Taking Care of YOU – Slow Down and Enjoy Each Moment to Protect Yourself from Cancer

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on February 7, 2010 – 12:31 pm -

It’s been a week to remember and all the messages I’ve received all week were “slow down” and “take care of yourself”.

A couple were obvious…others more subtle.

I don’t consider myself a tired person; quite the contrary.  My energy seems almost without limit.  I sleep very little, am constantly on the move and I get a lot accomplished.  Yet a nagging voice in the back of my mind has been wondering if I may be causing some hidden damage to myself by sleeping so little.

On Wednesday evening I ran into to technical challenges with the teleconference for Week 3 of my Balance My Body Blueprint course.  I had a slide presentation ready to go, and was all set to launch into new territory.  The technical challenges prevented participation on the web, where more than half my students participate.  So I decided to do a question and answer segment.  It was just the right thing to do.  I was able to answer lots of questions, and even helped a few people to determine the probable cause of long standing health challenges.  Wow.  Slow down.  Most people were not ready to jump into what I had planned.  They were perfectly fine with slowing down and getting their questions answered.

On Thursday, I was moving quickly through my kitchen, and caught my slipper on a door stop.  It sent me flying through the air and I landed hard on the tile floor. My left arm hit first, and it hurt so badly that I immediately thought it was broken.    While I had lots of plans for the rest of the day and the next, I spent most of the time in bed, icing my arm and resting.  Slow down.  It took an injury to get me to get a good night’s sleep.  It’s recovering nicely now, as evidenced by the fact that I can type today.  Yesterday I could barely hunt and peck with one hand.

I’m getting small messages, and I’m taking them to heart.  Better listen to the soft calls than to wait for a big one.

Earlier this week I received the sad news that a dear friend had died of cancer.  She was a young woman, in her forties, and she’s survived by her husband and four children.  The children are young.  Her oldest  is about the same age as my youngest.  And now they are without their Mommy, and the world will no longer experience the joy of Anna’s sweet, kind heart and loving and giving nature.

I’ve experienced the loss of a loved to cancer several times over the past 5 years.  And while the importance of diet and detoxification are high on my list of cancer prevention techniques, Anna’s death forces me to really look at the bigger picture.

Anna was a raw food enthusiast. I met her at an Alissa Cohen Teacher training.  She was the founder of Purely Delicious magazine.   She was excited about sharing what she learned about the health benefits of raw and living foods with the world.  Still, she got breast cancer.  Sure, her diet wasn’t perfect, and we can point fingers at her imperfections, and blame them for her cancer.  Yet others, many of my family members included, eat way less “perfectly”  than Anna did, and use toxic home and body care products and drink tap water, and they don’t have cancer…yet.

The sad truth is that almost 50% of us will get cancer. Perhaps not  all will die as a result, yet it’s an alarming statistic nonetheless.

While it may be easy for skeptics and critics of the living foods lifestyle to use Anna’s story as an excuse to just let it all go and eat whatever they want, it’s important to look beyond, and continue to hold the utmost respect for the value of high antioxidant, unrefined, whole fresh plants as a vital element in keeping you healthy.

I could quote from all sorts of research right about now, and try to convince you from an intellectual level of the importance of diet in protecting you from cancer, yet I’d rather speak to you from my heart. It’s easy to hear Anna’s story and become fearful, and doubt your choice to lead a healthy life and eat a healthy diet.  The truth is, there’s a big picture here.  And many of its parts are a somewhat mysterious.

Cancer is always caused by exceeding your body’s ability to detoxify and repair. Cancer starts almost daily in just about everyone, and is quickly thwarted by an intact immune system and a working detoxification system.

The choices you make daily effect your ability to detoxify and thwart cancer before it takes over. Those include the quality and quantity of the water you drink, how much sunshine you get on bare skin, your movement, your thoughts, your feelings – fear and judgment create a breeding ground for cancer–how much fun you have, how much deep restful sleep you get, the quality of the air you breathe and of course, your diet.

