Health, Organic Raw Foods and Travel
April 01, 2012
Can you stay healthy and fit while traveling? What are our travel health secrets? How do we eat healthy and cheaply? Does organic and raw food make a difference? Is being a vegan healthy for everyone? Is the China Study fact or fallacy and should one look deeper? Can Vegetarian diets be harmful or dangerous? Today, eating healthy can mean different things to different people and there is a ton of conflicting ideas and ways to eat.
We have always been into healthy eating. We are from Santa Cruz, California after all, which probably has more health food stores, farmers markets, health spas, chiropractors, acupuncturists and eating fanatics per capita than anywhere else in the world.
Over the years I have done various healthy diets from raw to paleo to vegetarian from Dr Ornish's high carbs to Dr. Atkins high protein, so find food information massively contradicting and ever changing. People tend to often be VERY attached to the way they eat being THE right way, but I think much depends on the individual and no one-thing works for all, so an open mind is needed, deep research and even using yourself as a guinea pig. Thus, I can just tell you what has worked and is working for me as it is an on going project. Your mileage may vary and I'd love to hear about your experiences.
EATING AND FARMING ORGANIC
We did organic gardening in Santa Cruz all year round and always ate healthy, organic food. Yes, I have a weight problem late in life, but I don't let it stop me in travel or any other way. Nevertheless I have spent most of my life as a normal sized person, who actually had a near perfect body as a young women in my 20's and 30's that allowed me to do things like model with the top agencies in the world, become a flight attendant for TWA, run a 26.2 marathon without training and do well acting in film, TV and theater. Strangely, sometimes I have been at my healthiest when I was overweight and unhealthiest at my skinniest, so body size doesn't always tell the story on health or healthy eating.
I think my physiological problems with weight and my sugar sensitivity has actually made me much more interested in learning about food. I've lost 100 lbs. twice in my life and kept it off for many years and now I am planning to do that one more time for good. For me that means NOT eating the Standard American Diet ( SAD) and for many years, I see most things in the average American grocery store ( same around most of the world) as poison, since most of it is processed and filled with pesticides and GMO's.
ORGANIC EATING AND PREGNANCY
I believe an excellent organic diet helped me get pregnant at 47 and I must admit I ate the best of my life before conceiving and during the 9 months that I was pregnant with Mozart. I believe everything we think, feel, eat, do affects the growing baby within, so I was impeccable with eating, sleeping, meditating etc during that time and had the easiest, most wonderful pregnancy without any problems what so ever, like high blood pressure or gestational diabetes, despite my age. Strangely, I was never hungry while pregnant, so it was quite easy.
Alas, the stress and post-traumatic stress disorder of having a baby late in life after a very difficult, excruciating 48 hour back labor - forceps -emergency c-section delivery.... especially with a high needs baby who had many physical problems from that delivery which made her "failure to thrive " with a severe feeding problem that kept her from gaining weight, but was also extremely busy, always awake/hyper-alert and advanced developmentally ( walking and talking at 6 months) who stumped the medical community even at Standford Children's Hospital... put us behind the eight ball for a while.
I only gained about 25 lbs during my pregnancy, but dealing with all the stress and doctors after the birth and first year of life, is when my weight problem began again. I was the opposite of most people, I didn't gain baby weight during pregnancy, but afterwards. Some doctors think that extreme trauma had impact on my current health issues as well as high trauma from my early teen years.
EATING ORGANIC WHILE TRAVELING
Keeping a healthy diet while traveling on a low budget is also MUCH more challenging. Yet, we managed to do pretty darn good with that with free food from orchards and organic gardening etc and we purposely have done no vaccines for health reasons. We hardly ever get sick and are full of energy despite me being over weight at this age and not being able to eat an all organic diet like we did at home. Our lifestyle allows us to get more exercise natually.
But then, I had a bike crash on the Danube and ended up in a foreign hospital needing surgery and paralyzing my dominant arm for over a year and doing physical therapy in 6 countries. I was given massive doses of antibiotics by IV during my 10 days in the hospital. I did my best to counteract it with Yogurt and Dannon Activa as soon as I got out of the hospital as I am a person who tries to never take antibiotics unless I have no choice, so rarely have in my life.
Nine months later, in May 2010, I had a gum infection, so my Danish dentist in Spain gave me another antibiotic which I reluctantly took to save my tooth as we were about to hit the road in our RV. I got violently ill for five days while taking it and have had severe digestion problems ever since. ( It's called Flagyl or Metronidazole in the U.S, it's for anaerobic bacteria and funnily is sometimes used for digestive issues too, but has a reputation also for causing many problems).
"if people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." Thomas Jefferson
LOOKING FOR A CURE
Who knew that an imbalance in intestinal flora from antibiotics could create severe dysbiosis that meant eating ANY food was impossible, extremely painful, totally debilitating and the simplest foods would churn in one's stomach for 16 hours and more trying to digest and creating extreme toxicity and problems in the liver, pancreas, spleen and gall bladder?
