I also took up a variety of sports over the last ten years, a decision that’s had a positive impact on my physical and emotional health. I am an avid runner and rock climber and enjoy leading an active life with my husband and son. Our favorite weekend activities are hiking in the local parkland, or snowshoeing in the beautiful and peaceful forest, away from the city. We also enjoy running along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa.
Transitioning to a healthier lifestyle has been an ongoing process for me, with many ups and downs. It has been an exciting journey and continues to evolve all the time. The living foods lifestyle has been life-changing for me, and after seventeen years, I feel more balanced and happier than ever before. I have found new ways of being—and continue to transform my life. I am grateful to have found this lifestyle and am pleased to be able to share my experiences and knowledge with you.
Throughout many years, I have experimented with various detoxification programs including water and juice fasts of forty days and more, yet I have found that the most effective program is one that supports the detox process in a gentle and consistent manner. I don’t recommend harsh methods of cleansing because too-rapid detoxification can stress the body. It is also more challenging emotionally, and many people find it difficult to stick with such programs. As well, it can send the pendulum towards the opposite extreme, leading to sporadic and disordered eating.
While shorter cleanses can be helpful, they usually don’t get to the root of chronic problems, which is why the SimplyRaw Living Foods Detox Program is one month long. Transformation occurs over time: twenty-eight days is long enough to break old habits and to create new, healthier ones. I recognize that it can be challenging to find the time to cleanse, so I developed this program to be simple, gradual, and realistic for you to incorporate into your daily lifestyle. It can be customized to suit your own needs, and there are many suggestions that can be used while travelling or socializing with others.
This program is about more than just cleansing the body; it’s about cultivating the healthy habits that have the biggest impact on our well-being. It is also about awareness, personal growth, and reflection, empowering each one of us to make a difference to ourselves, our future, and our planet.
Whether you wish to have more energy, lose weight, clean your palate, or give your system a rest, you can make significant improvements in your well-being by following the guidelines in the SimplyRaw Detox Manual. You are about to embark on an exciting path of self-discovery and wellness.
Glowing health is within your reach!
—Natasha Kyssa
I wish to give thanks to my parents:
My mother, Ilse, for all the comforting times in the kitchen, as a child and adult, and for giving me the strength to pursue whatever my heart desires.
My father, Yuri, for exposing me to art, literature, languages, and culture, who was always there for me, believed in me, and loved me.
A special thanks to my husband, Mark, for his enduring love and encouragement. He continues to support me in this lifestyle and is a large part of my many projects. If not for him, this book would have remained only a dream.
To my son, Mischa, whom I cherish, who has tasted my many green concoctions, and who put up with me working frequent late nights. I hope to be a positive influence and role model for you.
A warm thanks to all my clients who have taught me, and who gave me feedback over the years, allowing me to fine-tune this book.
Thank you to the wonderful team at Arsenal Pulp Press for their invaluable efforts and superb professionalism: Brian Lam, Shyla Seller, Janice Beley, and especially my editor Susan Safyan, who has been most patient with me during this new writing process.
And to visionary Ann Wigmore, who pioneered the living foods lifestyle and who worked selflessly, helping many to improve their health by returning to nature.
Blessings to all of you who take this book into your hands and life; may your journey to better health be full of light.
CHAPTER ONE The Principles of Optimal Health
THE SIMPLYRAW LIVING FOODS DETOX PROGRAM IS a gentle and effective program using fresh, uncooked plant foods to cleanse the body of accumulated wastes and toxins. The program isn’t as restrictive as fasting and is easy to maintain during a regular working schedule. Unlike many other programs, you won’t feel deprived or go hungry, and the abundance of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes will supply the body with the daily nutrients and energy that is necessary for optimum health. Instead of taking countless pills and supplements, the SimplyRaw detox invites you to participate in your own health by making healthy lifestyle changes.
The manual provides a shopping list, useful tips, health-enhancing practices to incorporate into your daily life, sample menus, reference materials, and delicious recipes to help transition to a living foods lifestyle. I recommend that you review the shopping list and purchase key ingredients at least one week before you start.
The SimplyRaw detox is a simple yet powerful program for improving your well-being on every level. You will have more energy and experience a lightness of body, mind, and spirit. Your immune system will be strengthened, digestion improved, and you will lose that extra weight and feel more positive in general. The lifestyle habits you learn during this program will stay with you for your lifetime.
Although you will achieve best results by following the program 100 percent, you may customize it to fit your own lifestyle and schedule. If you’re not ready to go all the way, you may tailor it to meet your specific needs and still achieve positive results, making significant improvements to your health.
“Chemicals … from well-known toxins to newer compounds with unknown effect are building up in our bodies and sometimes staying there for years.” —“The Pollution Within,” by David Ewing Duncan, National Geographic, October 2006
We are living in a toxic and chemically polluted environment, and our health is threatened by the many chemicals and other pollutants in our air, food, and water.
Average people of all ages and races throughout the world are being inundated with thousands of chemicals that are invisible, odorless, and colorless, yet have a deadly effect on our bodies. Toxins include poisons, heavy metals, synthetic hormones and hormone-mimicking chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, cleaning solvents, and smog. These and many other substances are being absorbed into our bodies through contact with clothing, furniture, carpets, air, cosmetics, and the environment within which we live. Fortunately, our bodies are equipped with organs of elimination to clear away the accumulation of these toxins; however, when our organs are overworked, a buildup of toxicity occurs. Our health then suffers. We become fatigued, lack concentration, and become susceptible to sickness.
Many studies link environmental chemicals to the state of our health. Toxins disrupt normal metabolic functioning of the body, which, over time, can lead to conditions such as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, asthma, infertility, neurological disorders, and inflammatory disease. Cancer and cardiovascular disease, arthritis, allergies, obesity, and many skin problems are among the main toxicity-related diseases.
Toxins