An Interview with Natalia Rose: On Navigating Uncharted Territory & the Extremely Green Detox™

Natalia Rose

Certified Nutritionist Natalia Rose is without question one of the world’s experts on detoxification and cleansing. Since the 2005 publication of her first book, The Raw Food Detox Diet, Natalia has been teaching the purest, most effective diet and lifestyle methods to promote regenerative health and longevity. But lately, her work has emerged from its roots in classical Natural Hygiene principles and entered a new realm of liberating, uncharted territory.

These days, Natalia views cellular purification primarily as a means to an end, a vehicle whose purpose is to carry us into the discovery and embodiment of what it means to be truly human. Fully awake, unconditioned and free, hers is a path of personal sovereignty, of reclaiming control over one’s entire being on every level, body, mind and spirit.

One of Natalia’s most attractive qualities—beyond her radiant physical beauty, of course—is her authenticity. This is a person who clearly practices what she preaches. And she has been brave enough to evolve her message, to change and to grow, in full view of her public. Each new detoxification program has developed naturally and sequentially from the one before, in step with Natalia’s own personal journey towards ever-deepening degrees of transformational self-purification and awareness.

Extremely Green Detox is the next step in Natalia’s journey. Founded upon the removal of our deepest-seated obstructions and enabling uncompromised freedom from prevalent mainstream, health-depleting ideologies, this brand new program is being introduced to the world with a unique opportunity: participation in a month-long, fully supported group cleanse led by Natalia and members of her Detox the World team.

Chef Doris Choi's raw green papaya salad.

Complete, detailed diet instructions and recipes, bi-weekly video lectures and phone conferences, food prep demos with top chefs Doris Choi and Ana Zaharia, and personal consultations with senior detox counselor Joanna Novick, CN, are all included in the Extremely Green Detox package. Beginning on July 1st, the program offers all the perks of going on a luxury health retreat without having to leave home (and for a fraction of the cost!!).

I spoke with Natalia earlier this week about Extremely Green Detox, the fully supported group cleanse, and why she believes we need to turn the detox dial way up in order to prevail over the assaults of living in a toxic world.

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Natalia, tell me about the Extremely Green Detox. Why did you develop this program, and what is it designed to do?

The best way to describe it is this: we are living in extreme times that are taking a toll on people’s health in a way that has never been seen before. Between the pathogens that are running rampant in everybody’s body, the endocrine system being so dysfunctional and the organs being so weakened, there’s this extremely slippery slope into illness that is hard to escape. What ends up happening is that most people are having a debilitating life experience. It’s either going to be rectified by the right protocol, or it’s going to bring you all the way down, slowly or rapidly, depending on what, if anything, you do to address it.

Essentially, we have three options for dealing with a deteriorating life experience: 1) just let it go down and deteriorate all the way, 2) try to slow the deterioration by doing a few things right, or 3) correct things 100% percent.

Option three is the only way to achieve an optimal life experience. Otherwise, it’s just various shades of doom. The Extremely Green Detox is a call for us to put aside our path of least resistance—our crutches, our addictions—and correct things 100 percent. The beauty of it is that if we can follow the protocol long enough and steady enough, we can win the war, as it were, and bring our bodies back to great strength.

Where does the Extremely Green Detox fit in relation to your other programs?

It’s definitely a progression. The Raw Food Detox Diet gets people out of the mainstream way of eating. Detox 4 Women—which I want to emphasize is also for men—pulls people out of pathogenic problems such as yeasts, molds and fungal issues. And the Extremely Green Detox brings people out of the quicksand and on to the mountaintop. It’s for those of us who want that peak experience, who want our blood to be the blood of youth, and our bones to be the bones of youth. This is what we use to get to the top of the mountain. Once you’re there, if you want to do some of the other things once in a while you can, but it’s not the daily experience any more.

I noticed that many foods you allow on your other programs—low-sugar fruits, goat cheese and baked sweet potatoes, for instance—are missing from this program. What is the reason for this?

A big part of it has to do with eliminating the pathogens that still have a hold in people’s systems. We have to kill them, and for this to happen, things like sugars, fermented foods and dairy all have to be left out of the equation unless one is a true beginner.

There’s also another piece. The key to successfully moving forward in this technocratic society, which is in decline, is to have the fewest needs possible. Of course having a sense of interconnected compassion trumps all. But the person who needs the least, who is the least dependent on outside substances, is the one who will survive with the most success.

Green Juice = Liquid Sunlight

That’s why we are focusing on the raw green foods. Green food is primordial food. It’s synthesized sunlight—chlorophyll, plus the living enzymes which you just don’t get with supplements and green powders. When the majority of the diet is coming from live, vitalized green foods like wheatgrass juice, juiced greens, dark green leafy vegetables and salads, amazing changes start to happen. For one, the palate changes. Even after just a few days, the palate starts to readjust so that you actually enjoy the taste of simple, unadulterated food in its natural state. The indigenous state of tasting is regained, and this has a profound, transformational influence over the perception of what we think we need to feel satisfied and fulfilled. 

So, as the palate shifts, the craving for sub-optimum substances is reduced and addictions lose their hold?

Exactly. And when addictions fall by the wayside, you become empowered. So we’ll be dealing with this during the guided cleanse. We’re even going to look at the shadowy addictions, the ones which we may not be aware of, or don’t want to admit. Even stevia can be an addiction. But as the palate readjusts, addictions fall by the wayside.

Once that happens, if we want to dabble in the less than optimum choices, we can bring those things back on an occasional basis and still maintain balance. Somebody who does the Extremely Green Detox protocol long enough to truly strengthen themselves will be able to do what we call “safe poisons” once in a while without a problem, but it will be less of a daily experience—not out of a sense of forced deprivation, but because the desire to make it a daily experience will be gone. Once the body is strengthened, the safe poisons won’t bring you down if you just do them periodically.

