The First Supper Raw Food Teaching Kitchen and BEST WEIGH FITNESS Facility

Is  that muscle pure muscle really pure muscle tissue? Or is it "bulked" (translation: filled with waste products) that are either 1) the result of forced feeding, 2) water retention caused by inorganic sodium chloride.

When I chose the name "The Best Weigh" almost 30 years ago,  I wanted to call attention to the importance of your body to be the best ratio of adipose to lean tissue. I remember seeing people at my high school reunion years later who bragged that they "weighed" the same than when they were 18! Little did they remember that they had become "inverted vee-shapes" since then. Sure, they weighed the same but now their muscle sites had shrunk while their fat sites had increased. They sported twig-like thighs, sunken pectorals and flat backs yet they weighed the same as when their body composition was more appealing, injury-resistant, and health-supporting. The scale is not a good measure of your body composition in terms of fat to muscle.

When I went completely vegan in 1985 I did it to increase performance, health and better "weigh", realizing that the fat to lean ratio was only the beginning.  Going raw more than ten years later made a much greater difference, but low fat raw vegan 80.10.10 gives the best health and fitness results by far.

This next step involves getting the actual cells to be of good quality, since anyone can gain muscle "size" by eating more "food" no matter whether it is cooked, animal, processed, vegan or high fat raw. The poorer the quality the food, such as bread, rice and pasta, dehydrated "raw treats" and the like… the easier and more convenient it is to bulk the muscles (and fat cells) full of garbage. But this is not functional muscle. Even those who consume raw rice "protein" powders and so-called "superfood supplements" will hold undigested garbage that their cells can not utilize. This extra smooth size is the result of the body's catabolic metabolism becoming unable to eliminate waste products fast enough.  You can usually tell by their bloated stomachs and even faces. Not to mention those who consume animal protein such as milk and eggs which disrupt the hormonal function so much as to cause artificial overgrowth. Of course strength only increases with progressive resistance training. The muscle fibers strengthen and get slightly thicker, as do the tendons to a much lesser extent. But the mitochondria enjoy the "greatest girth" as they become unable to process waste. As a result, your cells in general hold on to more waste material. You appear bigger, but you are not stronger due to the excess waste, only weaker.

Each ounce of ANTIbiotic inorganic salt must be suspended in a solution of about six lb. of water in order for the body not to die. (Even an ounce of salt taken at one time will kill you.. salt solutions are injected to cause abortions…) Salt is poison and your body dilutes it in order to survive. The typical American is carrying four ounces of salt in their bodies, thus they have 24 lb. of excess salt water stored in their tissues.

My wonderful wellness and fitness experiment continues as I see the results of consuming no salt for the past six months. For years I have lost more excess waste from my cells, resulting in my getting proportionately stronger and healthier. It is interesting to see the creation of real, hard, pure muscle that is not "padded" in any way. Next time you see your favorite movie actor, keep in mind that about 24 pounds of that "muscle" is water.

Chris Califano

The Best Weigh

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Some people make it seem that it is "healthier" to add some cooked food to a raw food diet. But when investigating their evidence it shows them adding only about a ten percent addition of cooked food to the diet to get this "extra nutrition". They can't get enough calories to combat their "malnourishment" so they add some cooked food. Ten percent. If all they needed was ten percent, then it is not a major problem. If they needed forty or fifty percent or eighty percent then it would be a problem. They also say that eating a high sweet fruit diet provides too much sugar and will cause problems. They also said in one person's experience that after two years of eating a high fruit diet they had some problems. Well, I have been raw or ten years (vegan for 25) and it does take time to transition. I would not have been ready for a 100% raw primarily fruit diet right away, coming from a standard American diet, albeit vegan for 15 years before I went raw. I would no sooner make such a drastic diet change as I would add a hundred pounds to a weight training exercise suddenly! 

In addition, you can easily cut and balance the sweet content of a fruit meal by adding celery or lettuce, or make sure that you are eating enough of these other foods at another meal. Eating ten percent more or even twenty percent more cooked greens or vegetables is not an option if genuine health is your goal.

