduate without even grasping it. It cuts through all the theory, belief, and guesswork. It matches our natural bodies with our natural food.

Our immersion in modern cookery and food processing has misled us. Foods such as granola, tofu, cauliflower and lettuce, which are marketed as the ultimate health foods, are in fact not natural human foods at all. These products either do not exist in nature, are so scarce as to never possibly be a sustaining food, or in their raw precooked form are unpalatable and even toxic.

For example, raw soybeans contain a variety of chemicals that can stunt growth and interfere with the body’s digestive enzymes. Eat enough of them and you’ll die. Modern grain products are a result of agriculture and in their raw form are unpalatable, indigestible and also toxic. In nature one would never find enough kernels of rice, wheat or barley to even make up a meal, even if they were edible in their raw form. (Sprouted seeds and grains are an exception to this since they are digestible, raw and nutritious.)

Who, if they were really, really hungry – and options were available – would eat raw broccoli, cauliflower or lettuce? These foods are only now made palatable by cooking or doctoring with manufactured dressings.

Now this creates somewhat of a dilemma. Knowing what our natural diet is and consuming it are two different things. We are so acclimated to the modern diet that the notion of eating raw meat, for example, is nauseating to most. Nevertheless, as evidenced by primitive (but nutritionally advanced) peoples, raw meat and organs can be eaten with great nutritional benefit to humans, and they are totally digestible and nontoxic. Some cultures even bury raw meats and let them rot (ferment) and then consume them with gusto. These societies are robustly healthy until modern foods encroach. Then, like a dirty bathtub ring, modern degenerative diseases decimate those people at the periphery in contact with modern foods.

It would be very difficult today to achieve the ideal raw, natural diet. But if the basic principle is kept in mind it helps remind us of our origins and points us to the appropriate, genetically adapted-to foods.

This does not mean no processed or cooked foods should be eaten. It simply means that consistently doing so will stress the body’s genetic capabilities and will ultimately result in less than optimal health.

Look around the grocery store (usually the outside aisles) and consider what it is that could be eaten in its natural state. Increase the proportion of those foods. Processed foods should be chosen that compromise natural principles the least and are as close to nature as possible. They should be whole foods, packaged carefully to protect nutrient value and be free of synthetics, refined oils and sugars.

For example, whole milk yogurt that has not been homogenized or pasteurized is ideal. The same thing pasteurized would be next best. The same thing pasteurized and homogenized next. Worst would be non-fat, pasteurized, homogenized, artificially flavored and sugared yogurt (which is, of course, what the majority eat because it tastes most like what they are used to – candy).

Eat the best foods you can find in variety and moderation and you will be doing the best that can be done.

There, you have in a nutshell what has taken me decades of research, study and thinking to discover. It is simple and obvious, but that is the way of all great truths.

For further reading, or for more information about, Dr Wysong and the Wysong Corporation please visit www.wysong.net or write to wysong@wysong.net. For resources on healthier foods for people including snacks, and breakfast cereals please visit www.cerealwysong.com.

John Abraham asked:


The cause for food poisoning to some is consuming spoiled food which has unhealthy and perilous bacteria in it.  Food poisoning accounts for 76 million indispositions, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths each year.

Around 250 diseases are there around which can cause infection to people through food but out of them twoo are major and overarching types of food poisoning.   Viruses, bacteria, and parasites called  “infectious agents” is one way.  ”Toxic Agents” is another way through which food poisoning occurs.  The list includes mushrooms, foods that are not properly or fully prepared, and incompletely cleaned foods which still contain things like pesticide.  One of best ways to prevent food poisoning is through high levels of sanitation and hygiene.

There are several symptoms and effects of food poisoning as it is so intricate and there are 250 ways of diseases caused by food poisoning and as many “infectious agents”. A partial of symptoms includes:

·    nausea

·    headaches

·    vomiting

·    abdominal pain

·    diarrhea (both watery and crampy as well as bloody and even mucusy)

·    fever

·    inflammation of internal organs

·    kidney failure

·    muscles aches

·    blurry vision

·    speech problems

·    bodily weakness

·    death

There are several ways by which doctors can test for food poisoning.  Most common tests are urine and blood tests that are needed.  Lastly, rectal exam also may be chosen by doctors.  In addition to these tests, common checks like breaking rate and blood pressure are also checked by doctors.

