Master Cleanse Day 8 & 9

My last few days of the Master Cleanser are steaming along quite well. Hunger has only been an issue once, before bed the other night, and sleep cured that craving. I feel good and look better, with clearer skin, silky hair, and a few pounds of water weight absent.

Thankfully, I have tons of energy, which is useful for the researching storm I have embarked on to figure out what kinds of foods to reintroduce to my freshly cleansed body.

Now that I’m done with this detox, I’m ready to have a stable diet–diet as in my everyday food being as healthy and sustainable as possible. Here are a couple of gems I’ve found in my research so far.

Fab Frugal- Insanely good looking recipes with yours truly in mind…vegetarians on a budget

Top 10 Foods that Prevent Cancer:
Reproduced from Care2.com

1. Cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy and kale. These score high for containing many anti-cancer substances, such as isothiocyanates.

2. Globe artichoke for very high levels of salvestrols.

3. Dark greens, such as spinach and romaine lettuce, for their fiber, folate and a wide range of cancer-fighting carotenoids. Other dark colored veggies, too, such as beets and red cabbage.

4. Grapes and red wine, especially for the resveratrol.

5. Legumes: beans, peas and lentils, for the saponins, protease inhibitors and more.

6. Berries, particularly blueberries, for the ellagic acid and anthocyanosides.

7. Flaxseed, especially if you grind it yourself and consume when fresh, for the essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid, lignans and other “good fats.”

8. Garlic, onions, scallions, leeks and chives, for many anti-cancer substances including allicin.

9. Green tea, for its anti-cancer catechins, a potent antioxidant.

10. Tomatoes, for the famous flavenoid lycopene.

Master Cleanse Day 7

I miss food.
The thing is, I’m not really hungry, but, I just miss food.
I feel like me and food were getting into an unhealthy pattern in our relationship. We were bringing each other down, I was abusing food, and food was fighting back with a muddled complexion, low energy levels, and chub (a primo storage site for toxins!). I came to food when I was emotional, stressed, or bored and restless. This is not a healthy relationship pattern! We needed time apart.
And so now I have no food.
Haven’t eaten in a week now, and I’ve figured quite a few things on this “break” me and food have taken. I feel like I’ve been cleaning not only my physical body from toxins, but also my act when it comes to the bad habits I’ve formed. In this time-out from food, I’ve had time to think about what I’ve been doing to my body and mind when I treat food irresponsibly.
And I’ve learned my lesson! Really I have!

I was taking food for granted.
The sharp impact of teeth against the taut skin of an apple. An explosion of moisture and flavor, the sugars a tree made to….

WHOA.

So I just realized that I didn’t know for sure why trees make fruit. At least, why so sweet and delectable, each fruit tree in it’s own style and flavor?? I know fruit holds seeds, but is the sugar helpful in getting the seeds dispersed somehow?
Well yes it is. Fruit is exploiting us to spread their seeds. In other animals it’s a simple in and out, but with humans, we go so far as to plant huge crops and bend over backwards to make fruit happy!

This reminds me of Michael Pollan’s awesome TED lecture.

You know, I didn’t realize that food is just as dependent as I am on it in this relationship. This is a whole new level of my relationship with food that I have been taking for granted, forget rushing to food itself already!
I think I may still need more time apart to really process all this…3 more days of master cleanse…thank god!

PS-Mom is back! She had a mere slip, not a fall! It makes such a huge difference to have a partner, I couldn’t have imagined. I got anxiety-“hungry” the minute I was without her, but managed to drink tea instead of giving in to a craving.

Master Cleanse Day 6: The Good and the Bad

The spa today was wonderful, fantastic, rejuvenating and detoxifying all at once. Mom and I walked out feeling reborn and smelling like flower shops, with a good chunk of toxins that are held in the skin melted away. After so much good, how could there possibly be bad news? Well, first thing’s first.

We booked it to The Galvez Hotel Spa immediately after school. After a rough day with my class of 30, I was ready to relax, and relax we did. We arrived about half an hour early to enjoy a stint in the steam room, where our pores prepared to detox by opening up to the cloud of heat we wrapped ourselves in.
Next came a meditative moment in the relaxation room, where we were given a warm neck wrap to begin to un-knot our shoulders and a chilled water zested with lemon to stay hydrated. We lounged on the fluffy chairs and cleared out heads until the spa therapists came in to steal us away to our treatment rooms.