Experience has taught me that transitioning to a good thing is key. Moving forward on a regular basis is what striving is all about, a respected quality in our society. To say that eating cooked food can somehow improve your health does not take into consideration those people who are actually improving their health, and moving our society slowly forward to better health in the generations to come. Why must we fall victim to mediocre? Good, honest and intelligent raw foodists are not in denial. Those who say that adding cooked food are. Of course, those who are fanatical about cooked or raw, in my opinion are defined as those who are not following the fundamentals of nutrition but instead bring "morality" or "culture" into the argument instead of the basic biological framework that creates the best diet for humans past or present. We should eat according to our original design principles, not based on opinion.

 Chris Califano

Sprouting Raw Muscle

This is the most frequent question I get.  Being able to produce lean tissue without any artificial means of any kind is the best way to determine if your raw diet is working. The same raw vegan diet that is best for firming and building is the same diet for losing excess fat or achieving optimum health and endurance. it all depends on how you implement the exact same nutrition.

Can you really build muscle on a 100% raw vegan diet? I'm doing it. The last time I had any animal food was in 1984. The last time I had a cooked food meal was 1999. The last time I had any health food supplement was 1991. I am interested in the "best weight" or more aptly the best body composition poiund for pound, thus the name of my gym and teaching kitchen: The Best Weigh. The best and healthiest cells have to eat raw, which I finally started eating and adding to the program in 2001. If growing just the biggest body based on simply size at any health cost and not pure muscle is your desire then you might want to consume some animal products. It is not animal–origin protein per se that helps to cause excess growth in the body but the hormone action that it causes. Plus the included hormones do not hurt the growth process including tumors. Animal protein is the most dangerous of all carcinogens based on T. Colin Campbell's famous 50 year study which includes the largest and most comprehensive human study ever done in human history.

Chris shown above warming up with the bare bar for a set of squats. Chris is not structurally suited for heavy weight training, especially basic core exercises such as barbell squats, due to poor leverages, weak lower spine and knees, etc, yet through proper application of fundamental physiological laws, persistence and a special program of his own design he was able to gain an amazing 70 pounds of muscle without drugs or supplements! Ask any of his Locust Valley or Long Island University classmates and they will tell you about his incredible transformation that literally changes his life.

Without a doubt this is the most frequently asked question I get other than "where do you get your protein"? Now keep in mind that I am answering this coming from a 100% raw WHOLE fruit and vegetable diet for the last TEN YEARS. I started going raw eleven years ago but did not start going all the way until ten years ago. 

So my answer is not to be confused with those who have been raw for six months or only a few years, let alone 100%. I have heard of others who say that they are raw but they also eat ingredients such as oatmeal, streamed vegetables, various supplements etc. I do not. I only ate that garbage when I was cooked, and even then I found that eliminating the supplements only helped me build muscle, as all my students over the decades have also experienced. 

Ever since I went raw I decided to do it the best way. Only 100% whole, fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts and seeds. I over-did the nuts and seeds as I transitioned with my own designed raw gourmet dishes. I mistakenly assumed that the initial "raw food restaurant" diet was healthy. Not only was it not healthy it was certainly not building any muscle. To actually add functional lean tissue to your frame you must be in 100% health. I knew that even when I was cooked. Fundamentals never change.

Nothing can match building muscle on a 100% raw diet! And to me that means ZERO supplements, "super–foods" powders or gimmicks. I just wanted to see what would happen when I did not so much as eat a dehydrated cracker, "raw bar" or other so–called raw concoction other than the basics.

Well now I can honestly say that you can build muscle on a raw vegan 100% pure diet. SInce everyone has their own idea of what enough muscle is I can only show you pictures and be a living example of my ten–year plus experiment. (Actually I also smashed the protein myth for over 25  years since I went vegan, so this is no biggie for me!) I am however overjoyed that something so simple can be achieved. Imagine: real food without cooking or processing in any way and not taking any extra pills, powders or gimmicks. And it feels, smells and works the best of all! I love simplicity. 

I want my readers to know that I have been 100% committed to staying 100% raw since I started. I will never "Sell out" buy eating any cooked food in my diet. The only supplements I ever took were some B12 micro-dots that I consume once every month or so if I remember. I did go about 20 years without them however. Oh well. I still built muscle.By the way, ever since I can remember; all the experts in the medical, nutritional and physiological field have always said that the most important indicator of health as we age is the maintenance of lean muscle mass. After age 55 if known that the main cause of death to replace heart disease and cancer, is in fact a fall that leads to death in the hospital from pneumonia and other complications. This is all avoided if the individual had maintained the strength of their muscles, which is the best way to create and keep bone mass. 

