Each of us needs to trust our bodies. I advise you to trust your own intuition, your feelings and your experience. I don't want you to do anything because I said so. Each of us is unique in our body's needs. We are the best experts for ourselves. If you change your diet because Victoria recommended it, you won't stay on it for long. Or hold out until another "expert" offers you a different idea of health. I suggest you only do what feels right to yourself.
Today's world is filled with wonderful teachers. Can you imagine what would happen if we followed every piece of advice from these teachers? One advises us to eliminate fruits t.к. they're high in sugar, which can lead to cancer. Another says to eat only fruits and no vegetables. And the third is opposed to nightshades and citrus fruits, t.к. they cause arthritis and destroy our bones. Dr. Hilton Hatema, who lived to be 100 years old, advises against eating green cabbage, leaf lettuce and other greens, t.к. they're in the opium family and they're toxic. One nutritionist writes in her book that all sprouts (sprouted grains) are so toxic that even animals won't eat them. Another warns us not to eat any cereals as they are bad for the brain. Hygienists say you should not eat nuts and dried fruits, t.к. they are "concentrated food." I myself have heard a very popular raw food teacher say not to eat carrots, turnips and other root vegetables because they are hybrids and therefore harmful.
If we follow all this advice, we will simply have nothing left to eat. Instead of a cheese eater, you'll have to become an air eater. So what do we do? The only correct solution is to listen to your body.
Let's experiment. Imagine that right now you go to the store and buy a fruit. What would you choose? Pear, apple, orange, fig, strawberry, banana, grape, avocado, mango, or cherry? Would everyone reading this book choose the same fruit? I doubt it. We are all different. Our body knows what we need. Whatever fruit you choose is what our body wants. Your job is to give your body what it needs. Tomorrow your body may want the same fruit or something else. Trust your body.
I've been listening to my body for eight years now. During this time, I have been to many lectures where the speakers argue about which type of food is better. I remember a lecturer who spoke against the grain. On this day I was drawn to eat millet, so I told the lecturer. "I value your opinion and your research, but my body is my boss."
When my body demands millet, I sprout it and eat it. What else can I do? My body knows best what I need. By listening to your body and following your intuition, you will be healthy and happy.
Please trust your intuition and don't assume that anyone knows what your body needs better than you do. Our body is beautiful and wise. All 35 trillion cells in your body have their own soul and their own wisdom and know what they need. Imagine that a speck of snot falls into your right eye. Which eye will close? The right one, of course. The left eye won't close by mistake - our body never makes mistakes. Your mother produced a beautiful child. Our bodies are perfect. When we start commanding our body, and we don't listen to its wisdom, that's when we get into trouble. For example, what is the standard response to fever in modern humans? Aspirin. Is it the right thing to do? I believe that if there is a temperature in my body, I need it. When you have liquid stools, your body is telling you that it needs it. If you take medicine to stop diarrhea, you are going against the wisdom of your body. Our body never makes mistakes. If we listen to our body, we always know what we need to do.
After two months on the raw food diet, my kids were craving a variety of fruits. Sergei asked for mangoes and blueberries, and Vale wanted olives and figs. I had to run around fulfilling the children's wishes. For example, I bought Sergei a mango. He ate it and wanted more. I brought him a whole crate of mangoes, thinking he'd have enough for a week. He sat down and ate a whole crate in one day, and then he said: "Too bad there aren't more," so I bought him another case. It was the same with the blueberries. I bought him a two-pound (1 kg) bag of blueberries and he ate them in one sitting. Valya is addicted to figs. She asked for fresh or dried figs. Everything was not enough for her; the same was true of the olives. During our travels that spring, we visited an acquaintance. She had a beautiful olive tree growing. Beneath him lay many crumbled olives, already beginning to thaw. Valya said: "I want to try them. Oh, they're very tasty." I tried one and I found it very bitter. And Vala liked them so much that she stuffed them into plastic bags for the driveway.
The next stop was a visit to Dr. Bernard Jensen, a world-renowned clinical nutritionist. We asked the doctor what Sergei should eat for his diabetes. The doctor looked in his books and said the best thing for diabetes is mangoes and blueberries. That's it! Then we asked what Vala needed for her asthma. The doctor said figs and olives. I told him that's exactly what my kids asked for. Dr. Jensen asked, and that's what I was drawn to. I replied that I didn't know, t.к. I always bought and ate whatever was cheapest. Dr. Jensen shook his head. That's when I realized that our body is drawn to certain foods because it needs them. Our children's bodies began giving them instructions much earlier than our adult bodies gave them to us. A few more weeks passed, and Igor and I began to be drawn to different things as well. I remember the day I had an "onion" attack. I could see onions everywhere. I looked at the green wallpaper and thought, "I want green onions." I went to the store and bought 10 bunches of green onions. I wanted onions so badly that by the time I got to the checkout line, I only had nine bunches left. I couldn't explain to the surprised cashier why I ate an unwashed bunch of onions before I reached her. I paid for the onions, including the one I ate, and left the store, while the surprised cashier kept staring at me. I came home, sliced up an onion and avocado and ate it all in one sitting. I called Dr. Jensen and asked his opinion on my "onion" attack. I've read that many people don't recommend eating onions and garlic t.к. they irritate the mucous membranes. Dr. Jensen said that sometimes when we have too much mucus build up in us, our body wants an onion, t.к. it helps get that mucus out of the body.