With a low key and melodic flute drifting into my ears, I let go of every ounce of stress from the day as Donna, my masseuse for the day, began to open my pores with an exfoliating pad that woke my whole body up and got circulation going. Next, jasmine scented sugar was scrubbed over (almost!) every inch of me to exfoliate. After a good scrub, she wiped the sugar away with a tension-taming hot moist towel in preparation for the main event:

The clay body mask.
Now as a respectable human being I’ve had plenty of clay masks on my face, but never before have I given my body the same treatment. It’s especially nice letting someone else do all the messy work of coating the warm, creamy mix onto arms, legs, back and belly. After I was thoroughly covered in mud, Donna took the plastic wrap I’d been laying on and wrapped me snugly within. Underneath I found there was a thermal blanket (looks just like aluminum), which was my next layer, and to top it off she tuck me in with a big down blanket to add heat.
When she took another satisfyingly steamy towel and gently wrapped my face with it, I felt like I was floating in a cocoon through heaven. For the 15 minutes or so I must have been in there, she massaged my scalp and eased the muscles in my face that had grown tense from giving the “teacher look” at school.
At one point, I sensed that she was using a lemony aroma therapy oil, wafting it toward me. The strong scent woke up my mind and kept me at an alert relaxation, all the better to enjoy the pampering.

Finally, after unwrapping me and releasing me to a quick Swiss shower (it would be quick with 4 shower heads coming at you from all directions!) she ended with a full body massage using a creamy and hydrating Hawaiian lotion.

Paradise.

I steamed a few minutes more waiting for mom, who soon arrived in a similar state of bliss. And to think that this all came from the master cleanser! How fantastic to know that this treat was a reward for doing something that was already good for our bodies. My masseuse even mentioned that cayenne pepper, a main ingredient in our cleanse, is a metabolism booster.

So, what’s the bad news?
We lost mom today. No, she didn’t keel over from starvation, as many people who hear about the master cleanser expect.
After running a few errands after our spa trip, I walked into mom’s room with a question. And found her…
Chewing.
Food.
I had a sudden flashback to walking in on a particularly cheesy (now ex) boyfriend kissing a girl that wasn’t me, and knew that I was now going solo for the rest of the cleanse.
I’m still very proud of mom–this shift in eating patterns has been MUCH more challenging for her, since her habits before were of the emotional/snacky/addictive kind we both share that got us so toxic to begin with. She made it a whopping 6 1/2 days without real food on this cleanse, and that’s amazing.
I am worried though about how the food–a sandwich of some kind on white bread– will affect her tomorrow. Everything you can read online or off stresses the importance of gradually building back to eating everyday processed foods. I suppose the benefit of this is that now we’ll know just how true that is!

So now I go it alone for the last 4 days. I can already feel how much I am missing a partner–my insecurity over it already has me growing emotional munchies….or maybe it’s the delish smelling zucchini soup dad’s making. Either way, day 6 was a roller coaster, so we’ll see what direction things go next!

Master Cleanse Day 5

Day 5 already! We’re already over the halfway bump and managing pretty well. Still not hungry, believe it or not. Mom has the evening-TV munchies, but I’m willing to bet that has a direct link to the amount of McDonald’s commercials she’s seeing.

I suppose I should mention I’m on an almost total TV fast–just don’t watch the thing. I’m sure you don’t need to be hit over the head with more statistics about how gross TV is for your health, but perhaps one thing that has made this easier for me than for mom is that I’m not being bombarded by hundreds of images of junk food every day. It adds up!

Tongue check shows we’re still detoxing. Blogger Natural Vitality has a great breakdown of what exactly your tongue is trying to tell you when you have different shades or patterns of fuzzy tongue on a detox.

My energy level is weird. I feel alert, capable, and very level with my energy today. Much more on point than usual when facing particularly belligerent teenagers, as was the case this Tuesday afternoon. But I feel a touch grumpy. And when I’m not grumpy I’m just quiet–I don’t really feel like talking.
On the flip side, my body feels great. I’ve been walking with better posture (for some reason I always remember to do this while detoxing), went on a brisk walk with the dog, and will hopefully squeeze in some yoga before bed. It’s almost like the heightened mental activity I usually get from stimulants like coffee and tea have trickled down from my brain into my body. My brain is pretty neutral about it, although since it’s the one with the voice in my head, it’s telling me it’d like some more attention.