The added bonus of a proper raw vegan diet is the amount of body–recognizable protein and calcium that you get in abundance. But without actual weight training with the right all-body exercises (not arm curls and pec deck or flyes or namby-pamby chrome weights while swinging wildly to the beat…), then not much will happen.

I have always loved building and maintaining my tall skinny body ever since I moved to Long Island from Manhattan. When I went vegan I only got more in touch with better quality muscle. Now that I am over ten years raw I feel even more blessed and lucky to have decided to go raw! It is the best feeling in the world!  –Chris

Everyone wishes for that perfect test to see if their diet is working, and to compare different variations month to month, year to year and decade to decade. Well nothing bests QUANTIFIABLE fitness, especially progressive weight training. I'm not talking about the namby pamby- no results- beauty bell health spa routines that they advertise on TV but real hardcore strength training- the type that actually builds lean tissue and slows down the typical aging process that most people are constantly battling.

Believe it or not some so-called wellness advocates actually say that wine is somehow good for you. Of course the wine industry will try to convince you of that. Like I said many times, if you are not feeling fantastic to begin with then you will easily be coerced into trying some new "way" to feel better. Since so few people feel fantastic (without drugs, pills, powders or gimmicks), it only makes sense that they can fall for silliness such as "wine contains anti-oxidants so it must be good for you."

Keep in mind that antioxidants are in ALL raw fruits and veggies ESP dark greens like KALE, SPINACH and Collard etc...

Of course cooking destroys all antioxidants in two minutes steaming.

Why would would anyone want to DEGRADE something as potently delicious as raw fare fresh from the garden?

Fermenting fruit into alcoholic beverages was an age old practice used to preserve the horrid drinking water from war, pestilence and filthy city sewage conditions.... today it is used only for profit and it addicts people. There is not only no need for wine but it is an acquired taste... much like garlic and table salt and dry spice… once the taste-buds return to normal even the "best" wine tastes terrible! Why would anyone want it when they have beautiful, sweet ripe mangoes and persimmons and grapes and cherries and berries!!! Oooooooooohhhhhh bayyyybay!!!!

So few people are actually eating right that they would not know good taste if it sat on them.

Point is that wine is like a pacifier-- when your taste buds finally grow up, then you do not want it.

The wine industry makes is seem that since it has SOME antioxidants that it is somehow "good" or you-- Yeah, sure…. like horse manure is good if we put antioxidants in it!!! yeah yeah right... so it goes....

It is like raw chocolate-- ANYONE who is truly in tune with their God given body will SEE and feel and SMELL a difference - ESPECIALLY in their physical performance… THAT IS IF they work out in a QUANTIFIABLE way (few do-- they just do "some of this and some of that" when they exercise with very little planning..... that is why I have a Physical Performance Facility AND a Teaching Kitchen- that is THE BEST WAY TO determine true wellness-- from a measurable performance level... from experimenting with the right fuels to actually seeing the building of NEW HEALTHY LEAN TISSUE…no pills, powders, "superfoods products" or gimmicks. 

How do you know that you are eating the best raw diet? When do you "arrive" at perfect health? There are as many answers as there are raw food gurus, but there is only one best way. Read on...

After being vegan since 1985 and raw vegan since 1999, I decided to stop pussy footing around with all this wellness crap and DO IT RIGHT ONCE AND FOR ALL,,,, so I did it…went raw for ten years, with experience of nutritional and fitness excellence to back me up. I struggled with raw, losing a lot of my hard-earned "muscle" as my bodyweight sunk like a rock. I experienced some healing reactions, but not that badly since I was smart enough to transition at a ramped pace. I ended up designing the perfect program. Well as perfect as I could make it, since it works every time… for men, women, office workers, children, truck drivers, business owners, teachers, singers, computer programers, everyone without compromise. In fact the "hard cases" are the easiest to convert to raw for me now. The Best Weigh Program is a gem. There is only one caveat:  Again like George Carlin said so eloquently... the only obstacle is "YOU GOTTA WANNA" . 