I truly was on death's door, often writhing in agonizing pain, by the time I reached California and despite seeing the best MD's and alternative healers on 3 continents, no one seemed to be able to help me. I took what seemed to be a zillion tests..endless blood tests, MRI, endless stool tests that checked for parasites, bacteria, fungus, H-Pylori, gluten sensitivity etc, ultra sound pelvis, ultra sound abdomen, CDSA, etc, etc...that were all normal and only told me what I didn't have.
I was sicker than some friends who had cancer, but no one seemed to know a cure. Often there were consequences with the tests like the IV dye that they used for the MRI that gave me 10-level ( on a scale of 1 to 10) kidney pain for a week. Sometimes I would get temporary help, but within hours or days, it was back worse than ever.
Most of the medicine, herbs and supplements that the MD's and the natural doctors ( homeopathic, acupuncturist, chiropractors, Cranial Sacral therapists etc) gave me made me feel worse. More than 60 million Americans and 20 million Canadians suffer from digestive disorders, so I am not alone in my search for a cure. It is the most common complaint for doctors yet little they know about it or can do.
BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN HEALTH
Just as I think you should take your finances and child's education into your hands, I think the same about your health. Many experts can steer you in the wrong way, so you have to do your own due dilgence. Unfortunately, this is really hard to do when simply sitting up is a major challenge, but I had to keep trying things or die.
Finally, out of desperation and thanks to the recommendations of brilliant Dr. Jeffrey McCombs I tried some healing raw foods from the quite radical Aajonus Vonderplanitz book We Want to Live. Since I was having pretty severe pancreas and liver pain and problems at that time, I was encouraged by a Type 1 diabetic who was curing herself on this raw diet and others I knew who had benefited from this diet.
I ate primarily a smoothie that consisted of lots of raw butter, raw unheated honey and a little papaya, organic whole raw milk ( from grass fed cows), fresh pressed green juice, avocado, raw cheese, fresh bee pollen and a little Perrier. I also found Terramin Clay from this book and Dr Jeff McCombs which has had an amazing healing affect for me and my family and finding Matic Gum on my own was a supplement that was an immediate help. The Westin Price folks call Clay a super food used by our ancestors and I agree now! I also did deep clearing work with Michael Hayes which helped tremendously.
"Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune." Noam Chomsky
WHAT FOOD WORKED
I haven't eaten honey or hardly any sugar in years, nor dairy from cows, so I wasn't expecting much, but I actually felt better almost immediately which no other diet had done. ( I seriously tried them all including organic vegetarian, organic vegan green juices, ayurvedic, Chinese healing foods, organic liver only, gluten free, specific carbohydrate, food combining, only organic liver, only miso, only bone broth, only goat yogurt/goat kefir and avocados, only Kicheree, etc etc etc ).
I had tried the raw green juices and raw veggies before, but they didn't do much for me without the raw dairy and eggs ( mostly made in smoothies) and good raw fats. I had never eaten smoothies in my life, nor owned or used a blender and suddenly I became a smoothie queen! I even got my 84 year old mother eating them ( and healing her osteoporosis and broken bone with it) and the whole family.
It sounds weird, but the more I ate the better I felt and the more I researched the more this started to make sense. Nutrition gurus Mercola, Trudeau, Rubin and more ALL rave about the benefits of raw milk and dairy and the negatives of pasteurized dairy. I went to very pure, organic raw food and was amazed that I could feel a difference.
WHY FOOD IS DIFFERENT AND LESS HEALTHY TODAY
I started to understand there is a huge difference in what exactly you eat and how primitive people and traditional diets have much to teach us all. The nutrition you get from organic food, grass fed beef, cows and goats that are not given hormones to increase their milk and antibiotics , free range chickens and eggs etc is very, very different nutritionally than conventional foods.
A century ago a Holstein cow produced 400 to 500 pounds of milk annually. Today, the average Holstein cow produces 20,000 to 30,000 pounds thanks to the over-use of growth hormones and antibiotics on conventional dairy farms. Our government protects the interest of the corporate food industry, not the people. Just look at the high connections of Monsanto folks in both parties and FDA government offices and follow the money. Shameful and why the United States has the highest cancer rate in the world.
BEST BOOKS FOR DIGESTIVE HEALTH
Another book that I really liked was Restoring Your Digestive Health ( which agrees with Vonderplanitz that raw foods, raw UNHEATED honey, raw milk, clays and even raw meat are important foods, but also recommends fermented foods, wheat grass powders, some sprouting grains and nuts and their importance and a different slant). At first I could hardly eat anything, ( and ate 100% raw except perhaps a slice of sour dough bread in California as I started to heal) but I am now able to eat more variety.
Interestingly, both authors of these two books were written by people who turned around a fatal and incurable disease ( Cancer and Crohns) and I could now relate to their suffering and long struggle to find answers. Another key book was Optimal Digestion and I brought all 3 of these books with us (as well as a bag full of supplements) to read and reread.