Just to Review our Master Cleanse (We’re doing it a bit differently than the original book, still very close though!)

-Senna Tea or quart of water with 2 teaspoons Real Salt in the morning

–Lemonade concoction of 12 tbsp, fresh squeezed lemon juice, 12 tbsp Grade b organic Maple Syrup, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, and 60 oz filtered water

-Senna tea before bed

-Wheatgrass supplements, for a punch of protein that is essential for liver detox

-Occasional uncaffeinated herbal teas, including a tasty artichoke tea my dad made form scratch, which also helps open detox pathways in the liver

And the big surprise for tomorrow….

A detoxifying trip to the Hotel Galvez Spa to enjoy a clay mask and massage. Massage is always recommended for detox-ers, since it gets fluids moving and helps release blockages in the body. Check out what we’re using all the money we’ve saved not buying food this week:

Hawaiian Embrace – Detoxifying

The Koke’e (pronounced koe- kay- ee) Clay Ritual leaves your skin deeply cleansed and detoxified while the benefits of all the ingredients nourish the skin, soothing away tension and stress. Koke’e aroma is named in honor of Hawaii’s oldest rainforest and captures the crisp, green, refreshing scent of the rainforest; unique yet diverse enough for both men and women. This signature ritual begins with the koke’e body polish formulated with Awapuhi Ginger, Aloe, Chamomile, and Hawaiian Sugar. Following the polish, experience a full body clay mask, infused with Kauai Clay, Organic Aloe, Noni, and Kava. After rinsing the clay, your skin is pampered with a full body massage using warm koke’e body cream.

It’s going to be amazing. And talk about having something to look forward to to keep you motivated! Full report tomorrow!

Say AHHHH! for Master Cleanse Day 4

Open up. Look at your tongue.

This is what me and mom have been doing all day to see how much we’re detoxifying. We’re getting a little ridiculous.

“My breath smelled awful all day.”
“Oooooh, lucky, that means you’re burning keytones!”

When your body is detoxifying, your tongue gets a light white fuzz. Altmedicine.com says

“In Ayurveda, tongue coating is called “ama” and reflects metabolic debris. Tongue scrapers can be purchased in a drug store or health food store for a few dollars. They are an effective way of removing the thick coating and ama toxins.”

(It also mentions “Lemon is a traditional liver cleanser that stimulates the release of digestive juices.” SOOO cool the main ingredients in my lemonade is totally–well…yeah…)

Today my tongue has ranged from average-looking to noticeably detoxed. Mom’s looks a bit pinker, I wonder what’s going on with her? Both of us, either way, have felt great day 4. Mom got the promised super-surge of energy, while I thought not. Then again, I had a bright and sunny morning, woke up alert a few minutes before my alarm rang, and rocked the day just as hard as when I have a cup of coffee and multiple ginsengs…Hey, maybe that is a surge of energy! Wow, running on clean energy. I feel like much unlike a coal factory right now.

So woohoo! Day 4, and here’s to an awesome day 5!—upon which, by the way, I will reveal the recently planned Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious mid-cleanse treat that is going to get me and mom over hump day. Hasta mañana!

Master Cleanse Day 3

So, since the first three days have been going so swimmingly, Mom and I are thinking that the real trouble is going to start this week.
Not from hunger pain.
Not from irritability.
Not from a lack of energy as we teach at Ball High all day.
From boredom.

Let’s face it, the calories and nutrition you get from this cleanse are perfectly suitable for a short term cleanse. Despite the comments I’ve gotten worried about my immanent death, I feel great! And according to all sources, we’ll just feel better for the rest of the week! The hard part is the monotony of a liquid diet. I’ve found that smelling other people’s food goes a long way in satisfying my need for sensory variety. Sounds counter-intuitive, but it works.

Today mom and I faced our hardest challenge yet: procrastination snacking. Sunday is the day we do our planning for the school week, and since admitting that the weekend is over as we get to work is the last thing we want to do, we often meet in the kitchen to chat and munch.

We passed the test again today with flying colors (I’m telling you, that lemonade mix is actually REALLY tasty), but I’ve begun to think about how and what I’d like to eat when we return to the land of the feeding.