There are not only ZERO cravings on THE BEST WEIGH RAW diet, but after you eat the best way for a while, (and it is proven by the Monell Center For Taste Addiction), then condiments like added salt, dry spices, garlic or even raw cakes, pies or any of those pseudo health raw food concoctions- will literally taste offensive to you. Of course, those starting out raw who are "permanently" addicted to food (we all are) will be well served to transition with some of these "abominable combinations" for a while as they race to the next level. The first symptom of release from food addiction is that you feel bad after you eat the offending food, while that type of food failed to affect your perception of health or actual quantifiable physical performance before. Actually, it may have… but you were not aware of it…. Imagine experimenting with a petri dish with so many variables in it that you can not even distinguish what experiment is taking place? That is what "eating everything raw in site just because it is raw" is like. It is not a good diet to say the least. You have no idea what is truly going on.

You know you have "arrived" when these "raw" foods that you may once have enjoyed as transitions now taste offensive to you. 

And well they should, since they do very offensive things to your body not the least of which is cause body odor as the food such as dried fruit or fresh fruit ferments when eaten within four hours of nuts or seeds. Imagine eating it together. Raw cakes and pies are occasional treats at best, but are poor digestive choices. And your cells only get what you digest and assimilate. Health and physical performance can never be fully realized (even by a mile) when the diet still contains transition foods. 

By the way, the so-called "Wellness Industry" is really not much more than a pile of products and services that barely nick the surface of true health; instead perpetually catering to people's addictions. Few ever break free of this (temporarily) beneficial step towards health.

With anything less than the best food, physical performance drops way below normal. One has to experience what it is like to actually live on a perfect 80% fruit, and 5-10% protein of fresh dark greens and only 5-7% fat from only avocado, and SOME nuts and seeds and never any refined oil.  I had no idea that even when I was vegan and then raw that for the first five years, I was actually not eating as well as when I was eating cooked and animal foods 40 years ago. Okay maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration. But my point is that "going" raw does not mean healthy. 

Oh yes.... most raw footers are eating a high fat BAD diet with all their "treats".... 

The one sure-fire way to know for absolutely sure how healthy you (beyond waking up like a rocket and feeling great all day and sleeping well each and every day of your life) are is to actually be able to build REAL muscle--- not the muscle size that I once "built" by force–feeding my cells to look bigger- that is the way everyone does it-- I used to eat more food in a day than my friends ate in five days…that was not real muscle. REAL PURE MUSCLE FIBER not just pumped up sarcoplasm… it is the result of he right kind of exercise and the right diet of pure raw foods, Not packaged ones, high fat foods or strange "raw food restaurant" combinations. (I should post some pics on The First Supper website to show you what force-fed cooked vegan food muscle looks like. It appeals to most people- that is the society we live in- everything is super-sized, but poor quality).

When you see that PURE MUSLCE BUILDING is happening then you know that you are healthy since that is what scientists universally agree is the best way to establish genuine wellness. Remember back 20 years ago? if one started to build muscle then one no longer has aids.... (one mental image that hits home with people).

Imagine what takes place when you venture one giant step further and actually build PURE muscle with a 100% raw diet and no pills, powders, super-foods, or other gimmicks? Now that is pure health at it's best. You can't get any better.

Not to mention sexual libido. I never would have believed it but my health and wellness "in that area" is greater THAN WHEN I WAS 14!!!!!!!!.. Oh yes.... measurably and quantifiably. Now I am only telling you this because I am 51…luckily my mind is mature. (At least some think so…lol…)  Of course I have triple the cardio endurance as when  I was 16, but that is expected when one eats raw vegan properly.. But all those testosterone supplements and drugs that men are taking? Poppycock. No need for them .. In  fact this diet crushes any results that even the best drugs can provide.. and no side effects other than pure sweet body and mind!!!!! 

I can honestly say after ten years of going raw that I have finally arrived. I will even add this: Nobody TRULY LIVES until they go low-fat fruit and green/ efficient muscle building raw... that is or sure. I never would have "thunk" it!

