Raw Food | Detox Your Way

Happy Valentine’s Day! Love is in the air! And the stores, restaurants, and florists! The marketing pros encourage us to show our loved ones how much we care and appreciate them with our money. And let’s face it – it usually works! But of course we also know that one of the best ways to care for our loved ones is to first take care of ourselves to make sure we are happy, healthy, and available for them. Detoxing is a way to do that. Eating fresh fruit and vegetables, exercising, and meditation can naturally, safely help us detoxify. But even more, loving relationships have a healing effect on the body. There’s been numerous studies that show the positive health benefits of love. The up-sides include better stress management, better sleep, longer life span, and lower blood pressure. So wait – did you notice that? Both Love and Detoxification share these amazing advantages. That means Love is a Natural Detox! Simple and sweet. So Happy Detoxing and may your Valentine’s Day be filled with health, joy, and love.

Yesterday, I read that the Journal of American Medical Association found that medical treatment is the 3rd leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer, respectively. That’s very disheartening, to say the least. Here’s another scary fact. Based on a study done in England in 2014, approximately 8.4% of cancer patients died within 30 days of starting chemotherapy treatment. Meaning the “cure” for cancer killed patients faster than the actual cancer. But why? Well, the “why” is simple. The ph of chemotherapy drugs is around a 3. This is the acidity of battery acid. And it goes directly into a major artery during cancer treatment. It’s absolutely crazy when you think about it. How can a healthy body process that? Not to mention a body that is already weakened. It’s like bombing an entire building just to kill rodents, then hoping that maybe a flower and some grass will grow where the building used to be. Not only is it overkill, but the fallout is more toxic than the rats. Well, I sincerly hope that neither you nor anyone you care about ever has to face the choice of undergoing chemotherapy or any other potentially dangerous treatments. But just know that there is another way and you don’t have to wait to begin. Cancer or any dis-ease can’t survive in an alkaline environment. So work on changing the environment within your body. Modern medicine is still lagging behind Mother Nature when it comes to reversing illness. Detoxification is a powerful, natural body process that can alkalize and regenerate your body. So start by eating more alkaline foods – your raw fruit and veggies. Just increasing your fruit intake will go a long way. So Alkalize, Hydrate, Clean, and Strengthen.

When I had my 1stmigraine years ago I thought I was blacking out. There were bright lights flashing inside the corner of my eyes that gradually moved to fill my complete line of site. I was terrified. It wasn’t until afterward that I realized it was a classic migraine. I’ve only had about 2 that I can identify, but I am one of the lucky ones. There are some staggering statistics on people suffering from migraines and severe headaches: According to migraines.com70% of people that suffer from migraines are women; 25% of people that have migraines have more than one per week; and 47% of people with diagnosable migraine symptoms actually thought they had a tension or sinus headache. I know I have definitely complained about a tension headache while detoxing. So what in the world is a migraine really? Well, that’s a great question, because it manifests differently for everyone; but for sure – no one who has ever had one will say it’s a simple headache. They are categorized by severe head pain that is usually accompanied by other symptoms. Sometimes it’s a true stabbing pain, dull throbbing, or fireworks inside your eyes. Some people get dizzy, nauseous or completely incapacitated. The main question is how to reduce or eliminate the occurrence of migraines? Looking at it from a detoxification standpoint, the body is trying to tell us that we have an acidic condition in our head and neck region. In an alkaline and balanced state – our overall goal with detoxification – the body does not experience pains, spasms, inflammation, or congestion because there is nothing blocking the flow of energy. However, when the body is dealing with chronic pain and inflammation (internally or externally) in a certain area we can make the connection to the underlying cause of the congestion or blockage to try to reverse it. Clear the Sinuses: Try to get your sinuses drained to release mucus congestion in your head. This is easier said than done and can take time, but if your lymphatic system in your head is backed up then you will experience tension headaches, non-popping of your ears, and an increase in the discomfort of migraines. There is an intricate network of lymphatic roadways in your head and neck region whose purpose is to carry mucus and other metabolic waste away from your brain and ultimately to your kidneys to be filtered out through the urine. If you have a stiff and knotty neck then you have stagnant lymph that isn’t draining and has nowhere to go. Go ahead, right now, and feel around your neck area and see if you can feel groups of little hard knots along the tendons and muscles that run from your head to your shoulders. If you have these then the acidic metabolic waste within your lymphatic system in this area is starting to crystalize and harden. Are they more pronounced on one side than the other? This can let you know which kidney is filtering slower than the other. Kidney filtration and