by natalia | Apr 18, 2015 | Uncategorized
Hitting the Invisible Detox Wall – guest blog by Tom DeVito
Tom DeVito, Colon Therapist, Owner, Release NYC
First, I would like to say that it is an honor to have been invited by Natalia to be a guest blogger on her website. I’ve known Natalia for many years and I’m delighted to add my two cents and share my experience with you.
I’ve been involved in the health and detoxification “world” for about fifteen years, and I’ve been a colon therapist for ten of those years. I was under the tutelage of Gil Jacobs and his partner at Chakra 17. Over those years I helped many people on their journey toward health through detoxification.
Two major symptoms prevail as people transition toward the raw-food vegan diet. The first one, which occurs when folks transition too quickly, would be a rapid weight loss and a dramatic loss of strength and energy. This also shows up as a lack of vitality in the eyes and faces of the afflicted. When this happens the person must take a step back and eat some cooked foods to slow down the loosening up of waste in the tissue and bloodstream. Of course, this would be a temporary course of action, which would be followed by more colonics, juicing, and exposure to natural sunlight. Once the person stabilizes, he or she is ready to move on and resume the raw food diet, to the degree that is applicable to the individual’s process. Our age, personal history, and lineage play major roles in how radically and quickly we can move through this transition. Medication and decades of poor diet in our lineage make us move more slowly.
The second situation is one I’ve observed in many people who have been doing this with relative success but seem to have stagnated. This is “the invisible detox wall,” when weight loss has tapered off, skin is no longer clear, etc. It’s like starting a new gym regime, seeing amazing results begin, then slow, then come to a standstill. The first thing we do is talk to our trainer or someone with more experience. The trainer explains that our bodies have become accustomed to the workout and we need to change things up a bit, such as try a different cardio workout or change up the anaerobic exercises we’re doing. The same is true with the diet.
We need to look at the foods that make up our daily meals. Are we eating whole, fresh foods or are we loading up on manmade concoctions? These foods can be very tricky and difficult to digest, depending on how they’re made and who makes them. These foods usually disregard food combining principals, which makes digestion very difficult or nearly impossible. Eating this way will use up our energy in breaking down the foods. And through inefficient digestion, the foods will rot and foul up our inner ecology, leaving us bloated, uncomfortable, and polluted. This gives the body a task that detracts it from its path: DETOXIFICATION! So, the best approach here is to eat as much whole, raw foods as possible, and maybe on the weekends allow ourselves the more indulgent, vegan treats that so many of the great vegan restaurants in Manhattan offer.
What exactly are we talking about? To start with, nuts and seeds. Nuts and seeds are often overused in a lot of the raw food restaurants. They quite simply slow the process of detoxification down. It’s not that these are poisonous foods, but they are just too dense. Nuts and seeds do not break down easily. As a colon therapist, I always see that nuts and seeds come out similarly to how they look after being chewed. So how does the body derive anything beneficial from them? Consider how much of your diet is composed of nuts and seeds, and if you are eating pounds of this stuff a week you will have difficulty reaching your goals. Nuts and seeds are very difficult to digest.
Let’s look at seeds. Seeds have a protective sheath around them, which is an enzyme inhibitor. Animals eat a plant with seeds and swallow the seeds. When they excrete the waste, the seeds are fertilized and grow. So keep that in mind. Soaking the seeds will remove this sheath. Still, eat small amounts.
Nuts, on the other hand, are a different story. Not only is their high density in the form of fat content problematic, but most are not in their natural state when we consume them. Many have to be heated in order to be extracted from the shells. The heating processes alone render many varieties no longer raw. Almonds exist inside the pit of a fruit and are not the hard brittle nuts we find in the store. So-called “fresh and raw almonds” are really “dried” almonds.
If you’ve hit a brick wall and cannot move on, look at the foods you are eating. If you think you need the nuts and seeds for protein, etc., I offer myself as an example. I’ve been free of nuts and seeds for eight years, and no signs of deficiency here.
Thanks for reading. I hope this provides some insight and helps you on your journey toward becoming “independently healthy.” Remember, this is about simplicity and getting back to basics so we can actually enjoy life! So have a great day and enjoy your amazing journey. Remember, there is no finish line!