There are so many  elements that determine your cancer risk…and your ability to be healthy.  Some may appear to be beyond your control:

1. Genetics: some of us were born with genetic variations, called single neucleotide polymorphisms, aka SNPs (pronounced snips), that make it difficult to detoxify our environment without a little extra help.
2. Your Mom’s Emotional State when she was pregnant with you. You may have been born with worn out adrenals and low cellular energy as a result, making you prone to cancer and other illnesses.
3. Your Mom’s nutritional status and toxic exposures while she was pregnant with you. If she was depleted, you were born with nutritional imbalances.
4. Early feeding:Whether you were breast or bottle fed and what your early solid foods were determine the state of your digestive tract and immune system.  Leaky gut and immune system problems can increase your risk of cancer and other illnesses.

Many people embark on a health journey and address a single aspect.   I see many living foods diet followers who don’t exercise, or stay indoors all the time, or push themselves hard and don’t sleep enough (like me).  It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that the good food can compensate for shortcomings in the others, but very often it cannot.

It’s time to look at the big picture.  Sometimes just eating a healthy diet isn’t enough.

As a mother of 4 and editor  and chief cook and bottle washer for a quarterly publication, Anna had no time left for herself. Even after she found out she had breast cancer, she continued to put others first, until she had to slow down.  Unfortunately, it was too late for Anna.  She opted for chemotherapy and radiation out of fear and perhaps desperation.

Most likely one or more of the early factors were at play with Anna.   Yet, in spite of your genetics, early exposures and maternal environment,  you can do what it takes to give yourself the best possible healthy and happy life.  Once you identify the early factors that may be at play, through a combination of  family history and genetic testing, there are steps you can take to correct for the inborn and early deficits.

It’s important to take inventory of your life and self correct where you can.  If you’re not sleeping enough because you’re not going to bed at a reasonable hour (guilty as charged) then make a different choice.  If you’re not sleeping enough because you have difficulty falling or staying asleep, you might have a hormonal imbalance.  Adrenal imbalance and insulin dysfunction are the most likely culprits and they are both correctable.

If you have a lot of stress in your life (who doesn’t)  you owe it to yourself to master techniques for transforming the negative impact on your body to positive.

Enhance your body’s detoxification systems, harness the power of blended greens and drink your greens at least once a day.  Look for the positive and practice appreciation.  Get in touch with really matters to you, and make daily choices that are consistent with your highest good.

Take care of others, but not at the expense of yourself. It’s important to take time for fun and pleasure each day, even for just a few moments.

No one can predict the length of your life – that’s out of your control.  You can effect the quality of your life and decrease the likelihood of suffering as Anna did by making conscious and consistent choices to put your self first. Yes, you need to put yourself first.  It is only by taking care of your needs that you have the energy and ability to take care of others.  And if we all took better care of ourselves, there would be a lot less need to take care of others.

Love yourself. Slow down and have fun daily.   Choose happiness daily and allow good health to follow.

In memory of Anna Tipps, friend, Mom wife, daughter, teacher and kind hearted loving soul.  You will be missed.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, cancer, cleansing programs, detoxification programs, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, livingfoods, raw foods, raw foods recipes, whole foods
Posted in Articles, Immune System Support | No Comments »

Avoid Adrenal Fatigue by Taking Time For Self Care

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on February 2, 2010 – 4:06 pm -

So what does adrenal faigue have to do with self care?  Everything.  When you take care of yourself, your stress levels go down.  And when your stress levels decrease, that’s a good thing for you!

Do you have any idea what happens on a physiologic level when you gt stressed out, worry about the future or fret about he past?  Your body releases a cascade of chemicals designed to help you escape from tigers.  Your heart rate speeds up, your blood pressure elevated, your sex drive goes away and your digestion shuts down. Does that sound like the rpescription for a healthy, energetic and happy life?  Certainly not

The stress hormone cortisol gets secreted into your blood stream, and makes trouble throughout your body.  Sure,  it helps you to fight tigers, but that’s not going to help you much when you’re getting all stressed out about the state of the economy.  And it certainly doesn’t help you to think of creative ways you can deflect economic trends and prosper in spite of the world around you.  In fact, it does just the opposite.