Lymphatic drainage can be addressed by starting to detox – with fruits mainly, and also veggies and herbs that support the kidneys (parsley, dandelion, corn silk, juniper berry, couch grass, horsetail, stinging nettle leafto name a few). Increase circulation: Get the energy moving in the head and neck region. Dr. Robert Morse recommends neural lymphatic massage (clockwise) on either side of the spine in the neck and upper back area to increase the energy flow to the nerves that connect to the brain and sinuses. You can also start doing a gentle, but frequent massage of the neck and shoulders, kneading those knotty areas (if you have them) as you go through your day to try and loosen up the crystallized acids. Exercise will also increase circulation and move lymphatic waste, but start slow and build your endurance. Yoga, walking, swimming, are all excellent and low impact. Clean the Digestive Tract: Once I started learning about detoxification, I was amazed at how the head and intestines are so closely connected. These two systems are on opposite ends of the developing embryo and are among the first to develop shortly after fertilization. It’s no wonder that a headache in the front of the head tends to indicate a stomach issue. Or perhaps you have experienced a headache after an unpleasant bout of diarrhea or constipation. This studyconnected constipation with headaches in school children. More specific to migraines – there have been studies that show the relationship between problems with the digestive system and the occurrence of migraines. According a 2006 report for BMC Gastroenterology, people that suffer with IBS are 40% to 80% more likely to also suffer from migraine, fibromyalgia, and depression in comparison to people without IBS. So with plenty of supporting evidence, a detox to help clean the digestive system would be extremely helpful. Start by mixing one teaspoon of fiber with plenty of water about 2 hrs after dinner to start pulling those toxins out. Also try one of these detox dietswith natural fiber to strengthen and clean the digestive system. Natural Pain and Spasm Control: If you can consider that at their core migraines are spasms of vascular tissue in the brain, we can superficially deal with the symptoms to help manage the immediate discomfort and pain. Try one of these: St. John’s Wort, Valerian root, cramp bark, and scullcap to name a few. Or find a good herbal blend like Dr. Robert Morse’s Spasm Calm. (FYI – I am not an affiliate for Dr. Morse’s herbal formulas and do not earn any commissions for recommending their products. However, I HIGHLY recommend that you try them!) If you are migraine suffer, consider doing a detox and trying herbs to minimize your symptoms. Also get those sinuses drained, and start a low impact and low stress exercise program. You deserve to be free of that migraine prison! Happy Detoxing! Tamera

I received the question of what fruit helps with high blood pressure. This is a great question and I knew this person was thinking outside of the Medical Box by asking about fruit. The good thing is that the way of True Detoxification corrects high and low blood pressure easily along with all other conditions. Live, raw foods and more specifically, the more astringent water fruits (oranges, grapefruits, grapes, lemons, limes) work the best and will move stagnant lymph or acids to the kidneys for elimination while alkalizing the body at the same time. This removes stress from the body and brings about balance. You also need to make sure your kidneys are filtering that acidic lymph out of the body via urination. This is key. The way to know if your kidneys are filtering lymph is to see if your urine is cloudy, no matter the color. If it is, then at least 1 kidney is filtering. This is hard to see looking directly into the toilet, so capturing the urine in a large glass container will tell you as well since the lymph will settle to the bottom (a little gross, I know, but effective). The longer you keep detoxifying with the fruit and vegetables, the more your kidneys will come back online if they’re off. It may also take specific herbals to help the kidneys to get going. So the whole approach of eating the astringent fruits, alkalizing the body with these fruit mainly and other raw foods, decreasing the acidic foods (meat, grains, dairy, refined sugar, baked goods, etc) as much as you can (if not remove them from your diet entirely while detoxifying), and making sure the kidneys are filtering with herbs if needed, will bring your blood pressure down. The fruit, lymph, adrenal and kidney connection: The systolic or top number (ideally 120-130) has a direct relationship to the adrenal glands – the glands that produce neural transmitters (adrenal, ephinephrine, dopamine – etc.) and provide energy to our body organs and muscles when needed. So when that number is consistently up – there’s mainly constant stress causing adrenal exhaustion. The diastolic or bottom number (ideally 60-70) has a direct relationship to the kidneys which the adrenal glands sit on top of. It’s the kidneys’ job to filter acids from the lymph system and take them out of the body via urination. So when that number is up your kidney’s are slowing down because of adrenal stimulation and starting to lose their ability to filter the lymph/acids. . Stressors require the adrenals to produce more neural transmitters – some for energy jolts and others for shutting down other organs (like the kidneys) that detract from you dealing with the “emergency”. An example of this is the fight or fight scenario, so this is a natural body function. But if you are constantly stressed then you are constantly having