-Chris

# ! Hot Weather Raw Food Diet Mistake

Working outside in ninety-plus-degree heat for twelve hours a day is never a pleasure, but it is never a pain either. That is if you eat right! Most people on the raw food diet notice significant relief from heat compared to when they ate cooked food, and everyone knows how even the smallest amount of animal food will make you sweat, as it requires so much energy to digest and attempt to assimilate. As your diet improves you will see the same effect with even a tiny amount of cooked food, especially bread or pasta (even if it is cold pasta). As you improve your diet closer to a proper diet you will notice that even nuts and seeds have a heating-up effect, which is tolerable in winter, but in summer it is not comfortable or desirable nutritionally at all. That is why I hardly eat nuts and seeds in the summer; certainly not every day, making sure to blend them into a pate or a dressing no more than a few times a week if that. I may add the seed spread to a collard wrap, or just have some avocado for my fat requirement. 

Most raw-foodists miss one very important point. They consume dehydrated crackers and cookies, which take so much water to assimilate, literally sucking water right out of your system. Too many nuts and seeds and dried fruit does the same. The "stress-test" of summer heat, extreme cold, super physical demands or high emotional stress will all tell you whether you are on the best diet or not.  Most diets fail, but it takes stresses like these to really see them break. You should always be able to do your daily tasks in any kind of whether (on a regular basis, using common sense) without any dire suffering. You should be able to deal with all kinds of stress no matter what. Remember that health usually skyrockets in wartime, when heavy foods are cut off from supply. Only fruits and vegetables are available. Stress is an excuse most of the time, like hot weather. That is not to say that you should expect to do your hardest work at times that are chock full of stressors, but if you had to then it should at least be tolerable. Many people blame the weather when in fact their diets are the culprit.

I have dug almost a hundred holes for large-scale plantings outside in full sun in the middle of the summer with no bad effects. I can also shovel snow with a tee-shirt and no coat, and unless it is in the middle of a heavy blizzard, I am comfortable if I stay relatively dry. It was not always that way. I used to complain about the heat or cold when I was not eating right. Interestingly, the same diet allows you to feel best in summer, winter, and during heavy physical exertion. Of course you may want slightly more fat (slightly is the definitive word) when resting in the cold weather. You certainly want to cut down your fats and super-increase your juicy fruits in summer, for many reasons, such as not to foil the cholesterol-removal process from your cells to your skin, which the sun helps with. I'll bet you didn't know that a few hours in the sun on your full skin reduces overall total cholesterol almost 30%.

The point is that eating dehydrated foods if you are on the raw food diet trip will severely limit your health and performance; summer heat is a fast and forced way to experience this. But they are never good for you in any kind of weather. If you are satisfying your nutritional needs with the proper raw diet then you will not crave dehydrated crackers and concoctions anyway, but they do have their uses in the first week or so of going raw. Just do not abuse them. The same goes for nut butters. If you must eat them at least increase your water-based foods and drink more water than usual. 

Drinking water on a regular basis all day long works like a charm to prevent dehydration but only if your food intake does not sabotage your hydration efforts.

An attendee of the last RawSkilz class emailed me and voiced concerns about getting "enough" fat in their diet. Nobody ever got sick or died or even had slightly lowered performance by having "too little fat in their system". Same with protein. According to the major medical studies of Harvard, Cornell and all the rest, there has not been a single case in 500 years (since medical books were written). The only people who need to worry are those with mental disorders - anorexic behavior. But they are such a tiny fraction of the populace. Fat and protein have been so overly abundant in our society for as long as modern history has been recorded. People get sick due to abundance.

Major problems are caused by excess fat and protein. Not the least of which is protein-induced hypercalicurea.  

I was lucky to get into seriously performed weight training and seriously applied nutrition at an early age. Even before I became vegan and even before I became raw. I found that the most important overall factor was calorie management within the framework of proper macronutrient ratios. What that means is that you have to consume enough calories to fulfill your energy needs and make sure to 1) get the majority of your calories from carbs, 2) limit your protein, and j never worry about fat. In fact, you will see that from paleontologists to nutritionists; from the beginning of recorded history the absolute most impotent factor has always been calories. Mankind needed enough calories to do his or her tasks. Getting enough energy in scarce times was the goal. Forty thousand years of scarcity has created a perfect genetic system that allows us to be healthy when we do not eat that much fat. Modern times, however have created illness and obesity for the masses due to food becoming artificially plentiful. Notice that even poor people suffer from being too fat. 