All three books mention Harvard educated Dr. Weston Price and his amazing studies of primitive people and traditional diets around the world compared to modern diets. Everybody should look into this research and I am using three great videos to share a little of the principals about what is truly healthy eating and the consequences of our modern diet.
HOW WE EAT
The problem is eating raw dairy is easy in California but not so easy in Asia, so I am trying to find a new way of eating here that works for us and uses the things available here like coconut and tropical fruits and vegetables. That is one of the keys for travel and food, take advantage of local foods. I've just bought my first juicer and a blender and will keep you posted on what works best and recipes that we love. Good fats are amazing for the body and healing, so avocados have become a mainstay for us.
At the moment we are kind of on an unconventional raw food- paleo -lacto-ovo-pescatarian - Weston Price principals combo. We try to eat raw as much as possible, but are flexible in our eating. We try to incorporate as much healthy food like organic wheat grass juice extracts ( and oat and barley..even took some on the plane and ordered the veggie platter), cultured beverages ( I make my own kefir but learning many others), cultured vegetables ( so easy to make your own and cheap), fatty fish like salmon and sardines, raw organic free range eggs ( great in smoothies), homemade stocks and bone broths from organic ingredients, we make our own mayonnaise and other condiments, coconut and cold pressed organic coconut oil, home made daily green juices from organic greens, raw unheated honey as our only sweet, and soak or ferment the grains and nuts we use like traditional people.
WHAT ORGANIC FOOD IS AVAILABLE IN ASIA
We've found three excellent organic food stores here and a great organic restaurant and I will write more about them. Luckily, there is even some good organic selections at Tesco which is just two blocks away, so that is very handy. And I am looking to arrange some partnerships with local organic growers to get some things sent directly to our home in bulk orders. Doing a long stay here with Penang as our base for Asia gives us some advantages compared to fast travel. All photos were taken in Penang.
Eating well also goes hand in hand with our sustainable living philosophy and supports the planet as well as us. DO take time to read this brilliant physicist from India who tells the truth about the poison in our food, the biggest corporate take over of the food chain that harms all and what we can do to Occupy our Food Supply.
On my good days, I'd say I am about 95% healed and on my worst days, I'd still say about 90% healed and I am so grateful to feel human again. I have enough energy to do a good workout every day. But, this has been such a long, hard struggle for health and vitality, that I am determined to make this year my healthiest ever and continue to find ways to make myself and my family as healthy as possible. We're looking forward to making a nice organic garden on our terrace soon.
What are your best tips on keeping healthy and home and during travel? What do you think about the state of food on our planet today?
Can you stay healthy and fit while traveling? What are our travel health secrets? How do we eat healthy and cheaply? Does organic and raw food make a difference? Is being a vegan healthy for everyone? Is the China Study fact or fallacy and should one look deeper? Can Vegetarian diets be harmful or dangerous? Today, eating healthy can mean different things to different people and there is a ton of conflicting ideas and ways to eat.
We have always been into healthy eating. We are from Santa Cruz, California after all, which probably has more health food stores, farmers markets, health spas, chiropractors, acupuncturists and eating fanatics per capita than anywhere else in the world.
Over the years I have done various healthy diets from raw to paleo to vegetarian from Dr Ornish's high carbs to Dr. Atkins high protein, so find food information massively contradicting and ever changing. People tend to often be VERY attached to the way they eat being THE right way, but I think much depends on the individual and no one-thing works for all, so an open mind is needed, deep research and even using yourself as a guinea pig. Thus, I can just tell you what has worked and is working for me as it is an on going project. Your mileage may vary and I'd love to hear about your experiences.
EATING AND FARMING ORGANIC
We did organic gardening in Santa Cruz all year round and always ate healthy, organic food. Yes, I have a weight problem late in life, but I don't let it stop me in travel or any other way. Nevertheless I have spent most of my life as a normal sized person, who actually had a near perfect body as a young women in my 20's and 30's that allowed me to do things like model with the top agencies in the world, become a flight attendant for TWA, run a 26.2 marathon without training and do well acting in film, TV and theater. Strangely, sometimes I have been at my healthiest when I was overweight and unhealthiest at my skinniest, so body size doesn't always tell the story on health or healthy eating.
I think my physiological problems with weight and my sugar sensitivity has actually made me much more interested in learning about food. I've lost 100 lbs. twice in my life and kept it off for many years and now I am planning to do that one more time for good. For me that means NOT eating the Standard American Diet ( SAD) and for many years, I see most things in the average American grocery store ( same around most of the world) as poison, since most of it is processed and filled with pesticides and GMO's.
ORGANIC EATING AND PREGNANCY
I believe an excellent organic diet helped me get pregnant at 47 and I must admit I ate the best of my life before conceiving and during the 9 months that I was pregnant with Mozart. I believe everything we think, feel, eat, do affects the growing baby within, so I was impeccable with eating, sleeping, meditating etc during that time and had the easiest, most wonderful pregnancy without any problems what so ever, like high blood pressure or gestational diabetes, despite my age. Strangely, I was never hungry while pregnant, so it was quite easy.