Enjoy!
Peace & love,
Tom DeVito, Colon Therapist
Owner, Release NYC
by natalia | Apr 18, 2015 | Uncategorized
In his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, Hitler coins the term “the big lie,” which refers to a form of propaganda that pivots on telling a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe anyone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” A “certain force of credibility” runs through this big lie so people will find it easy to accept. Of course, in accusing an entire people of this falsehood, he was employing the very technique that he was describing, and would continue to do so toward the most monstrous ends.
But don’t think for a moment that any of us are safe from the machinery of “the big lie” today. This enduring, insidious force is very much alive, woven into the very roots of our society.
In our times, governments and corporations still heavily employ “the big lie” psychology with enormous success, their minions none the wiser. In fact, just about all the foundational aspects of our culture can be traced back to one of their big lies: they have convinced us of what to consume, what to put on and in our bodies, what to expect of our health, and what to expect out of life. We accept this way of life because we believe it is correct and created for our highest good, or at least the best that we can expect, given humankind’s extensive shortcomings and iniquitous wiring (which we also accept).
The biggest lie is that it’s all okay—that while our culture may not be perfect, it is the best way of life imaginable thus far, and if we just keep following this trajectory, we’ll eventually make things even better. That is THE BIGGEST LIE!
One BIG TRUTH is that we are consuming our planet at warp speed and we are very close to the point (if we’re not already there) where we cannot save it. While everyone now agrees that change is necessary, few people seem to grasp just how dire the situation is, certainly not enough to reject the entrenched norms. No sane organism devastates the organism that feeds and supports it. Consider what cancer and autoimmune diseases are: cells that attack the healthy cells and tissue (or blood, bone, lymph) of the body.
Worse still, we have bought the diversion that merely recycling and buying more environmentally conscious products and vehicles will offset this devastation in a meaningful way. We should be as conscious as we can, yes, and obviously, we should reduce, recycle, and reuse. Any awake, thinking person can figure that out!
Here’s what really has to happen: we must stop consuming products that are produced by large corporations and made from commonly raised animals and sea life. This is the only way to halt the deadly march of corporations who wreak destruction on us all while reaping the riches of the big lie! It is no exaggeration to say that they, along with everyone who purchases their products, are raping the planet, snuffing out life and deranging the biomass of the animals they raise. Clearly, this should not only be illegal, but there should be some global policy against it. There are laws, yes, but they don’t apply to those who can pay others to look the other way.
Here’s the thing: these factions can only keep up this nonsense so long as people keep buying what they are selling. Consumers need to stop buying their products and thereby put them out of business. It’s really that easy. Yes, jobs would be lost—many jobs—but the beauty of creative destruction is that something better will spring up in its place for these workers. Keeping people employed is not a good enough reason to perpetuate the carnal consumption of our precious resources. Convenience is not a good enough reason. Fear of change is not a good enough reason. Tell me one reason that is good enough—I surely cannot think of one! Yet I can think of countless reasons to support changing our way of life!
We have been brainwashed into wanting and craving and thinking we need all sorts of rubbish as we suffocate our bodies and spirits and kill off the life around us. In this way, we continually fatten these corporations, which couldn’t care less about the future of our planet—they care only about the here and now, plundering more resources for money and power. And we sit around and let them do it! Just as generations before us sat around and watched the genocide of indigenous cultures as colonialists wiped them out in the name of expansion, discovery, and exploration. Just as we sit around and wear pink ribbons and hold social functions to raise money for childhood diseases instead of seeing that our way of life is the cause of all those cancers, emotional imbalances, learning disabilities, and so on. We just nod along to the hypnotic cadence of the news reporters’ iambic pentameter as they dish up the gobbledygook.