Until recently in history, food has always been scarce- and our genetics remember that. We tend to store energy since our bodies are not sure when we are going to be fed again. Women especially have extremely efficient metabolisms. They store fat easily and can go many months without any bad effects.

In fact the most famous illustration of this occurred  in the Philippines during WWII when women (and men) were deprived of their usual total calorie intake during the long war. The women normally lived on 1800 calories a day, and that was cut to 500 per day for eighteen months. During that period there were no recorded still births or birth problems whatsoever, let alone illness in the mothers. In fact all the children born had slightly lower weight, and they were tracked for 21 years to monitor their health. All were significantly healthier, had stronger immune systems, and were brighter. (By the way, health skyrockets in all populations in times of war.) It is amazing today that people think that they are eating too little when they go below 1500 calories!

Of course when most people eat less they are just reducing their amount of ALREADY DEPLETED NUTRITION to begin with. But, once they make their entire "calorie pool" 100% fresh ripe fruits, dark greens with a tiny tiny amount of outside fat added every day or every other day, then their health thrives. In my 33 years experience training people for physical excellence in strength, cardiovascular, flexibility and body composition as well as optimum health, I have discovered that the basic 80/10/10 or 85/15/5 ratio is by far the most efficient formula for proportioning your macronutrients by far. Quantifiable physical performance and obvious (as well as measurable via medical tests) health over the short as weeks as very long term (myself and my students have been raw vegan over ten years now and vegan over 25) has proven this.

In addition, building strength and high quality lean muscle mass is also possible with slight raw vegan dietary modifications. Personally my students and I have discovered that any kind of pill, powder or gimmick only detracts from health and thus, genuine healthy muscle mass.

Most people consume animal fat plus loads of trans fat from all the cake, bread, bagels, pasta and cookies, etc. that they eat. Those fats actually destroy absorption of the essential fats (Of course health food stores want to sell you pills to get these!)  But even if you eat nuts and seeds or avocado a few times a week, plus you are having proper amounts of blended dark greens daily, then you will get plenty of the good fat. There is nothing to worry about when you consume enough calories from 100% raw fruits, greens, veggies too, and SOME good outside fat such as avocado, nuts or seeds. To learn the exact proportions for you and your body size and energy requirements is not a complex matter, but doing it is another thing. Most people do not stick to the correct proportions of fat, carbs and protein within a rational calorie base. That is why a proper raw diet is such a help, when it is done properly. Most of the time the raw diet is undertaken by just "going raw" blindly. I made that mistake in 1999 when I started. Luckily I already had a substantial background in nutrition, so I knew to consume enough calories, plus I knew that protein was not necessary beyond tiny amounts for creating pure muscle, and I never consumed much fat, but I still did not know how to put it all together until years later. The dogma of "raw" mixed with the holding power of old food habits, along with the "newness" of this fascinating yet confusing way of eating, not to mention addiction to improper foods, all added up to confuse me to no end. Luckily I persevered and became successful with it. The main "secret" was to make a 100% commitment to becoming 100% raw while changing my eating style completely. Combining basic timeless nutrition with a total decision to stop getting distracted by multiple opinions and sticking to the proper task at hand long enough to glean significant results was the answer.

We are all "manufactured" the same way and with the exact same parts down to our very cells. But our genealogical heritage -lifestyle -diet -line begins the highly influential process that affect our wellness potential more than we care to think. While what and how we choose to eat once we realize that we have been on the wrong diet will elevate our potential more than we ever thought possible, it can not guarantee the highest health and performance life potential. That endowment is due to factors way before we were even born. Or even conceived. It is a fact that about 95% of your health potential is determined before age five, much like your basic personality. If, for example you were not breast fed at the appropriate time, then you will not develop the basic structures of your brain, body and cells as well as they could have. 

Colostrom or any of the other important factors in mother's milk can not be given with any results to be expected to a child after a certain age any more than millions of dollars can be deposited into a bank when the computer is down or it is closed.

That does not mean that we can not make the best of what we have. History and science prove that identical twins can have two distinctly different life outcomes and health throughout by way of their diet, even though they are of the exact same cellular material. But remember that for either of them to reach their full potential is determined by factors beyond their control.