Some thoughts:

-Get back to menu planning

-Raw food for at least 2 days after our cleanse goes without saying, but after the fried foods I justified after my last detox (because I’d been so well behaved, ha) I’d better structure some long term plans so I don’t go overboard this time

-Green smoothies in the morning, of course

-Big lunches to super power my days

-Practice the eating till you’re 80% full rule that keeps the Okinawans living well into their 100s

-Ooooh how I miss my ginseng and fish oil. (Although my skin is looking great from this detox, even without my oh-so-yummy and amazing Barlean’s Fish Oil in Pina Colada. Tastes INCREDIBLE.)

-All in all the plan is to eat less, but enjoy what I do eat more. Quality over quantity.

Thanks for joining my brainstorming session. Tomorrow, we’ll see if the promised upsurge of super clean energy arrives! Until then, good health to you!

Master Cleanse Day 2

Day 2, and me and mom are still waiting for the lightening bolt of hunger to hit us. Also MIA are the mood swings, crabbiness, and exhaustion that most literature and personal accounts of the master cleanse promise. I wonder what the deal is? My hypothesis at the moment is that our recent stint of eating raw food, and the 2 days of raw before this cleanse, have gotten us part the ugliest parts of cleansing to handle this part really well.

Ok, I lied. Mom just walked in–it’s about 10:30 p.m.–and headed straight to the fridge, complaining of hunger. “Really mom, are you sure you’re hungry? One thing I know me and mom have in common is emotional eating (and bored eating, and procrastinating eating, and just got dumped eating–you get the idea).
I read a great article a few weeks ago on care2.com about being mindful of what your body is really experiencing when your brain tells you you’re hungry. Confusing sentence, but the mind body disconnect hits types like me and mom hard. Bad day? Nervous about all the work you have to do? Stalling from doing that work you have to do? Munch! That’ll make you feel better and add some quality time in before you have to face up to whatever it is that’s really bugging you.
So I sat mom down and led her through the recommended steps from that article:

-Sit down and close your eyes, and place your hand on your belly. Breathe.
-Relax and open up to what’s going on deep down–what are you really feeling? Is it hunger? Or an emotion?
-Without judgment, just be aware of that emotion, accepting that it’s going on inside you right now.

After a moment, mom opened her eyes. “Are you hungry?” I asked.
“No,” a bashful look, “I’m just anxious because I’ve got so much to do tomorrow.”
“Yeah me too! But will eating make you feel any better?”
Big smile. “Yes!”
“Well sure mom, right now, but what about tomorrow? You’ve been doing sooo good and you’ll regret it!”
In agreement, mom grabbed the last of her lemonade mix for the day and padded off to bed. Her resolve is definitely helping me withstand the incredibly delicious smells wafting from the kitchen, where my dad is cooking Italian venison sausage and lentils. Mmmmm…

Other than this incident, today has been much like any other Saturday. Mom gave a presentation tonight in Santa Fe, and her speech went wonderfully-she was quite vivacious. Her only complaint so far is that she misses chewing. I miss my ginseng. A chiller buzz than coffee without the nasty acidic content.

All in all, a successful second day–Oh! I should report some nasty cramps from the Senna tea to be totally fair. Those put me in a less than sunny mood. But all in all good, and one big lesson for the day: A dedicated Master Cleanse partner is the best. They’re hard to find, but someone to share this with and stay on the plan for makes this half as hard.

Until tomorrow, here’s another great article from Care2: Detox is the new word for Diet. Big difference! Ciao!

Master Cleanse Day 1

6:30am– Ok, so we’re supposed to start the day with a quart of salt water to flush out our systems, before we even drink the lemonade mix…on a day when I don’t know the effect and I’m going to be standing in front of high school students, not going to happen. Luckily our book says we can replace the salt water flush with a Senna herbal tea, which has the same effects.
Took awhile to juice all the lemons for the mix. Still, a one day serving means that’s all the cooking we’re doing for the whole day. For a whole day, the ingredients are:

60 oz filtered or distilled water
12 table spoons Grade B Organic Maple Syrup
12 table spoons Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

That’s it. Pack plenty of water and I’m off to work!

8:00am (going to school) Actually feel better than usual, cleaner–I guess from no breakfast? Weird.

