RawAndFit.com » Benefits

Do you take any medication while on a raw food diet?

Casey — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:46:45 +0000

Before I knew much about raw food, I used to think that taking an occasional Tylenol was cool. Or popping 500 mg of aspirin was a good idea if I couldn’t get to sleep. Then, after some time on a high-raw diet, I realized the startling truth:

You don’t need to take drugs to feel great!

Your body naturally wants perfect health and every chance it gets, it moves in that direction. When you eat garbage food, your body works hard to either grab every last bit of nutrients out of it, or get the toxins out of the body. But when you add healthy, life-giving foods into you, your body responds by assimilating as many nutrients as it can.

But there’s a caveat here. After watching ‘Raw for 30 Days’, a great movie about diabetics on a 100% raw food diet, I realized that people can ween themselves off of their medications pretty easily. So much so that it’s a *shock* to the medical world. The movie really pushes the idea that Western Medicine treats only symptoms and not the root problem. That’s why including a lot of raw food in your diet helps. It solves the high-fat problem too many Americans face.

I recently had a problem with an itch. It’s been with me for over 8 months, and it’s annoying. I tried every natural remedy I could find to alleviate the problem… for 8 months! The itch was so bad that I was breaking skin weekly. Finally, I decided to see what a pharmacist would say. I biked down to the local shop and asked. Turned out, I had a hemorrhoid and my best bet was an over-the-counter 1% hydrocortisone cream.

This was the FIRST time in a looooooong time (over a year) that I’ve used any form of medication. And let me tell you — it solved my problem! Almost immediately, I felt better. The itch subsided and I am honestly relieved!

I bring this up because so many raw foodies shun the medical world. They think that all doctors are in it for money, and harm people with their prescriptions. I can understand this way of thinking, but there are good times and places for medicine. For instance, no amount of raw food can save you from a torn bicep. You need surgery. And pain killers. Sure, a raw foodie may recover a lot faster than someone on the Standard American Diet, but you still need the care.

I hope everyone can be reminded that although most medicines in the world are poorly prescribed, only on the market to create profit and hurt people, there are still some very good uses for Western Medicine. I know for a fact that I am much happier after taking some OTC meds!

Stay raw, and use your brain!

– Casey

P.S. — What’s your biggest concern about your medications and a raw food diet? Write it below in the comments!

Is Acai effective? Safe?

Casey — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:47:12 +0000

In 2007, I spent 5 weeks in the flood plains of western Brazil during the wet season. Life was tough there – long hot days, water up to their necks, and a never-ending amount of work. While I was there, I ate the local food like it was going out of style. Fresh fruit smoothies, roasted chicken hearts, alcoholic caipirinhas, the whole deal.

I even got to taste the *super weight loss cure overnight*, the acai berry. This was before that berry went nuts in the US, and everyone thought it was some sort of miracle cure.

Let me tell you what I saw – people eating this berry every day were still overweight. They were still tired. They were still not performing with massive energy. It seemed as though they had all the things available to them, native to them, but didn’t do anything with it.

That got me thinking about what my grandma used to say – “You are what you eat.”

I think her insight was beyond my understanding at that time. So much so, it took me another year to really “get it”. So, I began to look into that… I am what I eat? After the realization in Miami, I decided to look at my diet and how it affected my energy levels. I kept a journal of my entire 2 weeks of monitoring and had AMAZING insights from it.

I want you to be able to do this for yourself, because this is YOUR LIFE.

Here’s A Tip You Can Use Tomorrow:

Monitor your heart rate before and after you eat. Write down your emotional and energy level before and after you eat.

I would write in my pocket notebook a very simple account of the meal (including snacks and drinks), including date, time, ingredients in the meal, what I had to drink, beginning heart rate, emotional state and energy level.

I’d set my alarm clock on my watch to beep 30 minutes after I finished my last bite and record my levels after that.

Essentially, I was tracking how my body was responding to what I was putting into it.

Give that a try tomorrow. You’ll notice things about your body that will open your eyes. You’ll start to bring your body into focus and really connect with yourself. That’s where you’ll find energy and personal power…

*Honestly, this is the most important thing I did. It changed my life! Do it tomorrow. You’ll be on your way to more energy, losing a ton of weight, and getting connected with your inner self.*

Stay POWERFUL!

Casey Stanton
RawAndFit.com

P.S. — What are your results? How are you going to include consciousness into your everyday life? Your body is telling you what it needs. Are you listening? Write in the comments below!

Raw Food and Prostate Cancer

Casey — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:17:17 +0000

When I returned home from college, I was struck at the knees with some terrible news. First, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He’s in his 60’s, but I never thought my dad could get cancer! He’s the man that I look up to most. HOW COULD THAT HAPPEN? The entire family got tense. Things got weird.

As we were all dealing with Dad and the treatment options, my mom got some of the same kind of news – she had cancer too. Lucky for her, it wasn’t a vital organ, but it was in her nose. A weird place for it to be, but still — NOT COOL.

As I tried to look up treatments, I began to think of WHY this could happen. Why did both of my parents succumb to cancer? Neither of them smoke, they’re not obese, they don’t work with any dangerous chemicals…

Then I zoomed out and noticed a lot of people in my life were also experiencing cancer. I remember a kid I went to high school with who had testicular cancer at 16, a recent friend with brain cancer … the list keeps going.