So raw goat cheese, for example, is a food that can be reintroduced down the road?

Raw goat cheese is a good substance that the body can utilize. If the system is in good working order and the body is clean, something like raw goat cheese is not going to undermine the system. It’s something a strong body should be able to manage. The same goes for things like wine, or a piece of fish.

The problem, though, is that our bodies are not strong. We need to find a way to maintain the highest levels of human health at a time when the world is so acidic, and we are constantly being bathed in chemicals and radiation. That’s what the Extremely Green Detox is for.

What else is different about your new program?

One big addition is the daily wheatgrass juice, which is going to be treated like a sacred meal. And green juice is also going to become a sacred meal, consumed consciously, with a sense of “I am taking in my true nourishment now.” Both of these green drinks are loaded with chlorophyll, which makes them optimum foods for the blood, the brain and so many body systems. But the wheatgrass juice in particular has another role. It will make it easier for people to do the program, because it provides a sense of fullness and satisfaction on a subtle level. It functions psychologically as well as physiologically.

So, starting with 1 ounce a day, wheatgrass juice will be included as much as people can tolerate it—five days a week if possible. And they’ll be encouraged to build on the quantity every week, so that by end of four weeks, some will be up to 4 ounces every day. Others may still be doing just 1 ounce and making a face, but they’ll be doing it!

I know that face! Wheatgrass juice can take some getting used to in the aftertaste department, but it is an amazing healing substance.

The idea is that people will come to enjoy it as essential. This has been my experience. Your body takes on the qualities of whatever substance you take in, and as your body takes on these qualities, it begins to desire those substances more. This happens with negative substances, too. The body gets used to whatever you are feeding it, and creates a habitat for that.

So, when we take in super nutrient-rich and high vibration substances, such as the wheatgrass juice, which is pure living chlorophyll, our body becomes made of that, and it craves that. Over the past few years, I have worked up to drinking 4 ounces of wheatgrass a day. Now the experience of taking it in has become one of the highlights of my day, but it was a process to get here. So this is something we will be doing together on the cleanse that I am really excited about sharing.

Can you talk a little about the Detox the World community, and why you decided to introduce your new program, Extremely Green Detox, within the context of a fully supported cleanse?

Our goal is to create a place where people can heal, strengthen and retain their human qualities on this bizarre stage. We need to keep on finding solutions as we navigate being a human being in a non-human world.

Ultimately, the goal of a fully supported cleanse is about giving people the ability to stand alone. The bottom line is, you wake up with you in the morning. No matter who you went out to dinner with the night before, no matter what temptations were there, how are you going to feel in the morning? Will you look in the mirror and say “I guess I gave up because everyone else was doing it,” or will you feel grateful that you honored your body’s true needs, and your deeper desires to take your life experience and your health to the next level?

As long as we don’t relapse and fall back into the false notions of what “civilized people” need, we are in new territory. That can be a little scary. With the supported cleanse, we have the guidance of the leaders, along with the built-in support of the group structure, to helps us cross the bridge to get there.

It looks like you’ll be providing a lot of support during the four weeks of the program.

In addition to all the emails, there will be group calls once a week, plus a weekly video with a live chat feature. We have a private Facebook page where people can interact, and a hotline is in the works. We’ll tackle the social-emotional-mental challenges. We’re going to dismantle all of the social pressures, like a kid who wants to dismantle a computer. We’ll take it apart. This is the power of the group.

It sounds like a fantastic opportunity! People must be getting so excited.

Every day will be a whole new experience and as a result, there will be an overwhelming sense of well being from doing this program—visceral experiential knowledge, rather than textbook. Extremely Green Detox is geared towards experienced cleansers, but we’re bringing in all levels, and making modifications for different needs, so everyone will get the best out of it. Already more than 100 people are signed up! It’s almost like a small country with a new vision.

There’s still time to join the fully supported Extremely Green Detox,
a group cleanse with Natalia Rose, beginning on July 1, 2013!
To register or learn more, go to www.detoxtheworld.com.

Practically Raw Baked Potato Salad

Are you planning on baking potatoes any time soon? If so, cook a few extras and use them to make this Practically Raw Potato Salad.

Practically Raw is my fun little way of saying two things: 1) containing a high percentage of raw food, and 2) a raw or raw-based recipe that is simple and practical to prepare. (Stay tuned for my Eat to Evolve Practically Raw Recipes E-Book coming this year!!)

This Practically Raw recipe relies on a pre-baked organic potato. I happened to have an organic baked Yukon Gold potato on hand, but feel free to use any organic baked potato you like (such as red, or even blue or purple potato, if you want to get fancy). I suggest you stay away from Russet and Idaho varieties as a rule, as they are a) too dry and b) too starchy for optimum carb healthyness. Red, blue and gold potatoes are more nutritious, moist and delicious!

Aside from the potato, everything else in the recipe (except the mustard) is raw and/or alive. For instance, instead of mayonnaise, I use mashed avocado and lemon juice, a brilliant idea I gleaned from a fellow Detox Community member over at detoxtheworld.com (that's Natalia Rose's awesome website, fyi). Avocado combines as a starch so its a perfect addition to potato salad. Just mash avocado with lemon juice and add miso and mustard for a tasty, creamy dressing.


Next, add a few handfulls of colorful veggies to the avocado mayonnaise. It's a rainbow for your tummy.


Finally, stir in the diced baked potato. Note: it was easy to peel the skin off the baked potato so I did, but you could leave it on if you prefer.


