How to naturally whiten eyes

We all notice how young people have spectacularly white eyes, and how each passing year seems to make them a touch more yellow.

There is a chemical reason behind this, and “yellowing” of the eyes can be ameliorated.

Why our eyes change colour with age

A chemical reaction called The Maillard Reaction is responsible for this decolouration. This reaction happens when heat is applied to food, and glucose binds to proteins, forming abnormally tight complexes called advanced glycoxidation end products (AGEs).

This reaction is what gives food its flavour, colour, and texture. For example, the Maillard reaction is what is responsible for plain bread becoming golden-brown toast.

A build-up of AGEs leads to the lens crystallines (the lens situated behind the iris) to become progressively yellow-brown pigmented with age, a result of the Maillard reaction.1

The following foods need the Maillard reaction in order to become their edible forms:

• Toasted bread
• Malted barley as in malt whiskey or beer
• Roasted or seared meat
• Roasted coffee

So, eating too much food containing advanced glycoxinated end-products accelerates the process of our white eyes becoming yellow.

How to naturally whiten your eyes:

• Cut back on refined carbs, and eat more whole grains.
• Do not over-cook your food. Raw, steamed, and boiled is always better than fried and barbecued.
• Choose whiskey and beer less often.
• Cut back on coffee slowly.
• Make sure that every meal has at least 50% raw vegetables and fruits.

Sources:

1. F. Tessier, “Structure and Mechanism of Formation of Human Lens Fluorophore LM-1,” J Biol Chem 274(30):20796-20804 (July 23, 1999)
2. Victoria Boutenko, Author
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction

How I reversed my gray hair – without being 100% raw

I went 70% raw vegan overnight from being a SAD eater, eating maybe 5% raw. Maybe less.

Over the first year, I noticed tremendous benefits: self esteem shooting up, weight loss, a mysterious lump in my back disappeared which had been there since I was 10.

But I still had grays. I would pull them out when I found’em.

Then I started drinking 1 litre of green juice every day. Here’s what happened in 4 weeks:

• My hair grew at double the rate (I calculated the measurement given the time)
• My hair became visibly shinier
• A half-inch of my grays were my natural chestnut brown at the root.
• Between the gray tip and the brown root was an orange/copper inch. Perhaps a transitional period?
• Since then, every time I find a gray, it is followed by a dark root growing in

I’m not 100% raw all the time. In fact, all of this happened when I was still eating cooked vegan food.

Here’s an example of what I put into organic green juice:

• 1 whole bunch of dark leafy greens. Ex. Kale, spinach, chard, etc.
• 1 english cucumber (interchanged with celery)
• 1 apple or orange
• 1 lemon
• 1 thumb ginger

Here’s a shot of a hair in transition I found last week:

Gray strand growing in brown

We can help you with your grays too – join Philip McCluskey‘s juice feast at the House of Verona in Blue Mountain, Ontario, in May 2011.

Book this retreat before December 25th and receive a complimentary $30 gift card to The Big Carrot or Whole Foods – a perfect stocking stuffer – call 1-800-252-2826.

How to reverse wrinkles using food (and only food)

I visited my doctor this week and noticed some brochures about botox, microdermabrasion, and restylane fillers. I asked the resident aesthetician if she thought it was possible to reverse wrinkles using food only, and she replied, “No. There’s no way. Fillers are the only way.”

I have to respect that she’s trying to make a living, but since I personally know several women who indeed have reversed their wrinkles using only specific food choices, I thought I’d post about how one can do this at home, using a grocery store in place of a needle.

Why are wrinkles caused?

Our skin has 3 layers: epidermis on top, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue underneath.

The dermis contains the structural elements of the skin, the connective tissue. Collagen is one protein that is a type of connective tissue which gives the skin its strength. Elastin fibres are another type, which lends to elasticity.

Where the dermis and epidermis meet is where connective tissue delivers nutrients from blood vessels to the epidermis. The stronger the connective tissue, the more nutrients reach the skin, giving it a youthful appearance.

As we age, less collagen is produced by the body, and the elastin fibres wear out. The connective tissues weaken without a diet high in minerals. These changes in the scaffolding of the skin cause tiny sags, which are wrinkles. Other factors leading to breaking down our body’s collagen are the sun, pollution, free radicals, and toxins.

Imagine it as a building that has pillars keeping the roof up: if the pillars weaken over time and the roof starts to sink, the thing to do would be to rebuild the pillars – we wouldn’t put something on top of the roof to fix the pillar. So, anti aging serums and creams fill in the holes temporarily, but cannot restore the youthful plumpness, stretched look, and elasticity for the long term.

Many people are starting to discover this and reverse their wrinkles themselves, at home, simply by instituting a simple change in nutrition.