Have you ever had a craving for sweets? When our body needs calcium, we crave sweets. Calcium in nature has a sweet taste. If we plant strawberries in soil rich in calcium, the berries will be very sweet. If you are constantly craving sweets, it means that your body's calcium levels are very low. It was really hard for me to give up sweets. I didn't eat sweets, but at the store I had to close my eyes every time I passed by the sweet shelves. If I didn't hold back and stare, I immediately wanted to go over and try something sweet. I shared this desire with an acquaintance. In response, he said: "Victoria, you just don't have enough calcium." He advised me to soak sesame seed, make milk from it and drink it every day on an empty stomach for two weeks.
I took his advice. In the beginning, I added a little honey to the sesame milk. But after a few days, I didn't want the milk to be too sweet anymore, so I started putting less honey in. And after a week, I didn't need honey at all. Then I wanted more bitter milk, so I switched to brown (not husked sesame seed.) For two weeks, I didn't leave the house without my mug of sesame milk. Then two weeks later, another acquaintance of mine treated me to dates. I love them! I took a bite and couldn't swallow. It was too sweet. The chemical balance of my body changed. I didn't want sweets anymore, not even the ones that are good for us. It's beautiful! There were plenty of grapes everywhere that summer, but I didn't want any. Sesame milk is the king of calcium.
When Serezha broke his collarbone, the first thing he craved was germinated wheatgrass juice, and the second thing he craved was sesame milk. That day I came home late, and Valya immediately started complaining: "Talk to him! He's exploiting me! He makes me make him sesame milk every 30 minutes! I can't do anything else! I can't do my homework, I can't go play, I have to make him milk all day long!" Because Seryozha had a broken collarbone, he kept wanting sesame milk. Once he had everything healed, he didn't need physical therapy. The doctor told us that the bone would take anywhere from eight to twelve weeks to fuse. But Serezha healed much faster thanks to the sesame milk. In as little as two weeks, the fracture site has calcified, allowing the broken bones to fuse and heal.
When you don't know what your body wants, you probably do what Valya used to do. She would open the refrigerator and stare at whatever was in there for long periods of time, not knowing what she was looking for. Realizing that she didn't want any of what was there, she shut it down. She knew she wanted something, but she couldn't figure out what. Sometimes you will also want something you've never tried in your life. You're not craving any of the food on offer, t.к. you want what you don't have. Start buying fruits and vegetables you've never tried before - this will help you figure out what you're drawn to. What is good for one is not always good for all. One day I had to cook dinner for 25 people. I went out to the backyard where I have a vegetable garden, and the first thing that caught my eye were the dandelions - they looked so appetizing. I tried one. I found it not bitter at all, but even sweet. I got a bucket full of dandelions. I announced to my guests that there would be something special for dinner. I made the sauce with six avocados and lemon juice. I poured this dressing over the dandelions and lovingly blended it all together with my hands. I put this "work of art" on the table. The guests tasted my dish and exclaimed, "That's awfully bitter!" I ended up eating my creation myself. The next morning my skin was all yellow. The dandelions caused a major liver cleanse. Before this cleanse, my skin had a white, unhealthy color. Since that day, a blush always plays on my cheeks. My body knew I needed dandelions. Our bodies are perfect and we underestimate them. I want to tell you something about our perfect body. In school we were taught that blood is a kind of red dye that flows downward by the law of gravity, and then the heart pumps it back upward, and again it flows downward, and upward again. No! Blood is not red paint. Blood is a marvelous river of life that flows through trillions of vessels at cosmic speed. It doesn't just flow because of gravity.
There are universal laws that we do not understand that make the blood flow in any desired direction. If I cut my finger, the blood will wash the dirt out of the wound. Then the blood will clot and close the wound. The blood forms a crust, and when it peels off, new skin forms underneath instead of the wound.
The human body is amazing. Take your hand, for example. There are 26 different bones in our hand. My hand can pick up an apple, peel a banana, pull a root out of the ground, or help me climb a tree. If I put my hand in water, the water does not penetrate my skin, however, if my body needs to sweat, the sweat will come out through my hand that seemed waterproof a moment ago. Our bodies are so wonderful that we should admire them and be grateful for every hair on our head (before we lose it)!
Our body wants us to be beautiful. Everyone's body strives for beauty and health. What stands in the way of this aspiration? I used to think that I was terribly unlucky, because I had a lot of luck.к. my body was ugly from birth. I felt like my body was just disgusting. It always brought me pain and discomfort and no matter what I ate, I gained weight. Since I switched to raw eating, I've lost 120 pounds (55 kg). I've never had so much energy in my life as I do now. I am now free to run, jump and play. I love my body, even though it's the same body I had eight years ago. The same body that I thought was ugly and that brought me pain. The same body I couldn't stand. What changed? I started listening to my body instead of my head. I eat raw food because my body demands it. The only path to health is through knowing what your body needs. Our bodies want us to be beautiful and healthy. All we have to do is listen and follow our body's intuition..