Here is the recipe I used in its entirety. Feel free to improvise with whatever raw veggies you happen to have on hand... to make this baked potato salad even more practically raw! :)

Practically Raw Baked Potato Salad

1 good sized organic baked potato, sliced and diced
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 ripe avocado
1/4 to 1/2 red bell pepper, minced
1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped (a big handful, basically)
1/4 red onion, minced
1 teaspoon miso
1 teaspoon mustard (i used whole grain but dijon would be good, too)

Directions
Mash the avocado with lemon juice, then stir in mustard and miso. Mix this with the red pepper, red onion and cilantro, saving a little minced pepper or cilantro for garnish. Add chopped potato and gently stir everything together. Garnish and enjoy! Serves one as a stand alone meal, two as a side with green salad.

Hot Dates

When it comes to candy, I have just two words in my vocabulary: “chocolate” and “dates.” I’ve written many times before about dark chocolate, my go-to dessert of choice (beloved in part for the fact that it combines equally well with a starch or a protein meal). And I’ve blogged often about raw cacao, one of my favorite ingredients for making decadent power smoothies and delectable raw desserts. (Click here and here for recipes.)

But as much as I love cacao, I have to admit I’m a fool for fresh dates – often sold as Medjool dates. You know, the big, soft sticky kind that simply ooze sweet lusciousness from every moist fiber in their plump little bodies? Those ones.

So, imagine a place where these exact soft, chewy dates fall from the trees in such abundance that they litter the sidewalks, causing a nuisance for shopkeepers and passersby.

That place exists, and it is Treasure Island. I know this because I’m here for a weekend Reiki intensive that started last night. I’ve never been to this side of Florida before and I’m in love with the deep gulf coast beach. Think acres of clean, silky white sand. Tiny pink seashells the size of your fingerprint. Warm calm waters skimmed at sunrise by glider-winged pelicans, scanning for breakfast. Graceful dolphins swimming parallel to the shoreline, curved backs slicing through the sea like glossy dark serpents. And that was just this morning.

But I digress. I was talking about dates.

Besides being delicious dates are a rich source of nutrition. Dates are very high in minerals. A quarter cup of these succulent jewels supplies eight percent of your daily potassium needs and six percent of manganese requirements, along with zinc and copper, iron, selenium, calcium and magnesium.

Dates are also an excellent source of fiber. They are very low in moisture compared to most other fruits, but although dates seem like a dried fruit, they actually are not! I now know this firsthand, having found and tasted several freshly fallen, “dried” dates this morning on my stroll through town.

You could say that as a tropical fruit, dates are naturally dehydrated by the sun. Being native to hot and desert-like environments has influenced the evolution of dates and caused them to contain high levels of antioxidant polyphenols. In dates, olives and other plant foods, polyphenols protect fruits and seeds from turning bad before they ripen to maturity. Plant polyphenols also act as antioxidants in humans. Date polyphenols have been shown to inhibit the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, making them a good choice for heart and blood vessel health. [Hughes JS, Ganthavorn C. Role of Antioxidants in Asian Vegetables and California Dates. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 837:59-64]

Better yet, polyphenols aren't just good for your ticker. In fact, these free radical-quenching compounds help to fight inflammation and slow the aging process throughout the body. And according to the USDA and the California Date Commission, dates are higher in antioxidant polyphenols than any of the most commonly consumed fruits and veggies. Who knew?

Clearly, dates are one of the healthiest natural sweets in the world. So skip the Snickers and enjoy a few Medjool dates as a between meal pick-me-up! Or, eat some dates for dessert. They make an ideal finish to the new standby healthy comfort meal (made famous by Natalia Rose), avocado salad and baked sweet potatoes... or any well-combined starch-based or nut-based meal.

Personally, I love to eat dates with bananas and organic yogurt, or with nuts. Dates are especially tasty when paired with whole raw almonds or walnuts. You may also stuff them with raw almond butter or dip in sesame tahini. Either of these dreamy treats will digest best if eaten after a salad or along with some raw veggies like celery, carrots or romaine lettuce to help escort the dense fruit-nut combo through your body.

Of course, if you live around Treasure Island you can always just take a walk outside your door, do some wild food gathering and make a breakfast out of freshly dropped dates, plain and simple. Back home this time of year, it's leaves that are dropping from trees ablaze with the warm colors of fall foliage but here in Florida, it’s date season and the picking is fine.

The Rose Cleanse - Days 6 + 7 - and Carob-Maca Swirl Banana Soft Serve

My cleanse ended on Sunday, pretty much the way it started: juice all day, and a light, well-combined dinner.

In this case, dinner was a fresh beet slaw and field greens salad followed by organic buckwheat soba noodles tossed with raw marinated portabello mushrooms. Followed by...dessert.

OK, I know. I should have waited until Monday to make frozen banana soft serve. But since when was I a stickler for food rules? And besides, I just completed a seven day cleanse. I earned it.

Enter the trusty Omega 8005 juicer. All washed up from earlier-in-the-day's Pure Veg Green Juice (cucumber-celery-lemon-kale), the Omega was primed and ready to handle a frozen banana with The Blank. (The Blank is a mesh-free attachment that comes with single gear juicers to produce nut butter or soft serve from the end where, normally, pulp is ejected.)

And so, I present to you my Carob-Maca Swirl Frozen Banana Soft Serve. With Blueberries! Ahhh, bliss.

Carob-Maca Swirl Banana Soft Serve

1 large frozen banana
1 scant teaspoon maca powder
1 heaping teaspoon raw carob powder
1-2 handfuls fresh blueberries (optional)

Break the banana into four pieces. With the juicer off and the blank installed, put one piece of banana in the feed tube, followed by one third the maca and carob. Repeat, turning the juicer on when the feed tube is filled and finishing with banana. Run everything through to make soft serve. Mash-stir with fork to combine and swirl, then mix in fresh blueberries or other fruit if desired.