One of the effects of cortisol is cortical inhibition. That means, it temporarily shuts off the higher-level thinking center of your brain.   This is important when you’re fleeing the real tiger, because solving economic problems would be counter productive when those big teeth are about to turn you into lunch.   Cortisol activates the primitive parts of yoru brain, the survival centers. It also causes damage to a part of your brain called the hippocampus, which is responsible for short term memory.  “Brain fog”, forgetfullness and lack of focus are sigs of adrenal fatugue.

Cortisol also inhibits your immune system and its ability to fight off invaders, to maintain balance, kill cancer cells, and keep you healthy.  Cortisol also makes you fat, especially around the middle.  Why does stress make you fat? Well, stress leads to increased production of cortisol, which  triggers a mechanism in the body to release more sugar into the blood, because you’re going to need it to escape the tiger.

The release of sugar into the blood causes the release of insulin because insulin is what is needed to remove the sugar from your blood and get  it into your cells, where it’s needed. That’s great when you have a real tiger chasing you.  And it doesn’t present a problem when the stress response is infrequent and short lived.  The problem is, in our modern lifestyle we get stressed often and we stay stressed for long periods of time.

And as if it’s not enough to be more prone to illness and cancer, stress kills your sex drive!  And it stresses your mitochondria so they can’t produce enough energy, so you get tired.

If being a stressed out sick and overweight individual with no sex drive and no memory does not sound like fun to you, then you need to learn how to take care of your needs and transform the stressful responses to recharging ones.

In my Transforming Stress teleseminars I describe some of my favorite techniques for turning the stressful times into positive physiologic responses, using the power of appreciation.

I recorded a video on how to make the time for self care, in spite of your busy schedule.  Consistently taking time for self care allows your adrenals to restore, and can even reverse adrenal fatigue.

What do you do to take care of yoruself everyday?

Write it down below for me.

Thanks,

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, exhaustion, fatigue, fatigue symptoms, Gluten Free Diet, livingfoods, raw and living foods holiday recipes, raw foods recipes
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue | No Comments »

The Elimination Provocation Diet

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on January 27, 2010 – 2:52 am -

While it might sound heavy, it’s not. By figuring out and eliminating foods you have hidden allergies to, you ease up on your digestive system. Wheat, gluten, casein, dairy, corn, peanuts, eggs ….just some of the most common hidden allergies so many don’t realize they have.

Join me and find out how you can determine your hidden allergies and get that tract back on track!

Wednesday, January 27

12:30pm – 1:30pm CST

www.drritmarie.com/go/allergies

Tags: casein, Celiac's Disease, Creating a Vibrant Life, Dr. Ritamarie, food allergies, food sensitivity, gluten, whey
Posted in Gluten Free Diet, Leaky Gut | No Comments »

Detoxification and Leaky Gut Go Green!

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on January 23, 2010 – 2:08 pm -

Having Fun with

Living Foods Detoxification

Dr. Ritamarie’s personal Journey Through the Six Week Detox Program

The first week of the 6 week detox is more than half way over, and I’ve been doing it right along everyone!   My “shoulds” told me that Option 3 was the right way to go.  Lots of fresh green juice and wheat grass, sprouts, and green smoothies are after all nature’s perfect detox foods.  They support your liver, provide loads of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, give your digestive tract the rest it needs and the nutrients it requires to repair leaky gut and get rid of pesky bugs, like the candida, parasites and bacteria that most of us have lurking in the crevices of our bowels.  Lovely thought, eh?