Foods & minerals that erase wrinkles

1. Sulfur-residue foods

Sulfur-residue foods contain enzymes that help keep the skin flexible and the collagen strong, rebuilding it and protecting it from damage. Many people are deficient in sulfur because it’s extremely volatile: it’s either evaporated or destroyed by cooking.

Sulfur-residue foods:

• Bee pollen
• Cabbage
• Hot peppers
• Broccoli
• Garlic
• Horseradish
• Radish
• Kale
• Onions
• Pumpkin seeds
• Spirulina
• Watercress

2. Foods containing the mineral Silicon

Silicon maintains the strength and elasticity of cell walls and connective tissue. It directly aids in the regeneration of tissues, and thus makes a direct impact on the skin’s wrinkles.

Sources of Silicon:

• Radishes
• Romaine lettuce
• Burdock root (can be consumed as a tea)
• Cucumber skin
• Bell pepper skin
• Tomato skin
• Young leafy greens
• Steel cut oats
• Barley
• Spinach
• Bananas
• Apricots
• Nettles
• Red lentils

3. Foods containing the mineral Zinc

Zinc is essential for skin beauty. It promotes cell repair and growth, and is a key member of a group of enzymes that helps to maintain its collagen supply.

Without zinc, the enzymes that rebuild new collagen do not function properly.

In addition to preventing wrinkles, Zinc also prevents and aids in the healing of stretch marks, cellulite, and other outward signs of aging.

Great Zinc sources:

• Poppy seeds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Pine nuts
• Cashews
• Macadamia nuts
• Sesame seeds
• Young coconuts (“old” ones are the brown ones we see in regular stores, and won’t do. “Young” ones can be purchased from Asian markets).

We highly recommend that these foods are eaten raw, since heating foods over 118°F causes the enzymes to be denatured, and destroys 50% to 80% of the nutrients.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Sources:

• Dr. Heather Brannon, MD
• Dr. Gabriel Cousens, MD
• Jessica Moore, Registered Holistic Nutritionist
• Eating for Beauty, by David Wolfe, Nutritionist
• Victoria Boutenko, Author, Green for Life, and a woman who reversed her wrinkles naturally
• Cambridge University Press: A provisional database for the silicon content of foods in the United Kingdom http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=924600

How a raw vegan corrected her vision naturally

Jen Laur - After (corrected eyesight)

Jen Laur, owner of Raw Love, Life Food, a Toronto-based catering company she owns with her husband Mike, recently lead a raw food retreat with the House of Verona. On that retreat, she shared her story of how she corrected her eyesight after going raw.

Like so many, Jen suffered from poor eyesight. Once believing eyeglasses were a permanent sentence, her perspective shifted after attending a vision-correcting seminar. She was surprised to learn that a traumatic event is often a trigger to bad vision and immediately thought back to a stressful event, which seemed to affect her vision overnight.

Jen and Mike Laur - before going raw (poor eyesight)

She began looking into alternative therapy for eyesight, including the Bates method, which takes a proactive, holistic approach to correcting eyesight that includes exercise and nutrition.

Jen took full responsibility for her eye health and realized that in addition to exercises, her diet was a crucial component of her healing.

Jen’s raw vegan diet was full of nutrients her eyes needed to repair themselves. She noted that the most important nutrients for her eyesight included:

• Vitamin B12
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Omega 3 Fatty Acids (sprouted chia seeds are the highest food source)
• Zinc

Eating foods whole and raw ensures that the maximum amount of nutrients remain intact.

According to Dr. Mercola, lutein is also an essential nutrient for proper eye health. Lutein is found in dark leafy green vegetables and produce with a strong yellow colour, such as papayas, oranges, squash, and carrots.

Just like an athlete needs to support strength training with proper nutrition, Jen continues to fuel herself with eye-supporting foods (the eye is, after all, part muscle!) Now, Jen enjoys vision that is better than when she wore glasses.

Jen’s top foods and supplements for eyesight:

• Gogi berries (high in beta-carotene and antioxidants)
• Chia seeds (excellent source of Essential Fatty Acids)
• Marine Phytoplankton (incredible rich source of nutrients, supports cellular health)

To contact Jen Laur, or put in an order for organic raw food to be catered to you in Toronto, email rawlovelivefood@gmail.com or call +1-416-551-8820.

To book a spot on a raw food retreat at the House of Verona, call 1-800-252-2826 or email bookings@houseofverona.com.

Guest Author Kristen Mehendale is a Holistic Nutritionist in Toronto, Ontario. View her website athttp://www.kristenmehendale.com and follow her on Twitter @HappyCellsKM.

How a 72-year-old stays looking 40

Guest Author Kristen Mehendale is a Holistic Nutritionist in Toronto, Ontario. View her website at http://www.kristenmehendale.com and follow her on Twitter @HappyCellsKM.