NOTE: If you don't have a single gear juicer [Omega 8005, 8006 or Champion style], you can make frozen banana soft serve in a blender. Be prepared to turn it on and off frequently, however, as you will need press the ingredients down with a wooden spoon between whizzes until it all catches and swirls together.

The Rose Cleanse - Days 4 & 5: Carrot Cake Juice

Yesterday and today counted as days four and five of my 7-day Rose Cleanse. I call this period the hunker-down phase of a detox, smack dab in the middle. I am noticing that my body feels more energetic in the morning and slower in the afternoons, especially as hunger builds and dinner beckons. That wholesome cleansing dinner makes it possible to detoxify and still be active - went for a one-hour bike ride yesterday and a two-hour walk today. It's great to get my blood and sweat flowing, releasing toxins through my skin. Well worth the need to rest later on and take some quiet time before dinner. Quiet time is what cleansing is all about.

Speaking of dinner, by Day Four I felt ready for a nice protein meal. So yesterday, I purchased two wild salmon steaks - two meals' worth - and pan sautéed them in olive oil with a sprinkle of Himalayan crystal salt and a healthy grind of fresh ground black pepper. Last night's salmon was eaten warm, today's was cold, but both were served with a large green salad topped with chopped heirloom tomatoes, oil-cured black olives, sliced red onion, diced red pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar and Herbamare herbal salt. Spanish Manchego raw sheep cheese and sungold tomatoes rounded out last night's meal, while tonight I indulged in dessert: a dish of fresh blueberries dusted with raw cacao nibs, bee pollen and a drizzle of maple syrup (bending the Cleanse guidelines just a tad). Two meals fit for a queen, indeed.

In addition to permitting me to exercise, having a tasty dinner to look forward to makes juicing all day a sane proposition and satisfies the little rebel in me who doesn't like to be held down, even when the boundaries I've set are my own idea.

I'm also noticing some emotional cleansing going on - tears and feelings close to the surface as I let go of old clutter in my heart as well as my cells. This is detox: a physical and emotional overhaul. Bring it on.

If you are tempted to try The Rose Cleanse but feel like making all your own juice is a big commitment, consider purchasing at least some of your juices ready made. We have a juice bar/café nearby and yesterday morning I did just this, stopping in at The Siren Cafe on Main Street in Greenfield. The Siren is a fairly new, honestly hip establishment run by a friendly crew of bodacious women. In the raw department, The Siren serves fabulous salads, juices, smoothies and tasty fruit-nut energy bars, along with more standard, high quality café fare (fair trade tea and coffee drinks, baked goods, breakfast bagels and piled high sandwich creations).

Incredibly, The Siren allows you to build your own three-item, 16-ounce juice for only $3.25. Yes, you read that correctly. Three-twenty five! What a deal! That's practically less than it costs to make the juice yourself. It's not organic, but well worth the tradeoff for the occasional treat value.

For my three items, I chose carrot, celery and apple. And because The Siren is a café with a customize-your-coffee station, I had access to cinnamon. I added a generous sprinkle to my glass, stirred with a straw and WOW! My juice tasted just like carrot cake!

Naturally after I got home, I had to try making my own Carrot Cake Juice. It was delicious! I made more again today: 2 pints worth! This stuff is terrific. And so simple. Filling, even. Who needs cream cheese frosting when you can drink dessert for breakfast?


Carrot Cake Juice
Makes two pints.

9 ribs celery
9 medium-large carrots
2 Royal Gala apples
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

Juice the celery, carrots and apples. Alternate apples with the veggies to facilitate juicing. Pour into one quart jar with the cinnamon and shake well to blend (or use a blending wand or whiz in the blender if you don't mind cleaning another appliance). Heavenly!

The Rose Cleanse - Day 3

I learned something today about doing The Rose Cleanse: BE PREPARED!

I wasn't. OK, I did have two juices leftover from Day 2 to get me through the morning, twelve ounces of Green and eight of Red. But the morning included a big 3-hour hike and photo shoot through the woods at Amethyst Brook, and by the time I got home, I was hungrrry! If there had been a juice waiting for me in the fridge (or someplace to buy one between Amherst and Montague) that would have taken care of things. But there wasn't. If only Juice Bars were as ubiquitous as coffee shops...

But alas, they are not. So, I got home and couldn't wait for juice. Instead, I made a smoothie, which is way faster - at least with my beloved juicer, which is a gentle, slow, single gear model.


I kept the smoothie light: one young coconut, water and meat, half a pint of blueberries and a few leaves of kale, plus a little lemon juice, cinnamon and ice. I'm a whiz at opening a young coconut so the drink was ready in no time. Phew! Hunger emergency abated.

I learned something else today. Blueberries can really thicken up a smoothie! By the second glass, my drink was glop! Even with some water added I ended up eating it with a spoon, like pudding. (Mental note: interesting dessert potential there...)

Anyway, the smoothie did the trick and I was able to continue through to dinner: Steamed Kelp Noodles and the last of my Rainbow Salad with a little Thai hot sauce for kick. Wonder what's on tomorrow's menu...?

The Rose Cleanse - Day 2

It's a hot summer day and I'm deep into day two of The Rose Cleanse here. All going well. I got some nice beets at the coop to make my rooty juice today, which ended up being a sweet beet-carrot-ginger-lemon-apple-celery-cuke combo. My green juice was the same as yesterday. So far, I've consumed about 32 ounces of fresh juice.

It's late afternoon and I find myself feeling both a little tired and...a little empty! I was thinking earlier how easy it is to turn empty into full. There's really no harm in sitting with emptiness once in a while. Nothing bad will happen to you if you don't eat the second you experience hunger.