My life at this time is not conducive to juicing for hours a day and sprouting and all the preparation and clean-up that entails.   After all, I still need time for kids, exercise, creating new products and programs, research, writing,  seeing patients and and growing my online business to reach the hundreds of thousands of people worldwide whose health needs a lift.  As it is I only sleep 4 hours a night…so where am I supposed to find the time to juice?

I’ve been doing option 2 of the 6 week detox program and LOVING it.  It’s amazing how full you can get mostly drinking and eating green foods, when you space it out and add super nutrient dense whole food supplements.  I’m generally not a big proponent of superfoods and whole food concentrates.  I generally prefer the whole fresh foods as I grow them in my garden.

However,  years of toxic buildup, nutrient deficiencies and a damaged digestive track sometimes require a bit more than salads and fruit to get back into balance quickly.  That’s why I created the leaky gut repair and detoxification protocols we use in the Six Week Deep Tissue Detox Program

The “food only” option that requires juicing, sprouting, culturing vegetables and LOTS of FREE time.  And some of our participants are doing it.  But most are doing option 2, like me, and using some whole foods concentrates, sprouted rice protein and greens powders, along with green smoothies, salads and juice whenever it’s convenient.  You can follow my process and recipes on the Six Week Detox Blog.

Love, Health and Happy Detox smiles,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: cleansing, detoxification programs, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, living foods, raw foods
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Detoxification, Raw Foods, Leaky Gut and the 6 Week Detox Program Progress

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on January 18, 2010 – 9:26 pm -

(Written Sunday January 17 at 11PM)

I’m leading a 6 week detox program and I am super excited about how it’s unfolding. (NO, its not drug or alcohol rehab!)

There’s a group of over 100 of us healing leaky gut, getting candida and parasites under control, and enhancing our liver detoxification pathways so we can eliminate the 1000’s of toxins that we’re exposed to or producing each day.

Most disease and dysfunction stems from toxins that overwhelm your body’s ability to eliminate them. This creates challenges to your immune system, hormones, digestion, heart, skin…you get the idea. It effects just about EVERYTHING!

There are lots of detox supplements lining the health food store shelves. That’s not what this is all about either. Yeah, we use some special nutrients, herbs and whole food concentrates to support the detoxification process, but this is a whole lot more. We also focus on creating an emotional detox and creating healthy habits that last a lifetime.

We encourage the use of lots of greens…juices, smoothies, powders, salads and soups. And its so interactive…people get to check in at the end of each week and let us know how its going and we help to personalize the program. So it’s nit just a boxed detox…its all about creating a personalized detox experience and new habits.

I’ll be blogging about it as we go through it, as I am participating fully in the process.

Off to get my detox sweating in – hot tub and sauna. More tomorrow.

Love, Health and happy detox,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: 6 week detox, cleansing programs, detoxification programs, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, Leaky Gut, living foods, livingfoods, raw foods, sixweekdetox
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Leaky Gut and Candida: Get Your Tract Back on Track!

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on January 13, 2010 – 8:49 pm -

Abdominal pain, bloating,constipation, eczema, allergies…all these and more are symptoms of leaky gut and candida. It sounds kind of scary, doesn’t it?  Can I leave the house with a leaky gut?  Is it messy?  What’s actually leaking and where does it leak to?

Leaky gut is a very common condition of the small intestine. A leaky gut has been damaged and thus allows larger food molecules and toxins to readily enter the blood stream.

Rest assured, while leaky gut can have some very serious health complications, it’s generally not life threatening….at least not in the short term.  And nothing is leaking out of you, so no one can tell that you have it unless you tell them.  What’s leaking is the some of the contents of the small intestine, and where it’s leaking into is the blood stream.

These symptoms are, not surprisingly, very similar to the symptoms of candida overgrowth.  And, the symptoms are not confined to the gut!

Treatment for leaky gut and candida are very similar since both are caused by an overload of toxins that your body just doesn’t have the resources to get rid of.