I’m just sick of it. And frankly, I’m tired of being polite about it. What’s the point of being polite now? Polite to whom, and at whose expense? What about being polite to the life of our planet, the ecosystems, the animals being pushed out of their habitats, or to our own sick bodies and spirits? I am guilty of imposing some of these expected limitations on my own children, who are so beautifully instinctual; in a world restrained by social disciplines, I’m the first to admit what a slave I’ve been to their rules. I try to remind myself that my children need to know both the world’s ways and the alternative ways of living. I tell myself that this is how to arm them with the knowledge and experience necessary to become effective “bridgers.” I am trying to dance the dance that is required in this shadowy, transitional era.
But what do you say to a world that would rather eat cheap chicken grown at 400 times the normal rate and pumped with antibiotics and hormones than consider the alternatives? To a world that thinks nothing of wasting resources, killing off 200 species A DAY and the ecosystems in which they live in order to sustain the mass production of processed meats and substances? To a world that’s too busy Christmas shopping and worrying about health insurance but never connects the dots between these things? To a world that thinks a cancer vaccine can be created to cure cancer, or that diseases are simply a question of genetics? What you say to such a world is, WAKE UP!
I tell you, I’m just not into being polite anymore. In the dire game of survival on this planet, the sleeping masses stand in the way of life, like rogue bacteria. We are not islands. We are one organism intermingling on the same planet. We should do all we can to live cleanly as individuals, but we still have to reside among the combined emissions of the entire population and the biochemical makeup of the earth. We can fast on green juices and cleanse our internal organs to the best of our ability, but every cell of our being is still breathing in the compound substance of the entire organism.
If we want change, if we really want to keep life on this planet an option—good life, not deranged life—we have to stop consuming what we’ve been programmed to consume. We must stop destroying the fabric of our bodies and our world. We cannot carry on as if it doesn’t matter, not without dire consequences, which we’re already seeing. And as the planet becomes more and more irritated by the cancer of misguided human consumption on its delicate surface and tries to shake it off, just as the body tries to fight off illness, there will be symptoms! And symptoms on a planetary scale will surely cause mass devastation. With or without our help, the earth will have to fight to regain its balance.
Daniel Quinn writes in Ishmael: “Nonetheless, I tell you with complete confidence that something extraordinary is going to happen in the next two or three decades. The people of our culture are going to figure out how to live sustainably or they are not. And either way it’s certainly going to be extraordinary.” I agree. Either we are going to have a renaissance and give birth to a whole new way of life that we can only begin to conceive of now or we will perish. As he says, either way it will be an extraordinary sequence of events.
Many people believe the Earth was created for humankind, but the fact is, life was here long before the arrival of our species. And even then, the planet thrived for a long time more before civilization came along coating it with cement and poisonous by-products.
As I face the New Year, I am determined to help conceive and execute a new vision. I will never again ask myself, How can I fit in or be accepted in this social structure? I will ask, How can I transform it into something that is unanimously life-supporting?
So the question becomes, What is the vision? and then How are we going to build it? We can start by determining what’s worth keeping—all the best of human expression, creativity, and understanding. And determine what isn’t—the clearly offensive and destructive practices of humankind. From there we can create a new lifestyle that reflects this vision, even if it means losing some so-called conveniences along the way, like having the exact type of food we want when we want it, or using cheap plastic to manufacture all manner of products and packaging, or having huge homes and driving multiple cars. But first, we must truly believe, deep down, that our well-being, our life-experience, and having reliably healthy bodies and balanced emotions are worth the change!
Who among us, if given the choice between living as a man (or woman) and living for the man, would choose the latter? Yet that’s what the vast majority of us do in our culture. Food is a natural resource that our planet can easily and abundantly provide, yet we have structured our food consumption in such a way that we spend our lives working (mostly in jobs we can barely stand, day after day, decade after decade) to put dead, processed food in our family’s mouths.
I remember I was in the fourth grade when I heard someone say that the troubles of the world and the devastation of the planet would be left for my generation to fix. I thought, Okay, that seems unfair, but at least my generation will be smart enough to do it—we’ll correct what all those silly adults have done! But here we are and things have only gotten exponentially worse. Now the same is being said of my children’s generation.