Genes are not set in stone; heredity is nothing more than stored genetics, as stated eloquently by Luther Burbank, a master geneticist. We tend to lump genetics and lifestyle into he same heap, when one is controllable over a much slower time frame and the other is rather immediate in its power.

When you eliminate the obstacles in your controllable life you can make super strides ahead in your wellness and performance as is evident for anyone who has sincerely done it. By keeping the "ball rolling" so to speak you will also make giant leaps ahead in your heritage line. Children born to 100% raw vegan parents who were eating proper raw vegan diets for many years, and who were way beyond the "cleansing" or transitional phase are rewarded with super little boys and girls. Of course they breast feed them. 

Now, if those children choose to continue eating right, and they choose to have children, but they do not breast feed, then that will be a major "setback" that can not be retrieved no matter how the new breed chooses to eat and live.

The two major factors- lifestyle and diet, are usually nor interpreted correctly. Most people are led to believe that genes cannot be changed. Or that diet has no impact. nothing could be further from the truth. Keep in mind however that day to day diet habits add up in a huge way- in a genetic heritage way.

In the last decade it has been clearly shown yet agin that in as little as eight weeks a man can virtually eliminate 95% of his "bad" prostate gene indicators, for example.

We all know that those who eat a plant-based high raw diet live longer and suffer much less from disease than their animal product eating counterparts.

But without proper "health-lineage" (diet habits that came before us, PLUS our parents- and their parents- taking care to breast feed us for at least the first six weeks, and better yet for 12 to 18 months or longer), we can suffer major setbacks compared to whose who were breastfed.

95% of our health is determined by what we eat as young children for the first five years. That on top of being breastfed to begin with. We humans are quite a tough organism, but our chances go up or down due to two main factors: pre-birth lifestyle and diet lifestyle.

While most know that the five major causes of cancer are food, radiation, pesticides and genetics, few know that food is by far the biggest influence and that genetics has only about a one percent "pull" if that. Many people that I come into contact with at the grocery store seem to think that cancer, diabetes, and even heart disease and high cholesterol are beyond their control. They must have misunderstood their doctors or they watch and actually believe the TV pharma. No doctor would ever tell a patient that the drugs not only hardly make a dent, but that they cause even more damage than the "disease" itself. But most of us who are seeking solutions are easily swept away by smoke, mirrors and empty promises. Blessed are those lucky enough to stumble upon the truth, and who actually pursue it.

The bottom line: Be thankful if you come from "good stock"- and that your lineage of diet and lifestyle habits was a judicious one. But even if not, you can still make incredible improvements in your state of everyday physical health, freedom from chronic disease, plus physical performance just by eliminating all of the health-destroying foods that have crept into our lives and going back to what the best genetic lineages are built on: fresh, raw, whole plant foods, eaten the best way. For information on how to eat raw the best way so that you can actually benefit without cravings, take advantage of our special Raw Coaching Program, starting July 12. Discover what a combined 24 years of being 100% raw can do for you. Avoid every single pitfall and eliminate all the guesswork. Know what to expect, and never feel alone. Most importantly, never fall back into prior habits. Our raw team is headed by myself, PFS, ASNDC, eleven-year 100% raw foodist and physical fitness specialist. I have mastered the pitfalls and labyrinth-like path of going totally raw, and with a background of poor genetics and thirty years of non-supplement and non-steroid physical transformation from 133 lb. at 6 ft. tall to 210 lb. at the same height while reducing my waist almost an inch in that process, as well as suffering from "anti-exercise leverages" and less-than-perfect lower back and overall strength and fitness to begin with, and who suffered a debilitating auto collision in 1998 among other set-backs, I have been told by my beloved clients and students who, themselves have learned how to transform under my humble guidance, that I know a little bit about how to go about this.

For information on this special additional program, send me an email here.

When a person first gets interested in raw you will here them touting the benefits of enzymes. They believe that the human body has a certain amount of these enzymes and that if you deplete them then you out of luck. There is no scientific evidence of this.

Old habits die especially hard when lifestyle solutions meet inefficient habits. The lyrics, “But I’m half delirious,  it’s too mysterious… I act like an addict, I just got to have it…” from the Rolling Stones song may not exactly be about food and lifestyle addiction but they hit home for all addictions. The most damaging addiction is not love or drugs, but food. More illness and premature deaths result from food by way of heart diseases and cancer than any other cause.