8:15am-First taste of the lemonade! I LOVE it! Spicy lemon with a smooth undercurrent of maple syrup…the spice factor (it’s not playing around!) also makes every sip last on your palette. My sources recommend sipping on the mix all day as a kind of IV drip rather than drinking a portion for each mean, so this should work fine.

11:45am– 1st big challenge! Took my fellow art teachers to Shrimp & Stuff. My reasoning was that since I wasn’t eating, getting out of the school for a walk and change of scenery would distract me from any hunger…the thing is, I’m not hungry! Just the smell of Shrimp N Stuff is enough to get anyone’s cravings up, but it’s not connecting to any real need for food… So I pass this test! Cool…

2:10pm– Ouch! Stomach cramps! I guess from the Senna tea? Nothing debilitating, I’m still fine teaching class, and it passes within 15 minutes or so.

4:00pm– School’s over and I look up to see I’ve still got more than half of my mix left. It’s not as tasty-Is it just that I’m used to it, or has all the pepper sunk to the bottom of my jug? I’m feeling a little light-headed but overall actually WAY better than a usual day teaching art at a rather challenging school (and that’s putting it mildly). I have way more energy–I don’t feel weighed down like I usually do after class.
Still, in all fairness I’m going to chart that one up to a casual Friday when I feel like I really know what I’m doing. After all, I’m still in school for my Masters in Teaching, so the last few weeks I’ve been trying to figure stuff out. Today I felt really in my groove for once.

4:30pm– Finally talk to mom! She was wondering what happens when we run out of our 60 ounces of mix. That’s it, I tell her. Water? A bit of herbal tea, if you’re desperate? She still has plenty, and sounded surprised as she reported, “I’m really not hungry yet…the thing I miss most is my coffee! And I need to drink more water, I just got a headache half an hour ago.”
The headache may be from not drinking enough water or a reaction to coffee withdrawl-she usual has 2-3 cups in the morning before work. She went cold-turkey today too, which must be rough on her system.

10:45pm– Still not hungry! I really can’t believe it, but that lemonade mix hits the spot. I was expecting today to be really rough, but so far so good. I’m sure tomorrow will be harder. I already found myself opening the refridgerator out of habit and then thinking, “what the hell am I doing here?” Otherwise today was just another day, feeling good.

Mom is easing into the cleanse with a lighter schedule. Instead of only the mix, she ate a light dinner tonight–the veggie sandwich at Subway. She said she really wasn’t even hungryhungry, it was more of a psychological thing.

So day one: success! See you tomorrow for another full report on day 2!

Me & Mom vs. Master Cleanser: 10 Days of Detox

I’m not eating and I’m taking my mom with me.

It’s been a whole 3 months since my last (and first) fasting cleanse, and I am pleased to find myself sticking with the plan to fast at the change of every season with cleanse #2. Rumored benefits of this are improved immune system functioning and improved mindfulness.

For ages I avoided the Master Cleanser because I thought it was some fad detox that was only popular because of Beyonce. I turned up my snooty health-nut nose until this blog intercepted me. When I went to a seminar for my Master’s just a week or two ago, the houseful of people putting me up for the night were abuzz about the cleanse, which has been featured in a recent Natural Awakenings article.

Oh my god! People actually talking about detoxing and I hadn’t already guinea-pigged myself out as a science project to see what it’s like? Obviously this had to be rectified. Fad or legit? Me & mamma are about to find out.

So here I am, the night before beginning 10 days of the Master Cleanser. Yesterday and today were raw food only, to ease into the lemonade-cayenne-maple syrup mix that will be our sustenance for the next week and a half. Somehow, I’m really not sure how, I’ve convinced my mom to join me for an adventure that is going to turn her world upside down. Having fasted before, I’m committed to the full 10 days of the detox. My mom, new to detox, is shooting for 5 days. I’m so proud of her, since she has a host of diet-related issues that this may help her with, including fatigue, low energy levels, and moodiness. I’m aiming to shave off the 20+ toxin-laden pounds that are keeping me out of my ideal BMI range, and work toward the low-calorie levels that have been shown (with science!) to help lengthen life. As per my 2100 challenge, I gotta get on it ASAP.

So what exactly does this Master Cleanser entail?