What was going on?

I started to read more about the average American diet – because that’s who these people were, Average Americans. It was here that I found something very interesting…

I realized that our bodies are amazing machines. We can feed them a diet based mostly on corn syrup and refined sugar and somehow, they grow beautiful nails, hair and bones. Think about that! What other machine can turn something so lacking into something so incredible?

Did you know that 1/3 of the American Diet is junk food and soda? Refined sugars by the tablespoon slip into soft drinks and are consumed daily by millions of people. Diet sodas have artificial sweeteners that are VERY questionable.

It had to be the diet. My parents got cancer, I believe, because of their diet. Meat, potatoes and a little side salad with buttermilk ranch was a staple in my home. It covered all the levels that had been drilled into our heads, based on the Food Pyramid. But… the proportions were all wrong!

I remember reading that green, leafy vegetables had every mineral and vitamin we need to live. EVERYTHING in one source! I was eating lettuce in the salad, but only a tiny amount, and that was AFTER I had eaten my steak, if I had room in my belly.

After I took accountability for my health, I started to integrate more vegetables into my diet. Holy WOW did it change the way I felt. My digestion improved with all the extra fiber, my blood sugar was not fluctuating as drastically, and I wasn’t as hungry as I used to be.

I was harnessing the energy of natural greens – not cooked, steamed, or fried. The natural way they grow in the world. For flavor, I add a little balsamic vinegar or I juice them all in a handy electric juicer. The way my body responds is phenomenal, and changed my life in a HUGE way.

Tomorrow, I want you to have a big, fat salad for dinner. Don’t add cheese or croutons or anything besides fresh fruit and veggies. Stay away from anything canned – you don’ want it pasteurized (flash cooked) because it destroys all the enzymes. But that’s another story…

Be a Green Giant!

P.S. – Try to eat organic greens. I usually pick up a “tub” of them for $3-4 and it lasts me 3 days. Those are BIG organic salads. And don’t go for the discounted ones – if you get a big tub (2 pounds, I think they’ll go bad before you finish them. I pay the $1 premium to make sure they are fresh and full of love and goodness!

The Truth about Water

Casey — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:46:16 +0000

What if I told you that you had the World’s Best Drug available to you, on tap? This is better than anything you can buy in a pill, or get addicted to. It’s the basic building block of your body – Water.

It seems so crazy to me that I used to live in such a dehydrated state. The coffee, soda, and poor processed foods all lacked water, or were bound up with diuretics that excreted all of the water in my body. I could drink 60+ ounces of soda a day and still be dehydrated!

After I began to listen to my body and see what it was telling me, I noticed that water was seriously lacking in my life. The foods I ate robbed me, and I wasn’t working hard enough to put that water back in.

The biggest thing I did to increase my hydration and digestion was to increase not only my raw water intake every single day (about .5oz per pound of body weight a day) but also to increase the amount of water-rich foods I eat. Switching from a cooked animal to a ripe tomato on my salad made a huge difference in the way I felt.

Here’s something I want you to do tomorrow morning:

When you wake up, drink a full glass of water. I do it out of a glass jar, about a half liter every morning. I do this before I brush my teeth or use the bathroom – it’s the first thing I do. Why? Because it’s the time that my body is the most dehydrated in the day. I haven’t drank any water since the night before! To double your success, drink the same half liter before bed. After a few days of doing this, I wasn’t being woken up to use the bathroom, but instead my body put the new water to work.

I wake up now more hydrated than I used to, and I take care of my body the moment I rise. Do this simple step and you too will start feeling much healthier!

Dystonia and Raw Foods

Casey — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:17:15 +0000

I was taking a few of these everyday.

Back when I was a kid, I remember having issues with some neurological stuff. The only problems I ever experienced was having some muscle spasms in my right arm and down my side, sometimes all the way up my neck. It felt like I was being forced to move in a certain way, and would only last about 3-8 seconds.

Not a huge issue, but my parents wanted me to see a doctor to learn more. So, we researched the best doctors in the state, and I ended up at the University of Michigan pediatric unit for neurological disorders.

After a battery of tests, which included walking down a hall and visualizing whatever made me have these spasms, they diagnosed me with Dystonia. The diagnosis came with a bottle of Tegretol, and was supposed to cure my problems once and for all.

I did what any good kid would do – I took the drugs on time, 2x a day, and waited for the results to show. After weeks, I realized I was irritable and not functioning as my true self. It was at that point that I threw every last pill away and focused on what the real issue was – Stress.

Stress controlled me in a few social situations, and created a lot of negative emotions in my body. I began to look deeper and found exercises for controlling my breath and releasing stress that way. What a huge thing to run across!

It took me only a few short days to totally rid myself of that mystery disease and finally have control over how I feel. I do this simple exercise whenever I’m stressed out and need a break… you should try it right now!

Simply inhale through your nose for a count of 4, then hold for 4 seconds, and then exhale through your mouth for a count of 8. The long exhale helps to clear out the lungs, and the inhale should be done to push out your stomach – like you’re really sucking the air in deep.

I do this exercise daily, often if I’m in a situation where there is a lot of tension or stress. I can quickly do this and it changes my entire mind. Focusing on my breath makes me become aware of my body, how it operates, how I really feel, and if there is anything out of balance. Understanding you breath is the first step to gaining control over your health.