What happens to us when we get older? The same thing that happens to bright leaders who take positions in government: we get scared. We question our vision, the impulses that once inspired us to act, and kowtow to the norms because the authorities behind them sound so gosh-darned bossy and authoritative! Self-doubt and fear of being wrong, or worse, haunts our true expression! It’s the primal pain of growing up: as children, filled with energy and clarity, we act on creative impulses that naturally conflict with the adult world, and what happens? We get punished!
I confess, I perceive far more than I talk about publicly. There are things I’d like to say that I censor EVERY TIME I COMMUNICATE, unless I’m with a close, like-minded friend whom I can trust. I can’t do it to that degree anymore for the simple reason that I’ve come to understand that silence kills. The more I let my fear keep a lid on what I really think, the more I allow the devastation. It’s like watching a person get abused or just standing by as a thief steals an old lady’s purse!
One thoughtful reader commented that my voice in this blog sounds angry. I agree with the mystic Almine, who explains that anger is the desire to protect. As a living being, it is natural to feel anger when something threatens the health of your world, inside or out. Being a peaceful warrior does not mean being insipid. We can practice equanimity and still hear the inner alarm bell of anger warning that something worth protecting is being threatened. To ignore or repress this siren is folly. We must honor ALL our feelings. The question to ask is:What does this anger show us that we couldn’t see before?
Friends, we have to start seeing things as they are. We have to stop consuming what we are told to consume, seeing the world as we were taught to see it, accepting things just because they have some element of credibility without looking more closely.
Increased perception is power. We can change the world. We can eradicate the old blueprint that’s destroying everything good in our world and replace it with a much greater vision. We have to believe that this is possible. We have to believe that we are innovative enough to pioneer a new way of life. We don’t need to accept the expectations and limitations imposed upon us—that’s THE BIG LIE talking in order to satisfy the agenda of those who don’t care what happens after they are gone.
There is no easy way forward. We have to start forging the way, step by step:
Step #1: See that our way of life does not work for humans, or for any life forms at all.
Step #2: Recognize that the origins of our suffering come from our way of life.
Step #3: Realize that we do not need to abandon what is good in our world or return to living in caves. We must move forward, not back.
Step #4: Recognize that we are social beings in a culture that undervalues community.
Step #5: Create a new vision for society and innovate where necessary.
So many of us today are isolated; families are scattered; individuals are depressed and lonely. We must build more wholesome, unifying community experiences. Our current approaches to education and employment are colossal failures. These major building blocks of our way of life desperately require a complete redesign—an entirely new vision that is meant for humans, not for herd animals. When children are allowed to blossom more holistically, their natural talents and curiosities turn them into self-directed dynamos, brimming with enthusiasm for learning, leading to fulfilling expressions of their talents.
In this vision of the future, balanced, sovereign individuals will be rich with natural enthusiasm, integrity, and productivity. Clear, well-balanced people want to be creative and spend their time constructively. It’s a natural human desire to envision new things, craft, build, and innovate. Most people are at their happiest when they are engrossed in something creative.
I don’t have all the answers, and I am but one voice among many brothers and sisters in our human family, but I’m confident that, together, we can knit a beautiful new world that honors life in all its miraculous forms. I hope to offer more hopeful visions and practical steps as I play my part, and I hope you will do the same. But for now, I offer these sentiments as logs on the fire of life. I also plan to share my own experiences of culling the non-necessities in my own lifestyle as I undertake to be more conscientious than I’ve ever been before.
Don’t be afraid to say that you don’t like the way things are done or how they are affecting you and the world. Do you remember what happens in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy melts the witch? The monkey soldiers, who seemed so loyal to her before, break out in celebration upon her assassination! People are walking around defending a way of life that doesn’t work because they are so confused by it and what the alternatives might be. Just think how relieved everyone will be to see there’s a way out of their suffering!
It’s time for a renaissance. Let’s pull together and create something extraordinary, for we human beings are far more extraordinary than this culture we cling to!
For further inspiration, here is a poem by William Ernest Henley, titled “Invictus,” which is enjoying the spotlight, thanks to an inspiring new film by the same name—about South Africa winning the Rugby World Cup championship in 1995, and all that it meant to the nation’s blossoming rebirth. I feel that it applies well here. Apparently, Nelson Mandela turned to this poem for support throughout his twenty-seven-year imprisonment on Robben Island.
