We always talk about eating raw foods and eating healthy and how great it is for you and how much you’ll change from it. But there’s more to the story than that. It’s what you DON’T eat anymore that changes you the most.

By eliminating what I like to call “food products” from your lifestyle, you will have a big shift. I’m talkin’ about chips, candy, things in jars, cans, plastic wrappers, microwave dinners, energy drinks, etc. You get rid of that toxic waste dump and your body will feel life.

Then, you stop with the dairy and meat industry. Gimme a break. You really think that stuff is helping you? C’mon you know better! But the fact is, we have emotional eating habits and if you can become more aware of that, then you’ll be on a winning streak.

Some easy tips:

• If you fry something, use coconut oil and fry it at a low temperature if possible.
• Drink a lot of water to counter the negative effects of anything that you know is ‘bad’ for you but you are eating it anyway.
• If you cave in and eat some junk food, be sure to juice a lot of dark greens the next day.
• No matter what you are eating, simply thank the universe (or whatever your personal belief system supports) for the food you are giving your body and take a moment to feel gratitude.

Raw foods are not a diet. They are a lifestyle and some days will be easier than others and some days you might just slide backwards or feel a struggle. Forgive yourself and remember, tomorrow is another day. Breathe in, breathe out. Smile from your liver.

I admit it. I have an extreme phobia of the dentist. Not just the pain, but the bills as well! Bam and I have (not so proudly) avoided going to a dentist for too many years to admit and even though we have found a dentist, being raw foodists leads us to think differently and seek out ‘natural hygiene’ methods.

The three best natural methods to avoid the dentist:

1. Use Neem Products to clean your teeth.
2. When you brush your teeth, use the purest version of spring water you can find.
3. Avoid calcium supplements and additives like the plague.

NEEM

You’ve heard the word and you might have seen the products at your local health food store. People in India chew on Neem twigs to clean their teeth. You can buy the oil, the leaf powder, the bark powder and all sorts of combinations with ‘other’ ingredients. It is the ‘other’ ingredients that we think makes the difference. We have started an experiment by using Neem Oil from this company and mixing it with Peppermint and coconut oil and brushing with that. We tried the Neem oil on its own and the gag factor was INSANE! OMG! This is on a par with Durian which is just too disgusting for yours truly! Ha! We have both noticed that our tooth problems have quieted down. But like all things natural, the repair is never instant. So only time will truly tell. We are going to keep up this regimen for a while and see if we can help our teeth and gums.

I have read of some interesting uses of Neem oil including women spreading it on their genitals as a method of birth control! My theory is that this stuff smells so bad that it just keeps the men away from them! It’s also supposed to be an excellent mosquito repellant. But again, maybe even the skeeters are grossed out by the smell! In any case, we shall persevere in our quest for dental health!

WATER

In spite of what you might believe, we have researched and come to believe that tap water, filtered tap water and spring water in plastic bottles is causing you a lot of harm and damage.  If you brush your teeth with tap water, you are adding to the problem. The additives in city water in America are beyond insanity. You thought fluoride was a good thing? Think again. It can be okay IF applied topically. But not ingested in your water! Wake up! There are many things added to the water system these days including calcium which ‘calcifies’ your body … ie AGES you. Then there is the maximum allowable TDS: Total Dissolved Solids. Hmmm… what exactly are those solids? Oh goodie. Lots of that is TOILET PAPER! Do you want to brush your teeth with that?

So you get the point. Brush your teeth with spring water from glass bottles or get into distilling your own water. Admittedly this can get ridiculously costly. So if you’re strapped for moola, then boil your tap water and keep it in a glass jug in your fridge and use that to brush your shiny whites morning and night!

