Start small: ‘Living food’ can heal you
Artist and TV host Robert Alejandro and his life partner Jetro Rafael, also an artist and health advocate, are launching their book, “Living Food: A Healing Journey.” The book tackles Alejandro’s struggle with colon cancer, and how Rafael’s natural food combination helped the former fight the disease.
But more than proposing a live-saving diet, the authors explore a life-changing concept: the world of living food.
Rafael’s journey with living food stretches back all the way to his childhood, growing up with a mom who was a medical technologist. “I grew up looking through her microscope, so I knew what living organisms were.”
When Alejandro was diagnosed with cancer and his health deteriorated, he asked Rafael to help him fight it. “Robert was not a healthy eater all his life, eating mainly processed foods and very sweet snacks. He decided to try ‘healing food.’ I created his healing food. Mahilig siya ng (He liked) seafood, so I said, sige lalagyan natin siya ng gata (let’s add coconut milk). In just a few days, you could already see a change in his condition,” Rafael recalled.
For three years, Alejandro took the diet seriously and consistently. But then he went back to his old eating habits. After some time, he was hospitalized again.
And so Alejandro went back to Rafael’s food science. This time, Rafael prepared another type of diet, which made Alejandro bounce back to a healthier weight.
“He refused to get chemo and radiation, because our friends who had the same condition and had those treatments, they did not survive,” Rafael said. “So the doctors said that there was no more that could be done for Robert. But he survived. That was four years ago.”
Living molecules
Rafael learned about living food and the dead food. “In dead food, when you look under a microscope, the molecules are not moving. When you look at the natural-occurring molecules in food, they are moving because they have oxygen. So, a super simple realization is that you need to sustain and provide your body with more living molecules that can be found in living food.”
He gave examples. First was salt. Sand-dried salt and Himalayan salt, among others, are classified as living salts. On the other hand, iodized salt is one of the most common and feared types of dead salt.
“Salt often has a negative connotation since excessive salt intake is known to cause kidney problems, high blood pressure and heart diseases. But this is only when you take ‘dead salt.’ When you go to the ocean, can you imagine how much salt goes into your body? Yet it heals the body,” Rafael pointed out.
Living oils include olive oil, coconut oil and other oils from seeds. The dead oils, on the other hand, are the hydrogenated oils, or liquid fat that are processed to improve their taste and shelf life. “Dead oil clogs the arteries. It kills you,” Rafael said. “But it’s the exact opposite when you use living oils, like fish oil or extra virgin coconut oil.”
A healthy alternative to the problematic white sugar is “raw sugar from fresh fruits or those from raw honey,” Rafael said. “Dead sugar causes diabetes. But the living sugar balances insulin levels.”
He explained, “The difference between living food and dead food is that dead food is synthetic, highly processed, man-made. Living food, on the other hand, comes from true sources of food. It comes from the oceans, from the seas, from the mountains, from the earth.”
Holistic
But more than just avoiding the dead foods, Rafael stressed the importance of being educated on how to deal with living food.
“Everything that we eat is already provided by Mother Nature. Pero kahit sabihin natin na living food, it doesn’t end there. For example, raw honey is a healing food. But when it comes in contact with high heat, it becomes poisonous. So it is very important to understand the nature of these molecules. Science siya, that is the art and science of eating,” he said.
His and Alejandro’s mission is to share their personal experience and raise awareness. But it may not be for everyone. “We all have different biochemistry, and it’s not like what worked for me will also work for you,” Rafael said. “I’m not saying this will heal you, I’m just sharing, and maybe this can inspire others. Robert was inspired to take the path of natural healing. We want people to take full accountability and take full responsibility for themselves. It’s very important that you make the choice and decision for yourself.”
He added, “We have created this mentality that ‘a healthy lifestyle is for the rich.’ But everyone has access to salt, to gata, to kamote, to saging, to malunggay. If you live in the province, you get fish from the river, you plant your food, you raise chickens … It’s in our hands.
“What’s happening is we are giving away our power to those who are creating our food. We forget that we are powerful beings that can make these choices and decisions.”
For Rafael, living a healthy life doesn’t have to be extreme. “Start from where you are. From my experience with Robert, you can’t do it extremely … When you go to the market, you look for simple vegetables like kangkong or malunggay. You start small, because it is a relationship. This is a very simple, natural way of living. It’s being aligned to what is natural. We just have to go back to it.”
He added, “It’s very important to mention that healing is not one singular, linear dimension. It is holistic. You have the physical body, and you have the nonphysical being, which is your emotions, your mind, your soul, your spirit. So it’s a healing journey talaga, to make sure that the mind, body, heart, spirit and all of it are aligned.”
The book launch, originally scheduled for July 27, has been postponed due to the recent typhoon. For order requests, visit Milflores Publishing’s Facebook page.