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
— William Ernest Henley
by natalia | Apr 13, 2015 | Uncategorized
If you ever think beauty is expensive remember this:
Beauty is receiving light from the sun into your skin, eyes and sacred brain.
Beauty is a long, hot bath with natural, alkaline soap.
Beauty is giving yourself a generous foot massage in that bath. <span class=”text_exposed_show”>
Beauty is electrons conducting/kissing life force within you and in your environment.
Beauty is clean blood and tissues.
Beauty is loving touch.
Beauty is inclusivity.
Beauty is respecting and revering life in all its countless forms.
Beauty is discerning true beauty from illusions of beauty and knowing which to emulate.
Beauty is allowing yourself to truly feel everything that moves through you.
Beauty is putting your mind on the most exquisite thoughts you can muster up.
Beauty is surrendering to a long night’s sleep at 9:30pm.
Beauty is being a life-generating force for all life affected by your field.
Beauty is simple and clean. Beauty is biting into a tomato that you grew!
Beauty is the care we take to balance and support life’s interconnectivity at every level.
Beauty is when the sap from the heart of our being surges with love;
And of course, I could go on and on as that which is expresses true beauty is infinite as life itself.</span>
However, what’s expensive, beauty is not…
Beauty is not being served Foie Gras with Truffles in St. Tropez in July.
Beauty is not drinking French champagne, donned in haute-couture.
Beauty is not stilettos on the red carpet.
Beauty is not self-importance.
Beauty is not segregation and exclusivity.
Beauty is not cocktails and perfume.
Beauty is not spraying on formaldehyde sun-screen on the beach in St. Barts.
Beauty is not weakening the integrity of your teeth with chemical whitening agents.
Beauty is not believing you are less beautiful because your face shows signs of life and experience. And on and on…
But then, perhaps beauty is all of these things because when you pay the real price for this latter category, which is far more than the sticker price, you thirst only for real beauty – and that can be a beautiful (albeit painful) journey. I’ve been around enough to know and share that the simple, life-generating path is the sweetest place to be.
Of course, the emotional, energetic, physical and financial freedom it takes to create such a world of true beauty for yourself is, shall we say, “priceless?” Be the beauties that you are and don’t fall for any imitations.
XO, N
by natalia | Oct 23, 2014 | Uncategorized
After working your way through a spectrum of fruits, you can move on to baby shakes. Baby shakes are wonderful for you and your baby because they are extremely easy to prepare (blending only once for a full day’s feeding), chock-full of nutritional value, easy to digest, and they will fast become your baby’s favorite treat!
There are 3 components to the baby shakes:
1. Fruit. Greens. Fat
Fruit will be the main component of your baby shake, with a sparing amount of greens and a tiny drizzle of high-quality oil to further support brain development. You can get creative with your combinations, but make sure your mixture will appeal to your baby’s palate. Remember, babies like sweet because the human body is programmed to start with fruit!
Use greens very sparingly and be sure they are well blended if you are adding leaves instead of raw juice. Romaine lettuce is an ideal starter green because it blends so well and is highly water-containing. Just make sure there are no unblended chunks large enough to pose a choking hazard.
2. Baby Shake Ingredient Ideas
Fruit*/Organic Leafy Greens*/Fat (small amount)
• Raw pure fruit juice/Raw green juice/Avocados
• Melons/Kale (ripped from the stem)/Udo’s oil blend
• Banana/Romaine lettuce/Flaxseed oil
• Pineapple/Baby spinach/Raw tahini or raw sunflower paste
• Apple/Parsley/Raw nut butters**
• Peach/Alfalfa sprouts
• Orange/Sun Chlorella chlorophyll powder
• Coconut water & young coconut meat
*Fruits and greens should be blended or juiced. Adding carrot juice can help to create the perfect consistency in the blender and appeal to your little one’s craving for sweetness.**Some good options are almond, pecan, or walnut, but NOT PEANUT OR SOY NUT. AVOID STRAWBERRIES AND HONEY, which can be dangerous in the first year.