Inspite of its intricacies, food poisoning problem can be prevented by  people in many ways.  When shopping, they can avoid purchasing packages that appear open or torn, waiting until the end of their shopping trip to buy frozen or cold items and taking them home immediately, and avoiding contact between raw foods (like meat) and other foods.  Moreover, what is most important is cleanliness.  After going to the bathroom, it is important to wash hands.  Importantly, hands should be washed before dealing with uncooked foods and also after handling them.  When actually cooking food, people can also take a number of steps to avoid food poisoning.  A meat thermometer should be used to measure the temperature of the meat when cooking meat.   Also, eating leftovers within four days is a good precaution.  Lastly, food should not be left for more than two hours outside so that it does not get spoiled.

Sometimes, people who get poisoned by food do not have control over whether they get poisoned or not.  Especially, someone falls since after eating in a restaurant, it is the fault of restaurant.  The chefs may not have cooked the food completely.  Precautions like washing hands after using toilet, or before and after handling food may not have been taken by them or others.  The restaurant may have spoiled ingredients.  {However,  it is because of the mistake committed by others that this person has fallen sick through food poisoning.

Keeping food out of the temperature range (40-140 degrees) where bacteria grow easily and quickly; keeping HOT and COLD foods as it is besides remember the famous proverb, “When in doubt, throw it out”!.

Syd asked:


What do you mean by junk foods?

These are foods which are low in nutrition but high in calories. They contain a high amount of fat, oil, salt or sugar. Examples can include too much chocolate or candies, potato chips, over-fried items etc.

Needless to say they can be bad for your weight loss efforts and even bad for health if you eat too much of these junk foods. For better health, we need to stay away from eating junk food as much as possible because they come with so many bad effects.

While it may not be so easy to completely cut down on eating junk food, we can certainly lessen our consumption with a little bit of determination. By lessening consumption of junk food we can also curb over-eating to a certain extent thereby helping in proper weight management.

Instead of eating junk food we can then develop the habit of eating healthier foods and eating food in moderate quantities. Below are some tips to help you stay away from eating junk foods.

How to Avoid Eating Junk Food? 5 Tips to Help You:

1. Don’t buy junk food: Avoid buying junk food while shopping for your monthly or weekly grocery at the store. If you don’t buy junk food then it can be easier to stay away from them.

Try to keep your fridge free from tons of junk and unhealthy or fattening foods. So sometimes even if you feel like having some junk snacks or gulping down a coke, you will not be able to do so because its not available now. You have to go out and buy it which may prevent you from giving in to the temptation.

2. Developing healthy eating habits early: If we can teach our children to eat healthy foods right from childhood, then they may grow up to become healthy eaters. They may be less prone to eat junk food later on in life.

And it is all the more important to teach children healthy eating habits because they are more likely to be attracted to junk food. So we may need to pay more attention in teaching them healthy eating habits.

Also as adults we need to lead by example. So we too will have an added incentive to stay away from junk foods because we don’t want to set a bad example for our kids.

3. Educating yourself about junk food: Many people do not fully realize the negative effects of junk food not just for weight loss but also for the health in general. By fully educating yourself and others about the negative and bad effects of junk food, it can become relatively easier for us to stay away from them.

4. Keeping a food journal: This tip can be very handy to curb eating junk food and to curb overeating. Write down in a journal what you eat everyday – whether its healthy eating or bad eating, note everything down.

At the end of the day if you look at your journal you may be shocked to see your very own eating habits. If you keep doing this for few days you may realize how bad your eating habits really are and may find a new inner determination to overcome this bad habit at all costs!

5. Substitute healthy foods for junk foods: Write down the common junk foods you frequently consume like soft drinks, sweets, chips, fried and oily items etc. Next make a list of healthy foods that you can eat instead of the junk items. This list can include carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, fruit and vegetable juices etc.

Most of the times, we do not eat either for taste or due to hunger. We just want to munch on something which can lead to eating junk food. In such cases, we can munch on healthier and low calorie items like carrots, cabbage etc instead of eating junk food.

Replacing your junk food snacks with healthier options can be one great way to avoid eating junk food and staying healthy, lean and fit! With the help of the above tips you can overcome this bad habit and finally be able to say a firm no to junk foods!