Tune in today, Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 12:30pm CST to my radio show, Creating a Vibrant Life as I discuss leaky gut and candida. There will be a Q&A session so come prepared with questions!

www.blogtalkradio.com/dr-ritamarie

Tags: cleansing programs, detoxification programs, Gluten Free Diet, green smoothie, immune system, Leaky Gut, living foods, livingfoods, raw foods, raw foods detox, raw foods diet
Posted in Leaky Gut | No Comments »

Holiday Health Gifts

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on December 24, 2009 – 7:09 am -

Christmas is just 2 days away and that’s the day I’m drawing the winners names for my big raffle. Will your name be amongst the winners?

Here’s the scoop.  I’ll be giving away the following prizes:

1- An e-book of your choice (value up to $29.95)

2- Eat Your Way Out of Pain Home Study Course (Value $67)

3- Lifetime Membership in Dr. Ritamarie’s Green Cleanse Program (Value $97)

4- A 20 minute private consultation (Value $150)

5- A complimentary membership in my new “Balancing Nutrition Self Assessment Program” (Value $397)

As you can see, these are valuable prizes!  And I’ll post the winners names(and website if you’d like) on the Monday after Christmas.

SO how do you enter the raffle?

There are 2 ways

1- Make any purchase between now and December 24th at midnight and you’ll be automatically entered into the raffle. Each separate purchase counts as a separate entry.

Use Coupon Code 15ebook and receive 15% off any item on this page:

http://drritamarie.com/EBookOrderForm.htm

2- Purchase a raffle ticket for only $7.
http://www.drritamarie.com/go/raffle

***I’ll donate 25% of all raffle ticket purchases to Safe Space, a local charity that protects battered women and children.

http://www.drritamarie.com/go/raffle

I wish you a peaceful, joyful and very healthy Holiday Season.

If you’re ready to create the best possible health in 2010, check this out

http://www.drritamarie.com/go/Health

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah,Kwanzaa, Solstice, Yule or whatever you celebrate this time of year!

Love, Health and Gratitude,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: cleansing programs, detoxification programs, gluten free holiday, green smoothie, living foods, livingfoods
Posted in Articles, Gluten Free Diet, Gluten Free recipes, Raw and Living Foods Recipes, living foods, raw foods | No Comments »

Peppermint Patties Go Raw: Gluten Free Raw Food Recipe for Superfood Candy Made with Hemp Seeds and Green Powder

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on December 19, 2009 – 12:45 pm -

My latest Yummy treat – I just made this as a variation of my Peppermint Patty Recipe from Healthy Halloween Treats , a complete guide to raw and living foods, gluten-free recipes for Halloween.

This 100% raw foods recipe is also gluten free and sugar free.  Much better for you than the peppermint patties you may have eaten before.  It’s high in omega 3 fats from the hemp seed, selenium from the brazil nuts, copper from the macadamia nuts, chlorophyll from the greens and antiviral lauric acid from the coocnut.  They are very low glycemic, as they contain no  sweeteners.  If you prefer the filling a little bit sweeter, you can add  1/4 cup pitted dates.

Super Food Peppermint Patties

by Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

Ingredients

Filling

• 1/2 cup hemp seeds
• 1/2 cup brazil nuts
• 1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts
• 1 1/2 cup dried coconut shreds
• 1/8 teaspoon green stevia
• 1 Tablespoon each chlorella and blue green algae powder (or your favorite green powder)
• 3 drops peppermint essential oil

Chocolate Coating

• 1/4 cup  cacao paste, softened in the dehydrator for 15 minutes at 115 degrees  or in a double boiler
• 1/8 cup cacao butter, melted as for the cacao paste.
• 1/8 teaspoon stevia
• 2 drops mint essential oil

Directions:

1. Process the filling in food processor until almost smooth.
2. Press the filling into silicone molds, disposable mini cupcake papers, or any other shapes desired.  If you prefer, you can spread it on a piece of wax paper and score into desired sizes.
3. Freeze the filling for at least half an hour.
4. Stir all sauce ingredients together in a small bowl or blend in blender.
5. Pop the filling from the molds or cut into desired sizes.
6. Dip the filling pieces into the chocolate sauce (you may need to re-soften it unless you made it right before dipping.)
7. Place carefully on a piece of wax paper to harden.  Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Chocolate topping variation

• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• 1/8 cup melted cacao butter
• 2 drops mint essential oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder

Other Variations

You can add a couple of drops of mint essential oil to your favorite  chocolate sauce or any of the chocolate sauce recipes in  my books Healthy Halloween Treats and Healthy Holiday Traditions:  Nourishing Recipes for Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s Celebrations. Both of these books are filled with gluten free raw and living foods recipes for holiday treats using health promoting ingredients.

Enjoy this recipe.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

http://www.drritamarie.com

http://www.GreenFoodMagic.com

Tags: Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, Gluten Free Diet, gluten free holiday, Halloween treats, healthy holiday, holiday recipes, living foods, livingfoods, omega 3 fats, raw and living foods holiday recipes, raw foods, raw foods recipes, selenium, whole foods
Posted in Articles, Gluten Free recipes, Raw and Living Foods Recipes, healthy holiday | No Comments »

Hanukkah in the Raw: Living Foods Version of Traditional Latkes

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on December 14, 2009 – 12:12 pm -

When I first met my husband I had no idea what a latke was, nor did I know very much about Hanukkah.  Having grown up Catholic the only thing I’d learned was that Hanukkah was like Christmas, only they got presents for 8 days instead of 1!

I’ve come a long way since then.   Now I know quite a bit more about the holiday, and the meaning behind it.  I’ve also taught myself to make healthier versions of the traditional foods.  My favorite is  latkes.  Latles are potato pancakes and are traditionally served on the first and last nights of Hanukkah, at least in my husband’s family.  Traditional latkes are made from potatoes, onions, flour and egg, and are deep fried in vegetable oil.  They come out crispy and very greasy.  Quite frankly, all that grease just never appealed to me.

So my first experiments were created by simply using  non-gluten flour in place of the unbleached white, flax or psyllium seed in place of the egg and a bit of olive oil, brushed on before baking instead of frying.  They were a bit hit with my family and friends.

Next I experimented with substituting some or all of the potatoes with shredded broccoli stems, daikon radish or zucchini.  I got to the point where I could make them without any potatoes, and my kids still loved them.  I was happy because they were eating lots of veggies!

Finally I took it to the next level and created a recipe that I could “low temperature bake”  in the dehydrator.  These are uncooked and maintain the full spectrum of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and enzymes of the raw ingredients.  I served  them side by side with the cooked potato version and most of  my friends preferred the raw ones.

I put all of the variations of the recipe in my new e-book  Healthy Holiday Traditions: Nourishing Recipes for Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s Celebrations.

I’m sharing the Living Latkes recipe here.  The book has recipes for raw dairy free versions of applesauce and sour cream too.

Living Latkes

by Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

Equipment Needed: Dehydrator and Blender

Ingredients

• 2 ½ pounds of a combination of shredded daikon radish and broccoli stems
• 1 medium onion
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) tahini
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil (optional)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup water

Directions

1. Shred daikon and broccoli stems and place in a large bowl.
2. Shred or thinly slice the onion and add to bowl with the daikon and broccoli.
3. Blend the tahini, pepper and salt and add to bowl with vegetables. Mix well with your hands.
4. Brush with a thin film of olive oil, if desired.
5. Form into patties and place on the mesh tray of your dehydrator. Dehydrate overnight, up to 12 hours.

Serve with apple sauce or  nut sour “cream”

Shared with love from Dr. Ritamarie’s Healthy Holiday Traditions: Nourishing Recipes for Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s Celebrations.

Enjoy, and have a happy healthy holiday.