3. Sample Baby Shake Recipes
• 1 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice, 1 cup blueberries, handful baby spinach, and 1 avocado. Blend well.
• 2 bananas, water, 2 large leaves romaine lettuce, and ¼ avocado. Blend well.
• ½ honeydew melon, ½ cup green juice, 1 teaspoon Udo’s oil. Blend well.
These shakes are easy to digest, full of enzymes, and so easy for mom to prepare! All you need is a cooler bag to bring the bottles with you and give them to your baby throughout the day. Babies will usually enjoy baby shakes solely until about 14 months, but they can have them forever if desired!
Tip: For easy feeding, simply cut the nipple of your bottle until the opening is slightly wider than is needed for milk alone. Then, fill it with your blended food and give it to your hungry baby! For daily intake, make 40 ounces of blended baby shake or simple melon puree and divide it into five 8-ounce bottles. These will keep in the refrigerator until your little one is ready for them.
by natalia | Aug 7, 2014 | Uncategorized
GUIDE TO GOAT CHEESE AND SELECTING FRESH PRODUCE (August 26, 2010)
Hi Natalia
I have just purchased your ebook The Rose Cleanse. My question to you is that I live in Boston and can not find raw goat cheese anywhere – AltaDena or any other brand. I have found raw cheddar at Whole Foods, and they also carry soft crumbled goat cheese. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Melissa
The Natalia Rose Institute Team receives many questions about raw goat cheese. Although this question is exclusively about availability, it’s a great opportunity to talk more about cheese. I know many are surprised when they read that Natalia does not promote a strict vegan lifestyle. She has addressed this from a planetary standpoint (agriculture is in many ways just as destructive as raising livestock), but lets talk about dairy in the body as well.
First, we eat goat and sheep dairy above cow dairy based on its ability to move through the body with speed. Remember, quick exit combinations and foods are our goal. Think about this from the standpoint of biological design: the giant protein molecules in cow milk are designed to grow a calf into a cow. The smaller molecules in goat and sheep cheese are for a smaller mammal, and will not stick in the body in the same way. And the presence of yeast-feeding lactose, which the human body has a very difficult time processing, is much less in goat and sheep milk.
Second, we choose raw over pasteurized because of the presence of raw enzymes that will help our body’s digestive process. Again, we are trying to keep things moving as quickly as possible, and we don’t want the cheese to sit for a long time digesting in the stomach and then intestines. Opt for raw goat and sheep cheese in the home and when available, and pasteurized when in a restaurant or when you’re in an area where you just can’t find it.
Third, we eat our cheese either with or directly following a big pile of raw water-containing vegetables. On a salad, rolled in a cabbage leaf, or as a component of a cooked entree following a large raw salad are when cheese is best consumed. I love to order a double side salad with goat cheese, steamed spinach, and marinara sauce on the side when we eat out at our favorite restaurant. I take bites with a little of each, covered with lemon juice, for a delicious meal out on the town.
I know that in many areas finding goat and sheep cheese that is both yummy and affordable is difficult. The link below is a resource I have used with great success to order our favorite raw goat cheddar by AltaDena.
Health E-Savers
Many gourmet shops have a raw goat and sheep cheese selection. My lovely man-friend and I have delicious nights creating a cheese sampler and trying out different varieties following our giant salad. Farmer’s markets are the heroes of this adventure, as well. They often have an amazing selection of cheeses, and can talk to you about the process (some pasteurization is more “gentle”).
Each state has different laws regarding raw cheese. Here in NY the law is that cheese must be aged 60 days or over in order to be safely sold, so only the harder varieties are available. Pennsylvania, however, has no such constriction. A google search yields many smaller operations (like Dove Song Dairy) that are happy to ship the fresher soft cheeses within the continental US.
Here’s what to remember:
1. Cheese is not a healer. We eat it because it adds a delicious density and flavor to a meal, and will produce a beautiful contraction in the body. We can enjoy cheese with this lifestyle if it is goat or sheep cheese, preferably raw, and in the company of raw vegetables and properly combined. It adds the decadence and passion to meals that make this lifestyle not just sustainable, but heavenly!
