Going Raw, raw food that is..

Since I got into raw food, I've been besieged with questions why. I'm not asking to go completely 100% raw, but at least take more greens and fruits. Sharing top three reasons why:

First, did you know that cooking destroys nutrients found in food? Well, this depends on how you cook your food - you lose 25% if you steam and 100% if you microwave, fry or bake. According to Dr. Bernarr of God Healing, Inc and the Natural Hygiene Society of California, cooking food above 118 degrees F kills all the nutrients and enzymes in food. Natural Hygienist Dr. Virginia Vetrano affirms this and says that “heating any food, destroys much of its vitamin, mineral, and protein content, AND poisonous inorganic acids are formed.” So, what the two good doctors are essentially saying is when you eat cooked food, you are actually ingesting “dead” food, no nutrients and taking in instead toxins.

This leads to my second reason, do you know how our body adjusts to cooked food? According to raw food advocate and author of "12 Steps to Raw Food" Victoria Butenko, the body creates mucus. Mucus is actually good, it is a thick, viscous, gel-like material that functions to moisten and protect the body from toxins. The average human body produces about a liter of mucus per day.

Butenko however postulates that the more cooked food we consume, the more toxins we ingest and thus, the more mucus the body produces.  We accumulate so much mucus in our body that problems prop up. Headache is caused by the mucus stored in the forehead close to the brain and if you absolutely don't have mucus coming out of your nose after running, well, you have clean lungs.

To check for mucus in your intestines, stick out your tongue and check the color. If its color white, this means thick mucus is coating your intestines. Naturopaths call this mucoid plaque. It looks like a green rubbery hose that can extend to about 20 feet long. The trouble is once the mucoid plaque is created, it lodges in the numerous folds and crevices of the intestines and over time, it grows longer and thicker. Ironically, while mucus protects our body from absorbing toxins, it also prevents the body from absorbing nutrients. So, the thicker the mucoid plaque is, the more our body craves for more nutrients, the more we become hungry and consequently, the more we eat.

The third and last reason is for super health. Longevity and nutrition expert David Wolfe, says that “raw food returns to you lost power and abilities. It gives super human abilities – especially in physical endurance, clarity of thought and sixth sense perception.”  This means, no ailments, no acne, no asthma, no body odors, skin becomes soft and smooth, hair grows thick and wild and good news for women - - PMS will be a thing of the past and monthly periods will dwindle down to one day. Women have reported experiencing no menopausal symptoms and only discover having gone through menopause, only after undergoing blood tests to check their hormone levels. And here in the Philippines, the wife of inner dance Pi Villaraza, Daniw who was (and still is) on 100% raw food gave birth in less than ten minutes. She said that it was painless and effortless.

In the three months I was on 100% raw (yes Pinky, cheated on coffee and occasional wine), I experienced super health. My eyesight and hearing improved, my skin smooth, my hair thick, I’ve lost 10 pounds and stopped popping vitamins, supplements or medications. I must admit that going raw is quite daunting and requires commitment. Again, you don't have to go 100%. Start by eating more salads, adding raw vegetables in your meals like more tomato and lettuce in your sandwiches, drinking fresh juices especially my fav coconut juice, and snacking on nuts and seeds. If you want recipes, email me. :-)

on my 27th day on Raw Food

Since my creatinine level indicated beyond normal in my recent annual physical exam, I've been advised to refrain from eating meat. I've decided to go back to being vegetarian and in fact, I've taken it a notch higher by going raw. This means, not eating cooked, processed foods. So far so good, I'm on my 27th day and surviving.

It wasn't easy at first since there was hardly anything to eat at most restaurants and all I know how to prepare is salads. My first attempt in making a vegetable smoothie ended tasting like wasabi juice. I blended pechay (local spinach) with pineapple and banana.

Also since I didn't stop running or doing workouts, my strength and endurance suffered. I started panting at 6-km or would be out of breath which I seldom experienced. I guess my body was relying on my stored fats for energy and the last few days, I had no stored fat left.

Its not easy to go raw. This even includes boiling water which means no soups, teas and coffee. Apparently, cooking destroys 25% to 100% of the nutrients depending on the how its cooked - steaming 25% and up to 100% for microwave, frying and baking. In fact, cooked food produces carcinogens such as acrilamide.

According to Dr. Bernarr, "When food is cooked above 118 degrees F for three minutes or longer, its protein has become coagulated, its sugar has become caramelized, its natural fibers have been broken down, which means it will take longer to move through the intestinal tract, 30% to 50% of its vitamins and minerals have been destroyed and 100% of its enzymes have been destroyed. Cooked food depletes our body's enzyme potential and drains the energy we need to maintain and repair our tissues and organ systems and shortens our lifespan."

