Читать книгу The SimplyRaw Living Foods Detox Manual - Natasha Kyssa - Страница 9

Preface

I created The SimplyRaw Living Foods Detox Program after observing so many people “detoxifying” by taking various herbal and vitamin supplements, but not making fundamental changes to their diets. Detoxifying the body is an effective way to help bring it back into balance and positively impact your health. However, there is a lot of confusion about detoxification and healthy eating, and there are many products available on the market to support this confusion. Detoxification has become an enormous business, and there are hundreds of supplements, pills, kits, and books that make up a multimillion dollar industry. Sadly, consumers wanting a quick fix buy into this marketing hype, believing that a lifetime of toxins can be eliminated quickly with the right pills, while overlooking dietary and lifestyle changes. However, it is these long-term, constant changes that are essential for true health and healing to occur.

There are no quick fixes or magic bullets. Detoxifying the body does not occur overnight, nor is optimal health created instantly. Good health is an ongoing journey that requires perseverance, patience, and trust. Learning takes time. Stick with the guidelines in this manual, and you will achieve your goals!

It is important to understand that our bodies are constantly detoxifying. Cultivating healthy eating habits that assist this ongoing detoxification process throughout daily life is much more effective than a brief fast, occasional short-term diet, or use of any superficial products. Eating fresh chlorophyll- and enzymerich living foods will support this natural detoxification. In addition, you will be rebuilding your cells and health by eating these nutritious life-giving foods. By detoxifying and rebuilding the cells, we can achieve vibrant health.

The SimplyRaw Living Foods Detox Program focuses on health-enhancing practices to incorporate into your daily life. You will both cleanse and nourish your body with alkalizing, living foods, and you’ll learn about many complementary cleansing therapies to help support your body’s natural detoxification process.

It’s simple, really. Eating live, natural, and whole foods promotes good health, and the more natural you make your diet, the better health you are going to enjoy. The body has an amazing ability to heal itself, and if cleansed and nourished with the right nutrients, it can repair itself. You cannot expect to cleanse and heal the body while eating animal products and other health-damaging foods, as these foods are highly acidic and mucus-forming. In fact, it is often the foods we eliminate from our diets that can influence our well-being more than the foods we add. To achieve optimal health, we must remove the toxins that hinder the healing process.

The SimplyRaw Living Foods Detox Program is based on my own lifestyle; lifelong dedication to and experimentation with fasting and cleansing the body; my studies with various teachers; years of leading detoxification groups through my practice; my work introducing friends, family, and clients to raw, living foods; and the many books I’ve read on detoxification, nutrition, and health. This manual has been inspired by the teachings of Dr Ann Wigmore, Paavo Airola, Dr Richard Anderson, Dr Norman Walker, and Dr Bernard Jensen, and draws from my years of experience with the raw lifestyle, fasting, and colon cleansing.

My transition to raw

Born in Montreal and raised by two very traditional European parents, I grew up on a very wholesome diet. Everything was prepared from scratch. Meals consisted of whole grains, large salads, vegetables, dark bread, and a lot of fruits. White bread, canned soup, and fast foods were simply not a part of our routine. We were not vegetarian but ate meat in small amounts a few times a week. So, as far back as I can remember, I always enjoyed and felt best when eating fresh and simple meals, with fruit, salads, sauerkraut, and olives as my particular favorites.

During my rebellious teenage years I moved away from home and fell into the trap of processed foods. As a result, I gained a lot of weight and started to feel lethargic, unhealthy, and depressed. Three years later (after gaining thirty-five pounds), I began working in my mother’s vegetarian tea room and returned to eating natural foods. Adopting a macrobiotic diet quickly improved my health and stabilized my weight. It also eased the depression that I had struggled with off and on my whole life. This helped me to launch an international modeling career that would last over seven years, and propel me to a fast-paced, jet-setting lifestyle, globe trotting to exotic places around the world. Traveling between Canada, Japan, South East Asia, and Europe on a regular basis, I became consumed by the demand to maintain my slender model physique.

I soon developed a debilitating eating disorder that I secretly struggled with for over seven years, and was at one point hospitalized. Suffering from anorexia and bulimia, I restricted my diet to the point of emaciation, living on coffee, cigarettes, carrot juice, and a lot of algae—the latter two foods sustaining me. The effects were crippling, both physically and psychologically, as I was living a dual life of binging and purging. My life was out of control, my body out of balance, and I was lost in a downward cycle. I felt hopeless. This was truly a low point in my life.

During this period, I began searching for various lifestyles and alternative methods to help with my disordered eating habits as well as the emotional pain I had been numbing with food. I was painfully shy, and had difficulty communicating my feelings—issues I slowly began to address. I discovered meditation and began practicing regularly. I also discovered the writings of Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, Paavo Airola, Victoras Kulvinskas, and Dr Ann Wigmore, whose books validated my strong desire for raw foods. I quickly increased the amount of fresh raw and living foods into my diet and felt immediate health benefits.

It took a long time for me to reclaim my health, and I have since continued to refine this balance to improve my diet to what works for my body, progressing through many stages in my transition. Studying the Living Foods Lifestyle program at the Ann Wigmore Institute in Puerto Rico, I altered my lifestyle choices further to simplify my approach and to focus on easy-to-digest nutrition for optimal health. Spending time at the Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach furthered my nutritional awareness.

I also took up a variety of sports over the last ten years, a decision that’s had a positive impact on my physical and emotional health. I am an avid runner and rock climber and enjoy leading an active life with my husband and son. Our favorite weekend activities are hiking in the local parkland, or snowshoeing in the beautiful and peaceful forest, away from the city. We also enjoy running along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa.

Transitioning to a healthier lifestyle has been an ongoing process for me, with many ups and downs. It has been an exciting journey and continues to evolve all the time. The living foods lifestyle has been life-changing for me, and after seventeen years, I feel more balanced and happier than ever before. I have found new ways of being—and continue to transform my life. I am grateful to have found this lifestyle and am pleased to be able to share my experiences and knowledge with you.

Throughout many years, I have experimented with various detoxification programs including water and juice fasts of forty days and more, yet I have found that the most effective program is one that supports the detox process in a gentle and consistent manner. I don’t recommend harsh methods of cleansing because too-rapid detoxification can stress the body. It is also more challenging emotionally, and many people find it difficult to stick with such programs. As well, it can send the pendulum towards the opposite extreme, leading to sporadic and disordered eating.

While shorter cleanses can be helpful, they usually don’t get to the root of chronic problems, which is why the SimplyRaw Living Foods Detox Program is one month long. Transformation occurs over time: twenty-eight days is long enough to break old habits and to create new, healthier ones. I recognize that it can be challenging to find the time to cleanse, so I developed this program to be simple, gradual, and realistic for you to incorporate into your daily lifestyle. It can be customized to suit your own needs, and there are many suggestions that can be used while travelling or socializing with others.

This program is about more than just cleansing the body; it’s about cultivating the healthy habits that have the biggest impact on our well-being. It is also about awareness, personal growth, and reflection, empowering each one of us to make a difference to ourselves, our future, and our planet.

Whether you wish to have more energy, lose weight, clean your palate, or give your system a rest, you can make significant improvements in your well-being by following the guidelines in the SimplyRaw Detox Manual. You are about to embark on an exciting path of self-discovery and wellness.

Glowing health is within your reach!

—Natasha Kyssa