2. Always do the best you can in your situation, and don’t obsess about the details. This should be a pleasurable process! Do your research, figure out what your state allows, and where to shop or order, but also give yourself the freedom to explore and try new ways of doing this. Take a long weekend drive to a new farmer’s market. Call a Pennsylvania dairy and develop a relationship with a smaller operation that will be educational and expanding. Have a ladies night where you sample a selection of cheeses, dark chocolates, and wine (everyone bring a new kind). This is your life, and regimentation is limiting and joyless.
3. The density of cheese is not going to be an issue for you if you’re living on raw vegetable juices, fresh garden salads, and piles of steamed and sauced vegetables. In fact, it gives many women the figure tightening they’ve been looking for. You do not have to give up your cheese and chocolate to get the health or weight results you’re looking for.
Dear Ana,
How do I pick which produce is fresh? I have never eaten such a high quantity of fruits and vegetables, and I’m not always sure how to figure out which ones are ready to eat.
Sincerely, Rachel
Thank you for your question. This is one of my favorite parts of eating such a high percentage of raw fruits and veggies. I think picking your food is a joyful and exciting, even meditative, process. And you will find it is entirely based on instinct!
1. My first recommendation is to find someone in your area who is as passionate about this process as I am. Farmer’s markets are a great place to ask questions, Whole Foods encourages it, and there are many websites that can talk you through the process of selection. This learning process is like taking a wine tasting class. It becomes an obsession! Natalia and I drove to four different spots today to look for a specific sweet potato variety that was more juicy and water-containing and filled with flavor than the kind we had at home. We talked to the proprietors, and learned about many different varieties. Did you know that what Americans call yams are actually just another variety of sweet potato? And that they are in the Tuber family?
2. Once you have done your reading, or have a good guide, employ your senses. A tomato will show you easily when it is ready to take home by its color and texture, but you can’t see into a watermelon or feel by giving it a gentle squeeze. So what other sense can we employ? A watermelon is ripe when you can put it near your ear, drum on it, and hear a hollow thump that has reverberation. This is instinctual! If it’s at it’s full juiciness it will conduct sound more easily than if it is dense and under-ripe. Also, you will always know when something is overripe and about to spoil. Smelly, spotty, leaky, soft produce doesn’t feel right. Always trust yourself.
3. Use the process of trial and error. Eating an under-ripe banana will give you a dense and starchy meal that doesn’t move through the intestines with much speed. It will probably be a bit binding. Eat a nice brown-freckled banana in the height of its sweetness and you’ll have a massive bowel movement the next morning that will knock your socks off!
Avocados: gently push on the “belly button” on the top of the avo to feel it’s softness without ruining it for the next buyer. I buy 3 at a time, one very soft, one less soft, and one hard so that they’ll be ready in order as the week progresses.
Tip: under-ripe produce can be sped up overnight in a brown paper bag. Avocados can even be ripened in one day using this method!
Bananas: these should show no green, and be lightly freckled (but not completely brown) when consumed. The paper-bag ripening method is wonderful for these as well.
Berries: always check the bottom of the container as well as the top. A few greener or harder berries will ripen, but brown, mashed, or moldy is no-bueno.
Greens: for salads, of they’re in the store or at the stand you can assume they’ve reached maturity, and baby greens are delicious as well! Just avoid blackened or mushy edges.
Melons: push gently on the belly button to feel a slight softness, and then smell where you’ve pushed. It should be pungent and intense when ready for consumption. I enjoy mine just this side of rotten!
Onions: look for rotting and sprouting. Otherwise, you can assume they’re ripe enough to eat (as even the babies are delicious).
Peaches and nectarines: the easy squeeze test works best for these. Just be sure to check for bruising and missing stems.
Potatoes: should never be damp, and the eyes should never be sprouting even the slightest bit. Rotten pots are probably the worst smell on earth!
Squash: basically, you only need to worry about it rotting. If it’s available for sale it’s ready to eat (and will always be hard and mostly scentless).