mini fight/flight episodes that will eventually decrease the lymph filtration abilities of the kidneys. So again, the lymph then backs up through out the body causing acidosis. There are other reasons why lymph backs up in the system that will affect your adrenals and systolic number as well – antibiotic medications which kill the bacteria in the lymph nodes – big no-no, mucus forming foods which cause immune responses, and steroid medications that “replace” the body’s natural production that starts in the adrenals, to name a few. But 99% of the time, when you get the kidney’s filtering and get the acidic, stagnant lymph moving and eliminated from the body via the kidneys/urination, you will correct the problem – cancer, diabetes, high blood pressures, etc. You name it. SO eat those astringent fruits to get things moving! So go Fight for your Health Freedom with fruit

Fasting. Come on, Really? Fasting can’t be good for you. Isn’t that kind of drastic? Only fanatics go to that extreme. I thought only those weird people that live on communes did that. What would I look like telling my coworkers I can’t go to lunch because I’m fasting. Whatever, man! Yeah, well – real people fast. It’s not crazy or far fetched or drastic. It’s actually natural and necessary. Temporarily allowing your body to address other concerns besides digestion is good for you. It’s instinctive in nature – animals do it when sick or injured and us humans are the same – we don’t have appetites when we aren’t feeling our best. That’s when our body’s intelligence kicks in and says – “I can’t eat right now, something came in last night when that kid coughed on us in line at Target – gotta deal with that first.” So when we have major issues going on, it’s a good way to get back on track and our bodies can handle it. Luckily, there are alternatives to the traditional water fast that may be more effective and easier to fit into your current lifestyle. You still might have to tell your coworkers no thanks to lunch, but who cares. You’re on a mission Let’s look at the different ways to fast: A Fruit-Only Fast A Fruit Only Fast is where you eat only fruit for a period of time. You can eat a variety of fruit (following the rules of food combination), but it is more detoxifying to eat one type of astringent fruit for 3, 10, 20, and even 40 days. Amazing results can occur from eating grapes alone, or oranges, or grapefruits. These are the more nourishing and astringent fruits that will yield the most detoxification. Dr. Robert Morse has mentioned several times about how he has seen several types of cancers eliminated on 35, 70+ days on just grapes. Fruit Juice Fasting Fruit Juice Fasting means eating no food and drinking only the juice of fresh fruits. This is a higher level of detoxification since the body will require only a small amount of digestive energy. Fruit Juice fasting is good for everyone wishing to detoxify, but will greatly help those with advanced health weaknesses. A combination of fruits can be used, but combining the astringent fruits together will go deeper, faster. Grape and lime juice; grapefruit, orange, and lemon juice have been two of my personal favorites on my healing journey. I experienced a noticeable reduction of swollen lymph nodes in my armpit within 7 days using orange and lime juice. What about Vegetable juice? Vegetables in general are builders and not cleaners like fruits are. Their role comes in more so after you have cleaned yourself out and are starting the process of regeneration. So yes, vegetable juices, especially green juice is extremely beneficial for your body and helps to build it back up. In my personal experience I can tell you that the fruit juices will help detoxify you more so than green juices will. I’ve spent a few days drinking nothing but mandarin orange juice and started draining mucus from my sinuses – blowing my nose constantly. Then I had a “taste” for something less sweet, thinking that it would be a change and would still expel the mucus from my head, but after drinking some fresh, organic spinach and green apple juice, the runny nose stopped and I was no longer detoxifiying at the same speed. My advise is to start with the fruit juice. If you are detoxing too fast or really have a taste for something more savory, dabble with a few leafy greens in your juice. It will still be alkalizing to your system, so still healing, but just not as detoxifying. Just keep in mind that detoxification is the key to reversing illnesses, then your body can regenerate itself. The Master Cleanse The Master Cleanse is a detoxification method made popular by Stanley Burroughs. Also called the Lemonade diet, it combines water, lemon, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. The book advises anywhere from 10 – 40 days and recommends fruit juice for a few days to transition back into eating a mainly raw food diet. The maple syrup has natural occurring minerals and vitamins. Lemons and limes are the most astringent, detoxifying fruits, but would be unpleasant to eat; therefore, they are perfect for juicing and the Master Cleanse. Dry Fasting Not widely practiced, but very effective is dry fasting. It involves not eating or drinking anything for short periods of time in order to kickstart the kidneys into filtering the acidic lymph in your body that is causing acidosis/disease. Dry fasting is not for everyone. It is only recommended for people who have already been doing high fruit/raw foods, fruit fasting, or juice fasting for a period of time. Starting out with a short 12 hour dry fast is pretty doable. Then you can build up to 18, 24, and 36 hours, and maybe even 72 hours if you have really been on your fruits for while. Dr. Robert Morse has found that periods of 1-2 days at a time, at the most, are enough for most people to get the kidney’s functioning. The ideal time to have prepared for a dry fast will vary widely, depending on your conditions and length of time eating alkalizing foods. I have personally performed two dry fasts, averaging about 18 -20 hours each. I didn’t feel bad at all, but didn’t want to do much. I had been doing a high fruit/raw food diet for about 2 months before attempting it and the amount of lymph that my kidneys kicked out via my urine (very cloudy) was amazing. If you have at least a month or two of fruit-only or raw food time under your belt and would like to attempt a dry fast, start slow. Here’s how to attempt your first short