I sure am looking forward to dinner at six, though! Tonight's menu includes a leafy green salad, baked buttercup squash and more of the tasty dish I made for last night's potluck dinner, pictured above and below. I had planned on making Cheezy Cauliflower, but since the farm stand did not have any cauliflower, I changed course and purchased some beautiful organic broccoli instead, which I used to create a nice Rainbow Salad with Creamy Lemon-Hempseed Dressing.


To make this salad, start with a nice big bunch, say, a pound and a half of fresh green broccoli, chopped small and drizzled with lemon juice, tamari, olive oil and a sprinkle of Himalayan crystal salt. Toss and let that marinate while you dice one large or two small sweet red bell peppers and thinly slice a nice big (is there any other kind?) white daikon radish after quartering it lengthwise. Throw in some halved sungold cherry tomatoes and mix all your colorful veggies together. Then... pour on a cup of Creamy Lemon-Hempseed Dressing, which is basically Kristen Suzanne's Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce with extra lemon juice, one or two tablespoons of clear agave nectar and a handful of fresh chopped oregano added. Sprinkle with cayenne if desired, stir well and eat. Very yummy!

If you still haven't tried making Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce for some reason, maybe this video of Kristen Suzanne making her signature dish will inspire you:



Doesn't that look good?!

Meanwhile back at the potluck last night, I was glad to find some raw baby carrots to munch on, along with basil pesto and raw peanuts to complement my crunchy Rainbow Salad. I also enjoyed a few cooked veggies from an amazing, spicy Chinese dish made by our multitalented host, Cai Silver. Cai is an incredible painter, artist and chef who operates the C.X. Silver Gallery in Brattleboro with her husband Adam. The potluck was held at the gallery, which showcases Cai's oil paintings plus features a variety of Asian and Tibetan arts. All this meant we guests were treated to some luscious visuals and a private tour on top of all the good food and company. What a delight!

When I got home, I still felt a little hungry so I ate a few blueberries and baby peaches. Technically one wouldn't put fruit on top of cooked veggies, but since most of my dinner was in the raw veggie or seed/nut category, the fruit settled fine. And it made me feel happy. Which is what really matters, don't you agree?

My potluck experience shows that it is possible to "have a life" and cleanse at the same time. I might not plan a detox during a week that I had a wedding to go to, mind you! But for everyday outings, The Rose Cleanse program is super doable.

The Rose Cleanse

Today is Day One of a seven-day cleanse I've decided to do in honor of summer's final quarter. The program is called The Rose Cleanse – developed by one of my favorite nutritionists, Natalia Rose. Natalia is the author of the popular books The Raw Food Detox Diet and Detox For Women among others, and her website detoxtheworld.com is not to be missed by anyone interested in cellular cleansing and high life force living.

The Rose Cleanse is quite simple. You enjoy between two and four 16-ounce fresh raw vegetable juices during the day, and then feast on a well-combined, cleansing meal of raw vegetable salad PLUS unlimited steamed or lightly sauteed low-starch veggies (if desired) AND your choice of a starch-based entree (baked sweet potato with organic butter and sea salt, winter squash, roasted red potatoes, avocado) or a protein-based entree (raw goat cheese, fish, free-range eggs or raw sprouted seed cheese or nut paté).

The Rose Cleanse is similar to doing seven days of the final day of my Maine Detox, which I wrote about last April. Feel free to check those posts for some tasty juice recipes if you are interested in trying The Rose Cleanse for yourself.

Speaking of juice, the picture above may look to you like three bottles of kombucha but, in fact, it is my juice intake for the day–less the glass of green juice I already drank. (I've got a nice stash of glass kombucha bottles saved from the research phase of my soon-to-be published Kombucha booklet, so why not put them to good use?!)

When juice fasting, I like to prepare all my daily juice at once, in the morning, to make life manageable. I prefer storing juice in glass rather than plastic, and make a point to fill jars or bottles almost to the brim to minimize contact between the juice and the air, reducing the opportunity for oxidation to take place. Kept cold in this way, I find that fresh-pressed juice stays lively for 12-24 hours.

The green juice is a cucumber-celery-lemon-comfrey-green apple-jalapeno combo and the orange juice is a cucumber-carrot-ginger-lemon-fuji apple combo.

Altogether, I'll be ingesting about 48 ounces of juice today, followed by a dinner of my choice. I'm going to a potluck so we'll see what I can rustle up. And what am I bringing to the potluck, you wonder? Cheezy Cauliflower Delight, of course, made with marinated raw cauliflower, red bell pepper and the ever-popular Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce, highlighted in my last post!

Tomorrow, I'll be posting again with an update, so stay tuned...!

Healthy Comfort Food

Let's cut to the chase. The final weeks of the year can be a tough time for sugar addicts and emotional eaters. Really tough. All those foods that you work so hard to avoid all the other 50 weeks of the year are literally surrounding you! Dark-chocolate-covered almonds at the pharmacy. Cakes and cookies at work. Cheese platters and cracker assortments and sweet drinks galore - even in your own kitchen! (How did that happen?) It can be daunting; it can make you want to throw in the towel. As one client put it, "I don't want to do the diet. It feels like a punishment."

How did we create a world where eating fresh juicy salads, tangy fruit smoothies, creamy avocados, savory raw goat cheeses, sweet garnet yams and quality dark chocolate feels like a punishment?

Clearly, it's not about food, it's about feelings. Feelings are what emotional eating is all about.

To begin, we have EMOTIONAL TIES to certain foods, ties based on our childhood associations and past experiences with these foods and ties based on messages we receive from family, media and society about what these foods represent. "Denying" ourselves these foods cuts to the quick of our inner child. Ouch.

