Celebrating an all-natural lifestyle

Hippocrates Health Institute Video Giveaway

Every now and then, a fellow blogger will graciously give away some of his or her cookbooks in an effort to downsize. I’ve got a habit of hoarding keeping cookbooks, so you won’t see me donating them anytime soon, but I am far more generous with my video collection.

Some time ago, a dear friend gave me an almost complete series of video lectures from the famous Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida. This health resort is often known as the throne of the live foods movement; they make supplements, educate interested people in the nuances of sprouting, and offer their own health practitioner certification course.

The video lecture series covers all of the basics of the Hippocrates brand of a raw foods lifestyle: a very detailed account of food combining, supplements, fasting, detoxification, and so on. They’re inspiring and positive, and they’ll certainly make any rawcurious viewer even more motivated to explore! I will offer a full disclosure: these videos aren’t really copacetic with my own practice of a semi-raw life. For one thing, they’re geared toward people who eat, or wish to eat, close to 100% raw. For another, there’s a spiritual emphasis in the language that I don’t relate to. Most of all, I don’t agree with a number of the practices discussed (such as fasting and the systematic use of home enemas), and in fact I think that they can be hazardous when practiced by people who are interested in raw foods for the wrong reasons (for example, unnecessary weight loss).

Still, it’s always valuable to explore viewpoints that are different from our own, no? And while I don’t agree with much of what’s taught at Hippocrates, I do admire and support their longstanding efforts to promote good health through the teaching of raw and vegan dietary principles. There’s no doubting that Hippocrates is a formidable institution, and I think that anyone who wishes to explore a more exclusive brand of the raw lifestyle should check the videos out!

Lecture 1 - Principles of Health: A brief history of how Hippocrates came into being. A comprehensive explanation of the food groups in the Living Foods diet.

Lecture 2 – Internal Awareness: The basics of the digestive / eliminative system and how to detoxify.
Instruction on the proper way to use enemas and implants.

Lecture 3 – Supplements, Algae, Herbs, and Homeopathy: A guide of the diffrerent acailable supplemtents and their benefits. Also alternative opinions to complete the needed consumption that our human body requires.

Lecture 4 – Ancient and Current Self-Help Techniques: Many helpful healing techniques that can be done at home. For challenges of cuts, burns, impaired vision, infection, pre-mature gray hair, and many others. These time-tested remedies are at your fingertips.

Lecture 5 – Fasting on Liquid Nourishment: The benefits of fasting on green juice rather than water. A review of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual benefits of fasting.

Lecture 6 – Questions and Answers I: Questions on the science, psychology, and food of the Living Foods Lifestyle. The responses provide clear and thoughtful information.

Lecture 7 – Detox and Elimination: The workings of the elimination systems (Lymph, Liver, Lung, Kidneys and Skin) and your bodies’ reactions to a detoxifying program).
View in English

Lecture 8 – Practical Living: How to really live the Hippocrates Lifestyle when you return home. How to have what you need at home, work, and in social situations.

Lecture 9 – Questions and Answers I: Questions of the participants are posed. The responses provide clear and thoughtful information.

Lecture 10 – Bringing it all Home: The physical, emotional and spiritual healing process. How to achieve your highest goals in life. Applying the Hippocrates lifestyle at home.

Lecture 11 – Food Combining: Proper combining of foods for good digestion. Foods that should never be eaten together. Key information for optimal health.

Here they are, having lived a nice life on my shelf, right next to season 4 of The Wire (takes a moment to bow head in solemn reverence for the greatest show of all time).

Hmmm. According to my home video library, I’ve got rather eclectic tastes.

In two weeks (that’s July 25th), I’ll announce the winner of this 11-video set.

To enter

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me which of the videos would interest you the most, and/or
2. Tweet the following: “check out @choosingraw’s Hippocrates Health Institute video giveaway! http://bit.ly/aMBGiC” and then comment to tell me that you did.

Gooood luck!

xo

Astounding Revelation

I interrupt your regularly scheduled Tuesdays for the following astonishment, brought to me by my friend Ben. I (and, quite possibly, you too) have spent my entire life believing that there is only one way to open a banana. I was wrong. Very wrong. Behold, friends:

Who knew? Now you can make that banana soft serve even faster!

An Exercise in Self-Mortification

OK guys. I’m about to do something that makes me slightly mortified: I’m sharing a video of myself. Now, this blog is all about self-empowerment and positive affirmation and confidence, but I will admit it: I really dislike photos of myself. And I really really dislike videos of myself! This one, though, deserves sharing, because I was damn lucky: I got to be interviewed by Matt Monarch, who (if you don’t know him) is a huge force in the raw community. Matt has been 100% raw for eleven years; even though I don’t endorse the “100%” label, this is a huge achievement. And Matt spreads that love to others with his heartfelt books, his blog, his store, the Raw Food World, and his consistently amusing and warm-hearted TV episodes on YouTube.

Matt also deserves congratulations: he’s about to get married! This summer, he’ll wed miss Angela Stokes, another leader in the raw community. Angela lost over 160 pounds on a raw diet, and her website and delicious ebook have been huge sources of culinary inspiration to me! It goes without saying that the whole raw community is pretty stoked about this union; I’m so bummed I won’t be able to make it to Oregon!

Matt was kind enough to tape a few moments of conversation with me yesterday at the Expo. I give Choosing Raw a quick shout, and I address my own favorite topic: simplicity! Naturally, I think I sound like a moron, and that I look tired (I’d spent four hours at Book Expo America before all this, so I could be projecting). But before I get bogged down in what my buddy Philip would call negative affirmations, I’m going to embrace my identity as a savvy self-promoter and tell you guys to check out the video, if you like!

http://mattmonarch.blogspot.com/2009/05/raw-salad-dressings-episode-146.html

In other news, I want to congratulate my amazing blogging friends who ran the Brooklyn half on Saturday: Heather, Ashley, Melissa, Sarah, and anyone I might have left out! You guys never cease to amaze me — congratulations!!

I also want to say that the growth of raw interest in the blog community these days (check out Abbie, Erin, Sarah, Heather, Gina, Courtney, and Shelby’s blogs, just for starters) has me thrilled!! When I started this blog, I had one main goal: I wanted to show readers of both the raw AND the non-raw blogging communities that the raw lifestyle can be fun, appealing, and easy. At the time, it seemed that all raw blogs were aimed only at hardcore raw foodists, rather than broader audiences of mainstream eaters. Now, I see interest in raw foods cropping up everywhere. This makes me so happy. To all of you who are eating more raw foods, please keep it up! And always be in touch with questions.

Happy Monday, guys.

xo