Alas, the stress and post-traumatic stress disorder of having a baby late in life after a very difficult, excruciating 48 hour back labor - forceps -emergency c-section delivery.... especially with a high needs baby who had many physical problems from that delivery which made her "failure to thrive " with a severe feeding problem that kept her from gaining weight, but was also extremely busy, always awake/hyper-alert and advanced developmentally ( walking and talking at 6 months) who stumped the medical community even at Standford Children's Hospital... put us behind the eight ball for a while.
I only gained about 25 lbs during my pregnancy, but dealing with all the stress and doctors after the birth and first year of life, is when my weight problem began again. I was the opposite of most people, I didn't gain baby weight during pregnancy, but afterwards. Some doctors think that extreme trauma had impact on my current health issues as well as high trauma from my early teen years.
EATING ORGANIC WHILE TRAVELING
Keeping a healthy diet while traveling on a low budget is also MUCH more challenging. Yet, we managed to do pretty darn good with that with free food from orchards and organic gardening etc and we purposely have done no vaccines for health reasons. We hardly ever get sick and are full of energy despite me being over weight at this age and not being able to eat an all organic diet like we did at home. Our lifestyle allows us to get more exercise natually.
But then, I had a bike crash on the Danube and ended up in a foreign hospital needing surgery and paralyzing my dominant arm for over a year and doing physical therapy in 6 countries. I was given massive doses of antibiotics by IV during my 10 days in the hospital. I did my best to counteract it with Yogurt and Dannon Activa as soon as I got out of the hospital as I am a person who tries to never take antibiotics unless I have no choice, so rarely have in my life.
Nine months later, in May 2010, I had a gum infection, so my Danish dentist in Spain gave me another antibiotic which I reluctantly took to save my tooth as we were about to hit the road in our RV. I got violently ill for five days while taking it and have had severe digestion problems ever since. ( It's called Flagyl or Metronidazole in the U.S, it's for anaerobic bacteria and funnily is sometimes used for digestive issues too, but has a reputation also for causing many problems).
"if people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." Thomas Jefferson
LOOKING FOR A CURE
Who knew that an imbalance in intestinal flora from antibiotics could create severe dysbiosis that meant eating ANY food was impossible, extremely painful, totally debilitating and the simplest foods would churn in one's stomach for 16 hours and more trying to digest and creating extreme toxicity and problems in the liver, pancreas, spleen and gall bladder?
I truly was on death's door, often writhing in agonizing pain, by the time I reached California and despite seeing the best MD's and alternative healers on 3 continents, no one seemed to be able to help me. I took what seemed to be a zillion tests..endless blood tests, MRI, endless stool tests that checked for parasites, bacteria, fungus, H-Pylori, gluten sensitivity etc, ultra sound pelvis, ultra sound abdomen, CDSA, etc, etc...that were all normal and only told me what I didn't have.
I was sicker than some friends who had cancer, but no one seemed to know a cure. Often there were consequences with the tests like the IV dye that they used for the MRI that gave me 10-level ( on a scale of 1 to 10) kidney pain for a week. Sometimes I would get temporary help, but within hours or days, it was back worse than ever.
Most of the medicine, herbs and supplements that the MD's and the natural doctors ( homeopathic, acupuncturist, chiropractors, Cranial Sacral therapists etc) gave me made me feel worse. More than 60 million Americans and 20 million Canadians suffer from digestive disorders, so I am not alone in my search for a cure. It is the most common complaint for doctors yet little they know about it or can do.
BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN HEALTH
Just as I think you should take your finances and child's education into your hands, I think the same about your health. Many experts can steer you in the wrong way, so you have to do your own due dilgence. Unfortunately, this is really hard to do when simply sitting up is a major challenge, but I had to keep trying things or die.
Finally, out of desperation and thanks to the recommendations of brilliant Dr. Jeffrey McCombs I tried some healing raw foods from the quite radical Aajonus Vonderplanitz book We Want to Live. Since I was having pretty severe pancreas and liver pain and problems at that time, I was encouraged by a Type 1 diabetic who was curing herself on this raw diet and others I knew who had benefited from this diet.
I ate primarily a smoothie that consisted of lots of raw butter, raw unheated honey and a little papaya, organic whole raw milk ( from grass fed cows), fresh pressed green juice, avocado, raw cheese, fresh bee pollen and a little Perrier. I also found Terramin Clay from this book and Dr Jeff McCombs which has had an amazing healing affect for me and my family and finding Matic Gum on my own was a supplement that was an immediate help. The Westin Price folks call Clay a super food used by our ancestors and I agree now! I also did deep clearing work with Michael Hayes which helped tremendously.
"Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune." Noam Chomsky
WHAT FOOD WORKED
I haven't eaten honey or hardly any sugar in years, nor dairy from cows, so I wasn't expecting much, but I actually felt better almost immediately which no other diet had done. ( I seriously tried them all including organic vegetarian, organic vegan green juices, ayurvedic, Chinese healing foods, organic liver only, gluten free, specific carbohydrate, food combining, only organic liver, only miso, only bone broth, only goat yogurt/goat kefir and avocados, only Kicheree, etc etc etc ).
I had tried the raw green juices and raw veggies before, but they didn't do much for me without the raw dairy and eggs ( mostly made in smoothies) and good raw fats. I had never eaten smoothies in my life, nor owned or used a blender and suddenly I became a smoothie queen! I even got my 84 year old mother eating them ( and healing her osteoporosis and broken bone with it) and the whole family.
It sounds weird, but the more I ate the better I felt and the more I researched the more this started to make sense. Nutrition gurus Mercola, Trudeau, Rubin and more ALL rave about the benefits of raw milk and dairy and the negatives of pasteurized dairy. I went to very pure, organic raw food and was amazed that I could feel a difference.
WHY FOOD IS DIFFERENT AND LESS HEALTHY TODAY
I started to understand there is a huge difference in what exactly you eat and how primitive people and traditional diets have much to teach us all. The nutrition you get from organic food, grass fed beef, cows and goats that are not given hormones to increase their milk and antibiotics , free range chickens and eggs etc is very, very different nutritionally than conventional foods.
A century ago a Holstein cow produced 400 to 500 pounds of milk annually. Today, the average Holstein cow produces 20,000 to 30,000 pounds thanks to the over-use of growth hormones and antibiotics on conventional dairy farms. Our government protects the interest of the corporate food industry, not the people. Just look at the high connections of Monsanto folks in both parties and FDA government offices and follow the money. Shameful and why the United States has the highest cancer rate in the world.
BEST BOOKS FOR DIGESTIVE HEALTH
Another book that I really liked was Restoring Your Digestive Health ( which agrees with Vonderplanitz that raw foods, raw UNHEATED honey, raw milk, clays and even raw meat are important foods, but also recommends fermented foods, wheat grass powders, some sprouting grains and nuts and their importance and a different slant). At first I could hardly eat anything, ( and ate 100% raw except perhaps a slice of sour dough bread in California as I started to heal) but I am now able to eat more variety.
Interestingly, both authors of these two books were written by people who turned around a fatal and incurable disease ( Cancer and Crohns) and I could now relate to their suffering and long struggle to find answers. Another key book was Optimal Digestion and I brought all 3 of these books with us (as well as a bag full of supplements) to read and reread.
All three books mention Harvard educated Dr. Weston Price and his amazing studies of primitive people and traditional diets around the world compared to modern diets. Everybody should look into this research and I am using three great videos to share a little of the principals about what is truly healthy eating and the consequences of our modern diet.
HOW WE EAT
The problem is eating raw dairy is easy in California but not so easy in Asia, so I am trying to find a new way of eating here that works for us and uses the things available here like coconut and tropical fruits and vegetables. That is one of the keys for travel and food, take advantage of local foods. I've just bought my first juicer and a blender and will keep you posted on what works best and recipes that we love. Good fats are amazing for the body and healing, so avocados have become a mainstay for us.
At the moment we are kind of on an unconventional raw food- paleo -lacto-ovo-pescatarian - Weston Price principals combo. We try to eat raw as much as possible, but are flexible in our eating. We try to incorporate as much healthy food like organic wheat grass juice extracts ( and oat and barley..even took some on the plane and ordered the veggie platter), cultured beverages ( I make my own kefir but learning many others), cultured vegetables ( so easy to make your own and cheap), fatty fish like salmon and sardines, raw organic free range eggs ( great in smoothies), homemade stocks and bone broths from organic ingredients, we make our own mayonnaise and other condiments, coconut and cold pressed organic coconut oil, home made daily green juices from organic greens, raw unheated honey as our only sweet, and soak or ferment the grains and nuts we use like traditional people.
WHAT ORGANIC FOOD IS AVAILABLE IN ASIA
We've found three excellent organic food stores here and a great organic restaurant and I will write more about them. Luckily, there is even some good organic selections at Tesco which is just two blocks away, so that is very handy. And I am looking to arrange some partnerships with local organic growers to get some things sent directly to our home in bulk orders. Doing a long stay here with Penang as our base for Asia gives us some advantages compared to fast travel. All photos were taken in Penang.
Eating well also goes hand in hand with our sustainable living philosophy and supports the planet as well as us. DO take time to read this brilliant physicist from India who tells the truth about the poison in our food, the biggest corporate take over of the food chain that harms all and what we can do to Occupy our Food Supply.
On my good days, I'd say I am about 95% healed and on my worst days, I'd still say about 90% healed and I am so grateful to feel human again. I have enough energy to do a good workout every day. But, this has been such a long, hard struggle for health and vitality, that I am determined to make this year my healthiest ever and continue to find ways to make myself and my family as healthy as possible. We're looking forward to making a nice organic garden on our terrace soon.