Love, Health and Joy

Dr. Ritamarie

P.S.  Even if you’re not Jewish, the latkes are worth making.  Everyone loves them.

http://www.DrRitamarie.com/WinterHolidays

Tags: Christmas, Christmas recipes, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, DrRitamarie, gluten free christmas, Gluten Free Diet, gluten free holiday, gluten free latkes, gluten-free vegan latkes, hanukkah, Hanukkah recipes, healthy holiday, heathy hanukkah recipes, holiday diet, holiday recipes, holiday survival, latkes, living foods, livingfoods, raw and living foods holiday recipes, raw foods, raw foods diet, raw foods recipes, raw latkes
Posted in Gluten Free recipes, Raw and Living Foods Recipes, healthy holiday | 1 Comment »

Cancer and Children, the SAD Connection: Are Raw and Living Foods Part of the Solution?

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on December 11, 2009 – 3:07 pm -

It’s always sad to hear about a child who’s suffering and dying from cancer.  It’s heartbreaking, actually.  Such a waste of a life, to be stricken down so young.  And what a painful experience for a parent…to lose a child is the worst nightmare of every parent.

Yet it happens every day, and it is frustrating to no end to observe the scenario.  As you may recall, I lost my sister to cancer just over a year ago, and I watched in horror as they tore her immune system to shreds with the drugs, foods and treatments, in the hope that they could kill the cancer.  She, like most cancer patients, died from the treatment, not the disease.

How can you expect a body to heal from cancer when it’s fed hospital food…white bread, milk, sugar, canned vegetables and bottled fruit juice.  None of the food has life, and as such it has no ability to create life, or save life.  It has only the power to destroy life.

This post was prompted by the story of a young boy named Dominic.  I met his mom, Elaina Love, for the first time earlier this year, and again just a few weeks ago when she came to Austin to teach a class on how to make holiday meals that are life giving, in place of  the holiday typical menu, containing foods that are life depleting.

I cried as I read this story and I’m tearing up again as I recount it.  I have a son who’s around the same age, and the thought of losing him is unbearable.   As I read Dominic and Elaina’s story, I couldn’t help but put myself into her shoes, and feel the intensity of the pain she is experiencing.

Dominic, age 14,  became ill with leukemia earlier this year, and much to Elaina’s anguish, Dominic and his dad decided to put their trust in mainstream medicine — chemotherapy, radiation and a bone marrow transplant.  All the while, he continued to eat the food served in the hospital,and the foods he and his dad chose, rather than follow Elaina’s recommendations of green foods, wheat grass juice and no sugar.

They thought it was successful until November 25, 2009 when the doctors  told them the leukemia was back and more aggressive than ever.  There was nothing more that mainstream medicine could offer Dominic, except to keep him comfortable as they waited for him to die.  Their estimate was that he had between 1 week and 1 month to remain on the planet.

Finally, Dominic and his dad agreed to follow Elaina’s advice and take him to the  Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida,  where they are famous for helping people to heal from cancer and where people go when they have no other choice.  There Dominic will eat a completely green raw diet consisting of juices and greens, get daily wheatgrass implants , oxygen therapy and other non conventional therapies that the institute has to offer.  It is their last hope.

Before leaving for Hippocrates, Elaina took Dominic off everything that feeds cancer-    sugar, fruit,bread, dairy, pastries, salt, caffeine, meat,and everything that is served on he hospital cafeteria trays sent to his room three times a day.   He started consuming liquid blue green algae, wheat grass , green juice ,  cucumbers, avocado, lettuce, red bell peppers and only raw, vegan foods that contain no sugar.  They stopped the IV, which contained sugar water.

Elaina and Dominic have been at Hippocrates for about 10 days now, and Elaina reports that he seems to be getting stronger.  Only time will tell.  You can follow Dominic’s progress on Elaina’s blog, at http://elainalove.wordpress.com/

The therapy and airfare combined are going to be close to $20,000 for the first 3 weeks.   Drs Brian and Ann Marie Clement are offering a partial scholarship and there is a donation fund being set up.

