Dave knows about health! He was totally wiped-out as a teen, then went through a decade without giving up, to find his way back. What I love most about Dave, besides his heart-felt conviction and dedication to helping others, is his generous networking spirit. He was one of the first to publish my writing in his magazine, VIBRANCE, the world’s most-read raw food lifestyle magazine. He loves to share everything he knows, including introducing people so the community feels more connected. For example, Dave told Karen Ranzi about me years ago when she was first writing her book on CREATING HEALTHY CHILDREN, and so Karen asked me to write a chapter. Now Karen is contributing to rawmom, thanks Dave! Dave is now Dr. Dave with a Phd as a Hygienic Doctor and a certified Nutrition Educator in health. His book, which I found in my public library and loaned to a friend who was suffering from Crohn’s disease, is called SELF HEALING COLITIS & CROHN’S. Leading people to health independence is David’s passion.

Here is Dave’s inspiring story:

My journey into the health education field began in 1975, when at age 17 my robust health began to gradually decline. A heavy eater of meat and junk food, my physical and mental energies deteriorated over a period of six months, then I experienced incessant diarrhea. After a few weeks of medical treatment, I showed little improvement, so a colon examination was done. The diagnosis was ulcerative colitis, and I spent my 18th birthday in a hospital, taking prednisone and azulfadine drug treatments. What ensued were eight tortuous years of colitis flare-ups and off-and-on drug therapy. At age 26, I was reduced to a weak, sickly shadow of my former self.

I desperately wanted my health back, but doubted that the doctors knew what they were doing.
My gastroenterologist recommended that I either try his experimental drug which knocks out the immune system, or have my colon surgically removed. Upon hearing this, a heavy decisive thought entered my mind: I have had it with this medical madness - I’ll be dead soon if I don’t find the answer myself! Over the next few days I started thinking like never before about how to overcome my illness. I realized that I had to figure out what the MD’s could not.

Then one amazing night while studying T. C. Fry’s Life Science/Natural Hygiene course, I beheld a healing vision and it all made sense; the picture of my new health was revealed via this pathway to self-mastery. I was ecstatic knowing I had set myself free!

The next day I threw away the medicines, divorced myself from all medical intervention for good, gave up all meat and dairy forever and started a 3-day juice cleanse. By the second day I was coming back to life. On the third day I was feeling better and better and my enthusiasm and joy drove my family and friends crazy! My gut was feeling soothed and I was rejuvenating. I set myself free of illness, doctors and medicines for good, and my bowels were working better and better!!

Over the next few years I diligently worked at rebuilding my depleted body, incorporating daily running and yoga, all the while studying the life sciences and all of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual factors which determine our health. It took several years of total dedication to build robust health. Today, at age 50, I enjoy excellent health and feel strong and energetic!

DAVE, WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 10 BASICS ABOUT MAINTAINING HEALTH THAT ALL MOMS NEED TO KNOW:

1. Cooking food is an act of destruction and creates toxins.
2. Alive raw fruits, succulent plants, seeds and nuts are the foods which constitute our natural, most delicious and most healthful diet; “Live Foods For Live People”.
3. Every nutrient we need is available in fruit and plant foods; there is no need to kill and eat dead animals.
4. A meal of an apple is immeasurably nutritionally superior to any cooked food meal. Simple eating is not boring–it is deliciously liberating and reverses aging!
5. Our bodies know how to self heal disease–we merely have to step out of the way, live on simple raw juices, and/or fruits and vegetables, or on water, get rest and sleep and the body will detoxify and heal.
6. We cannot become healthy if we attempt to drug and continue to pollute our bodies with medicines and dead “foods.”
7. There are no quick fixes or short cuts to health–only the body itself can regenerate a healthier body, and it needs a clean diet and supportive conditions to do that.
8. There are no mysteries behind why we get sick–the information describing the cause of and way to overcome every illness, and the proper professional help, is here and available to everyone.
9. No one need fear “getting sick”. “Getting sick” is nature’s way of detoxifying and telling us that we need to correct our thinking and live more healthfully. Disease is not inevitable or out of our control–we only become diseased if we poison and enervate our bodies and minds
10. Perfect health and joyous living are our birthright, and we can all move toward their realization every day, on the glorious healthful living path.

I thank you for posting this Shannon, and for all you do to help spread the message of healthful living. I’d love to share with you now a favourite recipe of mine, and wish you and all your RAW MOMS beautiful health and abundance!

PERFECT LOW-FAT SALAD

Serves 2

• 2 heads Boston (bibb) lettuce and/or other greens
• 1 lg. red bell pepper, chopped
• juice from 1/2 lime (ripe limes are light yellow-green, not dark green)
• flesh from 2 lg. or 4 sm. mangos
• juice from one blood orange or other orange
• optional: 1 fennel bulb, chopped

Place the greens in a large bowl. In a blender, blend the other ingredients. Pour the
dressing over the greens.

David’s web sites:

http://www.selfhealingempowerment.com

http://www.livingnutrition.com

Tags: exercise, Living Food, nature, organic, raw food recipe, raw foods, Shannon Leone

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at 10:42 am by Lisa and is filed under Excercise, Food for Thought, Interviews, Natural alternative to drugs, Raw Food Recipes, Recipes, Shannon's Thoughts, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.