What are your best tips on keeping healthy and home and during travel? What do you think about the state of food on our planet today?
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I discovered the raw food diet and read about its benefits (and challenges) a few years ago. Even if I vouched then that I will introduce more raw foods into my diet and in 2-3 years, be a 90% raw foodist, I managed to fail at it ... because I somehow fall back into craving warm and "comfort" foods. Bad habits are hard to shake off and somehow taste buds, preconceived ideas or customs are even harder to change ... in my experience, at least. Even if I am lucky enough to have grown up on mostly an organic diet , and I still do not consume junk food (except for sweets), I still find it hard to be consistent in my diet habits and do not always pick the healthiest choices. So, my take on this issue is that raw, organic, not-processed or GMO foods are better for the body and soul, but such diet takes a lot of determination and knowledge to be successful at it. Also, time and money are considerations which do not work in favor of such diet.
My top tips to keep healthy and radiant ("glow from within" type of thing) are: 1) surround yourself with as many people on healthy diets like this - peer support is great and quite essential and 2) find out where the farmers' markets are in your hometown or other places you visit during your travels and do not only shop there, but make friends with the farmers, ask them about the food they are growing, how they got into it, if possible visit their farms, etc - you may surprised how happy they are to talk with you and how good you will feel afterwards.
And to answer your second question, the state of food on our planet is getting to be deplorable on more levels that I can comment right now. But it is each of us responsibility to educate ourselves and take appropriate action.
Posted by: Violeta | April 01, 2012 at 12:47 PM
Awesome tips for healthy eating when traveling!
Posted by: Brock - Backpack With Brock | April 01, 2012 at 04:51 PM
Great input @Violeta,thanks! I agree about the challenges of a raw food diet and even more so if one is traveling. I actually once did the raw food diet ( vegan way) years ago before I had Mozart, but found it much too hard for the real world and surprisingly, didn't find that much difference in the way I felt ( if any).
Some how for me..at least at this point, the raw dairy and eggs and good fats seems to be a key factor.
Having had such a horrible, long struggle with the simple process of just eating these last few years, makes me more motivated than ever. Trying to convert kidlet and hubs is another story, so often times we eat a little different, because they do need more comfort in food as their motivation is not as strong as mine is.
I am not sure how we will apply this on the road, but hope to get more answers to that as we go.
We find it is harder to do things like sleep overs and with Mozart getting together with friends..trying to keep her diet as pure as possible but not making a fuss.
I love the tip about making friends with the farmers. We have been doing that and also find locals who are health freaks and health food places great ways to support in a foreign land. Even the internet can be handy in finding local organic farms ( WWOOFing is a great resource).
We plan to visit more farms now and learn about organic farming here in Malaysia and where ever we roam.
I am not sure if we will ever be 100% raw for life and I think it okay to find ways to have some healthy comfort foods and we just do the best we can.
Especially for my family, I think we have to have some flexibility and why we have this odd, unconventional combo that includes some of Westin Price thinking.
I want at least the best cooked foods in my diet when I go off and stay conscious of making great choices.
For us, this year here gives us the best opportunity to be super diligent and refine what works for us...so we can always do it.
Posted by: Jeanne @soultravelers3 | April 01, 2012 at 05:56 PM
"sicker than some friends who had cancer". Really, Jeanne? That seems like an incredibly insensitive statement. Let's hope you never get cancer so don't have cause to reconsider your position on that.
Some people aren't so lucky.
Posted by: Sarah | April 01, 2012 at 07:41 PM
Thanks @Brock,glad you liked it!
Posted by: Jeanne @soultravelers3 | April 01, 2012 at 08:37 PM
So sorry @Sarah that offended you, and I certainly don't want to make light of cancer or the tremendous struggle that is. My step father recently died of cancer which broke our hearts ( and I have an aunt who has it) and many friends and family who have gone through cancer or going through it ( or other tragic diseases).
Some have died, some have lived, but all went through valiant fights and I certainly do not want to make light of that in any way, shape or form.
I actually WAS sicker than some I knew who had cancer..even my step father who wasted away over almost 4 years, did not have the kind of pain I was having. He was lucky not to have any pain during his battle with cancer, but I do know some do and often they have pain due to the treatments to heal it ( which was part of my problem as well).
I wasn't saying it to make light of any one's struggle, but trying to express just how very,very sick I was..even without a name or firm diagnosis.
When you say "digestive problem" people can take that lightly as it could mean anything from heartburn to gas, but it can also and does KILL.
I was in the latter category and they did indeed wonder if I had cancer ( as I did because I was so sick and debilitated). I lost considerable weight without trying....a sign of cancer..but it was because I couldn't eat ANY thing without considerable pain for almost 2 years.
I also had a VERY swollen upper stomach for a year and a half, not unlike a dear friend who has cirrhosis of the liver from Hep B that she got through a transfusion.