The good news is aside from Alive! restaurant in The Farm in San Benito, I found a raw food restaurant in Manila called Rawvolution in Kamuning, Quezon City. The owner and chef, Cheloy Ignacio, who was previously sickly turned to raw food in 2006 and since then never got sick. In fact, she lost 20 lbs in ten days. Check her website here. I joined her 'healing' class which consisted of a lecture by naturopathist Dr. Samuel Dizon and raw food preparation by Cheloy where she shared two recipes - green smoothie and asian salad. I learned how to make almond milk in her class - 1/4 cup of raw almonds soak overnight and 1 cup water, blended which i use for my daily morning smoothie.


I also joined the live food preparation of another raw food chef Aileen de Guzman who learned from Michelin award-winning Chef Felix Schoener at The Farm at San Benito years ago. Aileen taught us how to prepare - a breakfast smoothie, asparagus bundles, thai pomelo salad, vegan sushi and tiramisu.

Well, so far i can see the benefits - literally my eyesight has improved, my hearing good, skin better and alas, I've yet to lose weight. I've invested in a vitamin blender, food processor, ceramic knife (food won't oxide when sliced) and will have to save for an ozonator and pasta maker. Being a food lover and gourmand, going raw is quite a challenge. The recommendation is actually 30% cooked and 70% raw. If I keep this up longer, I may just join the ranks of raw food advocates - -the likes of actor Woody Harrelson, author Anthony Robbins , Tri-athlete Brendan Brazier and even Apple CEO Steve Job.

Inner Dance with Pi Villaraza

Pi Villaraza

"I am not a guru or a healer; I am just a mirror to allow you to see things as they truly are” says Pi Villaraza when asked what he does.

I joined Pi’s detox, healing and energy training program in Bahay Kalipay in Puerto Prinsesa, Palawan last Labor Day weekend. He said that "Bahay Kalipay is our home. Because of the nature of our work in healing and detoxification, people naturally come to us to visit, heal, train and to center themselves. Thus, we decided to open up our home… to accommodate others while retaining as much of the basic simplicity we find as effective conditions for the work that we do." This includes hand pumping water that apparently most foreigners find charming.

I first met Pi when Rosanna Escudero invited me to do “Inner Dance” last March. He struck me as someone stripped off Ego –very simple in a t-shirt, jeans and sandals and extremely articulate while making all these “crackling” sounds.

Pi learned the ancient Filipino healing modality of the Babaylans after undergoing a vision quest that took him to the States in 2002 where he met powerful teachers and spirit guides that eventually led him back to the Philippines to do a walking pilgrimage around Mindanao like a hermit without money or contacts; and ended holing up for two-years on a deserted beach in Palawan subsisting on coconuts. He said “I felt a powerful urge to detach myself from all external sources of energy – family, money, friends and the many distractions of the world.”

He later coined it “inner dance” because of the dance-like movement generated from the internal energy. After a powerful session that night at Rosanna’s which was cathartic, my left side - the piriformis and ITB injury from the marathon- that has been bothering me for the last six months somehow felt better.

Pi describes inner dance as “Those who undergo the experience will soon find that it is not a dance, really, but more of an inner work that unifies mind, body, and spirit. It is a meditation that allows one to access powerful forces that simultaneously silences the mind.” Anna, who neither dances or practice yoga, was trance-like, gracefully twirling her hands and arms, moving with the music even doing back bends! She kept going for almost two hours. Short clip here:

The program consists of raw food live enzyme diet with a one day coconut flush, eco-tourism (visit to the Hot Springs or if the weather is good, sailing), organic gardening, handicraft (how to make a dream catcher), and healing and energy workshops which included daily Inner Dance, massage, Inner Yoga, Meditation, and self-processing spirituality. The workshops are experiential and interactive. He said “At the end of the stay, the goal is to have made a healing difference in specific physical, emotional and spiritual blockages the participant wants to focus his release work on. The secondary goal is to teach self-healing and simultaneously how to heal others.”

His organic garden set-up is in a way similar to Peter Caddy's, the founder of Findhorn Community in Scotland. There is a compost heap, potash (lime) and some guidance with the garden deva (through Daniw) who introduced mulch from the coconut husks to insulate the soil and protect the seedling. I planted my first organic tomato plant (left photo) in a terrain of mostly rock and coral and mixed with compost and all the essentials.

The experience was worthwhile and to me, downright full of integrity --from the simplicity of the place down to the simplicity of our food intake.

I learned a lot from just being simple. Inner dance is really a journey inward. The raw food diet, inner dance exercises, quieting of the mind are all tools to release mind/body/spirit from so-called blockages. With this release, I have more energy and am now more mindful and aware---ready to listen and see the signs that will help me toward a healthy, happy life…filled with peace from within.

Pi has helped others with medical conditions such as glaucoma, cysts, migraines, psoriasis, depression etc. Perhaps with this new found learning and practice, I can start by healing myself (treat simple aches and pains) and maybe in the future, advance to helping others mirror themselves.

Pi and Danui will be traveling to Singapore and will be in Manila on May 20 for a one-day workshop. To find out more about inner dance visit http://innerdance.multiply.com/

Also, to watch Pi in action, check out Epi Quizon's video "The Dancer Within":