Second, we USE FOOD AS A DRUG, to cover up, numb and avoid our feelings. Eat this, forget your problems (you know the drill). Better yet, have a brand new problem to distract you (you choose: stomach ache, weight gain, despair, guilt, shame, etc.)

Emotional eating comes to a head during holidays because these ritualized moments and events bring up a lot of feelings. Hard feelings for many of us. Our hearts may feel practically ripped open as we are forced to confront personal loss, stressful family dynamics, workplace pressures, cultural expectations and social conditioning all at the same time. No wonder we want to stuff the world into oblivion!

Food doesn't really help, though. We all know this. So the trick is to learn how to negotiate our feelings, recognize our needs and find alternatives.

Blogs, books, counseling all can help. That's why I'm here, dedicating these pages to supporting you. And I am just one of many. When you feel like you are "failing" at following your program, there is a lot of support for you. You are not alone.

Always remember, YOU CAN DO IT! You can achieve your highest potential, you can have the healthy, sane, balanced relationship with food that you KNOW, in your heart of hearts, is your birthright! Your natural, radiant state of being is part of you RIGHT NOW!

Understanding what foods best serve the health of your body-mind-spirit is an important and necessary step in this process. In order to be healthy, you must base your diet upon the evolution-appropriate, fresh natural foods for which the human body was designed. That's just the bottom line, and you know what I'm talking about! It's not factory-generated chicken eggs, or protein bars, or 100-calorie packs of canola-fried tortilla chips or even low-fat ice cream that will help you lose weight and feel great! No matter how much the diet and food industries want you to believe otherwise, you KNOW what is real food, and that's the food you need to THRIVE.

One of my favorite nutritionists, Natalia Rose, addresses this issue in Part One of her newly released e-book, available to members of the Detox the World Community. The following quote made me lol; I share it with you here:

“My friends, no other species in history eats according to a clock or from a package, or chooses their food based on the numbers on a label or the persuasive powers of a commercial! Can you imagine a bunch of bunnies huddled around a TV screen determining what to eat after watching an ad for Mr. McGregor’s carrot chips–or buying into the olestra version? Yes, in our culture, we’d rather consume indigestible fats and have gas an diarrhea than go without our potato chips! Olestra is right up there with saccharine, margarine, and fat-free milk products–marketed as healthful to the addicted, hypnotized masses. This is your brain on social conditioning!”

(Natalia Rose, Emotional Eating SOS Part 1, page 20.)

Can't you just picture those crazy bunnies?!? It's funny because we all know they know better. And so do we.

Overcoming emotional eating involves exercising our intelligence and experience, breaking free of what the mainstream tells us is "good for us" and realizing that our bodies desire something different, something more TRUE and LIFE-GENERATING. Real food. That is the diet piece. It is not the only piece of the puzzle, but it is an important one.

There will always be situations that drive us to seek comfort outside of ourselves. As we progress on our path of wisdom and self-knowledge, we learn ways to cope with these situations that actually help to move through the feelings, even beyond the feelings so that we can solve the underlying problem! These ways do not harm us, they do not sabotage our efforts to be healthy, they allow us to be clear and to attain and maintain our ideal weight.

Of course naturally, in the meantime, we have to eat something! Sometimes, we have to eat a LOT of something. May that something really serve you. May it move through your body with a quickness, leaving little or no waste residue behind. You may need food to help you get through today, but choose wisely and it won't ruin your tomorrow.

My number one rule of thumb is this: you can't go wrong with vegetables. Vegetables are the best health food, the best diet food, the best alkalinizing food, the best food period for humans to eat. Choose your favorites, and when the need arises, eat piles of them. Steamed broccoli and cauliflower and summer squashes, baked roots and winter squashes, beets and parsnips and leafy greens. Serve them with spices, seasonings, butter or flaxseed oil, Himalayan pink salt (my favorite!), or even a sauce (mushroom-garlic-tomato sautée anyone?) Fill up on these foods when you need to EAT. Add salads, add avocado, or substitute raw goat cheese or fish for the starchy veggies. Eat well, and be well.

Here is a list of incredibly tasty comfort foods that help to hit the spot without derailing your best intentions. With deference to Food Combining guidelines, may you enjoy them with gusto!


MEALS

Baked Garnet Yams, served with flaxseed oil or organic butter and sea salt.

A bowlful of Baked Beets topped with pesto if you like, or raw goat cheese.

Organic Vegetable Soup, canned, loaded up with leftover veggies or chopped greens and curry paste

Practically Raw Miso Soup


SNACKS

Dulse seaweed, right out of the bag!

1 or 2 Bananas + 1-2 Tablespoons Raw Almond Butter.

3-4 Medjool dates + a big handful of raw cashews.

Raw carrots dipped in Ginger-Miso dressing.

Raw Goat Cheese, plain or stuffed into leaves (romaine, endive, raddichio).

One Avocado, sprinkled with Herbamare or Spike. Eat out of the shell, or wrap in a nori sheet.



WARM CREAMY DRINKS

Freshly blended or packaged Almond Milk with cinnamon. Sweeten if desired.

"Cereal Coffee" (Pero, Inka, Cafix) with agave or raw honey and Coconut Creamer. (A new product that, while processed, makes a decent alternative to pasteurized Half and Half.)

Nut/Seed-Based Green Smoothie


DESSERTS

Organic Dark Chocolate (70%+) or Sacred Chocolate or other Raw Chocolate Bar

Instant Fudge (1 teaspoon each: raw almond butter, raw cacao powder, agave or maple syrup)

Instant Halvah (equal parts raw tahini and raw honey)

Frozen Banana "Ice Cream" (use juicer Blank or a regular blender + patience!)

Frozen Berry Sorbet (just whir frozen berries in blender - quick and sweet!)

Food Combining Part Two: Reunited!