CALCIUM

We need to get rid of the ‘bad calcium’ build up in our systems and this is a very broad subject which I won’t attempt to cover. Basically, you can take some MSM supplements (research them carefully please!) and you need to avoid all dairy. (I hope if you’re reading this you have gone vegan!) Get good calcium from sea vegetables and dark leafy greens! It is easily assimilated by our bodies and put to good use. That is the type of calcium we are supposed to have. Not the kind derived from another species. Calcium isn’t bad. But synthetic calcium like the kind they put in our tap water is bad. The kind you take as supplements is ridiculous. The kind in your toothpaste ironically is pretty bad for your teeth! We want bio-available calcium which can be found easily in a raw food lifestyle.

We attended the David Wolfe and Dr Gabriel Cousens seminar the other week in Miami and wow was it eye opening. Especially when it came to calcium. Avoid ‘denatured’ calcium at all costs is my new saying. Do not ingest or use anything that has the word calcium in it. Read your supplements. If your toothpaste has calcium chloride in it, throw it away and find something else. What do you think arthritis is? It is the calcification of your bones and muscles. We have become a society of consumers that believe everything we’re sold on tv. STOP! Question it all instead. Question what I am telling you and find out for yourself. Do not prescribe to your doctor’s advice of what is good for you. Do not listen to your dentist’s advice either! Explore the options of which there are many.

Get your neem on the go, use spring water in GLASS bottles or make your own distilled water and eat leafy greens and toss out those silly calcium supplements your granny told ya you needed. Our teeth are an overall reflection of our health. Just like our skin. So pay attention to them. Love them. Please let us know what methods you use to keep your teeth clean. It’s all a grand experiment.

It’s no secret now that the key to healthy living comes from having a strong immune system. So what can we do? After years of eating junk food, taking antibiotics, thinking negative thoughts, being blasted with EMF’s from cell phones and everything else? Of course, there is no easy answer like take this one supplement and you’ll be cured! But there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of NEVER getting cancer or some other debilitating disease. We need to build our immune systems back up from the inside out!

1. Nutrition
2. Detox
3. Pull out parasites and metals

First, nutrition. You knew I was gonna start with that right? You have to feed your body the fuel it needs to build up healthy cells and detox all the crap you fed it for years or decades. It won’t change overnight but it will heal over time and the simple truth is often the most basic truth. Food is what we all need and food can cure you or kill you. Dark leafy greens are the key essential ingredient to living longer, stronger and better. Get ‘em in you. Juice ‘em, green smoothie with ‘em, eat a ton of salad every day and smile from your liver!

Secondly we need to explore the various ways to detox. This means pulling out metals, parasites, infections, viruses… etc. There are many new phrases and ideas being tossed around… zappers, grounding, wild mushrooms… I will keep you posted on our experience with these as we check them out. For now, we have ordered the Zapper – Teminator. The claims are pretty wild but even David Wolfe is wearing one and says it’s the real thing. He has nothing to gain from that testimonial as he does not sell it on his site so we thought we’d give one a try. I will post an honest review in the next month or two on that item!

As for grounding, that’s easy. Walk barefoot at least once a day! Make sure your feet actually touch the earth. No socks, no shoes to separate you from the planet. This ‘grounds’ you. If you have doubts… just trust me on it. Or google it and find out for yourself. There is more on that subject.. but this is a brief overview of ideas. If you have tried more grounding items, please let us know or leave a comment!

Ahhh…. the wild mushrooms. No, we ain’t talkin’ magic mushrooms! Although they seem pretty magical in terms of their properties. Wow! These mushrooms grow on trees and we are checking these out too. The two most known varieties are Chaga and Reishi. These fungi are a major part of your defense against parasites. If you think you don’t have parasites? Think again. It is one of the most common ailments in American society today. Your doctor might tell you otherwise… but they’re in you. You can find those mushrooms in a myriad of forms ranging from powder to make tea to capsules to extracts. We have not tried them yet but look forward to experimenting!

We are starting with the zapper and will check that out first. In order to keep track of what’s doing what, we will add one thing at a time.

There is so much to learn about our immune systems and maintaining a healthy body. This is a mere sprinkling of ideas that I hope will inspire, motivate and drive you to a healthier you! Please let us know what you are checking out and what is working for you. For that matter, let us know what isn’t working too!!!