Tomatoes: look for cracks and breaks in the tom, which often mean it has over-ripened or fallen (and will rot quickly). NEVER refrigerate tomatoes, and try to buy them close to the time of consumption. They should be firm, not hard.
Watermelons: hold it on your shoulder and gently drum on it with you knuckles. A surface sound means it’s dense and under-ripe, and deep belly drum sound means it’s juicy and ready.
by natalia | Jul 22, 2014 | Uncategorized
Raw Food Detox Diet and Systemic Yeast, and Nuts and Seeds (October 20, 2010)
Hello Ana,
I am looking for some clarification regarding Detox4Women. I’m unable to find how you differentiate between the classic detox for women program and the systemic yeast cleanse program (mentioned on pages 55 & 56). I would like to undertake the systemic cleanse and want to make sure I omit all of the right items. And how does this fit into The Raw Food Detox Diet? Please advise. Thank you.
Best regards,
Kelly
Hi Kelly,
I’m glad you asked, I think the idea of a yeast cleanse has created confusion for others as well.
First, the Detox4Women approach to eating is the best and most effective way to eradicate yeast and fungal growth from the system. By staying away from processed starches, sweeteners, and high-sugar fruits we are no longer feeding the yeast, and by eating light-to-heavy and in quick-exit combinations we are moving waste quickly out of the body.
Second, many people write to me asking how to know if they have a yeast issue. The simple answer is that if you are a women, have weight to loose, skin issues, have ever been on antibiotics or birth control, or have eaten a high-starch diet, or a high mainstream meat and dairy (antibiotic and hormone laden) diet, I would assume you are yeasted. This obviously applies to just about everyone! Starting your transition into cleansing with a powerful yeast-fighting approach is the most effective way to get your body to where you want it to be. I tell my clients that Detox4Women is your big comfy chair. Yes, you may have a difficult time during the holidays, or want to try indulging in more fruit further down the cleansing path, but you can always come back to your chair. I find that I work best when I eat this way most of the time, or at least do a heavy yeast and fungus cleanse several times a year.
And lastly, clients often ask me how we can get away with sugar-sweetened dark chocolate, and the occasional Laloos goat milk ice cream night. My answer is that if you are doing everything else right, these “safe poisons” help you stick to loving this lifestyle for longer, and give you the keys to long-term success. A day filled with well-combined alkaline vegetables and vegetable juices can certainly lead to a night with a small treat like 70% or above dark chocolate or goat milk ice cream. And you will still continue to move forward with your cleanse and weight.
Q: Dear Natalia Rose Institute,
I noticed on a guest blog on your site that eating a lot of nuts and seeds can create a toxic situation and difficult digestion. I am eating a high level of nuts and seeds. However, I am not having any “forbidden” foods that would inhibit a detox such as caffeine, alcohol, preservatives, sugars, chemicals, meat, fish, poultry, etc. Does this still apply to me?
Thank you in advance,
Kristy
Hi Kristy,
Nuts and seeds are certainly a bit tricky to navigate. Here’s how to handle them:
1. If you are starting a yeast/fungus cleanse with the Detox4Women approach these are not for you. They are too dense, and most people have trouble eating only a small amount. We are trying to move alkaline food quickly through the body with as much awakened waste as possible, and the density of nuts and seeds will not be helpful.
2. Most nuts and seeds are not actually raw. The shelling process involves heat, and takes away their vitality. Natalia recommends testing your “raw” nuts by sprouting them. If less than half are able to sprout, there’s your answer. They are not life generators.
3. Nuts and seeds are not optimal to me because they don’t combine with most of the things I love to eat! I much prefer a raw goat cheese salad followed by steamed spinach and sauce (nuts cannot combine with animal protein) or an avocado salad followed by baked yams (nuts cannot combine with avocado or cooked starchy vegetables). Quite honestly, they make a meal too boring and limited for me!
4. If you DO want to include nuts and seeds in your diet, keep in mind 2 rules: First, smaller is cleaner (so a seed will always be cleaner than a nut), and second, they should always be eaten in the company of a big pile of raw vegetables. Try making a sesame tahini dressing for your lunchtime salad!
