The Fresh Network Blog

Get Fresh! Spring Issue Now Out!

Our Spring issue is now out and here's a rundown of what's in it:

* As concern around decreasing fertility levels grows, buck that trend with advice from Karen Ranzi, Victoria Leith and Karen Knowler

* Start growing your own. Elaine Bruce shows you how to get kick-start your windowsill garden

* History lessons: Travel back in time with Dr Brian Clement and Karen Magic

* Is your home poisoning you? Learn how toxins and harmful chemicals are infiltrating our homes, and take Philip Weeks’ advice on safety proofing your home

* Barefoot in the world: Take off your shoes and reconnect with the natural world, says Frank Arrigazzi

* As seen on TV: We interview Laura Coxeter and Chris Massamba who recently showcased raw food on national British TV

* Pure beauty: Rose Brown, the mastermind behind Pure Halal Beauty natural cosmetics, tells us about her brand and the ethos behind it

* Brush up your technique: If you’re dogged by pain, here are two approaches to living a pain-free life

* Reviews: Lisa Clatworthy reviews InSpiral Lounge

* Food: Fabulous recipes from Silvia Clausin of the Raw Food Deli, nutritionist and chef Christine Bailey and Get Fresh! regular, Amy Levin

Go here to order your copy

To subscribe to Get Fresh!, go here

The raw world's top 5 most dangerous myths

Avoid some common pitfalls and you can really ramp up the results you get on your raw regime. Full of information on just that is Get Fresh! magazine editor Sarah Best's article "The raw world's top 5 most dangerous myths", posted on her new website a few days ago.

Here's an excerpt:

"Heat damages the delicate macronutrients, micronutrients and enzymes in food, as well as its subtle yet all-important energy field.

It begins its demolition job on all of these – and in many cases finishes it – at a fraction of the temperature at which most food is cooked.

In addition, heat causes the formation of substances which can damage our cells when they come into contact with them – and as these substances are not naturally occurring they add to our toxic load.

These are just some of the reasons it makes sense to eat as much of our food raw as possible.

But unfortunately there are a number of dangerous myths circulating in the raw food world. Get taken in by any of these and they can really diminish the results you get on your raw or high-raw regime.

At Get Fresh! magazine and its parent company, The Fresh Network, we've been well aware of these myths for many years and we resolutely keep them out of the magazine. We're the folks people call when it all goes wrong, so we witness first-hand the consequences of bad dietary advice. We're committed to ensuring that our readers get only the very best and most effective health information, and we're grateful there are so many ethical, knowledgeable raw food experts out there to join us in delivering it.

But back to those myths that are doing the rounds... Today I want to share with you the five I consider most dangerous, and why."

Go here to continue reading "The raw world's top 5 most dangerous myths"

Sprouting made simple, by Karen Knowler

One of the most healthful, economical and fun things you can bring to your daily diet are the nutritional superstars otherwise known as “sprouts”. To be clear, the term “sprouts” is not short for Brussels sprouts, but is a generic term which covers sprouted beans, nuts, seeds, grains, pulses and legumes – i.e. germinated, living foods.

When I first got into raw food back in 1993, sprouted beans and seeds quickly became one of my dietary staples, simply because that’s what the few books I had on raw food were talking about! Sadly, over the past decade or so, sprouts have become regarded as “hard work”, “boring” or “bland”, and most raw foodies are missing out on what I (and many other long-term raw and living food proponents) consider to be one of the most powerful food groups on earth.

I’m here today to inspire – or re-inspire – you to fall in love with one of the most potent sources of nutrition you can bring into your body. Far from being “dull”, these small but powerful bundles of pure life-force energy have the ability to help you feel vibrantly alive and full of energy like you have never known before.

Not only that, but by bringing more sprouted beans, seeds, grains and pulses into your diet you will automatically take care of one of the most common problems encountered in raw food diets today – that of an over-dependence on nuts and other fats to satiate you. Great news for those who don’t want to eat nuts and/or are trying to lose weight.

The Spring issue is OUT!

If you're a susbcriber and haven't had your copy yet it's on its way to you. 

To subscribe to Get Fresh!, go here.

To see the full run-down of what's in this amazing issue, and/or to order it, go here.

For details of our back issues, go here.

Protecting your health freedom - what YOU can do

Last week we posted an in-depth article on the widespread legislative attempts to curtail our health freedom - moves which are dressed up as being for our protection but which in reality benefit only the world's biggest food, agribusiness, biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

You can read the article here and if you haven't already we really recommend that you do if your freedom to source the best and most natural foods, supplements and medicines (as well as accurate information about their benefits) is important to you. Today we bring you the promised follow-up - our guide to what YOU can do about the challenges outlined in last week's article.

