Keep it clean, green, wholesome and fun…enjoy nature’s rainbow of colorful, fresh organic fruits and vegetables. Health is wealth.

Izanah Jones :  I love cabbage and have heard it is good with vinegar, honey and yoghurt mixed together as a dressing. I am not a big fan of dairy, yet I imagine this is probably pretty good. Cabbage is such great fiber, how could you go wrong? Just like a broom, it sweeps intestines clean.

Over at Raw Food Island, we love the raw sugar cane. It strengthens the roots of the teeth to eat it, and it also cleans the plaque off the teeth. We much prefer it to sugar, and love to mix the juice in with our favorite fruit juice to thin it out (instead of water). That’s the way we do it!  Visit us any time.  Roots and Culture with Izanah Jones.

Our livers LOVE lemons. Lemon juice cleanses our livers and helps to dissolve hardened bile lodged in the gall bladder. Just squeeze half a lemon in some water and drink or make lemonade with natural sweeteners. Start out with less lemon juice if you are having challenges because too much can aggravate the liver. Build up gradually and enjoy!

Bring a cooler with you and have a few bottles of orange juice, lemonade, limeade, or fresh grapefruit juice on hand so you can energize yourself throughout the day.

Your visual system uses a significant amount of nutrients and relies on vitamin c replenishment for optimum function.

Orange juice can cause uncomfortable symptoms if your blood is too acidic.  The more detoxified you become, the more orange juice you will be able to consume.  Citrus eats away mucus, so it will help prevents colds.

Be sure to only drink unpasteurized citrus juice to reap the full benefits:  Fresh Squeezed Juice reigns supreme!

Take a look at the nutritional facts of raw orange juice.

Personally, I love virgin raw coconut oil. It helps prevents skin cancer (applies antioxidants to the skin), lubricates the skin and smells wonderful, especially with a few drops of Turkish Rose (organic essential oil).  Our skin reflects our health and the many ways we take care of ourselves. Beware of aging products that accelerate free-radical damage. Even those with refined vegetable oils are damaging.

Don’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t eat. If you are on a raw diet, feed your skin with raw food too. Be creative. Use your smoothie left-overs for a facial! Cut Nori seaweed sheets in strips, wet them with your favorite juice and lay them on your face until it dries. Apply papaya, avocado or pineapple to your face and skin. Last, but not least, use raw coco butter for the royal treatment. Your skin will love the enzymes.

Are you gaining weight on a raw food diet?  If so, cut back on the dense fatty foods and drink more water. Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables that have a high water content:  like watermelons, jelly coconuts, tangerines and oranges, grapefruits, peaches, nectarines, etc.

Simply put, our bodies love water, so if we love our bodies we will drink water consistently – even if we are on a raw food diet!

Salad

• Chinese Cabbage shredded
• Broccoli Tops
• Wild Greens
• Beets, shredded
• Carrots, sliced thin
• Scallions, chopped
• Cracked Pepper

Dressing

In food processor:

• Soaked golden raisins and water they soaked in
• Pumpkin Seeds, soaked; a small container full
• Soaked Sun Dried Tomatoes
• Zest of half a Lime, and juice of the Lime
• Mandarine Juice
• Black Pepper
• Himalayan Pink Salt
• Nama Shoyu
• Yakon Syrup
• Raw Food Salad Topping
• Fake Parmesan Raw Topping
• Olive Oil
• Garlic, 10 cloves
• Chipotle Spice (Richard’s)
• Kelp Powder
• Coconut Vinegar

Garnish

Toss into basic salad and garnish with:

• Sweet Red Pepper, cut thin
• Slivered Lemon pieces with skin
• Taco Seasoning, Frontier
• Paprika
• Fake Parmeson
• Chopped Scallion Greens
• Ginger Umph  (This is a condiment, find out more in my book)
• Sage and Marjoram Leaves

Make a design

© Izanah Jones, 2010

It’s fun, easy, colorful and grounding (yang).  Not only does chewing on tough things like carrots strengthen the roots of  your teeth, it also stimulates cerebral spinal fluid circulation  (this is why I question overextended juice fasting).

In Jamaica, I’ve seen people mix grated carrots with honey, then apply this as a compress over their eyes. They say it is very relaxing and soothing, and that it strengthens the nerves of the eyes.

I also saw a rastaman, named Fire, squeeze a little of the juice from a finely grated carrot carefully into the outer edge of both of his eyes.  He claimed  his vision sharpened immediately.  I always heard carrots were good for the eyes, yet I never took it literally!  This was a real eye opener.

Personally, I love to add fresh ginger (a digestive stimulant) while I am juicing carrots and add a little freshly ground nutmeg afterwards (it is an island thing).  When I’m not in the mood to juice, I just eat them; sometimes, right out of the garden.

Why put the cart before the horse?

Focus mainly on  elimination instead of  nutritional needs.  This will create a suitable intestinal milieu for healthy absorption to take place.

Be in the know and prepare the ground before planting the seeds.

Digestion works in cycles: KNOW THYSELF.

Raw Food is a natural body cleanser. It helps us to eliminate more efficiently because it tones our entire digestive system.  It is the best fuel to put into our machines; or rather, our bodies.  When we run efficiently, our metabolism functions optimally.  This means more effective elimination of metabolic waste and other toxins.  It also means, less putrification, fermentation and toxic gas build up.  Pathogens, unfriendly bacteria, viruses, parasites and disease cannot live in a clean environment. They are quickly flushed out of a system that is not a host for them.

If your intestines are caked with toxic build up, hard fecal matter and rubbery mucoid plaque,  nourishing elements cannot effectively pass through your small intestinal walls to be transformed and utilized by other parts of the body.  Obstruction creates congestion:  constipation is health’s enemy.  We can be constipated even on a cellular level when cellular waste is sluggish and nutritional absorption is hampered.