I know that chronic inflammation is extremely bad for your health and leads to cancer and heart disease, so certainly not something to take lightly.
One doctor diagnosed me with a stealth virus which is just as, if not more, deadly than cancer.
I still don't know exactly what my problem is ( and I am not 100% yet and still have some pain and distress) but just because someone doesn't know exactly what is killing them, doesn't mean one can not be just as sick or sicker than someone dealing with a more clearly known killer disease like cancer.
I find myself actually in the same boat as my friends with cancer, only with less to go on as I have a rare form of whatever this life threatening disease is.
Since you were not my doctor or family,nor held my hand as I writhed in pain and screamed out of control with the worst pain of my life and often felt like a goner...I don't think you really understand where I was coming from.
I haven't gone into the depths of this illness much on the blog, so perhaps you don't fully appreciate how very sick I was.
I was just being honest, not insensitive. People struggle with life threatening diseases in MANY forms besides just cancer...like Rubin's struggle with Chrones that I mention above.
It was actually quite shocking to me that I was much sicker than friends with cancer and help me realize just how bad I was.
I have a dear friend who cured herself of terminal cancer ( it had spread to every organ in her body) many years ago through diet and natural ways ( after traditional MD's failed her completely).
So just as she has helped me, I hope sharing my struggle can also help others with cancer or ANY life threatening disease.
Posted by: Jeanne @soultravelers3 | April 01, 2012 at 09:25 PM
Just wanted to lend support to your pain level being on par with a cancer patient's pain. I cared for my mother personally as she battled cancer. Pain beyond pain. Years later, I suffered from a mystery stomach ailment. I'll spare you the intimate details (I'm sure you've experienced similar in your struggle), but that pain was at times worse than what my mother had.
On a related note, mom's diagnosis was a complete surprise and she was given weeks to live. We were inspired to switch to an all raw diet with much juicing, sprouting, etc. Words cannot express my gratefulness for this giving me nine more months, rather than weeks, with mom. We pointed out which would be our favorite constellations in the sky and switched to speaking in our favorite foreign language (French). We held each other as Simba raised high his cub over The Lion King's pride rock. A week after I was married she passed on. But her spirit walks with me daily and I continue to be nourished by the nine months we had to say farewell.
I only recently discovered your blog. My own little family will be journeying to Europe soon and we are thrilled to see the world together.
You hang in there, Jeanne. Continue to Carpe Diem with your beloveds (oh how I love your use of that word so often!) whether on the mountain top, the seaside, school, or simply at the dining table.
How does young Mozart find the raw diet? As a fellow foodie mama, I would love to see an entry that features a day/week in the life of her diet as a young person. Thank you!
Posted by: HullsEdge | April 02, 2012 at 06:21 PM
Hi Jeanne,
I am happy to read that you are on the mend and wanted to recommend a blog that you might find helpful. It is called Cheeseslave and it is the first place I had ever heard of the Weston Price Foundation or the GAPS diet, etc.. Anyhow, I do not follow that particular diet but do try to eat clean and healthy and have learned quite a bit from this blog. Best wishes to you and your family! I have followed your blog for 5+ years and love all of your adventures. Thank you!
Lori
Posted by: Lori | April 02, 2012 at 07:11 PM
What a beautiful comment @HullsEdge, thank you sooo much for sharing!What a beautiful tribute to your Mother as well.
I am glad to hear that you discovered us, are completely recovered and headed out on your own European family tour!!
Love your idea about food and Mozart. She does have some resistance to the new way of eating as she is a VERY particular, fussy eater. ( She is super skinny, never been on the pediatric weight chart from birth and eats like a bird..but healthy as a horse).
As a baby she loved to eat out of the garden, even parsley off the plant and adored eating wheatgrass ( from the plant) like it was candy in the health food store as I shopped. ;)
So she is great with veggies and fruit..but she has resistance to smoothies because I make them with raw eggs and I think that texture bothers her some. She loves salmon, organic chicken and soup, beans, rice etc.
She loves to make her own salad after school and grab a book to relax. ;)
We don't have a dehydrator so I can't make fancy things. We're soaking organic grains and flour..barley pancakes went over pretty good. ;)
We're still learning and trying to find ingredients here..so a work in progress. She loves the organic cacoa chocolate I make and we've made some ice cream treats with the smoothies.
She wants me to juice her some apples, but the organic apples are too expensive here..so I am still hunting down bulk sources if I can. ;)
But I love your idea and will try to do that down the line!
Posted by: Jeanne @soultravelers3 | April 03, 2012 at 07:41 AM
Thanks so much @Lori! It is such a relief to feel human again. We were all worried about me and was a big strain on my family. The mystery of it still drives me a bit nuts because I want it 100% gone, but I am learning much through this whole process.
I have heard of that blog and really appreciate your rec..so I will check it out more!
I love it that I can find so many great recipes online for both raw food ( vegan) and the Weston Price folks etc. I use things from both. We've never eaten pork and there is no grass fed beef here or raw dairy that I've found that is trustworthy..so I have to pick and choose a bit with my restrictions. I make my kefir out of pasteurized goat milk or coconut milk/creme.