You can help in a several ways:

1- Keep Dominic and Elaina in your thoughts and prayers.  Send healing energy in their direction.

2- Donate, even $5!

http://www.purejoyplanet.com/store/index.php?cPath=26

Any help you can send their way would be  so great.

3- Shop at Elaina’s website. Christmas and Hanukkah are coming up.  Buy a gift for yourself or your loved ones. Buy Elaina’s books, DVDs, e-books, or a nut milk bag or Irish Moss.

http://purejoyplanet.com/store/

I bought her cultured foods DVD, that includes how to make kefir, saurkraut sour dough crackers, yogurt and more, her Irish moss e-book, Flavors of China e-book, and  vanilla, cherry and hazelnut essential oils. Plus I donated $25!  Everything helps.

Elaina Love is a professional Chef and Instructor, Lifestyle Counselor and Owner/Director of the raw food store and Pure Joy Planet. She authored the raw, vegan, living food recipe book Elaina’s Pure Joy Kitchen.  She is the creator of the Amazing Nut Milk Bag.

Elaina has been teaching raw food courses worldwide since 1998. She is a Chef/Instructor at the renowned Living Light Culinary Arts Institute where she has been on staff since 2000.

Here’s what Elaina has to say:

“It is my life purpose to help people be as healthy, feel full of life force and joy that they can be, and I have helped soooo many people through my teachings, recipes, personal example and website. My family, however, from my son to my ex to my parents, have never wanted to embrace raw foods, and in fact shun it at all costs.

I got over it a long time ago and didn’t give it much thought anymore. But when Dom got cancer in Jan of 2009, my world turned upside down. I wanted so badly to help him with raw foods, but he and his dad just wouldn’t bite (literally and figuratively). So even though I begged, cried and pleaded, they opted for the traditional medical route.

And after awhile my initial rage filled resistance was  kept under wraps to protect my son, and spirit told me to surrender and go along with what they had chosen, so I did and embrace it I did, with every fiber of my being hoping with all my heart that it would work.

I have been told by higher power that it’s going to be one of those miracle stories, where instead of the boy getting the girl, he gets the rest of his life…healthy, happy, cancer free and no drugs (the girl comes later)!”

Donations have been pouring in to help Dominic, and Elaina  to pay for the expensive treatment at Hippocrates, for which insurance will not pay even a penny.  Overwhelmed by the generosity.  Se says”The gratitude I feel for you as I write this, even though I don’t know who you are yet, is so huge I want to cry”.

Let this story serve as a wake up call.  Your children, our children, the children of the planet, NEED to be fed whole fresh foods, not the packaged, refined, cancer-causing fare served in schools, restaurants and most people’s homes.

We need to wake up, as a culture, to the fact that nature has its “laws“.  Just as you can’t defy gravity, you can’t defy your body’s nutritional needs, feed yourself and your family toxic foods,and expect to be healthy.

Over 40% of the US population will get cancer. A large percentage of those WILL die from it.  And these numbers are going up.  The only way to put yourself and your loved ones on the “safe” side of the fence is to throw all the cancer causing foods and chemicals over the fence, and as far away from you as possible.

It’s painful to lose someone you love.  It’s even more painful when you lose them to a preventable illness, as I lost my parents then my younger sister.  Make a commitment today to, as Gandhi said, to  ” be the change you want to see in the world”.  Create vibrant health for you AND your loved ones, one bite at a time.  Whatever the temporary pleasure attained from eating SAD food, it’s tainted by the long term suffering of cancer.

Get support if you need it.  Surround yourself by like minded people who care about their health.  Get a mentor and make a commitment to your health, your family’s health and the health of the planet.  Dare to make unpopular decisions, and you’ll live to tell about it.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: cleansing programs, detoxification programs, Elaina Love, green juice, Hippocrates Health Institute, leukemia, living foods, livingfoods, raw foods, raw foods diet, sprouts, wheat grass juice, whole foods
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