Well, the detox was invented 30 or so years ago by this guy Stanley Burroughs. Apparently the lemonade, cayenne pepper, distilled water and grade-B organic maple syrup mixture you drink every day does a Mr. Clean worthy job of scrubbing the junk out of your insides. One book I’ve been reading on it tell us that over time, your colon forms a thick mucous membrane between what gets through and what’s stuck to the walls, kind of like plaque in you arteries. The Master Cleanser is supposed to hack into that layer, as well as boost metabolism so that you can burn away fat, which is the primo site for storing the gunk in our food, air and water that isn’t suppose to get into to healthy human bodies.
Technically this isn’t much of a fast, since we’ll be getting a healthy dose of calories from the lemonade, but no solid food still counts as fasting in my book. Here’s a breakdown of what we’re doing:

-Drink a quart of saltwater in the morning (to jump-start the digestive system)

-drink 60 oz of the lemonade/cayenne/maple syrup drink a day

-finish out the evening with a laxative tea…yum…

-we’re adding wheat grass supplements for protein, which was OK-ed by the Master Cleanse Secrets book mom got for us online. I suppose that was supposed to be a secret? Whoops…

So tomorrow the adventure begins! The first 3 days are supposed to be hell, and then everything’s uphill from there. So I’ll be reporting back tomorrow, live from hell! (don’t blame me for cranky posts, please…)

Getting Real about Eating Raw

Ok. So you’re an average American, doing your thing, when you somehow find yourself down a path not tread by most of the other 300 million citizens of this country.
You’re reading the nutritional information on the back of packaged foods you buy.
You know what an antioxidant is, and you want more of them.
You are becoming more and more health-conscious, and you know the pain of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps to change bad eating patterns.

Perhaps, if you have come far enough in the journey, you’ve taken the common knowledge that lots of fresh fruits and veggies are good for you to the next level: you want to go raw.
To the uninformed, average American you used to be, this sounds, well, kinda crazy. It’s food, you’re supposed to cook it. Who wants to eat a bunch of carrot sticks, you (fill in the blank:[anorexic/hippie/masochist/weirdo]).
Yes, my unfortunate traveler, all of the research, self-determination, and guile it took you to make changes to improve your life have lead to this. Weird looks when your turn down the cheese dip, name-calling, in short, everyone is giving you grief.
Whether it’s a concerned family, skeptical friends, or that one guy at work, it can be hard to stand up to the social norms that have caused an obesity epidemic in our country. To do what is best for you, you are going to have to stand up for yourself. Explain your seemingly odd diet to those who think the donuts on the top of the food pyramid mean you’re supposed to eat one every day.

For those who choose to go raw, here talking points from several perspectives on eating raw that highlight options and benefits. And hey! This list is a good raw beginners guide to how and why one would eat raw too:

“The reason I don’t cook food when I eat raw is because cooking breaks down the enzymes in produce.”

“Enzymes are proteins that speed chemical reactions. So, when you eat all kinds of chemical reactions are happening inside of you, and the natural enzymes in plants help digestion happen really well.”

“No, it’s not at all like I just buy produce and go home and eat it exactly like I just got it. You can prepare you raw food all kinds of great ways. We Like it Raw has great raw recipes, and so do bloggers (like this one awesome Raw Chef) all over. Just google it.”




Eating raw food does not equal eating nothing but salads



“One great thing about raw food is it means you eat tons of fruits and veggies, which means I feel super-powered from all the nutrients.”

“Yes, I get plenty of protein-raw nuts and seeds are powerhouses of it.”

“Green Smoothies in the morning are a great way to change up the way I prepare food and taste sooo great”

“Raw food doesn’t have as many calories as cooked food, so I eat a LOT, which I love!”

and hopefully this will be as true for you as it is for me…

“I just feel great when I eat raw…tons of energy, and I don’t get sick as often!”

Here are some links to good sources with the real lowdown on eating raw.

The Best of Raw Food

Raw Food Life

This Guy seems cool, and has a great list of enzymes found in common foods.

My own interest in raw foods sprang up after I got into green smoothies. I recently went raw on a roadtrip in solidarity with my parents, who wanted to go raw for health reasons, just when was about to go out of town. I can’t say enough good things about raw eating, although personally I like to dip in and out of it when I need an energy or immune system boost. Try it out and see how it best fits into your life!