What we eat is one of the most important things that impacts our health, along with our thoughts and environment. There are diets that support a healthy body and of course diets that don’t. Use the diets below to support whatever stage you are on in your self-healing journey. If you know that you are in need of an immediate diet change, you can go cold-turkey on a High Fruit, Raw Food diet for the deepest level of detoxification and impact on your health. If you are a newbie to detoxification and want to start small until you are ready to go further, check out our 3 Super Simple Detox Diets. Just know that you will experience some discomfort as your body may go through mild (low grade fevers, headaches, skin rashes, or constipation) to more severe (persistent diarrhea, painful aches, etc) healing crises. While this does signal that your body is moving to a new level of detoxification and victory is near; these experiences can be unpleasant. Should they alarm you, you may go back a level or two from your current detox diet until the symptoms are more tolerable. Then over a few days gradually move back up to the detox diet ladder. For all diets below – no alcohol, caffeinated beverages, sodas, bread products, pastas, dairy, processed foods, added sugars (white, brown, candy, chocolate, maple syrup), eggs, fast foods, or fried foods. Highest Level of Detoxification: High Fruit, Raw Vegan Food Diet This diet will bring the highest level of detoxification and includes some savory raw soups that will be easy to digest and will slow down healing crises without stopping detoxification completely. To go even deeper with your detoxification, by pass the raw soups and allow the astringent power of the fruits to move the cellular stagnation. Breakfast: Fresh squeezed or pressed Fruit juice Fruit (don’t mix melons with other types of fruit or food) Snacks: Fruit, fresh fruit juice Lunch: Fruit, berries or melons (only) Dinner: Fruit, berries, melons (only) Blended raw soups with non-sweet fruits such as avocado, cucumber, red bell peppers, etc. (Only when desiring something savory or needing to slow detox) High Level of Detoxification: High Fruit/Steamed Veggies This diet will allow the body to detoxify rapidly, but will allow some savory salads along with the fruit. Breakfast: Fresh squeezed or pressed Fruit juice Fruit (don’t mix melons with other types of fruit or food) Snacks: Fruit, fruit juice, or veggie juice Lunch: Fruit, berries or melons (only) Dinner: Fruit, berries, melons (only) Blended raw soups with non-sweet fruits (avocado, cucumber, red bell peppers, etc) Large vegetable salad (plenty of leafy greens, variety of colorful veggies, no dairy, no meat, only small amounts of raw nuts – if any, avocado in small amounts, and small amounts of cold pressed oils) Moderate Level of Detoxification: Fruit and Veggies This a great diet to stay on after detoxification and wish to be vegan. Breakfast: Fresh squeezed or pressed Fruit juice Fruit (don’t mix melons with other types of fruit or food) Snacks: Fruit, fruit juice, or veggie juice Lunch: Fruit, berries or melons (only) Large vegetable salad (plenty of leafy greens, variety of colorful veggies, no dairy, no meat, only small amounts of raw nuts – if any, avocado in small amounts, and small amounts of cold pressed oils) Dinner: Fruit, berries, melons (only) Blended raw soups with non-sweet fruits (avocado, cucumber, red bell peppers, etc) Large vegetable salad (plenty of leafy greens, variety of colorful veggies, no dairy, no meat, only small amounts of raw nuts – if any, avocado in small amounts, and small amounts of cold pressed oils) Steamed vegetables Vegetable broth soup Baked sweet potato Transition into a Detox Diet: Fruit, Veggies, Baked Lean Meats This is a good prep diet for the 7 Day Detox. It can also be excellent after you have thoroughly detoxified and regenerated your body, but don’t want to be a strict vegan. Breakfast: Fresh squeezed or pressed Fruit juice Fruit (don’t mix melons with other types of fruit or food) Cereals: oatmeal, millet, brown and wild rice, buckwheat (soaked overnight in water or juice, or barely cooked) Snacks: Fruit, fruit juice, or veggie juice. Raw Nuts Lunch: Fruit, berries or melons (only) Large vegetable salad (plenty of leafy greens, sprouts, various colorful veggies, no dairy, no meat, only small amounts of raw nuts – if any, avocado in small amounts, and small amounts of cold pressed oils) Dinner: Fruit, berries, melons (only) Large vegetable salad (plenty of leafy greens, various colorful veggies, no dairy, no meat, only small amounts of raw nuts – if any, avocado in small amounts, and small amounts of cold pressed oils) Steamed vegetables Blended raw soup Cooked vegetable broth soup Baked sweet potato Only every other day: Baked fish, chicken, turkey, and lean beef – only lightly seasoned with herbs and sea salts. No sauces or gravy.