How I got into the "Raw Food" Thing

In a recent newsletter that I received from naturaw.com, I noticed this very interesting article by Japanese raw food author Mihoko Sekido on how she got started with eating raw, (she also maintains a raw blog, but it is all in Japanese).

I would say that Mihoko's story represents the stories of the majority of individuals currently eating raw - individuals who started eating this way because of some alignment or dis-ease. But just like all great teachers Mihoko is here to tell the world that they don't have to go through what she did in order to embrace health.

Hi everyone! This is Mihoko Sekido. I am an author of a Japanese raw food book called "Hajimete-miyo Raw Food Seikatsu" (Let's start a raw food life style) published in Japan in late June 2005. The whole RAW FOOD thing is still pretty new over there, and perhaps the easiest way to imagine this is think about the raw food movement in the US in the early 90's. Right now, when I say "raw foods" people in Japan think of raw fish and meat! And yes, being a Japanese person, I have eaten my share of Sushi before my transformation.

I learned about raw foods in New York when I lived there between 1998 and 2005. I have moved to California just recently. I worked at an IT company making thousands of bucks a months with lots of stress to go a long with it. My diet consisted of NY bagel with cream cheese, coffee with Half and Half, a stack of pancakes with corn syrup (not even real maple syrup), a muffin made of white flour and sugar, bread, pasta and more white four and white sugar, tap water and alcohol. I did this for 2 years and one day I woke up to a red "strawberry face"! My face had rashes all over and itched like crazy. I went to see a dermatologist who told me my diet has noting go do with the problem I was having....

I was given a topical medication and that was it. The medication made my face look even worse! I had an allergic reaction to the medication and the doctor simply tries to give me another medication. That was when my consciousness shifted. I stopped trusting doctors and started to look into self-help, alternative, holistic healing information. Soon I learned about "yeast infection" "Candida over-growth" and colon health.

Almost all skin diseases are caused by what they call a "Leaky Gut Syndrome" (LGS). LGS (gut not being in tact, it has leakage so things spill out into the blood stream) is actually caused by chronic stress and wrong diet. Candida overgrowth is a SECONDARY condition following LGS. There is a holistic wellness website where you can get free health advice from a holistic doctor free of charge and I was on it everyday, leaning about health and nutrition. One volunteer posted information about enzymes and nutrition and from there I learned more about food & enzymes and eventually the raw food diet. I started to look for places to get more resources in NY about the raw food life style. I found a store that sold all kinds of dehydrated foods and books on raw foods. The first book I purchased was called "Eating without Heating" and soon my kitchen had a home for a blender, a juicer and a dehydrator. My fridge was filled with sprouts, greens and fruits.

My face started to heal almost immediately. I was very thrilled by the instant results. When I was eating cooked foods, even though they were "whole foods" (like brown rice, beans and steamed vegetables) I still had flare-ups so I was not totally cured of my facial eczema. Within a month, I was totally normal looking again and to this day, after 4+ years, I have never suffered another skin problem. My skin looks healthy, toned and even. I do not need to hide my skin so I put nothing on it. Eating uncooked foods sounds so simple yet so powerful - no beauty cream or potion or medication or surgery can give you this kind of real permanent results! And believe me, it IS for real.