Wow, so cool that you have been following us for over 5 years! Thanks so much. Love that!! It makes me happy to know someone is appreciating what we share.
Kids calling me to bed now..so catch ya later!! ;)
Posted by: Jeanne @soultravelers3 | April 03, 2012 at 07:53 AM
What kind words, Jeanne...thank you. My girls could live off beans & rice. Fruit, too. Veggies? Well, that's hit or miss. If they can pick it themselves (either from a garden or at the farmer's market) then we're in business. Otherwise I try not to sweat it.
I was raised in the '70s by back-to-earth parents. I've never had meat and fast food joints just don't seem to hit my radar. So that's good. BUT, I would love for my girls to be able to navigate social eating situations a lot more easily than I can. As such I'm raising them 90% vegetarian (which comes easily and naturally to me because it's all I know!) and 10% omnivore :-) Hopefully their palate will be a lot more adventurous than mine!!
Mozart is fortunate to have a mother who cares about nutrition....of both body and soul, I imagine!
Posted by: HullsEdge | April 03, 2012 at 12:48 PM
I'm so glad it sounds like you've found something that works for you. Have you ever tried any of Dr. Schultz's products? He's based out of CA too. I've tried maybe a third of them and haven't found one I didn't like. I've been through the elimination diets and have tried multiple ways of eating and find I feel best when I stay away from sugar, dairy and gluten. They've cast out the raw dairy man from SF Peninsula Farmer's Markets and even eggs are hard to find there. :( I'm surprised to hear you have so many organic options where you are now, that's fantastic! Love hearing about your travels.
Posted by: Copperdog | April 09, 2012 at 07:30 PM
In early 2011, my wife and I did a 33 day raw vegan workshop through our yoga studio and were very quickly sold on the benefits.
Weeks into the program we were both losing weight, our skin was literally glowing, and our energy and mental clarity levels were through the roof.
From my experience I concluded that a raw vegan diet is probably the healthiest way for the average human being to eat.
Then, however, I read Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Body in which he brought up a good point that it is probably the increase in vegetable intake and not the absence of meat in a vegan diet that causes the benefits.
This makes sense to me...although...I have still never felt better physically and mentally as when I was on the raw vegan diet.
My wife and I still retain some of the positive nutritional habits we learned in the raw vegan workshop...which...allows us to easily maintain healthy weights and consistent energy levels.
But now we eat a more varied diet as we travel the world...trying to eat as "clean" as possible, whenever possible -- e.g. organic, farm raised, fresh local ingredients, etc.
We also take our astanga yoga practice on the road with us wherever we go. It's a wonderful practice to know because all you need is your body, breath, and attention...and...sometimes a mat if you can't find a "sticky" surface.
Posted by: Adam Dudley | April 21, 2012 at 12:58 PM
so you have to find a place where you can plant your own vegetables? you know, we do have some organic food, but not that common and popular, the first-tier cities(Beijing,Shanghai,Guangzhou) are better than in other rural places. If you can find a place near an organic farm in the country side, that will be great. besides the food, as you said too, you need some aerobic exercises for keeping fit. Taiji quan is the best if you can do it in China. I can collect some info about the organic farm in Guizhou and Hunan. sorry to hear that you suffer from the disease. Hope you will feeling better.
Posted by: winser | May 13, 2012 at 08:15 AM
I have decided to try a raw diet. Ive had major bouts of depression since I was a teenager and want to try changing my nutritional diet in a bid to level out my emotions. Ideally, I was hoping to go 80 - 90% raw and eventually eliminate the 20% cooked over time. I'm currently in Penang too but am finding that some of the organic shops don't stock too many raw options (such as cacao powder for sweet options). Can you suggest a well stocked organic shop? We are lucky to have such an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, but when it comes to some recipes, I just can't find some raw ingredients. I don't want to be limited to salads, raw soups and smoothies. Tomorrow I'll be having my first trial raw macaroni & cheese. I hope it's as good as the original home made comfort food! :)
Posted by: Jo | November 23, 2012 at 03:58 AM
No Cooperdog I haven't heard about or tried Dr. Schultz's products. Thanks so much for the heads up and kind words!
Sorry it took me so long to answer this.
I will have to check that out!
Posted by: Jeanne @soultravelers3 | November 26, 2012 at 06:29 AM
Thanks for the input and perspective Adam!!
Posted by: Jeanne @soultravelers3 | November 26, 2012 at 06:30 AM
Thanks Winser!
Jo, did you see my post about Organic shops in Penang?
http://www.soultravelers3.com/2012/08/where-to-buy-organic-food-in-penang.html
You can't always find everything here, but Penang has a better choice of organic than most places...even better than many in Europe and better prices.
You might try growing some of your own as well from a window sill or terrace.
Posted by: Jeanne @soultravelers3 | November 26, 2012 at 06:33 AM