Gosh - where does the time go? It seems I just posted that last blog and suddenly it's a month later. My apologies to Sarah P. and all my other dear readers for this delay. OK - here we go with Part Two of my Exciting Adventures in Food Combining!

We left off in the late 1970's, with me as a newly minted vegetarian and fledgling raw fooder, about to leave the comfortable nest of home and embark on life. Fast forward two decades and a bundle of dietary evolution. It’s a rainy day near the end of the millennium and I’m staying dry by hanging out in Barnes & Noble, browsing the health section (of course). Still somewhat of a nutritional iconoclast (but thankfully less so, as Whole Foods culture is spreading nicely into the wider population) I must admit I haven't given much thought to Food Combining in some time. So: imagine my delight at finding the decidedly non-fringe, celebrity personality, Suzanne Somers, promoting this VERY approach in Eat Great, Lose Weight, the initial book in her “Somersize” series!

Somers' book was the first official mention of food combining that I, personally, had seen since my early health-seeking days. Of course, if I had been paying any attention to mainstream culture in the 1980’s, I surely could not have missed Fit for Life, Harvey and Marilyn Diamond’s massive bestseller whose sensible nutritional lifestyle program promotes food combining as a core foundational principle. Anyway, there in the homey glow of the cozy Barnes and Noble aisles, on that dark and rainy day, I stood entranced, gobbling up Suzanne’s choice tidbits with hungry glee. I especially remember being thrilled by her sophisticated European initiation into the mysteries of food combining, originally presented to her as a means for lasting weight loss and digestive support.

OK, so that was exciting, and then life went on. More years passed with no food combining encounters until 2005, not coincidentally the year my first book came out, as I was investigating other detox books for comparison. That search led me to Natalia Rose’s The Raw Food Detox Diet, where food combining principles appear under the alias “Quick Exit Combinations.”

I am eternally grateful to Natalia Rose for her brilliant book, as it helped lead me back full circle to raw foods, properly combined meals, and the superior health and energy I currently enjoy. (Meanwhile, as with all things Natalia, her pared-down, Quick-Exit version of food combining is one of the most practical and easy to follow, hence highly recommended.)

So, that’s my story, minus about ten thousand details! But the point is, and what I find extremely interesting in all this, is that food combining keeps coming around – whether it’s the 1940’s, the 1970’s or the 2000’s. Even more curious is that while a small number of insightful authors and nutrition experts across the decades have placed food combining at the very epicenter of their programs, many more, if not most others completely ignore it! Typically, hard science disregards food combining entirely. For example, my rigorous graduate degree program in human nutrition focused intensely on nutritional biochemistry and evidence-based nutritional therapeutics, but made no mention of food combining, despite the fact that it is reputed to have helped improve the health and digestion of thousands of people!

This begs the question, is food combining simply a pop culture fad that just won’t die–an unproven philosophy grounded in common sense wisdom but not science? Or is it something more?

After much thought, research and personal experimentation, I would have to answer no to the first question, and yes to the second. There is a great deal of truth and scientific validity in food combining, but for some reason, we don’t have many studies to back it up. And in this day and age, “sound science,” as both phraseology and concept, is often considered synonymous with and dependent upon published research studies.

I differ with this definition of “real” science as, in my understanding, the scientific method in its pure and original form is a method based on OBSERVATION, not corporate funded research. Hence, if we can OBSERVE results in our own body through the practice of food combining, we have the makings of a scientifically sound principle.

The purpose of food combining is elegantly simple: to FREE UP ENERGY in the body by SUPPORTING EFFICIENT DIGESTION and assimilation of food. This intended outcome is easy to observe from day to day, particularly in those with irritable bowel, GERD or other issues of digestive distress, as well as those who have trouble losing weight or suffering from chronic low energy. The quick results you get with food combining make it a perfect candidate for personal scientific experimentation. As a bonus, no laboratory is needed, other than one’s own body!

As noted in my previous post, two of the most important food combining rules are to eat fruit alone, and to eat starches and proteins at separate meals. There are numerous exceptions, though (for instance, DRIED fruits combine well with nuts), and countless "sub-rules" as well, in which I urge you to not get too entangled. Apply the basics, see how you feel, and take it from there.

Basic Food Combining Principles Chart © 2008 Diana Allen, MS, CNS

To help you get started, here's a chart that outlines the basic principles. Use it as a visual aid to see what goes with what. Feel free to combine foods in immediately connecting categories, and avoid eating foods from unattached categories. Above all, have fun with it!

May this and all your dietary efforts serve to increase your health and happiness.

Yours in the abundant light of wellness,

Diana ☺

Practically Raw!

Many people are attracted to the idea of following a raw food diet, but don't know where or how to begin. One may read a lot of books and study a lot of teachings but hesitate to take the next step of putting ideas into action because the ideals feel so extreme. This is why I am a big proponent of taking small steps when changing your diet. Go slowly and honor your personal needs and transition level by applying Practically Raw principles.

Plunging into a 100% raw lifestyle is not something I generally recommend, though there are some who experience success with this approach, at least for the short term. For most of us, a gentle transition to a high raw diet is a better idea for several reasons.

First of all, what is the purpose of eating raw foods? Is the goal to follow a rigid dogma, to live up to someone else's belief system about what you "should" eat or to be able to label yourself a raw foodist? Or is the goal to be healthy and happy?

For me, the goal of eating raw foods is simply to feel great - awake, alive, confident and productive! I don't want to be slowed down on a daily basis by dense food that takes hours to digest or, worse, knocks me out into a food coma. I want my body to be naturally lean and healthy, my mind to be clear and my energy to be bright – every day! I also want to feel connected to all beings, the natural world around me and the energy of life that permeates the universe – every day! A diet based on raw and living foods helps me to feel this way.