1. Inform yourself, and others, about the issues using reliable sources such as the European and US websites of Alliance for Natural Health International (www.anh-europe.org and www.anh-usa.org respectively) and the official Codex website (www.codexalimentarius.net). As mentioned earlier, inaccurate information or disinformation can do more harm than good.

2. Support Alliance for Natural Health International’s efforts to protect your health freedom with a donation, and consider making it a regular one. You can make an online donation at
www.anh-europe.org/donate or www.anh-usa.org/donate.

3. Take responsibility for your own health, foster awareness and lead by example.

4. Eat a diet that’s made up largely of local or regional organic/biodynamic/sustainable whole foods, including heirloom varieties (and if you are able to cultivate such foods, better still).

5. How you spend your money is one of the most powerful ways of bringing about change. Support local and community based food production systems by shopping at farmers’ markets, farm shops and local organic stores.

Natural health - protecting YOUR right to choose

This week the US House of Representatives passed a 'food safety' bill that looks likely to force many small organic farmers out of business and thereby massively restrict the availability of local, organic produce. This is just one of an ongoing series of legislative measures worldwide that has been presented as being in the public interest but that, in reality, protects only the interests of the world's largest food, biotech and/or pharma companies.

The Winter issue of Get Fresh! magazine (which mailed out to subscribers this Wednesday, incidentally) carries an in-depth round-up of the most pressing issues affecting our health freedom, and what we can do about them. To ensure the most accurate and up-to-date information on this topic we went straight to one of the world's most vocal and respected health freedom campaigners - Dr Robert Verkerk, founder and executive director of Alliance for Natural Health International. Here is an excerpt from editor Sarah Best's interview with him.

Sarah Best: Let’s start with the big-picture view. What are the biggest threats to our health freedom right now? If 'the powers that be' are successful in all they are currently trying to achieve, what health freedoms that we take for granted now will we no longer have, say, five years down the line?

Dr Robert Verkerk: Unfortunately, it’s not scaremongering to say that our ability to care for our own health as we see fit is under the greatest threat in our history. The screws are being tightened in every direction.

We hear all the time from regulators – whether trading blocs like the EU or supranational organisations like Codex Alimentarius – that “the public must be protected” through comprehensive new legislation. However, when you actually look at the proposed or existing laws, it’s frighteningly obvious that the only people being protected are those in the big corporations. Their power and ability to reap enormous profits from our healthcare will be very safe indeed if they achieve their aims!

In short, the main problems in the EU come from EU-based legislation that will, amongst other things, (a) ban many thousands of herbal medicinal products from May 2011, (b) set unscientifically low limits on doses of vitamins and minerals in food supplements, and (c) ban any claim about the benefits of foods or food ingredients, unless pre-approved by EU authorities according to very narrow criteria that are often impossible to achieve.

These laws are already in place, but their provisions are in a ‘sleeping’ or transitional phase to give manufacturers and suppliers time to adjust to the radical changes. They will come fully into force after preset time periods – for example, the three legislative catastrophes I've just outlined are expected to become fully operational EU-wide in the narrow window between May 2011 and December 2012. We refer to this as “boiling the frog slowly” – the changes are made gradually and incrementally, so that people don’t notice what’s going on until it’s too late. We’re pretty much at that point now.

The tests that can take the guesswork out of your health regime

Did you know that there are safe – yet extremely under-utilised – tests that can give you valuable feedback about what is going on in your cells, and help you establish which diet and lifestyle will be optimal for you? Nutritional therapist Niki Gratrix reports.

I am excited to be sharing information in this article which is literally at the cutting edge of nutrition and really gives the reader a glimpse into the future direction of this field. This information is very timely and appropriate for those interested in optimum health and raw food. While disagreement continues to rage within the field about what is the “best” diet, in this article I’ll run through the tests which can help you to discover whether or not a particular diet and lifestyle is right for you. 

I’ll be covering two categories of tests in this article. First, some basic “functional” tests which you can use to get information about your level of health before a diagnosable disease state occurs. They can also help you establish if your diet and lifestyle are leading to any deficiencies or imbalances.

At the moment, functional testing is greatly under-utilised by those interested in optimum health and well-being. This is partly because some of the tests that can be really useful have to be paid for, and – in the UK anyway – we’re all used to getting healthcare for free on the NHS. In addition, increased regulation means that these tests can only be ordered by qualified practitioners. There is no direct advertising about them to the public, so they are little known about. 

Yet there are some fantastic tests out there which can give you valuable objective feedback as to how well balanced you are biochemically, and take the guesswork out of your diet and lifestyle choices. Sometimes, having a result in black and white can really motivate you to complete the regime or make the changes you need to. Other times it can confirm you really have cleared that parasite or candida now, or the other goal you were trying to achieve, so there’s no need for the strict diet or supplements any longer.

