Do This and Raw Success Is Imminent

Perhaps you've tried going totally raw. It went fine for a little while. But you couldn't stick with it. Setbacks result from many causes. Some are physical: digestive trouble...overly rapid weight loss...nutrient deficiencies...lack of energy. Some are psychological: emotional attachment to cooked food, cultural and social pressure.

I'm nobody special. I was raised on cooked food. My mom was a chocolatier, and-no surprise-I was a sugar addict. Yet this is my sixteenth year on 100% raw. Over the course of these years, I've watched people wander into the world of raw, some staying, but others leaving. I've longed to figure out a way to help every newcomer become successful. I think I may have found the answer...

Recently, I have been working on my old elbow injury to increase range of motion with a therapist. He is an exceptionally healthy 63 year-old individual. I'm always curious about the lifestyles of very healthy people. My therapist's secret? No, not raw foods-he eats a regular diet. But there's one thing that sets him apart from the vast majority: a thorough chewing of each bite of food. On my lecture tours I've met several people who were avid believers in chewing. All attribute their good health, in significant part, to this simple practice.

You might be thinking: That's no big deal. Not news. We've heard it many times. But here's what I'm saying: Practice. Just "knowing," doesn't do anything.

I invite you...step into your kitchen right now. Grab an apple, a salad, any food you enjoy. Take a bite. Chew it as you usually do, only count the number of times you chew each bite before it disappears down your throat. Unless you have been practicing mindful eating, the numbers are usually surprisingly low-one or two times for liquids, five or six times for solids.

One of the truly amazing stories validating the importance of chewing comes from Antonio Stanchich, a Nazi concentration camp prisoner who survived cold, hunger and extremely hard labor thanks to thoroughly chewing his meager rations of food. Antonio even chewed the cold water he was given. Years later, his son Lino Stanchich described his father's experience in his best-selling book, Power Eating Program: You Are How You Eat.

Could proper chewing be the missing link to raw food success, to curing deficiencies in B12 and Vitamin D, to needed weight loss or weight gain, to ending intestinal gas, indigestion, and cravings? I wholeheartedly believe it may well be. Read my article Chewing Guide to Raw Food Success