Please note, the words "based on" are very key in that last sentence. Personally, at my transition level I find it useful to eat non-raw foods on a regular basis, usually at dinner time. I am partial, for instance, to such cooked delicacies as velvety baked sweet potatoes with raw butter, and spicy-creamy Thai coconut curry (loaded with colorful chunks of just-tender vegetables and mounds of chopped fresh cilantro). Eating cooked foods like these helps me to feel grounded, connected and satisfied in ways that I deeply value. At other times, those needs are less and I prefer lighter fare. This entry, for example, is being blogged on my final day of a three-day juice fast, making me 100% raw presently, and feeling incredible. Meanwhile, I know at some point I will enjoy Thai coconut curry again.

So it’s all in a flow. In time and season, and depending on your life situation, the percentage of raw/cooked food in your diet may change in either direction. What matters most is finding the balance that works for you.

Physically, raw foods are very light and cleansing - fruits in particular. This is a fantastic thing, but too much cleansing all at once can overwhelm the body's ability to detoxify and eliminate the waste matter that is released. Cooked food helps slow down the cleansing process, protecting and respecting your body's reality in the moment.

Mentally, raw foods help to open and clear the mind, as they are packed with very high energy, solar vibrations that sharpen our thought and vivify our nervous system. But in the extreme, too much raw food can cause us to feel "spaced out" and ungrounded. It's wonderful and amazing to feel high on life, but we don’t want our thoughts to be merging with the cosmos while we are operating a car on the freeway with two kids in the back, right?

It's important to eat grounding foods while transitioning into a Practically Raw diet to help us function effectively on this earthly plane. My top picks for grounding foods are earthy root vegetables (foods that literally grow IN the ground - think baked sweet potatoes, grated parsnips or steamed turnips), squashes (which grow LOW TO the ground), and lightly cooked low-starch vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, etc). Smaller amounts of cooked/sprouted whole grains (millet, quinoa, brown rice) and beans (if tolerated), and some animal foods (preferably the least dense animal foods, such as raw goat cheese, organic eggs or wild fish) may also be used to help us ground our energy.

Emotionally, we need to be honest with the fact that many of us are literally hooked on processed carbs, processed dairy and dense cooked foods, and going off them cold turkey without any bridging foods (such as sprouted grain bread to replace regular white bread, or raw goat cheese to replace pasteurized cow milk cheese) may backfire.

Socially, we may have systems in our lives that involve shared eating experiences. If we forego cooked food entirely or too suddenly, our inability to participate in these occasions may end up causing personal sorrow or interpersonal tension. It is important to take a stand for your beliefs and be true to yourself, but go easy. As Natalia Rose encourages, let "progress, not perfection," be your guide. Sometimes it is wisest to weigh the trade-offs and just do your best in a given situation.

Many devoted raw fooders guilt trip themselves for eating or craving cooked food, feel shame for caving in to craving, and in some cases even develop eating disorders such as orthorexia or binge-purge disorders all because they are trying to stick to a raw program that doesn't suit the truth of their actual situation, capabilities and needs. The stress this creates is not conducive to health and happiness, and isn’t that our primary goal?

Contrary to what some may preach, cooked food is not necessarily poison! Yes, raw foods are our original foods - there's no doubt about it. Raw foods provide optimum nourishment, life force energy, enzymes and nutrients. But the evidence is strong that humans have spent about 1.9 million years eating cooked foods, too. We are adapted to eating both. (What we are not, and will never be adapted to eating is junk food, processed food, white flour and sugar, artificial colors, synthetic fats, etc.) Furthermore, if we are used to eating lots of cooked food, its sudden absence can turn even the highest quality raw food into "poison" by virtue of its causing too many stored toxins to be liberated from our cells and tissues at once.

So let's be practical! Let's sensibly make it our goal to eat lots of living, raw foods every day, and to honor our own transition level by balancing these foods as required with healthy cooked foods. In this way, the Practically Raw lifestyle can help us meet our physical, mental, social and emotional needs around diet and nutrition with savor, joy and fulfillment.

Yours in the light of radiant health,
Diana

The New Raw Food Diet

Tomorrow night at my local food coop, I'll be giving a free nutrition talk on The New Raw Food Diet.

Upon reading the above title, you may wonder: what possibly could be "new" about raw foods? If so, then you'd have a good point! Considering that ALL diets were exclusively RAW for EVERY species on the planet throughout most of prehistory - and still are today for every creature on earth but humans (and our domesticated animal friends) - I admit it's somewhat of a misnomer to use the descriptor "new" when talking about uncooked foods. At the same time, the concept of, science around and options for raw food lifestyles and cuisine have expanded gastronomically in recent decades, far beyond the wildest dreams of the early Natural Hygienists, I'm sure.

Thanks to a number of truly gifted and inspired chefs, there's LOTS new and delicious about eating raw. Today, wheatgrass, sprouts and rejuvelac are no longer the only items on the menu. Consider such incredibly tasty delicacies as beet rawviolis with pine nut ricotta (thank you Renée Loux for this number one pot luck hit!), herb-enrobed sunflower & cashew cheeses, delectable dehydrated date-nut cookies, spicy flax crackers & grain-free breads, tangy superfood smoothies, rich chocolate pudding cakes and everything in-between.

Equally thrilling is that, thanks to the wise guidance of nutrition experts such as Natalia Rose, an emphasis on transitioning gently rather than racing to 100% raw is increasingly understood and embraced. It's OK to have our raw cake and beets baked, too! (In fact, it's recommended.)

So, I can't wait to meet my group tomorrow night. We will review the dynamic history of the raw food movement, discuss the benefits of consuming plenty of natural foods high in life force energy and share menu options and recipe ideas. Hope you can make it!