Get Fresh! Autumn issue is now out

This is the Autumn issue of Get Fresh! magazine and yes, that is Natalia Rose on the cover, author of The Raw Food Detox Diet and other highly popular books.

In our exclusive interview, Natalia talks about her teenage struggles with anorexia and bulimia, the weight issues and other health challenges that plagued her early 20s, and how discovering the cleansing diet and lifestyle transformed her on every level. She also speaks out against the warped body culture which continues to drive women and young girls to disordered eating.

For a rundown of some of the other fantastic items in this issue, and/or to buy your copy, go here. For information about subscribing to Get Fresh! magazine, go here.

What's in our Summer issue?

 
 Our Summer issue is now out and here's a rundown of whats in it:

• Leading nutritional therapist Niki Gratrix outlines the specific ways our thoughts and feelings affect our biochemistry, explains the importance of a truly holistic approach to health, and offers a framework for identifying the cause/s of any illness.
• Why we all need to detox. The best health results come from a life-long commitment to cleansing, says Fiona Robertson.
• Say goodbye to problem skin. Tonya Zavasta shares her tips for banishing breakouts and blemishes – forever.
• Dr Douglas Graham reports on the rise and rise of raw.
• Aging gratefully. We live in a society that is emphatically anti aging but we can still have a sane and healthy approach to getting older if we choose to, says Elaine Bruce.
• Agave syrup’s fall from grace is a simple reminder of the difference between "natural" and "processed", says Dao Earl.
• Emma Mihill discusses the disadvantages of conventional sanitary protection products and explores the pros and cons of the alternatives.
• "My journey to optimal health". Taoist health practitioner Elwin Robinson shares a candid and highly personal account of his years of despair, apathy and exhaustion - and how he turned his life around by getting educated, going raw and cleansing his body.
• Thomas Lodi, M.D. reports on new research showing the amazing power of Brassica vegetables in protecting against cancer.
• Despite what you may have heard, our earliest human ancestors were neither vegan nor vegetarian. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be, says Thomas Billings.
• Cherie Soria presents recipes for making your own cleansers, masks and scrubs.
• High fashion has a whopping great carbon footprint, but style and sustainability absolutely can go hand in hand, says Janey Lee Grace.
• How to eat healthily while travelling, by Karen Knowler.
• To juice or to blend. Emma Sgourakis explores the politics of pulp - and presents eight fantastic juice and smoothie recipes.
• Guide to raw ice cream. inSpiral Lounge is famous for serving London’s best raw ice cream. In this exclusive feature, Bella Willink, creator of the range, outlines her top tips for making sensational raw ice cream, plus three of her favourite recipes.
• Plus the latest news, reviews, tips, useful contacts and much, much more!

Order it here.

To subscribe, go here. For a limited time only, we are offering a free InnerTalk CD to all UK subscribers. InnerTalk is a mind-training technology designed to help you rewrite your subconscious thoughts, and there are 10 great titles to choose from. So for just £13.97 you can get four issues of Get Fresh! delivered to your door - PLUS the CD of your choice, worth £22.99. Visit the subscriptions page now to find out more!

Interview with Rozalind Graham

Professor Rozalind Graham spent 18 years as one of the most active writers and speakers on the raw food circuit. She is revered as much for redefining what constitutes compassionate living as for her straight-talking logic in matters of nutrition and health. Her husband is raw food promoter Dr Douglas Graham and for the last five years she has been a full-time mother to their daughter, Faychesca. She rarely writes these days and if you have made it to one of her few speaking engagements you should count yourself lucky. In this exclusive interview, she talks to Sarah Best about her own transition to raw foods, and shares her insights into the reasons behind disordered eating, and the importance of reconnecting with our true nature.

You’ve been following the raw vegan diet for over 23 years and in that time you’ve also been one of the world’s leading promoters of it. But I think it’s accurate to say you first started out on the alternative lifestyle path for compassionate reasons rather than health ones?

Yes. As I grew up I started to become more and more aware of what I now call congruency, although I didn’t have a word for it at the time. I had a deep, deep love of animals so I knew it wasn’t appropriate to be causing suffering to these precious beings by eating them. I honestly don’t remember what age I was when I went vegetarian, but I do know I was just a child.

What led you from vegetarianism (and later veganism) to discovering and adopting the raw diet and lifestyle?

As a young adult I was teaching exercise classes and one of my students was an Anglo-Indian lady. When she started coming she was quite heavy and didn’t look very well. She was absent for some time and one day I was in the supermarket and I bumped trolleys with a stunning woman – sparkling eyes, amazing skin, shiny hair. I knew I knew her but couldn’t work out from where. When she told me who she was I was astounded and I had to ask her, “What’s your secret – it obviously wasn’t my classes!” She put a copy of the book Fit For Life in my trolley, told me to “Read that,” kissed me on the cheek and left!