The years go by fast! So much info and so little time. Instead of boring you with information that can be gathered from everywhere, I choose to share with you only that which is a direct result of my own experiences in the last 35 years with fitness, building muscle for the non-genetically gifted from the vegan and raw perspective which is not found anywhere.

My hard-earned surprisingly unpopular perspective is quite non-mainstream. Yet it is scientifically proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. The confusion is due mostly to those who call themselves "raw" kicking ideas about nutrition around without so much as a few years or even months of actually being raw themselves.  Moreover, I have experienced the health and fitness results myself AND with almost hundreds of clients and friends in person. I truly wonder how many "out there" who I will never meet face to face have also proven to themselves that perfect health can only be realized WITHOUT supplements, cooked food, animal products. or any processed foods whatsoever. Furthermore, that  significant fitness and lean tissue strengthening and building  can occur most effectively and efficiently with less than two hours a week of exercise.

This blog is for those who are ready to go forward into the past and re-educate themselves with the way things are done instead of the way that the fitness, wellness and nutrition industry say it should be done.

In my experience there exists such a plethora of fitness fallacies, nutrition nonsense and diet dogma that it is no wonder why most people are wasting hours and hours of their precious days exercising as well as decades of their lives searching for "the magic bullet" of health and fitness. It is so simple. It is not what you take- it is what you eliminate! Remember that conservation is basic law. Understand the process and you will see how to get results for yourself.

The wellness industry went wrong. I can only do my best to share with you how to correct it for yourself. To those who are selling supplements or gadgets such as water ionizers: I am not interested. I do not eat nor do I sell algae, pond scum, green powders, super foods, supplements of any kind or other wastes of time and money. Remember that this is The Best Weigh, not half way, three-quarters way, seven-eighths way or otherwise, but the all-time most effective and efficient way. I am raw living proof and so are my clients and friends. While raw was becoming popular here on Long Island we were the ones already dong it for many years. There has to be a limit. There must be a point at which we cease seeking and begin arriving. So few are the number of those who have actually experienced genuine health! Only be being 100% raw for at least long enough to completely detoxify and then "test out" the new you for at least a year after that will ever know what it feels like. Now, I am not saying that you must be 100% raw. Few can do it I am sure (not that any of our clients have ever had any trouble at all) I am certainly never going to prescribe this to anyone since I am not a medical doctor. (Not that I prefer holistic doctors in general- please call me out on this- I am more than pleased to explain my logic and experience plus the experience of dozens of patients whom I am in close contact with who have tried several natural doctors...). Let it be known again that if you are experiencing any type of health problem- chronic or acute that you are worried about- that you should NUMBER ONE consult a medical doctor (I say this for legal reasons plus I am not your doctor or "a" doctor nor should you ever radically change your diet or lifestyle unless you weigh all your options first.

The beauty of this program of eating PROPER RAW VEGAN is that it is seamless as it guides you through the two phases of raw and requires zero learning curve if desired. At the very least there are zero cravings and 100% health benefit.

Absolutely not. Unless of course, the person is 1) not eating a proper raw diet, 2) still in the detoxification stage, or 3) an extremely rare case. Of course, if you have any doubt, then I advise you to see your physician (hopefully they know how health is actually created, which is not usually the case, since medical doctors are taught how to prescribe drugs or to perform surgery, not to create health). Still, I have to "cover my ass" and tell you that you should get a blood test if in doubt about your health.

That being said, I have not known anyone who is on the Best Weigh raw diet (and I have had clients on this diet since 2001) who has experienced anything other than extreme health. Of course there are those who have quit the program too soon, changed it significantly, or deleted key foods. I have actually met some of these people years later who tell me right to my face that they have been "raw" for the last year or so and that they are sick. But they may eat raw once in a while, but they are not raw. Surely not Best Weigh raw.

The need for supplements diminishes as we learn that the human body can only recognize and utilize nutrients in their natural whole food state, which means raw and un-processed.

Even if you were to take, for example, the most expensive green powder, you would only be getting 50% of the nutrients at best that your cells needed for basic life no matter how much volume of the product you consumed.

Still, there are those who insist that supplements are needed. They tend to benefit from the monetary gains. Or they simply have not experienced the benefits of a truly raw vegan diet!